When she entered the guest room, Aurora was welcomed by three pairs of beautiful eyes, staring at her with curiosity, anxiety, and expectation. The candidates for the new members brought by Blair were surprisingly all of the fairer gender. Henrick’s words when she brought Caila over to get her certification rang once again in her mind, causing a wry smile to appear on her face.

‘If more women popping up, it’s not that stinky old man’s fault for thinking that I want to build a harem.’

She wanted nothing but to curse badly at Blair right now. Sure, after having a glimpse at them, she could tell that no one seemed that bad as an addition to her mercenary groups, showing his outstanding vision when judging people, but still, the fact that it would further the misunderstanding made her frown slightly.

Shaking her thoughts as not to interfere with her judgment, she began inspecting the three girls carefully one by one in scrutiny as well as activating her system to reveal a more comprehensive information about them.

Her gaze fell first on a purple-haired, petite girl fully dressed in a simple black suit who was sitting on the leftmost side of the group. She was quite charming, if not for the brooding look on her face. Being sized up by Aurora in such an open manner, the girl shriveled back and quickly lowered her gaze, like a mouse facing a cat.

‘This girl seems a bit too shy to be a mercenary.’ As Aurora evaluated in her mind, an information window faded in in front of her eyes.

---

Mia - 19 years old

Level: Level 11

Race: Human

Occupation: Assassin

Occupational Skills: Stealth, Sneak Attack, Critical Strike, Lethality

---

Aurora was quite amazed after reading her status. Although her level was slightly lower than she preferred, she had a quite amazing set of skills for someone of her level, as if she was born to be an assassin. Aside from the standard skills that an assassin usually has, two additional skills of her—[Critical Strike] and [Lethality]—made her more useful than she had thought.

[Critical Strike] could compensate for her lack of physical strength due to her lithe body. If she didn’t remember it wrongly, in the game, this skill could provide the user with at least 25% extra damage when aiming at an enemy’s weak point. In reality, it might translate to the ability to find out an opponent’s weak points and attack them with high accuracy. On the other hand, [Lethality] could increase the chance of killing the target in one hit.

‘How can someone so shy be perfectly suitable as an assassin?’ Aurora couldn’t help but marvel at this strange contradiction.

Moving on, her attention shifted to the one in the middle. This one’s appearance was quite… exotic, for lack of a better word to describe her. This dark-skinned female beastfolk, most probably a dogkin, looking at the pair of fluffy dog ears on the top of her side-shaved, braided silver hair.

Her outfit was a little more revealing than most female mercenaries', with a furry-trimmed vest on top of a crop top white shirt that accentuated her well-endowed assets while also displaying her smeaxy ripped abs and toned muscles. Aurora almost couldn’t take her eyes off that enchanting sight for a while, causing her to slightly fluster and quickly retract her gaze with a hint of pink sprayed on her cheeks.

Knowing that Aurora had ogled her body for a split second, not only that she didn’t shy away from her gaze, but instead puffed her chest, showing off her well-trained sexy figure without a shred of shame as she threw a flirting smile at Aurora.

Aurora almost couldn’t keep her straight face and subconsciously wanted to turn her face away when she saw the beastfolk lick her lips seductively, but fortunately another information window suddenly showed up in her eyes in a timely manner, which attracted her attention, saving her from losing her dignity as the group’s leader.

She swore that she could hear the cheeky dogkin click her tongue when she read her status, like a child who failed in her prank.

---

Raia - 22 years old

Level: Level 15

Race: Beastfolk (Dogkin)

Occupation: Guardian Knight

Occupational Skills: Shield Arts Mastery, Greater Strength, Greater Defense, Martial Arts Mastery

---

‘A Guardian Knight, huh? It’s surprising,’

Aurora took another glance at Raia, but this time her eyes focused on her arms, and indeed she saw a sturdy-looking stout shield attached to her left hand and a metal gauntlet adorning her right hand, showing at least the system had told her the truth.

‘Everything goes in a fantasy world, huh?’ Aurora suddenly felt her worldview was flipped upside down looking at this scantily dressed Guardian Knight. ‘Well whatever… her taste has nothing to do with me anyway…’ What important to Aurora was that she now gained a powerful tank to boost her mercenary group’s strength.

