Chapter 9

Oh man I feel like my whole body is in pain.  At least I am alive must mean the worse did not happen.  I can feel Robin’s tail in my arms, which must mean that she is next to me.  “Robin what happened?” “John!”  Robin lands on me giving me a hug. “Uggh, Robin can you get off please.”  “Sorry”  The weight is lifted lessening the pain.  “So what happened?”  “We won, your spear pinned him against the wall and disabled his shield arm.  We were able to finish him off easily after that.”  “Haha, thats good to hear.  Though I think this might have been a bit too much for our first quest.”  I couldn’t see but I am pretty sure Robin nodded.  Laying there for a couple of minutes, I let the pain reduce a bit.  Finally feeling like I am not going to die from moving, I start to sit up.  I look around to see Robin dirty and dried blood on her arms, but otherwise perfectly fine.  I look to my left and see Cef laying down next to me!  “Is Cef ok?”  “That baby is just sleeping because he lost too much blood.”  Emily says as she is carrying a sack over here shoulder.  That’s good to hear I though he might have gotten hurt while I was out.  “Good, but what happened to me and why do I feel like every muscle in my body is sore?”  The only real damage I took was the strike to my chest, but that isn’t what is hurting right now.  Emily takes a seat next to Robin, “From what I can tell you overstrained your control.  I don’t know if you know this but most people compare elemental control to a muscle.  When you train your control you are strengthening that muscle, but you pushed it too hard creating that I am guessing.”  Emily points over her shoulder.  I look up to see the six foot wall that I created within a second, easily the fastest I have ever created a wall that tall.  Though this is the first time I am hearing that there is a limit to a person’s control.  On the wall I can see the hobgoblin body, though he is missing an arm and a head.  “Ya Robin and Cef really did a number on him after you blacked out.  Cef cut off the hobgoblin’s sword arm when it was trying to remove your spear, and Robin used the water on the ground to create a crescent ice shard that sliced right through it’s neck.  It was really bloody.”  Looks like it really was worth it, and we all survived without any real injuries.

“So what now?”  I mean we completed the quest, but it was a lot more than what the quest said it should be.  “Well I have never had this happen to me before, but we are going to bring back the hobgoblin’s head along with the ears, and with that they should reevaluate the quest.  Hopefully give us a bit more of a reward.  Even if they don’t we can just sell these.”  Emily opens the bag that she was holding showing me the contents.  “Elemental stones?”  “Hehe, yep looks like the hobgoblin had a small stash of these, probably why he was so strong.  Unfortunately he used up the better one, but these should still sell for a good couple gold.”  I never took Emily for someone who thinks about money.  “Anyways eat some food, then once you and Cef are ready we can start moving, by now it’s probably starting to get dark out.  Taking Emily’s advice I have some of the Rabbit meat, and about ten minutes later Cef wakes up.  “Looks like I am the last one to get ready huh.”  “Yep get your but in gear I want to make it back to the guild before they close the counters.”  Emily shows Cef no compassion.  Within minutes we are all packed up and ready to go, when we get back I have to get my armor, robin’s robe, and the water bag all fixed up.  We start heading out, but just as we do I hear a sound coming from a dark area of the cavern.  “Hey guy wait just a second.”  Emily gives me a confused look, “Hm? Whats up?”  “I think I heard something over there and I want to check it out.”  There shouldn’t be anything left in here, but just to be safe I should take precautions.  I pull the knife from my backpack, as I am pretty sure I can’t control any earth currently.  I near the area where the sound came from, and as I am just about to look around one of the stalagmites I hear another sound, this time I can hear it a lot better.  It sounds like footsteps.  “Wait, I no fight.”  A voice comes from within the darkness and I slightly jump.  “Come out!”  deciding it would be better for the voice to come to me then I come to it, I hope that it really isn’t hostile like it says.  “Ok”  The voice responds, it sounds like a they are not used to speaking English.  From the shadows comes a goblin, but instead of the usually green skin this ones is black, and in it's arms is a book.  “What are you doing here?”  “I part of the escape, I was slave.”  Seems like this goblin was with the hobgoblin when he escaped.  

