A Soldier and a Centaur

-----INTRO-----
"Hey Captain."
"Hey."
"Hello Captain."
"What's up?"
"Hello Captain Anon~, how is it going?"
"Good, thank you. I love how your snakes look today, Medusa. Did something with them?"
"Ara ara~, how nice of you to notice, Captain~."

Walking through the small city I'm in charge of, I nod and greet everyone that passes by. Guardsmen under my command, villagers I know, hell, it's such a small city everyone knows each other around here.
The city itself ain't much to look at, really. Some houses there and there, a main plaza, surrounded by shops and a few inns, and that's basically it. Still, the city's as old as anyone can remember.

"Nice day today, right Captain?"
"Indeed it is."

And I'm in charge of it. Captain of the Guard. But I'm not as old as the title makes me seem, no, at 23 years of age, I was selected, amongst all the other Guardsmen, to be the Captain of Seven Cross town. It's a fond memory of mine. One day a member of the King's Honor Guard came with a messenger of the King, who said that whoever came closest to beat the Honor Guard in close combat without arms would be deemed the Commander of the city.

I stepped forward.

As soon as the order to fight was muttered from the messenger's lips I sent a kick right between the Honor Guard's legs, breaking his little honor guardsmen, which left him whimpering on the ground for more than 10 seconds.
No honor in battle.

The guy bitched and moaned, called me "honorless scum" and demanded a duel to the death, but eventually the messenger, even if he didn't want to either, gave me the title. I supposed that what convinced him was the Guardsmen laughing and the cheering from the villagers, certainly not my massive skill in battle, but back then it was a city far away from the frontlines so it didn't really matter whether the Captain could fight or not, just that he could keep the peace, and a man who's liked throughout the city can do a better job than a man who's feared or simply not liked. Thanks to that little event, now I enjoy a pay that's enough to keep me fed, a shining distinctive armor, and a halberd, the manliest weapon ever forged. Fucking heavy, though.

"CAPTAIN!" A scream.
The fuck?
I turn around and see a guardsmen running at me at full speed. Well, as much as the chainmail allows him to.
"What's the matter Guardsmen?" My tone turns serious.
"Captain, scouts..." he wheezes "scouts reported that a force of Spawns are coming here from the north."

Oh no. Not Spawns.
Bandits? Sure. The King himself and all his family with no previous notice? Sure, whatever.
Just not fucking Spawns.

"Alright, go to the barracks and wake everyone up, I want everyone up and geared in five minutes." I shout. "GUARDSMEN!"
Every single Guardsmen around immediatly runs up to me.
"Men, gather the soldiers and prepare defense procedure. Lieutenant, grab a few men and evacuate the civilians." I give my best mean look. "Spawns are coming, I trust you'll give your all, men."
The Guardsmen give a "YES CAPTAIN!" in unison, and then run off to their duties.
Suddenly, a scream comes from the south gate. "GATE'S OPENIN'! KNIGHT MERCEDES HAS ARRIVED!"
I turn around and see a hulk of metal and horse coming towards me. A knight on his horse.

But once it got closer I noticed the horse has no head, and the knight has no legs.
"A centaur."

The knight closed at me and spun around me once. Horse habits die hard, huh? Then he removed his sallet. Well, her sallet, apparently, as the face-mask helmet revealed a smooth, girly face, with a pair of light-blue eyes complimented by long blond hair tied up in a ponytail. Placing her sallet on a leather strap at her side, she turns to me.

"Greetings young Guardsmen." She bends her front legs slightly forward, as if to salute. "I am in a quest of the utmost importance and I require thy help. Where is the Guard Captain of this city?"
Wow, it's been a while since I heard that kind of English. "Uh, you are talking to him right now, knight..."
"Mercedes. I see. Then thou must know already that a force of evil Spawns are approaching this city as we speak."
"Yes, I have already issued the order to the guardsmen to evacuate the townsfolk and to man the defenses." Oh, she looks pleased.
"Hmm. Good, very good, young Captain," How old is this girl? "to save the innocent folk from battle is a most honorable and imnportant deed." Heh. "I commend thy actions. Yet that is not why I am here. As thou must know, Spawn attacks have increased in this particular area, yes?" I nod.

It's no lie, Spawn attacks are becoming increasingly common around these parts. Villages and caravans are being raided and cities are barely driving off sieges. A huge nest must be nearby, but to spit out the fuckers so fast? It was never heard of, even from a large nest.

"Very good. I come here as commanded by the Order of the Moon with orders to destroy this wretched nest of disgusting creatures. Yet when I arrived at the city and I saw thy Guardsmen running about, one told me about thy situation, so, on my honor, I must offer my help."

A knight of the Order of the Moon at our side? Well, that's appreciated. They are very well-known across the land for their prowess in battle.

