washed away the blood and grime with cold water.
The water was so freezing it felt as though it were biting into my skin, but its chill helped clear my thoughts.
Cold water never lies.
It never flatters.
It wakes you up.
A strange sense of exhilaration filled me.
Victory.
Surviving against an overwhelmingly powerful enemy.
Amy and I had truly accomplished something remarkable when we stood against that knight and lived to tell the tale.
Once the blood and dirt were gone, I returned to the place where I always sat—or at least, where I had always sat during my short time here.
My body was exhausted.
Every muscle burned with fatigue, as though a fire had been lit beneath my skin.
Even the smallest movement came at a cost.
More than anything, I wanted to rest.
I knew the soreness would linger for days.
I sat down and closed my eyes for a moment.
After resting for a while, I heard footsteps approaching from behind.
Confident footsteps.
Familiar ones.
I turned around curiously.
Amy.
The same charming smile rested on her face as always.
If there was anything different about her, it was the bandages.
Clean white wrappings covered her shoulder and half her arm, supported by a leather sling.
A flicker of concern passed through me when I saw them.
Amy cleared her throat theatrically and said,
“Don’t worry.
It’s just a wound.
My arm will be fine.”
Before I could respond, she tossed a small pouch into my lap.
“Your share.”
Confused, I opened it and found fifteen silver coins gleaming in my palm.
I was about to ask, but she beat me to it as usual.
“That’s the price of the armor the knight was wearing.
It was worth quite a bit, especially since it was almost undamaged.”
I stared at her in bewilderment.
How?
When?
She continued,
“It sold for twenty-five silver coins.
I took ten, and you get fifteen.”
The confusion remained obvious on my face, prompting her to ask,
“What?
Why are you so surprised?
I answered,
“It was his armor.
Why did we take it and sell it?
It wasn’t ours.”
She burst into laughter—a genuine laugh that came from deep within.
“You really are strange, Daron.
He’s dead.
It’s only natural that we take our share of the spoils.
That’s how things work here.”
She pointed toward the longsword I had been deliberately ignoring.
“His sword is excellent quality.
Yours is in terrible shape.
Take it.
It’s yours now.”
I frowned.
“I honestly don’t feel comfortable using the belongings of someone I killed.”
She looked at me calmly before speaking.
“Well, death is the end of everything.
It’s the greatest loss there is.
Survival is the greatest victory.
And the winner takes everything from the loser.”
She shrugged.
“That’s reality, Daron.”
I looked at her and said,
“I won’t let myself be troubled by something so trivial.
Thank you.”
Amy smiled.
“Don’t mention it.”
Then her expression shifted into something more serious, mixed with genuine curiosity.
“Anyway…
how did you manage to kill him and dodge his attacks like that?
I nearly died from just two strikes, Daron.”
I wasn’t sure how to explain it.
After thinking for a moment, I chose my words carefully.
“I could feel his attacks.
It was like sensing his intent…
or his will.
Because of that, I could predict the path of his strikes before he even made them.”
She stared at me with a strange look of shock.
Shock—and something else I couldn’t quite identify.
As though I had revealed something that shouldn’t have been revealed so easily.
“Daron!” she exclaimed. This story is hosted at novelping.com.
“Are you telling the truth?
That’s insane!”
Now I was the confused one.
“What?
What’s wrong?”
She looked at me with deep, genuine curiosity.
“You know…
Will is the foundation of humanity.
It’s the core of our strength and our existence.”
Then she added,
“I’m only a mercenary.
I know about the first two ranks, and that’s it.”
“The first rank is sensing Will and becoming aware of it—exactly as you did.
Once you can sense it, you can predict most of your opponent’s attacks.
People naturally act according to their Will, even when they try to hide it.
Whenever they attack, they reveal a piece of it, no matter how small.”
“The second rank is controlling Will.
I don’t know much about it, but I do know that those who master their Will surpass ordinary humans.
Some even claim that reaching this stage can triple your lifespan.”
She scratched her cheek awkwardly.
“Sorry, but I don’t know how someone reaches that level—or what comes after it.”
After a brief pause, she continued,
“I do know that mastering the first rank puts you at the level of a knight.”
“The second rank makes you a Grand Knight.”
“There is only one Grand Knight in our province.
And only one in the province we’re fighting against.”
Her gaze drifted into the distance.
“They aren’t human anymore, Daron.
We can’t even begin to imagine their strength.”
I thought deeply about her words for several minutes.
The world around me spoke of blood and war.
She spoke of Will, power, and higher realms.
Where exactly did I stand in all of this?
“Thank you, Amy,” I finally said.
“You really helped me.”
She nodded.
“The man we fought was only a Knight Apprentice.
If we’d faced a real knight, we’d both be dead.”
A faint smile appeared on her face.
“Luckily for us, he was just an apprentice.”
We stood and headed toward the food distribution area.
And once we had finished our meal, we fell into a deep sleep, a reflection of the exhaustion that had accumulated throughout this long and grueling day.