While Marcus was busy recovering, Leo decided to go to the Mercenary Guild to start accepting missions. Obviously, he was still going to accept the missions as Orion. However, he would have to be a little more careful when he was around Marcus to make sure that his double identity wouldn’t be revealed to him.
As Leo went to the Guild, he thought about something that he hadn’t considered. How was he supposed to get rid of the mission he was currently doing? Since there was no way to actually complete the mission with the issuer dead, he didn’t know what he was going to do.
Luckily for him, they had a system in place for that. When he got to the guild, he asked someone and they told him that he could void the mission that he had accepted. He would just be fined a small amount for doing that.
Normally, Leo would have argued about the fee since he couldn’t even help but give up on the mission, but he didn’t want to be the one trying to explain to them that there was an entire scandal around the mission.
He went to the mission counter and got his normal missions registered and took out the mission that he had taken that landed him into the mess. The missions he took this time were simple hunting missions. He no longer wanted to do anything complicated. He was going to keep it low until he got into the academy.
He couldn’t deal with something that would blow out of proportion like this one again. If he somehow landed a mission that had this much drama again, he might not be able to handle it as easily as this one.
After taking the missions he went back to the alley beside the guild and quickly changed back into his normal appearance. He exited the alley and turned right like he normally did to go back to his apartment.
When he did, he encountered someone he knew in the wildest of coincidences. In front of him were two ladies that he was acquainted with.
“Leo?” Evelyn said doubtfully.
Leo looked up and saw Evelyn and Clarice. His mouth formed a smile.
“Evelyn! Clarice!” He said. He walked to them enthusiastically.
In his mind, the two had died in the incident that happened in Solhaven. After all, they were only supposed to leave after Evelyn became a 2nd Circle Aura Knight.
“I am so happy to see you here,” he said. “I feared the worst when I heard about what happened to Solhaven.”
Clarice’s expression turned grim. “Us too. You said you were going to stay in Solhaven, so I was very afraid that something happened to you. How is Daphne?” She asked.
Leo’s smile faded lightly before he pulled it back up. “She’s doing fine. She went to visit her family.” He said.
“Family? I thought you were-” Before Evelyn could say anything, Leo interrupted her.
“She found them. It’s a crazy story, but they live in the capital. She found them through the keepsakes they left her. But that aside, how is Eldridge? Did you guys join the mercenary group like you guys said you would?” He asked.
Evelyn and Clarice nodded. “Yes. It’s very fun! They are a lot more friendly than I could have imagined. I think you should visit them with us once. We are on our way there from the Mercenary Guild,” Evelyn said.
Leo winced. “I don’t think it will be polite of me to just drop into your group like that. Where do they even meet?” He asked.
Evelyn giggled. “They don’t meet anywhere. Mercenary groups have their own manors that all the group members stay at. We all pay our dues to stay in the group, and in return, we complete missions together and get cheap housing. It’s the best deal.”
He nodded. “That does sound like an incredible deal.”
Clarice sighed. “I wish I could recommend you to the group, but you wouldn’t be able to join it.”
Leo shook his head. “No, that’s okay. I wasn’t planning on joining a Mercenary Group anyway. I prefer going solo.”
She then said, “That’s okay though. You should still be allowed to visit. They won’t say no to a kid anyway. You are coming with us now.”
He tried to resist it for a while but realized that it was pointless. He decided to cave in and went with them to the manor.
They walked to the edge of the city that was near the forest. He realized that the manor that the sisters lived in was incredibly close to his own apartment. They walked along the road and soon came across a huge line of manors.
The manors all looked incredibly huge, so Leo asked them, “How many people are actually in a Mercenary Group? How can you afford these places?”
“We have 127 people in our group. So we can easily afford the place if we all pay 10000 Starcoins in monthly dues.” She said.
Leo thought about it. Both the sisters were now 2nd Circle Aura Knights. So they were essentially Silver Rank Mercenaries. If they both earned 100000 Starcoins a month each, they would have a substantial amount remaining even after they paid dues.
Renting an apartment wasn’t that much more expensive than the dues, but the Mercenary Group also came with a close-knit community with trustworthy teammates. Leo felt happy for the sisters for finding their group.
They walked along the manors till they stopped at a gate. The entire manor had a wall surrounding it. On the side of the gate was a plaque showing the name of the group.
“Iron Roses,” Leo read out. He immediately felt that the name was incredibly feminine. But he decided not to pay it heed. If the group leader was a female, it would make sense if she named her group that way. There wasn’t anything wrong with it.
Evelyn quickly went to the gate and knocked. After a little waiting, someone opened the gate. It was another girl. She looked at Evelyn and then looked behind her. She saw Clarice and Leo.
“You have a guest?” The girl asked.
They nodded. “Can you ask if he is allowed? We dragged him along till here.” She asked.
“Yes, but they might say no.” The girl said.
“Tell them he’s just a kid. He’s only…” She turned to Leo. “How old are you again?” She asked him.
“14.” He replied.
“He’s only 14.” She said.
The girl sighed and walked back in. Meanwhile, Clarice apologized to Leo. “Sorry for the delay. They are pretty strict about guests.”
Leo was unbothered. “It’s okay. We can wait.” He said.
After 10 minutes, the gate opened again. The same girl came back. “They said yes.”
Evelyn and Clarice both smiled widely. They dragged Leo into the manor. The minute he entered the manor, he realized what he walked into. He looked at the sisters.
“Clarice. When you said they wouldn’t accept me, was it because I was only a 1st Circle Aura Knight? Or was it because I’m a male?” He asked.