“Um, by the way,” Ren started suddenly, “I realized that there’s a bit of information we left out that may be important to report.”
Evelyn and I looked at Ren, both our faces painted with interest. I’d told Evelyn everything I’d known, so I couldn’t imagine what Ren had to say.
“Well, to start, how much did Maya say about her experience?” Ren asked.
“She talked a lot about the two of you,” Evelyn responded with a smile, “and the journey. But not much else.”
Ren nodded, as if that was what he’d expected. “Well, and I realize now that even Ruby doesn’t know this since I was alone when I found Maya, but I actually found her being transported by these weird goblin-looking monsters. As a captive. I hated the sight of a child in chains, so I killed them and freed her, and then brought her to Ruby. Maya seemed pretty rattled about the goblins – understandably, of course – so I didn’t mention them in front of her. I meant to tell Ruby later, but I kinda just forgot.”
“Ren!” I interrupted in annoyance. “How on Earth do you just forget something like that?”
Ren smiled sheepishly and shrugged. “Sorry, it honestly just slipped my mind every time there was an opportunity. I didn’t think it was that important anyway. But yeah, I remembered just now and figured that it may be important for you guys to know.” He addressed the last bit to Evelyn, who I just now noticed was shaking with barely restrained rage. The gentle demeanor she’d possessed, the air that was part mother and part Chieftess, was gone, replaced with a terrifying anger.
“Those damn goblins,” she said, her voice shaking slightly. “To think they’re the ones behind this. I should’ve known!”
Ren and I shared a look before turning back to the woman. “You know about the goblins?” I asked.
Evelyn nodded, calming down slightly as she realized we were still here. “Yes, we’ve been long aware of those goblins. They’ve been terrorizing our clan for the past few years now, growing bolder with each passing one.”
“Really?” Ren asked. “But they’re just goblins, aren’t they? It should be a walk in the park for someone of your strength to deal with them.”
Evelyn shook her head. “These aren’t common goblins. They're Blackwood goblins. To start with, they’re descendants of a dungeon goblin. Their leader originated from a dungeon break some…twenty years ago now, maybe. Now, there’s a protocol for dealing with dungeon breaks. Usually, we just let them resolve themselves. It’s impractical for us to monitor and maintain every dungeon in the forest, but thankfully, most monsters come from dungeons with such different biomes that they hardly survive a few days in the forest. So we just let them be, and they disappear on their own.
The problem is when there’s a dungeon break with a biome close enough to a forest that the monsters that come out can actually survive here. When that happens, they can threaten the balance of the forest’s ecosystem, and that’s when we step in. Usually, they’re minor events, so we just hire some adventurer parties to deal with them, or send the youngest warriors of our village. Only when a major break happens do we really step in. The last time something like that happened was twenty years ago, when the goblin came from. It was during my predecessor's term, but I still remember it clearly. Not only was the entire clan mobilized, but the imperial guard and even some A-Rank parties had to get involved to contain the fallout. See, the dungeon was a five-star dungeon, maybe even a six-star, we don’t really know. But the monsters that came out were powerful, incredibly so.
But, in the end, given the strength of the humans that were participating, it was just a matter of time before all the monsters were slain – but, with the exception of a singular goblin. One single goblin managed to slip through the perimeter we’d established, and it’s been living in the forest ever since. We didn’t think it’d be much of a problem at the time, with it being only one goblin and all, but we were wrong. It managed to make contact with a goblin village residing in the forest and, with its superior intellect and strength, took charge and rapidly expanded the clan. And although its bloodline has since been diluted, as it didn’t have equally powerful goblins to breed with, the strength of the goblins the clan has produced is still far beyond normal for the forest. By breaking the balance of the forest, they’ve grown to numbers that our clan can barely maintain, and in recent years, they’ve begun to make moves against us.”
“Are they the reason why the clan is having problems with the Life-Elixir Pool?” I asked.
Evelyn nodded gravely. “Yes. Last year, during our coming-of-age ritual, the group was attacked by a legion of goblins; we’d have lost all the warriors and children who went were it not for the fact that we’d decided at the last minute to send a few Clan Elders along for extra protection.”
“And it was all thanks to little Maya, too,” Tampter cut in. “She kept pestering everyone about this bad feeling she was getting, before the event. And just before the group set off, the Chieftess here relented and sent along some Elders.”
Evelyn nodded. “Yes, Maya’s gift for premonition is quite special. It’s a blessing from the Forest God.”
“Oh yeah, by the way,” Ren said, “I’m not sure if you guys already know this, but somebody’s been pouring blood into your pool.”
Evelyn sighed deeply. “It’s as we feared, then. Thank you for confirming that for us. We’d speculated on why the goblins would make a move so bold as occupying our holy pool. Their leader has the intelligence to know that such a move will not be taken passively by our clan, which means that he must have a very good reason to do so. And we feared, and I suppose now know,” she cast a meaningful look at Tampter, “that what he wants is a Life-Blood Pearl.”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“The water of the Life-Elixir Pool has certain…exceptional qualities,” Evelyn explained. “It was given to us, after all, so that we could cultivate the strength required to protect the forest. And the Life-Blood Pearl is a product that uses a pool like ours as a cauldron of sorts. By performing a dark ritual over the corpses of animals, and then pouring their blood into the pool, the blood will begin to coagulate at the bottom. When enough blood has been poured in, the blood will form a pearl, the Life-Blood Pearl.”
