《A Superior Being Will Always Rise ... Even If They're A Goblin》 Prologue: Goblin Holds No Grudge Hello, customer service? No, nothing major, I¡¯d just like an explanation as to why I¡¯ve been reincarnated as a goblin. There¡¯s nothing you can do? I¡¯m very sorry, but that¡¯s just unacceptable. God told me that my memories would be fuzzy, but never said anything about becoming a goblin. How do I know I wasn¡¯t always a goblin? No matter how fuzzy my past life is I distinctly remember being a human. Are you insulting my intelligence? Good sir, are you insinuating that my intellect is no better than that of a goblin? Why I never! Oh well, some things can¡¯t be helped. Leaving my mental breakdown aside, things aren¡¯t that bad ¡­ is something only an idiot would say! First of all, I¡¯m a goblin ¡­ a goblin! The weakest of the weak, fodder amongst fodder, an enemy not fit to make an appearance outside the beginner areas.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Second, I¡¯m but a wee child, wholly unable to defend myself, completely at fate¡¯s cruel whims. Lastly, I¡¯m a goblin. When you think of goblins what are the thoughts that come to mind? Nothing good, right? Goblins stink, they¡¯re ugly, their so called language is basically a bunch of annoying screeches, and they have no concept of cooked food much less good tasting food. Calm down. Everything is going to be just fine. Screaming at imaginary people in your head isn¡¯t going to help anything. Now then, let¡¯s assess the situation shall we. I¡¯m a goblin. I¡¯m less than a day old. I can almost, just barely crawl. On a positive note, I¡¯m a goblin. Goblins grow quickly so it shouldn¡¯t take too long for me to be up and moving around. Wait a second ¡­ don¡¯t goblins have short life spans to go along with their quick growth? As I thought being a goblin sucks! Couldn¡¯t I have at least been reincarnated as a slime? At least then I could change shape or drop down on top of enemies and suffocate them. Plus, everyone loves slimes, they¡¯re adorable. Alright I¡¯ve decided. From this point forward it shall be my life¡¯s mission to find a way to meet that con artist (god) and give the bastard a piece of my mind ¡­ and a fist to the face ¡­ or two ¡­ or fifty. Goblin Is Optimistic Being reincarnated came as quite a shock to me. After waking up for the first time I realized that my skin was green which caught me even more off guard. Naturally being the cool, calm, collected individual I am, I quickly adapted to the situation and definitely didn¡¯t have a mental break down. Still being a newborn I wasn¡¯t able to move very well so I had plenty of time to gather my thoughts. After carefully piecing things together I came to the conclusion that the con artist (god) reincarnated me into a goblin. Speaking of the con artist, I seem to recall being given an overly long explanation about the way things work in this world. I went out of my way to learn about the currency and different cultural norms. Although most of the things I learned from the scheming con artist have been rendered completely useless due to my current dilemma, I remember hearing that all living beings in this world have a status. Their status contains information about them and their abilities. The useless con artist said ¡°all living beings¡±. The trash master con man may not be trustworthy, but there is still hope implied in those words. Monsters are living things after all, and goblins are monsters. So, goblins should also have a status just like everyone else, monsters and animals included. The only thing that worries me is that the back stabbing con artist only ever talked about how humans, elves, and other intelligent humanoid species use their status. The key word being intelligent. Animals and monsters, especially goblins, aren¡¯t exactly known for their intellect. In fact, they are mostly known for their lack of said intellect and how that ultimately causes their down fall. Now then, moment of truth, according to the vile scum lord con artist in order to view your status you only have to think about it and it should appear in front of you as a screen that only you can see. Although he who shall not be trusted said it isn¡¯t visible to others I would prefer to check my status in a place where others can¡¯t see just to be safe. Unfortunately I am unable to do that so I can only give up or take the risk. Since goblins aren¡¯t the brightest bunch I guess I¡¯ll take the risk. Struggling to move my head I look around and check my surroundings. Although it is a bit dark in this here cave my eyes have adapted to the darkness well. Next to me on the fur I¡¯m lying on are four ugly green goblins. Of course this is only what I can see. Looking around while lying on your back isn¡¯t exactly the best way to scout out your surroundings. The other baby goblins don¡¯t look like they are able to move around either and their heads don¡¯t look like they¡¯ll be budging any time soon. As such, there is a goblin on my right who has their eyes firmly set on me. Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves I¡¯ve finally firmed my resolve ¡­ [status open]
Name: Race: Goblin Gender: M Age: 0 Level: 0
HP: 50/50 DEF: 20 STR: 30 AGI: 18
MP: 20/20 MGD: 20 MGA: 10 Points Available: 0
Skills: Adaptability; Night Vision; Superhuman Strength
Special:
It actually worked! From what I know an average adult human who has never fought or leveled should be have around ten for each stat. Goblins are monsters so naturally they get a little head start to make up for their lack of intelligence. Considering that I am less than a day old having both an age and level of zero is completely understandable. I don¡¯t think goblins name their offspring, after all I¡¯ve never heard of a normal goblin having a name. The skills that I have are not too bad. Superhuman Strength should be a skill that most monsters get which is a small multiplier to strength. Adaptability allows me to better adapt to my environment and should be a standard goblin skill. Unless I¡¯m mistaken my Night Vision skill should have been obtained because of Adaptability. Special would be the place for cheats who get special abilities or divine protection. Unfortunately for me that kind of thing is usually reserved for heroes and special individuals, hence why it¡¯s called special. Naturally as a goblin I¡¯m not privy to that kind of special treatment. Being a baby is way too inconvenient. It takes a ton of energy in order to barely move an inch, and I don¡¯t really have anything else I can do. My options to kill time are as follows: move my limbs slightly, stare at the ceiling, think about random things, or sleep. You may have noticed that other than sleep the rest of the things I have an option to do can all be done at once, how versatile. Since I¡¯m a bit tired and there is literally nothing else I could possibly do I suppose it¡¯s time for a nap. I take a light stretch as I wake up from my nap. Finally the advantages of being a goblin have a chance to shine through. Although I don¡¯t know how long I was asleep, it was long enough for me to have grown quite a bit. Not to mention, I now have a bit better control over my body and can finally move more than a few inches. I can hear some noise coming from a distance. With a bit of effort I manage to sit myself up and look around. Currently we are inside of some sort of cave. From the looks of things there is only one entrance. If I had to hazard a guess I would say this is a room they use for raising newborns. After a few seconds of waiting the source of the noise finally reveals itself. As expected, a wrinkly old goblin walks in using a stick as a cane. As his eyes scan the room he is visibly surprised when he notices me sitting up. Perhaps it¡¯s unusual for a goblin to move around and sit up on their own so soon, but do you really need to be that surprised?Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. After doing another quick scan of the other goblins I somehow understand why the old guy¡¯s so surprised. In total there are eight other newborns in the cave. Most of them are sleeping while the ones who are awake seem to barely be able to move their limbs. I finish checking my surroundings and move my eyes back to the old goblin. He seems to have noticed my gaze and stares back at me. Squinting slightly I continue to stare, refusing to even blink. After a few seconds the old goblin blinks a few times and looks at the other newborns before returning his line of sight to me. Noticing his look I give a triumphant smirk. The old goblins face twitches ever so slightly before he turns around and leaves the entrance of the room, leaving me to my own devices. Since I don¡¯t have anything to do I try to stand up. Unfortunately I haven¡¯t quite reached the point where I can do that yet. Unable to leave the room for the time being, I¡¯m once again left with nothing to do but ponder the mysteries of the world. Now that I think about it there¡¯s magic in this world. Although goblins aren¡¯t exactly known for their magical prowess, it doesn¡¯t hurt to try. The main issue now is that I know absolutely nothing about magic. Since I have MP that should mean I have the capacity to do magic right? In that case I just have to take my time and sense the magic in my body, maybe. After a couple of minutes I have made approximately zero progress. Well, it¡¯s no real surprise considering I¡¯m basically winging it. Although I could keep trying to progress with magic there is still one more thing that I should probably do first. Come up with a name. As a highly intelligent and sophisticated individual it is entirely improper for me to go without a name. Since my parents, whom I have never met, are shirking the responsibility of providing me with a name it is only natural that as their son I take over this duty. Honestly I¡¯m thankful that I haven¡¯t been named yet. If I was named then it would mean that a goblin named me. Although I¡¯ve never bothered researching a goblin¡¯s naming sense I can only assume that it is as lacking as their intelligence. In this way, perhaps I am quite lucky. Now, on to my magnificent name. If I¡¯m going to have a name naturally it has to be something cool and noble to fit my demeanor. Not only that it must also be something easy to say, after all I don¡¯t want some buffoons mispronouncing it and turning my glorious self into a joke. After a bit of contemplating I have narrowed down my choices to a few choices: Leon, a simple yet heroic and bold name fitting my character; Maltavious, an elaborate and cool sounding name suitable for a cool person such as myself; Siegfried, an elaborate and heroic name perfect for an adventurous spirit like me; and finally Jellal, mostly because I like the name. Leon and Siegfried are both great names but I feel they don¡¯t really suit a goblin so I guess I¡¯ll have to pass on them. That just leaves Maltavious and Jellal. Maltavious, while a cool name, has a demon lord sort of vibe to it. If some goody too shoes heard it they would probably try to hunt me down. In order to preserve my life I guess I will have to put this name on the shelf as well. In the end I¡¯ve decided to go by Jellal from this point on. Whether or not it will be recognized by others is out of my control, but no matter what I will always be Jellal in my own mind. Fufufu, now to see if it takes ¡­ [status open]
Name: Jellal Race: Goblin Gender: M Age: 0 Level: 0
HP: 250/250 DEF: 30 STR: 40 AGI: 27
MP: 100/100 MGD: 30 MGA: 15 Points Available: 0
Skills: Adaptability; Night Vision; Superhuman Strength
Special: Named Monster
Seriously? It¡¯s that easy to become a named monster? I thought named monsters were supposed to be super rare and powerful. Why is it that all I had to do to become a legendary named monster was to give myself a name? I knew monsters had a tendency to be a bit lacking in the brain department, but I didn¡¯t think it was to such an extent. Named Monster seems to be similar to Superhuman Strength in that it gives a multiplier to my stats. It also gave me a sizeable boost in HP and MP. With this I should be one step closer to learning magic. Although it was faint, I did have a warm feeling after I gave myself a name. In my opinion it could be one of two things. It was either a side effect of me becoming stronger as my stats increased, or it was because of the boost in MP. Personally I hope it was the later. If it was, then I would have at least some inkling of a direction to move towards in my pursuit of magic. Steadying my breathing I try to recall the feeling I felt previously. Since I was getting distracted and thinking about my surroundings my concentration was slightly lacking. I close my eyes in hopes to improve my miniscule chances of learning magic. Still I sense nothing special, but I refuse to give up so easily. In order to get in the right frame of mind I sit cross legged and place my hands near my knees like a monk in meditation. I refocus myself and seek to see deeper into myself, beyond the surface. Just when I thought I was feeling something my concentration is interrupted. Once again there is someone noisily moving towards the entrance to the room. My face twitches slightly as I slowly open my eyes and glare toward the cave entrance. Making his appearance once again is the old goblin. This time he is carrying some brown sort of cloth that¡¯s being used as a makeshift pouch. After entering the room the old goblin puts down the cloth and picks up a few pieces of raw meat that was contained within. He takes the meat, which seems to have some sort of herb smeared on it, and brings it to the baby goblins. For some reason I am the last to receive my food. As expected this geezer is a petty old fool who holds a grudge after losing to a newborn in a staring contest. Since he is being petty I glare at him as he starts to leave. Sensing my glare the old goblin turns his head to look back at me. Right before he turned his head back I¡¯m pretty sure I saw his face twitch, but that¡¯s to be expected from a petty geezer. The old goblin then proceeded to leave just as quick and noisily as he came. Around me the other baby goblins are lying on their backs happily eating the raw meat they were given. I turn my gaze to the meat in my hand. I slowly bring the meat up to my face and give it a sniff. While it doesn¡¯t smell great at least it doesn¡¯t smell too bad, though that may have something to do with the herbs smeared all over it. Strengthening my resolve I bring the lukewarm meat to my mouth and take a small bite. The meat is pretty tough, but luckily I have sharp teeth to tear through it. I do my best to force it down even though the mix of blood and flesh in my mouth tastes awful. After finishing that sorry excuse for a meal I once again resume my meditative pose. Once more I close my eyes and focus inward trying my best to perceive that which can¡¯t be seen. Slowly I start to feel something deep within. I take deep breaths to calm myself and try to go deeper, more precise. I immerse myself in the feeling and slowly back out from within, bringing my focus first to myself as a whole, and then outward beyond just me and to the world at large. Success! I don¡¯t know if what I sensed was magic or something else, but I¡¯m happy with the results regardless. Now that I can sense something after great focus the next step is to do it with my eyes open. I once again begin focusing on the feeling I had before. This time I have to deal with the distractions in my surroundings as I keep my eyes open and alert, after all what good is magic if you can¡¯t see what you¡¯re doing and you leave yourself completely at the mercy of others when you use it. The distractions in the surroundings cause problems at first, but I¡¯m sure I can gradually adapt and manage to successfully sense my surroundings regardless. I may not be very good yet, but I have plenty of time on my hands. If things go as planned, it should just be a matter of time before I¡¯m able to sense magic and my surroundings like it¡¯s second nature. Failure! Time and time again I fall into the same trap. Just when I think I¡¯ve got the hand of it something catches my attention and all the effort and concentration that I¡¯ve put into sensing my surroundings goes to waste. I don¡¯t want to admit it, but I may have slightly overestimated how difficult it is to sense my surrounds. It seems it isn¡¯t easy to pay attention to so many things at once. I thought it would be the same as it is with the rest of the body¡¯s senses where it would be able to just happen normally and I won¡¯t even have to think about it. That thinking was na?ve on my part. Now that I really sit down and think about it, it does make sense. The senses are like breathing, they happen naturally without having to think about it. If you had to think about breathing constantly you would have a hard time concentrating on anything. After all, if you stopped breathing because you were focusing on something else that would be pretty bad. Regardless of my failed attempts I will definitely keep persevering until I can sense magic and my surroundings without thinking about it. Where does my confidence come from? This is a world of magic. The existence of magic is something that is considered the norm, common knowledge if you will. As such, it is only natural that sensing magic should be considered normal as well. If sensing and using magic is normal why are there swordsman and knights instead of everyone just using magic all the time? To that I say; don¡¯t think about things to deeply, my reasoning is completely airtight, perfect, flawless. Spending too much time on the same thing can be detrimental to one¡¯s progress. They say if you focus too hard on one thing it¡¯s easy to miss what¡¯s right under your nose. With that reasoning I shall take a break from my practice and take a nap. No matter how much of a magical genius I am I can¡¯t avoid the fact that I¡¯m still a baby. In order to grow properly I need to take care of my body, and the best way to do that is to make sure I don¡¯t overwork myself. It may have been less than a day so far but it looks like growing up and living as a goblin isn¡¯t going to be as difficult as I had originally imagined. Originally I was worried that I would end up being killed by adventurers before I even had a chance to settle in to this new world. Adaptability truly is a skill befitting me. I was able to adapt to being in a new world and becoming an entirely different species. Soon I¡¯ll adapt to the magic in the world and be able to sense magic as easy as breathing. I¡¯ve let my thoughts wonder enough. My biological clock says it¡¯s getting late so I should turn in for the night. Given my growth rate I should be able to stand and move properly when I wake up tomorrow. Fufufu, when you¡¯re a child being a goblin is quite convenient isn¡¯t it? Goblin Is Perfectly Calm I have finally reached a true milestone in this new life of mine. What milestone? Today I have officially turned one day old! It may not seem like much to a human, but to a goblin like me it signifies finally having enough control over our bodies to move around ¡­ kind of. The other baby goblins are struggling to roll over and sit up, basic tasks like these. That doesn¡¯t apply to me. Why? Because I am special. I am a goblin destined to stand at the top, at the pinnacle of the species. I let out a slight yawn and do a morning stretch to help myself wake up. I slowly sit up and look around the room. The eight other baby goblins are rolling all over the place. There are even a few who are trying their best to sit up. Looking at the little guys doing their best to accomplish such basic tasks is quite amusing. What a pathetic bunch. They¡¯re concentrating so hard just to sit. Looking at their struggling faces it almost makes me pity them. I tense up my muscles one by one and a smile floats its way onto my face. Placing my left palm on the ground I use my arm as a brace and carefully begin to straighten my legs. Straightening both my back and my legs I have finally made my first steps towards independence. I have stood up under my own power. My great triumph didn¡¯t last long though. As it turns out, finding a proper sense of balance after standing for the first time isn¡¯t so easy. Trying to steady myself I wobble back and forth my arms extended to both sides spinning in circles all the while. With a thud I fall on my backside, barely getting my hands down to help mitigate the impact. A light pain shoots through my body as I let out a muffled grunt. Checking my surroundings I spot a baby goblin who has managed to successfully sit himself upright. A plan quickly forms in my mind as I crawl over to the splendid lad, coming to a stop after I have placed myself right behind him. Once again I enact my plan to stand up. However, before I can stand all the way up I extend my right hand and place it on the top of my fellow goblins head. Using his head as a brace I stand all the way up. Unlike what happened last time, I manage to maintain my balance with the slight assistance of my fellow goblin. Fufufu, while the others are rolling around on the ground like the helpless fools they are, I have already proved my superiority and am able to stand on my own two feet. I can¡¯t help but smirk as I put my left hand on my hip and strike a pose to commemorate my great accomplishment. Slowly I move my hand off my assistants head. With my legs spread should width apart I slowly wobble back and forth trying to find my sense of balance. Whenever I feel like I¡¯m about to lose my balance I promptly seek assistance from the nearby baby goblin. After tightly gripping the other goblins head about five times I have finally gotten comfortable standing without any help. Moving my upper body I lean forward before once again straightening my back. I lean in the same fashion in every direction making sure I can keep my balance without any help. My actions may seem pointless but they are necessary. If I can¡¯t maintain my balance while simply standing how could I possibly progress further. That¡¯s right; I¡¯m preparing myself to take my first steps! How could a superior being like me be content with merely standing? Obviously such a thing is impossible. After confirming my balance I try to take a step forward. Despite my best efforts I am unable to maintain my balance and tumble to the ground in defeat. A minor setback! My path to greatness shall not be halted so easily! I once again resort to the demeaning method of self-propulsion known as crawling as I weave between the baby goblins and make my way to a nearby wall. Using the wall as a brace I rise once more. Keeping my right hand on the wall I take a step forward. Awkward as it may be, I have successfully taken a step forward. On the back of my success I reposition my hand and take another step. The process repeats itself until I have taken more than ten steps. The awkwardness in my moves has gradually decreased as I have started to get the hang of walking with the assistance of the wall. I refuse to be content with just this though! I slowly retract my hand a few inches away from the wall. Once again standing under my own power I take a step forward. Losing my balance I reach for the safety of the wall and steady myself. After regaining my balance I remove my hand again and repeat the process. The scene of me trying to move forward, before grabbing the wall to prevent myself from falling down, repeated nearly a hundred times before I was finally able to consistently walk next to the wall in a somewhat stable manner. Confident in my newfound walking ability I distance myself from the wall. Without the wall acting as a safety net, I move towards the center of the room where I slept previously. Back at my usual spot I sit down and begin focusing on my sensing practice. I thought about practicing while standing, but since I can barely walk right now I don¡¯t think it would turn out too well. In order to not embarrass myself the only option is to get to the point where either walking, sensing, or both are things I¡¯m able to do as easy as breathing. Unfortunately it will take some time before I reach that level. Before long the sound of someone noisily making their way towards the entrance of the room reaches my ears. Coming into view at the entrance of the room is yet again the only adult goblin I¡¯ve seen so far. The old goblin has the same brown cloth that he brought with him yesterday. Setting down the cloth he removes the fruits held inside and starts bringing them to the baby goblins. As usual, the geezer gives the other baby goblins their food first. When the old guy finally gets around to my turn he takes his sweet time picking up the fruit. I follow the same routine as before and glare at him when he finally turns to make his way over to me. Squinting slightly the two of us engage in yet another staring contest as he meanders his way over. With a twitching face he hands over my meal after having been soundly defeated by the staring contest master. I naturally accept the food with a victorious smirk causing a vein to visibly bulge on the old goblins forehead. He gives one last glare before letting out a snort and turning to leave.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. After seeing off the old goblin I turn my attention to the fruit. The fruit is pink in color with a smooth exterior. It doesn¡¯t have much weight to it while only being about the size and shape of an orange. I take a large bite out of the fruit to discover it is rather bitter. I finish off the rest of the fruit while lost in thought. The fruit made for yet another awful meal but it did help me notice one thing; the more I eat of something the less of it I taste. I don¡¯t know if this is a goblin thing or if it¡¯s a condition suffered by me alone, but I do find it pretty helpful when eating the awful stuff we¡¯re being given as food. Having finished my meal I resume my magic training. Although I¡¯m not progressing as quickly as I would¡¯ve hoped, any progress is better than staying stagnant. My training continues until I find myself having problems staying focused. Since doing the same thing over and over again can get in your head I¡¯ve decided to put my training on the back burner for now. With that in mind I stand up and continue my walking practice. I weave my way between the baby goblins, my speed and stability increasing as time marches on. It would be bad if I get too used to moving only in one direction so I switch up my movement every now and then. Sometimes I do back steps while others I work on doing side steps. After getting comfortable I start switching directions at a moment¡¯s notice. When I slide back and forth I can almost imagine someone trying to drive past me, but unfortunately for the imaginary man my defense is too solid. Having worked up a good sweat I blow the imaginary whistle in my head to signal the end of practice. I drag my heavy body back to my usual spot and lay down, since I can¡¯t take a shower to clean myself off I can only go to sleep all sweaty. With my back firmly planted on the hard ground I close my eyes to try to catch some sleep. Unlike the usual situation where my mind wonders about before I can fall asleep, my eyelids feel heavy and my consciousness is quickly sent off to dreamland. My eyes jolt open as I¡¯m awakened by a sudden bang. Sitting up and looking around, everything in the room appears to be normal. