The Regression Of A Grand Mercenary - 01 - The Life of a Grand Mercenary

In this blood-soaked world, where wars were what supplied the never ending pour of red and vomit.

In a world where violence was what solved every matter on the streets.

Where your sword was what carried your sins for every life you took.

Where peace talks are never guaranteed, because war was what moved this world forward…

Violence and strength were the only security one had in his assurance for survival.

And its because of this, that a man is simply influenced in the matters of what defines him to  carry a sword filled with no other ambition than to live.

He simply became a swordsman…a mercenary…

Working for food and rest, I claimed the lives of many from jobs and wars. Despite my hatred for such a thing, I had to survive.

I had to live…

Despite my hate for it all, I had no choice but to live.

It was what they wanted…their selfish last words were what influenced me to simply become what I am today…

The people who I lost…they, out of all the things they’ve wished for, they wanted me to live life all up to its end…even if it was miserable…even if it was tiring…

It was the only wish I could grant after their passing…

And I hated it…

Wishing for me to survive…to live…but not seeing those people live by my side…

I hated it.

If only I was strong back then…

If only I had the strength to conquer the problems…abd carry them away…

But the past can’t be fixed…

I can’t do anything about it…not to how I am now…not to who I’ve become.

My name is Thill Cicial…

From a young age, I was but a weak and simple boy who worked as an apprentice at a blacksmith shop that my father owned. along with my family, we lived in peace.

Back then we had everything we need to live day by day without so much worry. But one day, the plague came and it took everything away from us.

My father who was already weak because of his old age was quickly swallowed by this plague and so was my mother…

Both were lost at the same day…

When they were taken away, I had to be the one to support the remaining people I cared for. To my brothers and my sisters…

Despite being weak, I had to do everything…

But everything I did wasn’t enough…I never had the image of a reliable figure…I was weak…weak to my emotions, weak to the work…I could never fully gain the strength I needed to support my family.

My weak self couldn’t protect my sisters and my brothers…

I could only stand by as one by one, they were lost to tragic events that I was too weak to even stop.

I’ve lost my brothers…my sisters….everything…

…I lost everything…

And only when I lost everything did I finally began to gain the strength I needed to survive.

I used my hateand pointed it towards the people and the world…

The hate fueled my strength…

And with it, I became a mercenary. I left everything and simply started surviving with the hate I carried in my soul.

And soon enough, I gained a name for myself… a name I was never proud to carry…

And I was renowned for my strength of handling a hundred men against my own.

I won wars with my sword…

I killed men of power with my own hands

But it was never enough…it never ended.

Soon enough, I received the consequences of my hate…

The people grew to hate me…they named me a monster that was close to a king of demons…

I never craved for blood…I never craved for violence…but my hate simply fueled me to move forward…

Inside my own heart, my own ambitions, all I ever wanted was for peace…for everything to finally end…

But my actions caused me to get involved in more and more wars and jobs that involved the taking of lives…

Soon enough, the lives I took was measured at the same pile as that of a mountain…

It was in the millions…

I counted them all…

I made sure to remember their faces…

Despite my hate towards them, I had to face the consequences of my actions…

Despite it all…I hated taking lives even with the possession of my own hate towards them.

I hated my life…

But I had to survive.

***

Now I was in my 30’s.

Barely enough to be called an old man, but young enough to engrave my name as one of the strongest.

As I slept under the shade of an oak tree, I could hear the small steps of a man clad in armor.

“A-are you the Orc Slayer?” asked the man in armor as he stood shaking in fear of my presence.

“…What do you want?” I asked as I opened my eyes to his scared and nervous expression.

“A job has been sent to you by the king of the north.” he said as he showed a letter that had the mark of the north king.

“Read it to me.” I said as I could not bother to read the letter carried by the man in armor.

“Umm, y-yes…it says here that you are asked to slay the Glacial Dragon that Rules the North Mountain.”

The Glacial Dragon…one of the grand dragons that rules over one of the ten grandest ambitions of the world.

“No one is able to even slay a dragon by themselves, yet the king of the north is asking for my assistance?”

“…N-no assistance at all. It says here that you alone must slay the dragon. Once you do, you will be granted peace by all the nations who are out for your head. This is a guarantee by the north king himself.”

Peace…

I might finally be able to claim my peace once I kill the Glacial Dragon?

“Understood…give me a month, and I’ll deliver the head of the Glacial Dragon to the North King’s doorstep.”

Once I said this, the man in armor bowed his head and gave my response to the king of the north.

“*sigh*, Now then…lets prepare.”

Two weeks…I travelled by myself across the icy mountains of the north with all the necessary equipment needed.

And once I came to the north mountain, I was able to face off with the dragon.

And in my approach, I could hear his roaring screech. His voice alone caused the snow to fall down the mountains.

But I only ever grinned…

To fight a beast of such calibre, if successful, I was now granted the right to engrave my name as one of the greatest…

But that didn’t matter.

All I ever wanted was to feel the excitement of having to fight such a beast. No name or title ever satisfied my thirst. Action was all I needed.

Ten days…

It took me ten days of non-stop slaughter against the dragon for him to finally fall.

It took everything I had…

I lost an arm…an ear…and so much more.

