Chapter 3: Village of Iberia

Eizo stepped, from the forest, into the open. He saw the bright stars in the sky and the moon seemed twice as big as the moon of Earth. It brought a smile to his face as a gentle breeze blew by.

(You can’t see that much stars from the city. -deep breath- ahh.. and the fresh air.. wait. what’s that? smell like something’s burnt.)

He headed westward to the direction the breeze came from. After a bit, he saw a village, or what seemed to be the remains of a village.

(Something terrible happened here. Should I check? No, it’s dangerous. I can’t be checking everything that’s strange. Oh but maybe I could do that!)

He empowered his ‘Air Perception’ extending his range to 75 meter radius and his ‘Shadow Veil’ to decrease the light and sound coming from him by additional 25 percent, a total of 75 percent reduction. There were no signs of life. Walking cautiously into the burned village, he saw a half burned hanging sign with an emblem on it. It seemed to be the village symbol but it was hard to tell what the images were.

Going around the village gate, he used the smaller alleys to get around. The village from what he could tell was completely destroyed. Signs of battle can be seen everywhere. The smell of blood was strong. Strangely enough, there were no bodies. 

He checked everything he thought would tell him what happened to the village. He noticed what remains of bone arrows stuck on several of the houses. A shield on the ground was broken by a bone axe that is still stuck on it. There are claw marks on the doors that managed to avoid burning. Eizo concluded that this village were attacked by a big group of monsters, most likely by tool wielding monsters like Orcs or Goblins. 

He continued to explore the village and found a big ditch in the center of what seemed to be the village square. The smell seemed to be coming from here. He walked close to the edge and was petrified of what he saw. At the bottom of the ditch lies charred remains of both humans and goblins. Almost all of them turned to ash.

(A mass cremation, of both the villagers and monsters. Meaning some people have been here after the attack. Thinking about it like that, these houses were probably burned by the same people.)

He casted a fire smell on the remains until they are completely turned to ashes.

(Just to be sure that these won’t turn to undeads later.)

From the village square he saw a single building that looked untouched by the goblins. He entered the building and found everything of value seemed to have been looted already. This building seemed to be a magical weapon shop. Everything has been taken away by the scavengers except for what seemed to be one training staff for mages that has fallen on the floor. Eizo took it and held it with one hand. He tested it to see if he can benefit using a training staff like that. 

He let his mana flow into the staff and tried some few novice rank spell. This staff seemed to regulate mana use a little better, although there is a limit on how much mana can be channeled through the staff at once without breaking the staff. He decided to take the staff thinking it’s better than nothing.

Behind the counter, he found a black hooded cloak with the same emblem that he saw before entering the village. The image was two staffs crossed in an X and a flame symbol above it. Below was the inscription, Village of Iberia.

He took the cloak and wore it to protect him a little from the cold because it looked like he was going to have to camp outside for the night. He could sleep inside the shop if he wanted, but he’d rather not be too close to that ditch filled with burnt bodies. He decided to continue west past the village. After getting far enough so he couldn’t smell the stench from the village, he found a protruding rock the size of a small hut and decided to rest beside it until daytime.

He chose the flat side of the rock to camp in front of. He gathered some firewood in area which was surprisingly fast, even in the dark, using ‘Air Perception’. After having enough to last him until morning, he arranged the firewood as needed then sat down leaning his back on the rock. He used the cloak, put on its hood to completely cover himself. Then, he recited a simple flame spell to lit his camp fire.

He turned off his ‘Shadow Veil’ since it was useless with the fire so close and reduced the range of his ‘Air Perception’ to 25 meters. He felt that range was enough to detect anything that can threaten him. He fell asleep quick enough, but he was soon woken up when he detected some people from walking close to him. He remained in his seated position with one of his hand holding the staff in front of him. Other than his that hand, he was completely shrouded with his cloak.

He whispered an incantation for ‘Shadow Veil’. He was in front of the fire, so it wasn’t very useful right now. But, if he had to move and escape into the dark of the night, the few seconds that it will take him later to cast ‘Shadow Veil’ could be the difference between life and death.

