Aaron was tired. It had been a long trip so far. The sight of the dead girl had disturbed him quite a bit. Even though it was not the first dead person he’d encountered, Dianna and Thomas being case and point, it had shaken him. The girl had obviously suffered greatly and ultimately died a brutal death. He was not some battle hardened warrior that was used to being surrounded by death, he wasn’t sure he would ever be used to such things. But he suspected he was going to have to learn, Exia was obviously not a tame place.
This was only part of his exhaustion though. He had a rather late night involving some extreme sexual activity, the thought of which was bringing a smile to his face, he had fucked a demon after all, a really hot one. Although in hindsight he supposed it was more like she had fucked him. Aaron quickly banished the memory, he could feel his dick coming to life from the thought and was not in any position to be getting a hardon at this moment.
The final reason for being so tired. Well, dealing with Mara was actually rather taxing, mostly mentally. For some reason she had, ever since last night, become, for lack of a better term, ‘clingy’. Normally he would not mind having a hot girl all over his ass, but in this case, Rita was still around and that stressed him out.
There was no way she hadn’t noticed the extreme 180 in Mara’s behaviour and treatment of him. God only knows what she must be thinking about it. He really hoped she didn’t figure out the reason for it, he wasn’t sure how he should face her if that happened. ‘I mean, I fucked YOUR demon, no biggie. I still like you though’. Yeah- no- That would probably not go down very well. He doubted level one of the harem skill would be enough to get through that unscathed.
It had of course also been rather nice to receive confirmation on the effectiveness of a 1000 charisma stat. Apparently rather effective! It did actually leave enough of an impression on a demoness to actually fuck him, despite her rather clear disdain for humanity.
He had also as per his previous resolution dumped all his attribute points into intelligence to bring it up to twelve and his mana up to eighty. An unexpected side effect of this was that as soon as his intelligence crossed the ten threshold, he unlocked another skill choice: ‘Smart is the new sexy’.
Skill: Smart is the new sexy Type: Passive Element: Divine Cost: N/A Description:
Sapiosexual for the win! Well the world doesn’t always work that way, but that shouldn’t stop you! Effect:
Adds 20% of your intelligence stat as additional charisma - effect will increase with level of this skill
Aaron was having a rather hard time figuring out if he should purchase any of these skills at present, there were a lot of really useful ones available now. In the end it seems he would once again procrastinate until he hit a roadblock and then probably at that point throw skill points at it to make it go away.
As they travelled along, the scenery had begun to change. Gone was the forest of sparse, tall trees. It had been replaced with rolling grassy hills populated with dozens of small bushy trees and other actual bushes. The vegetation in this area looked a bit more arid, like hardier plants that had to fight a little more fiercely for their spot on Exia.
In the distance he could now also see the first signs of human population he had seen in a while. Goran village had finally come into sight.
It was a small village, little more than a collection of twenty ‘houses’. Aaron felt that ‘houses’ might be a bit generous, ‘shacks’ or ‘huts’ was probably a more apt way of describing them. They were located literally in the middle of the wilderness with trees and bushes all around and amongst them.
The houses themselves had some kind of stone sheet roof tiles making up their low angle roofs. The walls of each seemed to be made out of some kind of dried mud composite. They had all been painted white once upon a time, but now only had patches of white left here and there. It actually looked like the residents had ‘mudded over’ the painted houses multiple times, most likely as part of repairs to the walls, and then just never bothered to repaint them.
“Mara, return to the amulet”, Rita instructed the demon, “We don’t want to alarm them anymore than necessary. I have a feeling they’re gonna be a bit on edge.”
Mara didn’t respond, and simply dematerialised, vanishing in a moment.
As they closed in on the village, a villager that was working one of the fields noticed them. He immediately bolted, even though he was quite some distance away still. The reason for this soon became apparent.
Slowly but surely a small mob began to form at the edge of the village, a rabble armed with scythes and pitchforks, waiting for their intruders to arrive.
Rita and Aaron finally stopped about twenty paces in front of them. At this point a man stepped forward.
He was wearing a pair of heavy duty boots, a green pants and cream colored buttoned shirt. The man had a very square, chiseled face with a hefty black mustache and bushy eyebrows. He also had long black hair tied in a ponytail near the end. The man was muscular, and looked like someone used to a life of hard labour, despite the fact that he was dressed quite a bit better than anyone else present in the village.
