Goblin Raid
At my word, the fireball Runesa had conjured streaked toward the shaman.
Fwoom!
It burst in front of him, setting his body alight and catching on everything around it. The goblins that had been charging without a moment's hesitation faltered at the blast, and I cut one of them down on the spot.
"Selen! Right!"
I swung to the right at Levan's shout. The goblin that had been flying in—before I'd even seen it—died split in half.
Their leader was dead, and still they threw themselves at us again. When it came to not fearing a fight, these things outdid any other monster.
"Kieeet!"
One came screaming, and I swung. Its head flew off in an instant. I stabbed the next as it closed and kicked it away. There had seemed to be a lot of them, but once Levan and I split the work, their numbers dropped fast.
"That it?"
The brush around us started rustling again. Still more.
I tightened my grip and scanned the undergrowth. Goblins burst out with blades in hand. I cut down one that came at me like an arrow, and before I knew it another had latched on and stabbed my leg.
"Ugh."
"S-Selen! Aaah!"
A glance showed two of them had gotten onto Runesa as well. I knocked the one off my leg with the pommel and stomped it flat.
"Stay calm."
"Yes, ma'am!"
In the moment I spared for her, three more goblins came out of the brush. These ones had a different look in their eyes.
"Kieee!"
They shrieked and rushed me, splitting to come all at once. They meant to surround me, so I stepped in first and went for the one coming straight on.
Whoosh!
I brought the blade down on the head of the one leading the charge.
"Kek!"
The soft skull caved under the blow. The feel of it raised goosebumps along my forearm. I swung right at once, and a goblin's knife met my sword and bounced hard.
Clang!
A body that small had no chance of taking the impact. It didn't die, but it dropped its weapon and sat down hard. I was about to leave it and turn.
"Urgh!"
A goblin had latched onto my back and was driving a knife in. I couldn't peel it off at once, and the dagger punched in a few more times. Cold sweat broke out at the thought that if I didn't get it off fast, I might die. I slammed myself into a tree to knock the thing loose, and the moment it dropped I drove my sword down into it. Then the pain came flooding in from my back.
"Aaah."
"Miss Selen! Behind you!"
No time to rest. I spun, and a goblin that had come from the left was already hanging off my arm.
"Ha..."
It clung to the bandaged arm and sank its teeth in. The pain made me drop my sword. It hurt too much. I bit my lip to endure it and swung my arm at the tree again, slamming the goblin into the trunk.
"Kkh... ugh..."
Another one? I groped for the fallen sword, and at the sound of something approaching I started to swing. But the goblin that appeared was struck by something and flung hard away.
"Ah. Haa..."
"You all right?"
It was Levan who had sent the goblin in front of me flying.
"Popular as ever, I swear."
"S-Selen!"
I let the sword go as I gasped for breath, and Levan caught me as I started to fold.
"Ugh... ha, it hurts..."
"Runesa, potion. Quick."
"Yes!"
I'd taken too many hits. Even goblins, if enough of them come from every side, leave you no choice. If your gear blows out and you're cut all over and you still walk away, that's luck enough.
While I hung there dazed, Runesa seemed to have brought the medicine, and Levan tried to get it into me.
"I think we ought to start with the antidote."
"Yeah."
As the words registered, a sweet liquid entered my mouth. Antidote's a little sweet. I usually just tough out mild poison, so it had been a while since I'd tasted one. A faintly bitter healing potion followed. A whole bottle poured in, and I felt Levan brush my hair back and prop me up against him.
"Runesa, you okay?"
"Ah, yes. I'm fine. Fortunately they didn't really come for me..."
After a short wait my head cleared. The blur in my vision lifted, and strength started coming back into my body.
"You with us?"
"...Yeah."
Only then did I have a little room to breathe.
"You two all right?"
"Yeah. Almost all of them went for you."
No wonder it felt so brutal.
"A few got away, but we'll be fine, right? Should we head back and regroup first?"
"We're fine."
"Figured you'd say that."
I tried to get up again, and Levan took my arm and hauled me to my feet.