"Sure thing, Knight Mercedes, but it looks like it's going to be a pretty big fight, do you think you're up to this?" A good ol' piece of peasant trash-talking always gets the knights riled up for battle.
But not her, apparently, as she looks incredibly offended. "Of course I am up for the challenge. I am a Knight of the Moon, I would never leave a battlefield and allies on their own."
I shake my head, "I was, uh, merely 'jesting'. The help is appreciated, ma'am."
Pleased, she proudly smiles and then unsheathes a long, beautifully crafted longsword. Well, it's a longsword for her, at least. For me, it'd be a claymore.
"Into the fray we head then, young Captain!" A typical knight, huh. But this could be fun.
Placing my halberd on my shoulder. "Then I shall lead you to the barracks, Knight Mercedes. The men will be expecting a speech or something."
"I shall follow thy lead, Captain..."

"Anon, Anon is fine."


-----CHAPTER 1-----
We make our way to the the barracks, where most of the Guardsmen stand at attention.
"That's all of 'em Captain." The Lieutenant states. "The townsfolk have been evacuated."
"Good."
I step in front of all the men.

"Alright men. You know the drill, it's a siege, and it's gonna be a fight. Archers will be stationed on the walls, and infantrymen will be on the gate to face the Spawns if they manage to breach it. Lieutenant, you'll be in charge of the archers, I'll command the infantry lines." I point at Mercedes. "Knight Mercedes here has offered to help us. Put on a show for her." The men cheer, which surprises Mercedes a bit.
"Captain, the Spawn are in the horizon!"
"Okay, everyone to your positions." I command. "Let's give the ugly sons of bitches a warm welcome."

As the men get into position, Mercedes approaches. "I must beseech, thou believe this plan shall work? Spawn hath dozens of troopers for every Guardsman that stands his ground. They shall surely outnumber us."

She has a point, I don't think this plan'll work out. But this isn't my only plan. I wouldn't be Captain if my only plan was 'hold the line.'

I shrug. "Let's hope it works."
Few moments after, we're at the line. An order is heard from the walls. "ARCHERS, FIRE!" Well, that should whittle down their numbers.
Problem is, that there are simply more Spawn than we have arrows. Boys are a fucking lot, and aren't like normal men or monstergirls. They don't get tired, and they don't care about their comrades. 'Morale' is a rather different concept for them. But-
"THEY'RE AT THE GATES!"
And a loud smash is heard, the gate trembles.
"Well, that was faster than I thought."

The gate, however, isn't the only thing that trembles. The line shakes a bit as the men start to feel the fear of the bloodlusty battlecries coming from beyond the gate.
"This is mad."
"I shouldn't be here."
"Oh man oh man oh man."
Knight Mercedes looks at the men, then back at me. I shrug, and the stare intensifies.
"Come on, you apes, do you wanna live forever?" I grunt at the men, who stop shaking, even if it's just a bit. I'd actually love to live forever, but, eh, I'd rather lie than have a moody knight telling me how to do my job.
Another smash at the gates. And another.
And the gates came down.
Spawn start pouring into the city through the walls, looking for a fight. Disgusting, humanoid-like beings yet a lot more... 'spiky' if you will.

But fuck fighting, I'm doing this the easy way.

At the top of my lungs I issue an order to the archers. "ABANDON THE WALLS!" The archers start running away, trying to place the most distance between themselves and the gate as possible.
Alright, not just yet. "Stand fast, men!".
Wait for it. Wait for it.
Now.
I once again call, this time to the lieutenant, "BLAST THEM OUT!"
Ten seconds later, the northern town gates are consumed by a massive explosion, taking with it part of the town walls and quite a lot of the Spawn. "Infantry lines, onwards, corner them!" The lines start moving in unison forwards. The Spawn, unorganized, are no match for the innumerable spears that are cornering them. In few moments, all of the Spawn that survived the explosion are trapped against the rubble that used to be the town gate, and in a few seconds more, they're all basically pincushion.
Mercedes shoots me a glance, as if to say "what?"
I shrug, again. "If the gate falls, make another one."

"Captain" a messenger from the archers, "there are a few stragglers left outside the walls, but they're running away, what do we do?"
What do we do, huh. "Fire at them. The less that escape, the better." They're a plague, they don't deserve mercy. Then I turn to the infantrymen. "Execute any Spawn that's still alive, you there, grab a group and run to the capital, we need builders and reinforcements." I look at the gate. "Specially builders."

Thankfully the force wasn't really a siege force, more like a rag-tag band of Spawns hunting for blood built up in two or three days. Else the battle would not have been so easy.

