The Hero of Vengeance

Chapter 9: You or Me

I could feel my strength returning to me as I walked around in the cistern. Upon seeing the carnage I left behind, I pulled up my status menu and checked my level.

{Enemies eliminated using unconventional methods and advanced tactics: 116}

{Collect reward?}

Hell yes!

{Exp gained: 8,120}

{Level up! Level up! Level up!}

{3 skill points gained!}

I opened the skill table to upgrade my skills. I saw several useful skills but chose to upgrade one of my other abilities first.

{Skill(s) upgraded: Lightning Bolt LV.1 > Chain Lightning LV.1!}

{Skill(s) gained: Piercing Shot LV.1}

I opted for a skill that could be used with a crossbow this time. The one I found hadn't seen any use yet and that bothered me.

My mp was doing fine, but I didn't want to overdo it if I was in real danger.

Actually, that last fight only brought me down to half.

I closed my status screen and started looking around the cistern for anything of value. The goblin leader had an interesting scepter; it was undamaged, so I picked it up.

I checked it on my status screen.

{Item name: Bone Wand.

Description: A bone from someone's arm converted into a magic weapon. The use of this item requires great concentration due to a lack of magical energy.

Quality: Very Poor.}

Garbage.

I flicked the wand away with a sigh and continued my search.

At the edge of the cistern, I discovered a large pipe with what looked to be rainwater trickling in.

The door on it was hinged slightly open.

Out of curiosity, I pulled the cover and crawled through it. At the end of the pipe, it looked as if some goblins had broken through the pipe and carved out a large room in the wall. I crawled in and found a small pile of items collected from dead adventurers. The ceiling of the room was a few inches above my head and allowed me to stand up.

Most of it seemed to be damaged shiny armor and weapons but there were a few pouches of gold.

I quickly gathered up the money and added it to my coin pouch. Around 879g.

Pretty nice find!

Among the garbage, I spotted an undamaged sword. Slightly longer than my current blade and curved like a cutlass.

I took the blade from its scabbard and looked it up and down. It didn't seem to be broken in any way, so I figured I would keep it.

After all, the quality on it was listed as 'Fairly Decent'. Much better than my sword.

Speaking if which, I reluctantly looked at my old sword.

The blade was stained with blood, it had become battered and dull. It was a miracle that this thing could still cut anything.

I didn't want to get rid of it because it was the first sword my Dad had gotten me. Unfortunately, my inventory had become very full with goblin remains and other trash I had found off of them. Traps could be constructed and stored for later use as single items but I didn't see them being very useful outside.

Despite this, I kept a few just in case.

I untied my old sword from my waist and placed it and its scabbard blade down in the center of the pile. Once I was sure it would stay, I turned and fastened the cutlass to my hip.

Something in me died down here. And something else was born.

I felt like I had grown in many ways since I came to this place.

Regardless, it was time to go back.

* * *

Along the way back, I made sure to check every corner and every pathway I could find to ensure that nothing had survived.

I found nothing. Aside from the running water, I heard only silence.

Eventually, I found the rope hanging from the hole in the client's floor. I grabbed it and pulled to make sure it wouldn't give. When I was sure that the rope was stable, I started climbing.

After all, if the rope had become detached somehow, I would have just stacked goblin corpses until I could climb out. I wasn't about to let anything stop me from leaving.

When I was close to the entrance, I heard footsteps coming down the stairs that had previously led me here.

"I know you said you can kill a few goblins but I'm tellin ya, it's not that simple. Nobody that ever goes down there comes back. Some kid I sent down three days ago never returned!"

"Why'd you let a kid go down there?" Asked another voice.

"He wasn't technically a kid. He was a novice adventurer. Just really young, see? He said that he would check things out and come right back if he couldn't handle it. I didn't think he would die so quickly!"

"Well, whatever. It makes no difference to me. I'll go down there and kill those goblins for ya. Just make sure that you have my reward when I get back," the other man said condescendingly.

I rolled my eyes and knocked on the bottom of the crate.

"Gah! What was that!?" The client cried out in surprise.

"Might be a goblin. Get behind me so that I can get a clear shot!"

My hands were starting to hurt from holding the rope, so I started talking.

"I'm the 'so-called' kid you sent down three days ago. I took care of the problem, can you let me out now?"

I only heard silence for a moment before the heavy footsteps of the client.

The crate slowly slid back and I was greeted with the shocked face of the last human I saw before this whole thing began.

"Hey," I said.

