It was another beautiful morning in the town of Haven. Everyone woke up to begin their usual morning work of farming. Like most southern villages, Haven relied mostly on farming; however, this village in particular was famous for its surplus of livestock. They traded their livestock produce, which was sent out to various major cities and even the capital itself, which made this town extremely important in the Empire.
Sieg, a young ten-year-old boy, woke up in his bed like normal. He got out of bed, and his mother, Sara, was cleaning the laundry.
"Hey mom." Sieg said, wiping his eyes with his hand.
"Hey sweetie. Did you sleep well?" Sara asked.
"Yeah. Do I have any chores today?" Sieg asked.
"Hmm..." Sara said while thinking. "Could you run your father's hat out to him? He forgot it this morning."
"Am I free after that?" Sieg asked.
"Yes. But be careful."
Sieg smiled. "I will, mom!"
Sieg grabbed his father's hat and ran into the fields, but on the way he passed a convoy of carriages. Riding in one of them was a man wearing a black cloak with a mask.
"Hmm...maybe he's one of those mercenary guys?" Sieg thought to himself.
Sieg shook his head and headed to where his father was.
"Hey Dad, you forgot your hat." Sieg said as he handed his father the hat.
"Thanks buddy. I must've blanked this morning. Head on home now. It's dangerous out here." Sieg's father said.
"Alright dad!"
Sieg ran over back to the village center but didn't go home. Instead, he headed to the back of the mercenary guild with the training dummies in the back.
"You back, kid?" one of the mercenaries said.
"Yeah, I want to work on my sword strikes." Sieg said happily.
"Alright kid. We got a wooden sword around here somewhere." The mercenary said. "Just be careful; your mom will raise hell if you get hurt."
"I know..." Sieg said.
Sieg quickly grabbed the wooden and began taking swings against the practice dummies. While he was doing this, the mercenaries were talking.
"Hey Jacob, did you hear about that new merc?" one of the mercenaries said.
"Yeah, that high-ranked guy, right? The dude with the mask?" Jacob said.
"That's the one. Dude freaks me out. He's all quiet and shit."
Jacob sighed. "Yeah, though I heard he was damn good with that sword of his."
"Still, dude's gives me weird vibes." The other mercenary said.
"What mercenary? Was it the guy I saw earlier?" Sieg thought to himself.
After a bit of training, soon the masked mercenary the other two were talking about returned to the guild with the head of the giant boar being dragged behind him.
"He actually fucking killed it..." Jacob said.
"That was a high-rated B quest... I thought nobody would ever finish it." the other mercenary said.
Soon the guild receptionist walked out and saw the head with a shocked expression before handing the mercenary a bag of gold. The mercenary nodded before heading off to the nearby inn.
"Uhm, Jacob... is that man strong?" Sieg asked the mercenary.
"I don't know... but I'd say he's stronger than most of us here. Only three mercenaries in this town had taken that quest, and two of them never came back; the third one was hurt to hell too." Jacob explained.
"Wow..." Sieg said in amazement.
"You should head home now, kid. Your mom is probably worried about ya." Jacob said.
"Alright... I'll clean up real quick, then head home." Sieg said.
"Thanks kid." Jacob said with a smirk. "But seriously, that masked guy...who the hell is he?"
-------------------------------------------------------
If you guys want to to support me check out my patreon, it's as cheap as a dollar!
Patreon:
https://patreon.com/Alex_Blackwood628
Discord:
https://discord.gg/97ejzvAGKb