As all the men are busy in their task, I smile.
"No blood on my armor, no blood on my halberd. Fuck yes."
I hear hooves stepping behind me. I turn around to see Mercedes, removing her sallet. "Pray, Captain, a word?"
"Yeah, sure thing." I'm in too much of a good mood to be formal.
"What was that?" She asks, puzzled.
"Well, they were tactics." Oh, I get it, not honourable enough. "I mean, I know they weren't very honourable, but I prefer the lives of my men over my own, uh, 'honour'. Surely you can understand?" Honourable types aren't exactly hard to deal with, just appeal to a holier-than-thou concept and that's it.
"Thy soldiers prefer a dishonourable total victory, over a honourable, hard-earned win?" I'm pretty sure everyone in their right mind do, my dear.
"Knight Mercedes, many of these people have families here. To leave them to themselves would not exactly be very honourable, yes?" Did it again, Goddess I'm great.
"Hmm, well, I see thy point, even if I don't agree." She looks pleased. Well, good enough I guess.
"Now, Knight Mercedes, I'm sure you are tired from your travels, might I suggest spending the night in the Inn?"
"I thank thee for thy hospitality. By the way, Captain, tomorrow another member from the Order shall come to the town to accompany me in my travels. I would ask of you to meet him in person to tell him the details of your, uh, 'astute' victory today?" I chuckle a bit at her choice of words.
"That is fine, Knight, I will greet the Knight tomorrow."

And with that, I'm off for the day. Have to prepare reports, interrogate prisoners, question the men, and all that stuff that comes after a battle.
I think I did pretty good, though.

The following day was an early rise for me. Apparently the Order of the Moon doesn't know people enjoy sleeping and that other warrior arrived at 6 AM, and, as I said, I had to meet him in person.

What I saw, though, wasn't a warrior, it was a young courier.

"I-I'm sorry Knight Mercedes, but Knight Marcus has been called for another fight far away in another Kingdom and he will not be able to help you."
"What?! Shall I attack the Spawn nest by mineself? That's suicidal!"
"That's what the Order told me to tell you, I-it's not my fault!" The kid's nearly pissing his pants at the rage of his centaur superior.
"Hmph, wretched commanders, how do they expect me to fulfill this task without the means to do so?"
The kid, not knowing what to say, says something stupid. "M-maybe the Captain could go with you?" Goddess FUCKING dammit kid.
"Hey now, let's not say things we might not want to-"
"That is a very interesting proposition." Mercedes says, looking pleased. "Captain, as long as the nest is there the town will be threatened. Thine position as Guardian requires you to join me in my quest."

Fuck. She's got a point. Town's not exactly in a good position, we had to blow up the wall to avoid losses, and this wasn't exactly an army which could be spat out at any second.
I suppose that winning this one without blood on my armour or halberd won't be possible.

Biting my lip in frustration at the kid, I sigh, "Goddess. Fine. I'll go."
"Excellent! I look forward to travelling with thee, Captain." She bends her front legs a bit.
"Yeah, yeah, when do we leave? I'll have to tell the Lieutenant he's in charge and do a lot of paperwork."
Knight Mercedes approaches me with a proud look on her face, then smacks me in the shoulder.
"We leave right now, Captain!"

And with that, she starts pushing me towards the southern gate and onto a quest I never really wanted to go.
I wonder, what did I get myself into?


------CHAPTER 2------
"Come on, Captain Anon, we have to hurry!" Mercedes says impatiently, stomping around.
"I'm going, I'm going." I look back at the man in front of me. "Alright Lieutenant, I'll be on leave for a few, uh, probably weeks, or forever, so I leave you in charge. Good luck."
I turn to Mercedes. "Alright then, let's go."
"Thou hast everything thou needst?" Mercedes asks.
Let's see, armour, food, polishing kit, halberd, more stuff.
"Yeah, I guess."
"Very well, then, let us depart!"
And so, our journey begins.

Our journey? Well, to sum up, I'm stuck alongside a heavily-armoured blond centaur knight who speaks as if she was stuck three centuries ago on a borderline suicidal quest to destroy a Spawn nest, which holds hundreds if not thousands of evil creatures that know so much about torture and pain they'd make a Dark Elf blush. And it's not easy to make a Dark Elf blush.

I feel a slap on my back.
"Chin up, Captain Anon! We shall give the wretched Spawn what for!" But Mercedes, she seems awfully cheery. Her, uh, human spine is straight, her step is strong and her expression is proud.
"Anon alone is fine, Knight Mercedes. I suppose we should get to know each other if we're going to di- I mean to fight side by side." Might as well know who I'll be questing with.
"Then thou can call be by my name too, uh... Anon!" She 'hmphs'. "Now, considering the nest's approximate location, we shall arrive there in-" Wait what?
"Woah there, von Berlichingen," the fabled hardcore mercenary who spent 47 years on the trade, then went back home to his kitsune wife and had 10 daughters. "you aren't planning on storming the nest by ourselves, are you?"
Mercedes slightly tilts her head, with a confused expression on her face, which makes me sigh.
"Look, a Spawn nest of such size holds thousands of the nastly little buggers. If we, two little soldiers, waltz in like we owned the place we won't last ten seconds."
Mercedes ponders for a second, then looks to me again. "Then what do you propose?"
"I don't know, I guess we should head to Laria and hire some mercenaries." The city of Laria, aside from being one of the major trade centers, it holds the merc's guild, who'll take mostly any job for the right pay.
"Mercenaries? But how shall we pay for their services?"
"Didn't your superiors give you enough coin?"
"Yes", Mercedes replies, "but considering Knight Marcus was to support me, I wasn't given enough to pay for a mercenary company."
This doesn't add up.
"And even when he pulled out, you weren't supplied with coin to pay for companions."

