-Reyha Kingdom; Gallo's Outskirts; Goblin's Lair; 5th Floor-
"Unbelievable... Maybe I'll have to be a bit stricter with you Master... For your own safety, at least in matters regarding dangerous situations." Lavenica crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes, while looking at the shaking Kymani on the ground blood dripping from his mouth, and couldn't stop her lips from flinching.
{Don't be so dramatic... This is but a scratch!} *Cough!* *cough!* *Cough!* A smile continued on his face as he responded eyes warm seeing her come to him, but unfortunately his body could not go with his intent; blood splattered as he coughed.
A deep frown could be seen on Lavenica's face, and she began to rub her temple before sighing; letting out a few words in a rather subconscious murmur. "... It's pointless... He's already decided... I guess I can only do my best."
"You know... You don't have to be so extreme. Things can be taken easy, it's not like you're running out of time just yet. Dedication is necessary, but you have to check on it every other day." Merilyn walked closer and crouched next to Lavenica, looking at Kymani while carrying a smile, and began to move her hands in tendon with her words, something that seemed to come to her naturally.
'Funny... My mother used to say something similar... 'Whenever you follow your guiding star, remember to stop and look back from time to time, you'll feel a little better.'... But I'm a runner, I want to reach my destination as fast as I can... Ironically enough, I'm also the first to want to take my time doing things, can't rush it all... That's boring... I'm a mess. Oh well, life moves on. Though I wonder how they are doing now?...' Kymani hearing Merilyn found himself thinking to himself of the past, before mentally shaking his thoughts off, being too physically weak to do so without facing consequences.
"It's fine. I'll get the goblin's body." Lavenica looked at Merilyn and answered knowing that Kymani was not physically apt to say much currently. She got up and went to Iketica's body.
"Ok... Just remember that it's over once your HP reaches 0." Merilyn first looked at Lavenica seeing her reply, then turned to Kymani to say one last thing before letting silence just take over.
'I know... But as everyone should be aware by now, high risk, high reward is pretty common. Definitely my style.' Kymani concluded as he let himself smile in a pretty ominous manner.
"You look like you're having reckless thoughts." Merilyn narrowed her eyes as she commented while pointing at Kymani.
'... Is she reading my thoughts... No, I probably just made it obvious... How dangerous...' Kymani frowned being seen through.
"You're making your thoughts pretty obvious overall. Who knew goblins could be so expressive?" Merilyn chuckled amused.
"You're a bit off, but not wrong. Master, you have to be less transparent." Lavenica added as she approached Kymani while carrying Iketica's body.
{... I would complain, but at this point, I guess you're not wrong.} Kymani replied.
Lavenica laid Iketica's body on Kymani gently to not harm him. That done, Kymani immediately used
[Error!
'It's at level 20 from that one goblin I absorbed... Unfortunately, I got so focused on leveling up I've neglected to try and improve my skills... Plus I was counting on skill crystals for that... Whatever, absorbing a few more goblins should do the trick, right?' Kymani concluded seeing the new notification.
{... Lavenica bring me a few goblin bodies. I think I might be able to improve my skill.} Kymani ordered.
{Will do.} Lavenica nodded and began gathering more goblins around Kymani.
Using his
[Your skill
[High Absorption(Intermediate): A superior version of the Absorption(Basic) skill. Capable of all the previous could do, and now able to do so much faster and more efficiently.]
After that, he tried to absorb another basic goblin to see how far he could go.
[Inaplicable! Due to the target's low rank, its absorption can not affect the growth of the
'Unfortunate...' Kymani could only regret.
Not bothering to worry about too much it, Kymani used
[You have consumed a phase 1 goblin, specific: Desert High Goblin. You have unlocked the form of a Desert High Goblin.]
Just then, Kymani's body grow from being around 1,20m(3'11ft) to 1,50m(4'11) in height, and his skin became less wrinkly bringing on a more human look when compared to before, similar to Iketica himself, differentiated by Kymani's purple skin and a rainbow eyes with silver eyebrows with equally silver eyelashes.
"It's much better now... I can talk!... I honestly shouldn't have been surprised by this one..." Kymani smiled as he touched his face in reflex.
"How nice, it's good to see you're already in high spirits." Merilyn commented seeing his excitement.
"Congratulations, Master." Lavenica said.
"Of course, I'm in high spirits! After all, every step forward makes the final line closer. Oh and thanks, Lavenica, you're a sweetheart." Kymani responded while shrugging his shoulders and smiling.
"You don't sound nearly as cute as I imagined though still pretty adorable. How unfortunate." Merilyn calmly expressed.
"That's fair... I guess. Anyway, let's move on, while we still got time. If we end this one by today, it will be nice." Kymani answered as he got up and the party began to go in deeper.
Soon after walking for a while, they reached the warp pad and entered the 6th floor.
-Reyha Kingdom; Gallo's Outskirts; Goblin's Lair; 6th Floor-
This floor, unlike the others, had a tighter space making the cave tunnels harder to move in with big numbers, wethers before it was possible to move with 100 goblins with ease, now only about 50 would fit at most in one sitting.
"So, I guess this is the dungeon trying to correct the mistake?" Merilyn questioned while looking around.
"Basically, but this dungeon is too low-level to prove any real challenge." Lavenica responded.
As they walked in with Kymani on the lead, someone stopped them.
"Stop right there! If you want to get going, pay the passage fee." A man in leather armor surrounded by 11 people, 4 women, and 7 men, demanded with a smirk while extending one hand out to the party and holding onto his sword's handle with his other hand as if to show off his weapon.