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on but I have a terrible sense of foreboding. Every part of my being is telling me that I¡¯m in danger. I focus my ears and try to pick up any hints I can as to what is happening outside the room. Although faint, I can hear goblins screaming along with a considerable amount of footsteps. As expected, there is definitely something happening outside. Without going out and taking a look I can¡¯t tell exactly what is going on but I have a general idea of the situation. Judging by the goblins screaming and running all over the place as well as some other indistinct noises it doesn¡¯t take a genius like me to figure out we¡¯re under attack. The first suspect would be other monsters but I find that unlikely. Other monsters may attack goblins for food but other than that they would have nothing to gain from attacking our nest. Since there should be a decent number of goblins in the nest it would be unlikely for a single monster to attack this place. It could be a group of monsters, but they would probably be able to find a much better place to hunt or live than this place. The main suspect in this attack would be adventurers in my opinion. Goblins are seen as a nuisance to the intelligent races and adventurers make a living getting rid of monsters that have value or are considered a nuisance. Since goblins grow quickly it¡¯s only natural they would get rid of any nest they find before it becomes an issue. After all, twenty goblins are much easier to deal with than a hundred. While assessing the situation I hear the sound of footsteps drawing closer at an alarming rate. Compared to the sounds the old goblin makes when he comes to visit the sound of these footsteps has a lot more weight to it. My speculation of an adventurer raid seems to have been right on the money if the footsteps are any indication. Panicking slightly I rush to get up and make a move toward the back of the cave. As I stumble around I hear the footsteps drawing ever closer. Looking about as I move I finally reach my destination. I quickly drop to the ground and pull up the edge of the fur pelt us baby goblins spend most of our time on top of. Sliding under the edge of the pelt I move back a bit towards the middle of the room. After getting far enough in that I won¡¯t be easily exposed I lay flat and try to make myself seem like part of the terrain. [Newborns? How disgusting.] I hold my breath and try to become the ground as the source of the footsteps arrives while spouting insults. I do my best not to tremble as the adventurer casually makes his way into the room. Every time his footsteps approach a baby goblin it¡¯s accompanied by the sound of metal cutting flesh and bone. Blood seeps through the pelt as the goblin nearest to me is killed in cold blood. The adventurer leisurely makes his way to the last goblin left alive on top of the pelt. Along the way he steps right next to the top of my head. After finishing off the last remaining goblin the adventurer makes his way out of the room. The slaughter may have taken less than a minute but for me it felt like an eternity. I was sure he would find me hiding under the pelt and kill me like the rest of the goblins in the nest. Maybe he assumed none of the baby goblins in the room were smart enough and capable enough to hide under the fur. Who was the idiot who said that being a goblin is convenient? Show yourself so I can give you a beating. If it wasn¡¯t for my superior intellect and motor skills I would have died the same as the other goblins. If I was more than a day old maybe I would have had some chance to defend myself, but at this point in my life fighting a full grown human is still impossible. Having narrowly escaped death I slowly inch my way out from under the pelt. Sliding out from under the pelt I slowly get to my feet. Silently celebrating my survival I brush the dirt off my body and casually turn to face the entrance. My movements come to a sudden halt when I look at the entrance of the room. At the entrance of the room is a blonde beauty staring at me with a surprised look on her face. Her bright blue eyes meet mine as we stare at each other both shocked at the turn of events. The female adventurer is wearing a set of light grey robes and is holding some sort of staff in her hands. Based on her appearance my best guess is that she¡¯s likely a magician of some sort. Unlike the male adventurer who showed up prior, I didn¡¯t hear her coming at all. The gears in my head spin at full force as I kick my mind into overdrive to think of a way out of this situation. Alas there is nothing I can do. It would appear my fate is sealed. In an act of desperation I cautiously make my way over to my nearest fallen brethren while maintaining eye contact with the beauty before me. Finally reaching the corpse I bend down and put my hand in the blood seeping from his wounds. I smear the blood on my neck and chest while still keeping an eye on the female adventurer. Following that I hold my left hand at my chest while my right hand rises above my head. I promptly spin in a circle while clutching my chest and fall dramatically to the ground. To top off my performance I stick out my tongue and let out a death noise while tightly shutting my eyes. [¡­ eh] Keeping my eyes tightly shut I wait for nearly a minute while doing all I can to stop myself from trembling. If this plan fails then the only thing left waiting for me is death. Cautiously I open one of my eyes to take a peak to see if the adventurer had left yet. To my dismay, the first thing that caught my eye was the grey robed adventurer still standing at the entrance of the room staring at me. My eye promptly slammed shut as I began to tremble slightly waiting for the end to come. Before I could gather my thoughts the sound of heavy footsteps made their way into my ears. The male adventurer who massacred the other baby goblins is coming back. Knowing that the male adventurer will likely notice me if I stay where I am I strengthen my resolve to stick with my current ploy. Opening my eyes I get to my knees and scramble towards the nearest corpse. I glance at the blonde beauty one last time before hiding behind the body and closing my eyes. If I¡¯m going to die at least my last memory will be of something other than a bunch of ugly goblins. The footsteps draw close as I hold my breath and do everything I can to not stand out from the rest of the dead newborns. [Find any more survivors?] [No, rest of the cave¡¯s empty. Let¡¯s hurry up and report to the guild so I can go home.] [So the missing people weren¡¯t kidnapped by these guys?] [It looks that way. Well, it doesn¡¯t matter to me. The job was to wipe out the nests in this area, not search for missing people. Since the job I¡¯m getting paid to do is finished there¡¯s no reason for me to waste my time doing anything else.] The pair of adventurers had a short exchange before the male adventurer left. Even after hearing the footsteps of the male adventure disappear it¡¯s hard to tell whether or not the female adventurer is still here. I could hear the heavy footsteps of the male adventurer every time he was even somewhat close. The female adventurer on the other hand didn¡¯t make a sound. After waiting for a few minutes I worked up my courage and lifted my head to glance towards the entrance of the room. Even though I don¡¯t see any sign of the blonde woman I can¡¯t be too sure of her whereabouts unlike her loud counterpart. I would love to wait until I was absolutely sure the coast is clear but I don¡¯t have that kind of luxury. If the pair is still here I still have time to spare. However, if they report to the guild about wiping out the nest then it¡¯s only a matter of time before the guild sends someone to confirm their report. In order to preserve my life I need to get out of here and find a place to hide before more people show up. If I leave too soon and the pair are still in the area I¡¯m as good as dead. If I take too long and the people from the guild show up to investigate, I¡¯m also dead. I take a few minutes to calm my nerves and lesson the probability the adventurers are still in the area. I casually stand up and make my way to the entrance of the room. As I reach the entryway I realize this will be my first time leaving this room in this brief life of mine. Stepping into the hallway I turn and make my way to right of the entry way. When the adventurers appeared they came and left from this direction so it should lead outside. Step by step I make my way through the cave. Every now and then there will be goblin corpses strewn about, proof of the battle that took place. After nearly a minute of walking I see a light at the end of the tunnel. Beyond that light is where my new life begins. Goblin Is Now Half Ninja As I reach the front of the cave a bright light envelopes my eyes. Squinting, I lift my hand in front of my face to block the light as I wait for my vision to return to normal. When my sight is restored I¡¯m shocked at the scene before my eyes. A beautiful forest inhabited by tall trees whose green leaves forma wondrous canopy that lets just enough light through to keep the atmosphere from feeling dreary while blocking enough sunlight so that the light that manages to penetrate through form beams that perfectly encapsulate the beauty of nature. Lowering my field of vision I can almost hear a record player screech as its needle is knocked away from record. The peaceful beauty of the forest is completely ruined by the thirty or so goblin corpses riddling the ground all around the entrance of the cave. Looking at the blood and scattered bodies I can feel an overwhelming sense of rage and grief building in the pit of my stomach. Unable to control my surging emotions I drop to knees and beat my fists into the ground while holding back my tears. [How dare those bastards ruin this lovely scenery with their dead bodies!] For the first time in my life I have used my mouth to properly speak. I had been avoiding talking since goblins tend to have naturally high pitched, shriek like voices. This time due to my anger at having this amazing scenery ruined I inadvertently spoke out. [My voice is annoyingly high pitched as expected. Ah, ah, ah, ah. I don¡¯t exactly have a lot of range either. Why is it that no matter how I try to change it my voice I still sound so evil?] Having properly let out my voice for the first time I no longer have any reason to hold back. Yet no matter how I try I can¡¯t fix how high pitch and evil my voice sounds. Maybe my dislike for my high pitched goblin voice is effecting my judgement and I don¡¯t really sound like this, but in my opinion I sound like some shady dude who creeps around in back alleys trying to pull innocent children to the dark side of society. Shaking my head back and forth I clear away the distracting thoughts and remind myself to stay focused. Cautiously I move out of the cave, fearfully glancing left and right wary of possible ambushes. Step by step I move until I¡¯m fully out of the cave. I turn around and look back at the cave so I can have a proper idea of what kind of place this truly is. The cave is accessible through an opening in the side of a small cliff. The cliff only three or four times the size of a normal human and runs for quite a distance before decreasing in size and merging with the ground. The cave entrance is barely visible, hidden by various rocks, such that it would be hard to notice if you weren¡¯t specifically looking for it. Delaying no longer, I make my way past the bodies of my fellow goblins and head to the tree line. The trees all around me hamper my vision, constantly obstructing my line of sight. Cautiously I move into the unknown. I would prefer to be even more careful than I already am, but time is of the essence. If people from the guild show up while I¡¯m still here or cross paths with me when I¡¯m making my escape it won¡¯t end well for me. I¡¯m on high alert as I move through the forest. My head is on a swivel and my eyes are constantly scanning for anything out of place. I¡¯ve sharpened my senses to the max and I¡¯m doing my best to maintain my highest level of focus. Only a few minutes have passed but I can already feel my focus wavering slightly. I would like to take a short break so I can keep my concentration as high as possible while moving through this foreign territory, but with my slow pace the place I¡¯m standing would likely still fall in the guilds search radius. I take a quick look behind me to try to gauge how far I¡¯ve gone, but I just see trees. Even if I can¡¯t see the cliff or gauge my distance from where I started I can feel I haven¡¯t gotten far enough away yet. My trek through the forest continues for what I would estimate to be a few hours. Finally I feel like I have put enough distance between me and the nest to be at least somewhat safe. I would continue on just to be safe, but I can tell that my focus has already reached its limit. Staying where I am may not be the safest plan, but I find it preferable to moving in a mysterious forest when I can¡¯t focus. Having decided to take a break here I casually look around for a good place to hide out. Unfortunately my quick search comes up empty. Running short on ideas I let out a sigh and tilt my head back to look at the sky. However, this is a forest so the leaves block my sight of the sky. A smirk floats onto my face as I think of a brilliant idea. Looking around for a prime candidate, I find a tree that¡¯s to my liking. Walking over to the tree I use my claw like nails to dig into its bark. Thankfully I¡¯m light so it doesn¡¯t take much effort to climb up into the tree. Adjusting the branches slightly I find a comfortable place sit. The branch of the tree I chose is close to half the width of a human waist. Although I don¡¯t want to admit, I¡¯m of very small stature. Goblins aren¡¯t known for being the biggest creatures, and I¡¯m only a day old so naturally the branch can hide me easily. Why would I choose to hide in a tree? Goblins and leaves are both green obviously. Hiding in a tree I can use my skins natural pigment as a natural camouflage. This way I can keep an eye on my surroundings without too much worry as long as I don¡¯t do anything to give myself away. Now that I¡¯ve found a place to hide out and my nerves have calmed down I can really feel the fatigue set in. It¡¯s not surprising that I wore myself out, after all this is the first time I left the room I was born in. Not only did I leave the room I also spent a few hours walking through the forest while maintaining peak concentration the whole time. Thinking about it objectively it¡¯s a miracle I managed to get as far as I did without collapsing. Well I guess it¡¯s only natural for a superior being such as myself though. Letting in exhaustion rush over me, I sit down leaning my back against the trunk of the tree. Watching the sun slowly set I dig my nails deep into the tree as I shut my heavy eyelids and accept sleeps sweet embrace. The night passed without incident. The morning sun rose into the sky as sunlight slipped between the leaves to the forest below. The gentle light caressed my face as I lazily opened my eyes. As per usual I do a light stretch after waking up to prepare for the day ahead. If someone was looking up from below my tree right now they would be shocked to see a goblin poke its head out and scout out the surroundings before disappearing yet again behind the branch. Naturally they would have to have exceptional vision since I blend in with the leafy backdrop.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. After checking the surroundings I hide myself and start to make my plans for the day. I don¡¯t have a chance to think about it too deeply before my thoughts are interrupted by my growling stomach. That settles it; the first thing on my to-do list will be to find a source of food and water. On top of finding food I should also put some more distance between me and the nest. Luckily the two aren¡¯t mutually exclusive so I can do both at the same time. I poke my head out and do another quick check of the surroundings before I climb my way down from the tree. Back on solid ground I increase my focus and begin my journey once more. Nearly an hour goes by without having any success finding food. I¡¯m satisfied with the distance I¡¯ve covered but the lack of food is getting a bit worrisome. Just as I was starting to feel down my feet come to a halt. Perking up my ears I can faintly hear the sound of splashing water off in the distance. I resist the urge to run full speed towards the sound and carefully lower my body close to the ground. Being as quiet as possible I sneak toward the source of the splashing while trying my best to blend in with the surroundings. It¡¯s been completely quiet since I initially heard the splashing. The closer I get to the origin of the sound the more I feel something isn¡¯t right. Judging that I¡¯m close enough, I pick out a tree and begin to climb. Every time I sink my nails into the bark I do it methodically to avoid making any noise. Surprisingly it takes a lot of energy to climb so slowly causing me tire out more than I expected. Upon reaching a branch I quietly climb on it and glance around the tree. Because there are other branches in the way I¡¯m unable to get a clear view of what¡¯s happening on the other side. Cautiously I make my way around the tree and on to a branch on the other side. Laying stomach down on the branch I dig my nails in to ensure my stability. At a snail¡¯s pace I peak my head out to observe the ground in the surrounding area. A short distance ahead of the tree that I¡¯m concealing myself in is a decent size stream. I would call it a river but it¡¯s too small to earn that title in my opinion. At the same time it¡¯s a bit too big to be called a stream, thus I have settled on calling it a stream for now. Looking at the stream running horizontally through the forest I focus my eyes to the max. I can feel a minute heat emanating from my eyes but I don¡¯t have time to worry about it. Scanning the bank of the stream carefully I catch sight of a tiny bit of movement. After focusing on that spot for nearly a minute I finally make out a figure concealing themselves near the stream. Even though it should be easy to make out such a figure I had so much trouble spotting them. Making a mental note of where the figure is I continue my scan of the surroundings. Despite spending more than a few minutes, I¡¯m unable to find any other signs of life in the area. Either my best efforts are unable to find something or there is nothing there to begin with. I shift my focus back to the concealed figure. If they¡¯re going to such lengths to hide they must have a reason to do so. Although I can¡¯t figure out how they managed to conceal themselves so well I don¡¯t think it¡¯s camouflage. The only explanation I can think of is that they¡¯re using some sort of skill. Of course if it is a skill that makes my situation even more dangerous than I originally anticipated. If the figure is in fact using a skill it can only be monster that is naturally skilled in stealth or a member of a highly intelligent race, such as a human or an elf, that knows how to use a skill to conceal themselves. At this point I¡¯m unsure if I should take this as a blessing or a curse. Enemies that rely on stealth are usually not as strong, especially defensively, as your average adversary. On the other hand, if they rely on stealth they are probably aware of such weaknesses and are especially wary of their surroundings. Regardless of the true identity of the concealed enemy being cautious and waiting to see how things play out wouldn¡¯t hurt anything. Besides, I doubt they are just sitting there concealing themselves for nothing. Whether they¡¯re hiding from an enemy or trying to ambush prey it doesn¡¯t matter to me, after all the mantis stalks the cicada unaware of the oriole behind. Quietly I shift my body and search behind me to ensure there isn¡¯t an arrow aimed at this oriole¡¯s back; after all I don¡¯t want to be a fool who thinks he¡¯s smart stalking his prey while being stalked in turn. Since I don¡¯t know how long I¡¯ll be waiting here I once again begin practicing my perception while simultaneously concealing myself and keeping a close watch on the hidden figure. Doing so many things at the same time is difficult since your focus needs to be at multiple places at once but I shall persevere, as they say practice makes perfect. Nearly half an hour goes by with me patiently waiting for some action to take place. Finally the hidden figure shows some signs of stirring. Even though they shifted slightly they don¡¯t seem to be making any moves, chances are they¡¯re preparing themselves for something. Temporarily taking my line of sight off the hidden figure I search the other side of the stream for signs of movement. In the distance I can barely make out something but can¡¯t say for sure what it is. Even though I can¡¯t say for sure what it is I can tell it¡¯s moving in this direction. The distant figure steadily draws closer to the point where I can finally get a good look at it. The new player in our little game is a young woman with pale skin and long ears. She has bright green eyes that accent her long golden hair and sharp facial features. She¡¯s wearing an elegant set of leather armor that looks easy to move in and accents her tall yet lean frame well. It seems the rumors about how beautiful elves are aren¡¯t exaggerated in the slightest. The woman moves through the forest with ease as she swiftly approaches the stream. Once she gets close to the stream her eyes narrow slightly as she slows down and begins proceeding slowly while being cautious of her surroundings. It seems she noticed that something is out of the ordinary but can¡¯t quite figure out what it is. She comes to a halt on the opposite bank of the stream and scans the ground and the trees carefully with her narrowed eyes. Her eyes stop momentarily on the general area where the hidden figure is and my tree but she can¡¯t seem to pinpoint where we are. It looks like things aren¡¯t going my way as she repeatedly scans the area. I can feel my heart start to race as I¡¯ve once again found myself in quite the pickle. The cogs in my head turn at max speed as I harden my resolve. As her eyes start scanning my tree again I cautiously poke my hand out from behind the branch and use my finger to point at the hidden figure near the bank of the stream. When she notices my pointing hand a stunned look momentarily surfaces on her face before disappearing as if it never happened. The hidden figure seems to have noticed the momentary change in the elf¡¯s expression as it started shifting ever so slightly. Having accomplished my mission of ratting out the hidden figure I slowly retract my hand and continue observing. The hidden figure seems to know something is going on behind it as I can feel another pair of eyes scan the area I¡¯m in. The scan was to no avail as I could feel the eyes move on to look someplace else. While the hidden figure is looking for me it doesn¡¯t seem to have noticed that the elf has locked on to its location. The elf casually takes out her bow and knocks an arrow. The hidden figure seems to have heard her knock the arrow as it shifts once more and the feeling of eyes searching the area disappears entirely. My body tenses as the elf looks in my direction and slowly draws her bow. After coming to full draw she suddenly shifts the bow changing its target from me to the hidden figure. As the arrow is being released the hidden figure tries to dodge by shifting drastically to the side. The arrow speeds through the air and drills its intended target. The hidden figure¡¯s concealment was broken when he tried to avoid the arrow revealing a middle aged man with short brown hair and a long scar running down his left cheek. The man is a bit shorter than average with bushy eyebrows, brown eyes, and bulging muscles. Any chance he had at being called handsome was ruined by the lewd look on his face as he eyes the elf across the stream. [Oya, if it isn¡¯t Ellis. What are you doing here I thought you went home sick?] The elf makes a surprised face as she sarcastically calls out to the middle aged man who was hiding in ambush. Ellis¡¯ face contorts in rage as he glares at the elf on the opposite bank. Grunting lowly he pulls out the arrow that was stuck in his right shoulder as blood begins to leak from the wound. [I used some of my herbs I had stocked at home to reduce my fever. I started feeling better, but since I already took the day off I figured I should resupply on herbs just to be safe. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined you would attack me out of nowhere while I was searching for stream whiskers.] [Attacked you out of nowhere? The area west of Wolf Stream all the way to Hangman¡¯s Valley has been considered a temporarily restricted zone for the last week. You were at the guild this morning so you should know the restriction hasn¡¯t been lifted yet, and since you went home sick you couldn¡¯t have been given authorization by the guild master.] I swallow my saliva as I watch the pair converse. Judging by their conversation they don¡¯t just know each other they work together at the guild. They wouldn¡¯t be talking about skipping out on work if they were adventurers so they must be guild personnel. [Now that I think about it I do recall that being the case! My head has been fuzzy because of the headache so I guess it slipped my mind.] [Really? No wonder you were concealing yourself in a restricted zone, your head was fuzzy from your headache. And here I thought you used being sick as an excuse to leave work early after hearing that I would be carrying out an investigation in the restricted area. Silly me, how could I have such an active imagination.] [Just what are you implying, Sionia?] The elf, Sionia, shows exaggerated facial expressions as she mocks Ellis. Ellis starts sweating and his face becomes panicked as he¡¯s verbally cornered. The pair narrow their eyes as they prepare to engage each other at any moment. [Now that I think about it almost all the adventurers who went missing had either accepted long quests on a day you were working or received a quest at your desk. Let me guess, that¡¯s just a coincidence and you have nothing to do with them disappearing, right?] Ellis¡¯ face twitches as he discreetly reaches into his bag. From behind him I can see him holding a couple of throwing knives and using his bracers to try to hide them from view. His movements didn¡¯t escape Sionia either as she quickly knocks another arrow and keeps her fingers on the string ready to draw her bow at a moment¡¯s notice. Sparks fly as the two glare at each other from across the stream. As the tension builds my hunger gets the best of me and my stomach loudly makes its presence known. Goblin Finds A Friend? After my stomach growled everything went silent and even the air seemed to stagnate as my nerves tensed to the max. [It seems you brought someone along to help you, it¡¯s too bad they¡¯re incompetent. If they ambushed me while I was busy with you I might¡¯ve been in tough spot.] My face twitches when Ellis insults me. I want nothing more than to ask him how it feels being snuck up on by someone who is less than a week old, but I resist in order to ensure my safety. Poking my arm out from behind the branch, I face the back of my fist toward Ellis and extend my middle finger. Seeing a vein bulge on his forehead as he mutters something under his breath while trembling in rage I retract my arm as my patented smirk once again rears its head. With Ellis slightly distracted Sionia hastily draws her bow and launches an arrow at him while strafing to her right. Her opponent isn¡¯t so easily beaten and reacts quickly by deflecting the arrow with the dagger in his right hand while simultaneously returning fire with the throwing knife in his left hand. Following the knife he quickly rushes toward throwing another knife before he reaches the stream. He¡¯s met with an arrow aimed at his thigh which grazes him as he narrowly avoids it. Sionia easily dodges the knives thrown at her while countering with arrows of her own. She frowns slightly watching all her arrows being either dodged or deflected. Neither party wants to cross the stream to engage their opponent since they would be a sitting duck while doing so, yet neither side can manage to gain an advantage while fighting from range. Watching the pair sling projectiles at each other I shimmy my way along the branch. Carefully standing I turn to face a branch from another tree a short distance away. Deeply bending my knees I lean forward and launch myself to the other branch. Latching onto the branch with my nails I quietly pull myself on top of the branch. Cautiously glancing at Ellis I¡¯m relieved to see he hasn¡¯t noticed my antics. Feeling relieved that my opponent is unaware of my moves I silently stalk my way across the branch to the trunk of the tree. I slide around to the opposite side of the tree and locate a branch jutting out in Ellis¡¯ direction. Stealthily I make my way along the branch until I¡¯m almost directly over top of Ellis. Before I have the chance to continue my shenanigans I spot movement in the distance behind Sionia. Lured by the sound of the ongoing battle a trio of wolves are sprinting over to join the fray. Seeing things turning in his favor Ellis grins smugly as he taunts Sionia. [You know Sionia you¡¯ve never been the sharpest tool in the shed. Do you know why I chose to set my ambush on this side of the stream? In order to clear out this area without outside interference the guild made this area into a temporary restricted zone. While most of the monsters on this side of the stream have been killed off the same can¡¯t be said for the side you¡¯re on. By setting my ambush here I could take advantage of the stream when you decided to cross and even if you didn¡¯t my side would be less likely to be effected by outside interference. Don¡¯t worry I won¡¯t let you die easily, after all I still have some use for you hehehe.] Sionia looks disgusted as she listens to Ellis¡¯ taunts. The wolves are quickly closing in so she has no choice but to deal with them while fighting Ellis at the same time. Quickly spinning around she launches an arrow at the closest wolf. The arrow successfully hits its target but the cost of that arrow was a throwing knife to the thigh. She hastily shoots arrows at the remaining wolves but her second shot is knocked off course when she¡¯s struck in the shoulder by yet another throwing knife. Unable to fire another arrow before the wolf reaches her she clicks her tongue and pulls out the dagger hung at her waist. She swiftly plunges the dagger into the wolf¡¯s eye killing it easily. Without having a chance to pull out her dagger she dodges to the side but is still hit in her thigh with a third throwing knife. Sionia once again takes out her bow and begins firing arrows at Ellis. He cackles as he deflects the arrow and throws a knife at her legs. She winces in pain, barely dodging the knife as blood spurts from the wounds on her thigh. The pair continue attacking each other while dodging the others projectiles. The balance slowly shifts toward Ellis¡¯ favor as Sionia¡¯s wounds make it progressively harder and harder to dodge the knives thrown at her. The wound on her shoulder makes it painful for her to fire her bow while also decreasing the accuracy of her shots. Eventually the fight turns one sided as Ellis attacks while Sionia is only able to defend or dodge. No longer having to worry about defense, Ellis ramps up the speed and number of attacks he dishes out. Seeing both parties focusing on each other Jellal moves in to position to start his master plan. Situating himself directly above Ellis he waits for him to throw the knives in both hands. As soon as the knives leave his hands Jellal drops down from above. [Slime Style: Secret Technique ¨C Suffocation From Above] Landing on Ellis¡¯ back he uses his legs to lock down Ellis¡¯ arms. Meanwhile, Jellal uses his hands to force Ellis¡¯ head back while covering his mouth and nose. Thrashing about he tries to use his dagger to slice at Jellal but his arms wrapped up too tight. Struggling to get the nuisance off of him he loses his balance and falls to the ground. Over time his resistance lessens continuously until he finally passes out due to lack of oxygen. Heaving a sigh of relief Jellal pushes Ellis¡¯ unconscious body off from on top of him before slowly standing up. After getting to his feet he lightly brush the dirt off of his body and strikes a victory pose. Across the stream, Sionia knocks an arrow before lifting her bow and aiming at the goblin across the way. Panicking he scrambles behind Ellis and lifts his body up to use it as a shield. Peeking his head slightly over Ellis¡¯ shoulder he peers at Sionia across the stream. She slowly lowers her bow as she stares back at the goblin with a complicated look on her face. Seeing that she no longer has her bow draw he roughly throws his human shield to the ground. Sionia warily starts making her way closer to the stream while keeping a close eye on the mysterious goblin. Seeing that she¡¯s no longer displaying hostility he cautiously removes the throwing knives from Ellis¡¯ hands. While checking to make sure Sionia doesn¡¯t have a change of heart he proceeds by carefully remove Ellis¡¯ dagger and bag.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Sionia comes to a halt when she finally makes it to the stream. She stands there unmoving while staring at abnormal goblin with a look of suspicion plastered all over her face. Naturally as she¡¯s staring at him Jellal stares back at her waiting to see what she¡¯s going to do. Seeing that the situation has stagnated and Sionia is extremely vigilant towards him, Jellal takes the initiative to move things along by taking the things he just took off of Ellis and tossing them to the side away from him as a sign trust. After placing the things to the side he then takes a step back from the unconscious Ellis and raises both his hands above his head to indicate that he is unarmed and means no harm. Sionia is taken aback by his series of moves and is momentarily stunned. She gives him a deep look and hesitates slightly before jumping from one side of the stream to the other. She winces in pain as blood shoots from her wounds upon landing. Having successfully crossed the stream without trouble the suspicion in her eyes diminishes slightly. She starts cautiously walking over to Jellal while keeping her keen eyes trained on him. Jellal slowly lowers his tired arms in turn as the tension in his body gradually starts to dissipate. The two eventually end up face to face with one another with only a few feet separating them. The little goblins face spasms when he realizes he doesn¡¯t even reach Sionia¡¯s waist and would have to tilt his head back at an extreme angle just to look at her face if they were to stand right next to each other. Looking at the beauty in front of him Jellal starts feeling nervous. He hadn¡¯t thought about it before but he¡¯s never actually spoken to another person so far in this short life. Doing his best to hide his anxiety he points at the unconscious Ellis and tries to start up a conversation. [Kekeke, what are you going to do with this guy? It seems like you put a lot of ¡­ what are you doing?] [I¡¯m looking for flying pigs ¡­ ow! hmmm] Jellal¡¯s first attempt at having a proper conversation is promptly interrupted by Sionia¡¯s head darting all over the place as she watches the sky. Unable to see a pig fly she pinches her own check before placing her hand on her forehead to check her own temperature. Finding nothing out of the ordinary she¡¯s both shocked and puzzled. The corner of Jellal¡¯s mouth rises and begins to twitch as he watches the perplexed Sionia. Unsure what to do he stands there motionless with a dumbfounded expression on his face. Finally after his annoyance accumulates he begins muttering incomprehensibly under his breath. Realizing the situation Sionia gives a light chuckle as she scratches the back of her head. Following that she drops to her knees to get closer to eye level with Jellal and extends her hand to pat his head. [Nee, I¡¯m sorry about that. It¡¯s just ¡­ you¡¯re a goblin ¡­ and you talked. You¡¯ll forgive big sis won¡¯t you?] Jellal brushes away the hand and snorts as a vein bulges on his forehead. [You dare to treat a superior being such as myself like a child? I¡¯ll have you know that ¡­ guu ¡­] [Oh my! Are you hungry little fellow? Hold on a sec, I have some food in my bag. Don¡¯t worry; big sis won¡¯t let you go hungry.] Jellal¡¯s face flushes as his stomach interrupts his lecture. Sionia begins pulling dried jerky and bread out of her bag leaving the embarrassed Jellal no way to retort. Hanging his head Jellal shyly receives the food he¡¯s handed and begins immediately chowing down. Tears stream from his eyes as he compares the normal tasting food to the awful raw meat and bitter fruit that he was forced to eat when he was still in the nest. Seeing the emotional Jellal, Sionia is taken aback before a worried expression sneaks onto her face. Panickedly she extends her hand to help but unsure what to do she spastically waves her arms about between the two of them. [Ah, what¡¯s wrong? I didn¡¯t do anything to the food it¡¯s completely normal. I¡¯m not bullying kids I swear!] [There¡¯s nothing wrong. It¡¯s just the food tasted so normal ¡­ and I told you not to treat a superior being such as myself like a kid!] [Amazing, this is the first time I¡¯ve met a superior being before! Do all superior being cry over food like they¡¯re children?] Hearing Jellal¡¯s retort Sionia replies with a sarcastic smile leaving his mouth opening and closing as if he¡¯s doing his best fish impersonation. [Nee, if you¡¯re not a kid then how old are you? Could it be that superior beings grow extremely slowly?] Faced with Sionia¡¯s constant scathing retorts Jellal hangs his head before dragging his feet over to a nearby tree. He stops at the base of the tree and squats while using his finger to draw circles in the dirt. Gloomily he gives his response in a mosquito like voice. [I¡¯m not a child I¡¯m a superior being. Superior beings aren¡¯t judged by menial things like age.] [Don¡¯t take it so hard kid I didn¡¯t mean it. You¡¯re an adult just like me; you just haven¡¯t fully grown yet. Yeah that¡¯s it! You¡¯re just a small sized adult, right kid?] [Jellal] [Hmm, did you say something just now kid?] [I¡¯m not ¡°kid¡± my name¡¯s Jellal.] [Jellal? Are you playing ¡°named monster¡±? I heard that monsters are no longer able to evolve after they gain a name and only special individuals are capable of gaining a name in the first place. This is the first time I¡¯ve heard of a named goblin.] The sound of glass shattering resounds in Jellal¡¯s head when he hears Sionia¡¯s casual remarks. Mechanically he turns his head to look at Sionia his face looking like he¡¯d seen a ghost. [Di- did you just say named monsters can¡¯t evolve?] [That¡¯s right. Could it be you didn¡¯t know that even though you¡¯re playing ¡°named monster¡±?] All kinds of thoughts swirl around in Jellal¡¯s head as he processes the extremely valuable information the Sionia just passed to him off hand. For a fraction of a second he had gained hope of becoming something more the a mere goblin, but that hope was immediately crushed to dust and swept away on the wind with the revelation that he couldn¡¯t evolve anymore since he had a name. Jellal staggers under the weight of the revelation. Unable to bear the frustration he mumbles audibly as his thoughts flow out in the open like water from a burst dam. [It¡¯s a joke right? It has to be a joke. Why did no one mention it was possible to evolve, or that you can¡¯t evolve once you gain a name? How can a superior being such as myself be stuck as a goblin for my entire life? Why was such crucial information not in the instruction manual? Kekeke ¡­ I knew it! That deceitful, poo-loving con artist definitely did this on purpose. That bastard is probably sitting back laughing at how I fell for his tricks, kekeke.] [Are you feeling okay?] Jellal is pulled back to reality by an extremely confused and worried Sionia. Unable to heads or tails of Jellal¡¯s incomprehensible mutterings Sionia could only ask about his condition completely oblivious to the mental breakdown her casual sentence nearly caused him. [I¡¯m fine, just coming to terms with having to spend the rest of my life as a goblin, thinking about what the future has in store, coming up with a plan to kill god, about the same as normal.] [ ¡­ I¡¯m pretty sure that last one can¡¯t be considered as ¡°normal¡±. You must have quite the head on your shoulders to be planning to kill god.] [Cough cough ¡­ Is it okay to just leave him there like that?] Jellal points at Ellis who is still sprawled out on the ground unconscious. Seeing Sionia¡¯s attention divert off of him, Jellal heaves a sigh of relief trying to forget his embarrassing outbreak. While the pair are staring at Ellis he begins to regain consciousness as he tries to sit up while letting out a groggy groan. Seeing the person she went through so much trouble to catch stirring Sionia swiftly lunges in his direction. Grabbing the back of his head with both hands Sionia delivers a powerful knee to Ellis¡¯ face before he has a chance to understand what¡¯s going on. Blood gushes from Ellis¡¯ nose as he falls flat on his back. Not wasting the opportunity Sionia mounts the unconscious Ellis and repeatedly pounds her fists into his battered and bloodied face. Watching from the sideline Jellal can feel his back covered in cold sweat as Sionia pummels the unconscious Ellis to the point that he¡¯s unrecognizable. Having relieved her pent up stress Sionia gets off of Ellis with a bright smile on her face. The stunned Jellal watches on as she casually removes a rope from her bag and ties the possibly still living Ellis¡¯ hands and feet before giving him one last kick in the ribs for good measure. [I don¡¯t think you need to worry too much about Ellis. Although I¡¯d love to stay and chat I have to drag this guy all the way back to town so I¡¯ll be heading out now, superior being Jellal.] Sionia does her best not crack up as she says goodbye to Jellal. Grabbing the unconscious Ellis along with his bag, she walks over to the bank of the stream before carelessly throwing him to the other side. Ellis bounces roughly before finally coming to a stop on the opposite bank. Nodding in satisfaction at her handy work Sionia gives the stunned Jellal a quick wave before jumping across herself. On the other side she ties a rope to Ellis¡¯ feet and proceeds to drag him off in the direction she originally came from. Jellal can only watch in silence as she literally drags Ellis back. He can feel a cold sweat cover his back as he watches Ellis¡¯ face dragged through the dirt while occasionally bouncing off rocks and twigs. He scratches the back of his head unsure of how he should feel about the situation transpiring before him. Seeing someone¡¯s face literally dragged through the dirt his natural reaction should be to sympathize with the person, but he also knows that Ellis was a pretty terrible human being and probably deserves it. He watches Sionia¡¯s back until it disappears into the forest. Realizing he¡¯s yet again left all by himself he leaks a sigh before picking up the knives that were left behind and heading toward the stream. Building up his speed he tries to jump from one bank to the other the same way Sionia had, but ends up splashing down nine tenths of the way across. Wading through the knee high water until he reaches the bank, he easily pulls himself ashore. Standing on the shore he takes a few steps forward before stopping to look around. All alone he sternly stares into the distance preparing to once again face the unknown. Goblin Is Superior All living beings need food and water to survive, that¡¯s why predators hunt near watering holes and humans build settlements around lakes and streams. Because of this need for natural resources areas that contain water become a natural gathering spot for both predators and prey. With these thoughts in mind Jellal puts a bit of distance between himself and the stream. After he reaches the point where the water is just barely visible beyond the bank he turns to face upstream. Walking parallel to the stream Jellal once again focuses all his attention on his surroundings, careful not to inadvertently stroll to his death. Nearly an hour goes by while he stalks quietly through the forest. Jellal halts his steps upon reaching a small clearing. Looking around warily he finds a tree with suitably sized branches. Nodding in satisfaction at his discovery he creeps over to the tree and silently climbs to a branch facing the clearing. Concealing his body the best he can he carefully observes the clearing. The bank of the stream is especially low in this area and slopes gradually into the water forming what could be described as a mini beach of sorts. The gradual slope of the shore and the spacious meadow in the surroundings make this place appear to be a perfect spot to stop for a drink from the stream. Such a perfect place to collect water from the stream immediately sends alarm bells ringing in Jellal¡¯s head. Sure this is a great place to rest and get a drink but no halfway competent predator would overlook such a juicy area. Shifting his line of sight Jellal scans the open meadow and the tree line with hawk-like eyes. Even the tiniest of movements are unable to escape his sharp gaze. On the far side of the meadow he spots a mouse scurrying about while obscured by the grass and weeds. Straight back from the shore hiding amongst the tree line are a pair of goblins waiting for unsuspecting prey to stop by the stream to quench their thirst. Not far from them is a trio of wolves eyeing the goblins waiting for them show an opening. Seeing the pair of goblins waiting for prey while unknowingly being stalked themselves Jellal is once again reminded how necessary it is to remain cautious of your surroundings at all times. As these thought rattle around in his head he meticulously the area around his tree. Unwilling to act as the crank that starts the gears turning he can only patiently wait for some poor unsuspecting soul to walk into the layered ambush. Reluctant to waste time only waiting for things to kick off, Jellal continues his journey on the path of magic, perception, and the art of doing too many things at the same time. Time slowly passes as Jellal gradually increases his proficiency at perception and splitting his focus among multiple things. As he gets progressively more skillful the range of his perception grows larger and larger until he can even sense the goblins and wolves hiding a ways away. After spending a considerable amount of time waiting in his tree Jellal finally senses movement behind him. A short distance away an unsuspecting boar is moseying along through the forest in his direction. The boar has a rough, needle-like coat with a pair of sharp tucks jutting out from its face. Unlike a normal boar its tusks split off in two directions leaving it with two points on each side of its face that it can use to defend itself. Knowing the time for things to kick off is drawing near Jellal prudently eyes his surroundings, the clearing, and the tree line to ensure he didn¡¯t miss any changes while he was splitting his attention. Confirming the situation he picks up a throwing knife in each hand, leaving the other four he brought with him sitting on the branch ready to be picked up at any time. He plays with the knives in his hands while keeping himself in a state of constant readiness. The boar ambles its way out of the forest and changes course for the stream. When it¡¯s finally facing the stream the goblins can no longer stop themselves as they let out a shriek and run out at full speed. With their sticks held high overhead they quickly close in on their prey. The boar is alerted by the goblins shrieks and sluggishly turns around to face them. Having finally managed to face its enemy the boar wastes no time charging at its aggressors with surprising speed. The goblins smack the boar with their sticks but the attacks are brushed off with ease. After swinging their sticks the goblins no longer have time to dodge the boar that is already inches away from them. The sharp tusks of the boar rip long gashes in the goblins flesh as they are sent flying backwards. The goblins bounce along the ground before coming to a rest just short of the tree line. Blood flows heavily from their chests as they struggle to pull themselves off the ground. Seeing its enemies still alive the boar scrapes its hooves into the dirt and builds up another head off steam as it charges in to deliver another blow. It throws its head as it makes contact with the goblins launching them high in the air. The goblins slam into the ground behind the boar with a bone shattering thud. When the boar turns around to face the mangled mess of goblins, the patient trio of wolves finally spot the opening they¡¯ve been waiting for. The wolves rush out of the tree line and encircle the unprepared boar. Cautiously, they avoid the boar¡¯s tusks as the bite and claw at its legs. Although the boar has great straight line speed it lacks the mobility to deal with the circling wolves. Unable to injure the vigilant wolves with its tusks the boar desperately kicks out with its hind legs. One of the wolves is caught off guard as it¡¯s propelled backwards into a tree. Seeing the success of the previous kick the boar tries another. This time however, one of the boar¡¯s legs is caught in the waiting jaws of one of the wolves. The wolf vigorously shakes the leg staggering the boar just in time for the other wolf to ram into its side knocking it over. With victory in sight the pair of wolves that are still standing move in for the kill. They latch onto the boar¡¯s exposed next and shake their energetically shake their heads back and forth. Unfortunately for the wolves they weren¡¯t the only ones waiting for the right moment to strike. From the side a pair of throwing knifes speed through the air toward the unknowing wolves. The knives strike both wolves in the throat fatally wounding them. Grabbing the rest of his throwing knives Jellal hastily climbs down from his perch. He first makes a move toward the goblins that were pitifully tossed aside by the boar. Jellal looks emotionally at the goblins and sighs. Although they are in a mangle mess the goblins are still breathing ¡­ until Jellal cuts their throats with a knife. Having taken care of the goblins, Jellal sets his sights on the boar and pair of wolves that are lying in a heap a few feet away. He cautiously circles around the group before throwing a knife at each of them for good measure.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Seeing the trio each react slightly when their eyes were stuck with a throwing knife he warily approaches one of the wolves from behind. Once he reaches two feet away he lunges at top speed and repeatedly stabs the wolf in the neck. When it finally stops twitching he does the same with the other wolf before eventually moving on to the boar. As he¡¯s giving a few extra stabs to the boar for cautions sake Jellal is interrupted by a low growling noise. Jellal lifts his head as he watches the wolf that was kicked in the face by the boar menacingly circle him. Collecting the throwing knife that was embedded in the boar¡¯s eye he slowly begins circling together with the wolf. The wolf is the first to make a move as it lunges toward Jellal. Jellal is quick to react as he throws the knife in his left hand at the wolf¡¯s face. The knife flies at the right eye of the charging wolf making it abruptly change directions to dodge. The knife sticks in the ground as the wolf narrowly avoids it by moving to its left. Unfortunately for it things played out exactly as Jellal had anticipated. While the wolf is trying to recover from dodging Jellal approaches swiftly and uses his empty left hand to grab the fur on the wolf¡¯s back before jamming the knife in his right hand through the back of the wolf¡¯s neck. The wolf lets out a whimper and collapses. Jellal quickly mounts his toppled foe and repeatedly stabs it in the neck until it stops twitching. After giving it the mandatory extra stabs he lifts himself off his enemy¡¯s corpse while panting heavily. Jellal takes a few steps back and looks at the six corpses littering the clearing. Even though this was the first time he¡¯d killed another being he felt extremely calm. If he was a normal goblin it would be natural, but since he reincarnated he thought he¡¯d have some aversion to killing. His thoughts swirl around his head as he tries to figure out a reasonable explanation. After staring off into space for a few seconds lightning strikes in his head as something dawns on him. [Could it be that I was a- a bad person? No no no, that can¡¯t be it. It must have something to do with me becoming a goblin, there¡¯s no way a superior being such as myself was a bad person. This must be another one of that despicable poo lord con artist¡¯s schemes. Such lowly tricks, humph] Quickly recovering Jellal drags the wolf¡¯s corpse over to join its comrades before collecting his throwing knives from the dead bodies. Knife in hand he carelessly begins skinning the first wolf. Since throwing knives aren¡¯t designed to be used for such a task he only focuses on not damaging the pelt. After skinning the first wolf he promptly moves on to the second, then the third. After all three wolves are naked he carries the pelts over to the stream. Using the flowing water he washes the fat and blood off his knife before scrapping the remaining fat and meat off the pelt. He repeats the process for all three pelts before washing them and his knife one last time and returning back to bodies. Moving to the mouths of the wolves Jellal uses his knife to begin prying teeth. After collecting a few of the sharper and more prominent teeth he moves on to the other two wolves. Having pried loose thirty teeth he returns to the pelts to continue working. Using his knife Jellal cuts off the leg portions of hide from one of the pelts before cutting two of them into lengthwise into relatively thin strips. Grabbing the remainder of the pelt he uses his knife to poke small evenly spaced holes around the edge of the body portion of the pelt. Folding the pelt over on itself he begins using a tooth he collected earlier to push a hide strip through a hole in the top layer of the pelt. Continuing from there he pushes the hide strip through a corresponding hole on the lower layer of the pelt. After pulling the strip so that an equal amount remained on each side of the pelt he continues using the strip to sew the sides of the pelt together resulting in a crisscross pattern. When both layers of the pelt are sewn together he ties off the remainder of the strip to make sure the seam doesn¡¯t come loose. Having finished sewing one side of the pelt together he picks up another hide strip to do the same to other side. With both sides sewn up he removes the tail of the pelt and lets the neck portion hang over the last remaining opening. Knife in hand Jellal pokes small holes equidistant from each other in the neck part of the pelt. Unlike the holes used to sew up the body the five holes in the neck are much wider apart. The remaining hide strips are cut in half before being five of them are tied to the hole in the neck. Using his knife he carefully cuts a pair of small holes close together on the body of the pelt to correlate with one of the holes in the neck. After cutting pairing holes for each hole in the neck he cuts a hide stripe into five small pieces before sticking them through the pairing holes and tying the ends together resulting in five small loops on the body of the pelt that the hang down can be tied to in order to securely close the opening at the