Necromancer, summoning 055? What the heck?

Chapter 19 The Story of Mercenaries

The drinks on the airship are naturally quite expensive.

Fortunately, Luke's demands were not high; a bottle of cheap wine costing fifteen copper coins was enough to satisfy him.

Chen Mo didn't dare to taste the wine. The pungent smell after uncorking it was enough to make him wary.

As for the mid-range wine that costs forty copper coins a bottle, judging from Luke's excited expression, it has already entered the realm of luxury goods for him.

For Luke, having accepted the guide's commission in Cloud Mist Territory meant he couldn't take on any other missions during that time. However, after chatting for a while, the other party offered him drinks, which was practically like getting extra income for free.

Of course, I will speak freely and without reservation.

"When I was young, I spent some time in the Silver Alliance, which was a true paradise on earth!"

"Take a guess, how many registered mercenaries are there among the local natives of the Silver Alliance?"

"No, guess again!"

Luke laughed heartily, seizing the opportunity to show off his knowledge.

"Haha, you'd never guess! In the entire Silver Alliance, not a single local is a mercenary. All the errand runners and risk-taking jobs in the mercenary guilds are poor outsiders!"

He took a swig of wine, his voice filled with undisguised envy, "They have mines! They're the country on silver mountains. The moment a child is born there, the silver ornaments around their neck are more than I've accumulated in my entire life!"

"Envious? Hey, you can't have that kind of envy!"

Luke hails from the Kingdom of Mirror Lake, the nominal ruler of the land where Black Raven Castle is located. Though called a kingdom, it's actually smaller than a single duchy of the neighboring Moonlit Dynasty.

The once fertile lands of the Mirror Lake Kingdom have long been ceded away in successive wars, leaving only barren mountains, treacherous waters, and ferocious beasts. What other choice do they have but to risk their lives as mercenaries?
“Look at the kingdoms with the most registered mercenaries, which one isn’t constantly at war, with hardly a few years of peace?” Luke wiped the wine stains from his mouth, his voice lowering. “The more precious food is in a place, the cheaper human life becomes.”

Chen Mo pulled out a small notebook at some point, quietly jotted down a few notes, then looked up and asked, "I've heard people say that mercenaries without a group are worse than dogs. What does that mean?"

Luke slapped his thigh: "You, oh dear... you're lucky you met me. Never say that in front of mercenaries again, or you'll get beaten up."

He glanced around nervously, then lowered his voice, "These words aren't just insults directed at mercenaries, they're insults directed at the mercenary group! Who told you that? Are you looking for death?"

Chen Mo calmly pointed in the direction they boarded the ship: "The centaur said so."

"...Never mind then!"

Shaking his head helplessly, Luke began to explain.

"What this means is twofold: first, it refers to mercenary groups as the dogs of the various kingdoms; second, mercenaries who haven't joined a mercenary group are even less than dogs."

"Tell me, how infuriating is that?"

Seeing Chen Mo's eager expression, Luke couldn't help but open the bottle again, take a small sip, exhale a strong smell of alcohol, and carefully explain to the little mage.

"Mercenary groups are for doing the dirty work for the various kingdoms."

"You think the Mercenary Guild just issues missions randomly? Not at all! Every mission has to be approved by the local guild's inspectors."

"Otherwise, what if some idiot posted a mission for the guild to assassinate a nobleman? Wouldn't that be outrageous?"

"If a noble lord doesn't like someone, mercenaries are the most useful. They don't even have to lift a finger. As soon as a mission is assigned, the mercenaries will scramble to go."

Luke's words were incoherent, but Chen Mo, combining them with the theories he had learned in modern times, quickly grasped the logic behind them.

What is a state? It is a tool used by the ruling class to maintain its rule.

To ensure that this tool can be used effectively, it must strictly control all violent institutions.

In the Starry Continent, mercenary guilds are one such civilian armed force, which is bound to be strictly controlled by the state. No monarch would sit idly by and allow such a force to escape their control.

To put it bluntly, if mercenary groups become a force that a nation cannot control, then perhaps the rulers of that nation will have to change. From this perspective, the Mercenary Guild can be broadly understood as a security industry association under the supervision and guidance of the state.

The primary function of this association is, firstly, to issue tasks to meet the special needs of the state, or of certain members of the state's ruling class, for matters that are unsuitable for handling by state power but for which social forces can be mobilized.

The second function is to manage the registration, promotion, and job transfer of individual mercenaries, which, while generating revenue, also provides strong oversight of this civilian armed force.

Finally, when necessary, the state can directly conscript the forces of mercenaries.

The rule on the mainland is that mercenaries can roam freely and do not have a national stance, but mercenary groups must have a registered location, a clear nationality, and be deeply tied to the country.

The mercenaries of Skyfall may serve Frostfire, but Skyfall's mercenary groups will never turn their weapons against their own motherland.

Otherwise, their hard-earned mercenary group qualifications, their industry reputation, and their expensive mission deposits would vanish in an instant.

From this perspective, mercenary groups are undoubtedly dogs.

So why are mercenaries worse off than dogs without a group?
If you don't join a mercenary group and don't clearly express your stance, I'm sorry, but you won't be allowed to accept lucrative missions.

What if there are always some rebellious individuals who are unwilling to be bound by mercenary groups and yearn for freedom?

"We rely on mercenary groups for a living."

Luke patted his chest: "Me? I still have a few old buddies. They're all in the same kind of free mercenary squad. No connections. If they joined a group, they'd just be doing manual labor and cannon fodder."

"Then it's better to do it yourself. It may be tiring, but there are always some tasks that mercenary groups don't want to do. The big mercenary groups pass them on to the small mercenary groups, the small mercenary groups pass them on to the adventure groups that don't have the qualifications, and the adventure groups then pass them on to us individual adventurers."

This... what a clever chain of subcontracting...

Chen Mo quickly jotted down the notes, then raised a new question: "Uncle Luke, I'm still a little confused. Why do we accept missions that mercenary groups don't want to do? Can't we just not accept them?"

These words seemed to touch a nerve with Luke. He took a big gulp of wine and turned to stare blankly at Chen Mo.

"You, how could you be so foolish..."

"Didn't I tell you? Mercenary groups... are they dogs? Dogs can't choose what they do or don't do."

"If I tell you to lick the plate, you have to lick the plate; if I tell you to lick your crotch, you have to lick your crotch!"

He shook the bottle vigorously, and the bottom of the bottle hit the deck with a dull thud. "In our Mirror Lake Kingdom, every mercenary group has a fixed quota of supply delivery tasks every year. It's tiring and the pay is pitifully low, so nobody in the big groups wants to do it."

"But do you dare not take it? If you don't, you'll be in trouble! So, these hot potatoes are eventually passed down layer by layer, ending up on the heads of us poor, lowly folks at the very bottom, right?"

Okay, Chen Mo finally understood. So the mission involved assigning tasks.

The entire control system, from the kingdom to the mercenary guild, to the mercenary group, to the adventurers, is seamless.

This is the real world!

Luke, over there, finally let loose completely after taking another swig of wine.

Various mutterings and sighs gradually slurred his words.

"Bullshit...freedom!"

"Without...without power, where...where does freedom come from? Without a backer...with a powerful backer, where...where does power come from!"

"Little guy...among mercenaries, there are only a few big shots who can really command the wind and rain...the rest...everyone...are just struggling to survive...they're all unfortunate people..."

Luke's voice grew lower and more indistinct, eventually replaced by heavy snoring.

Chen Mo silently picked up Luke's tattered cloak and gently covered his curled-up body. He looked up at the sky, which was gradually darkening, with a sky full of stars.

(End of this chapter)