This is a somewhat clichéd story. Unlike those energetic young people who are eager to express and show something to prove themselves.
What is it about... Well, I think it can be summarized like this——
This is a story about the lives of a group of people who live in a world that is very different from the one we are reading this book in, but also has many similarities.
Like many old stories, I hope it teaches someone something. So it is not suitable to be passed over at a glance, I hope you can savor it carefully.
And just like many old stories.
It starts like this:
A long time ago, on a certain continent called Rigar continent. At the foot of the east side of the Tambur Mountains, southeast of the west coast of the Inland Sea of Morbigas, there is a small kingdom called Avenella with a population of less than two million.
Its strength is not considered strong among the kingdoms, but because it faces the mountains and forests with many monsters at its back, in addition to the two million citizens, there are hundreds of thousands of adventurers and mercenaries who haunt it all year round. this.
The benefit brought by the huge floating population is that Avenella's commercial and hotel industries, as well as various entertainment ancillary industries, are extremely prosperous. In addition, in order to obtain fresh materials as quickly as possible, many outstanding master craftsmen also came to this country incognito and settled down.
Various reasons make this small kingdom, with a population of less than two million and a floating population of more than one million, considered a mysterious place even among the mixed kingdoms.
Perhaps that's why its poor and aggressive neighbors didn't rush to seize this fertile land.
Because you never know who the soldiers you send out may offend.
Anyway.
In such a busy border town in a country where people of all kinds are mixed together, our story begins——
It was about ten o'clock in the morning, and we could draw this conclusion from the canopy of the densely packed Schia nanmu on this half-slope, which was illuminated by the sun and sparkled like crystal.
The weather in early autumn is particularly cool in coastal areas where the climate is hot and humid all year round. The comfortable temperature and humidity make the shade of the tree, blocked by the dense foliage of nanmu trees, an excellent place to sleep in.
It's a pity that no one can sleep peacefully under the tree, or to be precise, about 15 meters away from the lower left side, with the unpleasant conversations of those guys.
The half-slope he chose is located on the left side near the back of the town, because there is a cliff further up, and it is too close to the human town. Warcraft is basically not present, and all kinds of medicinal materials have long been used. The adventurers dug up the roots and picked out not a single plant left.
For a combination of reasons, even though this forest is very close to the town, it has always been inaccessible. The only people who come here are local residents who occasionally come to pick some wild vegetables and delicacies, and guys like this one.
A group of about ten people. This was the first fact he could judge just by listening to the noises made by those noisy guys - and the second fact was that this group of people was divided into two distinct camps. .
'What a clichéd plot,' he thought with a sigh, and poked his head out from behind the tree to take a look.
As expected. Those who occupy the most numbers and form a typical semicircle encirclement formation are lower-level mercenaries with an average age of thirty to forty years old.
Although the sign is that of a hunting-type F-type mercenary group, everyone knows that as long as they have money, these guys will do anything. He turned his eyes away from them and looked at the opponents of the lower-level mercenaries - or the prey - while lying on the tree.
It was a girl, wearing a simple and common maid outfit.
He is about eleven or twelve years old, with delicate features and petite body. She is probably the kind of very cute girl who makes you feel protective at first sight - but even that alone cannot attract his attention in the tree, because in a country like this where the hotel industry and service industry are extremely developed, little ones in the family It is common for children to help with work in the store.
What caught his attention was the color of her hair. Under the golden light shining through the broad leaves of the Schia nanmu, the girl's hair showed a dazzling transparency, and the white hair with a delicate texture like ivory made her soft skin look even more bright and moving.
——This is a girl from Luo'an.
Twenty years ago, under the iron heel of the Western power Otolo's external expansion, they lost their country and became a vassal. Unwilling to submit, these proud northern people have since wandered around and become wandering tribes.
——Not only that, from the beginning of the founding of the country, the exiled people of the Third Luoan Kingdom, who only knew how to expand by force, and all the people of the country, men, women, old and young, were soldiers. Not surprisingly, after becoming a wandering nation, they chose the most suitable one for them. way of survival.
