Chapter 53. Captives (2)
"I'm going to die!!"
Alex muttered as he stared at the dreary ground. His death was something which was inevitable and there's no stopping it.
He was sure of it.
The fear of death has already entrapped his heart and there was no hope of light in sight. There was only darkness.
He don't know when but he would inevitably die. Maybe his death will come today, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.
But he was sure of one thing- He would die for sure!!
'How did I even got here?'
Now, that it had came to this, Alex started recalling the events which had led him here.
Alex was originally a new enlisted member in the vigilant guards of the Ale village. As the attacks of the Goblins were increasing, the vigilant guards of the village were recruiting new members.
As he was already of age, Alex can also enlist in the vigilant guards. He was looking for a job.
So, it was the perfect opportunity for him.
The wage of a vigilant guard was good and all the villagers will respect the guards who would protect them from the monsters.
Although, there was the danger of fighting the monsters, Alex didn't thought much about it.
Most of the monsters near Ale village consists of Goblins and Alex wasn't someone who would be scared by the weakest monsters.
He was confident in himself or one could say that he was overconfident.
That overconfidence soon proved to be fatal for him. It all began when the vigilant guards were making an expedition group to save the young girls who were captured by the Goblins.
They were trying to hurry as all the people were worried about the safety of the young girls.
Alex had thought about it for a bit and decided to join the expedition group.
Several older members advised him to not join the group because he was still a greenhorn, but Alex's attitude was unyielding.
'At that time, I had thought that it was the perfect opportunity to win Roxanne's heart.'
The reason behind him insisting to join the army was because of a young girl Roxanne. She was also one of the girls who was captured by the Goblins.
At the same time, she was Alex's childhood sweetheart and the one Alex wanted to marry.
He thought that by protecting her, he would be able to win her heart. It was one of those stupid things people will do in their youth.
Alex was the same! He was blinded with love and he was also worried about Roxanne. That's why, he insisted on joining the expedition.
Seeing his confidence, the other members let him join the expedition group.
This was Alex's one and only fault and it had proved fatal to him in the future.
The expedition group soon left for the small forest which was located south to the Ale village. The Goblin nest was located there.
In the way, they came across many Goblins but they were able to defeat then fairly easy. They were just mere Goblins.
It was easy to kill them!
Like that, they had killed many Goblins and found the cave. It was not hard to do it and their journey till now was easy.
But everything changed in the cave.
Streams of Goblins kept coming and coming. The expedition group killed them everytime but they were getting exhausted.
Their supplies had been depleting and there was no one among them who knew how to cook.
This situation had came to be, because of the hastiness of the expedition group. They had thought that it would be easy to kill the Goblins and save the young girls.
But the reality was that they hadn't even found the captured young girls yet.
Many people wanted to turn back but the leader of the expedition group, Jacob was not willing to go back.
Going back was akin to getting scared by the Goblins and running away, at least Jacob thought like that.
That's why, they moved ahead in the underground cave but the attacks of the Goblins were beginning to overwhelm them.
Several members of the expedition group had died to Goblins or the traps placed in the underground cave.
Alex had also started to get worried. He just wished that he could return to the Ale village. The fear of the death has started crawling up his heart.
'We were not able to survive for long after that.'
Soon, the worst thing has happened to them. They had fallen into a trap and the Goblins had captured them.
Alex still remembers the sight of the expedition group leader, Jacob's dead body. One of the Goblins has beheaded him.
'It was a cruel sight.'
Alex can't help but shiver remembering that sight. Goblins had killed many members of the expediting group, but they had let some of them alive.
He was one of those lucky survivors.
After getting captured by the Goblins, Alex and the remaining survivors were led to this prison, where they had also found the young girls.
The majority of the young girls were safe, albeit their bodies have became skinny and their eyes were hollow.
The most fortunate thing was that the Goblins hadn't touched their chasity yet.
Alex also found his childhood sweetheart, Roxanne sitting in an corner of the prison. Her cheerfulness was nowhere to seen and her eyes were like they had lost hope.
Alex wanted to give her hope, but he himself don't have any hope left. There was little to no chance of them surviving.
Maybe, the vigilant guards would make another group and come to save them, but Alex was sure that they would also be captured.
The lord reigning over this region can send some knights to kill the Goblins and save them, but the lord of this region wasn't known to be nice.
