one of the core aspects of kinich's story quest is the meaning of "price". the game talks in multiple instances, through npcs, trailers and character details, about rumors that kinich accepts any kind of commission for the correct price, leading people — including the player — to assume said price to be monetary and independent of morals, even further saying that kinich has no intentions of explaining himself unless asked.
in that line, there are the different "prices" the characters were willing to "pay" in the quest. the tribe's chief was willing to "pay the price" of keeping the mountain king alive so that their traditions, history and culture could be continued, even at the risk of harming more of his people. the tribe's elder was willing to "pay the price" of finishing the mountain king's life once and for all for further protection of the tribe's people, even if said price was his own life, risking leaving behind his own little daughter and baby saurians — and, in his case, there is space to argue that what he actually wanted was revenge for his own grief. the traveler was willing to "pay the price" of trusting kinich's plan to work, even when it involved the instability of abyssal power and information acquired from enjou — known specifically for betraying people.
on the very end of his story quest, when paimon asks if kinich intended to sacrifice himself when he ran into the flames, since it seemed that turnfire — whose summoning is theorized to be a "tit-for-tat exchange" — was what saved the mountain king, kinich says he believes the mountain king paid his own "price" in choosing to stay alive with his guilt and keeping on going, explaining further that he understands "price" as "not atonement or compensation, but what you're willing to give up in order to obtain what you want".
from the very first moment to its very end, the quest goes back and back again to its core — kinich's question to all those who commission him: "what price are you willing to pay?"