Originally using hair color as the dividing line between races, the Luoan people plundered and enslaved people from other countries during wars to serve as craftsmen, farmers, chefs and even barbers so that the 'people of the God of War with pure blood' could concentrate on practicing martial arts and fighting. After losing the kingdom as a source of support, the previous way of life will no longer be able to continue.
However, it is obviously impossible for them, who know nothing but fighting, to change their lifestyle to integrate into society.
Under pressure, the survival path they choose is naturally to use their strengths. Some people have become nameless mercenaries①, and they will kill anyone for you as long as they can afford the money; others are more direct, occupying land and becoming kings, becoming bandits, plundering the villagers' property and enslaving them to continue living the same life as before. Any different life.
The people of Luo'an were subjugated for twenty years.
This nation, which used to be revered as a powerful and glorious warrior nation, has become extremely embarrassed around the world.
And under such a premise, there is a Luoan girl who is doing a serious job alone in a border town where people come and go, and it is natural for her to be targeted.
But the plot seemed to be more cliche than he thought. From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of another person about 10 meters away behind the group of people. The man thought he was hiding behind a tree without being discovered, but his obviously untrained stiff movements and tense atmosphere had actually completely exposed him.
'Is he a passerby?' He immediately shook his head in the tree and denied his first impression. It would be fine if she was a young Luoan girl with no fighting ability. With the abilities of these lower-level mercenaries, it would not be difficult to detect the presence of that person like him, and their reaction in this way means...
He sighed softly and then waited to see what happened.
"So, Miss, please tell me honestly, which Luoan gang of robbers are you colluding with, and where is their lair?" Just like what the authors of those legendary stories would describe, This low-level mercenary with a vulgar look stared at the girl with a malicious smile and said. The blue stage badge on his chest indicated that he was the leader of this group of people.
A combat professional with a blue badge has the strength to fight against more than ten ordinary people who have not obtained certification. Such people can already serve as squad leaders in low-level military organizations such as local security corps. But it is regrettable that people of this class mostly choose to be adventurers - or robbers who are hostile to the security forces.
Because although the captain of the security team can receive a stable salary and be respected by everyone, he is ultimately not free enough and the income is far less than other options - we are digressing.
Back to the present moment, this verbal confrontation that lasted for about five minutes was obviously about to end.
Although on the surface it seems that these lower-level mercenaries blocked the girl here in order to obtain information about the Luoan thieves gang, their reason has almost been used to rot in the past twenty years. After a part of the Luoan people - although they account for the vast majority - have ruined the reputation of the entire nation, every day countless young Luoan people are accused of being 'suspected of colluding with bandit gangs'. Taken by to 'assist in investigation'.
These people who hold high the banner of justice and do whatever they want will never be punished, and when the tortured corpses of white-haired young men and women are found on unknown street corners, people often just pass by indifferently.
"This is what happens all the time." Many people who had vowed to stand up and face injustice when they were full of enthusiasm, but when they actually encountered such a situation, they just silently averted their eyes and continued their ordinary lives.
'Well, this is a common thing.' He lay back on the tree again, and he was not ready to do anything - because he had seen too many such things in his life, even if he If he could save this girl, she would encounter more such things in her future life, and there was no way he would happen to appear next to her every time.
'And -' A smile appeared on his lips.
'I don't have such a bad taste in trying to stop a young man who wants to act like a hero and save a beautiful girl to win the favor of girls.'
'——It's good to be young.' He put a leisurely posture with a smile and planned to fall asleep again, but even he had misunderstood something.
That's the girl under the tree, not the usual vase-like character in the hero-rescuing beauty scene.
"Rodrick, I know it's you, come out."
The forest halfway up the slope fell into silence.
