So. It's time for another chapter of Mercenary. This is going to be absolute cancer isn't it? What am I even saying, of course it's going to be. This story with it's Mary Sue protagonist, horrid grammar, terrible plot, ships, and disregard of canon material. I wouldn't be surpirsed if everyone would petition to remove this story and permanently ban me for being such a horrible person. But I better shut up now. Enjoy this chapter.

Chapter Nine: Duty

There is a few reasons why I never wanted to join the army. One of them was doing guard duty. Which I am doing now. Patrolling Ylisstol in case of some trouble. I should back up a bit and explain why I'm on guard duty. You see, it's been a week since the war between Ylisse and Plegia started. All across the Ylisse-Plegia border, intense battles are being fought. The fighting would've been much more dangerous and demanding if not for the aid of Regna Ferox. Plegia is fighting a two front war and because of that, most battles between Ylisse/Ferox and Plegia end in Ylisse/Ferox victory. But that isn't to say that the Plegian army isn't dishing any damage back. We are getting some really heavy casualties on our side because of how stubborn the Plegian army can be. That means we need a lot of new soldiers after every major battle.

And because of the constant need to draft need soldiers, Ylisstol doesn't have as many guardsmen to keep order in the city. This is really needed seeing how refugees from the border are streaming into Ylisstol for safety. And when refugees come into town, crime starts to pick up. Which can evolve into bandits if no action is taken. Yay. That was sarcasm in case you didn't understand.

So the Shepherds are taking over guard duty; patrolling Ylisstol and the surrounding countryside to solve disputes, catch criminals, and kill any Plegian spies. The last order given to us by Phila, that Pegasus Knight that is in charge of the Exalt's personal guard. But so far there hasn't been any Plegian spies creeping around the capital so that sucks! Plus it's been pretty boring this week, barely any crime and/or civil unrest in the city. I guess the Exalt has a calming effect on the people. But the people can only be docil for so long before something crazy happens.

Anyway, I'm here doing the daily rounds of guard duty with some regular Soldiers from Ylisse's reserve guard. The other Shepherds are either training with Frederick, doing patrols like me, or enjoying their break time. My squad is patrolling the middle class residential sector. It's a decent area; homely looking houses side by side with tiny gardens dotted here and there alongside some tiny bakeries or market places. It's been pretty quiet on the patrol; only one incident involving a man's cabbage cart getting destroyed by this bald kid. But other than that, it's been pretty quiet.

Me and my patrol arrive at a little fountain with some food and jewelry stalls set up around it. It's about lunch time and seeing how calm everything is, it's the best time to take a break. I raise my hand up and signal my patrol to relax. The Soldiers scramble over to the food stalls while I sit down near the fountain to relax. I watch as civilians walk around, looking and talking like there wasn't a war going on. A war that could take away your sons and daughters in a blink of an eye. My gaze shifts over to my squad and I smirk at how they are shoveling food into their mouths. One particular Soldier seems to like red bean bread because he bought five loaves of that stuff. While I watch my squad I hear a familiar giggle coming from a nearby jewelry stall.

I turn and see Anna bartering with the woman running the jewelry stall. I bet she is making a deal like she always does. I still haven't found a way to get my father's sword back from her and because of the profits she is getting from those copies; she is the richest person in the Shepherds. Richer than Chrom and he is prince of Ylisse! If only I had something to make her squirm with to get my father's sword and possibly her nest egg. But I wonder what will make her squirm?

I continue to watch Anna and the jewelry woman barter for the next few minutes. After that, the jewelry woman brought out a scale to help determine how much a set of jewels Anna wants is worth. I narrow my eyes when I see Anna's hand brush underneath the cup holding the jewels. I then see something black sticking to the bottom of the cup. I continue to watch while the jeweler places the jewels into the cup with the black thing under it. Anna then places some gold coins into the other cup so the jewels and coins can even out.

It takes about fifty gold coins before the cups even out. But before the jeweler could do anything; Anna gasped and ripped the black thing from the bottom of the cup. After that, Anna starts to accuse the jeweler of fraud and threatens to call the guards to report it if she doesn't get her jewels for one gold coin. The woman agrees and gives Anna her jewels and some extra to make her keep quiet for only one gold coin. That sneaky bitch! She duped that jeweler like it was nothing!

