When I woke at the break of dawn I noticed that Elliot was missing. We all had to get up early if we were going to make it to Derton on time, but as a farmer’s son I was used to it. Elliot was never one to wake before the rest of the family though, despite being the eldest son.
I was about to start panicking when I heard laughter coming from outside the tent. I peeked outside to see where it was coming from and I found him – along with half the other men – chatting with Daniella around the campfire.
“Oh, is it morning already? I didn’t even notice.” he said when he saw me. He was stirring a pot of leftovers from the night before over the fire.
“Yeah. What are you all doing up so early?” It wasn’t exactly a bad thing, but it was strange.
“I thought I’d help Miss Daniella keep watch since she’d probably be lonely all by herself, but everyone else seemed to have the same idea. I got up first though,” he boasted. Despite missing out on 1/4th of their sleep none of them looked tired.
“It’s been fun, but we should start waking everyone else up and getting ready to go,” she said. “After we eat we’ll be on the road for the rest of the day again. I’ll be counting on you boys today too okay?”
They enthusiastically yelled in agreement as they scrambled back into their own tents. She walked over to Godfrey who was sleeping out in the open in his armor. Since Elliot was going to get our family up I figured I should wake up Lucy and Micheal.
I thought neither one of them was used to waking that early as they weren’t farmers. But I was wrong; it didn’t occur to me that baking bread takes time and effort.
“Oi! Are you two awake?” I yelled from outside their tent.
“Ah! Leif?” A muffled voice came from within. It quickly opened and Lucy popped her head out. “G-Good morning! Do you want to come in?”
“No, that’s not really necessary. I just wanted to get you two up. Why are you already awake? Do you normally get up this early?”
“Sometimes. Daddy says I have to learn to cook if I’m going to find a good husband so I’m the one who bakes the bread every other morning.”
She was still holding the tent open so I could see Micheal sleeping inside. He was curled up into a ball, tightly clutching an empty bottle of alcohol.
“Tsk. That stupid old drunk. I bet he just wants an excuse to sleep in. You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to. It’s not like you’re planning on taking over his bakery when you get older right?”
“It’s fine.” She shook her head. “I want to do it. Anyways, can you help me pack up the tent? I don’t think Daddy will be able to do it in this state.”
“Sure, but shouldn’t we get him up first?” I had the urge to kick him awake but Lucy probably wouldn’t have appreciated that very much.
“He’ll probably just get in the way if we do. It’ll be better this way, trust me.” She smiled.
We spent the next 15 minutes packing everything up together. Surprisingly it was put together extremely well. I watched Micheal assemble it the night before so I thought it would be haphazardly done.
But the stakes were nailed deep into the earth, and the ropes were strung tight so it took longer than I wanted to dissemble it. Everyone else finished in a third of the time we did. The fact that Micheal didn’t stir while we were doing it was impressive.
Once we were done it was time to wake him up.
“You might want to take a step back,” she warned. I didn’t see why but did so anyways. She filled a cup with water and walked over to him. I thought she was going to give it to him to help recover from his hangover, but instead she dumped it all over his head and lept backwards.
“Rah!” He yelled as he jumped up, waving his bottle around. “Who’s there? I ain’t got nothing worth stealing, so just leave if you know what’s good for you!”
“It’s just me Daddy,” Lucy said. “We’re going to Derton remember? It’s time to get going now.”
“Oh, that’s right,” he said as he rubbed his eyes and looked around. “But why’s stuff all packed? Did you do this Lucy?”
“Mhmm,” she nodded. “And Leif helped out.”
“Oh? You better not have tried anything while I asleep kid.” He staggered towards me, probably not still fully awake. He might have just been hungover, but he was talking too loudly for that.
“He’s a nice guy Daddy! Why can’t you just accept that?”
“Please, I know what these ‘nice guys’ are really like. They pre-”
“Shut up,” Raphael groaned. “We’ve waited long enough for you three. We’re leaving now, with or without you. If you’re coming then start walking already. If not then have fun in the woods without us.”
“Huh? What about breakfast?” Micheal asked.
“It’s all gone. You should be happy; we saved you the trouble of eating something you hate so much.” Elliot was still mad about him criticizing Daniella’s cooking.
