Chapter 9 - Mercenary organisation

"Underlings are something I need.", Archehon talked.

"I should plan ahead adequately."

* * *

A day passed and both the brother and sister were eating.

"Archehon..", Ariel uttered his name.

"Yeah?", Archehon replied.

"During these past few days, as we've been eating these expensive foods I ran out of the money you gave me."

Horrible thoughts, according to Archehon, walked into his head. He thought about the terrible times he would have without Ariel's cooking and spoke,

"I'll get a job."

"Really?", she exclaimed.

"Yeah."

"Where are you going to work?", she glanced at him out of curiosity.

"Uh, i-in a restaurant.", he hesitated.

"That's nice."

'Although that isn't where I'll work.", he thought.

"Have some more..", Ariel spoke in the background as he indulged in his thoughts.

"No, I'm fine.."

'What I'll really work as is..'

He imagined the men with dirty armor and badass expression as they stood with their axes while looking intimidating.

"A Mercenary.", he muttered his thoughts.

"Hm? Did you say something?", Ariel heard the sounds exit his mouth.

"No."

"I'm finished. Oh- and I'll go for the interview today."

"Huh? Right now? Have you already planned where you'll go?", Ariel was startled.

"Yeah.."

"Good luck!"

* * *

Bryxton Town was the place Archehon was in currently. The lively streets contained many people. It was only a few kilometers south from the slums and it wasn't difficult for him to navigate there.

Large crowds of people lined up to the decent brown building. The sign which displayed, 'Mercenary Organisation' above the humans. Many different types of people were lined up, some big, some small. Some who looked like they were experienced while others had frozen feet. The line was a complete mix.

"This isn't bad. Being a mercenary can give me experience in the spear."

Archehon walked towards a building, not the one crowded with people, but the one with less people instead.

"Of course, I'll need to hide my identity as the required age is sixteen and even that is limited. Luckily, I have a decent height but my face gives away the fact that I'm a kid."

"Ding-a-ding", the bell rang as the door was opened to a fashion store.

Many varieties of clothes with different materials were there. The sections varied: children, men, women, armor. The fashion store had it all. The luxurious vibe it gave off, the customers wandering through the maze of products.

"Hi sir. Is there anything you'd like to buy?", a female attendant asked.

"Yeah, I want masks or suits."

"U-uh, okay."

'What a weird combination of clothes. What do kids wear these days?", she thought as the attendant led Archehon towards the section.

An aisle in the corner with masks and another with suits were shown to him.

"Sir, if there's anything else you need, come to the till please."

"Yeah, sure.", he lazily replied.

The boy looked around, through the masks. Many of them were either too fancy or too boring. That eliminated most of his choices and he found a black joker mask. This almost teared him up, remembering the times he would have fun slicing flesh with the mask while nobody knew who he was. After finishing the video of memories, he chose the mask.

The suits section appeared and none of it was to his liking. So he decided to explore the store to find clothes that would at least replace poor clothes. He finally came to a conclusion and decided to take: black cloak, black trousers and a black shirt.

"Alright, that should be enough. This may attract attention but there's nothing I can do about that-"

"Bump!", he felt another shoulder next to his own.

"Fall.", the body fell.

"Ow! Hey! How dare you bump into me!", a screechy and annoyed girl screamed at Archehon.

'I shouldn't cause any trouble. I'm too weak.', he considered.

"Sorry about that."

Archehon continued to walk after apologizing to the girl.

"Hey! Don't ignore me!", a blonde haired girl screamed at Archehon again touching his shoulder.

But that decision was something she would regret.

Archehon turned his head and stopped.

"Let go of my shoulder.", he glared at the arrogant girl.

She felt the bloodlust creep towards her and let go while shouting,

"D-do you know who I am? I'm Linda Halliwell. N-nobody can talk to me that way."

"M-miss Linda, everyone is looking here.", her servant urged her to stop.

She glanced at the other customers and composed herself. By the time she was about to speak,

"Hey-"

Archehon had disappeared.

"H-he..", her face rose red while biting her lips.

"H-how dare he.."

* * *

"Phew.. thankfully I bought the clothes and ran out of the shop in time."

Archehon walked while wearing his black: mask, cloak, shirt, and trousers. He looked like a complete assassin with his fashion style.
Then stepped inside the mercenary organisation building.

The building contrasted everything he had seen so far. The luxuriously brown painted walls, marble floor, crowds of people in the sides and the multiple receptions. It was all professional.

Archehon walked to one of the reception desks.

"Hello sir, I haven't seen you here before, are you here to register? ", the female attendant asked while staying seated with her computer and other items on the table.

"Yes."

"Okay. In the registration process you will need to complete three tasks.."

"
(1) Do a daily commission
(2) Test your physical strength and mana
(3) Do a written test which tests the rules and regulations. "

"Do you understand everything? If you do, how old are you?", the receptionist bombarded him with questions.

"Yes I do and I'm nineteen years old.", he replied neatly.

"You can finish all these tasks within a month. But if you go over the month, you can't register for another two weeks. Have a nice day, sir."

