Star Forge Titan

"Tsk, it's you, kid. Go away. For the sake of that little sandworm today, I won't bother with you." The chubby tavern owner made a gesture to shoo away flies.

The two are obviously very familiar with each other, and such jokes will not affect their relationship.

Alvin, who was snapping his fingers, looked in the direction of the sound and saw a group of dusty people dressed like mercenaries.

The burly man leading the group was the one who had just spoken. He was not short, about 1.9 meters tall, and had an obsidian sword of astonishing size on his back, but he was not wearing any armor.

"Hello, my name is Andre, a sandworm hunter." The man extended his hand and introduced himself.

As a result, the fat owner of the tavern immediately added a sentence for him.

"It's a pity that I've never caught a big sandworm."

"Hey!" A short figure behind Andre jumped onto the bar.

"Fatty, if we catch a giant sandworm, will we come to you?"

He was a neatly dressed halfling rogue. Although he looked like a child, he might be the oldest in the group. After all, it was not easy for outsiders to accurately judge a halfling's age.

"Hahaha, that's true." The fat boss was not annoyed, but just deliberately put on a kind attitude as if looking at a naughty child.

This really made the halfling thief stand three feet tall in anger. Considering the height of this "athlete", her agility attribute must be quite high.

"Captain, look at this guy!" The halfling female thief with twin ponytails shouted in a shrill, childlike voice:

Such names were common among adventurers or mercenary groups, so many people in the bar responded jokingly, which made the halfling thief even more angry, and he cursed back at everyone without fear.

But his childish appearance and the use of boring words like "idiot" and "bad guy" over and over again made those guys laugh instead of getting angry, as if they were happy to be scolded.

Even many people, including her teammates, laughed out loud.

Suddenly I feel like I'm reading a fantasy novel...

Watching all this, Ivan couldn't help but sigh in his heart. In fact, since entering the tavern, he had been feeling a similar feeling.

Although you will lose a lot of things when traveling through time, it is also an unprecedented adventure.

With this thought in mind, Alvin shook hands with Andre.

"Ivan Elian, a, uh, idle guy looking for a job."

Hearing this, Andre raised his eyebrows slightly, realizing that the other party had guessed his thoughts.

Yes, when he saw Ivan's strong body and his quick reaction when facing the professional thief just now, he wanted to recruit him to join the team.

"So, do you want to try to become a sandworm hunter?" Andre asked directly:

"But I don't have much experience in this area. To be more precise, I have no experience at all." Alvin shrugged, his attitude very frank.

"It's okay, the rest of the team are veterans. If you join, I can take special care of you, newbie~"

The halfling female thief, who had grown tired of scolding, patted Ivan's shoulder in a familiar manner.

Her mood recovered quickly. She was cursing just now, but now her tone was full of undisguised joy.

"I think I haven't agreed yet?" The black-haired boy showed a helpless expression.

However, he didn't refuse.

Chapter 15 Force for Rent

Adventurers, mercenaries, unstable elements with nothing to do.

Even in the real-world Palladio, there is still a rigid demand for renting out military forces.

Whether it is a caravan that needs to travel long distances through various dangerous areas, or a few goblins that suddenly appear on the mountain behind their home, or lords of all sizes from all over the place who need to fight with their neighbors, they all have this need.

The cost of maintaining an armed force in the long term is not low, so these people need to have a few armed gangs, or mercenary groups, or adventure teams that they don't have to worry about in normal times, but can be recruited for a few dollars when needed, and they don't need to be buried by themselves when they die.

Where there is demand, a corresponding market will naturally emerge.

The relevant industry standards and industry systems will also be established through bumps and bruises amidst the intrigues between Party A and Party B.

Originally, there was an intractable chain of suspicion between employers and mercenaries. After all, no lord could tolerate their own troops being ineffective during war, or even standing still without warning.

Even if it is just a mercenary army based on money, it will not work.

But you still have to use it when it is necessary. After all, just because you don’t use it doesn’t mean your opponent won’t use it either.

In addition, mercenaries are also worried that their employers will use their workers to death during work in order to pay less money. Everyone knows that dead people will not ask their bosses for wages.

Among a bunch of bad people who don't follow the rules, there will occasionally be a few teams that are a little more particular, because they know that following the rules not only protects the client, but also themselves.

As a result, these rule-abiding people tend to quickly occupy the top of the industry, which is a very competitive industry.