“You asshole! What about my little girl? You really going to steal her food?” he yelled as he grabbed Elliot by his collar.
Even when traveling he tried to dress nice, and that morning he was wearing his finest clothes. They were all hand-me-downs from our uncle.
“Get your hands off me you pleb! It was never your food to start with.”
Elliot shoved him away but ended up ripping his shirt in the process. After letting out a not-so-manly shriek he tried to punch Micheal but Godfrey caught it before the blow could land.
“Shut it, both of you! It’s my job to keep you guys safe, so don’t do anything to make my job harder.”
He then tossed Elliot back where the others were waiting – watching us. He was screaming when he landed on his face so he got a mouth full of dirt.
“Do you need a hand too old man? Or do you think you can get in line all by yourself?”
“Hmp. I can take care of myself.” Micheal finally grabbed his stuff and join up with the others.
After that Godfrey gave similar warnings as the day before and we walked to the river to follow it downstream again.
◊ ◊ ◊
The march started off just like the previous one for the most part. We took the same formation and the boys still crowded around Daniella. Lynn was no where to be seen. Every once in a while Godfrey would have to stop the party to move a fallen tree out of the way but that didn’t take long.
And I would wonder how the dead goblins in our path met their doom, which was happening more frequently than the day before. Their bodies were even showing up every 5-10 minutes for a while.
Things finally took a violent turn around noon.
We hadn’t seen a goblin for about half an hour at that point and there was a nice clearing just off the path. Since we were making good progress – already having made up for all the lost time til then – we decided to take a small lunch break.
There was no need to set up camp again or build a fire so it was expected to be a short break. But while we were in the middle of eating a distinct howl came from the woods.
“What was that?” one of the hunters asked. “The wolves round here don’t sound like that.”
“Everyone get close!” Daniella yelled as she started to carve a large circle into the ground with her staff. “We’re about to be under attack!”
We all dropped what we were doing and hurried to get as close to her as they could. Fortunately we all managed to fit inside the circle – horses included – but just barely.
But when nothing happened for a few minutes some of us started wondering if we were really under attack.
“Is something really coming Miss Daniella?” Elliot asked. He’d already changed his shirt by then by the way.
“No doubt about it. That howl means something’s coming that Lynn can’t handle by herself. Don’t worry, you’ll be safe as long as you don’t leave my side.” Once we were actually under attack she dropped her facade of being a helpless girl who needed the men’s protection.
“Shouldn’t we run back to the river then? Worst case scenario we can dive in and swim downstream to get away.”
“Don’t be stupid,” Raphael said. He and Godfrey were positioning themselves a fair distance from us on opposite directions. “It’ll be much harder to guard you while we’re on the move, and even harder to fight back in the river if we’re not in a boat. There was only 1 howl so what’s coming shouldn’t be anything we can’t handle.”
“But -” Right when Micheal was going to say something we finally saw them.
Goblins. At least 30 of them were surrounding us. They came from the woods, laughing as if they’d already won.
“Kekeke”
The annoying sound came from all around us. Even their voice was disgusting.
Unlike the ones we’ve seen up to that point these goblins were armed – most with simple wooden clubs and others with knives and swords. Some even wore leather armor that was too big for their scrawny bodies.
“Everyone stay inside the circle!” Daniella reminded us again. “No matter what happens don’t leave it!”
“We heard you! Just shut up and kill them already!” Micheal shouted.
The goblins started by walking towards us slowly, but once they were halfway there they began to sprint. And each one that left the woods revealed another one behind them. But once they were within arm’s reach Godfrey striked.
He lifted his hammer high in the air and slammed it down hard, shaking the very earth beneath us. The villagers and goblins all lost their balance and fell to the ground.
After that the massacre began.
Godfrey swung his hammer over and over, sending 2-3 goblins flying with each swing. They in turn crashed into other goblins and splattered into a mass of green and blue goop. Some of them managed to land a couple hits on him before he knocked them away but he didn’t seem to mind.
Raphael, on the other hand, quickly sliced and stabbed any goblins that got near him with his sword. No goblins could even try to attack him for they were either literally disarmed or killed before they could.
