As Bell walked back to the table, he saw Zard and Bernard looking at each other with a cheerful grin. Not a hint of surprise seemed to be on either face as they turned to face Bell. On the other hand, Bell was completely confused.

"Um, Uncle..."

"You want to ask why it was so easy?"

"Yes."

Bell didn't want to sound too full of himself, but Isaac and his group fought very sloppily in his eyes. They were simply throwing blows without any consideration at all. Compared to his uncle's punches or his mother's quick hands, it seemed almost laughably easy to find a way to use that against them.

"Remember what I said when we first started training? People tend to rely on the power of a Falna way too much when they start out, which means they usually lack the proper training to pull it off. The group you just fought was a typical case of that. Obviously, the one who's trained more-you were going to win. I'm actually surprised you thought you were going to lose."

Zard seemed to be holding back his laughter as he explained. In the meantime, Bernard began pouring another glass of water and handed it to Bell.

" you!"

"No problem. Just call it thanks for not causing too much damage to the place. It would be a pain trying to fix broken tables and such." As Bernard spoke, he turned to another group lazily playing cards. "Hey, can one of you guys get some potions or something to treat those idiots on the floor?"

"Ehh, do we really have to? I mean they asked for it, and Isaac's gonna be raging when he gets up anyway." complained one of them.

"I don't wanna be there when that happens." groaned another.

"I'll give a free drink for the guys that do it. Still don't want to?"

"Alright! If no one else is doing it, I sure will!" yelled another mercenary.

"Hey, wait, that's unfair!"

As the first mercenary cried out, others immediately shot up from their tables and went to pick up the groaning men.

Seeing the look of amazement on Bell's face, Zard laughed again. "Can't blame them. Nothing sounds sweeter than a free drink."

"Sorry about that. So where were we again?"

"You were talking about the basics of a mercenary, Mr. Bernard."

"Ah, yes." Nodding his head, Bernard began to resume the previous conversation. "Since you're Zard's disciple, I assume you're planning on taking hunting-type quests?"

"Hunting-type?"

"Basically, monster-killing quests." said Zard " Mercenaries can do any sort of work, but a lot generally tend to choose just one or two types of quests that they're the best in. People like me, who specialize in monster hunting are called Hunters. Others who take on bodyguard quests for a client are called Guardians. Quests to gather intelligence for a client or group are taken on by Informa mercenaries. The list goes on but that's the gist of it.

Bernard grinned and continued "Depending on the results and amount of official quests that they've taken and succeeded in, they can also get a better approval from the client and improve what we call a Rank."

"Rank…"

"A mercenary with a high Rank can sometimes be sought after personally for their skills. Ranks go from I to S like how a Status like the number of quests to, your general level of strength can determine your Rank. Since a mercenary's level is generally not public information, a Rank is one way to show how impressive the achievements you've built up to your client. Since you're just starting out, Bell, you're considered an I rank.

"I Rank." Bell nodded slowly before turning to Zard again. "Hey, Uncle, what's your Rank?"

"Me? I'm a B-Rank."

"Eh?" Bell gaped.

"What's that look for, Bell?:

"N-no, I just thought you'd be at S-Rank for sure."

In his mind, his uncle was a warrior far beyond his reach, so the idea of there being much more powerful people out there in the world, didn't seem possible

"Hey. It's just that I haven't done this mercenary business for as long as those guys. He took a swig of his drink before letting out a confident laugh. "But I wouldn't lose out to any S-Rank in a fight!"

Bernard nodded slowly. "Well I suppose that's true. You're an exception, Zard but the S-Rank mercenaries have been at it for decades and are all monsters in their own right."

Monsters…

"Um, Mr. Bernard, how many are there?"

"You mean S-rank mercenaries?"

Bell nodded slowly.

"Right now, there's three of them."

"Three…Wait, just three?!"

"Yes. In the entire world, there are only three S-ranks." Bernard lifted his fingers as he spoke. "Knight of Knights from Poseidon Familia, Ardor Lady from the Far East, and Valkyria from Odin Familia. All of them are powerful mercenaries that can hold their own against even that Orario's first-tier adventurers."

"..."

In the entire world, there were only three mercenaries who had similar power to his uncle and mother..

Bell was once again reminded of the sheer distance between him and the goal he had to reach.

