"What? Our mercenaries can't choose this mission?"

"Um...yes, because your initial rank is only E-rank, and this mission requires a C-rank."

The receptionist behind the counter smiled at Bai Yueguang and said. Meanwhile, Bai Yueguang was staring at his newly obtained mercenary certificate with a bitter smile.

"It's not easy to find a decent-looking mission, but it seems like our rank isn't enough. Do we really have to start from the bottom? How long will it take..."

Hei Luoli also complained beside him, but Oyado was sitting next to them in a daze, still trying to process what had just happened.

Alright, it's almost time to greet them. If nothing else, we can't let Oyado be sad for too long. What if she accidentally turns dark?

Taking advantage of the people around me not paying attention, I quickly approached Bai Yueguang and switched back to my original appearance in an instant, where my face couldn't be seen. But to be more covert, I put on my Reality Goggles.

"Hello, please add these three people to my squad, so they can accept this mission, right?"

"Uh...oh, sure. Can I see your mercenary certificate first?"

Ignoring the look of "Why did you just show up" from Bai Yueguang and the look of surprise and joy from Hei Luoli and Oyado, I handed over my badge.

"Well, let me see..."

The other person's pupils suddenly enlarged!

Then they looked at me, and then at the terminal in front of them.

"Mr. Yuri Fuer...is that correct?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Mercenary Rank A, able to accept A-level and below missions, and the maximum squad size is 50. Data confirmed, this is your mercenary certificate, please keep it safe...Is there anything else I can help you with?"

The tone of the other person became respectful, although receptionists use polite language as part of their job, their voice seemed a bit unnatural.

"Also, please help me accept the mission I just selected~"

I responded with a smile.

"Brother!"

Oyado suddenly jumped onto my shoulder and hugged my head.

"Great! Brother wasn't dead after all!"

"Hey hey hey, don't just assume someone is dead so easily..."

I sighed bitterly.

"I told you before, this guy is lucky and won't die."

Bai Yueguang nodded calmly and said.

"Obviously... You know I can resurrect myself, that's why you say that. Besides, I didn't actually die, just near-death."

"Okay, okay, Oyado, get off my head. Although you're light, sitting on my shoulder... "

"No! Brother, you worried me all night, so sitting on your shoulder is your punishment!"

"Well...fine."

After thinking about it, I agreed.

After all, it's a good thing to have Oyado speaking so innocently. If she turns dark, no one will be able to stop her here.

"But before that, let's go somewhere else to talk."

While saying that, I pressed my face with one hand, and a large tattoo appeared on my face.

"People like us shouldn't be easily recognizable, let's go."

Our group left the mercenary guild hall and headed towards the old town area of the city.

This place is actually a small town on the border of the Ais Empire, and it is the closest city to the Gray Academy. After leaving the school that day, it took me less than half an hour to reach this town using all of my acceleration skills, and I disguised myself as a mercenary and settled down.

The name of this city is "Dongsacheng", one of several cities on the eastern side of the Ais Empire. Although it is located on the country's border, it is still a major trading center due to its proximity to the Gray Empire. However, the fate of this place is uncertain.

If it weren't for the Gray Academy and Duoge Academy, this central area of the empire would become a habitat for monsters, as some of the students practice with them.

Although all the countries want to occupy this place, it is difficult to determine who will eventually take control. It is likely to be deadlocked for a while.

This period of time is a good opportunity for mercenaries to search for relics of the two academies and hunt monsters, as can be seen from the increasing number of mercenaries in the city in recent days and the constant increase in search missions on the task board.

As we walked, I spoke.

"The number of mercenaries here will continue to rise, so we should find a secluded place to stay. After all, your missions start in the afternoon. By the way, what exactly happened to you guys at that time? I walked out of the ruins and then got blown away. What happened exactly?"

"At least you know there was an explosion... We only found out when we woke up."

Bai Yueguang answered me.

"We saw you walk out of the door, and then we lost consciousness."

"When we woke up, we were lying in a hotel room in the city. It's really a failure. We were knocked out without feeling anything. It's so annoying!"

Oyado said indignantly.

"I see... Well, Oyado, you don't have to worry about it. After all, our opponents are illusionists, the natural enemies of all occupations. We can't do without some tricks of our own. Her only advantage is creating illusions like that. We'll have to rely on other strengths for everything else. In short, it seems that the other party doesn't want to kill us..."

Most likely they are worried that we will become angry and turn against them.

To be honest, what they did didn't have much impact on me, as we don't have many concerns in this world as people who came from another world.

But...

It's rare to make so many friends in this world. I feel guilty if I don't help them.

And if they harm these people... ah, then we will have no more worries and only PvP with "Snake Eyes" every day, right?

No matter how you look at it, it's not a good thing. For now, let's lay low, figure out Snake Eyes' plan, and then go back to find Princess Cher.

However, if we want to investigate, we need the support of an organization like the "Red Leaf Squad".

So for now, let's do mercenary missions and try to contact Fran. Since it seems that there are no terminals we can use in this place, we'll probably have to find a bigger city, like "Meile City" in the Witte Empire that our mission is to go to, the trading center for artworks in the western continent.

Speaking of which, that place is still Princess Anne's territory.

Princess Anne's name is not on the death list, so there shouldn't be any problem.

"Their goal is not to kill us... It seems that we have been underestimated." Hearing Hei Luoli say this, I looked at Bai Yueguang discontentedly.

Why did you teach him this kind of villain dialogue?

"They just hope that we won't interfere with their affairs." I replied with a bitter smile.

"They put you all in a hotel in another city and put everyone's names on the death list just to distance ourselves from this matter and establish our own identities. In other words, they don't want us to get involved."

"I see..."

"Which means that Ms. Mary and the others are probably nearby, but we just haven't found them."

"I have sent them a message." Bai Yueguang suddenly messaged me privately.

"But they haven't responded."

"I see..."

I thought for a moment.

"Well, they probably have their own plans, so let's focus on our investigation for now. After all... we have nothing better to do, right?"

"..."

We looked at each other.

"Yeah... it seems so."