Mercenary

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Zeny was an unfortunate young lady. Not only had she been named after the local currency, but her parents had sold her off to a band of travelling mercenaries when she was sixteen. That had been five years ago and, in that time, she had seen just about every corner of Azterra. It hadn’t been a bad ten years, but it certainly hadn’t been easy.

Her hands had been stained by so much blood from fighting. None of it had been wanted of course, but the Thorn Rose band had been her home for far too long to not fight to keep them alive. Zeny busied herself in their latest camp as she sharpened her sword.

“Oi, Zeny. Get your hide over here.”

“Go boil your head Morn. You want something you can shift your lazy ass over here and tell me.”

Morn sighed heavily. The highlander made Zeny look tiny in comparison with his gigantic frame. “I knew letting you hang out with Olivia.”

“Hey, I resent that remark, Morn. You corrupted the kid just as much as the rest of us.” Olivia’s elvish tinged voice echoed through the camp from the nearby tree she was scouting from.

“Gods above you two.” The last member of the group, an orc named Urgoth, grunted as they came into the camp. “I swear all I hear is you all whinging about this or that. Isn’t it bad enough we got the kid in exchange for killing that monster?”

“That ‘monster’ was my uncle.” Zeny spoke quietly. “You guys just showed up, killed him, got me in the bargain and we’ve been murdering and stealing since.”

The camp went silent save for the crackle of the fire. It had been an unspoken thing between everyone who had died the day they had gotten Zeny in the bargain. The man had been evil and morally corrupt. Stealing not only money, but also young women from the region. Zeny had been his next target and her father decided to cut the knot instead.

Olivia spoke softly, “It is not your fault Auria. It has been a hard life, but…”

“But what Olivia? You going to tell me how we’re ‘saving the world’ by murdering some black hearted souls? Because if you are, I’ll tell you right now you’re full of harpy dung.”

“Peace Auria. I meant no disrespect.” Olivia said, trying to placate the young woman.

“Hmph. Whatever. And why do you call me that? Five years of it and no explanation.” Zeny said as she stared at the campfire, her zeal subdued.

Olivia chuckled. “It means gold. Like the coin you are named after, Zeny. All you had to do was ask.”

“Oh. Uhm…thanks.” Zeny tried to hide the blush that coloured her cheeks as she changed the topic. “So. What are we going to do next?”

Morn chuckled and with a smile said, “We’ve got orders from the Queen herself. Seems a member of the royal family pissed off the wrong person and got kidnapped. We’re going to get them back.”

“Why in the name of all that is holy in Azterra would we do that?” Urgoth grunted the words at Morn.

“Because you meathead, we get to be the heroes for once.” Morn snapped back.

Zeny sighed loudly as she walked over to Olivia and sat down on her lap to watch the two other start wrestling.

“I so did not sign up for this.”

Olivia chuckled warmly. “No, you didn’t. But there are worse things in the world to be than a mercenary hero.”