The night sky of Vertus always held two moons.
One was a pale blue moon, carrying a chilly and uncanny aura. The other was a dark red moon, as if ominous blood had been splattered across the air.
Kyle leaned against a rough rock wall and quietly gazed up at the alien night sky appearing through the dense branches.
In the past, he had only seen those two moons on a crude screen beyond a monitor. Now Kyle was facing them in their entirety with his own eyes, in a suffocating reality.
The grotesque, mysterious patchwork of light cast by the two moons, overlapping halfway, stretched the forest's shadows into even more deformed and chilling shapes.
'The Eyes of God.'
Words from the lore he had read while playing the game in the past flickered through Kyle's mind.
Long ago, Gaia, the earth goddess who created the world, had embedded two eyes in the sky to watch over the continent.
The pale blue moon was said to symbolize cold reason and the flow of magic, while the dark red moon represented savagery and the instinct for blood.
The world's mystics and fanatics believed those two moons were the true eyes of God and worshiped them.
That overwhelming nocturnal landscape, now turned into reality, held a grotesque yet mesmerizing mystery.
More than anything, it was fortunate that this wasn't the full moon of the red moon's reign—the time when corpses rose—but a period dominated by the blue moon. That was probably why Antonio had insisted on camping in the forest.
"Why are you still awake, brat?"
Antonio, sitting across from the campfire, broke his quiet thoughts.
He had stopped poking through the ashes with a fire poker and was packing some old tobacco leaves into his pipe, pressing them down firmly.
Antonio was supposed to have taken the first watch before handing it over to Kyle after midnight. Yet even though the shift had ended long ago, he hadn't woken Kyle and was keeping watch over the fire alone.
When Kyle stared at him with cold, emotionless eyes, Antonio exhaled a long stream of smoke and grumbled.
"Close your eyes. Guess getting old means I can't sleep at night anymore. Maybe it's because I saw too much hell today. I don't think I'll be able to fall asleep even if I close my eyes. I'll stand watch all night, so you get some rest. You need to save your strength if we're going to walk hard tomorrow."
His tone was gruff, but a strange consideration lay beneath it.
Kyle didn't bother refusing Antonio's kindness.
His body overflowed with beastlike vitality as a result of Devouring, but the exhaustion in his mind from being hurled into an unfamiliar world overnight and repeatedly brushing against life and death had reached its limit.
Bathed in the cold light of the two moons, Kyle slowly closed his eyes.
Thanks to his cool reason, which perfectly shut out emotional agitation and psychological pressure like a machine, he fell into a deep, flawless sleep without a single troubled dream the instant he closed his eyes.
The forest night that had seemed eternal finally ended, and morning broke with damp mist.
Kyle woke to the cries of bizarre beasts and rose lightly to his feet.
Antonio had already smothered the traces of the fire beneath dirt and was ready to leave.
"You're up. We're leaving while we chew on the leftover meat."
The two of them set off toward the edge of the forest, noisily chewing tough jerky that still held some of its blood.
Antonio led the way and began explaining their next destination in his heavy voice.
"We're heading to a neutral city called Berdam."
At the name Berdam, Kyle's footsteps slowed ever so slightly.
'Berdam? I've never heard of it.'
The place had never existed on the continental map from the era he remembered, 250 years ago, in Gaia Year 750.
The moment he heard Antonio's next words, Kyle understood why.
"Right after the Unified Empire collapsed, the continent was a hell where the blood never dried. Back then, there was a legendary mercenary king who gathered up all the mercenaries wandering with nowhere to go and built a massive power base. His name was Berdam."
Antonio continued as he kicked at the packed dirt road with his worn leather shoes.
"He seized a strategic location in the middle of the continent by force and declared it an absolute neutral city, free from anyone's interference. Then he shamelessly named the city after himself. At first, he planned to make it a refuge for wandering mercenaries and a free city where they could trade jobs..."
Antonio clicked his tongue.
"But things changed completely over the long years. Since it's located at the exact center of the kingdoms split across the continent, it naturally became a hub of commerce and transportation. And these days, four major powers rule this den of filth."
Antonio counted them off on his fingers.
"The Mercenary Guild, an armed organization overseeing every mercenary on the continent. The Golden Scales Trading Company, a massive alliance of merchant houses that controls the city's economy with money. The Ashen Tower, a den of lunatic mages. And the Black Rats of the slums, who control all the information and assassinations in the sewers and back alleys. Every kind of power and scum has melted together into one enormous crucible, balancing itself out."
Kyle silently nodded.
A lawless land where strength was law.
For someone like Kyle, hiding lost memories and a savage nature while trying to grow, it was a perfect environment—better than some refined city with strict law enforcement and an obsession with social status.
