Chapter 6: the first mission
the Carian Hall was at the center of the manor, lavish and large is a good description for it. Leonel and Ansel entered it then approached one of the tables recurved for mercenaries. a blond-haired woman sat upon the stool behind the counter with a soft smile. "Welcome to the Carian Hall, this is the booth for any and all mercenaries, we provide several missions issued by the royal family itself, how can I help you two?" she asked. " My student here wants to apply as a glint stone hawk mercenary, eight years is the minimum of service, i as an enchanted knight vouch for his capabilities" Ansel said. "of course, allow me to explain what a glint stone hawk mercenaries does, as one you are an honorary member of the Carian army yet you are autonomous, a hawk will find you and deliver missions by scroll which will send you all over the lands between in all manner of missions, the more you complete the higher the ranks of the missions you receive, all pay will be deposited in your own personal account, there are posts for our hall in every main city within the lands between, should your mission be a fetch or rescue mission you are to bring your target there, any questions?" she asked. Leonel shook his head. "Then your first mission is to escort the caravan belonging to count joseph from the manor to castle sun spear in east liurnia, the mission shouldn't take more than two days and expected enemies' range between wild wolves and bandits, pay is 40 thousand lunar coins, do you accept?" she asked. he nodded his head in confirmation as she stamped a scroll and handed it to him. " This scroll confirms your identity, count joseph awaits at the swallow tail in near the main gate i wish you good luck" she said before the two left the hall.
outside Sarabi laid awaiting them," this is where we part boy, good luck and don't forget what I taught you" Ansel said before hesitating and giving him a quick hug then quickly leaving.'tsundere' Sarabi said. "what's that mean?" Leonel asked. 'Nothing little cub, hop on let's get this mission started. Leonel jumped up atop her and held onto her flames which weirdly held him back. as they passed people gawked at the living construct of glint stone, animals and beasts in liurnia do have some pieces of glint stone jutting out of them, but none are made of it. they arrived at the inn soon after. outside of it cuckoo soldiers stood guard. "Mercenary?" one asked. Leonel nodded and tossed him the scroll. the soldier took it and read it thoroughly before tossing it back. " The cat stays outside" he said. Leonel nodded and got off then headed inside.
the inside of the inn was rather clean, an old man stood behind the counter cleaning dishes with a wet rag. at one corner of the room sat a middle-aged man with balding black and grey hair. next to him sitting in an elevated seat was a little girl calmly reading a book. Leonel approached them "count joseph i presume?" he asked. "mhmm? ah yes that's me young man, aren't you a little too young to be working as a mercenary?" he asked, although he couldn't see behind the helmet, the softer tone of the voice and smaller build revealed a younger child. " I'm an enchanted knight in training, fret not i will get you to your destination without fail" Leonel said. "Very well then, the path we will be taking is the main road so i highly doubt we'd come across any problems, let me introduce my daughter Natasha" he said, the girl looked up to him with a hint of disgust and contempt then continued to read her book. "a-aha well then let's be off, you have a horse, right?" he asked as they exited.
"Even better" Leonel said as he jumped atop Sarabi. the count was gob smacked over the beast and even the haughty Natasha spared it a couple of curious glances. the count eventually schooled himself and got onto his carriage alongside his daughter. one soldier boarded the front of the carriage and the other took the right side atop a horse. Leonel took the left and they soon left towards the main gate. no guard stopped them, and Leonel once again saw the outside world. a sunny yet humid day awaited them. while they moved Leonel studied the scroll of Gundyr almost religiously. in it several moves could be seen. highly detailed and it seemed to be a style almost perfect for him. heavy armor and a single heavy halberd are all that the style asked of. the only problem he noticed was the lack of incorporation with his glint stone manipulation and the mixture of Sarabi, but those problems could be dealt with plenty of practice. maybe by the end of it he could cannibalize the style and create his own variations.
the trotting of hooves broke him from his study as he put away the scroll and looked ahead. before them two charging Kaiden barbarians could be seen although in the bushes he noticed some mana signatures too weak to be anything but petty bandits. he summoned his glaive and rushed forward with Sarabi. the soldiers prepared for any that got past him. he jumped off from Sarabi a bit before they clashed and slammed down his open palm onto the ground creating a glint stone spiked barricade impaling three horses and severely nicking the fourth. Sarabi jumped over it and ripped two of the barbarians on the ground to pieces. the other two got up although too late as one immediately got impaled from below by a spike and the other got a glaive through his chest, the bladed edge of it easily cutting through chainmail and animal leathers. the bandits in wait sprung forth as two of them let some arrows loose although all they did was bounce off them. two of them rushed Leonel simultaneously bringing down their curved swords in a way that allowed for no retaliation although that did not matter to him. a pillar was erected before him blocking their advance then the subsequent explosion killed them by way of impalement from the shards. Sarabi was causing chaos in their ranks. their numbers dropping rapidly the cowardly ones ran and taht broke the camel's back as they all began to run.
