Chapter 50: The Tavern

Lucius thought about it a bit and figured that he may as well check out the Mercenary commissions till then.

"Alright. I'd like to go and check out the mercenaries to commission. Though will I need to pay them in advance or after they return?" Lucius questioned.

"Well this differs from mercenary to mercenary and the kind of a job they are being assigned. But most of them want a certain amount before they start the job since they often need to buy things for it. The advance just helps them start up." Kiana answered.

"Hmm… that's reasonable. Now the only thing would be to get my allowance from mother." Lucius spoke.

"You can get that tonight. Till then we can go and see which mercenaries are available for it. I know a couple of them and if they are available there we may have a good chance of getting the Rock Bee rune crystals." Kiana replied.

"Alright then. Let's head there." Lucius said.

Kiana nodded her head and looked at one of the servants before speaking, "bring the carriage."

"Yes miss Kiana." The servant said before swiftly heading to his task.

In less than five minutes, the carriage was ready before the entrance of the mansion. Lucius and Kiana boarded the carriage and took off for the taverns that the mercenaries frequented.

Lucius looked out of the carriage and observed everything carefully. Every little bit of information was important as he was foreign to this world. He had already been lucky that he got a body that was relatively compatible and a noble family that was easy going.

About twenty minutes later, the carriage reached the western district. This was the district where a lot of taverns, inns and hotels were located. Most mercenaries frequented the taverns and they had notice boards where commissions could be assigned.

"There, stop at that tavern." Kiana directed.

The carriage came to stop in front of what was perhaps the biggest tavern in the western district. Lucius got down from the carriage and saw the large name board that hung from the top.

It read: Darla's Drunk Nest.

"Hmm… that's a rather unique name…" Lucius muttered.

"This is perhaps one of the oldest buildings in the city. Back when the Inanis city was still a small village, this tavern existed even then. The woman that stated it was one widow of a nameless soldier who fought in the war back then. She was a stubborn and brave woman.

In those times, the village was located near to the battlefield and thus people were scared to come here. But Darla went against all odds and created her tavern here, just because she wanted to stay near the grave of her husband.

A lot of travelers and soldiers visited the establishment back then as it was the only place where they could get any refreshments. Then the time came when your great-great-grandfather was assigned to the village.

He developed it further and saw that the tavern was a really good way to improve the economy of the village. He invested more into it and allowed the mercenaries to operate from it. Due to that, this tavern has now become one of the main buildings in the city. It's also the only tavern that has a branch of the mercenary guild attached to it.

The mercenaries frequent other taverns as well, but this is the only one where they can get official job commissions from that are guaranteed by the guild. We are also going to ask the guild to apply for the commission on our behalf." Kiana explained in detail.

Lucius nodded his head at this interesting piece of history. But that was not all, as he was now informed of the existence of the mercenary guild and how the commissions worked.

'Hmm… so they are like an official organization that helped regulate the profession of mercenaries.' Lucius thought.

His past world used to have something like this hundreds of years ago, before he lived there. Lucius had read about that in history a lot, but in the modern times, there were better ways to do the jobs. There were proper laws and regulations without which one could not operate freely.

Also, one did not need to go to a specific location to apply for a mercenary job, all they needed to do was to contact a mercenary on the internet. It was a fast and efficient way of doing business, plus with the banks as intermediaries, even their payments were insured.

After briefly reminiscing his past worlds' memories, Lucius walked into the tavern, with Kiana walking beside him. The guards also followed them to the back. There was no way they would leave Lucius alone, as they had strict orders from Count Gabriel and Lady Lita to watch Lucius when he was out of the manor.

If any harm came to him under their watch, it was a fact that the countess would hang them from their guts, if the count did kill them before that. Asher was the only Heir of the Inanis family and perhaps the most important person after the count himself.

Lucius looked around the tavern where almost a hundred people were situated. The tavern itself had two floors, the ground floor and an open first floor, which was visible from the ground floor.

There were waitresses and waiters going around serving food and drinks to the people, who were easily recognized as mercenaries. Though the most eye-catching part of the tavern was the small section that was located on the right. A few mercenaries stood in line and waited for their turn.

A name board hung on it which read: Mercenary guild (Inanis City branch)

"There it is, that's where we apply." Kiana pointed to the small section.

Lucius nodded his head and headed there along with Kiana. There were two queues there, one for the mercenaries and one for the common people who commissioned jobs. But when Kiana was just about to speak to the man sitting at the desk, a voice called out.

"Fancy seeing you here Kiana. What are you doing here?"