My villain wants to save himself, but the yandere heroine disagrees

"Everyone, you are willing to help me in my most critical moment. I, Orsen, will always remember this kindness."

"Duke Orson, you're too polite. We didn't actually do anything." A mercenary leader said with a smile.

"That's right. We are the ones who are able to help a hero like you. It's all thanks to you." Another bearded mercenary also quickly praised Orson.

Of course, everyone here knows this at this moment.

Apart from the armed forces formed by the citizens outside, there is no such thing as "righteous indignation" among other people. It's all about money.

Without money, how can these cunning mercenaries help?

"I know you've worked hard." Orson said with a smile.

"But I have to say this first."

Orson stood up and looked at the others.

"Now that we are united, I don't want to see any betrayal."

"To be honest, my father-in-law, the Duke of Prussia, is sending 100,000 troops here, and my father, the Duke of Antica, is also sending 70,000."

"My minister, Napoli's Prime Minister Cellinina, you know, after all, she hired you."

"I'm sure you all know the possibility of our winning in this situation."

"The royal family will definitely fight to the death now. In this case, you will definitely be the one they are fighting for."

"But we will definitely win, so you should know what to do next."

Orson said this and smiled at the mercenary leaders around him.

This is both persuasion and a warning.

Chapter 4: The End of Betrayal (K)

In response to Orson's warning, most of the mercenary leaders present were quite sensible, but there were also a few troublemakers who were dissatisfied with it.

Mercenaries always act according to their own wishes. They wait for the right price to obtain the highest benefits. This is their usual style of doing things. Now Orson actually wants them to give up their previous ideas, which is obviously impossible.

"I'm sorry, Lord Orson. You should know that we mercenaries do dangerous work. We live one day at a time and we live for today. What we hate most are promises that cannot be fulfilled, so please understand us."

"Of course, I understand you."

Orson opened his arms and spoke frankly.

"We have already paid you a deposit, and the daily maintenance fee will be paid to you on time. I think we are very sincere, right?"

"Of course, if the royal family pays a larger sum than we do, what will you do?"

Hearing this, the mercenary leaders fell silent.

Orson has already made it clear that these mercenaries are being asked to take sides.

If they choose to stand on Orson's side, there is no problem, but once they have the intention to defect, Orson will definitely hold a grudge against them.

It depends on whether they choose to believe that the royal family can win, or that the Elsa faction led by Orson can win.

After a long while, a mercenary leader stood up and said, "I believe in Lord Orson's strength."

When Orson saw the other party take the lead in expressing his loyalty, he smiled and shook his head.

"No, you need to believe in justice."

Afterwards, more and more mercenary leaders stood up and expressed their loyalty to Orson. Even a few mercenary leaders who were unwilling to cooperate just now stood up and said a few polite words reluctantly.

There's no way around it, this is the herd effect.

Everyone agreed to cooperate with Orson. If I sing a different tune at this time, not to mention how Orson himself would feel about it, other colleagues would have a different attitude towards me.

It’s okay. At worst I can find another way out when I go back.

The mercenaries are not stupid and can naturally see the current situation.

Orson looked at the scene of everyone in the room swearing allegiance and nodded with satisfaction.

It's not that he doesn't have the financial resources to retain these mercenaries by spending money directly, but if he does, the price he pays will be too high.

Naples had just ended the war and was in urgent need of recovery, while the royal territory and the city of Saint-Laurent had also been destroyed by the war, and post-war reconstruction required a large amount of funds.

No matter how rich the Lison Chamber of Commerce is, it has only been established for less than a year. Even with the financial support of several dukes, it can only barely exceed the current royal treasury.

This is also thanks to the fact that Odysseus is not a monarch who is good at making money, otherwise the situation Orson is facing now would be even more difficult.

After everyone else left the room, a little blonde girl walked out of the adjacent cubicle.

"How about it, do you want me to help you deal with those disobedient guys?"

Franka said this and grinned slightly, revealing her cute little fangs.

"You can do this when necessary."

Orson said so.

……

On the other side, the imperial treasury of Saint Laurent City.

This is the place where the most money is stored in the entire empire. Although many dignitaries took out a lot of money from the treasury in advance due to the previous turmoil in the imperial city, there is still a large amount of money used to ensure the normal operation of the treasury.

And now, Arthas is preparing to enter the vault with his men.

At the door of the vault, the administrator saw the emperor in person and asked in confusion:

"Your Majesty, what are you doing here?"

"Come to borrow some money." Arthas said bluntly.

"The war is urgent now. We must mobilize all the resources we can to fight our enemies. The money in the vault won't increase if it's just sitting there. But if I defeat the enemy, the money I can plunder from them will be endless."

Arthas said this, trying to persuade the vault keeper to let him in through non-violent means.

However, the vault manager was obviously not a fool. After listening to Arthas' words, he hesitated for a moment and then shook his head.

"Your Majesty, if someone plans to withdraw funds from the treasury during this period, we will not be able to send out funds without money. In this way, the credit of the treasury will be greatly reduced. Moreover, if the debts cannot be repaid after the war, the treasury... will completely lose its vitality."

After all, the treasury is built with the credit of the royal family and the government as collateral. Once the royal family's credit collapses, the treasury will collapse sooner or later.

"So, you would rather let your emperor lose the war on the front line because he doesn't have enough money and lose the throne?"

Arthas looked at the administrator in front of him with a hint of anger in his tone.

