Trying to settle Ria down before traveling was important, but she would be the center of an escort mission for a while yet. Instead, if the party wanted to survive without my help, it would fall to Tagalong Girl. Not that I had any intentions of letting such responsibility fall on her at the moment, but at the very least she needed to begin to learn the wanderer’s basic skills.

First and foremost, fighting. Despite the relatively low levels of danger thus far, combat was the way of the world, or at the very least, Derriad. Recalling the ‘spar’ we had the other day, I went through my thoughts and prepared a weapon for her. All that was available to me were the looted goblin weapons, and I already handed off the best of the best to Clavi, the best to the Freshmen, and the still-tolerable weapons were in the hands of the Skeletal Elites. I managed to salvage something decent from the trash in the end with a  little work though.

“Ready to head out?”

It was some time past sunset, most of the villagers headed to sleep. However is still wasn’t too late, as Tagalong Girl still needed to get plenty of sleep each day, and that night was also one where I planned to rest. To not be spotted, some distance needed to be put between us and the village. Luckily, the fringes of the forest were enough.

“Are you actually going to teach me something today?”

“Hahaha~, *Tagalong Girl*, have faith, have faith. We will warm up with a light jog.” I started high-knee running in place for a moment, and gestured. “Lead the way, I’ll tell you when to stop.”

Looking skeptical at first, the girl set off, wisely pacing herself, and I walked behind. I definitely needed to keep out of her range of vision. I did have an unfair advantage, being much taller and mostly legs, but it would still be a bit depressing to see me casually strolling along.

I let her go on farther than we needed to, since I wanted a grasp on her stamina. For seven-ish minutes she ran, which seemed pretty good for a kid, before I called for a halt.

“Good job, tell me if it’s too much though.” Starting pant heavily as we stopped, it looked like she planned on pushing herself pretty far. It probably wasn’t her limit, but we had other things to do, and I didn’t want to push her too hard, just enough to take things seriously. Taking a flask from Inventory to hand over, Tagalong Girl greedily gulped it down.

Resting a few minutes to catch her breath, she stood upright again.

“What next?” Hey, you really sound way too robotic. Please put in some emotion, instead of sounding like someone speedrunning a story based RPG.

“Now for your weapon.” From the dark aperture, I slowly pulled out a spear, dark sparks flickering from the portal. Laying it across both hands, I gently presented it to her. She stood stock-still, looking at it in bewilderment.

“Isn’t this just a normal spear?”  Or she was just using her Ultimate Eye to figure out that the unassuming spear was unassuming because it was not, in fact, an ancient artifact.

“Yes. Children shouldn’t play with dangerous things. That’s why you get a regular spear. Also budget cuts. Now take it and let’s get started.”

Tagalong Girl waited to make an impact, and was thoughtful in her movements. The spear-styles I knew of were good for this type of personality. Mostly centered around using the length to keep opponents at bay and striking at gaps; lightweight and extending reach, it made a good choice for the young practitioner.

There isn’t much of a way for the training session to be described. Though I did have a large amount of experience regarding the weapon, it was neither a rival nor focus of mine. A few common stances could be taught, and while options were evaluated objectively, it was instinct that brought them to light for me. An actual spar would let us proceed past the basics, but that time was a long way off.

For the time being, Tagalong Girl could only get used to the types of swings and thrusts. At the same time, I would swing a spear as well, feeling what she was going through. Since she was much smaller, moves needed to be adjusted before being taught to her. In general as we went along, I was feeling much more confident in what I was teaching, though nothing had a name, leading to some confusion. Well, names weren’t that important, if she could figure out what I wanted from vague descriptions, then that would just mean we were on the same wavelength.

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A short hour of sweating later, and Tagalong Girl couldn’t continue. Other than breathing heavily, she didn’t make a sound as she silently slumped against a tree, using the spear to support her. Listening carefully, her breathing was quick and deep, but wasn’t hitched. Still, a little more would have probably ended up being too much; future sessions would need to be shortened.

“That’s enough for now, well done. Let’s head back.” Tagalong Girl just nodded. Only a little after we started training, she stopped talking and asking questions; just mimicking what I would do and following my directions, adjusting whenever I said something. Walking back she moved a bit slowly, maybe she did push herself a bit too hard today.

Lord appeared to wipe the sweat away, I picked her up to carry her back. Too tired to complain, Tagalong Girl accepted the lift, ungratefully squirming about at first to settle herself in. Falling asleep, I wondered if she was more properly qualified as an imouto than a loli in my party. Well, I never carried my sisters about like this; they’re only a few years younger than me, they’d be way too heavy.

Thankfully with my arbitrary body, and untiring limbs, my arms and legs managed to endure the trip back to town without a drop in Stamina. Now that we were a little ways into the night, everyone was sound asleep, so I took Tagalong Girl up to her house. Dazedly, she moved into her house to sleep, shivering a bit in the cold.

