When Kells and Eliya had finished preparing their travel gear, Karlina returned. She carried a large black cloth bag on her back, likely containing the equipment she had purchased. She was drenched from head to toe—so dedicated that she could go buy equipment without even changing her clothes. Speaking of which, since her lower body was empty and her whole body was dripping wet... "Forget it! Better not think about it!" Kells’ nosebleed was already on the verge of flowing out...

  "Young Master Kells, I’ve acquired all the equipment. Please take a look." With that, she placed the large bag on the table and opened it. The appearance of the items inside seemed to be quite good. As expected from a place that specializes in second-hand goods, although the equipment wasn’t brand new, it didn’t look shabby at all. Especially the magic staff in the middle, with its flashing red light, it very much resembled high-end merchandise.

  "This... it’s not made of gemstones, is it? Such a large piece..." Kells picked up the magic staff and examined it closely. The most eye-catching part was the red gemstone at the tip, about half the size of a person’s palm. How much would this cost? Kells was already unable to imagine it.

  "Hehe, this is made of colored glass. The better quality of this material is called glazed glass. This is good merchandise from the guild. Just the staff without any magic attached costs 20 gold coins," Karlina said.

  "20 gold coins!" Kells was already feeling somewhat dizzy. A single magic staff that looked quite pretty had such a high value. 20 gold coins, ah—how many years would it take for an ordinary commoner to save up that much money? Even Eliya’s father, with such a large restaurant, would need to spend one or two years to accumulate that amount. Magic users were indeed the exclusive domain of the nobility, using equipment worth a heavenly price!

  "Young Master Kells might not know, but this is already considered the worst kind of magic staff. Most nobles wouldn’t use fake gemstones to decorate their staffs, hehe. Today was really lucky; the guild happened to have a staff solidified with recovery magic. However, I’m not too sure about the specific effects, as I know nothing about magic."

  Karlina had always been very respectful towards Kells. She didn’t know if saying such things would make her lose face. Kells picked up the staff and pretended to know what he was doing, saying, "It’s fine. This thing looks like good stuff. How much did it cost?"

  "50 gold coins."

  "Damn it, a wooden stick costs 50 gold coins. How much is that, ah? In the countryside, that’s enough to marry a beautiful wife!" Of course, Kells wouldn’t say such disgraceful words out loud, but facts were facts. Items with magic attached were expensive, and this was still light-based. If it were other types, it would be a heavenly price. The solidification of light-based magic was done in the church, and the fees weren’t that high. This lowest-level recovery magic, due to high demand, had even lower attachment costs. Of course, attaching magic wasn’t something just anyone could do. To attach the lowest one-star magic, one needed at least four-star magic power or above. But magic users generally weren’t short of money; a few thousand gold coins placed in front of them—they wouldn’t even look at it.

  To show his expertise, Kells bluffed a couple of sentences, "Mm! Look at the craftsmanship of this staff; it’s so exquisite. The solidified magic must be powerful. In the future, we’ll rely on it for injury recovery. Of course, this honorable task will be entrusted to Eliya. Hehe, take it; from now on, you’re our recovery specialist."

  "Yes! Thank you, Brother. This staff is really beautiful, and I also like the red decoration. That’s great. Is that leather armor for Eliya? It looks about the same size as mine. Sister Lina, how did you manage to find such a suitable one just by looking a few times?" As she spoke, she had already picked up the smaller leather armor from the bundle. It felt quite hard to the touch, but the weight wasn’t as she imagined. She hefted it; it didn’t feel heavy at all. Only the style was a bit outdated; it really wasn’t cute for a girl to wear...

  "This one cost 5 gold coins. The leather quality is good; it’s said to be made from the hide of a hard-type magical beast. It can withstand ordinary sword damage. As long as the force isn’t too great, it won’t cause any harm. Although the style is a bit old, the design is ingenious. This one is adjustable. I was afraid the size wouldn’t fit, so I bought this one." Compared to magic user equipment, the price of ordinary armor was significantly cheaper. One magic staff could buy ten pieces of such clothing.

  "It’s pretty good, Sister Lina, Brother Kells, do I look good wearing it?" Eliya put on the leather armor and twirled around the room several times.

  "Haha, it’s alright. Looking too good isn’t good. We’re going to be mercenaries. If we attract unnecessary trouble, that wouldn’t be good. Wearing something a bit outdated won’t make it so easy for noble young masters to take a fancy to you. By the way, Lina, from now on, don’t call me Young Master Kells. I’m just a country bumpkin who hasn’t seen the world. Mm, mm! From now on, call me Captain!" he said as such.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  "Alright, Captain Kells!" Speaking of which, Karlina’s favorability increased again. Why? This is called humility—what a great virtue, ah! Similarly, Kells still knew nothing about it.

  "Oh, oh! This one is mine then. It’s indeed soft leather armor. If it were too hard, I wouldn’t be able to move. But doesn’t soft leather armor have much less defense?" Kells asked.

  "Yes, but this one isn’t bad. It’s genuinely made from magical beast hide. It cost 20 gold coins. The guild boss told me that the material for this clothing was skinned from an F-rank magical beast. If sold through regular channels, it would cost at least 80 gold coins or more!" Karlina said.

