It was already late in the afternoon when Carson and his group arrive at Flying Fish Inn. They then told him that Charl the knight and commander of Viscount Garbel is already recruiting mercenaries for escorting the cargo right at the port.
Razlov then gathers the rest of the crew and start heading towards the camp outside the wall of Sanloris to be hired and to know what would their role be. When all of them arrived at the camp they notice that there are only a few groups of people, numbering over 200 people was only there at the port including Razlov and Carson's team.
"It seems like that there are not a lot of people who want the big money reward" Solba comment
"It's not that they don't want the money, they just don't want the risk along with it" reply Tirso
"What Tirso said is right, unlike any other battle where you got to meet your enemy face to face but this time we will be fighting an enemy that is in the dark while we will be on the light, not knowing when or where the enemy would attack" Carson added
Along the way, as they continue to walk toward where the camp is, they got to know that to those mercenaries who want the job would need to register the name of the individual if you don't have a group or if you have a group you have to register at the camp the name of the mercenary band, its leader, and how many members it has.
When they arrive at the table where they would register, Carson's group went first followed by Razlov's group. After they were done with registering, they were told that the leader of each group needs to stay because later the commander of this escort group would appointing the roles of each mercenary band and if you don't belong in any group, you would be grouped with others that is the same as you. So Razlov and Carson stayed behind and the rest went out of the camp to prepare their own tent as they would be staying near the camp tonight.
Later, when the sun had already set, Razlov, Carson, and the various leaders of the mercenary band that are participating in this escort mission were invited into a big tent to discuss plans and what are the roles of each mercenary band in this mission.
Razlov swept his sight inside the tent, there is a long table set in the middle of it and standing on the right side of the table were people wearing heavy looking metal armor 'they are probably knights and most likely rank officials of this army' thought Razlov. And there is no one on the left side of the table, so Razlov, Carson and the leaders, stand on the left side.
Then a knight with contempt on his face talk to them arrogantly "You all have to wait for a while because the commander will be arriving shortly"
Razlov looks at the knight who had just talk, the knight seems to be looking down on mercenaries. But Razlov didn't mind it, he also notices that the mercenary band leaders also didn't mind the knight that was looking down on them.
Carson then came to whisper to him 'Don't mind him, most of the knights are like that. They look down on us mercenaries that have nothing to protect as we don't have allegiance to any country and are only working for gold coins'
"Um" nodded Razlov
Razlov understands what kind of personality that the knight has. They are people that treat mercenaries as tools and is expendable just like in his previous life when mercenaries are hired by the government was used as shock troopers taking the brunt of the attack or as a bait to get the enemies attention while the government forces escape. He then observes the rest of knights in the tent, almost all of them had the same look of contempt as the previous knight.
Finally, after waiting for more than half an hour the commander of this mission and their client had finally arrived. The man walked inside the tent with dignity and might of a veteran soldier.
Razlov observes the man, he looks to be already in his 50's which would mean that he is already an old man but he is full of vigor that you would not see the signs of aging in him. He also has this oppressive feeling and a faint killing intent that he is trying to hide. Razlov instantly deems the old man as 'dangerous' as soon as he felt that faint killing intent.
'That old man is Charl Kane, he is a warrior in the 'Warrior Master' level, he is also the viscount's right-hand man and commander of his whole army' whisper Carson
The 'Warrior Master' that Carson just mentioned was a warrior's level. Razlov later learned of this from chatting with Carson and his group, basically, a warrior and a mage can be categorized into 5 levels. For a warrior, from the lowest they are Warrior Apprentice, Warrior Elite, Warrior Master, Warlord, and Saint is the highest. Everybody could become a warrior but most people would only reach the level of Warrior Elite for their entire lives just like Carson, Tirso, Solba, and Klendel, who already have no hope of achieving a breakthrough to the next level while some talented people would reach either Warrior Master or Warlord depending on their talent, just like Charl Kane who reach the level of Warrior Master. And to those who want to become a knight first, they would have to be on the level of Warrior Apprentice to become a squire and only after reaching the level of Warrior Elite would one become a knight.
While for a mage, from the lowest they are Mage Apprentice, Mage Elite, Mage Master, Arch-Mage, and Sage is the highest level. Unlike warrior were everyone could be a warrior, a mage is different as only one in every ten thousand could have the potential to be a mage; that's how rare a mage could be. People who have the potential to be a mage would still need to study under a mage or a school that specialized in magic. But most mages would only reach the level of Mage Apprentice as breaking through to the next level is much harder for a mage than for a warrior; just like Amelia a member of Crimson Cloud and sister of Tirso who stayed at Mage Apprentice level even after studying under a Mage Elite back at their hometown.
Mage and warrior levels can be identified by different colors of their force, white for Apprentice, green for Elite, blue for Master, red for Warlord and Arch-Mage, and gold for Saint and Sage. Force is divided into two, for warriors, it is Warrior Force, it covers the whole body of a person and can enhance a warrior's physical abilities making them stronger and faster while for mages, it is Mage Force which only covers either one or both of their hands, the Mage Force will only appear when a mage wants to launch a spell. And by accumulating the world's natures energy into one's body and converting it to Warrior Force or Mage Force it is only then could a person reach the next level.
That's why a person like Charl Kane is truly an exceptional and worthy of respect.
Razlov continues to observe Charl as he stands in front of them and was also observing them.
"Are they the only ones who have joined?" Charl ask one of the knights
"Yes, sir! They are the only ones who have joined us on this mission" replied the knight who had been asked
Charl frowned when he heard what the knight had said.
"Well, whatever, we just have to accept what we manage to hired and move on with it," said Charl
Charl then looks at Razlov and the rest of the mercenary leaders and said "I know you all have already heard that this would be an escort mission, tomorrow morning at different time 2 ships would be arriving containing the cargo that would be escorted to Klein city the capital of the kingdom, after securing the cargo the convoy would immediately begin traveling towards Klein city. After the mission is done each one of you and your band would receive a reward of 15,000 gold coins."
He then pauses and then continues "Now unto to our strategy in this escort mission, our force has a total of 2000 soldiers, 300 of those are cavalry while the rest are footmen and 12 mercenary bands with 215 mercenaries, we a total force of 2215 men. Our plan is for 1900 soldier to closely guard the cargo, the 200 cavalries would be put in the front ready to respond both sides of where the attack would come from while the other 100 cavalries would be our advance party, monitoring and making sure the road ahead that we would traverse is safe. As for the mercenaries, you all would be divided into two making a perimeter of 15 meters on both sides of the convoy giving us the warning where the attack would come from....."
So the talk of strategy continues on as Razlov just listen never giving a complaint or opinion.