(These are the first people I’m going to meet in this world. Will they be hostile or friendly? ...I just don’t know what to expect.)

The three people came close and walked into the light of the camp fire.

“Hello there! Mind if we share your fire tonight?” said in the human language by a middle aged man garbed in metal armor. He was equipped with a sword that was hanging on his waist and a shield strapped on his back. The two behind him were both wearing leather armor. The woman equipped with a bow and a quiver full of arrows. The younger man was equipped with a longsword.

“If you are fine with it, I don’t mind.” -Eizo. He replied in the same language.

“Thanks lad. I go by Julian. The girl here on my right is Rose. The other one is Luke” -Julian

“Hello” -Rose

“The ‘other one’?” Luke

“I’m Eizo.”

They all took their seat around the fire and put down their gear. Eizo relaxed and took his hand off the staff. 

“Well you’re obviously not the main attraction here, Luke. Be glad I even bothered.” -Julian

“What’d you s-” -Luke

“Anyway, Eizo, what are you doing here all alone this night?”-Julian

“Hey, don’t just ignore me!” -Luke

“Don’t you know it’s dangerous around these parts? There was a village near here that was attacked by goblins a week ago.” -Julian

“You mean Iberia Village?” Eizo

“Well, yeah. how’d you kno-  Wait. Are you from that village?!”-Julian

(Hmm.. He seem to be mistaking me as being from that village.)

“Yeah.” -Eizo

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. I’m sorry, kid.”-Julian

“...”

“I, um, how did you survive? I heard it was terrible.” -Rose

“I wasn’t there when it was attacked.” -Eizo

“Geez… I don’t know whether to say you were lucky or not. I heard it took three full party of adventurers working together to clear the village of goblins because there were more than 50 goblins in the village.” -Luke

(So, those adventurers looted the village? Well, I guess they did their civil duty by cremating the bodies. But, did they have to burn the village?)

“Don’t be stupid boy! You know how it is. They were probably exaggerating! Well, I’ll say it. It’s a good thing you survived.” -Julian

“Yeah, I was in the forest that time.” -Eizo

“The Grand Oak Forest? Were you foraging?” -Julian

(He keeps making his own assumptions. Well, that’s easier for me, I guess) 

“Yeah, something like that. Did the goblins burned down the village?” -Eizo

“What? Um, no, kid. That’s just the way it is. Don’t take it personally. Adventurers have to burn any building that the goblins occupied to prevent the spread of diseases. It’s probably part of their mission from the guild along with cremating any human remains found there. It’s too bad, really. It was a good village too. Having a specialty of crafting magic staffs for such a small village. It’s enviable compared to most.” -Julian

(So, that’s how it is? My grandpa’s knowledge is telling me that the part about spreading the disease is only superstition, but I guess I can understand that. Free looting is probably part of the incentives for the adventurers. I guess crafting magic staffs is the main industry of the village. That would explain the emblem.)

“...”

(Well, I should change the subject here. I don’t know what I’ll say if they ask more about that village.)

“um.. How about you guys? Where are you from?” -Eizo

“Yes! We are adventurers from Tovaria.” -Rose

Feeling the awkwardness in the atmosphere, Rose was happy to talk about something else.

“Tovaria? Is that a part of the Arken Empire?” -Eizo

“Arken Kingdom? No, man. She means we’re from the City-state of  Tovaria. Usually people are pretty familiar about Tovaria around these parts.” -Luke

(Kingdom? I’m pretty sure I said Empire, right? And this Tovaria, I don’t have any information about that. I thought I knew the names with at least a basic description of all countries, city-state or otherwise, in the human territories. Is it new? Grandpa has been gone for about 53 years. He wouldn’t know of anything that changed during that time. There’s no newspaper here, right? Maybe I can play stupid here.)

“I’m sorry, I don’t study much and I spend most of my time in the forest. So, is it new? The City-state of Tovaria?” -Eizo

“Oh that must be it.” -Julian

(No, it definitely wasn’t it? Am I good at lying? I think this guy is just gullible.)

