"Just tell me, why are you dragging me to Belcrest?!"

That's the question that Volya asks Romain when they are walking to Belcrest. Romain didn't answer him until they arrived at Belcrest. He opens the door and immediately walks towards the second floor. Volya follows him and now he could see the second floor thoroughly.

The second floor has a lot of long tables with long chairs for people to gather together. It also has a chute for people that want to post their request and a request board near the chute. At the north side of the room, there are three stalls. The first stall is the place where people want to change their currency depending on the rate there. The second stall is the place where people want to register their mission from the request board and report it when they have done it. And the last one is used for those who want to know more about Ironforge and Belcrest.

About the request board, every 24 hours Albert will gather all of their requests and sort it depending on the type of request. He will decide which one that could be done by the military, which one that will need more manpower with addition from the military, and which one that could be given by the mercenaries.

After they pass through Albert, the leader of the guild will put the request on the request board after the guild leader sorts it from the difficulty given by Albert.

Volya could see a lot of requests already posted there and a lot of people are gathering there in order to find their suitable mission. They are the mercenaries that life depends on the mission posted there. Not only from Haegia, but the mercenaries also come from a different country and will gather at the place that needs them the most. Some of them have heavy armor, the other has light armor, and even some of them only use leather armor. They even don't care if they are men or women, everyone is equal if they could show their skill to them.

Volya really admires the mercenaries after he met with a group of mercenaries when he is really young. They have a great story and look really free with their life. They didn't even care about his father's stature back then. He only could smile as the mercenaries that he sees now really have a free spirit in their life and look like enjoying their choice.

Volya then continues to walk with Romain already calling him. He walks to Romain and says,

"Let me guess it... You want me to become..."

"Yes, a mercenary... Or an adventurer, the way most of them call themselves," says Romain

"But, you know... I want to stay at Haegia... Not wandering around like all of them."

"Well, you could take every mission that was posted at Belcrest. But, sometimes you could take the mission that posted from outside of Haegia, so you could see the other country too."

"What if it runs out of request?"

"I doubt it with the world condition right now."

"Well... You are right about that… But still…." answer Volya, thinking about that.

He then stops at the third stall with Romain that knocks on the table there. He then says,

"Hey, Lucia! Are you there?"

"Eh? Big Bro? Why are you here?" says one woman with dark brown twin tail hair that called as Lucia

"Ehehehehe... I just want to ask if it is possible for me to become a mercenary here," answers Romain

"Huh? Are you already given up to become a knight?"

"No... No... Sir Villias ask me to take a leave for a while from Knight in order to become stronger."

"In another word, they throw you away from knight..." says Lucia once more

"That's... Not..."

"You know, she is right from the way you say it," says Volya suddenly when he overheard their conversation

"Don't add salt to the wound, damn it!" shouts Romain to Volya with a displeased face

Lucia and Volya laugh together and then they notice each other. Lucia then says,

"Ah... You are the fortune teller that came to Belcrest back then, right?"

"Yes, that's me," answer Volya

"My, my... If you are here then, are you going to open your services again?"

"Err... No..."

"Huh? Then why are you here?" says Lucia with a puzzled face

"He will register together with me to become a mercenary, or Adventurer how they usually call themselves," says Romain

"Huh? Both of you?"

"Yes. You know, he already becomes the resident of Haegia after his feats before and he needs to make some money for himself. And he thinks that fortune-telling alone is enough to pay his rent and his daily life."

"He... Hey, Romain... Don't blurt it out!"

"Of course he will have a very high value here, after all, he is a mage!"

"Romain!" shouts Volya that really embarrassed

Lucia looks at Volya and then at Romain once more. She then sighs and searches for something. After that, she asks someone to take over her place for a while and get out from the stall.

The moment she gets out from the stall, Volya could see her clearly. She has dark brown twin tail hair and has the same eye color as Romain. Her height around 145 - 150 cm, but her asset is quite big in Volya's eye. She is wearing a black frilly maid uniform and brown boots.

She then looks at Volya and says,

"Hmmm... Let me guess, you need money to pay for something, right?"

"Yes..." answer Volya

"And this is your last resort, right?"

"Ye... Yes..."