"Anyway, we killed the shaman, so they won't be looking for another fight anytime soon."
"Yeah? Leader's gone, so they'll be in a mess."
Before long some other monster, or another goblin tribe, would probably hit them and wipe them out. And then... well, they wouldn't be chasing us down for revenge.
"Um, Miss Selen. I'm sorry. I don't think I was much help."
Once I was up, Runesa came to my side and dropped her head, looking ready to cry.
"Sorry for what... You did about as much as I expected."
Just not running was luck enough. If she had, we'd have been in real trouble. And with everything she's carrying...
"Let's move. Anywhere a little safer?"
"There's a place I noticed. A cave where we rested briefly, on the way to Belmor after the fortress."
While we settled on the next stop, Levan brought over the staff the goblin shaman had been carrying.
"It's junk, but I'll hang onto it for now."
Right. Stuff like that can fetch a decent price if you're lucky.
We crossed the forest toward the cave Runesa knew. The fortress was still a ways off, so we needed a rest in between—and even with the potion, I wasn't in any shape to fight right away.
The moment we reached the cave, Runesa started a fire and set up camp, and Levan looked me over from beside me.
"And you're going to fight a skeleton swordsman like this?"
"I'll be fine by tomorrow."
"Sure. You're not fighting alone anyway. I'll just have to do better, since I'm the one still in one piece."
He laughed and stroked my head.
"Quit touching my head..."
"Good. At least that part didn't get hurt."
Seeing my reaction, he gave my head a light pat and went to help Runesa.
"Miss Selen, it should be all right through the night, so if you take your armor off, I'll patch it up a little."
"Might as well."
Nothing should happen while we're here. I took the armor off. Stabbed in the back, bitten on the arm—a complete mess. Once my body felt a little lighter, drowsiness rolled in, maybe because the tension had finally let go. If I was going to fight tomorrow, I needed to sleep.
"I'm turning in first."
"Yeah. Sleep deep."
"Won't you have something to eat?"
I was too sleepy to even want food. I rolled over in place of an answer, and I was asleep almost at once.
Levan and Runesa stayed by the fire until quite late.
"Sleep once you're done with that. You too."
"No, sir. It is you who should sleep, Mr. Levan. I wasn't any help anyway, so at least let me keep watch now."
Levan chuckled at that.
"Weren't any help? That magic earlier was something."
"Ah, was it?"
"And Selen said you did fine. She doesn't hand out empty praise."
"She didn't say I did well, did she? She said I did as much as she expected..."
"Doing as much as she expects is doing well. How much better were you planning to be?"
At that, Runesa pressed her lips shut, darted her eyes this way and that, and nodded.
"You're right, sir."
She let out a small breath and set down the armor she'd been stitching.
"Earlier I really thought something terrible was going to happen. The goblins were all over Miss Selen, and I didn't know what to do."
"They piled on, sure, but she dropped them so fast I couldn't even help properly. She's strong enough that you don't have to worry that much."
Runesa blinked and looked at him.
"For someone who says that, you looked terribly worried earlier."
"Me? Ah... well, once the fight's over, you're supposed to."
Levan gave an awkward little laugh and looked at the sleeping Selen.
"She's strong while she's fighting, but once it's over she falls apart."
"...You've been traveling together a long time, I see."
"It's been a while. She just showed up at the guild... what, a few months ago already?"
Remembering, he let his gaze rest on the campfire. It had started when Selen, newly arrived at the guild, said she needed someone to go out with, and they took a job together. She was a woman warrior you didn't see often—pretty, skilled enough, and forever turning up with strangely good information from who knew where. More than anything, he'd had a feeling they would fit.
"It's fun being with her. You've never done adventurer work, so you wouldn't know, but nobody else throws themselves at the job this crude and this reckless."
Listening, Runesa swallowed. She had ended up with an uncommon, dangerous person. But just as Levan was smiling now, a thought sat in one corner of her mind: that interesting things would keep on happening.
"Tomorrow morning let's roast potatoes and head out. You got those winter-forest potatoes, right?"
"Ah, yes. You mentioned them, so I brought some."
"She likes those."