"What the hell did I do to deserve this c*ap?"
Nathaniel was standing in the middle of a forest, covered in blood and sweat. The area around him was covered with corpses of small, green skinned creatures. His breathing was heavy and he felt like he could collapse at any second. He looked around and observed the knights in white and blue armour fighting, burning things or doing whatever. This was a proper battle between holy knights and goblins!
'F*ck my life'
He tripped while walking and almost fainted out of exhaustion but screaming of a certain someone brought him back to reality.
"Hahaha! YES! Kill them all! Burn them all! Make sure even their ancestors feel the fire! Hahaha!"
The voice belonged to a blonde-haired woman that was swinging her sword left and right, decapitating goblins wherever her sword went and her smiling face that was covered completely with blood could be clearly seen from a distance. Nate looked at the scene and that was the first time he felt truly horrified by a person.
***
"...help us with... purifying evil"
'Great he left me with a murderous psychopath...'
"This... Of course, I'd like to help out but I am afraid I won't be of much help since I don't have much experience in combat so..."
"Oh? So you are willing to help, how wonderful!"
'F*ck!'
Sara seemed to have heard only what she wanted to hear and it was quite clear she won't take a no for an answer.
"Then I will tell you what I planned for our first mission together"
'F*ck!'
"Together? I was informed I would accompany just a small group of holy knights..."
"Well, you're our little hero and of course I will accompany you to make sure you will come back safe and sound~"
'F*ck!'
"Are you certain on your decision? Don't you have many duties to attend to as a grand master?"
Nate was trying his best but it was like talking to wall.
"Duties? Of course, I have those! Like killing those DIRTY FIENDS that live in the forest nearby"
"Is that so..."
'I should've just said I was close to a breakthrough or something and reject the emperor...'
He finally gave up on trying to reason with Sara and simply started to listen to what she had to say since it could quite literally determine his life and death.
"Anyway, what was I saying? Right! It will be me, you and other ten holy knights, twelve in total and our mission is quite simple: population control"
"Population control?"
"Yes! You see our city has a slight problem inside of a forest nearby..."
She suddenly paused and her expression turned to an extremely ugly frown, she also put her hands up and seemed to be imagining something very vividly. All of this was so full of expression that Nate could swear he saw her grabbing a small goblin and trying her best to crush its skull.
"DIRTY... UGLY... GOBLINS! I swear I will offer their heads to the Goddess as an offering! THOSE RATS! They bother our pious believers in their daily lives. SUCH CRIME! The only suitable punishment is a complete extermination of this evil!"
After saying all of this with a crazed expression, she shook her head with disappointment.
"Ahh... but sadly it's not possible to completely eradicate this evil so we are forced to go out from time to time and limit their population since they replicate faster than rabbits..."
"Is... that so...?"
"Yes! Sadly no one listens to solutions I offer... Everyone just gives those mediocre excuses like: Burning the entire forest just to kill some goblins is not a very good solution or using high mages to bombard everything to the ground is counterproductive... do you understand what I have to deal with?"
"Yes...?"
Nate at this point was too afraid to disagree with her but him saying so seemed to have energized her a bit too much.
"Ahh! Finally! Someone sane that agrees with me!"
'Sane!? You must be jesting...'
"Sigh... Then when are we heading out?"
He was starting to go a bit numb and simply wanted to finish his task as fast as possible and distance himself from her.
"Look at you so eager to help! We will head out in an hour since some things need to be arranged but, in the meanwhile, we can chat a bit if you want"
"NO!"
"Huh?"
"I mean... I have to do some maintenance on my equipment! I... want to be at my peak condition. It is my first mission after all I want to make sure everything goes well Haha...."
"Haha, I understand... Then I won't bother you for now"
'Thank the f*cking God'
Nataniel was terrified at the prospect of talking with Sara for over an hour so he made some stuff up and hurried to a corner trying to appear as busy as he possibly could.
"Ahh... It almost reminds me of my first mission to eradicate some heretics..."
Nate got goosebumps when he looked over and saw Sara smiling "affectionately" while looking at him. He decided that the best solution was simply to not look at her.
This was easily one of the longest hours he experienced in his life...
