Joining a Guild
The inn's dining room.
"*Snif* *snif* delicious, so delicious! ... *yum* *yum* I am so happy to be alive! *yum* *snif* *yum*..." Tears of joy could not stop flowing out of Thorn's eyes. For more than a million years the only things he had to eat was the flesh of his own lips and his own blood, so to understand how great his happiness was at this moment was very, very difficult. It was enough to say that he was so happy he had completely forgotten the existence of the skirt he was wearing.
"Hehehe... Enjoy now that you can, later we'll be busy. You see, I don't have a single blue coin left, so we'll have to work!" Rose said placing her palms on her checks as she watched Thorn with a wide smile across her face. She enjoyed the view of Thorn earnestly eating. After all, she knew for how many years he had not tasted good food.
After finish eating, they went up to the rooftop terrace, and they then sat on a bench overlooking the various and unique buildings of Lurep Village.
"… Well, I agree that we have to get money, but what are we going to do after that?" Thorn asked while still having his eyes slightly red.
"Mmm... I wanted to break through my bottleneck, but now that I have your help I've decided to start looking for a ship designer. Of course, before that, we will have to get enough money to afford one." Rose explained calmly.
Bewildered, Thorn asked: "Ship designer? ... Why do you need a ship? You know that I can take you to wherever you want by flying, right?"
A mysterious smile appeared on her face as she responded: "I don't need a ship, I need a ship designer."
Thorn seemed even more confused than before. Nevertheless, not feeling worried at all, he said: "Okay, I guess I'll understand what you're up to at some point anyway. So, where are we going to find a ship designer?"
She grandly lifted her index finger, pointed toward the southwest and answered: "The place that contains the principal headquarters of the Fisherman's Guild, and the place where the best ships in the world are built: Blue City!"
"Fisherman's Guild?" He showed a curious look.
Rose realized: "Oh! Of course! The guilds were created after the Great Catastrophe, so you don't know about their existence. The guilds are groups of people with specific objectives, they aren't associated with any kingdom. There are many but currently only six stand out: the Assassin's Guild, the Adventurer's Guild, the Mercenary's Guild, the Scientist's Guild, the Fisherman's Guild and the Word Guards."
"Oh... so the people from this time let something like an assassin's guild exist." He commented with interest.
"They earned their place with their own strength and they also have a strict set of internal rules that allows them to survive." Rose explained.
"... I see... Anyway, how are we going to make money?" After a slight nod, he asked.
Without hesitation, Rose answered, her expression full of self-righteousness: "We'll rent our bodies, obviously!"
"Eeehhh??!! Why did you say 'obviously'?! ... B-but... Okay, as long as I have to attend only to female clients, I accept!" Thorn showed a shocked expression at first, but then blushed, and in the end, smiled emotionally to accept Rose's proposal.
Narrowing her eyes, Rose wondered why this sleazebag would react in such a way. Immediately after, she showed him her firm palm, and with a serious expression said: "Excuse me, I misspoke. What I was trying to say is: We will join the Mercenary's Guild and rent our bodies to work performing different tasks, except sexual or illegal tasks."
Thorn's smile gradually disappeared. Crestfallen, he sighed. "Oh… okay..."
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Lurep Village Mercenary's Guild Branch was located in a building that occupied an area of 500 m x 300 m and had the shape of two arms crossed in the form of an 'X', both with closed fists.
Vei Dal was a middle-aged shadow human who worked at this branch of the Mercenary's Guild. He had black hair, white skin, and brown eyes.
The shadow human race had almost the exact same appearance of normal humans, the only difference was that they had a pair of black horns on their foreheads.
Vei Dal was in his office reading some books when suddenly someone knocked on the door.
*Knock* *knock*
"You can come in." Vei Dal gave his permission.
Following which, the door opened and two people entered.
(Those violet eyes are beautiful... But, why is he wearing a skirt?) Seeing the visitants, he wondered.
"If you're here, then you must want to join our guild." He said stroking his chin.
"Hello. Yes, we came to register ourselves. I'm Rose and my sister's name is Thorn."
(Sister?! Oh... now I understand...) He nodded.
"Thorn and Rose... no surnames?" Vei Dal got slightly suspicious and asked. After all, even the peasants had a surname. The only ones who did not have surnames were those who had committed heinous enough crimes to be banished from their own families.
"We are just a pair of innocent sisters. It just happened that we were thrown out of our clan because we refused to marry the clan chef's son." Rose explained, a dejected expression on her face.
"The guy wasn't our type..." Using a pleasant female voice, Thorn added, eyes closed, his head shaking left and right.
