Yman asked Sistela about the time which she answered,

As per usual, Yman got up early, but he didn't go to the Academy this time. Instead, he jogged to the barracks.

The barracks was opened 24/7 since most of the clerks work in shifts. So by now, many people were inside when he arrived. After the news of Almina defeating a level 7 magician, many juniors and seniors became active lately. If before they only loitered here, now most of them were taking the quest.

Yman at first didn't understand the situation of the juniors and seniors of this academy, but now it was clear to him.

For these past days, he learned that the magic academy's purpose was not solely for training and learning, but also for acquiring resources. Therefore, magic academies were competitive with each other. They were going as far as bullying the weakest academy to downplay them and to lessen the numbers of possible rivals.

He also learned one of the shocking truth that this Academy was on the verge of getting pulled out from this world.

Whether this information was credible or not, he wasn't sure, but the source of this information was Ms. Elona, Ms. Pai's cousin.

When the trainees inside saw him enter the barracks. "Yow, Rat Slayer," one of the people inside shouted at him and beckoned him. Then it was followed by more heads turning to glance at him. One after another called out to him. Some were calling for pure sarcasm while some for mockery purposes.

Just in a few days, he became popular in the barracks so soon. Believe it or not, there were three hot topics inside the barracks. These topics were like appetizers to them.

The most popular topic was, "Really, Ms. Almina Amulet will get personal training by Elder Paan herself?!"

A female junior trainee on the left corner-most of the barracks exclaimed in surprise, and almost spit the coffee she was sipping.

Yman forced a light giggle as he thought that Miss Almina had wholly become an idol. She was the favorite topic for favorable gossip these days.

If his memory serves him right, Keremi once said to him that Almina was an idol at the Elite School of Elementary Magic. In this regard, Yman believed that Almina was someone with inborn charm. She could easily attract people around her. Not because she was beautiful, nor because of her talent in magic. Well, these two factors played a big part in it. Regardless, Yman believed the most reason for it was because luck was on her side.

Yman darted his eyes to the other group.

The next popular gossip was, "The academy was allocating rewards for the one who could uncover the identity of the mysterious black magician?" A junior trainee asked in surprise the senior trainee at his front.

After that incident of the attacks, the other academy became aggressive with their attacks later on. So once again, he had to show up and test his newly found abilities.

If Almina was there, he could secretly buff/boost her capabilities while hiding in his illusion.

After boosting Almina's capabilities, a magician of level 9 was defeated by her. Level 9 magician was the Senior level. That time Almina was level 4, so winning against a level 9 was out of sense. The other academy became wary of her, and the attacks had reduced drastically.

The magicians in Zone 7 were finally able to do their missions. Yet what left them was an insufficient quantity of resources around this city's perimeter. It was already too late for them.

Right now, the city officials were having headaches by now, because it implicates the economy later on, especially at the pricing value of all the products in this city.

But if Yman's intuition would be proven right, he might be able to solve this issue of lack of resources before he left. It was also the reason why he was here at the barracks

Regardless, the third popular topic of gossip was no other than, "Oh, it seems the venerable Rat Slayer will again blow steam on the rats! Haha."

"No, my baby rats hide!! The fierce Mr. Rat Slayer is coming!"

Hahaha!!

Such laughter.

Yman once again received a new nickname. It happened because this past week he took missions of killing rats only.

Yman did not mind it. After all, it was their daily routine to find victims of their sarcasm, and he was an easy target for it. If he got angry and tried to quarrel, these people would find it more amusing to tease him instead, and they might become intense in their sarcastic approach later on.

It wasn't like he was afraid, just find it troublesome to argue with it. And one more thing, he didn't have extra time to spend on their humor.

Truthfully, it was Bob's fault, one time that he came here together with Bob, Chloe, and Keremi to get a mission, Bob unintentionally blurted the words, "Gross rat again?!".

Then his mission history had been revealed since that time. That since the first day, he was only doing a killing rats mission.

"Rat Slayer, come here!" The first guy who called out to him beckoned him to come.

This guy wasn't bad -- actually. He was the person he saw one time when he visited the trading store.

Yman sat on the chair opposite the guy who called him.

"Sir Ult, good morning," Yman greeted him. He was called Ultima, but Yman was calling him Ult in short.

The 'Ultima' was the codename given to him after he succeeded in the trial to become a Mercenary.

"Likewise, so are we going now?" Ultima asked him.

"Not yet, Sir Ult, someone wanted to--,"

Yman was not able to finish his words because of the sudden laugh that reverberated in the barracks.

"Haha, Ultima, so you are joining a rat slaying game together with that Rat Slayer?" Laughed a guy with narrowed eyes, long black hair tied at the back, and had a medium build body.

"That's none of your business Vortex, it's my duty as a mercenary to help those who need my assistance; besides, I'm not choosy of missions," Ultima replied with his ideals.

"Fue, then how about the payment? I'm sure that Rat Slayer can only earn 120 GP at most," the person added with a smug.

"Fufu, talk about being greedy. Don't worry about that. This friend little Rat Slayer had already paid me in advance. And even if he did not, I would not force him to pay me now. It can be tomorrow or the next day or month."

"What?" That person with the codename Vortex was seemingly surprised.

"Haha, actually he paid double the price," Ultima said in glee.

After hearing it, Vortex and the other people have their mouths extended on the floor.

They were wondering how this Rat Slayer able to pay such a price of 500 gold points.

"doubled?"

"Hey."

"What?"

"Did the price of Evil Rat materials increase?"

"I don't know."

"Let's ask the Rat Slayer."

"Lol, he probably won't tell the truth."

"Then let's go to the trading store."

"Okay!"

Most of the people around ran towards the market.

Yman was listening at their exchange of words; had scratched his head, then he signaled to order a cup of coffee in the bar.

But he was surprised when, "Tsk," Vortex clicked his tongue and, "Mr. Rat Slayer, maybe you wanted to hire me also," he said.

"Yes, Mr. Rat Slayer Sir, hire us," the others also followed up.

Ultima giggled.

Yman's mouth extended on one side and formed a lazy smile.

"Haha," Yman forced a troubled laugh. "I can't hire another one," he said.

"RatSlayer bro, a 3-4 man party is better than two," Vortex did not give up.

Yman scratched the side of his face and said, "I agree with you, Mister."

Vortex broke into a broad smile but froze after when Yman said his next words, "In fact, we are waiting for that third member of ours."

After saying it, the other people inside the barracks suddenly broke into a furor.

They glanced around and saw all of them were gaping at the door.

Yman and the others glanced and saw that person.

"Are we late?"

Vortex and the others almost have their eyeballs dropped on the floor.

He smiled at her and said, "No, Ms. Almina, we came earlier than the appointed time."

But Yman gawked upon seeing the other person with her.