Sarabi charged up a fire blast and killed half of them with the Firey blue explosion and the rest found themselves tasting their own organs curtesy of glint stone spikes. the fight was over, Leonel watched over his work with a calculative eye replaying it over and over trying to think of any flaws. to him they were scum that deserved death. the main road is used by many, families especially like the one he was escorting. they could've done whatever they planned to do on them to another group. this wasn't something new to him, several times he heard of a village caravan being sacked and the survivors raped and left to die out in the wilderness, he lost one too many friends to bandits when he was younger. he pulled on all excess mana as he watched the glint stone spiked holding up gore fall into pieces. the carriage approached them, count joseph looked outside with a grave look. Natasha was horrified, never had she seen something like this, the thought of what could've happened kept playing in her head until she couldn't hold it in anymore and threw up from the window.
the count kept stroking her back gently helping her get it all out. " Is that the last of them?" he asked. " Yes, no mana signatures for sixty yards" Leonel said as he hopped atop Sarabi. looting the dead was something strictly forbidden back in the village, and he would be damned if he did so outside of it for some coin. " Then let's continue, mercenary I trust you to protect us" the count said as he held onto the now crying girl. Leonel only nodded and fell back to the left of the carriage, the soldiers sent him appreciative nods. thankfully nothing else happened and night quickly claimed the lands as the full moon shone brightly upon the sky, he felt far better under its rays for some reason. Hey, set up camp quickly as a fire roared in-between twigs and logs at the center of it. the soldiers kept watch while the count and a very tired Natasha ate their dinner. Leonel laid atop Sarabi who caressed his dark hair with her tail.
"Hey Sarabi, where do you come from?" he asked. " 'From your soul cub where else' she said. "Yes, I know that, but your name is, foreign to say the least are you from the caelid wilds?" he asked. "Haha no child although where I come from is quite familiar, my home is a continent known as Africa, a place far from the lands between, it looks much like the caelid wilds, deserts here and there, savannahs and marshlands, it's a mixture of many environments yet it mixes well' she said as memories of her home resurfaced.
'my brothers and sisters where a pride of lions there, the strongest pride actually, one day vile humans came for our pelts and for the fun of the hunt, one by one we fell until only one was left, that was I, I found an old cave system and I wanted to rest but when I woke up I was in your soul alongside my brothers and sisters, all of us watched you grow up bit by bit, in truth I call you cub because I feel like, no we feel like you are part of our pride little cub' she said. he smiled and snuggled in closer, the blue flames from her covered him keeping him warm and away from the chilly night air. "Love you Sarabi" he whispered, 'I love you too little cub' she said,
he stared at the starless sky a bit longer before eventually falling asleep. the next day came quick, Leonel had woken up early, halberd in his right hand as his left held condescend mana. he threw out strong kicks and knees followed by punches and halberd strikes. every now and then glint stone combat was incorporated into his style, the progress was slow, but muscle memory was being developed. Natasha watched him train with glowing eyes, she stood up and approached him with conviction. "Teach me" she said almost demanded. he looked at her up and down then turned towards Sarabi who kept staring at the girl. "no" he simply said. she was shocked, never had she been denied of anything. "Why!?" she asked incensed. " Because my style does not suit you, you don't have the body nor the mana to fight like i do, maybe your- you sure Sarabi? we only have another- that short? fine go ahead just remember that we have to leave the fort once we drop them off" he said almost speaking to someone else much to her confusion.
"Sarabi thinks you could be good fit for her style, before you look down on her know that Sarabi is far more knowledgeable than me not to mention stronger if she so wanted to use those flames, she can't speak but she says her style needs no verbal teaching, all you have to do is watch then recreate it in the most comfortable way possible" he said then continued to train. Sarabi approached her and nodded before giving a quick stretch and getting into a stance. Natasha felt conflicted but ultimately steeled herself and tried to copy the lioness although she looked extremely awkward. time passed and she slowly got the stances Sarabi wished to convey. bit by bit she copied the lioness's finesse and style almost falling into a trance like state as her hands struck out like claws, her legs seemed to mimic her tail and her ferocity and lethality increased with each try. count joseph watched this in utter confusion, his daughter never asked for any kind of training yet here she was learning from a glint stone construct smiling even.
he coughed to get their attention which broke their concentration. Leonel simply put away the scroll and slung the halberd onto his shoulder. Sarabi stopped and nodded in satisfaction, Natasha gave her father the stink eye but ultimately bowed towards Sarabi. " Thank you for teaching me, I feel like with this I can better defend myself" she said Sarabi only nodded but the soft swishing of her tail conveyed her happy feelings. "Well then now that everyone has loosened their muscles, I say we should keep moving, I want to put some thick walls behind me soon enough" the count said as he headed for the cabin. the father and daughter due got in, Leonel hopped atop Sarabi and soon enough they were on the road again, destination castle sun spear, hopefully the second part of this mission would be calm, or will it?
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
eddv
eddv extra chapter because i felt like this one didn't contain much in the way of content and i wanted to try out cliffhangers. if you guys like this story please post some reviews to let me know where i can improve.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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