“Hey John what did you find?”  Cef comes around the stalagmite and sees the goblin before me, he quickly pulls out his sword.  Seeing Cef pull out his sword the goblin falls down and curls up into a fetal position, “Please, no fight.” I wave for Cef to stop, “Cef wait this goblin is non-savage, we were just talking.”  “Huh didn’t think we would find another smart goblin here.”  Cef puts his sword away, but the goblin is still on the floor muttering about not fighting.  “Goblin we aren’t going to fight you, stand back up so we can talk.”  The goblin stops muttering and looks up at me and Cef, seeing us show no signs of fighting he slowly stands back up.  “The goblin said he was part of the slave group that escaped.”  I’m telling Cef so he is caught up on our conversation.  “Goblin why didn’t you fight with the hobgoblin?”  If there was another non-savage goblin then the fight could have been our loss.  “I understand there are good and bad people, you talked to boss, but he just wanted to fight.  You had no choice.”  Seems like he saw Emily trying to talk sense to the hobgoblin, and decided that we were the good people.  I am thinking we should just leave this goblin alone, if he was evil he could have just fought with the hobgoblin, and they probably would have won.  “Hey Cef I seen no reason to not just let him go, I mean he seems pretty peaceful.”  “Ya I agree, I am also way too tired to fight more, though wants with the book?”  Cef points towards the book in the goblin’s arms.  “Goblin what's the book in your hands.”  “Gift from friend, story about black monster becoming strong warrior.  Learning how to read.”  Just a story book, well nothing to worry about then.  

Emily popped her head around the stalagmite, “Hey you guys done over there, we need to get going.  Oh there was another goblin?” “Ya sis, but this one is a non-savage, it decided that we were the good guys, and it doesn’t want to fight us.  So me and John thought it would be best to just leave him.”  “Well ok, if you guys think so, then let’s get a move on I don’t want to be walking in the dark.”  Emily disappears back behind the stalagmite.  “You heard her John let’s get a move on.”  Cef leaves, and now I am alone with the goblin again.  “Well good luck goblin, try to stay safe.”  Turning around I follow after Cef. “Wait”  huh?  “I come with, please?”  The goblin is grabbing onto the back of my shirt, and looking up at me.  If this was a puppy I wouldn’t hesitate to pick it up, but it's a goblin.  Goblins are pretty ugly, so puppy eyes aren’t really effective.  “I can’t really help you all that much, I mean I am not really settled yet.”  I don’t want to be mean, but me and Robin are currently living in a inn and our income is probably going to be pretty unstable for a while.  “Please, I have element and am a good worker.”  Hm that is a bit surprising as I didn’t think the goblin would have an element.  It wouldn’t hurt to have one more person on our team, that way we could take on quest with more enemies.  Still will he be able to fight well enough?  “Ok I will bring you along, but you’re going to have to earn your stay.  I will need you to fight up close with me.  Also Robin the lizard kin will have to accept you also”  I couldn’t turn down someone that needs my help.  “Yes I will be strong warrior, and earn my stay.”  The goblin jumps when he understands that I am letting him come along.  

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I bekon Robin to come over, “Hey Robin come here real quick.”  As soon as Robin arrives I show here the goblin, “This guy wants to join our group, I told him he will have to work hard, fight up front, and earn his stay, but also get your approval.  He agreed to all of it, what do you think?”  Robin moves past me to look at the goblin, she stares at him and moves around him.  Without looking up Robin asks, “Can he fight?”  “He said he has an element, and he is smart enough to speak my language, so it should be hard to get him up to fighting level.  I was thinking with another team member we could take quests with more enemies.”  Robin stops when she is back by my side, “If you think it's good, then I agree.”  “Looks like Robin accepts, your on our team now goblin.”  “Yes, I will prove my worth.”  The goblin jumps once again.  With our new teammate in tow we return to Cef and Emily.  Emily notices the goblin first, “Is he coming with us?”  “Ya he wanted to join us, so I let him.”  “Well it's up to you.  Let’s go.”  With that we headed out back to the city.  The formation changed a bit with the gobin being in between me and Robin.  Once we got out of the forest, we were finally able to relax.  “Hey goblin, I probably should have asked earlier, but do you have a name?”  I have just been referring to him as goblin, but now that he is on our team I should know his name.  “I have no name.”  Well that sucks, not having your own name must be terrible.  “In that case what name do you want?”  The goblin seems to be thinking pretty hard after I asked him that.  “Alex, my name Alex.”  Alex huh, reminds me of a boy in the orphanage I grew up in.  A lot of the kids made fun of him for having a girls name, even though Alex can be used for both girls and boys.  “Well then Alex, once again welcome to my and Robin’s team.”  Looks like we will have to change the name of our team.  I really didn’t think we would find a new teammate so quickly.  

“Thank you boss, you won’t regret.”  Boss?  “Alex, why are you calling me boss?”  Alex gave me a confused look like I should know the reason already.  “You caused the death of old boss, and you are boss of the team, so you are boss now.”  He explains it in a matter of fact tone, like I should have know that I was the boss.  “Well if I am boss, then what is Robin?”  Alex turns to look at Robin and stares at her for a second, “Mistress? No, madam.”  “No” Robin showing some clear dislike of either of the terms Alex gave her.  “Then madam Robin?”  “No”  She apparently doesn’t like titles.  “Robin?”  “Good”  Alex seems a bit concerned about calling Robin by her name, but it seems like she wouldn’t like it any other way.  “Well if you are going to call Robin by her name you can also call me by mine, it’s John.”  I see no reason I should be treated differently.  “No, you are boss.”  “I agree you are boss.”  What both Alex and Robin, do I have no one on my side.  They are lucky I am pretty easy going.

