When Leon returned to his seat, he was met with a round of applause from a very excited Nedra. She clapped excitedly like a little girl, and not a dangerous monster that was several decades old.
“That was exciting. Too bad I couldn’t join in on it. ” She pouted.
“Hehe, you’re up next,” Leon smirked and tilted his head just as Nedra’s name was called up. The white-haired girl hopped up and quickly went down to the ring.
David looked at her with a raised brow. “Just Nedra, huh? Friends with Leon over there? ” He pointed up at where Leon was seated.
“Mhm! We’re companions.
” Nedra gave an affirmative answer.
“I see… Well, don’t disappoint me, then! ” David grinned and held up his sword. Flames wreathed the sword once more and he gestured for Nedra to start.
Nedra closed her eyes and took a deep breath before letting it all out at once. Her eyes snapped open, glowing with an eerie red light as they zeroed on David. Two white sickles appeared in her hands and she dashed forward. The tips of the sickles were dyed with a purple hue that obviously hinted at poison, but she did not plan on doing anything too dangerous.
The poison on the tips of her weapons was directly taken from her own body, as were the sickles, so she could control the strength of the poison. Right now, they were only as strong as a decently strong numbing solution.
Clang!
A deafening echo rang out as the two weapons collided. An invisible shockwave spread from Nedra’s sickles as they locked around David’s sword.
‘Stagger!’ Nedra thought as she sent a wave of powerful, disorienting mental needles straight into David’s mind. A wave of sharp, prickly pain immediately assaulted David’s mind, causing him to wince and lose his concentration a bit.
Pouncing on the opportunity, Nedra summoned a mirror version of herself right behind David. The mirrored version raised its sickles to slash David’s back but was met with a firm kick to the middle that sent it flying, turning into a fading shadow upon slamming into the wall behind.
“It’s not going to be that easy to knock me down.” David sneered.
The fight went on for a minute more before David called a stop to it. He issues Nedra a Low C rank rating before waving her off.
“Low C rank, pretty neat.” Leon nodded at her, and she shrugged.
“It’s just so-so. Let’s go. ” Nedra shrugged and the two left the testing area. They met one of the attendants that were waiting to the side. He had witnessed the fight, so he quickly processed their identifications.
Sometime later, Leon and Nedra left the Mercenary Association building with two shiny silver plaques hanging off their chests. These were the official identification tags issued by the association. It had their ranks inscribed over it and was a clear indication of their strength.
Before they could get far, they noticed a duo walking straight at them. The duo did not even bother to hide their intentions, and it was obvious that they intended to walk straight to Leon and Nedra. To save themselves the stress, they stopped and let the duo walk up to them.
“Hello, friends. I am Richard, and this is Kevin, sorry to bother you, but we seek an audience with you.” The tall, silver-haired man took the lead as he spoke first, introducing himself and his companion.
“Can you not discuss what you wish to right here?” Nedra replied, stiffly crossing her arms in front of her. Leon glanced at her, and he could feel the tension in her body. Concerned, he spoke to her through their mental link.
‘What’s wrong, Nedra?’
‘These two… Are extremely powerful.’ She replied tersely.
‘Do we need to run?’ Leon took in a sharp breath. He did not doubt Nedra’s words.
‘No need. We won’t even be able to. Let’s just see what they want.’
This short exchange happened in a moment. Richard raised a brow at Nedra when she spoke before smiling.
“Oh, it is a rather sensitive topic. And besides, we are already drawing quite a bit of attention.” The silver-haired man replied. “Why don’t we head into that tavern over there for a drink, and then we can talk a bit.” He suggested.
Leon gulped before replying with a stiff, “Sure.”
Richard smiled again before leading them to a tavern to the side. Leon could see no name on the outside, but a simple image of a jug and a piece of ham. Casting all unnecessary thoughts from his mind, he found a table in an empty corner of the tavern. After taking a seat, he steeled his spine and turned to Richard and Kevin.
“So?” He asked, raising a brow. Over a dozen thoughts passed through his mind in the next moment, most of them contemplating whether the duo might have seen through his disguise and found out he was undead. So far, all the beings he had seen here were humans and beasts of burden, so he assumed that other races were not present in Fort Bender. That would also mean that he, as an undead being, would not be accepted here.
“So, I watched your evaluation test.” Richard drawled with a lazy smile as he started speaking. “I have not seen Death magic In a very long time, and the last time I saw it, it was been done by an undead, so I had the pleasure of killing it.” He said, and a very cold shiver dragged its way up Leon’s spine.
“That said, I believe Death magic is very powerful magic. I have not had the pleasure of working with a mage that specializes in such an obscure magic path and was interested in you when I saw your summons. That is why I have come to you. To recruit you into my guild. Would you like to work for me, Leon?” Richard’s smile turned wicked.