Mercenary x Oc(Neera): A Grimoire of Zero Love Story

Prologue

Neera's Pov: Whenever you're out in the woods, you think 'hmm, it should be a good place to go for a walk or to relax for a while' right? I wish I could say me and my companion were doing the same, but sadly we're not. We're actually running in the woods. What are we running from you might ask? Well, let's say we ran into trouble in a village not far from where we are, and now we have hunters hot on our tails. I'm getting ahead of myself here. Allow me to tell you how this all started, how I got myself into this situation.

20 minutes ago:

I was walking through the village, the dark brown hood of my cloak covering all of my face. I do my very best to keep a low profile. Honestly, I'm not one that likes to be in a large crowd, so I don't like all the attention. Anyways, as I walked, I felt a presence right next to me. I look down and see a fox standing beside me. I kneel down a little and petted his head a bit. I continued to walk, with the fox right by my side. Everything seemed peaceful, but then I heard a disturbance coming from an alley. Me and the fox shared a look and went to the alley to investigate. We go in and see three men cornering a woman to a wall. "P-Please, leave me alone" she whimpered. "Not until you pay what you owe us!" one of the men said. "I'm telling you, I have nothing to give you" Once we got close enough, we see one man take out a knife, about ready to strike the woman. "Better give us what you have, or we'll have to take something precious from you" one of them said, giving a seductive smirk. I growled in disgust. Then, I come out from the corner and approached the men. "Hey, creeps! Didn't your mothers ever teach you boys not to pick on girls?" I said to them. They look at me, and one of them said "what's it to you, huh?" "Let me put it simply. I don't like the way you're treating this woman. Clearly she's got nothing to give you. So why don't you guys just leave her be and we won't have any more trouble" When I said that, neither of them flinched. "Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it, sweetheart?" one guy said. My glare harden when he called me 'sweetheart'. "Are you sure you want to start picking a fight with me?" I said, threateningly. "What can you do? You're just a petty maiden, just wanting a little attention, which we'll be glad to give you" 'That's it' I thought. Then, I take out my sword from it's scabbard and pointed the blade directly to them. By the looks on their faces, they looked startled and a little afraid. "Does it look like I'm joking?" I said. The leader of the group, stepping away from the woman, could only mockingly laugh. "Do you even know how to use it, lady?" he said to me. Before I could do anything, my fox companion came out and did a backflip kick on him, knocking him on the ground. He fell with a thud and looked at him, clearly confused. "W-Wait, what?" "In case you're wondering, I'm no ordinary fox. Prepare to get yourself slammed by Kenji the Great" They all were startled, seeing a fox talk. Kenji goes to attack while the other two go for me, taking their swords out in the process. I dodged their attacks with ease. A blade nearly slices my left cheek, but I manage to block that move. One guy goes to punch me, but I instantly caught his fist before it could touch my face. He glares at me, but then looks at my hand. Rather than a normal human hand, he saw a golden furred one. "Y-You're a Beastfallen!" he said. I slightly gasp a little. I let go of his fist and head butted him, instantly knocking him out. The impact made my hood fall from my head, letting my face be shown to the men and the woman. "She's a Beastfallen!" one man said. Kenji sees this and mutters "oh boy, cover blown" Another man goes to attack her, but I grabbed him and flew him behind me. I hear him groan from behind me and see the others run out of the alley. "That's right, you better run, you wusses" Kenji shouted. I look at the direction where they ran for a moment. Without turning away, I said to the fox "Kenji the Great? Really?" "Hey, I was caught in the moment" he said. I turn around and see the woman trembling with fear. Not moving from where I was, I asked "are you alright?" She didn't say anything, but only nodded her head. I smiled, relieved that she's okay. Then, I hear voices coming from the other end of the alley. "Great, we got company" Kenji said. "That's our cue to get out of here" I said to him. He nods in agreement and we were about to head out, but I looked back at the woman. "Be more careful from now on" I said to her, before me and Kenji left the alley, with some men after us.

Back to the Present:

That's how it happened. We're still running and they're still after us. "Geez, these guys just don't quit, do they?" I said as a arrow flies right past me, almost hitting me. "We gotta figure out something, before they have both our heads" said Kenji, who was running beside me. "You got any ideas?" "Not at the moment, no" "Oh, that's helpful" "What about you, smart gal?" "It's hard to think when you're running for your life" As we argued, we abruptly stopped at a ledge of a cliff. I look down, observing the drop. "It's not a big drop, we'll make it just fine" I said. Kenji looks at me like I was crazy. "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!! THERE'S NO WAY WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT!!" he said to me. "Well, do you have any other ideas?!" He looks back at where the men were coming from, and they were coming fast, and look back down at the ledge. Letting out a frustrated sigh, he decided to make the leap. "Neera, you better know what you're doing" "Trust me, I know" "Huh, yeah, I heard that one before" I give him an emotionless look and he said"if we live after this, I'm going to kill you" Reluctantly, we both made the jump, not knowing if we were going to live or die once we get to the bottom.