Chapter 5: The Royal Commission

  The momentum of the Mercenary Guild is indeed worthy of the three words "Great Power".

  As soon as he walked in, Pechu felt this unique atmosphere. The Mercenary Guild didn't have absolute faith like the Church, so the only thing that could convince people was strength. Therefore, as soon as he entered, a group of strong men were displayed before Pechu's eyes like exhibits.

  "Kate-senpai, everyone here seems to be incredibly strong." Persephone couldn't help but exclaim.

  "That's necessary to survive in the mercenary world, if you don't have some real power, you'd be dead already," Kate said. "This is a bloody business, don't look down on these people just because they don't have your high-level skills, but in reality, you can't beat them."

  Percy naturally knew this principle, the strength of the seal can only determine part of one's power. Higher-level seals can gain better bonuses and have more magical power, but the seal does not directly affect the magic that the master can use. Higher-level magic still relies on oneself to learn. So although Percy was born with a golden seal, he only had the effect of "greatly reducing the negative effects received, greatly increasing the positive benefits received, greatly enhancing the power of light attribute magic, and greatly reducing the consumption of light attribute magic". If you insist that there is more, it's just that all seals have the universal effect of greatly increasing the master's magical power. However, with Percy's shallow cultivation, he would not receive any positive benefits, and his enemies would not use negative magic on him either. Light attribute magic itself has low consumption, almost never exhausting his magical power. This golden seal was only for show.

  Perseus knew that the true deciding factor of a person's strength was magic and martial arts. Magic referred to the various techniques controlled by magical powers used during battles, while martial arts were physical skills produced in conjunction with magic to some extent. However, it wasn't always the case where magic was primary and martial arts secondary; some people didn't cultivate magic at all and relied solely on martial arts, yet they could still become top-notch experts. Certain inscriptions had amplifying effects on magic, and different types of magic also had restraining effects on each other. These external conditions would influence the distinction between strong and weak individuals. Ultimately, however, strength or weakness depended on one's magical cultivation and martial arts training.

  As soon as he entered the door, a robust man with a strong physique and an intense magical aura came face to face with him. This person was absolutely not a soft persimmon, thought Perseus. Originally, he had some disdain for the profession of mercenary, but now, he immediately put away his contemptuous heart and elevated the image of mercenaries in his mind to a certain height. At the same time, he also elevated the status of some other professions that were not previously looked upon favorably by him, such as thieves.

  Kate walked up to the front desk with ease, tossing a card at the receptionist and saying, "Probationary mercenary Kate reporting for duty. I'm hoping to get an escort mission, preferably headed to the royal capital, and it would be great if it goes through Anlo Town. Of course, we don't mind taking on two missions and switching midway."

  The capital of Spuerville is usually referred to as the "Spuerville Imperial Capital", and only locals would call it the "Royal Capital". Some people have even forgotten its original name, "Pusanroia", and only remember that the city is called the "Royal Capital". Between Pusanroia and the coastal city where the two are located, if they take the official road, they will inevitably pass through "Anlo Town". Therefore, they don't have to worry about not meeting each other. Even if they miss each other, it's just a matter of timing. As long as they make an effort to hurry along, even if they arrive early, as long as they can wait for each other in Anlo Town for a while, the employer should not have any objections. After all, they are from the church and have a huge difference with wild adventurers in terms of combat. In terms of equipment, they are equipped with the best equipment, and in terms of technique, they have the best instructors. What they currently lack is only actual combat experience, but that's not to say they don't have any - who hasn't done tasks in the church? Therefore, they are the most excellent employees, and the Spuerville royal family should be proud to hire such employees, let alone ordinary employers.

  "Such a commission..." The receptionist quickly inquired and gave out the result, "There is only one, but... it's strange..."

  "What?" Kate asked.

  "Mercenary Guild, please take a look." The Mercenary Guild treats all mercenaries equally, so although Kate is just an apprentice mercenary, the receptionist still shows him great respect. However, the receptionist is also a discerning person, and Kate's mission completion rate on his task card is actually 100%, with most of them being top-rated evaluations. Someone who can achieve this honor must be more than just an apprentice mercenary. The only possibility is that this person does not make a living as a mercenary.

  Kate took a close look at the task, but then she returned the form and said, "There's nothing strange about it, this is all normal escort mission content."

  It was written clearly on the top, and it just so happened that it was from here to Pusan Road in Guodu, and other columns were filled out according to specifications. After roughly scanning it, Kate didn't find anything different about this order. He raised his head again, staring at the receptionist with a puzzled expression, hoping she could give him the correct answer.

