Basilard BladiSquad Five senior who is both Eric's mentor and immediate superior.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: He is The Leader of Team Four and as such he is more powerful in every aspect than all of his novices put together.
- Blood Magic: Members of the Bladi clan have a unique branch of magic that uses their blood as its catalyst.
- The Leader: Both the sergenant and mentor for Dragon's Lair Team Four. He stays calm even when a pack of Xethras are attacking.
- Master of Illusion: Downplayed because of his speciality. Despite being a top-tier mage and knowing several illusion spells his skill with them is poor because they're not his speciality. This is why he usually forgoes them in favor of straight up combat.
- Mentor Archetype: His job is to teach Eric, Tiza, and Nolien how to be proper mercenaries and develop their respective skills.
- Pals with Jesus: Basilard is a drinking buddy to Death, as in, the Anthropomorphic Personification thereof.
- Red Mage: He is skilled in many forms of magic from standard Black Magic to White Magic to his clan's unique Blood Magic, but his illusion magic is as bad as a novice mage. He's about twenty years older than his students, so he's had time to study, and it's all basically Rule Magic anyways.
Eric Watley
- The Apprentice: Eric is Basilard's apprentice until he proves that he can handle himself in a fight. He's technically a novice for the rest of the book but he's still learning magic from Basilard (and Dengel).
- Badass Bookworm: He was selected for the Mage Squad because he was scrawny but had the capacity to learn magic.
- Bookworm: After arriving in Roalt, Eric spent nine days in the public library. Because of its cafe, he didn't have to leave once in that time.
- Casting a Shadow: While Eric can use all the elements for spells, he finds in himself an affinity for darkness. This is because he's favored by Dakol, the Avatar of Darkness.
- Classical Antihero: He freezes whether confronting monsters or his crush. When things go wrong, he blames himself. Tasio thinks it's tons of fun to guide him into a mercenary guild.
- Combat Pragmatist: He will take every advantage given to him, no matter how sneaky or underhanded. If you call him a "cheater" he will respond with "mercenary".
- Heroic Host: Around midway through A Mage's Power, Eric is given the spirit of Dengel, a legendary mage. He has access to all of Dengel's knowledge which then gives him a leg up on older mages. However, he does not have Dengel's spiritual might and so he has to make up the difference with guile.
- Magic Eye: His Evil Eye technique manifests as intense fear and hatred. Starting with Looming Shadow, it has a darkness side effect.
- Magic Staff: His first hand-held weapon is a bo staff enchanted to boost and focus his magical abilities. Starting with Looming Shadow, it becomes a Magic Spear.
- Naïve Newcomer:
- In A Mage's Power, Eric is new to the world of the Tariatla and to the Dragon's Lair Mercenary Company. The first couple chapters are about him learning about both of them, training for his new position as a battle mage, and spending nine days in a library. Then it's out into the wilderness to fight monsters....
- In Looming Shadow he rejoices over the fact that he is no longer the "new kid".
- Pals with Jesus: In this case, "bestest friends with Tasio", a chaotic deity.
- Shrinking Violet: Eric is a quiet and timid soul. He moves through an office without anyone noticing him and has difficulty making friends even when they share interests.
- Summon Everyman Hero: Eric was not summoned to the magical world of Tariatla to be a hero. Tasio regularly pulls people from other worlds and drops them there because it amuses him. Eric becomes a novice battle mage for a mercenary company during peace time.
- Took a Level in Badass: Compare Eric at the start the series, where he freezes in front of monsters, to Eric at the middle of A Mage's Power, where he kills one by himself. This is all before he's tutored by Dengel, which accelerates his magical education.
- The Watson: Eric starts off as this trope, asking questions to inform the reader because he's new to the world of Tariatla. Then he spends nine days in a library and doesn't have to after that. At that point, he will recall stuff he'd learned at times where he would otherwise ask.
- Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Despite working with (and for) Action Girls Eric has trouble attacking one during the New Scepter Competition's tournament. He overcomes this inhibition when she throws a lightning spell at him.
Tiza Sprial
- Action Girl: She is a mercenary, and moreover, she is the tank of Team Four.
- All Women Love Shoes: Tiza owns many more pairs of shoes than she truly needs. She insists they all have practical, mercenary, purposes. Kasile turns her from hostile to friendly by complimenting her shoes.
- The Apprentice: She studied under Sathel Aranid to be a fighter and continues to do so even after Basilard becomes her sergeant.