‘Then, the last one…’

She had never expected that this girl would show up this time. This one would likely be the most useful among the group of candidates but could also be the most troublesome.

Although she looked like an ordinary mage at first glance, her gaits and gestures pretty much showed otherwise. The plain mage robe she wore couldn’t conceal her exceptional aura and graceful bearing; even without makeup, her flawless face and smooth skin weren’t something that a commoner could have. Her blonde hair was tied up behind her in a high ponytail, giving her a neat and clean look that was very pleasant in the eyes, and her blue eyes exuded confidence and pride.

Looked at how she sipped her tea with a refined and graceful gait, her pinkies sticking up as she brought the cup to her rosy lips. If it didn’t scream “Noble!”, what would it be?

This girl was also someone Aurora very familiar with, it was quite surprising that Blair could rope her in.

---

Janette Grey - 18 years old

Level: Level 17

Race: Human

Occupation: Dual-element Magician

Occupational Skills: Fire Elemental Magic, Thunder Elemental Magic, Quick Chanting, Magic Control

---

‘Way too overpowered in the early stages!’ Aurora admired inwardly.

Janette Grey, the future "Firebolt Witch," whose name was synonymous with nightmares for the army of the Republic of Harmonia in the future war.

Wherever she went, the battlefield would be set ablaze in blazing flame and ground torn asunder by her thunder magic.

Whenever her name was mentioned, the enemies would piss their pants involuntarily, running away like a beaten dog.

Anyone who faced her in battle would be reduced to ash; they couldn't even resist her almost instantaneous spell release.

Only after the Republic of Harmonia sacrificed several fifth rings and six rings high sorcerers could they barely defeat her. But that also wasn’t enough to claim her life, as she disappeared after that ground-breaking battle with, what was believed to be her life intact.

Although she never appeared again in the war after that, it provided the Republic with the opportunity to brazenly claim that they had successfully slain the witch. But even so, her name still brought unprecedented terror in the later stages of the war.

That was how terrifying she could be in the future.

Furthermore, she also had a natural charm and charisma that easily attracted people’s attention. Not only was she sweet and lovely in appearance, she was also one of the top geniuses in the magic tower, one of the youngest magicians in history to step into the fifth ring, and also the most beloved daughter of Marquis Grey, one of the five most influential families in Brigitt City.

In a nutshell, she was someone you wished you could be but couldn't—an inspiration for the high-spirited younger generation.

Seemingly couldn’t bear Aurora’s penetrating gaze any longer, Janette frowned slightly and opened her mouth.

“Dame Silverburg—”

“Aurora is enough, Miss Janette. You don't need to address me so formally; after all, we're meeting as fellow mercenaries." Aurora waved her hand, interrupting Janette’s sentence.

Janette frowned slightly after being interrupted, she had always been taught that it was pretty rude to interrupt someone’s conversation, but she didn’t dwell too long before nodding her agreement and saying, “I understand, but pardon, I can’t forego the courtesy between nobles completely, so I may call you Lady Aurora, would that be acceptable?”

Listening to her stiff way of speaking, Aurora showed a wry smile before giving her a nod.

“I presume you’ve observed us enough, Lady Aurora?” Janette questioned, "I personally don't like to waste time, I hope you can give me a confirmation letter anytime soon?”

Aurora smiled faintly when she got questioned by Janette, seemingly not offended by her brazenness at all. She had already expected that this prideful noble lady cum genius mage wouldn’t be able to restrain her temper for too long, especially when someone who seemed younger than her looked her down as if they were her superior.

Even though she could understand her perspective, it didn’t mean that she could agree with such an attitude. It could become disastrous, both for herself and the group, if she underestimates what it means to be a mercenary. This was something that she painfully learned just recently.

“How interesting,” Aurora said calmly, propping her cheeks. “Can you be sure that your current strength will not be a burden to enter my mercenary group, Miss Janette?"

“Isn’t it obvious?” The corners of Janette's mouth rose slightly, and she replied with a look of disdain, "I'm still very confident in my own strength."

"Very good. Then let's test it." Aurora stood up and walked outside, and Janette followed at the same time.