For a second, just a second, Mercedes looks away , and you catch a hint of sadness in her eyes.
"No."

Huh.
I sigh, "Nevermind. I'll pay." This quest is costing more than it should.
But, well, I suppose it's kind of worth it, Mercedes looks positively happier now.
"Really? Pray, thank you!" She says cheerfully and tries to pull me up for a hug, only to be driven back by the clang of our armours clashing. "Oh, pray, e-excuse me."
I shrug. "Alright, so Laria's about a day from here, so we should get moving. Plus, these roads aren't all that safe, you know, bandits and stuff, so we should keep moving."
"I see, fine, lead the way, Anon!" She says as she starts walking beside me. Well, at least she seems happy now, still, I wonder what was that all about.

Eh, no matter, I guess she's fine no-
"Well well well, what do we have here."
Goddess FUCKING dammit.

I look to my left and see six bandit-looking men, you know, leather, falchions, bows, ragged faces...
What seems to be the leader looks to me, "Woah there, you two look dangerous!" he says in a sarcastic tone, "please, have mercy on a bandit like myself!"
I raise my halberd, and Mercedes unsheathes her blade and gets in position. "Away with ye, wretched knaves!"
"I see this young man and girl don't want to go peacefully. Well, I guess not everyone's as easy. Sic 'em, boys."
The men ready their weapons and two of them wielding bows ready arrows and taunt us. "Get 'em!" "I will drink from your skull!"
Boy, this isn't good, even if we get the guys with blades the arrows will surely get us.
One of the men pounces at Mercedes, who skillfully dodges and slices through the man's leg with her sword. At the same time, a guy starts to run at me, knife in hand, is this guy serious? I've got a big fucking halberd, brother.
As soon as he gets in my range I stab him in the gut with the halberd's spear.
But this is still not good, the guys with bows are taking aim.
Then, I hear two arrows slice through the air. Two screams.

But not ours.

More arrows coming from the forest continue to cut through the air and into the bandits, who are now in a full retreat.
Looking to Mercedes, she turned her guard towards the woods, and so do I.

"We're friendly", a voice from the woods. Then, an elf girl with blond hair tied up in a ponytail and a young man with a cloak come from the woods. "We saw you and thought you could use some help" the man says, grinning.
Mercedes speaks up, smiling proudly, "Your honor is commendable, young couple. It was fine archery, I must say!"
"Yeah well, thank the lady, she taught me."
The elf looks at him "Oh come on, it wasn't like that."
"Yes it was, Alma."
"Well, anyways we have to keep moving. You are welcome!" the girl tells us, then she turns to her boyfriend or whatever "Come on Anon, let's go."

Uh, excuse me? Was that my name?
Nah, must've misheard.

"Alright, I'm coming. You two stay safe." The guy shoots us a smile.
"Same to you two", I tell them as they disappear into the woods again. What a swell pair.
Mercedes 'hmph's proudly. "It is always a pleasure to see such honourable and friendly wanderers about."
"Yeah, shame not all of them are that honourable and friendly, huh?"
"Tch, wretched knaves like those are everywhere. When one brings justice to one, two more appear." Then, she cheers up again and again slaps me on the back. "No sense standing around, Anon! We must continue our journey!"

And so we do. We keep walking until the night falls, at which point we make a small camp at the side of the road.
I prepare the kettle, light up a small fire, and it's time to eat.
"Alright, time to cook." I say.
"Indeed it is!"

...

"You know how to cook, right?"
"Nay."
"Neither do I."

I sigh, though the situation is kind of silly so I start to laugh.
Mercedes tries to keep things serious "It is not funny!"
"Two adventurers that can't cook isn't funny?" I keep on cackling, which proves to be contagious as she begins to giggle. It's a really girly giggle, contrary of what you'd expect from a veteran knight.
"I can not eat meat or the like." she says as she takes a few rations of vegetables. Well, guess the only one that's fucked is me. But then Mercedes looks at me. "If thou wish I... could give some of my food."
Aw, ain't that cute.
"Alright, I guess that's fine."
It tastes like... nothing, but I suppose it's better than an empty stomach.

Soon 'dinner' ended, and it was time to sleep.
I take off bits and pieces of my armour and lie down against a tree.
Mercedes does the same and strips down to a lightly padded shirt, then lays on her horse-stomach, and leans her human part on a tree, closes her blue eyes and sleeps.
I pretend to do the same, until she's really asleep. For one reason. I hadn't noticed them, being under the armour and all, but Holy Goddess.

Mercedes is GIFTED.

Seconds after I realize how pathetic stealing glances of an asleep girl is, and I close my eyes to sleep. Tomorrow we'll arrive at Laria, and I'll have to give out most of my pay to hire a mercenary company.
I do wonder, though, why did Mercedes look sad when I asked her about her Order? Maybe she has had some issue with them? Sending her alone against a Spawn nest isn't something you do. It's suicide. I do wonder...

