So. It's time for the next chapter of Mercenary. A fanfiction that has Mary sues, horrible grammar, ruin of canon, and much more horrible things in it. It's like Hitler Version 2.0. With more cancer as well! But I guess you guys keep liking this thing for some reason so I'll keep going until I finish, or everyone tells me to stop and hunt me down for putting something as horrible as this on the website. Your choice after all. But I guess I'll shut up now and let you get on with the story. I bet I'm sounding like a broken record right now. Anyway, try to enjoy this cancer.

Chapter Nineteen: Buisness

I was able to find out the kid's name one day ago. His name is Johnas von McHinte or John for short. Sorta formal sounding name for a peasant born kid. What am I saying, I was born a peasant too and my name is Aiden Jaeger! I swear I should've have been named something like Lucas Darwin, or something simple like that. But who would want to read the adventures of a man named Lucas Darwin? Yeah, I thought so.

Anyways, me, Anna, and John managed to make it to Jungisan in record time; two days on foot. Of course we were sorta running the entire time so… Yeah… What? We were outrunning the Risen! Of course we didn't really stop in another village until we got to the city, possibly not warning them of the incoming Risen horde. Ah well, they can handle it.

They couldn't have handled it no matter what we would have done.

Hey! Stop it head! Sorry, my head has been acting weird lately ever since we escaped the village. At least I think it's my head. No idea what it is really but whenever I talk about it, I get this weird feeling in my stomach. Hopefully I didn't get food poisoning from that inn food. Anyway, we are in Jungisan and let me tell you this, it looks ok for a Plegian city. I mean it's got some slum districts like all regular cities do, but the slums here seem to outnumber the rich districts. But then again, this is post war Plegia I am talking about so of course there would be more poor people the usual.

Currently; me, Anna, and John are staying in a decent inn that lies on the border that crosses between the slums and the rich. Sorta like a middle class sorta thing. Which is a bit weird to think about to be honest. Because you are either poor or rich, there can't be a middle ground. At least that's what I think. I mean there are some radicals that believe that we should share everything but I don't want to share everything. You get where I am coming from? Oh, I strayed off topic. Thanks for reminding me.

Back on topic. We got ourselves a two bed bedroom on the second floor of this inn. The beds look and feel pretty nice so that's good. Anna sleeps in one bed while me and John sleep in the other. I should sleep on the floor but I'm pretty sure that kid needs someone to hold him during the night. Afterall, he did watch his parents get killed by a group of undead freaks of nature so he is bound to have nightmares. It's the least I can do. Gods knows I needed someone to hold me a few years ago. But I better shut up about that now. Too many bad memories.

Right now, Anna and I are getting ready to head out onto the town to meet up with this miners' guild. Wants to expand the ore trade or some shit like that. I don't really pay attention to her when she starts to talk about junk like that. Makes my head hurt with all of the numbers. But it's better than nothing I suppose. I think. I'll have to check later. Unless the meeting runs too late then I'll have to check tomorrow.

Me and Anna finish getting ready and are about to head out until John asks us, "Where are you going?"

Me and Anna look at John and we say, "We're going out to a little business meeting. It shouldn't take us all day to attend it." After saying that, me and Anna looked at each confused at our synchronization but stop and shrug. Happens sometimes with people.

"Are you coming back?" Oh… So that's what he thinking about. He thinks we are going to leave him. Ha! Poor kid. I really shouldn't laugh at him but I did and I think you hate me for it now. Sorry about that. I'm trying to be a nicer person but it's hard sometimes. Anyway, me and Anna look at each other in mutual "Really?" before I head over to John.

I simply place my hand on top of his head and say, "Don't worry kid. We're plan on coming back. After all, we do need to sleep somewhere tonight." I think that was a comforting thing to say, right? I don't really know because I'm going off of what I read in books here. What I said was based off of the main character's father in the fifth book of "Wyvern Wars: Terror at High Noon." Nice book series. I heard there was a new book out so I better check out the nearest bookstore and buy it. If this city has a bookstore after all. I am getting off track, aren't I? Back to the story I guess.

I let go of the kid's head and walk back to Anna. We leave the inn and walk down the street to the little warehouse that the person Anna was meeting with wanted us met him at. I'm secretly betting that this is going to be a giant trap and we are going to carve our way out of there. At least it will be fun with the rush I am going to have. Fighting Risen isn't as fun as it used to be to be honest. There is no blood, only smoke when they die. It's really boring to be honest. Also terrifying because of how inhuman they are.

