“Hey, you fugly fuckers!” shouted a girl with thick black hair pulled back and tied into a low bun. She was standing atop a table, brazenly announcing herself to the listeners in the room. “Over here!”

The horde of goblins inside the fort growled at this blatant act of derision. They fired poorly made arrows the girl's way, but she nimbly evaded every one of them.

“Bleh!” The girl mockingly pulled the skin below her eye and stuck out her tongue before running away. “Catch me if you can, bozos!”

There were quite a few of the goblins gathered inside the fort and they all rose and grabbed whatever weapons they could before chasing after the girl. She was very quick, however, and made it to the entrance before any of them could catch up to her, ducking and swaying from the arrows whistling past her. “Whoop! Ha-ha, not even close! Are you even trying?”

The goblins pushed and shoved their way through the narrow passageway leading outside. They were too tunnel-visioned and focused on the girl to see what was coming next.

“Now!”

Just before they could get out, a chain was raised in front of the exit, just low enough to target their legs. The goblins could not stop in time, and they tripped over the chain in numbers. Those who didn't trip on the chain tripped over themselves.

“Attack!”

Capitalising on the goblins' disarray, swords and arrows came hurtling down at them. The goblins wailed as they were cut down before they could even get up. The goblins at the back who hadn’t fallen were instead struck with a flurry of arrows from outside.

“Now, Mei!” Pinto shouted at the girl who’d led the goblins to this deathtrap.

“Heh. I thought you'd never ask, Beanpole.” She pulled out an orange bottle from the bag slung across her shoulder, “Kobe!” and tossed it at the goblins with a flourish.

A great burst of flame exploded upon contact, smothering the huddle of goblins on the ground. They screamed and wailed as most of them were burned alive. The ones at the back began to retreat into the fort, realising the elaborate trap they had just run into.

“Charge!” The party outside leapt into the wall of flame and stormed inside.

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The goblins' numbers had been severely dwindled and those inside could put up little defence as they were mowed down. Before long, the main chamber of the fort had been cleared of all the goblins.

“Hey, hey, did'cha see that?” Mei-Mei was visibly excited for some reason. “I was like whoosh! And then it went boom! And everything went fwoosh! Did you see?!”

“Yes, Mei, we all saw you roast those poor creatures alive. Well done,” said Mizuno.

“Hehe, Mei made that herself, y'know? It's called an oil of fiery burning. Pretty cool, huh? She's going to make more and throw it at whoever stands in her way!”

“What are you, a pyromaniac?”

Sugawara slid his longsword into its scabbard. “Well, it was certainly effective. Albeit a bit…destructive.”

“Pretty effective, yeah?!” Mei's face was bright with pride. “Artificers are pretty cool, aren't they, yeah? Mei-Mei can cook up all sorts of stuff!”

“Don't ignore the destructive part!”

“Well, I'm sure hurling fireballs as a sorcerer is still cooler, though,” said Fujiwara. He was the party's mage and proud of it.

“Yeah, yeah, Fuji. You're just jealous. Bleh!”

“Shut up, I'm not! My spell is cooler!”

“Blehhhh!”

Sugawara sighed. “What do you think, Pinto? I heard that goblins are tough for beginners, but that was relatively easy.”

“We had a good plan of attack,” Pinto replied. “It might not go so well next time. Mei?”

“Yes?”

“How many of those bombs can you brew and how many do you have left?”

“Hmm,” Mei scoured through her pack, “I have two left and I can brew as much as I can if I have the materials. Carrying too much would be dangerous, though.”

“I see,” said Pinto. “Then make as many as you can. If you need any materials, let us know. Those bombs will come in handy.”

“Hey, I can cast fireballs, you know?"

“I know, Fuji, but your spells use mana, right? We should try not to exhaust you if we can.”

“I guess that makes sense…”

“Good. We'll explore this fort further. Stay together and be on your guard. We don't know how crafty the enemy is. Everyone ready?”

“Yes!”

“Then let's continue.”