After walking for another half day, they emerged from the forest onto the continent's central road, where pale clouds of dust rose into the air.
They joined the stream of travelers and walked for several more hours. At last, enormous gray walls rose distantly beyond the horizon, revealing their grandeur.
Massive stone walls stretched left and right so far that their ends were impossible to see, with tightly packed, heavily guarded watchtowers covering their tops.
The line to pass through the city gates was endless.
The stench of all kinds of beasts, the scent of exotic spices, the smell of people's sweat, and their loud, bustling shouts blended together, making the place seem like one enormous marketplace.
Kyle swallowed down his deep admiration at the majestic sight of the towering walls filling his vision.
At last, when it was their turn, armed city guards blocked their way beneath the enormous steel portcullis, firmly closed overhead.
"Halt. State your identities and purpose for visiting."
One of the guards looked Antonio and Kyle up and down with a sharp gaze.
Kyle in particular drew immediate suspicion. He was a stranger covered in beast blood from head to toe, with weapons hanging all over his waist.
"The old man is one thing, but what's with the blood-soaked brat beside him? Do you have identification? Judging by those eyes, you look like some runaway slave or a bastard who caused serious trouble and fled here."
The moment the guard tightened his grip on his spear shaft, Antonio stepped forward with a shameless smile.
"Well, look at that, Jackson! Long time no see. It's me, Antonio."
"Old man Antonio? You're still alive? I figured you'd have died by now."
The familiar guard's expression softened slightly.
Taking advantage of the opening, Antonio rummaged around his waist, pulled out his official mercenary badge, and deftly pressed three silver coins into the guard's hand at the same time.
It was the bribe he'd prepared yesterday.
"We ran into a monster horde in the forest, just our luck, so we look like hell. And this blood-soaked brat is a trainee mercenary I recently took in. He's young, but he's strong as an ox."
The guard subtly tested the weight of the silver coins in his palm with his thumb. Apparently satisfied with Antonio's verified identity and the generous bribe, he nodded.
"...Hmm. The forest has been dangerous lately. The kid must've had a rough time. Go on in. Don't cause any trouble inside."
The moment they finally passed through the enormous gate and entered Berdam, Kyle's obsidian eyes widened.
'Is this the world 250 years after the era I knew?'
It was on an entirely different level from the scenery outside the walls.
This wasn't the crude medieval-style village he'd seen in the game.
Grand multistory stone buildings soared toward the sky, packed tightly together. Along both sides of broad, smoothly paved roads wide enough for carriages to pass each other, streetlamps glowed with a faint magical light.
Wealthy merchants in splendid silk, mages in robes marked with geometric patterns, and mercenaries walking with heavy armor clanking over their bodies.
Kyle could feel firsthand how brilliantly prosperous and advanced this place had become over the 250 years since the empire's collapse.
As Kyle walked, keenly studying the developed city's streets, Antonio led him with familiar steps to a massive building in the city center.
The stone structure stood apart from the surrounding shops, resembling a gigantic fortress.
A massive emblem depicting two crossed swords and a shield was carved into the entrance.
"This is the heart that oversees every mercenary on the continent—the headquarters of the Mercenary Guild."
Antonio pushed open the heavy door with his worn leather boot and stepped inside.
The pungent smell of liquor and blood hit them the instant the door opened.
Then the hostile gazes of hundreds of armed mercenaries filling the enormous hall turned toward the entrance in unison.
The moment Kyle entered the hall, his beastlike senses swept across the men inside.
As befitted one of Berdam's four major powers, the Mercenary Guild was crawling with veterans radiating razor-sharp killing intent. Amid the Sword Runners, Kyle occasionally sensed the aura of Sword Users who could maintain a stable sword aura.
But there was one presence that stood head and shoulders above every other powerful being Kyle's body detected in the room.
At the very back of the hall, beyond a massive table, sat a huge man scanning documents.
With his thick brown hair and beard grown out like a lion's mane, the man possessed a gigantic, bulgingly muscular body—the exact opposite of the thin, frail Antonio.
He wasn't merely a branch manager. He was the Guildmaster, who oversaw the entirety of Berdam's Mercenary Guild.
Even sitting still and breathing, he possessed an overwhelming presence that pressed heavily against the surrounding air. The density of the mana flowing through his body was so deep and heavy that it couldn't even be compared to Antonio's.
"Long time no see. I came to collect from the old man."
At Antonio's brazen greeting, the lionlike Guildmaster lifted his eyes from the documents and looked at him.
"Antonio? You crazy old bastard. You disappeared so completely that I thought you'd become monster food, but you've managed to live a long time after all."
The Guildmaster laughed heartily and slammed one hand the size of a cauldron lid onto the table.
After finishing his rough welcome, the Guildmaster's sharp gaze shifted to Kyle standing behind Antonio.
