Chapter 16: Mercenary’s Qualification Assessment
Chapter 16: Mercenary’s Qualification Assessment
"Okay everyone, it's time for me to leave."
The merchant finished counting the batch of goods he purchased and walked in front of them, took out a small bag of coins from his arms, and put them in Gard's hands.
"Lord Rodrigo?" Gard stared blankly at the money bag in his hand, his eyes full of doubts.
The merchant sighed slightly, "Anyway, it's because of my stubbornness that I let you cross the prairie this time... Gard, you can accept it. It can be regarded as my meager compensation for those dead mercenaries."
"But it is also true that our escort failed, we cannot accept this!" Gard shoved the money bag at the merchant once more.
The two engaged in a tug-of-war for a while, and finally, the merchant got angry. He grabbed the money bag and stuffed it into Gard's arms, turned around, and climbed into the carriage, telling the driver to leave quickly.
Gard was still about to step forward to return it, but Aurora reached out and stopped him. "Captain Gard, you should accept it. Don't let down the good intentions of Mr. Rodrigo, besides, you have to pay the compensation for those who have died to their family members. You should consider it again."
"That's right, Captain. Although we really didn't like him along the way, he still did a good thing at this time." A mercenary also stepped forward to persuade him, "And Commander... about Old Cain..."
Gard was taken aback.
Yes, the image of old Cain pouring oil on fire and rushing towards the wall of rats in order to cover their retreat was deeply imprinted in his mind. Not only that, the family members of the other dead brothers also needed an explanation.
Thinking of this, Gard clenched the money bag in his hand and bowed slightly to the carriage going away. He knew that the merchant had given the money to him after consideration; otherwise, with their current assets, they would not be able to fix the mess this time.
He wiped his slightly red eyes, turned, and shouted at the other three mercenaries, "Why is there sand in this wind! Don't look, move quickly! We will buy some good meat and vegetables and go to Old Cain's home!"
"Yes! Commander!" The three mercenaries smiled knowingly, saluted, and quickly moved the damaged equipment and materials into the wooden house.
"Lady Aurora, come with us later."
"You guys go ahead first, I'll go to the Mercenary Association to solve the certification problem." Aurora shrugged helplessly, "You also know that old man has a bad temper. I don't want to squabble about the certification problem at that time. The sooner it settles, the more reassured I'm."
Gard nodded to express his understanding. The person he was talking about did not have a very good temper. Almost every mercenary has been scolded by him, and even so, they only dared say a few words about him in private, after all, he was the president of the mercenary association.
After inquiring where Old Cain's house was, Aurora waved goodbye to Gard, turned, and walked in the direction of the Mercenary Association. After walking for nearly ten minutes and turning a corner, a building with flags of various colors stood conspicuously.
Mercenaries shuttled in and out of the thick and strong iron gate with five or six meters wide steps, and some even dragged the hunted monsters to the door to sell them.
Some memories emerged in her mind from when she used to earn her first pot of gold by dragging the corpses of monsters here to set up a stall. It felt so long already, making her kind of miss it in her heart.
Aurora walked around these stalls with a little interest. The majority of the stalls only sold the carcasses of first-tier monsters, and the only second-tier monster fur was sold for 16 silver coins.
"Brother, sixteen silver coins for your water bull beast fur is expensive."
"Hey young lady, don't speak nonsense! What do you know? Look at the luster of this fur, it feels slippery to the touch, and it is a whole piece! How can you say it's expensive?!" The mercenary then brought the water bull beast's fur to Aurora. He touched the fur here and there in front of him and said, half yelling, "Let me tell you, if I wasn't in a hurry to spend money..."
Aurora just took the piece of fur slightly and brushed the hair back seemingly randomly, and several small holes hidden under the hair were immediately revealed in front of their eyes.
"This, this... how could this happen?!" The mercenary's eyes almost popped out, "I've been so careful to protect..."
He had a mournful face; this piece of fur was obviously eaten away by moths, and a few holes in it lowered its value significantly. Even seven or eight silver coins would already be too much.
"How about this? How about I exchange this with you?" Aurora reached into her pocket, used the system to open the inventory, and took out a fang of the poisonous twilight spider from before.
"What is this?"
"The fang of a poisonous twilight spider." Aurora continued her explanation. "If processed into a dagger, you will get a very good price."
"Take it! I'll take it!" The mercenary snatched the fang from her hand and stuffed it into his bag. He immediately packed up the booth and left, as if he was afraid that the other party would regret it.
Aurora also stored this piece of fur in her inventory. For her, who had the system processing function, a little wormhole was no problem at all.
"It's time to process it as a thank you gift for Claudia."
Stepping into the hall, Aurora went straight to the office and turned her head toward a girl in the association's uniform behind the reception desk.
Her beautiful appearance instantly attracted many curious and dirty gazes from the mercenaries present; some catcalled, some even tried to approach her, but she didn't spare them a single glance and continued treading forward with an indifferent expression.
The receptionist girl was stunned for a while but quickly regained her bearing and greeted Aurora politely.
"Hello, what do you need? If you accept the reward task, you can go to the information board over there."
Aurora shook her head, "I'm here to participate in the mercenary qualification certification."
"Okay, then please register your personal information first. After the registration is complete, I will take you to the test site for a test, but..." the girl looked at Aurora, "Are you sure you want to carry out the mercenary qualification certification? It's a very dangerous profession. Mercenaries are not as beautiful as those described in those books, they may lose their lives at any time!"
