Chapter 18: Minotaur Vs Little Boy

Kat’s party was ushered outside the Guild hall to meet with the Guild master.

“I have a mission for you five.”

“We heard…” Kat admitted.

The Guild Master glanced at Bandit momentarily. “Honestly, I wouldn’t send you all normally, but there’s nobody else who can fulfill this request. The dragon specifically requested non-humans.”

“He seemed nice.”

Everyone turned to stare at Lupy, but ultimately decided to move past that.

“So we just need to go to the Upper Gordu Dungeon?”

The Guild Master nodded in response to Kat’s question. “So it seems. I don’t know what he’ll ask you to do or why he wants our help. If the topic of payment comes up, just accept whatever he offers.”

“Okay.”

Lupy wasn’t satisfied. “What if what he offers isn’t—“

Shiba placed a hand over Lupy’s mouth, silencing her.

“Anyway,” the Guild Master continued, “do your best on his quest but prioritize your own lives over mission completion.”

“That’s what we always do.”

“Good. Leave as soon as you’re ready.”

“Wait!” A group ran over, led by none other than the Lord of the Twin Cities, who was gasping and clearly out of breath. “Where are you sending them?” He eyed Vulp in particular as he forced out the question.

“The Upper Gordu Dungeon,” the Guild Master answered plainly.

“So one of those dragons really was from the Upper Gordu?”

The Guild Master nodded. “The other one is from a dungeon below a mountain in the Grand Duchy of Crystrand. He most likely was investigating the recent appearance of a dragon in the Union.”

Lord Davidson eyed the minor roughness evident in the cobblestone all around him. “We’re lucky the damage was so limited.”

“Quite.”

“Guild Master, what does the first dragon want with these adventurers?”

“I don’t know.”

“What? Don’t you have any ideas at all?”

“None that I want to share.”

“Oh, come on, Guild Master. You’ve got to give me more than that!”

“No, I don’t.”

Lord Davidson brought a hand to his forehead. “Now I know how his Majesty feels…” He turned to Vulp as he lowered his arm. “No matter what the Guild says, you don’t need to go if you don’t want to. You’re needed here.”

“I’ll go.” She looked left and right at her companions. “We all will.”

“Why?”

Vulp glanced at Lupy. “The dragon seemed nice. He probably has a good quest for us.”

“I… see…” He turned back to the Guild Master. “Any word from our friend in the Lower Gordu?”

“He’s currently out.”

“What!? Why didn’t you say that earlier!?”

“You didn’t ask.”

“Dammit Guild Master, what does this mean?”

The Guild Master sighed, not able to escape this topic anymore. “While we don’t know the relationship between the tentacle monster who goes by the moniker DM and the dragon that recently took control of the Upper Gordu Dungeon, this request most likely relates to that tentacle monster.”

“Given everything that recently happened with the Union, doesn’t that make this quest incredibly dangerous?”

“Oh, come on Davidson! It was a request from a dragon! And the word request is a euphemism.”

“So we have no choice? But why them?” The Lord gestured to the five girls.

“The dragon rejected any parties with humans. There aren’t many others to choose from and I can’t throw together a new party on such short notice like this or they really will be in danger.”

The Lord’s eyes passed briefly between the five girls, each of whom stared back with bewildered expressions. “How… convenient.”

“Hardly. These girls just returned to the region and I need to send them right back out.”

“Well, at least they seem willing to accept. Still, I expect they’ll be returned in one piece.”

“Guild Master!”

Everyone turned to the new voice approaching from the west, bypassing the groups of guards and knights milling about the area. Olivia was jogging with several young adventurers following.

She stopped next to the group and placed her hands on her knees to catch her breath. “A–An army of monsters just departed the Lower Gordu Dungeon!”

“I probably don’t even need to ask this, but which way did they go?” the Guild Master asked.

“East.”

“Wait, east?” the Lord butted in. “Towards the Empire?”

“Yes,” the Guild Master confirmed. "That’s where DM is, last I heard.”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Why is he in the Empire?”

