Blackrock Mercenaries

"Is everyone ready?"

As I looked over to the Mayor, standing before our small line, I wasn't sure if I was. My gaze scanned up and down my fellow competitors for the flower hunt. All of us wore brown clothes, generously donated by Miss. Celut, on behalf of the town's tailor. We had also received a small pin representing a unique flower.

When I had gotten a sunflower, Penny refused to stop laughing, nor would she explain why it was so funny. Across from our row were the seekers. Three men, and three women, I didn't recognise. Each carried baskets in which we were supposed to deliver our pins if they tagged us. Whoever had the most pins on the hunting team won, and whoever kept their pin on the floral team won.

It wasn't much of a prize. A small one silver coin certificate that the winner could use at any store in town. Near the Mayor, who appeared to be waiting for our actual answer, were Lord Henry and Penny. Only the former of which was supposed to be on stage.

He was sitting on his throne once again, watching with interest as a chorus of affirmations went down the line. The Mayor nodded and then held up a hand as he stared out over the crowd. My gaze followed his, and it didn't take long to spot Sasha and Hester standing side by side. Ted, Hester's father, watched them with clear animosity on his face.

"That's going to be a problem one day." I thought to myself, as I tried to spot any other problems.

No one wearing a yellow headband jumped out at me, which was strange. Once more, I scanned the crowd and saw none of the gang members there at all. A slight note of panic lodged itself in my gut as my thoughts sped along various tracks to come up with a reasonable solution.

"They're probably avoiding the knights and servants Lord Henry brought. Any who tried to make trouble would be stupid, too, right now."

As soon as the thought entered my mind, my focus shifted to said knights who were standing among the crowd. They stood out in their armor, but I knew that was the point. The sight of them was supposed to be a deterrent, and from the way the townsfolk gave them a wide berth, it was working.

"Friends!" Mayor Gage's voice drew my attention back to what was happening on the stage, which I noticed with alarm was now absent Penny. "You know the rules. Contestants will have to stay close to the town, and there will be hunters out to make sure no one runs into monster trouble. The event will last for an hour. Flora team, you may disperse."

The younger members of the team took off in a dead sprint, but I moved with more dignity. Rita had clarified that she wouldn't be pleased if I simply allowed myself to get captured within their first few minutes to get it over with. That meant I needed an actual strategy. I considered simply hiding, maybe climbing a tree and hoping no one looked up.

It wasn't a bad plan. The single issue was, it relied heavily on luck, and I would be stuck. That, and with my knowledge of Timberaine's, made me desire a quick escape route. I knew that meant I would be wandering the forests. Technically, that meant more chances to encounter a monster. Though I knew between Rita, Penny, several knights, and others from the village being sent out, there wouldn't be much left alive to harm us.

Upon entering the trees, I picked up my pace. There was no one who could watch my ungainly run, or there shouldn't be. My gaze swept over my area, and I swore I heard the tinkling of a bell.

"Rita said Penny would be here to keep an eye out on me."

Leaves crunched underfoot, even my enchanted shoes, not being able to stop the sounds of other things, as I made my way forward. There were rules. We couldn't get too far from the town, but that was fine. The night before, someone had applied red paint to the perimeter. All I needed to do was not go past that. I wanted to find it, though. It made sense to me that people wouldn't be searching anywhere close to the edges, instead looking more in the middle of the woods.

More walking, and my breathing became a touch heavier. I didn't feel as bad as I had when we had hunted for the Varglatog, and I couldn't help but smile. There was a lot of physical work to do when on the road. Perhaps this job offer would reap more rewards than I had first assumed.

At the first sign of red paint, I stopped and listened. There were a few sounds. Some birds, wind rustling leaves, and not much else. I gave myself a chance to stop and catch my breath, before I picked a direction and began walking once again. Over the next ten minutes, I stopped twice more. First when somewhere, distantly, I heard a solid thump as though something heavy had hit a tree.

Secondly, when I spotted a member of the gatherer team. They were approaching a tree and looking up. It was clear someone had tried my first strategy. A chill ran through me as I backed up, eager to get away from the scene. Neither participant noticed my escape.

There were a few more thumps and another encounter with the teams as I moved through the woods. My heart pounded, and I found myself wishing that I was back in town instead of out here. There would be other competitions to see, and a mess of food carts to enjoy. A variety of activities to keep people entertained until we returned from our game.

"Mayor Gage better be making sure Lord Henry is having a good time," I thought to myself as I continued my winding path, being mindful of the markers. "No need to have all our hard work blown away because some young noble got bored."

