Chapter 2.2

Kaldris lead Erasi out of town towards the mercenary camps, granted to become a full fledged mercenary he'd have to be registered at the Merc guild but that didn't mean he had to do so in his home town.

" Alright lad, the Jesters weren't planning to move out to their next job till tomorrow but I'll talk to the captain, pretty sure they'll gladly leave tonight. Though... The captain might make ya sign an extra contact for the inconveniences of helping ya get away." Kaldris have Erasi a sympathetic look before her saw Erasi shrug with an " I Know" type look on his face.

An extra contact generally entailed bound service of three years or more. Entering normally would be just a yearly contract and it allowed you to leave the group anytime they were between jobs and accounts on both sides were settled. Not so with an extra contract. Bound service meant you couldn't leave the Merc group until the contract expired and that was only if you didn't owe the group money. It was enforced by blood magic and if broken would result in every Merc group becoming your enemy, which 99 out of 100 times resulted in death.

Erasi could only be indifferent to it, as it stood 3 years of service would be cheap to save his life. Plus the Bloody Jesters had matching armor and spears that were issued to all members. Granted he'd have to pay them back for his equipment but it'd be nearly 80 silvers worth of damn good looking equipment. As Erasi and Kaldris neared the camp grounds Erasi took note of the armor the Bloody Jesters wore, black leather under clothes with hard leather armor over it, black as well , with some sort of red metal used as studs for added defense. Definitely evil looking but the most intimidating part was the the helmets.

The helmets were full helms but made of the same red metal as the studs but although the color was a little vivid like blood the real bonus was the face. It was almost like an evil clown face a trusted smile and upturned crescent looking eyes. The metal for it was black like the armor but was detailed with red paint and no two were exactly the same. Erasi couldn't help but wonder if they were painted by the mercs themselves as Kaldris never mentioned such things.

"Kaldris what is your lazy ass doing this far from a comfortable seat?" A bald mercenary coming out from camp suddenly questioned with a smile, he was obviously a member of the Bloody Jesters with the clothing he was wearing.

"Fuck you Borthe, I'm retired not lazy besides everyone knows I didn't make enough to buy a comfortable pillow much less a chair haha!"

"True enough! So what brings you out with a youngster in tow? Can't imagine leisure brought you here which means you're here to probably give Captain Vion a headache, am I right?"

Kaldris paused for a moment and scrunched his face as he thought about the fact he was indeed most likely gonna give the captain a headache.

" Haha looks like I'm right, but please by all means do so, piss the captain off. We both know cap fights better mad anyways, our next job is a bastard and a half and we'll need cap in top form!"

"Damn! Well you're right Borthe, but it's for a good cause. I trained this lad and he took the hunters test today but failed."

" Really?" Borthe looks Erasi over with a questioning face before continuing " Kaldris the lad looks more than capable heck even I can see that much and you expect me to believe he failed?"

" You tell me if he failed, he killed the hunter administering the test you know."

Borthe looked at Kaldris then looked to Erasi with stunned face. He knew hunters were a tough lot, especially those allowed to administer the test as they needed to be able to judge potential recruits while not accidentally crippling them or killing them.

"Boy tell the truth, you sneak attack em or was it an accident?"

" Sir, I gutted that man like a fish and would do so again if he came back from the dead." Erasi replied coldly while gazing towards Borthe who shifted uncomfortably.

Seeing Borthe looking oddly uncomfortable Erasi cursed internally as he brought up his menu and sure enough the passive skill Stoic Gaze was back!