The Mercenary Guild was full of drunk men, rugged men, smell-like-shit men, and men.
Men.
MEN!
That was why a little girl like me attracted attention. I could feel myself shrinking under the scrutinizing gazes, but regardless, I powered through them and got to a counter…where a woman waited.
She had brown hair, brown eyes, and overall, she was pretty. ‘Probably an eye candy to attract Mercenaries. Haaaah, you never change, Mercenary Guild.’
Since my height was less than desirable, I picked up a stool nearby and stood on top of it. Only then did my head barely reach the counter.
“I want to be a Mercenary.”
The girl looked as if she wanted to say something. However, she soon swallowed her words and took out a paper form. “Do you know how to write?”
“Yes.”
I looked at the form. ‘Name, race, age, current star-rank, all the basic stuff.’
But there was one particular thing that interested me.
“Profession?”
“Yes. Swordsman, Spearsman, Mage, everything you can think of, it’s a profession.” The receptionist explained. “Don’t worry about it too much. You can change your profession at any time.”
‘Hmm…what should I choose?’
Other than my sword skills, I wasn’t good at anything else. Closing my eyes, I sighed. ‘Nira, Aerin, please come…’
But there was no answer.
I let out a low chuckle. Guess this was the world’s way of telling me that I wasn’t fit to be a Swordsmaster anymore. I couldn’t even hold off against the Demon King properly. I couldn’t even protect my Ihwa. I couldn’t even save Mom.
But…I still had one thing aside from my Swordsmanship—my Healing skill.
‘Maybe if I focus on Healing, I can protect Nowa…’
And with that, I wrote “Healer” on the form.
.
.
.
.
“Unfortunately, you can’t be a Mercenary right away. You have to pass an assessment.”
I wasn’t too surprised by that. Healer or not, being a Mercenary meant that you must be able to put up a good fight. “What is it?”
“Nothing too tough. You just need to fight one of our instructors. Winning isn’t necessary since you just need to impress them enough.”
“Well then, lead the way.”
The receptionist nodded and took me into the inner areas of the Guild building.
Along the way, I could hear murmurs. They were definitely directed at me, but I couldn’t hear what they said despite my enhanced hearing.
As I approached an open area that was obviously intended for sparring, I saw a middle-aged man with graying hair and a beard sitting crosslegged right in the middle of it.
“A new applicant? How rare these days,” he said without even opening his eyes. “But why are you bothering me, Clara? Take them to Josh. I can’t be bothered to fight some greenhorn.”
“B-But Guildmaster, y-you should really see this applicant…”
Finally, the man—supposedly the Guildmaster, opened his eyes. He frowned upon seeing me. “I see…you did a good job bringing her here, Clara.”
Standing up and dusting his clothes, the Guildmaster picked up the wooden training sword that was lying on the ground. “Kid, leave, now. I won’t say it twice.”
But I ignored his words. ‘He’s probably underestimating me.’ Big mistake. I’d show him how good I was!
“So you’re the one I have to fight. Hurry up and get ready. I need to get back to my sister before dusk.”
“Young people…always not listening to me…”
Then, I heard loud shouts coming from behind me.
-”The Guildmaster! He’s fighting!”
-”Is it a kid again!?”
-”Are you stupid? Of course it’s a kid! He’s gonna bully her so bad!”
Soon enough, the entire area was surrounded by Mercenaries. They were drinking, eating, and even laughing with each other. It was almost like this was a festival or something.
‘Does this happen often?’
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Seeing the Guildmaster’s less-than-amused expression, it probably was.
“Don’t say I haven’t warned you. Pick your weapon.”
As soon as those words left the Guildmaster’s mouth, the receptionist—Clara placed a weapon rack right beside me.
I tried to pick up a sword, but nope, the fear also extended to wooden weapons. Sighing, I decided to use my bare hands.
‘Just because I was a Swordsmaster, doesn’t mean I can’t fight hand-to-hand.’
The Guildmaster’s reaction to this was a raise of his eyebrow, nothing more. “Start whenever you like. You’re going to lose anyways.”
“...I don’t intend to win.”
“Then you’re never getting in.”
‘That’s a joke, right?’
He was a 6-star, of course I wasn’t going to win! I just needed to impress him, just like the receptionist had told me.
Well, no use thinking too much. I got into a stance and immediately dashed toward him.
“You’ve got no skill.” He yawned.
‘Wrong.’
And to prove that, I dodged to the side when he swung his sword at me. ‘Sloppy. He’s probably not used to using a sword.’
But the aftershock of his swing was enough to slightly knock me away. Seriously? He was using a 3-star strength against me?
That didn’t matter. All I needed was to prove that even when faced with such a great opponent, I could still put up a fight.
This time, he was the one who attacked first.
‘A thrust?’
A fast one at that! I barely dodged it by a hair’s breadth. Then, I reeled closer to him and tried to disarm him by striking his wrist. However, he was 6-star. ‘Nuff said.
