The Necromancer Who Was Despised

Of course, neither of them looked particularly happy.

Kayla seemed to be offended that I would be treated like this, even if she knew about it, and while Valdur wasn’t as close to me as the other two, he had never treated me like a slave before, and he had always treated me well, so he must have had some positive feelings towards me.

“H, here it is. You can go inside. Once you’ve successfully registered, please show me the token.”

“I understand. Will you come in with us?”

“Oh, no. It’s fine.”

Leaving the man who actively refused us behind, we entered the Mercenary Guild.

As expected of a successful Mercenary Guild, the building was quite large, and there were many people coming and going.

Athina looked around as if she were honestly curious.

“There are so many people… Are they all mercenaries?”

“There are some candidates, guild staff, and clients, but yeah, most of them are.”

“It’s amazing.”

“It means that there are just as many requests.”

For your information, there’s also a branch of the Magic Tower here.

It’s not for nothing that the territory is somewhat well-known, even in the capital.

Fortunately, there weren’t many people at the reception desk, so our turn came quickly.

“What brings you here?”

The receptionist was a burly, middle-aged man, and judging by the unnatural way his arm moved, he seemed to be a retired mercenary.

Of course, he’s a familiar face.

I used to operate here for a while.

In fact, he was a retired mercenary who had been injured.

“Is it the service? You’re lucky.”

He’s a knowledgeable and quick-witted man. He’s also quite friendly.

“I’ve come to register as a mercenary.”

“Register as a mercenary? That’s unusual. You’re a new face…”

“I just arrived today. I heard there’s a lot of work here.”

“Hmm. Don’t you have a guide?”

“He’s waiting outside.”

“…A guide outside?”

The service’s face wrinkles.

It seems that it shouldn’t have been that way.

“I’m a black magician, so I guess he’s scared.”

“…You said you’re a black magician.”

“I recommend that black magicians do not join below Class 4.”

“I’m Class 4.”

“…Is that so? Then I’ll have to accept you.”

His face hardened at the word “black magician,” but he didn’t show it easily.

Of course. The receptionist couldn’t openly antagonize someone who was saying they wanted to work here.

He said, handing me a few sheets of paper,

“Please write down your name and skills. Since you said you’re a black magician, I’m sure you can read and write?”

Since Atina and Baldur couldn’t read or write, Kyle and I wrote for them.

The service’s face hardened as he looked at the completed documents.

His face, alternating between us and the documents, was filled with disbelief and astonishment.

“Is what’s written here… true?”

“There are no falsehoods.”

“A Class 4 black magician… and one upper expert, one mid-level expert, and one lower expert in necromancy…”

If it weren’t for the Wind Dragon’s Fang, Atina would have written it down as a lower level.

“You all still look young…”

Since there was no age on the information written down, he had no choice but to guess by appearance.

In any case, most of the people in this world don’t know their exact age, and there are many such people, especially among mercenaries.

Moreover, since the mercenary community values skill and rank rather than age, it’s even more so.

“…Anyway, it will be revealed during the verification process, so I will accept it for now.”

“Thank you.”

“The skill assessment will be done through a duel. Is that okay?”

He says that with this level of skill, everyone should be able to compete with a high-ranking mercenary.

Of course, there are many differences in skill even among high-ranking mercenaries.

Among mid-level mercenaries, skill differences tend to be due to the adequacy of equipment and proficiency in use, physical abilities due to birth or training, and experience, but the skill differences among high-ranking mercenaries are often due to differences in so- called realms, which are incomparable to mid-level mercenaries.

‘Most high-ranking mercenaries are mana users, and among them, there are those who can use aura, those who use artifacts as their main weapon, those who use magic, and even those who use divine power.’

As high-ranking mercenaries, their minimum skill is guaranteed, but there are also serious differences among them.

Just look at the magicians. Magicians are mana users, so if they’re not too lacking, they’re all high-ranking mercenaries.

In this way, even a fourth-class magician is a high-ranking mercenary, and a fifth-class magician is also a high-ranking mercenary.

In this way, among the high-ranking mercenaries, there were many cases where the so-called name value emerged, and some of them were called “top-notch” and were admired.

“Officially, there is no such rank as a top-ranked mercenary.”

In the extremely rare case of reaching a master or seventh class, the rank becomes meaningless and is judged outside of the rank.

The reason why the Mercenary Guild did not officially create a rank above the high rank was simple.

“When mana users have pride, they often can’t stand it when they are dissatisfied with their rank.”

That’s why there are only four officially established ranks: the futile training, the barely passable lower rank, the intermediate rank who is well-equipped and experienced enough to be treated as an elite, and the high rank who uses mana and is not judged arbitrarily by the Mercenary Guild.

That’s why all of us are judged as high-ranking.

“In fact, the training is just to check if you are a mana user, so it’s not done properly.”

I’ll show you the minimum skills, but I don’t think it will be a big deal.

We were guided to the training ground by Service, and there we watched Service say a few words to a man.

Soon, a muscular man took out his weapon and approached us.

“Wow, I heard you have great new recruits, but I guess I’ll have a hard time today.”

He looked at us calmly and opened his mouth.

“So, who do you want to examine first?”

“I’ll go first.”

The first to come forward was Baldur.

“Oh, that’s the slave that’s being registered?”

Even slaves could register as mercenaries with their master’s permission. In particular, it would be helpful to register Baldur as a low-level expert.

