Fiery Youths

Standing before a lavish mansion tinted with golden paint Yu couldn't help but raise a brow in surprise

"Are you sure they are mercenaries and not nobles?"

"Were ya lookin? The place is around this rubbish building"

Hearing him call the mansion rubbish made Yu speculate what sort of wonder the main house of this group they were visiting was, after following the old man through the narrow passage around the gold-tinted mansion they finally arrived at the house he's supposed to live in for an uncertain period of time

"Did you bring me all the way here to drop me at a retirement home?"

A three-floor house lay before him, its wooden walls looked like they'd had better days, planters hanged from the windows and balconies while a rocking chair was placed in the front garden, overall the place gave off a cozy and relaxed feeling

The old man didn't reply to his comment and went right in forcing Yu to follow with a disgruntled face

'What should I have expected from an old man, obviously his friends will be some old folk too'

He wouldn't have minded it if not for this Ol' beggar setting an example for the aged strong mercenaries, if everyone was hardheaded like the drunkard then he's going to have a very rough time in this household

Soon they entered the main hall and he came face to face with one of the residents immediately

"Old beggar? What brings you cranky bones here, I see you've brought a guest as well"

"Good to see you too, Trudy"

The old man replied with a smile to the rude greeting coming from this short-haired ginger, surprising Yu that it wasn't an old lady but some busty woman looking like she was in her thirties

"Judging by how nice you're pretending to be you must have come here to ask for another favour, come on spit it out"

'Goodness I'd rather have old folks if the people here are this rude'

"Hehe, feisty as ever missy, how about you gather up the rest of your small group, I've got an announcement you see"

"??"

Trudy looked between the old man and the crippled youth a couple of times, questioning what the two really came here for that required everyone to be gathered

"Come now, don't dally, I need to get going or my booze will go cold"

"Alcohol is served cold you drunkard, also Liv and half of the group have gone out on a mission, they'll be back in a week's time but if you must have all of us together then it'll take us three days to get to where they are"

"No need, just get together those who are available right now"

Trudy shrugged and turned around heading further inside to call for the rest

The two waited patiently for around ten minutes before she came back with three men and another woman in tow

"Nice to see you again you old geezer"

"Yeah, it's been a while, why don't you stop by more often for a drink or two"

"Its good to see you too lads, I'd like to drink here but I'm afraid I'll be kicked out sooner rather than later haha!"

Two of the men greeted him in a friendly manner, one with scares riddling his face and body giving him an injured figure rather than a fierce one, the other had half his body covered in layers of bandages with clothes hiding the rest leaving only one eye visible under this mummy look

The black-haired woman meekly nodded her head at them while the last ginger-haired young man didn't make any move to greet them whatsoever

"Everyone's here now, what did you want to tell us?"

Asked Trudy wishing it wasn't another stupid mission to get some rare booze again

"For starters let me introduce this kid here, his name is….whats your name again kid?"

Turning to Yu the old man asked earning an eye roll before getting his reply

"Yu, my name is Yu"

"Yes, this kid here is Yu, nicknamed Zombie-chan, he's a low Bronze mercenary"

Everyone had an amused expression hearing the nickname, must be another poor soul who offended a receptionist to get this kind of nickname

"Nice to meet you Yu, I'm Trudy as you heard, this mummified person is Calum, the one next to him is Jax, this is Celaine and the kid is my son Udo"

Everyone gave a curt nod, everyone but the youth who was stifling his laughter, this didn't bother Yu as much as it surprised him to know this guy who was about his age was actually this young-looking woman's son

"Now that you all got to know each other it's only right the kid joins your group"

"Come on old man stop playing around and tell us what's so important"

Trudy demanded, the old fellow remained silent however, the smile on his face containing no joking hint

The smirks and laughter faded from their faces as they realized he was not joking

'Can we go get some booze for him instead?'

She wished it was some stupid mission now rather than this unwanted revelation

"Look old friend, we stopped recruiting members a long time ago, you know why right? So I'm going to have to turn this request down"

Jax spoke, trying to sound as nice as possible in his rejection

"Especially not a crippled pipsqueak"

Added Udo with a condensing tone

"He doesn't have to be an actual member, just a temporary one, I need someone to look after his ass while I go look into some new issue that popped up"

"So you want us to babysit him? Then we can do that without adding him as a member"

Trudy said but the old man replied almost instantly

"No, he needs to be a member, if he isn't then trouble will quickly follow when I'm not around"

The vague manner things were said in made everyone feel uncomfortable, they wanted nothing more than to outright tell him it wasn't any of their business but this benefactor of their they couldn't easily refuse

"Look old man, I don't know what favour the group owes you but allow me to explain, we are a top mercenary group, one of the best in fact, being a 'Temporary Member' requires a great deal of strength so as to not tarnish our reputation, if you want us to protect the crippled kid then issue it as a mission and we will do our best to ensure his safety"

Udo spoke with confidence despite knowing the old man's actual identity, this went to show just how much confidence he held in his group

"So your not a member of the group?"

Unexpectedly the reply came from Yu who spoke only once this entire time

"Huh? Of course I am a member of the group what gave you the idea I wasn't"

"Then your reputation is already tarnished so what are you yapping about?"

It took a second to register the meaning before Udo's face exploded in anger at the brazen insult

"You think you're better than me kid?"

"I know I'm better than you, its not a question but a fact"

He further added to the flames, in his mind this mercenary group was very rude and obviously very proud, if they didn't want him to become a member then he might as well cause a fall out from the beginning and end the deal

"Hahaha, good to see our youth so fiery"

The old man was still laughing even as sparks were flying between the two young fellows, seemingly not minding the harsh words of either side

"Udo is right, as much as I would hate to reject a favour you ask I'd have to agree that our group can't have a weak member of the low Bronze"

"Didn't you hear the kid though? Your boy is definitely weaker than him so I don't see a problem no more"

It shocked everyone when the old man agreed with Yu on that point, it was one thing for some hot-blooded young man to speak with such certainty but another matter altogether when a man of his calibre spoke like that

"You sure about that? My son is among the best prodigies the Union has to offer, and he's probably older than this kid, you need some heavenly talent if you want to compare"

"How about a friendly exchange then? That would prove whos better quite easily"

Trudy narrowed her eyes in contemplation, sadly she wasn't offered many choices in the matter, if he was truly stronger then they had no reason to reject him being a member, a temporary member that is

"Fine then, let's test him out"

She turned around once more, this time leading everyone to the training grounds at the back of the house