6 Joining a Guild

The inn's dining room.

"*Snif* *snif* delicious, so delicious! ... *yum* *yum* I am so happy to be alive! *yum* *snif* *yum*..." tears of joy do not stop flowing from Thorn's eyes. For more than a million years the only things he had to eat was the flesh of his own lips and his own blood, so to understand how great his happiness is at this moment is an impossible task, it is enough to say that he is so happy that he has forgotten about the existence of the skirt he is wearing.

"Hehehe... Enjoy while you can, later we'll be busy. You see, I don´t have a single gold coin left now, so we'll have to work!" Rose says this, placing her face on her palms, as she watches Thorn with a smile. She quite enjoys the view of Thorn happily eating. After all, she knows for how many years he had not tasted a good food.

After finish eating, they go up to the rooftop terrace, and then they sit on a bench overlooking the various and unique buildings of Lurep Village.

"… Well, I agree that we have to get money, but what are we going to do after that?" Thorn asks while still having his eyes slightly red.

"Mmm... I wanted to breakthrough my bottleneck, but now that I'll have your help I've decided to start looking for a ship designer. Of course, before that, we will have to get enough money to be able to hire one." Rose explains calmly.

The confusion appears on Thorn's face, he asks: "Ship designer? ... Why do you need a ship? Even though I can take you to wherever you want by flying."

Her mysterious smile appears and she responds: "I don´t need a ship, I need a ship designer."

Thorn seems even more confused than before but finally, he says: "Okay, I guess I'll understand what you're up to at some point anyway. So, where are we going to find a ship designer?"

She points southwest and answers: "Where is located the principal headquarters of the Fishermen's Guild, the place where the best ships in the world are building: Blue City!"

"Fishermen's Guild?" He asks.

Rose exclaims: "Oh! Of course! The guilds were created after the catastrophe, so I guess you don't know of their existence. The guilds are groups of people with specific objectives that aren´t associated with any kingdom. There are many but currently, there are only five important: Assassin's Guild, Adventurer's Guild, Mercenary's Guild, Guild Investigator and Fishermen's Guild."

"Oh... so it is legal that an Assassin's Guild exists." He comments with interest.

"They earned their place with their own strength and they also have a strict set of internal rules that allow them to survive." Rose explains.

"... I see... Anyway, how are we going to get money?" Thorn asks.

Rose says with an expression full of righteousness: "It'll be by renting our bodies, obviously!"

"Eeehhh!!?? Why do you say it's obvious!? ... B-but... Okay, as long as I have to attend only to female clients, I accept it!" Thorn shows a shocked expression at the beginning but then he starts to blush, afterward, he smiles emotionally to accept Rose's proposal.

She sees his strange reaction, then she shows him her palm, and with a serious expression, she says: "Excuse me, I was not clear enough. What I was trying to say is: We will join the Mercenary's Guild and rent our bodies to perform different tasks, but except sexual tasks."

Thorn's smile disappears and he says with his head down: "Oh... *sigh*... okay..."

After deciding which course of action they will take, they head to the headquarters of the Mercenary's Guild of Lurep Village.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

The headquarters of the Mercenary's Guild of Lurep Village is located in a four-story building that occupies an area of 500 m x 300 m and has the shape of two forearms crossing each other in the form of an 'X', both with closed fists.

Vei Dal is a seeming middle-aged human shadow who works in this headquarters, he has black hair, white skin, and brown eyes. The human shadow race has the appearance of a normal human but with the difference that their Racial Skill allows them to control the shadow element. Vei Dal is in his office reading some books, suddenly, someone knocks on the door.

*Knock* *knock*

"You can come in." Vei Dal says.

The door opens and two people enter.

(Those violet eyes are awesome... But, why is he wearing a skirt?) He wonders.

"If you're here, I guess you want to enroll yourselves in our guild." He tells them.

"Hello, yes, we came to register. My name is Rose and my sister's name is Thorn."

(Sister!? Oh... now I understand...) He shows an expression of enlightenment.

"Thorn and Rose... without surnames?" Vei Dal gets slightly suspicious and asks. After all, even the peasants have a surname, the only ones who do not have surnames are those who have been banished from their own families.

"We are a pair of innocent sisters. It just happens that we were expelled from our clan because we refused to marry the clan head's son." Rose explains with a dejected expression.

"The guy wasn't our type..." With a beautiful female voice, Thorn adds shaking his head.