I was about to continue on my path when I stopped, hearing a noise. Instincts from Penny's game overtook me, and I looked around, glimpsing some green fabric between the trees. The uniform belonged to the gatherer team, and as they shifted, I caught sight of the basket on their arm. From what I could tell, they had their back to me.

With careful motions, I moved backwards, silently thanks to the enchantment on my shoes. My shoulder bumped a tree, and I ducked low, moving behind it as they turned around at the noise. Through a gap in the branches, I could see them, but it was obvious they couldn't see me.

"Hello?" the man called, as he moved closer, head on a swivel as he searched his surroundings. "Anyone here?"

"Because someone is going to say yes?" I thought to myself, as I stayed in place, hoping he wouldn't spot me.

From the way his basket clinked, it was clear he had found others before me. How many of my six-person group had fallen, I wasn't sure. I wish I was, though. If I was the last, I could simply give up and claim that I tried.

A thought came to me that made me frown. "No, Rita sent Penny out to watch me. She would know if I did that."

With care, I tried to back away, heading for another group of trees. I almost made it when my sleeve caught a branch. It tore, and Poker Face wasn't enough to stop my curse. He looked in my direction. Rules as written, there was nothing that stopped me from running, so I did just that.

My breath came out in small pants as I tried to get away, but I knew I had little chance. Though I didn't know him personally, the man was a head taller than me and clearly fit. He would catch me. It was just a matter of time. It wasn't hard to imagine Rita's irritation at me being caught, and I pushed on, doing my best to lose my pursuer.

His footsteps were loud behind me as I ducked and dodged branches and small shrubs. When I stumbled onto the path, what appeared before me made me stop. I had found out what had made those earlier thumps. Three men lay slumped over on the ground, breathing, but clearly not in any fit state to get themselves up.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

I moved forward, crouching beside one as my pursuer burst from the treeline behind me. From the sounds, he skidded to a stop, but I was more interested in the man before me. His face was bloody and bruised, and the headband he wore showed signs it was out of power. Something had overpowered him.

"Though it will be someone. Is this the real reason Rita sent her out after me?"

Two of the faces were recognisable. They were from the group who had accosted me on my first day here, but the other was new. The one I didn't know was fitter too. His body was lean and toned. When I glimpsed his knife, I activated my skill to check its price.

{Value Identification: One Gold, Zero Silver, Five Bronze}

That wasn't the price of an ordinary knife. Behind me, the gatherer was catching his breath, panting out questions I ignored. I took the weapon, pulling it from the sheath. As I did, footsteps sounded out, and I looked up to see a white cloak edged with lace. To my relief, it wasn't Jackal.

"That's not yours," said a familiar female voice, as she lowered her hood to reveal her bald head.

I remembered her now, how she had watched Rita slit the throat of the other woman. My hands shook. This was going to get bad. She looked around as she spoke, and I saw the look of annoyance in her eyes and a tinge of disbelief. If we hadn't already known about the connected between the Howlers and the Lace Courier Company, we would have now.

"No." I stood up slowly, doing my best to control my breathing without letting go of the knife. "But it's amazing the things you can find out here."

My legs were trembling, and if it wasn't for the flash of white hair, I saw from the trees, I would have been far more frightened. Behind me, the gatherer was still panting and when I shifted; I spotted him backing up. The Lace Courier member pointed a finger at him.

"You don't need to be here. Leave."

He didn't need to be told twice, and he quickly vanished between the trees. I wondered if he would go to get the guard. It was likely, but I couldn't imagine it helping. This would be wrapped up far before then.

"Are we going to do this again? Last time didn't go well for you. One of yours died, didn't they?" I did my best to appear calm, noticing the flash of white hair once again as Penny repositioned herself.

That earned me a sneer, and I momentarily wondered what the repercussions for failure was in their organization. From the way she was watching me, it clearly wasn't something she wanted to go through again. Though I couldn't see a weapon on her.

"This time you're going to do what you're told." She snapped the words as she pointed at me. "You'll drop your gear and gold, and come with me."

I watched her carefully, still clutching the knife. "And why would I do that?"

"Because you don't want us coming to find you, do you?" She smiled, and it wasn't a pleasant sight.

"Tell you what. I'll make you a deal. If you tell me what's going to happen if I come with you, then I'll drop the knife."

She paused, and then nodded. "Fine, if you drop the gun, too."

"Deal." I glanced to the side and saw Penny's tail flicking from above us. "One moment."

It didn't take me long to place both weapons on the ground. She still hadn't produced one of her own, but I had little doubt she could deal with me without one. As I stood up straight, I held my hands up and gave her a firm nod. After a heartbeat, she mirrored the action and then spoke.

"For what it's worth, you're coming along to draw the red head out. The boss wants her alive, so he can hand her up the chain."

