Chapter 7: Invitation

“Mendor”, Zax called out.

He waited for almost thirty minutes, after leaving the registration office, for all the mercenaries and villagers to enter the city.

“Mm? What’s wrong?” Mendor saw the bothered look on Zax’s face.

“Where are we going?” Zax asked in turn.

“Well, I need to lead the villagers to the law enforcement station to hand over the bandits and my men need to carry the alligator’s parts to the Business Centre of the city.”

“I’ll go with you and explain on the way.”

Time in the risky and sometimes unrewarding profession as a mercenary, more than anything else, enhanced Mendor’s attentiveness. He could tell that Zax probably trod upon a sensitive issue, while keeping a straight countenance and not push for the matter in an indiscreet area.

“Danus, take the man to the Workshop. If you can get a decent sum for the parts, then sell them all. Otherwise, wait for me to arrive. Also, don’t mention the Pure Core.”

“Not a problem.” Danus complied.

“Everyone, we are going. You two, check out the list of the deceased and find if they had families, spouses living in the city and where exactly they are located.”

The streets were packed with people and steam engine machineries. The common attire of Glorious Ground’s denizens was all types of suits for men and dresses for ladies.

The style was a lot different than in Vergil’s Pasture and the air had a sense of pretentiousness, especially when people’s eyes landed on the small group of villagers and their wagon.

Other than the denizens, there were also many people like Zax and Mendor, cultivators who came from odd places and settled in Glorious Ground for an undetermined period of time and local cultivators who occupied themselves in all kinds of manual labor...

“This is the first that I hear about it. I know some people who got their foreigner identification in the registration office and they all finished the procedure there.” Mendor answered Zax’s doubts as best as he could. He, too, was stumped by why Zax has to go to the mayor’s office building.

“Forget it, then. We’ll see when we get there. About your suggestion, I won’t join any group, but I would like to register as a mercenary if indeed it will provide me useful privileges.”

After they parted with Danus and the rest, before Zax told Mendor about his ordeal in the registration office, Mendor ended up being first to speak and raise the idea of Zax joining the Mercenary Association.

For a capable cultivator, joining the Mercenary Association of the Western Continent is much better than being a loner without a worthy form of status. Also, the Mercenary Association is the only group that does not restrict its members, unless, of course, they accept some high end assignments or other responsibilities.

“Thief!” A womanly voice from up the street resounded.

The surrounding people and humanoid beasts, only few who could be seen walking about in the steampunk vicinity of Glorious Ground, averted their gazes, including Zax and Mendor, to the direction of the shout.

A boy, around twelve years of age and wearing ragged clothes, was running, or rather escaping. In his hands he held a purse and embraced it close to his chest.

The one he stole the purse from was an old lady in exuberant attire of a dark blue dress and what definitely was a wig.

A young man in gray aide’s uniform, who accompanied the lady, gave chase after the boy. The man was not a cultivator, but still was faster than the boy, yet the boy knew the streets better and maneuvered around buildings’ corners and allies until finally vanishing from the man’s sight.

“Eh?” Zax let out in surprise a short while after the commotion began. ‘How did I not see it?! Have I gone blind?!’ He scolded himself while being in complete shock. ‘The boy, the man, the lady and almost everyone around ... none possesses an Earth’s Core!’

It dawned on him for the first time by witnessing the meager running speed of the boy and man and most of all, lack of any mist fluctuation. They were basically regular human beings.

Actually, it was not really Zax’s fault for not noticing before. Since arriving to Ercas Mir he mostly used his Soul Sense to detect the cultivation of Core Breakers and up, levels at which the Earth’s Core has already been completely turned into mist energy. Furthermore, if it happened that there was at the time someone at a lower level, without an Earth’s Core and at the range of his Soul Sense, he probably overlooked him or her due to them being unassuming and him too strong to be concerned by such levels anymore.

‘It truly is different than New Earth ... it seems that in Ercas Mir, although cultivators are, supposedly, more abundant in quantity and level of strength, the starting point of Martial cultivation is not as easy as being granted Earth’s Cores and initial guidance from the regime at a young age’.

Zax refrained from using the word “quality”, otherwise, why the five powers would care about the natives of New Earth and also, from the message left by to Black Core’s previous owner, he knew better.

‘It’s also possible that Earth’s Cores are less common in Ercas Mir. But in turn, they do have here the amazing Pure Cores... ‘

“Come on, keep going!” Mendor berated the villagers. Turning to Zax, he spoke in a more moderate tone. “Don’t pay attention to them. I’m not sure how it is where you came from, but petty crime is quite common in the Blessed Army’s cities. Then again, that is as far as the crime rate in the cities goes. If that kid was a few years older and caught, he would have become really miserable ... The Blessed Army directs the mayors of its cities to run their offices with zero tolerance toward crime.”

By the time Mendor finished speaking, an officer, with the same armored uniforms as the four officers in the registration office, who patrolled a not far away street and heard the old lady’s scream, has arrived and started taking statements.

The old lady was furious at the young thief and too agitated to explain the situation to the officer. Instead, her aide gave a description of the boy while fanning the old lady.

“Bring them out. Keep watch that they don’t try to run.” Mendor told the villagers after showing them where they can park the wagon.

The arrived in front of a squared building with a line of squared windows at every one of its eight floors and a squared main entrance that had its two sides doors open to the coming and going. The building was the law enforcement bureau of Glorious Ground.

Parked beside the bureau were some sophisticated looking police vehicles, some with wheels, some were hovering above ground.

There were more people communing in and out of the bureau, working, wearing common official attire than the expected officer’s uniforms.