"Hoo" Cabrera exhaled, trying to calm his pounding heart.
A plan had been created and the pieces were now in place. Yet, whether they would succeed or not was up in the air. So, they had to make sure to do things right once and for all.
Cabrera went to the restaurant and, like he expected, the other boys had arrived, only three absent.
Fredrick arrived shortly after with an entourage of twelve men of different statures. They were the slaves Fredrick had bought while passing through some towns.
None wore armor, but they all looked gruff, with beards and hair at different parts of their bodies. Their clothes looked nothing like what a slave would wear, all for the sake of the mission at hand.
Fredrick sat beside Cabrera as they revised the plan once more, not forgetting to adjust some parts due to some expected variables. Not long after, the group of twenty-six people set off.
Cabrera made all the boys sign a contract of utmost secrecy, after which the boys went to the missionary to create new adventurer cards with their fake names and fake origins.
Cabrera, who was calmly waiting outside the building, was approached by 2 people.
One had a short body and blue hair, while the other was tall and fit, with brown hair and a small brown mustache. Both of them sported a sword strapped to their waist.
"Hello, are you Mr. Asmund?" the tall man started a conversation.
"Yes I am, but who are you?"
"Right, you're new in town. I'm Arvin and my friend here is Meldor"
Cabrera calmly evaluated them. He determined that these two were stronger than Baldur and, thinking back to his talks with Fredrick yesterday, he was immediately on guard.
"Ok, so what do you want?"
"It seems Mr. Asmund doesn't like idle chatter. Very well then, I'll get to the point. I would like to recruit you into the White Iron guild"
"White Iron guild?"
"Yes, White Iron guild. We are an upcoming C-rank guild with the prospect of becoming B-rank in the near future. Adequate resources will be given to you according to rank and potential. From gray-rank armor and mana techniques to those of silver-rank, you won't find an offer better than this around here"
"Hmm, that's a very good offer, but I'm not ready to join any guild for the time being"
Inwardly, Cabrera was snickering at these two who were waving the word silver in front of him. He wondered how they would feel if they knew he had a gold mana technique. But of course, these were only thoughts.
Arvin's face cooled as he added…
"I didn't mention, but you will also be protected from outside forces"
Cabrera made the same confused face from yesterday as he asked…
"Why do you think I need protection?"
"The man you messed with yesterday is not going to let you off easily"
Cabrera scratched his head like he had forgotten something, before snapping his fingers…
"Oh yes, that guy, bal, bal-what was it again?"
"Baldur"
"Ah yes, that's it, Baldur. He suddenly tried to press me into the ground and I casually threw him away. How is that my fault?"
Arvin and Meldor both shared a meaningful look. They knew no one would care who was right or wrong, only who was stronger.
Might is always right. It is the law Oranians lived by.
Arvin was about to admonish him for his ignorant ways when Cabrera said…
"And if he thinks I'm easy to bully, then he can come for a rematch anytime"
'This could also work. After the Red Wolves beat him up, I'll step in to save him. By then, his pride would've been knocked down a notch, making further negotiations easier' Arvin thought.
He removed a coin carved with a white sword and handed it to him, saying…
"If you change your mind, you only need to bring that to the White Iron guild hall"
Without another word, he turned away with Meldor in tow and quickly vanished from Cabrera's sight.
Cabrera only glanced at the coin once before discreetly throwing it away. He was also a guild master, so why would he join another person's guild?
Yet it seemed trouble was searching for him today.
Not long after Arvin and Meldor left, Cabrera heard a familiar voice behind him.
"Bondoc, that's him, that's the guy"
Cabrera turned around only to find Baldur, but this time he was with four other men that had similar statures to him, but were shorter and more muscular.
Everyone wore blue armor and had an ax strapped to their backs.
They arrived in front of Cabrera in no time and one even used his finger to hit his chest provocatively as he said…
"So you're the one messing with our guild mate. Tell you what, kneel and beg for forgiveness right now and we might not beat you to death"
"Hahaha, good one lad"
"Right, the bastard should apologize. Maybe we might spare some part of him"
"Of course he should beg"
The other three laughed hysterically at their colleague's words as they stared menacingly at Cabrera.
Baldur, who had his ass handed to him yesterday, was looking on with a malicious grin.
Seeing all this, Cabrera gave up any thoughts of reasoning with these people. It was clear as day that they weren't good people, and their brains were filled with nothing but muscle.
He even wondered if their guild master was like the fools in front of him, before bursting into laughter at the incredulousness of the situation, not even trying to cover the ridicule in his gaze.
"Hahaha"
At the sight of such a farce, the four laughing brothers immediately had their smiles wiped away. From their bodies, killing intent that caused even Baldur to flinch gushed out.