“I think it’s pretty new compared to other territories around here. It’s about 120 years since its founding.” -Rose

(120 years? That’s weird.Grandpa should have known.)

“Anyway, we were passing by on our way back to Tovaria in the nearby town of Frostfield when we heard about the attack this morning. We accepted a request to patrol around these parts for straggler goblins, but, we haven’t seen any.” -Julian

“It’s good that we haven’t seen any, right? You don’t have to be sad about it.” -Rose

“Yeah, yeah. Anyway we should turn in for the night. This is a pretty good camp site. So Luke, you’re first night watch.”-Julian

“Why me!?” -Luke

“Who here votes for Luke to have first watch?” -Julian

Julian and Rose raised a hand. Seeing that the deciding vote was on him, Eizo also raised his hand as well. Even though he can keep a watch using ‘Air Perception’ even when asleep, he’d rather not reveal that right now.

“See, it’s decided. Stop complaining.” -Rose

“...mumble...mumble...stupid democracy…” -Luke

The night passed uneventfully. Julian did the second watch, then switched to Rose. The next morning the three adventurers shared their food with Eizo. It was dried meat and a piece of bread. He helped himself to the food and said his thanks. While eating, Eizo checked his condition and found that his mana was finally restored to full capacity minus what was required for sustaining the spell ‘Air Perception’ with the minimal range.

(Looks like sleeping quicken the restoration of mana. Hmm… Evaluating it using the information from Grandpa, I can tell that the my mana capacity is comparable to an elite mage that is considered very rare, but, it still fall behind Grandpa’s mana capacity.)

“Are you going to Frostfield Town now that your village is gone.?” -Julian

“Yeah, I have to make a living somehow.” -Eizo

“I noticed you have a staff. Are you, perhaps, a mage? haha” -Julian. He said it as if joking.

“Yes. I’m not that great one, mind you.” -Eizo

“What? Really? I’ve never known a mage personally before! That’s awesome! Hey, what kind of spells can you do? -Luke

“Calm down Luke!! It’s embarrassing!” -Rose

“Don’t tell me you’re not impressed, Rose!” -Luke

“Well, it’s not that impressive. I’m only an apprentice. I can do water and wind element.” -Eizo

“What are you talking about, lad? It’s totally impressive! What with mages being so rare afterall. Are you a noble?” -Julian

“No, I’m not.” -Eizo

“Why not? I think even an apprentice  mage can become one if they’re willing to pledge loyalty to a kingdom. Not that I know much about it, but you can even be a landed noble if you managed to impress.” -Julian

“Really?” -Eizo

“It’s true. Haven’t you heard of the tales of Sir What’s-his-face Mage Knight of the Kingdom Whachamackollit?” -Luke

“At least remember the names!! The most famous one has to be the tales of Archmage Silvanus!!!” -Rose

(Grandpa?) “Yeah, I heard of that one. But, I don’t remember the details.” -Eizo

“You can probably hear about it in Frostfield. They’re big fans of the archmage over there. haha!!

I’ll tell you what, we’re going to take a quick look around Iberia Village. We could sure use a mage’s help. We can head back together to Frostfield after” -Julain

“Okay. That’s sounds like a good idea.” -Eizo

They all walked toward village and the three adventurers saw the damage for the first time. They were horrified, naturally. Seeing the burned down buildings during the day made it even clearer that what happened there was a real tragedy. They split up to survey the village as they’re hired to do. Eizo stayed close to Julian.

“Even knowing what to expect, you can’t help but be shocked about seeing it.” -Julian

“I know. Does monster raid like this happened often? -Eizo

“Not in this scale. There is always monster attacks here and there, but, you don’t see an entire village like this completely overrun. Ah, I think that’s the village  square.”

Julian looked around the square to see if anything is amiss. The other two joined them.

“No signs of goblin or otherwise on my side. The adventurers seemed thorough enough.” -Rose

They were getting ready to conclude their search when they heard Luke shouting from a distance.

