12 Mercenary

"Why, of course it is expensive. It's made from one of the finest materials the empire has to offer, even the nobles like to wear these clothes."

Shopkeeper beamed, showing his sparkling white teeth.

Raymond was in a dilemma. He wanted to return the clothes and buy cheaper ones but he already had sex wearing them. He felt uncomfortable leaving them behind and someone else purchasing them. He sighed and took out 2 gold coins.

Shopkeeper eyed him up and down seemingly in thought.

"Do you need robes to match with? I have a wide variety of collections with me, some of them even imported all the way from Varn," He leaned closer and whispered in Raymond's ears. "I even have pink ones, yellow ones, purple ones–"

Raymond harrumphed and slammed the coins on the table

"Thanks but no thanks." He smiled though the smile didn't reach his eyes. He exited the shop with Jasmine following behind him.

They walked along the market road, wandering the streets. At one point Raymond was so lost in thought he didn't even see the carriage heading towards him at breakneck speed.

"Look out!"

Jasmine yelled and yanked him back from the path of the oncoming carriage.

"Master! What were you thinking? Please pay attention when you are walking on the streets."

Raymond scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"I am sorry, I was lost in my thoughts."

"Really? What were you thinking so deeply that you forgot where you were?" she asked exasperated.

"Uhmm, I was thinking about how to make lots of money before heading out to search for grandpa," he looked at Jasmine thoughtfully. "Do you happen to know any ways in which I can achieve that?"

Jasmine thought for a while and her eyes lit up with mischievousness.

"How about we rob some rich and corrupt nobles?" she said giggling.

"Stop joking, I am being serious here," Raymond frowned at her suggestion. Although the idea of stealing from corrupted nobles did appeal to him, he would only resort to it if he didn't find any other ways.

Jasmine skipped in front of him to face him and started walking backwards while rubbing her chin in thought.

"Then…how about being a mercenary? That way we can make money while searching for Grandpa Theo," Jasmine suggested and Raymond had to agree with her. It was a feasible solution. He could travel the world being a mercenary while also searching for his grandpa and making money along the way.

"Hmm, you are right. Come on, let's go and register our name in the mercenaries' guild."

"Huh? Now?" Jasmine asked, flabbergasted.

"Yep, right now."

"But master, give it some thought. It wouldn't be safe to travel the world without sufficient strength. We would only be putting ourselves in danger if we go now."

She tried to reason with him, thinking he was rushing things. Although she had seen him defeating Allen, he was only a Martial Master who would only be considered a small fry in the outside world. It would be like sticking out your neck to get slaughtered if they went outside the empire– where their noble status didn't protect them.

Raymond chuckled at her worried tone.

"Don't worry, My Lady. This knight shall protect you from any harm."

He did a mock bow and grabbed her hand dragging her with him.

"Now show me where the guild is, I am not familiar with this place."

In all honesty, he has never ventured outside of his family compounds as far as he could remember. No, it was more like his father never allowed him to go outside, always keeping him busy with something to distract him from going to explore the capital city. Whenever he asked to be given permission to go out, his father refused him giving some vague reasons such as outside is not safe, he could get lost in the crowd and whatnot.

Now that he thought about it, most of those reasons were really absurd. Anyway, he quickly got used to staying in the family manor when he started reading books, learning noble etiquette, practising penmanship, etc.

So it was no wonder that nobody recognised him when he went outside for the first time. And given the ridiculous clothing he was wearing before, no one would think of him as a noble.

But now as he was walking along with Jasmine in his new dress, he started to attract curious gazes from people. He paid them no mind as they were only looking at him out of curiosity.

After following Jasmine for a while they reached a two story building which was located in the east side of the city.

Raymond was impressed with the building, even though there were buildings which were more grandiose than this one in his family compounds. This building had a unique charm to it– built using red bricks, it radiated toughness. If he entered inside he was sure he would find many battle hardened veteran mercenaries.

After entering the building he found a spacious hall with a food counter and mini scale bar to the one side and rows and rows of tables and chairs facing the bar.

On the other side there was a long table which was divided into compartments. Each having a receptionist waiting to welcome the clients and mercenaries.

One side of the hall acted as a tavern whereas the other acted as the reception. The tavern side was filled with a variety of people. Some silently ate their food while others were laughing and arguing loudly in their drunken stupor.

Jasmine and Raymond went near one of the counters where the receptionist was not busy.

"Welcome miss. My name is Rumi, how can I help you?"

The receptionist smiled amicably. She was a middle aged woman who had a pretty face and gave off a friendly vibe.