Then the [desert curse words] started rolling up~

When the rule-abiding "businessman" and the rule-abiding freedom-loving "bastard" both hold knives, they would rather destroy each other physically than reason with each other verbally.

Although it is not as severe as the election for the leader of Tong O Bay where people directly start to "persuade" each other in the city, it is not uncommon to see people raising flags and attacking each other outside the city gates.

In short, after so much competition, the cold, pragmatic, and profit-oriented "businessmen" finally defeated the unrestrained and freedom-loving "ronin", and clear industry rules that were strictly, or relatively, slightly, subtly, occasionally, and repeatedly followed were established.

The disorderly militants who could be pulled in by shouting in the tavern like those in the novels were gradually and completely eliminated.

The new force-for-hire method is now the mainstream, requiring a strict contract to be signed under the witness of a credible neutral organization before work, and both parties must abide by the spirit of the contract.

Especially in the Silent Desert, which is far more chaotic than the Central Empire of Lind or the Northern Kingdom of Elrond, without minimum guarantees recognized by both parties, neither employers nor mercenaries can trust each other.

Thus, the Adventurer's Guild or Mercenary Guild was established.

They have good relations with the orthodox faith and local administrative agencies (as well as dictators, or the local largest warlords), and usually have these people serve as notaries to witness the signing of contracts. Employers and mercenaries do not mind taking a certain percentage of their commission as notary fees.

After all, compared to the extreme situation of not getting a penny or losing both people and goods, this notarization fee is nothing.

"If you have no objection to this trial contract, just sign it."

Andre used his rough, calloused hands to hold a feather pen that was totally unsuitable for his condition. He quickly signed his name first, and then handed the standard contract to Ivan who was sitting opposite him.

Earlier, after introducing themselves in the tavern, Andre took the initiative to invite Ivan to join his team temporarily as a trial member to experience the situation. If the two sides cooperate well, he could consider joining officially.

In this regard, Alvin, who wanted to see the real life of an adventure team and what sandworms are, naturally would not refuse.

At this moment, they had left the bustling Warm Sandpit Inn and arrived at the Adventurer's Guild, which was also located in the commercial district.

This is not only the publishing center for various local recruitment information, but also the place where all parties sign contracts.

As a neutral and notarial force, other places were mostly temples of various factions. However, in the Silent Desert, the supreme authority was undoubtedly His Majesty the Witch King.

Of course, the Witch King himself wouldn't be involved in such tedious tasks. As his representatives, the local nobles would naturally send relevant personnel to garrison the guild.

Looking at the young official sitting behind the counter with his chin propped up and a look of boredom on his face, Ivan couldn't help but feel that the operation and emergence of this model were novel and interesting.

After taking the contract written on parchment and quickly reading it, Alvin was surprised to find that the items on it were very detailed and meticulous. It was obvious that the entire process had become very mature after long-term operation and was enough to solve most possible problems.

After thinking for a few seconds, Alvin picked up the pen and wrote his name at the bottom of the contract, completing the signing of the contract at the legal level.

This indicates that in the future, he will join Andre's hunting team - the Trackers - as a probationary member.

"Okay, although we may not encounter sandworms every time, our team's credit rating has always remained excellent, and the amount of other types of work we accept is also not low." A clear smile appeared on Andre's face.

For a small adventure team like the Trackers, each additional outstanding new member can significantly improve the team's work efficiency, and they can even consider taking on some tasks that are relatively difficult for the original team.

Of course, the premise is that the newcomer is reliable enough.

Andrei was taking a wait-and-see approach to this. Although he was confident in his own judgment, he couldn't judge a person by appearance alone.

Therefore, what the two signed this time was just a trial contract, which was a short-term contract that both parties could cancel at any time at the guild.

"If there are no other questions, we'll meet at Dongdaemun tomorrow morning." After chatting for a few more words, Andre finally said:

"Okay, I'll be there on time." Alvin shook hands with the other party and they said goodbye temporarily.

The first night in the silent desert was so quiet that Alvin felt a little uncomfortable.

But the next morning, he was still in very good spirits and even seemed eager for the upcoming adventure.

After all, what was unfolding now was so full of the feeling of a fantasy novel that as a fan of the novel, I couldn't help but feel excited.

"Sanwang, let's go."

"Shhhhhhhhh!"

There was a neighing sound that was enough to scare the other 'occupants' of the stable into submission, two, four, six, eight legs, followed by a playful spitting sound.