Anyways, we reach the warehouse, a decently big wooden and stone building near the edge of town. There is very little people here and there hasn't been any guards as far as I can see, so we are only going to be relying on ourselves here if we do get in trouble. Me and Anna push open the warehouse's doors and walk inside. All around us are sealed wooden crates and hay. We start to look around but stop when someone walks into our view.
"Ah! Mr. Damian! It's so good to see you." Anna says, smiling at the rather fat man walking towards. What. I just realized something. I literally have no idea what Anna is selling here.

"It's good to see you to Anna my dear! Now, let's hurry and get to business! I trust that you have the staff schematics." Oh so that is what it is about! Anna pulls out the plans and hands it to that Damian man. He smiles widely at the sight of the plans and says, "Amazing work Anna! Now my workers will start of working this right away. But be warned that our little arrangement might come crashing down on us if the Grimleal gains more power."

"Yes I know. But Jungisan is know for it's little black market operations so it shouldn't be too much of a problem."

"Yes I know dear, but if the Grimleal manage to place a little puppet king on the throne; then only Dark Magic will be the only type of magic legal in Plegia. We have no idea what kind of punishment that those Grimleal will give those with regular magic if they have a king in place. So it wouldn't hurt if we get a 5% increase in our arrangement." So… I think I am getting what is being talked about. If the Grimleal win the throne, then all magic besides Dark Magic will be illegal. I think. Because of that, this Mr. Damion wants more money. Pretty good reason.

"Don't worry about it Mr. Damion. If it helps you sleep at night, I'll increase the payroll by 2%. Enough for you to sleep and enough for me to get a bigger bed. Deal?" Anna held her hand out to shake with Damion. Damion grabbed and shook her hand; also placing a small pouch, most likely full of gold, into her other hand. We then walked outside while Mr. Damion ran into the warehouse. I looked at Anna while we crossed the yard between the warehouse and its gates. She has a rather big smile on her face while tossing the bag of gold between her hands. It's pretty cute to be honest. But then again a pretty face helps seal the deal so it makes sense why she is cute.

Suddenly, an arrow slams into my shoulder guard out of nowhere. I stumble back a bit and look to where the arrow came from. I see a Sniper standing in front of the gates. He is wearing a Grimleal veil so I'm pretty sure I know what this is about.

"If we can't take out those four Shepherds, then we can take out those two! Prepare yourself to face Grima in death!" The Sniper lets out a high pitched whistle and several Soldiers, Archers, and Myrmidons rush into the courtyard and take up battle positions. This is going to be a difficult battle seeing how we have the disadvantage in the weapon's triangle. I draw my blade with Anna and we get ready to fight our way out. Just like I bet what would happen. Except it wasn't a betrayal; just some Grimleal out to kill some Shepherds. Which is weird considering that I have no idea how they know we are Shepherds. I'm just going to call magic on this one.

Me and Anna start to charge forward but we are forced to duck down and constantly dodge all the Sniper and Archers' arrows. We barely take ten steps forward when a Soldier rushes and attacks me. I jump back, the Soldier's spear barely grazing my chestplate. I lift my sword up and slice downwards at the Soldier but am stopped when a Myrmidon blocks my attack. I pull my sword back and stumble to the left when an arrow whistle past my right ear. I block the Myrmidon's attack and notice several more Grimleal troops come into the courtyard through a side door. This is really bad! We are getting outclassed by the weapon triangle, the large amount of enemy troops in the field, and I'm pretty sure Anna and I got separated and are being cornered!

I now am facing three Soldiers, two Myrmidons, and an Archer after struggling to stay alive for three minutes. I batter away the second Soldier's spear thrust but cringe when the first Myrmidon scores a hit on my side. I slice at the offending Myrmidon, the Myrmidon dodging the attack, and barely duck as an arrow flies over my head. The handle of the third Soldier's spear hits me in the face, giving me a rather ugly bruise, and I drop down to the ground on my ass. I raise my sword up to defend myself, but I'm disarmed by the second Myrmidon and kicked in the face by the third Myrmidon. Shit! This can't be the end! I can't die here!

I try to get up but the first Soldier thrusts his spear forward and pins me to the ground by my leg. The first Myrmidon raise his sword up to finish me but a dark figure appears in the air and flies down to the Myrmidon. The figure gets close enough for me to see who it is. It's motherfucking Vaike! And he is a Warrior! How the fuck did he get here? You know what, nevermind. I'm glad he is here. Vaike slams into the first Myrmidon, his axe caving in the Grimleal's head. He rolls, the dead Myrmidon's body slamming into the courtyard with a satisfying crunch, until he is in front of me and spins around, his axe carving a giant arc while he turns. All of the enemies, excluding the Archer, are sent flying back from Vaike's attack; the Grimleal have giant bleeding wounds across their chests from the strike.

