Jesus Christ... Nick stood in front of one of the bulletin boards inside of the guild, currently he was looking over the S rank quests to see what kind of stuff Trak was doing. There were a couple of bounties and a couple of quests to take out bandits, which were similar to some of the things the lower ranks were getting, but... there were also a lot of quests that required them to hunt much more dangerous things than wolves. Drakes, sirens, and all manner of dangerous creatures. Good thing I won't have to worry about those for quite a few more years...
"Hey, what are you doing?" Nick looked over to see Alyssa approaching. They had agreed on a time to meet in the guild but he had arrived a bit early.
"Checking out some of the higher rank quests, just to see the kind of stuff they have to deal with."
"Alright, well, let's focus on finding a quest for us to actually complete."
"Good idea." Nick followed her to the bulletin board that held all of the C rank quests. Hunt down bands of goblins, eliminate or capture groups of bandits, bounties on escaped cons, hunting down groups of animals. He could not see any that focused on a small amount of non-human enemies.
"How about this?" Nick raised an eyebrow, looking over to Alyssa who was looking over the B rank quests.
"Didn't we agree to do easier quests?"
"Sure, but this seems easy. It also pays really good." Nick walked over to look at the quest she was talking about. A quest to kill twin ogres that were terrorizing a small village to the south.
"How does this seem easy? It looks like a death sentence."
"Ogres are super slow. They are B rank because of how strong they are, but their strength is irrelevant if they are too slow to hit you. These kinds of quests get taken a lot because they are easier than advertised but pay big. It is ten gold and we will probably get out of it without a scratch." She took the quest poster down from the bulletin board.
"Don't jinx it..."Nick sighed, watching her take the poster down. "Well, I just hope we both come back in one piece."
"We should be fine unless you somehow get your ass kicked by one of these things. Honestly, you will be fine if you just don't let them hit you. If they are able to land even one hit on you, you are not qualified to be an adventurer."
"We will need to come up with some kind of strategy." They began to walk to the reception desk.
"The plan is simple, overwhelm them with magic. Ogres are semi-intelligent, but they are way too stupid to be able to use magic or anything of the sort. One blast of your magic and it should be dead or at least in no condition to continue fighting."
"I sure hope so." He watched as she slammed the poster down on the reception desk.
"We will take this quest." The woman working behind the counter got a confused look on her face.
"You are aware this is B rank? Aren't you two C rank?"
"Yeah, we are, but we are sure we can handle it." Both of them took out their ID's, the receptionist needed to see them first before giving out the quest.
"Alright, but don't expect hazard pay. You are taking it despite the obvious risk, so it is on you if you get hurt." The receptionist quickly wrote some things down. "You are good to go, have fun."
Alyssa smiled, rolling up the poster and patting Nick on the shoulder. "Alright, let's get going. The town is only twenty miles away, we should be able to make it into town by around midnight if we don't stop."
Nick sighed. "Alright, let's get going, then."
The hours passed by slowly and uneventfully. At quarter to midnight they finally made it into town, they were both extremely tired. They were quickly able to find an inn, they only had to pay two silver a night but the rooms were barely furnished and not well maintained. They were only sleeping there for one or two nights, so it did not matter much to either of them. Once Nick laid on the bed he instantly fell asleep.
The next morning they both left for the woods after having a quick breakfast, they were eager to get this over with and leave this town. The town itself wasn't too bad, but sharing a room with a family of mice was less than ideal. The village seemed thankful to them for taking the quest and offered them free food, however.
"Man, these footprints are giant." Nick heard Alyssa say, they were currently about one hour into their hunt and had just found their first clue as to where the ogres may be.
"Doesn't really look like a footprint." Nick looked at the compressed dirt and tilted his head, no matter how he looked at it he just couldn't see it as a footprint.
"Well, what did you expect? Let's follow them, if we are lucky we will be able to sneak up on them and end this quickly."
"Alright. If we finish this soon we should head back to the guild after some lunch." Nick began to follow the footprints.
"Sounds good to me. Those fricken mice kept me up for hours." Alyssa followed behind.
"Hopefully the next town we help is in better shape."
"I was so glad that we weren't going to have to sleep on the ground again, too..."
"Well, the bed's weren't too bad at least."
"The sheets were too gross to even think about using." Alyssa let out a deep sigh. "Mice are so cute, but they are filthy."
"Mine seemed to be fine, my sheets must have been cleaned recently."
Alyssa glared at Nick. "We are switching rooms if we have to stay here again."
"No way, not happening."
"Fine, sell your own horn."
"Do what now?"
"Your horn. The ogres have horns, they sell for decent money. I was going to sell both and give you half like we did with the pelts, but I guess I can just let you sell your own."
"Fine, we'll switch rooms if we have to stay here again." He grumbled, she just chuckled in response.
