The evening proved to be pleasantly cool, just right for the walk home. The sun was already just three finger breadths away from the horizon, so getting home before it set would be a bit of a challenge. One that he wasn’t quite up for, if he was being honest with himself.
The meeting with the strange human named Joram hadn’t gone nearly as he’d expected it to. When Reldan had returned after his scouting assignment the other day, he’d shared unbelievable stories with the other scouts, and his friends. Weird claims of advanced magic items, fantastical cooking, and a random human residing in a strange house in the middle of the forest. A house that, until Reldan had come across it that day, hadn’t been there.
For one, where had it come from? How had it been built? What had it been built from? Given what he’d seen earlier, Theril wasn’t sure that it was anything he’d ever laid eyes on before. From the walls to the weird tiled floor to the odd magical devices in Joram’s house, they were all new to him.
Everyone had taken Reldan’s claims with more than a little bit of skepticism, given just how outlandish his claims had seemed. But after having witnessed everything for himself, Theril could only surmise that Reldan had actually downplayed his experience, however ridiculous that sounded.
Then the ambrosia-like food had come out. Never before had he seen food that colour, nor smelled something so delicious. Sure, he’d had many tasty meals back home. But! The flavours had almost overwhelmed his senses with their diverse and rich assortment! He was practically drooling as he thought about going back for another visit, ostensibly to escort Reldan on their agreed-upon teaching times.
Then came the weird human. He’d never met one like him, nor a human that didn’t speak the common tongue. Even his accent was a bit weird, though he seemed to pick up the common tongue with ridiculous ease, even if they’d been using a child’s learning book to teach him.
“I told you so,” Reldan suddenly spoke, startling Theril out of his thoughts.
“What”? he asked, annoyed with Reldan’s tone.
“That what I said wasn’t just a made-up story,” Reldan said with a grin.
He really couldn’t argue that point, so he handed over the bronze coins he’d lost in his bet.
“But really,” Reldan mused as he tucked the coins away into his belt pouch. “Where do you suppose he’s from to not know the common tongue? Not to mention… everything else,” he finished, evidently not knowing quite how to express everything.
Theril nodded as he thought about that, then about the weird encounter with the banging at the door. He’d been prepared to go deal with the monsters that he assumed were trying to break into the house, as had Reldan, mostly because that was their job. Kill monsters, keep the area safe for travellers and farmers, and such. Given how Reldan had reported that he suspected that Joram was more-or-less a non-combatant, they’d assumed he’d need help.
But nope. Not two minutes after Joram began peaking out that weird little hole in the door, the sounds of the attackers had completely disappeared. But what was even weirder than that, was the fact that there wasn’t a single sign of a body anywhere to be found. There’d been plenty of tracks to follow and read, but no bodies. No blood. Nothing.
He’d begun suspecting that Joram was actually a summoner of one flavour or another who’d, for one reason or another, moved to their section of forest in the last week or so. But, why?
Why would someone who didn’t know the language move into their forest? Where had he come from? The magical items in his house were so advanced that he suspected that Joram might be a foreign noble of some standing… or had been. Maybe he’d been exiled? But again, from where? Why? Where had such advanced magical items come from? Artifacts like his lighting were in such demand, raising the cost to exorbitant heights, that only the very wealthy or nobles could afford such things.
Then there was everything else!
Where had he gotten such exotic food? Where could he find the same kind of food?!
“So, it looks like you’re as astounded as I was,” Reldan said with not a little bit of smugness in his tone.
Theril cuffed him on the back of the head for being cheeky.
“That Joram character is certainly a mystery,” Theril agreed as Reldan rubbed the back of his head. “The problem is that we don’t really know anything about him,” he said, overriding Reldan’s objections to that statement by continuing to speak.
“We don’t know if he’d just pretending. We don’t know where he’s from. Was he exiled here? Is he on the run? Will someone come looking for him that won’t be friendly to foxkin like us? Did you notice how he kept looking at our ears and tails?” he asked, a bit scandalized that someone would be so bold as to stare as much as Joram had.
“Well, yeah, but I kinda assumed that he’d never met a beastkin before,” Reldan said, shrugging it off.
Theril gave the young scout a sharp look, not happy that a scout wouldn’t pick up on the oddity, or that he’d just right it off.
Sure, it was likely that Joram had come from a country or kingdom that was exclusively human and hadn’t ever come across beastkin before. But those kinds usually felt… different. They usually came off as being… superior to everyone else that wasn’t human. On the contrary, Joram just appeared… curious. Overly so, in fact.