- Blood Knight: She looks forward to fighting monsters on missions.A mercenary's life for me!
- Hot-Blooded: Tiza runs gunho towards monsters. The greater the danger, the more excited she is.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Tiza would have been this if Sathel hadn't drilled it out of her. She loves rushing into danger and sometimes forgets that she's part of a team. Thanks to her apprentice mentor, she always has some rudimentary plan and will drag at least one of her teammates by the hair into trouble.
- Tomboy: Tiza has crude manners, loves fighting, and detests domestic jobs. She can't stand being called a lady. Eric believes she's invoking this trope because it's so exaggerated.
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Despite her tomboy nature, she likes wearing jewelry, so long as it was made from a monster that she killed herself.
- You Go, Girl!: Tiza thinks she has something to prove because she's in a mercenary guild. To this end she makes everything into a competition and doesn't like Nolien taking a leadership role among the three novices. This confuses her teammates because they don't think she has to prove anything. Two of the five guild captains are female, the other three captains have female lieutenants and the overall guildhead is female as well.
Nolien Heleti
- The Apprentice: His studies as a mercenary mage were under Tsilaer but his original healer skills were learned...somewhere he refuses to name. note
- Badass Bookworm: He is a mercenary mage who spends most of his time studying and playing chess.
- Butt-Monkey: A bird will poop on him in every chapter he appears in, and this is only one of the humorous indignities that he suffers.
- The Idealist: Nolien states that he joined the Dragon's Lair to help people, and Basilard calls him this in response.
- The Medic: His job description is basically "keep everyone alive". To accomplish this, he has White Magic.
- Wouldn't Hit a Girl: He was raised in a chivarlic fashion that demands he treat every girl he meets as if she were a noble lady. Both Tsilaer and Basilard struggle to remove this tendency.
Mia Bladi
- Almighty Janitor: Mia's position within the Dragon's Lair is "Receptionist" and all the guild's requests are made to her personally. Thus, she's the one who gives the mercenaries their missions. Not only can she make their lives unpleasant but she also effectively has a lock on their income.
- Blood Magic: Members of the Bladi clan have a unique branch of magic that uses their blood as its catalyst.
- Cuddle Bug: If Mia thinks you need a hug, she will jump over her desk and hug you.
- The Cutie: A pretty and sunny girl who likes giving hugs. She's chiper first thing in the morning, when Eric and Nolien are groggy.
- Girlish Pigtails: Mia wears her hair in two long tails for the cuteness.
- Minored in Ass-Kicking: Unlike others in the guild, her job is purely clerical but she can still subdue thugs with ease.
- Valley Girl: Parodied by Mia when Tiza calls her a "smiling pink haired ditz". She affects the accent while threatening to give Tiza a mission that she knows Tiza will hate. Tiza immediately recants.
Raki Bladi
- Fiery Red Head: A rude and aggressive dual wielder with hair the color of blood.
- Dual Wielding: Raki dual wields short swords. She regularly duels with Aegis who dual wields buckler shields.
Old Man Aaloon
Culmus Stratos:
- BFS: Culmus carries around a metal sword that's as tall as he is, and just as wide. It was designed to kill orcs, who have infamously tough skin and thick muscles. He also insists that carrying it is weight training and that its great length allows him to add more magic enchancement runes than a smaller sword would allow.
- Compensating for Something: Because he carries around a BFS, he is subject to many of these jokes.
Laharg and Malize
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Laharg the orc is taller and broader than any human. His mercenary partner, Malize, is a fairy and so she's small enough to ride on his head.
Ginger Hasina
- For Science!: She wants to cut Eric open, because he's an otherworlder and she wants to study him. She finds comparing otherworlder humans and local humans to be a fascinating area of study. Her other experiments are more about solving a puzzle (i.e. curing a disease) and giving the solution to everyone.
- Mad Scientist: Perpetually experimenting on people to test homemade cures, and when she learns Eric is an otherworlder, she becomes obbessed with cutting him open For Science! Because these cures have innocuous side effects, and her Morality Chain prevents her from dissecting Eric, she's played for Comedic Sociopathy.
Aegis
- Dual Wielding: Aegis who dual wields buckler shields and regularly duels with Raki who dual wields short swords.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: It's implied he uses them to disable and disarm his opponents; when Eric first met him, his sparing partner's sword went flying in towards the exit and almost impaled Eric. The one on his right arm is enchanted to not only defend him against magic but to return them to their castor.
