Roswald awoke to find himself inside a cave, tightly bound with a rope around his body.
He takes a look around and notices the people who are unconscious beside him.
Someone walks in unexpectedly, and he pretends to be asleep, the man walks nearer and stands in front saying,
"Hm, not bad... You got many sacrifices this time around."
("Sacrifices?")
"Kiek kiek kiek," the little goblins said.
"Y-yes master we gather a lot of them, they were..." the goblin general said.
"Shush, go and do your work properly or you will be punished and shut those goblins up." The man said menacingly, with his eyebrows slightly slanting and his hand touching his chin.
"Kiek kiek?" the little goblins said questioningly tilting their heads.
"Y-yes master!" the general goblin said nervously and heavily whip the little goblins shut.
The group of people began to regain consciousness one by one after the man exits the cave, they all became confused and terrified by their surroundings.
The little goblins were working, continuously mining all the stones inside the cave's other passage.
All the people who woke up keep making noises the general walked in and drag them one by one into the cage and hang them up.
While the general goblins were distracted, Roswald saw an opportunity to undo the rope that encircles his body and sneakily hides at the back of the large rock.
After a while, six little goblins walk out of the other passage carrying big monster meat near the dark rusty prison right at the cave's entrance.
They put the meat down and open the prison, then they back away, suddenly a black muddy arm stretches out and pulls one of the little goblins inside the prison and throws out its bones.
The people inside the hanging cage were all terrified by the sight and were left speechless.
The little goblins were trembling as they stayed still from where they stood, one of them kneel and push the monster meat nearer the prison with its hand trembling.
The black muddy hand stretches out once again from the prison and wraps the monster meat along with the little goblin, pulling it inside and the remaining three goblins hurriedly close the prison and run back to the passageway.
Roswald follows the three little goblins inside the passageway stealthily and when he reaches the end of the tunnel he hides in the dark passageway.
And when the goblins were all distracted he unscathed his small knife that was hidden and silently killed the little goblins one by one before they all made a sound.
The general goblin comes back from the chambers and saw all the worker's dead bodies, he roared in terror and smelled the smell of the perpetrator.
Roswald hangs himself on the ceiling and jumps on the general goblin's back with his knife but the general goblin notices his presence and evaded the attack.
They fight exchanging blows towards each other and once they attack with a big blow they back away from each other and pause glaring at each other faces.
"Who are you?!" The general goblin asked in rage.
"I am a hunter who comes to exterminate you all," he said, cold and menacing.
"You b***tard! son of a b**ch!" the general goblin cursed and charge ahead in rage.
The battle was heated up and as time goes on Roswald's strength becomes weaker as he defended all the attacks.
He backs away three meters from the general goblin and steadies and focuses his all on his blade and strikes leaving the general goblin stunned as his head flies up and falls to the ground.
He rests for a while and after a minute he releases the people that were hanging and subdues the black muddy monster inside the prison cell.
And when they were about to exit the cave, suddenly the cave entrance opens and outside the man stand in surprise.
As soon as the people saw the entrance opening, they all fled hurriedly in terror, but as they stepped outside, their heads flew one by one unknowingly.
Some survive because they back away in time.
The man groans in rage, loses his mind, and yells, "What, happened while I was gone? How dare a mere rat run out?! You fools! How dare you let them out!"
The men screams made all the goblins gather in one place coming from all the cave's passageway and surrounding them.
"Waaaah! I don't want to die yet!" woman A yelled as she cries.
"Help, help, somebody!" woman B screamed in terror.
"Ahhhh, we're all gonna die!" man A lost hope.
"D-don't abandoned us." man C begs as he clings to his feet.
Roswald was uncomfortable and does not want to waste his time protecting them, but they refuse to let him go and continue to cling to his back.
The man stared at him and inquired, "Hm? Who're you?"
Roswald remained deafeningly silent.
("How troublesome, these people are baggage... *sigh* were surrounded.") he ponders, looking for an exit.
