Max looks over to see who spoke and finds an old man in relatively well-kept clothes beside them. He nods with a smile, which Max returns. It is still fairly early in the morning. There are barely any people on the square, the old man was probably just passing by.
"The Royal Cavendish Company? The inn we are staying at is called the Cavendish Inn, right?" Mia says.
"The Cavendish family does own an Inn with that name. In fact, they own a large portion of the properties and businesses in the country."
"Whoa, really? And it's a family-run company? They must be so rich." Mia exclaims.
"Haha. You are not wrong." The old man lets out a hearty laugh.
Now that Max thinks about it, he did notice a bunch of buildings with the same logo resembling an R and a C above their doors, like the one at the Cavendish Inn. He just thought it was a coat of arms or something.
"It looks like you young 'uns are new to this town. If you are looking for anything, just ask me. I've been living here for 6 or 7 decades now." The old man says.
"Well, we want to check out the exterminator guild. Our friend told us we wouldn't miss it, but I don't really see any big buildings other than those three." Mia says.
Mia is having a pretty easy time chatting with the old man. She is a lot more outgoing than Max and Beth.
"The guild? Like the one right behind us?" The old man strokes his beard.
Max doesn't remember walking past any memorable buildings, so he is surprised to hear that they are standing directly in front of the guild. He turns around to see what the old man is talking about, but there is just a small district consisting of fairly large buildings, nothing out of the ordinary.
"Where is it?" Mia seems confused, as well.
"You are looking right at it. This entire district is part of the exterminator guild."
That surprises Max. The district is no smaller than the entire Stratford Town.
"Whoa," Max exclaims under his breath.
"Impressive isn't it. It is the largest on the continent, after all." The old man chuckles.
"Which umm… building are we supposed to go into?" Mia asks.
"That depends on what you want to do. All the buildings in the guild are related to the exterminators one way or another. You can see what they are from the door signs. There are some selling equipment, some dealing out contracts, some offering information."
Max is bewildered at the fact that the Cracks have become so impactful that the city had to allocate basically an entire small town to deal with it.
"So, where can we find one that offers information?" Mia asks again.
"The one at the very end of that street should be the main information center." The old man says while pointing to a road beside them.
"Thanks, sir. We will be going ahead then." Mia gives a bow.
"Glad to help. Enjoy the rest of your visit, then." The old man smiles and waves.
Max and the others wave back and begin walking away.
"Chloe could have been a bit more specific," Beth says.
"Yeah." Max agrees.
'You won't miss it" isn't exactly going to help them find the information center.
There is barely anyone walking on the main street currently. Only a few are entering and exiting buildings. All of them are armed and armored. Max reckons they are probably the exterminators. Within the small number of people he can see, the exterminators consist of men and women of ages from late teens to late adults. They are all too focused on what they are doing to notice Max.
On the sides of the street, there are stores that sell medicines, weapons, and armor, among other things. Soon, they arrive at the end of the street. There are two buildings side by side. The left one reads "Information Center", and the right one reads "Contracts". Max has no idea what it means by contracts, but he figures the information center will probably tell him what he needs to know.
"So, this one?" Beth points at the building on the left.
"It should be." Mia answers.
They are both buildings much bigger than the biggest on Stratford Island. The doors look too heavy to be even pushed open. There is no one else around.
"Do we just go in?" Beth asks.
"I suppose," Max says and walks up the stairs to the entrance.
He grabs onto the bronze door handle and pushes it open. The door is a lot lighter than he imagined.
The lobby behind the door comes into view. It is very spacious. The walls are so clean and decorated they are basically sparkling. The ceiling is so tall that just the lobby probably takes up 3 floors. There is no one inside except for the one female receptionist at the counter on the other side of the room. She is doing some paperwork in a formal business suit.
"Welcome." At Max's group's entrance, the receptionist drops what she is doing and greets them.
Although she is across the room, her voice reaches him clearly, echoing off of the walls.
"Good morning." Max greets back and walks to the counter.
The receptionist is a tall lady that looks to be in her late 20s. She has a serious look on her face.
"What can I help you with today?" She asks in a toneless voice.
"We are new to the country, and we are unfamiliar with the extermination business. Could you give us a brief explanation as to how it works?" Max requests.
"Of course. I assume you are already familiar with the Crack?"
Max nods.
"So, the towns and villages are fairly spread out in our country. What's between settlements is mostly wilderness. Those areas are often infested with monsters from the Cracks, making it a danger to leave the protected walls. To provide safety to the citizens, we would hire exterminators to secure the infested areas." She pauses for any questions Max and the others might have.
