Kapitel 3: 3 Credit Grabber

It was already morning when Zypher woke up and he immediately used all of his strength just to sit upright. He was inside one of the tents the mercenaries used and there was a commotion outside.

Zypher got up to see what is happening. It seems some people arrived and when he saw the power gauges on their head, his face quickly changed. Level power between ten thousand to twenty thousand. He saw Brye with bandages talking to a young man who have a power level of twenty five thousand.

"Thank you for saving us Young Master Gregory. Who knows what would happen to us if you come. Alas, even my shield bearer Boris didn't survived, they were just too many of them." Brye mournfully said.

"It is my upmost pleasure to help you Miss Brye. Actually, we were chasing these orcs for many days and it may have been our fault that they have attacked you since they didn't have the time to hunt when they were running from us. I already spoke to Mister Harold for us to escort you to your destination to atone for our mistake." Gregory replied.

Zypher didn't whether to laugh or to throw up for this young man's acting. He was the one who singlehandedly defeated the orcs however it's better this way since he didn't want the attention.

Brye glanced at one of the tents and saw Zypher standing looking at their direction. She had a disturbed face as she went her way to him and even inviting the guy named Gregory.

"He was the one who warned us Young Master Gregory." Brye reported.

Gregory sized up Zypher from head to foot which made Zypher a little bit uncomfortable.

"How did you know there were orcs? I am just assuming here so forgive me but you don't look like someone who can fight."

"It's the smell. There was a pungent smell and I can distinctly tell that it's something poisonous. Plus it came from different spots so I quickly thought it was an attack." Zypher replied. From the way the man is belittling him, there is no way he would tell him the whole truth. He did smell the orcs from far away, just that it is after the voice in his head told him so.

Gregory nodded as if he understood since orcs were fond of using poison arrows. He told himself that at least this weakling had some kind of use. He completely ignored the boy and started commanding his followers to help out so that they can start travelling.

Brye gave her thanks to Zypher and apologize for her behavior last night. It was still a fact that without his warning they wouldn't last for long.

It took them until mid afternoon to reach the city of Editha and Zypher broke out of the group as soon they passed the gates. As a tip, the merchant friend gave him some recommendations on which place to buy the best quality of catalyst armor and some low level artifacts.

He decided to make his to the nearest restaurant for he was really starving unlike anything he ever experienced before. Luckily he had the money to eat as much as he can for his first meal in town.

While he was eating, he can see people walking by and he seemed to notice some differences. He assumed that all people only have a single name but now it was clearly only applicable to ordinary people. Last names were actually some kind of prize given to individuals with honorable deeds and can be passed on to heirs.

One more piece of information he got is that it seems mercenaries are generally failed mage knights who can't break through the second tier or just people with less resources or talent.

From what he could gather mage knights are respectable people who defends the common people from hellspawns like the orcs.

There are some rumors though that they are just a bunch of opportunistic individuals who are just lucky to have some talent or born to families who had the resources to nurture them. Furthermore, they view ordinary people as persons that are born to serve them.

One thing is for sure though, mage knights are very powerful individuals who can level out cities on a whim so it's better to just be quiet than to make them angry.

To believe these things or not, Zypher decided it was still early to choose. Power comes with strength and envy comes with weakness.

Zypher finished his meal and quickly made his way to the first store he was recommended to. Just by the window he could see many types of catalyst armor he could buy.

Zypher excitedly went in and someone quickly attended to assist him.

"May I know how can I help you?" the lady attendant asked. She had a beautiful voice that made Zypher blush.

"Hi, I just want to know how much it would be for me to get a catalyst armor. I heard that if I also buy an artifact weapon here I could get a discount."

"Nothing to worry. May I know how to address you? Also, what kind of catalyst armor do you need? What kind of elemental affinity do you have?"

Except for his name, Zypher had no idea how to answer the lady. However, seeing the confusion on the boy's eyes, the lady smiled and told him what to do.

"Actually, you can go to the mercenary guild to check what kind of affinity you have. Forgive me sir, I don't want to be rude but since I think you are just starting out, why don't you register as a mercenary as well. Beginner mage knights do it all the time."

"Thank you, I will go ahead and do that."

"No problem, just don't forget our store after checking your affinity. This store would always welcome new talents."

Zypher was ready to leave when he stopped to ask one more question.