The Regression Of A Grand Mercenary

After spending almost two days riding against the harsh snow and wind, we finally made it to Samsel City. A city named after the great spear hero himself, Samsel Speil.

And currently, this city is being ruled by a Duke noble of the Golden Sun Kingdom, Samson Speil; the great-grandson of the said great hero; Samsel Speil.

After passing through the gate with ease, we first had to make our way to an inn to rest from the journey. And with how much I made from subjugating a lesser ashed-dragon which granted me a thousand gold coins, I had enough to have my family stay at a luxurious inn.

An Inn that handles the greatest service to all sorts of guest.

The Tangerine Inn.

This inn has served all sorts of guest from all over the kingdom. And it has done this ever since this city has been built. It was made under the hands of the Great Spear Hero who was said to have a hobby of carpentry. They say that with his hands, he carved all of the pillars by himself and those carvings were embedded with magic that made the Inn stand strong and tall like the spear he once used.

From great adventurers, to nobles and even the king himself, no one has ever come out of the inn feeling grief and depression. Everyone came out with an experience unlike any other inn could ever provide.

The problem was that a single night here in the inn could cost around ten gold coins…

That much was a luxury I normally wouldn’t think of spending, but because I was here with my family, I wanted to spoil them a bit.

“…Hmm.” standing in front of the receptionist, I looked her in the eye and asked for a week’s worth in this inn.

But as she looked at me, she quickly assumed that I was just a commoner. The way I was dressed along with the rest of my family, she felt that we would not be capable for paying for such a luxury.

Yet before she could say anything about me, I dropped a bag filled with gold coins on her desk. And that immediately changed her attitude towards us.

“…Like I said, give us a room. We’ll be staying in it for about a week.”

“R-right away sir!” As quick as she could, she called for one of the bus boys to carry our luggage up to our rooms.

Looking around the room, you can easily tell that this was a room fit for a noble.

Unlike the other inns, the floor was covered with a fancy carpet instead of plain old wooden floorboards, the beds and pillows were filled with soft and fluffy feathers and the the entire room didn’t stink of rotting wood. this was definitely the experience I expected from one of the greatest inns in the kingdom.

There, we were finally sitting by a well-lit fireplace.

Yet I can tell that my siblings were nervous.

“…” While I was by the fireplace, Theresa was nervously checking and admiring the bathroom.

“Are you sure we can afford to stay in such a room?” asked Thalia as she nervously looked around. Especially in front of a mirror which was a rare sight for my family.

“Don’t worry about it. I already payed for the entire week.” I said.

“This is the most fanciest place I’ve ever been in.” said Thomas as he was by the bed, feeling the softness of it’s fabric

“This pillow is so sooofffttt!!!” said Tilly as she was hugging the pillow like a large stuffed toy.

“I just checked the bathroom…they both have a shower and a toilet!” said Theresa as she just got out of the bathroom. Because normally, what we have at our home was an outhouse, while the place that we bathe in was just a tub with sheets for covers.

Meanwhile, Theodore was by the window, looking outside to a certain direction.

With his eyes looking to a certain tower, I could see just how nervous he was by how much he was fidgeting his fingers together.

The Magic Academy.

Only so few people get to study in that academy. At most, ten out of a hundred are admitted to such a place. So it was obvious why Theodore was nervous.

The chances of him passing the test was slim…because I didn’t know what it entailed to undergo the academy’s exams, I couldn’t do anything to help my brother in this time.

The only thing I could do to help him was to do what I do best.

“Theodore, follow me.” I said as I grabbed his shoulder.

“…where are we going?” he asked.

“Somewhere that will keep our heads busy.” I said.

And in return, he simply agreed.

“…” he said nothing, yet he agreed. So he nodded his head and followed me out of the room.

As we were about to walk out of our room, I told my siblings that they shouldn’t go out of the room unless necessary.

“If you guys want anything, just call for some service using that rope there.” I said as I pointed to the rope that was hanging by the door.

“W-what does this do?” asked Theresa.