“Goblins!! Over here!!” -Luke

Everyone run toward the sound and they found Luke, at the edge of the town, surrounded by three goblins, two brandishing simple cudgels and one with a spear. 1 goblin was already lying dead on one side. Even with information from his grandpa, he wasn’t sure how they looked like exactly. The goblins were about as tall as an adult man’s chest. They had mossy green skin and usually were skinny yet mascular. Their ears and noses were long and they had big canine teeth that protruded from their mouth. 

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Julian rushed over to get between the goblins and Luke, with shield ready on his left arm and his broadsword on his right. Eizo followed behind while Rose climb a pile of rubble from a demolished house to get on a higher vantage point.

“Where’d these came from!?” -Julian

-catching his breath- “They were crawling on the fields as they approach the village. I was already surrounded when I realized. -Luke

“Watch out! Eight more approaching! from the west!” -Rose

“The stragglers must have formed up for another attack.” -Julian

He was defending from an attack as he said so.

While Julian was defending with his shield, Luke came out from behind him and hacked his sword on the shoulder of the attacking goblin. The longsword came down with the full weight of the swing and cut through the goblin from its right shoulder down diagonally to the center of its chest. It died instantly. The combination of Julian and Luke worked out great.

Eizo recited an incantation then he sidestepped to the right quickly to get the angle he needed. Holding the staff in the middle with his right hand, he motioned it as if to stab the the goblin from afar.

“Air Punch!” -Eizo

A condensed ball of wind came out from the tip of his staff travelling as fast as the eyes can see it then striking a goblin on the left side dead center on its torso. The goblin was sent flying all the way back to the field like a ragdoll. With its limbs bent on weird angles, ribcage broken like glass inside its body puncturing its organs, the goblin died with the wind and more knocked out from it.

Julian was familiar with that apprentice level wind magic but he had never seen it as powerful as that. But, not forgetting the situation in his amazement, he pummeled the remaining goblin in front of him and knocked it down, then finished it as it tried to get up with a downward slash of his sword.

While all these was happening, Rose was shooting arrows at the closing group of goblins. She managed to take down two of them but the rest were still approaching fast.

“Into to that alleyway!!” -Eizo

Trusting the words of the mage. They all retreated to the alleyway that Eizo pointed at, then, stopped just before passing through two burned down houses in front of each other.

“Hold this position! Let them come close!” -Eizo

“You have a plan, right?” -Luke

“Trust me.” -Eizo

“Okay, lad. Luke and I will make a stand here. Rose climb that and shoot from there! (He was pointing to a standing portion of a crumble wall behind them) And Eizo, you do your thing.” -Julian

Eizo and the others were already in their assigned position when the goblins rushed into the alleyway, their eyes blood red with violence. Among them was a bigger Red Goblin, a rare variant of the goblin species. It has red skin, hence the name, tall as a full height human, more muscular than a regular goblin. It seemed to be leading the rest while screaming madness as loud as it can.

“Sh*t!! A Red Goblin!! That wasn’t on the report!!” -Luke

“Calm down! They probably didn’t encounter it. They would not miss something like that in their story and probably would not come out unhurt after fighting something like that.” -Julian

Rose unleashed her arrows as soon as she could, hitting the goblins in the front of the charge but it only slowed them down as she didn’t manage to hit any vital points.

Julian and Luke, were exchanging blows with the goblins while maintaining their defensive stances as Eizo started a chant for a spell. The Red Goblin pushed aside the smaller goblins in front of it then hammered Julian with its stone cudgel. Julian managed to block the attack over his head but the weight of the blow made him stagger forcing him on his left knee.

The Red Goblin brought its heavy cudgel with two hands behind its head winding up to finish Julian with a full height vertical swing.

Eizo stomped his staff to the ground and shouted, “Move Earth!!!”. The ground in front of Julian and Luke sank fast as if falling after suddenly losing the support under it. All the goblins were caught in the 3 meters deep pit. Since Eizo made sure to sink the entire width of the alleyway, he did not miss even one of the monsters.

Julian saw the Red Goblin in front of him lose it’s balance then sank with a stupid look on its face not knowing what was happening.

