Chapter 29
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Alize Mercenary Corps Headquarters
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"Ruyan, we're here. This is the Alize Mercenary Corps office."
At Alize's words, Ruyan looked up and spotted a charming two-story building with a garden courtyard that wasn't half bad.
'Unexpectedly well-off.'
It was modest in scale, but setting up such a proper office in a big city like this wasn't easy.
Even Ruyan, who didn't know much about the Sobles Continent, could tell that much at a glance.
'The presences inside the mercenary office... four in total?'
A small-scale mercenary corps with just five members including Alize. It was a rather lean lineup compared to their reputation.
'Well, numbers aren't everything.'
The Demonic Cult, which commanded 100,000 warriors, had fled from a single Divine Bow.
Overwhelming skill rendered numbers meaningless.
"What do you think? Like it?"
"It's decent enough."
Alize looked like she wanted to boast a bit more, but Ruyan gave a curt reply and started walking ahead.
"That's it? Do you know how much trouble I went through to get this office?!"
Alize stared at Ruyan's back in disbelief before hurriedly following.
This was clearly her home turf, yet it felt like the guest had taken charge.
As Ruyan opened the door and stepped inside, two men poked their heads out from a room.
"Alize, it was noisy outside."
"Obviously. She must've caused a scene at the gates again."
The two men, chattering away as they peeked out, finally noticed Ruyan and widened their eyes.
"Who're you?"
"Who're you?"
The exact same words tumbled from both their mouths.
And it wasn't just their words that matched.
Surprisingly, their appearances were nearly identical—perfect twins.
They had light brown hair, thick eyebrows, narrow eyes, and faces that screamed mischief.
Their small eyes and noses contrasted with large mouths and thick lips, from which words now poured out nonstop.
"Here for debt collection?"
"Or did Alize cause some trouble?"
It seemed like this happened often enough.
'Always like this, huh? What an unpredictable woman.'
Ruyan swallowed a wry chuckle inwardly as he eyed the two men closely.
Aside from one having long hair and the other short, he couldn't spot a single difference.
'Twins?'
As Ruyan sized them up, Alize, who had followed him in, barked in a thuggish tone.
"What do you mean, what trouble did I cause? Someone might misunderstand!"
"Looks like you're causing some right now."
"Who's that guy? Too old to be a secret boyfriend..."
The identical twins kept jabbering endlessly until Alize raised her fist, at which point they finally shut up.
"Don't say stupid stuff! He's the new guy. Everyone, come out!"
Alize shouted up at the second floor, and soon thumping footsteps echoed as two more people came down.
With the whole mercenary corps assembled, Alize jumped right into introductions.
"This is Ruyan. He'll introduce himself, so first, meet the family."
Ruyan nodded silently, and Alize's gaze first landed on the twins.
"Those twins over there: long hair's Eric, short hair's Eddie. They always bicker over who's older, but it doesn't matter, so just ignore 'em."
At Alize's curt introduction, the twins bristled in unison.
"Doesn't matter?! It's the most important thing in life!"
"Yeah! This ill-mannered punk keeps trying to climb over me!"
"That's exactly what I was gonna say, you ill-mannered jerk!"
Eric and Eddie were already in their mid-twenties, but their snarling at each other was downright childish.
"See? Best to ignore them. Still, they're Sword Experts, so you can trust 'em in battle."
Sword Expert.
It was a classification Ruyan had never heard before.
Digging through his memories, he confirmed it existed there too.
'Expert. The realm where one can wield sword ki proficiently?'
In Murim terms, peak masters.
Among the knights Ruyan faced in Mason Village, the particularly elite ones were Sword Experts.
Gawain, who had chased him, was one too.
'Impressive achievements at such a young age.'
Ruyan sensed substantial internal energy flows from the twins.
They were the kind who could walk into any knight order and get elite treatment right away, yet they stuck with this small mercenary corps. Quite intriguing.
"Ruyan, nice to meet ya. If anything comes up, ignore Eddie and talk to me."
"Yeah. Dump the annoying stuff on Eric; he'll handle it. Grunt work's for the little bro, right?"
Even as they greeted Ruyan, Eric and Eddie subtly undercut each other.
But Alize, long used to it, ignored them and moved on.
"The guy who just came down is Gerard, the baby of the group. He's shy and doesn't talk much, but deep down, he's a real man's man."
Maybe just turned twenty.
His boyish eyes held an innocent look, but his body was the real surprise—a walking slab of muscle, like a gorilla in human form.
'Whoa, even in Murim, that level of muscle isn't common...'
Gerard's internal energy marked him as a first-rate warrior—a Sword Beginner at best—but his sheer physical intimidation was no joke.
