The boss glanced at the white crystal ring on Salin's hand and said, "Sir Mage, if you are in urgent need of money, you can mortgage this ring to me. I'll give you twenty thousand gold coins."
"No need." Salin casually broke off the crystal from the ring and threw it to the boss. He then took out the two thousand gold notes. "Just give me the rest of the money. Find a room for my friend to change into his equipment."
Hearing this, Sicar immediately stood up and bent down to pick up the huge wooden box, looking around. The worker held back his laughter and took Sicar to change.
After checking the notes, the boss had the worker bring over eight full bags containing 400 gold coins.
Salin took the gold coins and threw them into the bag. "Boss, do you have a map?"
"No, Sir Mage. If you register as a mercenary, the Guild of Professionals will give you one. It's a magic map of the entire continent. It's very useful." The boss could tell that this was Salin's first time out.
Salin blushed and then said honestly, "I have no experience. Thank you for the reminder. How do I get to the Guild of Professionals? "
The boss took a pen and paper, drew a simple map and handed it to Salin. Sicar changed into his leather armor and walked out. Salin's eyes brightened. Sicar looked less rough in the armor, and her appearance seemed more delicate. If not for the huge club on her back and the old leather bag in her hand, no one would be able to tell that she was a Caucasian.
The boss respectfully sent the two out of the shop, a smile on his lips. This was a big deal. The mage had actually bought a set of high-level leather armor. But the little mage had no taste to pick up a Caucasian. One had to know that Caucasian women were very tough …
Salin followed the map drawn by the boss and found the Guild of Professionals directly.
The front of the Guild of Professionals was not at all imposing. It was a slightly large door with the symbol of the Guild on the lintel — a long sword pierced through a wheel. There was not even a mercenary standing guard at the door. Walking through the front door, there was a hall that was a few hundred square meters in area. Not a single pillar could be seen.
The hall was full of people. Most of them were concentrated on the right side. The left side was relatively deserted. Salin glanced at the sign and walked towards the deserted side.
On the left side of the hall were individual rooms separated by metal plates. On the side facing the hall, there was a huge glass wall. It was soundproof, but it did not block one's sight. Seeing Sarlin walk over, a swordswoman came up to him and asked with a smile, "Are you two here to issue a mission or register as a mercenary?"
"I'd like to consult him first," Salin replied with a smile.
"Please follow me." The swordswoman smiled sweetly and led Salin and Sicar into a single room.
One table and eight chairs. Salin sat down, and the swordswoman handed him a book for him to read first. Shika pushed away the book handed to her by the swordswoman and shook her head, "I can't read."
The swordswoman smiled professionally and gently put away the book. She said, "I'll make some tea. What kind of tea do you want?"
"Whatever, as long as it's free." Shika was straightforward. She didn't want to waste money. This set of leather armor was very expensive, and he didn't know when he would be able to return it.
The swordswoman was used to poor mercenaries. Even though Shika had changed into an expensive set of leather armor, she didn't see him as a rich person. Mercenaries often spent all their money on equipment and didn't have much gold on hand.
"Salin." Shika poked Salin's ribs with her sparkling finger.
"Ah …" Salin replied, feeling a little pain. He didn't look up. Shika whispered, "Look."
Salin turned his head and looked through the glass. Following Shika's gaze, he saw the front of the hall. In front of the hall was a huge magic wall. Dozens of magic screens were embedded in the wall, releasing all kinds of magical images.
The magic screens on the wall were worth millions of gold. If one was brave enough to rob here once, they wouldn't have to earn money again.
Salin wasn't thinking about that. He saw his own magical image on one of the screens. He shivered. This was the border of the empire. Could Count Alphonso still have influence here?
His image appeared on the screen because he was wanted. Fortunately, the image was drawn. Although the technique was good, the image was different from the current Salin. The image on the screen had brown hair and eyes. Now, Salin's hair had turned black, his eyes blue, and his body much sturdier. If not for Shika's sharp senses, she wouldn't have been able to discover the relationship between Salin and the image.
Salin was a little scared. If Shika hadn't seen the image, he would be in big trouble.
Registered mercenaries and adventurers needed to leave their names and images in the Professional Guild. If he still used the name Salin Metatlin, he would probably be discovered soon.
The surname Metatlin was too rare. Even the stupidest person would be able to find him through this name.
Salin was filled with hatred. He'd been chased from the coast to the border. He'd traveled in a straight line in the wilderness for more than three months, but he still couldn't shake off the count's pursuit.
