Chapter 7 - Noriak City

"Commander~," Len called out, her casual short shorts and oversized rugged cloak allowing her to still be able to complete her task as an assassin and scout.

"Not commander. Just Alastair." He corrected her,

"Ah! Alastair~," Len repeated after him, "Noriak City walls are about 10 minutes ahead, should we slow down our pace?"

"Mhm. Cover yourselves with the cloak. We'll split ourselves into groups of 3. The Vice-commanders and I will approach the city at the West Gate. Len, Tonia and the twins at the South Gate, and Leon, Jyn and Enga at the North gate. Queue up with the rest of the humans and we'll meet up outside the Mercenary Guild." Alastair ordered, instantly decreasing to a slower pace, with the rest of the squad following suit.

Although they were able to disguise their appearance fairly well, the eye-catching equipment they wielded was not so easy to hide. Hence, they had decided to wrap the large weapons in cloth and slung behind their shoulders while the small ones such as daggers and knives were kept well hidden beneath the cloaks.

Splitting up the squad, the three groups made their way towards their allocated gates at a slow, but steady rate to avoid any suspicion.

Alastair, Seilon and Reisa walked across the dense forest, slowly cutting branches in their way as they hunted some beasts to create an alibi for entering the city.

Finally satisfied with their catches of a small variety of small animals and a handful of demonic monsters, they made their way towards the Western Gates, and joined up to the end of the queue.

After waiting for around 10 minutes, they had made their way to the front of the queue, coming face to face with the city guard.

"ID check, reason for visit," the guards spoke routinely in a monotonal voice,

Alastair handed over the three corresponding cards to the guard,

"A quick break from hunting." He responded, taking off the hood for a second to confirm his identity and displayed his catch for proof of the hunt. The guard took a glance at the beasts and animals before nodding and letting them in.

The trio quickly made their way into the city and headed towards the mercenary guild.

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(Noriak City, South Gate)

Len, Tonia and the twins chatted whilst they stood in line waiting to enter the city.

"I have an idea~" Len suddenly proclaimed, turning her head to face Tonia and the twins, "A great plan to fool the guards!" Her eyes twinkled as she felt the cogs in her brain turning at great speed."

"What's the plan?" Tonia asked, raising an eyebrow.

She was completely used to this situation. Every once in a while, Len would seemingly have an epiphany out of nowhere. A great master plan. 'One that would rival even that of the greatest master' or so Tonia had heard Len once quoted from a random book she had glanced over at.

"Hehehe~ It's a secret." Len chuckled mysteriously, pulling her cloak over her face to intensify the atmosphere, much to Tonia's frustration and annoyance,

The twin glanced at each other and back at Len, their eyes filled with expectation. To them, Len was the almighty older sister. Filled with wisdom and power. If she had a plan, to them, It was the greatest plan ever thought to be.

"Sister Len! Sister Len!" They called out in unison, "What's the plan? What's the plan?"

"Hehehehe~" Len once again gave a mysterious giggle as the twins fanned her little fantasy and ego, "You'll have to wait and find out little one~"

As the line slowly moved up, before long it was their turn to enter.

"ID check, reason for visit," the guard spoke,

"I had received the calling during my journey. They spoke to me, they did!" Len spoke out in an overexaggerated tone, "I was told of the wonderful food that can be found in this… this wonderful city," she stuttered, her limited vocabulary hindering her little act.

"The beautiful fluffy puddings, the sweet mouth-watering candy and the taste of the sour yet soft and enticing flavour of the lemon cakes." her mouth watering and her eyes twinkled as she spoke, "So we travelled from far and wide in search of this city in hopes of finding the true meaning and happiness of life."

Her little figure dances with each word, illustrating the movement of each bite and finally ending the performance with a small bow.

The twins quickly ran towards Len and gave her a round of applause.

"Wow~ Sister Len! So talented! So emotional!" They cheered, twinkles in their eyes as the imagery of the food filled their imaginations, drools rapidly dripping from their mouth.

Tonia simply groaned beside her and handed the three ID cards to the guards.