"And what's that blood-soaked little runt you've brought with you?"
"The kid I picked up recently."
Antonio's smile vanished as he spoke seriously.
"His name is Kyle. He's got a problem with his vocal cords and can't speak, but he can certainly act like a proper person. I'll vouch for him with my name, so take him in as a full mercenary."
The Guildmaster's lionlike, razor-sharp eyes examined Kyle from head to toe.
His body was emaciated, still bearing signs of malnutrition, yet his deep black eyes were an abyss from which no emotion could be read.
For an instant, the overwhelming killing intent and presence radiating from the Guildmaster's eyes crashed over Kyle. Kyle didn't even blink. He simply ignored the suffocating pressure as though it were transparent mist.
"...Oh? His build is nothing to look at, but he's got the eyes of a feral wildcat."
The Guildmaster stroked his chin and spoke.
"Antonio. If you're vouching for him, I'd normally take him in without question. But our guild isn't in a position to entertain brats playing house. Normally, I wouldn't accept dead weight like that."
Resting his chin in one hand, the Guildmaster glared at Kyle and continued.
"But you're staking your life on him so fiercely, so I'll give him a special test. As it happens, I have a suitable request."
The Guildmaster opened an old drawer and slammed a sheet of yellowed parchment and a small iron token onto the table.
"A bounty was recently posted because people have been kidnapped or brutally murdered by goblins in villages near the outskirts of the city. Antonio, I trust you, so I'll let the blood-soaked brat handle it. Complete this within three days, and I'll accept him as a full mercenary."
Kyle stepped forward and picked up the parchment and token.
[ Request Details ] • Mission: Slay the goblin pack near a village on the outskirts of the city (suspected of abducting residents and committing serial murders) • Requirement: Collect at least 10 goblin right ears • Deadline: Within three days of acceptance
The goblins of Vertus were by no means laughable fodder.
They were vicious monsters that dug cunning traps, hunted in packs, and took advantage of carelessness to drive poison-coated knives into their victims' backs.
They were a cruel race that had no qualms about abducting villagers to use them as food or playthings.
"That piece of metal is a temporary city access pass. You're not a full mercenary yet, so you won't have proof of identity. Show it at the gates, and you'll be able to come and go freely for the duration of the assignment."
The Guildmaster warned Kyle in his heavy voice.
"Remember this. The deadline is exactly three days. I don't care how you do it—hire other mercenaries with money, stab them in the back, whatever. All that matters is that you cut off their ears and bring back proof."
A peculiar light appeared in the Guildmaster's beastlike eyes.
"Of course, if you can't do it entirely on your own, then surviving in this business won't mean a damn thing."
Kyle silently tucked the request and pass into his clothes and gave a slight nod.
It was an unspoken promise that he would tear the goblins apart by himself before the deadline.
Once the request had been accepted, the Guildmaster glanced at Antonio and casually asked,
"So where the hell have you been all this time? You haven't shown your face in ages. Judging by the way you look, you must've been through hell somewhere."
At the question, Antonio roughly scratched his matted hair and looked away.
"...Just had some bad luck. Stepped in a real big pile of shit."
Apparently, he had no desire to publicly proclaim his shame and murderous intent toward the old friend who had sold him to the slave wagon. Antonio gave Kyle a light tap on the shoulder and said,
"I'm going to find that traitorous bastard who tried to chew me up and deal with him myself. You go into the forest and cut off some goblin ears, just like that giant furball Guildmaster told you. If you ever need me or have to find me, ask that lion's head over there."
Then Antonio rummaged through his clothes and tossed a heavy leather pouch against Kyle's chest.
Inside the pouch Kyle caught instinctively was exactly half the money they'd scraped together from the wreckage of the slave wagon and the corpses yesterday.
"Get yourself some new equipment with that. I'm off."
Antonio didn't say a lengthy goodbye.
The old hound pursuing a traitor walked away toward the Guild doors with steady steps, without a trace of hesitation.
Kyle squeezed the heavy feel of the silver pouch in his hand, then turned around.
Now it was time to prove his worth in this unfamiliar future continent, without anyone's help, on his own.
Just as Kyle turned and began walking toward the Guild's massive doors, the lionlike Guildmaster spoke from behind him in a heavy, offhand tone.
"That crazy old Antonio must've taken quite a liking to you."
When Kyle's steps faltered for a moment, the Guildmaster continued with interest.
"It's the first time in my life I've seen him vouch for someone and hand over his own money. Good luck, brat."
Instead of turning around at the gruff, indifferent encouragement, Kyle answered by silently pushing open the door and walking out.
Kyle opened the doors of the enormous Mercenary Guild and quietly melted into the noisy, bustling streets of Berdam.