Chapter 10
Veil blinked in disbelief.
“So, mister, Veil-oppa is going to make a mercenary group~”
Right in front of him, the little girl’s head kept bobbing up and down.
“The mercenary test is about destroying small mana stones! But it’s scary to do it alone, so I need two more people~”
The big man who had just come home also looked just as confused.
The man called Basto had been grabbed the moment he entered by the child who rushed straight at him.
And now he was listening to her nonstop chatter.
“You’re Hammer Uncle, so you must be super strong!”
Basto glanced at Veil.
Veil frowned and met his gaze without looking away.
“And Tia has a legendary Puppetmon too, so she’s strong! If the three of us form a mercenary group with Veil-oppa, we can destroy small mana stones and get an identification number again!”
The girl spoke so fast she ended up panting.
Watching her, Basto finally spoke.
“…So.”
He carefully thought through what she had said while looking at Veil.
“You’re saying this guy named Veil is trying to form a mercenary group, and he’s looking for two more members besides me?”
“Yes!”
“And you want me and this kid to join?”
“Yes!”
A heavy silence fell over the inn’s first floor.
Veil finally couldn’t hold it in and stood up.
“Hey, kid. Who said I’d let you join?”
Tia flinched and turned toward him.
“You think small mana stones are a joke? If they were, I would’ve done it alone already.”
Even small mana stones are still mana stones.
They open rifts and summon annoying monsters.
It’s true they’re easier than medium or large ones, but that didn’t mean they weren’t dangerous.
“When I said I want two more people, I meant skilled people. Not a hammer guy and what? Puke… Puppetmon? What are you even going to do with that….”
He swallowed the rest of his words.
A hairy guy and a kid who hadn’t even grown up yet didn’t seem very useful.
The kid was easy to dismiss, but that giant muscular man was intimidating.
However, the answer he got was unexpected.
“I can handle a small mana stone by myself.”
Basto, holding Tia, walked into the room.
He placed his coat on a table and sat down heavily in front of Veil.
“Is that true? You’re really forming a mercenary group?”
The bright eyes of the child sitting on the man’s lap were fixed on him.
Veil coughed awkwardly.
“Yeah.”
“And you’re looking for teammates to pass the mercenary test?”
“Yes!”
The mercenary test these days meant destroying a small mana stone.
If you collected the monster cores and brought them to the registration office, you would receive a mercenary ID number.
With that number, you could officially work as a mercenary.
You could enter cities freely, earn rewards for every mana stone you destroyed, and if your group name ranked high enough, you could become rich overnight.
That’s why Veil cared about this so much.
“Let me say it again. I want skilled teammates. You said you can destroy small mana stones alone. Is that true?”
Basto nodded heavily.
“Yes. I destroyed one six days ago. A small mana stone in Briowood.”
Veil frowned.
He suddenly remembered the chaos that had happened near the gate a few days ago.
‘Everyone listen! Kal Worben of Death Hound has returned with a gift for His Majesty the Emperor!’
A man with messy tied-up long hair looked dirty at a glance.
‘What are you doing! Rank 12! Death Hound has returned!’
He had been drinking at the gate guards’ post for days, claiming he had destroyed the Briowood small mana stone.
‘A flying monster suddenly appeared, but who do you think I am? I handled them all alone without my subordinates…’
According to him, it was also a small mana stone.
Veil remembered there was only one small mana stone in Briowood.
His eyes narrowed.
“You… you better not be lying—”
“I’m not lying, you idiot!”
At that moment, the child jumped up from Basto’s lap.
She frowned deeply and shouted at Veil.
“That was originally Hammer Uncle’s job! That bad guy Kal stole it! He even made Hammer Uncle lose his identification number! You don’t know anything!”
Veil’s eyebrows twitched.
It was suspicious, but the child’s words also made sense.
‘This kind of thing is common among mercenaries. They even kill each other over stolen achievements.’
Veil had stayed near the gate for two months looking for teammates.
He wanted to pass the test as soon as possible, but things hadn’t gone well.
‘One wrong move and you could die.’
If he chose the wrong teammates, or made a single mistake during the test, he wouldn’t get a second chance. He would die.
And then his younger siblings waiting back home…
Veil roughly messed up his hair.
His thoughts were even more tangled than his hair.
‘This muscle guy… looks like his achievement was stolen by someone.’
He had also seen yesterday how this man and the child were denied entry at the gate.
‘Probably Death Hound erased his mercenary ID out of fear of revenge.’
Once he understood the situation, it became easier to decide.
Veil exhaled and looked at Basto.
“You. Are you really capable of at least 1.5 people worth of work? You need to be at least that good.”
He meant to ignore the child completely, but she didn’t seem to understand.
Basto nodded.
“Of course. Don’t be dead weight.”
The next day.
“Be careful~ don’t be picky with food~”
Tia hummed a little song she rarely sang.
On her right was Uncle Basto.
On her left, she held the hand of the pretty oppa, and she was walking happily toward becoming a mercenary.
‘Team!’
It had not even been a week since she came to this world, and she already had a team.
When Kkamangi woke up, it would definitely praise her.
‘Kkamangi is a legendary Puppetmon, so even without magic it must be super strong.’
It could transform too.
Tia also believed she could help the team.
‘I was the fastest in class Quail!’
Hide-and-seek, tag, cops and thieves!
If Tia was “it,” everyone else was doomed.
“Oppa, don’t worry too much!”
She just grabbed his hand because he looked tense, but Veil grimaced in disgust.
Tia shrugged and looked at Basto.
“Uncle! Don’t worry. Tia is super strong.”
But suddenly, Basto stopped walking.
He crouched slightly and looked at Tia seriously.
“Astie. You are not coming.”
“Huh?”
“I hired someone. You will wait at a base not far from the mana stone.”
Tia’s eyes shook wildly like thunder had struck her.
“W-Why…?”
“Fighting monsters is not child’s play, Astie.”
Her head spun, but Basto asked in a low voice.
“What are you most afraid of?”
Tia stayed silent for a moment, then rolled her eyes.
“T-Rex…?”
“I don’t know what that is, but imagine monsters are ten times scarier than that.”
The stick in Tia’s hand fell to the ground with a soft thud.