Mist Village

Raymond suffered through another psychological pain as he handed an entry fee to the guard waiting at the village entrance.

"My Lord, welcome to Mist Village!" Arlo said, beaming. This was the main village in the surrounding vicinity and he had made a name for himself with the locals, as such it was considered as a second home by him.

Raymond thought it was an apt name considering most of the village was foggy.

"My Lord, let me be your tour guide and show you the way around the village." Arlo expressed, rubbing his hands together. It was a good opportunity to ingratiate himself with Raymond.

"No need," Raymond said coolly. "I would like to explore the village on my own but do tell me if there are any rules or taboos that I should be aware of."

"Umm, killing is prohibited in the whole elven territory including this village. If there are any disputes, we are supposed to take it up with the village protector." Arlo informed Raymond. "My Lord, you don't need to worry about all these rules and regulations. You can certainly traverse this place unhindered with your strength."

"There is nothing wrong with following some rules as long as they aren't bothersome." Raymond chuckled. "I don't see any need to disturb this peaceful village just because I have the power to do so."

"As you wish, My Lord." Arlo agreed.

"Take care of your business here." Raymond suggested. "And thank you for that carriage ride."

"It was my honour, My Lord! Please ask me if you need anything in this village, I will be at your service!" Arlo smiled proudly and bowed towards Raymond before walking away.

From then, Raymond and his girls walked through the gravelly path to reach the small wooden shack which was the mercenary guild of this and surrounding 8 villages.

According to what Raymond had observed so far, most of the villagers were human woodworkers, lumberjacks, and some low ranking elves who weren't allowed entry into the inner sanctum.

It was hard to find any open space inside the forest of densely packed trees, so small groups of houses were built wherever the clearing was found.

Thankfully, the elves had agreed to provide protection for these villages in exchange for taxes, or else the people would have to be constantly on guard living inside the forest.

An elven protector was assigned to protect the village from magical beasts and forest bandits. He or she had the highest authority in the village and had the power to judge and hand out punishment to wrongdoers.

*******

Raymond entered the mercenary guild and found the empty room except for a bored blonde elf who was going through some documents.

"Oh, welcome to the mercenary guild!" The female elf looked up and smiled at the trio. "My name is Luna, I am the guild leader of this branch." She introduced herself politely.

"Hello, my name is Ray and these are my partners, Jasmine and Lyla," Raymond greeted her warmly.

"Nice to meet you. How can I help you?" Luna asked. "If you have any requests I can help you with drawing a mission poster."

"Ah, no, no. We are mercenaries and want to take up some missions!" Raymond quickly corrected her and showed her his badge. Jasmine too showed her badge.

"Well, you're in bad luck then." Luna pointed towards the empty mission board and shrugged. "All the missions have been taken for the day. You can come back tomorrow and see if there's any new batch of missions."

"Really?" Raymond deadpanned. "I didn't know there was such a demand for missions here. Is the mercenary business on the rise here?"

That was strange. Raymond had rarely seen a mercenary inside the village. Even the guild was completely bereft of any who resembled a mercenary. People here seemed more inclined towards low risk jobs.

"Haha, the only thing rising here is my boredom." Luna japed. "We only get two or three missions at most per day, and that too from the Timber Town residents asking for some special herbs or magical beast cores only available on this part of the Continent."

"I see…" Raymond sighed in resignation. "Well, are there any bandits harassing people in this area?"

"Hmm, not that I am aware of. Even if there were, Vivian would have already dealt with them…" Luna paused as if she had a realisation. "Oh, by the way, you will have to be here before dawn tomorrow if you want to take any missions. If you're a minute late, then Vivian will take up all the available missions."

"Who is this Vivian?" Raymond asked curiously.

"Hah, she is the only mercenary working for this guild." Luna blushed in embarrassment. "There is no one except her who is interested in this line of work."

"Why? I mean, I agree there is a risk in being a mercenary but the rewards are worth the risk, isn't it?" Raymond's interest was piqued. "Especially, if you only know how to fight and haven't developed any special skills that would earn you a fortune!"

"You're right! We were doing pretty well and had more people working for us." Luna sighed ruefully. "And then a mercenary abandoned the merchant he was guarding when he came across a magical beast far above his league and fled from the scene."

"Oh!" Raymond grimaced. That was certainly something that would ruin the reputation of mercenaries but then again most of them wouldn't want to sacrifice their life for some mission.

"Yeah, it was a big 'Oh' moment for us." Luna became more exasperated the more she spoke. "But that wasn't all. The merchants held a vendetta against the guild members and bribed the protector enough to launch an investigation on every mercenary."

"It didn't end well for us. Many mercenaries were found to be in cahoots with forest bandits and were making some shady deals to earn extra money. After that, the remaining few good members left the guild in fear of association." Luna finished her story with a sigh of regret.

Her father was a guild leader before her and she had been proud to take up the mantle after him. Now, the guild was going to close soon under her leadership.

"Well, that's regrettable. By the way, who is this Vivian you keep mentioning? Isn't she afraid her name and reputation would be ruined by being a mercenary?" Raymond asked.

She was either a loyal person or an idiot. Raymond certainly felt like it would be interesting to meet her.

"Vivian isn't afraid of her reputation. She is an exiled elf from the inner sanctum." Luna looked around carefully and beckoned for Raymond to come closer. When he did so, she whispered in his ears like a gossiping girl. "She is from an important family, that's why they say she hasn't been executed for what she had done. But don't tell her I told you this, okay?"

Raymond's lips tugged in a smile of amusement. This girl must be bored out of her mind to spread rumours about her only employee.