As I approached the light, I was able to make out its source. A large figure was holding a torch in one hand while trying to turn over a cart with the other. From the looks of it, their cart had gone off the road, maybe because they were riding too fast in the dark. A horse was patiently chewing on some grass nearby.

“Excuse me, do you need any help?” I called out as I approached.

“Huh?” the figure turned around to face me.

From where I stood, I slightly had the higher ground. The cart had gone further off the road than I first assumed. The figure with the torch turned out to be a younger man, perhaps somewhere in his twenties. He was dressed fairly simply, and I assumed he was a farmer or someone who worked with his hands.

“The cart, do you need help?” I asked again as I slid down the slope to join him.

I realized, funnily enough, that I was still taller than him.

“I mean sure, but why would a mercenary such as you care?” He finally answered.

His expression was full of distrust. I also didn’t fail to note that he directly assumed I was a mercenary. It did make sense, of course, with my attire, my sword, and my overall demeanor (either some of the original personality of the owner of this body had remained behind, or I had already gotten into character). There was no reason for this man to assume I was a noble out for a stroll because of my motion sickness.

“Why wouldn’t I?” I said as I detached my scabbard from my belt. “Plus, I was hoping you’d be kind enough to offer for me to spend the night.”

“I’m not that kind of guy, usually I buy girls dinner first.”

I gave him a side look. He shrugged with an awkward smile. Clearly, he had meant that as a joke, but it would have worked better had we not been alone in the woods, in the middle of the night.

I used my scabbard as a lever to pry one of the wheels out of the ground. The cart moved just enough to allow me to shove my weapon further under it.

“On my count, I push, you pull.” I said.

The farmer nodded.

“One. Two. Three-”

I put all my weight on the makeshift lever while pushing the cart away with my arms. After a few seconds of strained effort, I finally felt the wagon give in under our collective efforts. It landed back on its four wheels with a loud thud. The horse let out an alarmed neigh, and both the farmer and I sigh in relief.

“Well, that was more trouble than it’s worth.” He said.

“My thoughts exactly.” I agreed as I picked up my scabbard to wipe off the dirt on it.

As soon as I attached my weapon back onto my belt, the man handed me his torch and began picking up miscellaneous goods that had fallen out of the cart.

“Are all the roads in this country in this poor of a state?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“If by that you mean that even the devils wouldn’t dare march on them, then yes.” The farmer answered with a scoff. “Apparently they were laid during one of the first holy crusades, but I didn’t pay much attention in church, so I don’t really know.” He added.

“Yeah, sounds like a major pain in the ass …” I mumbled.

“So you’re not from around here, I gather?” The farmer asked as he began putting a harness back on the horse.

“Not from anywhere, really.”

Those words weren’t exactly a lie. They weren’t the truth either, of course, I had been born in a town, back in Europe, on planet Earth, but my career choices had led me to travel all over the globe.

“I go where the wind, and the odd contracts, take me.” I added.

The farmer scoffed again, but this time his voice sounded softer.

He nodded towards the cart, and without a word, I helped him push it back on the road.

“So how about dinner?” I asked, only half-joking.

“You’re really insistent, huh.”

“I have coin to back it up.”

I was about to show him what I was talking about, but he interrupted me with a hand gesture.

“Nah, don’t bother. If you’re not from these parts, that means you’re not one of Ericson’s friends, and that’s good enough for me.”

“You sure?” I asked. I really didn’t mind spending money, now that I had several lifetime supplies of it.

“Yeah, yeah.” He waved his hand around, to accentuate that it was no big deal.

The broke university student in me suddenly resurfaced, and I decided not to insist. We carried on walking side by side for about an hour, while the horse tailed behind us, as if wanting us to check the state of the road for her.

The farmer explained that his house was a bit on the outskirts of, well, everything, but that he was happy to have me nonetheless. He explained that it was an old tradition in these parts, to welcome travelers from far away lands. Apparently, it was a sign of good fortune, and blessing from the gods; but he didn’t really pay attention in church.

I had asked about that man he had mentioned, “Ericson”, and had learned that he was a notorious mercenary hired by the previous duke to fight off any monsters that might appear on this land. Said monsters were quite rare, so Ericson and his gang often got bored and did some “not nice” things in town. Now that the previous lord, a certain “Emmanuel Something Something Fernand” was dead, my travel companion hoped that Ericson and his band would go look for work elsewhere.

