The mercenary started walking toward them in slow steps. Arthur could hear the quiet noise of the man’s feet on the thin ice. Taking a deep breath, he looked at his friends and nodded quietly.
Then, he stood up and lifted his arms. “Don’t attack! I’m not an enemy!” He yelled.
The man was taken aback as he quickly took a fighting stance. However, when he noticed that the stranger that suddenly appeared was a young kid, he frowned visibly. He inspected Arthur with his eyes before he said. “What the hell are you doing here? State your name!”
He didn’t drop his guard at all the entire time. It was clear that he didn’t understand how a little kid reached these parts of the region on his own, especially with his worn-out attire and the stains of blood on his body.
“My name is Arthur. I am lost and I want to head to the nearest city. Can you please help?”
“…” The man frowned as he looked over his shoulder at his two companions. They stepped forward. “What the hell are you doing here, kid? How did you reach this place?”
“As I said, I’m a traveler heading to the capital and I got lost in this region. How far are we from the capital or any nearby city?”
“…” The three mercenaries stared at Arthur silently before one of them spoke. “You’re in the ice region of the capital, a hundred kilometers away from the ‘Capital Of Glory’.” They said.
‘The ice region of the capital? Wait, the capital has several regions?’ Arthur was a little confused when he heard the answer. He didn’t understand what they meant by the ‘Ice Region’ of the capital as a region is supposed to contain the capital and not the other way around. Unless, of course, the capital was bigger than an entire region which was something Arthur didn’t even want to start thinking about.
So, he went back to the topic that he was going to follow. “I see, 100 kilometers, huh? That’s far.”
“Where are you from, kid?” Another mercenary asked.
The boy had already predicted that question would come yet, he still didn’t have a good enough answer to come up with. He knew that if he lied and they discovered that lie, they would try to kill him.
‘Should I take a bet? I mean… That’s my only choice right now, isn’t it?’ Sucking a small breath, he looked up.
“… Have you heard of the Gifted Ones?”
“The Gifted Ones?” The three mercenaries repeated in a confused tone as they looked at one another.
‘Shit!’ Arthur panicked inwardly, thinking that he had messed up.
“Wait, are you one of the Gifted Ones?” One of the men asked again.
“… Yes?” Unaware of what they were thinking about, he nodded. That was when he saw their eyes widen slowly in shock as if they were hit with the biggest surprise of their lives. Since the lower half of their faces were covered, he couldn’t see their full expressions, but he was certain that they had been completely stunned.
“… Uh, gentlemen?” Arthur called for them awkwardly.
“The first Gifted One…” One of them muttered. “The very first Gifted One!”
“Huh?”
The three mercenaries pointed at him at the same time. “We have heard of you lot. The entire world had been waiting for your arrival. To think that the first one will reach the Capital Of Glory so soon…”
‘Wow, I definitely did not expect this reaction.’ Arthur blinked.
The sudden flip in their attitude when he mentioned that he was one of the Gifted Ones was so sudden and unexpected that he didn’t even know how to react. All the tension surrounding the mercenaries vanished as if it was never there.
“You should’ve told us from the start. We were about to kill you.” One of the mercenaries said.
“… Thanks for not killing me. I’m really tired and beaten up you see. The journey has been long and arduous. Can you help me reach the capital, if you can?”
“Of course. His Highness had made it clear that if we find the Gifted Ones, we must help them till they reach the capital. We cannot go against those orders.”
‘His Highness? I assume he means the king.’ Arthur noticed that subtle detail very easily. ‘Why does the king want us to reach the capital? Oh, I guess that isn’t hard to figure out.’
Arthur wasn’t a genius, but he could see why the royal family would put the Gifted Ones in an important regard. After all, they were the ones destined to change the shape of the Divine Realm as it was known which meant that they were a power that far exceeds anyone’s imagination.
‘If the royal family can scout these Gifted Ones, that will be a huge addition to their power.’ He thought to himself.
“Do you need some clothes, we have some spare ones.” One of the mercenaries said as he stepped forward.
“Well, actually, can I know your names first?” Arthur interjected him.
“Of course! My name is Uhl, that lousy idiot is Imor, and that is Van. We’re a part of the 35th squad of the royal mercenary.”
“… I see. Well, Uh, you see… I have one small thing I must tell you.” Arthur said.
“Hm, what is it?”
“I’m not alone here,” Arthur said.
“What?”
As he said that, the rest of the group walked out of their hiding spot. Although they didn’t expect the mercenaries to be this friendly and inviting, they decided to see what kind of reaction they might have. It was a little risky and they could’ve certainly stayed hidden, but seeing the current development, Isla decided to follow Arthur’s intuition.
She trusted that he had a good judgment of people.
“What in god’s…” The three mercenaries were shocked beyond words seeing the appearance of six more figures out of nowhere.
“Six Gifted Ones?! Oh my god! W-We didn’t think there were this many of you!”
“Haha yeah, we had to travel as a group to survive. As you can see, we are all in a really rough shape. Do you have a way of carrying all of us to the capital?” Arthur asked with a small smile.
“Hmm, I think we do, don’t we? Our mounts are not that far away from here. They should be able to carry all of you.” One of the men said.
“Great! We are really thankful!”
‘Yes! Finally! Things are finally working out!’ Inside, Arthur jumped in excitement. He couldn’t believe that they were finally this close to the capital. It felt like it had been years since he left the first step village on this journey. Yet, it was only a few days of traveling.
“Follow us.” Moving to the side, the mercenaries opened the path for the group to move.
“You can lead the way,” Isla replied coldly, giving them an apathetic look.
“… O-Of course.” The men nodded and started walking.
Arthur looked at Isla and smiled before turning around and moving after the three mercenaries.
With that, the group followed the royal mercenaries to the other side of the mountain which was hidden from their perspective.
‘The Capital, here we come!’
Unbeknownst to Arthur that the next several seconds were about to give him a huge slap in the face… A slap that will trigger the biggest change this world has ever seen.
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3
