Damien

An earthy smell filled the surroundings, far different from what I had gotten used to in the city. 

Walking past the train station gates I was met with a small town, that seemed to house no more than 200 or so people.

The town was quiet, instead of towering apartment buildings there were smaller individual houses that had grassy lawns in front. 

A sub urban area, one of my coworkers always wanted to move to a place like this.

It was quiet as expected but the air also seemed somewhat gloomy as I moved through the town. 

Opening the notification to get more information, a live map appeared directing me to the actual location where the mercenaries would gather. 

I walked the streets and felt the glances of the citizens as I walked by.

They weren't hostile though, they were more hopeful, some would offer me polite greetings or words of encouragement, cheering me on for the fight. 

I guess the weapon case and the way I was dressed gave it away pretty easily. 

In 15 minutes, I had arrived at a medium sized wooden cottage.

'Wald Inn.'

It was a humble building, stone walls with wooden details, vines that crawled up the building with neatly trimmed shrubs running along the walls. 

Light emitted from the windows and fell onto the grass lawn decorated with flowers with a brick path in the middle.

It looked like the winter retreat that a rich person would own. 

Walking on the brick path I confirmed for the fourth time that this was actually the correct place. 

No matter what it seemed like a weird place for the mercenaries to gather. 

However, there was a sign at the entrance that had the message.

'Welcome heroes!" sprawled onto it. 

Inaccurate, but alright.

Pushing the door open, I walked into the cozy interior feeling a slight warmth blanketing the entire space.

It was spacious with an empty fireplace at the center and many comfortable looking couches and seats. 

A TV was in front of the seating area playing highlights from a football game. 

However, the place was empty, even the counter was unoccupied, and I wondered if maybe I was in the wrong place.

"Wait! Sorry! We didn't expect anyone this early!"

A woman in her 30's with orange hair and a green apron hurriedly made her way downstairs as I was about to leave. 

"Nice to meet you! I'm Hertha I'm the one who runs this place." She said as she extended a hand covered with a mitten for a handshake.

"I'm Ajax... is anyone else here yet?" I asked as I awkwardly accepted the handshake. 

"Nope! The meeting starts in 3 hours after all, but I always appreciate an early bird!"

I nodded before asking "Is there somewhere I could keep this?" in reference to my weapon case. 

I was directed to a room meant for storage and a changing room as well before being left to my own. 

I slung the bow over my shoulder and put the dagger in a sheathe next to my hip. 

I wished I had a space ring in times like this but even the cheapest one cost about 50,000 CR. 

Taking off the jacket I wore above the training clothes I drew the face mask up as I returned to the seating area once again, where I had little choice but to focus on mana control. 

"Oh! Someone else is here already?" 

A man entered the room and noticed my presence as he looked around. 

"Hey pal, the mission doesn't start for another-" 

The man said as he walked towards me but stopped midway as his eyes lit up with recognition. 

"Hey! I know you! Who could forget those eyes?" 

He said with a laugh.

Recalling the events that took place a week ago, I realized that this was the same man who helped me sign up as a mercenary.

"Uh... What was it? Adam? No, Ajay? No that's not it, Ai-"

"Ajax"

I corrected the man before he could ramble on any further.

"Ajax! Didn't you sign up like a week ago? You took up a contract as soon as you could huh?" 

I nodded yes in response. 

"Hey! I like go getters; we need more of you guys in the new generation! The name's Damien by the way." 

"Nice to meet you." I said as I looked over Damien. 

He had his curly black hair with streaks of grey that reached his eyes, which were adorned with steel spectacles, this time instead of wearing office attire, he wore blue mage robes that contradicted his personality.

"Surprised? I only worked the desk because I was injured and wanted to make money, but I'm an E rank water mage as my main job."

He said as he summoned his grimoire that shone with an impressive light and was as large as a novel. 

"I may not have a lot of talent, but I do have experience and I'll be the captain of this mission."

He said with a previously absent authoritative tone.

"Oh wait. This is your first mission. You have no idea what a captain does do you?"

"No." 

"Ah, thought so. Well, don't worry, just cause I'm a 'captain' doesn't mean I get to yell orders at you all the time or force you to do something." 

"What?"

"Basically, I'm more like an instructor, listening to me is your choice. I tell you what I think we should do as a group, and you decide if you want to follow me or fuck off and do your own thing.

