Chapter 15 The Beginning of a Prelude (1/2)

”Boring.”

Francis was standing right before the entrance of the count's mansion with a long spear and a shield in each hand. He looked at the empty streets as he sighed, ”It's pretty obvious that there's no one here. Why was I ordered to guard the entrance? Tsk… The weather is god damn cold!”

The leaves still had some frost on them. The ground was covered with snow. The wind of early winter was chilly. Francis could not help but shiver, as his armor was forged from steel, which was not able to keep Francis warm. On the other hand, the other parts of his armor that were made of leather was as thin as a paper did not prevent the cold air from rushing through them.

Even so, Francis did not let his guard down at all. Instead, he was very serious about his job now. He was looking through every detail around him.

Even though he was complaining, he knew it deep down in his bones that he must work after receiving money from others. Well, he had been a mercenary for over a decade. It was true that guarding an entrance was not exactly an amazing job that most people would be comfortable with. However, that job should be much better than battling against others.

Francis was well aware of the incident at the city gates that happened a while ago, as he was informed not long after he woke up. According to the messenger, the intruder was powerful enough to defeat fifty soldiers that were heavily armed. Now that the intruder was still hiding somewhere in the city without leaving any traces behind, it would be understandable why the person that hired him would act so cautiously.

After all, those were not fifty farmers. They were fifty soldiers who had been trained for this sort of thing! It was still quite unbelievable that one could beat them all single-handedly. Even the mercenaries might not be capable of doing such a thing.

Although Francis believed that the intruder would not attack when the guard of the entire city was on high alert, he would still make sure he did his job at 100%. As long as he could receive the payment for it, he would not suffer any loss. That was his principle and his will to persevere. In the meantime, the other guard who was supposed to guard the entrance with him had gone back to get his clothes after he complained that the weather was too cold… After all, not every man is the same. At least Francis was not willing to behave that way.

Even at the age of forty, Francis was still not able to exceed Silver tier, as a human. That would mean that he did not stand much of a chance to upgrade to the glorious Gold tier. Although he did not have the opportunity to improve, he had a lot of battle experience. He would still be able to be a mercenary to feed himself for the next seven to eight years. He could continue being a mercenary until he was fifty before considering to buy a piece of land to live a quiet life for the rest of his days.

However, would a mercenary get to live his remaining days quietly? That's not bad for a lame joke though.

Upon humoring himself with that thought, he laughed. Suddenly, Francis heard other sounds aside from the sound of the wind blowing.

Thud, thud, thud.

Footsteps could be heard from one corner of the street.

At first, the sound of the footsteps was faint to the point that Francis did not hear anything at all. However, as the person approached closer, the footsteps began to get louder. Francis could no longer contain his curiosity. He turned towards the direction where the sound of the footsteps came.

During normal times, no one would give a sh*t about any footsteps. However, ever since the city was on high alert, only a few would walk around the streets of the city. Furthermore, the disturbance in the morning and the cold weather had led no one to come out of their houses. Under the circumstances where the footsteps were loud and clear, Francis could not help but be skeptical.

A brief moment later, a tall and sturdy man with black hair appeared in Francis' view. There was also a silver-haired girl with green eyes beside the man. Judging from their heights, they looked like father and daughter. Hmm… maybe they are siblings. If that's the case, their hair color does not match.

No no no. Even if these two are close to each other, why would they appear at such a place at such a time then? That is very strange. The weather is so cold and an attack just happened not long ago.

Francis kept his thoughts back to himself and reacted to the situation before him. He witnessed the two walking closer and closer to where he was standing. He had no time to think about it as well. So he walked up to the two, frowned and spoke loudly, ”Halt, you two! This is a restricted area, please turn around!”

”He's quite responsible in his job.”

After a few seconds of silence, the black-haired man nodded. He seemed to disregard the serious look on Francis's face and the sword Francis was holding. He carried on with his own comments, ”So many of them, and you're the only one who has the look of a real warrior.”