Capítulo 14: Mercenary Association

Mercenary Association, or as it was commonly called MA, is a place where a lot of mercenaries gathered together to find some jobs and earn a living as a mercenary. The work of a mercenary was both perilous and highly rewarding.

They need to brave dangers that normal people usually shied away from, and in return, they are paid handsomely for their efforts. Being a mercenary was a life that was fraught with dangers.

Very few people dare to be in this line of work for a long time. Usually, people do mercenary work for some time and earn some money, before bidding the mercenary life goodbye to settle down with the money they earned. That is if they survived their line of work.

So, due to the high mortality rate, mercenaries were usually understaffed and are always in need of fresh blood. That was the reason Duncan had decided to try his luck here.

Mercenary Association was established by the City Hall to protect the interests of mercenaries in the city. Considering how dangerous the jobs that usually a mercenary was employed to do, and the kind of people who survive such things, any kind of shenanigans in the job posted or the money promised will usually result in violent aftermath.

City Hall, being the ones responsible for maintaining the law and order in the city, wanted to avoid such circumstances. Hence, the creation of the Mercenary Association. Due to this, MA had a huge backing in the city. It is even said that several cultivation clans have ties to MA, not to mention the City Lord himself.

The City Lord himself was the strongest cultivator in the city. If the rumors are to be believed he is stronger than all the cultivation clans present in the city. His strength was supposedly in the realm that was beyond the Spirit Sea realm. Hence, no one made things difficult for MA in the city.

That being said, not all the mercenaries in the city were treated equally. Only the most veteran mercenaries had some rights and privileges that normal people are not given. Even then, they must make way for the cultivators present in the city. Cultivators were truly above any kind of ordinary people present in the city.

After learning about all these things, Duncan decided that being a mercenary was the only option he had at present. Sure, the job was said to be dangerous, but it was also said that the pay was higher. If anything, the amount of wine he could indulge himself with that money alone made it worth it for Duncan.

When Duncan arrived at the Mercenary Association, the lobby was full of people from all walks of life. He could hear rowdy laughter and enthusiastic conversations all around.

Duncan took in the scene a bit as he made his way to the counter to enquire about how one starts his mercenary career. When he reached the counter, a kind lady in her late forties greeted him.

"Good morning you man, are you here to post a job?"

"No mam, I am here to enquire about becoming a mercenary," Duncan replied in a calm manner.

He had learned from experience that being calm in front of people in power often boded well. Any kind of nervousness will lead to causing unnecessary mistakes that will come back to bite his ass in the future.

While the receptionist wasn't usually someone with power, he spied even fierce-looking men talking to the woman in cordial tones when he approached. So, Duncan decided to err on the side of caution when dealing with her.

If the lady had any misgivings regarding Duncan, she didn't show it openly. She merely smiled in return and went on to ask him questions.

"First timer huh? What kind of work have you been engaged in before?" the lady asked calmly.

"I used to be a miner in Starsinger Town mam. I also worked as a caravan guard when I left my town and came here. I am new to the city, you see, and I don't have any other skills apart from my strong body," Duncan replied.

"Hmmm, I can certainly see that you have a strong body, young man. So, what's your name?"

"Duncan, mam,"

"Here, fill this form out. I hope you know your letters," she asked squinting her eyes.

"I do, mam," Duncan replied with a smile.

"Good, you will have to pay one silver as a registration fee. You will in turn be given a small batch identifying you as a member of the Mercenary Association. Apart from that, any job you take from here, the association will deduct fifteen percent service fee."

"You can take jobs from the job board over there. You will have to register them with me or anyone else manning this desk. Usually, we don't limit anyone from taking any kind of job. But, I will advise you to be very careful and choose group missions at the beginning."

"That way, you will have experienced mercenaries to rely on during the job and not be thrown headfirst into danger. Once you complete the job, you can receive your payment directly from here. And if it is a group mission, you will be allocated a fixed percentage of the job income based on the number of people present."

"If you don't have any other questions, you can fill out this form and get your badge now. Once done, you can head to the job board," the receptionist said in a practiced calm tone.

Duncan filled in the details requested in the form and handed it back to her. The receptionist in turn gave him a badge that had the letters MA on the front and a number carved in the back.

"That is your mercenary number. We will note it down to mark the missions you take. Do not lose the badge and if you do while on the job, replace it when you come back. We will deduct one silver for every badge that is replaced," the receptionist explained after handing him the badge.

Duncan nodded his head to indicate that he understood and walked towards the job board in search of his first job as a mercenary.

As the job board was crowded with various mercenaries perusing it, it took some time for Duncan to see the contents of the job board. As he wasn't in any hurry, Duncan took his time to check out the job board thoroughly.

"Hmm, it looks like there are more group missions than individual missions. Most missions are similar to guard duty. Guarding merchant caravans; guarding wealthy folk as they travel from one place to another; even guarding wealthy residences. But, the duration of these missions is a bit long. It would be ideal if I had time, but I am in a hurry to earn some coins. I will leave them for later," Duncan mumbled as he took in the job board.

"Uh, this looks like something that would suit me, but something tells me that this one isn't simple. If it is so, people would have already volunteered. After all, the number of individual missions is really too few. Being a sparring partner sounds simple, but it is that simple nature of the mission combined with an extremely high reward that worries me."

"Apart from guarding missions, hunting criminals is the next big thing. Unfortunately, I don't think I should take this. These men are not common criminals. There are even entire bandit gangs that have bounties here. Better avoid them," Duncan shook his head wondering if there are any jobs that might suit him.

"Collection missions, but I don't know anything about medicinal herbs, so rejected. Hmmm, this one looks promising. I do have some experience in this. Let's check this out," Duncan said as his eyes zeroed in on one particular mission.

With a determined gait, Duncan made his way toward the reception counter.