140: Chapter 140 Mercenary Beauty! Cecilia! The Holy Covenant Church Contract!

Inside the Gray Falcon Mercenary Group headquarters.

Cecilia's developing chest heaved violently.

She looked at the despair that bordered on begging in her brother's eyes, and at the numb, pained faces of her companions surrounding them.

She looked at those sallow, gaunt children in the corner, staring at her with wide eyes...

That raging fire of anger was quickly extinguished, as if a basin of ice water had been poured over it, leaving only a bone-chilling cold and a heavy sense of powerlessness.

She knew her brother wasn't lying.

The Gray Falcon Mercenary Group was truly nearing its end.

All of this stemmed from a failed mission three months ago.

While escorting a caravan across the edge of the Frost Sea Plains, they encountered an ambush by a large group of mounted bandits.

Although they eventually repelled the enemy and saved some of the cargo, the Gray Falcon Mercenary Group had paid a heavy price.

Seven elite members were killed in battle, including the vice-captain.

Five were severely injured and crippled, unable to hold a sword ever again.

Captain Calvin, a man whose creed was never to abandon any of his brothers, gritted his teeth and took on the burden of providing pensions for all those who had fallen and supporting those who had been disabled.

He distributed most of the remuneration from their missions, as well as the team's savings from over the years, to those families.

At first, everyone was grateful for his loyalty and became even more united.

But as time passed, the burden grew heavier and heavier.

The families of the fallen needed to eat, the disabled brothers needed medicine to sustain them, and the team's ability to take on missions declined due to the loss of personnel, causing their income to plummet.

They had to move to this dilapidated headquarters, scrimping and saving, taking on small, low-paying, or even dangerous missions.

But Ascalon, this neutral city, never sympathized with the weak.

Rent, taxes, and all sorts of management fees were endless.

Food, equipment maintenance, medicine... every single copper coin had to be carefully calculated.

A month ago, the only official physician in the group chose to leave because they couldn't pay the full salary.

Cecilia had to bite the bullet, relying on the little she had learned from assisting in the past and a few tattered medical books to barely get by.

Old John, the veteran who had lost a leg, had a wound that kept getting infected and urgently needed a special medicine, but they couldn't afford it at all.

The children's complexions were getting worse by the day...

"We... is there really no other way?" Cecilia's voice dropped, carrying a trace of trembling.

She was not afraid of danger, nor was she afraid of fighting.

But to have her approach a strange, high-ranking man in this manner, to play a role she was completely unfamiliar with...

She instinctively felt resistance and fear.

Calvin closed his eyes in pain and shook his head: "Everything that could be borrowed has been borrowed, and everything that could be mortgaged has been mortgaged."

"A few days ago, people from Blood Axe came to remind us that next month's neighborhood management fee is due."

"And Boss Hawk from the apothecary shop also hinted that if we can't pay him back, we shouldn't think about getting even a single leaf of hemostatic herb from him in the future..."

He opened his eyes and looked at his sister, his eyes bloodshot and filled with deep guilt:

"Cecilia, your brother is useless... I'm sorry to you, I'm sorry to everyone."

"But this mission... was brought to us personally by an intermediary from the Holy Covenant Church, and the contract was witnessed by a Golden Seal Priest, so the credibility is guaranteed."

"Moreover, they promised to provide some necessary disguised identities and skills training."

"Most importantly... your... that ability of yours might come in handy."

Calvin said this last sentence very softly, and only Cecilia, who was close by, and a few of the most core members could hear it clearly.

Cecilia's body trembled slightly.

That ability of hers...

She was born with an extremely rare talent that even the priests of the Holy Covenant Church marveled at—Extraordinary Intuition and Insight.

It was neither magic nor divine arts, but more like an innate, keen perception of danger, lies, subtle changes in the environment, and the shallow emotions of the human heart.

This ability made her invincible in reconnaissance, tracking, and judging situations, and it was also the important reliance that allowed her, as a young girl, to survive in the brutal mercenary trade until now.

This talent was indeed extremely suitable for intelligence gathering and infiltration.

Seeing his sister's silence, Calvin knew she was wavering.

He waved his hand, signaling the other members to leave first.

