Wind Rises Over the Warhorse Plains (Ten-Thousand-Word Chapter-Please Subscribe)

Deposits were also known as "buy-your-life money" among adventurers and mercenaries in Faerun.

Under normal circumstances, the amount of a deposit paid by an employer was enough to determine just how dangerous a commission or mission was likely to be.

Generally speaking, to prevent hired hands from taking the money and running, deposits were usually only enough to replenish weapons and armor, buy a small number of potions and tools, and cover food, lodging, and supplies along the way.

Only after the job was completed could they receive the real payment.

There were exceptions, however. That was when the employer knew the task being commissioned was extremely dangerous and needed to offer a high price to attract people with genuine ability.

Thus, a deposit of ten or several dozen gold coins meant there was no need to worry too much about one's life. At most, one simply had to be a little more careful in battle.

But if the deposit reached several hundred gold coins, it most likely meant some conspiracy lurked behind it—possibly involving a local Thieves' Guild, gang, or influential family. One careless move, and one could be crushed between several factions without leaving so much as a corpse behind.

As for an astronomical sum like five thousand gold coins paid in one go, that only happened when the enemy was a Lich or a dragon.

In fact, when Dumbledore and Grindelwald had killed an adult Green Dragon not long ago, the client had only paid a deposit of three thousand gold coins.

So the instant the pouch containing five thousand gold coins was tossed onto the bar, the entire tavern fell silent.

Some stared greedily, fervently, longingly at the heavy leather pouch gleaming with golden light. Others kept looking back and forth between Kodelin and the two