It’s not like his movements were too quick to see. They were just so skillful that the untrained goblins stood no chance. Even though I was a complete amateur back then I could tell there were no wasted movements.
But even those two weren’t enough to keep the goblins away from us when they were coming from every direction. Especially since once they realized they stood no chance against those two the goblins decided to rush at us instead.
Godfrey slammed the ground again to try to make them fall but this time he didn’t have the element of surprise. It slowed some of them down but it couldn’t halt their advance completely.
“Stay back Miss Daniella! I’ll take care of this filth!” Elliot yelled as he ran towards the nearest one with a pitchfork. I suspect he was trying to make up for that morning’s embarrassment but he just looked ridiculous compared to our guides.
“Get back! I can’t protect you that far away!” she shouted.
But he wouldn’t listen. Though to his credit he did manage to stab one in the chest.
“See? I told you I could do it!” he yelled. “If Godfrey can do it so can I!”
However the other goblins weren’t far behind.
He tried pulling out the pitchfork but it was stuck.
“Just leave it behind and run back here!”
But he either didn’t hear her or was too panicked to think clearly because he kept trying to pry it loose.
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“Stupid kid.” Just when the goblins lept at him Raphael spoke.
Then time stopped.
◊ ◊ ◊
The goblins that were trying to kill Elliot were suspended in midair. Their swords were all pointed at him, just seconds away from taking his life. All three of them were wearing armor unlike the one he stabbed, so even if he managed to get the pitchfork out he probably couldn’t fight them off.
But they didn’t move. No, they couldn’t move. Neither could anyone else including myself.
My eyes were fixed looking at Elliot, though I could see some of what was happening through my peripheral vision. I couldn’t breathe either but strangely I didn’t suffocate.
But because time had stopped I was able to clearly see three arrows flying straight towards the goblins that I didn’t notice before. They were coming from behind me so I couldn’t see who fired them, but Daniella was only armed with a staff so it must have been Lynn.
That gave me hope for a second but then I realized something. Even if they killed the goblins in time Elliot would probably still be stabbed due to their forward momentum.
Then I saw movement in the corner of my eye.
Raphael appeared, leisurely walking towards them. Along the way he started talking to himself as if he was sure no one could hear him.
“This is why I hate escort quests. Daniella always leads the men on and some idiot thinks he has to man up to protect her. And then it’s to me to save that idiot’s life. What a pain.”
That’s when I realized how quiet it all was. Even compared to the goblin’s screeching this silence was somehow unsettling. If it wasn’t for his voice I would’ve thought I’d gone deaf for a moment. But because it was so quiet I could hear Raphael’s every word despite it being no more than a mutter.
“I wish I could just let him die but then we wouldn’t get paid as much, and it’ll be bad for our reputation which Godfrey is so proud of.”
He circled around them to examine the situation.
“Well, how am I going to make this look natural this time? They’re already in mid-air so I can’t make it look like they tripped. Lynn’s arrows are definitely going kill them, but chances are he’ll still die.”
Then he took a closer look at the pitchfork.
“This is old. Probably being taken to town for repairs. It wouldn’t be strange if the handle broke, especially considering how hard he’s pulling on it. But after that…”
After looking up at the sky he smiled. Unfortunately I couldn’t see what was up there, but from it’s shadow I could tell it was something big.
“Yes, that’ll probably work. Good thing Lynn was already on the way otherwise it would have been much more suspicious. Took her long enough though. Did she run into something else on the way back?”
Raphael looked behind me towards where the arrows should have came from but his expression didn’t change, so I’m assuming he didn’t see anything surprising.
“Oh well, guess I’ll find out soon enough. Let’s get started.”
He kicked the pitchfork hard enough that I could hear it crack. Then he placed a smooth stone a few feet behind Elliot.
After walking back to where he came from time resumed.
◊ ◊ ◊
The arrows immediately pierced the each goblin’s head, but as expected they continued to fall towards him.
At the same time the pitchfork snapped and Elliot took a step backwards. When he did he slipped on the stone Raphael placed and narrowly avoided being stabbed by the goblin’s weapons. But after falling on his ass seeing what was above him he passed out.
