Luminos was a small town in the kingdom of Lakrus–the great city of the long-dead sage, Gureia. The study of magic with or without its divine nature was a sacred practice amongst the people of the kingdom. Not everyone was as gifted in this practice, but those who were were often invited to the Roundtable Assembly as either knights or mages.
The academy often picked such individuals from groups of adventurers and mercenaries and bestowed upon them the opportunity to learn in Gureia's Grand Tower. Many hoped and prayed, but skimmed on practice to achieve their goals, and as flawed as their conviction was, barely anyone ever made the academy's list.
The people of Luminos, being mostly farmers, could barely even dream of being selected; not a single child was brought up with the dream that they could one day join the academy. After all, it was better to squish their hopes in childhood than watch them fail miserably in the future–or so their parents thought.
"When in reality, these folks are just too afraid that their children might overshadow them in wit and ability, and that's why they wanna keep them here, in this stupid town." Following a cat-eared town guide, Zephyr and Aura listened closely to her story. Resentment was clear in her words, and she made no attempts to hide it, not even from paying customers.
"But anyways," turning around, the girl folded her hands and looked up at Zeph's face. "Since you wanted to see 'everything', let me back up a little, alright?"
Wearing a smug look on her face, she gestured for the duo to follow her closely. Nodding back at her, the two were led down a hallway and into the heart of a busy street. At first, they weren't so sure what was so special about the place, but as their eyes landed on the place where the young girl was leading them, their curiosity was once again piqued.
"The guild?" A building made entirely of grey bricks stood tall, not too far from them. At a glance, it melted into the mundane surroundings, but as the trio got closer, things became even clearer to the fiend. "No…"
"Yup, it's the Mercenary Corps. Unlike with adventurers, where the guild takes in your request, here the people will take the job from you directly," glancing sideways at the merchant, the young girl smirked some more. "Oh, and they won't say no to any request as long as you can pay them, of course."
"And am I supposed to just walk inside and hand in my request to just anyone?" Zeph asked, but the girl shook her head in denial.
"Come on, mister! As if it'll be that easy, they won't even open the door for you, so if you need anything done, just talk to me again and I'll pass the message to a suitable mercenary group."
"You work on commission?" Aura asked, already trying to figure out how she could take over the establishment in secrecy.
Hiding her smile, the succubus watched the girl nod before turning around. Gesturing them to follow her once more, the girl began leading them to the guild. On their way down the secluded path, however, she pointed at a locked door around the same alley from where they'd passed.
"And that's the road to the Greenhorn Market," she continued walking. "If you wanna go there, be my guest, but I can't help you with that place since I'm not an adult until next year."
"Why should that matter?"
"Because the people who run that place wouldn't let me in?" Rolling her eyes, the girl looked back at Aura from over her shoulder. "They say I'm too young to be there, but whatever, I'm not interested in whatever stupid game they play there!"
"Doesn't sound like you don't care."
"Hmph!" Jerking her head to the front again, the girl showed them the path to the adventurer's guild. It was stacked full of armored men and women heading in and out, a medieval tower of brick and mortar with a backyard for training and assessment.
Walking around the place since the front seemed too clogged with foot traffic, since it was still morning, Zephyr and Aura were both disappointed at how barebones the facilities were. A handful of instructors from the capital, wielding swords, were training the rookies, and that too, poorly.
"They think that we can't do anything just because we're from this village. That's why they don't put much effort into training." Hearing the girl talking with scorn once more, the devils almost would've felt bad had it not been for their disinterest in the human race.
'Weaklings, all of them.' Aura passed through her mind to Zephyr. The fiend felt much the same, and if they weren't trying to keep a low profile, he would've rid those men and women of their heads himself. 'Almost sad to see that incompetence like this exists.'
'No wonder the capital is willing to sacrifice these people to buy time to prepare their defences.' Deep in thought, Zephyr kept looking at the poor trainees being ignored and barely instructed by the capital-appointed instructors.
Talking amongst themselves, they were leaning against the fence. A single woman with two men surrounding her, she was obviously being hit on, and from the looks of it, she was leading them on and on, and the guy had no clue of it.
"Alright, I'll take my leave now. Lemme know if you ever want my help again." While the two were still busy staring at the instructors, the young girl, having done the job that she was paid for thoroughly, took her leave.
As for the two left behind, their fingers were itching as the sheer sight of incompetence before their eyes had gone far too long for them not to do anything.
"Aura, do you mind if I test my body a little?" Turning his head towards his wife without actually looking at her, Zephyr kept blankly staring at the instructors. "Been a while since I've fought any adventurers, and ever since this morning I've been feeling a little more like myself, so this might just be the perfect opportunity."
Finally, as his eyes shifted to Aura, the succubus was smiling back at him.
"Allow me to set the stage, dear husband~ Ahaha~" She replied, bowing.