233 Don’t waste time, please! part “Follow me.”
Ryu said coldly to the beastkin girl, after watching Risa order her around he finally understood that to get her to obey him he needed to act tough. He didn’t know if this was because of the abuse she suffered or if it was a racial trait, but it didn’t change the fact that he had to appear strong in front of her.
The beastkin girl followed him meekly until they were right in front of Famine, Ryu then proceeded to tie her hands to the amarok’s saddle to prevent her from falling. After being restrained, the beastkin girl struggled just a little emitting some pitiful moans, that is until Risa too climbed on top of the amarok and had her own legs tied to the saddle in the same manner as the beastkin, bringing her some relief.
Of course the beastkin didn’t understand the meaning of his actions and Ryu had no time to spare in useless exnations that would fall into deaf ears anyway, but since Risa was maimed, she had no means of grasping Famine’s reins leaving them no choice but to tie her too.
“I would ask you to tie my hands too but...”
Risa chuckled, but Ryu didn’t find her joke funny in the slightest.
“I don’t get it Risa, how can you be so careless? If I were in your shoes I would lose my mind.”
“Don’t be silly Ryu, I’ve watched people die since I was eight, this is nothing to me. Besides, adventurers have this saying: as long as there’s life there’s a way. I don’t care if I get my hands back today, tomorrow or next year, just knowing that it’s feasible gives me the strength to keep going.”
“That’s pretty deep, I didn’t expect thating from you.”
.....
“Hey, I resent that. I might not be in top shape but I’m still a rank C instructor and as soon as I get my hands back I won’t ck off anymore and train as much archery as i can to be dual ss.”
Her eyes looked resolute, but Ryu could feel a hint of hesitation on her voice.
“Fine, I’m sorry miss Risa. Now listen, don’t cut the ropes if you’re not in immediate danger, let Famine do all the fighting. I need you to keep the girl calm until we get to the goblin vige. You’re in the front position so it will be up to you to cut branches and leaves to prevent them from hitting you on the face. Famine moves pretty quickly.”
Risa nodded in response and showed her sharp katars to Ryu.
When Bardun noticed that Ryu was done with the preparations, he signaled his soldiers to start marching south. He knew the way towards their vige would be long and filled with dangers, but there was nothing he could do to avoid it. If only he wasn’t captured, he would have been able to gather enough information about the phenomenon and go back on his own.
But reality was rarely how he wanted it to be. Just like most young goblins, Bardun had always dreamed on bing the vige leader and obtaining many wives. He dreamed of the honor and glory he would get after a long and uneventful period.
As a youngling, his dream always ended with him meeting his end against a bear or something of the sorts, having a warrior’s death.
But things got reallyplicated after he met Ryu.
He had already outlived his life expectancy by half a year, his body had be almost as big as a human but a lot stronger even than regr adventurers. This filled him with hope and fear in equal measure, because he wanted to lead the goblins to surpass their past glories as the strongest race in the.
Bob and Luke stood still watching as their friend headed south with an army of goblins by his side, even now they found it hard to believe that a human would be able to be an integral part of the goblin society. It was something that seemed to be taken straight from one of the adventure novels they so much enjoyed, but they were too proud of their friend to be envious.
Mia was still greatly affected. She knew what Ryu had asked her to do, but she wasn’t sure she would be able to do so.
Luke’s stench was disgusting, but so strong it was more than enough to keep her filled with energy without the need for bodily fluids. The energy he emanated reeked of lust and desire beyond what she had ever felt before, but the taste didn’t fit her picky pte.
It was necessary though, because if what Lea told them was the truth, just staying near Ryu she was weakening him. She told them how the priest ss was the most sacred because it was the only ss that not only used mana or stamina in their skills, but energy and that was the reason why priests needed to be celibate. When people have intercourse, their bodies expel life energy in preparation to produce new life, it wasn’t just an exchange of fluids but also energy.
After hearing this, it wasn’t so difficult to understand why Ryu was getting weaker by the day.
Although Ryu hadn’t experienced much action in that sense, Mia kept draining him of his energy. As long as she remained by his side, he simply wouldn’t be any stronger and the only way for him to avoid reverting back to his old weak self that couldn’t even sustain his passive skills was to be celibate.
The first signs of the mana season were starting to appear in the skyline as Ryu disappeared on the deep forest along with the army of goblins. The beastkin girl riding on top of the horse sized wolf like creature was thest to disappear from sight.
And just like that, Bob and Luke remained in the tform expecting Helena to migrate south just like the beasts had been doing, not knowing that she was too busy trying to save the people from Bet-el and it wasn’t on her ns to do so.
After just a couple minutes of staring into the distance, Luke finally realized that they were on top of a wooden tform in the treetops, without much food and no water source.
“Hey Bob, I think we should get ready. If the mana season is anything like it was on Ironwoods we might be in a tough spot.”
Luke said with worry in his face, yet Bob didn’t stop smiling.
“So, do you want us to go hunting or something?”
They spent a good amount of time in the middle of the forest and they knew how to survive, what they didn’t know though was if it was even possible for them to withstand any harsh climate inside that building.
The ‘freeze’ that urred in Ironwoods once a year, was nothing but a sudden cold snap announced by the lights in the sky. But if everything they heard from Lea was the truth, they could expect anything from heavy lightning to even earthquakes.
The only preparation they knew for sure they needed to make, was grab as much water and food as they could before locking themselves up.
Thanks to Ryu’s guidance and the goblin’s diligent work, the refuge on top of the trees was huge and well built, giving them at least some amount of security.
“Uh, Luke, Do you know how to operate the lift?”
“What!?”
“The elevator thing.”
Bob pointed at the elevator near the tform.
“I know what a damn elevator is, it’s just that only now I noticed that we won’t be able to go hunting together. If we both go down, who will pull us up then?”
Discouraged by their finding, they sat on the rim of the tform with their feet hanging. The lights in the sky became more intense as time passed by and they were yet to find a solution to their problem.
“I think you should go hunting, you’re fast on your feet and you should be able to catch something.”
Bob suggested.
“Me!? but you’re way stronger! you should be able to deal even with magical beasts. If I find anything stronger than a red cobra I’ll have my ass handed to me, not to mention I don’t even have a proper weapon!”
After some infighting, they finally resorted to y rock, paper, scissors to decide who was going hunting and who remained in the tform. Letting time pass like that was less than efficient, but it was better than fighting in between them.
“This takes me back to the time before we met Ryu.”
Luke sighed, making a fist with his hand a bit embarrassed by his past behavior.
“A-ha! I win!”
Said Bob after cing his open palm on top of Luke’s hand.
“Hey! that’s cheating!”
Lukeined trying to release himself from Bob’s grip, but to no avail.