"V-Vaike! What are you doing here?" I say, surprised by Vaike's appearance in the battle. He turns back to me and winces at the spear impaled in my leg.

"Wow Aiden! When did ya get a spear in ya? Ha ha! Please stop looking at me like. Ok, I'll tell ya while I pull the spear out." Vaike says, bending down to my level and he starts to pull out the spear carefully so it doesn't cause anymore damage to my leg. "Chrom sent us to Jungisan to stop a slave trade operation here. It was suppose to be a hush hush operation sorta thing. But turns out Teach and his students found out the Grimleal are a part of this little trade. We was going to report back when we got chased by some bad guys. We lost them but we heard fighting at this place so we came and found you guys. I don't mind taking on another student."

Vaike finishes pulling the spear out of my leg and helps me to my feet. I limp over to my discarded sword and pick it. Vaike walks to me and we start to limp/rush to Anna to help her. While limping, I ask Vaike "Who are your 'students' Vaike? You mentioned you came with Shepherds."

"Oh! One student is Lon'Qu, my sidekick-partner! I mean partner. The other is Gaius, he really needs to stop skipping my lessons. And the last one is Panne, only person to outrun the Vaike!" Shit. The taguel is here. I'm going to have to talk to her aren't I? I sigh and we continue to rush towards Anna. But we slow down to a walk when we see Lon'Qu, Gaius, and… Panne finish up the last of Anna's attackers. Vaike waves at the four to join us and we charge the remaining Grimleal soldiers. I take on the Archer that ran away when Vaike showed up. He desperately tries to use his bow to block my attacks but cutting his head off in one swing shows how useless he is. We finish up the rest of the Grimleal and notice that their leader, the Sniper, had ran away from the fight. Fucking coward.

"Well, looks like we were lucky enough to save you guys." Gaius says, pulling out two lollipop from his pouch and hands it to us. I start to suck on it, leaning on my sword as support to continue to stand up. Anna finishes healing up her wounds and starts to use her Heal staff to heal mine.

"I still had second doubts about saving you man-spawn." Panne says, mostly directed at me. Great, time to talk with the bunny. Maybe if I outclass her she will be nice. I'm a progressive guy but I like to take things slow. Panne isn't slow so I gotta go fast!

"I know. I have second doubts about using your real name instead of calling you beast, Panne."

"Now you call me by my name? Strange thing to do human." Hey! She didn't call me man-spawn! It's a step forward.

"I mean we only talked twice and I'm pretty sure we agreed never to talk again. Yet here we are talking again."

"You are right about that human. Why are we talking at all?"

"No idea but just so you know, we can talk now seeing how we are on… even terms. Just no touching me with your beast hands."

"I understand that human. Now let us stop talking."

"I'm fine with that."

Aiden and Panne achieved support level B


"So… Can we get out of here now?" Gaius says, rather uncomfortable of me and Panne's conversation. Can't say I blame him. Any witness to our conversation would've been awkward as all hell. Me and Anna, now joined by Vaike, ever silent Lon'Qu, Gaius, and Panne head back to our inn room. We split up halfway there to the inn, Anna and Panne going into town to get some more medical supplies while the men go back to the inn room. I unlock the door and enter. I look around the room and see John sleeping peacefully on Anna's bed, the bed's blanket on the floor. Looks like he got tired while waiting for us to come back.

"Who is that child?" Lon'Qu asks, walking over to John. Lon'Qu takes the discarded blanket off of the floor and places it on the kid.

"His name is John. We saved him during a Risen raid. He had to watch his parents die right in front of him."

"Wow. The kid's got it bad then," Gaius says, taking out a sugared fig and started to eat it.

"Yep. Which I have to ask… Can you guys take him back to Ylisstol when you head back? I don't really want him to follow me and Anna. He deserves a chance to have a childhood again." What the fuck am I saying? Ah who cares? I'm pretty tired and I'm pretty sure nothing else will happen now. Better end the fucking chapter seeing how I'm running out of ink, paper, and bread.

"Sure thing Aiden! Good old Teach will bring this kid the greatest childhood ever!"

"Thank you."

So. This a rather shit quality chapter isn't it? I bet that's what you are thinking and this time I'm right. Sorry about that. You can hate me with everything you have if you want to. Now go and read something much better than this cancer. Bye.