“- but wither way, my town is far too close to the outer border for him to care. Speaking of villages …”

For some time now, the landscape around us had changed. Trees had become more scarce and less tall, but the darkness, combined with the fact that I was paying attention to what was under my feet, more than anything else, I hadn’t really noticed.

“Where?” I looked around but could see nothing but darkness.

For a second, I thought that the farmer had led me to some trap, but before I could even reach for my sword, the horse walked right by me, and disappeared into the darkness, pulling the cart behind her.

“Umm…”

I pointed at the spot where I last saw the horse and looked at the farmer with confusion. He looked back at me with a mixture of amusement and pride.

“Oh come on, did you think my village was too small to have a protection barrier?”

“You did say it was a village…” I tried to brush it off.

“Yeah, yeah.”

The farmer walked off the road and gestured for me to follow.

As I traversed the wall of darkness, I felt some sort of energy rush through me. The feeling was similar to that of reemerging from a body of water after laying just under the surface and looking at the sky. Except the feeling, I experienced just now was more pronounced. Maybe this barrier was somehow reacting with my magic.

As I followed the farmer through his village, I couldn’t help but stare in awe.

The houses were all very simple; wooden and mostly one or two stories high. They were made from wood and grey bricks, with clay roofs. Most houses had a front yard, and most of those were occupied by people going about their evening, Despite the late hour, a few children were still playing in the streets and a lot of elderly people were gathered in small groups, gossiping about the latest news.

Lanterns were lit all along the larger paths that were made for transport, and even the smaller alleys were illuminated by the light coming from the windows of bordering houses. The atmosphere was warm and peaceful. I couldn’t help but smile. By the looks of it, I had inherited a very nice place.

“Daddy!” A small child called out before rushing towards my travel companion.

The farmer picked the kid up and swung them around, clearly happy to see them.

“I hope you behaved well while I was gone.” He asked the kid as he put them down.

“I did! Bobby was pulling my hair again, and I only hit him with my fist instead of a stick.” The kid answered, clearly very proud of that accomplishment.

“And then she baked cookies to apologize, right Mina?” A woman came out of a nearby house, and knelt by the child, rubbing their hair.

“Muuhuum… Who’s that, daddy?” The kid asked, pointing at me.

“That’s a nice lady who helped me when my cart got off the road. So be nice to her, and don’t hit her, wither with your fist or a stick.” The farmer said before circling around his house, presumable to unload his cart.

I waved and smiled at the kid. I was about to introduce myself to the farmer’s wife, but she cut me to it.

“I believe you’ll be staying the night then?”

“If you don’t mind.”

“Oh my, oh my,” she raised a hand to her chin, pretending to be surprised. She had a wide smile on her face the whole time, so I saw it as sarcasm rather than an attempt at an insult. “When did mercenaries become so polite?”

“You’re a mercenary?!” The kid almost jumped at me with excitement.

I knelt by them, so as to be at the same eye level.

“Well of course, did you think a beautiful lady such as myself couldn’t also be skilled with the blade?”

Currently, both of those things were lies, but the kid didn’t need to know that.

“You’re not that pretty.” The kid was having none of it.

Their mother giggled.

“What’s going on?” the farmer returned just at the right moment.

“Oh nothing much,” I stood back up, “your child is just setting impossible beauty standards for women.”

The farmer’s wife laughed again, while both the kid and the farmer looked at me in confusion.

“let’s head inside.” The wife finally offered.

The inside of the farmer’s house was small but cosy. I was given a spare matrass, a duvet, and a pillow and told to make myself at home in the attic. Despite what I had thought earlier, I yawned as soon as my host looked the other way, and was almost reluctant to go downstairs for dinner.

In retrospect, I was glad I had. Not only did I eat the best porridge I’ve ever had in my life, but I also got the chance to learn some valuable information once the kid finished interrogating me about what it was like to be a mercenary.

“One last question!” the kid bargained with their mother who had been trying to get them to go to bed for quite some time.

All three adults, including myself, knew that this wasn’t going to be the last question if previous similar promises were anything to go by.

“Alright. But once I finish my cup of milk, I am going to bed. So, you won’t be able to ask questions either way.”

That too wasn’t completely true. I would have never thought that fresh milk tasked this delicious. My first cup had been warm since it had come straight from the cow, but by now the milk had cooled to room temperature. This was definitely no time for a kid to be awake.

“How big was the biggest monster you have killed?” The kid asked with stars in her eyes.

“Hmmm … bigger than a cow, smaller than your house.” I said, thinking about my first and only trip to Siberia. To this day, I was still convinced that the locals didn’t want us to do our probing, so they had thrown some polar bear lure into our camp. I had no proof though.

