Mercenary’s Contract – Part 04
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Translator: Kell
How did she do it? A blade clearly cut my arm off. It wouldn’t look like this if an explosion did it.
Her weapon was a large shovel. A sharp tip. An explosion. Severed arm. Chains rattling.
“Mercenary,” Zero said once more.
Right. What happened to her? She was bound to my arm with a chain. Now my arm had been cut off, and her voice sounded distant. It could only mean one thing.
“Too bad you couldn’t escape with the beautiful witch, Beastfallen.”
Corruption stood there with a smug look, holding Zero’s body close.
“Agh!”
I groaned from the delayed pain and fell to my knees. Corruption’s men swarmed me, knocking me down on the ground.
“You’ve done it now, you homicidal priest! Is this how the Church does things?! Tricking and killing a witch who offered to help the Church?!”
“Witches caused all of this in the first place. You shouldn’t expect anything from me.” The priest turned his back to me.
“Wait, priest,” Zero said. The priest stopped and looked at her. “Mercenary is bleeding too much. He will die at this rate.”
“So what?” Corruption scoffed. “A witch showing mercy to a Beastfallen? We don’t have to wait for it to bleed to death. I’ll end its suffering right now. Get him, dogs! Kill—”
“No, we want him alive,” the priest interrupted. “This incident has caused the Knights Templar to distrust you. What’s more, the death of knights while escoring a witch would cause an unnecessary dispute. However, if we hand over the Beastfallen who did it to the the Knights Templar, it should appease them a little.”
“Why should I care about the Knights Templar? Just let them raise a fuss.”
“It may be unnecessary for you, but the Knights Templar are essential to the Church. The public likes the knights more than us. If we can entice them, we should.” The priest wriggled his fingers. Suddenly he tied up my arm’s joint so tight that I almost screamed from the intense pain. “I’ll stop the bleeding. A Beastfallen like you shouldn’t die that easily. That is, until the Knights Templar torture you to death. Will this be enough?”
Zero nodded. “Very well. But let me tell you. I am extremely vexed, to say the least. If Mercenary dies, I will never forgive the Church. I will do whatever it takes, even giving up my life, to crush you. Keep that in mind.”
The priest was fortunate that he couldn’t see the horrific expression on Zero’s face. It sent a chill down my spine.
Immediately afterwards, Zero reached for the chain, picked up my arm, and jokingly said, “I will take this instead of you.”
I had no idea how she could smile in this situation. Even though the bleeding had stopped, the pain in my arm threatened to knock me out cold.
As she listened to the exchange, Corruption raised her voice, as though saying they were done.
“Get to work, dogs!” she shouted. “Dig a pit and throw the beast in! And…” Corruption poked the fallen knight with the tip of her toes. “I’m counting on you, knight. I’ll have a dog of mine accompany you as a witness. He will escort you yo Lutra and see to it that you submit your report without delay. Inform the Church about the Beastfallen and tell them to prepare for a public execution.”
A dirt prison was, well, a simple prison made by using explosives to dig a hole. It was so deep that even if I jumped, my fingertips would not reach the edge.
The soil was dry and brittle, and with a little effort it crumbled like sandstone. I wondered if I could gather up the crumbled soil to make a foothold, but the soil was too dry to stay compact.
Besides, I only had one arm at the moment.
I heated my sword under the sun and pressed it on my wound to completely stop the bleeding. Still it only reduced the possibility of my dying right now. The situation was still as dire as ever.
The sun was setting, and dusk was fast approaching. After trying for hours, I learned one thing. I could never get out of this hole by myself.
I had abandoned the idea of escaping on my own and was lying in the middle of the hole, staring at the reddening sky. There was nothing else I could do. I guessed they knew it too, because no one guarded the hole.
“So all I can do is wait until the Knights Templar get me, huh?”
Wait, and then what? They would drag me to the streets and execute me in public. Even if I could escape, what about Zero?
I could use the Witch Letter to contact Albus, but Wenias was too far from Lutra—from the middle of the continent to the southernmost tip.
“Nothing to do now, I guess. That fucking priest!”
“I can help you,” said a child’s voice.
Oh, shit. Now I’m hearing things. Am I losing my mind? I’m not that desperate yet.
As I lay there silent and motionless, dirt began falling from above. Someone was approaching the edge of the hole.
It smelled like rats. And human blood.
“Are you dead?”
I jumped to my feet. There was a squeal, and I heard small footsteps scurrying away fast.
“Hey, don’t run away! Come back here, Lily!”
The footsteps stopped. After a moment of worrying silence, the footsteps trotted back toward the hole. I felt deeply relieved.
A white-furred rat Beastfallen peeked out from the edge of the hole. No. She had black spots. Upon looking closely, dark-red blood was stuck to her fur.
“What’s wrong with your face?” I asked.
“Dad’s blood.”
Her words made me pale. Those two words alone explained why she was here and why her fur was stained with blood.
Corruption said she received testimony from someone that the priest spent a night with the witch. Now that I thought about it, there was no other place that knew about a priest and a silver-haired witch except that ramshackle house we stayed in.
“Did an adjudicator come to your house?”
Lily’s face twisted. No tears flowed from her eyes, but as someone who couldn’t shed a tear like her, I could tell that she was crying.
“Were they killed?”
Lily shook her head. “But a lot of men came,” she said. “They took mom and dad away. They’re gonna kill them!” She breathed in. “Please save mom and dad. If you do, I’ll get you of here.”
I had no obligation or duty to save her parents. Once I was out of this hole, I could easily pretend that we never had an agreement. And she knew that. But she didn’t have anyone else to count on but me.
As I remained silent, Lily became more and more worried. “Please, please, please! I’ll do anything!”
“When hiring mercenaries,” I said, “it’s best to pay later so you don’t get backstabbed. And information that only you know about is more valuable than money.”
Eyes widening, Lily stared back at me. “Information…”
“Like the secret ingredient in your mom’s tomato stew. You know what it is, don’t you? Promise me you’ll give me that information if I help your parents.”
Lily’s dumbfounded expression turned into a smile of relief. “I know a lot more. And my mom knows a lot more than me. If you help, I’m sure she’ll tell you everything she knows.”
“Sounds good. Looking forward to it.”
I took a rope from my pack and tied it to my sword, which I then threw out of the hole. I instructed Lily to stick it as deep into the ground as possible.
Lily disappeared out of sight, carrying my sword. I watched the rope being dragged slowly, and as soon as it stopped moving, I heard the signal, “Ready.”
I grabbed the rope, put all my strength into it, and climbed up and out of the hole.
“Finally.” I felt the tension flow out of my body. I was free. As I looked up, I found Lily sitting on my sword with a proud smile.
“I can show you the way too,” she said.
“Huh?”
“To where mom and dad are. And the priest and the witch.”
I heard squeaks coming from all over the wasteland. Countless rats were gathering around Lily.
“I have many friends.” She smiled.
In my eyes, she was nothing but an underweight child. But my instinct was warning me not to underestimate this Beastfallen.
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