I probably would have too if I was in his position.
A green dragon flew down and landed directly on top of him, causing the rest of the villagers to scream. They tried to run away in the opposite direction but there were goblins closing in from that side too.
“Don’t panic everyone! That dragon won’t hurt us.” Daniella tried to assure us but those words weren’t very comforting when facing a dragon even as small as that one.
Even our remote village knew what a dragon was.
They’re said to be the most dangerous of all monsters, requiring at least several Platinum adventurers to kill the weakest ones. Their scales were harder than steel and their breath hotter than any forge. Plus, unlike humans they can fly, so it’s no wonder that the villagers were so scared.
But just like she said the dragon ignored us and didn’t even do anything to Elliot. Instead it started spewing fire at the goblins closing in on it. The heat was so intense I could feel it from that far away.
Then it grabbed Elliot with it’s claws and tossed him back towards us before flying up and raining fire on the rest of the goblins in that direction.
The others started relax watching it kill those goblins, but then someone reminded them of the goblins coming from behind us.
“Look out! They’re almost on us,” he shouted. He was one of the ones who formed a human wall around her the day before, but that time he ran behind her as quickly as he could.
“Do something about them! You said we’d be safe in here right?”
She didn’t respond and just focused on the orb on top of her staff until it emitted a pure white light.
The closest ones lunged at us but they never reached us. It was as if they were repelled by an invisible wall. No matter how much they punched or slashed at us their attacks never connected. But since there were so many of them we were encircled by goblins before long.
They started climbing on top of each other trying to find an opening in the invisible wall but as it was perfect dome there was none. Eventually they completely blocked out the outside world. No matter where we looked all we could see were goblins.
In a panic the other villagers and I tried stabbing them with whatever we had on hand but it didn’t much of a difference. There were simply too many of them.
As the others started begging for Daniella to kill them we heard a roar coming from above. However it was quickly replaced the goblin’s dying screams as dragon-fire burned them all to death.
But that meant that the fire was coming straight at us too.
“You said the dragon wouldn’t attack us!” the villagers yelled.
“Quiet down…” she said as she wiped the sweat from her brow. “This requires a lot of concentration.”
The light from her staff kept getting brighter until we could no longer look directly at it. She was probably increasing the strength of the barrier as even the dragon’s fire failed to reach us.
For a while everything outside of the barrier was burning hellscape. We rejoiced as we watched the goblins burn to ash, however it was getting hotter and hotter inside the dome. Several of us actually collapsed from the heat, but luckily Daniella wasn’t one of them.
◊ ◊ ◊
When it was finally over she released the barrier and the stench of burning goblins once again filled the air. No one complained though. We were all busy gasping for air and drinking water. But some of us did end up puking after seeing (and smelling) the results of the battle.
Thankfully there weren’t anymore live goblins in sight but the landscape was completely changed. The once lush clearing was set aflame. There were several large craters dug into the earth from Godfrey’s hammer and just as many trees knocked over near them.
The only green remaining were the corpses of the many goblins and the circle of grass beneath our feet.
Before even that could burn away Daniella’s staff started to glow blue and the clear skies darkened. After a moment it began to rain and the remaining fires were put out.
Meanwhile the dragon flew over behind us and laid down next to Lynn. She was sitting on huge wolf-like creature. It was at least twice as big as normal wolves though, and it’s fur was silver. It also had 2 large fangs poking out of it’s mouth.
“What the fuck was all that?” Godfrey asked as he approached her. His armor was dyed blue with goblin blood but as far as I could see he was completely uninjured. “I haven’t seen that many goblins since Norton.”
“I found out why we haven’t seen any goblins in a while. There’s a goblin village nearby – or there used to be at least. I had Jade burn it down,” she said as she stroked the dragon.
“So these were it’s former inhabitants? There’s way too many for a village though. If I had to guess we just killed at least 200 goblins.”
I’m not sure how accurate that number was since it was impossible to count them even with my perfect recollection. After all, most of the goblins were nothing but ashes anymore.
“Well yes and no. Turns out there was more than 1 village – we ended up burning 2 more before a Goblin King showed up,” she said as she tossed him 4 disfigured heads. One of them twice the size the others – it’s body must have been bigger than even Godfrey.