Flicking my own wrist, which got hurt instead of his wrist, I winced in pain. “A-Are you not giving me any chance to prove myself?”
“...You’re decent, still standing after this long, I’ll give you that.”
‘But not enough, huh?’
Fine! I’ll put everything into this! I dashed toward him once more, but backstepped a bit once I saw his overhead swing.
His sword hit the ground and kicked dust into the air. Utilizing this moment of low vision for him, I jumped on the sword and jumped again to an even greater height.
“Wh—”
I spun my body around, not letting him finish exclaiming his surprise. “[Iron Tail]!”
As I was falling back, I quickly congregated Cold Mana all around me. “Take this! [Ice Spears]!”
Spears of spirling Ice with sharpened tips shot toward him. Unfortunately, he regained his posture and slashed each and every one of them down.
But it wasn’t over yet! “[Flame Cannon]!”
He…dispersed my spell with a flick of his finger this time. Okay, maybe it was ov—
“I’m ending this.”
Before I knew it, the Guildmaster was right in front of me. He raised his foot up and kicked me in the gut, knocking me out of the arena.
-”Ooh! That little fox got some fight in her.”
-”Maybe she’ll be the first one to become a Merc after fighting the Guildmaster?”
-”I bet 4 Silvers that she’s gonna run home crying.”
Okay, judging by the murmurs around me, I had a high chance of getting in. It seemed that I’d impressed everyone here.
With a groan, I got up and looked for the Guildmaster—he was sitting on a bench, staring at me with a deep frown.
I walked up to him and crossed my arms. “So, am I in?”
He sighed. Then, he pointed at his nose. “What do you see?”
“...A scratch?”
“That’s right. A scratch. During the entire battle, all you managed to inflict on me was a scratch.”
“But you’re a 6-star!”
“Excuses.”
“I don’t care! Am I in or no?”
He sighed. “You’re not in.”
“WHAT!? HAVE I NOT PROVED MYSELF ENOUGH?”
“It isn’t a problem of skill or power,” he calmly explained. “No child should live the life of a Merc.”
“But I have to!” Dammit, why did no one understand!? I didn’t do this for fun! Nowa was waiting for me!
It seemed that my sincerity finally came across, as the Guildmaster expressed his surprise for the first time outside of battle. “Why do you want to be a Merc?”
“...Do I have to answer?”
“Depending on what you say, I will reconsider your application.”
W-Well, maybe I judged him too harshly. It looked like he still had a heart.
“I want to feed my sister. I want her to grow up healthily.”
“Then why not choose safe jobs?” He raised an eyebrow. “You can work at an inn. Three meals a day and decent pay. The only thing you need to worry about is lodging.”
Admittedly, that option never crossed my mind. B-But still! Being a Mercenary would gain me a lot more money!
“I-I only know how to fight.” I knew how to cook, too, but… “A-And working other jobs don’t give me enough money! I need to buy medications for her!”
I lied straight through my teeth. But actually, it wasn’t even that much of a lie. Nowa did need her medications to feel somewhat comfortable on sunny days, but it wasn’t as if she’d die without them.
“I see…” The Guildmaster stroked his chin. Then, he asked, “I can tell that you’re extremely good with the sword by the way you fight. Why aren’t you using one?”
“...”
I stayed silent, trying not to let the memories surface.
Then, the Guildmaster closed his eyes to fall into thought.
I stared at him nervously until eventually, he opened those gray eyes of his again and slowly voiced his answer.
“No.”
W-What!? D-Did my circumstances not move him?
“You will be denied application here or any other Mercenary branches until you’re 18 or I say otherwise. Clara—” he turned toward the receptionist. “Please inform other branches of this.”
“B-But Guildmaster…isn’t this too much?” She alternated her gazes between us, not knowing what to do.
‘I know what you should do! Defy your Guildmaster!’
“Are you questioning my decision?”
Clara gulped. Though, she still stood her ground and shot back. Yes! Finally! Someone sensible!
“You heard what she said! She needs the money for her sister!”
“And what does that have to do with you? Will you provide for her?”
Clara gulped yet again and closed her eyes. “Yes, I will.”
“You can barely even feed yourself,” he chuckled.
“Even so…”
“Haha, that’s why I’m adopting her.”
Silence.
The whole guild was in shock.
I was…also in shock. My mind was blank. D-Did he really just say that?
By the time I came to sense, the Guildmaster had already extended a hand out to me, waiting for me to grab it. Staring at his hand, I…slapped it away and flipped him off.
“FUCK YOU!”
Did he really think I’d forget Mom that easily!? Just the mere thought of taking another person as my parent was nauseating!
So, I left the Guild in a huff. Mercenaries be damned! I could make do with other jobs!
“The offer still stands. You can come any time and be my daughter.” I could hear his loud voice from behind.
“Fuck off!"