Without showing any surprise, Alvin first dodged the spit that was like a machine gun with incredible agility, allowing the high-pressure droplets to shake the pillars of the stable, then raised his hand and slapped the black giant horse's neck, which was as muscular as bulletproof rubber.

The latter's legs gave way, leaving a nearly 30-centimeter-deep dent in the ground beneath his feet. However, nothing happened to him afterwards. Instead, he seemed incredibly happy about this interaction, nearly jumping up and down to collapse the stables. That was a piece of cake for the Sanwang...

"Heh, heh, too naive."

"Puff, puff, puff."

After taming the naughty horse again, Alvin took the reins of the Mountain King and walked towards the east gate of the city under the twitching gaze of the hotel staff.

The commercial district was not far from the city's east gate, so it only took him a few minutes to walk to the agreed location.

From a distance, Alvin saw Andre's burly figure and a short man jumping beside him.

In contrast, the members of the Tracker Team also saw from afar the exaggerated figures of Alvin and Sanwang's crane... well, it should be said that they stood out from the crowd of chocobos.

Unlike the pub with limited lighting, the bright sunlight clearly reveals Ivan's strong and perfect physique, as if his golden-ratio muscles were glowing.

And the Sanwang behind him makes people wonder whether this thing that looks like a horse has some strange bloodline. Apart from its appearance that may be a horse, it is actually a living tank assembled with high-strength muscles.

"Wow, you're really tall, newbie!" The halfling female thief with twin ponytails said in surprise.

"Well, probably because I'm from the North." Alvin smiled and gave a completely unconvincing answer.

Looking up, I saw that the other members of Andre's team had also arrived.

A half-elf wizard, an orc archer (?), a halfling rogue or wanderer, and the heavy swordsman Andre as the captain.

Wow, if we add a dwarf shield warrior, it will be a team of adventurers straight out of a fantasy story.

Although the orc-archer combination is a bit... subtle?

Chapter 16: Holy Warriors

"introduce."

Andre laughed and enthusiastically introduced the team members to Alvin.

"This Lilim Took, a halfling from the Shire, is an excellent rogue, has the sharpest eyes in the team, and is also everyone's favorite little sister."

"Hi (.???)ノ tall newcomer!" Lilim jumped up and waved in the air, then spun and rolled, showing great agility.

Then, the halfling female thief immediately turned her head and glared at Andre.

"Don't call me young! Even according to the customs of the Ciel, I've been an adult for more than two months!"

The angry halfling female thief swung her twin ponytails behind her head and slapped Andre's belly, which was covered with strong abdominal muscles.

Lilim was wearing an outfit that was easy to move in today, with a hat pinned to her collar and a somewhat special belt around her waist.

In addition to the dagger, the belt also had a long string of small bags hanging from it, which probably contained various thieves' tools, so that she could do special tasks such as unlocking and destroying traps during her adventures. And the hat rolled up and tucked into the collar could also be used to properly hide Lilith's twin ponytails when necessary.

"Haha, yes, yes, Lilith is already a mature lady." Although he said this, Andre's tone sounded like he was coaxing a child.

"And this one, our future Archmage Caradr... uh, Kani, uh, Kara Pump, Kerala..."

Because he was not used to it, Captain Andre bit his tongue twice when pronouncing the half-elf wizard's name, which made the scene very awkward for a while.

So much so that Alvin saw that the tall and thin half-elf wizard, who had originally maintained a cold attitude, could no longer maintain his original appearance.

At this moment, his neck and face were turning red at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Judging from the other party's increasingly ferocious expression, it was obviously not shyness, but anger without a drop of water.

"Newcomer, you can call me Kanila for short. That's enough. That idiot over there has spent two years successfully making me feel the deepest despair about humans' ability to pronounce the Elvish language."

The half-elf wizard who called himself Kanila bowed in the elven way. He had a handsome face and wore a traditional desert white robe. He was tall and thin but not weak. He must be the type who lived a moderate life and ate a moderate diet.

"Uh, my bad. Anyway, this is our team's usual silent mage, Mr. Canila. Yes, he's a gentleman, but don't make the mistake." Andre added awkwardly:

"I remain silent because the wise are always more silent than those who hold the power. Also, there is no need to emphasize gender, let alone twice!"

After hearing Andre's words, Kalani's neck, which had begun to recover, immediately began to turn red again.

"Okay." Andre smiled without any annoyance.

Ivan smiled, realizing that this small team actually had a good relationship with each other.

Then, in front of Kanila's surprised gaze, he responded with a very standard elven etiquette.