“That’s too vague.”

“Well the bea- the monster was really far away, so I couldn’t tell for sure. By the time my party and I had made it to the carcass, it was half-eaten by wolves.”

This part was a complete lie, but the kid still seemed impressed.

“What kind of monster was it?”

“Mina, I think that’s enough. You’ll have nightmares after this.” The mother tried to calm the kid down, to no avail.

“The kind that’s driven by primal – I mean, the kind that’s always very hungry and will eat anything and anyone. I heard they sometimes even eat trees when nothing else is nearby.”

“Mina, now-”

“How did you kill it? I need to know mama; in case I see one!”

“I shot it, right through its head. That’s the most efficient way to slay monsters.”

“But you have a sword!”

“I do, but I can use other weapons. Bows and crossbows are particularly effective in large open areas, where you can see the enemy come from afar.” I explained.

“But what if-”

“Oh look, my cup is empty.” I showed the kid my now empty cup. “This means you have to go to bed. You promised, remember?”

The kid made a pouting face. Nevertheless, they got up from the table, wished good night to both their parents, and waved to me, before heading to their room.

“I can’t believe that worked.” The farmer spoke, referring to my trick.

“There was a fifty-fifty chance, and at that point, I felt like the only other way Mina’d go to bed would be if we carried them.”

The mother shook her head.

“Mina is a good kid, you know. They all dream of adventure at that age.”

I nodded. I knew. I had also dreamt of adventure, all the way up until I got my college degree. Then I only dreamt of my next pay-check.

“So, you work for the new duke then?” The farmer asked as his wife poured us all a shot of homemade Baileys.

“The new duchess. Yeah, I need to be at her castle by tomorrow.” I said after diluting my drink with extra cream.

“Oh my, are you sure you’re allowed to tell us that?” The wife asked.

“Hey, until I see an official document that states otherwise, I shall do as a please.” I grinned.

“Have you met her then?”

“The duchess? She’s a woman that commands respect. From what I gathered, she received this land as a reward for her efforts during the war.”

I tried to remain as vague as possible. At this point, I was too deep into my mercenary cover, and I had dropped the British accent.

“It can’t be that cleric, the angel of death of the south front, can it?” The mother asked. I wasn’t sure if the question was directed at me or at her husband.

I shrugged. The farmer muttered something about not paying attention in church.

“Either way I’m glad. Maybe this lady will be able to sort out the fishy business that went on with the previous lord.” The mother said.

“Fishy business?” I asked.

“Yes, it’s a joke in these parts, because he had an affair with a siren at some point.”

I must have made a very funny expression because the mother felt the need to elaborate.

“The affair itself isn’t the issue. He wasn’t married at the time. But once news of his relationship was leaked, he tried to execute his lover. Since then, he was banned from most cities on the west coast. They were having none of that, there are a lot of sirens, and other fish folk in those parts.”

“Ah …”

It might have been the cumulated exhaustion or the alcohol, but the knowledge that fantasy creatures existed did not set in.

“Either way, he was murdered in the strangest of circumstances. One of the local barons poisoned him you see, except the baron had absolutely nothing to gain from that matter. No money, no fame. He was executed, and his family exiled. But one of the palace maids came forward in the defence of the poor man, or his post-mortem honour at this stage, I guess. She said she saw two clerics leave the palace through a secret back door. It’s all just so strange, isn’t it?”

This time the mother looked right at me, and I was slightly taken aback by my inability to lie out of this one. So, I decided that I would rather look like an ignorant idiot.

“Honestly I don’t know what to think. All I’ve heard is that he had an accident.”

“Oh my, an accident?”

“Well, I guess getting thrown down the stairs does count as an accident.” The farmer intervened.

“Oh stop with your nonsense. So what if a friend of a friend of your uncle saw the body? I was told the duke was poisoned.

“Shall we leave this mystery unresolved and go to bed, before any of us find ourselves sleeping outside?” I jokingly asked.

“Alright, alright. Would you like a jug of milk for the road, tomorrow?” The mother seemed to have calmed down.

“Sure, but only if you let me pay for it. I already feel bad for drinking all your milk, and the cream as well …”

I hadn’t noticed during our conversation, but I had finished two small bowls of whipped cream that had been left on the table.

“Alright, if it will make you stop trying to ‘compensate’ us for letting you stay over.” The farmer stated.

After that, I helped clean up the plates and went to bed.

I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.