The first thing Zane heard when he came to was the yelling of an old man.

"Where is he!? Where is he!? Where is my son!? What have you done to him?! You incompetent bastard!" the old man yelled, shaking Zane's body violently.

Zane recognized the voice, it was the village chief. Without opening his eyes Zane grabbed the arms of the old man and pushed him away. Then he opened his eyes.

He was in a fairly large room, light coming in through two windows, one right next to the bed he was laying in above a cabinet, the other in the wall to his left a painting to each side. Next to the door stood one of Merana's guards. The old man's face was wet from the tears, he had walked over to the corner of the room and had sunk the ground after Zane had pushed him away. He was in a bed that was far too small for him, his legs hanging over the frame.

"You're awake," Mira said.

She sat next to the bed he was laying in and had a bright smile on her face.

"You've been out for two days," she said.

Two whole days eh? Everything in there must have burned down by now.

"What happened to the chief's son and my guards?" Merana asked with a serious tone.

"Died," Zane said.

The village chief hit the wall and began crying louder than before. Merana's lips tightened.

"Alright then . . ." She looked over to the guard that was in the room with them then back to Zane. "Since you're a mercenary I guess we should talk business . . . how many lords?"

"Six lords, one king," Zane said without looking up.

"Six . . . fifty each . . . king . . . four hundred . . . seven hundred gold coins." She turned to the village chief. "Can your village pay?" she asked.

"W-Wh . . . What? You expect our poor village to pay s-s-seven h-hundred gold coins? We can barely survive as is," the village chief said, trying to hold back the tears.

"Hmm . . . that's a problem then," Merana said.

Mira stood up and hit the bedside cabinet next to Zane's bed.

"Holvin can pay for it, can't he? It's his land so it's his responsibility," she said.

"You might be right about that . . . we will ask him once we get back," Merana said.

Both of them turned to Zane who was lost in thought.

There were about two hundred goblins . . . maybe a few less or more . . . a few hobs and sorcerers along with lords and a king . . . but no babies . . . no breeders either . . .

"There is another," Zane said.

"Another what?" Merana asked with a confused look on her face.

"Camp," Zane said.

He got out of the bed as fast as he could. Even though his body had healed he still felt a bit weak.

"T-There are more of them?" the village chief said quietly in the corner.

He had a crazed look on his face as if the goddess of death herself had just decided to show him hell.

"Are there more cases of villages that got attacked?" Merana asked the village chief.

"I-I don't . . . don't know," he said.

Merana turned to her guards.

"Go and send two people out to find out where villages have been attacked before," she said.

The guard bowed and then quickly left the room, his heavy steps were hearable until he left the house.

"Do you think you can take on another camp?" Merana asked.

Zane nodded.

Judging from the number of lords and hobs the second camp would be filled with hobs . . . and that amount of goblins is only possible if there are five or so breeders . . . nothing I can't handle.

Zane looked to the side where his armour and equipment laid on a table. Both guns were still in their holsters, the satchels laid next to them and there was also the sword he had taken of the goblin king.

Not all that good . . . it will probably break sooner or later . . . sooner definitely sooner.

"Ah, that reminds me. I have a question for you, Reaper," Merana said.

Zane looked at her and nodded.

"What are those things and where did you get them? I only heard stories about the strange weapon the Reaper used but now that I have seen them I'm even more confused," she said, her voice filled with authority.

"Guns got them from Vin," Zane responded.

"Guns . . . hmmm and who is this . . . Vin?" Merana asked.

"Vindictus," Zane said.

Both the village chief and Merana looked shocked at Zane's casual mention of the thirteenth god.

"W-What, surely I must have misheard . . . right?" Merana said.

Zane shook his head.

"Vindictus, the thirteenth god, the personification of destruction, champion of the twelve, whatever you want to call him," Zane said as he walked over to the table and put on his equipment.

Merana looked to Mira who didn't look shocked, she more or less just had a look of interest on her face.

"H-Have you met him?" Merana asked her sister.

Surprise was written over her face and she was not her composed usual self.