“The rope is linked to a bell down on the desk downstairs. If you pull on it three times, someone will come by to give you guys service. You can ask for some food, maybe even some delicacies. Thomas, if you want, try ordering the specials they have in this inn.” I said as I called to my food-loving brother.

“Okay, but where are you guys going?” asked Theresa.

“We’ll be going out to the guild. There might be something there that can help Theodore calm down.” I said.

As we walked out, immediately, Thomas ordered room service.

***

“So where are we going?” he asked.

“Like I said, to the guild. Have you not been listening to me?” I asked.

“S-sorry…I’m just really nervous with the test in a few days.” he said as he couldn’t keep his eyes away from the magic academy.

Even from by the road, I could still see it’s tower.

“…We’re going to the guild.”

“The Samsel Guild? What can we do there?” he asked.

“Hopefully something that might help you ease your nerve.”

“…It would be great if I can go back to our usual training regiment. That always assures me that I’m making some sort of progress.” he said.

“If that’s what you want, we can do that, but first there’s something I want to try doing.”

“Do you know someone from the guild?” he asked.

“Well, you can say that.”

“…”

After a while of walking, we finally arrived at the guild.

But right before we could step in, someone was thrown out from the door.

*THUD!*

Flying over the streets, a man crashed straight into a wall and landed down on the floor unconscious.

And out came next from the entrance of the guild was a woman carrying a large sack on her back. As she walked to the man, I noticed that her heels were soaked in a person’s blood.

I can only assume that she was the person who kicked the man out from the guild.

As we both looked at her, Theodore nervously held the side of my coat out of fear of what was happening.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“I really don’t know, but this has nothing to do with us. Lets just go inside.” I said as I grab a hold of my brother’s hand and pulled him into the guild.

“B-but shouldn’t we help the man?” asked Theodore as he was looking back to the scene.

“No.” I said firmly.

“Why?”

“Because it could make things worse.” I said.

And just right after, the woman from earlier finally came close to the man who was lying unconscious on the cold floor. And once she got close, she raised her feet up and started stomping on the man’s head.

*Thud!*

She stepped on him four times before finally, she spat on him and walked away.

As Theodore witnessed that sight, he couldn’t help but feel…afraid.

“Theodore, we could have helped that man…we could have done something. But let me tell you an advice that could ultimately increase your chances of surviving in this type of world.”

“…”

“Stay out of trouble, especially in things that you have no idea about. If you mingle yourself in every problem you see, you might find yourself in an alley one day with a hole in your body.”

“…we could have helped him…” he said as he saw the man who was stepped on, slowly get up from the ground.

He was bruised and beaten like a dog…yet even so, he had a scowl on his face. As he finally stood up, he faced the guild in front of him and spat on the ground. Blood was mixed into his spit.

Theodore watched in shock as the man, bloodied and bruised, defiantly spat on the ground before staggering away from the guild’s entrance. As I placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, I guided him into the guild.

“Sometimes, Theodore, intervening can lead to even greater dangers. That’s why its better for us to just let things happen.”

Without saying anything more, I forced my brother inside the guild.

Once we were there, I immediately, went up to Stella who was by her usual station.

“Hey, do you remember me?” I asked as I approached Stella.

“Ah…yes, it’s you. Are you here to sell another set of swords to Mr. Liondel?” she asked as she quickly took notice of my arrival.

“Unfortunately no. We already met outside the city and I already gave him the swords I made. Right now, I’m here with my brother for a different reason.”

“Oh? And what reason do you have for coming to the Samsel Guild on such a snowy season?” she asked.

“The Magic Academy is starting their entrance exam in a few days, and my brother here is attempting to take on their test.”

“So he’s a mage?” said Stella as she was intrigued by my brother.

“Y-yes.” said Theodore nervously.

“Hmm, so what seems to be the problem?” she asked.

“It might not seem surprising, but I don’t know anything about what’s going to happen in their test…and my brother here is really nervous. What I want to know is if there’s a way to figure out their process for testing students.”

“So you want to buy information from the guild?” she asked.

“If possible…yes.” I said.

