Somehow those bloody monsters got wind of us. In an instant, all our prior planning flew out the window. Too late anyway to make any last-minute changes, best to stick with the original plan. The first five were still some distance away when I started the attack, but I quickly realised my spheres battled to reach their targets, killing the front two and allowing the last three enough time to duck and scatter.
Hana’s bow made short work of her front five targets because they fell within her effective kill zone, but I was battling. Three goblins ran in opposite directions from me, and I only had enough time to injure one of them. Hana who quickly worked through her five targets, ran forward, and started firing on mine. Damn she was fast.
Within two minutes everything was over. Hana stayed on guard up the tree while I removed evidence of the subjugation. Unfortunately, we only killed eight.
“Hana let’s go. We can’t do anything more here.”
We proceeded on our previous route while keeping an eye out for further goblin scouting parties. An hour later we swung south having penetrated as far into the forest as we planned to go for the day. Again, Hana’s quick senses that detected the goblins first.
“Shane, there’s another scouting party it seems.”
A minute later I confirmed they paralleled our course while still downwind of us. I recalled stories of submarines operating during World War II that could only catch up with fast paced ships by running a parallel course on the surface, racing ahead of their targets, and then lie hiding just under the water waiting to pounce on their unsuspecting targets when they passed close by. The key to success of course, was to accurately estimate where the enemy would be so that when you were running to overtake the enemy, they didn’t see you overtaking them. There was varied success during submarine warfare as they sometimes calculated incorrectly and missed their targets. But then they didn’t have an Ara.
“Okay Hana. I’m afraid we’re going to work harder for this round. Follow me. We needed to move quickly to intersect them at the right place.”
Hana figured out my plan for herself soon enough. As well as I could keep track of the goblins, she performed far better. Just like the submarines operated, we paused every now and then, confirmed our target’s position, adjusted course, and started a light jog again.
Our trap was far more successful that time. The spot we chose to lie in wait had far more trees, making missiles ineffective at longer range. But it also meant we could sneak in unobserved a lot quicker than initially planned. After our initial onslaught of the arrows and spheres on the goblin group, we immediately follow up with hand-to-hand combat before they could reorganise themselves. Unfortunately, one goblin managed to escape in the chaos. With nine kills, I wasn’t complaining. We bumped into another two scouting parties before our milk run ended. Again, we lost some kills, and I could only chalk that down to our inexperience, well mostly mine.
The picture of the cart coming up the road to pick us up was a very welcome one. We didn’t speak much to the cart owner because we were both just too tired to hold a conversation. Lying down on the cart while on that road was near impossible so sitting and ruminating all the day’s events in my mind was all I could do.
We handed in our subjugation proof at the guild, received our rewards, and headed back to the inn. When I turned to leave the reception counter, Olivia stopped me.
“Mr. Karosaki. One of the functions of my role is to advise adventurers assigned to me. Since you are operating within a certain region there is some information that might be of some future value to you. There’s a small rock outcropping that used to be a griffon nest and monsters generally avoid the area for that reason. But the cave in that outcropping is conveniently placed for adventurers to safely camp in. It’s used on a regular basis. Although you only intend operating during the daytime, it’s worth keeping in mind in case you need it in a pinch.”
“Thanks Olivia, I appreciate that info.”
No death flags raised there…not. It was too late in the evening to find a carriage to take us to the inn, so we trudged back by foot, washed up, ate our dinner and passed out on our beds. Between Hana and I that day, we managed to kill thirty-two goblins including four scout leaders, for a total of 640 silvers. The leader’s rings brought in another forty silvers for a total of six gold and eighty silvers. Not a bad return for one day.
The next three days we limited our operations to the outskirts of the eastern forest with reasonably good returns. On our fourth day it rained for most of the day, totally screwing up our detection ability and the goblins stayed home, it seemed. Neither Hana nor I could detect scouting parties, and when we did find them, they only teamed up in threes or fours. Hana became moody, her attitude as difficult to predict as the weather. Imagine then how we felt when at the end of that day when the cart appeared in the distance to pick us up. I for one, was only too happy to go home and have a decent bath. I even thought of taking the next day off just to have a break. If I had known the day would turn to custard, I would have opted we stay at home.
Suddenly, in the distance, two huge ogres loped out of the trees towards the cart and bulldozed the cart over onto its side. We watched in confounded horror as they pulverized the cart into matchsticks. Any hope of the cart driver surviving was dashed when a horde of goblins soon followed the ogres in their gleeful destruction, dispatching the horses and we assumed the cart driver.
“Shit, shit, shit.”
I couldn’t believe my eyes. The buggers pulled the same trap on us that we used on them every day. The warning from the Harpies’ leader accusing me in my mind. But there was no time for self-incrimination, already the goblins were starting to organise themselves and I instinctively knew they would be heading our way next. It didn’t take a genius to figure out an empty cart meant unsuspecting adventurers waited further down the road.
“Hana, we need to get out of here.”
She started to head in the direction of the city, but I stopped her when I grabbed her hand. Little lay between us and Shimmerstal except flat farmlands.
“No. In that open ground they’ll easily hunt us down. They’re rested and we’re tired after a day’s hunting.”
“Where then?”
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I pointed back into the forest where we came from but angling away from the horde.
“You serious? That’s a death sentence.”