“So that’s when you had Fang warn us we’d be under attack soon?” he asked.
“Yeah. The villages I destroyed were only half full so I figured the rest were out hunting. He also had 4 Goblin Lords with him so there should be at least 2 more villages out there. I’m going to go destroy them now.”
“Wait.” She turned Fang around to head back into the woods but he grabbed her by the arm. “The other villagers are going to start asking questions and it’ll be easier to explain if you’re there.”
“Ugh. Do I have to?” she groaned. “You know I don’t like explaining myself to outsiders.”
“Relax, we’ve already shown them that it’s safest to travel with us.”
“…Fine. But I’m leaving right after.”
She jumped off Fang and walked him and Jade over to where the villagers were catching their breathe. Some of them took a step back as they approached but no one ran away. They were probably scared of being attacked if they turned their backs to the monsters.
“Hey, wake everyone up,” Raphael said. “We don’t want to have to explain this twice.”
Elliot was still passed out but some of the villagers who collapsed from the heat had already gotten up. The rain helped cool us down considerably.
I shook him awake, but he started screaming as soon as he opened his eyes.
“Dragon! Oh gods we’re all going to die! Kill it!” he shouted as he ran behind Godfrey. “Kill it plea-”
“Shut up you idiot,” Raphael said as he slapped the back of his head. “If it wanted you dead you wouldn’t alive right now.”
“Everyone, you remember Lynn?” Godfrey said. “Well she’s a monster tamer, and these are her pets, Fang and Jade.”
They barked and roared when they were introduced, which only scared the villagers more.
“A monster tamer? That means she has Glynhorn’s blessing right?” Henry asked. He and mother were both praying throughout the whole fight and they’d woken up shortly after it started raining.
“That’s right, so she has perfect control over them. Don’t worry, as long as she’s alive they’re on our side.”
“Who’s Glynhorn?” Lucy whispered. I’m not sure what she was doing during all the fighting but she didn’t seem very shaken afterwards.
“He’s the God of Trails and Tribulation, but more people know him as the God of Monsters. That does explain her red eyes though.”
I wasn’t surprised that she didn’t know who Glynhorn was since we hadn’t made his statue yet. There was no reason to. Gorro is the one we pray to for protection from his monsters after all. Though if we had then it would have just looked like a really big goblin.
His actual body has more tentacles though. And horns. And two pairs of leathery wings. You get the point.
“So it really won’t attack me?” Elliot whimpered.
“Yeah, so get off of me already,” Godfrey said as he shoved him away. “Only the ladies get to cling onto me that tightly.”
“Wait a minute,” Micheal said. “You said her name was Lynn? Would that be short for Lyndis?”
“Is that a problem?” she asked.
“Take off your hood,” he commanded. “It’s only a problem if my hunch is right.”
“…I don’t want to.”
“Just do it Lynn. They’ll only get more suspicious if you don’t.”
“Fine.” She slowly removed it.
Almost everyone gasped. At first I thought it was because she was so attractive but there was clearly fear in their eyes.
“I knew it,” Micheal said. “That black hair means you’ve got Shin’s blessing too. In other words you’re Lyndis, the Reaper.”
“I don’t like that title,” she muttered as she pulled the hood back over her head.
“You know her?” Elliot asked.
“I’ve know of her. Back when I lived in Derton I heard all sorts of stories of The Reaper. Blessed by the God of Monsters and cursed by the God of Death. They say that she’s one of the finest adventurers around. Even at the age of 10 she managed to reach Silver rank all by herself.”
“Isn’t that good then?” I asked. “Having a dragon on our side will make this trip a lot safer.”
“Ha! Safe is the last word I’d use to describe it.” Micheal spat. “You see, there’s a reason she had to get to Silver all by herself. It’s because everyone she comes into contact with dies. All her party members, her escort targets, even her own family. Her curse ends up killing them all eventually.”
Her hands were shaking but she didn’t say anything.
“That’s obviously not true,” Godfrey interjected. “We’ve been partying with her for over a year and I’ve never felt more alive.”
“For now,” Micheal sneered. “Who knows what’ll happen down the line? Did you forget those goblins almost killed us all?”
