Was this the will of Asclepius? Did he want me to end the life of this mage?
"You are our representative at Midgard. You are going to figure out our will at the right time." I remember Asclepius explaining that my free will would be respected.
I can't agree with that now. The controlled situations that I experienced in Olympus lacked this notion of ending an intelligent humanoid life. The worm seemed to be an intelligent monster, however. I am confused.
While I was entangled with my thoughts and worries, Jel was staring at her hands. Then I said, "It was my fault. I should have done something earlier."
She appeared to be entranced, but she didn't listen to anything that I said. I believe she hated humans; perhaps I triggered some killing instinct in her?
"He said, 'kill the goblins', I am sure." she kept repeating, then she fainted.
I was quick on my feet and grabbed her before she fell limp on the ground. This situation was dangerous, as we were in the middle of the forest, and I lacked the correct directions to the safe place where Jel was guiding us. And to make matters worse, I have two faint goblins.
First, I must recompose myself. I thought that I was going to embark on a dreamy economic kingdom-building fiction, but this was the brunt and relentless reality where the strong oppress the weak with as many tools as possible.
Second, I placed the body of the necromancer inside his (now mine) satchel. Third, I need to wake up at least Jel. Matila was soundly resting on the ground; at least she was not thrown out by the huntress.
The usefulness of some spells could be questioned, but the ticklish one was fine and smooth magic for this kind of situation. I cast it over Jel, and she started to revolve and woke up laughing.
This turned the mood very bizarre: a bloodied killer woke up laughing maniacally, while an infant goblin slept aside a human mage. I cancelled the spell, and now Jel was confused. I waited for her to recompose herself.
"I am sorry, Sir Rufus. I couldn't control myself when I heard that he demanded to 'kill the goblins'." She hurriedly tried to justify herself.
I didn't know how to reply to that. "I think I took the situation too far. I was sincerely confused about what to do to him after his capture." I said.
"I felt powerful, and my anger got out of control. But I am not a monster, Sir Rufus. Please, you have to believe me."
Oh, I understood then. She was worried that I would think that she was some kind of beast. However, I had a clue about what happened.
---
"Is this what they are going to feel? That is too much." I complained to Hercules.
"Well. Actually, no. Some people will be possessed by the will of your Authority. This can become a worst-case scenario."
"Possessed? Do the Authorities have their own wills?"
"We could say 'will'. In the truth, when people are exposed to a divine aura, their reactions will vary according to their perception of the rule of the Authority."
Hercules was thinking about how to explain. He made a bright smile and continued, "Suppose my Authority of Power, I used it just now to oppress you. But bystanders can be affected by being oppressed too or receiving a part of Power's will."
"I think that was not a clear example, Master Hercules."
"He is not a good teacher." Helena intervened. "Let's continue with this example."
"Receiving Power's will means that some people will also be attuned to the feelings that your Authority is displaying when you release your divine aura. In this case, these affected people could enrage and start fighting your oppression target."
"For a more tangible example, your Authority of Healing abhors necromancers and undead, if you release your aura close to living people, they could be compelled to attack these kinds of mages and their minions. Regardless of how you feel, which could lead to endangering innocent people."
"Imagine little children furiously running toward zombies because you release your divine aura near them."
Her explanation was far clearer than the one provided by Hercules. I get the gist of it now.
---
I felt sorry when I recalled Helena's explanation about what the divine aura was. She said that I needed to train it to avoid compelling innocent bystanders. Otherwise, it will be used as leverage to deal with me.
"I apologize, Jel. I think you acted like that because I released my divine aura while trying to make the necromancer talk."
"Necromancer? Was he the creator of those zombies?" I forgot that she does not know the human language.
"Yes, he said that. He was assigned by someone to kill all goblins in the forest." My revelation made Jel stupefied. She was blinking as I dropped the bomb without prior warning.
"What? Was he here because he was ordered to?" Jel was astonished by this information.
I believe that she did not know how to operate a subspace bag, so I looked for the elder goblin that I could identify in the satchel and brought the corpse out of it.