But that means I have something. Something to make Anna squirm for my father's sword. This is really good for me and band for her. I stand up and call out for my patrol to from up. I better hurry up with my patrol so I can confront Anna. We start back up with the patrol but when Anna left the area, she dropped the black stone while she was rushing to this blacksmith seeing a 40% off all swords. I now have evidence. Which means I can make her squirm harder. Excellent. I will get that sword back.

The patrol continues rather uneventfully until we come across a little civil dispute. It was at the gate connecting the middle class residential district to the refugee camps. We arrive to a massive argument between a few stallholders and some refugees. As I walk up, I can easily spot the two leaders of the argument; they are in front of each group and are yelling the loudest. THe leader of the stallholders is a balding middle aged man with a belly. The leader of the refugees is a dirt and dust covered farmer with a large straw hat on his head.

"Admit it! You did steal the pieces you filthy dastard!" shouts the leader of stallholders. His face turning red from the anger.

"We ain't no thieves and we ain't thieve some darn pieces from you so fuck off you no good hog!" says the farmer, snarling at the stallholder while gripping his arms as if he is holding from attacking the man. I better get involved before this goes to blows.

I signal my squad of Soldiers to get ready before I walk between the two and say, "Hold up! What the utter fuck is going on here?" Real professional I must say.

The farmer looks at me, some of his anger disappearing, and tips his hat in respect while saying, "Beggin' your pardon sir; but this here man is accusing my friends of stealing some of his wood carvings. We ain't no thieves so we couldn't have been thieving his pieces."

The stallholder stomps his feet in anger and says, "I saw them grab and run off with the pieces! I have witnesses with me! They saw them steal my sculptures and they helped me chase after them. Guard; arrest these scoundrels! They are good for nothing scum!"

I better try and calm them down before things turn ugly. "Now then; how about you two just calm down and-"

"I am calm sir! Who needs to be calm is this hog here!"

"Calm? The one who needs to calm is you bumpkin!" This is getting out of hand real fast.

"Look, how about you two just give me the whole story-" The two leaders literally growl at each other before running away from each other. Soon, more refugees and stallholders come out with weapons. If you can call hoes, scythes, wooden poles, and utility daggers as weapons.

The leader of the refugees, armed with a hoe, says "We ain't gonna take it! We gonna beat you son of a bitches black and blue!"

The stallholder, armed with a pole, shouts back at the farmer, "I'd like to see you try! You filthy barbarian!" Everything has gone to shit, hasn't it? What am I saying, it has. Day in the life of a Shepherd I guess.

A Soldier next to me says, "Sir! We don't have enough men to quell the riot. Plus they look ready to kill. I suggest we send someone to go get reinforcements." You know; when someone says that, they are the ones who want to do it.

"Good idea Soldier," I say. I then point at another Soldier and say, "Go get the nearest patrol and tell them to hurry here. We will go to work as best as we can. Fucking go Soldier!" The Soldier runs off, the one who suggested the idea sighing in defeat while watching him run off. My squad spreads out and get ready to move out.

"Ok men. Our targets are the leaders of these rioters. Defeat them and the riot will stop. Forward!" After I say that; I draw my steel sword and charge into the midst of the riot. The Soldiers head off into pairs and take on isolated groups of rioters while I go wild. I'm not a really good commander so I'm going to let them do their own thing. They are probably going to be fine. But I better get to the fight shall I?

I crash into the center of the fighting. I'm facing off against some refugees with hoes and some stallholders with wooden poles. I attack the refugees first; my first swing giving the two refugees a shallow wounds across their chest. They'll be fine, it wasn't lethal. I block a swipe from a stallholder before kicking him in the stomach, making him double over in pain. My vision blurs when a refugee whacks the back of my head while my back is turned. I whirl around and cut the refugee's hand. He drops to the ground, holding his bleeding hand. I rub my face for a split second before I am forced to block a strike from the leader of the Refugees. He doesn't say anything so I push him back for some space before cutting his hoe in half. He drops his hoe but I drop him with a handle blow to the chin.

