As much as the people of Zanna wanted to attack Ashton and his troops, they had no choice but to ingest their anger. However, there was another bitter pill they couldn't swallow.
With Nico and Cyclops gone, no one could save them from the horde, even if the mercenaries decided to spare their lives. Typically, they would have begged the mercenaries to stay and help, but that wasn't an option anymore as they were the ones who tried to exploit them as free labour.
No one in their sane minds would help them after the stunt they pulled. Hell, they would be lucky if the mercenaries decided the leave them alone and go their way.
"Let's leave before things get chaotic here." One mercenary suggested.
No one opposed his suggestion. It would take around three hours for the horde to reach the city's outer walls. The mercenaries had plenty of time to depart and leave the treacherous bastards to fend for themselves.
However, there was someone who objected. Surprisingly, it was the man Nico, and the Cultists wanted to screw over the most.
"Don't give me that look; I'm not pitying them or anything." Ashton shrugged, "I don't know how loaded your bank accounts are, but I'm not leaving without recovering the fuel and travelling expenses I had to incur. Fuel prices are no joke!"
Now that Ashton pointed it out, the mercenaries were unsure about leaving without appropriate compensation. After all, some of them had to pay thousands of Yenos worth of fuel to get to Occuna, and leaving barehanded would only do them more harm than good.
That said, they weren't sure how will they get their money back. With the contractor dead, it wasn't like the citizens of Zanna were going to empty their pockets for them. To top it all off, Nico employed them, not the citizens, which meant they were not bound to pay mercenaries for their work.
However, judging by Ashton's confidence, they knew he had some plan in his head.
"We don't need them to pay us. The treasure is headed our way after all." Ashton said with a smug smile.
"Surely you don't mean-"
One of Nico's former teammates began to yelp, but Ashton immediately cut him off.
"Of course I do," Ashton said before facing the mercenaries, "We'll sell the beast corpses and make ourselves some money. Unfortunately, that'll mean we will be saving these ungrateful bastards in the process. Don't fret, though; taking the corpses should be enough punishment for them."
Zanna wasn't a city with a lot of ways to generate revenue. Being located on a distant island of the planet, the only resources they had control over were the beasts and very few natural resources.
Whenever a horde appeared, they would subdue the beasts and then sell them off at high prices. Without significant competition, they could set ridiculous prices for raw materials generated by the beasts, and the buyers had no choice but to agree to their outrageous prices.
That said, if the mercenaries took everything from them, Zanna would die a slow death. Without the corpses, they won't be able to hire help even from the shadiest organisations, and without help, they won't be able to repel future hordes.
Forget about hiring help. They won't be able to repair the damage caused by the hordes, and fighting savage beasts in that condition was nothing less than suicide. With his plan, Ashton was essentially ramming them to their doom while coming out as a 'good guy' for helping them.
"You can't do this!" Qalea, Nico's left-hand woman, yelled at the top of her lungs, "That's not what the contract-"
"Contract? What contract?" Anna acted surprised and gasped, "Oh, you mean the contract which became void when your leader died? Sorry to say, but you can do nothing to stop us."
"I-I'll offer you a new contract!" Qalea panicked, "We'll pay you four times the money Nico offered, but please just leave half of the corpses to us-"
At this moment, Ashton had enough of their bullshit. These bastards did not hesitate for a moment before screwing others over, but now that they were facing the same treatment, suddenly it was unfair?
"A contract? It seems you're unaware of the situation you're in." Ashton calmly walked up to her, "You're fucked. You wanted to fuck us over, but I shoved a reverse card straight up your asses. Get lost if you don't want someone else to shove something in your ass."
[I almost believed you were doing it for revenge, haha!]
'All warfare is based on deception.'
[You thought of the line by yourself?]
'Nah, Sun Tzu did. Unlike a certain body-less bastard, I don't take credit for someone else's work.'
[...]
Different from the other mercenaries, Ashton was full of funds. Loss of a few thousand yenos wouldn't have any long time consequences for him either.
However, he needed corpses, a lot of corpses, for some other reason, namely to create a lich. At least, that's what was written in the grimoire. The reason why he wanted other mercenaries to contribute was to ensure the safety of his faction.
While he was strong enough to protect himself and his lieutenants, the others were inexperienced and could become dinner for the beasts. Having the support of other factions would solidify the position of his forces.
The mercenaries get their money, Ashton gets his corpses, and together they'll get their revenge on Zanna. It was a complete win-win situation for them.
After pondering for a few more minutes, most of the mercenaries agreed to fight off the horde together while some left to 'inform the association' about the crap Zanna had pulled.
"I'm pretty sure they just wanted an excuse to run away." Vimur shrugged, "What a bunch of cowards."
Everyone laughed at his reaction. In the meantime, Ashton and the leaders from the other factions were busy holding a meeting. They had decided to fight, but they needed a strategy first. Thankfully, Astaroth and his years of experience were on their side.