"Haaa... I believe that muscle head is the one that drags you here," says Lucia as she looks at Romain

"Yes..."

"Ah... I haven't introduced myself, right?"

Lucia then bows at Volya and says,

"My name is Lucia Ambros, the second child of the Ambros family and the clerk that works at Belcrest. Nice to meet you."

"Ah... My name is Volya Portar, a mage. Nice to meet you," answer Volya as he bows at her too

"Ehehehehe... It's good that my muscle brain brother could have a sane person like you as his friend."

"You make me fluster..."

"Then, back to business... You want to apply as an adventurer, right?"

"Yes."

"Alright, here the form. You only need to fill them first, I believe my idiot brother will be the one that pays the fee."

"Tha... Thank you."

"Then, I will leave you for a while."

Lucia then walks at Romain that waiting for her and then says,

"So, you will become an adventurer, too?"

"Well, while I am away from any knight job. Rather than doing nothing, right?" answer Romain

"Yes, it is."

Lucia then peeks at Volya and then asks Romain while handing him the form,

"Why are you really persistent to help him? Do you have some kind of debt to him?"

"Sort of..." answer Romain

"What did he do to you?"

"You should know that he is the one that helps our Queen back then."

"Only that?"

Romain then looks at Volya for a moment and remembers their conversation back then. He then says,

"No..."

"Then, what else makes you really persistent with that? Our Father is really concerned with that you know..." says Lucia

"He... Just make me realize that I still need to learn. And based on the experience when I am with him... I know that I could become better people."

Lucia looks at Romain and then sighs. She then hits her brother's chest and says,

"Alright, if this isn't fruitless... I believe you could change our father's mind."

"Ahahahahaha... I believe I could do that in the future."

"And then... Will you back to become a knight? That's your dream since you are young..."

"I will... When Sir Villias and Sir Albert really need my hand."

Lucia could see Romain's eye and knows that he isn't joking right now. His eye is full of hope and determination, just like when he is really young. Lucia then smiles and says,

"And I believe, this is your way to find a woman for your life... Am I right?"

"Well, I didn't think about that right now..." answered Romain quite embarrassed.

"Ahahahahaha... Just like usual... Here, your form. Just fill all of them and I will take care of it later."

"Thank you, Lucia."

Romain then walks towards Volya with Lucia and could see Volya really struggling with something. They could see that Volya couldn't hold the wooden pen easily and the form became a mess.

Volya notices both of them already in front of him and says with a red face,

"I... I... I never use this thing… As I used to write using a quill... So... Err... Could I get another form?"

"Are you a child?!" says Lucia

"Well, he is a hermit that lives in the forest... Of course, he will struggle with that," explains Romain

"Well... Hmmmm..."

Lucia thinks for a while and then smiles at Romain. From there, Romain knows what inside her sister mind and hear,

"I will give him another form... But, you will get an extra charge for that."

"Alright... I will pay it," says Romain

"So, better you help him a little."

"I know... I know..."

Romain then sits down beside Volya and could hear Volya really apologetic for that. Romain let it slide and then they continue to fill their form. Romain checks Volya's form and gives it to Lucia. After she gets the form, she takes them inside to process it. She also asks them to stay there for one hour.

One hour later, Lucia comes out from the room and walks towards Romain and Volya. She then gives them a bracelet with a name on it. Lucia then explains,

"This bracelet is the identification information for both of you. It has your name on it and your address. Please use this bracelet whenever you take any mission or finish any mission at any tavern or guild across the continent."

"Why must we use this bracelet?" ask Volya

"This job is really dangerous, with a lot of people dying without knowing their origin nor their name. That's why we create this bracelet for identification and bring it back to their respective home and country if they die at their mission," explains Lucia

"A... Alright," answer Volya as he put his bracelet to hide his slave mark

"Then, I will explain the rules here as an adventurer or mercenaries."

Volya and Romain look at Lucia and they hear her says,

"The first rule, you are only eligible to take the mission based on your current rank. But, you could take a higher rank mission if there are at least two adventurers that have a higher rank than you."

"Could you tell us about our ranks?" asks Romain

"Both of you are a newcomer... Of course, your rank is E. Do you have any questions before I continue it?"

