"Gorkuis will be training me for the next two weeks?" Leroy asked Harry, his expression puzzled.
"That's his punishment for questioning my orders" Harry replied with a wide grin on his face.
'If he's going to train me then I have to do everything I can during this time to absorb everything he has to teach and most importantly I need to learn how to wield mana so that I can boost my attack and defense and practically every part of battle' Leroy thought as he got excited inside while thinking of all the possibilities that he would unlock with mana
In this world everyone had mana but they just didn't know how to use it.
But even then people had different amounts of mana with some being born as prodigies with a mana capacity of hundreds of times that of a regular civilian but even if you had super low mana capacity, you could still train enough so that you increased it.
Leroy then just sat there as he thought of all the ways he possibly could increase his battle prowess with mana.
At this point, however, it was all his imagination, it wasn't as if he knew how mana worked or if any of his thoughts were possible. At that moment Leroy was just a kid who had found a new toy in front of him and was thinking of all kinds of ways to play with it.
A while later the other members of the Jackals started getting out of the Inn, wearing their battle gear and ready for a fight at any moment.
Everyone who came outside nodded at the captain as well as Leroy.
'It seems the captain's plan worked and they have started to accept me more into the group' Leroy thought as he stared at the members and then turned his eyes towards his captain who was still sitting while closing his eyes right next to him.
'He's much smarter than people give him credit for' Leroy thought as he had heard all the bullcrap people talked about the Jackals, about how they were some kind of wild animals that didn't know anything besides war and battle and that they were all crazies.
'While it's true that they train every day and have fought with each other, that doesn't mean they're crazy. No in fact it's them who are crazy, living in this world and not trying to get stronger to at least hold onto their lives.' Leroy thought as he shook his head with disgust.
Finally, almost a full hour since Leroy had arrived here, everyone was outside waiting for the captain to give the order to start heading out.
Their mission this time was bound to be one of the toughest they had gotten for a while.
Getting up on his feet, Harry turned towards the members and asked in a loud voice.
"Is everyone here and ready"
"Yes sir" all of them responded, Leroy included.
Leroy had studied the interactions between the members and captain the last week and so he had made adjustments to his demeanor and how he talked and acted so that he could fit in better and thus cause fewer problems for himself.
"Good, We will first start by heading towards the Baron's house where we will pick up the heir" With that Harry just turned around and started walking as all the Jackals followed him behind.
'My first mission, it's officially started' Leroy thought as he followed the captain as well.
As they passed through the streets, they could see some of the early risers of SteelBurn but as soon as they saw the Jackals they would disappear immediately.
'The jackal's infamy is bigger than I thought, I knew people feared them but I thought it was only on the mercenary street, not the entire city.' Leroy thought as he looked around at the people who were disappearing from view immediately as soon as they saw the group.
"You wondering why that's happening eh" Henry said as he arrived beside Leroy.
"I knew that our reputation was shit but I didn't expect it to be this bad" Leroy replied to him.
"It's mainly because of what happened after a battle we had during a mission, we were all badly injured when we arrived at SteelBurn and just as we were going to the Inn to heal up, we were stopped by the guards, one of our members was in dire need of help otherwise he would die and we told them such but they didn't care, one of them even telling us to pay him money," Henry said while his face turned furious.
"What happened then?" Leroy asked as they continued walking towards the Baron's manor.
"The captain went to the guards and asked them once again to let us go but they didn't and so he killed them," Henry said as a grin went to his face.
Leroy looks at Henry oddly
'Never mind, they're definitely nuts, the civilians are right'
"He did it in a flash, it was like one moment the guards were there and the next their heads were on the ground, it was truly amazing and that was the day I gave the captain my full loyalty and trust"
"What happened after that? I sure killing guards isn't something that the city lord would just leave alone" Leroy said as he furrowed his brows
"Is the reason we are doing this mission as punishment for killing the guards?" Leroy then asked as he turned to face Henry.
Then Leroy felt an arm hold his shoulder, turning to his left he saw that it was Ordio, the archer of the group.
"That's not the case, the captain killed the guards about seven months ago now, and even then we didn't get punishment for it," Ordio said as he started walking next to Henry and Leroy.
"Why?" Leroy asked once again, a puzzled expression on his face.
"It's because this is SteelBurn and while the civilians would have wanted us to get punished and so would the guards, they can't as mercenaries would most likely rebel, and without mercenaries then there isn't any need for so many blacksmiths, and without them, the city's economy would just collapse and so the city lord very smartly simply decided to ignore the entire matter," Ordio told Leroy as he put his hands in his pockets and continued looking around the street.
"I see," Leroy said and at that moment a voice was heard from the front of the marching Mercenaries.
"We have arrived, we will be waiting at the gates for a few minutes until the Heir comes out and then be starting this mission for real" Harry loudly said at the Jackals.