Wandering Mercenary in an Open World

Champion of Tibella. Although he was not very conscious of it, the title that the pommel of the holy sword he held in his hand had always proven came out of the blue robe’s mouth. Luon’s eyes turned cold.

“You know me, but I don’t know you.”

“That’s bound to happen. I also came across your track record.”

“By chance?”

“Yeah, by chance. It would have been a long way for me to find you if it weren’t for your rumors and the holy sword on your waist that spread from the deer village to Relyzan.”

Then Kyle sneakily approached Luon’s side.

“Is she your colleague?”

“No, she’s not.”

Luon relaxed his posture a little. But he still asked with his hand draped over the handle of the sword.

“So what’s going on?”

“I’m the one who was chasing the guy you ran into the monastery the other day. His name is Salvetor. Do you remember?”

Even for Luon, who hardly remembers the name of the person he killed, the name Salvetor was quite familiar.

After all, Salvetor was the name of the first demon follower he encountered since he came into this world.

Luon nodded.

“I remember.”

“That is enough. I want to talk to you about that. If you don’t have any problem with it?”

Luon took his hand off the handle of the holy sword and answered.

“Alright.”

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

The three sat around a small table in Kyle’s house. Outside the window, a crimson twilight was glimmering. Kyle scratched his head at the bizarre situation of having guests in the house while cremating the villagers and asked.

“Do you want me to make tea?”

“I like warm milk. Will it be okay?”

“I don’t have any in my house, but I’m sure there’s some in my neighbour’s house.”

At the woman’s request, Kyle stood up from his seat. Closing the door behind him, ‘damn it, is this theft? No…it would rot anyway. He’ll understand,’ he said to himself.

The woman said.

“You, who killed the wicked and buried the innocent villagers who died at their hands… I felt it while chasing the trail, but are you a person with a heroic side?”

“What?” Luon snorted.

“It’s too much of a leap if you did it for money.”

“No matter what your intentions were, people sometimes only remember the results. Those results accumulate and become an evaluation of a person.”

“I don’t think you wanted to talk about that.”

The woman shrugged her shoulders.

“Okay, let’s put aside this banal talk and start with a proper greeting. Nice to meet you, my name is Amelia.”

Luon replied, holding Amelia’s long, white hand.

“It’s Luon.”

It was a brief greeting, but Amelia smiled. Her blue eyes, as if matching her clothes, gently drew a half moon.

“Yeah, I don’t know how many times I’ve heard that name. You don’t know how often your name is spoken in Deer Village?”

“I’m not interested.”

Amelia added to Luon’s sour response.

“Okay, let’s get to the point. To add to what I said outside, I’m a wizard sent from the tower to pursue Salvetor. I have been pursuing him for quite some time to punish him for betraying the tower and becoming a devil follower.”

‘I knew it. She was a member of the tower?’

Luon, who read the parchment on which Salvetor’s biography was written, remembered that he had made a contract with the devil after killing his master, the owner of the tower. So he had secretly thought that Amelia might be with Salvetor when she first said she was chasing him.

Amelia continued.

“It was not easy to track him down as he was skilled at erasing his traces, but fortunately, the things Salvetor was doing gradually became bolder and gradually began to take shape. Then I found that he was in the monastery of Tibella, which you know.”

Obviously, Salvetor’s actions in the prayer room were far from cautious, so Luon nodded his head in agreement. Amelia continued her words.

“But then something unexpected happened. I went with full preparations, but everything was already over. When I asked the villagers, they proudly replied that the Champion of Tibella, Luon, had dealt with the devil of the monastery.”

Luon replied.

“I have no intention of correcting their misunderstanding due to circumstances, but I am a mercenary for hire. I’m far from being the champion of Tibella.”

“It’s okay. My pursuit of you has nothing to do with the title of Tibella’s champion. As I said before, my interest is in Salvetor.”

Luon tilted his head at Amelia’s words.

“Are you here to get confirmation that Salvetor died by my hands?”

Then Kyle opened the door and came in. With three cups of milk on the table, he hesitated and sat down. After saying thank you, Amelia took a sip of the milk.

“No, the traces of Salvetor were completely cut off after the monastery. The description of the corpses I heard from the villagers who were in charge of cleaning up the monastery was also consistent with what I knew. I’m already convinced that Salvetor died at your hands.”

As she said that, Amelia’s expression was somewhat strange. It was like a complex expression of various emotions such as joy, anger, regret, and sadness, so it was difficult for Luon to figure out how the woman was feeling. He asked,

“Then why did you come to see me?”

Amelia, who was wrapping the cup in her hands to feel its warmth, slowly opened her mouth. Before he knew it, she had recovered her original expression.

“I’m interested in what you got after killing Salvetor. No, to be precise, it’s the Tower’s interest.”

Tower’s interest. It was quite an attractive word for Luon. The magician’s Tower, which has not a single layer of veil, but at least several layers, was a place he had never been involved with before.

“I got a few things, but I’m not sure what you want.”

“Can you show me?”

“Before that, I want to confirm something. What can I get on the condition that I provide the goods?”

Amelia replied without delay.

“Assuming it’s what we’re looking for, anything within the reach of the capabilities of the tower.”

