Vigil couldn't have been more satisfied with his night. That was the first time in years that he finally had a bed to sleep on.
However, he was unable to enjoy his morning all that much as he was soon told to eat breakfast as soon and as fast as possible to help pack up so that they could get back to travelling.
Like that, in an hour, Vigil was back inside of Leonide's personal vehicle alongside Witch as well as an unfamiliar face.
Sitting directly across from Vigil was a human man that could only be described as imposing yet handsome. As of this moment, his helmet had been taken off and left to lay in his lap at the behest of the old man sitting beside him, revealing the face that could only belong to a man that was in his mid to late thirties. Sporting short dirty blonde hair and sharp amber colored eyes paired with his cold and aloof demeanor, there was no doubt that he could pass as a star male model.
Besides his personal looks, the man wore a full suit of white polished plate armor with golden accents on each and every piece. Hanging from his neck and reaching to the center of his chest was the same chain and pendant combination that the Cardinal was currently wearing, proudly showing off his religious beliefs to the rest of the world.
Vigil was studying the man when the sound of Leonides' voice cut through the still air, disrupting the boy's thoughts.
"Ahem. Dread, allow me to introduce you."
He said, then lifted one of his hands towards the man.
"This man sitting beside me is my personal bodyguard, Culdrom."
Directly after those words had finished leaving Leonide's mouth, Culdrom had leaned forward and extended his hand towards Vigil.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Dread. As you have already heard from His Eminence, I am Culdrom, his current acting bodyguard."
Vigil took a few moments to look at the man's now outstretched hand before raising one of his own for a handshake.
"Likewise, it is a pleasure to meet you. People call me Dread."
While the two were shaking each other's hands, Witch decided that now would be a good time to chime in on their greetings.
"Dread, you remember how last night I taught you a little bit about inmate ranks? Yeah, so Sir Culdrom here is one of Lumarta's ten Empyreans. Also known as Culdrom of the Ten Paladins."
Those words had brought every action, every thought, and every movement of Vigil's to a screeching halt.
Although last night Witch had told him about the inmate ranks as well as what his and her ranks were, she didn't specify anything about how strong people of other ranks could be.
But just based on his assumptions as well as his extensive amount of accumulated experiences, Vigil had a slight idea about how strong the man sitting before him was.
However, before he could come up with a coherent thought, Witch, with a sly grin plastered on her face, had chirped out one more sentence.
"By the way, there are only a total of fifty-five Empyreans currently alive today."
Yep, that did it.
That last sentence had broken the poor young boy's mind. Now, all that he could do was stare off into space with his mouth agape and a flabbergasted look plastered on his face.
Seeing the almost always cold looking boy wear such a face... Something about it was just much too funny for Leonide and Witch to handle.
So they laughed.
Although Leonide did try to hold it in, that had proved to do nothing but delay the inevitable, as he too soon busted out into laughter.
The only one in that section of the vehicle that didn't laugh, besides Vigil, was Culdrom. After all, this was the first time that the two of them had met and he was not privy to how Dread normally acted.
However, that would soon change.
As the days went by, Vigil had started to grow more accustomed to everyone. He would occasionally have small chats with Witch, spend time with Leonide to satiate the old man's curiosity, and even sometimes eat lunch with Culdrom.
Hell, he even spent a good chunk of time with Witch's warband.
But even after all that, Vigil still persisted in putting up a barrier.
He refused to let anyone get too close, not before he could divine the truth for himself. But, the young boy was unable to do so at the moment as he was still on his way to Mercy and unable to know if WItch had told him the truth.
Thankfully, he wouldn't have to wait much longer to find out.
"Young Dread!"
Culdrom called out to the boy that was currently finishing up his plate of breakfast.
At the sound of the familiar voice, Vigil turned his head towards the direction in which it had come from.
Seeing that it was Culdrom, who was now walking his way, Vigil swallowed the last bite of food that was left in his mouth and responded.
"Culdrom, what's going on?"
A few days back, Culdrom had asked Vigil to drop the formalities with him, and so he did.
Acknowledging the fact that he now had the boy's attention, the man soon told him the reason as to why he'd called him out in the first place.
"His Eminence has told me to inform you that today you and Witch will be riding alongside her warband in their vehicle for today."
Hearing this, Vigil became slightly confused. This whole time he had ridden with Witch and Leonide as they were travelling, while occasionally being visited by Culdrom. But now, out of the blue, he was being told to travel aboard a different vehicle?
