Blood City

Jerome and the others had waited in Zhang Tie's tent for only five or six minutes when Zhang Tie returned. In one hand, he carried four sets of field uniforms identical to the one he wore; in the other, he carried the weapons needed by the four of them as if they were a bundle of goods—a short dagger, a longsword, a spear, and a double-edged snowblade battle axe weighing over fifty kilograms.

"These uniforms were selected according to your builds. Put them on, take your weapons, and we can leave!"

Jerome and the others were overjoyed. They had not expected Zhang Tie to handle things so efficiently. Without another word, each of them took a set of field uniforms in the tent and swiftly changed.

Only after Professor Simon took off his outer trousers did Zhang Tie discover that the shriveled old man had a leather tool pouch wrapped around his calf. It was filled with all sorts of strange little knives and hooks. With that set of tools, he could practically perform surgery. Presumably, when they had been captured earlier, the senior brothers from Hidden Dragon Hall had seen that he possessed little combat power and that the matter was not particularly serious, so they could not be bothered to search him. That was why they had failed to discover the bundle hidden on his leg.

While the others changed, Jerome introduced his other two companions to Zhang Tie. The tallest, burly man was called Zodan. He was an eighth-level Warrior and the strongest among them, a company commander in the Thunder God Mercenary Corps. Under the military rank system of Ames, the Mercenary Empire, Zodan was equivalent to a captain.

The organization of mercenary corps differed slightly from that of regular armies, though the hierarchy was generally