"Not met but I've heard him," Mira answered.

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"Heard him? What do you mean?" Merana asked confused.

Mira looked to Zane who nodded at her before he continued putting on his equipment.

"When Zane discovered who I was Erebus tried to use him to kill me," Mira said.

Before she could continue Merana interrupted her.

"What! Why would the Lord of the Deep try to kill you?" she asked loudly.

"When we were in the tower together with Rex he got in some trouble and Erebus helped him out, but the gods always demand payment. Erebus decided that that payment would be my life. But Vindictus stopped it, he spoke to us through a device that Zane had and stopped Erebus," Mira explained.

"Why did you not tell me about this back at the inn? I told you to tell me everything," Merana said.

"I thought you might get angry at Zane for trying to kill me and attack him again. I just didn't want anyone to get hurt," Mira said.

Merana turned to Zane with a stern look on her face.

"You are lucky she has forgiven you," she said angrily.

How exactly is this my fault?

At that moment an old memory jumped into Zane's head.

"This isn't her fault," a tall man said.

"She tried to kill me!" the paladin yelled.

"She wasn't in control! It was your Hold Lord that did this! He only gave her this power to control her!" the man yelled back.

The paladin began laughing.

"Our Holy Lord would never do such a thing! She is a heretic and deserves death!" the paladin yelled as he drew his greatsword.

At that moment I charged at him, my katana already drawn. I cut deep into the neck of the paladin with a single strike, blood gushing out of the wound.

Zane got up, having finished putting on his equipment, with an angry look on his face. He went to Merana, having to slightly duck as to not hit his head. Once he reached her he put a hand on her shoulder and tightened his grip.

"Wasn't my fault," he said with a forced smile on his face. "Don't attack me again."

Zane then turned to Mira who was staring at him with a sense of fear in her eyes.

"I'm going out for now," he said.

Mira nodded and looked after him as he left the room. Zane walked down the stairs and through the short corridor and out the door. He had been in the house of the village chief. Zane walked along the main path of the village that led down to the frozen lake.

Angry at me for something a god did . . . just like that stupid church.

On his way down the wide path, many of the villagers stared at him and kept their distance. He saw how a mother kept her child away from him as he walked past. But he kept ignoring all of it and kept on walking, not noticing the look of anger he had on his face.

After a short while of walking, he reached the frozen lake. At the shore were many boat-like vehicles that the villagers used to get further out on the lake, along with a few workers that were preparing them for use. They were large enough for two people and tools, had a large sail and sharp metal blades on the bottom to slide over the ice.

He sat down on a nearby bench that had been built beneath a spruce tree and looked at the large frozen lake that was in the middle of the Velva Highland and took up most of it. The sun reflected on the ice surface and made it appear as if the entire lake was glowing.

He watched the villagers set out on the lake to fish, sliding over the ice in their boat-like vehicles, leaving behind a fine line in the ice. They became smaller and smaller as they got closer to the middle of the lake, being propelled by the occasional wind or with oar-like tools, long shafts with a small spiked plate made of wood at the end.

Hours passed hours in which he just sat on the bench, watching the lake, the villagers that were fishing, the reflection of the sun that was slowly wandering across the lake until it began to disappear as the sun sank behind the mountains. It was late afternoon by the time he heard Mira's voice from behind.

"They found something," she said.

Zane nodded and stood up. Together the two walked back to the village chief's house, entered and Zane sat down on a chair so he wouldn't harm his neck by standing in the room, that was too small for him, for too long.

"So what did you find?" Merana asked the guard that was in the room.

"We've found a destroyed village to the west, mam," the guard said, both hands crossed behind the back.

"Then we'll go west," Mira said immediately.

"No, you and I will go east," Merana responded. "Two of my guards along with the Reaper will go west, will find that camp, will exterminate any goblins they find and then meet us on the other side of the lake. From there we will continue on to Kalwa together."

Her tone was sharp, cold and serious.

"B-But," Mira began but she was interrupted by Merana.

