I stood in front of the group of deserters, their eyes wide with shock as they looked up at me.

Clearly they couldn’t understand who I was talking to when I said it wasn’t necessary to kill them.

Obviously I had been talking to Julia.

I had definitely sensed her.

It had not at all been a random stab in the dark that she was somewhere in the area plotting to kill them.

And a moment later my gue... I mean my senses were proven right when she suddenly became visible behind the leader with her sword at his throat.

Aren’t I amazing?

"Who in the hell are you two?" Beardy man asked as he looked up at my beautiful wife standing behind him.

"I am a simple businessman from Lofie village, and that is my wife." I said, spreading my hands in a very innocent looking gesture.

"I would like to offer you gentleman a job, of course you can decline it, but I would appreciate it if you didn’t bother us anymore in that case." I continued.

For some reason all of them turned a shade paler when I said that.

I couldn’t really understand why, since I was being completely sincere, it’s not like I was going to kill them if they declined or anything. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

I would’ve simply let them go on their way.

"What kind of job?" The leader asked.

It was at that moment I knew that I had them hooked.

"I’m going to start up a mercenary company, and I would like you to be my first employees." I answered.

A frown marred the scarred features of the man, he had been the only one of them not to show any emotions when I told them about the job I wanted to offer them, but now he seemed to be having some kind of inner struggle.

"I don’t want to fight for another man who just wants to conquer and destroy his way to power, so if that is your goal, you might as well just take my head." The man said.

My jaw almost hit the ground at the rate that had escalated.

"Woah, woah, woah," I began, shaking my hands to stop him from getting the wrong idea, and also to stop Julia, who seemed to think that was her green light to really do what the man said.

"Firstly, I’m not planning to conquer anything or anyone, like I said I’m a simple businessman."

"Your job would mostly be to guard the village I’m living in, and maybe some beast hunting jobs." I said.

For some reason the leader seemed shocked by my words.

"Guarding the village?"

I nodded pretty enthusiastically at this question.

"The village is in the elven lands, and they’ve recently implemented some tax laws, which would allow them to hire guards to protect the village for the first time."

"And I’m hoping to get the contract with them to be the one to supply those guards." I said.

The more I said, the more shocked the man and all of his followers seemed.

"You really are just a businessman?"

"Of course I am, do I look like anything else to you?"

The men looked at me with what seemed like pretty dumbfounded expressions on their faces.

Like a well oiled machine they turned their gazes up to Julia, who simply nodded to them as if to second my answer.

"And what would be in it for us?" one of the followers asked.

Which seemed like a perfectly reasonable question to me, but apparently Julia thought that it wasn’t all that reasonable.

"You’ll avoid death." She answered, completely serious.

The man who spoke paled another degree.

"Ignore that, if you don’t want to come work for me that is your right." I said, raising a hand to interrupt Julia before she could say anything more.

"I will pay you a base monthly salary of eight silver, and provide you with room and board at the local inn, until we can set up a base of operations where we will have lodgings for you."

"At some point I hope to open a sort of mercenary guild where people could come to us to request jobs, at that point you will receive a commission on the jobs you complete."

I could see that after this their leader wanted to say something more, but I interrupted him before he could say anything.

"Of course we will do our due diligence to determine whether the request is something that we would be comfortable to fulfil, and you will always have the right to refuse those requests if they seem immoral." I finished.

I could see that those words had the required effect.

Most of the men seemed pretty keen on coming to work for me, but they still all looked to their leader for confirmation.

The man seemed lost in thought for a few moments, and I let him sort through his thoughts in peace.

"And would we be allowed to leave this job anytime we want?" he asked.

"I would prefer it if you gave me at least a week’s notice before you quit, but yes you have the right to quit anytime you want." I answered.

This seemed to sway his thoughts in my direction.

After a few more moments he looked at each of his followers one-by-one, each one of them gave him a nod of ascent.

"Well then, it seems you’re our new boss." He finally said.

I had to do everything in my power not to jump up and down like an idiot when he said that.

I had just taken a massive step into what could potentially be a very big source of income in the future.

"Thank you for joining us." I said.

Finally Julia sheathed her sword with a long sigh.

I walked over to the men and shook each of their hands.

"Wait a moment." Julia spoke up just as we were about to make our way over to the camp.

"I would like to test their strength first."

A cold chill ran through me when I heard her say that.

But for once it wasn’t for fear of my own life.

In my mind I said a silent prayer to whichever gods were in charge of this world, asking them to protect my new employees.