“And this pearl can boost a monster’s strength?” I guessed.
Evelyn nodded gravely. “Yes. Greatly. By even our most conservative estimates, given how powerful the goblin has grown already, consuming a Life-Blood Pearl should be able to push the goblin into the ranks of Calamities. And a Calamity Class monster is not something within the capability of our clan.”
“Which means, ideally,” Tampter added on, “that we deal with the goblins before they have a chance to complete the pearl.”
“So why haven’t you guys made a move yet?” Ren asked.
Evelyn smiled grimly. “If it were up to me, we would have already. But unfortunately, I need the majority of the Council’s support before I can mobilize the amount of warriors we’ll need.”
“And the Elders don’t support you?” I asked incredulously.
“No. They’re scared, and their fear has left them susceptible to manipulation. There’s a faction of the Elders that want to accept outside help, despite the fact that we’re still suffering in trade because of the last time we did so. They’ve managed to convince the majority that the cost of life will be too high for our clan if we attempt to deal with the problem on our own.”
“There’s news of a prince who may be coming out to one of the nearby cities,” Tampter said viciously. “Those dogs on the Council are hoping to sell off the clan and all of its resources just to get in his good graces.”
“Now, now, Tampter,” Evelyn cut in, “we don’t know that’s what they want.”
“Well, why else would they be stalling the way they are?” Tampter challenged back. “I’m telling you, they’re just waiting till he comes here, and then they’re gonna force you to sign onto the worst deal possible under the guise of getting his help. They’ll do whatever they can to suck up to the prince, to buy themselves a place in his circle, even if it means leaving the rest of us as slaves!”
“Slaves?” came Maya’s voice from the doorway. “We’re gonna be slaves?” she asked with widened eyes, clutching the two leatherbound books in her hands tighter.
“No, no, sweetie,” Evelyn said soothingly, subtly shooting a dirty look at Tampter as he clamped his mouth shut. “Nobody’s gonna be a slave, Maya. Don’t you worry about anything.”
“Of course, Maya,” Tampter agreed hurriedly, “nothing bad is gonna happen again, ok? You’re safe now.”
“More importantly,” Evelyn continued, “why don’t you go show Ruby and Ren our gifts? I’m sure they’ll love them.”
The change of subject worked, and Maya instantly pushed the matter aside as she bounded over to the two of us, excitedly waving the aged books in her hands.
“Here you go!” Maya said as she handed the two to us. The one she gave me had a reddish hue to the soft leather that covered it. The book had the dignity of an old book, but held together surprisingly well, as if it had been well maintained and protected. Its cover was utterly blank on both sides, save for the bold, embossed gold lettering on the front that read: Explosion Arte. Underneath, in slightly smaller lettering, was written: Offensive Fire Arte.
“I’m sure you’re surprised to see Artes in book form,” Evelyn said. “They’ve mostly all been converted to the Tower’s format, but our clan has some ancient ones that have yet to be. These ancient Artes are very mysterious things, with boundless depth, despite their apparent simplicity. They are Artes that can be cultivated to extremes, though most will only use their most basic functions. After all, while they contain far more power than usual, there are quite stringent requirements to fully excavate that potential.”
My hands trembled slightly as I held the book in my hands, my eyes shining with unfettered excitement. I’d been wanting to get my hands on an Arte since the first time I’d ever heard of them, but with a Nexus Chip that wasn’t fully synchronized, it was impossible to use one. Or so Najam had said.
I turned to look at the book Ren had received. The leather of its cover was more purplish in color, and the gold writing on it introduced it as Blink Arte, Auxiliary Spatial Arte.
I raised my gaze to see Ren’s expression, finding his glossy eyes staring at the page, with that same strange look as if he was looking straight through the thing. But within the black of his eyes I could see the same excitement flickering that I could feel in my chest.
“The most I can buy the two of you is three days, no more,” Evelyn continued, smiling at our reactions. “I’m sorry, I know that’s not very long. But I get the sense that the two of you are rather intelligent children, and quite experienced in the ways of Flux, if not well taught. I’d be surprised if the two of you couldn’t grasp something from your gifts within that time.”
“It’s more than enough,” I said honestly, happy beyond words already at the opportunity.
“Hey!” Maya cut in suddenly. “I can already tell the two of you are about to spend all your time trying to learn that, but you guys promised to go to Uncle Boldy’s place first. You guys aren’t allowed to open those books until we go there, ok?” The adorable little girl had a stern face as she spoke, drawing out a wry smile on my face.
“Yes, yes, of course, princess,” I said, “I wouldn’t dare to break a promise with you.”
Evelyn nodded then. “Y’know what, Boldheart’s place does sound quite good right now. I could use a hearty meal right about now.”
Maya turned to her mother with incredulous excitement. “You mean you’ll come with us!?” she asked.
Evelyn smiled. “Of course. I’m not letting you out of my sight again until you turn twenty, young lady. Council meetings can wait.” Then, turning to us, she spoke again. “So, unless you guys have anything else you’ve forgotten to report so far,” she cast a look at Ren, who shook his head sheepishly, “this meeting is officially adjourned. Let’s go eat!”