"Look, it's that disgraced knight," a woman whispered as she passed by a drunken mercenary sleeping under a tree. "Shh, not too loud, he's gonna wake up and attack us if he hears," another woman replied silently to her friend.
A man in his late forties slept under the tree, drunk. A few moments later, when the sun was at its highest, the mercenary was still asleep when some kids passed by him while playing. As they noticed the sleeping mercenary, they thought of doing something mischievous. Suddenly, they threw stones at him, some missing and some hitting him, but they were too small to wake him from his slumber. Then one kid took a stone the size of a small child's fist and dropped it on the mercenary's head, hitting him.
"Ow!" the mercenary, still drunk, woke up suddenly from the pain he felt. As he touched his head, he realized there was blood. In a fit of drunken rage, he rose up and saw the kids with stones in their hands. As if possessed by a demon, he charged at the children with his sword drawn. The kids ran in haste, laughing and dispersing.
The mercenary chased the one kid that was left behind, passing small alleyways and passageways. Finally, he cornered the kid and lifted the kid up with his bare hands. "You rat! I'm going to teach you a lesson you will never forget!" he barked at the kid, who was on the verge of tears. As he was about to punch the kid, his hand was stopped by one of the town's guards.
"You again? I thought I already told you to leave this town!" the town's guard exclaimed, with his three colleagues standing behind him. "This kid threw a stone at me! See?" The mercenary showed a wound on his head.
"Big deal, you're an adult already but you still think like a child, throwing a fit for some scratch!" the town's guard responded, and his colleagues laughed. The mercenary's blood boiled, and he shouted, "What did you say!?" as he drew his sword from its sheath.
The kid ran as he saw the other town's guards unsheathing their swords as well. "I'm warning you, if you don't drop your weapon, it's going to be the gallows for you!" one of the town's guards warned the drunken mercenary. The mercenary, realizing he was outnumbered and with no escape, regained his senses and dropped his sword in surrender.
"Yeah, that's what I thought. You're gonna have a great day in jail," the town's guard exclaimed as he sheathed his weapon and his colleagues arrested the mercenary, binding his hands. The mercenary became sober as he realized the consequences of his actions. The town's guard sent him to jail for attacking a child and the town's guards.
In jail, the mercenary examined his surroundings. There was no light except for the barred window across from him, beside the empty desk. The one door was closed shut, and he was locked inside a barred jail cell. In his anger, he kicked the iron jail cell, only to injure his toes and grunt in pain. Finally, he sat down on a makeshift bed made of hay.
The mercenary's mind drifted into the past when he was a famous knight, born into a prominent family with lands and titles. He was very important back then. But his life turned upside down when he challenged a fledgling knight to a duel. This was his favorite pastime, as he loved to disgrace knights he considered weaker and beneath him. He would make them agree to his twisted game with underhanded methods, all to feed his ego. His confidence in himself was strong, as he thought the fledgling knight was a nobody.
The duel was not to the death, and the winner would be decided when one of them surrendered. Armed with expensive armor and weapons, he challenged the fledgling knight, who only wielded a cheap sword and armor. The mercenary was a huge man with an even bigger ego. When the fight started, he threw his shield, as he always did, and attacked the fledgling knight, breaking the poor fledgling knight's cheap sword in two with one strike.
The fledgling knight defended himself as the mercenary attacked his shield again and again. Finally, the shield broke, and the boy fell on his backside. The mercenary, so sure of himself, wanted to scare the fledgling knight as he raised his sword to frighten him. But to his surprise, the huge mercenary stumbled and landed face-first on the ground.
A boom of laughter echoed throughout the arena, mocking and teasing the mercenary. Perplexed by what had happened, the mercenary looked down and saw that he had stumbled because of the fledgling's broken sword, which was stuck upright in the ground. Before he could react, the fledgling knight seized the opportunity and swiftly took the mercenary's sword, aiming it at his throat. The mercenary's face turned red with anger and annoyance as he surrendered.
The crowd cheered for the fledgling knight and laughed at the mercenary. Just when everyone thought it was over, the echoes of laughter from the crowd ringing in his ears pushed the mercenary to his breaking point. He grabbed the broken blade and stabbed the fledgling knight in the neck, instantly killing him.