  "Heavenly Father, ah! 20 gold coins! Just this one piece of ragged clothing costs 20 gold coins... Speaking of which, is this really magical beast hide? I’ve never seen it before, ah. F-rank, ah! This is not on the same level as G-rank!" Kells was secretly shocked. Equipping a set of mercenary gear really wasn’t cheap, but equipment was truly crucial. As long as your defense was strong enough, even B-rank magical beasts couldn’t do anything to you. Of course, that belonged to legendary equipment; ordinary people shouldn’t even dream about it.

  "The weapon... where’s the bow and arrows I wanted?" Kells searched through the cloth bag but couldn’t find the bow and arrows he had requested.

  Karlina smiled and took out a stick-like object from behind her, about half a meter long. It wasn’t clear what it was. "Captain Kells, this is today’s good merchandise. I spent 50 gold coins to get it!"

  "But this... no matter how you look at it, it doesn’t look like a bow and arrows, ah. A stick—what would I use it for..." Kells really wanted to scold Karlina. This foolish woman kept getting useless things. What could this broken stick be used for? To scare Fat Dragon? That might be worth a try...

  "Hehe, this is a good bow, but it’s a composite type. Just pull it like this, then rotate it like this. Look! It’s done!" Karlina took the short wooden stick and, with a few quick movements, actually assembled a bow. Kells took it and tested its strength. It seemed pretty good! Don’t be fooled by this kid’s slender appearance; his strength was not small. He was at least twice as strong as his peers. Kells’ ability to escape was mentioned earlier, and as for this great strength, it was also related to escaping, ah. When Kells couldn’t outrun the fastest girl in town, that period was when he trained his strength!

  All sorts of beatings, ah. If his resistance to blows wasn’t good, he would have ascended to heaven years ago...

  This bow’s strength wasn’t weak. If paired with sharp arrows, it should be able to reach a range of 300 meters. Kells estimated the power of this bow. Its advantage was being easy to carry and conceal. It was fine for dealing with magical beasts, but not for combat against people. In low-level battles, archers were always the first to be targeted for instant kills, and in high-level battles, it was the magic users.

  Ranged attackers would always be given special attention—that was the principle. However, Karlina didn’t quite understand why he chose to use a bow and arrows. Generally, the leaders of mercenary groups were tank types, like various knights...

  "Captain Kells, why don’t you use sword-type weapons?" Karlina asked. As a leader, a sword and shield seemed more impressive. A bow and arrows seemed a bit sneaky.

  "We’re not fighting people. Low-level magical beasts don’t have much intelligence. If we want to fight monsters above our level, we must use ranged power. With just the few of us, going into close combat would be suicide. Lina, your close combat abilities aren’t great either, right?" Kells asked.

  "Yes, Captain Kells is absolutely right. Hehe, if I hadn’t met you, someone like me really wouldn’t be suited for the mercenary life," Karlina said, feeling extremely fortunate.

  "It’s fine. With my leadership, you can exert double your strength. Hehe, in a few days, our mercenary life will begin. By the way, what equipment did you buy? Besides our things, I don’t see anything else."

  "I don’t need any, Captain. I already have equipment. Female stealth professions can’t even wear leather armor; they can only use this kind of lightweight clothing with no defense at all. As for weapons, I use a poisoned dagger. After being cut, it produces hallucinogenic effects. This dagger is also good merchandise. At the time, I spent 100 gold coins. In one mission, it was all thanks to this dagger!" Just as Karlina was about to continue, she was interrupted by Kells.

  "This foolish woman, how can she casually talk about those past deeds of killing and kidnapping? If Eliya finds out about this, she’ll never associate with you!" Kells was gloomy inside. He was really afraid that one day this woman would accidentally let something slip, and Eliya would misunderstand, which would be troublesome.

  Karlina didn’t mind too much. Since Kells didn’t let her continue, she didn’t. "This time, we spent a total of 125 gold coins. We still have 375 gold coins left. That’s enough for the three of us to live in a big city for a long time. The consumption in a one-star city isn’t too high."

  "Yes, very good. Thank you. The start of this adventure is all thanks to Lina’s support. Hehe, tonight we’ll rest well and set off tomorrow. By the way, Lina, come here; I have something to say to you."

  Kells and Karlina walked outside. "You didn’t complete the mission. How did the underground guild handle it?" Kells wasn’t familiar with the rules in this area. He was afraid Karlina had gotten into trouble.

  "It’s fine. Every time we accept a mission, we have to pay a certain deposit. The higher the mission reward, the higher the deposit. If we give up midway or fail the mission, the deposit will be confiscated by the guild! For this mission, I paid 5 gold coins, roughly a 1 to 100 ratio."

  "They won’t pursue any responsibility?"

  "No, there’s nothing. I’m free now." Karlina smiled.

  "This is completely different from the regular guild. In the regular guild, if you fail too many missions, the mercenary group’s rank will be lowered, and the mercenary will be blacklisted. Once blacklisted, it’s troublesome. No one will let these incompetent mercenaries take missions." Kells sighed.