Goblin King Mulgarga, who had united goblins across the continent, had been defeated
by the Bahamut Knights, but remnants of his forces still rampaged across the land.
After being bested by the Kingdom of Avalonia's army, the goblins fled to the frontier
lands.
Peaceful Zoltan was no exception, and waves of the monsters poured in, leading to a
spike in banditry and the most perilous era in Zoltan's history.
Two adventurers, a young Galatine and Shien, were facing off against more than a
dozen of the creatures.
"Shien! Where are the guards?!" Galatine shouted.
The goblins were armed with spears, swords, and bows and wearing helmets. They
were clearly stronger than the typical ones found in Zoltan. They had raised their
blessings' levels through years of war and pillaging and were already strong enough
that C-rankers like Galatine and Shien were having difficulty dealing with them.
"Hyah-hahhh!!!" the goblins cried as they charged.
Galatine swung his war hammer, smashing the head of the first to draw near. He hit
the second with the gauntlet on his left hand. The third was done in by a blow to the
jaw from his hammer. Unfortunately, a spear-wielding goblin managed to flank
Galatine.
Fear of death rooted the man in place as the deadly weapon lanced for his side.
"Dimension Whip!"
Galatine's body quivered and vanished, only to appear again ten meters away.
"Heed my mantra! Wind of righteous destruction and revelation! Tornado Cutter!"
Shien hurled a blast of sharp wind, sending the goblins back. Using that opening, he
grabbed Galatine's hand.
"We should retreat!"
"Ngh!"
The pair were only up against a single squad of goblins. Zoltan hardly possessed the
most accurate data, but by recent calculation, there were at least one hundred of the
monsters lurking about. It was hardly the time for Galatine and Shien to be taking
risks.
"Our home… They're going to…!"
Zoltan had never seen this kind of threat before. It was supposed to be a peaceful, laidback, boring place. Galatine was trembling with rage.
Even if they were only the remnants of a once-mighty army, these goblin soldiers had
battled Central's Bahamut Knights. Fighters raised in Zoltan's tranquil lands stood no
chance.
A previous B-rank party had already fallen to the monsters, and from the moment the
goblins hoisted the party leader's head as a battle flag, Zoltan was as good as dead.
Surrounding settlements were constantly being assaulted, but Zoltan's forces made
no effort to help. People were too scared.
"Galatine. There are no reinforcements coming."
"Why not?! Elite or not, there are only one hundred of them! Zoltan is going to fall to a
few dozen goblins?!"
"They fought in some of the major battles of our time and survived. We're just bit
players who won't make the footnotes in the history books…"
Galatine and Shien had left home filled with youthful passion, planning to gather up
the warriors of the villages in order to drive goblins back long enough for everyone to
evacuate to a safe fishing village.
The goblins did not have boats, so as long as people could flee into the ocean, they
would be all right. That's what Galatine and Shien had hoped, anyway.
In the end, however, they only successfully rescued two settlements. All other times,
the pair had no choice but to retreat as they were now.
"No!"
Shien suddenly let out a cry of despair. Galatine stood staring in shock.
A village was burning before their eyes. The blaze consumed the innocents they had
bled to save.
"Stooooooooooooop!!!!" Galatine roared, clenching his war hammer as he rushed in.
Fighting now was suicide, yet Shien ran in alongside his friend. His Cleric blessing
demanded he bring an end to the meaningless loss of life.
The two were surely charging into certain doom, and were quickly surrounded by
goblins for their effort.
"Dammit!"
Galatine was barely an adult. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes as he glared at
his hated enemies. There was no hope of victory anymore. Each goblin Galatine and
Shien were up against rivaled the two in level.
Yet the pair did not falter, determined to bring down as many as they could with them.
"Arctic winds, life-stealing chill! Howl and roar! Blizzard!"
Powerful ice magic extinguished the flames and blew away the goblins.
Galatine and Shien stood dumbfounded, unsure what had happened and shocked to
still be breathing.
As the frigid storm settled, they were finally able to see who had come to the rescue.
"Get 'em!" a woman shouted.
Twenty powerful, cutlass-wielding pirates charged the goblins who'd been staggered
by the ice spell. A sailing ship had landed on the beach, and buccaneers with bows
lined the deck, showering the monsters with arrows.
A beautiful woman led this band of outlaws. It only took a few moments before the
goblins were running, and the young woman who was Galatine and Shien's savior
approached them.
"Adventurers of this land! Your valorous struggle is clear from the wounds you bear!"
She held out her hand to the two of them. "I've got experience fighting the goblin king's
army! All I need is some military support and no goblin in the world will be a match
for us!"
"What?!"
"Guide me to Zoltan! I'll take command! My name's Mistorm, and I'll exterminate every
last one of those monsters! I swear by my ship, the Regulus!"
Mistorm flashed the sort of ferocious grin that was characteristic of pirates.
The young Galatine and Shien were bewildered and bewitched by the lovely woman's
face.