Obviously, when the girl saw her immature appearance, she thought it was a clueless kid who was full of yearning for adventure after reading a book.
"I'm done filling it out, take me there now." Aurora completely ignored the girl's words and hurriedly urged after quickly filling out the information.
"You... oh... come with me." The girl shook her head helplessly and led her to the next room.
She had met many people who would never give up until they day they tasted the regret. It was a pity such a beautiful girl wasted her future to be a mercenary but what it had to do with her? She was just a receptionist, so she only had to do her job well.
As soon as she entered the test site, this girl was probably going to be frightened and collapse to the ground.
Coincidentally, as soon as she opened the door, there was a scream from inside, and a huge man flew over with his back to them, slammed into the wall next to the door, and passed out.
"A bastard who only grows fat but doesn't gain strength still wants to come to the test? What a waste of my time!"
On the test field, a man full of explosive muscles looked at the man being lifted down with contempt, but when he saw the girl coming, his ferocious face softened slightly.
"Hey, isn't this Miss Sharon!" He rubbed his chin with his hand and looked at Aurora, who was following the girl playfully. "Who is this girl? Is this your sister? You're really stingy, Miss Sharon. If you have a sister this beautiful, why hadn't you introduced me to her before!"
"This girl is an applicant, not my sister." Sharon rolled her eyes and waved her hand dismissively. "Even if she is, I won't let her go near you, brute."
The man stared at Aurora with a stupid face for a while before breaking into laughter.
"Hahaha. Are you joking? This frail lass wanted to be a mercenary?" The man's lips curled into a menacing smile, and he spoke in a mocking tone. "I said girl, this is not a children's play house. You better go home to your mama and learn cooking and housekeeping, and get married soon! Hahahaha!"
"Bruno, please stop talking." Sharon glared at him angrily. "Aurora, you also saw that this place is not a joke, if you are not careful, you will be seriously injured!"
She pointed at the man who was being carried out. Even such a big man couldn't withstand a few attacks from Bruno, let alone the seemingly thin and delicate Aurora.
Aurora simply replied, "Don't worry too much," to Sharon's persuasion. She walked to the weapon rack not far away with a relaxed expression and picked up a weapon while checking its balance and weight.
"This one is enough."
After trying several weapons in a row, she finally chose a lighter dummy rapier.
"Your small arm is very suitable for this thin sword, hahahaha." Bruno put on a few fitness poses, and the muscles on his body almost burst his clothes, "I just don't know if you can withstand my punch?"
Aurora sighed inwardly. She just felt that the damage caused by the rapier would be less to avoid crippling him, but the latter seemed to be too conceited; obviously, he was only a Fighter below level five...
This world had a lot of stupid people who needed to be beaten.
Sharon tugged at the corner of her clothes, and her eyes were full of worry. "Forget it, you can't beat Bruno at all. His strikes have always been ruthless."
"Don't worry, it's fine."
Aurora smiled faintly and walked directly onto the test field.
"Oh! I don't care anymore!" Sharon stomped her feet angrily. How could this young girl be so stubborn? I'm so kind to remind her, but she treats my advice like nothing!
Even so, she hastily warned Bruno to restrain himself.
"Hey, don't worry, Miss Sharon." Bruno twisted his neck and made a crackling sound, then smiled at Aurora. "I won't treat such a pretty girl badly." Despite saying so, a glint flashed in his eyes.
What about a man or woman? He would break anyone who treated the mercenary profession lightly and show them how cruel the world really was.
As soon as the words fell, Bruno took a long stride and rushed towards Aurora. Every step he took on the test field made a tooth-piercing creaking sound.
He clenched his fist and swung it at the young lass, who didn't know any better, so fast that he could hear it breaking through the air.
His eyes were full of ferociousness, and the corners of his mouth rose wildly when he thought that he was about to crack this immature face with a punch.
Sharon couldn't help covering her eyes at this time, she couldn't bear to see the cruel scene of Aurora being punched and sent flying.
"Tsk..."
Facing the fist that was aimed at her, Aurora closed her eyes without any fluctuation.
"Hahaha! Are you getting scared, brat?" Bruno thought she had given up struggling completely when he saw her reaction, and the fist he swung was a little faster.
"..."
Just as his fist was about to hit Aurora, she opened her eyes. When Bruno saw her eyes, he felt chills sent down her spine, as if he was being stared at by a ferocious beast.
"Bastard!" Bruno couldn't believe that he would feel the threat of death in front of a kid, a weak ass girl at booth, "Don't put on airs for me! Get down for me!"
He swung his fist down, and Aurora finally swung her sword.
"AAAHHHH!"
A high-pitched howl shocked Sharon's delicate body, which was covering her eyes. She carefully separated her fingers and looked toward the test field. Her eyes nearly popped up in the next second, and her small mouth hung open wide.
She thought that it was Aurora who fell to the ground and howled, but she didn't expect that it was Bruno who fell to the ground and passed out, and the former put the sword into the weapon barrel next to her with a relaxed expression.
"That's a trash with less than five levels of brute force for you."
Aurora turned around and made an intentional friendly gesture to Bruno, who was unconscious on the field, then jumped off the field and walked to Sharon's side.
"So, do I pass the test now?"
"Ah... ok no problem! Please come with me."
Seeing that Sharon didn't respond, Aurora shook her hand in front of her for a while before pulling her back from the shocked state, and the latter took her to the reception desk to register for the mercenary qualification certification.