"Celestial World Bank?" Lyria exclaimed with wonder, her amber eyes sparkling like diamonds.
Eric and Livy were also amazed. They knew what a bank did from Bella Noll, but not in too much detail. For example, nobles in Ringwood Town provided loans to people in need and helped secure their money; this was something a bank also did.
Caius smiled and explained, "This is the most recognized bank throughout the world. Transactions done through them are very secure and trustworthy. All payments for completing guild missions are directly sent into one's Celestial World Bank account, which can be accessed through Guild Cards. This way of payment is accepted in all big stores across the world; only small stores perhaps won't accept card payments and will only accept Mana Stones or shards directly."
'Basically, it is a debit card. Then where are the evil credit card schemes?' Eric wondered.
Eric asked curiously, "Won't someone steal another's card and use it?"
Lyria and Livy's eyes sparkled. They recalled they had some cards from those dead mercenaries from Ringwood Town.
Caius shook his head and laughed, "It's not that easy; one needs a passcode to access their cards. And in case someone dies, or never accesses their card for a century or more, and has no nominee set up, then 90% of their money is distributed to various charities and the remaining 10% goes to the bank."
Ten percent was huge! Eric could see that the bank's top people must be loaded with wealth. After all, so many people died every single day, and 10% of their wealth went to them!
Maybe they would be kind enough to part with 90% of their wealth to him in the future? So that he could fulfill his past life's grand ambition?
Lyria and Livy sighed disappointedly. They had killed those mercenaries too quickly and hadn't bothered torturing them for their passcodes. But it was still acceptable; after all, as mere Grade Es, they shouldn't have such massive wealth in their accounts anyway.
"I may as well mention this: even if a team is Grade D, that doesn't mean all members are of the same grade." Caius pulled out his card to show them.
The card was orange in color.
The Eclipse Team - Grade D
Caius Valerian - Leader - Grade D
Affiliation: Batley City, Silvia Kingdom
In the background of the card, a large, semi-transparent circle was drawn with a capital 'A' with two diagonal lines over it, almost similar to the marks on the horses.
The trio recalled that the mercenary cards, which were white in color, also had a similar symbol with an 'M' and diagonal lines.
Caius continued explaining while the trio observed the card, "As you can see, our group grade is D, and after my name there is another grade. Only Brunhild and I are currently Grade D; the others are behind."
"This division is done for many reasons, such as to indicate one's personal strength and capability to complete a mission. Another is so a lower-grade member cannot accept a big mission without their higher-grade members. Another reason is so new members cannot receive too much power or facilities quickly just by joining a higher-grade team. Of course, they can still use their seniors' help to access those benefits."
"For example, the 'Space Gateway' is a way to instantly travel far away using a Space Array. With some rules applied, those of Grade C and above can use those Space Gateways with a discount. I am not entirely sure how all of that works, as it is above my grade and I never paid much attention to it before."
Caius sighed internally after saying that. After the battle with the necromancers in Maplemurk Village, he had taken a major mental blow. He had been too casual all this time and thought he was very capable, but now that he had seen such truly powerful people, he wanted to go out. Only by traveling to other places—and not just keeping his affiliation with Batley City—could he grow stronger. But before that, they needed to increase their reputation points so they could apply for the Guild's trial to Grade C. The good thing was that they were not too far from it; maybe another five to ten missions could help them raise their reputation points enough.
Eric, Lyria, and Livy understood quite a bit of the guilds' mechanisms and how such a behemoth organization worked in the world.
"Can we use Batley City's space gateway to travel to Sildargrade, the capital of the Silvia Kingdom?" Eric asked. After all, there were chances that they couldn't, or that there were other protocols.
"You can, but... not everyone is allowed to use the space gateway unless their backgrounds are identifiable."
Just as Eric was about to sigh with pity, Caius continued, "But one can still use it by paying an enormous cost."
"Oh? How much?" Lyria asked, intrigued. They had a huge number of items that they planned to sell, so if they could understand the market values, money was not really a bother to them.
Caius tried his best to recall, as he had never used it and had only heard of the costs. "If I am not wrong, if you have a notable identity or if you have a Grade C card in either of the Guilds, then the price for a single person is 3,000 to 5,000 Mana Stones to travel within the Silvia Kingdom. And if the background is unclear, then it is almost 10,000 to 15,000 per person."