I turn around and focus on the stallholders lot. There is a lot of them. Most of the Soldiers went after the refugees so Me and two Soldiers are stuck with these fools. Before I could charge ahead, an arrow flies past my head. And slams into the chest plate of one of my Soldiers. I look and see the leader of the stallholders now holding a bow and some arrows. Fucking fantastic if I say so myself. The other Soldier runs to the downed Soldier. He then grabs the wounded Soldier and drags him to safety, leaving me to deal with the stallholder alone.

Luckily, reinforcements arrive in the form of Lon'qu, Sully, and Virion. I stand back and watch as Lon'qu and Sully wipe out the stallholders with Virion facing off against the leader. During the faceoff; Virion shows that he does "put the 'arch' in archer." I swear that is a innuendo somehow, somewhere. Anyway, the riot soons disappears with any refugees and stallholders still strong enough to stand run away. We arrest the rioters left behind and I say thanks to Lon'qu, Sully, and Sully's horse. Also Virion.

After that, I go back to my patrol with the remainder of my squad. I finish at the beginning of the dinner rush in Ylisstol and walk back to the Shepherds' HQ. The back of my head hurts from that blow from the riot earlier and I'm pretty hungry. But I haven't forgotten about Anna and her black stone. I am going to get my father's sword back god damnit! I arrive at HQ and was walking to the dining hall when Frederick stops me.

"Ah Aiden! I hope your patrol went smoothly today. You're just in time for evening training! I do believe that you are joining us, correct?" Frederick says, standing in front of me in full armor. That sounds like a fucking order to me.

"I would Frederick but I'm pretty tired. And hungry. I'm going to get dinner." I say to Frederick. I try to walk past him but is stopped when he places a hand on my shoulder.

"I didn't ask. Let's go." Frederick then drags me to the training grounds where I am joined with the blue hat kid, his name is apparently Ricken and he is a full fledge Shepherd, Donny, Miril, Stahl, and Vaike. We go through "warming exercises," which consist of running ten laps around the training grounds, yoga, and one hundred push-ups and two hundred sit-ups. After that torture; we are sent to our own personal hells by Frederick. Ricken and Miril are sent to do work on their strength and stamina, Vaike is forced to do at least five hundred axe swings, Stahl and I have to do a 100 repetitions of shadow fencing technique seven (50 combo swings repetition), and poor Donny gets special training with Frederick to make him into a true Shepherd.

Safe to say, I almost passed out during dinner. It didn't help when that fucking ghost came back with the drinks! I can't wait to have my day off tomorrow. I plan on just sleeping in and relaxing in my room. No training, no patrols, no battles; just peace. Maybe chatting with Donny or Sully. But first; I gotta confront Anna. I am going to get my father's sword back!

I walk to Anna's room and knock. After waiting a few seconds, I open the door and walk in. She did it to me so I better do it to her. At least I knocked unlike her. But it was a tent… She could've said she was coming in or something! I enter Anna's room to find her counting a stack of gold coins. Off to the side I see my father's sword leaning on a chest. It looks brand new. It isn't a copy because it has a tiny flower pattern on the hilt. My father made that pattern with a broken silver sword shard. No one could re-create that without doing the same exact thing. Plus Anna must like her copies to look bland so the buyers could make their own marks on the blades.

"Hello Aiden. How are you today?" Anna says, still counting the coins. Time to make her squirm.

"I'm pretty sore but otherwise I'm alright. How are you?" I say back to Anna, wandering over to her. Anna doesn't even shift when I lean on the table; still counting her gold coins.

"I'm doing fantastic. I made a few excellent sales today and got some really quality stuff on sale." Here we go! Time to make her squirm.

"Really? Did this have anything to do with that?" I place the black stone on the table and smile while watching some of the color in Anna's face drain.

"Um… Where did you get that?"

"You dropped it when you were running for that blacksmith's sale. After cheating out a jeweler of course. I wonder how Chrom will react if he finds out that you have been scamming his countrymen?" Oh boy! Her face is getting so pale. I love this so much!

"What do you want handsome?"

"I want my father's sword back." Anna sits up and looks back at my father's sword. She chews her nails until sighing in defeat.

"Fine, fine. You can have it. I can copy the copies after all." If only it was that simple. I will make her beg!

"I also want 75% of your nest egg as compensation."

"Fuck no! You can take the sword but you aren't taking most of my nest egg!"

"Really? What are you going to do about it?"