But I was finally able to slay it…

‘…Peace…peace is finally at my sights.’

I could always take the words of the north king to heart…

He was a man of his word…

A man that would never betray a promise…

As I traversed down the mountains, while carrying the head of the glacial dragon by my back…

I came by the sight of a hundred knights and a single king standing before me.

With his grace being shown gallantly by the cool blows of the cold wind, it was never a lie to see that he was a man of honor and grace.

“I can’t believe that you actually did it.” said the north king as he stared at the sight of the head of the dragon on my back.

“Sorry it took a while…” I said as I put down the head down on the floor. With its tongue sticking out, the king could only ever swallow his spit as he could see the glacial dragon dead on his foot.

It was an amazed expresion…

A disbelief unlike any other…

“I’m incredibly impressed. You delivered through my request.” he said.

“Now, there’s no longer a threat to this mountain, aside from you.” I said.

“Indeed…no longer will my people be afraid of this beast…” he said as he sounded relieved.

“Now then, since I’ve done what you’ve asked, its time you finally give me what I wanted.”

“Yes, indeed. here, a piece of land that I have put under your name. As long as you are in my domain, you are never reached by enemies even outside of this continent.”

“…No, this isn’t what I wanted.” I said.

“What?”

“I want peace…more than anything.” as I said this, I knelled in front of the north king.

“W-what do you mean by this?” he asked as he felt confused.

“Take my head…” I said as I lowered my head to him.

“Why?!”

“I fear that if I remain in your land, you will continue to face enemies and make war against other kings.”

“No, I cannot do this. Not to you…not to my friend.”

“It’s okay…after the fight with the dragon, I don’t have a lot left in me anyway…”

“W-what do you mean by this?” he asked as he looked bewildered and confused.

As he asked, I took off the robe that I was using as a shield against the cold…but once I did, I showed to the king the sight of my frozen chest.

“!?”

“The Glacial dragon was able to put a curse over my entire body…soon, my body will freeze over and I will die.”

“…I…I can’t believe it. You-”

“It hurts…it hurts more than any blade that once plunged itself into my body, so I want to ask you of something, king of the north.”

“…What is it?”

“Take me head…release me from this pain.”

“…Khk.” the king gritted his teeth in anger…but knowing him, he never goes back on his word.

“Fine, I will grant you peace…”

“Thank you…”

“You’ve done well to serve me and my selfish ambitions…my dear friend, I hope you will find peace in your next life.”

As he raised his sword over my head, I closed my eyes and I accepted my end.

I know I did everything I could to live in this world…

But never once in my life was I ever satisfied…

Too much guilt…

Too many regrets…

The life I’ve lived, despite the name I’ve made for myself…

I had tarnished it…and I no longer feel the necessity to survive…

I’m okay with death.

“Goodbye…my friend.”

And with a swing of his hand, he took my life.

And I fell to the floor…

They say that once you die, your life will flash before your very eyes…

I could see it…

The tears of my sisters as they cried over the sight of a pile of corpses being burned before their very eyes…

I know this…

This was the last thing I remembered of my parents before they were burned to ashes.

Because of the plague that took over the village, both my parents were affected by it…and because there was not yet a cure back then, I could only watch as they join the others in the pile.

There was nothing I could do…

As the fire was rising, I started to feel it’s heat…

It felt so real…

Are the last moments of my life this real?

But how?

Why does it feel so hot?

“…W-what’s going on?” how could I feel something I thought was a memory?

Before I knew it, I was standing on a memory…or I thought it was.

Beside me was the sight of my three sisters, crying and my two brothers holding in their tears as they tried to act strong in front of such a horrid scene.

I know this memory…

It was a sad end…

So why?

Why is it being played back like this? Was this a curse on my end? A reminder of my failure as a brother?

Why am I feeling the touch of my sister as she cries over the end of my parents over the burning pile?

Why could I feel the heat coming from the fire?

And the screams…God, the screams, they all feel too real…

“…What are we going to do now?” asked my sister, Theresa, the second oldest sibling of our family.

“W-what?” a lot of confusion was placed on me…

Was this conversation a memory? I never could tell…

“There’s not a lot of food left in the storage and because of the plague, all the chickens died. Now that father has passed, there is no one who could fully manage the shop…there’s not a lot left for us to survive. What should we do?” she asked as she looked to me with tears fallign down her cheeks.

“…Um.” being in shock, I remembered this conversation very well.

It was at this time that the weight of such a responsibility was placed on my body…

“Thill! Please, tell me something. You’re the oldest in our family, you need to keep your head straight!” she said as she tried not looking at the burning sight of the villagers and our parents.

“…” but all I could do was look at her in disbelief…

What was going on?

Why is this memory so real?

“G-give me time. I’ll think of something.” as I said this, I turned to my other siblings.

And the youngest one was my little sister. Holding on to my leg as she cried.

“…Tilly.” I reached over her head as she was crying non stop.

The touch of her hair…the sound of her cries…

They were real…

Just to touch her again, I couldn’t help but fall to my knees as this memory felt so real to me.

Was this a dream?

If it is, I don’t care…

This is the only chance I’ll ever get to embrace them again.