I talk to Alex as we are making our way back to the city.  The only thing I really learned is that his element is darkness, I kind of guessed that from his skin but he apparently isn’t that far into it.  Though he did say it only took him two tries, which made Cef and Emily go crazy again.  Apparently anyone that can absorb their elements in under five tries is really special.  Time passed quickly and we made it back to the gate before we knew it.  I was about to head in when I realized, Alex can’t get in without an inspection.  Luckily it’s pretty late so the line is short.  It only took a couple minutes to reach the guard that was inspecting.  The guard only needed proof that Alex was non-savage which was easy to provide considering he can speak english.  I paid the two silver for entry and we were in.  

On our way to the guild I noticed that we were getting looks, and not good ones.  I soon realized that they were directed at Alex, “Hey guys do people have something against goblins?”  Maybe Cef or Emily know.  “Well goblins are usually seen as slaves or mindless creatures, so even the smart ones aren’t really well received.”  Oh come on, I thought that this place was awesome because they accepted every race, but even here there is still prejudice.  “Hey Alex don’t worry about them.”  “Don’t worry boss, used to it.”  Not really the response I was looking for, kind of reminds me of Robin, but hey at least he knows that there are good and bad people.  Once we arrived at the guild we quickly went to one of the staff counters that did not have a line.  “Hello how may I help you.”  It’s the dog kin again, she must be working all day.  Emily steps up to the counter, “Hello we are here to report a completion of a quest, and that there was extra enemies then what the quest said.  We encountered a hobgoblin with air element, along with the ten goblins.  We have the ears of the goblins and the head of the hobgoblin as proof.”  I wonder if the lady understood all that?  “May I get your team names first, then please hand over the proof of completion along with the hobgoblin head.”  Seems like it.  “The teams are holyfire twins and Witch and Mountain, and here is proof and the head.”  Emily puts the sack with the head and ears onto the counter.  “If what you have said is true then the quest reward will need to be reevaluated, please come back tomorrow and we should have the appropriate reward ready.  Is there anything else you need help with.”  

I guess they will be giving us a bigger reward that's nice to hear.  “Ah yes we want to get this guy registered with the guild.  Also to add him to the Witch and Mountain team.”  I bring Alex to the counter.  “In that case please fill out this form, and will you need the explanation on how the guild works?”  Taking the form I quickly fill out the information for Alex  “No he will be fine, and here you go.”  Handing back the paperwork the lady she heads towards the counter behind her to get the paperwork processed.  “Hey we are going to head off, here is half of the elemental stones, meet back up here around eight.  Sound good for you guys?”  Emily hands me a sack containing our half of the stones.  “Ya that should work, see ya guys tomorrow.”  “Bye”, “Bye boss friends.”  With a quick farewell they are gone.  Just then the lady comes back with Alex’s guild card, “Here is your card, and congratulations on becoming an adventurer.  Is there anything else I may help you with.”  Alex is firmly grasping his card staring at it with big eyes.  “No that will be all, thank you for your help.”  “My pleasure”  “Ok guys let’s head back to the inn.”  

“Boss, thank you for card.”  Alex has been staring at his adventurer’s card every since he got it, must be a pretty big thing for him.  “No problem, just show me how great of a warrior you can be.”  “Yes, I will show you I can be strong warrior!”  Haha, it's nice to see someone dreaming so big.  “Thank you, Robin also.”  “No problem”  Look even Robin is smiling now.  I think it truly was a good thing we let Alex join the group.  

We make it back to the inn, and the exhaustion finally hits me.  It’s been long day and draining both mentally and physically.  I can’t wait to sleep.  “Hello Maria.”  “Hello Maria”  “Hello John and hello Robin, and hello to your new friend also.”  “This is Alex, he is part of our group now, speaking of which can you add one more meal to our payment.  Also do you have any rooms with three beds?”  “Hello Alex, and I can do the meal, but unfortunately we are all booked up for the night.”  “Hello Madam.”  Well that sucks, but we will find a way.  We headed to the dining area, for a quick dinner before bed.  Alex seemed baffled by the fact he can have meat, but I reminded him that it costs money still.  After a quick meal, and watching Alex scarf down two meat sets we arrived at a problem.  Who sleeps where?  At least it should be a probably, but Alex is already laying on the floor looking like he is going to sleep.  I guess he is someone who is true to their desires.  Though before he falls asleep I give him the sleeping bag to at least have something separating him and the floor.  With that I fell asleep, ending my first real day as an adventurer.