“You were perfectly safe,” Daniella replied. “Gorro’s blessing is strong enough in me that my barrier would have lasted long enough for Godfrey and Raphael to kill them all.”
“But then her dragon came and almost burned us alive.” He pointed to Jade in disgust. “If you collapsed from the heat to then we wouldn’t be here right now.”
“That wouldn’t have happened! I also have Alri’s blessing so I can keep myself cool. And Jade knows how to hold back enough.”
That was holding back? I thought to myself. Even the goblin’s bones were turned to ash. I didn’t know it at the time though but normal goblin bones are actually pretty fragile. Even campfire is hot enough to disintegrate them.
Alri is the Goddess of Water by the way. Her statue is simply a woman holding a basin of water. But in reality she’s made of water, so she can take any form she wants.
“Well there’s no way I’m going anywhere with her,” Micheal said. “Her curse will eventually kill us all.”
“I didn’t think you were the superstitious type,” Henry said. “Or have you finally found a god you can believe in?”
“…Death is nothing to laugh at. It’s already taken my wife. I won’t let it take my only daughter too.”
“Well you don’t have to worry about traveling with me,” Lynn said before hopping back onto Fang. “I’m going to go wipe out the rest of the goblin villages now. Assuming nothing this big happens again you shouldn’t see me again until we reach Derton.”
After that she rode back into the woods along with her dragon.
◊ ◊ ◊
Once we recovered we got back on the road again. Unfortunately we couldn’t finish our lunch but no one had much of an apatite anyways. We were all eager to get a cool drink from the river though.
I normally stayed near the front of the group with Godfrey so I could get a better view of the scenery. But I remembered that there were things I wanted to talk to Raphael about so I drifted to back of the line.
Along the way I noticed that Daniella’s reverse harem wasn’t as chatty as usual. Even Elliot wasn’t say much. Perhaps once they realized how useless they’d be in actual combat they stopped trying to show off.
She didn’t seem very happy about it though and kept trying to get them back in a flirting mood.
Once I’d reached the back of the pack I decided to start by thanking Raphael for saving my brother.
“What are you talking about kid?” He didn’t even look at me as he said that. “All I did was kill some goblins. It’s Lynn you should be thanking. She killed the goblins who were going after him and her dragon got him out of danger.”
“Yeah, but you’re the one who set that all up. After you stopped ti-”
But I couldn’t finish my sentence.
Time had paused again.
Up until then, even during the fight, he’d looked pretty bored, but for the first time he had a serious expression on his face. He looked straight into my eyes and observed me for a good minute before speaking again.
“So you can’t move in this state either. But somehow you can remember what’s happening when time stops. You’re a strange one. I’ve never met anyone like you before. Now what should I do with you?”
After taking a moment to think he spoke up again.
“Alright, listen up kid. I can’t have you telling anyone else about my power. Right now I’m living a care free life where I’m free to do whatever I want. But that’ll all change really fast if anyone found out about this. So you’d better keep your mouth shut got it? If you don’t then you won’t live to regret it. I’m really good at making things look like an accident.”
If I could have gulped at that moment I’m sure I would have.
“Time’s going to start again soon. Just act natural and don’t finish your sentence.”
He walked back to where he was and posed himself the right way. Then time started again, but I still couldn’t move out of fear.
“What’s wrong Leif?” Lucy asked “You just stopped all of a sudden.”
“N-Nothing. I was just… trying to think of how to thank Lynn. That’s all.” It was the best excuse I could come up with off the top of my head.
“Just saying thank you is fine isn’t it?” she pouted. “You weren’t going to do anything special for Raphael after all.”
After that we walked til nightfall and set up camp. Micheal didn’t complain about the rabbit stew this time, and the boys still weren’t in a promiscuous mood so it was much quieter than the first night.
Then we all went to bed, but I had a hard time falling asleep. A certain thought kept me awake. A man who can shake the earth with his hammer. A woman known as The Reaper who had a pet dragon. Another woman who could stop it’s flames and make it rain. And a man who could stop time and wouldn’t hesitate to kill me to keep his secrets.
These adventurers are all monsters.