"We came to see the bear hide."
Rowan glanced at Yuval while quickly sizing up the others from the corner of his vision.
"You don't look like merchants..."
Yuval smiled.
"How could merchants come to such a rough place? We received a commission. Do you know a peddler named Yove? He apparently gave our client some information. Said there was something in a mountain village that taxidermists would absolutely love..."
Only then did Rowan nod.
"I see. Is he doing well?"
"If you mean Yove, he's running a tavern. Says he'll never peddle again. Haha."
Rowan smiled bitterly as he let the Skull Mercenary Group inside. Watching the back of Rowan's head, Yuval licked his lips.
'Pretty good. He knows how to read people. And he's only 15...'
Rowan had immediately noticed they were all people who lived by the sword, and he'd even observed them from the corner of his eye. That earned him extra points.
"This guy's no ordinary kid."
Yuval whispered while looking back. Everyone nodded. Normally they were lazy and had no respect for each other, but real situations were different. Especially since they'd come all this way for nothing, they needed to get some profit here at least.
"Shouldn't we look at the bear hide first?"
"That's true. But I heard you were trying to ask around about me?"
At Rowan's words, the atmosphere turned cold. Rowan, who had no bad reputation, often hunted for the reincarnator's power he believed came from killing things, though of course there were no results. Because of that, he always had more meat than he needed, and he practically showered the village with it.
They'd been subtly asking about that kind of Rowan, so that information was bound to reach his ears. It had gotten to Rowan during dinner.
"You seem to have quite a bit of influence in the village."
At Yuval's words, Rowan nodded and poured drinks. He carefully served them one by one, but no one brought their cup to their lips. In an atmosphere so cold that blades could fly at any moment, Rowan tilted his cup.
"What do you people do?"
Yuval bowed his head and apologized. For him, age was not a criterion for judgment. This time they'd lost, so apologizing and moving on was the only way.
The reason he didn't use force was that Rowan's physical training was seriously exceptional for his age, and his hands had a lot of calluses.
'Characteristic calluses. Means he's learned secret techniques.'
When you swing a sword, you get a lot of calluses on your hand right below where your fingers start. But in Rowan's case, he had calluses even in places where ordinary warriors couldn't have them. These were called characteristic calluses and were also the biggest trait of knights.
Most legendary tales of martial valor, where the combat ratio was as low as 1-to-6 or as high as 1-to-100, even when surrounded, not to mention one-on-one, were created through knights.
If you're a fairly veteran mercenary, it's natural to know about characteristic calluses. Moreover, Yuval was a manhunter and bounty hunter who had to catch even fallen knights. It would be strange if he didn't know.
"I apologize. We actually thought you were Handless Sendabil. Because you had his characteristic halberd. I'm talking about a halberd where the thick axe part takes up a large portion. We couldn't let go of that suspicion, so we went around asking."
"Ah."
Rowan understood immediately. It was certainly a special halberd, different in class from ordinary halberds. It was a halberd superior to spears for breaking enemy formations, but Sendabil's halberd was just used as a brutish axe.
But that didn't make him let go of all his suspicions.
'In a situation where even bandits use tactics, how much more so mercenaries?'
The bandits had used cheap tricks even without knowledge. Separating men and women and putting them in warehouses was an amazingly dirty tactic that could gain several advantages. It meant they weren't stupid even without knowledge, and since then, Rowan had come to think everyone had a hidden blade.
Unlike the peaceful modern world, here you couldn't survive without such a blade.
"I'd like you to explain in detail. The village has been having a lot of troubles lately."
"No problem."
Yuval explained in detail what they'd been doing. Of course, like the skilled liar he was, nothing about Yove was accurate. Yet it all sounded incredibly truthful.
He couldn't believe everything, but he had no choice but to trust Yuval's words to some extent as he spoke about the long journey without hesitation.
"Everyone except me let go of their suspicions and was going to buy the bear hide, take it to a taxidermist, and make up for the wasted time."
"I see."
Rowan fell into thought for a moment. He had the opposite reaction from the mercenaries, including Yuval, who'd backed down because of the characteristic calluses and Rowan's information network.
'Five mercenaries, all veterans who've seen their share of fighting, yet they didn't threaten me and treated me with respect. From outward appearances, they don't seem bad.'
Back in the modern world, countless books on social skills and etiquette filled the shelves. Here, people learned through hard experience, often the painful kind. Without that knowledge, they simply didn't know any better. There were folks here who'd curse and spit on the ground without realizing it made them look like complete assholes.
In that regard, if they'd investigated him, they'd know he was 15, yet Yuval, who clearly looked in his thirties, not speaking informally to him earned high marks.
'He told me about a schedule of over a week right away. If he were mixing in lies, there's nothing that needs to be changed later.'
All things considered, it was so perfect that he couldn't point out anything right away, precisely because it sounded smart. He became suspicious instead, but he couldn't show that outwardly. Rowan was someone overflowing with manners in this world, more than you'd think.
Needless to say, that pressured Yuval and the mercenaries even more. Not voicing suspicions was proof of maturity.
Showing maturity even at a young age meant having that much knowledge. Yuval now wondered if this ranch was a fallen knight's household.
'There's also nothing suspicious about buying the bear hide.'
It was a natural course of action for mercenaries pursuing money.
Because of Yuval's calm demeanor, the process of how they came here was given even more credibility. It doesn't make sense for a petty thief to rob a bank, but it's quite believable if someone with ten prior convictions robs a bank.
