Slowing you down?
His lips twitched. He had accepted the quest to get some combat experience but it seemed like it wasn't going to go as he had planned it before. Still he was hesitant to just let this arrogant guy order him around, so he asked,
"What rank are you?"
"Me?" The man had a grin on his face, "This older brother of yours is an A-rank adventurer."
A-rank adventurer? If he was really an A-rank adventurer then why did he sign up for such an easy quest like goblin hunting? Not to mention, it would only pay him a low grade skill.
Oslo was there for some experience, but why was an A-rank there? Was he also for some experience? Then, didn't that mean he was also a newbie to this kind of job? But he couldn't complain as this dude in front of him was stronger but he didn't like the guy as well.
This guy was very annoying. But his talent was fearful because if he was an newbie then what kind of monster was he to become an A-rank on first try.
But this world was too vast and now Oslo didn't swim on the shallow pond anymore either. So, he didn't became that much surprised when he heard it.
"Ok, you'll carry my bags!" Alphonse ordered arrogantly.
This bastard!
The old man then told him about the problem related to the village. It was in the previous month when they discovered that their food supply were being plundered from granary. Day after day, the food supply grew less and less till the villagers had no choice but to leave someone to guard the granary.
It was then, one villager saw the face of the hideous creature which was plundering their food everyday. But this time the villager was guarding it so the goblin ran the moment it saw human guarding the place.
Because of that incident, no goblin came to plunder their food supply for some days as the week passed like breeze. But it was on the eighth day, villagers heard those noises. Those were the laughs of the group of creatures that were running amok inside the village.
Instead of one like before, now they had to face many green demons. But like before when they saw the person guarding the place, they didn't ran but grew fiercer. The pitiful shriek of the man guarding the granary echoed throughout the village that night but no one had confidence so as to go and save the pitiful man.
After the shriek ended, the atmosphere was filled with laughter of those green demons. Even when villagers tried covering their ears, they could still hear the scream...even when they tried forgetting it, they couldn't. Coming night was followed by even more horror as the goblins grew more bold so as to kidnap younglings of the village and with each passing night, one house would be destroyed.
As for the children and adults who got taken away by the creature, nobody knew what became of them since they hadn't heard from them ever again. They could only come to a conclusion that they were most likely been killed by those horrible creatures and as for the rest of the villagers inside the village, they were all in panic.
One family after another would disappear every night and it seemed as if they were just waiting for their turn to come. They still hadn't evacuated the village, not because they were scared of the wilderness but because they still had hope and they were desperately clinging on it.
One of the villager was a C-rank adventurer so they had placed their last hope on the adventurer's strength as his ability to save the village from those hideous creatures and the suffering they invited with them.
But all of their hope was lost when their last sting suffered a tragic defeat and dying pathetically in the hands of those creatures. The goblin had even spiked the head of that adventurer in the entrance of the village as if mocking their strength which was later taken off by the old man and buried. The creatures laughed at the villagers fear as if they were amused.
But from then, it turned for the worse. Not only in night but also in day, those creatures attacked the village resulting two families to disappear in a single day. The villagers couldn't take it anymore so they just deserted the village.
What seemed like a lively village just yesterday was deserted like haunted land in just one day.
Village; a place to rest their head was important, but their life was even more. The villagers were scared of death and dying by the hands of those evil creatures made it even worse. And with their last string of hope also gone, they bid farewell to the village that supported their life for many years.
They didn't even took their belongings so as to not move slowly.
Alphonse didn't pay any attention to the old man's story as if it didn't concern him in the least. But Oslo on the contrary was hearing the old man keenly. But after the old man finished, Oslo asked,
"If everybody left and deserted the village then why have you not done the same thing? If you too had gone with them, maybe you have been living safely under the sky. What made you unable to leave the village?"
"That's a good question. What made me stay here instead of deserting it and having a safe life? I guess it's..." The old man spoke slowly, "...Love. Yes, it is definitely my love for the village. It is because of my love for my people and my land."
He wasn't there without any particular reason.
"Even if I, the village chief, who swore to protect the village and lead the village to prosperity also deserted the land that gave me everything then what kind of son would I be?"
"Yes, I would have had a safe and healthy life but my heart...my heart would have been filled with regrets that I couldn't even repay the debt I owed to this land. I didn't want this land to be stained by those horrible creatures anymore and I don't want anymore blood spilling in this land any further. So," The elder bowed his head, "Please save this village. Please kill those creatures who tainted this land with every step they walked."
He didn't even know why, but a smile was formed on his face. Was this something an adventurer felt when they helped others in need while on their quest? He couldn't describe the feeling but he was happy and could tell that. He could also feel that it was a quest that needed his strength. Maybe this is the quest what many adventurers usually talked about. A quest for happiness.
"Don't worry! We'll help you for sure." Oslo said and looked at Alphonse who was pretending to be half asleep.
His one eye opened as his body became straight and his legs lifted up his armored torso and his hand grabbed the sword behind him.
"We'll finish it as soon as possible."
Saying that, Alphonse pointed at his greyish white backpack and said, "You, carry that backpack and follow me."
Oslo's mouth twitched as the smile that formed on his face before started to flicker.
This guy...
But without waiting for his answer, Alphonse started walking towards the entrance of the village and went inside the forest. Seeing this guy full of confidence, Oslo sighed and comforted himself.
