Invon City - MA

Annie and Simon had long killed each of their opponents and it wasn't long before they helped Elisa take care of hers too, with almost all the bandits killed, they looked for Osirus, planning to help him too as he had to face 2 opponents which was extremely difficult even if they were slightly weaker.

However they were surprised to only see 2 beheaded corpses and no Osirus, however before they could search for him…

"Shit!"

Breaking away from each other, the Scarred Man was able to get a glance of the situation, and it wasn't favourable, all his comrades had become corpses, whether they were charred to a crisp, lacerated in ribbons or beheaded, every single one was beyond dead.

And just as he was thanking the heavens that he had told his brother to stay in the forest and shoot at them from afar, he saw another of this god-forsaken mercenary team stroll out the forest with a head in his hand.

With a light throw it landed in front of the Scarred Man, watching it roll before eventually facing him, his face quickly turning white, his pale lips faintly spoke. "Brother…".

Looking up, he saw that emotionless bastard staring back, his face looked not as if he had just killed a human but an ant, a meaningless existence that wouldn't make a difference dead or alive, however as much as he wanted to tear him apart, he couldn't.

Even just facing the monstrous hammer-wielding man before him was a challenge, even with his slightly higher cultivation, let alone facing the whole group, thus he could only flee, planning to tear Osirus limb from limb another day.

"You will regret this.", his voice sounded as if it originated from the depths of hell, however Osirus didn't even react as he watched the Scarred Man sprint into the distance, his speed surpassing anything Reinhardt could match no matter how hard he tried.

The fight was finally over, luckily no one on their side had died and the most severe injury was Annie's which would be fine after a couple of bandages, thus after splitting the spoils, with Osirus choosing one of the swords from the bandits he had killed, they continued their journey to Invon.

2 hours later.

Before Osirus stood a mighty wall, its height reaching at least 5m, it was made of a dark stone-like material that screamed durable, he doubted even Reinhardt could shake it at all.

Seeing Osirus fixated on the wall, Simon walked over, "It's pretty amazing right? It's made of pure Ebony Stone, it would take at least a Second Stage to cause any sort of damage, however only Lord Invon and Master Baradiel have touched upon that, so it's pretty much invincible."

Osirus silently listened, absorbing all this new knowledge, however before he could ask any questions, they reached the gate, stood on either side were 2 guards clad in heavy black armour wielding a pair of spear and shield each.

On their shields and chestplate was a simple coat of arms, consisting of a symmetrical greatshield with a spear crossing diagonally each side, forming a cross over the shield along with the words, "Formed from many, now as one." written along the inside of the shield.

"Present your identification!", one of the guards stood forward before asking for ID, each of the members each took out a simple card which held basic information, however what interested Osirus was how their cards had different amounts of stars on them, such as Simon and Annie's having 2 stars, while Reinhardt had 3, furthermore Elisa's was a totally different colour.

While the others were black with light blue lettering, Elisa's was the complete opposite, with it being mainly light blue with black lettering and sporting 3 stars.

After checking everyone's ID's the guard finally looked towards Osirus with a questioning look after he had retrieved his own ID, luckily Reinhardt spoke for him, "His mercenary team was wiped out and he lost his ID card, we're here to get him a new one."

The guard had spoken to Reinhardt before and knew they were trustworthy so he did not continue asking questions and let them into the city.

Osirus was immediately taken aback by the amount of things going on, the streets bustled with restaurants, inns, shops, markets and any other way someone could make money, it made Osirus think that Arkbridge probably used to be like this, full of life.

Reinhardt led them through the busy streets, shooing away any greedy merchants before eventually arriving at a building twice as large as any he had seen before with warriors wielding massive weapons and mages with elegant staffs continuously flowing in and out.

Looking up, Osirus saw 2 massive letters, 'MA', above the door, looking down on everyone who entered, walking inside, he saw 10s of desks each with an attendant behind talking with mercenary groups similar to Reinhardt's.