"Is it dangerous to be an exterminator?" Mia asks.
Out of the three of them, Mia is the only one not well-trained in combat. Max is a little concerned about bringing her with them if they go on exterminations.
"Normally, no. We send exterminators on scout missions at the start of every week to survey each area. Depending on the number and type of monsters, we would label each area with its respective dangers. Green means relatively safe, yellow means enter with precautions, red means dangerous, and black means forbidden without permission. If you evaluate your skills correctly, you shouldn't encounter big problems, however, Cracks can occur in the middle of the week. If that happens, please leave immediately and report to the contract center."
That's not really what Max wanted to know. He is more interested in how destructive the monsters are.
"And the contracts are…"
"They are usually requested by the city and sometimes by individuals. A contract is a task. They can be clearing certain areas, securing areas for a certain amount of time, or special missions like rescue missions and escort missions."
That was a lot of information for Max to take in, but he trusts his sister to remember it all.
"Is that how the exterminators get paid?"
"That's correct. The completion of each contract will come with compensation, which is usually stated before a contract is accepted."
Mia turns to look at Max. He understands she is asking him whether it would be a good idea for them to be exterminators. Max doesn't see why not. The bandits he previously encountered were no match for him, so if there are areas that can be handled by the citizens of New Sernor, they should be fine. Plus, they are in desperate need of money. Max looks at Beth, who doesn't seem to be opposing the idea, and nods at Mia.
"How do we become exterminators?" Mia asks the receptionist after she receives Max's go-ahead.
"It's a simple and quick registration process. However, you won't be allowed in yellow areas and above within the first month of registration. If you'd like to be registered, we can take care of that right now." The receptionist answers, toneless as always.
"That would be great."
"May I ask for your names, age, and current address?"
"Of course. I am Mia… Percy, 17 years old. This is my brother, Max Percy, and my… sister, Elizabeth Percy. They are both 18, and we are currently staying at the Cavendish Inn."
The receptionist is writing on a piece of paper, completely unsuspecting of the fact that Max and Beth look nothing like. Max is somewhat worried that they have been giving inconsistent introductions to people. He fears that it might come back to haunt them later.
"That's all there is to the registration. You guys can begin accepting contracts. Keep in mind, all the records are kept, so if you claim compensation for an unfinished contract, you will be punished. For now, we happen to have a green contract here, so you don't need to go to the contract center. However, that's where you will be receiving your payment once you complete it."
The receptionist says and pulls out a piece of paper from behind the counter and lays them down in front of them. There is text on the paper and a hand-drawn map. Max picks up the paper. On it, it says "Clear the grove displayed on the map, Green." Below the map reads "one silver coin".
"That's the payment?" Max asks.
It's way more than what he expected. Back in Stratford Town, he would get around a copper coin for mentoring a kid for a whole day.
"That's right." The receptionist says.
"Let me see." Mia grabs the paper out of Max's hands and reads it with Beth.
"Whoa."
"Now, there isn't a time limit on a contract. However, we can hand out the same contract to multiple people, so others might beat you to it if you are too slow. I believe someone else had requested this specific contract earlier, which is why we have it here with us, but since it's your first time, I think it's safer for you to observe for now."
"Thanks," Mia says.
Suddenly, the door behind the counter opens, and another woman dressed in the same uniform as the receptionist walks out. She swiftly smiles at Max and the others and hurries to beside the receptionist, then, she whispers something into her ear. The receptionist frowns at what she is hearing.
"Sorry, an emergency has come up. I won't be able to help you guys any longer. You can go ahead to complete your contract if you wish." The receptionist says, and without waiting for a reply, walks through the door with the other woman, leaving the three alone in the big, empty lobby.
"What was that?" Beth asks.
"I am not sure."
"Shall we go off on our first extermination quest, then?" Mia says excitedly.
"Mia, since you are not very good at fighting, just stay behind us. Beth and I will take care of most of it." Max orders his sister.
"I didn't quit my combat training until I was 15, you know." Mia smiles.
Max supposes even Mia can defeat the bandits, but he doesn't know how strong she is now.
"Just stay safe. Beth, you got a weapon?" Max turns to Beth.
"No. I will probably grab a stick or something." Beth also looks pretty excited about the contract.
"It's fine, I picked up a cutlass from the bandits yesterday. It's in the inn with my weapons. Let's go back to grab them first."
"Sure."
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