The Necromancer Who Was Despised

“You said you were a black magician. Tsk. Let’s finish this quickly. I don’t see any undead even though you’re a necromancer… It’s hard to get a corpse right now, so can you show me some other kind. of magic…”

I immediately pulled four Living Armors out of my stigma.

Hum.

The examiner’s expression hardened.

“Where did you get that…”

“Well, let’s call it an artifact. It can store some undead. It’s not big, and it can only store undead…”

I couldn’t hide everything. But I didn’t intend to reveal everything either.

I would hide as much as I could and reveal as much as I could.

If I hid my power completely, I would be underestimated or restricted in my actions, and it would be difficult to build up my reputation at the same time.

‘Well, honestly, they’d be terrified even if I showed them this much.’

“…A necromancer who can store undead… That’s quite threatening.”

“It was very helpful.”

The examiner, who had briefly fought my Living Armor, nodded.

“You are indeed formidable. Even an intermediate mercenary would have a hard time defeating a single Living Armor. And if you add the support of a necromancer… You pass.”

As expected of a member of the Mercenary Guild, he seemed to be quite knowledgeable about black magic.

‘Well, if I show my full power, I can handle even a high-ranking expert.’

Kyle is an exception.

With Mana Heart, high-speed movement…

She can defeat even a top-ranking expert single-handedly.

“You’ve worked hard. You’ve all passed. Hmm, looking at your composition, do you plan to travel together?”

“Well, it will be hard for you to receive requests for a while now. Black magicians are hard to trust. “I recommend that you work on subjugating monsters for the guild for the time being.”

I showed a slightly surprised expression at the examiner’s words.

“Why? Is it strange for a black magician to be giving advice?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“To be honest, I don’t like black magicians either. How many people among humans like black magicians? But if you’re a capable team, that’s a different story.”

He glanced at Balder, Athena, and Kyla in turn.

“For some reason, they’re working with you… and I heard that slave Balder is your possession?”

“That’s right.”

“It seems like there’s a reason for it… Anyways, if those three work with you, I have to keep you as much as possible. I belong to the Doriem mercenary guild, so if the guild’s power increases, it’s good for me too. Plus… ”

He continued, glancing at my expression.

“You look pretty useful too. Black magicians are dangerous, but they’re definitely strong. They’re even more special when you consider artifacts. Plus, you don’t seem as crazy as I thought, so what can I do? “I have to keep you.”

“… “Thank you for the advice.”

“Well, yeah, a lot of people will look down on you and curse you behind your back, but that happens everywhere, so I hope you can work here for a long time.”

“I have no plans to leave for a while. I heard there’s a lot of work around here.”

“That’s true. If you build up trust, even black magicians will be able to receive a lot of requests.”

After a brief bit of advice, the examiner said that he was so tired he was going to die, so he left.

Then, Serviso looked at us and said,

“Follow me. The examination is over, so let me explain about issuing mercenary badges and fees.”

Serviso said that it would take a little while to issue the mercenary badges and asked us to come back in two days.

“I’ll guide you to an inn where you can stay in the meantime.”

Normally, they don’t do this, but they’re treating me as a high-ranking mercenary.

“It’s hard to create an official team. We don’t interfere with private parties, but only those guaranteed by the guild can establish an officially registered mercenary group.”

“To receive the guild’s guarantee, you have to do official requests regularly, right?”

“That’s right. You have to fill the request rank and minimum number of requests. There’s also a mandatory activity period. Although there are exceptions… ”

“It must be quite dangerous.”

“That’s right. Urgent requests or requests with high difficulty that have few applicants are given extra points.”

“It must be even harder for black magicians.”

“… That’s true.”

There’s distrust and discrimination against black magicians everywhere.

But it’s okay. Eventually, they’ll have no choice but to guarantee me once I build up my achievements.

Plus, even if I’m a black magician, as a class 4 magician, the guild would have no choice but to protect me if the discrimination was too much.

‘High-ranking mercenaries receive special treatment.’

I didn’t join the mercenary guild after becoming a class 4 magician for no reason.

“The fee is up to 30% depending on the difficulty when going through the guild, and as low as 20%, and if you receive the guild’s guarantee, it’s reduced by up to 10%. You can also receive personal requests outside of the guild, but in that case, it won’t be recorded officially.”

‘It’s the industry average.’

The fee is high, but brokerage work in this world is definitely dangerous, so that’s probably the average.

No, for such a large mercenary guild to set such a fee, it’s honestly quite generous.

‘If you give work to people you can’t trust, the damage can be significant if something goes wrong.’

If that happens, the fee will increase significantly when trying to receive requests later on.

It could go up to 90% at most, and at that point, it would be better to just go to another mercenary guild in a different region.

‘Mercenary guilds do exchange information with each other, but if you’re far away, it’s not difficult to forge an identity.’

If you think about it, we also laundered our identities.

Mercenary guilds also turn a blind eye to it.

In fact, they didn’t even properly check our ID tags, and they accepted us even though we wrote different names on the documents than the ones on the ID tags.

Instead, if we were caught with something we bought elsewhere, we could be penalized depending on the branch manager’s judgment.

Anyway, even though the fees are high, it’s not necessarily a disadvantage for mercenaries.

If the client does not want to pay even after the request is completed, the guild pays and collects it from the client, and if trust is built, the fees are significantly reduced.

Therefore, no mercenary was dissatisfied with the high fees.

In addition, I heard basic explanations about official requests officially issued by the guild, designated requests where fame is accumulated and mercenaries are designated to request, and public requests that account for the largest proportion of requests made by individuals or groups.

Since it was all known information, I let it slide.

“If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask the receptionist at any time.”

Serviso said, handing me a wooden tablet when the explanation was over.

