“I just can’t win today…” Violet said as they walked towards the town gate.
“I’m here suffering with you,” Kenrich said.
“Well, you don’t have to show this damn picture to every guild hall you visit!”
“If I get certified, I’ll make sure to sneeze as they take my picture, so we’ll be in the same boat.”
“You better. The amount of hits to my pride so far is more than I’ve ever experienced in my entire life. Speaking of which, I’m not asking those guards for help. There’s no way they’d help after I made them look silly.”
“We need all the information we can get, Violet. You can just let me do the talking and I’ll see if I can get anything from them.”
“As long as I don’t have to interact with them, then have it your way.”
“Thanks,” Kenrich said. “I’d prefer we get your head checked as soon as possible before I have to drag you around in a wheelbarrow.”
“I’m made from much tougher stuff than you, village boy.”
“I’m sure.”
Kenrich and Violet arrived at the gate and saw the guards were still trying to reattach their spear tips to the sticks that Violet cut them from. They looked up, saw Violet and immediately had a mix of terror and anger plastered on their faces.
“What do you lot want?” said the shorter guard.
“Hello, it’s nice to see you both again,” Kenrich said. “We just got certified as adventurers and took the goblin job. We were told that you two were the ones who witnessed the goblins first. We’d just like some information then we’ll be on our way.”
“The location we saw ‘em is on the request. Can’t ya read?” the tall guard said.
“Did you see the weapons they had? How many were in the group? Did anyone try to take the request before? Just any information you might have will help us take care of this for your village. It would be a lot less work for you two if we took care of it for you, wouldn’t it?”
“Work all that out yourselves!” the short guard said. “We’ve no reason to answer your litany of questions. Now, begone!”
“Think about it like this,” Violet said, taking a step towards them. “I bet we’re the first people to take this request, aren’t we? And I bet the villagers all wish it were you two out there protecting them rather than having to put up a request in a place where adventurers hardly ever visit. So, let’s make a deal: You give us all the information you have on the goblins, then we’ll go take care of them and let you both take all of the credit. We’ll still get the request money from the guild of course, but you can tell all the locals that you pulled the request and decided to take matters into your own hands. You can even attribute those injuries and broken weapons of yours to your heroic fight against the goblin horde. How about it? We have a deal? I’m sure you’d rather not tell them what actually happened, right? Given that I’m just a weak damsel who’d never be able to knock you two on your asses.”
Kenrich was taken aback by Violet’s monologue since she said she wasn’t going to interact with the guards, but he’s glad she broke that promise. This was certainly an offer they couldn’t refuse.
The guards looked at one another and thought for a moment before saying exactly what Violet wanted to hear.
“Fine. You gotta deal,” the short guard said. “Go ahead and tell ‘em Lenfil. You ‘ad a better look at ‘em than I.”
“The information ain’t exactly gonna be ‘helpful but we were at this gate when we saw a small band of green creatures rummaging ‘round in the trees in that forest,” Lenfil said. “Didn’t really get a good look at ‘em, but they ‘ad to be goblins.”
“Lord above, you truly do not leave these spots do you?” Violet said with her hand pinching her forehead.
“Keeping ruffians like you lot out of the city is our job! We ain’t got the manpower to go dancing through the forest!” Leonard said.
“You don’t seem to do a good job of that either,” Violet retorted. “Anyway, is that really all the info you have?”
“We kept our end of the bargain, you better keep yours,” Lenfil said, smugly.
“I knew this was gonna be a waste of time,” Violet said. “C’mon Kenrich, let’s get this over with.”
“We appreciate your time,” Kenrich said before following Violet down the road.
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“Useless guards…” Violet muttered.
“That information was better than nothing and I don’t care for taking credit anyway,” Kenrich said. “Taking credit would just put more eyes on us that we don’t need right now.”
“I agree with that, but how was that information helpful in the slightest?” Violet said, annoyed.
“Knowing where they were positioned when they saw them kinda makes you wonder if they are even goblins at all.”
“I suppose, but I’m not sure what else it could be. Maybe a slime?”
“What if it’s something even more dangerous?” Kenrich asked.
“Either way, I can take them down just fine. I just want to keep moving and we need a horse to actually keep ourselves ahead of our hunters.”
“At least let me help. Without you, I’m definitely done for.”
“I-I’m glad you realize that,” Violet said, hiding a smug smile. “Don’t you worry, no harm will come of me or you, but here-”
Violet threw a small object towards Kenrich who fumbled it a bit before corralling it. It was a fireball stone.
“You trust me with one of these?”
“You’re gonna have to learn to be useful somehow and this is the first step. It’s a ranged weapon that’s easy to use, so just make sure not to aim at me and everything will be fine.”
“If you say so…” Kenrich said.
