The First Commission
Once the rush of excitement had settled and my mind cleared, I massaged my throbbing wrist and tore the ear from the goblin’s head.
Beneath that murky green skin ran ordinary red blood. I’d half expected something special to flow through a creature whose hide looked so different from a human’s—but no such luck.
I stowed the severed ear carefully, then took a proper look at the goblin’s body. A swollen belly, spindly limbs, razor-sharp teeth and claws that looked genuinely dangerous. Its nose jutted forward in a heavy snout—exactly the goblin of my imagination. Height? Maybe a hundred centimeters.
Lucky for me it had been alone. If these things hunted in packs, I might have been the one forced to run. The way it had woven leaves and grass into crude camouflage suggested real intelligence, too.
Only then did it truly sink in. This world was not the one I had lived in before. I had known it intellectually, of course—but standing face-to-face with a monster straight out of fantasy was something else entirely. A vague, swelling anticipation for the new world ahead of me began to take root.
“Haa…”
I exhaled the strange thrill along with my breath. No time to linger. The commission called for ten goblin ears. Four more to go.
I buried the corpse under the snow, erasing every trace. Their intelligence was higher than I’d thought. They might notice a missing kin and come hunting for me. Caution cost nothing.
With the cleanup finished, I shouldered my pack and set off again. The deep white snow sucked at my legs with every step, draining far more stamina than open ground ever had. A body that had spent a lifetime in mountains and fields still could not take a winter peak lightly. My breathing grew ragged as the minutes stretched on.
“Hah…”
White breath scattered into the air like snowflakes. When I lifted my head, the sun that had hung at its zenith was already sinking. I found a nearby boulder and leaned against it. The bitter winter wind was stealing the feeling from my hands. A slight flex of the fingers brought only sluggish response. Keep this up and frostbite would force me to cut them off.
I pulled cloth and bandages from my pack and improvised a pair of gloves. Not pretty, but better than losing fingers.
“Hah…”
I breathed out and forced my legs to move once more. The dulling of my hearing told me I had climbed quite high. All around was nothing but endless white snowfields.
Then, while scanning the drifts, I caught an unnatural motion. The snow itself was shifting—something was hidden beneath it. I narrowed my eyes. Not one. At least two. No—three. And the movement was coming straight toward me.
In that instant my gaze locked with a pair of narrow, slit-yellow eyes rising from the snow. Pure wildness poured from them. The moment I sensed hostility and murderous intent, every hair on my body stood on end and my hand flew to the sword on my back.
The goblins buried in the snow froze the second they realized I had spotted them. They had been hunting—and I was the prey.
One I could handle. Two, maybe. But three? I swallowed dryly, remembering those sharp teeth and claws.
A fragile silence stretched between us—then the snow erupted and a green shadow lunged.
“Kyaaaak!”
The first charge was the signal. Fresh shadows burst up on either side. No time even to shrug off the pack. I ripped the sword free and swung it forward.
Shaaak!
The blade flashed like pale moonlight given form. Yet nothing met the edge. The goblin that had been charging simply stopped short.
New ones closed from both flanks. I scrambled backward, sword sweeping. They refused to press deep, clearly wary of the steel in my hands. They understood the danger of a blade, and they were practiced pack hunters. The air felt thin in my lungs.
“Kyaaaak!”
They circled, shrieking, trying to rattle me. The longer the fight dragged, the more my sense of time blurred. Swing, retreat, swing again. I couldn’t commit fully while watching those claws.
Then one darted in deeper than the rest and raked its nails across my shoulder. My body answered before thought. The sword drew back and shot forward.
Chwaak—!
“Kreeeek!”
The goblin took the thrust cleanly and tumbled across the white snow. Blood poured from its side—it must have twisted at the last second. I stepped back and checked my shoulder. No wound, no pain. The thick wolf-hide I wore had stopped the claws cold.
So that was it. Even this crude wolf-fur hood was already serving as solid armor.
I reset my grip and charged.
“Hyaaah!”
The pack on my back kept my movements tight. I advanced carefully, mindful of the shifted center of gravity. The goblins looked startled but held their ground, still believing they could win. The outcome was anyone’s guess.
I went for the bleeding one first—the one slowed by the gash in its side. Keep the pressure on and I could finish it. My lead foot planted hard; weight surged forward. White snow exploded outward. The pack jolted and threw my balance for a heartbeat, yet the sword work never faltered.
A great overhead cut. Pale moonlight fell from the sky.
Chwaaaak—!
The full-powered blow crushed the goblin’s shoulder rather than simply slicing it; red spray burst free.
“Kyaaaak!”
The remaining two latched onto me at once. Claws raked the wolf hide again and again; gray fur flew in every direction. The leather split and whitened, but its thickness held.
I spun my hips. Weight shifted with the turn; my body twisted as if looking behind me, and the sword naturally drew back. A green shadow flashed across my vision. Sharp pain bloomed above my eye at the same moment I drove my right leg into the ground. The rebound raced up through hip and into both hands. The moonlight that had fallen from the heavens completed a full circle and shot out in a straight line.
The quiet flash punched clean through a goblin’s chest.
My vision narrowed. Every sound around me faded. The cold of the wind vanished. Even the ache in my wrist disappeared. A life-or-death fight—the raw, vicious pleasure of it dulled my mind.
Then a faint sensation. My sight jerked sideways; balance collapsed. I staggered, trying to understand—only for a green shadow to fill my vision.
Puhk—!
A dull impact smashed into my face and I reeled again. Only then did I grasp what had happened. The last goblin had punched me square in the face.
I forced my stance steady just as it charged once more. Not this time. Its target was my head. The instant I realized it, I stepped long and ducked low.
Shiiik—!
Its attack whistled over my skull. Panic showed in every line of its body. I lunged, both hands seizing it, and drove it onto its back. A foul stench rose, but there was no time to care. I straddled the goblin and hammered my fists down. The sword was gone—somewhere in the snow—but the job remained the same: use whatever weapon you have and end the thing that wants you dead.
I raised my fist. Kill or be killed.
Puk—! Puk—! Puk—!
Frenzied blows pulped the goblin’s face. Blood sprayed; the bandages wrapped around my hands tore. It twisted and thrashed, but nothing stopped the rain of punches. Pure murderous intent ruled every muscle. Sticky blood scattered across the snow, blooming into red snowflakes.
Only then did I notice I had not drawn a single breath.
“Haaah…”
A huge gasp tore free. Vision cleared; dulled senses sharpened again. The face beneath me was a ruined mess. I stared down at my trembling hands. The blood-soaked bandages clung to my skin, oozing thick red.
“Hah…”
I tipped my head back and exhaled toward the sky. The heat that had filled my body drained away, leaving me limp. Exhaustion flooded every limb. At the end of the fight, I was the one still standing.
Between the sprawled goblin corpses a vacant laugh slipped out. The merciless cold set my body shaking.
I cut the ears free, then checked myself. I was in no shape to keep fighting. The commission needed ten ears; I had eight. Two short.
I wandered the mountain without direction, wondering what to do next—until I found a goblin corpse half-frozen in the snow. Arms, legs, and belly stripped of flesh; some other monster had clearly gotten there first.
“Lucky…”
I was lucky. I took the ears from the frozen body and started down the mountain.