'Maybe he has some kind of plan. '
Although he thought that, he wasn't very sure about it. He then gave a last glance to old elder and followed Alphonse inside the forest with a backpack with him, gritting his teeth.
'Is he trying to attack every goblin and kill them in a single swoop?'
Although he wasn't happy, he wanted to see how much powerful an A-ranker really was and how much of a difference there was separating them. But now, he wasn't so sure.
What was this dude doing? He took out a pouch of gold from his pocket and scattered it around the place. It wasn't in some plane where every living being would have its eyes on but he randomly threw it on ground and bushes.
Oslo didn't knew why he was doing this but...he was a hell of a rich and seeing him casually throw such money around made his heart ache.
Alphonse clapped his hands in satisfaction and said, "Alright, I've laid the trap. Now, we just have to wait till we ambush them."
"Ambush them? What the heck are you even saying after throwing those coins around?" Oslo said.
"What?" Alphonse rebuked. "You don't know? The goblins are attracted towards shiny things. It is a plan of mine to ambush them when they come here to pick the coin."
What was he? A child?
"That's only in videogames. That sort of thing doesn't happen in real life."
"It happens!" Alphonse said, "Videogames are also made using some information related to reality. Besides, life is also like a game where you are a character."
"Just follow my command and you'll see how I kill them all." Alphonse claimed arrogantly.
Tsk. Like Alphonse suggested, he had no choice but to keep watch on the gold coins since he had followed this idiotic dude. They sat in the branch of a tree watching it from above waiting for the goblins.
One hour. Two hour. Half a day.
Similar a whole day passed buy they didn't see any signs of goblins. The bushes were like before and the forest was there, laid void of any noises and what's more, their backs and butts were sore as hell sitting in the same position for a day.
Although he already knew this was going to happen, seeing the sign made him feel uncomfortable. Oslo said in a low voice,
"Maybe we should wait for them in the village."
"Fool!" Alphonse said,"Don't think you can order me around. With that strength of yours, you won't be of any help to me and compared to me, what are you? An ant?"
"You just sit here and keep watch on the golds." He said jumping from the branch and headed to the village, "I'll go check the village. If the goblins come here, let me know."
Only to watch gold was boring. Very boring. And he had to sit still as well, so he was sore to the bone. Watching the gold, he suddenly had an idea.
"Why don't I practice my skill which doesn't require any mana?"
[Skill: Erase (Activated)]
With the skill on effect, his heartbeat didn't make sound anymore and his breathe wasn't heard. He sat motionless for whole three hours in the branch like an assassin waiting for its target to arrive but no changes happened. Slowly his eyes fell upon his own body and when it happened, he noticed some changes.
He could see a thick golden layer of light which had the shape of his body surrounding him. He was flabbergasted. If he tried moving his hands, the outer golden layer would move with it. But when he tried touching the layer with his another hand though, he only touched air. He also used sticks, clothes to touch the golden light but the results were same as before.
With every passing moment he became curious about this change of his.
Interesting!
He then tried something else. Like mana, he tried absorbing the golden layer of light by his body and surprisingly the golden light vanished inside his body and he was left with questions. If it was like mana, then his body would have been energized but when he absorbed the golden layer he wasn't, so he was confused about what it did when he heard a familiar ring.
[Skill: Erase has entered phase 2]
[Skill: Erase(Permanent)
Status: Cannot be transferred
Phase: 2/5 (Aura Concealment)
Effect: It will erase ones presence unless seen ]
That was great. He was happy that his skill had entered another phase just now and what's more it didn't require any mana and he could just hide his presence. Unless seen, it was very good for surprise attack. Since it cost no mana, he decided to keep on using and practicing it for now.
But just as he started focusing on the gold again, he heard a loud scream. It was of a man and also it came from the direction of the village.
"Did something happen?"
Without further delay, he ran towards the village. It only took his fifteen second to reach the entrance in full speed. But what he saw shocked him.
Why doesn't he do something? Why is he lying there scared out of his wits?
But now was not the time for that...
He immediately formed a fireball in his hands in a hurry and threw it towards the goblins! Although the fireball was oddly shaped because of haste approach, it was still fast.
In the entrance, there was a creature with green flesh. It had a dagger on its left hand and with its right hand it was holding village elder, who emotionlessly looked at his death. With the dagger in Old man's throat, the goblin licked his white and black teeth.
Alphonse was there but, like a cowards he was lying on the ground as crawling back and back facing the goblin slowly. His face was robbed of its color and his mind was filled with horror as sweat dripped down his forehead making him gasp. He didn't do anything to save the elder but instead he was about to cry. What he did was only shout at the goblin which was finding it very amusing.
"Don't do it!"
The goblin was enjoying its time and amusing itself but seeing an oddly shaped fireball coming at it, it didn't waste time anymore and the oddly satisfied smile on its face disappear.
The fireball was fast, yes, but...
Slash-
The dagger slashed through the old man's neck as the red blood dyed the ground. Like a thirsty crow, the ground drank his blood and the goblin used Old man's corpse to block the incoming fireball.
Boom!
As fireball and the corpse collided, it made a small sound of explosion and the fireball charred the corpse in black.
The goblin then turned its tail and ran inside the forest knowing its limit but Oslo followed it as he gritted his teeth furiously.
He regretted his decision to follow Alphonse inside the forest. From now on, I'll never follow other! He had set his mind on it. I'll never trust others strength no matter how big of a ranker they are.
He couldn't change it now as all of it was done but he knew that he had made a mistake.