“That’s the last thing they would expect us to do. At least we have a chance. There’s no time to argue, let’s go.”
Any fatigue I felt melted away under the rush of adrenaline. I sprinted away with Hana close behind. After thirty minutes of running, we were flat out exhausted.
“I…need…to…rest.”
Said Hana panting. And there, the next failure in my thinking became apparent. Hana had catkin in her, probably more conditioned for sprinting and not marathon running. I never considered that in my equations.
I’d just managed to get all her stuff out of my storage, only to put it all back again.
“Come Hana, I’ve got a plan.”
“I can’t. I can’t go anymore.”
“Listen. Trust me. If you listen to me, we’ll survive this.”
A chorus of goblin cries in the far distance added some impetus to my words. Hana looked exasperated.
“Hana, quickly take your pack off and give it to me. Also give me your armour, weapons, and water.”
I unceremoniously threw all of it into my storage. I realised then the sense of doing that. We needed to travel light and fast. The storage rings negated any extra weight, a real cheat.
“Just follow what I do. I’ll pace for you.”
It was good Ara could find a joke in the middle of that situation, but I got the point and started walking at a brisk pace. I give credit to Hana because she stayed with me all the way. Midway to the river Ara told me to stop.
I immediately recognised the tufty grass, pulling up bunches of it at a time, roots and all. I was like a weed harvesting machine. It was just as well she asked me to do it then, it was getting darker with the sun setting through the trees and soon we wouldn’t be able to see much. There were no moons that night. Highlighting my next failure - inability to navigate in the dark.
Which we promptly did much to Hana’s disgust. I bet she was wondered what the blazes I was up to.
We set off on a jog and settled into a steady pace. As we alternated between jogging and quick walking, Ara started prepping me about the next part of the plan.
We arrived at the riverbank, nearly exhausted. Hana fell to the ground onto her knees, trying to breathe in gasps.
“Hana, take all your clothes off and give it to me. Just keep your boots on.”
If it wasn’t for the fact we were being hunted down by a swarm of bloodthirsty monsters, the look on Hana’s face would have given me something to laugh about. I didn’t waste time arguing with her but turned around to give her what little modesty she had left and started taking off my remaining clothes until I was stark naked, and then started scrubbing myself down with mud. When I looked behind me Hana was facing away from me and doing the same. I grabbed her warm clothes and threw them into my storage. For the split second I saw Hana from behind, I admit she made a beautiful slave. Not a bad purchase at all.
“Uh, sorry.”
“Why are you apologising?”
“Just speaking out loud. Ignore it.”
I vaguely made out the stream ahead of us which reminded me of a smaller version of the forest river near the woodcutter’s camp where I dispatched the ogre general. Only the river in front of us seemed narrower, about ten meters wide, and faster flowing with more large rocks and white water. Holding Hana’s hand I moved into the stream, perpendicular to the flow and then headed upstream. The sense of keeping our boots on was immediately apparent because our feet would have suffered on those slippery rocks, already we battled to keep our footing.
My heads-up display showed the outline of a large boulder near the middle of the stream. I led Hana through the chest high water up to the rock and spoke loudly into her ear so that she could hear me above the rushing water. I caught a glimpse of her wincing and realised I was hurting her ears. I forgot she was a catkin with sensitive and directional hearing, so I lowered my voice and spoke normally.
“We need to hide behind this rock under the flow of water.”
She nodded and I led her to a small overhang of the rock on the downstream side. The water flow was much reduced there, but it still made it difficult to sit still. With my back against the rock, I jammed myself into a corner where the water stream gushed over the rock, creating a natural air pocket. I placed my head into air pocket and pulled Hana’s body against my own. She resisted and started pulling away, not enamoured by the unwanted contact.
Ara hissed into my brain. I pulled Hana onto my body, her back against my chest, and held her tightly while her face shared the same air pocket as me.
The water was bloody cold beyond human description, but I was so high on adrenalin it didn’t register much in my brain. Besides, the creepy appearance of goblin shadows on the shore washed aside any other concerns. I communicated with Ara to help keep my focus.
Through the small waterfall gushing over my head, I watched a goblin shadow searching a low boulder in front of us. They didn’t touch the water, they seemed afraid of it. But that didn’t stop them from jumping from rock to rock like frogs. Suddenly there was a loud splash somewhere downstream, and a goblin screamed in panic. When I heard the goblins laughing, I realised one of them must have fallen in.
They seemed to take forever to move, and I started losing sensation in my extremities. I also lost a lot of internal body heat as a combination of lowered adrenaline and the icy water caused me to shiver. A large, bulky shadow moved over the dark embankment. I assumed the ogres arrived and the goblins were waiting for it to catch up. It made a low growl and the smaller goblins jumped off the rocks towards the shoreline and their shadows quietly scurried upstream. Three minutes later Ara spoke.
I slowly allowed the current to carry us away from the rock while carefully looking around to make sure all the monsters had left. The nightmare thought of a goblin still sitting on the rock above me, waiting for me to move, didn’t give me any peace. A few seconds later I confirmed no monsters remained in the area and I stood up to do another quick scan of the area. Again, the air currents and eddies caused by the river water made it difficult to detect anything near or on the river.
“Hana. Hana.”
I shook her, but she wasn’t responding.