A/N: We should resume mostly-2ch/day tomorrow! Day jobs are sooo tiring lol.

Thank you for understanding! LOVE YOU, ALTERRANS, and thank you for your continuous support!

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Illyan Town

The desert area started at around 20,000 kilometers from Alterra, which was why, despite using the Mercenary Halls, it would still take a week or a few days for territories like the Dune Town people to go to and fro Alterra.

The first mission was to a place called Illyan Town, which was a Level 2 town around 8000 kilometers Southwest of Alterra. It was also a few thousand kilometers East of Holt, and it seemed like it was under their influence.

(That said, even if it were, the place was actually nearer to Alterra than Holt itself, showing how far the City’s hands had reached)

They had asked Cauis about the decent places to jump to in this area that was within their Hall’s range. They received a list of territories and even got an updated map from him—in exchange for a large amount of contribution points, of course.

His information extended to some territories bordering the desert. It was incomplete, and there were still plenty of uncharted areas, but it was sufficient.

From here, they knew that they had to do two or three more jumps to get to the desert area, so Garan naturally chose and planned the best and fastest path they could take, considering everything.

They also had to consider that they could not use the Hall again without completing or cancelling the mission. However, cancelling the mission would suspend them from taking new missions for a month, so they’d have to finish each mission they took, so they could not be careless in choosing one.

They chose this mission because it was an escort mission to a Town called Acero Town, a level 1 town. Though it did not have its own mercenary hall, it was closer to their destination and just beyond the scope of what they could travel as members of a Class C Mercenary Team.

They had to complete a mission to jump, so it was more practical to go on foot when they could. Hence, escort missions—assuming they were heading to a proper location—were the ideal they looked for.

The couple emerged from the array to be greeted with a cacophony of noise and sounds, with mercenaries coming in and out of the halls and the arrays. The activity wasn’t as vibrant or as numerous as Alterra’s, or even Ferrol’s, but it was still quite exciting.

The Mercenary Halls of established towns tended to be well-designed, as it was considered to be the first impression powerful people would have of the territory.

Getting a good impression was the first step to recruitment, after all, and experienced mercenaries were definitely prime crop that Lords want to keep under their control.

Of course, the investment and aesthetic standards still greatly varied from place to place.

The other side’s Mercenary Hall was as big as theirs, but was not as customized. At best, it had a simple lounge area with a carpet. The furniture was plentiful though, and the benches looked comfortable to rest and wait in.

They did not study it too deeply and tried to find out more about their destination and the client. According to the message, they just had to go to a place called Klast Mansion.

Out of curiosity, they checked the mission board to see that the same escort mission was still there, so they knew that the family might be hiring more mercenaries.

Speaking of the mission, the minimum level for this mission was level 20, which wasn’t that high. They surmised that this client probably just wanted a large entourage.

They preferred bigger groups at a time. Just a pair of them was accepted likely because of their elementalist status, which they had partially revealed during their applications.

Though the employers could not see a person’s stats, they could declare them when offering to take the job. If they lied and underperformed as a consequence, then they would just be reported and suspended, maybe even banned, from using the Mercenary Hall.

Garan declared his metal ability, which was the main element he’d use since they were heading to a desert, while Althea chose water.

Speaking of which, the information shown in the Status Masking Tool, because it was mostly cosmetic, could be adjusted as she wanted.

For this mission, even if the Lord took a peek at his panel, he’d only see the elements they wanted him to see.

She chose water because it was the most convenient element and could be used in practical things like drinking water and bathing water. Everyone had spaces, but they were small unless they had space stones. When camping, who’d have water to bathe?

Most people here just...didn’t...bathe during long travels. At best, they’d wipe their bodies with a wet cloth. But Althea and Garan had a certain standard of living. Even if they knew they could not maintain what they were used to now that they were outside, they still had a bare minimum.

Anyway, they had the capability. Why would they wrong themselves?

They definitely prepared various things to make sure they were as comfortable as possible, even if they were in the middle of nowhere. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

The two of them exited the Mercenary Hall and saw that it was a plaza, which was like a miniature market at this time. There were several stalls at the roadside selling various things like monster loot, plants, and the like.

The stalls were arranged more densely than Alterra’s and were a bit more chaotic to look at. There were also a few processed foods and drinks, though they were not nearly as palatable-looking as what Alterra sold.

Who wouldn’t want to take advantage of the famished and hungry mercenaries who definitely had more money than common people?

Similarly, many arriving mercenaries would want to ’clear space’ for their succeeding missions or ’clear space’ to make money if they were local mercenaries.

The market right outside the mercenary hall was quite convenient and probably common in most territories. Alterra didn’t use this configuration only because they already had several formal markets all over the territory.

In terms of temperature and climate, Illyan Town was quite similar to Alterra’s, though the scents were quite different (there was the smell of grime and sweat mixed in, which was characteristic of brutish mercenaries).

Of course, Towns were generally much cleaner than villages, so they didn’t have to worry about the smell of feces hitting their faces as soon as they arrived. However, it definitely did not have Alterra’s abundance of greens, which created a cool, balanced atmosphere with a refreshing breeze.

As for the town itself, it just looked a lot like Ferrol Town. This was not really a surprise. Though they were not close to each other, most people chose the convenient system buildings.

There were some customization options, and some base building could vary per territory, according to Otto, especially if they were far enough that the biomes were different, but ultimately the shell was the same, and there would be more similarities than differences.

Not to mention, slightly customizing a few houses was somewhat affordable, but doing major customization for thousands of them would cost a fortune.

For the most part, it was the urban layout and management that varied.

The roads here were not too wide, but average for a town, and there were beast carts passing through the main roads every couple of minutes. Some were classy carriages, like for nobles, while others were transportation carts, filled with the very familiar black iron.

For Illyan Town, Cauis said that their industry was loosely related to metalworking. In the West, a lot of territories were close to Black Metal mines, so it was not a surprise to have this.

The difference between them was their specializations. In Illyan Town, their main products were different. Other than producing some weapons for in-house use, they specialized in making superior agricultural tools like plows, axes, sickles, and saws.

Anyway, an upgraded Weaponshop could automatically churn out Class D weapons since it had no lack of black metal as raw material.

One had to remember that Holt City was the premier source of food products in the human territory. Their farms, within the city or in their subsidiaries, were beyond imagination.

The agricultural zones in Holt City itself were even bigger than the area of the towns. This did not include their subsidiaries and satellites, some of which were completely dedicated to farms.

They had towns and villages harvesting specific crops too, just leaving enough farm modules to plant a variety for their own sustenance.

Similarly, various tools would be needed to be productive with them. The system’s weapon stores definitely did not offer tools like this, focused solely on the fighting equipment. Speaking of which, this market demand gave Althea some ideas, but that was for later.

Illyan Town also had vast farmlands in response and it seemed like they were also a minor supplier of certain crops to Holt City, which was days away even by Beast Carts.

Taking note of everything, they headed to the assigned mansion to finally check in for their first solo mission together.