[At the slavers' in the town of Stienie]
The man walked into the slavers' shop and observed the carnage in the reception room. The bodies of guards were heaped together in the doorframe with 2 more guards dead in the reception room itself. He walked past the corpses followed by 4 guards in shining black armor. The more he saw the more enraged he became.
He wasn't just any ordinary man, in fact, he was the lord of the town and surrounding area: Kisho Ida.
He walked past all the empty cells seething with rage. He had heavily endorsed the slavers that resided in his town, and for the most part, it was a benefit to both parties, that is until someone came in and wiped the place clean.
He and his guards proceeded throughout the storeroom before coming to the back office. Inside was the man he primarily did business with, one Aldous Albrecht. He was a man that had come from the far western lands and had brought western knowledge of the slavery business. All the man had amounted to now was a bloody mess on the floor. Seeing as this man had been so incompetent as to lose the entire place and all the merchandise, he kicked the man's corpse. Seething in anger, he ordered that all witnesses be gathered, and any information regarding the perpetrator be rewarded with a silver coin.
Through thorough questioning of the townspeople in the areas nearby, information came to light of a strangely dressed man that drove a mysterious vehicle. When he arrived, he had been pestered by 3 of the strongest crooks in town, yet he put them all down in a span of minutes with a booming weapon. Coincidentally, it was said that a lot of loud booming noises could be heard inside the slavers' before it all went quiet, and a man was seen leaving with a fox-kin in his arms.
Anyone with half a brain could connect the dots, and Kisho ordered composite sketches to be drawn of the man and the stolen merchandise.
[Mark my words, whoever you are, I will not grant you a swift death] Kisho swore.
~~~
Back in the town of Heartwell, unbeknownst to Hisoka, rumors had spread of an E rank adventurer that had killed 200 slimes.
Now, slimes were not fearsome creatures in the slightest, and they lacked offensive capabilities. What astounded the people who heard the rumors was the sheer number he had taken down. Slimes, while having basically no offensive power, are considered hard to kill due to their makeup. Stabbing a slime is like stabbing jello; the difference being the slime will seal the hole. The only true method to kill the slimes is to hit their core or separate it from its mass.
Hisoka not knowing the spread of his fame, went out with Misumi to the guild to look for a solid D-rank quest. D-rank was a niche of quests between the lower ranks and the upper ranks, leaving mostly intermediate danger combat quests. Seeing as this perfectly suited him, Hisoka scrutinized the D-rank section of the quest board, before grabbing a quest that stood out to him.
Simply put, it was a quest to eradicate a goblin settlement. The proof was not required as Goblin's lacked valuable materials; instead, the guild would dispatch employees to confirm it's destruction. It left a decent reward at 20 silver, making it a perfect day trip.
"Misumi, I would like you to use the SBR, I will be using a different weapon than usual. I think it would be beneficial for you to learn different weapons."
He then quickly explained the workings of an AR-style rifle and went about restocking its mags. There being 5 magazines to refill, he spent 45 mana to summon boxes of 5.56 ammo and used the remaining 15 to summon 3 additional 9 round VR 60 magazines. After properly loading the magazines and double-checking his rigging, they set out to their car.
They received quite a few stares, which was odd and slightly bugged Hisoka, however having something to do at the moment he shook off the feeling and the boarded the vehicle, with regards to look into it at a later date.
There was a very roughly drawn map on the quest sheet, and he compared it with the more detailed map he had purchased earlier and was able to pinpoint the location of their target. It seemed it was within the forest to the southeast of the town, in the opposite direction of the forest they had practiced shooting in.
Hisoka was a little worried about how Misumi would handle a new weapon she had not been trained on before, but as she still had the Sig in her bag of holding for a SHTF scenario, he felt a little more assured. They arrived in the forest and parked the car out of view of any passerby's. The map indicated that the goblin settlement was located deeper within the forest, so they set out on their trek, scanning the surroundings for any dead giveaways.
"What are goblins like exactly? I haven't encountered them yet," Hisoka asked Misumi.
"They are short green bug-eyed little bastards," she said, "They have been known to utilize tools and even construct rough buildings within long term settlements. Luckily they can't use magic, so it should be relatively easy," she stated confidently.
Hisoka nodded, happy for the information on his opponents.
They walked on for some time before Hisoka stopped Misumi and pointed to the left. There stood a goblin looking around and patrolling. They got low and proceeded to observe it. When it eventually turned around and began to saunter away they carefully and quietly followed. Misumi's high agility stat and fox-kin heritage made it quite easy for her to sneak after the adversary. Hisoka, on the other hand, had to be extremely careful not to step on a twig or fall on his ass alerting the enemy.
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After what seemed to be a painfully long crawl to Hisoka (in actuality not even 5 minutes) came to an end, they looked forward and saw the goblin heading into a small tent-like structure. It was put together with hides bound in a conical shape with Poles running to the top, like a Native American teepee. Hisoka didn't bother to take any time to admire the craftsmanship or smarts of the ugly little creatures and instead marched forward with the shotgun at a ready position. He didn't even activate his skill to deal with these small humanoid shits.
When the Goblins noticed him they futilely raced to grab their weapons, but the buckshot that raced out of the barrel from the 2 3/4 inch shell was faster. Seeing as these were nothing more than intelligent beasts, Hisoka executed them in a quick and clean way as to not prolong their suffering. He proceeded to fire at the running creatures until the bolt locked back and he swapped for a full magazine.
