The County Magistrate nodded with understanding, "So you are from a family of escort masters. No wonder you are so capable at such a young age. It’s thanks to you that the bandits entrenched in Zhao Family Village were eradicated. On behalf of all the citizens of Dai County, I extend our gratitude to you!"
As the County Magistrate was about to bow to them, Bai Junjun and Li Wenli hadn’t spoken yet, when his attendant stepped in to stop him, "County Magistrate, you mustn’t! Are you not overwhelming the two young warriors with your gesture?"
"But they saved the common people of Dai County!" The County Magistrate still had excitement written all over his face.
"Tsk, although that is true, if I may be so bold, eliminating the threat in Zhao Family Village is not the end. I’m afraid the others from Black Spider may find out and, enraged with humiliation, will gather and come for us.
When that time comes, it won’t just be Zhao Family Village at risk; our entire Dai County might become the target of Black Spider’s vengeance."
The County Magistrate’s face turned to fear, "This... this won’t do! You two knights must help us! Our Dai County cannot become the thorn in Black Spider’s side."
The County Magistrate was about to bow again, and the attendant stopped him once more.
"County Magistrate, you mustn’t! The two young warriors, with their chivalrous hearts and brave souls, will certainly accept the commission."
Watching the two of them perform their rehearsed act in front of them, the pair heaved a silent sigh of resignation.
"County Magistrate, you can stop the act. Honestly, as long as the reward is ample, we’ll take care of not just Black Spider, but even Black Widow for you."
"Eh?" The two acting out the emotions were about to say something heartfelt, but to their surprise, the others spoke directly about money.
They thought talking about money was vulgar and had decided not to mention it.
After a moment of awkwardness, the two said hesitantly, "You... How would you like to negotiate?"
"Just provide us with a copy of the bounty booklet. We’ll follow the booklet and track down the listed individuals. But don’t bother including any bounties lower than ten taels of silver in the booklet. Leave some space for others to earn something, too."
The two replied with ease.
"You..." The County Magistrate wanted to say that the booklet could be given, but... was it reliable?
But looking at the fifty-plus bodies lying outside, he felt he was overthinking it.
These two young warriors should be fine, right?
"Don’t worry, at most you’ll lose a booklet if you cooperate with us. But if we succeed, you may even receive a promotion," they reassured.
The County Magistrate nodded, "Alright, you two rest a bit. I’ll have the Registrar draw up the booklet for you immediately."
"No need. We’re going to take a stroll outside the county town and will come back later to pick it up. Oh, and the reward money for these people..."
"It is available. I will give the reward to the two knight-errants right away," the County Magistrate said, instructing his attendant to retrieve it from the treasury.
Speaking of which, their Dai County had salt, cane sugar lumps, and watermelons, all of which were good sources of income. In the Eastern Land, Dai County could be considered one of the wealthier counties. They had more than enough to cover this payment of Reward Silver.
Moreover, these days, the regions suffering from bandit incursions were crying to the Third Prince, "We have no one to fight the bandits; the city is in chaos," and so on.
With the war situation being critical, the Third Prince truly had no way to divert more troops to deal with the bandits, so each place was allocated a hefty sum of Reward Silver, aimed at employing local village chivalrous to fight against the bandits.
Whether other counties were pocketing this Reward Silver, he did not know, but as the fatherly official of Dai County, the County Magistrate hoped to live out his days in a well-managed, tranquil county.
Thus, encountering such formidable knights-errant, he didn’t mind paying them the money, so long as they could restore peace to his jurisdiction.
Soon after, the attendant returned with fifty taels of gold.