Chapter Two

  I briefly considered returning to the city to turn my five gold into silver or bronze to make it easier to use later on if I came across any merchants along the way. I decided it was best not to deal with the mess I had left behind me. I had started my journey and I wasn't going to turn back now. I headed down the main road leading away from the city. It was the road that went straight to the capital city of Lucinia. The road was a main thoroughfare that let the merchants travel from the capital to the outlying cities in what was supposed to be a safe and timely manner. I had heard rumors of bandits and roving bands of monsters attacking the merchant caravans on their way to and from the capital. I had also heard that the monsters in particular have been more active as of late but no one really knew why. They were leaving the wild more frequently and coming closer to the more populous parts of the countries. I had heard at the church that there had been sightings of goblins in the towns that were farther away from the cities. Though I doubted I would run into any especially with my newfound luck.

  So, I headed west towards the capital since I had no real destination in mind. I would head to the capital and see if I could find work. I had never been trained in any of the trades, and had only a rudimentary understanding of farming and butchery from my time spent at the orphanage. I had no desire to plow a field or butcher meat. So I would look for an opportunity to make my fortune elsewhere. I knew that there was an adventurers guild in all of the big cities including Lancia and Lucinia. The adventurer guilds were in charge of dealing with all of the bandits and monsters because the country's military was in charge of protecting our borders from the neighboring nations. I had never had a reason to visit the Guild in Lancia because I was just a poor orphan who had no equipment and no way to buy any. Though that had changed now I had coin and could purchase a weapon and armor and start a life as a brave adventurer.

  I knew the life of an adventurer wouldn’t be easy but I thought it had to be better than my life in the church had been. A short life fighting monsters and bandits was far not preferable than an even shorter life as a poor orphan waiting for the beat that would one day put an end to the misery. That’s enough reminiscing about bad days that would soon be far behind me. First I had to reach the capital and register with the guild. I knew that at first I would only be allowed low level missions but I had to start somewhere and this was the best I could think of. A few coins here and there would earn me enough money to live off of until I became more experienced and could take on bigger contracts that would in turn have better rewards. Those days however were in the future. I first had to be accepted into the adventurers guild before I could even take on any of even the basic contracts.

  As I pondered on what the future may bring I walked for a few hours until I came upon a forest. The road cut a path straight through the woods but I knew it would take me a few days at least to walk on foot through the forest. I had no mount and no one was going to give a ride to a peasant like me who was dressed in what amounted to rags. With few options but to continue forward I took my first step into the forest. As I walked along the path alone the forest seemed to creep in on me. It seemed spooky and ominous but I was sure that was just a trick of the light. At least that was what I was going to keep telling myself.

  I walked along the path studying the lush greenery of the forest. I had never spent any time outside of the city so this was a new experience for me. I went through the forest at a sedate pace rushing through the forest was only going to wear me out and I couldn't get to the other side quickly in any case so why bother hurrying. So I took my time and enjoyed my new found freedom.

  I was never actually a prisoner but it had felt like it with my duties in the church occupying all of my time. I wasn't allowed out of the city for fear that I might run away. The church couldn't accept that kind of loss as they needed everyone they could get to help with the day to day tasks of running a church. While the church's treatment of me had been terrible they did some good throughout the city. They would provide food for the mothers that did not have enough coin to take care of a child or the funds to give birth with proper supervision. It with the donations provided by those that could afford it. I was loath to say anything good about the place but they would provide a home for any orphan no matter the circumstances. What was done with the child after they grew up enough to be put to work was another story. I also knew that Father Cassius used some of these generous donations to line his own pockets. Thinking about the past would not help with the present so I continued down the well worn path towards the capital and hopefully a better life.

  As I walked and thought about my past my stomach began to growl. I had forgotten to eat in my haste to escape the city. I had also not taken the time to buy proper supplies for such a journey but there was no help for it now. I knew there were many streams and rivers that ran through the forest. I was hoping to try my hand at fishing. I didn't have a fishing rod but maybe I could use a stick as a makeshift spear. My plans of fishing would need to wait till I found some water though. With my plans made I headed off into the forest in search of something to eat and drink. There was no way around it because I would need food and water to fuel my strength for the crazy journey I had chosen to undertake. I was hoping that there was a stream not too far off of the path as I did not want to get lost. I also hoped that I could find some wild edible plants to eat but I was not certain in my foraging skills. I had been walking for about fifteen minutes when I heard the sound of running water. My pace quickened at the thought of getting a drink of fresh water. I burst through the trees and into a clearing surrounding the stream. I looked around hoping to see a stream of crystal clear water, but what I saw was a thing of nightmares.

  There was a group of green monsters next to the stream. They were about the size of a child and had pointy ears, a gnarled nose, horrible rotted teeth, and dark beady eyes. These were the goblins I had heard rumors about. They weren't supposed to be this close to the city. The adventures guild was supposed to make sure no monsters made it too close to the city. There must be something driving the monsters closer to the cities but I didn't have time to think about why they were here because the goblins were not alone. There was a girl about my age laid on the ground between them. She was tightly bound in some kind of rope and seemed to be unconscious. She was strikingly beautiful with hair the color of flame and a face that would fit on a goddess. She had high cheekbones and a slight point to her nose. With skin as white as porcelain and it seemed as if she was an angel that fell from heaven.

