Annie couldn't believe her eyes at this very moment. All she did was leave her father's group to explore a little bit, why did she get attacked by goblins? Why did a couple of kids come out of nowhere to help? And why were they so damn strong too?!
She had been training in swordsmanship since she was nine years old, now four years later she had completed basic mastery over the sword manual her father bought, and her guards were no pushover, so when they were attacked, she immediately gave the order to fight back. Little did she know that the three goblins that first attacked were just a prelude to them being attacked by freaking fifty!
Annie was just thirteen, and while she had practiced fighting, she had never fought with her life on the line. Her guards initially wanted to minimize the goblins that attacked her, but as time went by it became an every-man-for-himself fight (there were only five of them after all). Her arms were already numb, she was full of injuries and only had a few swings left in her when a water screen divided them from the goblins.
The people who came to help were clearly children her age but they were filled with so much confidence, she was sure they came to commit suicide. But she soon had to retract that thought because these kids were actually strong!
Now, Annie can't say she had been all around the world, but she travelled a lot because of her father's merchant business so she knew a lot for her age.
Like she knew archers had to reload when their arrows finished, but that one girl seemed to have an endless supply of them.
She knew that sorcerers had to use lengthy words like 'Fire, o fire, ye who burns and gives life, ye who can be both warm and destructive, answer my call! Form and blast my enemies away!' to use fire spells. But the boys in front of her just say [Fireball] and [Ice Blast] to clear the goblins around them. The last one just used wave after wave of water from the stream and slammed it on the goblins until something cracked. Silent casting?
The last girl...she didn't even know what to say about the last girl. There was a golden radiance surrounding her fists which she used to punch the goblins, and when they fell, they didn't get back up.
The five of them alone cleared fifteen goblins in an instance.
While she was stunned an arrow flew from the enemy and hit one of her guards. 'Shit.' She thought as she ran to him, she had forgotten about the archer goblins. They don't have good aims and are mostly just annoying but once in a while they hit their target. When the girl with glowing fists saw this, she immediately ran towards the man.
"Let me help you with that." She said then yanked the arrow out of his shoulders, causing him to scream out in pain.
"What are you doing?!" Annie screamed. Didn't she know that pulling out an arrow like that makes the injury worsen?
Before she could push the girl out of the way, she kept her palms on the injured area and whispered something, then a golden radiance covered the wound and Annie could see it healing at a visible speed.
What? They know healing spells too?! Annie was getting dizzy from all the shock she was receiving.
The girl didn't stay long and jumped back into the battle.
"S-should we go help them?" One of her guards asked.
Annie looked at the battle to see they boys roasting some goblins, the healer girl slamming her glowing fist into the goblin's skulls, instantly killing them, and the girl with the bow dodging swipes from left and right the proceeding to bombard the goblins with arrows.
"…"
Do they look like they needed help?!
Annie then noticed that the children were jumping around in joy and were saying things like 'I finally leveled up!', 'Yes! Now I can get that skill' and 'Wow, goblins give so much exp points!', Annie was just starting to think they were crazy from all the killing when the healer girl spread her arms and shouted '[Valkyrie Dress]!', then a golden radiance fell upon her and formed an exquisite armor over her body, with two large golden wings spouting out of her back. She then pulled a dagger out of nowhere and proceeded to bulldoze through the goblins. She obviously didn't know any sword skill, but the dagger was so sharp it cut off whatever part she sliced at.
The archer girl seemed to have gotten stronger too because she began shooting three arrows at once, and they were so fast she could barely see them.
The boys gathered together and seemed to be discussing a plan, then the one in the middle shouted, 'Sarah, Mary, get out of the way, we are going to take them out with one attack!'. While the girls moved out of their way, the boys got to work. The one who spoke began gathering fire energy in front of him, one pulled water from the stream and splashed it on all the goblins, the last one created an icy mist that froze the water on the goblins, freezing them in place. Then Annie saw that the first boy had gathered a lot of fire and condensed it into a ball that was as big as himself. Then he screamed '[Fireball]!' and launched it at the frenzied goblins.
The attack exploded on impact and brought a shockwave so strong it knocked everyone off their feet.
'Can that still be considered a fireball!?' Annie cried inwardly as she covered her face to protect it from the falling debris.
When everything settled and the smoke cleared, she saw the carnage they left behind. The goblins were now just a mess of burnt bodies and broken bones. Annie searched for their saviors and saw them gathered together, looking at empty spaces, neither blinking nor moving.
'Holy shit, they really are crazy!' Annie began wondering if she should run away.
Sarah and the rest were busy looking at the [Mission Accomplished] sign on the quest panel. Their reward was enough exp points for them to level up again. They were still basking in the warm feeling they get from leveling up when Henry saw a notice.
[You have created a skill! Please name skill!]
"Woah!"
"What?" They asked.
"It seems the fireball I used back then has been registered as a new skill. I need to name it, what should I name it?"
"Name it flash bang!" George said.