The man pulled back in disgust as he smelled me.

"Kid, you reek of rotten goblins. Why are you covered in blood?"

"Shouldn't that be obvious?" I asked him as I climbed out of the hole and stood on my feet.

"You killed the goblins? How bad was it? How many goblins did you kill?" The client asked.

"There was a whole damn army of them down there, sir. Well over three hundred," I said casually.

"Th-th-three hundred!? How the hell did you kill that many goblins!?" He frantically asked.

"Traps, guerilla tactics, and magic. It took a while, but it's done. I even double-checked as much as I could. It should be mostly safe to go down there now if you want. Mind the traps, though."

The client looked relieved but then the other guy who was until now, silent, spoke up.

"You expect us to believe that a kid managed to take out a whole damn army of goblins in three days? Don't be ridiculous. You might have killed a few of em, then rolled around on their corpses and hid for a while for all we know!"

The new guy was obviously an adventurer too. He was almost a foot taller than me, had a grizzly beard on his face, and wore ranger type armor. He had a longbow with a quiver of arrows strewn over his shoulder and two daggers at his sides. He had a hood up to cover most of his head. He glared at me as if I was a filthy animal.

To be fair, I was filthy at the moment. But I wasn't an animal.

"Honestly, when you put it that way it makes it a bit hard to believe..." The client admitted.

Wait, is this really happening? Is this asshole going to try and steal the reward from me!? AFTER THE HELL I JUST WENT THROUGH!?

I gritted my teeth in rage and glared at the thief.

"If you go down there, you'll find only corpses of goblins everywhere! You better not be trying to take the reward from me or else I-"

"You'll what, kid? Honestly, my friend here doesn't care who gets the job done as long as the request is completed. He just wants to live in peace and the city isn't fixing the problem. Your attitude tells me I struck a nerve, so I think I'll just go down and make sure you ain't lyin. Sound good?"

This guy.

"Honestly, I think that sounds fair. If I can trust you to tell me the truth when ya get back, then I'll tell the guild to reward whoever killed the most goblins," the client said, not wanting to pick a side.

"Right then! Why don't you just hop right back into the hole, alright kid?" The thief said.

I closed my eyes for a moment before swallowing my rage. I nodded and slid down the rope.

As soon as my feet hit the ground, I darted into the maintenance tunnels to prepare some insurance.

While I was away, the thief had climbed down the rope and was having a look around. When I returned, I saw that he had hung a lit lantern from his belt.

Idiot. That strategy almost got me killed when I set foot down here the first time.

Was every adventurer that came down here like this? If that was the case, then no wonder they all died.

The thief had a look around and mumbled to himself.

"Where'd that damn kid go? Shit, it's dark as the pit of hell down here..."

"You should put the lantern out. It makes you a target," I called out to him.

He jumped in surprise and looked in my direction.

"Kid, you scared the shit out of me. Why don't you get over here and we can talk, okay?"

Not happening.

"Maybe you should look for some goblins to kill. I've already got you beat by over three hundred," I taunted him.

He gritted his teeth and started towards me but I had already moved and was preparing to use a maintenance tunnel.

He fumbled around in the dark and nearly tripped on an old goblin corpse that I had left behind when I first got here.

"Oh, you found the one that stabbed me in the arm a few days ago. I choked it to death in response," I called out.

The thief looked up at where my voice was coming from and began following the path that I had taken when I first got here. I led him further and further in.

"Kid, why don't you just come here? I only wanna talk! Honest!"

You must think I'm stupid. Is that it?

"Not before I show you a few things, first," I spoke while leading him around.

We eventually came to the spot where I learned 'Rage of Iratus' and he vomited at the sight of the rotting carnage.

Wow. Just wow. Wasn't he supposed to be a professional or something?

He probably chose to kill goblins because he thought it would be easy.

"Don't be such a baby, you're not even close to the worst of it, yet," I said condescendingly.

"Did you really do this, kid? That's pretty damn sick, I'm not gonna lie. Even for goblins, this is pretty warped!" he said while panting.

"Get off your high horse, I did what I had to do to survive."

He gritted his teeth and squinted.

A moment later, he charged straight at me, but I was off and running.

I rounded a corner and walked into a maintenance tunnel.

I heard him shout behind me.

"You think you're real funny, don't ya? Why don't you come over here and face me like a man!?" He shouted.

I still have so much to show you... You haven't even seen the traps, yet!

I waited behind the door until I heard him walk by, then moved through the tunnels until I was ahead of him again.

