The daily life of monsters

Chapter 8: Legs

"I'm more than certain you chose the worst possible job available."

A line of thirteen people trudged through the forest in mostly silence, outside of a particularly nervous soldier who whispered to his senior, the two positioned at the back of the line.

"Miud, you're just being nervous. There's ten of us, we're all well equip and we only have to protect three people. What's a little trip into the forest really going to do?"

Miud grimaced, clutching his spear a little tighter. He glanced around the forest, swivelling his neck to get a full scan of the area around them before going back to his senior.

"I've heard stories, Telhin. A lot of terrible stories, although a lot of them could easily be lies."

"And?"

"I'm scared the stories that are real. Even if only one in a thousand of those stories are true, that means there are still hundreds of monsters out there."

Telhin chuckled loud enough that the noble's assistant turned to give him a deadly glare, although the old man didn't seem particularly bothered by the anger of a man who was half his weight. Once he had gotten his laughter out of him, he looked cheerfully towards the assistant until he angrily turned back to look at his parchment; despite going into one of the most dangerous locations in the continent, the assistant was still stuck doing the noble's finances.

"I mean, you're not wrong. Walking in here is a gamble, but we have pretty good odds all things considered. What I'm interested in..."

Telhin paused to take a peek over the shoulders of the other mercenaries between him and the middle of the pack.

"... is WHY we're here."

Miud did the same, although he struggled a little more to get a glance at their contractor. A plump, fat and short noble in his late twenties with greasy hair and a gaudy sense of fashion. Miud was surprised that the noble had the stamina to keep up with the mercenaries pace for so long, but he would keep that a secret until their job was over. Besides the noble was a moderately attractive woman; she had cute short hair and was decently healthy, but what stuck out to everyone was how tall she was. She towered over Miud, being almost a ten centimetres taller, only being shorter than Telhin and one other mercenary in the group. She was the main reason progress was slow; every half hour she would stop the whole group so she could rest, which meant that the group was only actually travelling for three quarters of the trip. The question that Telhin had asked bouncing around Miud's head, he continued marching forward, now slightly distracted by the possibilities.

Five hours since departure, the group finally came to a stop. They had reached a small gap in the trees where there was enough space to build a small house. The mercenaries all sat along the outside of the clearing, drinking water or starting on their rations. Miud sat next to a storage cart that two of the mercenaries had been forced to push along the way. Despite the pair getting extra pay, Miud wasn't envious of their position; navigating the cart through the roots and tall grass didn't seem appealing to him in the slightest. His curiosity getting the best of him, he stood up reached out and opened the top lid to see what was inside and was disappointing to find nothing.

Most of the mercenaries ate in silence, quietly watching on as the noble and the woman flirted in the middle of the clearing. In one glance, Miud could tell that Telhin was as uncomfortable as he was. It progressed for five or so minutes until eventually, the noble brought out a ring.

"Linya, will you marry me?"

Although it was obvious that he had tried to whisper it, his excitement had brought his voice to a volume loud enough that everyone could hear. Now the two mercenaries that had been chatting were also quiet, with the only sounds being the forest around the and the anxious chewing of stale bread. For almost ten seconds the group remained silent, everyone other than Linya being completely still, as if they were frozen in time.