Soldier of Time

IV: The Vanguard and the Visionary (1)

The fresh morning air came to an end, the waves crashed on the beach and the Deer watched them from the mines, only the mercenaries had that privilege, only those who lived in the mines could observe the sea in this place.

As he watched the waves crash, he thought about the decision he had made. He thought that there was no way to back down from that decision and that he should tell Amber that he had done just what she had told him not to do, to take a dangerous job.

“Frankly, I didn’t think you would accept,” Simon said thoughtfully. He was approaching him after accompanying his new employer and the ill-tempered agent to the train station.

“If we don’t arrest this guy, there will be a lot of problems.”

“I know that. If he kills a foreign chancellor, there could even be war.”

“Exactly!”

“And even knowing that, I’m surprised you agreed.”

The Deer smiled as his eyes darted to the horizon. Simon was not the only one surprised. Little by little, the Deer tried to understand what had led him to get into such a predicament. He did not question how they found the evidence or how they reached those conclusions. He did not ask anything, nor was he even skeptical about obviously strange things. He just accepted. As he smiled, he said.

“There is much to do, we must prepare, and we must speak with Nasuma.”

Simon nodded before he responded, “Yes, there is a meeting tonight. He will come. In fact, they will all come. Although it would be best if he did not know what we are going to get into.”

“Don’t be fooled, Simon,” Slevin reminded as he turned his back on his friend. “He already knows.”

Simon smiled as he watched his friend walk away, but he stopped and said, turning to look at Simon, “Why didn’t you ask that guy any questions?”

Simón, who was smiling, began to think of a reason for his lack of curiosity but did not find any.

He looked at his friend this time without smiling and said, “I have no idea….”

“I didn’t ask anything either. That was very strange to just accept, don’t you think so?” Slevin asked with a wry smile.

“Maybe. But it’s Hanibal. When we hear that name, we act like jerks Deer. You know that you can’t leave it like this.”

And with those words, the Deer nodded and withdrew. He walked a long way to his house. From there, you could look at the sea with tranquility. It was a lonely place because Slevin preferred it that way, there were no neighbors in a long way, and that was reassuring.

Upon entering, he saw it more absent than he remembered. He understood that he would spend a few days without returning, and he clearly knew that he would not miss it. However, it was much better for him to stay in that empty place than to start an absurd crusade against Hanibal King.

A beep caught Slevin’s attention, who looked at his phone calmly.

“How was the meeting?” Amber asked softly.

Slevin continues to look at the screen of his phone, and in his mind, he was thinking about how he would tell her that he had accepted that job.

“Everything was fast, and I accepted the job,” Slevin replied before throwing the cell phone on the bed and getting ready to take a bath. The water would help him think more clearly.

The phone rang again, and a message quoted, “It’s not that I didn’t know that you would accept DEER,” the young mercenary read the message and, sighing, went into the bathroom.

At night the Deer walked a path that he had not walked for two months. He slowly approached the mansion where his leader was waiting for him—the owner of his mercenary faction Nasuma Shiriyama.

In the mines, all the habitants were mercenaries, and they all belonged to a faction. Each faction had a leader, and those leaders were known as the Vanguard.

The Leader of the Deer was a foreigner who had come to that country a year after the civil war had ended and had risen to an influential position within the leaders of the underworld due to knowledge of his abilities that others took for a myth...

By the time special abilities became plausible and realistic in the underworld, Nasuma’s party already had many of these peculiar individuals in their ranks, including the Deer.

This fact earned the leader of this faction the name of the visionary and his position in the Vanguard as the eyes. Name that now all members of his faction shared.

Slevin walked to the door of that huge house, and two men were at the entrance guarding more as a precaution as usual. Since the Vanguard had established the rules of non-aggression in the mines, they were fully respected.

“Deer!” One of the men said at the door with remarkable emotion, “It’s about time you came back, old man!”

“Marcus, how are you?” Slevin gritted with a forced smile. He was feeling uncomfortable due to the man’s blatant enthusiasm.

Marcus grinned, “I’m fine. I’m not complaining, waiting for the boss to give me what he gave you. I could use a couple of months of peace.” The man said, joking with his partner and the newcomer.

“For that, empty head, you must do something like what the Deer did. And you’re not even close to being able.”

Said the other guy hitting the shoulder of his partner. The Deer passed the threshold of the door and entered a colorful room full of people. Everyone turned to see him when he entered.

A small silence was made, but he was instantly replaced by a large hubbub.

Many people cut off their conversations and got up from their seats to go to receive the Deer who had just entered.

Many hugs and congratulations, patting on the back that the young man received with gratitude.

The closest he had ever had to friends, and in this place, he did not feel so isolated. While everyone greeted him and welcomed him, Simón waited at the foot of the stairs for him to get rid of his admirers.

Slevin walked waving and smiling until he came to where his friend was and said, “I have to admit that I missed the house a bit.”

“It’s your house, and it’s normal that you miss it.”

“Deer!”

They heard the young men behind him as a tall man with a glass in hand staggered toward them.

“Deer, Deer, Deer, Deer!”

Slevin smiled when he saw Jonah approach him. Jonah was a young man that Simon and Slevin had found in one of their jobs. The young man was being tortured by the mafia to get information from important people.

They released him, and now he was working for the visionary as a thank you to Slevin for saving his life.

“The man of the Moment!” Jonah said, passing his arm around the Deer and throwing all his alcohol breath on the young man’s face, “I want to be like you when I grow up!”

“For that, you must stop drinking i***t,” Simón answered, waving his hand in front of Jonah’s mouth, “Your old snout stinks!”

But Jonah ignored him, his eyes had turned white when he touched the Deer, and his mind explored the memories of the young man. The Deer removed Jonah’s arm from his shoulder and looked at him, and said, “Jonah, I told you not to do that!”

Jonah returned to normal and, seeing the Slevin said, “Fifty thousand for an independent job!! I wanna! I’m in the right, and I’m in...”

Slevin looked at him with a half-smile and said as he watched Simon.

“Of course you’re in, old man!”

And with that, he began to climb the stairs. Simon looked at him curiously before he understood what was happening and went with the flow.

“Jonah, what else did you see in his memory?” Simon asked as they climbed the stairs,

“Not much. When I’m as drunk, I don’t control power well.”

Smiling, Jonah kept climbing, walking close to them as they approached the Visionary’s office. A girl was waiting for them at the door, when she saw them, she smiled.

“Simon, the boss knew you’d come. How are you, Slevin? Long time no see.” The girl said brightly.