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I looked at her for a few long seconds, my thoughts racing.

“Why?” I simply asked in the end.

“Sir,” she said, pausing a moment, “You don’t have the gods’ System right?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Nope.”

She nodded.

“Then it’s impossible to work here,” the lady confirmed again. “Without the gods’ System we can’t confirm your strength, and our clients pay based on Mercenary Rank and Level of the guard, so there’d be issues about the payment. We also can’t give you quests, and you will have no way to identify yourself on guilds of other cities without the System. Also, most importantly, the client won’t trust an unblessed with work if he could find someone else to do it.”

Fuck.

“Can’t you just assign me an approximate Level? I’ll have a spar with someone so you can confirm. As for the quests… can’t I just sign a paper?” I asked, trying to find something that could work. “As for trust… working for the guild would be a guarantee.”

“No, sir,” was the curt reply.

Fuck, I thought again.

She certainly wouldn’t be of any help.

I looked at the other two, who had been staring at me again, and they just looked down and pretended to work.

Fucking wonderful.

I thought of other things I could do.

Forcing her to call someone higher than her would produce the same results, or worse.

I could almost rival a Level forty and while that would make me a decently strong mercenary, I was not so extraordinary that people would bend the rules for me and my skills weren’t exactly the best to fend off larger groups of people, which would probably limit my usefulness.

Whoever got called would probably just get annoyed by the waste of time and just dismiss me.

Throwing a tantrum also wouldn’t work. If they have someone above Level 40 then I’d get slapped to the other side of the city in a moment and I doubt anyone would give a crap about it even if I complained somewhere.

Nothing else came to mind at the moment.

Fuck, I thought again. Fucking gods and their System.

Time to beat a temporary retreat.

“Well, fine, nothing you can do, I suppose,” I said after a few seconds of silence.

“I’m sorry, sir,” she said with a supposedly sad expression.

“I’m sure you are,” I responded, “It will be a loss not to see this handsome face around after all. I pity you.”

I sighed.

“Well, bye ladies. Been a true pleasure,” I said, turning back and walking away.

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They stayed silent as went to the door that led outside.

After I came out on the road, I looked around. The sun had left the horizon for a while and streets were already getting crowded.

Now what? I thought as I passed a hand on my hair.

I really had no idea, and I felt a bit dejected.

In the end, I took another look around the city and the market, hoping to get some idea in the meantime. Unfortunately, the only good idea that came out of my walk was to stop by the barber when I saw one open.

Around two hours later, I was back to the inn, without having solved anything.

Their restaurant on the first floor also offered breakfast, so I had another one while I waited for my two companions to wake up. I didn’t eat that much at the mercenary bar, so why not?

After an hour, when I was just lazing around in the restaurant, Zeph and Freya finally came down.

After looking around the room, they saw me and came to sit at my table.

“You went to the barber,” stated Zeph after he greeted me. “You look better now.”

“You do,” said Freya after him.

“Un… Thanks,” I said halfheartedly, still lost in my thoughts.

He tilted his head. “Is something wrong?”

“You could say that,” I answered as I saw the girl coming to take their orders.

After she went away, I explained what happened at the mercenary guild.

“Mmm, I can’t say I didn’t expect it, honestly,” said Zeph.

We fell into silence for a few seconds while he ate.

“Is mercenary the only work you thought of?” He asked without looking up.

I thought for a bit about the options I thought about.

“Nope, but it’s the only one I feel confident about that doesn’t require months or years of training before I could start making money,” I answered. “I could also travel around while doing it.”

He took a while more to think before saying, “Did you not think about being an explorer?”

“Yes, I did, but I don’t know enough to be one. It would take too much time to learn,” I said, sighing. “Also wouldn’t the registration be the same?”

Zeph nodded.

“Yes, I suppose, but while there may be some form of registration that needs the System, you’re not working with the client in those cases, so there may be some leeway,” he explained. “Also, why wouldn’t you want to take a few months to learn?”

At the question, I thought back to my original idea and explained it.

“Well, I just thought that I needed a reliable way to make money right away…” I trailed off.

“Fuck, I got money!” I exclaimed suddenly.

He nodded. “Indeed. But lower your voice.”

I hadn’t thought about it, but I got loads of gold coins now.

I was just so fixated on becoming a mercenary that I didn’t think about it.

This changes things.

“I think I could almost kiss you, man,” I said, moved.

He made a disgusted face. “No, thanks.”

“I said almost.” I grinned.

He snorted.

Jokes aside, I was feeling a bit embarrassed. It was almost funny how I hadn’t thought about the coins I was making.

Until now, he always paid for every expense on this trip, so I didn’t even bother opening the pouch with the coins; I only tossed them inside and forgot about it.

I think I may be the first person to forget owning a pouch full of gold, I thought, amused as I waited for them to finish eating. Well, I never handled money before. I think I could be excused… maybe.

I was also thinking that maybe having Zeph find me that day had really been a saving grace. I felt like I could almost forget the little detail of him putting our lives at risk.

He had also been really helpful on the road. Let’s just hope his deadly problems will stay away, at least until we reach Caldris.

“Will you go register as an explorer?” he asked after he ate his meal, breaking me out of my thoughts.

I thought about it for a moment.

“No,” I answered, “Or at least, not yet.”

Having some leeway with the money gave me some options I didn’t have before.

“For now, I think I’ll head to the explorer guild and check what is needed to register there. After that, I will ask around and try to get some idea on which job could suit me best,” I explained my thoughts. “Also, while I’m fine staying for some time in the same place, I want to travel, so I’ll need to consider it well before choosing.”

I didn’t want to pick a job that could chain me to a city or region.

“It’s a reasonable course of action,” he agreed. “In the meantime, I’ll look around for news on the capital and try to figure out the next part of our journey.”

I nodded in assent.

I saw him looking at Freya, who was still finishing her meal. She dutifully listened to me when I told her she should eat more, and while she had some difficulties at the start, now her stomach was getting more used to it.

I think she got more than Zeph… not that he eats that much. He could do with some more food and exercise.

He looked back at me, saying, “By the way, what did you say about having fun with the receptionists?”

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