top of the pelt. Jellal gives the sewn up pelt a once over to ensure things are functioning properly. Confirming there are no problems he flips the pelt over and retrieves the two leg portions of the pelt that weren¡¯t cut into strips. Setting the pieces side by side he cuts the top and bottom portions off in a straight line, making sure the pieces are the same size in length before poking small holes near the newly cut edges. Carefully he pokes an equal number of holes in the pelt that correspond with the holes in the leg portions. Using the remaining hide strips he sews them to the pelt. Picking up the pelt he flips it in every way imaginable carefully inspects his handy work. Seeing everything in order he nods in satisfaction as a self-praising grin floats about his face. Finally his makeshift backpack has been completed. Now that his backpack is made Jellal finally sets his eyes on the boar. Similar to how he did with the wolves he starts by skinning the boar. However he stops halfway through in order to keep from getting dirt on the meat. After the skin is peeled back he starts cutting off chunks of meat. Having cut a few decent sized chunks of meat he pauses momentarily and looks around. Spotting his objective he speeds to the tree line and climbs a small tree. Amidst the trees branches he snatches a few dozen overly large leaves. Jellal scurries back down the tree and returns to the boar. Using the leaves to wrap the meat he cuts away from the boar he rapidly strips its bones clean. Satisfied with the amount of meat obtained from this side of the boar he places the remaining wolf pelts next to its body and rolls it over on top of them. After briefly running to the stream to clean his knife Jellal gets back to work skinning the boar. Once the skin is out of the way he begins cutting away chunks of meat the same way he¡¯d done to the other side of the boar. When the boar¡¯s meat has been stripped to an acceptable degree he takes the wolf and boar pelts over to the stream. At the stream he cleans the blood, fat, and meat off the boar hide before washing the wolf pelts and carrying them back to where his bag is. Jellal carefully rolls up the wolf pelt and places them at the bottom of the bag. Next he brushes the dirt off of the boar hide before stuff it in his bag with the hair facing outwards using it as a liner of sorts. With the boar hide acting as a liner to keep blood from leaking into his bag he finally stacks the leaf wrapped meat inside the liner while leaving a couple chunks out for dinner. He prepares to close his bag but stops as he glances at the remains of the boar. After a moment of careful deliberation he walks over to one of the wolves and tightly grips its upper jaw while placing his foot inside its mouth. Wrenching away with his arms while stomping down with his foot he manages to break the wolf¡¯s jaw. Using his knife to cut away connecting tissue he separates the lower jaw from the wolf¡¯s body. He sets one end of the jaw bone on the ground wedging it between some rocks so it doesn¡¯t fall over, then he proceeds to stomp down on the part of the jaw bone that¡¯s sticking in the air. The bone snaps unevenly leaving a piece with just the side of the jaw while the other piece has a side and the front of the jaw. Borrowing the power of the stream he cleans his knife along with the smaller piece of the jaw bone. Returning to the boar carcass he tightly grips one of the tusks under his arm while using the jaw bone as a makeshift saw. With great effort he saws at the base of the tusk slowly inching his way through it. After the groove reaches a depth equal to the length of the wolf¡¯s teeth he flips the carcass and begins sawing at it from the other side. Although the two cuts don¡¯t quite meet in the middle the remainder of the tusk is thin enough to be broken with his bare hands. After snapping off the tusk he sets his eyes on the remaining one. Even though he sawed it the same way he did the first tusk the second one took nearly twice as long to get through. He easily breaks off the second tusk before checking the state of his makeshift saw. Although it can still function as a saw if necessary the teeth have dulled considerably hampering its ability to cut through bone. A moment of deliberation is followed by him setting his sight on the lower jaws of the last two wolves. He breaks the jaws the same way he did with the first wolf leaving him with three small but straight saws and three long curved saws. In a moment of inspiration he hooks the curved part of the bone beneath a large rock wedging it in roughly before smashing at it with a decent sized rock. Upon doing the same to the other two he¡¯s left with four sharp straight saws, one dulled straight saw, and one half jaw bone busted to the point of being unusable. Yet again Jellal returns to the stream to clean his makeshift saws and his considerably dulled knife. He prepares to put the saws in his bag but reconsiders after thinking about how sharp they are. Reaching into his bag he digs out one of the wolf pelts he¡¯s yet to use. He uses one of the leg sections as material for hide strips to use for his new project. He lays the first saw on top of the wolf pelt so he can gauge how much hide is needed. He cuts the hide to the needed specifications before it on top of itself, poking holes, and sewing the bottom and side together. After repeating the process for the other four saws he completes his brand new set of hide sheaths. The saws slide easily in and out of the sheaths to the point the sheath will slip off if you don¡¯t hold onto both the saw and sheath. A few seconds of pondering was all it took for him to decide to leave them the way they are since he only wanted the sheaths to keep the saws from damaging his bag. Jellal opens his bag and carefully uses his hand to create a gap between the boar lining and the bag. With enough space created he wraps the remains of the pelt he used to make the sheaths around the sheathed saws and slides the package snuggly in to place. Finally finishing his projects Jellal harshly scrutinizes his surroundings wary of any potential threats. Finding the surrounding area clear of threats he turns his sight to the meat he left out to eat for dinner, for the first time in this life he¡¯ll be preparing his own food. Goblin Roams The Forest At the edge of the clearing Jellal scurries about occasionally bending down to pick up sticks. Once he can no longer bend down to pick up more sticks without dropping some of the ones he¡¯s already collected he carries the armful to bank of the stream and throws them in his growing pile. Having decided the considerable amount of sticks he¡¯s collected is sufficient he makes a small layer of sticks on the ground while using some slightly larger sticks to make a conical structure on top of it. As for the rest of the sticks he¡¯s collected they are moved to the side for later use. Returning to the tree line he begins another round of collection, this time dry leaves and grass. He runs back and forth with handfuls of dry material until the conical structure is filled with it. With the teepee filled he sticks a few sticks into the dry leaves for good measure. With his preparations complete he scours the bank for different kinds of rocks. Using these rocks he creates a circle around his structure. Satisfied he picks up a pair of rocks and begins knocking them against each other. The result was just an annoying sound and not the sparks he¡¯d hoped for. After the first failure he selects a different pair of rocks and smacks them together the same way he did the first pair. Yet again he fails to create the spark he desires. Switching tactics he pulls out his dull throwing knife. Slashing the knife against a rock he finally gets his spark. The spark falls into the pile of dry leaves, but fails to catch fire. As the saying goes; if at first you don¡¯t succeed, try, try again. After repeatedly showering the teepee with sparks it finally concedes and produces a small flame. Careful not to smother the budding flame he slides some dry grass into the edge of the fire to help it spread. Thankfully everything goes according to plan and the fire spreads among the dry leaves and grass before eventually latching on to the sticks. Using some of the sticks he¡¯d set aside he slowly builds up the size of the fire. When the fire¡¯s reached an adequate size he shoves a couple large sticks into the ground next to the fire and stabs the meat he¡¯d left for dinner onto the end that leans over the fire. Now that the meat is cooking over the fire all that¡¯s left to do is patiently wait. Knowing it will take a while for his food to finish Jellal wades into the stream and begins washing himself. After a quick scrub he leaves the stream to dry off next to the fire. When the front side of his body has dried he promptly turns around to dry his backside. Having gotten sufficiently dry he plops down to begin his usual practices while watching juice drip from the meat causing the fire to flare up. Time slowly drones on while smoke trails into the sky above the forest as the smell of cooked meat permeates the air around the bank. Judging the meat adequately cooked he prepares to start savoring his meal only to realize he has no forks or plates or anything at all to hold the meat. While thinking up a solution he carefully pulls the sticks holding the meat out of the ground and move them away from the fire before stabbing them back into the dirt. With no real solution coming to mind he can only wait for the meat to cool down enough for him to be able to hold it in his hands. Since the fire has served its purpose he begins bringing water from the stream to put it out. Unfortunately scooping up water with your hands and using it to try to put out a fire is extremely inefficient causing him to take over a dozen trips back and forth before the fire is finally left smoldering. Even if the fire¡¯s gone, the residual heat and constant smoke remains. To make sure the sticks don¡¯t reignite he begins kicking dirt over the smoldering sticks before dumping a few extra handfuls of water on top for good measure. Having taken care of the fire he pokes the meat to see if it¡¯s still too hot. Since his finger didn¡¯t feel too hot after poking the meat he instead holds his finger on it. Although it¡¯s hot it¡¯s not to the point that he can¡¯t pick it up. He removes the first piece of meat from its stick as he gulps in anticipation. Holding back the drool that¡¯s desperately trying to escape the corners of his mouth he brings the meat up to his lips and bites off a decent sized chunk. He chews slowly at first savoring the flavor, but gradually he speeds up as he takes another bite. The more bites he takes the faster he devours the meat until there¡¯s no more meat left for him to eat and he can only grudgingly wash his face and hands in the stream. The sun that was once high overhead has long since started its decent towards the horizon. With only an hour or so of daylight left he decides it¡¯s time to move on from the clearing. He considered staying nearby and hunting whatever comes tomorrow, but decides against it since there is no real reason to do so other than raising his level. He walks over to his backpack and places the rest of the miscellaneous items he might use into his bag. Before closing the bag he does a quick check of its contents verifying them one at a time. [Sheathed saws ¨C check. Wolf pelts ¨C check. Excess hide strips ¨C check. Meat ¨C check. Large leaves ¨C check. Wolf teeth ¨C check. Boar parts ¨C check. Counting the throwing knives I¡¯ll carry that should do it.] Maintaining his optimal distance from the stream he once again enters the forest. He vigilantly marches through the forest as the sun continues its decent. When the sun can no longer been seen through the trees he finally begins looking for a tree to spend the night in. Having selected his tree he climbs silently to his chosen branch. On the branch he carefully takes off his backpack and sets it between his legs. He rummages through his backpack and pulls out the pelt he cut the saws sheaths from. Using his dulled throwing knife he cuts the bottom of the fur that has pieces missing from making the sheaths. With the leg section and the excess removed the bottom of the pelt is nice and squared off. Following this he also cuts away at the top leaving the legs but sloping around the neck portion leaving the top part of the pelt with a slight curve. Holding on to the leg portions of the pelt he slings it over his shoulders wearing it as if it¡¯s a cape. Removing the pelt he cuts leg portions about a hands length away from the base of the pelt leaving the top of the pelt to curve into a shape imitating a crescent moon. Hoisting the pelt over his shoulders like a cape he gives a nod satisfied with the way he cut the top of the pelt. He carefully stands up and glances behind his back at the pelt still touching the ground. He frowns slightly before wisely measuring with his eyes. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Bringing the pelt back in front of him he cuts away a significant amount of material from the bottom of the pelt with a slight curve before rounding the edges. Having made his cut he slings the pelt around his shoulders yet again looking back to check the length. The cape runs down his back stopping just above the back of his knees, the exact length he wanted. Having made it the length he desires next he has to create a way to secure it. To secure the cape he cuts two small holes around the left shoulder area and sticks a hide strip through before tying up the ends. Moving on, he does the same to the right side. After that he pokes a small hole at the top corners of the cape and uses a pair of hide strips to connect the corners to the shoulder area opposite them. In order to make sure system is working as intended he has to try on the cape. He slides his arms through the shoulder loops and slips his head between the top corners which are now pulling inwards. The cape fits perfectly with the connecting strips forming an x on his upper chest. With the excess material he makes a two inch thick strip of hide to use as a belt. He makes a small slit in the belt near the edge of one side. The slit runs lengthwise so he has to turn the other end to slip it through. Putting the belt around his waist he puts the uncut end through the slit and pulls the belt tight. After judging the length needed to fit snugly around him he removes the belt and cuts away most of the excess. Following that he cuts away material where the belt will go through the slit leaving the belt with a consistent length until near one end where it gets extremely thin before abruptly being thick again. Satisfied with the cut he tries the belt on once again. The belt is a nice snug fit leaving him satisfied. The thin part of the belt properly keeps the slit from widening too much while the abrupt thick end has to be consciously turned to slide through ensuring the belt won¡¯t come undone on accident. Using most of the excess material he has left he makes six pouches of various sizes. After completing the pouches he sews them permanently on to the belt. Now that the belt is in its final form he puts it on accompanying his new cape completing his ensemble. Now that he has his belt he doesn¡¯t need to carry all his throwing knives by hand so he puts them in a pouch on the left side of the belt. After rummaging through his bag he finally finds his slightly dulled saw and moves it along with its sheath to a pouch on the right side of his belt. With everything organized he takes off his belt and cape and stores them in his backpack. Since he doesn¡¯t feel like going to sleep yet he sits in a meditative pose and resumes his normal practice. The moon majestically climbs into the sky as the still darkness of night takes hold in the forest. Yawning while rubbing his eyes he finally decides to turn in for the night. He hangs his backpack from a nearby branch then slouches comfortably with his back to the trunk of the tree, closing his eyes. The sun peeks over the horizon greeting the forest below with gentle beams of warm sunlight. Dew glistens on the grass and leaves while a calm wind causes them to sway ever so slightly. Hidden amongst the branches of a tree within the forest a goblin languidly opens his violet eyes. After vigilantly scoping out his surroundings he silently descends from the tree in a practiced manner. Upon reaching the ground he takes off his backpack and removes his belt and cape from within. He snugly equips his belt first, followed by his cape, and finally his backpack. Fully kitted out he removes a sharp throwing knife from a pouch on his belt and keeps it in his left hand. From another pouch he takes out his slightly dulled saw, leaving the sheath in the pouch. With his weapons at the ready he begins his trek through the forest. Despite being vigilant and prepared for anything the first hour of his trip is dull and uneventful. Another hour passes without anything of note happening. Just when it looked as if his monotonous journey was going to pass with nothing new going on he noticed the trees gradually thinning out. Sunlight streamed through the gaps between the trees which were growing larger and larger. The more open section of the forest continued for merely fifteen or so minutes before a large open field could be seen beyond the tree line. Jellal picked a tree on the tree line and climbed up in his usual fashion. On his perch he carefully observed the large clearing ahead unwilling to miss out on even the tiniest of details. Flowers dotted the field swaying gently in the morning breeze. To the left was the same stream he¡¯d been following, curving back and forth as it carried on out of sight. Directly to the front and the right are a series of rolling hills while far off to the distant right he could just barely make out what looked to be a well-used path if not an actual road. Climbing down from the tree Jellal adjusts his direction moving just inside the tree line toward the path in the distance. After making it approximately halfway to his destination he catches sight of movement ahead of him. Letting his curiosity get the better of him he sneaks forward moving from tree to tree. Having closed the gap he climbs a tree in his typical style, moving to a branch with good cover and good viewing position. In the forest¡¯s edge a group of fledgling adventurers are locked in combat with a group of goblins, the most basic of enemies. Despite having a numbers and an equipment advantage the adventurers can¡¯t manage to grab the advantage in the fight. Watching the battle unfold from behind the fledgling adventurers is an older man with grey hair and a scraggly beard. His hand gently grips the handle of the sword hung on his hip as he observes, ready to intervene if necessary. At the front of the young adventurers an adolescent boy recklessly swings his longsword about without any thought or strategy. One of these reckless swings manages to land a lucky hit on a goblins shoulder, but the damage dealt from the attack is negligible and the goblin takes advantage of it by grabbing the sword with its bare hand. The youth tries to pull the sword free to no avail. With the hand that isn¡¯t holding its opponents sword the goblin swings its club at the boy¡¯s head. The youth panics and falls on his butt avoiding the blow by sheer luck. The two other goblins are quick to notice the vulnerable enemy and rush to attack the fallen youth. The adventurers who were fighting those goblins try to stop them with a slash of their weapons but they only leave a small scratch on their foes. On the back line a hooded youth with a bow fires an arrow that strikes one of the goblins square in the shoulder. The goblin gives a shriek but continues on without slowing. The goblins converge on the downed youth and swing their clubs simultaneously leaving him no escape. Having seen enough the old veteran sighs while shaking his head in disappointment. In the time it took for the goblins swings to make it halfway to their target the grizzled veteran was able to arrive behind the youth and draw his sword slicing all three weapons along with the necks of the goblins using them. Blood spurts from the goblins necks as they fall powerlessly to the ground. The fledgling adventurers let out a collective sigh of relief knowing they narrowly avoided being the ones lying in a pool of their own blood. They look timidly at the veteran adventurer who¡¯s watching over them, but he only responds by turning around and walking toward the road leaving them to hastily rush after him. Jellal can only sit in his tree and watch as their backs fade into the distance. Rethinking his plan to check out the road he climbs down from the tree and heads in the same direction he came from. Arriving at the stream he checks the surroundings and observes the other side for movement. With things looking all clear he builds up his momentum and jumps across the stream landing successfully on the opposite bank. After doing a victory pose to commemorate his successful jump he moves to his ideal distance from the bank and begins walking parallel to the stream as he had been previously doing. This side of the river with its abundance of trees is more to his liking unlike the open fields across the way. While trudging through the forest he pays close attention to his surroundings as usual. His journey continues for nearly two hours, but is mostly uneventful. Occasionally he would come across a horned rabbit or a random goblin, but they were completely oblivious to his presence so he easily avoided them with them being none the wiser. Since walking around nonstop is monotonous and tiring he took a break in the shade of a large tree. Naturally his version of resting included his usual practice along with swinging around his saw as if it were a sword. Partway through his ¡°sword¡± practice he came up with a brilliant idea: do his usual practice at the same time as his sword practice. Just like that the scope of his usual practice expanded slightly as did the number of things he had to focus on at the same time. Once his new usual practice was finished he continued on his journey through the forest. After going a considerable distance he stopped to resume training before going on his way once more. This cycle repeated till the sun started its descent from high above the forest. He searched around for a good spot where he could start his fire without worrying about accidentally burning down the forest. Upon finding a spot he collected sticks and leaves before starting a fire. After building up the fire he surrounded the fire with sticks for cooking meat. One by one he removed all the meat he¡¯d kept in his backpack. Some were left wrapped in leaves and set basically touching the fire while the rest were hung on the litany of sticks surrounding the fire. During the time it took the meat to cook he visited to stream to wash up and definitely not play around in the water. With so much meat having been cooked he ate till his stomach bulged. He wrapped the leftover meat in the large leaves he brought along before carefully placing them in his bag. Now that the meat is cooked the boar hide was no longer needed to act as a liner for his backpack so he washed it in the stream before rolling it up and keeping it in his bag for future use. After dousing the fire he continued on his journey. He acted in the same manner he did in the mourning stopping occasionally for a ¡°break¡± which he used for his training. Along the way he would occasionally come across goblins or horned rabbits but the trip was mostly uneventful. When the sun started to disappear he stuck to his daily routine of finding a tree to hide out in. While waiting for night time to arrive he pulled the boar hide out of his backpack to work on his newest project. He did his usual measuring, cutting, and sewing. The final product this time was a waistcloth to accompany his loincloth. He had considered making a pair of shorts but decided it was too difficult and settled on something akin to a skirt or kilt. The hide was cut into sections small enough that they wouldn¡¯t limit movement but large enough to not bounce about in a distracting manner when he¡¯s moving around. Goblin Stalks Its Prey The sun attempts to greet the forest below with its brilliantly shining morning smile but is instantly denied by the gloomy clouds looming over head. Without sunlight seeping through the leaves the forest oozes a dreary atmosphere making it feel ten times more dangerous than it does normally. Completely ignoring the atmosphere Jellal speedily prepares his equipment as soon as his feet landed on solid ground. With throwing knife and saw in hand he sets out looking forward to whatever the day has to throw at him. At around midday he stops for a lunch break, eating some of the meat he had cooked in advance. Once he¡¯d finished devouring his meal he meandered over to the stream to wash his hands, taking a look across to the other side while he¡¯s at it. He excitedly climbs a nearby tree to get a better vantage point after catching a tiny glimpse of what he believed to be a figure on a faraway hill. Focusing his vision as much as possible he confirms a number of figures hiding behind a hill that¡¯s situated close to the road. With things getting interesting he scraps his plans to roam the forest and hunkers down for long term observation. Naturally he does as much training as the tree allows while simultaneously keeping an eye on the goings on across the stream. He patiently waits for well over an hour as the subjects of his observation do nothing but hide in a cowardly manner behind a hill without doing anything of note. Naturally when pondering what kind of spineless people would hide behind a hill so conveniently close to road the only logical conclusion one can reach is that they¡¯re some sort of bandit or robber. As his surveillance trudges on a carriage makes its way along the road breaking the monotony in the process. When the carriage approaches the hill the bandits predictably jump out and surround it. He¡¯s slightly surprised when another group of bandits reveal themselves from behind a hill situated on the other side of the road bringing the bandits numbers to double digits. The carriage leisurely comes to a halt as the coachman does his best to keep the horses calm. The owner of the carriage didn¡¯t skimp on security seeing as a group of four adventurers hopped out of the back of the carriage. Rather than keeping together the hired guards split up with each posting up on a different side of the carriage. Two bandits rush at each of the guards to distract them while another bandit tries to sneak their way into the carriage. The moment the concealed bandit touches the carriage a crescent moon of energy shoots out from within leaving the unfortunate fool with a deep gash running from his shoulder all the way down to his waist. The final bandit who had just been watching till now pulls out his bow to assist his comrades who are being manhandled by the guards. He draws his bow and sets his sights on the adventurer who¡¯s posted at the front of the carriage. Before he has a chance to release the arrow he¡¯s greeted by an arrow aimed at him that speeds out from within the carriage. He dodges with all his might and just barely avoids a fatal blow, being left with only a severe shoulder injury. The rest of the bandits aren¡¯t fairing much better than their two seriously injured comrades. The pair of bandits at the front of the carriage are the best off of the group with their bodies covered in dozens of small wounds courtesy of the front guard¡¯s daggers. The bandits who were attacking the sides of the carriage suffered from countless attacks focused on their arms and legs making it progressively more difficult for them to fight as the battle dragged on. Meanwhile the bandits who attacked the back of the carriage ended up in the worst state of the bunch. One of them lost an arm to go with numerous other injuries while the other had an arm broken via the guards shield bash leaving him bloody due to the difficulties he faced in defending himself with one arm. Noticing things aren¡¯t going their way the bandit hurriedly turn tail and run away. The guards give them a parting gift in the form of a slash to the back, but don¡¯t pursue them as the gutless band of bandits run for their pathetic lives. Once the bandits are out of sight the adventurers return to the interior of the carriage in a relaxed manner. With all the guards loaded up the carriage sets off as if nothing had happened. The bandits gather at the point of the attack after the carriage is well out of sight. The group looks pitiful as there isn¡¯t a single person among them that¡¯s without injury. Dejectedly the bandits begin their slog back to their hideout. Although the band is beaten and bloodied they maintain their vigilance as they amble over hill after hill. The depressed collection of outlaws gather at the stream and help the more seriously injured members cross. Feeling relieved that they¡¯re in their home territory their alertness slowly disappears as they begin heading through the forest at their own individual paces with the most heavily injured being left behind. The na?ve bandits take their time care freely returning while remaining ignorant of the green skinned menace skulking in the shadows behind them. Without having proper attentiveness a large gap is created between the front and back of the pack, a gap that could prove to be fatal. Noticing the large gap forming, Jellal circles around sneakily slipping into the gap before patiently waiting up in his perch. The four bandits at the back of the pack slowly stumble unwittingly under a tree that on a normal day would be just as harmless to walk under as any other tree except today a green skinned terror is waiting for the ideal moment for his ambush to begin. [Slime Style: Secret Move ¨C Bouncing Death] Jellal hangs drops down near the base of the tree. When he has descended over three quarters of the way down and is slightly above the heads of the oblivious bandits he kicks hard off the tree propelling himself to the airspace above their heads. As he shoots through the air he flips over forwards so he is upside down and facing sideways as he passes over the heads of the bandits. As he spins through the air he slashes out with the saw in his right hand slashing the throat of an unfortunate bandit. His momentum carries him to the trunk of another tree which he hits feet first before propelling himself at the startled bandits once more. Surging forward while descending below chest height he hacks away at the unprotected waist of another bandit, nearly sawing him in half. After the second attack he no longer has the momentum to continue ricocheting off trees so he can only begrudgingly come crashing down to the ground. Upon landing he rolls forwards while spinning his body allowing him to be facing his enemies as his feet slide across the ground slowing his momentum. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. While sliding away from the remaining two targets he turns his body slightly throwing the knife in his left hand at a bandit who has yet to fully grasp the situation. The bandit lifts his sword to defend but is a hair to slow as the knife embeds itself in his throat. He pulls a pair of throwing knives out of his belt pouch as he finally slides to a stop. The last bandit draws his sword while trembling slightly, the shock and fear showing visibly on his face. Unsure of how his comrades died he can only take a defensive stance in hopes of avoiding the same fate. Jellal starts by walking towards his enemy before abruptly lunging forward. As he closes in he throws one of the throwing knives in his left hand forcing the bandit to use his sword to block it. Drifting slightly to the right he slips around his foes area of defense before hacking down with his saw. The bandit desperately tries to dodge but the teeth of the saw catch his flesh pulling him abruptly towards Jellal. Due to the sudden change in direction the bandit is unable to defend himself as a knife is jabbed forcefully into his throat. Jellal breathes heavily as he tries to calm down his racing heart. Such a high speed ambush could have resulted in being at a four on one disadvantage if he made a single mistake or if his enemy was a little more wary. The pressure and excitement gave him an adrenaline boost that made him feel like the blood in his veins was flowing at quadruple speed, such a high takes a while to come down from. Knowing he won¡¯t calm down even if he sits around he begins stripping the bodies. The clothes they¡¯re wearing are in tatters but at least it could be used as potential material for a future project. The shoes they¡¯re wearing are in good condition and could also be recycled so he snatches them as well. As for personal belongings they didn¡¯t have much on them. Each of them carried a poorly maintained sword along with a pouch to hold their money. If these grunts were raking in the cash they wouldn¡¯t still be acting as bandits so the money they had on hand was pitifully menial with a combined total of one silver and sixty five copper which was naturally all in copper (165 copper pieces). Jellal retrieves his backpack from its hiding place in the tree and puts his spoils away, keeping only the money in a pouch on his belt. Having finished things up quickly he gives the corpses a disdainful look before hurrying to catch up with their comrades. It doesn¡¯t take long for him to catch up to the next set of bandits. The pair that attacked the back of the carriage are sitting groggily at the base of a tree while doing their best to keep from losing consciousness due to the blood loss. Thinking they¡¯re safe they close their eyes trying to maintain as much strength as they can. Naturally that feeling of safety caused them to be unaware of the goblin sneaking around behind them. He silently approaches until he is standing behind the tree they¡¯re sitting under. With a throwing knife in each hand he cautiously circles around in front of them. Seeing them remain unmoved by his movements he silently throws both knives at once. The bandits notice something off and open their eyes just in time to see the one who killed them. Satisfied with his quick kill he strips the bandits the same way he did the first group. Thanks to the pair his collection of cloth and shoes has ballooned to one and a half times its original size while his savings has increased to a whopping two silver and twenty seven copper. After tidying up his spoils he once again sets off to track the remaining bandits. With only four bandits left he had anticipated it taking a decent amount of time to catch up, but was pleasantly surprised when he caught sight of two more bandits. Looking at the new bandits he shows even more caution than he did with the other bandits. From the way things looked the thief who tried to sneak into the carriage and the archer who didn¡¯t join the battle at the start were likely the leaders of the group. Although his confidence has been boosted greatly after easily taking out the bandits he¡¯s faced up till now he knows the reason they were killed so easily was because they didn¡¯t remain cautious and let their guards down. As he begins to creep closer he notices that the pair look like they¡¯re being careless and are full of openings, but after carefully observing they¡¯re both extremely vigilant. Despite being seriously injured they still have an air of danger about them that the others did not. With their level of vigilance the chances of successfully sneaking up on them is slim to none so he¡¯ll have to resort to cunning to tilt the scales more in his favor. A plan begins forming in his head as he silently takes off his backpack, cape, and belt. Without his hand made equipment he looks like a regular young goblin with a hide tied around his waist. He silently circles around to the side in order to avoid drawing suspicion after all it would be pretty difficult for a normal goblin to slip between the gaps in between the bandits. After getting into position he stops being stealthy and acts as much like a normal goblin as he can. He loudly stomps around without caring about the surroundings as he coincidentally wanders right towards the bandits without the slightest bit of vigilance. The duo quickly spots the lone goblin wandering about but pay it no mind. They were planning on continuing on without bothering with it but it kept plodding in the direction they were headed. The archer pulled out his bow and knocked his arrow while silently mocking how foolish the goblin was to insist on marching to its death. Just as he¡¯s about to release his arrow the goblin sporadically changes direction and his line of sight is blocked by a tree. It doesn¡¯t take long for the goblin to amble out sporadically shifting directions every now and then as it draws closer and closer. The archer is dumbfounded as the goblin seems to always luck its way behind cover before he had a chance to shoot. He predicts where the goblin will move to next when the goblin suddenly stops in its tracks throwing his prediction off the mark. Suddenly the goblin begins sprinting in their direction moving on a predictable path. Just as the archer is about to draw his bow a horned rabbit jumps through the bush in front of the goblin dodging the goblins wild flailing that seems to be an attempt at an attack. The goblin continues to dart about chasing the horned rabbit while swinging the bone it¡¯s using as a weapon. Eventually the horned rabbit darts to the side and the goblin falls to the ground after missing with the giant swing it was trying to use to kill its prey. By what seemed like a miracle the goblin closed the distance between itself and the bandits while chasing the horned rabbit. Naturally when the horned rabbit started escaping in a direction away from the bandits the goblin took a huge swing that came up empty, falling flat on its face in the process. Seeing how close the bumbling idiot of a goblin had gotten to them the bandits patience finally wore thin. The second bandit concealed himself and quietly closed in on the unsuspecting goblin. He snuck around next to the goblin while silently admiring how it had managed to luck its way into survival up until this point. ¡®Wait! What if it wasn¡¯t luck? If that¡¯s the case, then ¡­ oh ****!¡¯ The thought struck him like lightning but it was already too late. Without having a chance to dodge the saw Jellal was holding in his right hand was embedded deep into the skull of the unprepared bandit. The archer was overcome with shock as he watched his colleague sneak up on the goblin only to be ambushed by the careless looking goblin. It only took an instant for his life to be taken by the jaw bone the goblin was using as a weapon. Jellal ripped his saw out of the bandits head as the corpse fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Wasting no time he charged at the archer at full speed quickly shrinking the distance between them. The archer fired arrow after arrow but they were easily deflect as the goblin had merely a few short feet left before they would be face to face. The archer tried to pull out his secondary weapon but was too late to block the incoming saw. He desperately tried to avoid the blow but was ultimately struck hard in the shoulder. With the downward momentum of the saw stopped Jellal pulled it violently towards his body tearing away at flesh and bone as it ripped its way out of the bandit. The teeth of the saw caught onto the bandit as it was ripped out jolting him forward. Severely injured and knocked off balance there was nothing he could do but watch as the sawblade was swung in a backhanded motion straight toward his exposed neck. A fountain of blood sprayed into the air as the archers head was separated from his body. The body and head tumbled to the ground with a thud leaving Jellal standing alone covered in the blood of his enemy. Not keen on staying covered in blood he quickly stripped the archer of his possessions before using the cloth to wipe the blood off his body. With his body as clean as it can get under the circumstances he returns to the other bandit¡¯s corpse to strip away his belongings before retrieving his backpack. After collecting his backpack he quickly put on his belt and cape before organizing the spoils he just collected. His cloth and shoe collection naturally increased as did the amount of money he collected which increased his savings to four silver and seventy two copper. To go along with his money and cloth he collected six swords, two daggers, and a bow with twenty arrows accompanying it. Although he was quite happy collecting all the equipment he can he started to encounter trouble with how to carry all of it. He considered just dumping the swords but didn¡¯t because it would be too much of a waste if he needed them for something in the future. With his stuffed backpack slung over his shoulder he continued to track the last two remaining bandits. Naturally he wasn¡¯t planning to kill them immediately after finding them, after all who would lead him to the bandit¡¯s hideout if they were all dead. Of course he could try to find it by searching in the direction they¡¯re heading but that would be way too inefficient so that idea was immediately scrapped. After catching up to the last two bandits he stealthily followed them back to their hideout. The hideout was a cave that was well hidden by thick brush making it difficult to discover for anyone who was unaware of its location. By the time they¡¯d reached the hideout the sun had already gone down and night was quickly approaching. The last living bandits from the carriage ambush told the bandits standing guard that the others would take a bit longer to return before going inside to rest. Perched in a tree a short distance from the cave Jellal was watching the cave carefully while enjoying a chunk of meat as a late dinner. He silently mocked the bandits as he tried to calm his heart which was beating wildly in anticipation of what was about to come. His eyes glowed with a violent light as waited impatiently for night to descend and mark the start of his operation. ¡®Kekeke, don¡¯t worry you¡¯ll be seeing your friends soon ¡­ though it¡¯ll be in the afterlife.¡¯ Goblin Is The One Who Raids The moon hangs high over head as it radiates pale moonlight to the forest below. Hidden amongst the branches of a tree bathing in the moonlight is a solitary goblin that¡¯s been eagerly waiting while observing an inconspicuous cave hidden amongst some thick brush. ¡®Kekeke, it shouldn¡¯t be long till the shift change. I wonder how strong these guys really are, I was able to deal with the group of them earlier because they were already injured but since they went down so easy I couldn¡¯t gauge their actual strength. Hmm, now that I think about it I haven¡¯t I haven¡¯t checked my status in a long time. Kekeke, a superior being such as myself doesn¡¯t need to pay attention to status to beat a bunch of lowly bandits. Well, better safe than sorry ¡­ [status open]¡¯
Name: Jellal Race: Goblin Gender: M Age: 0 Level: 18
HP: 675/675 DEF: 57 STR: 76 AGI: 54
MP: 270/270 MGD: 57 MGA: 42 Points Available: 108
Skills: Adaptability; Magic Eyes; Superhuman Strength; Magic Perception; Danger Perception; Concealment; Parallel Thinking; Sawsmanship; Battle Born;
Special: Named Monster
¡®¡­ What kind of nonsense is Sawsmanship? Kekeke, a superior being such as myself is so amazing they have to make up skills to accommodate my magnificence. As expected of me, not only did I reach level eighteen I also managed to learn a bunch of skills to go with it.¡¯ Jellal let his thoughts run wild after checking his status and was almost unable to stop himself from breaking out into laughter due to his excitement. Even after calming himself down he couldn¡¯t help but let a toothy grin cover his face. Finally unable to endure waiting he begins his raid on the bandit camp. Leaving his backpack in the tree he silently climbs down and begins casually walking toward the cave completely disregarding stealth. [What took you bastard so long? Not only did you screw up your job you also took your sweet time coming back. Hehehe, with the way you¡¯re doing things I ought to be seeing a promotion soon.] Hearing footsteps approaching one of the guards immediately begins mouthing off. He continuously ridicules the newcomer sure that it can only be one of the bandits who had been defeated earlier. Unfortunately for him, his assumption missed the mark by a wide margin. A pair of throwing knives zip through the air striking the throats of the unsuspecting guards. Jellal walks out from the darkness carrying a pair of large branches with him. He drags the bodies a few feet out of the entrance of the cave and uses the branches to stand them upright. From a distance the two look like a couple of lazy bums slouched over while shirking their responsibilities, however, the closer you get to them the more out of place everything appears. After setting up his human scarecrows Jellal backs into the darkness concealing himself. A few minutes pass before another pair of bandits come to change shifts and watch the entrance. They approach without paying much attention to the people they¡¯re supposed to be swapping with, which turns out to be a fatal mistake. It isn¡¯t until they¡¯re a few feet away that they notice something¡¯s wrong but before they can so much as open their mouths they¡¯re treated to a throwing knife to the throat. With the guards taken care of there¡¯s plenty of time to play around at the entrance of the cave. After stripping the bodies of their valuables Jellal drags the corpses into the bushes just to be safe. He quickly retrieves his backpack and puts away his loot before hiding it once again. Having secured the entrance he sneaks deeper into the cave while on high alert. It doesn¡¯t take long for him to come to a fork in the cave. Without having any way of knowing which of the tunnels is being used he can only check them one at a time. To start things off he takes the left tunnel on a whim. Walking silently through the corridor he comes to a series of openings. To stay consistent he sticks to the left being careful not to give away his presence. Carefully he pokes his head around the corner and peaks inside. The room appears to be an empty room but he cautiously enters to double check. After confirming it¡¯s just an empty room he moves on to the next opening. Peaking inside it¡¯s obvious that it¡¯s a room used as a bedroom of sorts. He slips into the room but nobody¡¯s home. Moving from one opening to the next he discovers that the rooms are mostly bedrooms while the first and last rooms were empty. After checking each of the bedrooms, four of them are currently missing their bandit which likely isn¡¯t a coincidence considering he killed four guards before entering the cave. Taking all the evidence into consideration it¡¯s pretty clear to him that these are the rooms for the lowest level of grunts in the hideout. Since it¡¯s unlikely a higher level bandit would bother coming here at this time of night he¡¯s free to do as he pleases as long as he doesn¡¯t make a racket. Entering into each of the ten occupied rooms he kills the bandits in their sleep. Although he won¡¯t be able to carry anything with him given the current circumstances he still checks the rooms for valuables. Unsurprisingly his search for valuables comes up empty as you would expect when raiding the living quarters of low level grunts. With the grunt living quarters cleansed of filth he heads back to the original fork. Upon arriving he¡¯s surprised to find a lone bandit making his way toward the cave entrance. With his weapons at the ready he follows after the bandit ready for whatever happens. The bandit strolls casually through the corridor and closes in on the entrance of the cave. The closer he gets the stranger the situation gets as he can¡¯t spot the guards anywhere. Even if they¡¯re a bunch of slackers no one would blatantly skip guard duty when keeping the hideout hidden is such a priority. At the entrance the bad feeling he had in his gut is confirmed when he spots pools of blood around the entrance where the guards should be. The bandit tries to call out for help but it¡¯s already too late. He collapses on the ground as blood spews from his neck. Jellal quickly strips the body of its valuables before dragging it into the bushes. With that minor hiccup taken care of he returns to the fork in cave to continue where he left off.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. With the left fork completely taken care of he begins his trek through the right side of the hideout. Unlike the left side the right path is a long straight corridor that leads to a singular large dining hall type room which has multiple paths branching off of it in turn. Luckily for Jellal the dining hall is currently deserted. Under normal circumstances there would almost always be bandits loitering around drinking in the hall, but due to the failure of today¡¯s mission the hall has been all but abandoned. Since there¡¯s no enemy in sight Jellal takes the opportunity to slip through the dining hall and into the rightmost path unnoticed. Upon reaching the path it¡¯s revealed to be a storeroom for food and alcohol ¡­ mostly alcohol. Seeing the room devoid of enemies he snatches a loaf of bread before slipping through the dining hall to the next path. The second room he entered from the dining hall is the kitchen which much like the storeroom is devoid of enemies. Having no reason to loiter in the kitchen he takes a bite out of the loaf of bread and returns to the dining hall to try his luck at a different path. The third try¡¯s the charm as the third path turns out to be a hallway leading to a series of other paths. He cautiously pokes his head into one of the paths only to discover it¡¯s a bandit¡¯s room. Unlike the room of a low level grunt this room is nicely decorated with proper furniture and various knickknacks. To his surprise the owner of the room is one of the bandits that kindly led him to the hideout. First he unknowingly led an enemy to their hideout, and then he sleeps soundly while that enemy is rummaging around his room. If there was an award for best bandit he¡¯d certainly be a candidate. One of the bandits who contributed most to Jellal¡¯s surging collection of assorted valuables and materials perished in his sleep without so much as a whimper. With yet another bandit eliminated Jellal moves on to the next room in the hallway. He slips into the room only to find it empty. After giving the room a once over just to be safe he leaves to move on to the next room. He moved down the hallway, going in and out of rooms repeatedly. Surprisingly there were five rooms with their patrons missing, though considering the fact that he killed eight of them before even showing up at the base it makes sense. Finally after so many empty rooms he comes across a bandit. Rather than sleeping in the middle of the night like a reasonable human being the bandit is sitting at a table in his room with a pint of beer in his hand. The drunk bandit is too focused on drinking to notice the intruder that¡¯s a few feet from him. Jellal silently moves behind the bandit with his knife at the ready. When the bandit puts his mug on the table his throat begins spewing blood. He tries to use his hand to stop the flow of blood but his fingers catch the handle of the mug causing him to smash it on his own face. The sound of the mug being smashed and the bandit¡¯s corpse loudly knocking the table over as he collapses, echoes through the cave. With his cover blown Jellal sprints out into the hall before immediately rushing to the next room. The bandit, who had just woken up due to the noise had no chance to react as a throwing knife pierced his throat the moment he sat up. The bandit in the next room is also greeted with a throwing knife the moment he got out of bed. His life quickly came to an end as his corpse loudly fell on the ground for all to hear. Jellal on the other hand didn¡¯t stick around to watch him die; instead he continued moving down the hallway trying to eliminate as many bandits as possible before they figured out what¡¯s happening. Lady luck abandoned him leaving the next two rooms empty. By the time he reached a room with an enemy in it the bandit was already moving toward the hallway. The bandit barely managed to block the throwing knife aimed at his face but was unable to stop the saw the ripped through his stomach. Jellal immediately retreated from the room after a single strike. He arrived at the next room at the same time the bandits were leaving their rooms. At the same time the bandit from the closest room took his first step into the hallway he was greeted by a saw to the neck. The audible thud that was made when the body dropped to the ground immediately alerted the remaining five bandits who¡¯d made their way into the hallway. They immediately drew their weapons when they noticed the intruder charging at them. Shock visibly decorated their faces when the noticed that the intruder that had managed to make it so deep into their base was a mere goblin. To them it was unfathomable for adventurers or high ranked monsters to infiltrate their hideout yet a goblin had somehow managed it. With only enemies in front the goblin charged forward with reckless abandon. The bandits wanted to scoff at it thoughtlessly rushing to its death but were taken aback by its sheer speed. The goblins violet eyes glowed with a bright yet eerie light as it closed in on the first bandit. The bandit swallowed his fear and tried to strike at the goblin with his sword. The goblin hopped over the blade before using the bandits arm as a platform to launch itself higher. As the goblin reached shoulder height it swung its saw, the bandit was left defenseless as his arms and weapon had been kicked down when the goblin used them as a platform. The saw continued unimpeded before being lodged deep in the temple of the bandit. Stepping off the dead bandits shoulder the goblin propelled itself higher as the body collapsed to the ground. The momentum it gained by jumping off the body carried it all the way to the ceiling of the cave. Rather than smashing its head on the ceiling the goblin rotated its body in the air causing its feet to contact the ceiling. Using its legs as if they were springs the goblins momentum stopped before reaching an all-time high in the opposite direction. The bandit below was already prepared after seeing the goblin jump off his comrade. Originally he had planned to slash the goblin out of the air but that plan was quickly thrown away when the goblin descended like a rocket. Even if he couldn¡¯t counter attack he was still ready to defend. Holding the sword above his head he braced the back of the blade with his off hand to maximize the stability of his block. The goblin descended head first, delivering an overhead strike with his saw in the process. The momentum of the strike was too much and the bandit¡¯s sword was pushed down until the saw was embedded in his shoulder. The teeth of the saw caught flesh and bone as it came to a halt. While the saw may have stopped the goblin did not. Using the opportunity granted by the teeth of the saw catching bone the goblin held the saw tight using it to shift its momentum from downward to forward. The head and chest of the bandit were yanked forward as the goblin collided with it. Before colliding the goblin struck out with a knee, concentrating