Leon’s words were cold and left no room for doubt. He would take them in, and they would follow if they valued his help during the battle.
“I am willing to follow you…” Someone stepped forward. Everyone looked to see a familiar face. The man who stepped forward was a brown haired middle aged man whose name was Eric. He was an accomplished soldier and had the commander rank in the Holy Army. However, under Amelia’s command, he was on ordinary soldier.
“Oh?” Leon tilted his head. He could sense that this man’s words came with a condition.
“…But only if you can beat me in a one on one battle.” The man said.
Silence stretched after those words left Eric’s mouth. Everyone looked at him like he had gone mad. If Leon’s summons were so strong, then how strong must he have been himself? Even if he was not physically strong, then he must have been a strong mage! But they all knew that he was physically strong thanks to the sights that Divinity’s Bout had given them.
“I accept your challenge.” Leon laughed. He turned to Richard and asked, “Do you know any place that can withstand our fight?”
“Hmm, I think the Mercenary Association should have a sparring hall that can withstand B rank attacks to an extent.” The silver haired man hummed and rubbed his chin.
“Do you think they will be open by this time?” Leon asked.
“Probably.” Richard nodded.
“Alright. Let’s head to the Mercenary Association and book a hall.” Leon turned around and walked away. He did not bother changing back to his human form, as he had already decided that it did not matter.
The group followed Richard to the Mercenary Association’s branch in Fort Bender. The place was bustling, perhaps because of the battle that had just taken place. Richard walked up to the reception and approached a somewhat familiar young man. The young man was the same person who had been present when Leon had come to get registered, and had run into that bearded pervert.
“Hey, Damian.” Richard waved at the young man. “Can we get a room that can withstand Peak B rank attacks?” He asked.
“Mm, sure. Take this.” He handed Richard a plaque, then his head snapped up as realization set in. “Wait, what B rank do you want to bully?” His eyes narrowed at Richard.
“Haha, I’m not teaching anyone a lesson. I’m just asking for my friend over there.” He pointed to Leon behind him.
“Oh!” Damian’s eyes went wide like saucers. How could he not recognize one of the stars of Divinity’s Bout? Not only him, but most of the mercenaries currently in the hall were staring at Leon wildly.
“Is that not the Undead who wiped the floor with the fiftieth floor boss?”
“Yeah! It looks exactly the same!”
“What is he doing here?”
“Forget the Undead! Is that not the Silver Tooth’s captain?!”
The people began to whisper in hushed tones that did little to hide their excitement. None of them at all displayed any sort of composed behavior. Although, there were some of them that were visibly disgusted at the sight of an Undead. However, Leon did not have any time to spare on them.
“Well, come with me.” Damian sighed and gave a signal to his colleague to keep an eye on the mercenaries. Then he led Leon and the others through a corridor to the side of the hall, where they eventually emerged in a strange, white room.
“Usually, we test mercenaries here, but we also lease it out for a spar every now and then. It costs thirty gold coins.” Damian smiled. The price was so high because B rank fighters possessed the ability to earn a lot of money in a short amount of time. Just a single B rank mission could reward dozens of gold coins! Thirty gold coins was little compared to that! Gustavo’s earlier payment was so little because he wanted to be petty.
Richard looked at Leon with a quirked brow. There was no way he was paying that for Leon. Leon scoffed and walked up. With a wave of his hand, a small pouch appeared on his palm. It contained thirty gold coins which he handed over to Damian immediately.
“Alright, the room is yours for the next hour.” Damian spun around and left with a deep chuckle. He was happy that he had just scammed some money out of their hands. In truth, renting a room was much cheaper than that. And it was definitely not for an entire hour. The minimum rent time was for ten minutes, and it only cost five gold coins. So, Damian had forced them to rent the room for an entire hour without giving them any other options. There was no way that a fight would last for an entire hour if it was just a friendly spar!
But alas, none of them knew of this. Not even Richard. He had not spent much time in Fort Bender, and he had not felt the need to spar against anyone, especially since he would have gotten his fair share of fights in Divinity’s Bout.
So, the men and women spread themselves through the large room. Leon and Eric took the center of the fortified room, while the others lined themselves against the circular wall of the room. Richard stood amongst the C ranks, as they would likely not be able to protect themselves against a full powered attack from either Leon, or Eric. Eric was a Peak B rank fighter, while from what Richard had seen, Leon was, too. But that was just what they had assumed after watching Leon fighting with the fiftieth floor’s boss.
Eric and Leon stood on opposite sides of the large and fortified sparring hall, facing each other. Eric was garbed in glimmering white and gold armor. Although some parts had been dented a bit and dirtied from the earlier battle, the armor was still in its prime condition.
On the other side, Leon stood, the very definition of darkness. His bones were dark, and his Abyss Armor was even blacker, almost as if it was swallowing the light around it. Dark flames burned within his eye sockets, flaring ever so slightly before his head was covered by his helmet.