An Owl's Rise

Walking up to the reception counter confidently, Lucia pulled out the fake identification card she had purchased earlier that day and slid it in front of the young employee working at the counter.

"We would like to register as mercenaries."

For a few moments the young woman stared at the identification card before raising her head and looking up at Lucia like a deer caught in headlight.

"O- of course. I-I'll get to that right away." She stammered.

In a fluster the woman behind the counter scrambled about for a few things, before pulling out a box that radiated a slight amount of magical energy.

She then placed the card Lucia had presented to her inside of it and it began to glow.

Once she had authenticated the identification card, she hastily pulled out some forms and passed them over.

"All you need to do is fill those out and have your magical energy measured. A rank will then be assigned to you, and you will have officially become mercenaries. If you want a private room or to speak with the branch manager, that can easily be arranged as well." The association employee said, her original nervousness mostly gone now.

While it was not every day, she had registered first class citizens before. Sometimes they acted pretentious and would only do the necessary paperwork if treated like royalty.

"Thank you for the offer, but that will not be necessary. We will all fill these out and get back to you soon." Lucia said affably. There was no reason to draw attention to themselves by tossing around their fake status.

With the forms in hand, Lucia led Evelyn and her compassion over to a nearby table and passed them out to everyone.

"You really know how to handle yourself here. I don't think I could do even half as well as you can." Evelyn said, using wind magic to make sure that no one could overhear her.

"It's just a matter of practice. I've had over a century to prepare for this after all. If my plans started to go awry this early, I would have to be a horrendous fool." Lucia replied humorously.

She then swiftly filled out her own forms and assisted Rehni and Aralee who were struggling with the human's written language.

Evelyn got by just fine since she had originally learned this same language from the translation guidebook that Mason had left behind for her. Though, surprisingly, Bylur did not have any trouble with reading or writing the words either.

After the five of them had completed the forms, Lucia gathered them up and they walked back over to the reception counter.

"Here, we have finished filling these out."

"Thank you very much. Next, we just need to measure your magical energy and then I can have your mercenary licenses made."

This time the young woman gracefully brought out another magical tool and placed it on the counter. The panicked employee from before seemed to have never existed now that she had regained her cool.

Unfortunately, she was about to be in for another shock, when the magic tool she had handed to Lucia exploded when it tried to read her magical energy.

"It appears that this tool was too low quality to measure me." Lucia said, pushing the now broken device back towards the association employee.

"B-but that magic tool should be able to appraise the magical energy of even someone that is a peak acolyte." The young woman sputtered.

The look in her eyes changed the instant she realized what this meant. Lucia was not only a first-class citizen, but she was also at least at the mage rank. A level most people would never reach. The receptionist herself was only at the high tier of the initiate rank after all.

"Please forgive me for my incompetence. I shall bring a more suitable magic tool immediately."

Rushing off in a panic she fled into the back of the building and disappeared for a couple of minutes. When she came back, a well-dressed man was walking beside her and had a simar looking but larger magic energy measuring magic tool in his hands.

"Allow me to personally apologize for the mishap that occurred. I'm the manager of this branch of the Mercenary Association, Callen Argent." The man said, lightly bowing his head to Lucia.

"It is of no consequence. We simply want to finish our registration and go about our business."

"Understood. If you would, this magic device can measure your magical energy up to the high tier of the arcanist rank. I'm hoping that you are not beyond that. If you are then I'm afraid we don't have a tool capable of giving you an accurate measurement." Callen said politely.

"No need to worry. I have not yet reached such an esteemed level."

Reaching out her hand Lucia placed it on the device, and it began to light up until stopping around eighty percent of the way up.

"Impressive. You are a peak mage. The same rank as me." Callen said, keeping his cool for the most part, though, a hint of surprise could be seen in his eyes.

Of course, Lucia's measurement was false. Not only was she not human but the output of her magical energy was being regulated by the magic ring she was wearing. Her equivalent rank for a human would be a peak arcanist. Had she unleashed her full magical energy the magic tool would have broken like the first.

Going next, Evelyn measured as a low tier mage.

Following her, Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee came out the same and their magical energy appraisal was completed.

"I would like to thank you all for your patience. If you give me a few minutes I will personally get your mercenary license made. It is not often that we have a group of mage rank first class citizens apply." Callen said, a giddy smile on his face. He was certain to get a bonus for registering them with his branch.

In less than a quarter of an hour Callen came back out from the back of the building and handed the licenses over.

With that their registration was complete and Evelyn, Lucia, Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee were officially mercenaries of the Usturg Federation.

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