all the force it had generated into a single point. The bandit vomited blood as he collapsed to his knees. The goblin didn¡¯t bother paying extra attention to the immobile bandit, ripping the saw out of his left shoulder as he passed by the bandit¡¯s right side. While pulling the saw back it conveniently slide teeth first across the bandits¡¯ neck, finishing him off. Seeing the bandits stunned by how quickly their friends were killed the goblin showed a toothy smile. Unlike how it did with the first two bandits the goblin didn¡¯t charge at its enemies at full speed, instead it walked forward slowly, menacingly, striking terror in the hearts of the bandits. The bandits steeled their nerves as they desperately tried to stop their bodies from trembling. Blood dripped from the saw as the goblin inched closer and closer to the terrified bandits. With a burst of speed it lunges toward the foremost bandit who responds with a horizontal slash. The goblin uses the back of the saw to lightly deflect the blade overhead as it rolls forward between the legs of the bandit. Coming out of its roll the goblin slashes the thigh of the bandit with its saw causing the bandit to drop to one knee, unable to stand properly. The two bandits at the back attack simultaneously but their attacks are avoided when the goblin dodges to the side kicking off the side wall slipping behind the bandit on the right. Before landing on the ground the goblin kicks the bandit in the back sending him stumbling forward into the foremost bandit who¡¯s struggling to his feet. The pair of bandits fall together in a tangled mess while the goblin charges at the last standing bandit. The bandit thrusts his sword at the goblin but it is easily sidestepped. After avoiding the thrust the goblin hacks at the sword with its saw holding it down while it throws a knife at the bandit¡¯s chest. Unable to dodge or use his sword to block the bandit is forced to use his arm to block the fatal blow. The bandit tries to create space by taking a step backwards but is met with the wall of the cave. In desperation he lunges forward. The goblin easily avoids the desperate attack and retaliates by slicing away at the exposed side of the enemy. The bandit drops his sword as he collapses to his knees while clutching his side. Seeing the other two bandits untangling themselves the goblin finishes off his opponent by swiftly removing his head. Seeing another comrade killed right before his eyes the uninjured bandit charges at the goblin in a rage. The goblin smirks before kicking the head at the bandit¡¯s gut. The bandit angrily avoids the head and the throwing knife that followed right after. The bandit¡¯s pupils shrink as watches the head fly at his injured comrade. The injured bandit is unable to avoid the head so he can only begrudgingly deflect it with his sword. The bandit only becomes aware of the knife chasing after the head when it stabs into his eye. The screams of the now one eyed bandit echo through the cave as he clutches at his missing eye. The uninjured bandit was momentarily distracted when the head and knife flew past him further injuring his friend. He turns to glare at the goblin responsible only to find that he¡¯s disappeared. While the bandit was distracted took the opportunity to slip past him, moving to his back. By the time the bandit¡¯s mind returned to the fight a saw was already closing in on his neck. Just like that, without even knowing how it happened, the bandit died as his head flew into the air. Jellal doesn¡¯t bother closing in on the injured bandit; instead he opts to use a throwing knife to finish the bandit off from a distance. With peace and quiet restored he starts to collect his throwing knives, along the way he gives an extra stab to any bandit that didn¡¯t have their head removed. Having done his due diligence he returns to searching rooms on the off chance a bandit somehow managed to sleep through the ruckus. Predictably the rest of the rooms were already empty since all the bandits in this living area had been killed. Knowing the area is clear for now he gives each room a once over to see if he can find anything valuable, or at the very least useful. Although he was able to find some things that sparked his interest there was nothing that was immediately useful. With that being the case he left everything where it was since he couldn¡¯t really carry it around while continued searching the base. Using some of the cloth from a random bandit¡¯s room he wiped the blood off his saw and throwing knives before cleaning himself up as well. With his hands nice and clean he pulls out the remainder of the bread he swiped from the food storage. As he casually walked through the hallway he finished off the bread before giving a satisfied burp. Seeing the end of the tunnel approaching his leisurely attitude is replaced with a calm focus. Once again returning to the dining hall he glances around before an excited smirk floats its way onto his face. His heartbeat quickens as he stares across the way unable to keep himself from laughing eagerly. [Kekeke] Goblin Doesnt Have A Temper Deep within a cave hidden by brush deep in the outer edge of the Fang Forest a large man sleeps in a room adorned in various expensive items. The man in question is over six and a half feet tall with a body covered in massive muscles that would put a bodybuilder to shame. The man, Murdoc, is the leader of a group of bandits that operates in the vicinity of the outer edge of the Fang Forest. In the past he was an up and coming adventurer who was well known for his strength, but after a string of incidents he gave up adventuring for a life of banditry. Things started well with him gathering around thirty or so subordinates and robbing merchants from a nearby road. His success allowed him to fill his room with various expensive items that he personally kept as trophies. After a string of successes his subordinates started getting comfortable and some tried to steal some of the spoils they¡¯d gathered. This transgression didn¡¯t go unnoticed by Murdoc who killed the thieves without so much as a warning. With most of the spoils horded by Murdoc there were naturally some who tried to overthrow him as leader to take it for themselves. The mutineers were dealt with in the same way as the thieves before them solidifying his position as the unquestioned and feared leader. Eventually all good things come to an end and the same could be said for the bandit troupes luck. In the recent weeks they had encountered more and more resistance from merchants. Their most recent raid even ended with all the participants injured in some way or another. Frustrated at the performance of his subordinates as of late Murdoc lost his temper nearly chocking a poor fool to death in the process. It took a night of heavy drinking for him to finally cool his head. His alcohol induced sleep didn¡¯t last long before being interrupted by the sound of screaming echoing through the hideout. The livid Murdoc wanted to run out and find who the idiot who disturbed his sleep is, but the screaming came to a swift and abrupt end. Murdoc¡¯s eyes narrowed when he heard how the screaming was seemingly cut off. Without wasting any time he rushed to put on his equipment. After putting on his armor he grabbed his great sword, which is nearly the size of a regular human being, and headed for the dining hall. ¡®An agonizing scream like that doesn¡¯t just stop the way it did. An intruder? That shouldn¡¯t be possible. The chances of someone randomly stumbling upon our hideout are practically nonexistent, and even if someone did they wouldn¡¯t be able to get to the main living quarters so easily. Could there be an entrance I don¡¯t know about? Impossible, I¡¯ve personally checked every nook and cranny of the cave system multiple times so that shouldn¡¯t be the case. Just what is going on?¡¯ Every step closer to the dining hall was accompanied by an increase in tension as his heartbeat grew faster and faster. When the dining hall was finally in site his steps slowed inexplicably as he became increasingly more nervous about confronting this unknown foe. Upon entering the dining hall he immediately activated the light stones causing the dining hall to be lit up. No longer worrying about being ambushed in the dark he sets his eyes on the living quarters. From the hallway leading to the living quarters the sound of slow plodding footsteps gradually draws closer to the dining hall. The source of the footsteps slowly struts into the dining hall before stopping to look around. When the little goblin¡¯s eyes find Murdoc it smirks while letting out a high pitched laugh. Murdoc is left completely baffled when looking at the intruder. Never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined a single goblin could bring down the group of bandits he spent so much time building up. He had prepared his heart for many possible intruders whether they turn out to be adventurers or monsters that specialize in speed or stealth he was mentally prepared, but the culprit turning out to be a goblin was a curveball he never expected. ¡®In the end it¡¯s just a goblin. How could those useless idiots lose to a freaking goblin? Oh well, it doesn¡¯t matter at this point, I should just take care of this little pest and get it over with. Now that I think about it this is a blessing in disguise. The merchants are getting smart to our presence so it isn¡¯t a bad time to move, and with those idiot subordinates dead I can keep all the loot for myself, hehehe.¡¯ The pair calmly close the distance between them casually as if there are no enemies present. Murdoc, with his giant sword, is the first to attack using a simple vertical slash. The telegraphed blow is easily side stepped by the goblin before it rushes in. The saw slashes at the exposed knee of Murdoc who hastily jumps back escaping with only a scratch and a ripped pair of pants. His expression hardens as he looks deeply at the goblin in front of him. ¡®A goblin avoided my attack? It even counter attacked by going after my knee to limit my mobility. It seems I took things too lightly, if I was at a similar level to my subordinates then ¡­¡¯ Murdoc throws out a horizontal slash which is lightly deflected over the goblin¡¯s head by its saw. After parrying the slash the goblin tries to get into range by rushing forward. Murdoc responds by retreating while simultaneously throwing out another horizontal slash. Jellal dives forward and rolls under the blade, avoiding the attack and closing the gap at the same time. He comes out of the roll swinging but his attack is blocked by his opponent. He follows up with a series of slashes from various angles but is unable to find a gap in his foe¡¯s defense. A slight gap in his offensive opens up room for a vertical strike from his opponent. He tries to side step the slash the same way he did the first blow but the blades curves toward him as if it has a life of its own. In response he jumps above the blade while spinning his body and using the saw as a buffer allowing him to harmlessly roll over top of the blade. The moment his feet touch the ground he retaliates with a throwing knife towards his opponent¡¯s thigh that is easily avoided. The pair exchange another series of blows with neither side having a noticeable advantage. As if they have an unspoken agreement they both jump back creating a sizable gap between them. [To think a mere goblin could push me so far, the world truly is a mysterious place. Since it¡¯s come to this I¡¯ll show you why humans will always be superior to monsters.] After throwing out a taunt Murdoc¡¯s body begins to emit a faint blue glow which extends over his armor and even covers his sword. Jellal¡¯s eyes narrow as the aura around Murdoc seems to have changed making it feel like he became an entirely different person. ¡®Magic? No, it feels slightly different. Could it be ¡­ Aura? Kekeke, how interesting!¡¯If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Jellal¡¯s eyes begin to glow faintly as he watches Murdoc¡¯s every action like a hawk eying its prey. Murdoc lifts his sword high over his head before slashing down at Jellal despite the gap between them. Jellal feels a sense of danger as blade begins its descent. Trusting his instincts he hastily dodges to his left only to see a blue streak of energy fly from the blade past where he was just standing. When the energy dissipates only a six meter long gash is left in its wake owing to its tremendous power. Knowing he¡¯s at a complete disadvantage when fighting from range he charges forward without holding back. It takes less than a second to close the gap and launch an attack at his adversary. The strength and speed of the attack is on an entirely different level than the ones used during the initial exchange causing his enemy to barely be able to block it. Immediately following his initial attack with the saw he flings out a throwing knife which his opponent simply ignores. The knife hits the faint blue aura and bounces off harmlessly as if its tip¡¯s made of foam. Seeing how ineffective throwing knives are he continues his onslaught with his saw. He starts off with simple, straightforward attacks which press his opponent with sheer speed and power. Seeing his opponent struggling to keep up with his attacks he adds in the occasional feint. On top of the feints he even begins shifting the direction of some of his attacks midway making it nearly impossible to know how he¡¯s going to attack. Attacks slip through Murdoc¡¯s defense one after another but are unable to penetrate his aura enough to deal significant damage with most attacks ending in a light flesh wound or a scratch. Knowing his opponent can¡¯t break through his aura enough to kill him Murdoc abandons defense and starts ignoring the goblin¡¯s attacks in favor of his own offense. With Murdoc only attacking Jellal is forced to dodge or deflect his blows constantly which in turn decreases the number of attacks he can dish out. During one such deflection he gets an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach. As if responding to the bad feeling he was getting, Murdoc¡¯s sword glows extra brightly causing the bone saw which was deflecting it to break. Luckily Jellal trusted his instincts and dropped to the ground narrowly avoiding the blow. Even though he managed to avoid the attack he was still in immense danger. Lying on the ground without a weapon he was no better than a sitting duck that could only wait for the inevitable flurry of attacks to rain down on top of him. Rolling back and forth he narrowly each blow as he struggled to pull a throwing knife out of his pouch. Grasping a small gap between attacks he managed to somehow get to his feet. What awaited him when he finally stood up was an aura laden slash coming straight at him. With no time to dodge he used the throwing knife to try to block the attack. The aura cut into the knife as it forced him backwards. After being forced back four meters his throwing knife was finally cut in two leaving his body to bear the brunt of the attack. With his chest being hammered by the attack he was sent flying backwards, landing heavily before he eventually rolled to a stop. A triumphant smile makes its way to Murdoc¡¯s face as his shoulders heave up and down accompanying his heavy breath. His aura gradually becomes fainter until it disappears completely as he drags his exhausted body towards his fallen foe. The smile on his face freezes along with his footsteps when the goblin slowly staggers its way to its feet. A bloody gash extends from the goblins left shoulder all the way to around its sternum even showing bone at some places. The goblin glances down at the wound, touching it lightly with its right hand before shifting its gaze upward. The flames of rage burn brightly in its eyes as it gives Murdoc a death glare while cackling like a mad man. [Kekeke, kekekekekekeke, you have a lot of guts to still be standing there after injuring me. Since it¡¯s come to this I¡¯ll show you why a pathetic human like you will never be able to compare to a superior being such as myself.] The goblin¡¯s violet eyes became tinged with red as the glow in its eyes intensified to the point it was hard to see its pupils. The muscles on the body seemed to become larger and more defined as it casually took a pair of bone saws out of a pouch attached to the belt it¡¯s wearing around its waist. A sense of dread permeated Murdoc¡¯s body as the goblin slowly marched toward him, swaying back and forth with each step it took. Unwilling to accept that he¡¯d been intimidated by a mere goblin he reactivated his aura while trying to calm his nerves. [Kekekekekeke, how long can you maintain that aura of yours? Ten, twenty seconds? It doesn¡¯t matter; the result won¡¯t change no matter how long you can manage to maintain it.] The ground beneath the goblins feet broke apart as it launched itself at Murdoc, arriving in front of him in an instant. Spinning as it sped by his left side the pair of saws ripped two gashes into his exposed waist. Before he has a chance to spin around a saw has already caught his ankle pulling his leg backward while the other saw hacks down on it ripping a chunk of flesh out of his calf and ankle. In order to prevent himself from toppling over he¡¯s forced to stab his sword into the ground for stability. Without having a chance to react his arm is sliced by the saws causing him to drop his sword. Knowing things aren¡¯t going his way he focuses his entire aura on defense in hopes of outlasting his opponent. The goblin darts back and forth hitting him from every angle imaginable. He tries to follow it with his eyes but is only able to faintly catch sight of the glowing eyes streaking about as if the goblin is able to use the air as a platform to bounce off of. Wounds begin accumulating on almost every part of his body with the only exceptions being his head and neck. His aura begins fading as the attacks intensified, but to his surprise none of the attacks were fatal. After a minute and thousands of wounds a terrifying realization dawned on Murdoc. ¡®This bastard is intentionally avoiding killing me! Kuh, does it want to torture me till I bleed out?¡¯ Just as he was racking his brain trying to find a way out of this situation the attacks stopped. The goblin came to a halt directly in front of him and stared at him with those glowing eyes while a malicious grin decorated the goblins face. [Vampire Style: Secret Technique ¨C Blood Evacuation] The goblin lunged forward striking the middle of his chest with a punch and palm that hit a split second apart. The force of the strikes went directly to his heart, forcing the blood flowing through his veins to accelerate a thousand times faster than normal. Blood instantly rocketed out of the thousands of wounds that coated his body leaving him completely devoid of blood. Without so much as a whimper Murdoc fell face first to the bloody ground below devoid of life. Jellal¡¯s shoulder heaved up and down as he wobbled back and forth barely keeping his balance while panting heavily. Feeling exhaustion starting to set in he sits down while steadying his breathing. After catching his breath he walks next to Murdoc¡¯s corpse and proceeds to remove his head. Having finished his double tap on Murdoc he sets his sights on continuing his exploration of hideout. Even though the leader of the bandits has been killed he refuses to let his guard down as he cautiously makes his way through the final passageway branching off the dining hall. Step by step he makes his way through the hallway until he finally comes across a room. The room is at least double the size of the rooms in the living quarters and is decorated lavishly with expensive looking items all over the place. The bed is also of significantly higher quality when compared to the other beds he¡¯d found so far with its soft mattress and fancy silk sheets. The bed is more reminiscent of the bed a noble might use than that of a bed jammed in a cave for a bandit. ¡®A superior being such as myself has been sleeping in trees while these bandit bastards are lounging around on such fancy beds. If I find any more of these pricks I¡¯ll have to make sure to teach them a lesson about respecting superior beings, kekeke.¡¯ While inwardly planning how to torture any new bandits he comes across due to the difference in sleeping conditions he begins thoroughly scouring the room for any hidden valuables. ¡®This room is so much better than the other ones I¡¯ve come across so it probably belongs to someone important if it isn¡¯t the leader¡¯s personal room. What kind of self-respecting bandit would leave their most valuable possessions lying around in a thieves den, especially if they¡¯re the leader? The best things should be hidden in a secret room or compartment, right? It¡¯s okay little secret room; I won¡¯t hurt you I just want to remove your insides. Come out, come out wherever you are.¡¯ While muttering like a madman he begins looking under the bed and flipping table, chairs, and rugs as he searches every inch of the room for hidden compartments. In the end he found a total of three secret compartments which housed expensive looking gems as well as a pair of suspiciously plain bags. ¡®What kind of idiot would put a plain bag in a secret compartment? Only someone who is a complete and total idiot would do that and such a person probably wouldn¡¯t be able to weasel their way into becoming an important member of the group. The only logical explanation for such plain looking bags being hidden so well is that their plainness is a disguise.¡¯ He decides to put playing with the bags off until later as he leaves the fancy room to continue searching the hideout. After a short walk he comes to the next room. Eagerly entering the room he finds piles of boxes containing various materials and products filling the room. He excitedly goes around the room checking out the different types of cargo the bandits had managed to steal from merchants and other unfortunate souls they encountered. ¡®Treasure room! These bandits must have put a lot of effort into gathering all these things for me. If there are any left alive maybe I should mercifully end their lives without making them suffer, after all a superior being such as myself should forgive past transgressions if the foolish lowly beings make such a genuine attempt to make up for their mistakes.¡¯ Jellal finishes checking out the treasure room before yet again continuing on his mission to explore the entire hideout. It doesn¡¯t take long for him to reach the end of the hallway which contains the only door in the entire base up to this point. He opens the door while keeping his saw at the ready but his caution is entirely unwarranted. Behind the door the cave slopes downward making it hard to know what lies at the end of the tunnel. He continues down the slope until it finally flattens out revealing the last section of the cave. He frowns as he scans the room with his eyes while his face twitches slightly. Unsure about what to do in this situation he stands there while his thoughts run in circles. In the end he¡¯s unable to hold it in anymore as he inadvertently blurts out what¡¯s on his mind. [What the hell am I supposed to do about this?] Goblin Does A Hostile Takeover The final section of the bandit hideout turned out to be a prison of sorts. A number of cells had been created with the victims the bandits had kidnapped being held inside. Each side of the cave housed a total of five cells a piece resulting in eleven cages in total when the individual cell at the end of the hallway is added in. Jellal inspected each cage one by one as he made his rounds of the cells. The first set of cells housed groups of people numbering in excess of five while the remaining eight cells on the sides of the cave held at most two individuals per cell. The cell at the end housed a single individual who was chained up especially securely compared to the rest of the captives. The captives in the first set of cells were separated with the men on the right side and women on the left. Their hands were chained together but other than that they weren¡¯t restrained in any way. Without having their feet chained together or being chained to the wall they were able to move about freely within the cells. The captives in these cells were typically nicely dressed in clothes that are suited to travel rather than fancy clothes or armor made for combat. The second and third sets of cells had the men and women separated in the same way the first set of cells did, with men on the right and women on the left. The captives in these cells wore characteristically fancy clothes that gave off an elegant noble-like air. Much like the captives in the first set of cells they were only chained at the wrists while being mostly free to move about in the cell. The second and third sets of cells had a higher quality environment with beds available for each individual in the cells. The final two sets of cells housed only women. The captives of these cells wore armor reminiscent of the armor adventurers typically wear with some having leather armor and others having heavier knight like metal armor. The captives in the last two sets of cells not only had their wrists chained but also had their feet chained together along with chains that connected them to the walls ensuring they couldn¡¯t get too close to one another. One of the women even had her mouth gagged to prevent her from speaking. The cell at the end of the hall housed a presumably dangerous captive. Each of the captives limbs were chained individually to the wall along with being chained together. The shackles also had spikes embedded in them that would stab the captive if she jerked about with any sort of significant force. Her mouth had been gagged and her eyes had even been covered by a blindfold. The coup de grace would have to be the spiked collar that¡¯s connected directly to the wall making it nearly impossible for her to move her head and neck without being jabbed in the throat with spikes. The captive didn¡¯t wear armor but an elegant dark red and black gothic style dress. Jellal couldn¡¯t help but wonder what kind of person requires such over the top security measures and how these incompetent bandits manage to catch her in the first place. After checking each of the cells he circled back around to the entrance of the section before halting his steps. Taking one last look back he gazed deeply at the cells, especially the end cell, before heading back to the area he came from. With the entire cave having been explored he returned to the entrance to get his backpack. Starting with the grunt living quarters he stripped away anything of value or of use from the rooms and corpses before heading back to the dining hall. After reaching the dining hall he temporarily set down his backpack since he wouldn¡¯t need it at the moment. Moving to a table in the dining room he dragged it all the way to the entrance of the cave before standing it upright, with great effort, blocking the entrance of the cave just in case a random monster happens upon it and tries to move in. Moving back to the dining hall he didn¡¯t grab his backpack but instead grabbed another table. The table was loudly dragged behind the first reinforcing the security. Just like that he went back and forth placing a pair of tables at the intersection, at the halfway point between the intersection and the dining hall, and at the entrance of the dining hall. Having used eight tables in total he was finally comfortable with the security of the cave and went back to his backpack. Knowing how much stuff he still had to collect, he emptied his backpack before heading to the main living quarters. In the main living quarters he stripped away the valuables and anything of use from the corpses and rooms. Each time his backpack was filled he would return to the dining hall to empty it before coming back for a refill. Multiple round trips later, he had finally finished consolidating all the useful and valuable things from the two living quarters into one giant pile in the dining hall. Unable to stand the sight of a giant pile of assorted goods he started separating the items into separate piles. In the end he had a pile for weapons, one for shoes, one for clothes, one for miscellaneous items that he deemed potentially useful in the future, and a pile for things that likely have monetary value. After a bit of deliberation he made another group of round trips from the dining hall to the treasure room. Instead of keeping his piles in the dining hall where they would be in the way he moved them to the treasure room since he was planning on organizing the treasure room in the future as well. Finally finishing everything he had to do in the hideout he let out a yawn as he made his way back to the fancy bedroom which he¡¯d claimed as his own. Upon entering his room he took off his equipment before hopping into bed and quickly passing out. For the first time since being reborn Jellal woke up feeling refreshed and well rested. The difference in the quality of sleep you can get in a normal bed when compared to sleeping in a tree is truly remarkable. Ready to take care of the problem he pushed off last night he jumps out of bed to do his morning stretches before putting on his personally made equipment. ¡®Now that I think about it I was injured last night and ¡­ the injury¡¯s gone, why is it gone? Is this finally a perk of being a monster, the legendary regeneration? It¡¯s only natural a superior being such as myself can recover from injuries overnight, kekeke. Still the question of what to do about the captives remains. I could set them free but wandering around a forest without any weapons or an idea of which way to go to reach civilization would kind of be a dick move. Not to mention they could spill the location of my sweet new pad. I could be a super nice dude and lead them back to the road but not only would that be the same as me personally giving away the location of my new crib, it would also require me to babysit a bunch of random, possibly disingenuous people until they got to a town safely. Since that would be way too much of a pain I think I¡¯ll go ahead and rule that option out. Option three: babysit the captives at my base. I like it more than the first two options but I¡¯m not keen on having to look after so many people while gaining nothing I return so I¡¯ll take a hard pass on this one. Option four: kill everyone. Not bad! No babysitting, no base exposure, no problems whatsoever. Sure I¡¯ll have to figure out what to do with the bodies but considering the number of bandits lying around adding a few more bodies to the pile won¡¯t change much.