Foolish Mercenaries

(2/2)

Third Person POV

After he made sure that Noel was a safe distance from him. All the emotion on Atlas' face disappeared as he turned to face the man.

"I won't sell you the ring. The little girl is also my sister so you will not touch her either." Atlas' voice was cold. The respectful tone he used earlier was gone.

The man was annoyed. He was a part of the Mercenary Guild. All of their members were feared in the kingdom. When someone demanded something, the people gave it to them. Even the adventures would give in since they were also scared. But for some reason, the Forsaken in front of him showed no signs of fear. That angered him even more.

"What's a weak Forsaken like you going to do? I can just take it from you. No one in this guild will stop me. No one will report me even if you died." The mercenary wanted to scare Atlas. He wanted him to know that no one was on his side.

Atlas of course, already knew this. The way the workers looked at him told him that much. "If you're so confident in taking the ring from someone like me, why don't you try?"

The mercenary was fuming. How could someone with no magic affinity have no fear in mocking him? He reached out to Atlas' finger, prepared to rip off the finger along with the ring to remind him of his place. However, things did not go the way he planned.

When he reached out, Atlas had already released his mana into the surrounding area. All it took was a swipe of his hand and the mana pushed the mercenary's hand away. Everyone that saw it was confused. All they saw was the mercenary's hand had suddenly turned a different direction. The man knew though.

'What was that? Something just smacked my hand away.' The man looked up at Atlas. His face still showed no emotion. The man slowly reached out again but once more; something smacked his hand away. He was now sure that Atlas had something protecting him.

The man turns towards the girl that was with Atlas. 'I can hold her hostage maybe.' He began turned around and tried to rush over to her but then Atlas speaks out.

"Noel close your eyes." Noel, listening to her brother, quickly closed her eyes. Atlas then released 10% of his [Death's Aura] and made sure that Noel was the only person unaffected by it. Everyone on the floor stopped talking and tried to look towards Atlas.

Atlas moved swiftly towards the man that was frozen stiff. He grabs onto his neck from behind. The man tried to let out a few words. "Hey… what are you doing?... Do you think the mercenary guild will forget this?" Atlas, while still holding onto the man, walked over to where the rest of his mercenary friends were.

"Take this man's body back. Let him know that he tried to attack a child. That was the reason he died."

Everyone was confused. What did he mean? The man was still alive and squirming in his hands. One of the men from the table yelled out to Atlas, "Just let him go. We promise not to report you to our guild after this! Think about it! Do you really want to anger the mercenary guild!?" Atlas was acting like he was listening but he had already sentenced this man after he tried to grab Noel. "Anger your guild? I'm just punishing a man who tried to steal from me and tried to attack a child," He amplify his voice so that the entire guild hall and those on the second floor could hear him. "Or are you telling me that the mercenary guild thinks that it is okay to attack children and attack citizens of this kingdom?"

Everyone knew Atlas was right. It was code among the common folk that children should not be hurt, no matter the quarrel, children should not be involved. If a child was hurt because of your own actions, then you were no better than a bandit. The other mercenaries couldn't say anything. If they did then that would mean the mercenary guild was basically a bandit gang.

Atlas was happy with their reaction. He then wraps his mana around the man's head. The man was now freaking out. He didn't want to die. He just thought that he could make easy money if he took the Forsaken's loot. "Wait… I can give you money… please I just-." The man's words were cut short. Atlas had popped his head. Blood spilled everywhere on the table. Screams of horror could be heard around the building. Even if the mercenary man deserved to be punished. No one expected the Forsaken to kill him.

Atlas threw the body on the table. "Remember to tell your guild what he did to deserve this." He then walks over to Noel, who still had her eyes closed and also had her hand over her ears.

'Good job sir! I had Noel cover her ears so that she wouldn't hear you guys.'

'Thanks Ceto, let's leave.'

Atlas was just preparing to leave when he felt a bunch of [Death's Aura] hit him from behind. The power from most of them were around 5 to 7% so he didn't feel anything. He turned around to find that the remaining 11 men had pulled swords out and some had mana circulating around their bodies. "Don't leave so soon! Our friend may have done something he shouldn't have but that gave you no right to kill him. You need to repay his life with your own." The men had decided that if all of them attacked him at once, he would lose to them. They couldn't just lose face like this after one of their own was killed. Everyone must remember that the mercenary guild was not to be looked down on.

"Is that so? Does that mean I can take this as a threat on my life? As well as my sister's life?" Atlas was annoyed now. Some bitch called him useless; some asshole tried to threaten him and also sell Noel. Now more of them are threatening to kill him? His [Death's Aura] began to slowly creep up. The men were slowly losing confidence. Most of them had already maxed out their [Death's Aura] but the man in front of them slowly began to look more and more like Death.

It was at this moment though that another [Death's Aura] leaked out. The girl that called Atlas useless was the first to react. "Guild Master! Stop the fight! That nasty Forsaken killed one of the mercenaries!" The person who had made his presence known was the guild master of the adventure's guild. Atlas turned around to see who this guild master was. The person that stood there was an elf man. He was standing at 6 foot 2 (188.9 cm). Short blonde hair with blue eyes that slowly gazed at each person in the room. He looked down at Noel, who was still following Atlas' instructions. He looked surprised for a moment but that was all. His eyes finally fall on Atlas.

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Atlas POV

The elf looked at me. I could feel his Aura tingling on my skin but I remained unaffected. It was only at 15%. The elf finally talked for the first time.

"Tell me what happened here."

