The Missionary

The Missionary.

Although it sounded cool, it was basically what one would call a mission hall.

It was a place where humans come to register to become adventurers, before being recruited into a guild, clan or, if he decided to move solo, become a mercenary.

Orion is a world filled with beasts of different sizes and different variants. It is a fight between man and beast to retain resources since even before the great devouring.

The missionary was the name given to any particular building where requests were handled and missions were posted.

One existed in every town, city or shelter because of the needs of adventurers.

An adventurer was basically those, with or without power, who moved to roam the world, or any who headed to the outside world for whatever reason.

Naturally, they were paid for their services.

Of course, humans weren't born equal and that's why ranks were established.

It was calculated using one's personal strength, which was his cultivation stage, and one's achievement, how many missions they had and what they did in them.

The ranks from the top were: S-rank, A-rank, B-rank…all the way to G-rank.

The ranks of missions, which indicated how difficult they were, is also structured in the same way.

Then after that, you had the guilds, the clans and the mercenaries.

Guilds and Clans were similar in the fact that both were gatherings of people with similar strength where they would have a leader and a common goal.

But they had one difference. Clans were made around family members with an ancient and exclusive mana technique, which they termed martial technique, of their own. These families sprouted right after the great devouring, with different people coming together and forming new mana techniques. They were a culmination of body enhancement and effective mana usage, hence martial techniques.

Guilds were basically a group of adventurers that came together to form a strong body. It wasn't compulsory for them to be fighters. There were healers, blacksmiths and, sometimes, alchemists in guilds that helped them to brew potions and elixir if their ranks were high enough.

It was also good to know that Guilds and Clans had their own separate ranking list which used the same S to G ranking.

Naturally, problems had occurred throughout the decades and solutions had been provided.

Now, every kingdom, empire or dynasty had a quota of the total number of guilds and clans allowed in their domain, as well as stringent rules which, if not followed, could lead to war.

For it had happened in the past, and could very well happen again.

While mercenaries were soloists, those who do things alone.

Till date, ruins of the ancient era are still being excavated. Powerhouses searched through land and sea to find priceless treasures. Keep in mind that they would encounter equally terrifying beasts during the search and exploration of these ruins.

Do note that, although they were all termed missionaries, the one in each kingdom was different. Each had separate files, but a crest was created for easy recognition. After all, who would want to register again each time he entered a new kingdom or empire?

Naturally, being the biggest empire, the limit of adventuring teams allowed in Niton was sky high. In fact, there was no limit to how many G ranks could come into Niton, as many were dying each day they ventured out.

And that's why Ezra told Cabrera to take the guild on an expedition to kill some monsters in order to gather money.

It had to be known that adventurers were also requested with house chores from cooking, to being a maid for a day and all sorts of things.

All these were reserved for G rank, who were peasants among adventurers.

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"An expedition? Where to?" Cabrera asked curiously.

"Windless peak" I said decisively.

"Huh?! Are you trying to get all of my boys killed?!" Cabrera exclaimed.

"Calm down and stop overreacting. I can't have you stagnate when you'll soon be going head to head with the top dogs of the city" I said while staring him straight in the eye.

"So, what's the plan?" he asked. I was expecting him to continue overreacting, but it seemed like he was learning.

"Poison" I said.

"Poison?" he asked.

"Could you stop repeating everything I say? Yes, poison, one that I invented for beasts"

"You invented it?" he said with a very weird face.

"Look, forget about the last part. I'll give you a list of recipes you need to get, before giving them to an alchemist to make it for you"

"You also need to buy slaves that'll help in skinning the dead creatures proficiently and taking all their useful part intact. More than anything, this will help put your boys back in shape"

"I don't think I need to tell you what'll happen if a guild attacks at this moment right?"

"Hoo…" Cabrera sighed before saying…

"I'll do as you say…but why don't I just borrow some G rank adventurers to help with the skinning?"

"Tell me, what'll happen when you come back from the expedition with ten carriages filled with monster parts?"

"Hmm, I see…other adventurer's would want to know how we did it…but you're not planning to release that recipe to the public, are you?"

A wide grin formed on my face when he accurately predicted the picture I was drawing.

"Exactly, see, now you're seeing the full picture…but?" I said, indicating that there was more to it.

"The other guilds won't stand still and let us monopolize such a secret…and they'll try to make us sell it using all the methods they have"

His eyes gained a glint of clarity the moment he finished saying those words. He looked at me with wide eyes before asking…

"How old are you?" with shock apparent in his voice.

I raised five fingers in response to his question as his eye darted between me and my raised hand, before he understood and said…

"No way…you're not serious, are you?" he asked a question he already knew the answer to.

"I'm dead serious" I blankly stated.

….!

"You're five?! You're a fu*king five year old kid?! But that's not possible. You're bigger than some eight years olds I've seen. What kind of trick are you trying to pull!" he said, staring at me with unbelieving eyes, before calming himself down as he laughed bitterly and saying…

"I wouldn't have acted like that in front of any other person, but…I guess I've grown some resistance to you and your abnormal situations…sigh…I think I'm going crazy" he said as his laughter died down and he regained his rationality.

"So…what exactly is the plan?" Cabrera asked.

"Listen well, because I'm only going to say this once and also…"

I paused a little and then said…

"This is a plan with innumerable risks. Every corner will be filled with danger all the way…but if we succeed, the rewards will instantly catapult us to a high-rank guild. So make your choice…all or nothing. Because after this it'll be do or die"

He immediately nodded and I began explaining while also not explaining…

"What do you think would happen if we, a small and weak guild, try taking advantage of all those B rank guilds?"

"Hmm, they'll likely combine forces and wipe us out"

"Exactly, so we need to take advantage of them while making it seem like we're afraid of them"

"But how exactly?" he asked, trying to see the big picture.

"Well, firstly, you need to find independent alchemists who lack any backing from the Intermediate rank all the way to the Expert rank. Preferably people you know"

"Each one will have to sign a soul contract with you, one of gold rank. We don't have the existing funds to buy such a thing, so you'll have to take it on loans, but don't worry…at the end of it, it'll be given to us for free" I smiled as I thought about this.

"Now, we make the potion and the guilds want the recipe from us and we refuse, what happens?"

"They destroy us" he said.

"But what if an even more powerful force intervenes for us?"

"Hmm, and which force will that be?"

"How about…say…the royal alchemist?"

A tremor occurred in his eyes as he heard that part. It was natural considering the genuine scale of my plan.

"Hmm, so the guilds won't be able to do anything to us…but you're not planning to give it to either of them are you?"

He asked and I shook my head in response. And then he began muttering suddenly…

"Hahaha, I've never seen such a crazy bastard like you before. Your madness is on another level" he said, laughing crazily.

He had figured out my plan.

He laughed, before looking at me and saying…

"But how are we going to draw the attention of the royal alchemists without calling them directly?" he asked as he looked at me.

*Sigh* "I guess this is as far as it goes" I suddenly said, which put Cabrera on edge as he wondered what I was talking about, when…

"What the?" he said with an incredulous expression as I momentarily held the disguise potion back and my face, hair and eyes changed back to their normal color.

I looked at the shocked Cabrera before saying…

"Have you ever heard of the fourth prince before?" I suddenly asked.

"Everyone in the capital knows, with the many rumors around him, that he…" his face was turning into one of utter shock as continued…

"…could use mana at three years old, could talk coherently at one, and this year…he would be turning Five!"

He sat utterly frozen for quite some time after muttering those words out loud.

I think I may have given him one too many surprises today.