After Alize's intro, Gerard just nodded silently.
That massive frame paired with a shy personality made it all the more awkward.
'His reticence is to my liking.'
Ruyan returned the greeting with a nod of his own, no words needed.
Then the woman who had come down with Gerard stepped forward.
"Cloyang."
She looked about Alize's age, with striking pink hair cascading to her elbows.
Clad in form-fitting leather armor, with throwing daggers strapped to her forearms and thighs—a female warrior through and through.
"I know I don't look it, but I'm a priest of the Vela faith. Try not to laugh outright."
Even Ruyan, unmoved by all the prior commotion, couldn't hide his surprise this time.
'That unique aura... so she's a priest?'
Priest! A bizarre mage wielding holy magic.
Supposedly tied closely to gods, but to Ruyan, they were just peculiar mages.
'Fascinating indeed.'
He'd long been curious about priests.
'I thought it'd feel like heretical voodoo, but it's totally different.'
Meeting one only deepened the mystery instead of resolving it.
The energy from Cloyang's body wasn't the natural mana kind.
'Does she really borrow a god's power?'
As Ruyan stared intently, Cloyang misinterpreted and awkwardly scratched her chin while stepping back.
"The daggers... they're just a last resort. Even priests need to protect themselves, right?"
Realizing his blunder, Ruyan averted his gaze and nodded.
'Fair point. Proper mindset.'
Over-relying on one strength was unwise. To survive, you needed everything.
As an archer, Ruyan agreed wholeheartedly.
'This mercenary corps is way more interesting than I thought.'
Now it made sense why Alize Mercenary Corps had such renown.
Twins already at the peak realm, a young beast honed to physical perfection.
Plus a priest's special powers—results would follow naturally.
'Above all, Alize. She's the key.'
Alize was nearing the super-peak.
By Sobles standards, on the verge of Sword Master.
'Maybe she's even grasped the basics of sword aura.'
Compared to the knight commander from Mason Village five years ago, it was too close to call.
A paper-thin difference.
'Not even thirty yet, and already brushing super-peak. Murim's later-generation folks would flip.'
This little group hid potential rivaling a full knight order.
As Ruyan admired her inwardly and turned, Alize awkwardly rolled her eyes and looked away.
"I'm... Alize, as you know. I swing a big sword, and that's about it."
Introducing herself seemed embarrassing; her cheeks flushed as she pretended otherwise.
A fresh contrast to her charismatic guild presence.
"Ugh! What's with that look?!"
"Alize! Drop the ladylike act! My eyes are rotting!"
The twins pounced on the chance, but retreated with lumps on their foreheads.
"Don't get too chummy with these idiots. Anyway, Ruyan, your turn."
With Alize paving the way, all eyes turned to him.
Then Ruyan got why she'd been so awkward about self-intros.
He had no clue what to say in a spot like this.
"Uh... Ruyan."
After agonizing, that's all he managed before clamming up again.
The others waited for more, but when nothing came, baffled looks spread.
"Wait, that's it?"
"Yeah."
Ruyan's firm reply blanketed the office in silence.
"O-okay. Quiet type, huh."
"Worse than Gerard?"
Eric and Eddie exchanged glances, testing the waters.
Even for those chatterboxes, the silence was an intimidating wall.
Unable to bear the awkwardness, priest Cloyang stepped forward.
"You use a bow, right? Mind if I ask your current realm?"
Cloyang asked, but eyes sparkling from the side belonged to Alize.
She hadn't dared ask, but no one was more curious about Ruyan's skill.
'No normal guy slips past my senses like that.'
Alize had spotted his extraordinary nature first.
That low voice halting her in the mountains.
Fleeting, but it carried an overwhelming presence she couldn't resist.
'Even average knight commanders don't have that. He's the real deal.'
By her guess, at least Sword Master!
Just how far did his true realm go?
'No matter the answer, stay cool. Act unfazed.'
Alize schooled her face, zeroing in on his lips.
After a long pause, Ruyan finally spoke.
"3rd Circle Mage."
"Got it. Impressive... what?!"
Her resolve to stay calm crumbled instantly.
"What're you talking about? Why's a mage carrying a monster bow like that?!"
"Problem?"
His utterly nonchalant response left Alize speechless for a beat.
But she couldn't let it slide.
It sounded reasonable at first, but it wasn't the same at all.
"No, for self-defense, use something sensible! That's just a brutish weapon to lug around!"
"Don't worry. I use the bow too."
Alize was dumbfounded again.
A bow-wielding mage.
A horrific hybrid she'd never imagined stood before her.
"Alize, who the hell did you bring?"
Eric's words echoed hollowly. It was exactly what Alize wanted to ask.
'What the heck is this guy?'