  "Please take another look," said the receptionist, handing over the form again. This time Kate hadn't even had a chance to glance at it before Perseus pointed something out - "Kate-senpai, look here."

  The "Client" column reads "Spurvian Royal Family". And the "Reward" column is not a general monetary reward, but rather "Royal Direct Grant Reward". This is quite something to talk about. Kate shifted her gaze to the side, and indeed, on the side was painted a sunflower, the national flower of Spurvian. The national emblem of Spurvian is too complicated, so usually in formal procedures, a sunflower is printed as a symbol of the royal family. However, on important occasions, the national emblem will still be used.

  Perse and Kate exchanged a glance, nodded to each other, and Kate stepped forward, saying, "We'll take this order."

  "But...it would be better if more people came to complete this task," said the receptionist. "After all, it's a royal family mission..."

  Kate took out the emblem of the Radiant Knights and said, "We are people of the Church, we can complete this task." The Tashulom Church is an existence that even the Sperwese Kingdom cannot shake, let alone the Mercenary Guild. And the person in front of her is actually a member of the Radiant Knights, so as long as there is such a knight and no one mobilizes the army, this road should be worry-free. Although the Tashulom Church cannot preach extensively in Sperwese, their status is not to be underestimated. The Tashulom Church has at least the combat power of a country, and when its personnel are attacked in another country, the Tashulom Church also has the right to speak equivalent to that of a country.

  At this time, the receptionist couldn't say anything else, so she just registered the task and then said to the two people: "You follow me."

  "Is the client here?" Percy asked.

  "Yes, before the task is entrusted, the Mercenary Guild has an obligation to ensure the safety of the client." The receptionist replied while walking, "However, you two must be careful in answering questions. These clients are very picky about mercenaries and have previously rejected high-level mercenaries."

  The two of them immediately thanked the receptionist for her kind reminder.

  As they followed the receptionist's footsteps, Kate and Perseus arrived at a conference room-like space. The receptionist made a "please" gesture and excused herself. Meanwhile, Perseus and Kate walked right in. As soon as they entered, they became the center of attention for everyone, while they also began to size up the people inside.

  "Identify yourselves." An elder said, meaning for the two of them to introduce their families.

  Kate smiled and picked up the medal that had just been returned, saying: "Member of the Yàohuá Knights."

  "Perseus also flashed his ID card and said: 'Tarsus Church, Executor.'"

  "It seems that your cooperation with us is not just about this?" a young man said, "You two are the reinforcements for 'this task', but I see that you two are quite...young?" Even after the two revealed their identities, this group of people still didn't give them any face, directly questioning their age and inexperience. Although the Spervise royal family couldn't overpower the church, they also didn't need to curry favor with them. The young man's words were a bit too blunt, but it was clear that he himself was also getting angry.

  The royal family sought help from the church, hoping they could help them solve a major problem. But what did they send? Two greenhorns? Are they trying to use the safety of the royal family to train their new recruits?

  Kate didn't care about these things, he was well-bred and not easily angered. He just thought to himself that the reward for this escort mission was over. Although he wasn't particularly concerned with gold coins, he was quite interested in that mysterious "Royal Direct Reward". It seemed that this mysterious reward was actually no reward at all - this group of people probably just came to pick up their own things, and as for the royal reward, it was simply non-existent, what a huge surprise.

  Kate was just curious and wanted to know how the royal family knew he would come to receive the quest. Could it be... Kate thought of a person, Olivira, the Star Festival Priest. If he hadn't hinted for him to take a stroll around the Mercenary Guild, he wouldn't have bothered going to that dump of a Mercenary Guild and instead brought his junior disciple to rush to the Imperial Capital!

  But it's also possible that they just wanted to find a few people to escort them, and I happened to be the one.

  In short, he didn't want to think too much about it. After a moment of silence in his heart, he began to savor the young man's words carefully. When he asked for their age, it was definitely not just asking for their age. Firstly, he suspected that the two were too young, and secondly, there was some implication of "show me what you've got" or "let me see your skills".

  "I'm 23 years old, and I've been appointed as the next captain of the Yuhua Knights. My abilities are beyond doubt, but as for this person..." Kate said after introducing herself, then looked at Perseus and said: "Perseus, show your crest."

  "Hmm." Perseus raised his right hand and infused magic into the seal, a flash of golden light flickered and disappeared.