"Heh, to think I'd see the war maiden and that knight be at the current top of the world along with the boar and little hero. I've sure lived a long life." Zard let out a low chuckle as he murmured softly to himself.

"Well, the rest is better learned if you experience it yourself. If I had to give you one last piece of advice it would be to set your own rules and make them your highest priority. That's pretty important."

"You mean to put my life first?" asked Bell, tilting his head.

"It depends. If your life or goals are your priority, then that's fine. It 's not always the same for everyone. After all, we've got a guy right next to us who has other ideas" said Bernard, looking right at the red-haired man.

Zard coughed lightly. "Well, its the same as when I was an adventurer. No matter whatever the Guild or others would demand us to do, all of us generally play by our own rules first. Whether you're an adventurer or mercenary, it's something you need to have eventually. Always put what you believe is right, first before anything.

"Ok, I'll try…"

Bell didn't quite understand everything they were saying, but the look in their eyes was serious despite the smiles on their faces. He would have to take it to heart.

"So, Bernard, what requests do you have today?"

"Well, most of the requests we've got today are the same as always. If you want something a little special, though, I might have one for you."

"Mr. Bernard!"

"Hmm?"

Before Bernard could continue, another man, likely in his twenties, practically burst into the bar and immediately called out to him.

"You seem out of breath? What happened?" asked Zard.

"Oh, Black Knight…"

The man slightly froze looking at Zard, but it seemed like his urgency won over his fear as he quickly turned back to Bernard.

" , it's happened again! Another attack down on the east side of the city!"

Bernard groaned. "...Seriously? That's the fourth time it's happened this month, Looks like this is really starting to be a problem."

"The military police have made an official request for the Wanderers! It seems like they're offering 70,000 valis for the capture of the individual."

"Someone is attacking?" asked Bell.

"A 70,000 bounty and it's inside the city, huh?" Zard whistled.

"I see… Well I'll put it up on the request board…"

"Wait, Bernard, I'm interested. What's this request about?"

"Are you sure? I don't think this'll be a fun job for you, though?"

"Just let me hear it." insisted Zard.

"Well, ok…" Clearing his throat, he began to speak "Over the last month, there have been strange attacks inside the city, around the eastern area. From what we can tell, it seems to be just one person, not a group. The first two attacks aimed around the food stalls and shops. While no one was injured, the damage to the properties was immense. It was almost like a beast had attacked. A large amount of food was also destroyed or taken oddly enough."

"You said the first two?" Zard narrowed his eyes. "So I'm guessing the third wasn't so peaceful?"

"The third time, they managed to injure some of the people working at the shops. When the military police arrived, the individual managed to severely injure them as well. Though from what I hear no one has died. What about the fourth attack, Lex?"

The man-Lex frantically nodded "The military police were on standby around the east and just like before the squad that ran into the assailant were beaten, without them ever seeing their face. Their injuries are bad, their armor was almost shredded to pieces by something really sharp. . Oh, but they'll likely make it out alive, since the medical squads were nearby. Realizing Bell's face was growing paler, Lex added that last point to reassure him.

"They never saw the face of the person who attacked them, huh?"

"No, this person has only attacked at night, and mainly from the shadows, where it's hard to see them. The only record we've gotten from a witness who was escaping is that they seem to have bright yellow eyes from the shadows."

"Yellow eyes…" murmured Zard.

"Is it that strong, to hurt even the police?"

"Mmm" Bernard hesitated for a moment. "I haven't seen it for myself, so I can't say but if it can take out the military police in the city area without even being seen, I don't think it's something that's easy to deal with. If the ones who mainly guard the city from the outside were to join in on this, it's likely they'd manage to deal with the problem, but that would mean lowering the city's guard for outside monsters in the meantime until they deal with it. While it's attacked four times, it's always attacked at random days in the night, so we have no idea when the fifth attack will show up. In that case, the city's probably thinking it would be better to use us to clean up this incident, since we work for money but aren't a part of their forces. I'm sure the one who allowed this request was the head of the military police, right, Lex?"

"Y-yes, he told me to immediately tell you and give the request…"

"That fox never changes… Apparently, they simply want you to capture the attacker, and hand them over to the city. So do you want to take this request, Zard?"