The Guild Master glared at Olivia, pressing her to answer in his stead.

“Oh, uh, the Empire invited him to take over their dungeon closest to our border. They want DM to set up a training facility similar to what he’s done in the Lower Gordu.”

Lord Davidson narrowed his eyes. “Who exactly invited him to do that?”

“I don’t know…”

“What are you thinking, Davidson?” asked the Guild Master.

“I’m not sure. What type of monsters were marching east?” He directed the question at Olivia.

“I saw several. Minotaurs, tentacle monsters, and a few smaller ones in the back? They departed too quickly to get a good look.”

Lord Davidson and the Guild Master made eye contact as they spoke in unison. “Tentacle monsters…?”

“Is that strange?” said Olivia.

“Olivia,” the Guild Master replied, “Can you think of any good reason why someone would want to bring tentacle monsters with them to a foreign country?”

She could not.

“Umm… We’ll get going.” Kat didn’t want to delay any longer.

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As the girls walked toward the gate, they encountered Vera.

“Vera!”

“Kat? Oh, everyone? Off on a mission?”

“Yeah. We may not be back for a while.”

“Didn’t you all just return? Well, it’s not my place to say. I’ll let the Church know you’ll be gone for a bit Kat.”

“Thanks.”

They went their separate ways and turned a corner. Coincidentally, Anne was standing there talking to a couple of shopkeeps. She noticed the girls coming but didn’t say anything. All she did was nod slightly in Lupy’s direction before turning back to her conversation. All the girls noticed this but didn’t say anything as they continued down the road.

A few minutes later, Bandit noticed Thaw standing with her back leaned against a stack of heavy crates. The dwarf never turned to face the girls but still advised them. “Be wary of the Lords in the central region of the Empire.” She started walking in the opposite direction before anyone could respond.

The girls looked at each other and shrugged. They had no reason to change their plans. They weren’t even sure if they would end up going to the Empire. For now, they were simply traveling to the Upper Gordu Dungeon, where they’d been before. Granted, there wasn’t a dragon there last time.

Finally, they reached the northern gate. As they were about to pass through, they noticed a man passing in the other direction. They recognized him.

“Harold!” Shiba called out.

“Hm? What?” He was carrying several monster and animal carcasses. “You’re in the way.” He pushed past the girls and continued into the city.

Shiba stared, dumbfounded, at his back. “Why am I the only one…”

Kat attempted to console her. “I think that’s just what Harold’s like when he doesn’t need assistance.”

“Yeah…” It still hurt, though.

They finally departed the city and begin the journey to the Upper Gordu Dungeon.

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In a small farming village just east of the border between the Union and the Empire, the threat of afternoon rain was pushing an all-hands effort to complete the day’s work as quickly as possible. With so many people out and about, any unusual happenings within sight of the village would be noticed immediately. Normally, the most exciting thing they’d ever see way out here was a stray animal or monster. Travelers would occasionally stop by, but this wasn’t a trade route so they were small groups at most.

Directly west of this village was the Upper Gordu Forest. It was a lengthy trek east to get to the first major cities, Gulukkhath or Kharb. Garagz wasn’t too far to the northeast, so villagers would occasionally stop there since it was on the way to the capital, Gazahanar, but why would someone traveling from the Union to the Empire’s capital ever stop by their small village? It didn’t happen.

One child was stubbornly doing as little farming work as he could get away with while letting his mind wander. The adults mostly just left him alone because they knew it would take more energy to get him to become productive than they’d actually get out of him. While they toiled, he was the first to notice something amiss on the horizon.

“Hm?” He stood up from his crude drawing in the mud and stared to the west. Rubbing his eyes, he took a second look. Unfortunately, what he saw didn’t change. In fact, it looked worse. Without realizing it, he took a few steps backward, in the direction of the village. Then, he turned and broke into a run entirely, making no effort to alert anyone of what he saw. The omission wasn’t malicious; he just wasn’t in a state of mind to be useful.