It was a little odd to him, but not odd enough to start asking any unnecessary questions.
"I understand. In the meantime, I'm going to go help pack everything up. I'll see you later!"
Half an hour had passed and Vigil was now riding aboard an unfamiliar vehicle, one much less extravagant than what he had gotten used to being in.
At first, he couldn't understand the disparity between the two vehicles.
'How can they both be classified as the same object but have so many differences?'
Between the seats, the amount of space, and even the smell, there were many things that one could learn to dislike about this vehicle.
But to Vigil, this still felt like a luxury.
Although he had spent plenty of time inside of Leonide's personal transportation, that didn't mean that he had grown attached to it and in turn learned to take things for granted.
Vigil knew what it was like to have nothing, that was still fresh in his mind. So, he decided that he would cherish every little thing that he could, even if it was a slightly beaten up and worn down vehicle.
Thankfully though, there was one thing that was similar to when he had ridden with the prominent old man.
That was, the person that sat next to him.
"Soo... Are you excited?"
Witch asked with a playful grin slowly stretching across her face.
Hearing her question, Vigil became slightly confused.
"Excited for what? Is something supposed to happen today or something?"
His words slightly cut into the warband's self-consciousness.
Were they not worthy of his excitement? I mean they were friends now... Right?
is what they thought, but decided to keep to themselves.
"Did you already... Never mind. Hey Mammoth, speed up! We're supposed to get there a few hours before the rest of the convoy. Boss's orders."
Vigil had no clue what Witch meant by this, and during the time in which he'd gotten to understand the half-elf, he had learned enough to know that she wouldn't tell him anything even if he asked. So instead, he thought it best to just sit back and relax a little.
Within the next few hours Vigil rested his eyes as he listened to the conversations between the other people currently inside the vehicle.
That was until he heard his name be called out.
"Hey Dread, take a gander outside the window and tell me what you see."
Elata, the dwarf woman, said as she pointed towards what was in front of their Humvee.
Seeing this, Vigil leaned his head slightly outside of the vehicle and put his eyes front. What he saw was something that he'd only been able to dream of in the past.
Out in the distance was a huge wall that expanded for as far as the eye could see. Painted on this wall were dozens of giant murals, all depicting dragons or something to do with them.
He took a second to gather his thoughts then slowly sat himself back into his seat.
"Is... that what I think it is?"
Hearing the young boy's voice, full of disbelief, brought a different kind of smile to everyone's faces, a smile that showed how happy they were for the child.
"Yes, that is the City of Mercenaries, Mercy."
Blanch said in a soft tone.
The next thirty minutes were spent in silence, only for it to be broken when they had gotten to one of the gates that lead to the other side of the wall.
"State your business."
An unenthusiastic looking man, holding a small spherical device and wearing chainmail armor, said while looking through the driver side window.
Witch then opened the back left door and jumped out of the vehicle while dragging Vigil along with her, leaving their helmets inside
"We're returning from a job... That and we have a newly recovered Child of War with us."
She said as she pointed towards Vigil.
The man then responded in a manner that showed how much he barely cared.
"Understood, head on-! Wait! Did you just say-!?"
Before the man could finish his sentence, he had quickly cut himself off.
Looking at the tool that was in hands, now glowing green, he was able to tell that these people were indeed telling the truth, for this object was something that was used to discern if someone had lied about something they'd said.
Due to his old age as well as how weak he was, the man had taken the jobs of standing guard at the gates of Mercy for years now. Because of that, he'd seen all types of people, including Children of war, and knew just how much a moment like this meant to them.
Taking a quick, deep breath to calm himself the man then said:
"I understand, please get the child registered within a month of entering through these gates. And kid... You did well, I welcome you to Mercy."
With that, he had let them through.
As Witch walked forward with Vigil, the rest of the group drove off into the distance, going somewhere in the giant city.
Before the pair had left the vehicle, Witch had told everyone to go on without them, as she wanted to show the young boy around.
But, as they were walking, Witch had realized that Dread had stopped just a few feet behind her.
'What's he doing?'
She thought to herself, then started to walk towards him.
As she did, she could see small tears trailing down the boy's face, accompanied by the quiet sound of his voice
"Look mother... Hic... I made it... After two long, grueling years... I made it..."