Jasmine looked back and forth between Raymond and Rumi, she was still not sure about this whole becoming a mercenary thing.

"Uh, we would like to register as mercenaries." She gestured towards Raymond and herself.

Only now the receptionist scrutinised Raymond and shook her head disappointedly.

"I am sorry miss, your companion seems to be below Martial Master level, he cannot register as a mercenary," she informed while keeping her eye on Jasmine. "But you are free to register if you would like."

Raymond narrowed his eyes on her and went closer to her.

"Why can't I register? What if I can defeat a Martial Master? Then can I register?"

Rumi shook her head.

"I am sorry, sir. But those are the rules."

'Tch, who made these rules? Wait! That rule does seem to be fair.' Raymond thought inwardly. He could only blame his broken core for not being able to cultivate.

Rumi took a good look at Raymond and found him quite pleasing to the eyes.

'He seems to be from a noble background judging from his appearance. Better not make an enemy out of him.'

Although Raymond seemed like a harmless guy she didn't want to take a risk.

"How about this, sir? If you can get a recommendation from a B-rank mercenary or above, I can help you register as one of our members."

She added, calmly.

Raymond nodded contemplating something in his mind. He looked at Jasmine and then at Rumi.

"Jasmine, you go ahead and register as a mercenary."

"But master, why do I need to become a mercenary? I am not doing it without you."

Jasmine huffed. She didn't want to become a mercenary, she only agreed because of her master. Now that he wasn't allowed to become one, she had no interest in being one herself.

Raymond pulled her to the side and whispered in her ears.

"Don't worry, I will help you do your missions, you just need to act as my proxy."

He gestured for Jasmine to register her name. He would quickly help her get to B-rank, then have her give him a recommendation. He didn't know any other mercenaries besides, this way he could make her stronger before going out of the empire.

Jasmine filled the form given by Rumi and was registered as an E-rank mercenary. She needed to complete 10 missions of the same rank and breakthrough to the next level to become a D-rank mercenary.

"It's done, miss Jasmine. You are registered as an E-rank mercenary. You can take up missions from that notice board," Rumi pointed towards the notice board mounted on the wall next to them.

"Please remember, you are only allowed to do missions from your rank alone."

Jasmine nodded and went with Raymond to take a look at the notice board.

"Ahem, excuse me sir, you are not thinking of going with her, are you?" Rumi asked, seeing as Raymond was holding the mission poster.

"Well, she needs a porter, right?"

Rumi nodded at Raymond and asked him to come closer.

"You need to be tested on your strength if you want to be her porter."

Raymond was getting annoyed at every rule that was making his job difficult. He just wanted to become a mercenary, was that too much to ask?

"Wait a minute, I will ask someone qualified to take your test."

Rumi got out from behind the table and went to the rowdy bunch that was busy drinking and making a ruckus. She soon found a girl sleeping with her head planted face first into the table in a corner. She tried to wake her up.

"Uhm, Ahem, Miss Sasha, are you awake?"

Seeing there was no reply, she nudged the sleeping girl's shoulder but still failed to wake her up.

She took a deep breath and whispered in her ears.

"Miss Sasha, there is a brute causing trouble in the halls."

Sasha's eyes snapped open. She stood straight like a spear and looked around until her eyes landed on Rumi.

"Huh? Rumi? Where is the brute, tell me where he is," she said, rubbing her hand excitedly. She was a beautiful girl in her twenties. She had shoulder length candy red hair and a flawless face with ruby like eyes adorning it.

She had a shortsword strapped to her waist along with a leather skirt that fell short of her knees. She wore knee length leather boots and white sleeveless shirt that showed her midriff. Overall she looked like a tomboy who enjoys fighting.

Rumi, who was ready for her outburst, quickly bowed her head.

"I am sorry for deceiving you Miss Sasha. There is no brute here, I woke you up because I am in need of your assistance."

"Tch, don't lie to me again." Sasha spat.

Rumi heaved a sigh of relief. She knew Sasha would avoid any further squabble as long as she talked with her formally.

'Phew, this girl really hates it when someone talks with her nicely.'

Sasha was very famous with the mercenaries for her obsession with brutes. She would challenge any rough looking guys to a fight, by this time she had already defeated all the members of the mercenary guild.

Sasha was the only B-rank mercenary of this guild, she was also the highest ranked one here. Capital city and its surroundings were taken care of by the Imperial Army, so there was not much work for mercenaries here.

This guild mainly acted as a central hub for distributing the missions to other branch offices according to clients' requirements. So it was no wonder that B-rank was the highest level of a mercenary here.