Prologue

He could barely see the road for all the mist. The green mist had been laying heavy on the roads the last few days. Few people had dared to go out on the roads during this weather and the man who hired him, a merchant, had realized there was money to be earned here. The first group that was able to get to the different towns to sell their wares would, of course, be the ones who could sell the most. 

The weather had made the mercenary reluctant to accept but he gave in after being promised 25% of the money that would be earned from this trip. With that money, he could finally move into a better district with his family. Maybe even his daughter could go to school and get the chance for a better life than her dear father could give her.

But now he had to concentrate on the mission at hand.  His position as captain compelled him to make sure they would arrive safely. All the responsibility lied on him, and him only. 

Whilst adjusting his sword sheath he looked back to make sure that they hadn't lost any wagons in the convoy. Although the mercenary only could see the closest wagons, he used the torches that they had attached to the wagons prior to setting out. 

“2...4...6...8...10….10..?”

The mercenary had been hired to protect 6 wagons of different kinds of wares. And on every wagon, they had placed two torches, one on each side. But now, he could only see 10 little dots of wavering orange light. Something was amiss. 

“What’s wrong, captain?” one of his men beside him asked. “Something wrong?”

“A wagon may be missing. Stay on guard. Signal the other wagons to be careful. I’ll go check.”

The man on the wagon simply nodded and signaled to the other men. He had absolute faith in his captain.

Whilst getting to the back of the convoy, he ordered two of his men to accompany him. 

“Keep an eye out for any torch lights. The missing wagon may just have lost its track.”

His men nodded and they all started to search the road behind them. But the search didn’t amount to anything.

“Captain, the wagon isn’t here. What should we do?”

The leader of the mercenary band thought to himself. A wagon wouldn’t simply disappear into thin air. Something surely would’ve happened. But as of now, he couldn’t leave any wagons unguarded.

“We can’t leave the rest of the convoy unguarded. We’ll come back to search ano-”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Suddenly, one of the men interrupted him

“Captain! Some of the torches are gone.”

“What?” He quickly turned around, just to see another torch flicker and disappear. There were only 4 torches left that he could see.

“They can’t have traveled so fast that we would’ve lost them”, said the same man that had noticed the torches were gone. He had a confused expression on his face “What do you thi-urghh”

Before he could finish speaking, the man fell down on his knees with an arrow penetrated through his throat.  How was this possible. The shot had appeared so fast, it was like it had manifested from the mist itself. Blood was starting to coagulate around the wound and the captain clearly saw that this shot had been fatal.

“Cap...tain.” 

The mercenary leader wasted no time. With cat-like reflexes, he sensed another arrow flying out from the mist, which he simply blocked with the wooden shield on his shoulders. He quickly unsheathed his sword and shouted: 

“WE ARE UNDER ATTACK! FORM UP ON ME. TO ARMS, TO ARMS!

He got no answer. The road before him was pitch black. Just during this short span of time, the rest of the torches had been extinguished. 

“Shit”, he muttered under his breath. “Is this it?”

The other man who had accompanied him had also unsheathed this sword.

“What are we gonna do captain?”, he said with a panicked tone. “It’s only us left!”

The captain sighed. “I’m not going to sugarcoat it but there’s a big probability that we won’t survive this.”

The other man paled when hearing these words and was about to say something when the captain continued.

“But, we won’t yield. We’ll take on as many as we can. We may be sellswords, the lowest of the lowest, but even we have our pride. He put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “Are you with me, son?

Inspired by his captain, he lifted his sword. “I’m with you captain”, he said.

The captain looked back at him and nodded. “We’ll fight our way out”, he said. “Follow my lead!”

They charged together towards the mist, where the wagons had disappeared into. The sounds of the tramps of their boots against the ground and the clatter of their armor filled their ears and the rush of adrenaline flowed through them.

“Over there, captain! An enemy!” 

His companion pointed to the silhouettes of two persons inside the mist. The mercenary captain didn’t sense the presence of anyone else. 

“Alright son, I’ll take the one in front and you’ll circle around and take the one in the back. Let’s go!”

The man nodded and the captain rushed in and took a swing at the person in front of him.

“HYYYARRGHH!” he shouted while thrusting forward with his sword. This was a sure hit.

But the robed man simply parried the attack. Out of nowhere, a shortsword had manifested in his opponent’s hand. It glittered like it was made of glass. But glass could never have blocked the full force of a sword swing. The mercenary wasted no further time on questioning how this was possible and readjusted his grip on his trusty sword, who had been with him through countless battles. With another cry of resolve, he swung his sword in a diagonal angle that would’ve cleaved his opponent in half if he had stood still.

If. The robed figure in front of him dodged out of the way just outside the blade’s reach. Then he lunged towards the mercenary who blocked the attack with his shield.

But now, the robed person had gained momentum. He used the bounceback effect from striking the shield to spin around in a circle and swing from the left side, which the mercenary desperately blocked with his sword. The robed man continued to spin and swing, left and right, left and right, left and right…

But just as the mercenary finally had caught up and was able to strike back, the robed person only spun in a half-circle, changed grip on his sword, and thrusted backwards.

Right into the captain’s body. The change of tempo had caught him off-guard. Blood spurted out from the wound and his mouth. The robed man in front of him pulled out his sword and the mercenary fell backward.

“Captain..!” 

When the other mercenary saw his leader fall, he lost his courage and ran. But he barely managed to take two steps before an arrow hit him in the back. Then another one. He fell forward but didn’t stop. He desperately tried to crawl away when his former opponent caught up to him and struck him in the back. The man stopped crawling.

“No…” the mercenary captain felt his life essence flow out of him. He knew that the end was near. He saw the robed person walk up to him. 

“D-do you really think you’ll get away with this? he gasped. “When the General hears about this, he’ll chase after you to the world’s end.”

He felt that the man looked at him but he couldn’t see his eyes, who were covered by the hood he wore. 

“That’s our intention”, he said and gave the mercenary one last smile before thrusting downwards with his sword. He didn’t even bother to see if the man was still alive but turned around to regroup with the other robed figures.

“I-I’m sorry.., looks like you won’t be able to go to school, Pumpkin.

He saw how everything faded away in red. Then everything faded to black.