The young girl with white hair said this in her clear and steady voice - she looked straight at the place where the man was hiding, and the boy whose name was directly called acted as he had judged on the tree. He did what a poorly trained person would do in this situation - he took a few steps back, stepped on a bunch of branches and leaves with a crackling sound, and then sat down on the ground, his whole body exposed to the white-haired girl. within sight.
"Alas..." The young girl let out a long sigh, and the lower-level mercenaries next to her who originally had evil faces also looked helpless. The young man who was half-collapsed on the ground in luxurious satin clothes blushed, gasped and got up from the ground menacingly, and then walked straight towards the girl.
The new expansion made him a little more interested in the tree. He turned his head and looked over, but his eyes became slender.
"Oops, the scene may get a little ugly now," he murmured to himself.
The style of clothing the young man wore, and the awe shown by the lower-level mercenaries. And the behavior of the young girl who was obviously fearless because she didn't know why, coupled with the behavior of the young boy who was obviously angry because of the humiliation-the combination of these conditions gave him a very bad feeling.
"It's not good to cause death." He shook his head slightly, then held the weapon leaning on the tree trunk, passed the wide leather shoulder strap through his left shoulder and right armpit, and fixed it to his chest with a metal buckle. He put his weapon behind his back and got ready.
"Boom - boom -" A huge spark flashed in the palm of the young man's hand, and several lower-level mercenaries shrank to the side with movements visible to the naked eye. The white-haired girl who bore the brunt of the attack visibly trembled. It could be seen from her expression that this was completely unexpected.
While observing all this from the tree, he held his forehead.
"I wanted to confess to her before, but now I want to kill her, so you young people..."
He sighed. The girl probably thought that the boy was just a nagging suitor. After all, even in a tavern with many people coming and going, the chances of such a person appearing in such a remote hunting ground were very rare. of.
Not to mention having a deep understanding of the entire system and being able to identify clothing.
The luxurious silk and satin clothing that the boy was wearing was a regular mage robe. A person around 15 or 6 years old could wear this kind of clothing with dark cyan cuffs inlaid with two golden lines representing the straight lines of the primary and middle mage ranks③. In terms of strength and qualifications, he is indeed a young man with outstanding talents - but who knows, at least as far as he is concerned, he does not have much favorable impressions of such young people who have achieved certain achievements prematurely.
Because it turns out that such children are often shrouded in the halo of 'genius' and are not seriously raised by the adults around them. They either become arrogant or lazy, and eventually end up in mediocrity. The question is far away, let's focus first. At this time, he is still the center of attention.
This kind of immature behavior of the teenager is what spoiled 'genius children' often do. Just as he guessed, the whole scene became extremely ugly: "Do you know how to be afraid now? I have the ability to directly I've always done this to you." The young man with an angry face trembled with his right hand and suppressed the huge flame with all his strength. The girl he was facing was covered in cold sweat. She tried to stay calm, but her whole body was trembling. .
"But I don't do this because I like you"
"But why do you reject me again and again, and even insult me?" The young man, whose face was a little pale because of anger, looked down at the girl and said: "The last time in Initzburg was the same. I obviously worked so hard to achieve this goal." I have won this opportunity to live a better life where I am, why should you refuse..."
"I'm under so much pressure. They all say you're not worthy of me. But I'm still so dedicated to you. I've paid so much for you. Why do you always respond to me like this! You always trample on my efforts and efforts. Seriously!" The young man tried hard to suppress the ferocity on his face, but what he didn't notice was that after hearing these words, the trembling girl raised her face slightly and retorted in a low voice.
"Because that's not... what I want..."
She said this in a voice that almost no one could hear, and was immediately covered up by the boy's loud roar.
"Tell me what I'm sorry for you about! I didn't use my power or my family to force you, even if I could! I'm obviously just a despicable Luoan, but I always act like I'm superior. He refuses my kindness with his attitude, always like this, insulting me, rejecting me..." He cursed until his face turned red, and then he gasped for air. The lower-level mercenaries around them turned away and pretended not to see it.