After all, most mercenaries didn't like how militaristic being a hero felt and so they're here, it doesn't matter what you do as long as you finish the mission."

"What do people usually do?" 

I asked wanting to know the more popular option.

"In missions like this one? Everybody does their own thing. Working as a unit doesn't guarantee individual kills, in fixed rewards people listen to the captain. 

That's the only reason I agreed to being a captain in the first place, as here it basically means the strongest or most experienced guy on the block."

He said with a bit of pride. 

I nodded before asking "How do people track individual kills?" 

"Good question. We still aren't great at it; the best option is basically an enhanced body camera with an AI that tracks kills you can be deemed responsible for paired with a mana intake tracker."

"What's a-" 

"A mana intake tracker is a device that measures abnormal surges in the body's mana absorption, whenever we kill a beast, we siphon some of the mana from it, like a video game experience point thing.

It's the same for every being with mana, it's just a matter of how effective they are at it. For example, aggressive beasts are incapable of intaking mana naturally which is why they kill so often, whereas humans or beastkin or elves barely get any mana from the ones they kill, so for them it's pointless." 

He explained as he predicted my question. 

"You kill a goblin on camera, device measures how much mana you get from it and bam, we know every time you kill a goblin."

He said as he tossed me a body camera to wrap around my chest and a bracelet. 

"That also tracks your vitals and location, and you have to return it, so try not to damage it. Don't worry it's tougher than it seems." 

I put on the devices which didn't affect my movement and looked back at Damien.

"Thank you for explaining it to me." 

"No problem, good luck on your debut kid. Become a good marksman and you'll be rolling in cash."

He said with a wink as he went to the storage room. 

I inspected the bracelet curiously; it had a screen on it that displayed a mana count. 

'321 mp/s'

I suppose that was my normal mana count, I know mp stands for mana points, the basic unit to measure mana content in a creature or object.

However, unlike other games it didn't dictate how many spells one could use, that depended more on mental capacity.

'321 huh?'

I had no idea if that was bad or good or average. 

I knew Lucian or the main character had around 550 mp/s while resting which was considered outstanding, but I had no idea what the average was.

I focused on mana breathing and got it all the way up to 470. 

I sighed as I decided to stop paying attention to it and got up, I didn't want to get too lax before a mission. 

As I was doing mana breathing and warm up exercises while Damien watched the TV, more and more people began to show up.

Mercenaries of all kinds came inside the cozy hall, wielding all sorts of weapons from various types of swords, daggers, maces and even hammers. 

Of course, many had no weapon and wore mage robes or mana enhancing material, being the mages. 

Soon, the previously quiet hall was filled with chatter and Hertha, the innkeeper began to distribute food and drinks to the many. 

  However, all of this went quiet when the door swung open with an unnecessary amount of force as a man with silver hair and blue eyes wearing intricately decorated armor walked in. 

"Where is the captain here?" 

The man asked in an arrogant tone. 

When no one responded he grew agitated.

"Are you all deaf? Who here is the god damn captain?!"

"Calm down pal. It's me, who the hell are you?" Damien said with a sigh as he put down food, he seemed to be enjoying a moment ago. 

"I'm Seigfried Seacaster, and if I were you, I'd watch your tone scum." 

"Name's Damien but I've been called worse." Damien said nonchalantly.

This drew laughter from some of the mercenaries which only angered the other man more.

"Is this a joke to you? I'll have you know; my family owns this damn town!"

"So?" 

"What!?"

"So, what if your family owns this town? If anything, you should be thanking us for being here."

"Thanking you!? For operating on our land without our permission?" Seigfried said getting more and more agitated by the second. 

"Buddy, I don't care who your daddy is, we're here on permission of the awakened association, and unless your father is a god, your opinion doesn't mean shit."

"The nerve! You should be happy I-"

"What the fuck do you want?" 

Damien interrupted the noble looking man from speaking as he seemed like he was going to pop a vessel.

"I'm here to take control of these mercenaries! Make sure you idiots do your job!" 

"No." 

Damien once again denied the man his authority but this time he smiled as Damien's phone rang out. 

Looking at the message Damien sighed and spoke. 

"You can come with us, but no one is going to listen to your commands buddy." 

"I'll have you know I'm a third-year student at the-"

"I don't give a damn." Damien said as he walked out the door. 

Siegfried followed him shortly after with an angered expression and some of the mercenaries began laughing at the interaction as they also began to head out.

I followed after them in confusion.