Xyle and Tessa rush through the maze follow the trail she came from back to the door of the forest. It was still shut.
¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤
Ah man... those dicks still didn't get through? I haven't seen them yet. As soon as I think this the door I came through is suddenly blasted open from the outside and sends me and Xyle flying backwards through the room.
"Wow!!?" Xyle screams. "Holy hell!"
"Augh. I had enough of these stupid games!" I recognize that voice. It's the brute that we with the scavenger group that tried to kill me. "We've been at this for almost three hours now! If it's all like this, then I'm blasting my way through this place!"
"Hm?? Hang on, Barley!" The archers. "It the goblin!! He ain't gone that far either!"
"Well how about that." The female thief. "Looks like we ain't gotta worry about our maps anymore." Ooh she is not happy about that.
I need to go through but what do I do about these three. I can tell their stronger than me but not smarter. I can't outwit them again like last time. There's not a lot to deal with here other than Xyle. I guess I can leave the fight to him but... maybe his training with Mr. Brights has been paying off? Where is he??
"Hero! Are you alright!?" I ask hoping for a reply.
"Yeah I'm good. Just hit my head, there." He says appearing from behind me out of the rubble. Oh, thank the gods! "So what do we do?"
"You think you can distract them for a bit while I look through the forest ahead?"
"What? And leave you by yourself!?"
"Hey! Is that the hero!?"
"Oh fuck!"
"Calm down. Look at him. He barely standing after that blast from the wall. He's nothing special yet."
"We are NOT fighting him. We're only here for the goblin."
Wait. what??
"Right. Hello there, sir hero! I'm so surprised you made it this far!"
Huh!? They just said all of that out... oh. Wait. Goblin ears. He probably didn't hear any of what they just said to each other. Which means they can't hear us either.
"Xyle. I seriously need you to get them away from me. These guys aren't here for the trial. They're here for my head."
"What!!? Awe hell nah!"
"Calm down. Can you distract them for me so I can get through?"
"I told you, I'm not letting you go by yourself!"
"We don't have time for this!"
"Oh fine! I can't take them on my own yet! I don't know how to deal with these kinds of situations!"
"... What!?"
"That's why I'm here. I'm trying to get used to fighting in situations like this since they don't train you at the center for this sort of thing. I told the group this and only the girls were against it but I needed the experience before I went off to protect people."
Oh wow. So he was here for that reason!? Then what the fuck were you looking for me for!?
"Sir hero!?" Fuck they're getting curious.
"Tess! What do we do!?"
"... Alright then... talk to them. They seem to want to get on your good side."
"Hell no! You said they wanted to kill you earlier!"
"Well I can't necessarily fight them..."
"Oi! Sir hero!"
"Fucking what!!? Just speak already!! You've been calling me for forever! What!?"
"Ah! Sorry. We didn't think you could hear us and that goblin might have put you under a spell or something."
"What?? Psh! Like she had that kind of power."
"I really don't though."
"What do you want?"
"Well we hope you can cooperate with us on this, but you see this goblin is a little trickster and thief that stole our maps as soon as we got here and we were trying to be nice enough to let him join our party but he attacked us and ran off in here himself."
"I'm a girl and that's only half true."
"Wait. You actually took their maps?"
"They were ready to snatch mine off my corpse once they killed me in there and left me to the wild life. What do you think I was gonna do about that other than retaliate?"
"... Yeah. That's definitely what you'd do. You like getting even with people. Imma have to say fuck you for that then, buddy." Xyle steps out in front of me with his sword pointed at them.
"What?? Y-you listening to a goblin??"
"If there's one thing I know for a fact about goblins here, it's that they're all brutally honest."
"Shit. I thought the high class would keep him locked in the towers not let him roam."
They all draw their weapons and get ready for a fight.
"Tessa. Any good ideas would be appreciated."
"What the hell is going on with you train ing with Brights??"
"He's mostly just beating the shit out of me!! How is that training!"
"So does Maul! And that fucker's got a mouth to add with it!"
"T-the elf!? Really!?"
"You just need to not overestimate yourself. I'll guide you. Think of it like training from the dojo when we were back home."
"... Yeah... remember when you were getting cornered by some perves one day. Let's do it that way."
"... Sound accurate."
¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤
The group sends their first rush of attacks aimed for Tessa. Xyle blocks them and sends a spell back at them from his sword.