"Since you refuse to accept my good intentions and insist on forcing me, then don't blame me." As if he was determined, the boy approached step by step until he forced the girl to turn her back to the tree trunk with no way to escape.
He untied the belt at the waist of the robe while the girl still pretended to be calm, but then he found that for some reason a shadow appeared in front of him.
"Stop it, young man, don't make things worse."
The low voice sounded a bit abrupt in this situation, and the mercenaries who turned their heads to alert the surroundings immediately looked in the direction of the sound with shocked faces.
Ordinary, ordinary.
This is probably the most suitable word they can use to evaluate the man with short black hair. If they had to look for it, it would be the black tattoos on the left and right sides of his neck exposed from the collar of his cloak, and the big sword on his back. It's a bit more individual.
But it can only be regarded as having a personality. There are countless adventurers who have tattoos on their bodies to show off themselves, and the big sword is not very powerful.
Among the mercenaries of the D, E, and F types who make a living by hunting and often need to deal with large monsters, they give up speed in pursuit of powerful lethality. Heavy giant swords as big as door panels can be seen everywhere. Compared with those people, the big sword carried by this man was not really 'big'. Its sharp blade exposed outside the leather half-sheath is only the width of an ordinary one-and-a-half-handed sword or two-handed long sword. The relatively slender blade combined with the length of 1.5 meters makes people doubt whether it will be able to withstand it in battle. Resist the blow and break.
'Stupid Qing wants to look cool' The lower-level mercenaries came to this conclusion within just a few seconds of his appearance.
It may be said that people are judged by their appearance, but it is also a recognized fact that powerful people often have gorgeous weapons that match their combat prowess. After all, everyone has a love for beauty. If you have strong force, it is not incomprehensible to choose to be more high-profile.
The plot of dressing up as an ordinary low-level adventurer and then using his powerful strength to look cool can only exist in legendary novels - such bloody plots cannot happen in reality. The guy who dresses like a king is a king, and the guy who pretends to be a king is a king. Guys who look like farmers are farmers. Everyone judges people by their appearance, and in most cases they are right——
--most.
This means that there are still exceptions.
The mercenaries understood the moment the man carrying the big sword spoke again.
"Young man, can you let go of that little girl?"
"I generally understand the ins and outs of the matter."
He came closer and continued: "I can understand your thoughts."
"You like this girl very much, but you don't want to rely on your parents or career success to please her, but you want her to like you as a person."
"So you probably hid your identity and worked hard for her silently, right?" He said looking at the young man, who just stared back at him blankly.
"Then she refused to accept your kindness. Even after you expressed your kindness more times, instead of being moved at all, she became impatient and even insulted you. So you are very angry, right?"
Only his voice rang out in the silence.
"Well...that's what you think. But have you ever thought that what you are doing is actually just to impress yourself?"
“Have you heard the story of apples and bananas?”
"Well - it's troublesome to tell it from beginning to end, so I'll pick out the important ones." He pointed with his finger at the girl who had a dull expression on her face and made no sound, and then pointed at the boy himself who had the same expression.
"To put it simply, the little girl wanted an apple, and then you gave her a banana - although it was a big cart of bananas, but that was not what she wanted, and you were blaming her, blaming her for why you were so She tried hard but didn't accept it, and felt aggrieved. He was always treating her well, but she didn't know how to behave as a little girl——"
"It's not right to force people to buy and sell with a smile, young man." He smiled at the young man, and then snapped his fingers as if he suddenly remembered something.
"Sorry, I forgot that you can't answer me now-"
He said this, and a rough roar immediately followed these words.
"Kill that wizard!" The lower-level mercenaries formed a surrounding formation while he was speaking. At this time, the weapons in their hands were revealed. Several green-card mercenaries showed an orderly cooperation and quickly approached, and then Regardless of whether the boy or girl was still there, he swung his sword and struck at him.
"Your head is worth ten dragon head gold coins, you damn blasphemer!" The last sight the mercenary saw while waving his weapon with a grin was not blood splattering on the opponent, but a silver light.
