“A raid!!”

The woman finally spoke some words. Honestly, being near her this entire time, I was starting to wonder if she were mute. Wait, does she plan to fight those goblins. I guess it’s an rpg world after all. No turn based combat ruins my dreams…maybe this is a nightmare. 

Though I thought the woman was going to rush in aimlessly against the goblins, she seems to be sneaking around stealthily along the perimeter. She’s able to control her emotions quite well as I can see her brow is furrowed completely now. And there is a bloodthirsty look seething from her eyes. It’s a bit scary to look at from the front, so I continue to follow from behind like I have been. 

After reaching another part of town, we can see a group of three people surrounded by 4 goblins. Two seem to be children of around the age of 7-9? Perhaps. I have never been good at telling age. The last is an older man with a healer-class kind of look. …A priest is it? I wonder why the healers always seem of that particular religion. Thought it’d be different in my dreams at least.  

The young woman and Mr.Priest make eye contact. And as if they have known each other for years, they set up a plan with only that. After a slight nod of her head, she conceals herself behind the side of a building near the trio. 

The goblins seem to be taking their time though. I guess they are confident that they can defeat Mr.Priest and the two children.

And just like that the priest mutters some words. I stare insistently as I try to figure out what he’s saying. Though that was my mistake. And it appears to be the goblins mistake too as a bright white light envelops the whole area, originating from the priest. The spell blinds me. Shit. Even though I’m a ghost that still kind of hurt. Oww, my eyes. Please warn me next time Mr.Priest. But also, I realize while crying inside because of the pain, I guess ghosts aren’t invincible. I should take note of that. Or maybe invest in a pair of sunglasses. Damn, a ghost wearing sunglasses, that’s actually pretty cool. It’s usually the sun that wears sun glasses, right? 

After the pain goes away, and my teary eyes can see straight, an epic battle is before my eyes…or at least that’s how it should have been…everything seems to be over now. All of the goblins have been knocked out. And by that, I mean massacred. Seriously, there is so much blood everywhere. I feel a bit faint again. Dodging over the dead goblins, I inch close to the four humans I’ve been observing. 

“Isaac, I’m glad you’re safe. But I’ll skip the pleasantries for now. What is the current situation?”

“Yes. Miss. As you know, due to the town sending reinforcements towards the great war being held in the east two days ago, the guard is only half of what it once was. Before we could re-organize the town’s defense, the goblins came for a surprise attack. I am not sure if the timing is luck or if there is a greater power in play, but to me, it feels like too much of a coincidence for such low intelligence creatures.” 

As Mr.Priest said that, he seemed to look in my direction. A bead of sweat dropped down my cheek. Just a coincidence right…

Mr.Priest moved his eyes back towards the young woman and continued, “Additionally, the numbers are greater than we thought there to even exist near this town. There appear to be between 30-50 goblins. It was hard to tell the exact number due to the confusion of the surprise attack. Rhode and 8 of the guard are fighting against the majority of the goblins as we speak on the opposite side of town. Despite the state of the town, the people have been evacuated to the seal-protected church on the hill, with 4 guards keeping watch on standby. Rachel is among them.”

“I need to bring these two children to the church, as the last of the town members. Now that these four goblins are gone, there is not much farther to go. The rest of the path should be safe, so I ask you to aid the efforts to subdue the rest of the goblins.”

Oh oh, a quest! How exciting. Take it. Take it. I cheer on. If only the stench of blood didn’t fill the air.

“Next time be quicker with your words. There is no time to waste. I shall be off. Take care…don’t die.”

As the young woman said those words, she turned her back towards us…it felt cold, but there was a sense of comfort and confidence that made one have trust and faith. Faith, hmm, interesting that faith doesn’t have to always be connected to religion.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Now my fated decision. Should I follow the young woman or the priest and kids. Mr.Priest is a bit scary, but I think it’s best to look after kids in situations like these. Priests are generally weak strength wise too, right. So I follow them as we head to the church. I feel confident that the young woman will be alright; even if I couldn’t see her true skills due to that light from earlier. I’d fathom that her level is much higher than the level of the goblins. She could probably slaughter them all. I guess it goes to show, that even if you have power, if you aren’t in the right place at the right time, things can still fall to ruin. 

I still feel a bit sad parting from the young woman. She was the first person I met in my dream. The first character you meet is always the most impactful…or at least that’s how it is in harem gender novels. First girl best girl mentality is hard to shake off. Even if there is another true pairing. Wait..did I just nonchalantly pair myself with a character. That’s pretty creepy, even for me. Not that I’ll judge too hard if someone else did that. … ….Reminds me of that show about burgers with an episode about friend fiction. A bit too funny to think about in a grim situation like this.

I wonder why, the priest seems to be taking his time getting to the church. Can’t he go faster. Maybe priests have weak stamina too. What a useless class choice in situations like these. Though I usually like classes that can heal. But not for any noble reason, I just like saving money on potions. One can usually recover mp through some meditative action like sitting too, so it’s usually a win-win for my solo-play like style. Though I sound all haughty, I’m just a casual player of games. Unfamiliar with fancy lingo. Though not bad enough to not know simple terms such as mp and hp. In this day and age, it’d actually be hard to find someone who doesn’t. 

I float up in to the sky a bit more to get an overview of the situation. I see the church up ahead in the distance. It looks like we are halfway there. But I also notice two goblins up ahead. It looks like they secured the road to the church. Pretty smart for a ‘low intelligence’ species that Mr.Priest mentioned earlier. But in any case, the situation doesn’t look good. At this rate the priest and the kids will run into the goblins. But what can I do…? I should do something…something…

Despite the situation I’m not actually freaking out. It feels like I should though. Even if I personally am not in danger, this is two kids we are talking about. I don’t think I’d be able to sleep at night if that were to happen. Or wait…this is a dream right? I kind of want to wake up from this dream. So…if I let the kids die without doing anything will I wake up? Aren’t things fine just the way they are then?

“…”

As I am thinking, the priest and the kids are getting closer to the goblins. I have to make a decision soon. Despite what I think, I know not making a decision and watching events unfold is a choice at this point. Ugh, why am I such a good person I think, while sighing. The dream continues. 

I float down to the road and dig into the ground. While I was in the plains with nothing to do when the dream started, I experimented a bit with what I could and could not float through. Turns out with things I could touch, I could also exert force on them. I don’t know why, but not going to discern myself with the details at this point.

As expected, digging into the ground is hard work. Phew, what a workout. I have a pleasant smile on my face as I wipe sweat off my forehead. In the ground I have drawn an arrow in the direction of the two goblins alongside a picture of a goblin. For artistic skill I’d probably rate it a 2/10, but I think it gets the job done. I didn’t write in the ground in case the writing system or terminology of this world is different from my own. All those novels really have gotten embedded into my head. Seriously…I should tone it down a bit from now on.

It seems Mr.Priest has noticed my efforts, as he looks in surprise. The two children lean forward and examine the goblin picture. They giggle as they see the quality of the drawing. It’s really that poor, isn’t it? But Mr.Priest seems to take it seriously, as he starts going towards a different path as a detour.