His personality and actions fitting together was also excellent. And if it was a lie, it was creepy.
Half-believing, Rowan headed to his personal warehouse. Wolf Dono followed along.
"A wolf, huh? How did you tame it?"
Merein looked at wolf Dono with admiration. When you do mercenary work, you see wolf packs of 5 to as many as 15, and they're extremely vicious.
"We just clicked."
Rowan didn't explain in detail. He couldn't say he'd gotten it through a black dream. Everyone was internally surprised by the shrewd Rowan. Merein's sensual figure was never easy to shake off.
Even the mercenary members who'd been seeing Merein for years occasionally stared blankly.
Rowan's unhesitating dismissal was striking. It wasn't that Merein didn't appeal to him, but rather that Rowan had the mindset of succeeding first before looking for women.
He was similar to some men who want to buy a house first before looking for someone to marry, or who want stability even if they have a girlfriend. With his high pride, if he fell short of what society demanded, he'd push everything back.
Rowan's pride was incredibly high. The reason he hadn't touched a single village maiden so far was because he wasn't satisfied with what he had. Because he hadn't approached the affluent life of a modern person, his self-loathing was considerable.
That's also why he worked like a dog and paid tuition to Rakson to learn how to fight.
Memories of modern life gave him a massive inferiority complex, and it was firewood that greatly heated his heart.
Of course, it was also because he had absolutely zero experience with women. Cigarettes and alcohol, you develop a taste for them and have to drink often to like them. Women's bodies were the same. In the modern world, Rowan had gone the all-boys middle school, all-boys high school, military route, and in college was blinded by scholarships.
His desire for beautiful women wasn't enormous.
"This is the bear hide I'm selling."
"Wow."
Youngest Sen exclaimed. Yuval and the others skillfully examined the hide's condition. And they nodded while looking at the torches and candles lit throughout the warehouse.
"You're working hard to remove moisture."
"The product quality has to be very high to sell it expensively, right?"
"That's true."
The thinking was pretty good. Yuval clicked his tongue when he realized the only holes were from the wolf teeth that had dug into the hind leg and below the neck.
'This would be hard for me too.'
"Did you kill it by bleeding it out?"
"Yeah. It lasted a good 5 hours."
Yuval called his members together.
"How much do you think?"
Everyone's eyes turned to Merein. As a informant, she was bound to know quite a bit. She'd enter combat if needed, but Merein's main job was operating in villages, cities, and castles.
"If we're greedy, 20 coins. If we don't want the hassle, 30."
"Why's it so expensive?"
"One that big and intact. It'll be taxidermied right away. Not a waste to display anywhere."
"Usually they catch big bears right after hibernation when they're weak, but not this one. It was caught when its size was near peak. Nobles or whatever will go crazy for it."
Bedum acted like he knew stuff. Actually, he knew nothing.
"Let's go in strong."
If they argued for an hour and got 20 coins, that was profit. Even if they couldn't eat, they had to pick at it. Because they'd spent 5 days getting here.
"How about selling it for 20 silver coins?"
Merein stepped up for negotiations. It wasn't good for Yuval to negotiate too. Yuval and Rowan needed to have no hard feelings, and if Yuval stepped in for money transactions, hard feelings would inevitably develop. There were times to step in for personal feelings and times to let others step in.
"I'd like to get 25. I put in effort controlling the moisture."
"Let's make it 22. Even buying 100 candles is 2 silver coins."
"Candles are expensive in small villages. Oil even more so."
After going back and forth, Rowan finally raised both arms. He was exhausted from holding onto the bear hide for so long. He was more tired of trying to sell the bear hide than the mercenaries were.
"Then if you do one commission for me, I'll do it for 22."
"If it's difficult..."
Merein trailed off. Rowan waved his hands while smiling broadly. Even he thought it was a reasonable commission.
'Malrux's story helps here.'
"Our village is low on currency and goods have piled up a bit. There was talk once about going to big villages or Torch Fortress to sell things, so if you accompany us there, I'll do it for 22. You're going anyway, so it's just one commission."
Nothing difficult about it. Because they were selling goods at big villages, it wasn't even a detour. Merein turned her head and asked Yuval with her expression.
"That's fine with us."
Rowan and Yuval shook hands. Yuval could once again feel the characteristically bumpy calluses through his hand.
'If we'd attacked without knowing anything, one of us would've died.'
The mercenaries prepared to transport the bear hide. They borrowed a cart, laid cloth on the bottom, put in the bear hide, placed cloth on top again, and covered it with a tarp treated with waste oil. It would prevent moisture from getting in at dawn.
The schedule was quickly set.
The villagers had bought hides by cheating Rowan without telling him in the first place. Even if you smiled and let it go, when it came to money, everyone was selfish. Capitalism and human nature made sure of that.
Here, laws weren't properly established. If your nose got cut off, it was either your own fault or you had to duel to the death.
'The martial world isn't somewhere else.'
The mountain village was literally lawless. Even if people backstabbed each other, they had to smile and roughly drink together to let off steam.
As soon as news spread that Rowan was hiring mercenaries to go to the big village, people flocked from all sides. The village hall was bustling for the first time in a while.
"Have some snacks!"
There were villagers who distributed food while receiving wages and sold the best liquor they'd made this time. Because Rowan had opened the floodgates, he was positioned quite centrally.