"Yeah.."

"I'll just finish all of it within today, I don't have that sort of time.", he wickedly grinned like how a villain should.

His legs moved casually, not worrying about the process as if it was easy. He reached the board of papers with many different commissions written on it.

An easy task said, 'Walk my dog for (1 bronze coin) while another appeared way beyond that range saying,

'Capture a rank B villain alive for (50 gold coins)'.

There were all types of commission, even to do with beasts. But one caught Archehon's eye,

"Defeat the thugs threatening civilians. Reward is five bronze coins. Any level allowed."

"I guess I know what I'm doing now..", he spoke while snatching off the paper from the wall.

"But before that, let's do the easier tasks first.."

"Receptionist, I'd like to do the second and third tasks and then later on do this task.", he smiled while holding up the paper he took from the wall.

"U-uh, you're going to do the written test now?", she asked in a startled tone.

"Yep."

"Follow me."

The two walked while the attendant led Archehon, moving through the massive hall.

"We're here.", the attendant said when they arrived at another room.

The receptionist showed Archehon a room filled with long desks on the right and left, as well as a board in front of the desks. Judging from the furniture, it looked like an exam room.

After a brief moment, a man walked into the room while Archehon was seated. He had brown hair and a beard.

"Hey, you're here for the written test right?"

"Yes."

"Y-you're not going to keep that mask on now right??", the man asked nervously.

"I am."

"Hoo.. I'm Arnold and I'll be assessing your written test. But don't worry since you'll get enough time to go over the content."

"Here's the book."

Arnold handed a book to Archehon. The book was very thin and wide. More of a kids book.
The boy read through the content in a few minutes.

"I'm ready."

"Let's start then.", Arnold replied.

Not even a few minutes had passed and the kid had walked away from the written test, acing it.

"That was easy.", Archehon talked to himself with a large ego.

"Hello again, sir. Seeing that you've passed the written test we'll test your physical strength and mana.", the female attendant spoke.

"Okay."

Both travelled to another room. One with a white painted walls and floors. In front of Archehon was a large steel machine that quadrupled his height and many measurements from the bottom to the top.

"This machine here, is for testing your physical strength by the amount of force your arm exerts. The required amount you need to pass is 5kg.", the receptionist explained.

"Start whenever you're ready."

"Can I try a test punch?", Archehon questioned her.

"If you'd like, yes."

Archehon warmed up his body with many arm stretches. Then, bent his arm in a punching position with complete focus,

"Hoooo.. Whoosh!"

The wind scattered around after he unleashed his magnificent punch.

"Boom!"

The machine reacted with its robot-like noises and gave out a score,

"Di-ding! Force: 25kg."

"Tch.", he looked away, dissatisfied with his score.

"Congratulations on passing the physical section. Would you like to try again?"

"Nah."

"Okay, now for the mana test, all you need to do is place your hand on the orb to measure the amount of mana you have. But don't worry, this part will not be tested."

'System, show my status window.'

'System

Host: 'Archehon' (Lucifer in previous life)

Level: 5 Title (equipped): Great Masochist

Stats:

Strength: 15 Speed: 18

Dexterity: 14 Intelligence: 13

Stamina: 13 Luck: 22

Mana: 2 Fatigue: 0

Skills:

Talent: Dell's Talent (-9x penalty)

Unused Stat Points: 8

'Can you invest all the stat points into Mana.'

'10>'

"Nice."

Archehon looked at the blue orb and walked towards it. He gently placed his hand on the mysterious sphere. It shined greatly and then coloured itself green.

"Well done, your mana level is F rank.", the attendant told him.

"Yeah.."

"We've finished everything we need to do. The rest is up to yourself.", she said as he exited the room.

"..."

"Just this commission left, huh?", Archehon held the crumpled paper looking at the commission he had picked from the wall.

The two tasks were finished and the boy left the building heading over to the location. Indeed, it was the slums, but not in the same area.

"I'm guessing it's here."

The similar look, smell and touch all united to create the grotesquely infuriating feeling which would annoy anyone not used to it. Fortunately, the unpleasant vibe would struggle to pierce through Archehon who was used to it.

The assumption of the place being isolated disappeared when he heard a sound,

"Stop!"

Was it a voice? Possibly related to his commission.

He sprinted towards the voice as he heard it multiple times. When he approached the loudest possible point of the uproar,

"We told you we would pay you in a few days. Not just that. You raised the payment by double last month, can't you just give us a little more time?!?", a female woman who looked around her forties tried to reason with the thugs demanding payment.

"You bitch.. Don't raise your voice at us!", the skinny brown-haired thug leading them was about to slap her,

Prior to...

Stop. The wrist was gripped by a black joker preventing the terrible act from being committed.

"Huh? Who are you bastard-"

The wrist was controlled by the joker like it was its puppet which threw the leading thug to one of the slums houses.

"Smash!"

"I'm..."

The same terrifying blood-red aura unleashed as the gloomy man introduced himself,

"..about to become a mercenary."