An Owl's Rise

Days went by as Evelyn continued to familiarize herself with Taidale City and the culture of humans of this world. She had her experience from her first life to help her, but there were several things in this world that were vastly different.

Naturally, with magic being a thing, technologies that could never exist on Earth were present in everyday life.

Still, Evelyn had bene exposed to plenty of crazy things during her time in the Roost and adapted fairly quickly.

After a couple of days of wandering around, she was able to find a company that rented out alchemy labs and used the space to create all manner of potions, pills, and other items for herself and her companions.

During this time, Lucia also encouraged her to pick up some easy jobs from the mercenary association, which Evelyn begrudgingly did.

Overall, she understood the point of everything she was doing, but it was still frustrating. She did not want to mingle with people but get on with her revenge.

Thankfully, around two weeks into their infiltrating human society, the chance that all of them had been waiting for presented itself.

While Evelyn was turning in a gathering request she had taken at Lucia's request, Callen approached her with a tired smile on his face.

"Miss Evelyn, I see that you are hard at work again. I want to personally thank you for taking on these jobs that most can't or won't."

"I'm just doing what my master tells me. Thank Lucia if you want to thank someone." Evelyn replied curtly, before turning around and trying to leave.

However, despite her making it fairly obvious that she did not care to continue speaking with him, Callen stood in her way and prevented her from going.

"Sorry to spring this on you, but there is actually a special request that I have for you and the other members of your party. Would you mind hearing me out?"

Evelyn almost told him to save it for when Lucia returned, but she remembered that she was supposed to make a good impression and buried her disdain.

"Of course, I would be happy to." Evelyn said with a fake smile.

She then followed Callen to a private meeting room within the building and he explained the job he was hoping she and her compassion would take.

"A couple of days ago, one of the most powerful families in the city requested extra protection for their daughter who is going to be moving to Tyrannis Union as a core member of one of the sects. However, there were some difficult conditions to meet. They wanted a group of mercenaries that were all at least red rank, are second- or preferably first-class citizens, and are primarily female.

Not many mercenaries meet all of these requirements. But I'm sure now you understand why I sought you out." Callen said, a desperate look in his eyes.

He could not force Evelyn to accept the request, but if she refused, then it would leave him in a bind. His only option then would be to send out the request to other branches and hope to get lucky.

"I can't say I'm uninterested, but I will need more details before I can say anything else. What will be the pay, how long will the contract last, and which sect will we be going to? I need to know these things to make a decision." Evelyn said, not wanting to seem to seem too enticed.

This may have been the opportunity she and the others had been looking for, but she knew that letting Callen know that would be detrimental.

"The pay is quite generous at one purple magic crystal and five red magic crystals per day for each of you. As for the contract, it has a minimum time of ten days and is renewable for up to thirty days. After that, if the family in question wants to continue retaining your services, they will need to negotiate another contract." Callen said, giving Evelyn the information he had.

Unfortunately, when she asked which family had posted the job and what sect the person they would be guarding was heading to, he was unable to answer.

"Until you've accepted the mission, I can't tell you who it is for, and as for which sect it would be, I honestly have no idea. If I had to guess, I would say that it is one of the four smaller sects that border the Federation to the north."

Having to restrain herself from showing irritation, Evelyn carefully thought about what to do.

'There is only a one in four chance that this job would take us into the Jaigi Sect. Plus we won't know who we are working for until we accept. It could be exactly what we are looking for, or it could be a huge waste of time. There are just too many unknown variables.'

Evelyn wanted to jump on this chance but knew that doing so now was not the correct move.

"How long do we have to make a decision?"

"A week was the deadline I was given. If I was dealing with just an average family, I could just tell them to wait or lower their expectations, but not this time. My position could be at stake if I don't come through." Callen said, looking at Evelyn like she was his only hope.

"For now, I cannot agree to anything, but I shall bring it up with my master and other apprentices." Evelyn said, trying to look sympathetic.

Callen looked at least somewhat relieved since Evelyn had not outright refused. And to sweeten the deal, he promised that he would allow them to purchase powerful spells that the association kept in its archive and only gave access to its most exemplary members.

'Like I care about something like that.' Evelyn could not help but think. While most humans would be jumping at the chance to get access to strong spells, it was pretty much worthless to her.

Nevertheless, there was the possibility that this mission would be perfect for her and her companions' goals. Now she just needed to confer with Lucia and get her option before moving forward.