An Owl's Rise

"Are you sure that you should have paid so much for these? One silver magic crystal a piece seems like too steep a price." Evelyn said, scowling at the identification card she was holding.

Lucia had just bought forged Identification for their entire group. However, these were not normal identification cards that anyone could pick up, but ones denoting them as first-class citizens of the Usturg Federation.

"Yes, it was worth it. A silver magic crystal was a bit more than I expected to spend on each one, but it was within the possible upper ranges from what my preliminary investigations uncovered. While these may be fakes, it will be pretty much impossible for anyone to find out without a very detailed investigation. The man we bought them from used to work directly for the Usturg Federation after all.

He used the same process this nation uses to make their legitimate identification cards for the ones we now have." Lucia said, explaining just how impressive their forged identification cards were.

With them, they would immediately have a high status within human society just about anywhere. The Usturg Federation was not one of humanity's four major powers, but it sat just under them. Plus, its status as a neutral nation meant it had decent relations with just about every other human nation on the continent. The Tyrannis Union included.

"But won't it be suspicious for citizens of such high status to be offering their services as mercenaries?" Rehni asked.

"Any where else in the world it would be, but not here. In this nation, it is common for children of upper-class families that aren't likely to succeed their houses to become mercenaries. From the research I've done it is a good way to build up both wealth and connections. In fact, we've all sort of met a very prominent individual that was once a mercenary from the Usturg Federation.

The Verdant Warlord originally built up his power here before going on to conquer basically the entire continent."

Evelyn was shocked to hear this information. She still did not know a great deal about the man that had built the domain they used to rapidly grow stronger.

Nevertheless, if he had once taken over this content, she could not help but wonder why it was now split up into so many different nations.

Naturally she brought her questions to Lucia and received an answer she should have been able to figure out on her own.

Since the Verdant Warlord had advanced to the highest rank of this world and ascended to the next, a power vacuum had been left. In the ensuring chaos of losing its leader, different factions formed, and the nations of the world fractured and warped several times until becoming what they were today.

"I suppose that it makes since that the Usturg Federation has a culture promoting mercenaries if such a legendary figure was one. Even if it was a long time ago." Evelyn said, coming to understand a bit more about the nation they found themselves in.

Still, this place certainly was not peaches and roses. While the nation apparently gave quite a bit of freedom even to its lowest class citizens, this also came with a severe degree of lawlessness.

Other than the main streets of the city, ruffians were just about everywhere, and with her incredible sense of hearing Evelyn had heard several muggings occurring only few dozen meters away on several occasions.

She could not say the same for everywhere in the Usturg Federation, but Taidale was certainly a rough place.

"Um, Lucia are you sure we should go this way? There is a gang of people waiting up ahead an accosting anyone that goes through here." Aralee said, as Lucia took a turn off of the main street and onto a side road.

"It will be fine. No one strong enough to threaten us will be extorting people on the street. This is the shortest route to the Mercenary Association. There's no reason for us to inconvenience ourselves by going around."

Lucia then confidently walked down the clearly dangerous side road with Evelyn and the others following behind her.

Around a hundred fifty meters down the road, three guys walked out of a nearby alley way to "levy" a toll from them.

However, Lucia simply flashed the identification card she had just purchased, and the guys scrambled to get away like they had seen a ghost. As she had said, everything ended up fine. Anyone that attempted to do anything untoward to them went running the moment they saw the first-class citizen identification card.

"I certainly never expected them to have that sort of use." Evelyn commented in amazement.

"That's the power of status. Even the dumbest of criminals know that most first class citizens have strong guards or are powerful themselves. In their eyes, messing with us is a certain death sentence." Lucia said cheerfully.

After walking down a few more streets, and scaring a few more ruffians half to death, they arrived at their destination.

The Mercenary Association building stood just outside the inner wall that separated the inner city where the second- and first-class citizens lived from the outer city.

It was a large and well-maintained building that clearly stood out.

Several individuals were constantly going in and out of the building. Some looked almost indistinguishable from the thugs hanging around the city, but others were in distinctly opulent clothing or were wearing expensive and powerful magical armor.

"As you can see, we will fit in well enough. We're just another group of rich kids trying to make a name for ourselves." Lucia said, pointing out the mercenaries that were undoubtedly members of the upper crust.

Having seen proof that Lucia's plan was likely to work, Evelyn and her companions walked into the Mercenary Association Building without any hesitation.

Once inside they all quickly looked around and Evelyn spotted a set of reception counters like those at a bank.

Lucia spotted them just a moment later and beckoned for them to follow. It was time for them to register as mercenaries and move on to the next step in their plan to infiltrate the Tyrannis Union.