"Yeah. This'll be a good view for your first job, Bell."

"Oh, r-right!"

"Alright, then sign off the request here." Taking out two forms under the table, Bernard filled out a few details before stamping it and handing it to the two along with two quills.

"What is this?"

"A form for official quests. You put your signature here and you'll be considered to be doing an official request. Bernard will keep the original form and contact the client and once the quest has been completed and verified by both Bernard and the client, it'll be put on your record and you get the reward."

Saying that, Zard quickly signed off his form and handed it back to Bernard.

"Ah I also get a bit of the reward money for being the one to host and provide information about the quest. I usually take about 8% per quest, so if you complete this quest the total reward will actually be around 64,400 valis. Since it's split into two mercenaries, each of you will get 32,200 valis."

"Oh…" Bell also handed back his signed form. "But I'm just coming along so it's fine if Uncle has my portion too."

"No, this is important, Bell. From now on you need to keep your portion of the money. From now on, you're a mercenary, so it means you need to be making your own money. Whenever you need a new weapon, potions or other equipment, you need to use the money you've earned from the quests yourself."

"Ehhhh?!"

"Zard, you have no mercy even for your kid. huh…"

Bell sank his head as Bernard let out an empty laugh. the other hand, as if to say it didn't bother him.

"If you really need money, I don't mind lending it to you, but you have to pay me back another time. It's better to learn how to deal with money early."

"...Yes."

"Ok, I've got you two approved on my end. Lex, sorry since you came all this way, but can you have that guy confirm these two for the job."

"Um… for both of them?"

Lex sounded hesitant, but what he was implying was clear enough for the three of them.

Bernard rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, I've confirmed this kid's skills myself and a prized B-Rank will be coming along as well. I doubt even that fox will complain."

"U-understood. I'll be heading off then."

Taking the two forms, he bowed to the trio, before immediately taking his leave.

"Now is that all for today, you two?"

"Yeah, I think we got everything we needed today."

"If you want to look for the culprit, I'd recommend waiting till tomorrow, The military police are likely gonna be on high alert tonight in the area and the attacker is likely long gone by now. They mainly attack in the night, so scoping out the area for the day might be helpful"

"Got it." Finishing up the last of his drink, he stood up, with Bell hurriedly doing the same. "See you later, Bernard, I'll finish this up soon."

"Well, there's nothing to worry about if you're on the job."

"Bye, Mr. Bernard!" waved Bell.

"Good luck on your first job, Bell! Let's celebrate here when you're done."

"Alright!"


Leaving the bar behind, the two returned to the dark streets, where they began walking side by side.

"Let's go back to the inn. We'll wake up early in the morning so get ready while you can."

"Ok."

As they continued to walk down and leave the dark streets, Bell felt like asking a question that had been on his mind for a long while now. "Hey, Uncle, why did you become a mercenary?

"That came out of nowhere. Are you curious?"

"You never seemed to care about money or fame."

Whenever Zard had come home with a large bag of valis, he never seemed very excited and almost seemed bored. Bell couldn't understand why he chose to be a mercenary, despite not caring about the two biggest things that came with it.

"Ha!" Zard grinned. "Well, you're right on that end, partially at least. Having no way to get money is a pain so I do need some way of earning my keep." said Zard, shaking his head.

"But isn't there other jobs that are much easier?"

Zard's grin grew even larger before it changed into a loud laugh. "Haha! Compared to the Dungeon, this is easy. I told you this before, but the monsters there are on a completely different level than the ones you'll find on the outside. These monsters can't even be considered a warm-up. It's also a job similar enough to what I did in Orario, so I ended up doing it because it felt right."

"The people over there called you something strange too. Black Knight, I think?"

"Ahh, that's like my alias as a mercenary."

"Alias? You mean like a title?!" His eyes began to glow. .

Did I flip some weird switch in him? Zard wondered.

Bell's new enthusiasm was so strong it even made Zard slightly flinch from his blinding smile.

"...Well something like that. In Orario, you get an official title from the gods themselves once you Rank Up, but personal information about a mercenary is usually limited to the client and providers like Bernard,. Mercenaries that are particularly well-known for their achievements are given an alias by other mercenaries. The three S-Ranks Bernard brought up earlier for example. All those names were their aliases and not their real names"

"I get it! Hey, do you think I could get an alias one day?!"