The crowd fell silent as they witnessed the gruesome event. Even after that, the mercenary was confident he could escape justice, hiding behind his family's influence. However, his safety was short-lived as his younger brother, who coveted his status as the eldest son, used the death of the fledgling knight to rally the masses to his cause. In the end, their father decided to disown the mercenary and exile him from their home. Left with nothing but a disgraced name, the mercenary roamed the land, attempting to become a mercenary. However, he failed miserably as no one would hire a hot-headed brute like him.
His senses snapped back to reality when he heard an old man speaking from the jail cell next to his. "Rough day, huh?" the old man's voice crackled and was coarse. "Yeah," the mercenary responded. The two engaged in conversation, with the old man sharing stories of his past exploits while the mercenary listened. However, the mercenary kept his deeper secrets to himself, ashamed of them. Days passed, and finally, it was time for the mercenary to leave. He engaged the old man in one final conversation when the old man said, "Thank you, son, for your kindness in listening to this old man. You have been very patient with my ramblings." The old man reached out his wrinkled arms towards the mercenary's jail cell. "Please, take this. I have been keeping it for so long, but now I can finally let go of it, along with my regrets," the old man exclaimed as he handed a piece of parchment to the mercenary.
The mercenary took the parchment and examined it. "What is it?" he inquired. "It's a map of my treasure. It's yours now," the old man revealed. The mercenary, unsure of what to make of it, asked the old man another question. "Old man, we have been talking for days now, but I don't even know who you..." Before the mercenary could finish his sentence, he looked at the dimly lit jail cell of the old man and was appalled to find him gone. Suddenly, the doors opened, and the guards came to release him. The mercenary asked the guards in dread, "Where's the old man who was here with me?" "The fool has finally lost it," one of the guards responded. "I'm serious! There was someone here with me!" the mercenary insisted. "You need to get some fresh air. You're becoming delusional," the other guard exclaimed. "Go, and don't let me catch you again! Better yet, leave this town!" The guard pushed the stunned mercenary outside. Finally rid of him. As soon as the mercenary left, one of the guards said, "But seriously, wasn't there an old man here before?" The other guard looked at him and responded, "Yeah, there was, but he died before his release. Some old people's disease, I bet." The guard revealed, "But the fool doesn't need to know that."
Once he was finally out, the stunned mercenary took out the piece of parchment from his pocket. He unfolded it and saw a map to a possible treasure, just as the old man had said. With plenty of time and nothing to lose, the mercenary decided to find this treasure. Armed with only a cheap dagger and some necessities, he set out alone to find the treasure. After days of following the path laid out on the map, the mercenary finally reached the dungeon where the treasure was supposedly located. As a mercenary, he had some experience with dungeon crawling. It was already night, and he didn't want to be ambushed outside, so he mustered the courage to delve right in. The dungeon was relatively easy to navigate, and the monsters were weak.
A few hours in, he checked his map when suddenly, he was shot by a dart that hit his right arm. Without thinking, he ran to find an alley to hide in. As the sound of a monster drew closer, he surprised a lone goblin that was heading towards him and, with a single strike, cleaved the creature in two. He felt proud of himself as he removed the dart and examined it. It was a normal dart, probably non-lethal, so he drank a healing potion just in case.
A few more hours passed, and he reached the place where the map indicated the treasure was. He looked at it again and saw a faded inscription below. "All the gold you can carry," he read out loud. Suddenly, a secret passage opened, much to his surprise. "It must be a magical phrase," he thought to himself. As he entered the room, his eyes lit up at the sight of the mountain of treasure before him. He jumped for joy, shouting in triumph and elation. Finally, he could return to his former life, all thanks to a decrepit old man.
A month later, a group of adventurers delved into a dungeon. As they ventured deeper, they noticed a figure on the floor. One of the adventurers approached the figure and found the bones of a man sitting in the pathway. The adventurer, a healer, examined the bones to determine the cause of death. "There are no signs of death due to physical attacks," he noted. "Must be mental or spiritual then?" a mage woman suggested. The healer examined further and noticed a small dart on the floor. He picked it up and sniffed it. "As I thought, a deadly hallucinogen," he revealed. "Probably from a goblin," he added. The warrior adventurer chimed in, "I think I found the culprit." The healer went to the place the warrior was pointing and found a dead goblin with broken bones. "Poor guy, he shouldn't have come here alone," the healer offered his sympathies. The mage, who was inspecting the dead body, noticed a piece of parchment clutched in the dead man's hand. She took it and examined it, but to her confusion, it was blank. "What is it?" the healer asked the mage holding the piece of parchment. "I don't know," she said, then sniffed the parchment. "But it reeks of magic," she added.