  "Golden Stamp!" Everyone was moved, they had seen golden stamp impressions before, and some had even seen higher-level impressions on top of the golden stamp. But to have a golden stamp impression at such a young age was simply an impossible thing. Yet, the miracle was right in front of them, and everyone couldn't help but believe it.

  "Don't forget our identities, our seals are all justice seals." Kate continued, "I'm not a golden seal, but I've already become white, Perseus won't use enhancement magic, but I will. As long as the two of us are here, our combat power can increase several times. Golden seal, it's probably able to raise its own received enhancements to 70% or 80%." Kate was actually exaggerating Perseus' strength, he had never known Perseus' true strength and didn't know how many times the justice seal of the golden seal could enhance effects. But he thought that since no one knew the truth, he might as well boast.

  "No, twice that." The old man who had just spoken said, "I once saw a wind system great magician with golden embossed prints. When he cast Gale Slash, his magic consumption was almost negligible. From this point of conservative estimation, the great magician must have saved at least half of his magic power. Although I haven't seen a gold-embossed light attribute magician, during the period from multicolored to silver, the reduction in magic consumption provided by Sharp Void and the gain multiplier provided by Justice are the same, so it should be around twice that."

  Sharp Void is the name of the Wind attribute seal, and the four basic attributes of Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind can provide the owner with less corresponding attribute magic consumption and stronger magic power, so compared to Light and Dark magic, basic attribute magic has more attack power and sustainability.

  Kate was also stunned, he hadn't expected Perseus' seal to be so powerful, even making him a little jealous. Of course, it's normal for him to have such feelings, because Perseus himself didn't realize the effect of his own seal on himself, he had never learned amplification magic, and when others gave him amplification magic, he only felt stronger, that's all. Indeed, the golden seal's magical power was endless, although each expansion of amplification and weakening of negative effects would consume magical power, but he hadn't experienced not receiving the justice bonus amplification, so he didn't know what the effect of ordinary amplification magic was.

  "Alright, pack your bags, we're leaving tomorrow!" The old man said with a slap on the table.

  Let's not talk about the two people's abilities, just having one paladin in the team greatly enhances the team's combat effectiveness. What's more, these two are both very capable fighters, so why not let them join? Moreover, their team's intention is not to find someone for protection...

  "Hold on, Master Kian." The young man who had just spoken interrupted, "It seems we haven't introduced ourselves yet." As he spoke, the young man stepped forward and extended his hand, saying: "My name is Carrel, this is Master Kian, and this is my sister Isul. We're helping the royal family transport a very important cargo, so we can only take small paths along the way. What do you two think?" The girl behind him stood up, took a step forward, bowed, and then sat back down again.

  Carly briefly outlined their plan of action. Although it was a detour, they still had to go through Anluo Town, so Kate didn't have any objections, and Pei Xiu naturally didn't either.

  "Alright then, I'm Kate Serenaga."

  He had just finished speaking when a sharp light flashed in the elder's eyes: "Serenga? You are..."

  "The nephew of Solaris," Kate said with a smile, "the next head of the Yohua Knights!" The full name of Solaris was "Farlan Serenga", who had the most relatives in the church, such as his wife and daughter, but recently his wife died unexpectedly and his daughter went missing. Therefore, when Farlan had nothing to do except chatting with Perseus, he would teach this only relative of his.

  "Perseus Yuelian." Perseus spoke out his own name. When he introduced himself, saying the name was like reciting a mantra, because every time he said his full name, he felt a sense of weightiness. He knew the significance of these two words and the mission he carried on his shoulders. Being able to turn legend into reality made him feel hot-blooded just thinking about it.

  "Perse... faw... " A young man named Carlyle gazed at Perse, repeatedly muttering his name as if exploring the hidden information within these four words.

  It's night.

  Perse and Kate returned to the tavern, where they had not planned to stay overnight and therefore did not book a room. Now they have no choice but to stay here. Before bedtime, Kate said she wanted to talk to Perse about something, so Perse came to Kate's room. Kate sat up straight, sipping her coffee, and asked Perse, "What do you think of the people we met today?"

  "Very strong." Perseus said, "They are really very strong! I couldn't grasp their aura at all! That Gian Master is indeed worthy of the title. His palms were thick and his whole body emitted a strong fiery aura, so strong that it's hard to breathe."

  Pei Xiu truly revered that elder, with his martial arts fanaticism and profound strength. It's probably really rare in the world. After all, there are few people who are content to practice martial arts, but many who seek fame and fortune.

  "What else?" Kate said.

  "Is that all?" Perseus scratched his head and said, "I don't know if there's anything else, I just know they're ridiculously strong..."