Various other goblins came out with weapons, but the only ones of slight concern were the archers, who received buckshot before the others. It was quite easy mopping up the little runts.
After clearing the outside threats Hisoka went to clear the shelters, signaling for Misumi to watch his back. When he entered one of the tent-like structures a goblin was waiting for him with a club. The goblin brought it down on Hisoka with force, causing Hiskoa to yelp in pain.
"You bastard!" Hisoka yelled as he clubbed the goblin over the head with the long gun, before executing it in the same swift motion.
In the middle of dealing with the threat, he heard a collective roar, followed by multiple POP! POP! POP! sounds from outside, the unmistakable sound of the SBR. He raced outside to see Misumi surrounded by goblins. [Where did these fuckers come from?] Hisoka wondered as there weren't nearly this many when they arrived.
He brought the shotgun to bear but not before one of the goblins clubbed Misumi in the side, causing her to yelp in pain. Not missing the opportunity the others began to hit her as well.
"YOU FUCKERS!" Hisoka roared as his face turned cold as ice. He subconsciously felt the skill taking over and injecting adrenaline into his bloodstream. The world became clear and he could easily see the fuckers surrounding and beating Misumi. He sprinted towards them while blasting away at those that weren't danger close to Misumi. The ones that stood in his way either got a swift clubbing to the forehead or blown to pieces by buckshot.
Seeing another threat approaching, the goblins stopped hitting Misumi and began to charge Hisoka, giving her the chance to draw the P226 from her bag. While she shot them from behind and Hisoka blasted them from the front, they were stuck between two hails of fast-flying projectiles.
Noticing the absence of threats the skill deactivated itself leaving him once more with withdrawal from the effects.
After putting them all down for good, Hisoka ran to Misumi. Blood streaked down the side of her face and she had a pained expression. Hisoka grabbed her face to examine the wound, seeing it was only a rough scrape he breathed a sigh of relief. She was battered and bruised, and it pained Hisoka to see her in this state.
Seeing one of the shot goblins begin to move, Hisoka without a second thought blasted it twice more, leaving green pulp where the goblin once lay.
With a very concerned expression, he asked her, "Are you ok? Can you walk?" before she could even really respond he had her in a princess carry and was moving swiftly back to the car.
She looked up at his worried face and felt safe in his arms. Seeing his determined eyes she gave a light pained smile before closing her eyes in his trust. He failed to notice any of this as he was too busy making his way back to the car with her in his arms.
He made it back to the place they parked and gingerly set her in the passenger seat wit ha sense of Déjà vu, then floored it all the way back to town, where he parked the car and carried her to her room. The receptionist gave him a nod seeing the rough shape she was in, and once he made it to her room he gingerly lay her down on the bed.
Hisoka rushed downstairs and was about to run out the door when he stopped and asked the receptionist,
"Do you know where I can get medicine or bandages or..." He trailed off listing medical items from his previous world. She was perplexed by most but replied,
"Go down to the building around the corner from the guild, you should be able to get healing potions and clean cloth for bandages there."
He quickly said his thanks and rushed to the building she had described. He entered the building and was greeted by what appeared to be a clinic. He walked hurriedly to the man at the counter and asked,
"Do you have bandages or 'Healing Potions' here?" he asked.
The man at the counter nodded before heading to the back room. He returned soon with 3 bottles containing red liquid and some clean cloths.
"Just how bad are these injuries that you need to heal?" asked the man.
Hisoka who didn't know much more than basic first aid meekly replied,
"I don't know."
The man scratched his chin for a second before heading to the back once more and returning with a large bag.
"Could you take me to the patient?" the man asked.
Hisoka nodded and lead the way back to the inn, and took the healer to her room.
The man was surprised at first seeing as it was a beastkin that he had been so urgently brought to see. Not many people in this kingdom would even waste a low-grade healing potion on their beastkin slaves, but clearly this boy was different. The man scratched his chin. As a healer, he only wished to help people, regardless of petty discrimination. It was a nice sight to see someone else who held the same values.
The man nodded to himself and set to work. He noticed the rough bruising, the gash on her head, and what appeared to be broken ribs. Without further due, he dug into his bag and produced varying items, which he put to use immediately to heal the wounded fox-kin. The man worked swiftly and efficiently, and after not even 30 minutes, she was sleeping peacefully without a trace of her previous beating.
Hisoka was relieved to see that she was ok and immediately began digging through his bag to produce gold to pay the healer. The healer merely pushed the gold back into Hisoka's hand, and told him,
"Keep your gold. You seem to be a man of good character, and the world treats people like you well," he said with a look of approval in his eyes.
Hisoka continued to try and pay the man, even just to reimburse the cost of the supplies, but the healer had already received payment the way he saw it, after all, he was able to meet this young man who seemed to even care for the beastkin. It was indeed a very rare sight in the area, and meeting the young man with such values was quite inspiring to the old healer, who chucked and said,
"Son, I received all the payment I need. If you or your friend there ever get hurt, you know where to find me." The man tipped his hat and left a perplexed Hisoka to wonder what he meant.
Hisoka looked down at his softly sleeping companion and faintly smiled, the only thing that really mattered was she was ok. He left her room so that she could sleep easy, and returned to his own.
~~~