They old lady smiled kindly. Slowly rocking back and forth, she started to tell her story:

“Once upon a time there were two friends.

They traveled through the desert, suffering under the burning sun.

Their minds exhausted and overheated they got into an argument.

Suddenly one friend punched the other in his face.

The punched friend didn’t show any fury. He simply wrote a sentence into the sand:

‘Today my friend punched me into the face.’

The two friends moved on together, soon finding an oasis. Exhausted and covered in sand they decide to take a bath.

Suddenly the friend, who had been punched, gat stuck in the mood. He threatened to drown. At the last second his friend managed to pull him out.

After recovering the almost drowned friend took a stone and carved a sentence in it:

‘Today my friend saved my life.’

The other friend asked him in astonishment:

‘When I hurt you, you only wrote a sentence into the sand, but now you are carving a sentence into stone. Why aren’t you writing those words in sand too?’

The first friend answered:

‘If someone insults or hurts us, we should write it down into the sand, so the wind of forgiveness can erase it. But if someone does us something good, we should carve it in stone, so no wind can ever erase it.’ “

After her little story Martina looked into the surrounding faces. She noticed some guilt, sadness, or contemplation. All the goblins were quiet as they thought about their behavior over the last few days. They recognized that they behaved strangely. Normally their village was more united.

Finally, Oring’tra was the first to open his mouth. In a hoarse voice he said:

“I was wrong, Nirau’nja. We have been protecting this village together for 20 years. I know you are a good guy. You are a perfect match for my sister.”

His friend sighed lightly before patting his shoulder, whispering a quiet thanks.

Not far from them another group of warriors talked amongst themselves.

“I don’t know what I was thinking. Rion’loa deserves the armor. He has always been fighting at the front, shouldering the most pressure.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“No no, you are wrong. Let our weaker members have the armor. They need it more. I can protect myself.”

“No I don’t think it is right for us to take it. Let those who provided the materials have the armor, they deserve it.”

As the argument had suddenly turned around the group of goblins looked at each other. Suddenly they broke out in laughter, not letting a single armor disrupt their unity anymore.

Behind Martina a certain team was also looking at each other in guilt.

“Fighting alone is wrong.”

“Right. I still remember when you saved my life 5 years ago. If I was alone at that time, I would be dead by now.”

“Also, we would have never been able to kill that higher demon 2 years ago. That’s enough merit for each of us to retire comfortably.”

“Except for the newbie…”

“Haha, right. I still remember when I joined the warriors. My squad back then taught me so much…”

Slowly more and more whispers spread among the crowd. Apologies left their mouths. Their cohesion was reinstated.

Tarun’gra proudly looked at Martina.

“You have done it, granny! You’re the best!”

Martina however blinked her eyes in confusion. Wasn’t this a tad bit to easy? She prepared a lot more stories. She was even looking forward to it. She just got comfortable. Were those goblins so easy to convince?

High above everyone’s heads the high priest smiled. She observed the goblin village in silence, tracing the dark energy with her eyes.

She watched as the energy circled around the crowd in despair. It tried a few times to get nearer to the fireplace, each time receiving a massive hit, its body thinning greatly.

Meanwhile the goblins were apologizing to each other. Their moods were lifted as they formed a unity again. Fumes of dark energy left their heads from time to time. Whenever this happened the original stream only got smaller and smaller.

After ten more minutes, if wriggled sadly before vanishing completely.

At this moment a majestic voice rumbled above the village:

“Congratulations, mortal, for passing the third trial!”

Excitement spread among the goblins. Everyone looked at Martina with awe in their eyes.

“Hero! You passed the third trial? Doesn’t that mean you will be granted three wishes?”

“Hero, hero! What are you wishing for?”

“Congratulations, hero. I would love to celebrate with you, but you probably won’t have the time.”

Tarun’gra also exclaimed in delight:

“That’s it, granny! You passed the third trial!”

Martina patted the goblin girl’s head as she smiled silently. At this point she was also in disbelief. Had all of this really happened? Had she passed a trial created by an almighty god? What a strange day…

Suddenly a golden light flashed once again. With gratified emotions the goblins watched as the old hero vanished. Their motivation was at its peak. If even an old lady could clear the Heroes Trial, then their village could easily win their upcoming battle!

A moment later Martina appeared in the bubble again. Olivia and Dongmei had proud looks on their faces as they patted their friend’s shoulder.

Even the emperor looked at the three grandmas proudly while the high priest smiled kindly. After the heroes had calmed down slightly, Zotrahn’gra announced:

“Congratulations heroes of Earth. You have done the unthinkable! You have brought a giant to tears, you have tamed wild beasts, and you have brought a whole goblin village to listen to you.”

The emperor stocked slightly. Maybe he should have chosen different words. Now their feats didn’t sound so impressive anymore. He coughed slightly in embarrassment.

“I mean you have defeated a legendary rock giant, bravely saved an endangered beast, and strengthened a group of the mightiest warriors. You have passed the HEROES TRIAL!”

Purposely letting his voice echo within the bubble for a moment, Zotrahn’gra continued:

“Now the great god will summon you any moment. This is a great honor. Choose your wishes wisely!”