I exited the tunnels farther away, but had little trouble locating him again.

He was loudly stomping his feet and shouting at me.

"You need to calm down," I started. "If there are any goblins, you'll just get stabbed in the back."

"Are you threatening me, kid!? Don't mess with me! I'll rip your damn head off!!!"

Do I detect a hint of nervousness in your voice?

"Just a friendly warning, is all. The goblins were everywhere until recently... Maybe I missed one?" I said mockingly.

The thief ran towards the place he heard my voice, but I was long gone by then.

"Careful, there's a tripwire! That's one of my traps!" I shouted.

He didn't listen, of course. Just kept on walking until he triggered an ax trap.

Two stone axes tied to long wooden sticks swung down from above towards the thief.

He shrieked and dropped to the ground as the axes swung harmlessly just above his body.

Unfortunately, he landed face down in a day old goblin corpse that hadn't been so lucky.

It also happened to be one of the ones I had 'harvested'.

He scrambled up and away and vomited again.

"You're sick! You're completely insane, kid! What the hell is wrong with you!?"

"Are you sympathizing with goblins? You know they kill and eat idiots like you, right? I saw a few of them further in if you don't believe me. It's survival of the fittest down here."

The thief grumbled and stood up. I could tell that he was really uneasy about the whole situation.

I'll scare him a bit more before talking to him.

I pulled a stone hammer from my inventory and smacked a pipe to let him know where I was.

I looked at him and he seemed startled by the sudden noise.

"Don't get too jumpy on me. The goblins aren't the most dangerous thing down here anymore," I said.

The thief gritted his teeth and glared in my direction.

"Get over here, now!" He shouted.

"I'll get right on that, but first I want to show you something. Follow the sound of my voice and then we can have our chat," I said sarcastically.

He seemed to calm down slightly at hearing my words and followed obediently.

I continued making sounds and speaking periodically to let him know where I was.

He seemed pretty fed up with not being able to see in the dark.

If you're going to a dark place, you should have learned darkvision, idiot.

As the formerly triggered traps became more common and the number of goblin corpses rose exponentially, I could hear the thief jump in surprise.

At one point he even bumped into a goblin that had been hung up by its foot and had its head chopped off.

He, of course, screamed like a little girl.

I promise I wasn't being sadistic. I just genuinely wanted to show him what it took for me to accomplish what he thought to be impossible.

I was even offering advice and telling him to be careful. As far as I was concerned, I was a pretty nice guy, right?

We finally reached the cistern and he gasped when he saw the mountain of corpses.

It actually wasn't as many as the ones in the surrounding areas, but there are more of them in this one spot than anywhere else.

"Now, we can speak," I said while still hiding in the shadows.

"Great, now why don't you get over here for a minute?" He asked.

I had moved past the cistern doorway into a dead-end hall that I visited before returning to the thief.

"Not a chance. Come over here or don't. I don't care. I can leave whenever I want and you'll probably just kill yourself on a trap looking for the way out," I said condescendingly.

I heard the thief growl at my remark and begin stepping towards me.

He slowly edged closer to my position and stopped as he saw me in the light from his lantern. I began speaking.

"Why couldn't you just walk away? Be honest with me. It's only us. Who's going to believe me, anyway?" I asked.

The thief smiled.

"I saw a dirty lyin' kid that had no business being an adventurer. Easy money. So I figured I could just kill a few goblins, tell the client it was done, and get paid. Simple, right? I don't have to hide that from you though. You're pretty sharp for someone so young. You already knew, didn't ya?" He said.

"Yeah, I just wanted to hear you say it. I'm sure you weren't expecting to find all of this, were you?" I said.

"Not at all. I didn't think a kid could paint the sewers red with a whole damn army of goblins like this. Hell, if I went down here unprepared I would probably be dead."

I think I'm just about done here.

"So how about we make a deal?" The thief began with a sly smile. "You give me all your money and any valuables you have in your inventory, and in return, I won't gut you like a fish. Sound like a good deal?"

I'm so glad I already planned for this.

"Well if that's what you insist, why don't you pry it from my cold dead hands? Besides, you planned to kill me from the start, didn't you?" I shot back at him.

"You really are too smart for your own damn good, kid!" The thief rushed forward with his daggers drawn towards me.

I suppose I should have been glad that he hadn't taken his eyes off me the entire time. He didn't notice the wire right in front of his feet.

His foot snapped the wire and set off a trap that sent two spears flying at him from behind me. I stood perfectly still with my hands behind my back.

