"Now I'm filthy again," Davin said with irritation, noticing the filthy green-grey blood of goblin on his body.
"We need to move right away, there must be more goblins nearby," Wrik said, cleaning the blood from his sword. His clothing was not clean either, seething with the greenish blood. He picked up three pikes from the remains and said. "Let's take some pikes, it will be useful later."
"Thank you for the help earlier," said the frontman with the sword. He was about 3 or 4 years older than Wrik. His face was still rigid after the battle. There was no sign of serious injury on his body, apart from the exhaustion. The other woman and kid stood behind him. The woman looked exhausted too, while the kid stopped crying, though the tears and snot remained in his nose and eyes.
"Let's leave here first." He acknowledged with a nod as they left the place. "We can talk about it later."
The others complied with no hesitation. It's already hard enough in this hot environment, much less challenging another pack of goblins. The group of six fled away from there at a steady speed, as they didn't pick up too much load.
Soon, they arrived in a safer region quite far from the goblin settlement. The new trio of their group rested in the shade of a gigantic tree, while Wrik and his two companions stood across from them.
"I only have about two litres left," Dalvin sighed, drinking a couple of mouthfuls of water.
"Same here." Wrik checked his bottles as well. "If this goes on, we truly may have to drink our urine by tomorrow."
"Damn!" Dalvin's expression darkened, hearing his last phrase. "I won't drink my own piss, in any condition even if I have to starve out a week."
"I don't see you have many choices, my friend." Wrik sighed. It isn't like he would like to drink his piss, either. But if the situation was desperate enough, he might have to smudge his mouth with it.
"Are you guy--" the tall man of the trio—they saved asked with a bit of hesitation. ". . . worried about water?"
Wrik glanced at him. His face was pale, with weary eyes. His body was limped against the main stem of the tree. Even with this, he looked like a stern man. The girl beside him nursing his wounds with worried eyes. But the one who looked most anxious was the boy. Wrik still couldn't figure out why they brought a kid who didn't even step into his adolescence properly into this mess. And it looked like the boy might be related to the girl, as they have quite a few resemblances in their circular exterior and curly dark hair. Maybe siblings.
Wrik nodded at the man's inquiry.
"Then we might be able to help you."
"If you're talking about sharing your water for the help we did, then rest it." Davin joined the conversation. "Besides, you guys don't have much water yourselves."
"N-no, though I wouldn't mind sharing our shares of water with our benefactors, but it wouldn't solve the problem." The wounded man continued. "I was talking about a river. We found a small waterfall a couple of days ago."
"Really?" Davin's expression brightened. So were Wrik's and the emerald-eyed girls', hearing about the waterfall.
"Yes." the man nodded as a weary expression appeared on his exterior. "But it's quite close to the goblin settlements."
"That's not a problem at all." Davin lunged out, interrupting the man's speech.
"Yes, I wouldn't mind killing a few more goblins if I could bathe in clean water." The emerald-eyed girl opened her mouth for the first time.
'Isn't it a bit cruel,' Wrik mused. Killing goblins just for bathing. Well, it's not cruel, as their task in the Trial is to cleanse the land from goblins.
"Then why are we waiting?" Davin said with enthusiasm. "Let's go."
The others nodded as they prepared to leave the place. But the kid looked uneasy about the entire process. He clasped the hands of the girl and resisted to stand up.
"What's the matter, Lan?" the girl asked with an exhausted tone.
"No . . . no . . . I won't go there . . ." the boy cried out, hugging the curly-haired girl.
"Calm down, Lan. You're not alone . . . We're with you. Come down." The curly-haired girl soothed the boy named Lan, rubbing his dark hair with her palm. "Look, Evan is with you as well."
"But . . . but . . . the goblins."
Wrik didn't know what happened to the kid before they saved him, but it looked like it left a mental trauma in his mind.
"Lan, don't worry about anything. I'm here, I'll protect you." The wounded man said, and then did the boy stop shaking. His eyes were watered, but he nodded, looking at the man.
After calming down the boy, the group of six left for the waterfall.
. . .
Byul expression darkened, hearing what the gentleman looking hooligan said.
"Wait a minute, if I'm not wrong, you with your gang threatening us to join your crew, isn't that right?" Michelle asked mockingly, looking at the handsome man in front—beside him were a dozen minions equipped with different types of equipment. "And if we decline, you would rob us of our belongings?"
The frontman's expression remained the same, even after hearing the mocking. He said in a flat tone. "More or less; yes."
Byul sighed. It would have been a good day as they were not hurt in their tussle with the Infectors, and they even found a river. But it seemed their good luck was over as they came across this group of civic-robbers near the river.
Byul had seen this leader of the gangs before—on the very first day of the Trial. It's him that calmed down the anxious crowd. She knew he wasn't anything good at the first meeting. And now she got evidence of it as well.
"No thank you, I'm good here." Michelle mocked with manners, bowing her head. "And I don't think anyone in our group would want to list their names with you hoodlums either."
Byul nodded. Although it's hard, it's better than joining with these crooks. She didn't have much problem with this type of robbery, being a thief herself, but she had a problem at being their cannon fodder. Jacob looked irritated too, he didn't know what to say in this situation but he was battle-ready, gripping his twin Katana.
On the other hand, Kevin was difficult to guess. It appeared he was a bit apprehensive with his dead-look on.
"You're making it difficult for both of us." the gentleman-looking robber's lips twitched after hearing the term 'hoodlums'.
"Aasan, I already told you these are the honourable bunch . . . greenhorns that don't know how the world works." A middle-aged man beside the gentleman said in irritation. He was the same mercenary from the first day. "I told you to leave this civic attitude of yours. We are in the jungle, and we should live by the rule of the jungle as well."
Aasan, the gentle-looking leader, sighed. "I don't have much time; you got two choices. Quickly choose one: join us or leave your belongings."
"I wouldn't say I've only two choices," Michelle raged out this time. She gripped the wand tighter and bellowed out. "I always have a third choice."
Then Kevin opened his lips for the first time in the conversation. "Wait."
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END OF CHAPTER: The Rescue.
NEXT CHAPTER: THE GOBLIN HUNTER.