Money Talks

The card with a creepy dropping face, the joker, did not leave the hands of Brian for the whole game. His experience of having a poker face on the table might have help, but he cannot believe no one even dared to take it.

Being the last person to have a card in his hand, Brian wins the pot of 80 copper coins. Not like he cares about the money in the first place.

"Tsk~ Beginner's luck." The bearded goblin was unsatisfied with the results.

"You were the first one to be out of the game…"

"Hm?"

Under the intense glare of their leader, the younger goblin shut his mouth after making that comment. He was already frustrated that he can only watch on the sideline from the very get-go since, for some reason, every card in his hand became a pair despite giving and taking.

Brian who does not know what to do after winning in a group with their hostile leader came up with a plan to somewhat alleviate the despair of the people who lost ten copper coins.

In Collecto Guild, you can order small snacks and drinks if its members decided to stay idle in their tavern. Although alcohol only is served at night-time that is why it was not on the menu for the meantime.

"My daughter really enjoyed watching our game so let me treat you guys to something."

Brian knows it would be disrespectful if he does not take the winnings and return them to them despite his good intentions. From their perspective, they might think that Brian sees their large bet as something small. They are right on that point, but it would be for the best if Brian did not show it explicitly.

So the safer way would be to treat them using their own money he earned.

This was the right choice as shown on the happy faces of those who lost. They gave Brian their thanks for treating them with kebabs in spite it is their money being used.

"You're not that bad, brat." Their leader's tone became friendlier when talking with Brian although the grumpy face was still there. It might just be because of his face but the bearded goblin can make misunderstandings with his facial expressions alone.

"Old Man lose. Father is the best."

The happiest in the small feast was Paia who Brian also bought a piece of kebab for her. Her broken speech makes you think how she was able to speak fluently when calling out the goblins.

She may not have truly understood how the game was played, but she knows her father won because of the depressed faces of the goblins. If she was with her wolf friends right now, she would brag about his father nonstop.

The father and daughter have their own table to have their own celebration however, Brian cannot help but eavesdrop when the goblins went silent and the air around them became serious.

"Leader, it's almost been a week and no one wants to hire us."

"That ten coppers should have been my budget for tomorrow…"

Brian can hear the desperate and depressed voices of their members. 'Looks like they are not popular in the guild. Maybe I can take advantage of their situation.' He thought.

By taking advantage he means that he can hire them in conditions that were favorable for him. He will still give them an acceptable offer. Brian does not like to exploit other people's situations for his benefit.

So he walks towards the group once again. This time they were more welcoming of him.

"I heard that you guys are having trouble looking for work."

"If you want other things besides ores, go look for other groups in the list." The bearded goblin understood that the human wanted to hire them. It was his goodwill to immediately tell what they can only do rather than make waste his time in a lengthy negotiation talk.

"Waa! Don't reject work yet, Leader."

"He's right, Leader… We should probably branch out to other labor besides mining. At this point another week will pass by without earning."

Brian understood from the responses of the party members that their leader is stubborn. There were a lot of people coming and out to enquire about the guild's service. It will be impossible for a normal group who is contracted at Collecto to have no offers for a week or what more, two weeks.

However, if they limit themselves to only one specific type of manual labor, dozens of offers are already crossed out. This should be the situation of this seven-man goblin party. Luckily for Brian, mining is what he needs for them.

Brian did not show it in his face that they were the perfect group for his request. If the other felt like he was desperate for them, they can offer their workforce for a higher price.

A beginner merchant who barely did any merchant stuff he might be, the concept of having the greatest result for the least cost is not something unfamiliar for Brian.

All cards of the other party are now face up on the table while Brian has not put his down yet. The only thing he mentioned was his consideration of hiring them. They do not even know if Brian has a lot of money or not, or what he came to the guild for. The System will truly mock him if somehow he pays more than what he should be paying.

'I saw the average price of a group that consists of at least seven to ten members is 1.2-1.5 gold. Since mining is a relatively safe job and I don't need ores that would be too difficult to acquire, I can use that to lessen their day effort to at most 20 coppers.'

Brian was not in rush to say anything yet. He was waiting for the other group to discuss among themselves first. Calling it as a discussion might be wrong because the six were just convincing their leader to hear what the human has to offer.

After a few shouts here and there, the bearded goblin finally gave up and asked, "What would you like us to gather? I'll remind you that it will cost more because it's not our forte."

His reluctant statement garnishes an unfavorable reaction to his party members. However, Brian can only laugh at himself because it was in their forte what he wants them to gather.

"Let's not make assumptions first… We'll introduce one another first. I'm Brian." Brian smiled as he did not bother sitting on their side. Most likely because Paia wanted him to stand and have a better view on his shoulders.

"Ogz."

"Glad to meet you Ogz but I want to ask a question first… If I'll offer 1 gold a day to gather 2 bundles of Nocto Vines and an extra 50 coppers for each extra… Will you accept it?"

"No! Who'll gather something dangerous for just a gold coin!?" Ogz was very offended when the human name Brian gave out this offer. Even slaves in Soliel will not earn so little for such a grueling task.

"Hm… Since you're a miner in heart, how much will a gold coin be worth in iron, mana steel, and other common ores used for forging can you mine?"

"Good enough for a dozen swords made out of iron or two sets of full body armor made from the same material."

Brian nodded as he went silent for a minute. The reason why he asked something ridiculous at first is that he wanted to know the set price of ores. Ogz will only think that Brian was asking how willing were they to gather Nocto Vines by using ores as the basis.

He does not know whether Ogz was the type to lie, but it was better to be sure than not.

Done with his thought process, Brian finally said his offer "I guess a gold worth of ores can do the trick. So you guys have no problem mining right?"

The human's offer confused Ogz. There was no correlation between Nocto Vine, a red vine with magical properties, to common ores you can easily mine in caves and underground. Suddenly changing his target material can only mean that his target in the first place was for them to mine ores for him.

Confused he may be, Ogz was glad that despite being convinced to accept other task offers, they still ended up on their forte.

"I will need a gold worth of only iron ore then another gold for any other ores. Nothing less, nothing more. So 2 gold coins per day. Of course, if it meets the amount... And the most important thing. If you can't provide every single day for at least a month, I'll look for another group."

"You got yourself a deal!" Ogz did not hesitate to shake the reached-out hand of Brian. In his case, he was already happy that they have a mining task. And not to mention every day they would have work to do.

"Since you're our boss for probably a long time. I'll call you Boss Bry. Rolls easier on the tongue that way. I guess Boss Bry owns a blacksmith."

"Yeah, so you can deliver it anytime starting two days from now at this location." Brian pulled out a map in his pockets.

'It would be stupid to not use the trial period the system gave although most likely the time will be used for training Richi until the System is satisfied.'

Having officially done signing with the deal in the guild reception, the father and daughter left the joyful group of goblins.