Chương 51: Mercenary

Arielle had thought something like this might happen. Of course, the hope was for everything to go smoothly, but she knew there was a chance that they would try to cheat her or otherwise subdue her for their nefarious reasons. They were criminals after all, and there was not as much honor as she hoped there would be amongst thieves. She'd gone through several scenarios in her mind, thinking about what she would do.

She'd decided early on that she wouldn't use her wand, as it had a very distinctive look to it, and could be traced back to her. Though casting wandless spells while being an adept would raise questions, she could always pretend that she'd cloaked her true stats using a spell. The man on the right was the first one to move, charging towards her. The threat in his gaze was unmistakable, and without a word, she activated [Levitation] and [Air Control].

The latter made his body freeze, limbs snapping together before she lifted him and fused him to the wall. Shock reflected in his gaze as he began to struggle, but she kept him there with ease, sealing his mouth so he could not even scream. The man to the left moved, whipping out a wand and targeting her.

"[Controlled Blast]!" he said. Calor and Massa particles whizzed out, linking together quickly. She didn't want to waste her essence on this, so she simply tugged one of the particles out of place. The spell failed, and the backlash hit him so hard he went flying. He hit the wall hard and slumped to the floor unconscious. And then there were two. The leader bolted to his feet after it happened. He stared at the man on the floor with ruffled eyebrows, then toward the man on the wall, then back at Ari.

A huff of shock left his lips. She didn't respond. The man standing next to her, Shadow, had gone as still as a corpse and as pale as one, too. His mouth was hanging open, his good eye wide and disbelieving. The hand holding his bottle slackened, and the bottle fell to the floor with a thick clunk.

"Did that..." he stammered, looking to his leader.

"Am I drunk?" The leader ignored him. He lifted one shaky hand and pulled the pipe out of his mouth.

"How?" he asked, the word framed by a puff of smoke.

"How did you do that? Are you some kind of hidden master?" She ignored him. She wondered if she should leave or not. Leaving meant going back to square one and not having anyone to sell to, which would mean keeping the gems in her inventory for longer, increasing the odds of her getting caught with them, or having them disappear with the fake inventory. That seemed like a waste of time. She'd already come this far. She didn't want to leave empty-handed.

"If you're not willing to trade with me, kindly direct me to someone who can."

"Screw the trade," the leader snarled.

"I'm asking you who you are! Who sent you here? Was it the Blue Dragon sect? The Phasewalkers? I... I don't have what they're looking for." What is he talking about? Arielle wondered. Has he lost his mind?

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said.

"I told you I'm here to make a trade."

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am."

"Then tell me who you are."

"No." Faster than her eye could track, he whipped a wand out from behind his back and pointed it at her.

"[Hangman]." There was at least a Tier 5, recruiting a whole bunch of essences, that had the air forming the shape of a noose. Ari wondered vaguely if, instead of eliminating the spell, she could simply change the direction of it. It wasn't a hard spell to reconfigure, and this was something she'd always been curious about doing. It might have been difficult to do this before, but her control had gotten better with frequent practice at the academy. So when the essences rushed at her, she caught them in mid-motion.

She then turned the spell form around until they were directed at him. Then she released it, and the air wrapped around his neck instead. He fell to his knees, choking, and this time Shadow jerked. He murmured something that sounded like a prayer. When the leader tried to drop the spell, Arielle refused to let go, fighting his hold and keeping it in place. She wasn't going to kill him, but she had a point to prove, and it appeared he was unwilling to listen to her without violence.

"You cannot defeat me," Ari told them honestly.

"Trust me when I tell you that. I understand that you are trying to steal from me because you are thieves, and it's a valiant attempt, but it will not work. Furthermore, I am on a time crunch, so I would rather we not have this pointless exercise. Do you want to trade or not?"

Shadow did not know how to put his jaw back in place. It had all happened so quickly, and if he'd blinked at the wrong moment, he would have missed the event of a lifetime. One of the men was knocked out. One was held immobile on the wall. And his boss was currently on the floor, his hand tugging at an invisible noose, wheezing and choking. And it was all the doing of an unassuming girl in a raven mask. The girl who was certainly no apprentice mage, as much as she'd cloaked her system to appear as such. She….

she had moved so fast. She had snatched Guard up in the blink of an eye and shoved him against the wall with practiced skill. He didn't even know how she'd caused Sniffer's spell to fail. She had also somehow reversed Van's spell? Was that what happened? Or had she reflected his spell at him? Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Either one of those things would have been incredible on its own. Together... his brain was struggling to grasp it.