Countless thoughts flashed through his mind, but Salin calmed down. Count Alphonso wouldn't let go of the hatred of his son's death. Viscount Guge had provided him with an old portrait. Salin had changed his appearance, so he only looked similar to this one. He owed Ulysses a favor, and would return it when he had the chance.
But the name had to be changed for now. Salin waved his hand outside the room. The swordswoman quickly carried a tray and entered the room.
"Mist Tip Tea, please have a taste."
The swordswoman poured the tea. The teacup was larger than a gold coin, and it was exquisite and translucent. It was made of green porcelain without any patterns, as if it was carved out of high-quality green jade. A trace of green tea was placed in the teacup, giving off a faint fragrance.
"We plan to register as mercenaries." Salin changed his mind. Being an adventurer also required an image, but he couldn't see any more information provided by the Professional Guild. Mercenaries were also protected by Scotia's laws, while adventurers were much more dangerous. In the wild, fights between adventurers had never stopped.
"Do you plan to register as freelance mercenaries or mercenary groups?" The swordswoman's eyes were wide open. The rhythm of her voice seemed to have been trained, and it sounded very comfortable without any pressure.
Salin turned a blind eye. In terms of appearance, Shika was much better than this swordswoman. And he only felt a slight throbbing when he saw Shika's naked body. It seemed that after the Magic String was formed, Salin's state of mind became calmer.
This was normal. A magician who would make his mood up and down for no reason could not be relied on at crucial times. Casting magic required strong mental power to control it. Many low-level magicians had to spend their entire lives hovering below level three because of insufficient mental power.
"Mercenary groups, hmm, the smallest scale."
The swordswoman pursed her lips and smiled. She could see that Salin was a greenhorn, so she reminded him, "The smallest mercenary group can only recruit eight people, and they can't take on high-level missions. They're not much different from adventurers."
Salin had read the book about the professional system that the swordswoman had given him, and specially selected the key chapters. He also knew what the lowest level mercenary group looked like. He shook his head. "I don't have the money to pay the deposit."
"Alright." The swordswoman didn't look back. She waved her hand, and soon someone brought a box and placed it on the table.
There were two copies of the contract in the box. Salin glanced at it and nodded. He asked, "Where do I pay?"
"Please follow me." The swordswoman led Salin and Shika out of the room to a small door in the corner of the hall. Inside the door was a passageway with many small rooms on both sides. The swordswoman pointed to the small room. "Go and leave a magic image, then sign the contract and give me the money."
Registering a mercenary group cost money. Every mercenary had to pay a deposit in case something happened during a mission. Salin's mercenary group was registered as a first-level mercenary group. The registration fee was only 100 gold coins, and every member had to pay a deposit of 50 gold coins.
If his mercenary group of eight was full, he would have to pay a total of 500 gold coins. This was a large sum of money that not many people could afford. Most mercenary groups were controlled by the leader alone. Poor mercenaries had to sign another contract with the leader because they didn't have the money, so they had to put their lives on the line.
This wasn't strange. How could a normal person gather 50 gold coins as a deposit? If they had 50 gold coins, most low-level mercenaries would rather go back to their hometown to farm. 50 gold coins was enough to marry a wife and raise two or three children.
Salin only had two people now. Other than the 100 gold coins for registration, he only needed to pay a deposit of 100 gold coins. This way, he could accept escort missions worth less than 400 gold coins. Even if his mercenary group was full, he could only accept escort missions worth less than 1000 gold coins.
But as the swordswoman said, this kind of mercenary group wasn't much different from adventurers. An escort mission worth 400 gold coins would pay 20 gold coins at most. Normally, it would take a month to complete. The value of killing a second-level magical beast was more than this kind of mission. Salin was a magician, so 20 gold coins didn't mean much to him.
And if war broke out, these mercenaries would be deployed by the country. Low-level mercenary groups would be placed in the most dangerous places, and the pay wouldn't be too high.
But this wasn't what Salin valued. He didn't establish a mercenary group to accept safe escort missions, but because of the information service provided by the Guild of Professionals. Only mercenaries could enjoy this information. Ordinary information was calculated in silver coins and was very cheap.
He wanted to know what kind of person Count Alphonso was, and what kind of power he had. This information wasn't available to regular adventurers.
After recording the magic image, the swordswoman sent over a new contract in less than ten minutes. It already had the magic image of Salin and Sicar. Sicar couldn't write, so Salin signed the contract for her.
Salin didn't leave his real name, and wrote the pseudonym Merlin in the name column of the contract. Then, they pressed their handprints. After paying the gold coins, Salin received the mercenary badge provided by the Guild of Professionals.
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