Chapter 32 - Revenant Mystics

“Hey Rok, check it out.”

The mercenary leader turned towards them and showed a predator-like grin. Liam saw him coming closer, not understanding how he was stupid enough to provoke the army.

To his immense surprise, Rok put his arm around Jade. "Hey there, girlie. Since you accepted my friend’s request, why don't we go to the inn right now? I can't wait anymore."

Their members hooted and let out vulgar laughs while some of the patrons whistled.

"Do you mind if we borrow her? She’ll come back after she ‘tests’ all of us." Another round of vulgar comments went around.

Focused as he was on entertaining the crowd, he didn’t notice Jade's expression, but Liam did. "Your funeral."

Her eyebrows were pulled together and her eyes blazed with fury. She faced the captain with a sneer on her face and grabbed his arm. Drawing herself to her full height, she towered over him. He was barely taller than her shoulder but didn’t show any fear.

"I don't want you to get hurt, so why don't you let go of my arm." He yanked his arm, but it didn’t budge. It felt like his arm was stuck in a vice. Seeing that his efforts were useless, he threw a punch at her head.

Jade easily captured his fist. He tried to free his arms, but his efforts were fruitless. He was about to call for help when she smashed her forehead on his face. There was a loud crack as the captain’s nose broke like a twig.

"AHHH! YOU BITC......" He didn't get to complete his statement as Jade let go of his fist and punched him in the face. The sound of the blow made the bystanders flinch.

Rok’s knees buckled and he lost all strength in his body. If not for Jade’s grip on his other hand, he would have fallen to the ground. Her second punch landed squarely on his face with an audible bone-crunching sound.

She raised her fist to land a third punch when Anya interrupted her. "You should stop. He will die if you hit him again."

She didn’t heed Anya's statement and was about to punch him again when Dunn got up and stopped her. "I think you should stop."

Only then did she let go of the leader and focus on the remaining mercenaries. They unsheathed their weapons but hesitated to attack. No matter what, the other part was the army.

"That was a greeting." Jade sneered while pointing at the captain. "Swing your weapons and you’ll have a fight."

She kicked their leader's unconscious body towards the mercenaries and waited for them to act. They hesitated for a second before deciding to give up.

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The town guard arrived at their location after being informed about the brawl. The captain examined the surroundings and was happy to note that apart from a single injured mercenary, there was no property damage nor was anyone else injured.

He took note of the two groups involved in the conflict and noticed one of the groups was composed of soldiers. Even if that was the case, he had to do his duty.

"I am sorry, but I’ll have to detain both groups." The captain mainly addressed the soldiers.

Anya tossed two tokens towards the captain. The captain caught a glimpse of the first token and flinched. It was the symbol of the inquisition and the one group everyone wanted to avoid. He cursed the mercenaries for causing trouble and wondered how to get out of the predicament. The second token made him sigh in relief. Unless her crime was severe, there was no way she could be detained. "What do you want me to do?"

"Question them. I want to know who put them up to this." She turned towards Jade. “We will discuss your misconduct later. For now, I want the three of you to register as a mercenary guild and accept a mission.”

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The mercenary association was located in a large well-kept building in the center of the town. It did more than just assign missions. There were grounds where people trained, instructors teaching kids fighting, and even people teaching spells.

Liam walked into the guild and noticed all of the counters were busy. He waited for a bit and finally found a free receptionist. When he arrived in front of her, her eyes widened, making Liam's mood plummet. The constant attention was driving him mad. If possible, he would be happy if people ignored him.

"We’re here to register as mercenaries." Jade walked forward blocking Liam from view.

The lady frowned for a bare fraction of a second before smoothening her expression. She continued in a professional tone. "Certainly. I need you to fill in these forms. There is no registration fee, but we collect 10% of the mission reward for every mission you acquire through the association. As you gain more reputation, complete more missions or increase in rank, the fee we collect will be reduced along with many other benefits. By the way, you can call me Laya."

"What services do you provide?" It was never useless to know more.

"As you should already know, our most important function is to act as a bridge for employers to find mercenaries for missions. Apart from that, we buy and sell information, potions, artifacts, and spells. We have an entire section of the building dedicated to trading. You can also find a variety of instructors who teach you weapons, spells, and also specializations such as assassination, crafting, and so on."

It was more or less what Liam has expected. He looked through the form and noticed many fields asking for information about his background, strength, and other details he wasn't willing to disclose. "Do we need to fill in all of these fields?"

Laya shook her head. "Nothing in the form is mandatory. It is the standard procedure we follow. When you select a mission or when we suggest mercenaries, we need to provide the employer your files. They prefer people with a clean background and those whose strengths are clear."

Liam sighed in relief. "We will leave all of the fields apart from name and age blank."

Laya blinked her eyes and looked between the three of them. "I am sorry, but did you say you will leave ALL your fields empty. I have to remind you that your chances of acquiring a mission are next to zero."

"Yes."

She did not try to convince them. "Are you planning on establishing a guild?"

"Yes again."

"What is the name going to be, and who is the leader."

"For now, you can leave the leader field blank. As for the name it is ......."

"Revenant Mystics."