Wandering Mercenary in an Open World

The party left the inn at dawn. Kyle pressed his thumb down on his temple as he had a hangover, and he looked like he was going to die.

Opening her eyes, Amelia said,

“That’s why I told you to drink moderately. So, are you able to ride the horse?”

“···I’ll just force myself to do it.”

Amelia sighed as she watched Kyle scurrying behind the inn.

“How much did he drink?”

Then she turned her head and looked at Luon as if something had come to mind.

“Luon, are you okay? I heard from the owner that you drank all night.”

“As you can see.”

“Yeah, I can see that your complexion hasn’t changed, you look fine. Do people in Korea drink as well as you do?”

‘What?’

Luon smiled and shook his head.

“Not really.”

“I guess you are special in many ways.”

After that, the two did not talk much. After a while, Kyle walked over. His face, which had been away for a while, was so dreary, as if the process of clearing his stomach was not easy.

“I’m sorry.”

“It looks like it will be difficult to speed up right away. There’s nothing we can do. Let’s walk slowly until Kyle feels better.”

The party members, with their luggage, each got on their own horse and proceeded forward. The horses, who had eaten hay and rested well in the night, were purring as if they wanted to run right away, but Kyle, who could not even dare to think of riding horses due to motion sickness, could not comply with their wishes.

A group of men quickly caught up with the group moving forward slowly amid the chirping of birds. A man who seemed to be the oldest of them all opened his mouth to Luon, who had turned his head to see something.

“You’re the guy who kept drinking until the sun came up, right? I was watching from the next seat to you yesterday, and I was shocked by the ridiculous amount of alcohol you had. It seems like we are on the same road, so I came here to talk to you. You don’t have a problem with that, do you?”

Luon shrugged his shoulders as he didn’t feel any hostility from the man with a wide smile. The man made eye contact with Kyle and Amelia once and said,

“I am Colin. These two are my brothers, Dean and Van. They’re twins.”

Aside from the scars around his eyes, the bald man looked the same as his brother nodded his head slightly. Amelia said to Colin, whose eyes lit up as if waiting for her answer.

“I am Amelia. That’s Luon, and the one who is dying here is Kyle.”

Colin, who was giggling, said to Kyle, who seemed to have raised his hand helplessly.

“He must have gone too far last night. So where are you all going?”

He opened his eyes wide and waved his hands when the party did not answer his question.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I asked this without much thought. Then, I’ll tell you first. We’re going to Britten now. There they are recruiting for the army. Having to enlist at this age is a bit daunting, but it can’t be helped.”

Amelia let out a low sigh.

“The war is about to begin. Does the king know how much blood will be shed for his ambitions?”

Wiping his frizzy beard, Colin answered,

“You know, I don’t like this shit. And, well, even though war is terrible, it’s true that mercenaries like me don’t get many chances in life. I’m tired of living day-to-day. Now I am going to make it big.”

He added with a grin.

“If my brothers skewered the heads of barbarians, wouldn’t they be rewarded with a small manor in recognition of their work?”

‘I guess you never thought you could get your head pierced before that.’ In Luon’s eyes, Colin looked like a gambler who was risking his life for a small chance. However, he was not particularly interested in how other people’s lives went, so he nodded soullessly.

“Good luck.”

“Can I ask where you are going now?”

“Dumphris.”

Colin smacked his lips with regret at Luon’s short answer. But no one said anything more, so he scratched his beard and said,

“If it’s Dumphris… we can go up to the Coleman Bridge together.”

“Coleman Bridge? What’s that?”

Kyle’s complexion was still pale when he asked that question. At the same time, he seemed curious.

Amelia answered.

“As the name suggests, this bridge was built by an architect named Coleman. The bridge was designed so that one side of the bridge could be lifted, and thanks to that, ships could pass through the river under the bridge without any problems, and it was a bridge that drew a lot of attention at the time. In fact, there is an anecdote that when a war broke out, they embarrassed the enemies because they could lift the bridge up to suit their needs.”

‘That sounds like a drawbridge.’ Seeing Amelia continue her explanation without stopping, Luon nodded his head.

“Amelia is really smart.”

Kyle admired and Colin responded.

“I see. I’ve passed it a few times, but I’ve never known that it has such a function.”

Amelia shook her head.

“Of course, you don’t know. A long time ago, a major landslide filled the river under the bridge with soil, so there was no reason to lift the bridge. Naturally, the management has also been neglected, and now just an old structure with a few stories is all that’s left. ”

Kyle pursed his lips.

“It’s natural that we don’t know, but how did you know about it Amelia?”

“Me, I learnt from reading books.”

“Ah…”

Being speechless, Kyle scratched his chin and turned his head.

The party went on. Shortly afterwards, Kyle recovered his composure enough to ride the horse, but the pace was still the same as before because Colin and his brothers were silent.

Luon and his party were going to part ways after passing the bridge anyway, so Luon and his party did not have to speed up and moved slowly, talking about irritating things. Of course, most of the conversations were about Kyle answering when Colin raised a topic, and Amelia sometimes intervened in between.

After a while, Amelia said.

“We are almost there. At the end of this road is the Coleman Bridge.”

At those words, Luon, who had his arms crossed on the horse, raised his head. And then tilted his head.

“Didn’t you say that it’s been a long time since you crossed that bridge?”

“Right. I did. What is it?”

Amelia frowned and Kyle shouted.

“I can see something.”

It was literally. Although it was quite a distance, it was not difficult for the group to check the bridge.

‘What?’

Luon was the first to check ‘it’. At the beginning of the bridge, something stood still. At first, he thought it was a statue, but as it moved little by little, it was clear that it was alive. Even though he was still far away, Luon raised his eyes towards the existence that looked big and clear, which seemed to ignore perspective.

‘Is it a monster?’

A monster holding a huge wooden club in his long arms reaching down to his knees and a hand the size of a pot lid was sniffing with his large nose. The man who was drooling with his saliva had a dull appearance, but his red eyes that gleamed extravagantly were terrifying, as if they were shining with magic.

Other people who belatedly identified the monster spoke.

“Shit, what’s that?”

“Is that a troll?”

“Why is a troll over there?”

Amela frowned and spoke.

“Trolls have a habit of liking bridges, so they often build houses under them. Could it be that guy who raised the bridge?”

The horses, frightened by the appearance of a troll as huge as three metres tall, stood upright and stopped. While everyone was silent in the embarrassing situation, Luon dismounted his horse and started walking forward. Amelia exclaimed.

“Luon? What are you doing?”

At her words, Luon turned around with a wistful look.

“I’m going to kill him.”

Colin’s twin brothers were surprised. The two bald heads, who had hardly spoken so far, shouted without delay.

“Hey! stop. Can’t you see that size? It’s an adult troll!”

“Are you going to just approach it and provoke, and then make us all get involved too? Come back now.”

Colin agreed.

“My brothers are right. Luon, it would be better if we all discussed it together instead of making a big mess of it.”

Luon sighed inwardly at their worried words. ‘Do you even have the guts to stick a skewer through a barbarian’s head?’ He replied briefly, turning his body as if it wasn’t worth hearing any more.

“Don’t disturb me.”