With desperate urgency

The merchants headed toward an Imperial town, surrounded by mercenaries.

"It's over…"

"Grrgh… This wasn't… This wasn't supposed to happen…!"

If they failed to hand over the treasure, the dragons would hunt them down.

In other words, the merchants would become traitors who had sicced dragons on the Empire.

Even if they tried to talk their way out of it, the mercenaries were watching them, and those mercenaries would testify that the merchants had provoked the dragons.

After all, the merchants had tried to abandon them first. The mercenaries weren't about to show any mercy.

"What do we do now… Ah! That's it! The Imperial Army can hold its own against dragons!"

"Y-Yes, that's right! Hey, you lot! You're going to cooperate with us!"

The Imperial Army. Indeed, if they mobilized their full might, defeating two dragons wasn't beyond the realm of possibility.

The Imperial Army prized merit above all else. Among the generals, there were battle-hardened warriors capable of facing a dragon in single combat.

A chance to turn the tables! If they could just slay those dragons, they could wipe this debt clean!

However, the mercenary just shook his head.

"No."

"Wha…!? Why not!?"

"Why? That's my line. Why would we lift a finger to help you? You threw us mercenaries to the wolves."

"If an employer tells you to die, you die! That's a mercenary's duty!"

"Wrong. Our job is to fight. Not to be offered up as sacrifices."

Dying in battle was one thing. Being unilaterally turned into a sacrifice after capture was a different story entirely.

"We're guaranteed safety if we hand you over. No need for pointless fighting, right? Avoiding unnecessary losses is also the mark of a good mercenary."

The mercenary snorted. If they were merchants, they should understand cost-benefit analysis.

"B-But there's a chance those dragons might break their promise…"

"Dragons are a proud race. Word is they never renege on a deal. That makes them far more trustworthy than you lot."

"Grrgh…"

The mercenary scoffed at the groaning merchant.

"Look, you know as well as I do that mercenaries are just another type of merchant. Merchants who sell military force. So we understand fellow merchants well enough. Cough it all up. That's what the dragons demanded, isn't it?"

"B-But! If we do that, our trading company is finished…!"

"Like I care. You chose the wrong path. You literally tripped over a dragon's tail."

That saying was synonymous with utter ruin.

Normally it referred to making some irreversible, catastrophic blunder in business and losing everything, but this time they were dealing with actual dragons. In a sense, this was the expression used in its original meaning.

"At least your lives will be spared. Go scrub floors somewhere."

"How could this happen…"

After that, the mercenaries magnificently stripped the merchants of everything.

In a mere three days, they liquidated the trading company and its real estate into cash, converted it all into gems, gold coins, and silver coins that would please dragons, and returned to the village with the enslaved oni women in tow.

The mercenaries understood full well: fail to deliver, and they would become the dragons' next targets.

It was said they worked with desperate urgency.