With the Book of Registers destroyed, the small group of mercenaries around Lita's home decimated, and Lita, the mother of Lera Huten, the fugitive criminal on the run, Ver had officially exhausted all of her leads so far. Though what she did also made sure that the other groups are as set back as her.
That only leaves her with one option though and that is to join up with the others on a larger scale search. Knowing that everyone has to start on the same foot is equally as uncomfortably risky as it is reassuring, as Ver would at least gain a sense of the amount of progress the others are making.
Heading down into the Guild of Mercenaries and Bounty Hunters and taking the greasy register's advice about entering their special room, Ver was surprised to find that it was already pretty packed and rather busy for how early in the day it was.
When she came in, nobody bothered looking her way, as most mercenaries and bounty hunters were standing around a pair of individuals. Ver glanced towards them, the gears in her head turning as she wondered where she may have seen those two individuals before.
The one to the left is exceptionally tall yet skinny, though the lean musculature all throughout his body and his bowling-ball shoulders meant that he has already nearly maxed out all of his muscle-building potentials. His hands are big and wrapped around a glass nearly two times with his stretchy and calloused fingers. He has long brown hair tied back and is clean-shaven. The deep eyes and tall nose indicate a rather Northern bloodline, though asVer observed further, she came to realize that he's actually from the Ethereal Realm.
And that's not exactly because his appearance is that memorable, nor did Ver meet him at a prior social situation. It's because of the big black two-handed sword he's carrying behind his back. It looks normal when compared to how tall that man is, but in reality, it would have been way too heavy to be wielded by anyone but proficient Channelers. Fortunately, he is, or else he wouldn't be a proud owner of one of the Five Legendary Swords.
"The Sky Splitting Sword...As expected from a Token hunt..." Ver murmured, turning her attention to a short muscular girl next to him. She's quite a bit shorter than Ver, and looked even tinier next to the giant. However, she looked far rounder and thicker, with her forearms stretching the fabrics of her sleeves to their limits and her abdominal muscles poking through her shirt.
She carries a bow that's nearly as tall as her, and lines of carvings run through the body of the bow as a single embedded gemstone at the center, pulsing with Wave energy. Ver did not recognize that sort of gem, though it's not exactly surprising. There is no mistake, that is the owner of the One Shotter, the One Legendary Arrow.
"Ah shit. We got members of the 5321 here?!" Another group of mercenaries walked in, and their leaders cursed before all of them promptly turned heads and exited the special room all in less than a minute, "Damn, let's go do a buck hunting mission or something..."
The 5321 are referred to in full as the Five Legendary Swords, Three legendary Spears, Two Legendary Axes, and One Legendary Arrow. They are weapons of legends and have been passed down ever since the time of the War of the Third Millennium. Wielded by a total of 11 extremely powerful individuals, the names of the weapons themselves often exceed that of the wielder, apart from a handful of instances.
Ver does not know absolutely everything about the legendary weapons, though she knows of the few wielders that are in the mercenary business, namely the two in front of her.
Those that wield the legendary weapons typically hover around mountain-splitting level of power, as those far above that level would have no need to rely on the powers of the weapons any more than their own strength, and those beneath it will not have been able to wield it without proper strength and understanding of the mechanisms of the weapons.
Speaking of power levels, Ver silently extends out the Wave sensing tendril of the Kraken from her fingertips into the air, the head of the tiny squid tendril tasted the dry air and started feeling for the level of Wave within each of the individuals in the room relative to her own strength.
Before she could start gaining an idea of how strong the two wielders of the legendary weapons are, a whistle came from behind her, and Ver sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Hey missus, are you lost?" A loud grizzly voice came from behind before Ver can feel a finger reaching to her backside, "My bedroom is that way."
Turning around and unleashing a fraction of the Kraken's power on her expressions, Ver turned and stared at the well-built middle-aged mercenary as a ghostly dark shadow loomed over her face. An instant release of the Kraken's deathly aura caused the man to hesitate, and one of his underlings that failed to sense Ver's threat pointed at her.
"The Lost Girl of Vaughan! I knew I saw you somewhere before!" He said excitedly, "Ver Fulgen, is that right?"
This commotion drew the eyes of a few other mercenaries in the room, and Ver ignored the man's crew when another reached out and grabbed onto her wrist.
"The boss is talking to you." A thin male Caster with pale skin said slowly, 'It will be wise to show some respect."
