Chapter 2:

It's been three days since I’ve left Breton and there have been no problems thus far. But yet again I’m running low on food. I only bought about four days worth of food provisions from Breton Thinking they would last me. But I’m down to one last meal, showing that their provisions aren’t much. I feel like I’ve been ripped off but oh well, I going to have to get more. Unfortunately, I don't have a hunting bow anymore since mine broke a week prior to getting to Breton. But that won’t stop me, after all, we all have to eat something. “I should set up traps to increase my chances of catching something”.

Thinking that I decide to use one of my skills to find an area with better chances of catching food. My aim is either deer, boar, or rabbits. My skill, in this case, is by smell. One of the perks from gaining immortality is my heightened senses. All of my senses are multiplied, therefore each one is better than that of any animal, let alone human. Sniffing in the air I try to track the smell of any nearby animals, but almost immediately I get bombarded by another smell. There is a very heavy smell of iron in the air, and only one thing can make that smell.

“Blood”

From the freshness of the smell, it can’t be that far from here. Maybe 10 minutes if I run as fast as I can towards it. Since my curiosity sometimes gets the better of me, I decided to track and follow the smell from where it originates. But like always, I make sure to be cautious so that I’m not seen. I decide to walk through the forest away from the road to prevent my discovery. I walk towards the smell while looking at my surroundings. With each step closer, the smell gets stronger. After about 15 minutes or so, I find the origin of the smell, and as I thought it was from bodies. Crouching behind a tree In the near distance on the road, there is a stopped caravan and people fighting. It appears that one side is from the caravan trying to fend off against bandits.

So far they are being overpowered by the sheer numbers of the bandits. There are about 7 guards against a group of 15 bandits. Two of which are shooting arrows from a distance near trees. Three guards have already been killed, meaning they won’t last much longer. Logically I should avoid them and walk away, But there is the temptation of looting the bandits of supplies, especially their money and weapons. Hell, I could even ask for a reward from the caravan if I save them, after all, I was also running low on income. But even I have some morals, I wouldn’t go as far as to demand money from them, but food could be an option. “Screw it, the reward outweighs the risk this time around”. Saying that I slowly make my way around the trees and towards one of the archers. Using my sword would make too much noise so I instead kick the back of his leg causing him to fall backward. As he falling in my direction, I wrap hand on his mouth and at the same time, my retractable blade stashed in my metal arm guard comes out and stabs the back of the neck, coming out of his throat, he looks at me from above for the last for seconds as he gasps for air. He then slowly closes his eyes. I yank out the blade and clean it on his garments and retract it back, essentially stashing it away. This is a secret weapon that I only use on emergencies, in case my sword cannot be used.

After killing the first archer, I grab his bow and his quiver full of arrows and walk a few feet closer to the next archer. I take an arrow from the quiver now resting on my back and place it on the bow, and pull back. I aim carefully at the other archer and start breathing slowly in and out. I do this for about three times and on the last exhale, I release the bowstring holding the arrow. It flies through the air, and as if picking up on the sound of it, the other archer turns to my direction. Sadly for him, at that exact moment, the arrow hits his chest hitting through his heart, instantly killing him. He falls to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. I grab another arrow and aim at the backs of the bandits.

With a faster pace, I start shooting arrows one by one at the bandits. I quickly kill five of them before they realize who was shooting at them. When they finally notice me, two of the bandits rush towards my direction, one with a sword and shield, and the other with a spear. Regardless of them rushing at me, I do not give them the opportunity to gang up on me. I drop the bow and quiver and rush toward them. I put my left hand on the sheath and right hand on the handle of my sword. When they were less than 2 feet away, the bandit with the sword brought it up intending to slice downward, while the bandit with the spear struck forward. But before they could even hit me, I drew my sword out from the sheath with one hand slicing horizontally. The amount of force and speed was so great that the sword and spear were both cut in half. Not only that but the two bandits heads fell to the ground, with their headless bodies spraying blood following soon after.

The guards saw this and immediately yelled in joy, the bandits turned around and saw the headless bodies of their comrades on the ground. Noticing me, they screamed in anger and rushed towards me just as the last two did. Yet again I do not give them the advantage of ganging up on me and rushed towards them as well with my sword facing downwards in my right hand. What happened next was like a repetitive dance, with constant blocking and striking. One bandit would strike and I would parry it, striking vital areas. One by one, the bandits around me fell, within about 5 minutes or so, all the bandits have been struck by my blade. Not a single one of them had survived against me. It not only shows my skill in combat but their lack in it, like children holding knives, not properly knowing how to use it.

As always I flick my sword and the blood falls off and I start to put my sword back into its sheath. When the click of the sword fully closing in the sheath is heard, I turn and look at the guards of the caravan. Most of them look dumbfounded of what they had just witnessed, not knowing what to do next. Unfortunately, the one who appears to be the leader of the guards steps forward drawing his sword at me. In a loud angry tone, he barks at me “Hey bandit prepare yourself, you’ll die by my hand for what your friends did to my men!!!”.

