Chapter 123 - Presentation to Negotiation (1/2)

Ch. 123: Presentation to Negotiation

“If you take the job, I’ll pay five silver coins beforehand. Five more after the job is done.”

That was the first thing Klaus said after Loren finally managed to peel him off.

“Is that per person?”

“Ugh…Y-yeah. Twenty silver coins in total. It isn’t bad, isn’t it? Then…”

“No way.”

Klaus brightened up for a second at Lapis’ response, but Loren cut her off.

Lapis ignored Klaus, who was at a loss for words, and looked at Loren, wondering why he said so.

“Jobs that start by talking about money can never be trusted. Those who jump at jobs like these can never live for long.”

“I see. I’ll go throw this thing out then.”

When Lapis said so in a cold voice and pointed at Klaus, Loren’s stern face crumbled slightly.

“I mean…we can at least listen to what he has to say.”

“Make up your mind.”

Lapis’ voice hardened slightly at Loren’s indecisiveness, saying that Klaus’ offer couldn’t be trusted, but then wanting to hear him out.

Loren responded in an unsure manner, very unlike his usual self.

“Yeah well…I mean, if the conditions are solid, I don’t think there’s a reason to be so hard on him, you know…”

“Loren, are you getting soft on Klaus, by any chance?”

“I don’t think I’m being soft on him in any way, but…anyways.”

Loren forced the conversation in another direction, knowing that he was at a disadvantage.

Lapis already knew so due to the air around him, but instead of pushing it, she calmly went with the change in topic.

“If you want our help, tell us everything, no secrets. After that, I’ll tell you the minimum conditions we’ll help you for.”

“If we find out you’re lying, I’ll snap you in half. What part of you would be how I’d be feeling at the time.”

Intimidated by Loren, who told him to tell them everything, and Lapis, who completely threatened him, the words started spilling out of Klaus’ mouth.

“As you could see by the amount of rewards, the girls and I were talking about how we shouldn’t take this.”

“The girls? So Ange and the other girls are on board with this?”

Klaus was currently in a party with three girls.

Since Loren thought that the whole thing had something to do with women, he thought that Ange and the other girls wouldn’t want to take part in it.

From the few times he had met them before, all of them had feelings for Klaus, but they were also annoyed and tired of Klaus’ and his sloppy habits with women.

He guessed that they would be fed up with him soon, and thought that maybe today was that day, but from what he just heard, it didn’t seem to be so.

“They agreed to lend a helping hand to the village in distress.”

“That was easy. So, what’s the actual reason?”

“I’d appreciate it if you would keep it between us…”

“Why would I give two damns about the love affairs in your group?”

Although he said that, Loren wasn’t someone to spread the word about such things.

He didn’t care if the girls found out about it, he just wanted to know what Klaus’ intention was.

“Well, actually, the village chief…”

“Young?”

“Not that much. But she has an outstanding charm, in a sense…She was a housewife until her husband passed away last year…”

“Did you start feeling sorry for her when she started crying?”

“Yeah, and some other intentions as well…”

“You know that’s going to be the death of you? Don’t expect to die peacefully in a bed.”

Although Loren had said that, Klaus’ life was his own, so no matter how it ended, it wasn’t something for him to be concerned about.

“Well…hahahaha…”

When Klaus laughed without even a hint of remorse, Loren snorted, and Lapis sighed deeply.

“So how about it? Will you help?”

“Since you came over to us and begging, I’m guessing that means no one else other than your group wanted to do this?”

“Pretty much. I wouldn’t have accepted it if it weren’t for the chief.”

Klaus said so very clearly.

As he wondered where he got that gut of his, Loren started to think.

He understood that the correct thing to do was push the whole thing away, saying that it wasn’t their problem.

But other thoughts swirled in his mind as he glared at Klaus, who was looking at him with eyes full of expectation.

This young man named Klaus could be summed up as human trash, as he had been showing them, but there was a small part of him that couldn’t leave anyone in need.

He also had a rare Gift called <<Boost>>, so if personality was taken out of the equation, he was quite the skilled swordsman.