[BL] The Ice Prince and his Fairy

Once, we were 13

AN: This came about a bit later than anticipated but here ya go. I promise to not be late again~

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After the day Qin Rong returned to an empty house, life was different. As expected, being a child all alone in the world was hard but it was nothing new for the mercenary. In some ways, things never change regardless of the world one lives in.

One being, getting a job.

At first, he chose to sell whatever he could take from the house. While he wasn't happy about stealing from friends, he was sure it wouldn't be a problem. It's not like anyone else would expect to return to an abandoned house that still had valuables in it.

In other words, finders keepers.

The money he made and the lessons he'd received from that creepy elf guy made things a lot easier when it came to surviving on his own. His knowledge made him a lot more appealing than his less educated but older competition.

Yet such matters were never so simple.

While getting a job was somewhat easy, keeping one was where things got difficult. Why? Because apparently it was pretty damn obvious he was a fairy.

Qin Rong had no clue how people kept finding out about him but every time he thought he was in the clear, some bastard would try and kidnap him or collect stuff from him to sell.

And every time this happened, he had to kill the guy, making it pretty difficult to pick up his paycheck the next day. Which then led to him having to leave town and the cycle restarted.

Honestly, seeing his wanted poster in almost every town he went to would have been cool once but considering he was only 10 at the time, he felt it might be a little excessive to offer so much for a child. Did these folks not have anything better to do?

Still, it was becoming harder and harder to get by as time went on. One year turned into two and the bounty hunters after him didn't seem to be getting easier. If anything, his bounty kept growing to the point he began wondering if someone was fucking with him.

He'd only killed, like, five creeps. Why offer so much when there were literal monsters to hunt!?

The worst part of his notoriety was the fact he only learned about the adventurers guild after the fact, as they were the ones who usually hunted him down. He didn't bother killing them, as they were only doing their job but he was not going to make it easy for them.

He'd probably ended a few adventurer careers when he got too heated in a fight but such were the risks of the job.

On one such day, his life changed for the better and he had to thank his wanted poster for it.

He'd just turned 13, having been on the run for years and grown tired of running. While it was fun for a while, living like a rogue, being chased after was exhausting and troublesome.

Not to mention rough on his expenses.

The town he was resting in was abuzz with news that war was breaking out and the headstrong young men of the town were excited to join. It would be a chance to prove their strength and make a name for themselves.

That and get paid quite a bit if they accomplished something great.

Qin Rong had heard whispers of war but hadn't expected it to actually happen. It would make things both easier and harder.

On one hand, he could gain a lot of money as most young able-bodied men would be gone, clearing the job market. On the other hand, there might be folks who try to recruit him for the army. Qin Rong was first and foremost, a mercenary. He wasn't a soldier and refused to be.