"W-what? That's broad daylight robbery! Totally unfair!" Livy cried out in protest.
Lyria, on the other hand, 'calmly' agreed with Livy's protest, but her amber eyes were blazing with fire. She was extremely furious. How could they rob their money like this?! She might as well destroy that array when she arrived at Batley City so no one could ever use it!
Eric was fine with it. He kind of understood why it was so; after all, going through the backdoor had its 'backdoor' style.
Caius shrugged helplessly, "Going without a trustworthy background is like secretly sending a dangerous person to another city. It is not allowed normally, so they take huge sums for this 'illegal' transaction. Of course, they won't allow a recognized criminal to pass no matter the price."
Lyria and Livy clenched their fists in frustration. They could understand the logic, but 10,000 per person was way too high! They didn't even own a single Mana Stone yet!
Eric coughed and then smiled, "Brother Caius, thank you for all the information. I am curious about something you mentioned earlier about the Mercenary Guild. Do they openly take criminals as their members? Won't people hunt them down? How can they complete any missions then?"
Caius gently shook his head and sighed, "It is like an open deception, but nothing can be done about it. Unlike the Adventurers Guild, where one has to register with their original face, mercenaries can hide their faces with a mask or anything if they wish. It is unreliable, but no one can argue that through some vile means someone could take on an Adventurer Guild member's identity anyway, so it doesn't matter."
"Those with bounties on their heads can still contribute to society while hiding their faces. It seems funny, but the sad reality is that sometimes mercenaries and even adventurers can receive bounties on their heads from wealthy people. Not necessarily because they did something bad, but due to them pissing off some nobles or someone with power during a mission. Though this is uncommon, I've heard it has happened plenty of times and continues to happen. During those times, the guilds investigate but don't interfere; they cherish their members, especially ones with good capabilities and successful mission records, but they still won't deliberately protect them unless they are too important or have connections. So, it will be up to the individual with the bounty to defend themselves from bounty hunters."
"I will personally tell you, little brother and sisters, the Mercenary Guild itself is alright, but the mercenaries themselves are an unreliable bunch and often untrustworthy. Employers know this, so more often than not, their missions are life-threatening and dangerous. While the Adventurers Guild takes care of its members and doesn't accept highly dangerous and unreliable requests from suspicious employers, the Mercenary Guild does. Because of this, they have an extremely high number of casualties compared to our Adventurers Guild."
"In the end, it is up to each guild member's choice to dive into a deadly mission or not. They can report any unusual situation that appeared during the mission to their guild, and the guild will take action against the employer if they feel it is necessary—but the premise is that the members should come back alive and well first."
Elianor, who was close to finishing her cooking, decided to show off her experience and knowledge to Eric.
She snorted disdainfully and spoke with distaste, "Mercenaries are shameless and cruel bunch. A large number of their deaths come not from dangerous missions, but because they betray each other! If Adventurers Guild members are in danger and in need of support, we will definitely reach out. But a mercenary might just kill the other for their treasures and wealth. They are an evil, cruel, vile, and inhuman bunch! They have no humanity in them, I say!"
The more Eric listened to Elianor, the wider his smile bloomed. He turned toward Caius and confirmed, "So, mercenaries are bad guys, huh? Evil people, hm? Hohoho."
Caius suddenly felt his spine trembling and his skin chilling upon hearing Eric's weird chuckle. He couldn't understand why it was so creepy, so he stopped thinking about it and nodded to Eric.
Eric was far more interested in the mercenaries than the Adventurers Guild. This was mainly for two reasons: first, it was extremely dangerous due to unreliable employers, which made everything much more fun and useful for their stats' breakthrough requirement reduction; and second, the most important reason, was the ability to hide one's identity. Otherwise, using their full strength openly would make their lives unnecessarily difficult, with others disrupting them in their day-to-day personal lives.
Soon, their lunch was ready to serve.
After eating, they promptly set off.
It was a long journey of two weeks.
During this time they set up camps and tents at night for rest, eating three meals a day.
Eric, Lyria, and Livy had no problems and enjoyed the entire journey.
Garrick and Eilif were also healed soon, and because of this, everyone in the Eclipse team was very grateful to Eric.