Not missing a beat, Eizo chanted a quick spell, pointed his staff to the group of goblins in the pit, and said, “Incinerate!” A blast of fire blasted out from the staff and continued to blast out as if it was coming from a flamethrower. The fire sprayed all over the monsters. All of the goblins died burning with nowhere to run. Some of them attempted to climb the pit but the pain of their skin burning with the intense heat was just so crippling, they can’t even make an attempt to leap. All of the monsters cried in agony as they died with the Red Goblin falling last.

Eizo continued shooting out the flame until all goblins were completely turned to ash.

The other three were looking at him in disbelief of what just happened. Julian especially so. Once again, he was familiar with the spells that Eizo used. ‘Move Earth’ was a novice ranked spell used to excavate or just move around soil but he never knew it can be used in such a way. The earth was depressed downward against the earth underneath so the force required to do that was significant without even considering the size of the pit that was enough to trap every goblin with room to spare. The second spell was just as amazing. ‘Incinerate’ was an intermediate ranked fire element spell, so, it is naturally devastating, but, Eizo’s version was even more devastating than expected. He also sustained the spell until the monsters were burned to ashes.

After he was done, Eizo walked to the side of the alley to vomit all the contents of his stomach.

-bleeuurrrgghh- The goblins looked too close to a person. He couldn't help but be disgusted by the thought.

“You did well kid. You’ll get used to it soon enough when you travel often.” -Julian

“Th- That was incredible!” -Rose

“Right! I guess that’s what you can expect for a mage.” -Luke

“You are a more powerful mage than you let on. How many elements can you use? Wait, you don’t have to answer. I can understand why you would want to hide your power.” -Julian

“Hide his power? If it was me, I’d be noble by now! Why would he hide his magic?”

“Don’t you understand? If it was known that he’s a powerful mage, a lot of people are going to be coming after him! Idiot Luke…” -Rose

“That’s right, there have been stories like that. Nobles try to recruit mages but when they are turned down, they attack the mage to make sure they don’t join their enemies.” -Julian

“Is that right? hmm… I guess I can see now.” -Luke

“I don’t believe that.” -Rose

“Anyway, I understand why you hid your strength. I’d be killed by now if you hesitated to use your magic. For that, I’m thankful.” -Julian

“You’re welcome. I’d appreciate it if you guys keep it you yourselves for now.” -Eizo

“Of course, that’s the least we can do.” -Luke

“That’s not the least we can do. Eizo, since you helped us completing the request from the adventurers guild, it’s only right we split the reward with you.” -Julian

“Oh yeah, we should do that.” -Luke

Eizo felt bad about sharing their pay, but, since he would need money in the future, he decided to accept it.

“Are you sure? Then, I graciously accept. Thank you.” -Eizo

“Don’t worry about it, kid. You earned it.” -Julian

“Even though we can’t acquire the proof of subjugation from the monster in the pit, we can still get it from those four earlier. That Red Goblin would have earned us quite a bit though.” -Luke

“It’s done already. What matters is we’re all safe. Since you’re not a registered adventurer, you might not know. Aside from the reward from the request, you can earn more money by providing a proof of subjugation from every monster you defeat. In case of goblins, the usual proof is their right ears.” -Rose

“I see. I guess next time I should take the proof before burning the remains.” -Eizo

“Well, not if you’re in great danger. Safety first before thinking about the reward.” -Julian

“Right.” -Eizo

Everyone walked to the edge of the village once again, gathered the goblin bodies, collected their ears, then, Eizo burned the monsters’ bodies. They checked around the village one last time, then, started their journey on foot to the town of Frostfield. They walked while keeping in formation and made sure they kept a watch on the surrounding since they still have to carry out their patrol mission. 

They had to camp again on the way after it got dark. Luke was the first watch again, but this time, everyone took their turn as nightwatch, even Eizo. He felt happy about being included. The night passed by quietly and they resumed their patrol in the morning. They arrived in Frostfield late in the afternoon without encountering any more monster.

-End of chapter-

Author’s note:

Hello, Bearperson here. By the third chapter I think we’re starting to have a feel about the world. I just want to mention the following before we continue on the story since I don’t know if I will get a chance to clarify these topics in the natural flow of the narrative. 