"Oh yeah?" Ver said with a smile before a whirlpool red opened up over the sides of her wrist, "How's this for some respect?"
A soft stream of water peed out from the red whirlpool and made the pants off the Caster wet as he's frozen in surprise. Then, Ver placed a hand on the man's shoulder and declared to the room, "Sir, is this drink too strong for you? If you wanted the toilet, it's right there!"
"YOU Bitch!" The Caster's pale face turned bright red as he stood up with his Book of Casts ready to fire as Ver stood firmly and prepared to strike him down, "I will fucking kill you!"
"Quiet down!" Another feminine voice came from the other side of the room, and the Caster turned and barked without looking, "Shut the fuck up, you too!"
The entire room went silent, and the grizzly mercenary leader sighed and shook his head. Then the Caster finally took a good look at the owner of the voice when suddenly, a massive bolt of energy was shot right through his chest before he could even react. After his body stiffened up and fell back with the book dropping onto the ground, the sound of the arrow finally came through.
BOOM!
"I told you your temper is going to be your downfall..." The grizzly man scratched his face and let out a sigh, "I apologize for our transgressions, Great Archer Aya."
"Well, now that everybody's attentions are in one place," The tall man standing next to Aya moved forward as she returned the bow. His head is practically scraping the ceiling, and Ver's fearful that his hair might get caught in one of the splintered pieces of wood at any moment, "My name is Skylar Jay, and I am the wielder of the Sky Splitting Sword. This beautiful one here is Aya, the Great Archer, and she wields the One Shotter, which all of you, fortunately, or unfortunately (looks at the group as the mercenary leader puts up a hand), get to witness its power.
"Knowing the value of a Token, we also realized that an uncoordinated hunt for the Summoned one will likely set us all back, as evidenced by whatever happened yesterday." Skylar Jay said, taking an interested look towards Ver before continuing, "So I propose a truce until we have found the location of the Summoned one. We will form various smaller team units and slowly reduce our search area. We will divide up the responsibility to look over the various parts of the Endless Woods, and make progress each day.
"Those that are willing to participate in my plan, please stay behind. Otherwise, the door's there."
This is absolutely a show of power, and within the small pond of the Guild, Skylar Jay and Aya are the biggest fish.
Nobody in the room moved, and he clapped his hands together before getting into the detailed logistics. Ideally, the groups are split so that those from the same crew will get to work together. Those working solo are grouped either with other solos or another smaller crew.
Ver's grouped with a group known as the Wolf's Talon, and she was handed a rather expensive-looking communications Cast by Skylar.
"I have heard of your stories, Lost Girl of Vaughan." Skylar said, his voice deep, "I foresee a great working relationship between us. Despite your circumstances, I am sure you will rise above."
"Great that you'd think so." Ver said dryly, putting the Cast away, "I would hope so."
Then, she turned to face Aya before the two girls acknowledged one another briefly.
At that moment of close contact with the two, the Kraken's tendrils tensed up in nervousness as the true depths of their powers were revealed to Ver. If push comes to shove, these two will be the most troublesome of opponents. Trying to act normal, Ver then noted down the details of when and where she will be meeting the Wolf's Talon.
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"You have got to be shitting me..."
When Ver arrived at the designated location for the group, she finally understood what Skylar's words meant. Despite my circumstance?! Skylar clearly took some bribes from the fat bastard and made this special arrangement.
"Oh look what we have here~" The middle-aged mercenary puts\ both hands out wide with a laugh, "The Lost Girl will be lost no more, than that you have found the Wolf's Talon."
"Fuck this." Ver turned around and started to walk out when the man jumped high up into the air before landing on the ground in front of her.
"Not so fast." The grizzly man said with a sly smile, "You wouldn't want to dishonor the arrangement of Skylar Jay this quickly, right? What do you think he will do if he learned that you betrayed his trust and abandoned his mission?"
His crew laughed, and Ver glared at him before a strange smile floated up her face and started creeping the grizzly man out. She just realized something.
The number one rule in the Mercenary business is that everything's only a matter of business. If the Wolf's Talon think they can do whatever they wanted to her just because they are out on a job in the middle of nowhere, then the same is true for her.
If any of them even touches her, she will kill them on the spot.
"Very well." Ver brought up a polite smile as the monster inside of her hummed happily at the thought of getting rid of the trash, "Lead the way."