He had some nerves about holding something so dangerous, especially after being shot with them only half a day earlier and seeing their destructive power. He realized that this was Violet’s way of showing she had some trust in him though and wanted to make sure not to let her down.
“We’re at the edge of the forest now…you ready to go hunting?” Violet asked.
“As ready as I’ll ever be…”
“Then, let’s go.”
They started making their way through to the middle of the forest making sure to keep their steps as quiet as possible in order to both hear the enemy while not giving away their own position. Violet was in front and was giving Kenrich hand signals that at first, he didn’t understand, but now thought he was getting the gist of. Open palm meant stop. Closed fist meant go. Originally, he was just copying her movements, but now his eyes were fixed on her directions. Violet seemed as calm as ever which made sense due to her background, but Kenrich could barely maintain his breathing. He had never been in a fight before and knowing that his opponent would try to kill them was thrusting him on the edge of panic. He knew that he’d just have to give his trust to Violet just like she did to him, but it’s difficult when your life is on the line. When fleeing his hometown, at least he had the option to run away from his attackers which was always his go to tactic, but here, he knew he had to fight. Suddenly, Violet threw up another open palm and started looking around intently. After a few moments, Kenrich understood why. He heard some loud crunches in the leaves around 20-30 feet in front of them and his first thought was, there’s no way that’s a goblin. A loud crash sounded as a tree made contact with the ground and what sounded like thousands of tiny footsteps started rushing towards them.
“We’ve been spotted!” Violet yelled. “Get ready for a fight, village boy!”
Kenrich looked forward in terror as he saw the being that contained the raw strength to level that tree. It was an ogre. Kenrich had never ever seen one in anything other than a textbook, and he wished he went his whole life with that being the case. It was massive, dark green, and fierce. It had to be triple the size of Kenrich and it wielded a large club that looked to be the remnants of a tree. One swing of that, and…Kenrich didn’t want to think about it. A group of goblins were running from the sides of the ogre seeming to be its henchmen which made the situation even more terrifying. It was a small army against an injured soldier and a pacifist from a disconnected village. Kenrich thought about their odds of winning in his head and realized that it would only make his mental state worse.
“Snap out of it, Kenrich!” Violet said before giving him a smack on the head. “Back up and shoot fireballs at the ogre, I’ll take on the goblins!”
She then pushed him, and he ran back before taking the gemstone in his left hand, opening his right palm and thrusting his arm which caused a fireball to shoot off of the side of the ogre’s face. The ogre made a guttural and savage noise that frightened Kenrich even more. He thrust his arm again trying to keep the ogre off balance. Adrenaline was pumping through his veins now. He felt disconnected from his body and was operating off of pure instinct. At the same time, Violet was running straight into the crowd of goblins with her sword in hand. The goblins tried to surround her, but it didn’t matter as Violet easily carved her path through the crowd by dodging and parrying their every attack. From the outside, it appeared that the goblins had the upper hand as you could barely see Violet in the middle of the crowd, but looking closer, you saw small makeshift spears and green limbs flying out of the pile showing that Violet was doing a lot of damage. The ogre took a few more fireballs to the chest, arms, and legs, which unlocked a more furious and primal outburst that ended with the ogre rushing towards Kenrich who could not move anything other than his arm which continued the barrage of fireballs. Violet saw this out of the corner of her eye. She jumped out of the crowd of goblins easily and ran behind the ogre before slicing the back of its leg causing it to come down on one knee.
“While it’s down, Kenrich!” Violet yelled.
Kenrich was still in the middle of his fugue state, but was able to gather just enough resolve to shoot an accurate and final fireball straight to the face of the kneeling ogre. This shot was enough to down the ogre for good as its face imploded on impact of the fireball before scattering its ugly expression on the forest floor around them. Kenrich fell back on the ground. He could give no more. This didn’t matter to Violet though as she was able to dispatch the remaining goblins easily. Goblins are not skilled fighters and instead rely on tactics and cunning to down more dangerous prey, but Violet was way too much for them to handle. In the end, they didn’t land a single blow on her. Green bodies that weighed much less than they had when the battle started laid around the forest floor as Violet sheathed her sword, pocketed some gemstones she was gripping, and went over to Kenrich offering him a hand.
“Nice work, village boy,” she said. “Who would’ve thought that there’d be an ogre of all things! That was nice shooting on your part. Look! Its face looks like a hollowed-out pumpkin!”
Kenrich looked over at the ogre carcass and vomited on the forest floor while still seated.
“You’re such a baby,” Violet said. “C’mon, I’ll help you up.”
Kenrich grabbed her hand and was helped to his feet like he had weighed nothing at all. The adrenaline had not worn off yet, but he still felt a small amount of relief knowing that the fight was over.