“Officially, he’s a slave, but I promised to treat him like a human being.”

I didn’t intend to let that go.

“Let’s see… Beginner Expert. An expert means you can use aura, so show me your skills.”

The man who came out as the examiner put a faint aura on his fairly large two-handed sword.

“Did he adjust it?”

It was an aura that was exactly at the beginner level.

“Attack me.”

Instead of answering, Baldur wrapped his sword in aura and ran towards the man. The man was big, but Baldur was no slouch either.

However, there was a difference in the weapons they handled. Baldur, influenced by Kaila, used a sword and shield, while the man who was the examiner used a fairly large two-handed sword. Therefore, Baldur proceeded with the training by safely taking the opponent’s attacks and waiting for an opening.

After exchanging a few sword strikes, the examiner seemed satisfied and nodded slightly. Then, with a shout, he struck down Baldur’s shield.

“Ugh!”

A noise unlike anything heard before was heard, and Baldur was pushed back greatly.

Fortunately, he did not fall and regained his posture, but the examiner shouted as if he didn’t need to examine him any further.

“High rank! Next!”

Baldur seemed a little regretful, but he turned his shoulder and returned. Then, Athena stepped forward.

“A woman? Hmm, an intermediate rank…”

He glanced at her weapon and equipment and nodded.

“It seems like you’re a thief or an assassin.”

“I’m confident in a head-on fight too.”

The man laughed at her impudence.

“Well, if you have those skills at that age, you must be full of confidence. So, let’s see you attack me.”

This time, an intermediate level aura bloomed on the greatsword.

Seeing that, Baldur slightly bit his lip.

His attitude was a little different from before. In the past, he wouldn’t have been particularly moved

‘Well, she looks good.’

Feeling competitive also means that she has the will.

She might fall to the bad side, but Athena or Kayla will be able to control her to that extent.

Whew…

Athena let out a short sigh and approached her opponent with strange steps.

Her completely silent footsteps and minimized movements felt like watching a ghost.

The man’s expression turned serious at her strange appearance.

Swish.

A short clashing sound.

However, Athena was different from Baldur.

Unlike Baldur, who had been stable and calm, Athena moved quickly and quietly, evading her opponent’s attacks by a hair’s breadth and precariously only aiming for his vitals.

In particular, she never left his reach as if the fact that he gave her distance was a mistake, and with her strange body movements and quiet but quick footwork, she aimed for her opponent’s life at every moment.

Sweat flowed down the examiner’s face.

Clang, Chaang! Chaeng!

Continuous clashing sounds.

As expected, he wasn’t an examiner for nothing; Despite the very unfavorable situation, the man continued to evade Athena’s attacks and threatened her from time to time.

However, Athena was clearly leading the flow of the battle, and the man seemed to be on the defensive.

But Kayla seemed to think a little differently.

“She lost.”

She didn’t deny Kayla’s words. She had better eyes than me, and I had been feeling something strange as well.

‘She’s maintaining her offense, but she’s not getting any wounds.’

It fundamentally meant that there was a difference in skill.

Or maybe not, because Athena immediately gave up her distance and retreated far away, as if she thought that she wouldn’t be able to narrowly avoid the man’s wide-swinging attack like before.

“Whew. It’s definitely harder when you give me distance. Pass.”

“… Sir, advanced?”

“Well, what do you think?”

The man looked at us as if he had anything more to do and asked.

So who’s next? I’m tired, so I’d like to finish quickly.”

I looked at Kayla, and she silently stepped forward.

I was going to ask her what she was thinking, but it seemed like she wanted to fight him while she still had some stamina left.

‘Well, it’s easier for me to prove myself.’

I shrugged my shoulders briefly, and the examiner frowned.

“Whew. I have to fight another advanced right away… Serviso, I’m taking a break tomorrow. “I’ll have someone else do it tomorrow.”

“I understand.”

“Let’s finish this quickly this time.”

A dense, advanced aura with a distinct form bloomed on the man’s sword, and a similarly dense advanced aura bloomed on Kayla’s sword.

Clang.

Athena dropped her shield to the ground.

She looked at her opponent, gripping her hands in fear, and the man said with a slight bitter smile.

“Thank you.”

Unlike before, he didn’t tell her to attack first.

They stared at each other for a moment, then jumped almost simultaneously, and their swords met.

A tremendous roar, incomparable to before, reverberated in the martial arts hall, and the two who had been holding their swords against each other for a moment fell lightly.

“I lost. Tsk. Even if I had been in perfect condition, it would have been difficult to win. Are those two your disciples?”

“I did teach them.”

“I see. I thought so because there were some similarities. You look young, but you’re amazing. Your movements show orthodoxy, but they are also full of experience, so it felt like I was watching a seasoned knight. But you’ re too young…”

Kyle didn’t even throw away her shield or use high-speed movement.

She probably didn’t use Mana Heart properly either.

He didn’t know about these details, but it seemed that he had noticed that Kyle hadn’t shown her full strength.

The man nodded briefly, as if giving up on understanding, and said with a nod.

“Of course you pass. A new ‘top-class’ has emerged.”

He wasn’t talking about the realm. He was talking about the Named, the top mercenaries.

“There is no such rank, Mr. Brennell.”

“Don’t be so stiff. You’re not like that usually.”

“I’m doing official business now.”

“Tsk. That’s true.”

The examiner nodded and looked at me.