Wandering Mercenary in an Open World

Those who had been cheering for the fearless challenger who knocked down Butcher’s men (of course not) spit out curses when the man fell to his knees.

“Cowardly bastard!”

“Get out of here!”

The man turned his head and shouted.

“You guys are crazy!”

People shut their mouths at the man’s sad expression. The man turned his head toward Luon and again bowed deeply.

“I am asking you again. Please help me!”

Luon scratched his head with a feeling of relaxation. He thought it was a high-level psychological war to induce carelessness, but looking at the man’s earnest gaze, it seemed that it was not.

“Get up.”

“Until you fulfill my request…”

“I need to know what’s going on so that I can decide whether to take the job or not.”

Only then did the man get up on his feet. Luon waved his hand several times, as if to keep the people downstairs away. Everyone seemed to be disappointed, but they still stepped back due to Luon’s reputation.

Luon asked.

“First of all, do you know that I am a person who works for money?”

“I know. I’ll give you as much money as I can.”

Luon nodded his head.

“Let’s hear what’s going on.”

The man spoke impatiently.

“My name is Kyle. I’m a woodcutter from a village about half a day away from Relyzan… No, it’s not important, but there is a huge stone monument in our village. Last night, a man and a woman appeared and said they felt something from the stone, and suddenly they tried to break it. Naturally, the villagers stopped them. The headstone has long been a symbol of our village. According to the elders, since they were young…”

Kyle wasn’t the type to explain well compared to his fighting skills. Luon immediately intervened when the story started to deviate from the original.

“We’ll talk about that later. Did they break the headstone?”

“Ah, that’s…”

Kyle continued.

“They tried to persuade us at first, but when things didn’t work out, they suddenly changed. The man stabbed and killed the village chief who was the most stubborn … and killed all the other villagers as well.”

The words were dripping with anger. Kyle, who clenched his fist so strongly that his hands turned white, spoke.

“I, damn it, I ran away. Even if I died, I was going to take one of them with me, but people shouted that I had to go to the city and let them know about it…”

The explanation that followed was simple. Kyle, who arrived at Relyzan after riding his horse to death, ran to the guards to tell the truth and ask for help, but the drunk lord and corrupt officials only talked nonsense despite his screams.

Kyle, who ran to the back alley to hire a mercenary if he could not get help from the lord, ran to the pub immediately after hearing about the Butcher who hunted monsters every day.

‘I don’t know why all the nobles in the world are like this.’ Luon shook his head, recalling the baron he met in the deer village. It was good that he was indifferent to him, but in terms of managing his territory, he was nothing but trash.

Luon said to Kyle, who had a nervous expression on his face.

“Okay. Let’s go to the village.”

“Thank you!”

Kyle bowed his head deeply. Luon stood up, patting his shoulder, and was ready to go right away.

‘I smell something.’

At the anecdote related to the tombstone, Luon felt a sharp awakening of the sense that had been dormant for a while. Although he hadn’t figured out the truth yet, he left the store with Kyle with a strange conviction that something was wrong.

***************

Two horses were running on a wide plain. Kyle was the man who urged the horse in a slightly forward position, and Luon was the one who followed while maintaining a proper distance.

The horse borrowed from the store owner was running quite well despite Luon’s unfamiliar touch. Although Luon was not accustomed to riding a horse, his excellent senses and motor nerves helped him to follow the dynamic movements of the horse, so he was able to follow Kyle without difficulty.

Kyle, who had been running for a long time, stopped by a large rock.

“The road ahead is too rough to ride on a horse. It would be much faster if we walked.”

“Where is the village?”

“It’s over there.”

Kyle said so and extended his index finger. Luon moved his gaze along his fingertips and asked, looking at the large stone that stood out from afar.

“Is that the village monument?”

“That’s right. It looks like it’s still intact, so I guess it hasn’t been broken yet!”

Luon nodded his head and said, while sympathising with him.

“Wait here. I will be back soon.”

“I want to go with you too.”

Kyle followed Luon, who immediately moved forward.

“If I don’t kill at least one guy with my hands, I won’t be able to rest in peace even in death.”

“You’ll just get in my way.”

“If I get in your way, you can let me die.”

“Then who will give me my money?”

After hesitating for a moment, Kyle answered.

“If you look on the floor under the table in my house, you can see the money I have saved so far. You take them all… Ah, my house has a blue cloth decoration at the entrance…”

“That’s enough. You can do it yourself.”

He said he would risk his life and there was no reason to stop him. And if he interfered with the battle, Luon could abandon Kyle at any time, if necessary.

Then a thumping sound rang out. The air pushed by the strong shockwave hit the faces of the two men heading towards the village.

Surprised by the shock, Kyle fumbled.

“Shit, what’s going on?”

“Looks like they have started.”

Luon ran towards the village after saying those words. Soon after arriving at the entrance of the village, the sound of the explosion once again penetrated his ears.

Bang!

There was no need to search far for the source of the sound. Two men in black hoods were standing under the rocking stone monument. One of them withdrew his outstretched hand, and the road went wild.

“You arrogant little rock! Why won’t you break?”

“Are you sure there’s something? Are you going to take responsibility if you don’t get a damn thing when you’ve killed everyone?”

“Can’t you see that my magic doesn’t work? This is no ordinary stone!”

“Then you can come back after completing the quest. The headstone doesn’t have feet.”

“Give me a moment.”

Luon walked towards the huffing, short man and the tall woman who scolded him. Only then did the two turn their heads to look at Luon.

The short man spoke.

“Hey, did you really kill everyone? There’s still someone alive.”

“Idiot, do you think he is a villager?”

“··Come to think of it, he is a little big.”

Luon looked around the headstone, not at the two of them. There were quite a few corpses lying on the ground. The man frowned, thinking Luon was ignoring him.

“Hey, Who are you?”

The answer came from elsewhere.

“Die, you crazy bastards!”

Kyle, who ran late, shouted with red bloodshot eyes, and the man who was looking at him tilted his head.

“Does that guy look like a villager?”

“You’re right. You shit eating bastard.”

Kyle was holding a long-handled hammer that he had picked up from somewhere. The tall woman was grinning at him, who seemed to be rushing at any moment.

“Bildo, he seems to be insulting you?”

The man, Bildo, raised the cane in one hand and stood up.

“That little bastard dares insult me? It looks like you brought a mercenary from somewhere, but I will kill you painfully. The mother of all evil crouched in the basement-”

Bildo collapsed. A dagger was deeply embedded in his forehead.

He doesn’t even have a shield. Luon, who threw the dagger silently, recovered his outstretched hand and grabbed the handle of his holy sword.

“Shit! Bildo!”

The woman shouted in surprise. The head of the hammer slid over her head, who was momentarily stiffened by the death of her comrade. It was Kyle.

“Huh-Huh.”