"Ah! You guys are finally here! I've been waiting for you."- Came the voice of Roland as he smiled sheepishly.
The trio turned to look at him as he arrived before them. They wondered what the receptionist wanted from them as Roland spoke again;
"Hehe~ You see Master Borin came back from the Capital, and he wanted to meet you guys."- Roland said as he stood a little distance from Raven.
He didn't give any importance to Ozul as the guy didn't exude even a bit of Mana. Instead, all of his focus was on Blaze and Raven.
Raven knew of Ozul's mood, so she asked;
"And who is this Borin?"- The trio had not heard of someone named Borin that would want to meet them. Raven was also cautious because they did not know the reason for this invitation.
She was cautious, not because she was afraid. It was because Ozul had always taught her to be prepared for what's to come. He had said;
"Even if death awaits in your next step, If you prepare for it, it will be a piece of cake."- But honestly, Raven could not imagine how someone can prepare for death.
Roland awkwardly scratched the back of his head. He could not imagine how youngsters these days did not even know about Master Borin. He explained;
"Master Borin is the head of the Mercenary Guild branch here in Adron City. He has the top authority in the matter of Mercenaries in this whole City."- Roland declared with his head held high.
He expected some reaction from the teenagers in front of him, such as fear, but all he received in return was silence.
"And why has he called us?"- Raven asked after a few moments of staring.
"Oh! Don't worry; it's nothing serious. He just wanted to have a chitchat."- Roland replied while laughing awkwardly. He had informed Master Borin about this team of teenagers, and he wanted to meet them.
Raven glanced behind at Ozul and only when he nodded did she say;
"Okay, lead the way."- Roland had noticed their interaction, and he was curious, but before he could say anything, Raven urged him to lead the way.
They went to the 2nd floor, where only staff members were allowed to go alone.
They walked down the corridor and arrived before an office. When they entered the room, they noticed how huge the room was from inside.
A man in his late forties sat behind a table, and before him was a pile of files. A table and some chairs were placed in the middle of the room.
The man had a visible scar over his left eye to the back of his head. Ozul effortlessly figured out that he was a Rank-5 Mage.
'Must be that Master Borin...'- Ozul thought while he walked past the group and comfortably sat on the chair.
Both Roland and Borin frowned at his impolite manner as they also couldn't sense Mana from this kid. Respect in this world was earned through the power, and such behavior was not acceptable if you are not even a Mage.
However, they did not say a word since the other teammates of his were as powerful as Master Borin himself!
They did not measure Raven's power because of the amount of Mana she released but because Roland had seen her in action. However, Blaze had not yet trained enough to contain his Mana pressure, which quickly gave away his power level.
Borin was surprised to find out that two Rank-5 Mages had joined Mercenary Guild in this City. Becoming a Rank-5 was also the minimum requirement for a Mage to become a Gold Rank Mercenary!
After someone reached Rank-5 as a Mage or Rank-6 as a Fighter, they just needed to complete a certain amount of missions, and they would get promoted to the Gold Rank.
Being a Gold Rank Mercenary had many advantages as it was a Rank only below the Platinum. Even in the entire Adron City, there were only 2 Gold Rank Mercenaries!
Only independent people without any background would become Mercenaries. Hence, the number of people that could achieve Rank-5 alone was not many.
The Guild would provide you many things with discounts and would also be willing to buy materials from you lower than the market prices.
You could also accept the personal Missions under the condition that you would not disclose any information to anyone else.
The Mercenary Guild was strict with its rules, and it had to be as such if it wanted to maintain the current trust that other powers had placed in it.
Master Borin was thrilled to find out that two Rank-5 Mages would join their Ranks!
Since Ozul had decided to take a seat, Raven and Blaze also joined and sat on the chairs. Borin did not mind such an attitude from someone of the same Rank.
"Haha, where are my manners, my name is Borin. You may have had heard of me before."- Borin said while puffing his chest a little.
But it got awkward real quick when the trio just stared at him like they were looking at some clown.
"...*Cough*... You see, I invited you guys here because I learned about your prowess."- Borin was a straight forwards man and wouldn't waste his time on chit chats either.
"And?"- Blaze spoke out for the first time before a stranger! He was beginning to accept his role.
He was a quick learner and always paid attention to how Raven dealt with things that Ozul found annoying. Since he had already adapted to his role, letting Raven do all the talks would be rude.
But Borin quickly misunderstood the situation and assumed Blaze as the leader of the trio. But how could he know that the real leader did not even find him worth his words?!
"Oh, you must be Blaze."- Borin said when he looked at the files of the trio on his table. The data on them only contained necessary information such as their Rank as a Mercenary, their missions, and their names.
"I invited you here to promote your group into a Silver Rank Mercenary team."- Borin said when he received a nod from Blaze.
"I wanted to promote you into Gold Rank directly, but I can't bend the rules to such an extent."- He continued his explanation;
"Even though Silver Rank would not bring many benefits, but I found it necessary to have you guys directly as one."
Borin gestured towards Roland, who presented the trio with their Silver emblems. The Silver badges a bird's claw engraved on each of them.
Blaze just put the badges inside his Spatial Ring. Ozul had instructed Raven to buy him one just this morning.
Borin also did not mind that the trio did not wear the emblems as they were already qualified to have Gold Rank ones. They had just not completed the required amount of missions.
"Even though you guys could not accept any missions above your Rank. Joining another Gold Rank Mercenary or his team in the missions is still acceptable."- Borin said with a face full of smiles.
'He just promoted us to have us do some tasks he needs to take care of earlier. What could have happened to make him bend the rules?'- Ozul thought in his mind.
Count Oliver had told them that the authorities would never allow people to break the rules unless it was necessary. It meant that something had come up for Borin to need urgent assistance from Rank-5 Mages.
Otherwise, Borin shouldn't even have been able to directly promote them to the Silver Rank! They had just joined the Mercenary Guild two days ago!
When the business was done, Ozul stood up and left, followed by Blaze and Raven. Borin and Roland could not understand their behavior as all they could see in Ozul was his unique looks.
But the Blaze guy was not any less handsome either, and Raven was also a beauty!
However, they refrained themselves from asking about their private interactions.
The trio left the office and arrived on the 1st floor. Since they could now accept the Silver Rank tasks, Blaze went to the other end of the board to pick up the hardest missions.
After selecting some tasks, they left the Guild building.