Pete and Leona now could see the city from afar,
The city was even larger than the capital city with many mansions large enough to be considered as castles,
There were many luxurious carriages exiting the city,
Leona said,
"This is the richest city of the kingdom "
Pete said,
"Why's that?"
Leona said,
"Because of the three mana stone mines and two gold mines around the city "
Pete said,
"But why are so many carriages leaving the city but none seem to enter the city "
Leona said,
"Because the demons will most likely attack this city next "
Pete nodded and they headed to the city,
They soon reached the city gate and entered the city, the guards didn't even stop them to check their identity,
Leona said,
"It's weird, the guards didn't even ask for out id's "
Pete said,
"Yeah that's weird"
Pete shrugged his shoulders and said,
"Let's go to the mercenary guild "
Leona nodded and said,
"Follow me, I know exactly where the guild is "
Pete nodded and Leona took him to the mercenary guild,
They entered the guild,
The guild was crowded with mercenaries with most of them wearing masks,
They turned their heads toward Pete and Leona as they entered the guild,
Leona said,
"Let's ignore them and sign up "
Pete nodded and they walked up to the reception,
The receptionist was a middle aged buff guy, he looked at them and said,
"What do you want? "
Pete said,
"Actually we want to register "
The receptionist nodded and took out some papers, gave them to Pete and Leona and said,
"Fill the form and sign the contract "
They quickly filled up the form and handed it to the receptionist,
He then took out a crystal ball and said,
"Put your hand on it "
Leona asked,
"What is this for? "
The receptionist said,
"This will tell us if you are a criminal or not "
Pete's hand began to shake with fear,
Leona said,
"Why do you need that information... I heard mercenaries accept people with criminal background "
The receptionist said,
"Yes we accept criminals, but criminals will be added to black badge and the people who didn't commit any crimes will be white badge "
Leona said,
"What's the difference "
The receptionist said,
"We protect the white badges but the black badges are just disposables "
Leona nodded and puts her hand on the ball and the crystal turned green,
The receptionist said,
"You will be the white badge mercenary "
The mercenaries eyes filled with rage and lust when they heard she will be going to a white badge,
The receptionist said to Pete,
"Put your hand on the ball "
Pete hesitated a bit but puts his hand on the crystal ball,
The ball turned red as soon as his hand touched the ball,
The receptionist smiled and said,
"You will be the black badge mercenary "
"But before that, you have to tell us your crimes and if you have already been punished for the crime or not"
Pete didn't say anything and was just staring the crystal ball with a straight face,
Leona said,
"Does he needs to be punished for the crime if he want to join the guild "
The receptionist said,
"No that's not necessary, as if he get caught by the officials then we will not protect him because of the black badge"
"But he has to tell the crimes he committed "
Pete took a deep breath and said,
"I killed couple of knights "
Silence spread around the guild as the eyes of the mercenaries turned toward Pete,
The receptionist said,
"If you really killed knights then you are in a pretty bad situation "
"You are welcome aboard but you should wear a mask if you don't want to get caught early"
Pete nodded and said,
"Ok I will buy a mask "
The receptionist said,
"Your badges will be made in two hours, you can come back again later or wait here "
Leona said,
"Do you want to go or wait here "
Pete said,
"Let's go, I want to see the city "
Leona nodded and they walked out of the guild,
They were walking around the market,
Pete said,
"I have to go back to the capital city as soon as possible "
Leona said,
"Why? "
Pete said,
"A little girl is there that and I have to protect her from Amira "
Leona nodded and said,
"We can go right now if you want to... but there is no guarantee if we can return safely from there "
Pete said,
"Not right now, this city might get attacked soon and we can't let the people here die "
They then just looked around the market for some time and then returned to the guild after about two hours,
The receptionist gave them their badges and they got out of the guild,
Couple of mercenaries followed them as they got out of the guild,
Pete turned and said,
"What do you want "
One of the mercenaries pointed at Leona and said,
"We want her, so hand her over and get lost "
Pete stood in front of Leona and said,
"It depends on your ability if you can take her or not "
The mercenaries took out their weapons and covered them with aura,
Pete said,
"So you all are only second rate warriors "
One of the mercenaries said,
"Only second rate.... hahahaha "
"You kids don't know the strength of second rate warriors "
Pete sighed and covered his whole body with aura and said,