The man pulled out the one-and-a-half meter long sword on his back - this was not simple. Generally speaking, swords of this length would not be carried on the back, but would be carried by horses or the like. The reason is that when a weapon that is too long is carried behind the back, it is often too late to pull it out. Being able to pull out the sword in such a flash of lightning proves that this guy is not just bringing this sword as they thought. Hidden identity——
Regret appeared in the green mercenary's mind, but it came too late.
"咻——ding~~" The trembling sound of metal reverberated in the air. He pulled out half of the sword blade to block the one-handed sword in the mercenary's hand. Then he tilted his body and twisted his waist back to draw out a length of 1.5 meters. Then he flipped his wrist into an overhand grip and held a sword flower. His left foot moved forward as the center of gravity and he used force from the sole of the foot to lift it up from top to bottom.
"Pfft--" The big sword slashed upward from the lower right side easily split the mercenary's self-defense mail, broke several ribs, and cut his heart. He slashed on the dirty, stubble-covered chin and split half of his face.
Blood splattered everywhere, and the person who attacked him first was killed with a single blow - but it wasn't over yet.
Another mercenary holding a shield and a one-handed ax, obviously in the style of Steen, came from the left again, waving the ax in his hand and rushed towards his side.
"Huuwu——" He took a heavy breath, and the blade whirred back at a huge angle. The mercenary in the style of Stone immediately raised the edged wooden shield above his head——but this didn't It had no effect. The huge sword with astonishing force smashed down the shield with a fierce gesture that was raised over the head, causing sawdust to fly everywhere - blood spattered everywhere, and the green brand mercenary's skull was completely shattered, and he fell down as soon as his body went limp.
The body of the dying mercenary twitched, while the young man behind let out a piercing scream and ran up and down from the ground, leaving the place without looking back.
"Hu-cha--" He stuck the big sword on the ground. The remaining seven mercenaries in front of him looked at each other, then hesitated for a moment between death and bounty, and then rushed forward in unison.
"Wrong decision" he breathed out, and then lowered his body. He did not pull out the sword, but clenched his hands in preparation.
'One step' "Step——" "Kill——"
'Two steps' "Tap -" "Death, you blasphemer!"
'Three steps' "Tap tap tap -" "The bounty is mine!"
The second hand of time seemed to be deliberately pinched by someone's fingers. Every second moved extremely slowly. The dirty mercenaries' ferocious expressions, the saliva they sprayed when they roared, and the sweat drops they shook off when they ran all seemed... It was clearly visible - and in this, he stopped with stillness, just quietly waiting for the opportunity to come.
"嚓-咻-"
The first sword he started was a diagonal move that skimmed low from the ground. It took a lot of force for a sword of this weight to change from a static state to a moving state, so he directly increased the force and pulled it out while drawing the sword. Transformed into the first attack——
"Pacha——" The diagonal upward chop broke the first mercenary's abdominal cavity. The impact caused him to vomit a mouthful of blood and fall backwards with his scattered internal organs. At the same time, he held a big The man holding the sword turned around on one foot and kicked the other mercenary away. At the same time, he used the previous strength to swing the second sword - an extremely severe horizontal slash.
"Crack——"
He struck the owl's head with a sword, but it wasn't over yet. As if he was dancing a gorgeous pas de deux in the imperial palace, he turned around again from the body of the headless mercenary, pushed the body towards another mercenary, and then backhanded him. The sword stabbed behind him.
"Pfft——" The sword blade accurately hit the chest and the blood-red sword tip penetrated directly from the back of the mercenary's dirty leather coat. Then he immediately drew the sword from the opponent but did not control it but let it go. The whole big sword crashed forward - the chest of the mercenary who happened to push away the headless corpse of his companion was straightly exposed to the thick metal weight ball at the end of the hilt of the big sword.