(C-cute! How could I have believed that she was a man?!) Never had Vei Dal thought he would be so blind.
"T-That's really unfortunate... Regarding membership registration, you just have to leave your Energy Signature and pay the registration fee which is three blue coins per person." Vei Dal slowly explained.
After listening to his words, Rose and Thorn looked at each other, complicated expressions on their faces. A prolonged uncomfortable silence followed.
Finally, Rose said: "Eh... would you excuse us for a moment? I need to consult something with my sister."
"Of course, take your time." Vei Dal said kindly, as a thought flashed through his mind: (Perhaps they don't have enough blue coins…)
They left his office.
But after a few seconds, he heard Thorn's agitated voice coming from behind the door.
"Why are you pulling out your dagger?! Do you want to sell my organs?!"
(What is she doing?! Did she go crazy?! She can't do such a thing as selling organs in this place!) Vei Dal got worried.
Out of concern, he shouted: "Here is no place for you to do that! The Medical Center is just a few steps down the street from this building! If you want to sell organs, you should go there first!"
He did not hear any reply for a while, and just when he was about to stand up, the door opened and a serious Rose besides a depressed Thorn entered.
She apologized: "I'm sorry for the uproar. Sadly, my sister doesn't want to sacrifice a miserable organ for the team's sake..."
(Well, I don't blame her! Besides, why does it seem like you are the boss when your cultivation is a whole stage below your sister's?! Are you trying to make fun of the fact that she is wearing a t-shirt that clearly says 'I am the boss'?! This is too irrational!) Vei Dal bellowed indignantly in his mind.
Rose continued: "So, I have no choice but to sacrifice this precious item of mine..." She slowly and carefully withdrew a canteen from her jacket pocket, and as a look of deep reluctance appeared on her face, she handed it over to Vei Dal.
He held the canteen and asked puzzled: "What's this?"
She replied with a sad but proud smile: "Medicine. You can check for yourself its level."
Vei Dal looked at her for a moment, and then bitted his hand causing it to bleed. He opened the canteen, and carefully let a single crimson drop fall on his wound. Watching how his wound healed at an astonishing speed, he became stunned. He couldn't help but exclaim: "It needed a single drop and only two seconds! Is all of this high-level medicine?!"
"It is! I know that in the Broken Earth Kingdom the only ones who are authorized to sell medicines are the Alch family..." Rubbing her hands, Rose proposed with a sly smile: "But we could make a small transaction without anyone knowing about it… What do you say?"
Vei Dal hesitated for a moment before responding with a gradually lowering voice: "Mmm... I don't know... it depends... how many blue coins are you selling it for?"
"Well, considering the risks involved in the illegal trade of medicine… I'll sell it to you for only fifteen blue coins." Rose said after some thought.
Vei Dal immediately agreed: "It's a deal then."
Of course he would not hesitate to accept this deal, after all, the normal price of that much high-level medicine was forty-five blue coins.
After making the transaction, Vei Dal began to enroll them in the Mercenary's Guild.
Actually, the process was simple. Each one of them received a sheet of paper where they answered some basic questions like name, age, cultivation, etc. In the final part of the sheet, there was a small rectangle where with one of their fingers they released some of their Complex Energy, then, on the rectangle, a unique glowing pattern appeared. This pattern was known as Energy Signature. After which, they received a white card each, it was a one-star novice mercenary license.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
The Contract Hall of the Mercenary's Guild was the place where clients went to when they wanted to hire mercenaries. Naturally, to enter this hall clients had to pay a blue coin first. Once inside, they could find several mercenaries sitting on different benches, and at the side of each occupied bench, there could be seen a blackboard where the skills of the mercenaries sitting on that bench were written on. In this way, customers could easily find the mercenaries with the kind of skill they needed.
Thorn and Rose walked into the Contract Hall. Thorn looked somewhat depressed, and he said after a deep sigh: "*Sigh*... I know it isn't a big deal... but... why do I have the impression that you were just using me as an object, without caring about my feelings in the slightest?"
"Mmm... it must be because I was indeed using you as an object without caring about your feelings..." Rose looked into his eyes suddenly feeling guilty and apologized: "I'm sorry, I still have most of my habits from when I was a princess... But believe me, I'm very grateful for all the help you are giving me. I certainly would be having a hard time without you."
Thorn involuntarily smiled when he heard Rose's words. For some reason, her words brought him a pleasant sensation of accomplishment.
They continued walking, and soon they found an empty bench on which they sat down after writing on the blackboard: Wind, special: It can hide sound, smell and heat.
Then, they waited, patiently.
Until, after reading their blackboard, a young dalmatian dog monster human said: "I have a job for you guys."