Broken Blade

Knock, Knock.

"Yes, I'm coming."

Lanse quickly got up from his bed and tidied himself a bit before turning the door knob.

"Ah, Marilyn."

"Yes, sir. My lady has recommended you to go outside as staying cooped up inside the room may cause more harm than good."

"Oh, I was just about to go out myself. What a coincidence. Also, may I know where my armor and weapons are kept?"

"Ah, yes. Please follow me."

Marilyn took Lanse to one of the closed-off rooms and guided him inside. Instantly, he could smell the metallic scent of steel concentrated in the storage room. Quickly scanning the room, he saw many armors and weapons, mainly swords, and numerous shields kept in organized boxes.

'Are they going to war or something?'

But, Lanse concluded that this must be related to the mission that Guin was talking about earlier. Setting those thoughts aside, Lanse continued to look for his items. Among the sea of similar looking items, Lanse's set was akin to a crow among pigeons. His light armor set was as good as new, seemingly repaired recently. Then, he looked at his crimson blade.

'I can't use this anymore…'

Indeed, the blade was severely damaged, with many nasty chips and cracks on its surface. The crimson shine of the blade had deteriorated into a rusty and blood-smeared look. This was a reasonable outcome, and Lanse had already expected this. After all, he had been using the same weapon throughout his rise as a mercenary corps leader.

In addition to that, the last battle with the General Ursarg was especially difficult, pushing his trusty companion past its limits. Despite the battered state of the blade, it still held sentimental value to Lanse.

'Thank you, my friend. You have done well…'

Taking a mental note to himself to use the blade as a decorative piece later, he looked at the final item beside his blade, an explosion trinket.

All magic tools needed mana to operate and the explosion trinket was the same. As such, the item was basically useless to Lanse and its expensive price didn't help either. Despite this, Lanse bought himself one because it was sort of like a badge of honor for every Rox Mercenary. Suddenly, the dark thoughts began to well up from inside Lane again but they were promptly halted by Marilyn's sudden voice.

"I suppose you can't use your weapon anymore, sir. My lady has told me to let you pick a blade from the storage as a temporary weapon. Please pick one, sir."

"Ah, yes. Thank you."

Brought back to reality, Lanse walked up to a box where blades that were similar in build to his old companion were kept. After testing out a few of them, he finally found one that suited his needs.

"I'll take this one."

"Understood, sir. Now, allow me to lead you to the gate."

Equipping his armor and strapping the new blade by his waist, Lanse left the storage room with Marilyn. He left behind his crimson blade, planning to get it later. Going through the main hall, they arrived at the entrance where the family crest of the Lucentia was held up proudly.

Marilyn led him outside where a lush garden took its place in the front yard. Flowers of all colors in the spectrum bloomed gracefully enveloping the garden in their fragrant scent. Numerous pollinators flew around as they visited one flower from another. With the rays of sunlight scattered here and there, the scene looked like it came straight out of a fairytale. Feeling refreshed, Lanse walked through the garden toward the gate along with Marilyn.

"Wow, the previous owner must have really liked flowers."

Instead of a reply, Lanse was me with silence. He turned toward Marilyn, only to find her confused about the statement he just gave.

"The previous owner? This mansion had always been the Lucentia family's property though."

Lanse's statement must have been quite bewildering to Marilyn as she forgot to refer to him as sir. Still, her fake smile firmly took its place, not even slightly affected.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I thought Gui- I mean your lady bought a local noble's property and moved here in a rush. Besides, isn't the Lucentia family located in the capital? That's so far away from the central front."

Having composed herself already, Marilyn replied politely: "Sir, we have mansions in every war front of the empire and every major city. If we bought out a noble's property every time we needed to relocate for a specific mission, it would be very inconvenient to both the local nobles and us. Besides, it doesn't affect our budget much."

Although Marilyn had finished walking, Lanse was still processing the info in his mind.

'Every front and every major city? And that barely affects their budget?'

Lanse gave up trying to estimate how big of a fortune the Lucentia family owned, and instead decided to live in the moment and enjoy the wonderful garden he was currently in. After all, why should a commoner concern himself with the riches he could never get?

They slowly made their way to the main gate, where a towering figure stood.

'That must be the gate warden Marilyn mentioned earlier.'

The person was at least three heads taller than Lanse and he was already considered quite tall among his peers. The warden stood motionlessly as if he were a statue, only the ends of his dark veil fluttered due to the passing breeze. The veil hid the warden's face as well as their whole body.

'How is he wearing that in this kind of heat?'

The temperature at the central front was higher than that of the western front he was used to. Although not enough to tire a person out, the heat still made people sweat faster and induced an uncomfortable sensation. And yet, the person in front of him was clad in a dark veil over their whole body. Furthermore, he could see that the warden was wearing armor beneath the veil from the slight openings of the veil when the wind blew by.

"Warden, the gate please."

As soon as Marilyn spoke, the motionless giant started to move, opening the heavy metal gate with barely any effort.

"I won't be following you outside as I have matters to attend to. Please take care, sir. My lady has already informed the warden about you, so, you just have to say the words I had said earlier to make him open the gate for you. Also, here's a token that signifies you as a guest of the Lucentia family. If you have any trouble at all with anybody, please show them this token and they will know what to do or not do."

"Thank you, Marilyn. I'll be back soon."

After handing him the token which was simply a coin shaped badge with the crest of the Lucentia family imprinted, Marilyn performed a curtesy and returned back to the mansion. As soon as Lanse walked past the gate, the warden closed the gate and returned back to his original position.

'Is he a golem or something?'

After staring at the giant for a while, Lanse made his way towards the forest. It was time to hunt. Luckily, the mansion was situated near the wall entrance which was closest to the forest. Additionally, the best hunting grounds not known by most people existed around there too. One of his mercenary comrades told him about it while they were drinking and having a meal together. The man was originally from the central front but due to financial and family problems, he had to relocate to the western front where he met Lanse. He always bragged around that he was one of the best hunters of the central front, and now, it was time to see whether that was correct or not.

But, before he could enter the forest, he had to go through the security check at the entrance first.

"Identification card, please."

The young man at the station spoke when Lanse arrived before him. The youth was wearing a typical guard outfit, with dual daggers strapped by his waist. Behind him at the entrance, two guards stood still, holding onto their halberds.

Lanse took out his identification card and handed it to the youth at the station. Instead of letting him go immediately like in the western front where he was familiar with, the young man stared at him and the card repeatedly.

"You don't look like the identification card at all…"

Indeed, Lanse looked like a wandering hunter at the moment with his unkept hair. Tiny beardlings sprouted like an unmown lawn and dark cycles surrounded his tired brown eyes, making him look older than he actually was. The young man's suspicion was also justifiable since identification cards were supposed to be updated in real-time using the owner's mana, but due to Lanse's lack of it, he would have to go to the town hall to update it manually. Back at the Western Front, this was unnecessary since everyone knew who he was. But here, it was a different story.

Before the young man could say another word, Lanse whipped out the token and showed it to him.

"Oh, I apologize. I didn't know you were an esteemed guest of the Lucentia family. By all means, continue on your way, sir."

The face of the young man turned from bored and unempathetic into a friendly facade as soon as he saw the token and he ordered the guards at the entrance to clear the way for Lanse.

'I should have shown it earlier…'

Now with that out of the way, Lanse picked up the pace toward the secret hunting grounds.