"Bang Dong——" This blow, which was as heavy as a blunt blow, directly broke the lower-level mercenary's ribs. The man immediately changed his hand to hold the sword and reversed the sword's blade, splitting half of his face from top to bottom. ——At this time, the mercenary who was kicked away before and another mercenary ran over almost side by side. They attacked directly behind him, but the smile that secretly rejoiced that he could succeed had not yet fully bloomed. Frozen on the face.
——He ducked down in the midst of the lightning and flint, held the sword with one hand and swung the last sword fiercely.
"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ing ing". Killed.
"Wha--" The man shook the big sword in his hand vigorously, and the sticky blood from several different people splashed on the tree trunk with his movements, and just when he turned his head to find something to clean the sword with At that moment, the blue brand mercenary's voice rang out.
"Don't move, put down that big sword for me." The blue-brand mercenary, who looked cleaner than the green-brand mercenaries - let's call him the mercenary captain - held the white-haired girl with a dull look in his hands. He put the dagger against her delicate neck and said viciously.
"...Don't you think it's a bit shameless, this method?" the man said to the mercenary captain.
"Shut up, this is for survival. And put that thing down, blasphemer, didn't you show your face just to stand up for this girl in the first place? It doesn't matter if I kill her now!" the mercenary captain Then he said viciously, and the man with a little sweat on his forehead took a breath and put down the sword.
"Hmph -" A smile appeared on the mercenary captain's face, but just when he was about to speak again, the man pulled something out of his waist at a very high speed and threw it out.
"Ding——Clang——"
"Ah!" The mercenary captain, whose back was scratched, let go of the dagger in his hand, and the girl who finally came to her senses quickly broke away and ran to the side.
"..." The mercenary captain covered his injured hand and gritted his teeth as he looked at the remaining man and woman in front of him. His eyes were wandering, and this naturally could not escape the man's eyes.
"Ah——" He made a "tsk" sound and shook his head: "I know what you are thinking."
"You wonder if that guy has the strength to swing his sword again after killing so many people."
"To be honest, I don't know, because you see, I'm already out of breath."
"But this -" he pointed at his big sword covered in sticky blood: "This is a Claymore. It can easily split you in half from the shoulder to the waist."
"So now you should ask yourself a question"
"Should I try my luck?"
"Do you want to give it a try? Young man," he said to the other party, and the mercenary captain hesitated for a while, and finally breathed a long sigh of relief, relaxed his body and gave up resistance.
"What's your name... at least let me know..." The mercenary captain, who seemed ten years older for a moment, stared at him and asked, and the man shrugged: "Is it for revenge in the future? But never mind."
"Henry Meyer," the man said. This name made the mercenary captain frown. He subconsciously felt that a person with such fighting ability should at least be a prestigious orange mercenary, but this name was What? Never heard of it.
But Henry hadn't finished speaking yet, he continued to add.
"You can call me the Great Sage, young man." Henry, who looked at least five years younger than the mercenary captain, said to him with a smile, while the bearded blue mercenary's expression became further dull. stand up.
He could only sit quietly on the ground and watch the man wipe the blood on the sword with the dead mercenary's cloak, and then quickly stuff the sword back into the leather half-sheath on his back.
It wasn't until he and the girl had walked an unknown distance that the blue-brand mercenary came back to his senses and let out a long breath.
"...what the hell"
…
The camera turns to the other side, and Henry slowly walks towards the downhill road. Then he seemed to notice something, and he gradually slowed down his steps, making the overlapping and lighter footsteps clearly exposed.
"Crack-"
Henry stopped and turned his face. His action directly startled the white-haired girl in the maid outfit behind her. She was as nervous as a cat with explosive fur. However, she seemed to have thought of something again and immediately became dejected again.
"Why are you following me? Little girl," Henry said, staring closely at the other person's fair face, and the originally dejected girl suddenly puffed up her face when she heard this.
"Why?!"
"You just talk to yourself and interfere in other people's lives and make other people's lives a mess without realizing it! Mr. Sage, you are really the worst adult. Do you think I can go back after such a murder? Come and work well in Olesia!"
