A demi-bear man, old and gray but looking like he could easily fend for himself, sat at his desk in his office. A knock came on his door.

“Come in.” He spoke.

Martin entered the room. “Good afternoon, Branch Head.”

He looked at him, a bit peeved.

“Oh, uh, Mr. Halli.” Martin corrected, bringing a pleasant smile to his face.

“What can I do for you, Martin?” Halli asked while chuckling.

“A new applicant,” Martin said, handing a file to the Branch Head.

Mr. Halli opened the thin file and looked it over.

“Holy shit! This guy is impressive, even for a demon. Not too often you see an All-Rounder so high or balanced.” Halli laughed.

“He should be here tomorrow afternoon for his ID update,” Martin informed.

“Ah. Alright. Going by these numbers… Hmm… Set his rank at 5 with a half completion to rank 6.” Halli said, handing the page back to Martin.

“Are you sure? Wouldn’t someone like this meet Rank 6 automatically?” Martin tried arguing.

“I understand your point. But this will guarantee that he doesn’t die immediately, and we test what he can do.” Halli replied.

Martin thanked Mr. Halli for his guidance and left the room.

“An All-Rounder? I gotta see this guy.” An amused smile came to Halli’s face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michael woke the following day to someone knocking on his door. Crawling out of bed, his mind still groggy, he lumbered to his door and opened it.

“Room service!” Liara stated cheerily before seeing that Michael was in his boxers.

Michael quickly woke up. “Oh! Uh, sorry. I was…”

Liara pushed a simple cart into the room, closed it, and locked the door. She opened her belt and robe, letting it glide to the floor.

Her face was flushed, and her breathing lewd. “My, my, my, you are quite the specimen.”

Michael’s mighty serpent began to stir, becoming quite visible to Liara.

“What the gentleman.” Liara rushed forward and jumped Michael.

Michael sat on the edge of his bed in a soft robe, taking a bite of his hour-long cold breakfast. Using a bit of fire magic, he was able to reheat his food.

He looked behind himself. Liara was under the covers, asleep, letting out the occasional quiet moan.

Michael let out a heavy breath and turned back to his meal. The last thing he expected to happen was the woman jumping him. He assumed the whole situation had something to do with a Lord of Debauchery passive skill. Michael guessed that the fewer articles of clothing he had on, the stronger the attraction. But then he remembered when he first evolved into the Demon-Lord, Rana did not jump him then and there. So, he guessed there had to be another pre-existing condition, like the woman was also interested in him for such an activity.

The whole situation felt strange to him. Michael felt Lord of Debauchery was much more powerful than he thought. He would research it later with the info screen as Liara began to stir.

“Mmm… That smells nice.” She sat up a bit bleary-eyed.

Michael reheated her meal and motioned for her to join him at the table he had pulled beside the bed.

“What. A. Gentleman.” She commented in a sultry way, wrapping the sheet a bit more around herself and joining him.

Liara took a bite of her food. “Mmm! I love this place’s food. Mary has a hell of an eye for employees.”

“So, uh, I really appreciate what happened, but did my actions really warrant such a great reward?” Michael commented, eating a piece of bacon.

Liara thought for a moment. “Hmm. I usually don’t do this kind of thing, but honestly, seeing that monster you are packing triggered something… primal.” She said with a lewd smile, a shiver running through her body, remembering the feeling.

“Were you that interested in me?” He asked.

“I can’t say I wasn’t. You are quite attractive, and you seemed like you would have been able to show me a good time… You far exceeded my expectations.” Liara replied.

A sultry smile came to her face once more. “Round two?” She asked.

Michael checked his clock, seeing it was getting close to eleven. He was greatly conflicted. The incredible feeling of being with such a lovely woman or going to the guild to finish his registration…

He looked over to her, seeing she had dropped the sheet. His decision was made.

Michael arrived at the Mercenary Guild just before 1:00 p.m. due to round three. Martin saw Michael enter the building and came from behind the counter to meet him.

“Welcome, Caeldaemos. Your beginning rank has been chosen, and the Branch Head, Mr. Halli, wishes to meet you.” Martin said cheerily.

“Really? Is there a reason why?” Michael asked, following Martin up to the second level of the building.

“It is rare for an All-Rounder like you to exist. It is not rare for people to branch into other styles, like a healer who has combat as a support.” Martin explained.

A worker stopped them. “Martin, have you seen Liara? I have something I borrowed from her but haven’t seen her today.”

Michael froze. Liara was so exhausted by the end of round three that she was still asleep back in his room.

