Chapter 46: The Swift Mercenaries

Excitedly, Rod headed toward the counter in the middle. Seeing the crowded crowd, he frowned and struggled hard to squeeze in a little, but in the blink of an eye, he was pushed back out again.
“Damn it!” Standing outside the crowd, watching the chaos and hearing their noise, Rod cursed under his breath.
This approach definitely wouldn’t work. By the time he managed to get in, it might be too late.
With a quick thought, he came up with a plan, a sly smile appearing on his lips. “Whoa! Someone lost money! Whose gold coins are these?” The next moment, he started shouting loudly.
Instantly, like a chain reaction, everyone turned their attention to him. Taking advantage of their distraction, Rod used all his strength to push his way inside. Before anyone could react, he had reached the front.
“Heh, you think you can play games with me?” Rod smirked triumphantly at the crowd.
Once they realized what had happened, everyone glared angrily at Rod, the culprit. But Rod ignored their looks, determined to follow his own path—let others say whatever they wanted; he would just act like he hadn’t heard anything.
Looking at the list of tasks, which was packed with items, Rod frowned, feeling dizzy. There were way too many tasks.
What made things worse for Rod was that he was currently only a one-star mercenary, meaning he could only take a handful of tasks—most of them trivial, like delivering messages or similar chores.
“Bro, can’t find a suitable task?” Just as Rod was worrying, a familiar voice came from beside him, making him turn around.
Was it the uncle who had brought him to the Mercenaries Association earlier? He must have arrived unnoticed and was now standing beside him, smiling. Perhaps he had come to take on new tasks too—at least that’s what Rod thought.
“A one-star mercenary… damn this level! There are hardly any tasks available! I should have gotten my warrior rank certified first. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be in this mess. A two-star mercenary would be much better.”
With a grim expression, Rod pointed at the tasks and complained bitterly.

“A one-star mercenary? That’s a bit low, but I remember that one-star mercenaries can take missions two levels above their rank; you can take missions up to three stars!” The burly man frowned upon hearing Rod’s words, pondered for a moment, then said.

“Are you a high-level warrior? Well, have you joined any mercenary group? If not, you can join my mercenary group and do missions with us. I believe it might be better for you!”

Before Rod could respond, the burly man lowered his head, thought for a while, and then slowly spoke.

A mercenary group? Yes, he had read the introduction just now; it seemed to be the case. A mercenary group must consist of at least five people. The biggest advantage of a mercenary group is that it makes it easier to take missions. For example, if the strongest person in the group is a four-star mercenary, they can take the highest-level missions that the four-star mercenary can handle and complete them together. Moreover, some missions explicitly state that only mercenary groups can undertake them, which is why there are so many mercenary groups in the industry! Ranging from small teams of five to large groups of thousands!

“Can I join?”

After thinking for a long time, perhaps this was the only viable option left, Rod asked helplessly.

“There should be no problem. We already have quite a few members in our group. With you, we’ll have twenty people. We’ve just gotten a escort mission, and if you’re interested, you can join! Well, wait, let me handle the paperwork for you!”

Frowning slightly and thinking for a moment, the burly man replied in a low voice, then took Rod back to the counter where they first registered as mercenaries to handle the new paperwork.

“Captain Bruce, you’re here? Oh, another member has joined?”

Before reaching the counter, they heard a friendly greeting from a staff member. Apparently, this man named Bruce seemed to be quite well-known here.

“Yeah, a new member has joined. Help register them. We’re heading on a mission soon!” Bruce nodded and smiled.

After going through the necessary procedures without any complications, Rod successfully joined this mercenary group called Stormwind. What surprised Rod even more was that this mercenary group was actually a three-star group. Although there were only twenty members in total, including him, almost all of them were advanced warriors. Bruce, who was with him, was even a bronze warrior! Their captain was a silver warrior, and there was also a grand mage and a high-level mage within the group. Such a lineup left Rod in awe—seemingly, this mercenary group was quite impressive.