"She wanted food. So we came here for the food," She translated the overexaggerated Len's words whilst massaging her head as she explained simply to the starstruck guards.

The guards looked back and forth from the overdramatic Len and the frustrated Tonia and chuckled a bit before taking a quick look at the ID, his eyes wandered over to Tonia for a short while, glancing into the cloak and eyeing her long elf ears before giving back their ID cards and letting the group in.

"Be careful in there," the guard smiled at Len, "Especially that elf friend of yours. I heard theres a lot of slave traders wondering these parts." He whispered, looking concerned,

"Thank you sir!" Len replied with a huge smile on her face.

As they walked past the guards Tonia gave Len a eyebrow raise,

"That was your grand plan?" She asked, once they were in,

"What~? I thought I was really good," Len pouted slightly before looking excitedly around and headed towards the mercenary guild.

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(Noriak City, Northern Gates)

The third group quickly made their way towards the gate. As the north gate was facing the treacherous mountains, not many people were queued up there.

Only needing to wait three minute, the trio had also quickly reached the guards,

"ID check, reason for visit,"

Jyn quickly handed the ID to the guard, taking off his hood at the same time.

"We heard there was great booze here. So we thought we should try out the pub while we're taking a short break," Leon grinned.

"Not we… you." Enga mumbled under his breath, but loud enough for the guards to hear.

The guards laughed, giving back the cards and letting them pass, "If you guys are looking for some drinks, I actually know a few really good pubs." The guard offered, ripping a piece of paper from his notebook and scribbling a few words before heading it to Leon with a grin.

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The two groups stood chatting in front of the mercenary guild, waiting for the last group to arrive.

"Sorry for the wait! We're here!" Seilon's voice called out from a distance.

Glancing in the direction, the two groups could see Alastair, Reisa and Seilon walking from the direction of the Western Gates and heading towards them.

Making their way to them, Alastair began explaining their plan. "Reisa and Seilon and I will go request 5 mercenaries to help guide us to Heibrook City, whilst Enga and Jyn and Leon will buy 3 well functioning carriages and 6 strong horses. Len, Tonia and the twins are to gain any information we can find about the vampires." Alastair ordered, looking around at the squad members to make sure they understood before entering the guild.

The bustling laughter filled the building as hand wrestles and bar fights incited cheers from the crowd. The smell of testosterone filled every corner as half naked men could be seen wandering the building showing off their abnormally large biceps. Reisa headed over to the administer desk, the cloak still hiding her appearance.

"Oh! Please wait a second!" A voice shouted from behind the desk.

A young girl with wavy white hair tied in a bun rushed out from behind the staff door, a kind aura radiating from her smile.

"How may I help you today?" She asked, sitting onto the seat provided.

"We need to hire 5 mercenaries to Heibrook City, please." Reisa spoke, her soft voice attracting the attention of those who sat nearby.

"Oh! It's a lady." One cooed,

"Ah~ beauty! Why don"t you just follow me home. I give you the time of your life," another exclaimed.

"Oh! Sexy~ don't listen to that idiot! I`ll give you an even better time, so great that you"ll never want to leave," another taunted, licking his lips.

However, none of that affected Reisa in any way as she simply focused on the girl at the register, whose cheeks had turned a bright red tone, her eyes darting down in embarrassment.

"I need them within the next hour, please, I'll pay a maximum of 10 silver for each person," Reisa continued, "Have them wait at the western exit."

"Ok, Consider it done." She gave a small apologetic smile, after shyly handing Reisa a few papers to sign. "Please pay a deposit of 30 copper and remember, if a mercenary happens to die during the journey, a 10% would be included into the fees."

"Understood," Reisa replied, handing a bag of coins before walking out with Alastair and Seilon.

"Gah, that's one of the many reasons why I hate humans…" Seilon complains, sticking out his tongue in disgust after they leave the building.

"It's nothing much, I heard a lot worse." Reisa replied, rubbing the back of her head, "And it's not only humans you know, it's the individuals. Not the race."

"Let's go," Alastair said, walking towards the stables whilst the other two could do nothing but follow.