“No, I haven’t,” Martin replied, a bit of worry in his voice.

Michael struggled with his inner demons and decided to tell them something.

“I, uh, saw her last night at the Beary Inn I am staying at. We talked, and she had a bit too much to drink. I paid for a room for her to sleep it off. I swear by Io.” The silver haze rolled over Michael.

“Oh. Is she still there?” The worker asked.

“Yes…” Michael answered, not wanting to give away that the foxy woman was nearly in a blissful coma.

“Well, I will check to see if she has left yet. If she hasn’t, I will leave it with the inn to give her.” The worker thanked Michael and left the two of them.

“So… You two talked, huh?” Martin asked.

Michael saw Martin’s question as an opportunity to show he was straight.

“Yeah. She really is a lovely woman. I hope she gives me a chance.” Michael answered.

Martin’s shoulders drooped a bit. “I see.”

Michael felt bad for Martin and silently prayed that Io would get Martin, a good man.

Martin stopped them at an open office door. “Mr. Halli, I brought Caeldaemos.”

“Excellent! Come in.” Halli stood from his desk and came to the front, sitting on the edge.

The Branch Head’s eyes widened as Michael entered with his large frame. Thinking momentarily, Halli picked up Michael’s file to check something, then did a double take while rubbing his eyes.

Putting the file down and taking a deep breath, Halli asked a single question. “How in the hell did you rank so high in stealth? You are massive!”

Halli stood to get a measure of just how tall Michael was. Halli was not a small man, being at six-foot-three himself.

“Just how tall are you?” Halli asked.

“Six-eight,” Michael answered.

Halli shook his head, unable to wrap his mind around how such a large man could sneak around.

“Moving on.” Halli sat back down on the edge of his desk. “We will have you start out as a Rank 5 Mercenary, and you will have full access to all the jobs of that level. I know that it is one down from where you could be, but we want to ensure that you can complete jobs and not die. I compromised and had you set halfway through your required job completion for Rank 6. So, if you complete twenty more missions, you will be eligible to take the Rank 6 test.” Halli explained.

“What do the tests entail?” Michael asked, but Halli waved it off.

“You can ask one of my people downstairs. I am a bit busy, but I made time for you, who was a bit late.” Halli smirked at Michael.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Yeah… Sorry about that. Something came up… a few times.” Michael apologized.

“Alright. Just try to be on time next time. Now shoo.” Mr. Halli shooed them away with a playful smile.

Martin took Michael to his counter and engraved Michael’s guild rank on his card.

“Alright. Do you know how the kiosk works?” Martin asked.

“I just kind of glanced over it,” Michael replied.

Martin took Michael to one of the kiosks out front.

“Alright. Go ahead and insert your card into the slot there.” Martin pointed to a card slot.

Michael inserted his card, and the screen changed. It displayed a question asking if he was in a party.

“This is the first screen. If you are in a party, you will touch ‘Yes,’ and the kiosk will ask for all member cards to be inserted and confirmed. Be mindful that doing a job without logged members present is strictly forbidden. We have had cases where nobles would hire mercenaries to take on missions and not go on them. If a party member is absent due to a reason, just come to the guild and inform us. We will remove them from the log at no cost.” Martin explained.

“Why would they… Oh. Their guild ranks.” Michael figured out why it was forbidden.

“Correct. They would force their rank up on the backs of others. There is a well-known guild rule. Those who do not work do not deserve to succeed. Now since this is just to show you how this works, we will select ‘No.’” Martin pressed the spot on the screen.

The screen changed, momentarily bringing up Michael’s demon name and guild rank before fading to a new selection screen. The screen asked, ‘Type of Job?’

“This is the summary list for all jobs. The toggle in the top right, with the numbers one through ten, allows you to change what rank jobs are displayed. Right now, you can only select Rank 1 through 5. Let’s stick with Rank 5 jobs. The ones you have will take you outside the city. The ones you have available are Hunting, Gathering, Escorting, Extermination, Guarding, and Scouting. Each one will have a level of danger, but they have all been determined to be for a Rank 5 mercenary. Do you understand?” Martin asked, worried he might be going too fast.

“No problems.” Michael pressed the Extermination job, bringing up a new screen.

Looking through the menu, he saw a goblin extermination job worth 10T Tress.

“Are goblins that dangerous?” Michael asked.

“Goblins can be. Alone or small in number, a Rank 4 could handle them. But the greater the numbers, the higher the threat.” Martin looked a bit closer at the job description. “Hmm, this looks to be commissioned by Hallibrush. Seems they found a growing nest within attack distance.”