Everyone filed out silently, leaving the siblings alone in the empty hall.

Calvin walked over to the fireplace and added two pieces of precious charcoal, making the faint firelight a little brighter.

He motioned for Cecilia to sit down, while he crouched in front of her, looking her in the eyes, his tone unprecedentedly solemn:

"Cecilia, this mission is very dangerous, I know. But your brother won't really let you go to your death."

"The client's request is to find a way to get close and listen for secrets; the focus is on intelligence, not assassination, and not destruction."

"You don't need to do anything actively risky; you just need to use your ability to see more, listen more, and remember more."

"Since that Count Golden Flame is holding a beauty pageant to recruit people with such fanfare, the initial screening might not be that strict, which is a good opportunity to sneak in."

He paused, lowering his voice: "And I have inquired; this Count Rowan's rise to power is eerily fast, and his own strength is ridiculously strong."

"Many forces, including the people who commissioned us, are very interested in him and want to know what secrets he has and how he was able to reach the top in one step."

"The value of this intelligence might far exceed our imagination."

"If... if you can really discover something valuable, not only will the reward be generous, but our Gray Falcon might also be able to use this to connect with some line and get out of our current predicament."

He looked at his sister's still complex expression, gritted his teeth, took out a small package carefully wrapped in oilcloth from his arms, and stuffed it into Cecilia's hand:

"Inside this are one hundred gold coins, as well as a disguised identity document provided by the client—"

"An orphan of a branch of a wandering noble family from the North, slightly literate, parents both dead, with no relatives to turn to."

"They will arrange for you to sign up for the beauty pageant through official channels using this identity."

"In addition, there is some preliminary intelligence on Gino City, Count Golden Flame, and the people known to be around him, as well as some..."

"Crash course essentials on noble etiquette and document processing. They will find someone to teach you in the next few days."

Cecilia held the cold little package, feeling it weighing a ton.

One hundred gold coins... enough to buy their dilapidated headquarters, or let Old John use some good medicine, and let the children eat their fill for a long time.

She raised her head and looked at her brother's weathered, tired, yet still firm face.

For a long time, she sniffled gently, forcing back the soreness that welled up in her eyes, her gaze becoming firm once again.

"...Where is the contract?" Her voice returned to calm, with a hint of the decisiveness of a mercenary accepting a mission.

Calvin froze for a moment, and then his eyes burst with great surprise and relief, but immediately followed by even deeper guilt.

He hurriedly took out a roll of parchment contract, tied with a black ribbon and sealed with dark red wax, from his arms and unfolded it in front of Cecilia.

The terms were clear, rights and responsibilities were defined, and remuneration, advance payment, subsequent payment conditions, confidentiality obligations, risk warnings, etc., were all complete.

At the end was the special mark of the Holy Covenant Church's Golden Seal Priest—a golden scale emblem emitting a faint magical fluctuation.

This represented that the contract had been witnessed and protected by the Holy Covenant Church, and both parties must strictly fulfill it.

The party that breaches the contract must pay twenty thousand gold coins.

Cecilia carefully read the contract word by word.

Then, she extended her right thumb, dipped it in the ink box on the small table nearby, and pressed her fingerprint firmly on the signature position of the "Mission Executor" at the end of the contract.

The bright red fingerprint was branded onto the yellowish parchment, like a silent vow, and also like an irreversible anchor point of fate.

Calvin looked at the fingerprint, his Adam's apple bobbing violently, and he turned around abruptly, his shoulders heaving imperceptibly.

This tough guy, who licked blood from the edge of a blade and was used to seeing life and death, and who never shed tears, did not dare to let his sister see his reddened eye sockets at this moment.

Cecilia silently put away the contract and the oilcloth package and stood up.

She walked behind her brother, reached out, and gently patted his broad but slightly trembling shoulder.

"Don't die, brother." She said softly, her voice a bit hoarse, "Wait for me to come back. Gray Falcon... cannot disband."

After saying this, she did not stay any longer, turned around, and walked towards her own equally simple room to prepare for the most special mission of her life.

Outside the window, the cold wind of the neutral city of Ascalon continued to howl, whipping up snow foam and slapping against the damaged flag of the "Gray Falcon Mercenary Group".