"No, no, no... Of course that's not what I think, but... Your Majesty, we have to consider the future of the empire after all. Once the treasury collapses, the empire's business will be greatly affected, and the robbers will become more rampant."

Yes, the vault itself was established to facilitate transactions between wealthy people such as merchants and nobles. Merchants do not need to worry about their money being exposed and lost when transporting goods, and the currency circulating between vaults can also be escorted by the royal regular army, which is quite safe.

The original policy was undoubtedly conducive to business. Merchants only needed to withdraw money from the local treasury to pay the locals. It became more difficult for robbers and thieves to take advantage of the opportunity to rob, and the cost of protection required by merchants was reduced. As a result, the empire's commodity economy was actually quite prosperous.

Once the credit of the vault collapses, wealthy people will withdraw their assets from the vault, and the vault's cash flow will be cut off and unsustainable.

First of all, the empire's business faced a serious blow.

The absence of money in the vault means that merchants must bring their own money to the place of production to purchase goods. The cost of escort required for this journey increases, and money exposed to the outside for a long time will undoubtedly become fat meat in the eyes of thieves and bandits, making them salivate.

Thieves and robbers will increase in number as they take risks to get exposed coins.

At the same time, due to the increase in escort costs and the increase in trade route risks, merchants will increase the prices of their original goods in order to recover their costs.

When commodity prices rise, people who buy commodities will have to pay a higher price, and they may even become unable to make ends meet and even lose their families.

Poverty leads to more vagrancy and crime, which in turn makes trade routes more dangerous.

Therefore, the empire’s treasury must not collapse under any circumstances, otherwise the empire will face a very serious economic crisis.

In this case, if Arthas wanted to withdraw money from the imperial treasury, the administrator would have no choice but to threaten him with his life.

The administrator stood in front of Arthas and blocked his way with his arms outstretched.

"Your Majesty, our family has protected the empire for generations.

The treasury, no one knows the role of the treasury better than us. It is related to the economic lifeline of the empire. It is not that we are unwilling to open the door to your Majesty... but your Majesty does not know how serious the consequences of doing so will be..."

"If this precedent is set and the government loses trust, thousands of people in the empire will starve and eventually become bandits, endangering your rule!"

As the administrator said this, he almost burst into tears, and finally even knelt down, begging Arthas not to do this.

However, Arthas just looked at him coldly, and then said:

"You have been in this position as the administrator of the Imperial Treasury for too long, and you have lost your judgment."

Arthas kicked him away, and the administrator's back hit the wall next to him, and then he spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Listen, as a subject of the empire, the emperor's orders are paramount. If you don't even obey my orders, then there is no need for you to continue to stay in this position."

"In the empire, the emperor is the sky, and everything must serve the emperor."

Arthas said this and called his men in.

"Go in and take all the money out."

Afterwards, countless imperial guards rushed into the imperial treasury and took out the currency that had been stored there for a long time one by one.

The administrator looked at what the imperial guards were doing and could only collapse helplessly on the ground, lamenting the changes in the world.

"His Majesty."

He saw that Arthas had not left yet, and finally spoke slowly:

"If that day really comes, don't blame me for not reminding you. The impact of your actions on the empire will be incalculable."

"If that day ever comes, I will personally go to your grave to make amends."

Arthas said this and turned to leave.

Before leaving, he ordered the execution of the administrator of the imperial treasury for treason and then confiscated the entire family's property.

……

Late into the night, Rosalyn organized a meeting.

Even though the city of Saint Laurent has been plunged into civil war, there are still many neutral areas where people from both sides can negotiate.

Many mercenary leaders who had previously attended Orson’s meeting attended this meeting.

"Queen Rosalyn, you should know what drives us together."

A mercenary leader said this and made a gesture to ask for money.

Another mercenary leader whistled and looked at Rosaline with a hint of amusement.

"Queen, if you don't want to give money, we can accept it if you give something else."

Listening to the other party's frivolous words, Rosalin suppressed her inner unhappiness, smiled, and then said:

"Of course I know the current situation of both of us, and I also know what you need most."

Rosalyn said this and made a list.

"I guess Orson and the others must have given you a lot of money, right? The Lison Chamber of Commerce behind him is really extraordinary. They have accumulated so much wealth in such a short time."

"But don't forget who the most powerful person in the empire is."

Rosalyn handed the list to a mercenary leader present.

"This is the royal family's treasury. There are currently 30 million gold coins. I promise you that if the matter is accomplished, half of it will belong to you alone. Of course, I did not come to this meeting empty-handed. I brought a deposit of 1 million gold coins. If you are willing to accept this deposit, it will be considered that we have established a cooperation."

A mercenary leader frowned when he heard this, then looked at several colleagues around him, exchanging thoughts with each other through eye contact.

Finally, one of them spoke on behalf of all the mercenary leaders:

"I'm sorry. It's not that we don't want to do this, but...isn't this one million a little too little? You know, the deposit that Orson and the others gave us is far more than this figure."

Hearing the other party's words, Rosalin was stunned for a moment, and then asked: "So how much do you want?"

The other party raised five fingers.

"Five million, we want one-third of the money as a deposit, how about that?"

"...Five million, this is not a small amount..." Rosalin hesitated for a while and said this.

"But for the royal family, five million can solve an urgent problem. It's a good deal, right? After all, you are short of everything now. It's just a little money. When the political situation stabilizes in the future, you will still be short of money.

? ”