“Oh, what now!?” one adult complained. Had someone been harassing him to do work? It was a lost cause, though. She turned to look in the direction he’d run from, expecting to see an exasperated farmer or family member stomping after the kid. But no, that’s not what she saw. She rubbed her eyes and looked again.

Although she was strong and a hard worker, running was not her forte. That’s why everyone else was so surprised when they saw her sprinting towards the village. Unlike the kid, she had a good reputation though, so they gave her the benefit of the doubt and assumed she actually had a legitimate reason for running away from the fields. They turned to look at the source of her fear, immediately spotting the cause, which had come into view clearly over the past few moments.

“Monsters!” one person actually warned this time before also running toward the village. Word quickly spread as all the workers and helpers retreated. None of them had ever seen so many monsters all at once like this. At most, one or two wayward creatures would wander into the area, only to get killed or repelled by the strongest farmers or lads equipped with farming tools. Only occasionally did a child even fall victim to a monster or wild animal.

The head farmer had been working in the village when the monsters were sighted. He noticed the commotion and stepped away from a small silo to address one of his workers. “What’s going on?”

“M–Monsters!” He pointed frantically to the west. “Over there!”

“Hm? How many?” Before the head farmer could receive an answer, he climbed on top of several bales of hay to get a better look. “What!?”

Marching straight for them was a group of several dozen monsters, with a line of minotaurs right at the front, large axes swaying back and forth as they walked. Although they weren’t truly walking in formation or marching with a particular cadence, the way they generally stayed together made the sight all the more intimidating.

The normal plan for approaching monsters was for everyone to retreat into the village and arm themselves. Those who couldn’t fight would hide in the buildings while everyone else would grab whatever weapon of opportunity they could. In the rare cases where this defensive method was actually needed, the monsters or animals would be dealt with in a few minutes and everyone would get right back to work.

This time, nobody stuck to the plan. Taking up arms against so many monsters was suicide. There wasn’t any time to evacuate, either, so everyone just hid in the nearest building, barring the door as best they could. Well, almost everyone.

A single child stood in village center, holding some type of hoe. He was the first person to spot the monsters and retreat into the village.

“What’s he doing!?” the head farmer shouted from a second story window. Why had the darn kid chosen now of all times to stick to the plan like a model citizen? The kid’s parents probably couldn’t see what was going on from where they were, so it was up to the head farmer to rescue him. The only problem was that the monsters were already almost upon them.

The boy looked around in panic, realizing nobody was coming out to join him. As the monsters entered the village from the west and stomped toward his position, he turned to run and immediately tripped over the handle the hoe he was carrying which was way too big for him. He gave up on escaping and just placed his hands over his head, getting as low to the ground as he could.

By the time the head farmer descended the stairs, unbarred the door, and rushed outside, the monsters were arriving at the boy’s location. He was too late.

The monsters actually stopped. All of them. A minotaur dropped its ax and reached out for the boy with both hands—monstrous hands that could crush the boy with a single squeeze, no doubt. Would he get eaten? Nobody could save him, now.

The boy was picked up like a sack of potatoes. After stepping a few paces off to the side, the minotaur unceremoniously dropped the boy in the mud. It then turned and stepped back to its ax, picking it up before resuming its march. The other monsters matched its pace.

As soon as they were past, the head farmer ran over to the boy, who was shell-shocked but otherwise seemed unharmed. “Are you okay!?”

“I…” The boy snapped out of whatever trance he was in and looked his own body up and down. “I’m okay?”

Assuming that the lad really was uninjured, the head farmer turned to look the direction the monsters had just marched. They had walked into the village, moved the boy out of their way, then kept walking, departing the village to the east, having done absolutely no damage other than leaving an impressive line of footprints.

Others came outside to inspect the situation as well. The boy’s parents eventually ran over, freeing up the head farmer to step away. One of the other farmers approached him.

“Sir, uh, what do we do?”

“Grab a horse, and report this to someone.”

“What exactly do I report?”

“I don’t know!”