“Hmph, nothing. On the bright side, we cleaned another dirty home!” Sevasta and the others cleaned out the entire village, removing rubble and dirt from the homes. They were destroyed, but now destroyed and clean.

“Madame Sevasta, we should head out. This place is empty.” Aaron warned her after noticing the fighting outside get nearer, and those people from earlier may return.

“A pity, but if i were to be disappointed on the first step, i won’t be able to see the gains of the second step. Let us move, more villages need cleaning.”

As they began to exit the village, the yelp of a wolf alerted them. They all turned their eads to the source of the noise.

A man was standing next to a severely wounded wolf, his sword dripping with blood.

“That poor pup. We need to help it.” Sevasta limped forward with her cane, but she was stopped in her tracks by Aaron, running forward with a sword in hand.

The man failed to realize his charge until Aaron swung his dead at the man’s neck, cutting it clean off and killing the threat.

“Dearie, you shouldn’t put yourself in such danger like that!” Evne though she was glad, she had to tell of Aaron from making such a risky decision again.

“Food?” One of the goblins asked.

“This is not food pumpkin, it’s a wolf. Man’s best friend.” She knelt in front of the white furred brown spotted dog.

Wounds covered its body, all caused by the man.

“Hmm, he would not last much longer. We need medicine and bandages.”

“Sadly Madame Sevasta i don’t think this place has medicine.”

“We will just go find some medicine while also finding the ingredients and tools to bake the cookies. Killing two birds with one stone.” Aaron gave a nod. Sevasta tried lifting the wolf but to no avail, hurting her back in the process.

“Allow me Madame.” Aaron lifted the wounded wolf with both his hands, holding it like a baby.

“Aww, it looks like we found a new furry friend with us.” The goblins stared at it with unwavering gazes, mouth open into a maw of teeth and hunger.

“Now now, the wolf is a friend. Not food. He may also help us find more food or things we need!” Sevasta managed to convince the goblins, closing their mouths and looking up to her.

“Yes, won’t eat furry thing.” Sevasta smiled, “Good, now let’s go to the next village. We might find the pan and silverware there.” Done with their search and saving a wolf from imminent death, they set off again.

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“Quick and strong with that sword, and still young. Where did you learn that dearie? Such speed where i was from would be used by a well experienced soldier.” Sevasta chuckled.

“I was trained somewhere. Nothing too special, from that place i also got the desire to get glory and some money too. Then I got sent here after a mix of failed and successful missions.” Aaron sighed and rubbed his forehead, a cloud of sadness took over, recounting those memories of the past. Sevasta noticed and quickly understood.

“Take a deep breath hon. Do the failures trouble you that much?” He nodded slowly.

“I see…So that desire led you here as well. You at least managed to succeed in a few missions, feel proud for that, not every streak is perfect. I baked many horrible batches of cookies before this. And i still wish to continue on and improve, you can too dear!” Aaron looked at Sevasta, the feeling of frustration seemed to wipe away. For now at least after hearing Sevasta’s advice.

After a few minutes of traversing the bloodied grass, narrowly passing warring groups of aspirants and even Aaron managing to kill a few, they reached the next village.

It looked less damaged but still well off than the others. The inside was barren and empty.

“It looks like nobody is here. Alright little ones, let’s start searching!” The goblins happily rushed into the crumbling houses, hastily finding anything of value.

Aaron and Sevasta slowly followed from behind. Once at the center, they set the dog down.

“Deep slashes and punctures, but none seem to hit important areas.”

“You know that?” Aaron asked.

“Just knowledge you get after patching up rambunctious kids.” Sevasta chuckled.

“Watch over the village entrance and this pup, i’ll help the little ones find some bandages.” Sevasta limped towards one of the houses, one that was still standing unlike the others.

With her cane, she pried the door open, and dust immediately slammed into her face and the smell of old wood and dust filled her nose.

“This place really needs a big cleaning.” She swept around, all the while checking any container she found inside. Boxes to cabinets and drawers.

“I wonder what was the history of this place. Whoever that was that sent me here is either very lazy or is using us as free labor to clean and decorate this world.” She rambled to herself, checking more and more empty containers.

Soon, opening one box in particular she found it. A sewing kit with needle, thread, and a bunch of fabrics and cloth. And even knitting needles.

“This brings back good memories.” She smiled for a moment before heading back out to heal the injured pup.

With quick and precise sutures, Sevasta patched up every wound on the wolf. Soon, the bleeding stopped and every wound was covered in thick cloth.

“You are a natural at this. Another thing you learned with rambunctious kids too?” Aaron chuckled, she laughed at his question before giving a happy nod.

As she continued examining the wolf and feeding it a chunk of meat, a shriek from the goblins caught her attention.

A goblin was thrown out of a larger wooden building, barely saved by Sevasta who caught him.

Emerging from the broken doorway was another aspirant, more armored than any Sevasta had seen so far.

“A crone followed by a bunch of greenskins and a weak man. Is this really what stands before me and my prize!?” She jumped out, spitting at one of the retreating goblins, angering Sevasta. But she kept her composure.