It wasn’t a bad answer. It’s not known exactly what position Amelia has in the tower, but she didn’t at least look like a phoney woman, so Luon took two sealed parchments and a palm-sized slate from his arms and placed them on the table.

Amelia, who had no expression until she took the parchment, sank low as soon as she saw the stone slate and put her hand on it. The moment the light from her palm touched the slate, an ominous black spark popped up.

“Ah!”

Surprised, Kyle leaned back and fell with a bang.

Amelia hastily lifted her hand, clenched her teeth, and murmured low.

“Salvetor, you crazy bastard, you…”

Luon asked her as she swallowed her words.

“What was that just now?”

Amelia replied, rubbing her palms.

“Salvetor used this stone as a medium for Veldusias’ power. If he had made any mistakes, it would have been a disaster.”

“Veldusias?”

“It’s the name of the devil who made a contract with Salvetor. A powerful being, also called the Deceitful Darkness.”

Luon looked down at the slate and asked.

“Is it even possible to put the power of such a person into such an ordinary stone?”

Amelia was silent for a moment before opening her mouth.

“···This is not an ordinary stone, but a fragment of a magic stone. It was stolen when Salvetor ran away from the tower. At the same time, it’s the real purpose of my pursuit of Salvetor.”

‘Magic Stone? A universal item from manga and games?’

Amelia asked Luon, who had a surprised expression on his face.

“Is this something unexpected?”

“A little. When it comes to magic stones, one usually thinks of a bright red gem rather than a dull stone like this.”

“A ruby is enough as a bright red gem.”

Amelia replied immediately, as if she thought it was utter nonsense.

“Anyway, it’s my job to recover this fragment safely. Thanks to you, the process has been made easy.”

“I haven’t said I’d give it to you yet.”

“What are you going to do with a cursed stone? And you, didn’t you need help from the tower?”

That was correct. If the slate was a cursed object, there was no need to keep it. But that didn’t mean he wanted to hand over anything that might have been associated with a high-ranking demon.

So, as a condition of handing over the slate, Luon thought about what could be a starting point for escaping from this world, rather than an abstract reward such as ‘Help of the Magic Tower’. And he slowly opened his mouth.

“Rumors say that there is a sage who is good at prophecy and fortune-telling in the tower… If it’s true, can you ask him to tell my fate as a reward?”

Amelia didn’t answer that question for a while, and she tapped her lower lip with her index finger. As soon as her thoughts were in order, she spoke.

“It won’t be easy, but it’s possible. But that can only be done on the condition that you accompany me to the tower. Is that ok?”

Luon nodded his head.

“It doesn’t matter. After all, I was planning to leave the city after this job.”

“Great. If I am accompanied by the champion of Tibella, then I am even more confident.”

“Instead, I will keep this slate until we reach the tower.”

Amelia smiled lightly as she watched Luon put the slate into his arms.

“All right.”

Then Kyle, who had been silent, raised his hand and opened his mouth.

“Wait, wait. What have we been talking about? Champion of Tibella? The Tower? The Devil? What is a magic stone? God, who have I been sitting with all this time?”

“Who are you, an ordinary mercenary?”

“I’m the most ordinary woodcutter…”

Kyle licked his lips as he didn’t speak. Luon and Amelia silently watched his face as if he was thinking deeply about something.

After a while, Kyle spoke.

“Do you mind if I follow you?”

Contrary to Luon’s expressionless face, Amelia asked with interest.

“Why does a woodcutter want to go to the tower?”

“All the villagers I’ve been with for my whole life have died… I think I need a new place to settle down because it’s good anywhere but here. Ah! That doesn’t mean I’m going to settle down in the tower, but I’ll follow the two of you, and if I find a suitable place, I’m going to stay there…”

Amelia shook her head.

“I understand, but the tower is farther away than you think, and it would be difficult to make the journey as an ordinary person. How about finding your new home on your own?”

At Amelia’s resolute words, Kyle turned his gaze to Luon.

Luon scratched his head as he looked at Kyle, who was desperate for help.

Kyle’s thoughts of moving to a new place sounded like an excuse, but Luon decided that taking him along wasn’t a bad option.

He also liked his punching skills and fighting spirit, which would go to waste as a woodcutter, and above all, Kyle had something that Luon couldn’t use right now, but it was too precious to throw away.

Luon said.

“You don’t have to stop him because it’s his choice. If it’s just a dogfight, he’s pretty useful. And he has a nice shield.”

“Shield?”

Just then, Amelia discovered the shield lying behind Kyle, and her eyes widened. Her expression hardened slightly as she looked into the round-shaped shield for a moment.

“Hold on…”

Amelia stretched her arm towards the shield and licked her lips. Soon, a small light escaped from her fingertips. The ray of light that had been flying softly trembled unsteadily as it approached the shield, and then scattered helplessly in the air.

Amelia murmured lightly.

“A shield that interferes with the wave of magic, where the hell did this come from?”

“The shield is the reason why all the people in this village are dead.”

At Luon’s answer, Amelia looked alternately at the shield and Kyle’s face and sighed quietly.

“It’s an object that will make old people at the tower turn their eyes upside down. All right, you’ll join us. Instead, you’ll find a new home after we stop by the tower.”

Then she added briefly.

“A mercenary with a holy sword and a woodcutter with a shield that blocks magic. What kind of combination is this?”