What really set it apart was the ease with which she'd done it. Her eyes had been bored. Not so much as a twitch. Most mages, even Masters, had a visible tell before they cast. Sometimes it was mild, and sometimes it was obvious, but one could almost always see that some effort was made to recall spells, and though to some it had become second nature, he'd never seen anyone cast as she had before, as though she were not even thinking about it. No words. No struggle.

With Sniffer, there wasn't so much as a wave of the hand. Just a look. She'd knocked him out with a look. They'd never dealt with someone like her before. Was she even a human mage? Or was she something else? An elf? Some other unknown species? It was hard to tell with her mask, and he wasn't brave enough to attempt to sneak a peek. Why had she let him talk down to her this entire time if she were that powerful? Most masters would have already struck him down for the disrespect.

When she turned to look at him, he jerked again. He wasn't scared easily, but after seeing what he just saw, it would be impossible not to be frightened. If this whole thing ended up being a dream, he needed to put down the mead from today on.

"Well," she asked.

"Do you want to continue to waste my time?" Shadow swallowed. Perhaps the most terrifying part of the girl was that she didn't say the words as though they were an explicit threat. There was no force in her tone, no sarcasm, no hint of sadistic pleasure. Simply plain honesty, as though she were genuinely asking the question. And he had better answer it, otherwise he would end up like the rest. He wanted to give her whatever she wanted so she would leave them alone.

He didn't have the power to do so on his own, so he glanced at his boss, who was preoccupied, then back at her.

"Yes," he said.

"We'll trade. We'll give you two thousand gold for it." Her eyebrows raised, and his heart jumped. Was two thousand too low? Wasn't that the market rate? He hadn't wanted to lowball her again, in case that irritated her into killing them all and just taking the amount she wanted. Speaking of which, why hadn't she done that already? Especially considering what they'd tried to do to her. Shadow swallowed, ready to beg for his life.

"Why the change of heart?" she asked, and her flat voice had knees shaking. He laughed nervously.

"Well... we were always going to be fair with you. We were just teasing earlier."

"Really?"

"Yes." Van was still making choking noises on the ground, probably in protest, but Shadow ignored him. He had to save their lives here, and if Van thought he could somehow defy her, then he was clearly addled from the lack of air to his brain. She looked to his struggling boss and finally released her hold on him. He collapsed on the ground, gasping for air.

"Sorry," she said.

"I wasn't aware you were teasing. This is not the type of teasing I'm used to." Van gave her a sour look. Shadow waited as his boss struggled to his feet, half-expecting him to protest the amount he'd offered. But apparently, nearly being choked to death got his brain working again. He simply pointed at Guard and said, "Let him go. He'll go bring the gold."

"Okay." Without warning, her hand dropped, and the spell that held Guard was released. He collapsed in a heap on the ground, gasping for air as he pushed himself to his feet. He only glanced at her once as he ran to the back of the tunnel, scurrying down the maze that hid their gold. Shadow hoped he was smart enough to actually get the gold and not the call on the rest of the enforcers to attack the girl. Because if they tried to betray her again, he wasn't sure she would forgive them.

There was silence in the room while they waited, watching her. The tension bled out of all of them as they waited to see what she would do next, who she would send flying. But she seemed totally distracted, her eyes fixed on nothing in particular.

"Be honest with me," Van said.

"Which sect are you a part of? Where did you get your powers from? Do you have a pact with a demon?" The question confused her, and she cocked her head.

"Are you teasing again?" she asked.

"Because I don't understand the joke." Van glanced at Shadow. Shadow didn't know what to say to that. Luckily, he didn't have to think of a response because Guard returned with not a chest but an unassuming sack full of clanking metals. He put it on the table, upturning the sack so that the coins all fell out. They were more than they initially appeared. Van said, "Count it." That was what they did for the next half hour.

The room was eerily quiet as they counted pieces of gold, placing them into the sack while Shadow kept an eye out for their warden. Van was also analyzing her. But she didn't analyze them. She didn't seem to care about them at all and gave them the same disregard a lion would give an ant. We're not even important enough for her to toy with, he thought.

"I would like our business to continue," Van said.

"So I'm giving you ten extra gold coins plus this magical sack that is designed to contain more than it appears. It should also weigh less for your convenience."

"Thank you," she said.