And I wondered no more, because I fell asleep.


-----CHAPTER 3------

"Captain Anon, come on, awake." A soft voice is heard as I feel a hand in my shoulder, shaking me.
"Huh?"
"'tis already morning, we must march on."
Oh, right, the quest to save the world and all.

I open my eyes as I quickly rise up to my feet, and I start to don my armour, as Mercedes does the same with her's.
"Sleep well?"
"As well as one can sleep whilst laying against a tree." Mercedes complains.
"Oh? I thought Centaurs slept, uh, "against" something?"
"Aye, but they are usually..." she looks away "...softer."
Aw, that's cute, but true, in the end. "In any case, come on, let's keep moving. Laria should be an hour or so from here."
"Very well, lead the way!" Mercedes exclaims, ever-so-cheerfuly.

The walk to Laria is uneventful. Aside from a few patrols and a merchant here and there trying to sell us potions and herbs, not many travelers were found on the road. As we arrive at the gates of Laria, we present ourselves to the Guardsman at the gate, who lets us in with no trouble at all.

The town of Laria looks as it has always looked.
"What a damn mess."
As any central trading city, Laria's roads, parks, main square, they're all filled to the brim with people. Merchants trying to win their day-to-day bread, poor families trying to buy, beg or steal their day-to-day bread, guards with dead stares looking forward, on the look out for trouble. Grey roads, grey faces, dead trees, dead souls. No green, no life, no smiles, just every once in a while a horrible laugh of a pale city.

Yeah, just Laria, I guess.

"Well, in any case, we should head on to the Merc's guild to talk to their leader, we still need to hire them, remember?"
"Indeed I do, let us head to the Mercenaries' place."
After a short walk, we arrive at the merc guild, where we're approached by a scarred yet young looking (even if she probably is three times my age) Dark Elf with long blond hair tied up in a ponytail, wearing a leather armoured outfit and with a pair of daggers on her waist.
"Oi mate, what'cha need?"
She seems to be missing half her left ear, too.
I speak up. "I'm looking for the Leader of the Guild. I've got a job for him, or her."
She looks at me carefully, up and down. "Now now, why woul' a guardsman need a bunch'a mercs?" She smirks, "fat armoured slobs can't handle things on their own?"
"How dare y-" Mercedes starts, yet I wave my hand at her, which prompts her to remain calm, if offended.
Just banter.
"Nah, I'm looking for someone to cut my grass and flower my garden, you know, elf stuff."
The brown skinned Elf looks at me down up, then wiggles her ears (or rather, ear), and grins. "Well I'll b' damned, a guardsboy who isn't a damn mood killer. Sure, I'll take ye to the boss, just follow me."

The brown skinned (old?) lady leads us through the merc's guild's building, where we see all sorts of people, both monstergirls and humans. An amazoness in an incredibly skimpy outfit polishing her claymore, almost as big as my halberd, her body apparently filled with tattoos (apparently, because Mercedes for some reason got in the way and wouldn't let me look), or a succubus practicing with a spiked whip (who would've thought?). There was even a Elf girl who sat in a window with her bow on her hands, caressing it and talking to it, saying things like "soon you'll get to shoot something, Bianca, be at ease." Fun to be around folks, I'm sure.

"Alrigh', past this door's the boss."
Suddenly, her friendly face seemed to disappear.
"Don't piss her off. Seriously now."

Huh. Well, no matter I guess. I let Mercedes go through the door first, then I head in. And I didn't expect this.

"Holy Goddess."

A 7 feet tall Minotaurus, with an axe almost as big as she is leaning on the wall, stands before us. Wearing leather straps that barely manage to contain her massive chest, her abdominal, torso, arm and leg muscles are shown to the world, combined with all her battle scars, promising a veteran warrior, no stranger to death and blood.

Looking at us with hard, cold eyes she mutters "What is it?"
I am a bit dumbfounded, so Mercedes does the talking for me. "We art looking for a band of mercenaries to aid us with a quest. That'd be ye, of course."
"What quest?" She asks, not even batting an eyelid.
"We art to attack the Spawn Nest nearby."

The gigantic Minotaurus ponders for a second.

"2000 gold coins."

That's it? Not even an 'it's madness! We can't attack the hive!"? Just a price?
Mercedes pokes me with her elbow. "Well, Captain Anon?"
Weeping a little, I pay up. It's a three months pay going away right now, which was being saved to buy myself a new home. I guess the King will make it double, though.

That is, if I manage to survive.

"Very well. My name is Lara." She states. "Erika."
The scarred Dark Elf comes in. "Yeah, boss?"
"Get the troops in order. We leave tomorrow morning." Wait, tomorrow morning? Isn't that a little too soon?
"Isn't that too soon?" I voice my thoughts.
She looks at me with her ice blue eyes and frowns just a tiny bit. "No, it is not." She commands. Well, so much for that.
Mercedes doesn't look like she wants to discuss, either, so I guess we'll really march tomorrow.


