"Arh....!"
I groaned as the blinding sunlight reflected off the polished blade, montarily blinding . The soldier, mounted on his majestic war horse, swung his sword with deadly precision, aid directly at . Each glint of light on the blade seed to taunt , a reminder of the imminent danger.
I could see it. The sharp edge of the sword getting closer to .
'Ah...I need to dodge'
With every inch the sharp edge of the sword drew closer, I desperately tried to muster the strength to dodge. But despite my repeated thoughts of urging my body to move, it remained frozen, paralyzed by fear.
-Slash!
The soldier's sword finally made contact, slashing through with a sickening sound. Pain surged through my body as blood gushed from the severed stump of my right hand. The excruciating agony seed almost surreal, sending shockwaves of panic through my mind.
"...REN!"
A voice called out, piercing through the haze of pain and confusion. Startled, I struggled to regain my senses, but before I could react, the view around shattered like fragile glass.
"EREN, hoy EREN!"
-Gasp!
Gasping for breath, I woke up, beads of sweat dotting my forehead. It took a mont for reality to sink in as I scanned my surroundings, gradually realizing that it was all just a vivid daydream.
"Huff....huff"
I panted, attempting to calm my racing heart.
"Daydreaming in the middle of a mission, huh?.. Cough!...and that too you were flailing so much?"
Roger, my rcenary companion asked seeing my condition. It seed like he was worried about because I was flailing so much.
"Roger...."
"Cough..! What were you dreaming about?"
He observed my condition with concern evident in his eyes. His own health was far from perfect, plagued by intermittent coughing fits, yet he still worried about his companions.
"The sa old dream, I can't seem to get it out of my head"
"...."
"Hahaha"
The new recruit that joined our rcenary group just a month ago, who was driving the rchant carriage laughed at .
"Was it the sa where your arm kept falling off?"
He taunted, clearly enjoying the opportunity to provoke . he sure had mastered art of annoying others.
"You'd better keep your eyes on the road."
It is the inexperienced rookies like this who didn't even know the first thing about being a rcenary that I hated the most.
"Says the guy who sleeps during work"
"Clearly you are new to the job"
As he was a new recruit he didn't know many things about this field of work, I, as his senior gracefully took on the role to impart so wisdom and guidance to the ignorant brat.
"As if there would be so crazy lunatics who would pick a fight with rcenaries having an Aura-knight"
I quipped, confident in our reputation. Roger's prowess as a three-star Knight had made our rcenary group well-known in the region, adding onto to the fact that I was a 4-star knight although disabled would deterring most adversaries from crossing our path.
So there wouldn't be soone crazy enough to pick a fight with us.
"Ain't I, right? Roge-"
"Bring out everything you have and hand it over if you dear your life"
They appeared even before I could finish my words.
"As always, good job"
The scout that the rchants hired, walked towards the bandits that appeared out of nowhere.
"Sir rchant, what is the aning of this?"
Obviously, as the one who hired the scout, suspicion turned towards the rchant in charge of the carriage. As the one who had hired the scout, he seed the most likely culprit.
"We...we don't know anything"
His sweating brow and trembling hands betrayed his innocence. It was clear he lacked the courage to orchestrate such a sche. He wasn't brave enough to pull a trick on us.
"When we hired him, we checked his rcenary credentials with the guild," the rchant stamred, desperately trying to defend his decision.
Every rcenary would have a record of their activities in the rcenary guild as proof of their work, so the rchant might have decided to hire him by trusting those reports.
How could the poor fat rchant have known that the bastard would backstab us like this?
"That's right, I am indeed a rcenary."
The scout who just betrayed us spoke and he seed to be proud that he was able to deceive us. Humans! we really are strange creatures.
"It's nothing personal, so don't hate "
Betraying your comrades without even a second thought. As expected, he was indeed a scumbag. The atmosphere was getting tense when our leader suddenly spoke up.
"I am rcenary, the na's Roger"
He was a 3-star aura knight and a reliable leader we looked up to. Although he was a little unwell and suffering from a 'special condition', he was nevertheless a reliable leader.I think you should take a look at
"If you back down right now, you will get properly compensated, I swear it on my na"
There were about 20-25 bandits who were surrounding the carriage and it would be very difficult to fight them while protecting the rchants even if he was an aura knight, so he was making the most rational decision at the movent.
"Roger...?"
"Oh! I see you are 'that' Roger"
'Did it work?'
Roger was indeed pretty famous in the rcenary guild, so they may be aware of him already.
But.....
"Hahaha...It's Roger, 'One shot Roger!'"
"That disabled guy who can't even hold on for 3 minutes? I guess you are even faster in bed, huh? hahaha"
Of course, they would laugh!
After all, that's how our leader was famous in the guild. But they were clearly underestimating him.
'He can hold on for clearly 5 minutes, not three.'
That's right!
Even though Roger was an Aura knight, he could only use his powers for at most 5 minutes, all thanks to his 'special condition'.
"hahahaha"
"kekekeke"
"Roger, don't lose your cool"
I tried to control Roger who was already about to unsheathe his sword in rage.
Walking past him, I looked at the man who was sitting cross-legged at the back of the bandit group.
He seed like the leader of those thugs.
"What do you want?"
It would be very disadvantageous for us to fight, so if possible, I wanted to resolve things peacefully.
"I don't know, But I think the rchant there might be aware of what I want"
But the leader clearly didn't have the sa idea as .
'Besides....'
As I turned toward the rchants, they shifted uncomfortably, avoiding eye contact, as if hiding sothing important.
'They're concealing sothing.'
Maybe they were transporting so illegal or banned goods, but it was clearly not the ti to argue about that.
'I have a bad feeling about him'
The leader of the bandits who was sitting cross-legged was giving off a creepy aura that gave chills to . It was like he would kill us regardless of what we tried.
His aura emitted an unsettling presence, suggesting a dangerous and unpredictable nature. My instincts as a seasoned rcenary scread at to flee, warning of imminent danger.
I slowly turned around towards the rchants.
"Hey now, would you pay those guys? we are clearly outnumbered! You know we can't fight them, right?"
Gently, I glanced at my fellow rcenaries, subtly signaling them to escape. Using sign language, I conveyed the urgency to retreat.
'Run Away.'
"Right Now"
-Crrrr
Without hesitation, I hurled my short dagger towards the scout, hoping to distract the bandits montarily. Seizing the opportunity, we all broke into a sprint, each of us veering off in different directions, leaving the bandits bewildered.
And by the ti they realized anything, we all were running in a different direction.
"Arh!"
The scout managed to evade my surprise attack, cursing in frustration.
"F*ck!"
I shifted my gaze towards Roger. As expected of an Aura knight, he had already dissipated the head of two bandits and his sword was once again back in the sheath.
"Let's split up and et later"
Roger suggested, his voice filled with determination. Aware of his limited stamina due to his "special condition," it was a rational decision to divide our forces against the overwhelming numbers of the bandits.
I nodded in agreent, understanding the reasoning behind his choice. We exchanged no further words, imdiately parting ways, disappearing into the wilderness without looking back
And not long after, we heard an ear-piercing sound.
"DON'T LET ANYONE ESCAPE"
---***---
Start of Volu 1 - Rising Flas and the Haunting Past.
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