Chapter 310 - Max

As Mercury said he began to slowly walk outside, he followed along the tunnel of the mine shaft and soon the sun peeked into the tunnel, the light reflected off the dust that riled around, he stopped walking before he asked

"...Do you really want to die?"

A tiny voice sounded out as the child looked at the small wonder in front of them

"...No…"

Mercury showed a smile and patted the child on the head before he spoke

"Then let's go outside"

As Mercury walked out of the mineshaft the mercenaries noticed him and also the child which he carried in his arms and hurriedly took a few steps back as one of them yelled

"A curse!?"

The other mercenaries turned to Mercury that showed a confused look before he asked

"...What do you mean curse?"

Hann narrowed his eyes and spoke

"That child there has been cursed Mercury, put them down before the curse spreads!"

Mercury looked down and saw the child was dark like they had been burned in a fire until they were charred, the darkness seemed to be spreading to himself, only once it tired to it was purified with a slight amount of white smoke, Mercury looked up again and saw that some of the mercenaries had drawn their weapons, clearly, this curse thing was no joke so he tilted his head and asked

"Then what if the curse was broken?"

Marie was about to tear up as she quickly ran in between the two groups and readied her spear before she yelled

"Mercury, run!"

Mercury looked at the two groups and walked forwards before he stood besides Marie before he repeated the question

"Then what if the curse was broken?"

Hann looked at Mercury before he asked

"...Are you serious?"

Mercury nodded

"Yeah"

Hann got the other mercenaries to lower their weapons before he spoke

"If you are able then, please… It's better than the alternative"

"Okay then here I go… [Cursebreaker]"

A strong white light shone out from the child as the curse that was covering them and cursing them constant pain was dispelled and the dark exterior of them was cleared away, Mercury showed a smile and asked the child while ignoring the shocked people around him

"Do you remember my condition?"

"....Yes, what is it?"

"You have to live the rest of your life never wanting to die again, that is my condition"

"Okay… Thank you…"

Mercury looked up again and saw the people around him were looking rather shocked, the first one to recover was Hann that spoke

"Well… I'll be damned, he actually did it…"

Mercury nodded before he gave Marie a quick kiss on the cheek and thanked her

"Thanks for standing up for me, my dear"

Marie woke from her daze and quickly blushed before she nodded, then Mercury turned to the rest of the mercenaries and spoke with a wide smile on his face

"The next time you guys point a weapon towards my woman will be the last time you point anything, understood?"

The mercenaries nodded as they remembered how Mercury had wiped out the bandit attack with a single spell, then Mercury smiled for real and spoke to the child in his arms

"Let's go and wash you off at the stream… Marie dear could you go get some clean clothes?"

"Sure Mercury"

The group walked halfway back towards the convoy with their loot, before they split up as they reached a small river where Mercury stopped walking before he asked the child

"What's your name?"

"...Max"

"I see… That's a nice name, I am Mercury"

A few seconds of silence followed before Mercury asked

"Can you wash yourself or should I help you?"

"...Please help me"

"Okay then, let's get you clean"

At night Mercury sat by the fire, next to him sat Max, the only thing he knew about Max, or rather the only thing that Max seemed to remember was that he was 11 years old and his name, memories of his parents had long since faded as the curse had nearly eroded his sense of self, it was a miracle that he was able to remember the things he was, Max had long unkempt black hair that reached his shoulders, he didn't know what color his eyes were as Max was always hiding them

'And I don't want to break the small amount of trust I have built up so far just to see his eyes…'

Besides that, Max was thin, way too thin, and overall he was very weak so Mercury was carrying him around, and despite the fact that he was sleepy after eating he still insisted on staying with Mercury, Mercury himself was thinking about what to do with Max as he looked into the fire, soon Marie poked him on the shoulder and whispered

"He's fallen asleep… Maybe you two should go to bed before he catches a cold?"

"Sure…"

Mercury picked up Max and carried him into the tent and put him into a sleeping bag before he laid down beside him and soon drifted off to sleep, though with one arm outside of the sleeping bag since Max was latched onto his hand still

The next morning Mercury woke from the horn that signaled a wake-up or emergency call for the whole convoy, Mercury quickly stuck his head outside the tent and looked around

'...No emergency… Good…"

Mercury, still inside his sleeping bag laid back down again and looked up into the roof of the small tent before he felt a small hand tug his arm and looked over and saw Max

"Oh morning Max…"

"I need to pee…"

Mercury quickly got dressed and helped Max get dressed before the two of them walked out into the underbrush where Max did his business before Mercury picked him up again and Mercury walked back to the convoy with Max in his arms, when they returned they found Marie sitting by the fire trying to warm herself up, Mercury sat down next to her and used his free hand to rub her back as he greeted her

"Good morning"

"Yeah morning Mercury, Max"

Max raised his hand to greet Marie, but quickly got embarrassed and lowered it again, over the next 2 weeks Mercury did a full checkup on Max and concluded that he was recovering well (though he had still not seen his eyes as Max hid them by closing his eyes whenever Mercury asked to see them) Max was even starting to walk on his own again a few hours a day under orders from Mercury that insisted it would help build up his stamina, on an otherwise dull day the horn was suddenly blown as a group of bea-like magic beasts attacked the convoy

"Earth bears! They're class 4!"

Mercury nodded and made a mental note about the Earth bears which looked like regular brown bears, only they were half a size bigger and had rocks covering their backs, they were also surprisingly agile for their size, though there was only 4 of them, Mercury was about to hand over Max to Marie when Marie's eyes lit up with glee as she pointed to one of the bears and yelled

"That one's mine!"

Mercury looked over at the poor Earth bear that had been called out by Marie and sighed as he spotted some ore on its rocky parts

'No wonder she's so fired up…'

Marie ran forwards while spinning her spear around behind her back, once she reached the Earth bear it slapped downwards with its giant paw, Marie jumped to the side, dodging the paw before she landed she trusted out with the butt of her spear and landed on it, then like a pole vulture she propelled herself into the air and swung down with the tip of her spear as she yelled

"[Forging blow]!"

The tip of her spear stuck down like a hammer before something amazing happened, the shell made of rock on the back of the Earth bear shattered completely (Along with its spine) sending it smashing into the ground, Mercury sighed again

'That poor bear didn't know what hit it…'

He showed a wry smile as he watched Marie hold the piece of ore above her head with a gleeful smile on her face as she yelled to him and Max

"It's grade 7 copper!"

Mercury realized that this was the point where he should cheer on his cute girlfriend and showed a smile and yelled back

"Love you, dear"

"Are you sure you don't want to put it in the carriage?"

"Yes!"

Mercury sighed for the nth time today, he knew Marie was going to sleep well tonight, as for how he knew this was simple, she insisted on carrying the copper ore in her hands, the piece of ore weighed around 40 kilograms and she had been lugging the thing for about 10 kilometers already, Though he did find her expression rather cute as she rubbed her face against the smooth part of the copper ore

'....Never have I been so jealous of a price of rock'