Now... what to do in a trading town until then?


-----CHAPTER 4-----

Well, I don't know. Trading, I guess? Might as well ask Mercedes what she wants to do.
"Mercedes, is there anything you'd like to do? It's midday, we've got a day spare, and I despise this town. You lead the way."
The pretty Centaur looks at me, puzzled. "Anything I would wish to do?"
"A-ny-thing." I exaggerate.
The pushy, valiant and armoured centaur suddenly gives a meek, shy and blushy image. "T-then, shall we visit the stores?" She says in a soft and quiet voice. The contrast between the heavy silvery plate and her claymore hanging from her waist, and her suddenly shy demeanour makes my heart skip a beat.
She was... is, beautiful.
"Uh, yeah, sure thing, lead the way."

I follow Mercedes for a while. However, the now-meek centaur apparently starts to circle around the shops, apparently going nowhere. She looks at everything, yet decides for nothing. I wonder what is she even looking for.
Well, swords and the like, she is a Knight after all.

"Um, Mercedes? The weapon shops are over the-"
"Nay, I am not looking for weapons." The vigour returns to her...
"Then what are you looking for?"
...And it leaves her again as she looks down to the ground.
Oh, I see what the problem may be.
"I promise I won't laugh or anything."
She glances up.

"I... I am looking for a hairpin."
"What?"
She pouts, stomps her feet then turns around, giving me the back.
"I didn't laugh!"
"Thou might as well have!" She crosses her arms.
"Alright, a hairpin." I take a look around. "There is a small outfit shop there, let's go."
"Surely there is no need-"
"Nonsense, come on, onwards you go." I grab Mercedes' hand, covered by her steel gauntlet, and pretend to forcibly take her. Pretend, since she could easily throw me around with no effort.
Inside the shop, specially made for large species, Mercedes browses around the accessoires, searching for a hairpin.
"Wouldn't a hairband be more useful?" I inquire.
"Nay. Ye do not understand." Mercedes shoots back.

Yeah, I do get it, it's just so amusing.

I take a quick look to the hairpins.
"Hmm, how about this one?" I point to one in the shape of a carrot.
She looks at it, and her eyes begin gleaming.
"'tis v-very beautiful!"
"Well, buy it then.
"But I-"
"Come on, grab it while it's there." I snatch it, place it in her hand, then push her to the old lady running the shop.
"I-"
"The lady wishes to buy the carrot hairpin." I tell the old lady.
"That would be 5 gold coins, dearie." She smiles at Mercedes, who looks at me.
"Anon, I... I do not have any gold coins."

Oh.
Well, it's just five coins. Besides it might earn me some points.

"Here." I take my last coins and hand it to the old lady, then place the hairpin in Mercedes' hands. "As thanks for watching my back when we ran into those bandits."
Mercedes looks very surprised, and her cheeks burn red. She looks at it, then at me, then at it again. She then opens her mouth to say something, which I assume it'd be something like "Nay, I do not need thy charity!" but much to my surprise, she settles with a small, soft-spoken "Thanks."

"Ah, young love~" the old lady mutters.
Mercedes gasps and blushes, even more than she was before, looks lost for a second, and afterwards tries to voice something, but is stuck in a "W-we... w-w-we..."
I look at the lady and smile. "We're not a couple."
"Oh, my mistake young lady, haha!" This seems to calm Mercedes down a bit.

"Yet."

Now Mercedes is completely crimson and simply can't take it anymore. She slowly backs away to the door, then turns around and stomps out, completely red.

"She seems strong in matters of war, yet weak in matters of heart." The old lady shares wisdom with me. "That weakness gives her the girliness her warrior demeanour takes from her, though."

I wave the lady goodbye, and run out to follow my embarrassed centaur companion while grinning a bit.

...

"Come on, don't be so mad." I follow behind her. "We've been doing this for an hour."
"Thou can not toy with me as such! Tis impolite! Tis rude!" She shoots angrily.
"I still don't see why you are so angry."
"Thou should not embarrass me so, such insolence!"
"Oh come on, I was joking." Mercedes suddenly stops.

"Just joking?" She looks a bit down.
Oh boy. "Uh no, I mean, yeah." I don't know what to say. "I mean, you're cute, sure."

This must be her third or fourth crimson red blush, all traces of her fury is erased, repplaced by it. "C-cute?"
"Yeah! You're cute, so what?"
"Cute..." she whispers, and looks pensative. Then she snaps back into reality, "a-anyway, what should we do, until the night?"
Good question, it's still the afternoon.

"Maybe... maybe we could head for the tavern?" Mercedes suggests.


I sure hope I don't regret this.


-----CHAPTER 5-----

Eventually, we arrive at the tavern. I look at Mercedes. "Shall we?"
The pretty centaur nods, and we head in.

