There is the fact that during the time of the game, monsters were bordering on extinct, and witchers, while not all over the place... well, there were more witchers. So during the hundred years or so between the game and us, the number of witchers would have declined and the number of monsters increased, making the demand much more palpable and the supply almost nonexistent. Even now there are only a handful of witchers to deal with the contracts, and as such, the prices for contracts would be high as well.<br/><br/>Not 1000 orens high, but... more along the lines of 700?<br/><br/>Edit: Sorry, I tend to overthink this sort of stuff.