The town name worried Michael. He went ahead and selected it, confirming his acceptance.

“Um, Michael, this is something a group would take on,” Martin said worriedly.

“I took out a force of forty human soldiers. Do you really think goblins could trouble me?” Michael asked.

Martin chuckled while shaking his head. “Just be careful, okay? The sooner you get there, the better. Goblins propagate quickly.” He advised.

Michael nodded and headed to an Outfitter shop he had seen between the inn and the guild building.

Michael looked over the various weapons until he found a fanged mace. Michael picked up some basic armor until his custom equipment was done. None of it fit him perfectly, but he felt it was better than nothing. He then headed back to the inn.

“Caeldaemos,” Mary called out to him.

He approached the bar where she stood. “Yes?”

She gave Michael a wide and knowing smile while sliding a small package to him.

“Please see Liara gets this, and could you return my cart?” Mary asked, her smile getting bigger.

Michael’s face felt hot, and he couldn’t meet her eyes. He apologized and said he would return it immediately.

Taking the package, Michael headed upstairs to his room.

“Welcome back,” Liara said, fully clothed, her bushy tail swishing back and forth happily.

“T-Thanks. Um, this package was left by a worker at the guild.” Michael handed her the package.

He picked up on her scent. She must have taken a bath while he was gone. It was intoxicating after the morning he had with her.

“Oh! Thank you.” She took the package and opened it to remove the novel.

“So… I picked up a job.” Michael began.

“Really? What rank did you get?” She asked, glancing through the book.

“Yeah. Rank 5, halfway to 6. The job I picked up is in Hallibrush.” Michael said, feeling a bit awkward.

With the morning they had, he felt like a piece of garbage having to leave so soon, seeming like a ‘hit-it-and-quit-it’ type of guy.

“Oh…” Liara’s tail drooped.

“I will come back, though. I…” He paused. “I can definitely admit that this morning was… beyond great. I want to get to know you better and maybe see… where this may go.” Michael awkwardly said, not wanting to hurt or seem creepy to her.

Her tail began to swish back and forth again. “Truly?” She asked, not looking up at him.

“Yeah.” He replied.

Liara stood and immediately stumbled into him, barely able to stand. “Mmm… Sorry, seems like three times against that red dragon was too much for me.”

Michael’s heart was beating fast and said dragon was beginning to wake, but he was determined to hold his desires in for her sake.

“Rest here for the night.” Michael pulled a few meal containers out and placed them on the table. “The food there will stay hot all day and is well preserved. This way, you can stay here. Feel free to use the room until you are recovered.”

Liara smiled as he helped her onto the edge of the bed. “Thank you. Is there anything I can do for you while I am stuck here, oh mighty dragon?” She joked.

After thinking for a moment, he pulled the OWP catalog out and handed it to her. “Here, could you take a look at these?” He asked as he gave the membership pamphlets to her.

“W-What? This is an OWP catalog! Only nobles or….” She looked up at him.

He gave her a smirk.

“So, you’re wealthy. That makes you even more desirable. But why do mercenaries work? If you invest right, you could live well, even with little wealth.” She said, placing the catalog aside.

Michael clenched his jaw. He didn’t want to tell her the truth, not when so much was unknown about her. It was strange that he told the priestess back in Hallibrush about himself. Michael thought that maybe Io may have wanted to give him someone he could vent to.

“I… I need to become stronger. I have a certain fate where people will come for my life. Powerful people. If I don’t have the strength to protect myself,” Michael looked into her eyes, “Or those I may care about, I will risk losing everything. I had my original life ripped from my hands by a powerful person, and because I was too weak, there was nothing I could do to change my fate.” Michael explained.

Liara placed a hand on his. “I may not fully understand, but I hope that as we learn more about each other and grow closer, we can both open up fully about our pasts.” A dark look came to her face. “I also have things that I was too weak to stop from happening. But let’s take our time.”

“Take our time? I think we rushed things a bit.” Michael joked, motioning his head toward the bed she sat on.

Liara laughed. “True! This was skipping a few steps!” She took his hand and brought it to her cheek. “Be safe and come back to me.”

Michael smiled and hugged her. Before he left, he asked her to review the catalog and the pamphlets to see if it would be worth investing in a membership with OWP. She agreed.

Taking the cart back to Mary, Michael paid for two weeks’ worth of time for his room using his bank card.

Heading to the city’s main street, Michael pulled out his Magic Cycle and rode it out of the city and down the road.