  "No wonder you still need training," Kate said, "Let me tell you."

  As she spoke, Kate stood up and stretched out her index finger, asking Perseus one question after another.

  "First of all, they are incredibly strong is undeniable, but since they are so strong, why do they need to come to the Mercenary Guild to submit a request?" Kate's first question had left Perse stunned.

  Perse thought for a moment and said: "Or maybe they need a few people to prop up the door? Or do they need teaching staff to provide benefits?"

  "The answer is wrong." Kate drew a cross without mercy, "If they really needed a few people to support the door, they would have set off long ago. This task has been posted for so many days, and even the receptionist thinks this task is a bit strange. It must be that she has seen it many times. Think about why a receptionist would go see the task list? It's definitely because this task has been hanging for many days without anyone coming to accept it. And think again when we introduced ourselves at first, didn't we say we were from the church? They wouldn't accept us unless we exposed our strength, it's obviously not just a special need for church personnel."

  "Are they going to harm us?" Perseus asked sideways.

  "Alas, innocent child..." Kate sighed lightly, "This temperament of yours is a death sentence in the church... How did Stellar Festival's priest usually teach you..."

  Perseus knew his answer was again far off the mark, and he scratched his head once more. Kate let out a soft sigh and said, "They're here to meet with us, they're from the royal family, the ones who placed this order. They've come to test our abilities and to put pressure on us, to make us understand that we'll be taking orders from them this time around."

  "They have enough strength, why hire mercenaries?" Perse continued to ask.

  "You're getting to the point," Kate said. "They may not be our employers at all, but just a pawn squad. What the employer wants is not mercenaries, but that order. In other words, the employer did not post an order to hire people, but posted an order for the sake of posting an order."

  "To spread this message!" Perseus stretched out his index finger and suddenly said with a burst of inspiration.

  "That's right, at least they got one thing straight," Kate said. "They put out the word that the Royals have something to transport, what does that tell you?"

  "Openly repair the plank road, secretly cross Chen Cang!" Pei Xiu continued to say.

  Perseus thought in an instant, on the one hand, the royal family made a show of it, and on the other hand, they secretly escorted the people who really needed protection to their destination. This clever move left Perseus amazed.

  "That's right, it's roughly their plan, and our task will be completed very smoothly. Also, you said that the old man is very strong, I have to tell you that the girl is actually the strongest. The magical fluctuations on her body are always showing off her hidden strength, of course, if you don't observe carefully, you can't see it." Kate said, "Also, among them, probably only Carl is a member of the royal family! I can't guarantee he's a prince, because as you know, the princes are very young and have been suppressed by Prime Minister Yovanel all along, so his name isn't well-known outside either."

  This reasoning of his left Pershaw deeply impressed, and he was indeed worthy of being a senior member of the church, to be able to infer so much from such subtle clues. However, what actually made Pershaw even more admiring was Kate's refutation of his words. What Kate and Pershaw said were the conclusions they finally arrived at, but before arriving at those conclusions, there must have been many other conjectures that led them there - and what conditions had Kate used to negate those conjectures?

  Olivira taught Perseus a simple and programmatic approach to intelligence processing in just a few steps - gathering intelligence, analyzing intelligence, and solving problems. Perseus is still stuck on the first step of analyzing intelligence at Card Gate, let alone solving problems.

  There are people outside of people, and there is heaven beyond the sky. Perceval felt his own insignificance once again. After bidding farewell to Kate, Perceval lay on his bed, tossing and turning as he thought about Kate's reasoning.

  Three days have passed since the serialization of "刻耀" began, and I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all readers who have supported me, whether you are reading seriously or not. Although the number of clicks is astonishing, the number of collections has moved me to tears. It's a habit of mine to ramble on at the end of each post, which everyone should be familiar with by now. If you enjoy this format, then please continue reading; if not, that's okay too. I'm already exhausted from updating 10,000 characters every day, and it will be even more challenging to maintain this intensity after the new semester starts at university. However, I'll do my best to ensure that each chapter has an update of over 3,000 characters, striving for 4,000, 5,000, or even higher!

  P.S.: This chapter is over 6,000 words long. I'm using my conscience to exchange for your recommendation votes and clicks on favorites! Which one is more: 5,000 times 2 or 3,000 times 3? Those who have studied math should know the answer!

  Finally, this chapter is six thousand words long. Six thousand words, are you guys scared or not? I'm asking you, are you scared or not?!

  August 19, 2014 14:59:15, daily update at three o'clock has arrived