Chapter 31 - Stop Waving at Everyone!
"Lord... Atlas!" The receptionist behind the counter greeted him with a bright smile. She had short blonde hair and fingers poised over a sleek virtual keyboard embedded in the desk.
"So, you’re looking for thirty to forty combatants and around ten workers, correct?" she asked, confirming the details.
"Yes," Atlas replied with a polite nod. "And I’d also like to know what kind of budget I should be preparing for that."
She rested her hands on the desk, her smile softening into something more businesslike.
"We’ll do our best to match you with suitable candidates. But since you’re a newly awakened Lord with no reputation yet, and this being your first battle, the number of applicants may be a bit limited."
She let the words settle before continuing, "However, increasing the pay rate could help draw more interest. We’ll run an initial search and notify you as soon as we have some results."
"Thanks," Atlas said.
Hiring temporary mercenaries turned out to be more expensive than he’d anticipated. Contracts ranged from 3 to 5 gold for just a 14-day period. A high price, especially considering he’d only scraped together 1,000 gold so far. Recruiting forty people would cost between 120 to 200 gold for two weeks, and could reach up to 400 gold for a full month.
Still, if he could secure the right people, those he could count on when it mattered most, the investment might more than pay off. Victories would bring loot, territory gains, and valuable rewards that could easily outweigh the upfront costs.
But war came with real consequences. Losses on the battlefield could mean serious injuries, permanent damage... or worse.
For mercenaries who swore loyalty to a Lord, though, the benefits went well beyond gold. They’d gain access to Exp Orbs, allowing them to level up much faster, and might even acquire specialized armor, weapons, and rare gear otherwise out of reach.