"No, name it greater fireball. It just looked like a bigger fireball anyway." David refuted.
Henry did as David suggested, and they soon saw a notice saying, [Henry has created a skill called [Greater Fireball]. It has been placed in the Fire Element skill tree].
"Great! Now I can use it instantly without wasting time gathering energy." He smiled.
"I still think flash bang was a better name…."
"Wait, what about the people we saved...?"
They looked back to see the girl slowly shuffling backwards. She shook a bit when she saw them, like she got caught doing something bad. Realizing they hadn't, they walked back to the group and introduced themselves.
"What's your name?" George asked.
"ANNIE!" Before she could answer they heard a gruffy voice coming towards them. The voice was so loud it caused Mary to summon her bow.
"No, wait! That's my father!" Annie said. Soon, a large man burst into the clearing, holding a sword. He had a very thick beard covering his face and the clothes he was wearing had multiple colors. His eyes widened when he saw the destruction, then he ran towards Annie, threw his sword on the ground and hugged her. He had to bend a bit though because he was so large.
"Annie, how are you, my child? I heard a huge blast! Are you hurt anywhere- oh, look at these bruises, of course you're hurt! You! You were supposed to protect her, how could you let this happen?!" He moved about in a flurry as soon as he reached them. While he was shouting, the guards who followed him finally arrived, but they smartly kept their mouths shut.
"Dad, it's all right. We were attacked by a few goblins at first so I thought we could get rid of them ourselves. I was the one who made us stay, so don't blame them."
"How can I not blame-!"
"No, father, everything that happened is my fault. And besides, nothing happened to us, we were saved by…. them."
It was then that Annie's father finally noticed the children who were staring at him.
"Wait, what? They saved you?" he gestured to them, then he gestured to his surroundings, "They did all this? Is this true?"
"Yes, sir." A guard said, while Annie nodded her head.
Annie's father stared at the children for a couple seconds, making them feel slightly uncomfortable, before screaming out, startling everyone.
"Thank you!" He said as he gave each child a tight hug, which George readily jumped into (he wanted to feel his muscles), "Thank you so much for saving my daughter. What are your names, young heroes?"
They introduced themselves again.
"Lovely names. Lovely names. My name is Mathew Culade. Where are your parents? I need to properly thank them for raising such wonderful children."
Immediately, they all looked low-spirited.
"What happened?" Annie asked.
"Our parents…are dead," Sarah spoke since no one else wanted to, "Everyone in our village is dead. They were killed by a falling rock."
"Oh, no..." Annie gasped while Mathew looked solemn. Annie suddenly thought of something, "But if your village is gone, where do you all live?"
"We live in a cave nearby. We, uh, heard the battle happening so we quickly rushed to help. Speaking of the cave, now that we're done here, we really need to go back home, we left our food out in the open and some animals might – "
"Not happening!"
Mathew's shout made Sarah choke on her spit.
"W-what? Why?" George asked while Sarah was coughing.
"I would have sleepless nights if I let children my daughter's age sleep in the woods. What if something happened to you…?"
"Nothing would happen. We've been doing this for a while now, and as you can see, we are pretty capable of taking care of ourselves…"
"I don't care how strong you are!" Mathew interrupted him, "There are way too many dangerous things in this forest, even we wouldn't be here if we didn't need to pass through it to get to the Black Stallion Duchy. I know this is unexpected and sudden, but you saved my daughter's life, my conscience would be troubled forever if I leave you here. So please, come with us, you can travel with us till you find a place you would like to stay. What do you say?"
When Mathew finished speaking, the children looked at each other for a while, before looking at empty space and standing still.
"W-what's going on?"
"Don't worry dad, they do this sometimes."
"Why, is something wrong with them?"
"…Maybe they're just in shock – "
"We'll go with you." Sarah suddenly spoke.
"Really!?"
"Yes."
"That's fantastic!" Mathew gave a loud whoop, "Where is your, er, cave? We need to take your stuff…"
"This is all we have."
"What?! No no no, that won't do! When we get to Black Stallion Duchy the first then we'll do is get you some clothes. Even though the ones you're wearing don't look that bad at all. In fact, the quality is excellent, did you make them yourselves…?"
Matthew droned on and on as they walked, it seemed he was very happy that he managed to persuade them to follow him. Little did he know, after he brought up the proposal the children were given a quest.
[Ding! New Quest Unlocked – Follow Mathew Culade]
[Side quest – Preach to the Merchant Group]
[The God of Origins wants you to spread the joy and new hope he has given you to other people
Note: Don't overdo it and try to force them, entice them instead with the amazing things they can get by being followers.
Quest Rewards: Certain amount of EXP, Wind rider boots (can help you move faster), A pair of glasses (they don't have any use but give you a scholarly look)]
"Actually, everything we have now is thanks to our lord, the God of Origins," as the High Priestess Sarah felt it was up to her to initiate the conversation, "Would you like to know about him? With him all things are possible!"
Mathew and co were stunned speechless.