Although one might think him a labourer, the broadsword strapped to his belt told a different story. He was after all the only person present with an actual proper weapon.
“My name is Soluga.” He announced in a deep loud and slightly aged voice, “I am chief for Goran village. Who may I ask are you?” The villagers behind him all seemed tense, as Aaron noticed that they gripped their improvised weapons even tighter.
Rita responded, “I am Rita. This is Aaron. We are simply passing through.” Rita paused for a moment and then reached for a small bag, handing it to the the village chief.
He looked inside and then looked back at Rita, raising an eyebrow, as if for explanation.
“We encountered some goblins on the way here, I have a feeling this would be important information to you.”
“Aye” He responded bowing his head a bit as if recalling something painful. “We been raided by the little buggers for months now. They kill our men, steal our crops and even abduct some of the woman.
“I see.” Rita responded with a sad undertone of her own. “Then I have something else for you.” She nodded towards Aaron. He of course understood her intent and he went to go fetch the dead girls body. He struggled to carry her a bit, and found himself wishing that he had put some points into strength instead, but somehow he managed.
“I believe then she is one of yours” Rita stated, while Aaron laid the girl at the village chiefs feet.
The chief pulled the blanket away to reveal her face and confirmed, “Yes. Yes she is.”
The mob of villagers had all crowded around to see who the girl was at this point. A woman suddenly burst from the ring of people, and fell to the ground over the girl, crying and screaming in anguish.
It was pretty obvious that she was the mother. “First your husband is killed, and now your daughter returns to you in this state.” The chief mumbled to himself while cursing gods unknown rather bitterly. “Come you two, rest. Anyone that kills goblins is a friend of ours.”
The village chief, Soluga motioned for the rest of the villagers to disperse and then lead the two of them to his own home. Soluga’s home was a bit larger than the rest of the houses in the village and had been furnished with some decent furniture and decor, that sat in rather sharp contrast to the ugly mud walls of his home, or the rest of the villages rather dismal state for that matter.
One might be tempted to accuse him of splurging, but Aaron supposed that being the chief meant that it was up to him to entertain all guests of any importance whatsoever. There was after all no ‘inn’ in this village, it not exactly being a tourist hotspot and all.
Once seated in his living room, he served them with some freshly made tea.
“So where are the two of you headed?”
Rita responded, “Zetsuna.”
“I see. You should be careful travelling out that way, there is a pretty large goblin camp nearby, in that direction.”
“Would that be the same group of goblins that have been raiding you?”
“Indeed, the very one.”
“I see. Tell me, this village falls under Zetsuna’s jurisdiction, correct?”
“Aye, that be so.”
“The lord there is quite wealthy, my mother was acquainted with him. Tell me, if you know of the actual location of the goblin camp and the lord of the region has enough power to do something about it, then why have you not gone to him for help? I can’t imagine he would sit idly by while there was a group of raiding goblins in his backyard.”
“Unfortunately miss, that be exactly what’s happening.”
“I’m confused.”
“You see, we are not on very good terms with the lord at the moment. A couple of months ago, we had just come out of a particularly bad winter and did not have the funds to pay his taxes. This normally wouldn’t be a problem, since we could make it up to him afterwards, he is not a bad man after all. However, straight after that a group of goblins settled in nearby and started regularly raiding us. We haven’t been able to get back on our feet since and the lord is not particularly interested in sending expensive troops out to dispatch a small army of goblins for the sake of some village that hasn’t been paying their way.”
Stolen novel; please report.
“I see.” Rita frowned, “It is a bit on the cruel side, but the lord is well within his rights to do that.”
“Aye, like I said, he isn’t really a bad sort. But that has left us between a rock and a hard place.”
“Soluga, what if I told you I had a demon bound to me that might be strong enough to clear out the goblins for you.”
Soluga eyed her with suspicion. “Don’t get me wrong miss, but you look a bit young to be such an accomplished warlock as to have a demon strong enough to do something like that.”
“I am not a warlock. It is a bound demon, so my status as one does not matter.”
“Ah, I see. I would be seriously in your debt if you can do as you say. Tell me, what would you want in exchange for this service?”
“Nothing, don’t worry about it.”
Soluga frowned, “Forgive me miss, but it would be dishonorable not to repay such a huge debt. It would tarnish my pride as the village chief.”
Rita sighed. “This might not be my place, but I think you should worry about your people before your pride or honor.”
