Unsealing Emptiness

Mercenary Guild.

The next morning, Raven went to inform Count Oliver that they had ‘completed’ the task, but before they could even reach the village, the ‘Demon’ had killed everyone else.

Oliver could only sigh and thank Raven for taking care of the matter.

She came back to find Ozul sitting under the shade of the tree watching Blaze practice.

“Start using smaller chunks of Ice...You can control it in large amounts...But your control needs to be more precise.”- Ozul said with some pauses.

Blaze started to turn the Big Ice chunks into smaller ones and threw them around. As expected, controlling the small pieces required more of his focus than the larger ones.

Most of them didn’t even hit the tree and fell on the ground! The reason was that the small pieces were more in number, and each one of them required Blaze’s attention.

When they were smaller, each small one would require him to create an intent. It was different from Ozul’s Ball of Purity because Ozul moved the Ball of Purity just like someone moves their limbs.

Raven went around Blaze and approached Ozul. He had his black hat made up of Ball of Purity to cover his eyes as he asked;

.....

“Did you find out where Mercenary guild is?”- He left the handling of such things mostly to Raven. And when he said ‘mostly’, he meant every time.

“Yes, one of the closest two is in Capital City while the other is in the opposite direction, in Adron City. “- Raven explained.

Unfortunately, there was no branch established in the Azmar town, or they wouldn’t have to travel to some other City.

“We will go for this... Adron City.”- Ozul did not think twice to decide their destination.

Ozul did not want to settle in the Capital City yet. He could easily attract the Nobles’ interest in the future due to his activities that may or may not be unusual.

It’s not like his actions won’t be noticed in Adron City, but if he did something in the future that could warrant those people to take action, the matter would be dealt with much ease.

Raven did not question his decision and went to prepare things as they would leave today.

Later that day, the trio left the house and began to head to the east towards the Adron City. Ozul walked in front with Raven and Blaze following behind.

The journey took them another half a day, and it went without a hitch. They took a road to the City as they were not really in a hurry.

After half a day, they were walking on the bustling streets of the City. It looked all the same to Ozul, just a little difference in the routes.

Raven took the lead as Ozul did not want to deal with people. He may have started talking a bit more, but he still hates it.

Furthermore, it was around midday, and the blazing heat was killing him! He would never be able to converse normally under such circumstances.

Raven only had to glare at a few passerby’s to get the location of the Mercenary Guild.

When they arrived at the place, they saw a huge building. People were standing at the entrance, and the sounds of loud clamor came from inside.

When they entered inside, many people gave them the looks and laughed it off. The smell of alcohol lingered in the air as people ate together in groups.

The trio didn’t pay attention to any of this and went straight towards the counter. Behind the bar sat a middle-aged man.

The counter was empty, and the man seemed bored. When he noticed the trio moving towards the counter, he sat up and asked;

“Are you here to post any request?”- The man spoke with a long face.

Since Ozul was not in the mood of any talk and Blaze did not know how to deal with such stuff, Raven took a step forward and answered;

“We want to join the Guild.”-

“Hm?”- The man seemed confused as to why such young people wanted to become Mercenaries, but he did not care and just followed the procedure.

“You just need to sign the papers and receive your ID that will state that your a Mercenary and will allow you to accept missions...”- The man began to explain everything.

They did not care about how powerful you are or how old you are. The more missions you complete, the more your reputation and privilege increases.

For example, there were also Ranks among Mercenaries, which will increase based on the number of missions that you completed and their difficulty level.

You start with no Rank and are only allowed to accept missions that can tolerate failure. After the Guild confirms that you are competent enough, they will promote you to Bronze Rank.

From Bronze Rank, a person can go to Silver Rank, then Gold Rank, and at last the Platinum Rank.

Most official requests restrict the lower limit of a Mercenary’s Rank to accept the mission according to its difficulty or importance.

This meant that even though the Guild did not care who joins, you would still not be able to reap the real benefits if you are not competent enough.

Raven dealt with all the paperwork. Since she had quick learning capabilities, she had quickly learned all this stuff with some help from the Count.

“You can call me Roland. Also, that board over there is where you can pick up the missions.”- The man now named Roland pointed towards a big board with various papers pinned on it.

There were countless mission requests pinned to the board, but the best one only had the requirement of Silver Rank Mercenaries.

Roland explained that the missions that are above this caliber are mostly confidential. So, the Guild privately assigns the Mercenaries the task if they want to accept it.

He did not bother to comment on anything else and just went back to his usual spot. He had seen many youngsters trying to make it big by becoming a Mercenary, but they would all give up in the end or... well, die.

Why would he waste his time on some kids who might not even live until tomorrow?

There was a rule that stated that if a Mercenary or a group accepts a task, but fails, they will have to compensate the Guild!

There was no loyalty or anything in the Mercenary Union as everyone just worked for their own profits. Of course, higher-ups in the Guild included some influential people, which is the reason that no one dares to oppose the Union.

Since it was already past midday, they did not accept any task and went to look for a place to live. Raven had plenty of Gold Coins with which they could even buy a Mansion!

But she didn’t know anyone who would sell a property. Hence, they decided to rest in an inn for the day.

They booked a room with two separate beds. Ozul slumped down on one of the beds as soon as he saw it while Raven and Blaze checked out the surroundings to get a clearer understanding of their surroundings.

Later that night, Blaze took one bed while Raven got on the bed where Ozul was sleeping and slept beside him.