There are 26 volumes for the manhwa, Vagrant Soldier Ares.
Volume 01 The first volume contains nine chapters. Chapter Summary 001 Despite the frequency of war, the country of Chronos has had relative peace for 10 years. In the Chronos year 237, Ares finds an advertisement for Temple Mercenaries. He's broke, homeless and hungry, and their offer of room and board appeals. He first tries his luck for a meal at a nearby shop but is thrown out. Mikael finds the same ad and takes a meal at the same shop. The waitress also takes pity on Ares and sneaks him a bowl of food. She warns him against the dangerous choice of joining Temple Mercenaries, telling him how men from her village never return alive. When she asks if he is any good at fighting, he replies, "I'm as good as the next guy." Later he hears a scream and realizes it is her. He returns to find three thugs demanding "rent" from her father, the owner. They decide to take her instead, and Ares intervenes to return her earlier kindness. They laugh, and the leader says that he got his facial scar from defeating the Red-Eyed Swordsman. After offering them a chance to back down, Ares quickly takes out two of the three. The leader then holds a knife go to the waitress. Mikael, who had been observing Ares, casually dispatches the leader as swiftly as Ares defeated the other two. 002 Ares and Mikael proceed to Temple Mercenaries. Two guards at the gate belittle them for their youth. They also mock Ares because he did not know there was an entrance exam - a test of skill against a B-Rank soldier. Mikael threatens the guards and beats one of them. Inside the gate, they find the testing grounds and join the queue. The next entrant up is Baroona. He hesitates to fight with a practice sword, but Temple will not allow him to use his preferred weapon of twin chained daggers. He lasts the three-minute minimum by easily evading attack, and Mikael and the tester both realize he never intended to attack in the first place. Testers are switched out, and the new one harshly speaks against all those who came to the entrance exam. When Mikael's turn comes up, he asks to use a real sword and is denied. When asked for his name, Mikael refuses to give it. 003 Mikael takes out the tester immediately. He hands the practice sword to Ares, telling him, "I'll be waiting, so you'd better come!" Angered for the pride of Temple, the new tester fights dirty. He attacks while Ares tends to an untied shoelace. He hits Ares solidly on the head, but Ares has a very hard head. When the tester attempts a second simple tactic on the somewhat simple-minded Ares, Ares feints and easily dodges with an acrobatic maneuver. The tester throws sand at Ares' eyes, but Ares catches it. Ares throws the sword at the tester and then throws back the sand he'd caught. It turns into a brawl, and Ares wins. The three join Temple Mercenaries as C-Rank soldiers. 004 In the Chronos village of Jagsen, young Mickey cries in front of the graves of his parents. They died when bandits looted the village. The bandits return monthly, demanding a protection fee. Even though Chronos ignored the village's pleas for help, Mickey hates that the villagers pay it. This month, however, the village elder decided to give the protection money to Temple Mercenaries instead. Ares, Mikael, and Baroona sleep while traveling to Jagsen, and their unit's fourth, Gohue, can not believe that they are so unafraid of their first mission. When they arrive, Mickey is impressed by Temple Mercenaries but not by the four. Ares tries to end Mickey's heckling by demonstrating his sword skill to slice a scrap of wood into quarters mid-air with his eyes closed. 005 The wood scrap lands seemingly intact, and Mickey runs off. Meanwhile, the head bandit Shion decides to double the monthly protection monies charged to the village. An underling arrives to tell him that an army has appeared, but Shion laughs, saying he was once in the army himself. Later that night while Mickey walks home, he finds the wood scrap that Ares tried his skill at earlier. He kicks it, and it flies apart in four pieces. Mickey seeks out Ares, who is watching Gohue draw. He apologizes to Ares and is momentarily impressed by Ares' regard until Ares runs off to gamble. When the bandits arrive in the morning, the villagers have a tarp over their "payment" - Temple Mercenaries including Ares, Mikael, and Baroona. 006 When the bandits remove the tarp, the villagers shy and the mercenaries immediately attack. Baroona notes that Ares is doing quite well. Mickey, watching from a window, announces to the cowering villagers that Temple Mercenaries have already won the fight. Ares finds and kicks Gohue who had been playing dead, claiming to have fainted. The sole remaining bandit attempts to flee, but the mercenaries order him to lead them to their base. At their watchtower, the bandits spy Temple Mercenaries approaching. 007 Shion calms the bandits and asks what army the approaching soldiers represent. The watchman replies that they do not have a flag, but their helmuts have a snake symbol. One of Shion's men, Carnival, identifies them as Temple Mercenaries, a previous employer of his. He says that they "used to be strong, but probably they are now all garbage". Temple Mercenaries sends scouts and A-Rank soldiers to the front and more soldiers towards the back of the bandit, a strategy that Mikael explains to an impressed Mikael. One-Armed Jack and other A-Rank soldiers break through the bandits' preliminary defense, but the bandits retreat beyond their gate. The bandits heckle Temple Mercenaries saying, their other troops that went towards the back are probably dead. Carnival has single-handedly dispatched them. When asked by his fellow bandits if he had a grudge against Temple Mercenaries, Carnival replies that "these bastards kicked me out". 008 The C-Rank soldiers are assigned to break down the doors, and they encounter a small group of bandits waiting for them inside. Five A-Rank soldiers move forward to dispatch them. They immediately recognize Carnival, and Carnival immediately kills them. Older soldiers relate to the new recruits how Carnival was kicked out of Temple Mercenaries two years ago while a beginning rain reminds Shion of another rainy day when he was a general for Chronos. On that day he remembers that the king turned down his request for remuneration to his soldiers after they had suffered exceptional losses during a hard conflict. Meanwhile, Mikael out-maneuvers Ares for the chance to fight Carnival. Carnival asks if he is crazy, and Mikael replies, "Well, I don't much want to live..." 009 Before Mikael can begin, One-Armed Jack steps in to fight Carnival. Mikael knocks Ares out of his helmet for saying that Mikael was cut off from fighting Carnival like Mikael cut Ares off. Baroona asks why he hurt his hand on Ares' helmet, but Mikael admits that Ares ducked a blow to the head. As One-Armed Jack skillfully fights Carnival, the latter is forced to draw his second sword.
Volume 02 The second volume contains nine chapters.