Nick shook his head, seeing a small clearing in the distance. He squinted his eyes as they approached, seeing two giant forms sitting inside the clearing. "I think I see them." He whispered, crouching slightly and slowing his walk to try and be less noticeable.
"In the clearing? Alright, well, at least that is an easy place to fight them." She followed his lead, crouching and slowing her approach.
When they reached the tree line they were able to get a good look at them. Both ogres were sitting in the clearing and they were talking to each other, though it was in some kind of primitive language. They both had some kind of loin cloth and had giant club-like weapons. "They are smart enough to talk and make weapons and clothing? Crap, I don't know if I can do this."
"What do you mean you don't think you can do this?" Alyssa shot Nick an annoyed look.
"Killing animals is one thing, but these are intelligent beings. They don't seem to be much different than humans were several thousand years ago." His palms were sweating. He could brush killing those wolves off because he had no problem with hunting, but this was more like murder in his mind.
"You have got to be kidding me." She rolled her eyes. "These things are savages, if we don't kill them here then whoever they kill once we leave is on us. I would much rather kill two slightly intelligent beasts than allow them to take someone's family during one of their rampages."
Nick was shaking from nervousness. "I know... It's just..."
"Just shut up and grow some balls. Seriously, it's pathetic. You don't want to kill intelligent beings, but if we don't kill these two intelligent being than they will kill more than two other intelligent beings. Just like those wolves, we killed those twelve to save others. A slight difference in intelligence makes no difference." she sighed before continuing.
"Be it animals, human, or some other kind of beast, if we can save others by killing them then we should do it. If I can kill someone or something to save the mother of some child somewhere I will do it without hesitation. I suggest you do the same, right here and right now."
Nick took a deep breath and shut his eyes. He knew that she was right, if they let these two live then anyone they killed would be on them. They could either end the life of two slightly intelligent creatures that don't care about killing, or let them live and allow them to continue killing and destroying until another person took the quest. Could he really kill to save the life of others? Could he do it if it was two humans sitting in front of them?
"If you want, I could take care of them for you. After all, it is my job as a familiar to help out my master." Nick had forgotten that Azara was even still present.
"No... This is something I have to do myself... If I don't do it then I won't grow as a person."
"Then, you have decided?"
"I..."
"That's what I thought. Look, as a demon, I can tell you that killing anything is never considered a good thing. What matters is canceling out the bad you are doing with the amount of good you are doing. The good you are doing by killing these two will easily cancel out the bad you are doing with the act of actually killing them. It is the same with humans. Killing one to save many will always be more good than evil."
Nick sighed. "Thanks, Azara." Nick took a death breath, Azara transforming from a glove into a sword without Nick even having to tell her to. "Let's do this."
Alyssa grinned, walking confidently past Nick into the clearing. He followed behind her, steadying his breathing in preparation for the inevitable fight. "Hey!" She called out, ice slowly forming around her arms and in her hands. The sudden presence of the two sent the ogres into alert, both sprung up with surprising speed and grabbed their clubs.
"Hmm, you are slower than me, so take the bigger and fatter one on the right."
Nick eyed the one she was talking about, Nick was like a child compared to it. His head came up to about its knee. "Christ... Alright, well, good luck." They both picked up rocks, running to different sides of the field and pelting the ogres to lure their intended targets.
This seemed to piss Nick's target off, it quickly began to charge him, he braced himself. With a large motion the ogre lifted his club and swung it down hard on where Nick was standing. He was able to avoid it by jumping to the side, rushing forward and planting his sword in the side of the ogre's knee like an axe in a tree. It did not have his intended effect. He was hoping he would sever the lower leg, or at least do enough damage that the leg would give out under the ogre's weight.
The ogre howled in pain, dropping the handle of the club and wrapping his hand around Nick's torso. Shit! The ogre lifted him up, tightening its grip. He could feel his ribs slowly being crushed, the pain was intense. He yelled out, luckily Azara seemed to get the hint that he needed help and shot out a torrent of flame at the ogre from the tip of the sword. This time it was the ogres turn to yell, it threw Nick a good thirty or forty feet.
He impacted the ground roughly, the fall knocking the wind out of him. The ogre quickly grabbed his club and rushed at him again, swinging down at him once again when in range. It hurt, but Nick managed to roll out of the way just in time to narrowly avoid an early grave. He was able to stand while the ogre was readying another strike, this time it was a large sweeping attack. This time you are going down!
Nick shot forward, he was running with all of his strength. He was easily able to duck under the ogre's swinging arm once close enough to not be in danger by the actual club. He knew he needed to take out one of the ogre's legs quickly or he would be in trouble. He targeted the same leg he had last time, the right leg. He threw a punch towards the ogre's knee, unleashing a wave of shock magic once it made contact.