“Hmm, unfortunately I can’t give you a precise answer on that issue. The academy does a different test each year by a different teacher. They always mix it up from time to time, so right now, even if I were to give you a possible test example that they might make a student take, that’s still only one test out of a possible hundred others.” she said.

“Hmm…I see. That’s unfortunate. I’m sorry that I couldn’t ease your nerves.” I said to Theodore.

“I-it’s fine brother.” said Theodore.

“Well, if you want to ready yourself for an exam, the only thing I can advice you to do is to meet with an actual mage.” said Stella as she spoke with a confident smile.

“A mage?”

“Yes, and you might just be in luck. Our guild actually has a member who once went to the magic academy as well. If you get to speak to them, you might be able to test yourself. That way, you can gain the confidence you need from someone who actually attended the academy.” said Stella.

“That’s a great idea.” I said.

“The only problem is that…well, the mage I’m speaking of is a bit…difficult to handle.” as she said this, she turned her head to the corner of the guild.

When we followed her gaze, we came to saw a passed-out drunk, sleeping on the table. Bottles of booze were around this old man.

“Ugh…don’t tell me it’s him.” I said as I could smell him from where we were standing.

“Unfortunately, right now, he’s the only mage around in the guild at this time of week. The others are out doing their quest.” said Stella.

“Who is he?” asked Theodore.

“If my memory serves me right…that’s Ron Wessel. Currently holding the 7^th rank for the strongest member of the guild.” I said as I recalled to my past knowledge.

“That’s right…despite the fact that he looks like a washed-out drunk who can’t accomplish anything before drinking a whole bottle of ale, he has actually reached the 7th stage of a Mana-Core.” said Stella as she looked extremely disturbed from looking at the Mage from afar.

“…Oh, I’ve heard of him. They say that he once took rein of an entire noble’s castle for an entire month, and only after that month has passed, he returned it back to the noble out of sheer kindness.” said Theodore.

“Well, that’s half the story. The full word of it was that he took over the nobleman’s castle because that castle was hiding barrels of wine meant to be delivered to the Golden Sun Kingdom. He thought that if he took over the castle, he could drink all the wine he wanted, but to his discovery, the wine had only fermented for a month.” said Stella as she sounded embarrassed from recalling that memory.

“Oh…so he’s an alcoholic?” asked Theodore.

“The greatest Alcoholic.” I said.

“…Okay, well even so, he’s still a 7^th stage mage who knows his spells. Maybe he can evaluate my chances in passing the academy’s exams.” said Theodore as he sounded hopeful.

“Let’s just hope so.” I said as I doubted the idea.

“Well, if you truly want to go through with this, I should tell you now that going near him in that state won’t get you anything. Once he’s passed out drunk, there’s not a lot that you can do to convince him to move from that spot.”

“How long do you think before he gets his mind in order?” I asked.

“Well…the last time he was sober was about a month back. For the past month, he hasn’t stopped drinking for whatever reason.” said Stella.

“So how about it Theodore? Do you want to go through with this? “ I asked as I doubted that the drunk mage might even be able to help.

“Y-yes…” he said, with an unsure tone.

“Hmm.” having looked at the drunk mage, I took a brave face and walked near the old man.

Once I got about two meters close, I could start to smell the piss on his robes as well as the booze on his breathe.

“Ugh…fuck this.” without saying anything, I grabbed an empty bottle that was on his table and I looked at him straight without considering anything else.

And then…

*Smack!*

I smashed the bottle straight on his head.

The entire guild turned their heads to where that smashing sound came from, and especially Stella who was surprised by my actions.

“W-What?!” she was quite taken aback by it.

“Brother?!” Theodore as shocked as well…

But the person in question, to whom I smashed that bottle however, he simply opened one of his eyes to me and looked at me questioningly.

“W-who the fuck are you?” he asked in a grumbling tone.

“Wake the fuck up, or else I’ll call on to your damn wife.” I said in a menacing tone.

At the moment I mentioned his wife, he quickly stood up from his table and looked around like a meerkat.

And fear was in his eyes.

One thing about this mage was that he was afraid…afraid of the woman he married.