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Option five: keep them as lackeys. Not a bad choice. It¡¯s basically option three except I don¡¯t have to look after a bunch of idiots who got captured by incompetent bandits for free. The main problem is their competency; they did get caught by the useless bastards who used to live here after all. Options one through three can pretty much be eliminated from the running. While I like option four, murdering a bunch of innocent people without a good reason is below a superior being such as myself. If I can goad them into attacking me on the other hand, they¡¯ll no longer be innocent and I¡¯ll have the moral high ground. Putting option four aside for in case of emergencies leaves only option five. Honestly I don¡¯t need lackeys, especially incompetent ones, but considering the alternatives where I either get shafted or they all go the way of the dinosaurs it seems barring a sudden stroke of inspiration I don¡¯t really have any other worthwhile alternatives. ¡­ Now that I think about it, would a bunch of idiots who got kidnapped actually listen to a goblin? ¡­ As I thought, option four¡¯s pretty good.¡¯ Having come up with zero good ideas on what to do with the captives he decided to put it on the back burner for now. Shifting his attention he started to examine one of the suspiciously plain bags that he found in one of the secret compartments. After looking at the bag from various angles and trying a number of methods to pry into the secrets he was left scratching his head. He had tried forcing his consciousness into the bag, forcing his magic power into the bag, forcing things that are too big for it into the bag, and even putting things into the bag normally but no matter what he couldn¡¯t find anything out of the ordinary with the bag. While sitting there staring at a bag like a totally sane person everything clicked into place. ¡®Blood! If it¡¯s a bag that looks plain but is awesome enough to be hidden in a secret compartment then it has to be an item bag which bends space to hold a ton more stuff than it should be able too. When it comes to claiming ownership of magic items, especially item bags, then the answer should be blood.¡¯ Certain he¡¯d figured it out he took a knife out of his pouch and poked his finger so a drop of blood could drop onto the bag. He watched in anticipation as time seemed to slow down as the blood dropped to the bag below. The drop of blood splashed down on the bag and then ¡­ nothing. Even after retrying the methods he had used before nothing seemed to have changed, the mystery of the bag still eluded him. ¡®Maybe one of those idiot lackeys knows how to use the bags; chances are it belonged to one of them in the first place. Alright it¡¯s time for those useless fellows to earn their keep. I can¡¯t pick just anybody since they may try to betray me for it later so first I need to find someone trustworthy amongst these lackeys, and I think I know just the way. With a plan in place he makes his way to the prison area to properly meet his new lackeys. He stops at the door to straighten his cape and make sure he¡¯s looking his best so he can leave a good impression as the new boss. Taking a deep breath he pushes the door open and struts down the slope to the cells with large strides. Arriving at the bottom of the slope he holds his chin high as he takes long slow strides showing off his elegance and high standing. He walks to the middle of the room while glancing at the captives in each cell to see what kind of reactions they¡¯re having. Most of the captives were naturally confused while a few looked at him in disdain. [Oh, what¡¯s this? Did those thugs get a new pet?] One of the noble looking men immediately made the mistake of insulting their new boss. Hearing the taunt Jellal slowly turned his head toward the loud mouth while sporting a malicious grin. While shooting the captive a deadly glare he casually walked over to the cell before taking out the keys he¡¯d picked up off of Murdoc and unlocking the cell door. The fool took the chance to try to escape by rushing at the one who had just mercilessly opened his cage. His roommate, on the other hand, didn¡¯t react at all to the door being unlocked and only watched how things would unfold from his bed with eyes that were sure it was a trap. The fool¡¯s roommate was correct in thinking it was a trap. After being insulted Jellal decided to use option four on the fool whose punch was easily caught. Grabbing the fool¡¯s arm he pulled it over his should giving the unsuspecting fool a hip throw and slamming him hard into the ground. While his foe was dazed he pulled out a saw and struck his adversary with the back of it, busting the poor fool¡¯s kneecaps. The screams of pain echoed through the room as the man clutched at his knees. [Do you know who my father is? You won¡¯t get away with this he¡¯s ¡­] [Not here. And since he¡¯s not here it doesn¡¯t matter who your father is.] Looking at the glaring fool Jellal simply gave a malicious grim before removing the unfortunate guy¡¯s head with his saw. With his position firmly established he walked back to the cell and shut the door. After locking the door he looked at the fool¡¯s roommate and gave him a light smile. [Congratulations on getting a room to yourself.] Leaving behind a snide comment he returned to the center of the room to continue his business. Putting on a business smile while looking around, he cleared his throat before stating his business. [First allow me to introduce myself; I¡¯m your new boss, you can call me master, your highness, sir, your eminence, or if you have no sense of style I guess you could just call me boss. Naturally a superior being such as myself wouldn¡¯t go through the effort of visiting you just for mere introductions; I would like a few volunteers who are comfortable handling bodies.] Jellal looked at the fool¡¯s corpse in disdain as he mentioned bodies. The captives were rightfully nervous and hesitant to volunteer. In the end the one to volunteer was a little girl who looked to be about eight years old. The other women in the first cell tried to stop her and convince her not to volunteer but she stubbornly persisted with a stern face. Jellal watched on with a smile as the little girl came to the cell door with unyielding eyes. Happy with his first volunteer he opened the cell door to let her out. With the little girl beside him he looked around at the other cells in disappointment before turning to the girl. [I like you, what¡¯s your name young lady?] [My name¡¯s Meredith, boss.] Glancing around the room yet again he stopped his eyes on the right side before mocking the captives. [Meredith is volunteering to help all by herself and yet you just sit back and do nothing but watch. And you call yourselves men?] He shakes his head and sighs continuing to wait for volunteers. The first new volunteer was surprisingly the fool¡¯s roommate. After that an adventurer volunteered along with another woman from the first cell. Having decided he had enough volunteers he let them out of their cells and led them to the dining hall. Upon arriving at the dining room his subordinates were shocked to find Murdoc¡¯s headless body sprawled out on the ground. Knowing it would be troublesome to deal with the lackeys if he didn¡¯t know what to call them he reluctantly asked for their names. The sole man of the group was named Vincent and apparently has some distant relation with some high ranking nobility. His sharp features and calm temperament were quite fitting for a noble. The brown haired woman from the same cell as Meredith was named Beth. Although she claims to be the daughter of a prosperous merchant her gentle air and shy temperament is enough to make you wonder if she actually has what it takes to be in a line of work that constantly interacts with people. The final member of the group is a novice adventurer named Sia. Sia¡¯s the only member of the group that isn¡¯t human, as evidenced by her cat ears and tail. Her hair is a very noticeable silver causing her to stand out amongst the group. Jellal wanted figure out what kind of personality she had but gave up when she gave minimal answers to questions while glaring at him. [I suppose we should start by gathering the bodies in one place. Beth and Sia can begin by dragging the bodies from that hallway back to the dining room while Vincent returns to the cells to collect his former roommate. As for Meredith, you and I will be taking a good look at the food storage.] Vincent quickly dragged back his former roommate¡¯s body before joining Beth and Sia who were making constant trips to the main living quarters. It took the trio half an hour to bring all the bodies into the dining hall. While the trio were taking care of the heavy lifting Jellal and Meredith were playing around in the food storage room and the kitchen. Meredith¡¯s eyes sparkled as she ran around the storage room checking the different ingredients. After getting an idea of how they were looking food wise they moved on to the kitchen. The kitchen used magic stones to power the stove and sink. Jellal could only follow Meredith around as she confidently demonstrated how each of the appliances worked. Seeing that the others had finally finished gathering the bodies from the main living quarters they joined up with them to prepare for the next step. After moving the tables that blocked the way to the grunt living quarters he had Vincent and Sia drag the bodies from the dining hall to an extra-large pile in the grunt living quarters. Beth was tasked with cleaning up the excessive amounts of blood that was forming puddles all over the cave. Originally he had planned to have Meredith stick with him while he made sure Vincent and Sia didn¡¯t try any funny business but she insisted on helping the others. When faced with her unyielding gaze he could only relent and ask her to help Beth clean up the blood. Beth finished her job before the pile in the dining hall had disappeared so she joined Vincent and Sia move the bodies to the grunt living quarters. Meredith wanted to help them move the bodies but Jellal was stern in his opposition and refused to allow her to touch the filthy bodies. Seeing the preferential treatment Meredith was receiving the other three helpers began feeling concerned about her safety, after all goblins aren¡¯t known for their kind treatment of the women of other species. Jellal began to feel odd when he noticed the trio of workers giving him a strange look every time they passed by. Without knowing why he was getting strange looks he could only confusedly stare back at them while tilting his head. When all the bodies were finally gathered in one place, he gathered the group together before giving them a thumbs up before sheepishly scratching the back of his head. [Good work everyone. Now, how do we dispose of the bodies? If you want to go through the trouble of building a grave for them I won¡¯t stop you, but that¡¯s a lot of work. Personally I think we should torch the bastards, but I don¡¯t want to give away the location of my brand new base. So, any suggestions?] Goblins Eyes Are Opened The group was once again in the prison section of the hideout, this time standing in front of the gagged adventurer¡¯s cell. The usually uncooperative Sia wore a mischievous smile as her tail swayed back and forth. The plan she¡¯d suggested wasn¡¯t much different than Jellal¡¯s, in fact the only difference between them was how they¡¯re to be carried out. Jellal had thought of piling the bodies together and doing a mass cremation and the difference between his plan and Sia¡¯s came down to knowledge. Jellal¡¯s thinking was simple; build a big fire and hope it¡¯s hot enough. Sia on the other hand knew why one particular prison in the normal cells was gagged; if they weren¡¯t gagged they could chant incantations. That right, this particular adventurer just so happens to be decently versed in magic. Unlocking the cell, Jellal walked up to the mage and casually removed the gag that had been preventing her from speaking. After that he removed the chains that had been restraining her, allowing he to move about freely for the first time since she¡¯d been captured. [I hear you know a bit of magic. Since that¡¯s the case I¡¯ll give you the honor of assisting a superior being such as myself in completing a task.] Ignoring what was said to her she began chanting in a low voice. No matter how discreet she tried to be it would never slip past the overly cautious Jellal. Instead of trying to stop her he simply turned to look at her with a toothy grin. In an instant his eyes sharpened as he methodically pulled a saw out of his belt pouch. His killing intent burst forth as the air around him seemed to distort. Picking up on the change, the mage panicked, unconsciously taking a step back and fumbling her chant. Jellal began advancing slowly in a menacing fashion, those around him finding it increasingly difficult to breathe with each step he took. Unable to endure, the mage fell on her backside while looking at him in fear. He leisurely moved his saw to the side lifting it slowly as he prepared to strike without mercy. It was at this moment that a small figure moved between the pair. [Fighting¡¯s not good!] Meredith¡¯s little clenched fists trembled as she bravely stood between Jellal and the mage. Her big brown eyes seemed to be on the verge of tears as she appealed to Jellal. His steps halted momentarily as he shifted his gaze to Meredith. Looking at her with deep observing eyes he continued forward. Arriving in front of Meredith he slowly extended his empty hand towards her forehead. The spectators in the surroundings wanted to drag Meredith a safe distance away from Jellal but found themselves paralyzed in fear. His hand finally reached her forehead and he began palming the little girl¡¯s head. After a short pause his eyes softened as he ruffled her wavy brown hair, leaving it a mess. The heavy killer intent that seemed to distort space disappeared as if it had been an illusion allowing all involved to heave a collective sigh of relief. [This is the only time. If something like this happens again everyone should know what¡¯ll happen. Next time there will be no mercy, even if you beg me to top with tears in your eyes it won¡¯t change anything.] Putting away his saw he gave the captives a stern word of warning; with the last part being directed at Meredith specifically. Having gotten his point across he walked out of the cell intending to return to his room. Sia and the others could only watch Jellal¡¯s back in silence as he disappeared from the room. It was only after he left that they could finally breathe easy without worrying about stepping on the sleeping lion¡¯s tail. Despite the mage no longer being bound or gagged she didn¡¯t try to escape or help the other captives break out of their cells, instead she followed behind Sia as they left her cell. They even closed the cell fearing Jellal would use the open cell as an excuse to get rid of them. When the group passed by Jellal¡¯s room they did their best to make as little noise as possible so they wouldn¡¯t distract him from what he¡¯s doing. After passing through the dining hall they brought the mage, Kira, to the grunt living quarters where they had previously piled up the corpses. As soon as she set eyes on the remains of the bandits, each with their head cut off, she finally realized how nonexistent her chances of survival would have been if Meredith hadn¡¯t saved her. Readjusting her mindset she began chanting a fire magic to incinerate the bodies. Originally she had wanted to burn them outside so she wouldn¡¯t have to worry about inhaling the ashes but when Beth told her about how Jellal didn¡¯t want to have a beacon of smoke giving away the location of his newly acquired hideout she vehemently insisted on burning them where they are. When she was finishing her chanting she lifter her right palm and pointed it at the corpses. As the final part of the chant left her lips a small fire spontaneously erupted in front of her palm. The flames formed into a ball as they grew larger and fiercer. After the ball reached the size of a human head she pushed her hand forward and sent the fireball gliding to the center of the pile of bodies. The instant the fireball hit the ground it expanded nearly fifty times in size while spinning in a circular motion to maintain its shape. Sia and the others had been excitedly watching from the side when Kira was doing her chant but do to the intense heat they were forced to take a few steps back. They watched the blaze as calmly as possible while secretly being shocked at how powerful the spell was. Every one of them had heard about how powerful a mage¡¯s spells could be but the scene in front of their eyes showed them how much they had been underestimating mages up to this point. The inferno only lasted a few seconds before quickly fading back into nothingness, leaving behind a pile of smoldering ashes in its stead. The spells caster, on the other hand, swayed back and forth while using the wall as support to keep from collapsing. Pride could be seen in her eyes as she stared lovingly at the aftermath of her spell. Beth was the first to turn around to report the completion of their task. She let out an inadvertent shriek the moment she looked behind her causing the others to promptly do an about face fearing an intruder had managed to sneak up on them while they were distracted. Although someone had noiselessly appeared behind them at some unknown point in time it wasn¡¯t an intruder. The sneaky fellow was naturally a certain violet eyed goblin that would never miss such a perfect opportunity to observe and study magic up close and personal.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. [I see! Magic truly is convenient. It¡¯s a shame she¡¯s only scratched the surface of the mystery known as magic. It would¡¯ve been nice is she¡¯d at least been competent enough to not use pointless things like chants to cast magic.] Hearing Jellal¡¯s blatant dismissal of her ability, the prideful Kira couldn¡¯t help but lash out. [What do you know? Is someone like you even able to learn magic?] [Kekeke, what do I know? The energy used for magic, mana, is inside everything. If you focus enough it¡¯s possible to sense that energy and use it for yourself. Not only that, the mana in our bodies can resonate with mana in the surroundings which makes it easier for us to control that type of mana, it¡¯s what you¡¯d call a natural affinity. With a strong enough affinity it¡¯s even possible to control magic by instinct, though that¡¯s most common in monsters. What does that tell us? It tells us that it¡¯s possible for anyone to control any type of magic if they can sense it and learn how to manipulate it. When it comes to manipulating magic most humans use tools like chanting to control the magic for them, thus such people have only scratched the surface of magic.] Jellal¡¯s response to Kira¡¯s outburst wasn¡¯t the violent flare-up that everyone had expected but a calm and almost scholarly rebuttal. In fact, normally he would have been beyond annoyed at her talking back to him after what had happened a short time ago but since he¡¯s currently over the moon he couldn¡¯t be bothered with it. He had constantly been practicing, sensing, and investigating magic since he was born. That combined with the general information he got from he who is unworthy of having a name (god) which included some tidbits about magic had pushed him to a threshold he was unable to cross without properly witnessing real magic. And today he finally got the long awaited pieces to finish putting the puzzle together in the form of personally witnessing how Kira manipulated mana to form and control her spell. Upon hearing Jellal¡¯s response Kira couldn¡¯t help but feel that he was looking down on her and treating her like a child who¡¯s done something wrong yet doesn¡¯t know any better. Her injured pride wouldn¡¯t allow her to stay silent while being talked down to so she could only try to find herself a logical excuse. [Humph, acting like it¡¯s just so easy to use magic without chanting. Only top class mages are able to reliably use chantless magic and even they have difficulties doing it.] [Kekeke, sure it may be difficult for you, but a superior being such as myself should have no problem with it. Using chants for magic is like using a bow to hunt a wolf; although a bow and arrow are useful they aren¡¯t necessary and the advantages they give can mostly be made up with practice.] Having finally made a large breakthrough in magic theory Jellal was eager to practice and test things out. Unfortunately a cave with a bunch of prying eyes isn¡¯t exactly what you would call an ideal place to practice using magic so he decided to use hunting as an excuse to practice outside. Eager to put his theoretical knowledge to practical use he impatiently leaves Sia and Kira in charge of protecting the hideout while he¡¯s away. With that taken care of he moves the tables that were blockading the cave entrance and disappears into the dense brush that hides the cave. Sia and the others are at a loss of what to do now that Jellal has surprisingly left them on their own. Out of the entire group Meredith is the only one to immediately head back to the dining hall. Her hurried steps quickly carry her out of sight as if she were in a rush to do something while Jellal¡¯s gone. After a bit of pondering, Vincent is the first adult to start walking down the hall to the dining hall while the rest are still just standing there with the gears in their heads spinning. The thought of escaping obviously crossed his mind but after remembering what happened with Kira and his roommate he immediately binned the idea in favor of relaxing in the base which comes with a much lower probability of being killed. Kira, who had already experienced what it¡¯s like to be on Jellal¡¯s bad side, also came to a quick decision on the matter. She went to the dining hall without so much as a second glance at the hallway that leads to the cave¡¯s entrance and their only way to escape. ¡®If I let my mana recover I could easily help everyone else break out, but if that freak noticed any tampering with the cells I¡¯m definitely going to be the first suspect. My life is very important to me so I can only apologize and hope they¡¯re used to the living conditions by now. Sorry.¡¯ Sia watched as Beth followed after Kira leaving her by herself. Although none of the others had noticed it, her tail had been swaying slightly ever since Jellal had asked her to guard the cave while he was gone. Just like Meredith she didn¡¯t need to think twice to know what she was going to do after Jellal left. Unlike the rest of the group she made her way to the entrance of the cave before being the first captive to take a step outside. She carefully observed the surroundings while breathing in the fresh forest air. After a few deep breaths she was struck by a moment of inspiration and promptly turned around and walked back into the cave. Seeing Sia pass through the dining hall where she was relaxing with Beth and Vincent, Kira became curious about what Sia was doing so she followed her till they reached the treasure room. She waited outside while Sia roamed about the treasure room. Eventually Sia proudly walked out of the treasure room with a sword on her hip. ¡®Maybe I should see if I can find a mana potion in there. No no no, if I get caught taking something from the there, just thinking about it makes me shiver.¡¯ While Sia was looking for a sword, Meredith was alone in Jellal¡¯s room. Her little hands were holding one of the suspiciously plain bags that she had seen Jellal messing with when they passed by his room earlier. Young as she may be, she grew up around merchants which allowed her to develop an eye for assessing different types of products. Yet no matter how she tried she couldn¡¯t find anything special about the bag. That¡¯s when it hit her; it¡¯s an item bag. From what she¡¯d heard item bags don¡¯t look any different from normal bags but are able to hold far more capacity than the size of the bag. A bright smile bloomed on her face as she attempted to recall what her father had taught her about how to use item bags. Outside the cave, hiding amongst the trees and brush a certain violet eyed goblin watched the entrance with great interest. When Sia initially walked out of the entrance he was somewhat surprised since he didn¡¯t think any of them actually had the guts to try to escape. Just when he was about to put her down to protect the secrecy of his new base she surprised him yet again when she didn¡¯t try to escape but instead went back inside. A few minutes of patiently waiting was all the time it took for his stake out to see more action. The culprit was once again Sia who had returned to the cave entrance with a sword on her hip. His face began to twitch when he looked at the sword which had obviously been taken from his treasure room. It took all he had to keep his emotions in check as he watched her do practice swings with his sword. Rather than rashly making a move on Sia he endured and observed her actions, ready to make a move the moment she makes her move to escape. That moment he had waited patiently for didn¡¯t come even after fifteen minutes. He was left flabbergasted as he watched Sia practicing while also keenly keeping an eye on her surroundings. ¡®She¡¯s actually guarding the cave? Kekeke, to think she actually took my request seriously. Since you¡¯ve managed to impress me I¡¯ll let you off the hook for taking that sword without permission.