"Uh... that mercenary probably won't trouble you, and if you don't say it yourself, no one will know about it, little girl..."
"Have you forgotten Roderick? Mr. Sage, you are really the worst adult. Roderick is the mayor's son. There is no way he would not report such a thing." As if he had forgotten what fear is, this man with a The white-haired young girl loudly accused the man who claimed to be a sage.
"Anyway, you ruined my life and you must be responsible for me!"
Her voice was clear and ringing, echoing in the woods near noon.
And Henry was stunned for a moment.
The appearance of the girl in front of me overlapped with that of another person in a daze. In retrospect, except that the hair color was exactly the opposite, she was also the same person.
So did I act because of this sense of immediacy? Perhaps it was due to some deeper reasons. Thousands of thoughts were flowing in Henry's heart, which finally turned into a smile hanging on the corner of his mouth.
Under the noon sun, the 1.9-meter-tall sage with black hair and blue eyes said to the white-haired girl with a slight smile.
"I have no fixed abode."
"I have this realization!"
"You will run into a lot of trouble if you come with me."
"I have this realization!"
"I don't have much money"
"Mr. Sage is really the worst adult..."
With a little cold sweat, Henry looked at the disdainful eyes of the girl in front of him who was only half his size. Henry suddenly felt very ashamed, and in the next moment, the white-haired girl became serious again.
"I have this consciousness." The young white girl answered seriously for the last time, and then murmured to herself in a low voice: "After all... this is the new life that my parents sacrificed themselves to give me..."
The second half of her sentence seemed a bit low, and Henry looked at her in silence.
"Well...in that case, my name is Henry"
"Um...Mila, my name is Mira!" The girl was stunned for a moment, and then replied loudly.
She said this.
The clear voice echoed in the middle of the slope, and Henry stretched out his hand.
"Then, please give me some advice, Mira"
…
…
Notes: 1: Unknown mercenaries, also known as unbounded mercenaries. Regular mercenaries are real-name organizations issued by the Mainland Mercenary Union to certify badge registration. In addition to having some privileges, such as tariff exemptions and the right to hunt in a certain place, they must also assume corresponding obligations, such as being recruited by a lord to become a mercenary during wartime. etc. Compared with them, a considerable number of former soldiers/robbers and other combat professionals also chose to become unknown mercenaries. Compared to regular mercenaries, they are more like a blackened killer group and organization.
2: The first stage division of this book is the basic division of warriors and other combat professions, distinguished by color (gem) badges.
The lowest class is the classless, which is the class of most ordinary people in the book. Going up further are: green; blue; orange; purple; red. There are five levels in total, with gemstones of five colors as badges, which is a fairly simple and clear grading method. But it is not easy to obtain, and the badge can only be upgraded or downgraded. Each professional's badge has an independent number. Once it is found that it is sold to others or counterfeited, severe penalties will be imposed.
3: The second stage of this book is the basic division of mage classes.
Take the young elementalist who appears in the prologue as an example. The lowest level is an apprentice, wearing only a simple gray mage robe. Regular mages are divided into three levels: primary level, intermediate level, and high level; each level is divided into three stages: initial stage, middle stage, and upper stage. The robe of a junior mage is dark blue, with golden straight lines on the cuffs to represent the rank. The first, second and third golden straight lines represent the junior, middle and upper ranks respectively. The middle class wears a dark blue robe, and the gold lines on the cuffs representing the rank are wavy. The high-level robe is pure white, and the gold thread on the cuffs representing the rank is in a dog-eared shape.
Class, as a transnational and cross-regional indicator of high credibility, can be used as a passport in many regions. Some of the more dangerous hunting grounds even stipulate that only those with a certain color badge can enter. Temporary mercenaries who are well paid during wartime often use the badge level as their salary. All in all, the higher the level of the badge, the more convenience, fame and fortune you can obtain in human society.
Postscript: I think this is the longest prologue I have ever written...