The thief's eyes went wide in surprise as he felt the wire break and he dropped to the ground, just barely avoiding the spears.

As he stood up, I pointed the loaded pistol crossbow I had to his throat.

For a moment he looked angry and his expression turned to fear as I called out the name of my newest skill.

"Piercing shot!"

I shot an imbued bolt directly through his throat.

He gurgled and choked on his own blood as he gasped for air, glaring at me the entire time.

"You could have just walked away. You were always free to turn back, but you left me with no choice. It was you or me and I refuse to die here," I said coldly.

He squirmed for a bit longer until he stopped moving. Whether it was suffocation or blood loss, I don't know.

{Human enemy slain!}

The status message flashed in front of my eyes.

{Calculating exp value based on enemy strength...}

{Exp gained: 2,135}

A small glowing orb appeared above the now-dead thief.

I turned my eyes downcast.

"I'm sorry, Dad. It couldn't be helped... I hope you can forgive me for taking a life..."

I might as well make the most of it. The deed is done.

I touched the glowing orb and saw the dead thief's inventory.

This guy had quite a few valuables.

Including a little over three thousand gold.

I started taking everything I thought was useful. His money, potions, personal belongings, and his daggers.

I had no use for the simple longbow he had, and the arrows were useless to me as well.

Besides, I had a preference for the crossbow.

I wondered if I could reload it automatically, somehow...

It was a pain to have to lock-in a bolt every time I wanted to fire it.

Regardless, after I finished looting the corpse, I used the maintenance tunnels and got on my way to the exit.

As I walked, I suddenly felt an oppressive force come over me.

A feeling of impending doom.

The smell suddenly changed to something all too familiar, too.

The walls of the tunnel I was in were suddenly coated in the dark substance I saw in the mines.

My eyes went wide and I jumped in surprise as my mouth hung open.

"Wh-what!? What's going on here?" I said frantically.

I blinked in disbelief and suddenly, everything was normal again.

What is happening to this town!?

First the tree in the woods near the mines, then the mines themselves, and now the sewers below the town?

I never want to see this cursed place again.

I ran hard towards the exit and came to it quickly.

I felt triumphant leaving the first time, but now I only felt bitterness, sorrow, and fear.

I climbed up the rope and knocked on the bottom of the crate.

No answer.

Did he just walk away? How long had it been since I went back in here?

Regardless, I wasn't about to spend another second in this place.

I hung onto the rope and got my fingers between the crate and the floor and pushed with all my might.

The crate was surprisingly heavy but moved smoothly enough.

I climbed out of the hole and sat down on the crate.

I think I had some of the thief's blood on me.

I took in a breath of air and realized my hands were shaking.

Did this have a stronger effect on me than I thought?

Killing goblins was easy to do. Fun, if you hated them enough or wanted to use them as an outlet for aggression like I did.

But I didn't like the feeling of killing people. It was kind of messed up that I could gain exp for committing murder.

I didn't think I'd be using that as a method of getting stronger in the future.

And it went without saying that the possible illusion I might have seen scared me half to death.

I heard the cellar door open and the client came down the steps slowly.

He about had a heart attack when he saw me relaxing on the crate.

The client looked around with a confused expression.

"Where's the other guy? Weren't you supposed to have a contest?" He asked.

"Let's just say he doesn't exactly play by the rules. I'm sure you guessed it, but he tried to kill me. Long story short, I wasn't kidding about putting traps everywhere," I said to the man with a deadly serious expression.

He looked somewhat disturbed at my speech.

"You really are one scary-ass kid, you know that? I won't tell anyone what happened down there, though. What happened in the sewer stays in the sewer. All I want to know is, do I have to worry about goblins coming into my house at night or no?"

I gave him a half-smile as I spoke.

"Not one bit. I said they were all dead and I meant it. I double-checked before I came back the first time, and had plenty of time to look around while being chased by that psychopath. I didn't see a single one left alive."

The man smiled and sighed with relief.

"I'll let the guild know it was you that completed the request. By the way, what's your name?"

"Mizik. That's M-I-Z-I-K," I spelled my name out for him as he wrote on a slip of paper.

"Okay, I'll uh...need the request sheet for a moment..." His voice trailed off as he saw my blood-soaked hands.

I reached into my inventory and grabbed the sheet by the corner of the page and handed it to him. He took it and after signing off on it handed the form back to me.

"I'll help you to the door. It was a pleasure working with ya. And umm...sorry about hiring someone else."

