Staring at the necklace with the letter B- carved in it, Danzel stood in the lobby of the building in silence.
With that guy Karl being on the B rank himself, I who beat him was placed a level below him at the B- a rank mercenary.
Although he beat the living hell out of him, strength wasn´t everything in the association.
The quality of reliability and trust influenced the grade too.
With the mercenary association finding clients for other mercenaries to finish the job from them, they had to make sure that the guy accepting the job actually was capable to finish it without any problems.
It couldn´t be you every day Joe who gets cold feet in the middle of the mission.
If by chance they were to hurt the client in any sort of way, their reputation will take a hit.
That´s why he got B- and not a B.
A mercenary of the B rank is mostly referred to as the rank of 3rd-tier beings.
As one of the other employees had explained to him, B- mercenaries have the strength of a 3rd-tier but aren´t seen as trustworthy.
The B rank was about the same but with the mercenary having been given the trust of the association.
But the B+ rank was the place where the powerhouses of the 3rd-tier lie.
At least that´s what the clients and the staff would consider when they were to look for a mercenary.
The ranks weren't true to the people's strength level.
Just like he has done, someone of the lower rank could defeat someone from a higher rank.
Still, he who just joined the association was merely thrown at the B- rank or what they consider as an unreliable 3rd-tier mercenary for the reason of being new and all.
Of course, Danzel didn´t care much about it.
Heck, he who was apparently still at the 2nd-tier to be put at the B- rank is already generous enough.
But even if he were to be placed at the C+ rank, he wouldn´t mind it much.
After all, he just wanted to get rid of that huge wolf´s body and run off with the money.
He wasn´t a glory seeker who aimed for the higher ranks in the mercenary association.
He just wanted to go somewhere quiet and carve some runes as it became a hobby of his.
Since he had to work hours long to carve runes in Berum, it wouldn´t be weird for him to see it as something else as just a boring grind for XP.
In a way, he considers it as drawing.
Nonetheless, he would also get a small understanding of the runes themselves by observing how some parts of it worked.
He currently worked on how to recreate the Veren rune, but progress was slow.
Though he understood some small parts of the rune, like how the blood is being drawn, everything else was a mystery to him.
What was the point of drawing the blood if you can´t even put it into use in the first place?
The Veren rune was supposed to drain the blood and some mana of the user to repair the runed equipment.
Compared to what he learned, it was a little...useless.
In fact, calling it useless would be praise.
Once when he tried to put what he learned into a sword and used it on an unfortunate guy, the blood kept being drawn from the guy's body without disappearing, which resulted in the whole sword and his hands being bathed in blood.
The sight that it would create was indeed gruesome.
But on how useful it was...
Though what Danzel learned was pretty useless to say the less, that wasn´t the point.
The fact was that he learned a part of the rune after such a long time of research.
He still couldn´t forget how he felt when he learned about one part of the whole rune.
The feeling was just exhilarating.
That was the day where he grew a soft side in runesmithing.
And with him being unable to carve some runes for two whole weeks had thrown him from his usual routine.
"Hey, Danzel how did it go?" Hannes said towards Danzel who was still in his own thoughts.
Seeing the two figures getting closer to them, he raised the necklace at their sight height.
"Oh! You even got the rank of a B- mercenary! As expected of you." Hannes said with a laugh.
Ignoring the energized muscle brain beside him, Serran came closer to Danzel and asked with a hushed tone.
"Hey Danzel, I heard that a commotion has happend down in the training grounds, do you know anything about it?"
Looking at Serran, he nodded and explained what happend.
Of course, he only told the same story as he told the other guys.
Hearing what happend, Serran´s eyes opened wide in surprise.
"Wait, you are telling me that Master Nevvan himself came down there and resolved the issue?" Serran asked.
Which in response Danzel just shrugged his shoulders.
Seeing my response, Serran glanced at him as if he were a flying pig.
"You really are lucky to be still standing here, I have you know that Master Nevvan is an Archmage whose ice and arcane magic is something to be feared of. He has currently the highest position on the whole Nercana. Even the Arcana Kingdom doesn´t dare to offend him in this territory."
According to the [Knowledge for every Caster] that he bought from Berum, the title of an Archmage went only to spell caster´s who reached the 4th-tier.
Though that information shocked him, he also felt relieved.
Relieved as this spell caster wasn´t on the 3rd-tier where he was about to reach.
After witnessing that spell that instantly killed that employee, Danzel really started to doubt the strength of the spell caster´s from the same rank as him.
He just couldn´t imagine himself being able to survive that attack.
But hearing that he was from the 4th-tier, he sighted internally out of relief.
`I can´t imagine facing against that anytime soon...´
Removing those terrible thoughts out of his mind, he turned his face towards the board.
"Anyway, since I am a member and all. Where can I find the quest that you told me before?"
Showing a small smirk on his face, Serran pulled out a paper from his pockets.
"Huhuhu, there is no need to look after it. I already grabbed it in advantage."
Taking a look at quest, Danzel fell silent for a moment.
[B rank Mission: Berum's forest Hunt]
Kill the golden-eyed Alpha hound and bring evidence that you killed it.
Reward: 100 gold coins
Bonus: Body of the hound, depending on how damage will be rewarded by 10-25 gold coins.
Requirements: C+ or above.
'The reward isn't much...' Danzel though.
Compared to the thousands of gold that he had, what were another 100?
What Danzel wasn't aware of was that 100 gold coins were a big amount of money to have.
With that huge amount, one could practically live well for around 5 whole years if used reasonably.
For Danzel who one of his times could get the same amount if not more, the 100 gold coins did indeed seem a bit small amount.
Alas, he couldn't do anything much of it.
Money was still money.
"Alright, let me claim the reward quickly and come back" Turning towards the receptionist's table, he went ahead to claim the reward.
Though they were some annoying paperwork to be done, after half an hour he walked back towards Serran and Hannes with two small bags filled with gold coins.
"Alright, this is your guys cut for the help you provided," Danzel said as he threw one of the small bags at Hannes.
Catching and opening this bag, Hannes's eyes are shown in surprise.
"Oh! Serran come and take a look!"
Looking at the content of the bag, Serran was also surprised.
Counting the gold coins inside, he couldn't help but look at Danzel in awe.
"Are you sure? This amount of coins is..."
Pausing Serran for continuing, he said.
"You guys well deserve those 60 coins."
"Without you guys, I wouldn't have known about the association and would even have taken me more than two weeks to come to here."
Looking at each other, Hannes and Serran put a smile on their faces.
"Alright, then we will gladly accept it," Serran said as he put the small bag away.
"What will you be doing from now on?" Serran asked.
After a short silence between them, Danzel replied.
"I have been thinking of finding a home for me to stay in"
"If that were the case then I could recommend you some of the inns around the area." Cannes mention.
Shaking his head, Danzel replied
"No, I ain't be thinking of an inn."
"Hmm, what are you searching then? " Serran asked confused.
"...I want to buy a house to stay in. Do you guys might know someone who sells such things?"
Looking at each as if they wanted to see if they didn't hear wrong, Serran nodded.
"Yeah, I know someone who does business like what you describe."
Moving towards the door, Serran motioned for those two to come over.
" Follow me, I will show you the way."