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  There was something else that stood out about this particular girl. She had what appeared to be ears of some animal growing from the top of her head and if I was not mistaken she also had a fluffy red tail with a splash of white at the tips the same as her ears. I knew there were beast-kin living in cities but I had never seen any of them before. They were more prevalent in the capital. They came from the Sakura Empire and there were many variations of beast-kin. This girl however looked like a Kitsune and I knew that they were the leading class in the Sakura Empire most notably every member of the Imperial family was a Kitsune or more commonly known as a fox person. Even in the capital Kitsune are rare. It wasn’t odd in itself that a beast-kin was in the area since there were a lot in the adventures guild, but for a possible royal to be here in the forest far from the city that was very odd.

  There weren't many reasons a group of goblins would capture someone alive. I had heard stories of what they did to the women they caught and that was a fate worse than death. The group of goblins that surrounded the girl had heard my approach through the forest and turned to face me. They were ugly creatures and small only about the size of children. They had an assortment of stone tipped spears and rusty knives. I looked around me to see if I could find anything to use as a makeshift weapon. I saw a branch lying on the ground a few feet away from me that I could use as a club. Before they could make a move towards me I ran over and grabbed my makeshift club. It was about two inches thick at the part I was using as a handle, seven inches wide at the top, and about three feet long. It should make a good sturdy weapon to protect myself with. I had no combat experience and last night was the first time I had ever attacked someone. I just had to hope my superior size would make up for the numbers they had on their side. The one that was about a foot taller than the others and about as big as a teenager started towards me with a spear raised. The other three spread out behind him to give their leader the chance to attack first.

  The leader didn’t waste any time and immediately came at me. He came in with a straight charge. There was no strategy to his attack, but there didn’t need to be. I tried to dodge to the side but misjudged the timing and got stabbed in the shoulder for my attempt. The pain jolted through my body but I was used to the pain. The years of beatings had tempered my pain tolerance to a very high level. The leader of the goblins took the opportunity after his first strike to celebrate his impending victory by waving his spear over his head. I used the same opportunity to bring my club back and slam it into the leader’s head as hard as I could. My strike caught him on his left temple. I heard a loud crunch and the leader fell to the ground limp. His body twitched once in death and then was still.

  The other goblins stood around in stunned stupefaction and I was just as surprised as they were that my attack had worked so well. I regained my senses before they could and again seized the chance my opponent had given me to attack while they were distracted. I went for the goblin on the far right because he was the closest one to me and the furthest from his companions. I misjudged my swing and caught him on the arm but the sound of breaking bones was like music to my ears. I stepped back and raised my club to try and give myself some kind of defense. I was completely untrained and swinging around a big stick like an idiot, but I’d taken out one goblin and that at least was some small accomplishment. There were however three more goblins to go and I needed to make sure I could get the woman out of here safely. I had no illusions about heroically dying to save an innocent maiden but the goblins had attacked me unprovoked and I would not just let them take the woman regardless of my feelings.

  After I hit the goblin on the right the other two goblins rushed me and I was overwhelmed. I had to use the club to protect myself from their spears and had no chance to attack them back. I had to try to get some distance between me and them. That meant I needed to try something risky and by that I mean something potentially catastrophically stupid.

  I pushed them back as hard as I could with my club and then just let go. I followed through after my club with a punch to the closest goblins face. His nose crunched under my closed fist but I paid the blood price again with a spear thrust to the ribs from the last goblin. I wrenched the spear from the last goblin and spun it around. I then slammed the spear through the goblins eye socket. Then once again felt the pain of letting my attention lapse for the third time since the battle began. The goblin whose arm I had broken and assumed incapacitated stabbed me in the lower back with his dagger. I grunted in pain, tore the blade free from my back, and cut the goblin's throat nearly decapitating him. Now there was only the one goblin left and he was still writhing in pain from the broken nose. I picked up my club and bashed him upside the head over and over again until his head was a mess of blood and bone. I went around to all of the other goblins and did the same.It may seem barbaric but I was not going to have one of them waking up and killing me when I had my back turned just because I didn't want to take the time to finish the job.

  After the fight was over the adrenaline faded and I started to feel all of my wounds. I had a superficial wound on my shoulder, a deep gash at my ribs, and the most concerning injury of them all was the last stab wound on my back. I didn't think anything too important had gotten hit but it was pretty deep and I needed to find a way to staunch the bleeding. I tore off what was left of my shirt and even though it was covered in blood it was mostly clean and I held it against my back and tried to keep the pressure on it enough to stop the bleeding. I was a little dizzy from the blood loss, but I had dealt with such injuries before when my beatings had gotten out of hand. The pain was only temporary and I’d be fine given enough time to heal.

  I heard a muffled sound coming from the Kitsune woman on the ground. I made my way over to her cautiously because I didn't know how she would react to me. I assumed she would be grateful but you could never be sure of how other people would react. I grabbed one of the goblin daggers on my way over to the woman. She seemed to still be pretty out of it so I chose to go ahead and release her bonds. I also removed the gag from her mouth. She made pained moaning sounds for a while and then she was silent. I wanted to make sure she was not dead and had simply fallen back to sleep. I drug her over to the tree and propped her up. I then laid myself against the same tree to join her in sleep. I was bone tired and felt like a little nap might do my wounds some good. So I leaned against the tree and tried to grab a few hours sleep alongside the woman I had just killed and nearly died to save. I'm sure she would be infinitely grateful.