"Big guy to your right!" Tessa calls.
Xyle raises his sword up quickly and blocks the tankers rush. Tessa jumps over Xyle and kicks the tanker in the face, knocking him off balance so Xyle could throw him off and shoved him to the ground. Tessa takes the opportunity to knock the tanker unconscious as Xyle charges at the archer and thief. The archer draws his bow and rapid fires at him Tessa rushes forward after Xyle.
"Pick a target." Tessa asks him.
"Archer!" Xyle answers then jumps and swings his sword down to send a shock wave at the archer. The archer jumps out of the way and fire an arrow at Tessa.
"Tess!"
Tessa moves out of the way and it hits the thief in the shoulder making her scream and crumble to the ground in pain. Tessa rushes to Xyles side and swings a punch at the archer, knocking him unconscious.
¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤
Phew... That was unpleasant. "Come on." I tell Xyle. "Lets get through these woods and find some clues."
"Yeah! Wooh! Man that was a rush!" He says excited. "You were all WHAM and POW! and I was like WHOOSH!! HAH! God that was cool!"
... He is such a nerd! Holy hell.
It takes us from what looked like high noon until around sunset to finally find something. It was a statue with a perfect round looking glass. This has to be what Palitoh's statue needs. Xyle suddenly sighs behind me and starts whining.
"Urgh!! That took forever! What is this for?"
"Another room I found."
"There's more!?"
"Quit your bitching."
"Uh!?"
We head back to the entrance of the cave and go to the gods room where the statues stayed standing in their bows.
"... Whoa... this is cool. Is this all of them?"
"Yeah. All seven."
"Seven? I thought there were six?"
"Nope. Seven. Black and white are supposed to work in balance but one was removed and the other went into a near eternal slumber because it that."
"Whoa... is it these two? The broken ones?"
"Yeah."
I put the looking glass in Palitoh's hands and step back. The room echoes with a click. The clicking continues back through the halls and throughout the maze.
"Come on. Let's follow the sounds."
"Uh... C'mon."
"Hey you wanted to be on my side of this endeavor."
"I know."
We follow the sound until it takes us back to Marcus who was holding both a ball and a large crystal disk. He found both items I asked for.
"Sir Marcus!" I call. He rushes to us with them and I could see two others behind him. It was the man in red and one of the damn girls. Urgh... I do not want to deal with walking attitudes. "You found them?"
"Yeah. These two had them saying they thought they could sell them at the guild. So I had to persuade them to bring them."
"... I see. Then will you two please allow us to take these items. I'm sure we can all find something worth more than what you think."
"... Hm." The red seemed unconvinced but curious nonetheless. "Sure. If you do find something worth our time I'll even let you have one percent of the treasures." Yeah. Don't care. I live with nobles. But I like the idea of him owing me.
"I understand. Thank you."
"You do realize we're coming with you right?" The woman says. "Aren't you going to tell us what you're trying to do here? The exit is already open and everyone is still confused since they don't have what their looking for here."
"Of course. However, I don't see how their situation is our problem right now. We're not a party so I have no obligation to say anything."
"Ooh...!" Ooh she's angry.
"Fine. Be grateful, goblin. This Baron of the lower sector, Hester Lycan, grants you the pleasure to accompany us. You will be guiding us through this maze from now on."
A baron?? Great now I really gotta watch my words. Barons are a higher form of noble and are just over my families who are a knight class family of nobles. If I think about this now, it would make sense that no one is as respectful to the hero title since it's a knight title. He is technically higher than the dukes of the lower sector since he comes from the high sector but he doesn't have the qualifications to come close to them in status since he's just an outsider.
Now I can make the connection to everyone's attitude. God, what about the lady and Marcus??
"... I understand, sir." I reply as I usually do. "So you're fine with a goblin in your party then?"
"That's what I said, goblin. Now get moving. We do have all day."
"Right. This way then." I guide everyone to the throne room we found and of course the baron and his lady stop in awe of the room. "Would you two like to do the honors?" I ask them.
"What??" He questions.
"The sphere goes in the head and the looking glass goes in the hands."
"Uh... you do it. I don't want to go near that." The lady said.
"... Alright." I take her item and reach for his when he pulls away from me.
"I can do my own."
"Right then. Shall we?"
We walk to the throne and set the items into place. The statue moves again and sits back in the seat as if sighing. Creepy. It's eye moves now and looks around the room.