I do not own Rising of the Shield Hero or any of the characters.

Hired

Fenris spun around the boar's charge, slashing it across its hindquarters then waited as it skidded to a stop, snorting angrily and charging again. "That's it, you great ugly beast. Come get some."

He knelt as it lowered its head and raised his shield, the boar slamming headlong into the shield, nearly stopping, but pushing through, Fenris skidding backward slowly. Finally, Fenris jumped, driving his sword into the pig's brain, killing it. As it crashed to the ground, he ripped his sword out, slashing and clearing the blade before resting the tip on the ground just as an older man with short white hair and a white beard stepped out of the trees, looking between the two of them.

"You are a warrior?" the man asked. "And a skilled one as well, it would seem."

"I've been called that a few times, yes," Fenris nodded, kneeling and ripping the boar's tusks out of its mouth. "Who are you, exactly?"

"I'm no one important," the man said. "But, I have a request, if you would indulge me."

"Well, aside from killing you, I can't really stop you," Fenris said, grunting as he ripped out the second tusk and moved to cut the Boar open to gut it so he could take some of its meat. "So you've got about probably three minutes before I give up on trying to get some boar meat."

"Our village is too small for the kingdom to care about us during the next wave, but we have no soldiers," the man said. "Please, I know that it would be dangerous, and I don't have anything to pay you, but please help us defend our village."

"I see," Fenris said. "So you expect me to risk my life fighting an endless flood of monsters for a village that's been left to die, for free? Let me explain something to you. I'm out here for two reasons. Well, technically three. First, I'm a mercenary, and I was hired to hunt down this boar after it trashed some pompous noble's fancy carriage full of money and made him lose more money than I'm liable to ever see in my life, which adds up to maybe five percent of his fortune. Second, boar tusks fetch a surprisingly good price if you know who to sell them to, so I'm fixing to make fifty silver for this set. And third, the chick who asked me to hunt the boar down was hat as shit and promised to have a drink with me if I succeeded, so I fully intend to get her drunk and naked after I get back. That's just the way I operate. I never do anything without a reward."

"I understand that sir," the man said. "But I have nothing to offer you. Please. Can't you find it in your heart to do just this one job for free?"

Fenris ripped a chunk of meat out of the boar and stared at the old man. "Eh fuck it. Why not. I don't have any other offers for the wave."

"Oh thank you sir!" the man gushed.

"However," Fenris said, holding up a finger. "I'm not doing it gratis. Assuming we all survive the wave, I'll be choosing something as a reward. Anything I choose. Deal?"

"Yes sir!" the man nodded. "Anything."

"Good," Fenris said. "Now, I've got a hot date and ton of money waiting for me. I'll see you around."

He turned, walking away and followed the path back to the city. First, he stopped by the shop where he could sell his boar tusks, then walked to armory with the bag of silver. Erhard looked up from where he was cleaning a knife and grinned as he saw the bag of silver.

"Well well," Erhard grinned. "What can I get you today?"

"Apparently I'm going to be fighting in the wave, so I need a better one-handed sword, and also a two handed one, if you've got it," Fenris said.

"You know I do," Erhard grinned. "What about your armor?"

"If there's enough money left over, go ahead and give me some of that too.

Erhard nodded and walked into the back. A few moments later, he returned with a pair of swords. One was a relatively plain double-edged longsword with a pure white blade flat on the sides and about as broad as three of Fenris' fingers with a guard that extended about an inch past the edge on either side and a black grip. The other sword is much more fancy, with a black grip that looks like metal rods twisted together, an egg-shaped ice blue gem as a pommel, a guard that extends about half the length of Fenris's forearm from either side of the blade, a smaller ice blue crystal in the center of the guard on either side, and the blade itself is also ice blue crystal, making Fenris wonder if all of the crystals weren't the same one with the hilt just formed around it somehow. He lifted it and smiled. It was light.

"They're perfect," Fenris said. "What about armor?"

"Right this way, I have something all ready for you," Erhard said.

Fenris walked into the changing booth and stared at the armor for a minute before shaking his head, pulling his old armor off and putting the new one on. It had a silver chest plate, clawed silver gauntlets, black pauldrons, and silver grieves. Fenris walked out in it and gave Erhard a skeptical look, brushing his messy white hair to the side out of habit, knowing it would do nothing to tame his hair.

"You're trying to make me look like an idiot," Fenris said.

"Hey now, that armor's some of the strongest I could give you with the money you gave me," Erhard said. "And that's with a huge discount for being a loyal customer. Besides, I got a gift for you too."

He set a bow on the counter. It was a recurve bow that curved forward slightly before sweeping backward, and the entirety of the bow was some kind of wood that looked silver. Along with the bow, he had a silver quiver filled with a couple dozen silver arrows.

"You have been keeping up on your archery, right?" Erhard asked.

"Of course," Fenris snorted, picking up the bow and drawing it back, smiling. "Fine craftsmanship. Why a gift, though?"

"Well, it would be bad for business if you died during the wave," Erhard said.

"Aw, you do care," Fenris grinned, then laughed as he strapped the quiver on so that it was vertical between his shoulder blades and slinging his bow diagonally across his back where he could pull it off with his left hand easily and be ready to use it that much more quickly. "Alright. I'm heading out. I have a sexy blonde chick to fuck."

"Good luck with that," Erhard snorted. "You couldn't score with a corpse."

"I think I might get lucky this time," Fenris shrugged. "See ya."

Then, he turned, walking away, heaving for the tavern where he was supposed to collect his actual reward, as well as meet with his client for drinks.

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