"You didn't have to tell me that," I pointed out.

She shrugged. "Freebie for being nice, and I hope knowing we don't have any intentions of hurting her will help you come quietly."

"I appreciate it. Thank you for your time."

"So you're coming then?" Her smile didn't become even the hairs more pleasant, and I didn't like the way she glanced at the weapons laying on the ground.

The small shake of my head appeared to confuse her. "No."

"Then what—"

My ears rang with the retort of Penny's rifle, and the woman before me had a sizable chunk of her head missing. She swayed, and then toppled over, landing in the dirt. Panic surged through me, but I fought it down, as I picked up my gun and the knife. When I had stowed them away, I looked over at Penny, who had dropped out of the nearby tree.

"Thank you." It was all I could think to say, and she gave a curt nod before she walked over to check the courier for any valuables.

"Don't thank me, money man," Penny said, as she pulled open a coin purse she took from the body. "It's part of my job. We need to get back to town."

I nodded, but I was finding it hard to tear my gaze away from the corpse as thoughts spun through my mind. "True. We should do what we can to keep this quiet. Our friend will tell the mayor, but we'll need to stop any kind of mass panic. The Lord can't think he's unsafe."

"You want me to go find the runner?"

"No." My hands shook, and I shoved them into my pockets. "We simply need to make sure none of these people become a problem. I'm honestly surprised you didn't kill them, too."

"Rita wanted them to go back to their boss. She hoped they would tell him you and the town were off limits."

From the tone of her voice, it was obvious she didn't agree with our boss's ideals. I didn't either, but I wasn't going to argue. Blood didn't look good on my hands. Penny showed me the best way to find valuables on a body, and we left the men where they were, with a warning drawn in the dirt, telling them not to return to town.

"Are you going to keep an eye on them, or are you coming back with me?"

Her tail flicked, negative, and she gestured. "I'm going to follow them. You sort out the client."

"Can do."

With a wave, I made my way back to town, grateful not to be having to deal with the cleanup. No one disturbed me, though I breathed a sigh of relief when I broke the treeline. A small stand was set up with water, and as I approached, I saw Sheryl sitting behind it, appearing tense. Her fox ears flicked, and she had a scowl on her face.

"What has your group gotten into now?" She demanded, even as she passed me a wooden cup.

"People are after Rita." I didn't bother hiding it. In the small time I had gotten to know the woman, it was obvious she would find out. "Penny dealt with it."

"I see."

It was obvious she wasn't pleased, but it didn't appear she was going to argue. Her gaze flicked along the path to town, and she took the now empty cup from me. I ignored her protests, and helped her pack up, and together we walked back inside. The moment we returned, she found Reeds and whispered something to him.

As they spoke, I looked around for Sasha and found her with Hester. Upon spotting me, she waved, and I waved back. It was good to see her, but it was the mayor I was looking for. When I found him, my heart sank.

The man on the gatherer team was whispering to him and pointing emphatically towards the trees. My apprehension only lifted when I realised Lord Henry was nowhere around. With a quick nod to Sasha, I moved over, catching the tail end of the conversation.

"—they were brandishing weapon, Mayors Gage. It was crazy."

"It was a bit of business." Both men looked over at me when I spoke, and I made a show of putting my sunflower pin into the basket the man still held. "Forgive me, sir, for getting you mixed up in it. Though, on behalf of the Blackrock Mercenary Company, I would like you to keep today's events quiet."

"Are you serious?" He stared at me, shocked.

I attempted a winning smile. "Yes. With the visiting nobility, and knights, we will be safe from any true threat. As this is the last out-of-town event, do you really need to stir up trouble? That might be met with problems."

As I spoke, I gave a slow, deliberate look towards Captain Roderick and the guards. The man looked at me, the Captain, and then gave a shaky nod. He looked scared, and I knew he was close to making this an issue, anyway.

"Sir," I broke in before he could. "Believe me. This will be dealt with, and you will be safe. Do you think the Lord would have brought this many knights otherwise? It's being handled despite this… breach. Please, stay calm and you will be fine."

Lies, but convincing ones. He believed them, though it was clear he wanted to. With a nod, he hurried away to hand the basket to whoever needed to receive it. Mayor Gage whirled on me, and I held up a hand.

"Peace. The Festival is over soon, yes?"

"Yes." Mayor Gage glared at me as he looked around. "What trouble have you brought down on us?"

"None that you weren't involved in."

He paused and then gave a deep sigh. "Will we really be alright?"

"I think—" The sight of Rita, unharmed and walking into town cut me off, and I smiled. "Yes. I believe we will. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting to attend."

Before he could stop me, I broke away and moved over to Rita, curious to see what she had to say for herself.