"I have some other gems I could sell to you."

"Oh." Despite his request, that shocked Van.

"Perhaps another time. We will need to discuss more sales with our superiors." That was a lie, but Shadow understood that he wanted the girl gone more than he wanted to fulfill his greed.

"Okay. I'll be back then. Soon."

"Okay," he said, some nerves in his tone. She nodded and then told them, "I am going to open an account at the bank and put the gold there. I'll start a legitimate business as a mercenary and hide my funds that way, but I was wondering if you know of a better way." Van peered at her as though wondering if this was a trick.

"No. We don't." It was a lie, but she didn't catch it. She said, "Shame," and turned away.

Arielle climbed out of the bunker safely and went back on her way. She was somewhat concerned that she would call attention to herself carrying the sack, but it seemed that nobody paid her any mind. Everyone was still focused on the entertainment. The adventurer's guild had a branch in every city. One could typically find it through a city map at the town square. Fortunately, it was still open despite the festival, but it said it would be closing soon. She had to hurry.

The emblem of the adventurer's guild–two lions facing each other–was carved into the dark, weathered stone walls of the entrance. Arielle walked up the worn steps, sweeping through the double doors, and taking a second to observe the room of about a dozen people. Some were by the bulletin boards, searching for public requests. Others were walking in and out of the contract hall, which was for discussing higher-ranked quests for A to C Rank adventurers.

The administrative sections were in the narrower halls behind the reception desk and magical barriers kept people out of the places they weren't supposed to be. There was constant conversation, both muted and loud, and as Arielle walked to the reception desk, the scent of oil and parchment drifted to her.

"Hello," she said to the man who was sitting there, writing on a scroll.

"I would like to fill out a mercenary form?" Without looking, he passed her a folder from his open drawer.

"Thank you." She took it and retreated to a slab erected on a wall for writing. She took a quill and began to fill out the form using the alias: Tamsy Lous. The mischievous sprite from her storybook. She read through the instructions carefully as she filled out the form, because an improperly filled form would not receive a stamp. There were very few benefits to becoming a mercenary over an adventurer.

Adventurers had protective rights and could sue contractors for improper disclosure if the jobs were harder or more dangerous than anticipated. They got access to restricted sites, higher, more regular pay, were the first choice for more desirable jobs, and it was certainly the more prestigious profession. All that meant that there was more oversight and testing required, and you would have to join an adventuring company to vouch for you.

There was also a strict ranking system, and you could only accept jobs according to your rank. Mercenaries were viewed as failed adventurers, those who couldn't pass the rigorous testing or a background check for one reason or another. They had fewer legal rights. For example, they couldn't access restricted ruins without permission. They were really only bound by the contract that they signed with a contractor, and if the contract had no protections, then neither did they.

They often took on dirtier and less prestigious work, and were not guaranteed work, so they usually had to hunt for it themselves. While the Adventurer's guild had a strict ranking system, the mercenaries did not. She knew from Celie that there were some informal hierarchies in place, and quiet politics with sects made up entirely of mercenaries, but they were not regulated by a governmental agency. Arielle initially found this odd, given how much everything else was regulated.

Celie had explained to her that the lack of regulation was by design, because mercenaries often dealt with legally grey, yet necessary work, and if something happened that could potentially cause political unrest, the government could deny association and knowledge of it. However, because they were underegulated, it was certainly a more unsanctioned profession.

It was how her sister was able to become a mercenary (and then an assassin) pretty easily, just by proving she could get clients and achieve the tasks they gave her. There was very little oversight in becoming a mercenary, but they also faced higher taxes. Still, it worked for her purposes. Once she was done filling out the form, she took it back to the reception desk. He quickly copied the information onto a fresh scroll, stamped it, and handed a badge to her. That was what she would show the bank.

Once she was done, she traipsed back outside, nearly stampeded by more people celebrating the festival. This group was carrying balloons and paper figurines of the Black Knight and the Unmaker, singing loudly about their feats. Arielle somehow made it to the bank with her sanity intact. At the entrance, she surveyed the room. There were different stalls that she could go into. She approached the first one and told the woman, "Excuse me?"

"Yes." She had been distractedly writing on a scroll, but she looked up at the call.

"I would like to open a business account." She nodded.

"Okay, with how much?"

"Two thousand gold." The woman choked and said, "Please have a seat, while I get someone to help you," as she dashed to the back. Ari had a seat and waited.