He lost his bearings upon hearing about the requirement of sorcerer's qualification. He'd never thought of such bizarre requirement aside from the need to bluff about who he was in The Plane of Dreams. He now realised the stories in movies, TV and novels weren't meant to be taken seriously. In the real world you need an ID to get around, he thought.
It was his inexperience. Every veteran should've known it: without an ID, you couldn't even move around in Warring States period let alone in the other world...
Beck had noticed the change of expression on Hao Ren's face. She glanced at him suspiciously. "Don't tell me you don't have the ID with you. Or you lot aren't real wanderer sorcerers..."
"We're not escapees anyway!" Nangong Wuyue had vast experience as a wanderer. She had stayed near customs checkpoints as well as police stations several times (even if she wanted to get a passport she wouldn't be able to because of her race identity), she knew what to say when she sensed Becky's suspicion. "Our circumstance's a little special. But what I can tell you is that we're not bad guys—have you ever seen bad guy that's so happy go lucky?" said Nangong Wuyue as she pulled Lily in front while the werewolf maiden's eyes were darting around spiritedly, and was clueless what others were talking about. As she was pulled ahead by Nangong Wuyue, she was a little stunned and asked, "What's going?"
Lily's genuine expression of innocence was convincing, she was forever destined to not being an antagonist thanks to her temperament. She was the kind of sunshine girl that always implied innocence and wrongful prosecution; in her positive worldview the biggest crimes she had ever committed were fare evasion and snapped the small dried fish from Rollie...
But Becky was looking at Y'zaks. "Please don't get mad if I say this big brother—"
Y'zaks quickly tidied his shirt and gave out a kind smile. "Actually I'm a good—"
"Please, please don't smile!" Becky jumped back a step. "You look more like a good person when not smiling."
Hao Ren wondered how the loose-tongued Becky had survived till this day—she could have been beaten to death before elementary year three under normal circumstances.
"It shoud be OK to register as a wanderer sorcerer." Becky's glance switched between the music box and them as she was on the horns of a dilemma. "Mercenary's big melting pot, if study closely you might even be able to find some prison escapees from other countries among them. After all it's the deadliest job, qualification shouldn't take priority. As for wanderer sorcerer...no matter how strong you're, you can only register a basic team, and aren't going to get jobs from the elites—talking about the loss of a great deal of money here."
Hao Ren was completely careless about the restrictions while Lily curiously asked, "What's a wanderer sorcerer?"
"It's those who was expelled from the sorcerer association and the country for various reasons. These expelled sorcerers won't be getting any membership nor supports from all associations. They could only wander around looking for their own sorcery ingredients. Some are of heterodoxal inheritance and banned skills which couldn't ne registered, some are of exiles from accidents; all-in-all, they're considered volatile elements no matter where they are. Of course mercenary associations don't care about all these as long as they're capable and reputable."
After a brief discussion, they agreed to register under wanderer sorcerer. At least that way they'd have a legal identity as a mercenary without which it would be difficult for them to move around in this world. What's more, Hao Ren thought, if during the registration process they were requested to perform a fire ball skill or something to prove they were real sorcerers, Y'zaks would come in handy for the task.
As a town adjoining the steppe, Lamberg had a mercenary organisation. Becky led these muddleheads to a long and narrow building at the northwest of the town. This was office of the mercenaries.
The mercenary in this world was a loosely-organised community. They had no common creed nor a recognized management system. The so-called mercenary associations were unlike what Hao Ren had imagined to having binding power. They were more like a bridge between the mercenary and the authority. For that matter, the associations were a semi-governmental archives office which were primarily responsible for mercenary registration and as a mission platform. The military, which was one of the shareholders of the association in each country, had a mandatory deterrent effect on the mercenaries but no direct control over it—after all there was no way to exert any meaningful control.
So one thing was obvious: each country's mercenary association was independent from the others.
Because of its interfacial role with authority and military of various countries, it couldn't form into a international organisation—there wasn't any concept of internationalisation in this world after all, the registered mercenaries were only having a semi-nationality. They were unlike anything depicted in many stories where they could roam freely. They were restricted by where they were registered. Of course that didn't mean these mercenaries were confined to one place; it was common for these fight-for-money mercenaries travelling worldwide in carrying out their missions with some local restrictions.
All the messy regulations were meaningless to this group of five. All they wanted to do was go to the Beinz Blood Lake while getting a legal identity of convenience.
The mercenary registration counter looked more like a bar with a few staff standing behind a long row of tables. Because this place was just an outpost, most service windows were concentrated at the bar. As the mercenary registration window and the mission-handover window were close to each other, Hao Ren could see clearly the actions at the mission-handover counter while Becky was busily registering these rookies: a girl with a pimple face reported back with a cat which was found on behalf of the town mayor; a burly guy reported back with a severed head which he claimed to be of the leader of new freedom army; a slender maiden reported back with the good news of successful suppression of the conflict in the south; while a middle-age man said he was from Red Cherry Restaurant to deliver lunch...
What a life of a mercenary.
The registration was easier than expected. With some hints and helps from Becky, even the thrash fabricated by Lily had passed the process—the counter staff had just confirmed her name and occupation and ignored the rest. Hao Ren curiously asked, "Wouldn't you suspect the information was fake?"
The staff was a chubby female. She glanced and rolled her eyes at Hao Ren. "How could you say that? Even if the details are fake, let it be as long as it matches what the employer pays for. We even have a big guy, a Tier Three mercenary, registered himself as Julia and he looked just like this big dude beside you."
As her voice trailed off, nearby a burly guy, black hair, stood up and pounded on the table. "My f**king name's Julian! If you make fun of me again I'm going to smash your counter."
Hao Ren: "....."
What a life of a mercenary.
After all personal details was done, the chubby girl asked Hao Ren, "What type of registration? Team or individual?"
Before Hao Ren could reply, Becky shouted, "Team, Team! I'm the special advisor!"
"I thought you're a lone wolf? What a surprise to see you mingle with others." The chubby girl gave Becky a curious glance. Becky replied with a smirk: to say she was bought with a music box and stealing a ride to The Beinz Blood Lake was too embarrassing.
"Name of the team?" The chubby girl asked as she was filling up yet another form.
Hao Ren excitedly nudged his company. "Hey, let's quickly think up a cool group name."
Vivian was the first volunteered. "Bloody Tooth Mercenary Group?"
The chubby girl gestured on a glowing metal board with a metal pen. Then she said, "Name's taken."
Nangong Wuyue thought for moment. "Wave Breaker Mercenary Group?"
"Name's taken."
Y'zaks muttered. "Blade of Twilight Mercenary Group?"
He nudged Hao Ren's arm and explained. "It was the name of the team of the brave ones. They nearly fought it to my doorstep. That I've a deep impression about."
But the name was also taken.
Lily frowned as she said, "Snow Wolf Mercenary Group?"
"Name's taken."
"Snow Dog Mercenary Group?"
"Name's taken."
Lily was flabbergasted. "What? Taken?"
"Snow Wolf, Snow Dog, Snowland Wolf, Slowland Dog, even Sleigh dog and Sled Dog have all been taken. There are too many new mercenary registrations while the old ones aren't dead yet, so it's hard to get a name."
Hao Ren hadn't expected such situation could happen in this foreign world. He banged the counter and said, "Damn it, dogs have gotten all the good names!"
"Aha, this name's still available."