And yet, in front of all this…
"Hahaha, you guys are hilarious, you know that?"
Cabrera didn't even bat an eyelid before using his hands to wipe it aside like an annoying fly.
"Do you idiots not know where you're currently standing?"
At the word 'idiot', one of them immediately lashed out with a punch, only to be pulled back by the others beside him.
"Gandez, calm down. We are in front of the Missionary!"
Only then did Gandez look at the wooden building in front him as his expression turned into one of fear. Within seconds, beads of sweat began falling down his face, when Cabrera's voice once again rang out.
"It seems not all of you have muscles for brains, what a pity"
The Missionary acted on behalf of the ruling power by guarding their interests. But it also meant that they held substantial power.
The head of each branch Missionary was called Admiral, while the overall head, or the head of the headquarters located in the capital, was the Sentinel.
Missionaries were responsible for registering adventurers and promoting them in rank. Which meant that they could also revoke their membership or demote them.
They were responsible for registering clans and guilds and their promotions, and in tow, could demote guilds and clans.
Of course, each one of these functions has its limits.
As for how guilds were promoted in rank? Each mission on the mission board rewarded money and merit points. And from F-rank upwards (because G isn't really considered as a rank), a set amount of merits must be accumulated to be promoted.
Each promotion allowed access to risker missions that gave more merits and money.
It was a simple case of high risk / high reward. And most importantly, the Empire gave a set amount of money to any affiliated adventurer, guild or clan at or above D-rank.
In return, the Empire could forcefully mobilize any mercenary, guild or clan for a single mission once a month.
Now, the Red Wolves Baldur was from was a mere D-rank adventure guild, something Cabrera learned from Fredrick.
Along with them, there were four other powers that had a base here.
Had Gandez destroyed even a small part of the building, it would only take a word from the Admiral for him to be demoted back to F-rank, with all his former merits discarded. And that was if he was lucky.
If he was unlucky, he could have himself put on probation, with his adventure card seized for a time. And while this didn't sound all that bad, adventure cards had numerous uses, from lobbying some auctions to entering some places.
But couldn't he just drink a disguise potion like Cabrera and get another one?
Do you really think it would be that simple?! If it was, then the authority of the Admiral would be but a joke.
If he was put on probation, runes would be attached to his skin to prevent him from running to another kingdom or, like Cabrera, taking another identity.
Just thinking about it made his blood run cold and his body shudder as he looked into the eyes of Cabrera, who stared back in turn.
Yet, this time this man in front of him seemed like a beast.
His carefree expression had given them the impression of easy prey, and he was this close to falling into a deadly trap without the other party doing anything.
There was only one word Gandez could think of.
Terrifying! Absolutely terrifying!
He suddenly felt that it would be better to leave Cabrera alone.
But it seemed demons were haunting him, because…
"Look at this brat, using a building as a shield. I dare you to come and face me"
"Weasly b*tch, hiding behind other things is what girls do!"
"Girly b*stard! Face us if you dare!"
The others didn't see what just happened in the same way as he did.
They only saw it as a weak man playing tricks and, because that trick actually worked, they were seething with rage, using all sorts of nasty words to provoke Cabrera.
Yet, Cabrera only used his pinkie to wipe dirt from his ear as he turned to the side to see some of his boys looking at him and said in a voice loud enough for the Red Wolf guilders to hear…
"Some smelly dogs are whining in my ears, but then again, what was I expecting from people with muscles for brains"
The boys couldn't make up a reply as their killing intent skyrocketed, but that was it.
They didn't dare to take action for fear of damaging the Missionary, so they burnt his face in their minds and left. Of course, not forgetting to destroy some shops along the way.
They would be back. After all, he couldn't possibly stay there all day, and when he left…hehehe, no words were needed for what would happen next.
No sooner had they left when all the boys were done registering and Cabrera led them out of the outpost and to Fredrick, who was waiting in front of the forest.
_____________________
"Meldor, what do you think?"
Arvin and Meldor had stayed at a corner and had watched the whole scene with Cabrera and the Red Wolf members.
"Well, he certainly has guts" Meldor replied.
"But does he have the skills to back them up?"
"So, what do you want to do?" Meldor asked.
"Easy, we'll check them ourselves. Send someone to tell those five that Asmund has gone into the forest"
Meldor had a scary smile on his face as he said…
"That'll be fun to watch, but you know we can't let him die"
"Of course, that's why we'll follow them and save the guy if he's about to get killed"
Like so did others plan while Cabrera had no clue of the coming danger.
Although, whether it was really dangerous was still up in the air.