"Tut'ma! What is happening here?" Jel started to cry when she saw the body.
"There are at least more than 80 goblin corpses inside the mage's bag."
Jel stumbled on the ground, embracing the body of "Tut'ma". She was sobbing. I met her about 12 hours ago, and we went through a lot of stress. I think I rushed things, but I couldn't hide the facts about this.
Jel raised her head and said, "Please show me all of them." She was not requesting, but pleading.
I nodded and moved all the goblins' bodies outside the bag.
I tried to avoid leaving them as mere pieces of meat, so I put them side by side. Jel was shocked, and after each corpse I removed from the magical bag, she made some motion, indicating that she knew how that goblin was.
I felt sorry for her. This was an awful situation, faced with the genocide of her people. I was holding back, but internally, I was furious. Even I, who arrived in less than 24 hours to this land, knew that forest goblins were reclusive people, not like their violent and savage cousins.
Knowing the most common races of the region and their customs was the very task that I finished. It is unfathomable, which was the reason that led one to assign such a devilish endeavor.
Actually, I could wonder some reasons. Greed and pure evilness were practical options for doing something like that. Extreme prejudice could be another excuse. I think that I didn't transmigrate here by chance.
Jel took some time inspecting all the bodies. I stood beside Matila waiting patiently for Jel. I kept my attention on potential reinforcements that awful imp might call. However, I didn't notice anything. I set an alarm spell around us; if someone, even invisible, tries to enter an enclosed space set on me as the center, I will be aware.
I received some triggers for small and tiny bodies, but they were going in and out. This spell was not very useful, as it generated plenty of mental stress for everything that moved close to the spell's border.
Jel after looking at all of them, asked me, "Could you bury them, as you had done with the goblins that were in the village?"
"Of course." I already figured out that she was going to request a burial rite from me for her fellow tribe members. Even though I suggested to her, "If you don't mind, I would rather move from here as soon as possible. But feel at ease; I will preserve their bodies in the magical bag, and then we could even return to the village to bury them there."
For an instant, she noticed that we had been at the same point for some time and panicked. I put a hand on her shoulder and said that everything was fine and that I wasn't picking anybody in the surrounding areas.
"Thank you for your help, Sir Rufus." She went and embraced Matila again. I recovered all the goblins' bodies and stored them in the bag. We resume our journey.
I released control over my spell. The mental burden was not a great toll, but it was uncomfortable to pay attention to each minor thing. There are many things to improve next time in my magic-casting abilities. Soon, we reached our destination.
The North Lake was there—the landmark that I was seeking. In the space between the lake and the forest, there was a point where Jel stopped and started to uncover a hole in the ground.
"This is my advanced foothold when I am hunting close to the lake. I think it was used by human hunters in the past." Jel said while revealing a trap hold, and then she motioned for me to enter.
The small base was comfortable for three people, and inside there were one sofa and two beds, with regular human-sized. Moreover, a free space in one of the corners could be noticed that some temporary stuff were stored there.
"Sir Rufus, why did you help me?" Jel asked bluntly.
"All the humans that I have met so far, have tried to enslave or kill me. Why have you helped me?"
"I don't have an answer for you. But, far from an obscure reason, why would I try to hurt someone? When I met you for the first time, you were hurt. I am an apostle who aims for a better world, peace, and thriving people."
"I don't know what an apostle is. But I am happy to have met you. I and Matila would be dead if we didn't find you."
His answer carried a wishful tone, and it made my mood a little better. I showed her a small smile.
"I can't say that you would be dead. Perhaps in a tough situation, you managed." Then she interrupted me, "No, we, goblins, are used to being mistreated. I don't know why, but your gods sent you to help us. Otherwise, I would not survive the zombies in the forest or in the village, even less the necromancer that was hunting the goblins that survived."
"I don't know any of your gods. And I hope that you give me their teachings. We do not have any other place to go, and you rescued us, so we are going to dedicate our lives to your gods. I can feel his call when I attacked that mage."