"No buts, this is best for you and me. With one hand you can't very well fight goblins no matter how good you might be as a fighter. And if you die then your friend, the Reaper, will have come all this way for nothing," Merana said.

Zane nodded when he saw the look on Mira's face.

"Fine then," she said.

"Good.." She turned to Zane, "You will leave in the morning, get some rest until then and prepare yourself," Merana said.

Zane nodded and left the house, the guard following behind him.

"I will assign the best two to come with you, rest assured that they will be . . . more useful . . . than the ones who went with you last time," the guard said.

Zane nodded again and went to the inn, where he got some food and went up to his room immediately, all free of charge.

I got two days of sleep . . . I'm plenty rested.

He undressed and began meditating on the bed, just like he did the last few times he let Aura course throughout his body, like always. The tingling feeling had become much stronger, and where he gathered large amounts of Aura it began to turn into something else, a feeling one would have when flexing their muscles began to appear instead of the tingling.

Morning came faster than he had anticipated. A knocking on his door pulled him out of his meditation.

"Sir, Reaper, are you awake?" someone asked.

Zane got out of bed, put on his armour and equipment and then opened his door. One of Merana's guards was standing in front of him, full heavy armour, sword in its sheath, multiple javelins strapped to his back.

"We're ready to depart, sir," the guard said.

Zane nodded and followed the guard downstairs where another guard was already waiting for them at a table. The two sat down and their food was brought to them.

"Is there anything we should look out for, sir Reaper?" one guard asked.

"Breeders devour you on sight, lords are too strong for you, hobs are a challenge for you," Zane said coldly.

"W-What are you trying to tell us?" the guards asked at the same time.

"Stay back," Zane responded, taking a sip of his drink right after.

"S-Stay back but we're supposed to help you," one of the guards said.

"Take care of the little ones," Zane said.

"I'm sure we can do more than that," the other guard said.

Zane shook his head.

"Take care of the little ones," he said again.

"Fine then, have it your way," the guard said.

He seemed quite annoyed at Zane's words and crossed his arms.

Good, better they keep busy with the small ones so I can dispose of the big ones . . . don't want Merana to get any angrier at me, no matter how unjustified it is.

After the three finished their meal they left the inn and went over to where the horses were.

"Do you know how to ride a horse, sir Reaper?" one of the guards asked.

Zane nodded.

Been a few years but I should be able to do it.

All three of them climbed on their horses, Zane having barely any problems with it, and started on their way. Zane was slightly uncomfortable riding but managed to stay on the horse. They went through the gate at the edge of the village where one guard was still standing and then turned west, following the road for quite some time.

By the time they could see smoke in the sky it was already noon. After a few more minutes they reached the village that a guard had found.

Some of the wooden buildings were still burning, the flames wandering from house to house if it hadn't burned down already. The main path of the village was painted red from blood and was covered with corpses. No one had been left alive, children, women, men, human, demi-human, no one. Some of the corpses were still intact but most of them were missing limbs, chunks of flesh or even large chunks of their entire bodies.

Definitely a breeder. And judging from the state of this all it happened recently.

Zane noticed the guards retch at the sight. After a bit more observation he noticed a trail on the ground along with a few footsteps that had been hidden beneath the blood of the victims.

"Follow me," Zane said to the two guards.

Both nodded and followed him to the edge of the forest, where Zane got of his horse and walked straight into it. The guards followed Zane through the dark forest, all light blocked out by the large trees. On the ground was a trail left behind by something large and heavy, but it was hard to spot with an untrained eye. Zane led them to a massive boulder, loud noises were coming from the other side.

"Are we there yet?" one guard asked.

Zane signalled them to be silent before he closed his eyes and concentrated.

He felt the presences of at least a hundred goblins along with a few stronger ones he assumed to be hobs, further away he could feel presences that were like those of the goblin lords and one that was very strong which he assumed to belong to a high sorcerer. But there were five other presences, they weren't as strong as the goblin lords but a shiver went down his spine, there was something off about them as if multiple presences were mixed into one.

Breeders . . . and five of them at that.