"Well, if you spend enough time and work hard enough, it's not impossible"

"Alright, I'll work hard to get an alias of my own one day! I wonder what I'll get! In Grandpa's stories, titles like 'Fallen Seraph of Black Flame, Dark Angel' are so awesome that they even sound strong!"

"...Hey Zeus, you can't be serious. Why couldn't you teach him something more normal…" Zard could only hold his head in disbelief.

Luckily, or unluckily, Bell had missed Zard's whisper, as he asked another question that had been on his mind.

"Hey, Uncle. Have you known Mr. Bernard for a long time?"

"Hmm, I guess so." He shrugged lightly "I think it was two years before I moved into the village with Alfia."

"That long?!"

Bell had first met Zard when he was 3 years old. That meant Zard had known the man for around 10 years now.

"Yeah. And the other half of the reason I chose to become a mercenary is Bernard."

"Did you become friends back then?",

"Yeah. This was after me and Alfia had left Orario and were wandering around. When I met him, he had a bad run-in with a monster in the mountains and was going to get killed. I managed to save his life but as you can see, he didn't exactly leave unharmed."

As Zard spoke, it dawned on Bell what Zard was saying. "Did his leg break?"

"Not break. It was eaten."

Bell's stomach began to turn. "W-what…?"

"I'm serious. If it was just broken, it could've been fixed with normal treatment. But he had his entire leg eaten by that monster and had to replace it with an artificial leg made of low-grade adamantite. He retired from being a mercenary soon after."

"..."

Bell thought back to when he first saw Bernard.

He had thought it was extremely unnatural but Bernard had just laughed it off, as if it wasn't anything serious.

Noticing the look in Bell's eyes, Zard ruffled his hair.

"Uncle..."

"Don't worry about him. Despite that incident. he managed to pick himself up way better than I or Alfia did, and opened a place to allow mercenaries to work freely in Flevale. Places like the Wanderers that allow you to get a bunch of official quests in one spot are actually hard to find. What did you think about it?"

"I thought it was a really nice place."

Despite that earlier incident, when Bell had walked in, everyone seemed to be happily drinking and enjoying games with each other. Instead of being angry, they had accepted Bell, with applause after he had shown his skill fighting Isaac's group. If that's the type of place Bernard had made for mercenaries, he felt he could fit in with them some day.

"Besides, it's five years too early for you to be worried about Bernard."

"Huh?"

He tilted his head in confusion, until Zard broke the truth with a smirk.

"Aside from me, he's the strongest guy there. He's a retired D-Rank mercenary, at Level 3."

"HUH?!" Bell's jaw almost dropped.

"Haha, did you think all those mercenaries over there follow his rules, just because he's friendly? He'd send them flying if they couldn't behave. This time, I was the one who provoked those guys earlier, but normally most of them wouldn't try to make a fuss at his store. Make sure you don't make him too angry or you'll be next."

I had no idea…! Bell's respect for the owner grew tenfold.

"And it's not just him either. There are a few people there that you could learn a thing or two from. Though it seems like Beatrice and Sirius aren't here for now. Maybe they're out on another quest?"

They soon arrived at their inn. Entering their rooms, they quickly decided to rest quickly to save more energy for tomorrow.

Before they would sleep though, Zard spoke again.

"Bell."

"Yes?"

"You officially start your job as a mercenary tomorrow. So, there's one thing I want you to remember well both as a mercenary and as someone who's aiming to be an adventurer one day in Orario."

"...What is it?

Zard had never sounded so serious before, even in the other times he had taught Bell, He unconsciously tensed up as the former hero gave him his most serious look.

"There are no absolutes in the world. There is always the possibility of being taken in by the unknown of the Lower World. It's important to respect it. It's important to fear it. But the most important thing is to not succumb to it. The moment you lose to the unknown, is the moment it will devour you. Always make sure to stand against it, no matter how pitifully, or clumsily it might be."

"..."

"The ones who manage to survive and live through the unknown are the ones we call heroes."

"...Yes."

Bell nodded slowly, carving those words into his heart. Seeing the look on his face, Zard smiled and soon fell asleep.

Bell also eventually went to sleep, replaying the words that would become one of the biggest principles he followed in his life.