I could tell he seemed genuinely sorry about it and I couldn't fault him. I had been down there for three days and this guy just wanted peace of mind from the goblins.

"Don't mention it. And if you need something dead, just ask for me specifically, alright?" I said.

A bit of self-promotion couldn't hurt, right? I think I did a pretty awesome job here...except for the murder, of course...

He gave me a brisk nod and sent me on my way.

I decided to turn in the request tomorrow. Right now, I wanted to rest.

I looked at the night sky outside and breathed in the fresh air.

Clean air had never tasted so good.

I began to make my way towards the sleeping dragon inn.

A few people who were out late gasped and ran away as they saw me.

I don't know why they're afraid. I look like a job well done.

* * *

I arrived at the inn really late at night and walked in as if everything was normal.

The normally bustling tavern was empty except for Aria, who had been sitting at a table all alone. She was slouched in the chair with her head in her arms.

She's normally quite bubbly, was something wrong?

I really needed to get cleaned up, but I wanted to say hello first.

These people are important to me and I owed it to them to be nice.

"Hey Aria, what's wrong?" I asked from a few feet away.

Her head perked up immediately as she turned and saw me.

Her hopeful expression turned to confusion and slight fear as she let out a shocked gasp with her hands over her mouth.

"Don't worry, it's just goblin blood. I've been really busy for the past three days. Is everything okay?" I asked.

She lowered her hands and I could see tears welling up in her eyes.

"You...dummy!!!" She shouted at me.

What?

"You can't just go disappearing for three days without saying anything to us! We're your family! We...we thought something happened to you!" She shouted as her tears kept flowing.

I could tell she badly wanted to hug me, but I was covered in blood and probably smelled like sewage.

Perfectly understandable. I wouldn't hold it against her, because I probably wouldn't want to hug me either.

Hearing the commotion, the massive frame of Maul came out of the kitchen and charged straight for me.

He stopped when he was about a foot away and recoiled at the smell.

ALRIGHT, I GET IT! I SMELL BAD, OKAY?

Maul burst into tears when he saw me.

Seeing a man as big as him blubber and tear up was pretty moving to me, though.

"Mizik! My one and only grandson! Why didn't you tell us where you were going! We thought you were dead!"

"I...didn't know where I was going. I just took a job. One thing led to another and I ended up fighting goblins in a sewer for three days, is all," I said calmly.

I had no idea they cared so much about me.

Before now, I just looked at them as distant relatives that didn't know me well enough to care.

They see me as family...?

"Honestly Mizik, think about your actions! You should have told us what you were doing before you left, at least! Then we would know where you went!" Snapped a voice behind me.

Cleo had arrived in her usual attire.

Come to think of it, this place was family-owned and operated. Why were they the only family members I had met so far?

I bowed my head to them all and apologized.

"I should have been more straightforward with you all. I'm sorry. I was being selfish..." I said.

"It's okay, Mizik. Really! Just trust us, alright? We might have only met a few days ago, but you're still family to us!" Aria said with a warm smile.

Maul and Cleo both gave me smiles as well.

It was a touching moment. Really. But there was something that needed to be said here. Something that had been almost completely ignored.

"I hate to interrupt this family moment, but I really need to wash up. I feel absolutely disgusting and I'm dead tired." I said.

"Yeah, I love you, Mizik, but you really stink..." Aria said as she covered her nose.

"Before you go, are you hungry? We have leftover food in the kitchen if you want some grub before bed!" Maul said.

"Sure, just bring it to my room, if that's okay. It's-"

"I'll tell him. I know exactly what room you're in, dear. Just go wash up!" Cleo interrupted while shooing me away.

I nodded and went off to my room.

* * *

I immediately went into the bathroom and stripped off all my armor and clothes, then got in the bath.

I scrubbed myself off for the better part of an hour and even had to drain the water twice because of how filthy I was.

Eventually, I was fully cleaned up.

I looked at my battered and bloodstained armor as well as my old clothes on the floor.

I had more money now, so I could probably afford some new armor and better clothes.

Regardless, I reached into my inventory and put on a fresh set of clothes, then stored the dirty items in there as well.

I also washed my hands after touching them.

Finally, I sat down at a chair that had been brought in my room and downed a bowl of hot stew sitting on the dresser.

Maul really is an awesome cook, I should think about having him teach me!

My eyes had never felt so heavy in my life. Everything hurt and all I wanted was to lay down and drift away.

I plopped down on the bed and passed out.