"Hey, I'm asking you!" The man yelled as one of his eyes widens as he moves closer.
"I don't have to tell you that." He says coldly as he draws his knife and aims it at the man's throat.
The man is dissatisfied with his actions and backs away, ordering the goblins to charge at them.
Roswald slayed the goblins charging at him, and the people behind him yelled one after the other asking for his assistance, but he didn't bother looking back.
Woman A tugged at his clothes and begged him in tears. He shook her hand and said coldly,
"Help yourself and fight."
"Wait, wait, please help!" woman A yelled desperately.
"Hey, aren't we all the same species? Shouldn't we help each other, hey, man?" man B said losing his mind.
"Defend for yourselves... I'm preoccupied." Roswald said and throws down a knife at the people behind him.
The little goblins surrounded everyone in the back. They all stick together and cry out for assistance, they were elated by their fear and began to play with them.
The man flees amidst the chaos and enters the cave's muddy path after entering the first path, gathering all of his experimental tools and books and drawing something on the ground in a hurry.
Roswald notices the man's intent and runs after him, but the two remaining general goblins block his path.
He stands still and the general goblins prepare to attack him but before their blows reach him their heads went flying from both sides as blood platters from the body.
He then hurriedly went after the man but as he arrives the man disappeared before his eyes, using the magic circle the man transported himself.
He walks back out of the cave, the people grovel to the ground in tears, and one of them takes the knife while trembling and it points to the little goblins.
The little goblins snicker at her actions, she feels humiliated and angry, enough that she charges at the goblins yelling.
The little goblins continue to laugh and play with her despite her weak attacks. They toss her around like a toy.
Her friend saw her being mocked and charged at them, despite having no weapon.
She smacked one of the little goblins in the head, causing it to become enraged and toss her against the wall. She screamed in pain.
Roswald was irritated watching from the sidelines, he step in and kills all the remaining goblins, and walks away.
All of them were stunned and were left speechless, staring at his disappearing figure. After a minute, Geld's people come and help them back to the village.
The night was quiet, with insects peacefully singing into the air surrounding the city. Roswald walks back to the inn down the road.
As he continued walking, he felt a strange wind pass through his body, and when he turned around, he saw a shadow running by the road's corner, leading to the exit.
He pursued the shadow, but it vanished in an instant. He gave up on chasing it and proceeded to the inn.
"Oh, Roswald, your home," The innkeeper said serving customers.
"Hm," he nodded.
"The child is upstairs sleeping."
"I see," he replied.
"How was your job?" the innkeeper inquired putting the plate on the counter table.
"It's finished for now."
"I see, you're going back to the guild early tomorrow?"
"Yes, looks that way."
("Is he tired? He seems to be out of sort.") the innkeeper thought and says, "I see... are you alright though? you seem like you are tired, you should head up and rest."
"I'm alright... Then, I'll head up." He said, nodding slightly.
"Alright,"
Roswald headed upstairs, when he opened the door, he saw Della sitting by the open window, still awake.
She turn around and greeted him, "Welcome home mister." hesitantly.
"Why are you still awake? Did you have a nightmare, perhaps?" he asked calmly.
"No, I can't sleep, so I was looking at the stars but there are not many stars here. It's kind of sad," she said with a sad face.
"I see,"
"Yes,"
"You should sleep now-" he said, putting down his things.
"Mister, why did you save me?" she asked in the spur of the moment.
"I don't know," he responds.
"I-I see,"
They stared silently for a while,
She saw blood on his upper shoulder, "Mister, are you hurt?" she asked.
"...It's not serious,"
"You should get it treated," she said in worry.
"I already treated it."
"I-I see, but there is blood..."
"Aren't you going to sleep?" he intercepted.
("Should I have not said anything?") she thought and said, "Uh, I will now... good night mister." She tucked herself into the bed's blanket and closed her eyes.
Roswald sits on the ground leaning his back against the wall, closing his eyes slowly, and eventually falls asleep.
To be continued.....