"Listen, Helen, there are things in this world that are considered more valuable than anything else. Obtaining them gives you luxury beyond the imagination of an ordinary human, and the power to control others and do anything. As a merchant family, we gather these."

To a little girl, a grown-up offered a golden coin. Helen looked up toward the man who gave her the coin, but his face was hidden behind a mist.

"This is money, one of the most valuable things in the world. If you gather it, you will be able to do anything you desire, whether it's achieving something or destroying something. It all depends on you," the adult man's words rang through little Helen's mind. In the next moment, the vision flew away like ashes, and Helen appeared on a carriage, her body well-grown, fitting someone in their late twenties or early thirties.

The carriage suddenly stopped, and Helen saw people running in the opposite direction.

"What is happening? Why are you running?" she asked one of the middle-aged men with a child in his arms as he ran past her.

"Eldoria Kingdom, it's doomed," the man replied hastily as he moved past the carriage.

"What's he talking about?"

Eldoria Kingdom was one of the most powerful kingdoms on the continent and also the destination Helen was heading to. Saying it was doomed was the most laughable thing she had heard.

But her laughter faded when she arrived in Eldoria.

The entire kingdom was engulfed in a sea of flames, the cries of men and women echoing through the air.

Through the fierce flames, Helen saw a slight figure of a male human. He was standing still on the ground, looking at the sky. With one swing of his hand, the sea of flames reacted to him and changed direction, creating a whirlpool around the man and dispersing him from Helen's vision.

- - - - - - -

Twitching eyelids of Helen opened slowly.

"uh, it's that damn dream again," she sighed.

"You're awake, old... woman."

Close to the bed where Helen was sleeping, there was a young girl sitting on a chair.

"What? Who are you?" Helen questioned, but she noticed that the female in front of her had some strange features. Her ears were not like those of a regular human; instead, they were cat-like.

"Are... are you that witch's cat?" she asked with doubt.

"Oh, wise girl," said the cat girl.

"So, what happened? What made you come back here?" she asked.

With witch cats words, Helen suddenly remembered everything that had happened to her.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"That damn goblin bastard! Please, that hateful beast destroyed my future and everything I hoped for. I want revenge. That honking fiend must feel exactly what I felt," Helen exclaimed.

"Calm down. Whoever it is, are you sure your future and hopes were really destroyed by him?" said the cat witch as she looked toward a mirror hanging on the wall close to the bed.

Helen expected to see her old and weary reflection in the mirror, but what she saw was an extremely beautiful female figure. Her skin shone like the light of the night moon, her lips were the definition of rose petals, and her smooth skin and long dark hair were the epitome of luxury and beauty.

"Ah," Helen touched her face gently.

"What... Ah... Aghhhhh!" she suddenly screamed, looking at her own reflection.

Helen hurriedly looked at her hands; they were the same as what she saw in the mirror. She then checked her legs, which were previously shaky and weak, but now she felt the energy of a young girl coursing through them.

Next, she lifted up her clothes, glancing at the reflection in the mirror and at herself. She examined her stomach, which no longer had the sagging of old age; it was plump and smooth.

"I... I am... I'm a young girl," she muttered, finally accepting the fact.

"But how? That goblin bastard crushed the bottle that I was supposed to drink. Only a few drops from it fell on my body," Helen looked at the witch cat with her question lingering in her eyes.

"It's a rare potion, so there are things even we don't know about how they work." said the witch.

"Hahaha!" With a laugh, the old woman, now a young one, stood up from the bed and jumped forward. She landed gracefully on her fingertips, resembling a dancer, and then jumped to another spot, also landing elegantly on the floor.

"Hehe, look, I can dance now, and even jump!" she said in an ecstatic voice.

"I see, very energizing. I'm also surprised that only a tiny bit of my potion could do something like this. Come with me, I will escort you back to your carriage," said the witch cat as she stood up from her chair.

"But please, even though I got the result I wanted, this is not enough for me. That wretched goblin must pay for what it's done. I will give you a hundred, no, two hundred coins. Please annihilate that goblin along with its entire group."

The cat-earsd witch walked toward the door of her house and opened it, a slight sly smile appearing on her face.

"I planned to do it after escorting you anyways, but since you're offering that much, I'll do it for you," said her.

- - - - - - -

Graaa!

The little goblin jumped toward the king with a scream.

But the king landed a punch toward the little goblin and threw it away.

"Argh!"

The king exclaimed in pain as he felt the bones in his hand crushed from the punch he threw at the little goblin.

"My strength, my might of a king, they all disappeared. What is happening to me?" the king muttered in a pained voice.

Shurh!

From a nearby tree, the king heard the sound of leaves rustling in an unusual manner. He turned and saw the figure of a goblin appear through them.

"Scout goblins, did they already get alerted by the young one's scream?"

As the king watched, the scout goblins took out bows from their backs and swiftly nocked arrows, taking aim towards him.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it! Why is my fate twisted today? How can I, the mighty king, run away from my own kind?" the king cursed inwardly as he hurriedly ran away.

The scout goblins released their arrows toward the running king, but none of them landed as he dashed through the forest, the trees acting as a perfect shield for him.

However, the goblins didn't let the king escape easily. They leaped from the trees and began to trail behind him.

The king ran as fast as he could through the forest.

Swish!

The arrows shot by the pursuing goblins landed on the trees nearby, barely missing him.

"Curse this! It seems I have no choice but to jump to the other side to evade these fools."

"But if that dog bastard manages to know I jumped into his territory, he won't stop barking until I'm out. I have to take a gamble for it."

The direction the king was heading is the road where he met the old woman before, which marks the boundary between his domain and other kings' territories.

A smile appeared on the king's face as he spotted the outline of the road in the distance. Seeing it, his speed increased, but so did the fatigue he felt.