The elf seemed calm and was trying to take in the entire situation before he did anything. I went ahead and told him everything that happened. From trying to just sell some items to the girl yelling at me. I also made it clear that the mercenary threatened me first as well as tried to harm Noel.

The elf sighed and turned to the girl from earlier.

"What did I tell you!? I told you to stop looking down on others!"

The girl was scared. She just apologizes and tried to hide from the guild master. The guild master then turns to me.

"My apologize sir, if you want to sign up still then please, I will complete your form. If not then I can give you a recommendation to join another guild instead."

I let him know that I didn't want to join the adventure's guild anymore. He told me that I could join the commoner's guild instead. They were the same as the adventure's guild, the only difference is that children were allowed to join the commoner's guild. He then takes a sheet of paper and scribbles down some stuff. He then hands it back to me. He tells me the location of the building and I prepare to leave. That was when I heard Noel scream out.

One of the mercenaries had grabbed onto Noel.

"HAHA! You think that since the guild master was here, you two were safe? Give me that damn ring! We are taking the girl as well."

I don't know what happened. After I saw Noel crying, my [Death's Aura] was pushed to 40% by itself. Then my vision went red. Some words came out of my mouth but I couldn't make out what they were. After that the hall was filled with screams. All I could do was wait and wonder what happened. After five minutes, the final scream stopped.

My vision finally returned. I looked around to see the damaged done. Every single mercenary was dead. The men that were outside before we entered were also dead. Looking around, no one was willing to look at me anymore. The workers weren't looking at me either. The only people looking at me was the guild master and Noel.

"Take the girl and go. Don't worry about this, I will clean up the mess here sir."

When Noel was put down, she ran over to me and I picked her up this time. I turned to walk out the building.

"Thank you for protecting me brother."

Sorry Noel, I don't even know what I did. I need to ask Ceto what just happened.

"Are you not scared of me?"

"No, I could never be scared of you."

"Well then, your welcome. And thank you for not being scared of me."

We both leave for the commoner's guild.

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Guild Master POV

My name is Ior. I left the Elven Kingdom hundreds of years ago to build a new life somewhere else. I reached the home of the Hero. I felt like this was the perfect place to start a new life. I became an adventurer and eventually had the opportunity to become the guild master myself.

One day while doing my regular duties, I felt someone's [Death's Aura]. Usually, it wouldn't bother me but this Aura was at 10%. Most humans had their Aura between 3 to 7%. So, whoever this person was, they were powerful. I get up and walk down to the first floor. When I reached the first floor, I saw the back of a dark blue hair boy. He was holding onto a man. He was saying something that I couldn't hear. The man's head suddenly exploded.

'Wow, a human that can manipulate his mana that well?'

The boy was about to leave with a half elf child when the dead mercenaries' friends stopped him. When he was confronted his Aura started rising quickly. I was shocked once again.

Karen, the girl working behind the desk today, saw me and ran to me.

"Guild Master! Stop the fight! That nasty Forsaken killed one of the mercenaries!"

'He's a Forsaken?! That can't be possible. What did he do to reach 10% Death's Aura at such a young age?'

I unleash 15% of my Aura on everyone. The blue haired boy looks at me.

"Tell me what happened here."

The boy began telling me what happened. When he was done, I was furious. I turned to Karen and began yelling at her. I told her to never look down on others! You never know, it may bring you to an early end.

I turned to the boy and told him that I will sign him up here if he still wanted. I really wanted to understand how he grew so strong. Sadly, he refused so I wrote him a letter of recommendation to the commoner's guild. I could only wish him well.

But before he could leave, one of the mercenaries wouldn't give up and took hold of the half elf. He was using her to threatened the boy. What happened next… no one would of saw it coming.

The boy's Death's Aura jumped up to 40%. He then disappeared from his position. And reappeared in front of me with the half elf. The mercenary was standing there lost.

"Please hold Noel for me."

He then looks at the half elf.

"Noel, keep your eyes closed and cover your ears okay."

The girl nods and looks away. When he was talking to her, I saw his eyes… They looked like they belong to a monster. A monster who hasn't seen a prey in a long time. He disappeared and then reappeared in front of the man that took the girl hostage.

The 40% Aura had suppressed the man. He couldn't move, he couldn't scream. There was only a puddle of piss under him to show that he was still alive. He wasn't the only one though. Everyone else on the floor wasn't moving either. I shouldn't be able to move as well but it seemed that the little girl and I were the only ones that could move freely.

Before the boy did anything, he began mumbling something. In the next moment, some of the mercenaries caught on fire, some fell down with stone bullets in their head, some just fell apart after being sliced by air and some were caught up in a water prison. The hall echoed with the screams of death. The mercenaries from outside heard their comrades screams so they also ran inside. However, they also met the same fate as the others. Everyone was staying still, no one wanted to die. I saw something else though. I could see the spirits that killed the mercenaries.

'A human sage?! How's that possible? Who is this boy?!'

'So, you can see us child? Do not get in our way. These ape's thought that they could hurt our sister.'

'Who is that? A spirit that can speak before even evolving? There's only one spirit that is capable of that… Ceto? The first spirit born from the World Tree?! Why are you contracted to a human? Where have you been?! No one has heard from you since the Elf Sage died!'

'You do not need to know child. Just clean up this mess after. Make sure no one learns of Atlas.'

This human… he is definitely someone special if Ceto is willingly following him.

The boy seemed to return to normal and approached me again. He took the girl and left. I tried my best to be as respectful towards him as possible since I heard Ceto's voice one last time.

'Remember child. This boy Atlas is special and meant for greater things. Aid him when he needs it.'

I made sure to remember those words. I then prepare to clean up the mess that was created.