The next morning in front of the city gate a mid-sized caravan slowly assembled. Multiple merchants and mercenaries gathered together. The mercenaries were mostly, except for one larger group, traveling by foot. The others were traveling by horse carriages.
Kael left the city and moved towards the caravan. Upon spotting the man from yesterday in the bar he went towards him and greeted him.
The man's name was Johann. Although his clothes may indicate him to be from the middle-class populace, he was just a servant. The reason for Kael's employment was to protect and escort Johann's master to Balata, the capital of the neighboring state Garganta.
Johann went to a nearby carriage and knocked at the door.
"Madam, the mercenary I employed two days ago is here."
A middle-aged woman and a teenage girl left the carriage and greeted Kael.
The older female had long brunette hair flowing down to her waist and even though her age still looked beautiful. Her eyes could capture any man who wasn't careful, here nose flawlessly small and straight, small rosy lips and even though a few wrinkles formed on her cheeks they were still rosy.
The younger one had a short black hair tied into a ponytail. She looked to be around 14-16 years old and although her hair color was different the rest of her facial features were very similar to the other woman.
"My name is Melissa Ramia, this is my daughter Kathrin. We will be in your care for this journey." The woman greeted Kael and introduced herself while extending her hand and mustering Kael with her captivating eyes.
Kael switched his grey robes into a set of unsophisticatedly assembled, cheap and worn out leather armor. The brown leather breast protector was bruised up at a few spots. Beneath his breast protector, he wore a silver chainmail. The chainmail stopped at his axles though and didn't cover his upper arms. He wore leather gloves that covered his whole lower arms and included metal arm protectors. At the outside of his fingers had been installed with metal finger protectors. On his lower body, he wore normal brown linen pants. The only protection on his legs were leather knee protectors weaved into his pants. Finished by a simple pair of brown military leather boots, his outfit looked mixed and not one part of his outfit seemed to fit the other.
Kael shook her hand wordlessly with a nod.
"Where are your weapons? If you need a sword or anything else you can probably ask one of the other mercenaries we employed. They probably have a few spares." Melissa said suspiciously. Who turns up at an escort mission without a weapon?
"No need. I don't need weapons." Kael replied.
"Kid, are you looking to die? If that's your work attitude you can just turn around and screw off. We're trying to earn some money here and we don't need a showoff to burden us." One of the nearby mercenaries heard Kael's saying and shouted.
The other mercenaries around turned their attention towards Kael and looked at the developing fight.
"Why don't you try me then?" Kael turned his attention to the man in question and replied brusquely.
"Hmph, you asked for it kid. Don't go and cry after I mopped up the floor with you later." The mercenary became enraged and charged at Kael.
He threw his right straight at Kael's face, but his arm's trajectory changed after it was hit at its side and missed its target. The next moment he felt a heavy blow from his stomach pit. He bent over and held his stomach while bending over, but it wasn't yet and the next thing he felt was a clear hit to the back of his head and fell over. He was sprawling over the ground and growling in pain.
The observing crowd was dumbstruck as they watched the events. They clearly saw what happened. The moment the mercenary attacked, Kael changed his footwork and hit the thrown out arm with his left palm to the side, in order to change the trajectory, while simultaneously striking out at the other's stomach with his own right. Afterward's he instantly closed the gap and used the carelessness of the bending over mercenary and hit the occiput with a downward strike of his elbow.
"Can I have something to drink?" Kael turned towards the crowd and asked.
The other mercenaries were dumbstruck and after a while started laughing. Someone came over and threw a bottle of beer towards Kael.
"I like your attitude kid. I'm Michael, I'm one of the Merchants travellin' with this Caravan. Come over to my carriage and let's drink something together when you got some free time at your hands." The man smiled and laid one of his arms around Kael's neck while nipping at a bottle with the other right after he finished talking and dragged him over to his own carriage.
It was clear that he was just looking for a drinking buddy for himself.
The crowd was flabbergasted.
"Where did you find this guy?" Melissa turned towards her attendant Johann and asked with a suspicious look.
"In a rundown bar." Johann replied embarrassedly while scratching his head, but hastily added, "but I can vouch that his abilities are top notch."
"How can you be sure of that?" Melissa questioned sternly.
"He's a former temple disciple. I heard some rumors in the city and after following them I found him in the suburbs." Johann replied honestly.
"WHAT?" The lady lost her composure for the first time and accidentally shouted while staring at the carriage Kael was sitting on.
Kael was currently occupied with the beer of his new drinking buddy and is already cleaning up the third bottle.
"Who would expect a temple disciple to turn into an alcoholic?" Melissa found her composure again after a while and thought to herself before entering her carriage.