"Shoulder plate." Shit. I forgot she knew that.

"Fine… But I want 50% of the profit coming from the copy swords from now on!"

"30%!"

"45%!"

"40%"

"Deal." Me and Anna shake hands in agreement. I didn't get her nest egg but I did secure myself a revenue.

"Anything else handsome?" Anna asks me, the color returning to her face.

"Nope. Thank you for your cooperation beautiful." After I said that, I walk out of Anna's room and head to my room. While I was exiting her room, Anna looked to have a tiny blush on her cheeks. I wonder why… Bet it's from fear.

Aiden and Anna achieved support level B


I arrive back at my room. It's gotten some new furniture during this week. I added a weapons rack, a padded chair, an armor stand, and a green floral rug in the middle of the floor. I sit at my table, taking out my journal and write down some notes and what happened today. After I finish writing, I shrug off my armor, not even bothering to put it on the stand I bought for it, and plop onto my bed. I'm so tired. I'm just going to go to sleep without changing into my nightwear. It only takes a few seconds before I drift off to sleep.

While I sleep, I dream of Jack and Jill going up a hill to get a bucket of water. The reason is because Vaike decided to add spice to the bear stew and everyone at camp needs water to cool their mouths. The nearest water source is a well on top of a hill and Jack and Jill were the only people not affected by the spice. After getting the water, Jack and Jill started to walk down the hill until Jack tripped on a rock. Jack tumbled down the hill and broke his skull when he slammed into a tree in the camp. Jill joined him soon after. It was a pretty crazy dream to be honest-

"Aw shucks! Aw shucks! Stahl, I can't wake up Aiden! He is in a deeper sleep than a bear while he hibernatin'! Do something!"

"O-Ok, I'll try Donny. Aiden, come on; wake up!" I feel something shaking me but all of my sense and muscles are screaming at me to go back to sleep. Can't say I disagree with them.

"Ugh.. Go away.." I moan out at the thing shaking me.

"Come on Aiden! Wake up! It's important. Come on and wake up!" The shaking gets harder and faster and it's starting to piss me off. I want to sleep dammit.

"Go… away…"

"Aiden, wake up! We need you to-" My eyes snap open and I wildly lurch up and hit the thing that was shaking me.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT? I AM TRYING TO SLEEP YOU FILTHY BITCH! I HAD A HORRIBLE DAY AND I WANT TO REST!" I say. I grab my glasses and put them on and see… Stahl on the ground holding his bleeding nose and Donny looking like he is going to shit himself. Oh fuck… Why did I do that to them?

"Oh… Hey Donny… Hey Stahl… Do you need something?" I say, trying to calm Donny down. He looks like he is ready to pass out.

Stahl stands up, his nose now only dripping blood instead of pouring it, and says, "Hurry and get dressed for combat. Assassins are attacking the Exalt! Chrom, the Robins, Frederick, and Marth are protecting the Exalt. We need to reinforce them!" OH SHIT! Plegia got inside the castle and are going to kill the Exalt! This is so fucking bad! The only thing that could be worse is a Fell Dragon coming out of nowhere and attacking.

I scramble out of bed and put my armor on. Donny and Stahl go to wake the others up while I go to reinforce Chrom's defense. If Emmeryn is getting attacked, you can bet it will be the best attacking her. Before I leave, I grab my father's sword. Time to let this blade drink blood again. I race through the Shepherd's HQ and into the emergency tunnel connecting Shepherd HQ to the castle. I rush through the tunnel and arrive in a room with two Thieves fighting… a taguel.

Of all the things that I would've thought to be here on this day, I never thought a taguel would be here. Taguel are a race of half human, half animal beings. In my village, taguels represent danger or omens of something bad to come. This came about when a group of taguel attacked my village three decades before I was born. Something about avenging their fallen kin. I've been taught to avoid any and all taguel. If I can't avoid them, I must kill them so no bad luck will transfer to me.

But this taguel is fighting the assassins come to kill the Exalt so it must be good. Or maybe it's just attacking us "man-spawn." That's what those beasts like to call us. But I don't need to think about it anymore. Jack just blocked a blow aimed at the taguel. It's on our side then. I hope the battle ends soon. I don't want to be near that thing for long.

