As the haze from the celebrations around him died out, Roy stood up and started looking for Lorenz. Now that he had a responsibility over all of these people’s safety and happiness, he couldn’t sit back and relax. He had many many plans to execute on, and many goals to achieve. However, to do any of that he needed to become strong, and to that end, hunting monsters was the most efficient way.
After looking around for a bit, he found Lorenz happily talking with some of the other kids his age. When the young boy noticed Roy, he bid farewell to his new friends and followed him outside.
“It’s amazing what food can do to a mood. It’s like it became a festival here,” Lorenz commented with a grin on his face. “So, are you gonna keep your promise and we go hunt?”
“Yeah, that’s exactly what we’re gonna do,” Roy nodded his head. “You remember what I said, right? You will do as I tell you when we’re out there, understood?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Lorenz replied while rolling his eyes. “Don’t be a nagging old hag.”
Roy shook his head at the young boy’s nonchalant attitude, but he did not press the issue any further. He was confident that even if they met an Ogre, he would be able to carry Lorenz under his arm and run.
As the two walked through the streets, they found countless goblin corpses but none were alive. They did quite the good job. Roy thought back to the groups of awakened who were patrolling the area around the house and killing all monsters. Without their work, the villagers back home wouldn’t be able to celebrate in peace.
After a few minutes of walking, the duo crossed the plaza and entered the marketplace. From afar, they could see a closed smithy.
“That’s dad’s workshop. At least those monsters didn’t break into it, else we would be in trouble.”
Roy nodded his head in silence at the young boy’s words. As he looked at Karthus’ workshop, memories of the past came rushing in.
“By the way, when do you want me to work on those spikes?” Lorenz interrupted Roy’s thought.
“Depends, how long do you think it will take you to make them? I need around seven to ten.”
The young boy thought for a few seconds before responding, “With proper work, probably two days.”
“Then let’s leave it until tomorrow,” Roy stated. “Today, let’s get you to awaken and then we feast.”
Lorenz chuckled, “If I get strong like you, maybe it will just take me a day and a half.”
While the two were chatting, they soon found a band of goblins in an alleyway.
“Perfect, I was almost getting bored.”
One of the goblins shrieked with a malicious look on its face, before rushing towards Roy. The latter casually sidestepped and pierced the monster’s back in between its shoulder blades.
The next goblin pounced right after the first one, only to have its hand cut off with a single slash. Two of the last three goblins jumped at him from both sides, while the third one ran in fear.
As if he was a dancer, Roy dodged the first attack with a spin before blocking the second goblin’s slash. With a twist of his hand, Roy overwhelmed the frail monster with sheer power. He disarmed it and slashed its thigh open before focusing on his last remaining opponent.
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The small goblin’s face morphed from rage and malice to pure terror as he looked at Roy. To him, it was as if he was in the presence of its natural predator. A primal fear surged from deep within his heart.
Before the beast could turn away and run, Roy pounced at it with ungodly speed. He slashed off its knee tendons, leaving the goblin tumbling and rolling on the ground.
After finishing his work, Roy took one of the goblins’ knives and threw it toward Lorenz, “It’s your turn now, kill them.”
The young boy stammered as he held onto the knife Roy had given him. He looked around only to find pandemonium surrounding him. The goblins were shrieking and screaming in pain; their bodies were mutilated, and their blood dripped down the road.
“Finish them fast. Have some respect and end their suffering.”
Lorenz stuttered before nodding at Roy’s words. “Okay, I will do it.”
The young boy approached the first goblin with a knife in his hand. The beast was crawling on the ground, trying its best to escape. With a scream, Lorenz plunged the knife into the monster’s back. He then kept stabbing it over and over again with closed eyes, only when he could no longer hear its shrieks did he stop and look at the beast.
It was mutilated beyond recognition. Blood covered the goblin’s green skin, and bones protruded from its numerous wounds.
As Lorenz’s eyes were stuck on the goblin’s body, Roy tapped his shoulder, “You were brave, but don’t make such a mess. If you want it to be clean, slash its neck properly or stab it through the heart.”
The young boy looked with a horrified face at Roy before shaking the thoughts out of his head.
“Yeah, I understand.”
Lorenz took his knife and walked towards the next goblin. This time, his hand was steady and he did not close his eyes. He grabbed the beast’s jaw from the chin and slashed its neck open.
The young boy took quick and shallow breaths before moving toward his next victim. In such a fashion, Lorenz added four kills to his count.
With the job finished, Roy walked towards the shocked young boy. “It’s hard, isn’t it? But you have to remember that while you might have trouble killing them, they would have no problem doing the same to you.”
Lorenz nodded his head. “Yeah, I know…”
“You sure you wanna continue,” Roy asked with a worried face.
The young man’s question shook Lorenz before he looked back at Roy with more determined eyes. “Yes. Yes, I can continue.”
“Okay, it’s as you wish.”
The pair continued strolling around the marketplace before finding another pack. This one was marginally smaller than the one from before, with only four goblins: three small ones, and one tall variant.
“Look closely at what I do, Lorenz. One day, you’ll have to do the same.”
Roy charged with incredible speed at the monsters. In less than a second, he closed the gap between them and slashed a small goblin’s torso wide open. Without any hesitation, he continued his massacre and killed the other two small ones.
Seeing its comrades drop like flies next to it, the tall variant charged at Roy with a spirited war cry. The latter casually parried the goblin’s overhead slash, before cleanly stabbing its throat.
The monster gurgled with disbelieving eyes before it fell to the ground.
“Shit, come and kill this one first before it dies!”
Lorenz was surprised by the sudden shout. “Okay, okay, I’m coming!”
The young boy gritted his teeth and stabbed the tall goblin in the heart before it breathed its last.
“Did it count?” Roy hurriedly asked Lorenz.
The latter looked at the side of his vision before nodding. “Yeah, my count increased.”
Roy’s expression relaxed as he sighed and said, “Okay, that’s good. Now go and finish your job.”
As Lorenz was finishing off the monsters, Roy heard a slight noise from an alleyway. A goblin came rushing only to stop in the middle of the street and look intently at Roy. It was the same goblin that had run away earlier.
“Lorenz, quickly finish. We have problems.”
The young boy was confused by Roy’s statement, as Lorenz knew that a single goblin was no match for the latter. However, he did as he was told and quickly sliced off the last goblin’s neck.
In the meantime, the goblin was staring back at the alley from which it came, shrieking and signaling with its hands. Soon, the sound of steps echoed as more and more goblins rushed out from the passageway.
By the time their number surpassed thirty, Roy had carried Lorenz under his arm and ran as fast as he could. Even as the horde of monsters chased after him, Roy left them in the dust with his inhumane speed. He went from backstreet to backstreet until he reached the other end of the marketplace where he was sure that he had lost them.