A small figure, not even one meter tall, walked into the tavern. He had dark auburn hair and brown eyes, still with some baby fat on his cheeks.

Evan noticed that people of this world too had accents. While his parents were not native to the city of Wistre, Evan was born and raised there, allowing him to switch freely from Wistre’s somewhat Cockney accent to his parents’.

“Aww, are you lost, kid? Where do you live? Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you.” Chelsea said, fawning over the newcomer.

“What did you say to me, kid? Do you want to die?” Romund said threateningly.

“Stop it, Rom. He’s just a kid for gods sake.” Chelsea said, holding the newcomer closer and half suffocating him with her chest.

“And I don’t bloody care. Kid or not, manners maketh man and I want to give him a practical lesson.’

“No!” Jerry shouted with such force, it silenced the conflict.

“He's not just a kid.” He said with a sigh. “What do you want?”

Romund looked over to see his friend shivering and sweating bullets at the mere sight of the newcomer despite his manner of speaking.

“What’s wrong with you? He’s just a kid.” Romund said, confused by his friend’s behavior.

“You want to know why the job ended up in a fucking massacre? He was the job.” Jerry said, pointing at Evan. “I was lucky he didn’t check for survivors.”

“Wrong,” the newcomer said. “I let you live because you seemed like a smart rat who knows when the ship is sinking.”

Suddenly, Chelsea felt the need to stay very far away from the newcomer. She let him go, running back into the kitchen with the excuse of getting back to her job. Jerry shuddered at the newcomer’s words and asked again, “You’re not here to kill me, so what do you want?”

“Who are you?” Romund asked, more respectfully than before.

“My name is Evan Galien and I want to talk. You need a job, I need people. Maybe we could work out some sort of deal.” Evan said with a devilish smile on his face.

…

After explaining to the two mercenaries his plans for the mercenary guild, he laid back in his chair, waiting for them to respond to his offer.

Although he was not invited, Romund decided to tag along to hear what the boy who had killed fourteen people when he was supposed to be kidnapped had to say. He figured there would be no harm and he quite liked the idea himself.

The main problem with being a mercenary was establishing a customer base. This guild idea would solve that and it would make jobs a lot less dangerous by providing the mercenaries adequate information to complete the clients’ requests.

“So let me get this straight, your idea is to create a mercenary guild. People put in requests to your guild who will pass on the requests to us. When we complete the request, we go back to you to receive the pay and you take a share as commission fee.” Jerry said after a long period of silence.

“That’s right.” Evan said, nodding.

“Alright, that’s great and all, but I don’t understand. Why do you need me? Why not take Romund here? I can vouch for him, he’s a good man. He also has better contacts than me.” Jerry asked.

“Because you have something he doesn’t.” Evan replied. “I admit, I would also like Romund to join the guild as well. However, I would much rather have you than him. Do you know why?”

“No.” Jerry replied meekly.

“Because you have experience and you want to change. Tell me, how long have you been a part of this business, five years, ten years?”

“Twenty, ever since I was six years old.” Jerry replied. “My parents were shit poor so we never had much. My sister was too happy so I had to do something to help out.”

“Exactly. You’ve been playing this game for as long as the bigshots out there, but you’ve waded through more shit than most of them. Yet, that didn’t change you one bit. You’re a good man, Jerry. Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise. Other people know that too, isn’t that right?”

Romund nodded and so did Chelsea, who had returned with the trio’s drinks and stayed longer since she was curious about the boy’s offer. The mercenaries had ordered more ale while Evan was given some milk, on the house. Evan felt somewhat embarrassed by the beverage options available to him as a four year old, yet he had to suck it up since there was not much he could do. After taking a long sip to wet his throat, he continued.

“For this guild to work, we need the new mercenaries to come to us instead of the cartels. They’ll get experience working with us and become the new generation of mercenaries. Then, the old and the new ones will come joining in to get in on the new business. But it starts with the new generation, which is why I need you.”

“You have the experience, the knowledge, and the contacts that only the most experienced, low ranked mercenary can provide for them. You will help them grow into whatever they may be in the future, and in return, you put together a group of people you have mentored and trust you. I’ll even throw in a salary if you want as an official mentor for the guild, so what do you say?”

Jerry thought about it, taking a sip out of his mug of ale.

“Just to be clear, I mentor these retired soldiers so that they become good mercenaries and in return, I get to pick the ones I find most talented to form my own group and get paid for it?”

“Correct.”

“Alright, I’m in.” Jerry said with a smile. “When do I start?”

“You can start whenever you want.” Evan replied, getting up from his seat. “I’m still setting up the finer details like an actual office for the guild, rankings, and requests, but as soon as it’s set up you can immediately join. I’ll be seeing you around then.”

“Hey Evan?” Jerry called. “Thank you.”

Evan grinned and gave a two fingered salute in response before walking out of the tavern.

“Well, it looks like you got yourself a new job.” Romund said.

“Congratulations, dear.” Chelsea said, embracing Jerry from behind and making him blush from the contact. Experienced mercenary or not, he was still shy in front of women, and Chelsea was no ordinary woman.

“Thanks, but you heard him. Why didn’t you two join in as well? I’m sure the more people he gets, the better. Besides, the top spots are first come, first serve, aren’t they?”

“True,” Romund said, nodding. “I like the idea too, but there’s no rush. The kid wants to set everything up perfectly so that when the guild starts rising, it doesn’t topple down on its beautiful arse. I’ll just keep an eye out for him.”

“Same.” Chelsea said. “Besides, every guild needs a receptionist, right?”

Jerry laughed for the first time since the incident. “Alright then, let’s have drink then, to the future Mercenary Guild.”

“To the future Mercenary Guild!”

“Oh, and you’re paying for that drink. I gave the freebie to the kid because I liked him, not you.”

“...Shit.”