A group of knights could be seen traveling on horseback. At the front, leading the group, was a beautiful woman. She was smiling and humming some unknown song. Her hair was also slightly fluttering in the wind. Such beauty could easily make a lot of men fall for her..."...Nana na... kill them all... Nana na... children too..."At the very least until they would talk with her.'Can I kill this b*tch?'A bit behind her was a black-haired youth, wearing similarly black robe that easily distinguishes him from the rest of the group. His expression appeared neutral and disinterested but if one looked closely, one could notice his one eye twitching from anger."Sigh... It appears we are close to our destination...""Huh?"Nate was tired of her singing this awful song so he pointed out the fact they were already close to the forest."You are right! By the way do u know how we call this forest?""How?""Darkwood forest. You know why?""Why? Because it's dark inside?""Well, you guessed it. Th
Sara slowly walked forward, holding her sword with one hand. Sparking bluish energy could be seen on the blade.'Is this so called aura?'Nate didn't admire it for long though. He was trying to process the many things that just have happened.'If she wanted to kill me, I already would've been six feet underground. This attack was a warning and looking at the state of the goblin it is quite clear what she was warning me about. I was fooled by her...'Meanwhile Sara was already close to Nathaniel and finally stopped in her tracks. She stabbed the ground with her sword and placed both her hands on it. Her expression was neutral and it was impossible to guess what she was thinking. Nate's face similarly didn't show any emotion.They both stood there in silence and only after a minute of this standoff a change occurred. Sara smiled slightly and Nate immediately replied in kind."Have you talked with it?""Talk? Didn't you say yourself that goblins can't be reasoned with and only know how t
Nathaniel and Sara were slowly walking back towards the camp. Nate used the opportunity to pry for more information. "The emperor was obviously tricked. My guess is that the church was initially collaborating with the empire about how to deal with me but that changed. Is my potential also the reason?" "Who knows" "Then why take me with you in the first place? To kill goblins? What all of that even achieves?" "You'll see" "And the person who ordered you, was it Cornelius?" "..." "So, it was him" 'The always nice, friendly priest turns out to be a sly fox. You really can't tell what people think by just looking at the surface' The pair could already see the campfires being short distance from them but Sara seemingly irritated stopped going forward and Nate noticing this also stopped. "Tsk... you just want to know everything don't you? Well, let me tell you this politics are simply complicated and not worth thinking too much about" "That I understand but I still want to know a
'Will Gurk be back?' A certain small creature with green skin could be seen peeping its head outside the cave it was in and although goblins differ in looks and behaviour compared to humans, one could easily tell that the goblin seemed worried. 'Gurk promised to be back' His name was Gork and he was feeling nervous since his friend that he grew up with is yet to return despite the sun already rising. He understood quite well what that meant but still strongly hoped that was not the case. 'Gurk will be back. Humans sleep when night. Perhaps he wandered further to find food and Gurk coming back. Maybe Gurk...' His thoughts however where disturbed by someone grabbing his shoulder and he turned to look at who it was. It was an elderly goblin wearing slightly better clothing than him, with some paint on his old face and some feathers stuck in his hair. That was the clan's shaman named Gerk. Gerk looked with pity at Gork and was shaking his head slightly. He was far more realistic tha
Nathaniel was standing alone on an endless beach. He was admiring the ocean, the birds and the sunny sky. His mind was clear of thoughts and you could say that he felt happy to just stand there with no worries and no one to bother him. Nate's tranquil state was however interrupted by a soft sounding voice coming from behind him. "Nathaniel~" 'Huh?' He turned and saw Sara. She was wearing a bikini and standing next to a campfire, something was being cooked on it. "Do you want a snack~?" "A snack?" She procced to pick something up from the fire but Nathaniel was unable to see what it was so he took a few steps forward. "This!" Nathaniel was horrified to see a severed head of a goblin. The blood was gushing out of it like it was freshly cut, the sight was so terrifying that it couldn't even be placed in a horror movie. He turned his head to look at Sara but he could only hear a demonic laughter as everything turned black around him... *** Inside a small tent, Nathaniel could be
A group of holy knights could be seen going through the city. Leading the group was Sara and just behind her was Nathaniel. They just returned from their little mission and were going back to the cathedral belonging to the Church of Purity. 'This is just insane' Everyone looked cheerful and occasional chatter could be heard. Of course, Nate was an exception since what he experienced in just four days since he first met Sara could easily classify as traumatic. That experience taught him something however, the fact that this world was brutal. 'I need to get stronger otherwise I will be forced to spend more time with those psychos' His determination to get powerful was growing by the second he spent with the knights but other more negative and dark emotions grew as well and because of this he felt happy to finally see their destination. The cathedral gave a holy and an impressive feeling but Nathaniel only felt disgust when he looked at it. For him this place was filled with crazy ex
Inside the emperor's office three people could be seen, two of them were seated and one was not. The Grand Priest was obviously the one standing and he was hoping for an answer to his previous question from either Nate or the emperor Julius. They both however just looked at him expressionless. "I am sorry for walking in like that. I can understand your frustration so please forgive me" Cornelius noticing the awkwardness decided to apologize. 'Everyone here is just a bad egg I guess' Nate thought so as he heard the apology nevertheless, he put on his fake happy smile. "No need to apologize. It's my fault for not going to you first, knowing how much you worry about me" Saying this he stood up from his chair. "Actually, the emperor and I were already finishing our talk. Why don't we have a walk and I will share what I experienced with you?" "Oh? That's a great idea, let's do that" Both Nate and the priest bowed slightly to the emperor and they left together to have a 'friendly'
A week passed. Nathaniel was currently walking through the city. This time without any company. 'It's nice to not be watched over for a change' He finally put his foot down and fought for some freedom and although there was opposition, he got that much with the support from Cornelius and the emperor agreeing after some 'small talk' and few empty promises. 'I wish I could enjoy it more but alas duty calls. I can't put it off anymore...' The duty Nathaniel was thinking of was his 'redemption' which was nothing more than another mission that once again involved the Church of Purity and Its Grand Master. Together they would travel towards the city of Tristam and investigate the rumours about the demon worshippers. He obviously was unhappy about meeting the 'crazy b*tch' and working with her again but he also was additionally agitated by the fact that he was already close to his breakthrough but had to go on what Nate deemed a stupid mission. 'Well, it's not that bad, I guess... With