I sigh at his stupidity, thinking of what I should do. There are a few things I could do but I decided to be honest as well as threatening to prove a point. “I am no bandit, and they weren’t my friends. They just had supplies that I needed, nothing more and nothing less. Therefore I shall take their belongings since I defeated them, but understand that if you try to attack me, I will take your life just as I took theirs”. I raise my head to reveal my eyes underneath my hood and stared at the leader directly.

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As if sensing my malice and bloodlust he started sweating and slightly shaking with fear. We stared at each other for what felt like an eternity until another voice called out “Hold it, no more fighting!!!”. The voice came from a tall man, similar to my height, strong build, brown hair, and lightly tan skin. He gave off the presence of a warrior, more so than the leader of the guards, but he wore much nicer clothing. He was hiding in one of the two wooden wagons.

Stepping off the wagon, he walks towards me, “That was quite amazing swordsmanship you demonstrated, I want to thank you for saving not only my merchandise but the lives of my men as well”.

As he says this only a few feet away from me, he bows his head, to which I respond “There’s no need to thank me. I’ve already explained that I had different intentions from the beginning”

He raises his head and looks at me, “That may be so, but the fact of the matter is that you saved our lives whether it was intentional or not, so regardless I thank you mister?”

“Erik, My name is Erik”

“Erik huh?, that's an interesting name. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Dominic Barrett, and if it wasn’t already obvious, I am a merchant”.

I look at him and state “Merchant? With that body type, you would fit more like a warrior, rather than a lowly merchant”

The leader of the guard's steps forward and barks, “How dare you speak to Lord Dominic that way, I should cut off your tongue you insolent fool!!!!!”

I yet again give another sigh and look straight at the guard, “I would say that you’re being rude, but I guess a dog with no brain can do nothing more than bark meaningless threats”

“I’LL KILL YOU!!!!”, saying this he rushes at me with his sword, I for one, already had my hand on my sword to strike at any moment. But before he gets even near me, Dominic punches him straight in the face, knocking him off balance. He falls to the ground and looks at Dominic in surprise.

“YOU FOOL!!!!. You dare attack our savior when you almost faced imminent death. You’re only here because of him, you should be thankful he didn’t cut your head off for your foolishness. Understand that if he wanted you or anyone of us dead, he would not hesitate, show respect or you’ll face not only his wrath but mine”

The guard starts sweating heavily and slowly gets up and walks to one of the wagons. Dominic looks straight at me and says, “I’m sorry for his foolishness, can you forgive his arrogance. It appears being the leader of my guards has gotten to his head”.

Dominic yet again bows his head, but I stop him before he goes all the way down, “Don’t worry about it, I should be the one to apologize for my insensitive question”.

“Don’t worry about it, It's only natural that you’d be curious. But I’m surprised, you’re quite perceptive, I’m guessing you’re a mercenary because of that right?”

I give a small smile and say, “Why yes I am, I’m assuming you were once one yourself”

Dominic lets out a small laugh, “A very long time ago, but It’s good to meet a fellow warrior, So tell me, what brings you here?”

“To be honest, I was hunting for a meal when I stumbled upon your little battle. Since I had also been running low on money and equipment, I decided to take advantage of the situation”

Dominic gives out another laugh “Quite the honest one aren’t we, but I like that, and back in my mercenary days, I would have done the same. Speaking of which, I’d like to make a proposition to you”

“A proposition?”

“Yes, I’m guessing you’re in search for work am I right?” I give a small nod and he continues, “In that case, I want to hire you as an escort, just until we reach the city of Colmar. I’ll give you fifteen Numidian gold, and even throw in free meals until we reach the city”

When he said that, all the guards looked at him like he was crazy for offering so much, and I’ll admit that his offer is quite generous for a mere mercenary. But in this business, you can’t afford to pick and choose whenever you want, sometimes there are bad jobs and good ones. In this case, this would be a good job, so I should take it if anything, but still. “You’re very generous for a mere mercenary like me”

He looks at me and says, “A mere mercenary wouldn't be able to take out fifteen bandits with not even a scratch on him. I already know that you’re quite strong, and having someone like that escorting me and my goods would be of great help. So what do you say?”

He puts out his hand for a handshake. I have no reason to reject his offer so I reach and shake his hand firmly. He gives a small smile and lets out another small laugh. After letting go of his hand I tell him, “If it's alright with you, I’ll be taking whatever is of worth off those bandits”

Dominic looks at me and says, “It’s fine by me, after all, you’re the one who took them down, so

anything of worth from those bandits are yours”

With that, I received a job with quite the generous payout. I got to work looting the bandits, all in all, I was able to get 25 copper coins, 70 silver coins, and 4 gold coins from their corpses. I also took a bow and quiver full of arrows from one of the archers and four iron swords that were in decent shape. I took the liberty of dragging all the bodies off the road and in the forest. The three guards that were killed were buried by the others in shallow graves. After everyone finished with what they were doing, we immediately left since it would take another three days to reach Colmar. Fortunately, I didn’t need to walk since all the guards rode in the wagons. I sat in the front wagon near Dominic since he wanted me too. And thus began my three-day journey as a bodyguard for a merchant who was once a mercenary.