As expected of a tavern, there are drunkards all around. However, we're not a rare sight, as this tavern appears to be an inn too, and as such knights and the like aren't exactly rare. After booking two rooms to spend the night in and removing our armour, Mercedes looks around and decides on a table next to the fireplace. I sit on a chair, Mercedes, however, simply sits on the floor. Surprisingly, her 'human torso' is still taller. A few seconds later, a rather sultry succubus waitress comes to us, and while giving me a wink (and making Mercedes angry) asked us what would we like.
"I'll take an ale, nothing fancy. You?" I ask Mercedes, who fidgets a bit. "I invite." She has no money, after all.
"I shall order a bottle of wine, then." The centaur states.

As the waitress leaves (not before not-so-subtly rubbing her backside against my shoulder), I am left face to face with Mercedes in what would be considered a 'date', if only three-fourths of the people around us weren't drunk, or crying, or drunk and crying.

So I guess some small talk is in order.
"Nervous?" I ask.
Mercedes looks up at me. Strangely, she first looks at my eyes, then looks away, looking a bit redder than before. Is she still over that 'cute' thing?
"About the quest we'll embark on tomorrow?" She shoots back, full of confidence. "Nay, I am a Knight of the Order of the Moon. Mere Spawn are not something I shall worry for." Well, she certainly looks confident, and really isn't showing any fear.
Mercedes smiles, "the same can not be said about thee, it seems."
"Does it show?" She's right, in any case. "Well, I can't help it."
"What dost thou mean? Are not you the Captain of Seven Cross?" I guess the cat had to come out of the bag eventually.
"Yes, but that does not mean I'm an experienced warrior like you are." I sigh. "In fact, I've never even been in a large scale battle, and to be honest, it scares me a bit. I'm a bit of a coward, I guess."

The pretty waitress comes with our drinks and a glass for Mercedes, and places them on the table while resting her breasts on my shoulder, and then quickly turns to other customers.

"That does not mean thou art a coward." The pretty centaur says as she pours wine on her glass, and drinks a bit, "just inexperienced. Ever"
That was pretty unexpected, I was expecting her to brag about her achievements in battle or some stuff. I mean, Mercedes is pretty, and she's very skilled with her sword, but she's not precisely 'nice'. No knights are, after all, I suppose it's in their moral code or something.
I smile, "thanks, Mercedes, I kinda feel a bit better." Mercedes looks surprised at the nice words, blushes and then looks down on her glass, then raises, and drinks up.

...

It's been a few hours already, a few hours, and a few bottles of wine. It's night.

"...Capta~in..."
Sigh, "Mercedes?"
"I want you..."
Huh?
"...to buy me another bottle of wine!"
"No way, you've had enough."
"Aww... please?" She makes puppy eyes at me.
"No, my money, my decisions. Final." Mercedes pouts, and but then lies calm again, while smiling. Then, she gets up and starts to circle the table, until she's behind me.
I glance backwards, but a hand softly pushes my face back as I feel two arms being places near my neck and two large, large, LARGE mounds pressing on my back.
I instinctively recoil, "Mercedes, what are you-"
"Hush." Eh? "Captain, I am tired, would you please take me to my room?"
I stutter "I, well, uh"
"Please?"
...
"Fine, come on, off we go."

I lead the pretty centaur by the hand towards her room in the inn, which is considerably quieter. I open the door to her room and let her in, then, she sits on the floor, looking at me.
"Alright, if you need anything I'll be in the room next do-"
"No, please, do come in Captain Anon." Mercedes looks visibly sad now.
I hesitate a bit, but come in. "Yes? What is it?" I don't think it'd be a good idea to leave her alone.

"Captain, I am a failure."

"Come again?" Mercedes looks down, even more depressed. "I uh, what do you mean?"
"My mission to the Spawn Nest was meant to be a suicide mission. I knew that ever since Knight Marcus did not report for his duty, days ago."
I don't really believe it, isn't this just drunken ramblings? "How do you know?"
"The Order and I don't get along." She sighs. "Let us just say, the High Commander once did something I did not agree with, and I let him know."
"Let him know means you called him something amongst the lines of "honourless scum" or "dirty wretch", correct?"
Mercedes looks down, and nods. "They don not expect me to come back from this battle."
Okay, so I've got a drunk centaur with Commander-issues, what's next?
A tear runs down from the pretty centaur's eye, "And I think I should comply."
Oh hell no girl.

"No you should not."
She looks up, surprised.
"We're going to go in that nest, we're going to purge every lasting spiky, edgy bastard in there" that got a smile out of her "and then you are going to go back to your Order and shove those spikes up your Commander's ass."
Mercedes looks conflicted, but at the end she smiles. A teary smile, but a smile in the end.
"Anon... you should not insult the High Commander..."
"I'm a commoner, I can insult whoever I want, as long as they don't find out." I smile. "So rest now, Mercedes, because we've got a hard fight tomorrow. Good night."
I turn to leave, but before I head out the door two arms grapple me as Mercedes apparently hugs me (while pressing her chest against my back, but that's hardly appropiate right now).

"Thank you, Captain."
"Anytime, Mercedes. That's what friends are for." I bid the girl goodbye, and then head to my own room.

Tomorrow will be a long day.