Both Kymani and Merilyn immediately looked at Lavenica, and without them having to say a word she explained. "No, this is not a necessary procedure. They are just bandits trying to extort us."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Kymani turned to the man and his gang upon learning of the situation, before replying calmly while shrugging his shoulders.
"Agreed, your criminal activity will only end up putting your heads up for bounty. Why endanger yourself in such a way, when you could very well serve the kingdom if you have enough strength to steal from others?" Merilyn frowned seeing this behavior and took it much more seriously than Kymani who didn't seem to be all that bothered by it, while Lavenica wasn't even listening to whatever they had to say, anymore.
"Oh! Would you look at that? It seems we have a few rowdy newbies, even a fricking talking goblin in your party?! Are kids these days all crazy?! Oh well, let each dig their own graves, but let me get this straight for ya real quick. I'm not asking, I say you have to pay the fee, and you have to unless you don't mind an early grave, in which case me and the gang wouldn't mind helping you with that.
And don't try to bullshit me with that serve the kingdom crap! 4 years of service as a soldier and I got thrown out like a hookup girl, the moment my injuries superseded my abilities, and suddenly the oh-so-great kingdom didn't seem to remember I ever existed! A pat on the back and some gold don't necessarily make up for all the losses, especially when you're trying to overcome a crippling wound! But my amazing past aside, you weak ass bitches can only blame yourselves for coming to a dungeon unprepared, just take this as a life lesson, believe me, you'll thank me for teaching you this one day." The man began talking about himself making some of the people behind him roll their eyes as if they are watching that one friend tell the one good story they have for the millionth time.
"Boss has to stop telling this one... It's not like there aren't better stories to tell the victims."
"You make it sound like we're actually bandits... We aren't... It's just a temporary extra."
"Gosh, are we really still discussing this?"
While on that background some of the bandits were arguing.
As soon as the man stopped speaking Kymani looked at Merilyn and burst out laughing. "Hahahahaha! Ok, buddy, you didn't get fair treatment for your work, but how long do you plan on doing this for? Plus if you're that strong with your party, can't you just hunt monsters yourself and make much more than what you're making right now?"
"Precisely! Even if you dislike the knight order of the kingdom or maybe the royal family themselves, you can't deny that your actions against the general public are unjustified. The people you're stealing from are likely in bad situations themselves, after all, that's how most adventurers start according to the book, I read on the matter." Merilyn added.
"Tsk! Of course, you kids don't get it! Now shut the fuck up and hand over your goods!... Since we're not the bandits you believe us to be, you can keep your equipment, but everything else is coming with us!" The man insisted.
"Let's just kill them!"
"Yeah, why bother talking with these kids?"
"The boss has this terrible habit of chitchatting too much..."
"Honestly, we shouldn't just kill them all, just look at the girls! We could not only get to have some much-needed fun, but we can also sell them off later. I bet you they will fetch for crazy prices!"
"How many times does the boss have to tell you that we don't do that, we're not bandits!"
"Yeah, yeah... Whatever then."
The bandits continued to argue in the background.
"... If you're going to be bandits and rob people, at least be upfront about it. Pretending you respect your victim's life after you take all their provisions, which would likely lead to their death is not necessarily honorable. Especially when you probably loot the bodies after they died and take their stuff, plus whatever else they were able to get after you robbed them the first time." Kymani continued.
"Kids these days really don't know when to shush but don't worry, after this, you'll never have to worry about that ever again." The man and his gang all pulled their weapons and just as they were about to attack they all just fell down to the ground unconscious.
"... Do you think we should just hand them over to the knight order? Or maybe I could go directly to the royal knights?..." Merilyn, who was now behind all the unconscious bandits asked.
"Personally I would just suggest killing them to avoid future problems, but it's honestly up to you. I'm not familiar with the knight order and know very little about the royal knights, so I don't know which would be best. Though I guess the royal knights are be better option.. I think..." Kymani replied sincerely.
This lead to her turning to Lavenica.
"My recommendation, kill them. As for the better option, that depends on what you want. If you hope for them to survive and receive judgment, the royal knights, but if you want money and to just get rid of them, then the knight order." Lavenica responded.
"Hm... I see, I'll take them to the royal knights then." Merilyn decided upon hearing it.
"Are you leaving now?" Kymani questioned.
"Yes, it's kind of my responsibility as a the princess to look after the people of this kingdom, from the upstanding citizens to the worst criminal, I have to deal with it." Merilyn answered.
"I don't think that's how it works..." Kymani commented.
"I don't care how it works, it's still what I have to do." Merilyn insisted.
"Ok then, just be careful... It's hard to know how they will react to this sneaking out bit..." Kymani said.
"I have it all covered, I've been ready for it since I decided to just leave." Merilyn replied.
No more to be said, Kymani just nodded.
"Don't be rash and let them talk before you burry yourself deeper." Unprompted, Lavenica gave a few words of advice.
In response, Merilyn smiled, before putting 12 people on her back in a pile and just leaving with that.
"Let's go this over with so we too can go back and face the consequences of our actions... What's the worse they could do anyway?" Kymani asked.
"Not much, I would estimate the worst punishment they would give you to be about 4 months of community service 33 hours a day, no stopping since you have inexhaustible stamina." Lavenica responded.
"... 33 hours a day... It's still strange to think that a day here has 33 hours... That's crazy to just think of and yet here I am living it... How odd... I wonder what my parents would have thought it... They also liked their fair share of fiction... Oh, well let's go, that community service sounds pretty harsh considering the type of the world this is." Kymani commanded as they both continued on.