“Take this tablet and go to the inn with the sleeping bear painted on it, and they will give you a room. Rest there and come back in two days.”

The explanation on how to get to the inn was also quite detailed and kind.

After expressing my gratitude again, I went to the entrance and met Jester, who was waiting for us there.

“Oh, it took you a long time. What happened?”

“All four of us have registered as senior mercenaries. They told us to come back for the tablets in two days.”

To be honest, since I’ve been recognized as a senior mercenary, I can speak comfortably at this point.

It’s not like the man in front of me is a great person. However, I intentionally raised my voice to give the impression that I am different from other black magicians.

As I explained while showing him the wooden tablet, the man quickly nodded.

It seemed that he knew what kind of tablet it was.

“Yes, I understand. I’ll report it to my superiors. I hope you will do your best for the territory in the future. Well then, I’ll be going now.”

The man spoke hastily, bowed his head, and then ran away as if he were escaping.

“… Black magicians are definitely being shunned.”

“The rumors will spread properly by tomorrow. Atina, as long as people don’t directly attack you no matter what they do or what kind of looks they give you, don’t come forward first.”

I had warned her once, but I warned her once more just in case.

“… “I understand.”

“Baldur, Kyla. The same goes for you.”

“I know. There won’t be many guys rushing in from the front anyway.”

It seemed that Kyla thought that there wouldn’t be much trouble because my skills would be known and because of the famous irritability of black magicians.

“Well. We’ll have to wait and see about that.”

In my opinion… I didn’t think things would go that smoothly.

“Apart from me, you guys, especially Kyla, Atina. People will approach you too.”

“Huh? Me?”

It seemed that Kyla had guessed this as well.

“They’re probably going to try to scout you. Baldur won’t be approached because it will be known that he is the master’s slave.”

At her words, Atina looks surprised.

“But we already have a team?”

“Stealing key personnel is something that happens secretly.”

“Don’t worry, I have no intention of leaving.”

“That goes for me too, you know? I swore on Mana.”

It wasn’t that I thought the two would betray me.

It was just my intention to let them know in advance.

“It’s going to be quite a hassle… If you don’t cross the line, just ignore them.”

Kayla answered silently, and Athena spoke as if she was getting impatient.

“Why are there so many things we can’t do?”

“Just put up with it for the first few requests.”

The number of flies would decrease as we built up our track record.

She nodded as if she had no choice.

We entered the inn with the sleeping bear and showed our guild cards, and we were each assigned a private room.

Since all meals were provided, we were able to rest comfortably for the first time in a long time.

The party was delighted with the first proper meal they had in a long time, and we were able to get a good night’s rest that day.

And as soon as the day changed, numerous mercenaries visited the Sleeping Bear Inn.

“…Annoying.”

Even before noon, Athena’s face twisted and she burst out in dissatisfaction.

The inn was so crowded that even the innkeeper looked at them in disbelief.

“So why don’t you stop working with that black magician and come with us?”

“Speaking of our Persos Mercenary Corps…”

They openly ignored my presence and clung to Kayla and Athena, tempting my party with all sorts of conditions.

“Oh, no! I’m going to work with Inha!”

“Black magicians are penalized for requests. It will be difficult to build trust, and even if you are not a black magician, you will be biased against, so is it necessary to do that? If you come to our party, the distribution itself will be more advantageous…”

Some bragged about their team’s record, some about the numerous requests they had succeeded in the past, and some even shamelessly clung to them as if they were trying to leech off them.

‘What a mess.’

Originally, this kind of poaching didn’t happen so openly.

However, once the rumor spread that the team leader was a black magician, they acted so openly.

They didn’t hesitate to belittle me, so Athena’s face was full of irritation and anger, and Kayla’s face was gradually losing emotion.

In the end, the two chose to avoid their seats because of the countless mercenaries rushing in, and even went so far as to go into the same room upstairs and lock the door.

They were about to knock on the door, but the innkeeper stopped them.

“If you do more, it will be considered misconduct.”

At his words, the mercenaries stopped moving.

It was clear from the fact that they would give up a room for high-level mercenaries that this place was either run by the Mercenary Guild or indirectly related to it.

‘I didn’t know because I hadn’t been here last time.’

There was nothing good about mercenaries being close to the guild, so it seemed that the threat worked well.

Then their target changed to me.

“Tch. Damn black magician. You’ve got some good people on your side.”

“Aren’t those girls just sticking with that kid because they’re leeching off him? What’s the point of a lousy black magician?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they’ve been affected by black magic.”

“Hey, hey, don’t go that far. The guild recognized him, didn’t they? As an expert.”

“I don’t know. Why else would they stick with a black magician? His skills might be related to black magic. And that guy, he has an artifact, doesn’t he?”

“Oh, that undead storage? It’s for black magicians anyway.”

“A relic for preserving corpses. It’s like you’re carrying a coffin around.”

He wasn’t talking to me directly, but his words were definitely meant for me.

‘What a bother.’

Even so, I calmly continued to eat my lunch.

There was no point in getting riled up.

‘Don’t rise to the bait.’

I had expected this much. Some of them, at least…

“Hey. “Is it good?”

‘So that’s why he’s acting up.’

I ignored him.

“Hey. Aren’t you going to answer me? “Is it good?”

Thud. Thud.

He wasn’t touching me directly, but he was indirectly banging on my desk.

“Damn, some of us are struggling to swing a sword, while others are getting their power the easy way by making a pact with the demons. What did you offer them in return? “Your mom?”

The guy who was openly provoking me was clearly a dirty, commoner type with no mana at all.

‘Did he already break free?’

When I didn’t react, he spat on my food and escalated the intensity of his insults.

Valdur flinched, but I stopped him with a look, telling him not to move.

My emotions remained largely unaffected by the constant stream of insults.