The village chief sat back in his chair and folded his arms, “Aye. I suppose you be right.” He gave her an analysing stare, examining her much more thoroughly than he had before. “My apologies, I am grateful for your help. And I will remember this debt. It would seem you have lived many more years than what you have been alive.” He chuckled lightly at that.
Rita smiled warmly in return. “Perhaps. But I doubt life is easy for many people in general.”
The room sank into silence for a while.
“Well then, I will have meals prepared for the two of you later and if you need a place to stay, my house has some spare rooms.”
“Thank you for your hospitality.”
“It is certainly the least I could do.”
“One last thing, do you have any injured? It seems to me like you have last been raided quite recently. If there are I can help heal them.”
“No, we sustained one or two deaths in a raid yesterday, but aside from that no one else was seriously injured.” The chief looked towards the ground in sorrow. “The goblins also took three woman before retreating. One of which you have returned to us now, and I suspect the other two have met the same horrible fate, wherever they may be.”
“Sorry to hear that.” and to Aaron’s ears, she did seem genuinely sorry, as if the loss were her own.
Once they got directions from the chief on how to find the goblin camp, they said their goodbyes and left the house and Rita finally called Mara out.
“Did you hear all that?”
“Sure. So I get to kick some more goblin ass then?”
“Yes. Go to the camp and take a look around. If you think you can take them all on then that’s fine. If you are not sure however, then you are to return and rather report back to me on the camp.”
“Yeah sure, fine, whatever.”
“Mara”, Aaron suddenly interjected, “The goblins were in the habit of kidnapping woman, so you should probably also keep an eye out for any survivors. I doubt there would be any alive, just looking at what they did to that one girl, but I think we should be vigilant regardless.”
“Sure thing”, Mara responded before leaving in the direction of the goblin camp.
“So what do we do now, while we wait for her?” Aaron asked.
“I actually wanted to go to the nearby hills to see what plants I could find. WIll you accompany me, I think it would be a bit safer that way.”
“Of course.”
With that, the two of them set off for the nearby hills. After about an hour of wandering around and getting a feel for the local flora, Rita was able to better advise Aaron on exactly the kinds of plants and things she was looking for.
As they continued about their business Rita struck up a ‘friendly’ conversation. “So… I can’t help but notice that the demon is being rather nice to you, compared to how she treats me at any rate. Any idea why that is?”
Wow! Aaron noticed that she didn’t even want to address ‘the demon’ by name. “No. No idea.” Aaron denied a tad too vehemently.
“Really?” Rita gave him a critical glare, “You seem to be awfully close with her.”
“Oh you think?” Aaron could only chuckle nervously, a cold sweat forming on his brow.
“Indeed”, she responded a bit coldly.
“I just thought that she was, well- just being a demon. You know, trying to get under her summoners skin.”
Rita sighed. “You know. You are probably right.” Aaron couldn’t help notice that she seemed to perk up a bit with that. She even gave him a warm smile after that. He felt like he had just dodged a bullet.
The moment was short lived however. In an instant her demeanour changed. She quickly grabbed her bow, drew an arrow and released it, without any warning. Aaron was shocked when the arrow flew through the air and apparently hit something in the tall grass.
“Goblins!” she shouted without any further explanation. She quickly drew another arrow and released it, but this one failed to find its mark. As the grass rustled with the approach of a few more goblins, Aaron couldn’t really tell how many. Rita had apparently given up on the bow after one more shot, that seemed to take down its target.
She too drew a dagger like Aaron and prepared to intercept what seemed to be the only goblin left. The goblin didn’t even notice Aaron immediately, and simply charged straight at Rita with a curved sword in hand.
Rita desperately dodged to the side and out of the reach of the blades swing. A dagger against a swords reach wasn’t exactly a fair fight to begin with, and it didn’t help either, that neither of them was in anyway gifted with a class for fighting with a bladed weapon. Aaron did now suspect that Rita had some kind of archery related class though, those arrows had been way too accurate.
Rita stumbled backwards just barely avoiding another of the goblins sword swings, and losing her footing in the process. She was certainly in a tight spot now. However, before the goblin could go in for the kill, Aaron had managed to catch up with him.
The goblin noticed him just in time and scrambled out of the way just in time to avoid Aarons strike. The goblin was apparently a bit on the clumsy side and had dropped his sword in his desperate scramble to get out the way. Aaron didn’t miss this and took another swing at the goblin to force him further back and finally position himself between the goblin and his former weapon.
