"Ahh

Rod rubbed his nose.

"What's wrong with you? Head? Sick? ”

Although sitting on the chair, Anne, who was not idle for a moment, was swaying her body from side to side, and at the same time looked curiously at Rod who was sitting behind the desk.

"Do you want Anne to help?"

"No, I think maybe someone is scolding me behind my back, or maybe someone is thinking about me......... It's certainly not a good thing anyway. ”

Rod shrugged his shoulders and easily brushed the topic aside.

Even though everyone escaped from the damn mage, that didn't mean they were all unscathed - Marlene was the most injured as a human being. Perhaps because of the influence of the previous duel with the black-robed mage, the girl passed out shortly after the battle, according to Lijie's examination, it was the concussion caused by the magic attack that caused Marlene's injury, and because of this, after returning to Deep Rock City, she has been sleeping in the room and recuperating, and she can't get out of bed for the time being.

On the other hand, although Lijie, who is a half-angel, and Anne, who is half-beast, are also injured, their bloodlines can ensure that they recover quickly, and people will still be angry with people...... It's a good thing Marlene has been asleep, otherwise I'm not sure how she would have reacted to it.

The mercenary team led by Shanna and Lando and the others also suffered some injuries of varying degrees, but these were all flesh and skin pain, and they were not particularly serious, so they didn't need to be taken seriously. The only unexpected joy is that after this battle of the Wind Snake Group, Rhodes found that Lando and the others have made a certain breakthrough in combat skills, and it seems that people can only burst out with infinite potential when facing life and death.

The successive encounters made Rhodes a little tired, although he was the head of the mercenary group, he was not the leader of the fire brigade of the mercenary association. I've saved the mercenary several times.,He's also a little bored——— you can't always brush up on combat skills.,It's fun to practice life skills occasionally.,No.

The Emerald Tears didn't make any big moves after that, and Rhodes had already sent old Walker out to find out the news, and although the old man was old, he was not at all as lonely as ordinary old people. Whenever he has free time, he runs to the tavern to drink and fart, so Rod simply makes the most of it, at least it is much better than letting him fall asleep on the wine table and drooling.

However, there has been no news in the Mercenary Association recently, and various mercenary groups are actively fighting for manpower or recuperation. Rod said that this is not the end, but a new beginning, and when the buffer period passes, if there are still mercenary groups that are not able to get enough manpower, then the next days will be very difficult for them.

Because of the ban of the mercenary association, the tavern that has always been lively is now much more leisurely because the mercenary association prohibits each mercenary group from hiring outside people, those idle people who have been secretly mixing in the tavern and expect to be able to join a mercenary group have now finally seen the expectation of turning into regular employees, for the mercenary group that has been forced to Liangshan, the meaning of quantity is now far greater than quality, as long as you can kill a chicken with a sword, then you can join the group and become a real mercenary.

It's chaos.

Rhodes raised his head and looked out the window, the dark oppressive clouds were a little oppressive, and the wind in the upper area had changed recently, and I heard that something seemed to be wrong among the nobles. But that's not what Rhodes should be concerned about, and what he's thinking about now is the next question.

It was a complete surprise for Rhodes to be able to meet the black-robed mage and successfully kill him, but he was sure that because of this, the plans of the Nation of Light had been thwarted to a considerable extent, at least in the Parfield region, and their plans had been declared bankrupt. But knowing the council's bunch of pigs who eat and sleep full of nonsense, Rhodes knew that they wouldn't stop there, and that there might be new challenges ahead. …,

What should I do then?

Rod frowned and tapped lightly on the table, this time the matter was a bit big, Starlight was likely to have been targeted by the Kingdom of Light. If you don't want to do something, then it may be a lot of trouble.

However, Rhodes thinks that it is unlikely that the Kingdom of Light will make a big splash again, this matter must have attracted the attention of the Golden City, Archduke Lydia has never been a master to be messed with, even if the Council of the Kingdom of Light is bold enough to come to trouble again, they have to consider whether it will affect their future chances——— after all, Rhodes knows very well that the reason why the Council of Light made a move against the Duchy of Moon this time is not just to teach this ally who has always been proud of it as a lesson. Politics is about interests, and war is the same, no one will do things without interests. Although the guys in the Land of Light talk about "freedom", "liberation" and "power" all day long, if they can't see the benefits of real money, they won't care if they will really spread these things to the whole world.