The ogre shouted in pain as its leg snapped in half at the knee and it collapsed, Nick quickly moved out of the way of the collapsing giant so he would not be crushed under it. This is my chance! In the moment the ogre hit the ground he was stunned just long enough for Nick to swing his sword down onto its neck. It let out a quiet sound, unable to do much with half of its neck severed. Nick quickly yanked his sword from its neck.
Once the sword left the neck blood began to shoot and pour out like a fountain, all the ogre could do was try to move as it gradually lost its strength. Nick lost the strength in his legs as he collapsed into a sitting position, his breathing and heart rate quickening. His hands were shaking as he dropped his sword, he couldn't believe he had just killed something. He didn't know how to feel, besides anxious. He felt like a murderer.
Nick looked over to the other ogre, it had what looked to be large icicles sticking out of numerous points on its body, including one of its eyes. Alyssa was smiling, splattered blood covered most of her shirt and part of her face, but she did not seem hurt. The ogre could barely stand, it was like it was drunk with the way it ran and swung its club at her. Nick watched as icicles formed in the air near her and then shot at high speed towards the ogre, the ogre yelling in response to the pain.
Her strategy seemed to be weakening it with her ice magic while staying out of range, running close to stab or slash it whenever she had a chance. The ogre had many sword wounds on its leg from her ice sword, he was surprised it was even still able to stand. After another minute of doing this she shot a last projectile into its neck, this stopped it. The ogre fell to its knees before falling face down in the dirt. Nick was surprised at how brutal of a fighter Alyssa was.
Once the ogre was dead all of the ice around Alyssa's arms that acted like armor shattered and fell to the ground, her sword did the same. Nick slowly stood up, focusing his healing magic on his torso where the giant had squeezed him. Once she saw that he was also done with his fight she made her way over to him. "Hey, you hurt?"
"Yeah, several cracked and bruised ribs, nothing that can't be fixed. You?"
"Yeah, I'm completely fine." Alyssa spun, arms held out to her side, to show Nick that she was fine. "See? I told you this would be a lot easier and safer than those wolves."
"Yeah, I was just almost crushed instead of almost being eaten." His tone was obviously sarcastic.
"Oh, don't be such a baby. We are alive, that is what matters." She chuckled, walking over to Nick and roughly slapping him on the back.
"Fuck, can you not?"He winced, she hit a sore spot.
"Ah, right, sorry, cracked ribs." He watched as something began to form in her hands out of ice.
"What are you doing?"
"Need a saw to cut off the horns. If your familiar can turn into a saw then I will leave this guy to you." She began to walk back to her ogre, ice saw in hand.
"Ah, right." Azara turned into a saw and Nick picked it up. "Fun."
After they both cut off the horns they made their way back to the town. By the time they got back to the town Nick was feeling a lot better, he was not close to fully healed yet but he was nowhere near as hurt as he was after the fight. Once they got back to the town they showed the horns to the people to reassure them. The person who set up the quest told them that he would send notice to the guild via bird. They were also given a free lunch as a thanks, which they were both thankful for.
Once they were done with their food they left the building where most of the town ate, when they got outside they saw six wagons entering the town followed by several horses. "Who are they?" Nick asked, though he was not asking any specific person.
"Ah, they are some traders from the capital. We give them some of the food we grow in return for other supplies." An older man said, one of the other people leaving the building.
"Huh... Do you think we could get a ride with them back to the capital?" Alyssa asked, Nick had not thought about that option.
"I imagine so, you would probably just have to pay them."
"How long will they be here?" Nick asked.
"The usually stay for about two or three hours while the trading happens. We are a pretty small town, so they don't have to stay long. If you want a ride you will need to talk to the head of the caravan, his name is Tim."
Nick and Alyssa both thanked the man for the information before they returned to the inn to gather their stuff. They both had a little over one gold left, so they thought they would probably be able to pay for a ride back. Once they packed up, which didn't take long, they grabbed their stuff and made their way to the caravan to find Tim. It did not take long to find Tim, it was a relatively small caravan so when asking for someone by name it was easy to find them. Tim was a strong looking man with dark black hair and blue eyes, his hair was slicked back and he had a goatee.
"Hey, are you Tim?" Alyssa asked.
"Yes." He looked at both of them briefly. "What can I do for you?"
"We are wondering if we could get a ride back to the capital. We can pay you if necessary"
"Sure, five silver each and we will give you a ride back on one of the wagons."
They both nodded, handing Tim their payment. He smiled and briefly laughed. "Alright, you will ride back in the first wagon with me and a couple others. Wait around here and I will tell you before we leave."
Nick looked around, spotting a bench nearby. "Alright, sounds good." He made his way to the bench, putting his pack on the ground before sitting.
"I shouldn't need you for a while, you should get some rest."
"Alright, call me when you need me." Azara, still in glove form, burst into flames and disappeared.