Chapter 9 - Goblins

He woke up early like always. He grabbed his katana and started for the door but he was drawn to a noise coming from the other side of the wall next to his room. He could hear what seemed to be two people talking. He leaned in to hear better.

“Isn’t he still too young?”

“Let’s ask him if he wants to go then.”

“I still don’t know.”

“Don’t worry, nothing will go wrong, I’m going to be there with him.”

“That’s exactly why I’m worried.”

“You could have tried to word that a little bit better.”

“I know, I would just feel better if I went too.”

“I wish you could come with me but we need someone to watch the house.”

“Well what about Sean and Hellen, couldn’t they do it.”

“I guess we can try and ask them.” Blake heard all he wanted and left to go outside. He was wondering what they were talking about; he hadn’t heard the entire conversation after all.

“We’re going to the city.” Aaron said as he materialized. “I only have a vague recollection of the trip but we’re going to that city from that you saw when you arrived.”

“Oh so they were talking about whether to take me or not.”

“About right. I had nearly forgotten about it though. I was wondering how to get us over there but I didn’t need to.” Aaron responded. “Well let’s go see how well that sword of yours works.”

“Yeah let’s go.” They headed further and further into the forest until they found a slime. Blake snuck up right next to it. Before it even had a chance to react, he slashed it. It cut right down and the slime split into two. Instead of dying, it turned into two smaller slimes. Not wanting to have even more slimes, Blake quickly got rid of them with two fireballs.

Two crystals dropped down. He went over to them, picked them up, and swallowed them. “That makes ten.” He thought.

Level 3 --> 4

Health – 18 + 3

Stamina – 20 + 5

Strength – 11 + 3

Defense – 9 + 2

Agility – 9 + 2

Intellect – 52 + 1

Magic – 11 + 3

Experience needed to next level: 250

“Looks like we’re making nice progress. It might seem like it’s incredibly fast and easy but that’s mostly just with the first levels, it gets much harder from now.” Aaron stated. “You have gotten the fireball skill to level two so I guess I can teach you another spell now.”

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“Is it a fire one or what?” he asked.

“Yeah for now, we’re going to stick with fire. Pay attention now.” Aaron looked down at his hands and then he extended them. “Murus Ignis.” A wall of fire sprang from the ground. It was nine feet tall and nine feet wide. “It takes twenty stamina to cast this so it’s kind of a last resort kind of thing for now. You can go ahead and try.” The fire wall he cast dispersed into the air.

Blake went ahead and said, “Murus Ignis.” Another wall appeared. He had expected it to be smaller but was surprised when it wasn’t. “Awesome!” he exclaimed. He was going to keep going but he heard his name being called. He went in the direction of the noise. He saw Anna looking around.

“Over here.” He said. Anna ran over to Blake, grabbed his hand and started to pull him toward the house. “What’s the hurry?”

“Mommy said that we are going on a trip, but we can’t go without you. Hurry.” She said.

“Okay, okay let’s go.” They made their way back and exited the forest to see a big wooden wagon waiting for them. Norman and Esmerelda were waiting to get on.

“There you are.” Esmerelda said. “Come here, I’ll get you on, and then let’s go.” Anna was first and then Blake. When he got on, he could see that there were swords and tools in the back with them. Norman and Esmerelda got on in front. “We’re lucky that they agreed to watch the house, and all we have to do is bring Anna along.” She whispered to Norman.

“Let’s go.” Anna yelled. They started off on a dirt path through the forest. Anna kept looking around but she could only see the bushes and trees. She looked down so Blake started to point out the birds and animals that they were passing, even the slimes he could see. Eventually Anna exhausted herself and fell asleep resting her head on Blake’s shoulder.

He was going to listen on to the conversation going at the front but decided against it. Instead he decided to stare out into the forest, and see if he could spot anything interesting. He couldn’t see anything he hadn’t seen before, but he kept going. As the hours kept passing, he started to nod to sleep himself but that’s when he saw a green, hunched figure far in the distance.

“Is that a… goblin?” He thought. Within the second Aaron had appeared.

“Yes your thoughts are correct. That is a goblin and if you saw one then it means that there are many others. There’s one thing that bothers me though.” Blake gestured for Aaron to go on. “This never occurred in my life.” Aaron said

“Does that mean?” Blake asked.

“Yes, I’m not a professional in this time travel business but I doubt that learning magic at an early age would cause this kind of change. It’s highly likely that someone else came back and caused this change. Anyway we can leave that for later, tell Father and Mother right away.” Aaron told him.

Without an inch of hesitation he did as told. “Dad.” He said.

“What son?” Norman asked while turning back to see Blake.

“I saw a weird, short, green person by the trees.” He said. Norman’s face grew worried. He stopped the wagon.

“Where did you see it?” Norman asked. Blake pointed to the place where he had seen it standing but it was gone. “Wait here, I’m going to check it out.” He quickly headed in the direction but headed back just as quickly. “There were hundreds of footsteps. This is a serious problem. Let’s hurry.” He quickened the pace that were traveling at. With all the commotion, Anna woke up but she was just confused.

The day quickly grew into nighttime but they didn’t stop to rest. Norman kept on going throughout the night. Blake stayed awake for most of the time but he fell asleep for a while and woke up when they had exited the forest and the city was in sight; there was a giant gate at the entrance to the city. “It looks so much bigger up close.” Blake thought.

They arrived at the gate. “Luckily there isn’t a line.” Aaron said. They were stopped by the guards.

“Identification.” Norman took out a card and showed it to them. They moved aside and let them pass. Blake and Anna were looking around, amazed by their surroundings, buildings everywhere.

“Hey Blake look at the building at the center.” Aaron said. Blake turned his head inward. In the distance there was a hill with a big building on it; it looked majestic. “That’s the king’s home, a castle, but it’s also the royal academy. The king acts as the principal. That’s where we’re aiming to be in three years.” As Aaron finished his sentence, the wagon came to a halt.

“We’re here. I’m going to go inside.” Norman said.

“Blake follow him, he’s going to enter the guild.” Aaron commanded. Blake jumped off the wagon and started after Norman. Esmerelda noticed but she couldn’t leave Anna alone so Blake was free to follow.

He expected a kind of run down place but it was surprisingly clean and organized. There were many tables and chair with people occupying them. There was a board with papers filling the entirety of it. A counter with multiple attendants. Norman walked right up to the counter.

A woman came to attend Norman. “Hello. What can I help you with today Norman?”

“I have some things to sell like usual but I also need to place a quest.” He responded.

“What will the quest be?” she asked.

“A goblin elimination quest.” He responded

“How many?”

“I can’t be sure but at least one hundred.” All the eyes in the guild were on him.

“That would be a rank B quest. I’ll have it posted right away.” A man stood up from his peers, walked up to Norman, and put his hand on his shoulder.