425 Adventurers Inc. (1/2)
UN, Sea Cliff Mining and Dungeon Town
”Whahahahahahaa!” Boisterous booming laughter greeted Justze and Ciel as they entered the huge barn's side door. They saw a small group of men and women gathered around a corner of the large barn, seated around a table on sofas and drinking away merrily.
Justze swept his eyes over the interior of the barn, seeing the centre of the barn was filled with three magic wagons, called 'kars' in the hoomans' language. One was them was almost twice the size of the rest of the 'kars' and had large plates of steel bolted around its sides. Tools and various metal parts were stacked and piled on one corner while a small windowed enclosed room sat on another corner of the barn.
The people drinking away finally noticed the two newcomers and one of them approached Justze and Ciel at the door. ”Hello! Can I help you two?”
Justze realised that the person speaking to them had a skin tone of that of charcoal and it was not the trick of the light and shadows. He next noticed that the dark skinned man's white teeth smiling at him and Ciel and that he was a hooman, due to his short rounded ears.
”I- I am Justze!” Justze introduced himself. ”And this is Ciel, my partner.”
”Hello, Justze and Ciel,” The dark skinned man remained smiling and stretched his hand which Justze and Ciel learnt that shaking hands was a sign of friendship among the people of the UN. ”I am Karl, Karl Freeman. Boss and leader of the Adventurers Inc.”
”So, what brings you here? Business or?” Karl gestured the two to follow him into the side room where several work desks and stacks of cabinets occupied the room. He closed the door and the outside sounds were damped away and gestured to Justze and Ciel to sit down.
”Ahem... We saw your recruitment ad...” Justze said. ”We like to work for you.”
Karl's rosed an eyebrow at Justze's words. He carefully observed the young man and girl, seeing their neat, but over worn clothes, and slim bodies. He shook his head, ”I am sorry, we do not hire children.”
”But we are over eighteen!” Justze and Ciel both slapped their ID cards on the desk before Karl who chuckled at their actions. ”W- We are legally able to work under the laws of the UN!”
Karl picked up their ID cards and took a quick glance over them before he returned it back. ”Tell me, why do you wish to join my company?”
”W- We saw your ad looking to recruit anyone that enjoys adventuring and knows how to fight...” Karl replied. ”We know magic and are proficient in swords and bows too! And we... we used to be with the Imperial Army...”
”Do you know what my company... Adventurers Inc. really does?” Karl asked again.
”Erm...” Both Justze and Ciel was confused by the question. ”Kill monsters?”
”We do kill monsters,” Karl shook his head. ”But that is not the true operations of my company. We are mercenaries...”
”And not just any normal mercenaries...” Karl said. ”We get paid to venture into the unknown regions... Paid to protect goods or merchants that need to cross dangerous territories filled with monsters... Or paid to explore dungeons...”
”This is our job scope...” Karl replied and he stood up and opened the door of the office. ”My company dues with death every single time we go on a mission. This is not a place for playing and kids! My advice to you if you really need a job is to go find one at the Employment Office in the town hall. I am sure they have something suitable for you.”
”Wait!” Ciel cried out. ”We can help your company become stronger!”
”Stronger?” Karl frowned. ”And how will you do that?”
”W- We are Elementalists!” Ciel said. ”I am a Fire Elementalist and he is an Earth Elementalist!”
Karl's gave a grudging nod, ”Now that might change my mind on hiring you... But how can that help me and my company become stronger?”
”Show him!” Ciel whispered to Justze, urging him from behind. ”Go on!”
Justze gestured to the pile of scrap metal parts and asked, ”Can I use those?”
Karl took a look at the parts before he nodded, ”Sure... Go ahead, wow me!”
Justze dug into his side pouch and took out a piece of chalk mixed with arcane components. He started drawing complex runes and diagrams on the concrete floor while Ciel picked through the scrap metal. Their actions soon drew the attention of the rest as they crowded around Karl, sipping their mugs and watching the show.
”Say, Boss,” A large muscular elf with a bald shiny head asked. ”What are they doing?”
Karl gave a shrug and placed a finger on his lips to hush the rest. ”Watch and stay quiet for now.”
Ciel finally gathered what she wanted, had set the small pile of scrap before her and she too started to draw a complex runic diagram but at a much much smaller scale compared to Justze. She finished her magic formation while Justze was still working on his and she waited till Justze finished and gave her a nod.
Ciel took out a couple of small fiery red mana stones from her pouch, it was the last of their stores and she only briefly hesitated, before she placed them on the formation nodes, and sending in her own mana to power the spell.
The scrap metal pile inside Ciel's magic formation started smoking before the metal glowed red hot and Karl and his men watching at the side could feel waves of heat coming from the spell. Ciel gave a grimace as she injected more of her mana into the formation and the glowing metal bubbled and melted into a small puddle.