Chapter 77: The Eight Mercenaries (1)

The next day came. And fortunately for us, the soldiers of Caerleon had yet to attack this village. But according to the chief's sources, the king would gather his troops to launch a civil war against the villagers when the sun would rise to the highest.

In Layman's terms, those scumbags would attack us when the scorching sun would hit the townspeople. Since the soldiers and mages had already filled their stomachs, this battle would become a disadvantage against our people.

Those two women came outside from the door and met my gaze. Fenrir and Merleen rushed towards me, hoping to talk about something they heard from the crowd.

"What happened, Arthur? I heard from the villagers about the war. N-No matter where you go, I will fight with you, Arthur!" Merleen announced.

She had a determined look in her eyes as Merleen told me her goal. Although she could only clumsily control her powers, Merleen was still an asset to our team. The only problem I faced was the girl named Fenrir.

She had a horrible look on her face while sending daggers in my direction.

"What are you thinking?! You fucking idiotic human being! I need you to guide me towards the demon kingdom, not suicide! Why would you protect these strangers when they did nothing good to you?!"

I got bombarded with insults by Fenrir after Merleen's sentence. She told all of those hurtful words without thinking about the people listening to us. All the villagers present in our surroundings gazed in our direction, watching our every move.

But Fenrir never dared to avert her eyes off from me. Since she wanted an answer, I gave Fenrir one.

"I know how you feel, Fenrir. But I can't just leave these people alone."

"WHY!?" Fenrir shouted.

"I don't want to make the same mistakes I did before. I want to become a hero that everyone would need, despite how weak I am as a knight. If these people asked for help, I would help them. And I don't care who or what am I going to face. As long as I could protect the weak from the strong or assholes, I would do what I can to do it."

Just before I could even end my sentence, a fist slammed against my abdomen, sending me back around ten feet away. All the things I ate from breakfast came back to me, wanting to escape my body.

I attempted to stop my nauseous sensation while keeping my eyes looking at Fenrir. But that did not stop from there….

Another jab crashed against me, forcing me to roll further away from the field. Merleen shouted for my name, but Fenrir refused to listen to her call. She planned on using her light magic against Fenrir, but I raised my hand and told her not to.

"We don't fight our friends, Merleen," I murmured.

But Fenrir shouted at me and punched me some more. Merleen continued to wail, hoping for Fenrir to stop. She could not land a finger to Fenrir, upholding the instructions I had given to her.

"I am not your friend. You are a piece of trash that doesn't deserve to live! YOU DON'T DESERVE THAT POWER. AND YET, YOU CALL YOURSELF AN ADVENTURER!"

Fenrir locked eyes with me and growled to herself. If only she knew the demon lord's location, Fenrir would have already killed me. I became a useless pawn in her hands, and now I would launch myself towards the castle like a madman.

"You may be right, Fenrir… You may be right… I should have died back there, but fate kept me alive. I was a horrible person, and I still am right now. But I learned my lesson. I have these powers, and I want to use them for good. I want to protect the little guys, you know?"

I desperately tried crawling in Fenrir's direction, praying that she would listen to my words.

"I know humans can be greedy…. I know... Since I experienced it with my life…. You saw the world I came from, right? It was an unfair world. And yet, I still wished to become a hero…. Fenrir, you have the right to kick my ass. But please reserve your powers for me. I don't want to protect these people when I am already wounded."

As soon as Fenrir heard my voice, she stopped pressing her fingers at me. She did not continue her punch, considering that she had enough of her fun.

Fenrir turned around and walked away without even looking back. She hated my guts and my disgusting ideals. But I could not help it…. I could not turn a blind eye to that king who made these townspeople suffer.

"Merleen, you don't have to join me in this battle. We might lose this fight…. If you still want to enjoy your youth, you can still escape this place. I won't blame you….," I told Merleen.

My body gave up and fell towards Merleen. Her loving arms caught my body as she wrapped her arms around my shoulder.

"Idiot. Why would I leave you? You need me…. And I need you. You saved me, Arthur, from despair. And you plan on saving others with your powers. Your power comes from your heart, not your system. Always remember that."

Those words were enough to motivate me from doing the right things. The two of us embraced each other in the middle of the plaza. There were dozens of people staring at us like in the theatres. Some of them gave us cheers, while others went away out of jealousy. But I did not care about them.

As long as I had Merleen, everything would be okay… Well, that was what I expected to happen.

After a few minutes of hugging each other, Merleen and I advanced towards the adventurer's guild. However, waiting for us outside were the familiar uniforms of mercenaries we saw from our previous fight.

Eight of them stood tall in front of the building. The mercenaries armed themselves with weapons that could kill people within a few seconds.

Merleen hid behind me and grabbed the end layers of my fabric. She continued shivering out of fright when the eight people stared in our direction.

I held her shoulder while caressing her head, telling her that everything would be okay. I stepped forward and called the attention of this mercenary group.

"Tell me what you want? Is it vengeance?.... I know we killed two of your people and injured some of you before, but please hear me out! We just want to save these villagers! If we use our powers together, we might stand a chance against those soldiers!"

If Merleen and I could fight the knights and mages alone, we would lose. Since the weakness of light was the path of darkness, Merleen could not give her maximum potential. She could conjure elements I taught her, but that would not be enough to stop the army.

We needed more power to fend off those people without killing them. We just needed to knock them out before those soldiers could do the same to us.

But before we could do that, we needed the mercenary group's cooperation. And I doubt these mercenaries would give their blessing to the man who killed their leaders.

A man went up to me and met my gaze. He was the same guy who wanted to fight me in the middle of a crowd. I did not ready my sword or any magic spells that could protect me from harm. I went towards the group stark naked, planning to fulfil their demands.

"We heard it from the chief. You will fight for the villagers…. And you will do something about the potion," the mercenary said, with his eyes still glued to mine.

I did not mention manufacturing the potions. But since the villagers needed those flasks, I planned on making them soon.

"Yes. If you heard the news, I want to protect this village from the kingdom... An army is heading our way. You are fighting the wrong enemy."

This occurrence was my first time acting strict and all might. Considering the title I made, these people should believe what I say. But desperate times called for desperate measures. And this was one of the many situations I needed to say that.

"So, are you going to let me go?" I asked goofily. "I don't want to fight... I will lose if I'm going to fight."

Two men at the representative's side stepped up and chuckled to themselves. "You killed our leader. Do you think we're okay with that? A murderous pair would defend the village? How would the people react to that?"

As soon as the two hoodlum mercenaries explained their part, the villagers widened their eyes. They initially thought that we did not have any garbage dumped in our history. But the two men narrated the truth.

We killed the mercenary's leaders using light magic that Merleen conjured.

However, instead of finding an excuse, I went on my knees and begged for forgiveness. I lowered my head and kissed the ground while repeating to myself about the mistake we made. Merleen did the same and mimicked my body.

"I'm sorry for taking the life of your leaders…. I know that what I did could not return those two lives…. That's why I want to atone for them but protect this village. If there is one thing I know, I need to do the right thing."