Chapter 2 mercenary guild

The town could be called as nice if one went by the standards of the middle ages after all if you weren't careful you might step in the remains of someone's chamber pot. The guards let me through the gate after going through inspection which consisted of questioning my background, when I told them I was a mercenary I was given a scowl that could kill. I guess mercenaries have a bad reputation around here but I didn't care really since I never did care for others thoughts, I had to ask for directions several times until I finally found a building with bolded letters above the doorway saying Mercenary Guild.

The building was quite large but it wasn't in good shape; if it wasn't for the tiles falling from the roof or the scum loitering around the building I would call it a decent place. Walking into the building drawing the attention of several occupants before they went back to their own business; this place was even worse than I thought especially with the smell of blood lingering in the air, I just hope it's from their weapons and not the building itself.

The further I entered into the building the more I noticed that the mercenaries looked more like bandits than anything even the receptionist looked like he would mug you on the side of the road. When I approached the desk the receptionist put down his knife which was formerly cleaning his nails and stared at me with curiosity in his eyes.

"Boy do you have a job for us, if not then go home to your mommy this is no place for a kid like you." (Receptionist)

"I just arrived in town and would like to get a contract or two done before I move on, if I have to register as a guild member that's fine as well as long as I get the money for my logging." (Me)

"Boy I am warning you now I don't play…" (Receptionist)

"Just show me the jobs already, we are mercenaries we kill and then get paid if I wanted to talk all day i would have joined the scholar guild." (Me)

"Hahahaha he has a point Joe, let the kid try!" (Mercenary)

"Yah what's the worst that could happen!" (Mercenary 2)

"Oh boy if you succeed come talk to me I'll buy you a drink!" (Drunk Mercenary)

The last comment was completely ignored but the other mercenaries kept on ragging on Joe which made the bear of a man turn red as a tomato, soon after several minutes of this chaos he finally got fed up with it and threw his knife at one of the mercenaries though it missed the rest of the mercenaries shut up in an instant. Hey isn't that against guild regulation or something?!

"Fine boy since you are so confident in your skills you can go after Bark, he has been causing trouble for us for some time now. If you do succeed I will open up all facilities to you but if can't do this simple task you better not come back." (Joe)

[Mission: test of metal

Difficulty: Hard

Description: you were tasked to take out Bark the rune master, he can be found south of town, be careful though rune masters always have a trick up their sleeve

Reward: all guild facilities open to you, 5 gold coins

Failure: all mercenary benefits are locked to you]

"Alright; but what do you want as proof?" (Me)

"Anything will do as long as I can identify if it is barks." (Joe)

Nodding I headed out of town again this time I had my sword in hand; if this was some novel the MC would have his weapon in his or her sheath and then draw it once the battle starts, this was not a novel if one is not prepared for battle they will die in an instant. Nine times out of ten bandits or any other scum wouldn't confront you instead they would attack you on sight, also don't spare your enemy it will only come back to bite you in the ass.

An arrow shot from the bushes but thanks to my detection skill I knew where they were and as such I immediately deflected the arrow before charging at them. As I got about three feet away from them another arrow was released followed by a man charging behind it trying to get me when I was distracted by the arrow. His plan would have worked if it had been anyone else; I twisted my body avoiding the arrow all together followed by thrusting my short sword into the man's throat, in this moment in time the man swung his dagger one last time trying to take me with him but I jumped back just before the blade hit me.

The man fell to the ground in the pool of blood but my attention wasn't on him anymore instead I was on his friends that just arrived, there were three grown men in rusty and dented armor but the armor had a subtle glow to it in some places which worried me even more than the man I just killed. Behind these three men was a man in regular clothes with a snake like smile on his face, I guess I found my target.

"Are you Barks?" (Me)

"Yes my good man however I must ask why would you kill a man guard without any hesitation?" (Barks)

"One that doesn't like getting shot at." (Me)

"I see and may I know why you are here?" (Barks)

"For your head!" (Me)

Kicking the dagger up from the ground I threw it at the closest man followed by his screams; ignoring him I grabbed two of the fallen man's arrows, the knights that weren't injured rushed at me swinging their swords but I ducked to the left bringing my hand up stabbing into the gap in the knight's armpit. The arrowhead probably punctured the knights lung as he couldn't even speak anymore instead he gasped for hair before dying, I tried the same tactic with the remaining knight but it didn't work resulting in me losing all weapons I had but I was a smart lad after all so it didn't matter.

The knight kept on swinging his long sword at me in anger not noticing that we inched closer to his former comrade. Once close enough I got behind the knight kicking him in the back of the leg causing him to fall to his knees, this gave me the perfect opportunity to kill him. I pushed his head down towards the bloody sword stuck in his comrade's throat, the sword pierced through the knights eye making him resist even more but that didn't last for long.

Once the knight was dead I expected to face another knight but to my surprise he fled, but so did Barks. Ignoring the blood trail leading to town I went towards the trail leading further into the woods; the knight probably wasn't wanted unlike barks and he could probably get healed for a few coins, as for barks he could only escape further into the woods. Grabbing my short sword and my first victims bow and quiver was probably the best choice I could have made in this situation after all I have no idea what is awaiting up ahead.

About ten minutes of constant running I finally saw Barks figure running towards a cove; smirking at my luck I notched a arrow lining up the shot and released the string, I watched as the arrow lowered more than I expected which led to Barks getting shot in his Achilles heal. Oh man that has to hurt especially with the tip being rusty; taking my time approach Barks which was still screaming on the ground I kind of felt slight remorse about doing this to him but then again I have always made sure the job got done even if my target has to suffer. When I finally got about 10 Km away from him I felt a sudden nagging feeling the same feeling I got when an arrow was shot at me, I threw the bloody short sword at barks which directly impaled him. Seconds later I heard a whistling sound followed by a small explosion that lifted Barks body off the ground a couple feet off the ground before falling back down to the ground. As I put my hand on the handle of the stained short sword a notification sounded which drew my attention.

[do you wish to dismantle this body?]

'Wait I can dismantle humans as well?'

[Any enemy defeated by you can be dismantled]

'Then might as well; I have no idea what might come out but if it's something weird like human meat I will just use it as bait when hunting monsters.'

[Dismantle beginning]

[Dismantle complete, showing items dismantled]

[Common clothes set 1x

Rune tool kit 1x

Skill tome: Rune Mastery

Skill tome: enhanced intelligence

Skill tome: Enhance Wisdom]

"What the Fuck!!!