But Rhodes wasn't without ideas.

In fact, after gathering all the people, Rod already had similar considerations, but it had to be interrupted because of the previous accident, and now that everything was back to normal, Rod once again put things on his agenda.

That is to increase the soft power of the mercenary group.

For a mercenary group, hard power represents the number of people and their combat effectiveness, which is enough for many mercenary groups. However, for players, this is not enough, they also need the support of soft power——— and there are many things involved in this area, such as potions, money, equipment and even intelligence, all belong to this category.

On this continent, the mercenary groups formed by the natives rarely think about this aspect, and they are more accustomed to selling the equipment they have obtained from adventures for money, and then exchange it for what they need. But for the player, this is definitely not a good way to deal with it, a player's mercenary group has a clear division of labor in all aspects, some are responsible for forging and repairing, some are responsible for gathering and medicine, and there are even those who are specifically responsible for buying and selling goods in exchange for profits for the mercenary group. In this way, not only will it ensure that waste is reduced and the time required will be shortened, but it will also bring profit to the mercenary group and allow it to expand. Because a mercenary group will have a lot of expenses after expansion, if you can't prepare in advance, then it will be very tense at that time.

And this is also the mercenary guild's way of survival, after the mercenary group is upgraded to the mercenary guild, their increased number and structure expansion make it impossible for them to benefit from the most primitive means of capital accumulation, and at this time, the head of the mercenary guild must make a certain degree of choice——— either choose a powerful chamber of commerce as its funding object, or choose those powerful nobles as their backers.

To use a more modern analogy, these nobles or merchants pay their own money to take a stake in the mercenary guild and gain some control of them, and the mercenary guild must also obey the orders of these funders to serve them when they ensure their normal operation by obtaining their financial support. After all, the Mercenary Guild belongs to a powerful "combat organization", and if such an organization does not have a formal channel to connect with the location, it will be very dangerous for the administrator of the territory.

Rhodes didn't want his mercenary group to become someone else's toy after it was upgraded to a guild, and he wasn't interested in the miserable situation of struggling between money and power. For those merchants and nobles, being able to master a mercenary guild is not only a matter of face, but also equivalent to mastering a powerful private army, and it is natural that once there is any fight, they will inevitably put these chips to ensure their victory. …,

As for the safety of the chips themselves? Who cares?

Therefore, being financially independent is very important to Rhodes, and unlike these natives who are blind-eyed, Rhodes is more familiar with various commissions and tasks, and can ensure his victory more quickly. In this way, he can devote his free time to increasing the soft power of the mercenary group——— an independent economic base is very necessary.

"Knock knock."

The door slammed, and Rhodes turned around, just in time to see Labis pulling her cloak tightly and hesitantly entering the study, which was already a very courageous act for her——— she had not dared to come in without following her brother.

"You, are you looking for me? Head? ”

The girl whispered, her hands twisting uneasily at the hem of her cloak, and Anne looked at her curiously, as if she was thinking about something.

"That's right."

Rod nodded at Labis, motioning for her to sit down, while the poor girl hesitated to step aside, then reached out and held on to her chair, and sat down slowly——— as if she were about to be sold on the black market.

"That's right."

Rod decisively decided not to pay attention to Labis's slightly nervous sense of self-preservation, he had tried to comfort her and tell her not to be so afraid, but the girl jumped up like a rabbit with a tail stepped on in the face of Rhodes, and then ran away like a big bad wolf. Since then, Rhodes has given up on this stupid idea.

"I think you're well aware that you're not strong enough for the job of adventure and combat."

In the face of Rod's words, Labis lowered her head and remained silent, her hands just kept clenching the cloak in her hands, then loosened, and then clenched again.

"So I'm going to give you a new job."

Rod reached out and placed a piece of paper in front of Labis.

"It's ........."

The girl raised her head curiously, looking at the contents above, and her little face showed a little doubt.

"As you can see, this is the recipe for some inferior potions."

Rod shrugged.

"Your future job is to stay in the stronghold and be responsible for making these potions, what do you think of this job?" Clear