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"Arh....!"

I groaned as the blinding sunlight reflected off the polished blade, momentarily blinding me. The soldier, mounted on his majestic war horse, swung his sword with deadly precision, aimed directly at me. Each glint of light on the blade seemed to taunt me, a reminder of the imminent danger.

I could see it. The sharp edge of the sword getting closer to me.

'Ah...I need to dodge'

With every inch the sharp edge of the sword drew closer, I desperately tried to muster the strength to dodge. But despite my repeated thoughts of urging my body to move, it remained frozen, paralyzed by fear.

-Slash!

The soldier's sword finally made contact, slashing through me with a sickening sound. Pain surged through my body as blood gushed from the severed stump of my right hand. The excruciating agony seemed almost surreal, sending shockwaves of panic through my mind.

"...REN!"

A voice called out, piercing through the haze of pain and confusion. Startled, I struggled to regain my senses, but before I could react, the view around me shattered like fragile glass.

"EREN, hoy EREN!"

-Gasp!

Gasping for breath, I woke up, beads of sweat dotting my forehead. It took a moment for reality to sink in as I scanned my surroundings, gradually realizing that it was all just a vivid daydream.

"Huff....huff"

I panted, attempting to calm my racing heart.

"Daydreaming in the middle of a mission, huh?.. Cough!...and that too you were flailing so much?"

Roger, my mercenary companion asked seeing my condition. It seemed like he was worried about me because I was flailing so much.

"Roger...."

"Cough..! What were you dreaming about?"

He observed my condition with concern evident in his eyes. His own health was far from perfect, plagued by intermittent coughing fits, yet he still worried about his companions.

"The same old dream, I can't seem to get it out of my head"

"...."

"Hahaha"

The new recruit that joined our mercenary group just a month ago, who was driving the merchant carriage laughed at me.

"Was it the same where your arm kept falling off?"

He taunted, clearly enjoying the opportunity to provoke me. he sure had mastered art of annoying others.

"You'd better keep your eyes on the road."

It is the inexperienced rookies like this who didn't even know the first thing about being a mercenary that I hated the most.

"Says the guy who sleeps during work"

"Clearly you are new to the job"

As he was a new recruit he didn't know many things about this field of work, I, as his senior gracefully took on the role to impart some wisdom and guidance to the ignorant brat.

"As if there would be some crazy lunatics who would pick a fight with mercenaries having an Aura-knight"

I quipped, confident in our reputation. Roger's prowess as a three-star Knight had made our mercenary group well-known in the region, adding onto to the fact that I was a 4-star knight although disabled would deterring most adversaries from crossing our path.

So there wouldn't be someone crazy enough to pick a fight with us.

"Ain't I, right? Roge-"

"Bring out everything you have and hand it over if you dear your life"

They appeared even before I could finish my words.

"As always, good job"

The scout that the merchants hired, walked towards the bandits that appeared out of nowhere.

"Sir Merchant, what is the meaning of this?"

Obviously, as the one who hired the scout, suspicion turned towards the merchant in charge of the carriage. As the one who had hired the scout, he seemed the most likely culprit.

"We...we don't know anything"

His sweating brow and trembling hands betrayed his innocence. It was clear he lacked the courage to orchestrate such a scheme. He wasn't brave enough to pull a trick on us.

"When we hired him, we checked his mercenary credentials with the guild," the merchant stammered, desperately trying to defend his decision.

Every mercenary would have a record of their activities in the mercenary guild as proof of their work, so the merchant might have decided to hire him by trusting those reports.

How could the poor fat merchant have known that the bastard would backstab us like this?

"That's right, I am indeed a mercenary."

The scout who just betrayed us spoke and he seemed to be proud that he was able to deceive us. Humans! we really are strange creatures.

"It's nothing personal, so don't hate me"

Betraying your comrades without even a second thought. As expected, he was indeed a scumbag. The atmosphere was getting tense when our leader suddenly spoke up.

"I am mercenary, the name's Roger"

He was a 3-star aura knight and a reliable leader we looked up to. Although he was a little unwell and suffering from a 'special condition', he was nevertheless a reliable leader.I think you should take a look at

"If you back down right now, you will get properly compensated, I swear it on my name"

There were about 20-25 bandits who were surrounding the carriage and it would be very difficult to fight them while protecting the merchants even if he was an aura knight, so he was making the most rational decision at the movement.

"Roger...?"

"Oh! I see you are 'that' Roger"

'Did it work?'

Roger was indeed pretty famous in the mercenary guild, so they may be aware of him already.

But.....

"Hahaha...It's Roger, 'One shot Roger!'"

"That disabled guy who can't even hold on for 3 minutes? I guess you are even faster in bed, huh? hahaha"

Of course, they would laugh!

After all, that's how our leader was famous in the guild. But they were clearly underestimating him.

'He can hold on for clearly 5 minutes, not three.'

That's right!

Even though Roger was an Aura knight, he could only use his powers for at most 5 minutes, all thanks to his 'special condition'.

"hahahaha"

"kekekeke"

"Roger, don't lose your cool"

I tried to control Roger who was already about to unsheathe his sword in rage.

Walking past him, I looked at the man who was sitting cross-legged at the back of the bandit group.

He seemed like the leader of those thugs.

"What do you want?"

It would be very disadvantageous for us to fight, so if possible, I wanted to resolve things peacefully.

"I don't know, But I think the merchant there might be aware of what I want"

But the leader clearly didn't have the same idea as me.

'Besides....'

As I turned toward the merchants, they shifted uncomfortably, avoiding eye contact, as if hiding something important.

'They're concealing something.'

Maybe they were transporting some illegal or banned goods, but it was clearly not the time to argue about that.

'I have a bad feeling about him'

The leader of the bandits who was sitting cross-legged was giving off a creepy aura that gave chills to me. It was like he would kill us regardless of what we tried.

His aura emitted an unsettling presence, suggesting a dangerous and unpredictable nature. My instincts as a seasoned mercenary screamed at me to flee, warning of imminent danger.

I slowly turned around towards the merchants.

"Hey now, would you pay those guys? we are clearly outnumbered! You know we can't fight them, right?"

Gently, I glanced at my fellow mercenaries, subtly signaling them to escape. Using sign language, I conveyed the urgency to retreat.

'Run Away.'

"Right Now"

-Crrrr

Without hesitation, I hurled my short dagger towards the scout, hoping to distract the bandits momentarily. Seizing the opportunity, we all broke into a sprint, each of us veering off in different directions, leaving the bandits bewildered.

And by the time they realized anything, we all were running in a different direction.

"Arh!"

The scout managed to evade my surprise attack, cursing in frustration.

"F*ck!"

I shifted my gaze towards Roger. As expected of an Aura knight, he had already dissipated the head of two bandits and his sword was once again back in the sheath.

"Let's split up and meet later"

Roger suggested, his voice filled with determination. Aware of his limited stamina due to his "special condition," it was a rational decision to divide our forces against the overwhelming numbers of the bandits.

I nodded in agreement, understanding the reasoning behind his choice. We exchanged no further words, immediately parting ways, disappearing into the wilderness without looking back

And not long after, we heard an ear-piercing sound.

"DON'T LET ANYONE ESCAPE"

---***---

Start of Volume 1 - Rising Flames and the Haunting Past.