Chapter 05: Entering the Mercenary Tavern

South of downtown Bernadock.

Bruno and Sorin raced through the streets, avoiding pedestrians until Sorin slowed down and stopped in front of a tavern.

Seeing Sorin stop, Bruno stopped beside him and looked at the tavern in front of him.

(Sorin): "This tavern is one of the meeting places used by mercenaries in the city. It's also where quest requests are available. This is where we are going to sell the monster core you have with you."

Upon hearing Sorin's explanation, Bruno nodded and walked towards the tavern entrance accompanied by Sorin.

***

Crossing the open entrance of the establishment, Sorin and Bruno entered the tavern and saw its busy environment, where several groups of people were gathered at different tables drinking or discussing work with several maps on the table.

(Sorin): "Let's go to the counter and talk to the attendant"

Looking in the direction where Sorin was pointing, Bruno saw a counter with a golden-haired woman cleaning glasses on the other side of it.

The woman wore a linen dress covered by a leather apron. And because she had a very fat body, she stood out a little on the spot.

(Attendant): "Welcome back Sorin, did you manage to accomplish your mission? "

Upon noticing Sorin and Bruno approaching the counter, the attendant greeted Sorin as she recognized him.

(Sorin): "No, not yet. And it will take me a long time to complete that nonsense."

(Attendant): "Really? So what are you doing here? "

(Sorin): "I came to examine and sell a monster core that you..."

"Drozz, my name is Drozz": Bruno said as he removed the hood from his head and revealed his face.

(Sorin): "Yes, Rose, we came here to examine and sell the monster core of the monster that Mister Drozz killed"

(Rose attendant): "…"

(Sorin): "Rose? "

Seeing the attendant Rose not answering, Sorin was intrigued until he noticed that she was staring into Bruno's face, as if she were hypnotized.

Waving his hand in front of Rose's vision, Sorin called out to her a few more times. Before she regained her senses and answered Sorin.

(Sorin): "Rose"

(Rose attendant): "Ah, yes, core assessment, right? I'll get the magic appraiser"

Nearly dropping the glass in her hand, Rose clumsily straightened the counter before running off the counter towards a hallway at the back of the establishment.

Seeing Rose stumble a little before disappearing down the hall at the end, Sorin was silent, before deciding to approach Bruno and whisper to him softly.

(Sorin): "I think she was afraid of your red eyes"

(Bruno): "…"

(Sorin): "Why don't you change the color of your eyes, like you changed the size of your canines? "

(Bruno): "I'm not a shapeshifter, so changing my eye color would require a lot of concentration. And maintaining a change like that would be very exhausting for my brain, unlike my canines that can naturally change size."

Hearing Bruno's explanation, Sorin nodded in understanding.

Then, the two looked at Rose who was returning with a large object in her hands.

(Rose): "Here you are, the monster core magic appraiser"

When Rose reached the counter, she placed the large object on top of it, introducing the object as the Magical Monster Core Evaluator.

The magic monster core evaluator was a circular object composed of three copper disks of different sizes placed on top of each other, following the sequence of the largest to the smallest, with the smallest disk on top and the largest disk below all. .

(Sorin): "Mister Drozz, now just place the monster core in the center of the magic appraiser"

Looking at the center of the magical appraiser, Bruno, who had assumed the name of Drozz, saw a rounded hole in the center of the object that covered almost the entire diameter of the smaller disk. And the bottom of that hole went from the smallest disc to half the thickness of the largest disc.

Removing the monster core from the pocket of his leather robe, Drozz placed the core in the center of the magic appraiser. And he looked at Rose waiting to see what she was going to do.

(Rose): "... Ah, now I'm going to start the evaluation"

Looking at Drozz's face, it took Rose a moment to respond to his action.

And rather clumsily he placed both hands on the magic appraiser.

Closing her eyes, Rose took a deep breath. Calming down a bit, before reopening his eyes and starting to send magic power towards the magic appraiser.

When Rose sent magic power at the appraiser, his insides glowed slightly. And after a few seconds the glow intensified, before spreading out into the largest copper disk that made up the magic appraiser's body.

(Rose): "The core is from the class three monster, emperor boar"

(Rose): "And... Was he an adult? What group of mercenaries did you kill him with? "

(Drozz): "With none"

(Rose): "..."

(Sorin): "It's true Rose, I've seen it all. He killed that monster with extreme ease."

"I'm not doubting you, it's just that killing an emperor boar alone is something even a three-star mercenary would struggle to do. And to hear that something like that happened made me quite surprised": Rose said as she placed one of her hands on her chest.

(Rose): "But since there is no problem with the authenticity of the core, we will pay you thirty-three gold coins, one large silver coin, and two more small silver coins for the emperor boar core."

(Sorin): "Wow! This is much money"

(Rose): "Naturally, the core of an adult rank three monster is something highly sought after by high-ranking mages and blacksmiths. And as they are not easy to obtain, the prices offered by them are always very high"

(Sorin): "Got it, it really makes sense considering the difficulty of these monsters"

Seeing Sorin agree with the attendant, Drozz, who had no idea how the local currency system worked, decided to accept her offer. Thinking that there is no irregularity in the negotiation.

(Drozz): "I accept the offer, I will sell the core for that price"

(Rose): "That being so, I will prepare the money. So, I'll have to ask you to wait a bit while I go to my father's room."

Seeing Drozz and Sorin agree, Rose then bids them farewell. Before running towards the stairs leading to the second floor.

(Drozz): "Sorin, explain to me how the monster and mercenary ranking system works"

Turning his gaze to Sorin, Drozz makes a request to him. Leaving Sorin a little confused by the sudden request.

(Sorin): "Explain to you how classification works? But this is common knowledge information on this continent."

(Drozz): "I'm not from this continent"

(Sorin): "Oh, I see. And what continent are you from? "

(Drozz): "Sorin..."

(Sorin): "Oh, sorry, I'll answer your question"

Seeing Drozz's face express dissatisfaction with the question posed over his own, Sorin quickly apologized. And then she started to prepare to explain how the ranking system works.

(Sorin): "Well, let's start with the differences between common animals and monsters"

(Sorin): "Ordinary animals don't have a monster core inside their bodies, and they aren't able to use magic either. As for monsters, they have a monster core inside their bodies and some of them are capable of using magic, in addition to having stronger and faster bodies than ordinary animals."

(Sorin): "The monster ranking system is based on the level of magic power they have in their monster core. And the strongest monsters are typically the ones that have the most magic power in their bodies, though this isn't a consensus, as there have been some cases of low ranking monsters defeating monsters that had an even higher magic power ranking than them. "

(Drozz): "I see. So this monster ranking is basically a low-precision strength gauge, which only targets the quality of the monster core, correct? "

(Sorin): "Yes, that's exactly it. And monsters are classified into seven classes, with class one being the weakest and class seven being the strongest."

(Drozz): "What about the rank of mercenaries? "

(Sorin): "Well, as for the mercenaries..."

(??? 1): "Ah! "

Bash!

(??? 2): "Don't get in the way you useless trash! "

Hearing the noise of a commotion coming from inside the tavern, Sorin stopped his explanation and together with Drozz looked towards the source of the sound of the commotion.