“Well, I guess we’ll learn more about him as you continue teaching Joram from here on out,” Theril said, putting off all of his questions until later. Worrying about it wouldn’t do him any good right now, so instead he began assembling his thoughts and organizing them in such a way that they would make a coherent report, one that he didn’t look forward to writing later that night.
For his part, Reldan got a gleam in his eye at the mention of continuing teaching Joram… and a bit of drool at the corner of his mouth.
“You don’t suppose he’d continue cooking for us, do you…?” Reldan asked as casually as he could as he wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.
Theril refrained from rolling his eyes as he answered.
“From how grateful Joram appeared to be to have you teach him, I figure that that’s a distinct possibility,” Theril replied, causing Reldan’s eyes to practically glow in excitement.
- - -
The following morning found Reldan stifling yawns in front of the village chief as she reviewed Theril’s report. For his part, Theril looked as though he’d had a full nights’ sleep, likely from one of his [Skill]s. Being a [Guardian] really had its perks.
“So,” Celys Manelle started, finally looking up from the five-page report. “Would you say that this Joram could be an asset to the village, or a detriment?” she asked bluntly, fixing them with her blue-eyed gaze that had reportedly soured milk at one point in time.
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“For as little contact as I’ve had with Joram, I would venture to say that he’ll, at the very least, be a neutral party,” Theril replied, causing Reldan to frown slightly. A frown that the chief noticed.
“What?”
Shifting his feat nervously, Reldan suddenly wondered if he should really speak up. The chief was famously… territorial, and having a complete stranger with access to such weird and wondrous magical items living within walking distance of the village wasn’t something she’d normally be OK with.
“He seems… nice? I mean, he didn’t have to offer me, or us, food, you know?” he said, starting to ramble under the chief’s heavy gaze. “Like, would someone freely give such amazing food to someone they’d just met if they weren’t a good person?”
He felt sweat rolling down his back now, and had to fight off the shiver that came with the sensation while the chief frowned at his words.
“You checked with the [Head Priest] for poison already, I presume?” she asked Theril, who nodded, much to Reldan’s shock.
“Yes, poison,” the chief said in a bland tone. “You never know what someone will do, especially humans,” she said with an annoyed twist of her lips. “Given that we know next to nothing about this one, but also that he seems to be, at the very least, neutral, then I’ll approve of the continued language lessons.”
Before Reldan could get excited about that, the chief continued, dashing his hopes upon her solid pragmatism.
“Theril, you’ll continue to go, but I’ll also be sending Kalduin and Myra along with you, as they’re in a position to help suss out any deception that this Joram might be up to. Not only that, but they’re used to teaching others, so that should lead to fewer visits.”
Reldan noted that Theril’s tail betrayed his stoic face, obviously happy to be able to return for more visits. He couldn’t blame him though, for who wouldn’t want to once again taste the heavenly “mac’n’cheese with wieners”?
“Theril, you’ll inform Kalduin and Myra of their new duties. Be ready with everything that you’ll need for your visit tomorrow. Dismissed.”
* * * * *
After the duo had left late last evening, Joram had crashed for a bit. Sure, it was nice to talk to someone, but the drain on his social batteries had been extensive. While they were pleasant enough, and Reldan going so far as seeming to be almost a fanboy, the interactions had been long. Much longer than he’d normally be comfortable with, but had put up with because learning the local language on an alien planet was on the more important side of things, in his books anyways.
Well, after a quick “nap”, he had been ready to go again. The first thing that he’d done had been to retrieve the leavings of the dead and tidied goblins. Sure, most of it consisted of dirty rags and rusty knives of one kind or another, but there had also been a few crystals left behind…. Which was concerning.
If he was right about them, then only the stronger goblins had a chance of leaving the cores behind. Or maybe they would always drop them? Either way, that he now had four more of the “monster cores” meant that whoever or whatever was behind the attacks was escalating things. Would the next attack have even stronger goblins? Would there be stronger monsters included in the attack? Or, heaven forbid, smarter monsters? Like hobs? Or, rather, hobgoblins.
In every piece of media that he’d devoured over the decades that had included hobgoblins in them, each and every one had portrayed them as both stronger and smarter than their regular goblin counterparts. Sure, you could get stupid hobs as well, but whatever caused them to grow/evolve also tended to increase their intelligence along with their stature.
With a sigh, Joram had turned to inspect the door and had found that it was a bit more damaged than he was comfortable with. It then took him another half an hour or so to [Repair] the door, which relieved him more than he’d thought it would have. But, hey, home security for the win!
On that note, he climbed back onto the roof and started practicing [Astral Construct] once again. This time, though, he concentrated on the physical shape of the constructs, working on subtly changing its form.