I rush into the battle and stab a Thief in the back, severing his spin and killing him. Jill sets the other Thief on fire, making him flee in terror. The Thief is stopped when another Thief comes into the room and cuts him down. This Thief has… lolipops strapped to his sash and belt. I would ask why he has that but I'm more interested with the taguel. The taguel shifts back to its human form and it turns out to be a woman. A pretty woman, but with bunny ears.

"More man-spawn… I will fulfill my warren's debt while I wash in their blood. You, Mercenary; you fear me don't you?" Yep. Typical taguel.

"Any reasonable person would seeing how taguel can tear down entire walls in one blow. Plus my home village says taguel are bad luck and I've only survived here on luck. So stay away and we will be ok."

"Reasonable, coming from a man-spawn. My name is Panne. Let us never speak again." That's the beast's name. Nice to know.

"My name is Rider and I agree."

"Good."

"Good."

Aiden and Panne have achieve support level C


The candy Thief, looking pretty awkward, raise his hand and says, "Hi. Name is Gaius. I like candy and treasure. Can we go back to fighting the bad guys now?"

Panne and I turn to Gaius and say together, "Yes." We then rush out of the room and set upon the closest assasains, two more Thieves and a Mercenary. Panne and Jill takes care of the Mercenary while me and Gaius fight the Thieves. I lunge at the first Thief, his blade meeting mine. I push him back with a shove and slam my sword into his collar. I rip my sword out and finish it with a stab to the chest. I barely turn and see the other Thief attacking me. But the blow is blocked by Gaius. Gaius swiftly disarms the Thief before decapitating him. Gaius could be as an Assassin if he had a Master Seal. Unless he didn't have the required Level of course.

We rush out into the courtyard, meeting up with the other Shepherds and Marth. Turns out Marth was that swordsman back in Regna Ferox that Chrom fought in the arena. Marth is also a woman. She is a very good actress. We watch as the Robins fight the leader of the assassins. It's a Dark Mage covered in gold refinery, Plegian clothing, and has an otherworldly glow in his eyes.

"Well, well... Ha ha ha! Oh, I know you... Submit to me, and perhaps I might honor you with the truth!" the Dark Mage says to the Robins, taking out a dark magic tome. Jack has his bronze sword out with Jill and her thunder tome. Jack rushes the Dark Mage, his blows being blocked by the Dark Mage's powers, while Jill charges up her magic. The Dark Mage teleports away for some breathing room and casts dark ball that explodes into Jack's face. Jill sends a Thoran at the Dark Mage, hitting him. The Dark Mage slams into the wall but stands back up to block more of Jack's attacks. Jill starts to charge up her magic again but is stopped when the Dark Mage teleports behind her and casts a dark cloak around Jill. It looks like the Dark Mage's wounds are being healed for every second Jill is cloaked.

Jack, seeing his sister being hurt, screams and says, "Checkmate!" Jack then bursts into fucking FLAMES and rushes the Dark Mage. The Dark Mage backs off from Jill, the cloak vanishing from Jill, and dodges Jack's attack. But Jack's attack involved a feint. Jack slams his bronze sword into the Dark Mage's chest until the flesh is touching the hilt of the blade. All of the fire that was covering Jack flowing onto his sword and into the Dark Mage. jack rips his sword out of the Dark mage and kicks the body away from him.

"No... This is... all wrong... How could... you have known the plan…" was the final words the Dark Mage said before giving up the ghost. Maybe. You never know with these Dark Mages. I look at Jack and notice he is glowing green. He has reach his max Level. I think it's time for a Master Seal for him. Unless his class has an upgrad of course. Some classes don't have upgrades so you never know. The Shepherds went about and checked the rest of the castle in case of any assassins hiding. After finding and killing five more, the castle was clear. After a quick discussion with Chrom, Marth disappearing yet again, and the Robins being themselves; it was decided.

The Exalt is going to relocate. Which means no more sleep! Yay...

So. I hope you enjoyed that chapter. Who am I kidding, you didn't. But I guess I'll keep writing seeing how so many people are enjoying this story. I just checked the story's stats and apparently 1,039 people have read this cancer. No idea why but I guess it sounded interesting to them. I bet they are regretting their choice of reading this! Anyway, I'll go work on the next chapter. Bye.