After completing the procedures, Rod finally breathed a sigh of relief. Under Bruce’s guidance, the two of them headed toward the location where their mercenary group was stationed in the city.

Along the way, Rod took the opportunity to study more about mercenaries and mercenary groups. The information he learned surprised him greatly.

He learned that mercenary groups could be divided into five levels, with four-star and five-star groups being referred to as mercenary corps. These groups not only had limits on the number of members but also on their strength and the amount of missions they could complete. Such groups were extremely rare—according to Bruce, there were no more than ten five-star mercenary groups across the entire continent. Each of these groups was incredibly powerful, filled with skilled warriors, and was no less formidable than a strong military force. Their Stormwind Mercenary Group could be considered among the upper-middle tier in the mercenary world, even stronger than some other three-star groups, as their philosophy was to be small but highly skilled.

High standards were set for each member’s strength. For example, if Rod didn’t possess the strength of an advanced warrior, Bruce probably wouldn’t have allowed him to join their group.

“We’re here. Hehe, that’s where we’ll be staying!”

Time passed quickly during their conversation. Before long, under Bruce’s guidance, Rod arrived at a house on the outskirts of the city. The house looked very old, seemingly having been around for a long time. According to Bruce, this seemed to be the base of their Stormwind Mercenary Group.

Two burly men stood at the door guarding it. When they saw Bruce return, they smiled and greeted him, “Captain Bruce, you’re back so soon? Hehe, did you get any good missions this time?”

“An escort mission—not bad, reasonable price. By the way, this is our new member, Knightrod Solomon. It’s useless trying to explain anything to you two kids. Well, I’m going in first. We’ll discuss the details at tonight’s meeting. We’ll head out on a mission tomorrow!” Bruce said loudly, laughing roughly twice.

With the two of them looking puzzled, Rod hadn’t even had time to take in the details of the mansion before Bruce pulled him inside.

The interior was completely different from the outside. As soon as they entered, a large courtyard came into view. In front of them was a hall with its doors open, featuring two rows of neatly arranged tables and chairs, likely used for meetings. On either side were two rows of houses, probably where the members lived.

“Those bastards must have gone out for some fun. Heh, come on, I’ll show you your room. It’s getting late, so rest for now. Dinner will start soon, and I’ll introduce you to everyone. The captain should be back tonight too—we can meet then!”

Looking at the empty courtyard, Bruce gave a slight, mocking smile before turning to Rod.

Under his guidance, Rod was quickly led to the third room in the row on his left. With a heavy creak, the door opened, revealing the interior.

It was a simple room—just two beds, a table, and a few chairs. There was nothing extra; it was very plain and clean. It was hard to imagine a mercenary’s room being this clean.

“Well, you’re lucky, kid. Aida is the most neat person around here. She’s like a woman, unlike us tough guys whose rooms are like dogholes. You’d be shocked if you saw them! Heh, from now on, you’ll be living with her. We’ll take care of each other. Rest for now—they’ll be back soon and come look for you!”

Looking at the clean room, Bruce said to Rod with a wry smile.

“Thank you, big brother!” Rod nodded in gratitude. Today, he had met kind people—first, he resolved his mercenary issues, found an organization, and most importantly, got a place to stay. Everything had stabilized, and it was all thanks to Bruce’s help.

“When we’re away from home, we should help each other. Well, I need to go back and take care of some things; I have a mission to carry out tomorrow! Damn it, those bastards still haven’t returned. Not even a day’s rest—what a hassle. Alright, you rest first; I’ll come find you in a bit!” Bruce muttered under his breath with a frown, gave some more instructions, then headed outside.
Looking at the tidy house, which was indeed different from what he had imagined, Rod sighed in relief. His journey as a mercenary had begun, and he wasn’t sure what the future would hold. Yet his goal remained clear. A glint appeared in his eyes as he slowly walked over to his bed, sat down, and fell deep into thought, beginning to plan for his future.