Joining one of the many queues leading to the desk, another of the mercenary groups approached led by a muscular scarred man with a similar size to Reinhardt, "Reinhardt! How's the Jacks doing?", Osirus had learnt that their mercenary group went by the Jack Of All Trades or Jacks for short due to the allrounder nature of their team, having a mage, swordsmen, dagger-wielder, archer and axe-wielder, which was very rare.

"Armen…", seeing Reinhardt's down-trodden face, Armen looked at the group and realised something, "Liam…", to which Reinhardt nodded.

Armen's smile disappeared, "I'm sorry for your loss, he was a good man.", the group behind Armen also consoled the Jacks.

Not wanting to ruin the atmosphere, Reinhardt changed the topic, "So is the famous Crimson Talon taking another mission, or perhaps they just finished one.", Armen's smile returned after hearing his mercenary group being called famous, "We did in fact just finish a mission, making a neat sum in the meantime."

The 2 groups continued to chat before Armen finally noticed Osirus standing nearby, he looked questioningly at Reinhardt, realising he hasn't introduced him he replied, "Ah, this is Osirus, while we were completing a mission at the Arkbridge Ruins, we found him alone after his entire mercenary group was killed, so we decided to help him return, but he ended helping us more, even saving my life."

Armen's eyes flashed with surprise after hearing the average looking fellow before him saved Reinhardt's life, however his face quickly switched to gratitude, "Thank you for saving this big idiot, if you ever need anything, we at the Crimson Talon will be the first to help."

Osirus realised Reinhardt's and Armen's relationship must be quite close, so he politely returned, "I was just trying to survive.", Armen's opinion of Osirus only increased after seeing his humility.

Soon the Crimson Talon left, promising to join the Jacks for some drinks at some point.

By now they had reached the front of the queue as they were politely greeted by the attendant, "Good-evening travellers, how can I help you?"

Reinhardt, as the leader, spoke, "We've completed a mission and we're here for the rewards.".

"Very, please can I see the Mission Card."

Reinhardt pulled out a white card that was similar to their ID cards, except it had different information, instead of basic personal information, it had the mission ID number as well as 2 black stars that represented the danger level of the mission.

Taking the Mission Card, the attendant walked into the back before returning with a file with the mission's specific details, "So, the mission was to kill 20 Grunt Moss Troggs, proof of completion was the right ears of 20 Grunt Moss Troggs, the reward was 10 gold coins."

As she listed out the details each member of the Jacks began to pull out the right ears of the Moss Troggs, with Reinhardt having the largest pile, in the end the total amounted to exactly 20 right ears.

Collecting on the ears in a bag, the attendant walked into the back once again before returning with a small bag, placing it onto the counter, the sound of metal on metal sounded, that was practically music to the ears for Reinhardt and the others.

Hurriedly picking it up, Reinhardt counted the amount multiple times before concluding there was idea 50 silver coins, however just as they were leaving, Reinhardt remembered something as he pulled out a much larger ear than the rest, about 2x as large before asking, "How much do i think i can get for this?".

Inspecting the ear, the attendant quickly grew surprised, "Wow, a Warrior Moss Trogg, haven't seen one of these in a while, give me a second."

Returning to the back it wasn't long before she returned with a similar bag to the one before, except it was much larger, "So, the current reward per Warrior Moss Trogg is 50 gold coins.".

Reinhardt's eyes lit up after hearing such a large sum, "We'll take it."

With 2 heavy bags full of money, the group left the Mercenary Association, turning to Osirus, Reinhardt spoke, "This is where we split up, unless…", however Osirus shook his head, "Very well, since you were practically the only reason we were able to survive against that Warrior Moss Trogg and even kill it, I feel like you deserve its reward, I don't think the rest of your disagree?".

No-one spoke up as the bag of 50 gold was handed to Osirus, they felt that he truly deserved it, expecting it with gratitude, Osirus replied, "Thank you for helping me leave, if you ever need my help in the future, don't hesitate to ask."

After saying goodbyes to everyone, they eventually went their own ways, even though he had been through life and death with them the last couple of days, he wasn't really too attached so he didn't feel anything as he left them to live their lives.