There are no spoilers of the plot here and I’ll explain them again in detail when the narrative calls for it.

1. Monsters are powerful and people are fragile. Even a goblin can be a challenge for an experienced warrior especially when they outnumber the fighter. No matter how powerful a person is, they will die when stabbed in the heart or any vital points, they may just bleed to death depending on the wounds they receive. Armors help but only so far.

2. Mage, especially powerful ones, are rare among the humans. Mages are basically OP compared to normal warriors (but remember they can die just as easily). Since the story is not set in a game like world, there are no level-up that increase a person’s strength and vitality. This makes mages OP because they can learn stronger spells as they increase their mastery of magic. One mage can basically become a walking army provided the enemy don’t get to them first.

3. One balancing factor is that mages need time to recite the required incantation in casting spells. Unless of course a mage is ranked Grandmaster or higher in a particular element. (I think I mention this in the previous chapter, but maybe I didn’t) The magic system is like the in classical RPG. Basically its : Element Type + Incantation/Magic Formula/ Rune inscription + Mana + User Control = Spell

4. Mage rank basically depend on the rank of the spells that they can cast. And, the ranking goes from the lowest to highest like: Novice, Apprentice, Intermediate, Expert, Master, Grandmaster, and Sage. If the highest ranked spell you can cast is an Expert Wind Element spell, you are considered as an Expert Wind Mage. On a side note, almost all known spells are Master ranked or lower. Master ranked mage of an element are considered to have a complete mastery of their respective element. Becoming a Grandmaster means taking a huge leap in the understanding of that element that enable them to cast spell with no incantation by their will. Being Sage ranked means taking yet another big step in the understanding of an element that makes sage mages almost godlike in their use of that element.

5. Description of races and their general capabilities.

-Humans - are the most numerous of the races. Few humans are capable mages. The strength of the human warriors that kept them from being wiped out comes from their overwhelming numbers and their organized army plus the occasional mages in the mix.

-Dwarves - are the most inventive of the races. They are not capable of casting magic but most are able to use inner body strengthening magic. Combine that with their extensive armory, every member of the Dwarven army is a capable heavy infantry even when fighting in range.

-Beastmen - are the strongest of the races. Like the Dwarves, they can only use body strengthening magic, but, stronger. combined with their natural strength and agility, the Beastmen have the fastest and physical strongest military.

-Elves - are long lived species but they have the lowest fertility among the natural born species. They are experts in archery and shield and sword style of fighting and a lot of them able to use spirit magic. The Elven army are comprised of small elite units that are most effective fighting in the forest.

-Fairies - are born from dense magical energy in the forest. All of them can cast magic chantless due to their pure magical nature. However, their magic are limited to the element type in which they are born from and the strength of their spells depend on the individual fairy’s age.

-Demon - are both physically strong and a high number of them are capable mages. They are the most aggressive of the races. They set out to invade the Aria continent several times before and will do so again.

6. Dragons exist in the world of Crystallis but they are not really sentient. They are considered smart for a beast, but, that’s it. They are savage predatory beast. Right now, they are four types of dragons corresponding to the 4 major elements (Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind. I don’t know if I’ll include a Dark and Light element dragons as well.)

Wind dragons live on the peaks of the mountain range where the dwarves are living inside of and divides the human and beast lands. They are the main reason monsters are few in the open plains of the human territories. Can fly and are the fastest of the dragons but also smallest in size.

Earth dragons live in the great forest in the Southern Aria Continent, the Elves and Fairies have learned to avoid them. They don’t have wings

Water dragon lives in the ocean that separates the two continents. They gather around a group of islands in the near the north pole. They are one of the main reasons why the Demon race can’t launch invasion attempts one after another.They don’t fly but swim in the water very fast.

Fire dragons live on the great volcano of the Demon Continent. They can fly but not as fast as wind dragons.

Dragons can cast magic at will. Most can use several element type of magic but specializes in their respective element. It can be said that, in general, one dragon is an equivalent of a Grandmaster ranked mage.