Iron Fang

While Blush did not know the effects that her rare smile had brought, she continued to approach the Iron Fang mercenary group. "I have been approved to join your group during this task. I am a skilled tracker and I am skilled with medicine. My name is Blush and I am an F rank mercenary."

Six of them had looked over and one spoke up. "The leader will be here soon so just wait until he arrives. I hope that you do not hold us back during the task. Our group is D class and our mission will have many dangers involved so we cannot babysit a kid like you."

Blush nodded and then found a place to sit down.

As far as she was aware, an individual that was rated as D class was considered as a high grade or professional expert that could win a title within their own country or the world while a C class would be a rare expert that is involved with an advanced organisation or school which is highly disciplined and talented while other factors are involved with B and A class while an S class had yet to appear in the world or had not made themselves known.

It was rare for such experts to appear so the guilds had to make up for the rankings by adding a group ranking to suit it.

If a group had someone that was a rank below or barely qualified then they could be promoted in rank if they had the achievements and a group with them that was good in quality or quantity.

Some groups may have one D class individual and would still be D class once there were other qualified people that were E or F class due to them not wishing to overreach and have to bear the burden of the group but there were those that had several of the same rank as E class or below as F class and chose to rise a rank higher to D class.

Some of the people in the group that she had met seemed to be well trained and had varying styles that suited each other so they were quite a well balanced group that could qualify for their ranking.

In an age where people were less reliant on technology and when the age was less peaceful, humans were busy fighting among themselves or braving the dangers of the world so it was also a time that more talents may appear in the world as opposed to many hundreds of years in the future.

During this time, there would be many schools and organisations that would fall and their heritage would be lost in the future

In between the competition and conflicts, there would be a B or A class individual that would emerge with the backing of their country or a world sized organisation even if they did not emerge from a specialised school or hidden family.

As she was lost in thought, she saw a large man appear that had a large great sword on his back.

He walked in front of them all and said. "This mission is very important to the higher ups so it cannot fail. There is a risk of death so if you are going to give up halfway or will be a burden then you must give up now."

Everyone remained silent and looked determined so he continued. "Two of you are new recruits for this mission but you should be paid afterwards depending on how you contribute to the mission once it has been completed. Allow me to explain the objective this time, we will be going deeper into the forest to search for rare materials which is why we have been recruiting skilled gatherers, those skilled in medicine but also someone that has experience tracking. We need someone who can identify the materials and someone that can help us navigate the forest safely."

One of the slightly weaker people among the group had raised his hand. "If you are in need of someone to identify ores and other things then I can do that. You can just call me Glow.'

Blush then added. "I have general knowledge in medicine so my knowledge of herbs is very high but I also have knowledge of other materials too. I can also handle treatments and tracking."

Although she did try to downplay her abilities a little, she still ended up with a resentful glare from the other person that had signed up for the task. 'Sigh.. what a pain.'

The leader then nodded and said. "My name is Whisk and I am the leader of the Iron Fang. My comrades are called Spatula, Spoon, Peeler, Tong and Grater. Grater and Tong are in charge of the ranged attacks and have some experience with ambushing targets. Peeler and Spoon are responsible for providing protection for the rest of the team and taking the lead during missions. Spatula is the teams twin sword while I am the great sword and we both act to take down our targets when there is an opportunity."

Each of them that were pointed out had their own style of fighting as Tong and Grater had carried knives on their waist but also a bow and quiver on their backs.

Peeler and Spoon had bulkier bodies for greater endurance but lower speed and carried a one handed light weapon along with a shield while Spatula carried two light swords and was more balanced in physique as opposed to Whisk who had carried a larger and heavier sword which showed his greater strength.

As she had trained her body to match her own needs, she had made sure to not overwork her body and develop problems like muscle atrophy or allow her body to grow unbalanced so she had to mix in different methods and constantly adjust her training plan depending on her bodies situation and health.

However her thoughts were brought back to the present as she went over the names and snorted internally. 'Hahaha a team with Iron in the name and they have names that are based off metal kitchen utensils. I wonder if they are all related or they were brought up in the same village or organisation..'

Whisk then looked over towards Blush and Glow then back at his team. "We should head out. The journey will be long until we reach the destination. We will be walking there to save travel expenses."

Blush nodded. 'That would be even better for me since it gives me a chance to make up for today's exercise. I could afford to rent a carriage or horse but it is better to dave my money for more important things.'

She then looked over at Glow and noticed his displeasure. 'I guess not everyone would be so thrilled.'

They all left the mercenary guild and they went on a long journey by foot but there were occasionally some horses and carriages that would pass by.

Glow was the weakest of the group so he was causing some delays by causing the group to take breaks or slow down for him which earned the displeasure from the group while they had warmed up to Blush who had been walking with her wooden pike supporting her without any changes in her pace.

Their mission was to explore a more dangerous area and to come back with their discoveries or report their findings if they found something of value which meant that the rewards would be very high if they found something rare.

To most teams, such a dangerous mission did have its benefits but even a well put together team may suffer losses just so they could complete it.

The Iron Fang were very lucky that they had a mage hidden within their team but they would never discover it unless she had revealed herself.

In the year 417, the young fourteen year old mage named Blush had went on her first real journey outside of her comfort zone that was the protection of her previous home or the city.