Stella
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"Look! I found an awesome quest! 'Eliminate a group of goblins in the hills of Havenpeace. The reward is twelve thousand astels!'"
Lily gave me a desperate look.
"Stella this is a quest with G rank difficulty, and we are only H rank, how do you expect us to complete this quest?"
"Well... I was thinking that since we've already defeated goblins, we could do it again. Especially since the reward is interesting and the place is only one and half a league away. Besides, didn't you want to get stronger?"
Lily tilted her head, lost in her thoughts.
"Well, you're right. Besides, goblins are some of the weakest monsters among the G-rank ones. I think the mission will be relatively easy to execute."
"Let's validate the quest and get on the road to those damn hills! Yeah!"
I couldn't help but exult with joy. I was finally going to be able to go on a quest with a friend!
The place we were heading for was called the Havenpeace Hills. They were named after a mysterious wizard who single-handedly protected the elven villages from a goblin invasion.
Since then, this land, located less than two leagues from Avrel, has remained a prime habitat for this pest species.
Adventurers were often hired to clean up the place, mainly to avoid any new attacks or invasions.
After a little more than three hours of walking, we arrived at our destination. It was already time for lunch, so before we got to work, we decided to eat.
"So, Lily, what did you prepare for lunch?"
*Sigh* "My name is Lilliana."
She took out a small box, and when she removed the lid, indescribable smells came to tickle my nostrils.
"Woah! That looks delicious! What is it?"
"A mixed salad, made with fruits and vegetables. In my home country, this is served with semolina, but since that doesn't exist here, I served it with potatoes."
"Amazing, it seems to taste good!"
"Do you want a taste?"
"May I?"
"Of course!"
"In that case, I'll allow myself."
I took one of the cutlery items I was storing in my bag and took some of the salad.
When the food entered my mouth, there was an explosion of flavor: the sweet taste of the fruit, accompanied by that of the vegetables, provided a perfect contrast to the salty taste of the potatoes themselves wrapped in bacon.
"It indeed tastes divinely good."
"Come on, come on, it's just a meal!" she said, an awkward smile drawn on her lips. "And about you, what will you eat?"
"Me? Well... Here's a specialty from my house! The deer sausage sandwich!"
Oh, no, please, Lily. Not that doubtful look. Don't judge the deer sausage sandwich.
"Do you want a taste?"
"Uh, how to say that..."
"Come on, don't be shy, eat!"
I pushed a piece of my sandwich into her mouth.
"Aah!"
Surprised, she tore off a piece and tasted it.
*Aah*
"You!"
She slightly hit my head.
"You could have at least warned that it was this spicy."
"Oh, this? It's a chili sauce I make myself!"
"You mean poison, yes? Every second I live is a second of pain right now!"
She held her throat and took deep breaths as if to clear her throat, a sign that it was too much for her.
"Do you want some water?"
"No. Who knows what else you added to your water!"
She pulled a bottle from her bag and drank as fast as she could.
"Oh no! The spicy taste doesn't disappear!"
"Do you want some bread? It helps in these situations."
"No thanks, I'm sure my salad will be more than enough to get the spicy taste over!"
"Very well, as you wish, anyway, bon appetit!"
We quickly ate our meal, before resuming our mission.
At the moment we were hidden behind a bush, and from there it was easy for us to observe almost the entire hilly territory.
It only took us a few minutes to spot the first goblins swarming here and there.
We quietly approached two of them, who were isolated.
"You attack the first one with your magic, I'll simultaneously attack the second."
I nodded my head. Quickly, I began to cast my spell.
Magic worked according to a collection of runes. These runes were divided into two types: those acting on the world itself, and those acting on other runes.
My fireball spell was composed of three runes: the first one, En, was what could be called the mother rune of any fire spell. It invoked a common flame.
The second rune was Ess, which represented the explosive character of the fireball. Without it, the fireball would have no consistency at the moment of impact and there would be no physical shock.
The last rune, Fe, characterized the vectorial movement of the fireball.
The final runic formula was, therefore 'En, Essfe En'. The second En is not a rune as such, it was necessary to specify on which main runes the support runes were used.
It only took me a few seconds to get my mana flowing and summon a fireball.
Meanwhile, Lily quietly drew her sword.
After taking a deep breath, I launched the assault.
"En, Essfe En!"
A small fireball was projected at high speed onto one of the two humanoid creatures.
Taken by surprise, he could not dodge it in time. He was quickly engulfed in flames, agonizing, struggling while emitting high-pitched moans, hardly bearable.
Despite this, Lily charged the second goblin and sliced off one of his arms.
Panicking, the goblin tried to strike a blow at his opponent, but to no avail. Lily easily dodged the strikes of this goblin who had lost one of his limbs.
But she didn't make him suffer anymore either. She took her sword with both hands, and struck a vertical blow, cutting deep into the goblin's torso.
The latter collapsed, dead.
In just a few seconds we had taken out two goblins.
"Now that's a job well done!"
"Indeed. But no rush, the quest is not over. We still have eight to kill."
*Sighs*
"You're always so serious, Lily."
"My name is Lilliana..."