Payday

Even the liveliest of feasts must come to an end, and the once bustling perimeter of the camp once again fell silent, with no activity until the sun rose high in the sky.

Gillna, still half-asleep, emerged from her tent, not at all concerned about her disheveled clothes, and stretched luxuriously.

"Thanks, Gillna," Anna, who had just finished washing a pile of clothes, passed by and said gratefully.

"Huh?"

Gillna, still a bit hungover, took a moment to realize it was about last night and nonchalantly waved her hand.

"It's nothing. Since you're part of Wolf's Mercenary Band, I should look out for you!"

"Huh?" Anna suddenly felt curious about the relationship between the beautiful woman in front of her and Wolf's Mercenary Band.

In response to Anna's question, Gillna yawned and teased, "What about you, little princess, what's your relationship with that Enno kid?"

"Ah?" Anna was a bit flustered and quickly replied, "Just siblings."

"Is that so?" Gillna drew out the word, then slapped Anna's shoulder encouragingly, "If you like him, don't let him slip away. Some things you have to fight for."

Anna's face turned bright red, and she shook her head vigorously, "It's not what you think..."

Gillna let out a hearty laugh, hands on her hips and leaning down almost face-to-face with Anna, "There's no need to be shy. It's better to try and fail than to regret not trying."

After speaking, Gillna seemed to remember something, a fleeting look of worry and sadness crossed her face, but she quickly put on a smile again.

"Being a mercenary isn't a good life. Once your little sweetheart finishes this job, you should persuade him to do something else."

As Gillna finished speaking, she glanced out of the corner of her eye and saw a woman who had just woken up lifting her skirt and squatting in a corner.

"Yana! You brainless idiot, I told you to get away if you have to pee!"

Gillna immediately became furious, cursing as she walked towards Yana, leaving Anna standing there.

On the camp side, everyone was in high spirits.

Because today was the long-awaited payday!

Captain Wolf kicked open a wooden chest, revealing a pile of silver and copper coins. Despite some being stained with a dark red, it didn't dampen everyone's enthusiasm.

Norn, who had been discovered to be able to count and write, was drafted by Wolf to act as a temporary scribe and accountant to distribute the wages.

"Bill! You've served for 62 days. As a senior sword-and-shield man, you earn 1 silver dinar and 6 copper pennies a day. Here's your 99 silver dinars and 2 copper pennies. You can count it over there, and if there's no problem, leave your fingerprint here!"

Norn handed over a stack of coins. The towering Bill cracked his fingers for a while, then suddenly smiled brightly, grabbed the coins, and contentedly left his fingerprint on a scroll of parchment.

"Jinn! You fought for 10 days. As a junior spearman, you get 8 copper pennies a day. Here's your 8 silver dinars."

Jinn happily took the coins and said to Norn, "Enno, want to have a drink tonight?"

"Busy! Maybe later!" Norn replied while calculating the next person's wages.

Behind Jinn, a long line of mercenaries eagerly awaited, eyeing the chest of coins with anticipation. It wasn't until the sun was high in the sky that Norn had finished with everyone.

Wiping his brow, Norn saw that there were still quite a few coins left in the chest. So he called out to Wolf, "Captain, this is what's left!"

Wolf waved his hand, signaling for Norn to follow him with the chest.

Once back in Wolf's tent, Wolf casually asked, "How much is left?"

"Uh, 971 silver dinars and 315 copper pennies," Norn said, noticing a sudden seriousness on Wolf's face.

Wolf fell silent for a moment, then slowly spoke, "Kid, take your share and get out of here."

Norn counted out 8 silver dinars, about to leave, but stopped.

"Captain, are you worried about the upcoming battle?"

"Pfft! Am I that obvious, even you can tell?" Wolf gave a self-mocking smile, then turned serious, "How did you figure I was worried about the battle?"

"I'm not stupid," Norn let out a bitter chuckle, "This camp is deep in enemy territory, less than 30 kilometers from the rebel castle. And we're camped on the plain."

"Moreover, we're so conspicuous, not even trying to hide our tracks, and with the traders following us, if the rebels aren't blind, they must have spotted us already."

"The only reason they haven't attacked yet is that they're trying to figure out our strength." Norn paused, then added worriedly, "After these past few days, they probably know everything about our camp."

"Now, all it takes is a false message, and the rebels will launch a full-scale attack and wipe us out."

"Is that so? You can analyze all this, kid?" Wolf was taken aback by Norn's long speech, then said, "All I know is that this battle is going to be tough!" Wolf finished speaking and downed a gulp of wine.

"Then Captain, can't we terminate the contract?"

Wolf sighed and said fiercely, "These damn nobles, always making excuses to pay us after a victory. Now they've given us the wages for the next month, clearly afraid we'll terminate the contract."

"Now that the contract is signed and the money is taken, we have no choice but to fight," Wolf sighed.

Upon hearing this, Norn's expression also darkened, and he began to secretly plan an escape when a big hand slapped his shoulder heavily.

"What are you thinking, kid?"

Wolf put on a sly look and said, "I'm not stupid enough to sell my life to the nobles." He then pulled out a contract and pointed to a section.

Norn examined it closely for a long time before finally seeing a line of small print that read, "The contractor has the right to decide their combat actions after fulfilling a 2-hour combat obligation when facing more than twice the number of enemies."

Norn looked at the rough man in front of him in surprise, not expecting such a clause in the contract.

"Kid, knowing you're sharp, I'll tell the others privately, if we don't see reinforcements in 2 hours, we'll retreat," Wolf picked up his wine glass again, drinking while muttering,

"A thousand silver dinars a month, why should I risk my life for that?"