"About the rule where we could take a higher rank mission. If we have two Rank A adventurers, could we take a Rank A mission with them?"

"No. The maximum rank mission that you could take when joining with a higher rank level than you is two levels above you. So if you are on rank E, the maximum level that you could take is rank C mission. Even if you have two rank SS adventurers with you, you only could take that level." says Lucia

"There must be a reason for that..."

"Yes. A lot of newcomers died on their first mission because of this. They are underestimating the mission because they have a connection and tried to tackle a rank A or higher mission. Especially after an incident involving a group of Orcs and a group of Goblins."

"A... Alright."

"Do you have any more questions before I continue it?"

"No." answered Romain and Volya.

"Alright, for the next one please follow me," says Lucia

The three of them walks towards the request board and Lucia then says,

"Here where you could take your mission. As you can see, Sir Albert already gives the rank on the mission with different color stamps on them."

Romain and Volya could see the different color stamps at the end of each request there. They could see a blue, yellow, green, black, and red stamp on different requests. Lucia then continues,

"The blue stamps indicate a gathering mission. You need to gather the number of items from what the client specified here."

"What if we gather more than what the client specified?" asks Volya.

"They will become your possession and the client will not pay more than it."

"A... Alright."

"Ok, the next one is the yellow stamp. This color indicates an escort mission. Either you protect any goods or protect any important nobles across the globe." continues Lucia

"How about the green one?" asks Romain

"The green one is an expedition mission. You will help the knights or local army in order to find or eliminate the threat in the area. Usually, you will help them in terms of logistics, path-finding, or manpower."

Volya then looks at the request with green stamps and could see some village there. He then nods and then hears Lucia that continues,

"The black stamp is a capturing, elimination, or hunting mission. You should know from there what you should do, right?"

"Yes... But, what about the number there?" asks Volya as he points it to some of the mission

"Ah... That's the difficulty of the monster that you hunt. The bigger the number, it becomes more dangerous." says Lucia

"I remember that usually, the knight will help when the mission is higher than 7." continues Romain

"Yes. Usually, the one that sent a black stamp mission with a number higher than 7 is the military." continues Lucia

"Alright... Then what about the red one?"

"A war mission."

Volya is really surprised and he looks at the description. Romain also reads the description and immediately knows the area of conflict. That's where Haegia is having war right now, near the forest at the eastern side of the mountain with the local tribe. Lucia then says,

"You don't need to worry, only those who have rank SSS could take that mission."

"A... Alright," says Volya

"Then, I will tell you the second rule. Every time you have already finished your mission, please return to us or any guild with a letter for escort and gather mission or a proof for hunting and expedition mission. It will determine whether you already did your job or not."

"What is the maximum days to finish any of that mission?" asks Romain

"It is stated in the description. If not, the maximum is one month after you take that mission."

Romain and Volya nod and then Lucia continues to explain about how to culminate points to rank up and any punishment if they failed the mission. At the end of the talk, Lucia says,

"And the last rule is... Don't die."

"Huh?"

"A lot of adventurers failed this basic rule... That's why I emphasize this rule."

Romain and Volya smiles and says together,

"You don't need to worry. We will not die."

"Good to hear that. I will go back to the counter. If you have any questions, just come to my counter. And if you have chosen any of the missions, just go to the mission counter. See you later then."

Lucia then bows and leaves the two of them there. Romain then smiles and asks Volya,

"Do you understand all of them?"

"Some of it... Wait, don't say that you..." replied Volya before noticing Romain’s question

"That's... A lot of information in one day..."

"How in this world you could become a knight?!"

"Luck? Ahahahahaha."

"Haaa... How about we tried to find a good mission for us first?"

"You are right..."

But after thirty minutes, the two of them can't find any of it. Volya then says,

"Could I gather that money before six months?! I doubt it."

"Please... Keep looking... We will find one..."

"Urgh... If only we could get help from higher level adventurer..." says Volya

Both of them sighs until they could hear a woman says,

"Then, let me help you."

"Ah... Thank... You..."

Both Volya and Romain are really surprised to see the woman that stands beside them with another woman beside her. Volya then shouts,

"Yo... Your Excellency?!"