Unsealing Emptiness

Frowned Upon.

The next day, Ozul and the duo arrived at the Guild.

They received a stink eye from everyone else as all the Mercenaries had received the news of the newbies getting promoted to Silver Rank in just two days!

Of course, Ozul’s team could care any less about the opinion of some random nobodies.

Just when they entered the Guild, Roland noticed them and appeared before them in a flash. Before they could ask anything he said;

“I’ve been waiting for you, Ms.Raven and Mr.Blaze.”- Roland said while completely ignoring Ozul in the back. For all his experience as a receptionist, he still couldn’t figure out why Raven and Blaze’s faces showed displeasure right after his greetings.

They would’ve already beaten the guy up if previously they had not received orders from Ozul not to create an unnecessary commotion.

“What do you want?”- Blaze asked with a cold voice. His natural Ice affinity didn’t help to stop the drop in temperature either.

“H-haha... Master Borin wanted to see you.”- Roland awkwardly laughed as he couldn’t figure out what he had done wrong.

.....

Blaze turned his head towards Ozul and saw him nod. Only then did Blaze gestured with his hand for Roland to take the lead.

This time Roland was paying particular attention to their behavior. When he noticed the respect these two Rank-5 Mages gave to Ozul, he realized his earlier blunder.

‘No wonder...sigh. But what is so special about that kid?!’- No matter how much he tried to probe, there was nothing unusual in the kid aside from his otherworldly looks when he removed his pointed hat.

Just when they were walking down the corridor, they could hear the voices from Borin’s office;

“Where had you been, Larry?”- It seemed to be the voice of Borin.

“H-haha... We had to take rest after the mission and couldn’t report yesterday.”- The man Borin referred to as Larry spoke. The man continued;

“Forget about us, where have you been?”-

“Oh, I was summoned to the headquarter in the Capital.”- Borin explained. Mercenary Guild had set up headquarters in almost all the central locations of the Powerhouses on the Mainland.

“Headquarters? Did something urgent came up for them to summon a Branch Master?”-

Larry asked as long-range communications were not a problem for them. There must be something essential for them to summon Borin in person.

“Duke Edwin had issued some important missions. In fact, I summoned you for the same mission.”- Borin said with a grave voice. Just as he was about to explain, Ozul, followed by Raven and Blaze came in.

All the eyes came onto them as Borin welcomed them with a smile. Larry watched with a confused face as he thought he might have seen these people somewhere before.

When Ozul’s group laid their eyes on Larry’s team, it did not take them a minute to recognize their faces.

Blaze and Raven’s faces turned frosty as they glared at Larry’s team. However, Borin did not notice the weird atmosphere and gestured towards the trio to take a seat.

Ozul sighed and began to speak himself since he saw that Raven and Blaze could not take their eyes off of Larry’s team.

“So, why are we here?”

Master Borin was confused as to why the ‘not-even-a-Mage’ kid was talking, but he answered nonetheless;

“I was just explaining this to Larry. You see, due to some reasons, Duke Edwin in the Capital City has issued a secret mission whose details I can’t discuss until you accept the task.”

Ozul’s interest piqued when he learned that his ‘uncle’, Duke Edwin, was involved. Borin continued his explanation;

“Also, due to the difficulty of the situation, you guys will have to work together.”- Borin said while pointing towards both groups.

When Larry heard that he would have to work with some unknown people, he wanted to reject right away. But a certain man with cyan-colored hair spoke out first;

“No! We will not work together with these scums.”-

Not only Borin, everyone else, including Roland, was surprised by his sudden reply! Larry gritted his teeth as he heard the insult. Borin thought that the trio did not know about Larry’s team, so he tried to soothe the situation;

“You may not know them, but he is Larry—One of the only two Gold Rank Mercenaries in Adron City! Just the day before, he came back from an important mission.”-

But no matter how much Borin persuaded, he received no positive response from Ozul’s team.

Larry’s team stood on the sidelines with ugly faces. They felt like some woman who was unwilling to even marry, but was divorced!

Master Borin thought that there might be some grudges between the two teams, so he asked;

“May I ask why do you not want to work together? This will be an opportunity for you guys to get promoted to a Gold Rank!”- Borin said the last part in hopes of convincing them.

The Headquarters had described this to be an essential mission. Duke Edwin had paid a ton of money to make this mission a priority.

“Hm?! You are asking me why we won’t work together with these scums? Ask them!”- Blaze furiously spat. He could not wait to kill them right here, but Ozul had signaled him not to.

Larry could not take it anymore; he was a Gold Rank Mercenary for crying out loud! He bellowed;

“This is enough!!! Master Borin, out of respect to you, I have not spoken a word yet. But I can’t tolerate this guy anymore!”-

Larry and the rest had not seen the faces of the trio that night. So, they still had not recognized the people in front of them.

“Oh? You don’t recognize us? Don’t you remember the people that you passed those Rank-5 Beasts to in hopes so they would ‘kill’ us and you could run away?”- This time, Raven sarcastically said.

When Larry and his team heard those words, their faces turned ashen. Their eyes went wide as their pupils constricted.

After two days, they had tried their best to forget about the incident. Only now did they recognize the trio that they thought to be dead!

Borin and Roland’s eyes also went wide when they understood the implications. It was basically a murder attempt, even if to save your life! Even if a Mercenary’s job included killing and other such tasks, they had their morals.

If it was a normal fight and they killed someone, no one would have asked them any questions. But people heavily frowned upon this kind of act.

Why did people even hire Mercenaries? Only because they were trustworthy!

If the people in question would just run away in the first sign of danger, no one would want to hire their services.

Borin had his doubts about the situation, but Larry’s next behavior cleared those doubts away.

“Y-you... t-that can’t be! T-those were R-rank-5 Beasts! How!?”- He did not even realize that with these words, he had admitted the act.

Larry’s image hit an all-time low in Borin’s mind. All the officials of the Mercenary Guild highly valued their reputation and trust. This act only confirmed that the guy couldn’t be trusted as much.

“This is not about how we ‘survived’, but how we will settle our accounts!”- Blaze said with a sneer.

When Borin saw that the situation was getting out of hand, he intervened;

“Larry! Apologize for your actions.”- Borin knew who to choose between them.

Larry was a Rank-5 Mage; he did not want to lower his head in front of some kids! He spoke;

“B-but...”-

However, he was cut off by Borin who threatened him saying;

“If you do not, I will spread the news! No one will give you any missions after that.”-

Larry’s words got stuck in his throat, and he unwillingly apologized before running out of the room together with his team. Roland also went out when he received the eye signal from Borin.

Only Borin and Ozul’s group remained in the room. Master Borin massaged his temples as he said;

“I know a simple apology is not enough. But I request you guys not to take revenge on Larry. He is a Gold Rank Mercenary, losing him would be a huge loss.”

Raven wanted to refuse him, but Ozul spoke first;

“We will leave this matter here, but what is there for us to gain?”- He didn’t really care about some revenge when he could get something he wanted instead.

“Hm... I can allow you guys to accept the Duke Edwins mission. Before, you could only accept it if there were a Gold Rank Mercenary with you.”

“I can let you guys do the mission alone since you are already qualified. There will be many benefits if you complete the task. You may even be able to form a connection with Duke Edwin!”

‘Exactly what I needed!’- Ozul smiled in his mind, but his face still kept the blank look.

There was an opportunity to get near his ‘parts’, Ozul did not want to miss it since Edwin most likely had them.

“Explain the details.”- Ozul said.

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