Under the cloak of night, the caravan continued to progress. Not too far off, tall city walls could be seen.

Emil’s eyes twinkled as he gazed forward, ushering his horse to move up faster. The city that he had registered to become a mercenary in was quite small and Emil hadn’t been very interested in it. Whereas Alma City was a large hub with plenty of amazing people coming to and from. He had learned about it when he had first joined the caravan who had been travelling from a far off land just to participate in a largely famous auction.

It would be his first time ever stepping foot into such a place. The excitement had even overpowered his drowsiness and his deep set eyes were fully open and glittering.

“Finally,” Emil muttered to himself, “I can begin…”

A small smile pulled at the corners of his mouth.

He had the feeling that this place would be where his journey would kick off.

…

“It’s two hundred taals a night for a one bedroom,” an elderly lady patiently explained to Emil at the bar of an inn.

Emil nodded his head and thought for a moment.

He had no sense for money. The Night Sage had given him a sack with a couple gold coins and five thousand taal but Emil wasn’t certain how long that could last. He knew that the amount was rather small, though, considering that he’d be on his own for the year.

The mercenary job he just completed by escorting the caravan had a low difficulty rating, so it was only at the D-level. It had given him two additional gold coins.

He scratched his neck before nodding and paid the woman for at least five nights. Emil decided that he would accept as many jobs as he could within this time period to earn more money. He’d earn that many taals back quickly, he hoped.

He proceeded to order a drink before going to an empty table and sitting down.

Emil had chosen this place because a lot of the people that he had been with for the past week came here. It seemed like a pretty common spot and there were mercenaries coming in and out.

For now, he wouldn’t allow himself to take a long break until he earned a comfortable amount of gold coins. And he also needed to figure out how much they were even worth. Emil knew that taal was general currency used by the public and golden coins were a step above. Even more so, there were magical cores that rich mages dealt in.

Emil scratched his neck and took a sip of his water.

The Night Sage had told him about many things, but there were still concepts that he didn’t understand and needed to learn for himself. With a sigh, the boy rested his head down on the wooden table.

I need to find the mercenary’s HQ here… it shouldn’t be too hard, I just need to ask someone.

Just as he was about to get up and ask a familiar face, something else happened:

“Say that again, bitch?” a voice roared.

A quieter, feminine voice responded, “I said… scum like you should just die already.”

“You!”

Emil glanced up, feeling the strong fighting intent spread throughout the inn. He directed his gaze over near the front of the inn where one figure was standing and the other was sitting. The woman that was sitting had her hood pulled over her so Emil couldn’t see who she was, but the standing man was a mercenary that he recognized from the caravan.

His eyes landed on the long, pole-like object that was wrapped with cloth that was resting against the woman’s chair. There were strange pieces of paper on top of it with arrays drawn--a protective spell? He frowned, trying to recall if he had seen such a person. Maybe in passing? The caravan had been comprised of a few hundred people, so he couldn’t remember them unless they stood out.

He recognized the man because he had spoken to Emil a few times. Though, he hadn’t gotten his name. He had seemed rather levelheaded, so the youth couldn’t understand why he was so peeved by the woman’s insult.

“Are you mad? Do you want to fight?” She laughed joyfully. “I don’t mind entertaining worms every now and then.”

The mercenary clicked his tongue after awhile and averting his gaze away. Without saying anything else, he began to walk away with heavy footsteps.

“You’re leaving? Bo-ring.” The woman leaned her chair back against the wall, kicking her feet up onto the table. “That’s why you’ll only be a D-ranked mercenary for the rest of your life.”

Hearing her words, he spun around and glared. “Shut the hell up, will you?”

“What are you going to do about it?” She giggled. “Be mad, Mr. D-ranked?”

Obviously, this was a sore spot for him. Whatever patience he had left towards her disappeared in that moment. “I’ll break your jaw if I have to!”

Emil watched with mild interest as the man punched out, flying at an amazing speed towards her.

The girl jumped into the air, grabbing the pole she carried as she avoided the mercenary’s punch that shattered the table. With a graceful flip through the air, she landed a couple meters from the man.

The movement caused the hood of her cloak to fall back, revealing a pretty face the tawny color of sand and pure white hair which neatly braided down her back.

Emil felt a bit shocked. Based off of appearances, the girl should’ve been around the same age as him. But the look in her crimson-colored eyes belonged to someone who lived on the battlefield. The amount of bloodlust they held made him feel wary towards her and he felt a bit of pressure.

“So you do want to fight...” she stated. She spun the cloth-wrapped pole around rapidly, creating a powerful gust of air. “Here I come!”

In what seemed like a casual, skilless movement, she thrusted out with her weapon.

The man smirked upon seeing her attack. It was slow-moving and there was no strength behind it. Even he could dodge something like that with ease--all he had to do was step to the side.

But just as he did so, that weak-seeming pole suddenly switched directions and slammed into his side. It happened very rapidly and not many were able to catch its movement or even see her hand twitch. The sound of his ribs shattering rung throughout and with a loud bang, the man was sent flying. His body burst through the stone walls of the inn, crashing into the nearby building and leaving a human-sized dent behind in the wall.

The girl laughed gleefully as his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell to the ground. “Idiot.” She casually twirled the pole a few times in her hand while shaking her head. Suddenly, she pivoted and turned to face the gaping crowd. “Did you like the show?” she questioned them.

Emil drew backwards.

Not good…

Those battle-frenzied eyes of hers were staring directly at him.