-----CHAPTER 6------

Someone knocks on the door, shortly afterwards, the door opens.
"Captain? 'Tis time for us to leave."

"Aye, I was just preparing my things and fitting my armour. Are you ready, Mercedes?"
"As ready as a knight can be."
"Very good, then, off we go."

We depart the inn after paying up the bills and head for the Merc Guild, to pick up the company before we leave, where a salamander warrior tells us that Lara, Erika and their crew is awaiting for us at the town's gate. After a rather long walk due to the excessive traffic of a town at morning, we arrive at the town's gate, where a company of about 50 soldiers, composed by monstergirl mercenaries of all kinds, Elven archers, Amazon warriors, Lizardwomen footsoldiers, and even some Succubus, uh, 'whippers', awaits.

Lara and Erika come out from the crowd, spot us and approach.
Erika shoots me a grin, "looks like yer in for some fun, kid." Boy, is she right, I'm not exactly comfortable amongst so many women.
Mercedes glares at her with deadly eyes. "I will personally ensure he is unharmed and untouched." That makes the Dark Elf's ear go down.
Lara sighs, "We're ready, you're ready, let us go."

And with not many words, we depart.

--

Hours have passed since we began travelling. It's nearly nightfall by now.

"We there yet, boss?"
"No. Stop talking."
"I'm bored."
"Stop. Talking."
"But-"
"ERIKA."

I look at Mercedes. "Erika and Lara seem to have come a long way together, huh."
"That kind of friendship is only forged through the years, indeed."
In any case, this walk is getting tedious. After being sexually harassed by most of the mercenaries, I decided to stay very close to Mercedes, who seems to be able to repell all these women with mere glares. "Wretched women, can't they control their needs?"
Well, this walk is getting long, so let's do something I do well.

"Can you?"
Tease Mercedes.

Mercedes stops dead in her tracks, then looks at me blushing angrily. "W-what do are you saying, Captain?!"
"I mean it's a need, after all. Don't you get..."
She closes her eyes.
"...the itch?"
That's all she can take before covering her head with her sallet and looking away while mumbling.
"Hey lovers, we're camping here and now." Erika looks back at us.
Mercedes, desperately trying to change the subject, nods. "S-shall I help setting up camp?"
"Nah, Lara and me have got it covered, though you could help in one way."
"Anything at all."
Erika looks at her with the biggest shit-eating grin I've ever seen. "Try not to get too loud tonight with 'Oh Captain My Captain', please."

After this, the embarrassed centaur simply can't take it anymore, and runs off like a little girl, blushing.

"Eh, that ain't really a 'knight' attitude." Erika looks amused. Then looks at me. "You should go after her, My Captain. Don't you think this's the perfect time?"
"Perfect time for what?"
"What, don'tcha like her? She's pretty, she's young, she's girly, and she's head over heels for you. I've been around kid, I know that look." Wonder what she means by 'been around'.
t's not like I haven't exactly figured out she doesn't dislike me, and she's incredibly beautiful to me, but there's one thing that's been holding me back.
"But, uh, she's a centaur."
Erika shrugs and shakes her head as if to say 'no shit'.
"I mean, her, she has, uh..." This is kinda hard to say "...her lower half."
She frowns, amazingly. "Ya might not get this chance again, kid, life's too short to be sweating over t'small details." She grins, and adds "well, for you, anyways" and then winks.
Erika is kinda scarier than Lara, now that I know more about her. "Now, off you go, tiny human, go and catch the princess." She shoves me one and again.
"Okay, okay, I get it, jeez."

And so, I follow Mercedes.

--

"Mercedes, you here? Come on, I'm sorry, Erika's sorry too."
I can't find the girl. I'm not exactly worried, since she can take care of herself better than two of me could, but I still want to find her. I want to see her, I suppose. Those words Erika told me strengthened my resolve, she's right, life is very short. So what if she's a centaur? So what if her lower body is, uh, that of a horse? I like this girl, she's cute, she's funny and she's very nice, so that's not something that's going to deter me.
"I am here, Anon." I hear a soft voice.
I cross some trees, and I find Mercedes at the feet of a water spring at night. "What are you doi-"
"I have something I need to tell you." I shut up, and listen. "This is not something I have experienced ever in my lifetime, and I do not know what it is, and... it scares me." I nod, as if telling her to continue. The pretty centaur looks at the moon's reflection on the water. "Ever since last night, I can not stop thinking about your words, well, not precisely your words, but how you said them, your voice, your expressions, your... you. When I think about you my chest feels very tight", she smiles, "as if I was wearing leather armour." Then, she looks serious again. "Do you know what am I feeling?"
"There's one way to find out." I step forward, without doubt, all or nothing.
I gently grab Mercedes' hand, covered by her plate gauntlet, and lead her human torso down to my level, where I kiss her in the lips. After two seconds, I let go. "Did that feel nice or not?"

Mercedes, amazingly, does not blush (too much), nor run away. She thinks for a second, then smiles.
"It felt... very nice, Anon."