"You're not the first one to say that, nor will you be the last," the woman replied and shook her head.
A glimpse of sadness flashed before her eyes and quickly faded. She looked at them and conveyed her meaning through her solemn gaze.
"My name is Henry."
Henry lifted his hand up and offered a handshake to the woman. She looked at his hand reluctantly.
"If you're gonna go die, I don't want to know you…" the woman's words trailed off as she looked into the distance. She reminisced a time only she could remember.
"..."
Henry couldn't help but remember his past life from the look on her face. He wondered what happened back then. Did his disciples live on? It was the question Henry was wondering.
"Uhm."
Felicia blinked her eyes seeing the two of them reminiscence on their own. It became awkward for her to stand there. She didn't seem to belong at this moment.
"Ah! Sorry about that. I will process your forms."
The woman's gaze became cold and distant. She truly didn't want to know them. She glanced at their names and passed them to her assistant behind her.
She then prepared two dog tags and etched numbers on them. These would be their identification out there. When they died, they would leave these dog tags. It would be treated with respect and would never be stolen, unlike other personal belongings.
She briefly explained to them the purpose of the dog tags and shooed them away. She was afraid she'd remember them more the longer they lingered there.
Henry was fine with the cold treatment as long as the process was very fast.
Felicia held her dog tag in her hand as she stared at it in a daze. Never in her life would she imagine that she would become a mercenary today.
"Let's go, Mother," Henry said and walked towards the corkboards filled with requests.
Felicia followed behind him.
Meanwhile, the woman behind the registration desk lifted her head up and looked at the two of them in surprise.
"Mother and Son?"
Henry didn't hear the woman's words, and he didn't care. He needed to find something immediately.
"Foraging… Killing slimes… Rescue… Mana Stone mining… Oh?"
Henry was looking over the requests and reading them when he noticed something peculiar. Mana Stones: they were very useful to magi. Uses ranged from supplying pure mana to enhancing spells.
"Mother, let's take that." Henry pointed.
"Dear…"
Felicia was perplexed by her son's choice. That request wasn't what she imagined she would do as a mercenary.
"You will understand later."
Henry nodded at her. He took the paper and didn't bother explaining. It was better to let her see the results.
The request acceptance process was quite fast. After about five minutes, Henry got a folder filled with details about this request.
They were to head eastward to the only Mana Mine of the city. They lacked labor over there and needed more hands. It was a moderately safe job that only required care and endurance.
Felicia wanted to say something, but she shook her head. She imagined that Henry was doing this for her, so she let him do as he pleased.
The duo headed out immediately. They had nothing except themselves. The walk wasn't hard, but the heat of the sun blasted at them. It made the duo sweat before they could arrive at the Mana Mine.
"Dear, I'm not used to hard labor," Felicia said to remind him.
"It's fine, Mother. You will be a magus after we're done." Henry smiled.
Felicia was confused and shocked. Henry was very confident in his words. She didn't know how he predicted that she would become a magus after. Her son seemed… distant at this moment. She didn't know if he really was her son.
Henry didn't notice the conflicting emotions within Felicia.
They soon arrived at the Mana Mine. Many carts pulled by horses left the Mana Mine in a convoy. Henry could sense the mana stones under the cloth covering.
"Who are you two?" an old man with a well-defined white mustache stopped them.
He sized them up and down. They looked like they got lost.
Henry passed the old man the folder he held.
"OH?"
The old man was shocked. He didn't expect these inconspicuous two to be the ones to accept the request at the City Guild. He shook his head in disappointment.
"What are you two gonna do? Steal Mana Stones?" the old man glared at them. He acted like he caught two thieves in the act.
"How did you know?" Henry responded, feigning shock on his face.
"Hmmm…" the old man squinted at Henry, and looked him up and down, before taking a deep breath. "Ahahahahaha! Good joke! Come. I'll just send another request to the City Guild. I was expecting more to come."
He smiled amicably at Henry and Felicia. Henry faintly smiled and walked into the site. Felicia forced a smile on her face and bowed at the old man.
"I'm the foreman here. You two can ask Dunzel what to do," the old man shouted.
"Thanks!"
Henry walked a bit faster. He was excited. Mana Mines always had the thing he needed within them.
Felicia looked at the job site and frowned at the men hauling bright blue crystals. Some of them were washing the dirt off the crystals, others were carrying them on pushable carts, and some were inspecting them.
She wasn't fond of these kinds of work.
"New labor?" a young and burly man looked at them from the distance.
"Yes. We can help you," Henry answered.
"All right. That old man probably made things hard for you. The name's Dunzel. I'm the assistant of that geezer, but I do all the work. Sigh. Go push a cart inside the cave and shovel the raw mana stones then come back out."
Henry nodded his head in understanding. Felicia was curious about what Henry would do, so she didn't hesitate to nod her head too.
Henry grabbed a cart and entered the cave. Felicia followed behind him with her own cart. Soon, they arrived near a pile of raw mana stones.
These mana stones were covered with mud, dirt, and dust. They didn't look pretty unlike the washed ones outside.
Henry ignored those and keep going. They passed by many others who also pushed carts. The cave slowly inclined down. The only lighting here was the torches lined up along the cave walls.
They passed many piles of raw mana stones. Henry seemed to know this cave as he went left and right without any hesitation. This only confused Felicia more as she didn't know how he seemed to know where to go.
"Do you smell that?" Henry asked Felicia as a soothed expression filled his face. It seemed like the smell was something good.
"What smell?"
Felicia blinked her eyes at him. She sniffed around but noticed nothing different. The whole cave smelled the same as before.
"There's Mana Nectar here," Henry answered and grinned.
He hurried his pace, and Felicia followed behind him. She didn't know what this Mana Nectar was, but it sounded good from Henry's reaction.
They reached a part of the cave where the torches became fewer and fewer. Finally, it was complete darkness, and Henry had to create a ball of flame.
He stopped before a spot and sniffed the wall.
"It's beyond here…"
Felicia looked over and didn't notice anything different on the wall.
Henry moved his hands in weird motions as a tiny brown crystal appeared in front of his chest. It slowly rotated and emitted rumbling waves that could be felt from one's chest.
Henry pushed it to the cave wall. The moment it got near, the cave wall was repelled and a small opening appeared. It continued for a foot before dissipating.
Once it was done, a tiny white droplet emitting waves of mana appeared at the lower lip of the hole. It was about to fall to the ground when Henry put his mouth under it and caught it in his mouth.