Which brought him to the present, sun in his eyes and all. Well, not much sun, as the sequoia-like forest that he was in was thick enough to block out most of the direct sunlight. Which also meant that it was already mid-morning if the sun’s rays could reach him.
He got up, stretching for all he was worth as he felt his muscles loosen much more than he ever remembered them doing before… all this.
‘Why the sigh?’ Avi suddenly asked from the side, bringing his attention back to the moment.
“Ah, well, just reminiscing is all,” he said, then shook his head. “We’ll likely have to look for the source of those goblins, huh?” he asked, not quite rhetorically.
‘If you wish to live in peace, then yes,’ she replied, nodding slightly.
“Gotta plan for that, though. Prepare,” he said, then grinned as he remembered his second favourite alliteration. “Proper prior planning prevents piss-poor performance,” he said, not able to keep a smile from breaking out on his face, causing his hazel eyes to twinkle.
‘Good advice,’ Avi said, once again nodding. ‘But, “what’cha’gonna’do?”’ she asked in a surprisingly accurate warcrack orc impersonation.
“I’ve got two things in mind to work on right away,” he said, then raised his hand with two fingers raised. “The first is to get much better at creating astral constructs. The better, more familiar, I am with them, the more effective I’ll be in a fight,” he said, dropping a finder.
‘The second?’
“I’ll need to practice more with [Crystal Shard]. Better aim, better manifesting time, and better damage. I’ll need to get much better with it if I’ve got any hope in holding my own in a fight,” he finished, dropping his last finger, making a fist. “The constructs will be my tanks, while I’ll be the ranged support.”
‘That’s a good idea,’ Avi said, once again nodding along. ‘And I think now will be the perfect time to practice,’ she finished, pointing off behind him.
Joram looked over and immediately spotted a group of goblins in the distance. Once again, they were the ugly kind of goblins, not the… less scary-looking ones he’d spotted the other day. Yesterday? Shrug.
They were still a good couple hundred metres away, but they numbered in the dozens. They also had much larger goblins with them, which both pleased him that his prediction had been correct, and annoyed him that he’d been correct. Possibly jinxing the whole thing.
‘Will you head inside and turtle it up, or fight out here?’ Avi asked, once again refocussing his attention.
Joram thought about it for a few seconds, weighting the pros and cons of the situation. The obvious answer would be to turtle. He could watch out the peep hole, create, and then direct his constructs from the safety of his home. But he’d also be trapped in there if they managed to break down his door.
Staying on the roof might also work, but with the numbers coming his way, he was reasonably sure that they’d be able to swarm him if he didn’t have enough astral constructs made and defending the perimeter. Or just wait him out. Well, besiege the house, anyways. If they surrounded the house, he wouldn’t have anywhere to run. And it looked as though they had bows.
“At least we know what direction they’re coming from now,” he said, hoping that the distraction would help his creative process.
‘There’s that,’ Avi agreed, but then shook her head. ‘But that will only matter if you survive the encounter.’
Joram frowned a bit at that, not wanting to go there.
With how big the hobs looked, he wasn’t at all confident that his door would hold out very long, even with the added bar as a brace. Though, he could fuse a couple of blocks to the floor to help keep it in place…
“We’ll head inside,” he said, then proceeded to roll of the roof to land on the forest floor, glad that it wasn’t the concrete that would have been there back on Earth. He then quickly made his way into the apartment, closed, then locked the door behind him as he started retrieving concrete blocks from his inventory.
A moment later, he had ten blocks and was stacking them the best he could before he mentally reviewed [Modify Matter], then began manifesting it.
It was… harder this time, probably due to the stress, but he managed to pull through, fusing all the blocks together, and then to the floor as best he could. It would at least provide a significant hurdle for anyone trying to kick in the door, let alone trying to get by it after breaking said door.
The plan was coming along nicely until the first thundering boom rattled the door on its hinges.
Eyes wide, Joram quickly went and retrieved both his sword and hunting knife, then got into position just to the side of the door. Never before had he so fervently wished that he’d had a gun with which to defend himself.
“Damn, if I get through this-”, he paused as another impacted rattled the door. “If I get through this, I’m definitely working on making guns,” he said, drawing his katana as he kept an eye out for any openings in the door that he could exploit.
‘That would probably be a good idea,’ Avi replied, also starting at the door. ‘But in the meantime, you should focus on getting [Crystal Shard] ready to go.’
Joram suppressed a frown, knowing that her advice was coming from concern over their well-being. But, damn, he hated being told what to do; especially when he already knew what to do. In this case: fire off as many [Crystal Shard]s as he could while benefiting from what cover the door could provide him.
With that thought in mind, he queued-up [Crystal Shard] and got ready to fire it off at the first bit of green he could see.