(C-cute! How could I have believed that she is a man!?) Vei Dal criticizes himself.

"T-that's really unfortunate... Regarding membership registration... you just have to leave your Energy Signature, and pay the registration fee which is three gold coins per person." Vei Dal explains slowly.

After listening to his words, Rose and Thorn look at each other faces, they then remain in an uncomfortable silence for a while.

Finally Rose says: "Eh... would you excuse us for a moment? I need to consult something with my sister."

"Of course, take your time." Vei Dal responds kindly, and he then thinks: (Perhaps they don't have enough gold coins…)

They leave his office.

But after a few seconds, he hears Thorn's agitated voice coming from behind the door.

"Why are you pulling out your dagger!? Do you want to sell my organs!? "

(What are she doing!? Did she go crazy!? She can't do such a thing as selling organs in this place!) Vei Dal worries.

Then he shouts: "Here is no place for you to do that! The medical center is five streets up! If you want to sell organs, let it be there!"

He does not hear any response for a while, after a minute he starts worrying and wonders if he should come out to see what is happening. But just as he was about to stand up, the door opens and a peaceful Rose and a depressed Thorn enter.

Rose apologizes: "Hehehehe... I'm sorry for the uproar. It seems that my sister doesn't want to sacrifice a miserable organ for the team's sake..."

(Well, I do not blame her! Also, why does it seem that you are the boss when your cultivation is a whole stage below than hers and despite the fact that she wears a t-shirt that says "I am the boss"? This is too irrational!) Vei Dal exclaims in his mind.

Rose continues: "So I have no choice but to sacrifice this precious item of mine ..." She pulls out a canteen and hands it over to Vei Dal.

He holds the canteen and asks puzzled: "What's inside?"

She answers with a smile: "Medicine. You can check for yourself in what level it is."

Vei Dal looks at her for a moment and then bites his hand. He opens the canteen, and carefully drops a crimson drop on his wound. He watches how his wound heals quickly and is surprised by that, then exclaims: "It needed a single drop and only two seconds! Is all of this high-level medicine!?"

"It is! I know that in The Broken Earth Kingdom the only ones who can trade with medicine are the Alch family, but we could make a small transaction without anyone knowing about it… What do you say?" Rose proposes with a sly smile while rubbing her hands.

To which he responds in a low voice: "Mmm... I don´t know... it depends... how many gold coins it will cost me?"

"Well, I know the risks involved in illegally trading medicine, so I'll sell it to you for only fifteen gold coins." Rose says cunningly.

Vei Dal responds immediately: "It is a deal."

Of course, he accepts quickly, after all the same amount of high-level medicine would normally cost forty-five gold coins.

After making the transaction, Vei Dal starts enrolling Thorn and Rose in the Mercenary's Guild.

Actually, the process is quite simple. They receive a sheet of paper where they have to answer some basic questions like name, age, cultivation, etc. In the final part of the sheet of paper there is a small rectangle where with one of their fingers they must release some of their Complex Energy, then in the rectangle, a unique pattern will appear. This pattern is known as Energy Signature. After this, they receive a card each, it is basically a license to be able to work as mercenary.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

The Contract Hall of Mercenary's Guild is the place where you go if you want to hire one or a group of mercenaries. To enter this hall you have to pay a gold coin. Once inside you will find several mercenaries sitting on different benches and at the side of each occupied bench, there will be a blackboard where the skills of the mercenaries sitting on that bench are written. Customers can find the mercenaries with the kind of skill they need, once they find what they are looking for, they could begin negotiating the job and the price of it with them.

Thorn and Rose enter the Contract Hall. Thorn looks somewhat depressed and says after a deep sigh: "*Sigh*... I know it has not been the great thing... but... why do I keep feeling that you are using me as an object without considering my feelings? ..."

"Mmm... it must be because I was using you as an object without considering your feelings..." Rose looks into his eyes feeling guilty and continues: "I'm sorry, it's probably my habit as a princess... but believe me, I'm very grateful for all the help that you are giving me."

Thorn smiles slightly when he hears Rose's words. For some reason, her words bring him a feeling of comfort and accomplishment.

They find an empty bench and sit down on it, after writing on the blackboard: Wind, special: Hide sound, smell and body heat.

They were waiting for almost an hour. Then after reading the blackboard, a young dalmatian dog type monster human tells them: "I have a job for you guys."