"Second rate warriors are weak "
He was going to attack the mercenaries when Leona puts her hand on Pete's shoulder stopping him,
Leona said,
"Let me teach them a lesson "
Pete said,
"Are you sure? "
Leona said,
"Don't underestimate me, I am a first rate warrior too "
Pete nodded and Amira walked in front and unsheathed her sword,
The mercenary began laughing when Leona came forward and one of them said,
"So you can wield a sword... "
Leona manifested aura swords around her,
The mercenaries smile vanished and fear took over them,
Before they could say anything else, Leona shot the aura swords at them,
The aura swords penetrated them but not the vital parts but they were severely injured,
They fell on the ground with blood flowing out of their bodies,
Crowd has gathered around to see all of the commotion,
Leona then sheathed her sword and said,
"Let's go, we have to meet someone "
Pete nodded and Leona took him to a bookstore,
The bookstore owner was an young girl,
The owner said,
"How can I help you? "
Leona said,
"I want to meet her "
The shop owner smiled and said,
"Please wait inside while I send the message "
Leona nodded and they both sat down on chairs,
Pete said,
"So you have friends in this city "
Leona smiled and nodded,
After waiting for about an hour,
Three girls wearing capes entered the shop,
Leona stood up and said,
"What took you so long... I have been waiting here for hours "
One of the girl removed the cape,
The girl has blonde hairs with brown eyes and fair skin,
She said,
"You don't know how hard is sneaking out of the castle nowadays "
She then sat on the chair while the two girls with her stood behind her,
Leona turned towards Pete and said while pointed her hand towards the girl,
"She is the third daughter of the city lord "
She then said to the girl,
"He is the hero "
The girl behind the city lord's daughter took out daggers as soon as they heard this,
Leona said,
"Don't worry... he won't eat her "
The city lord's daughter signaled her guards and they puts back their weapons,
She then said,
"It's nice meeting you sir hero, my name is Rita "
Pete said with a gentle smile,
"It's my pleasure, you can call me Pete "
Rita said,
"Wonderful... so what is your purpose of coming here "
Pete said,
"This city will most likely to be attacked by the demons so I came here to protect this city "
Rita said with a straight face,
"You alone? "
Leona said,
"Hey, I am here too... and don't underestimate him, he killed thousands of monsters by himself in my city "
Rita noticed the mercenary badges and said,
"I suppose you are hiding from the kingdom "
Leona nodded and said,
"Yes and that's why we came here "
Rita sighed and said,
"You were always a muscle head but Sir hero, you too are a muscle head. "
Leona angrily said,
"Say that again.. "
Pete puts his hand on Leona's shoulder and said,
"What made you say that miss Rita "
Rita said,
"Why would you join the mercenary guild when you are hiding from the kingdom "
She then said to Leona,
"Don't you know, the mercenary guild directly report to the kingdom as soon as a new criminal joins them "
"The guild is a way for the kingdom to catch the criminals "
Leona's eyes widened and she said,
"If that's the case then why don't the kingdom arrest the criminals that have joined the guild "
Rita sighed and said,
"That's why you should have studied too instead of only training with the sword "
"The kingdom leave the small fries to attract the big fish "
She then pointed at the badges and said,
"Throw away the badges and hide in the city for a while "
"Don't try to leave the city through the gates and don't attract any attention "
"The kingdom has sent the knights to protect the city "
She then stood up and said,
"Run away during the attack "
Leona said,
"Where are we supposed to hide until then "
Rita said,
"Many citizens have escaped so there are many empty houses "
"Hide in one of those and don't contact me from now on "
Rita then walked out of the shop,
Leona and Pete also walked out and threw away the badges,
They then found an empty house and broke into it,
Soon the sun sets and they both ate and slept,
Inside the soul space,
Morsh was still absorbing the souls,
He opened his eyes and manifested a football size dark energy ball,
Morsh then shot the ball toward the wall of his soul space,
The divine energy stopped the ball but the ball continued to move forward,
The ball was shrinking as it was getting close to the wall,
It hits the wall after it was reduced to half of its original size and tried to force its way out,
But the divine energy was stopping the ball,
Morsh's eyes were focused on the ball that was continuously decreasing in size,
But before the ball completely diminished, it managed to make a hole the size of the needle and just a needle size strand of dark energy got out,
The rest of the dark energy diminished,
Morsh smiled and said,
"That will be enough "
Morsh then started completely absorbing the souls again,
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