Even a blast furnace like myself was starting to feel the cold was a little too intense to be comfortable in. Thankfully, Ria had fallen soundly asleep as well, and I crept silently over to my side of the room to rest up as well.

The next day, a day to meet with the goblins and collect my chikan. There was a warning just two days ago that paladins were beginning to pass through. A small internal debate went on, but was quickly settled in favor of following my routine. The chance of a paladin encounter was rather low after all, and the first group spotted even casually walked through without displaying overbearing arrogance.

I wasn’t about to irresponsibly leave Ria there though. Well, I kind of was, but before I tried disguising her, I woke her and fed her. Since the goblin days had me waking early, Pan wasn’t yet up, so I would have the pleasure of conversing with her that morning.

“I’m not just going to do what you say. I’ll run back whenever I can, so just leave me here. I don’t care what Dad says about you.” Exhaling while puffing out my cheeks, I accepted her complaints. It seemed like there really wasn’t anything to say that would change her mind, so Ria just had to vent. The situation would worsen when we actually left, and I wanted to be as amicable as possible in preparation.

Continuing to try and express her dislike and intent to escape from my evil clutches, thankfully she fainted after a thirty second eternity. Now immobile, I took out some of the nicer rags from Inventory and began to wrap her up. Looking mummified, herbs typically used for treating burns were set on the seat. For a finishing touches, I pricked my fingers and dabbed a bit of blood around.

It wouldn’t stand against close inspection, but who goes and unwraps burn victims? Even paladins had to have their limits. Feeling that was sufficient, I headed off to the forest.

Coming to collect the chikans, the atmosphere of the goblin nest felt different than usual. The population density dropped was still enough to make any modern city aghast, but the residents looked...smaller on average. Their numbers didn’t seem to have dropped too drastically, but instead it looked like they had all been replaced by the younger generation earlier than expected.

In fact, the farther through the goblin nest I went, the more sensible that interpretation seemed to be. Looking closer, a much smaller proportion of the population had scars and other war wounds that were quite prevalent just days ago. Baring mouths filled with teeth as crooked and discolored as their flesh, I activated Fear Aura. Even less intelligent than their predecessors it seemed, luckily I had just the ability to dissuade them. I wasn't feeling all too hostile towards them, so the effect was suitably dampened.

Wondering to what extent Fear Aura could be controlled, I probably needed to talk with Khtraal before experimenting on his subjects. It shouldn't be possible to kill someone with the Fear Aura I currently possessed, but strange things cropped up when dealing with magic.

Coming to the usual spot, under observation the kroi ashes were present, but the pile of chikans was much smaller than usual. Much, much smaller. I had plenty, and the 50 still made an impressive pile, but more importantly it showed something was up.

I had gotten into the habit of keeping active when within the forest. Not only would it warn against attacks, but the constant static present became easier to bear and filter through. My sensitivity towards the blood-red aura was actually increasing with practice, and I assume the other auras as well; but other than the Null Grey that could infrequently be spotted in the forest, I didn't have much a chance to spot them.

Now, I realized every goblin had a bit of the murderous red on their claws and teeth, some where just greater in intensity than others. There were still some I could not discern, but I figured that was due to my own lack of ability. It seemed more concentrated on the battle-scarred goblins, but there were variables I was unaware of. Vamp’s razor sharp claws had a thick red energy to them, yet his teeth had none.

greatly improved, yet it still had its mysteries. For the most part, it remained enough to survey beyond the limits of my mental capacity. The sensation may dull when trying to focus on too large an area at once, but it was enough to alert me to an approaching goblin.

Stuffing chikans away, I spotted an excessively red tinted goblin. Not quite rivaling the intensity of Vamp’s aura, his own claws would not lose out to any of the warg riders. On top of that, while the bloody sheen tended to concentrate on the claws or the edge of a weapon, this one’s entire hands built up a dangerous look.

Turning around to face him, he had surprisingly long and thick hair—for a goblin, it only matched the scalp of a human and reached slightly above the shoulders—that was a bright, anime red. As he constantly shifted his limbs, I tried recalling where I had seen him before; the red hair on a goblin certainly wasn't something to forget, even if only seen in passing.

Ah, that’s right, during the battle against the Uhkhjk he'd been one of the warg riders. Not one of Khtraal’s but from the pack that had joined during their march on Yhrack.

“Greedings Alric. Chief tKlor’t’t will meet you.”

“Oh?” It seemed that the distant Chief had decided to visit Khtraal in person. Given how Khtraal and Iyrkraal acted, it didn't seem as though the goblin Chiefs were the sort to easily move about, unless Ychk had been sent due to other issues in the home territory.

Well, I would only remain for a week more or so. With a surplus of inside Inventory, it may be better to see if there were any chunks of XP to grind out before departure.