Even if he send some knights, Alex don't know if they world survive till then or not.
'There's no hope now.'
Alex thought but suddenly, he heard some footsteps coming towards the prison. He instantly became scared thinking that Goblins were coming.
Goblins wouldn't come there in this time of the day. It was strange.
'Maybe, they had finally decided to kill us.'
Alex thought as tears started to form into his eyes. He was scared. He didn't wanted to die but he didn't see any hope of surviving.
Not only him, the rest of the prisoners has also heard the footsteps. They were also scared but as the footsteps came close, they suddenly heard a voice.
"The captured young girls and the expedition group members are here."
It was the voice of a human.
All the prisoners became started when they heard that voice. Alex was the same.
'Did the lord of the region really sent some knights to save them?'
That question arose within Alex's mine and the hope that he had lost suddenly started arising in his heart. Maybe, he would not die.
"Are you okay?"
At that moment, he heard a voice directed towards him.
As the prison was dark, he was not able to see the person asking that question but it was a young voice.
"Ple-please save us!!"
Alex shouted and the person with the young voice nodded his head. Then, suddenly, Alex heard a swishing sound.
The person with the young voice was swinging around a spear. Suddenly, the spear glowed with a red light.
"Vital thrust!!"
The spear directly struck at the lock of the prison and the lock was broken.
Bang!
The lock broke into several pieces as it smashed the floor with a bang sound. The door of the prison creaked and opened.
'I won't die now.'
A ray of light entered Alex's eyes as he looked at the person in front of him. It was a young man with a handsome face.
He had a calm expression on his face as he looked at Alex. Then, he opened his mouth.
"Are you okay?"
* * *
'They are more miserable than I thought.'
Ian thought as he stared at the young girls and the vigilant guard members.
The young girls were just wearing a ragged tunic with some holes in them. The vigilant guard members were more miserable.
Their leather armour had been shattered and most of them have injuries all over their body.
It was the proof of their struggle against the Goblins!!
"Thank you for saving us, Mr. Saviour."
A young vigilant guard member soon came to Ian and thanked him. He was the first person Ian has released from the prison.
"Can you stop calling me by that name?"
Ian said as he made an awkward smile.
Besides him, Alice could not help but giggle. The elf magician has already noticed that Ian didn't like getting called by that name.
"No, Captain Tacan said that you saved our village from Goblins and you even saved us. You are a saviour for us."
"...Just call me Ian."
Ian forced out those words.
Earlier, the vigilant guard members and the young girls were slightly scared by their unknown saviours, but when they had seen Tacan, they had calmed down.
Then, Tacan had told them about what had happened and how Ian was here to kill the Goblin king and save them.
It was just that in his story, Tacan had portrayed Ian as some kind of hero of justice.
Ian tried to stop Tacan, but all the prisoners had already started to treat him as a saviour. Ian was seriously troubled by that.
Growl!
At that moment, Ian suddenly heard a growl. It was not the growl of a monsters, but the rumblings of a stomach.
The person whose stomach was rumbling quickly lowered his head in embarrassment.
'These people has obviously not eaten anything.'
Ian thought as he looked at the thin bodies of the prisoners. He was sure that the prisoners will collapse anytime.
Suddenly, an idea appeared in his head.
"Maybe this way, I can defeat the Goblins…"
"What happened? Is there any problem?"
Ian's muttering was heard by Tacan as he asked. Ian shook his head and answered.
"No, I was just worried because the villagers all look to be hungry."
"Yeah, it looks like they haven't eaten anything for weeks. It looks like they can collapse anytime."
Tacan looked at the skinny bodies and said. He was feeling immense anger towards the Goblins at that moment.
He don't even if the villagers will be able to earn survive until they safely reached the Ale village.
Their bodies were on the verge of giving up.
"It would be bad if they collapsed here. We have to feed them something."
"What can we feed them?"
Tacan raised his eyebrow as he said that. They haven't bought much food with them. So, it was hard to feed all of them.
Hearing that, a smile formed on Ian's lips as he said.
"I will cook."
"You will cook??"
"Ian, you know how to cook?"
Tacan and Alice asked in confusion. Both of them have always thought of Ian as a warrior. It was particularly true for Alice.
'How can a warrior cook?'
That was the thought inside Alice's head, but Ian had already started bringing out ingredients from his inventory.
"It would be my best dish!!"