Aaron smirked, got you now you little fucker! He tensed, ready to intercept once the goblin made its move. And the goblin did. It charged forward with reckless abandon. Aaron swung his dagger in the goblins direction, however the surprisingly nimble creature easily ducked and shifting to the side as it passed by the blade by a hair's breadth.
It darted past Aaron before he could recover from the failed strike and picked up its lost weapon once more. It immediately had to step out of the way of a strike from Rita, which it did not escape unscathed this time. Rita managed to land a nasty gash on the little green goblins shoulder. It glanced at it’s ruptured flesh and then gave Rita a rather hateful glare.
Aaron shifted around to the side a bit to try and make sure the goblin was sitting directly between the two of them and would have to fight on two sides. The goblin seemed to notice this and quickly charged Rita once more.
Aaron tried to dash forward to catch it, but the goblin was too fast and had already taken a swing at Rita. Although Rita initially seemed to have evaded the swing, the goblin must have been faking or something as far as Aaron could tell, since it managed to change the direction of the motion and cut deeply into Rita’s arm.
She cried out in pain as she managed to just barely stumble away from a follow up swing. Aaron took another swing at the goblins exposed back, but it managed to shift out of the way and return with an upward slash of its own, straight across Aaron’s chest.
Slash damage sustained: -19 health
You have been afflicted with the status effect: Bleed
-2 health / minute
Dammit! A nasty cut, and it really fucking hurt! Aaron was already getting tired, his stamina running low. He was not used to trying to deck it out with a quick footed creature like this in a high stakes situation. The pain was also going to slow him down now.
The goblin tried for another slash and Aaron was only barely able to pull back, out of the way. Shit! The goblin was winning, he knew it. He was no warrior after all, he needed an edge. Some kind of advantage.
Congratulations, skill: Last stand, purchased
‘Last stand’
Immediately after Aaron purchased the skill and activated it, he did everything he could to suppress his runaway fear and charged straight at the goblin. The goblin met his charge head on and swung his sword.
Instead of trying to dodge it this time however, Aaron tried to use his arm to absorb the strike. Well he did not want to lose the arm, so he did his best to also angle his arm so as to try and deflect some of the incoming force. It did not help all that much however, the blade cut in deep, all the way to the bone.
Thanks to the adrenaline already in his system and the pain resistance offered by the skill, he was able to push past the pain, even though there was still a lot of pain and the sensation of the blade cutting through his flesh and grinding against his bone, left him with a rather sickening feeling. With the the goblins weapon temporarily out of commision, he managed to drive his dagger deep into the goblins chest. He used the force to pin the goblin to the ground, his stamina regen able to at least keep up with his actions now.
The impact caused the goblin to lose grip on its weapon once more. Aaron pinned the creature to the ground with all his remaining strength, using both his fucked arm and one of his legs. The goblin secure, Aaron pulled the dagger out and jammed it into his chest again, this time where he assumed the heart to be.
The goblin was screaming at him and thrashing around like a wild beast, seemingly losing all semblance of a sentient creature. But it was no use, Aaron was larger and heavier.
Aaron twisted the dagger as hard as he could, at his wits end, “Just FUCKING DIEEEEE already!!!”
Finally after a few more seconds the goblins struggle slowed and eventually came to a stop.
Aaron did not however let go until he got the confirmation message this time.
Congratulations, skill unlocked: Power yell
Congratulations, you have slain: Goblin - level 5
Congratulations, skill: Plot armour, has reached level 2
Congratulations, skill book: Haremest has reached level 6
Skill book: Haremest now has 2 points available.
Congratulations, Aaron - Haremest, has reached level 6
Aaron - Haremest, now has 2 points available.
'Power yell'
Skill: Power yell Type: Chain Element: Divine Cost: 10 mana Duration: N/A Cooldown: None Description:
Shout something manly and all of a sudden you become unstoppable Effect:
Once activated, yell something loudly and the next skill you use will be 50% more effective and cost 100% more energy - effect and cost will increase with level of this skill.
Rita came over to where Aaron was and offered him a health potion.
“I can’t do anything about the bleed status right now, but this health potion is a weaker, but much longer lasting one. It should be able to keep up with your bleed rate and should last long enough for us to get back to the village, where I can properly do something about it.”
Aaron nodded and they set off immediately, not bothering with any goblin ears this time.