¡¯ He continued his observations for a short while before finally setting out with confidence that his base was left in good hands. Since he was going to be staying in this base for now he decided to use this hunting trip to not only practice his magic but also use the opportunity to scout out the surroundings so he wouldn¡¯t be completely green in navigating his own backyard. He zigzagged his way through the area surrounding the cave, occasionally stopping to soak in the features of the environment. After circling around his base a few times he felt comfortable with his knowledge of the environment and at last he moved away to fulfill his original objective. Since he was moving away from the base to hunt he moved in a straight line so he would be able to easily back track his way home. On his way he spotted a bush which had a bunch of berries on it. He picked a handful of berries and kept them in a pouch on his belt. Now that he had access to so many people, he assumed that at least one of them would be able to tell him if they were edible or if they had some other uses. Whenever he found a conspicuous herb, mushroom, or fruit he would grab a handful of them and shove them into a pouch on his trusty belt. It didn¡¯t take long for his extra pouches to fill up causing him to reluctantly stop picking up every random thing that caught his eye. One foot after the other he marched through the forest looking for prey. The sound of shrieking goblins caught his attention as he wandered the forest. Locking on to the sound he adjusted his course to intersect with it. Arriving in the area he casually approached while keenly watching his surroundings. Leaning on a tree in a laid back manner he coolly kept an eye on the goings-on in front of him as if he was at a movie theater. When the play was over he uncrossed his arms and was about to go back to hunting when some of the actors spotted him from a distance. They began to close in on him despite him being completely uninterested in them. ¡®Kekeke, I wonder what these idiots are thinking, casually approaching a superior being such as myself. Perhaps they have a death wish. ¡­ Why don¡¯t I just try asking them? It should at least be somewhat interesting to see how they respond.¡¯ Goblin Goes Hunting The outer edge of the Wolf Forest is home to numerous types of low level monsters. On top of the abundance of weak monsters the forest is also home to countless herbs and plant life that are a useful material for making many different common products such as potions and antidotes. This combination makes it a haven for novice adventurers to explore while they gain experience and knowledge that they¡¯ll need to survive riggers of being a true adventurer. Many veteran adventurers even bring youths who are wet behind the ears there to train them in hopes of increasing their chances of survival when they leave the nest. Today Mac, a retired adventurer, is also doing his part in passing on knowledge to the younger generation as he mentors a group of promising youngsters deep in the Wolf Forest. The party Mac is mentoring are typical newbies who want to rush ahead thoughtlessly and make a name for themselves. Despite having mentored them for more than a week he can only shake his head in disappointment at their lack of improvements in their maturity. In fact, he would argue that their mentality has gotten worse the more their physical abilities have improved. Under Mac¡¯s watchful eye the group of fledglings finally finish off the goblins they¡¯d been fighting. The greenhorns are proud of their accomplishment and even complain about how easy it is to kill goblins. Their unfounded arrogance leaves Mac astonished as he wonders how they¡¯re able to be so proud of taking five minutes to kill three goblins when they even had a two person advantage. The heads of the youths swell as they eagerly cut the mana stone out of the goblins¡¯ chests. It wasn¡¯t until the fastest of them had finished that they noticed another goblin leaning against a tree in the distance. Mac had noticed the goblin when it showed up but didn¡¯t tell the fledglings because he wanted them to understand how important it is to always be aware of your surroundings. That was only at first though, when he noticed the goblin¡¯s abnormal behavior alarm bells started ringing in his head as he silently prayed that the brats he was looking after wouldn¡¯t notice it. A hot headed swordsman was the first to rush at the goblin, not even bothering to wait for the rest of the party to join him. When the rest of the melee specialists noticed him bolting toward the goblin they were quick to follow not wanting to miss out on the action. Mac tried to stop them but they ignored their mentor and rushed ahead, throwing caution to the wind. Once they got close they kicked it down a gear approaching the goblin casually, wanting to toy with it before they killed it. [What do you want? Do you have a death wish perchance?] [Hahaha, a talking goblin! Don¡¯t worry little guy, after you become rust on my blade you¡¯ll make for a good story to tell some ladies while I¡¯m drinking.] The young man could already see the look on the waitress¡¯ face when he tells the story at the inn. He¡¯d heard that she likes to listen to interesting stories from adventurers, and this interesting story would hopefully help him win her affection. While his mind was wandering off he approached carelessly with sword in hand, ready to cut down the goblin. Hearing the response he was given Jellal could only take it as a yes and silently pulled out his saw. The young man foolishly tried to slash him but ended up dying without knowing how he was killed. The rest of the fledgling adventurers shocked beyond belief. The scene that had occurred was so far outside their expectations that it took a moment for it to register. [You Bastard! How dare you?] [Kekeke, how dare I? You all attack me and you have the gall to call me a bastard? Your parents should have taught you better than that. You shouldn¡¯t try to kill others if you aren¡¯t prepared to be killed yourself, especially when you¡¯re dealing with a superior being such as myself.] The other two melee specialist rushed in at the same time while a hooded young man at the back covered them by firing arrows. Jellal easily dodged the first arrow before moving so one of the melee fighters would be between him and the archer. The pair of melee fighters attacked simultaneously. Unfortunately their swings were overly large and full of hole. Before their attacks had the chance to arrive the greenhorn who wasn¡¯t blocking the archer¡¯s line of sight was cut in half with a single strike. When the remaining attack finally arrived Jellal simply stepped past it and the attacker while cutting his head off while he was at it. An arrow flew at Jellal the moment he started moving past the melee fighter but by the time it arrived all the front line fighters had already been killed. In one smooth motion he used his saw to slightly change the course of the arrow while turning his body and throwing a knife at the archer. The poor archer was caught off guard and was unable to respond do to his lack of experience, resulting in his untimely demise. With the four fledgling adventurers that attacked being killed in a matter of seconds Mac didn¡¯t have enough time to intervene. If he were to go all out he could have most likely blocked the throwing knife that killed the archer but he decided to forgo the archer to ensure he would be in a position to protect the last member of the party. With his sword drawn he took a defensive stance in front of the last surviving youth, his gray hair and scraggly beard blowing softly in the wind. [Do you have a death wish as well?] Seeing the last novice showing no signs of attacking and the old man moving with intentions to protect them rather than attack Jellal couldn¡¯t help but see how they would respond to his question. Mac was unsure why the strange goblin was asking him such a cryptic message and took it as a sign of ill will. He unintentionally let out a tiny amount of killing intent when he responded angrily. [What kind of idiots do you take us for? We aren¡¯t idiots out to get ourselves killed you know!] [Really? Then why are you releasing killing intent towards me? The only reason you would have to do that is if you have a death wish.] [Humph, cocky bastard. If you even think about thinking about touching a hair on Silica¡¯s head I¡¯ll kill you where you stand.]The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. [Kekeke, you¡¯re quite cocky yourself damn geezer. Silica was it. How about you? Do you have a death wish like your friends did? Or perhaps you want to kill me to get revenge?] [No] [Say old man, is she always so taciturn? Even though I went out of my way to speak to her I only get a one word response in return. I know, she must be so honored that I would talk to her that she couldn¡¯t muster a proper response due to the overwhelming glee.] The longer the conversation continued on the stranger the goblin seemed to Mac, leaving him confused. He shook of his confusion and tightened his focus not wanting to fall for the goblin¡¯s tricks. ¡®That was almost bad! He almost got me to drop my guard by confusing me with his egotistical routine. It¡¯s a good thing he¡¯s so op- wait all those openings are traps! Kuh, to think he would act all innocent and stand in a way that shows a bunch of openings while actually being in a perfect position to counter attack if someone were to try to exploit the gaps in his defense.¡¯ With both sides guarded against each other the conversation stagnated and was replaced with an awkward silence. Not wanting to waste any more time that he could be using to practice or hunt Jellal started walking toward Silica and Mac. When he reached the archer¡¯s body which was a short distance in front of them he stopped and narrowed his eyes before cautiously retrieving his throwing knife. After getting back his knife he took a wide berth as he circled around Silica and Mac, always making sure they were in his line of site. Once he had put a considerable distance between him and the duo he high tailed it leaving them standing there alone. Jellal moved through the forest as if nothing had happened. His hunting trip had gotten off to a rocky start but eventually his luck took a turn for the better when he encountered a horned rabbit. Instead of killing it instantly with a throwing knife he refrained so he could test out his theories regarding magic. He started by taking a deep breath and concentrating on sensing the mana in his body. From there he expanded to sensing the environment. Carefully controlling his mana he began to radiate mana out from his body slowly before adjusting his mana emissions to match one particular type of mana which he felt most clearly and had the most affinity with. When they perfectly matched he began manipulating his mana to act as a guide to make the resonating mana in the air act according to his will. With immense difficulty he steadily got the hang of how to use his mana and mix it with the environmental mana allowing him to more easily control it when compared to when he just used his mana as a guide. Even though he had managed to successfully control mana he didn¡¯t let it get to his head and instead redoubled his focus. Bringing the mana together he began to concentrate it constantly increasing the amount of mana while decreasing the amount of space it¡¯s being controlled in. The process was a lot slower than he had hoped but he knew it was a matter of practice and proficiency not a problem with his theory. After he concentrated the mana as much as possible he began forming it into the shape he desired. Soon a small needle made of wind was floating in front of him constantly rotating like a drill. With his magic formed he began practicing controlling the magic. Surprisingly he found that the formed magic was harder to control than loose mana. Rather than controlling the magic directly he opted to use loose mana as a guide while simultaneously manipulating the magic, in this way he would be controlling it both directly and indirectly at the same time. Of course, in order to do such a thing the person doing it needs to be able to focus on both facets at once and perform the necessary manipulations with high enough proficiency to not get in their own way. That is to say that only a freak of nature would be able to control both formed magic and mana simultaneously without unintentionally exerting them in different directions or losing focus and control over one or both. Once his level of control reached a level he deemed acceptable (for now) he finally decided it was time to test the power of the magic he had created. The wind needle took merely a fraction of a second to reach the horned rabbit which was minding its own business nearly fifty meters away. The needle passed straight through the horned rabbit¡¯s skull without resistance, killing it instantly. He couldn¡¯t help but smile when he looked at the results. He had finally used magic for the first time and as he walked over to the horned rabbit¡¯s body he believed that the hard work he had put in to get to this point was all worth it. Of course he wouldn¡¯t be satisfied with just this. This was just an initial test, proof that the basic magic theory that all his other original theories and ideas branched out from was indeed correct and grounded in reality and not limited to just theory but able to be put into practice. Jellal picked up the horned rabbit and inspected the wound carefully. The edges of the wound were smooth without any cracks, tears, or flaying proving that the attack had far more power than was strictly necessary to kill the poor rabbit. Carrying the rabbit in his left hand he continued on with his hunt. It wasn¡¯t long before he found more signs of life. Unfortunately it turned out to be a small group of goblins which weren¡¯t on the menu. After bypassing the goblins he continued his quest for food back towards the direction of his hideout. On the way he found another horned rabbit which had the ill-fated honor of being used as a target for his magic practice. The second time around the process was a lot smoother on the whole. It took less time to concentrate the mana to form the magic, and he was also more comfortable controlling the formed magic and mana. In the end the second horned rabbit joined its brethren in his hand with a hole in its head. It took Jellal nearly an hour find his next target to hunt. Twenty meters away an unsuspecting boar was moseying along without a care in the world, unaware that a predator had already set eyes on it. Jellal was planning on using magic to kill the boar, though he wasn¡¯t planning on using a wind needle like he had for the horned rabbits. He was certain a wind needle would be able to kill it but he wanted to use the boar to test a different style of magic. He pulled out a throwing knife and started concentrating wind mana onto the surface of the knife. Next he concentrated mana around the knife making it just dense enough to form magic. He threw the knife at the boar while using mana to coat it and wind magic to propel it while drastically reducing its air resistance. The throwing knife struck the oblivious boar in the side of the head before passing through to the other side like a hot knife through butter easily killing the poor boar. The knife continued on until it embedded itself deep in the ground. ¡®The wind needle¡¯s powerful but it lacks substance. If I tried to use it against an enemy that had a solid defense its efficiency and usability would drop significantly. If I use a throwing knife as a base and use magic around it then it¡¯ll be less powerful but having actual substance will make up for that making it far better to use against enemies with solid defense.¡¯ Satisfied with the results of the test he walked past the boar to try to recover his throwing knife. Rather than being annoyed at the knife being buried in the dirt he was excited because it gave him the chance to test another theory he had come up with. At the general location where the knife should be he leaned over and put his hands on the ground. Adjusting his mana to match the mana in the earth he slowly started resonating with it. After resonating he started sending mana out like waves scanning the ground. His theory was actually fairly simple; if you resonate with one type of mana and use it to sense then theoretically you would be able to notice any foreign object that didn¡¯t resonate with the mana. If things worked out the way he planned then he¡¯s able to put it to practical use then he would be able to resonate with the mana in the air and be able to sense anything that wasn¡¯t perfectly resonating with that mana which would include people, trees, monsters, and pretty much anything that isn¡¯t air. As his scan deepened he began to notice various pebbles and other objects that didn¡¯t resonate with the mana in the dirt. Finally he found his knife. Although he can sense things that don¡¯t resonate it¡¯s not so easy to identify what they are. If a rock is in water then the water will surround the rock, if your consciousness is the water then you¡¯ll know the shape of the rock but if you didn¡¯t already know it was a rock than you would only be able to guess what it was based off the shape which is what Jellal was experiencing when he was sensing with resonance. Using the earth mana he was already sensing and manipulating he formed earth magic around the knife. The earth magic moved the knife through the ground by pulling the dirt from in front of the knife around it and using it to push it from behind. It wasn¡¯t long before his knife poked through the surface of the ground next to him as if it had never been buried in the first place. He retrieved his knife and inspected it for damage before putting in back in his pouch. Thanks to the mana coating he had given the knife it managed to get by relatively unscathed confirming his theory that mana and magic could be used in a similar manner to aura. Of course aura specialized in coating things and acting as a physical entity while mana and magic tend to be the opposite being more specialized in acting intangible without being too effected by physical things. Having gotten his knife back he returned to the body of the boar he¡¯d killed. Hoisting it up over his shoulder he started carrying it back to the base along with the horned rabbits that he had hunted along the way. It didn¡¯t take long for him to give up carrying it over his shoulder. The extra weight messed with his balance which quickly got on his nerves, and the blood leaking from its head kept falling on the back of his foot while he was walking. Rather than suffer through such annoyances he instead elected to hold it by its back legs and drag it behind him. Goblin Gets A New Subordinate Sia was diligently swinging her sword when she heard the sound of rustling from the bushes. In a few steps she repositioned herself a short ways inside the tunnel effectively limiting the directions enemies could potentially attack her from. Her tail rocked from side to side as she keenly watched the area in front of the cave while maintaining a defensive posture. Jellal, who had been hiding in the bushes monitoring Sia, was secretly impressed by her dedication and decision making. Even though she was obviously excited to see some action she didn¡¯t act rashly, instead choosing to move to a more advantageous position. Sia is ready for whatever enemy she might have to face when Jellal struts out of the bushes carrying some horned rabbits in one hand while dragging a boar with the other. Disappointment flashes across her face but disappears almost instantaneously as she greets Jellal. The duo use tables to block the entrance before moving toward the dining hall, putting the table blockades back in place along the way. When they arrive at the dining hall first thing they see is Kira and Vincent sitting at a table relaxing. Jellal drops the boar and horned rabbits on a table before taking a second look around the room. Not seeing Meredith anywhere he furrows his eyebrows before going to look for her. Planning to start by looking in the prison area he headed down the hallway glancing in his room as he was walking past. His steps grinded to a halt as his search had ended before it had a chance to begin. In his room Meredith is sleeping soundly without a care in the world. Drool stretches from the corner of her mouth to the bed below while her chest lightly moves up and down with her breathing. Jellal is left unsure of what to do when looking at her sprawled out on the bed like she owns the place. Letting out a sigh he walks over to the bed and gently shakes her shoulders. A muddleheaded Meredith props herself into a sitting position before rubbing her eyes with her hands. A yawn and a light stretch later her brain finally turns on as she notices Jellal standing right in front of her. [Good morning.] The little girls completely unguarded and na?ve response leaves him speechless. He manages to stop himself from retorting that it¡¯s the middle of the day but can¡¯t hold himself back from face palming while shaking his head and heaving a sigh. [What are you doing in my room? You should know better than to sneak into other peoples¡¯ rooms without their permission.] [Ugu, sorry. I saw you looking at that bag and wanted to know why you were doing that, so I ¡­] Meredith responded to his interrogation in a mosquito like voice while hanging her head, unwilling to look him in the eye. Looking at the little girl who knew she did something bad and was waiting to be punished Jellal couldn¡¯t bring himself to be too hard on her. Reaching out his hand he lightly patted her head before turning around to leave. [You¡¯ll have to have a timeout later, but for now we need to find someone to make lunch.] Jellal headed to the prison area to find someone to clean and cook the game he¡¯d brought back. Meredith chased after him, sticking close behind him as if she were his shadow. Upon entering the room he went to his usual spot and asked for a volunteer who knew how to clean and cook game. In the end none of the captives were willing to come forward leaving him disappointed in their uselessness. Giving up on asking anything of the remaining captives he shrugged his shoulders before heading back to the dining hall. After entering the dining hall he asked his few somewhat reliable subordinates to clean and cook the game he¡¯d brought back as well as make some gruel for the rest of the captives. Beth, Sia, and Meredith all volunteered to make lunch while Sia and Kira both claimed that Kira¡¯s cooking was border line inedible. Just like that Kira was promoted to gruel master and put in charge of the food the useless captives would be fed. Beth was in charge of preparing the boar and rabbits to be cooked while Sia and Meredith were in charge of the actual cooking. They began shifting the ingredients they would use from the storage to the kitchen while waiting for Beth to skin and dismantle the game. Luckily she was used to this sort of job and finished it in no time at all. Kira left her concoction to heat up and joined Vincent and Beth in the dining room. The only thing left to do was to wait for the others to finish making their food so they lounged around in the meantime. Occasionally Kira would go back to the kitchen to stir the gruel. When Meredith and Sia brought out their lunch everyone couldn¡¯t help but swallow their saliva as stabbed their forks in the pork chops. Looking at the plate in front of him Jellal almost couldn¡¯t hold back his tears; finally he would be able to eat a proper meal. He savored every bite of the pork chops and fried potatoes, eating until his stomach was about to burst. He gave a satisfied belch as he waited for the others to finish their meals. When everyone had finished they grabbed the pot of gruel and a bunch of bowls to feed the useless captives. Kira even made an offhand comment about how the gruel turned out nicely which caused Sia to worry for the wellbeing of the poor souls who were going to have to eat it. Because of how useless he found the remaining captives Jellal refused to give them any silverware and only reluctantly gave in and allowed them to use bowls. Seeing the difference in treatment his subordinates broke out in a cold sweat, thanking their lucky stars they made the right choice. They distributed bowls of gruel one by one going down the cells one at a time. The prisoners appeal for proper eating utensils was adamantly ignored leaving them sip from the bowls or not eat at all. When they got to the final cell they realized they had forgot about the abnormal security on the prisoner in the last cell. [So, what¡¯s the deal with her? The treatment she received makes it seem like the rest of you are important guests instead of captives.] Despite him soliciting for information no one was able to give a clear answer. From all accounts she was here before any of the others had even been captured. They had also never seen the bandits feed her causing Jellal to feel that there was definitely something special about her.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Jellal unlocked the cell and cautiously walked in front of the captive while looking at her inquisitively. He carefully took off her blindfold revealing a pair of beautiful blood red eyes staring at him suspiciously. Going through a lot of extra effort not to move her head around, he removed the gag that was keeping her from speaking with much difficulty. [I hear you¡¯ve been here longer than anyone else. I would be grateful if you told me how and why you were captured by those incompetent bandits. Ah, there¡¯s food? If you¡¯d like some feel free to try it, though given your present condition someone might have to feed you by hand.] [Fufufu, I am Evangeline Youngblood a noble vampire. Humph, a lousy bunch of humans are no match for a true vampire like me, they just got lucky and kidnapped me while I was sleeping. Now that I¡¯ve answered your question hurry and release me.] [Kekeke, a vampire is it? I¡¯ve heard that vampires are able to use blood magic on top of being able to regenerate if they¡¯re injured. Regardless of the number of shackles you should have been able to escape, so why didn¡¯t you? Also don¡¯t vampires need blood to survive? If I unshackle you it¡¯ll be troublesome if you start drinking attacking people to satiate your hunger.] [We vampires are noble beings; we don¡¯t go around attacking others like lowly beasts. And we don¡¯t need blood to survive; it¡¯s just that our bodies are naturally acclimated to it so it¡¯s much easier on our bodies than eating normal food which takes us forever to digest. Since I¡¯ve answered your questions you should release me in return, right?] [If you want me to release you then you have to agree to a few conditions: First, no blood sucking without my permission. Second, you must never reveal any information about me or this hideout to anyone. And third, I want to personally witness your blood magic and regeneration. If you can agree to that then I don¡¯t mind letting you out.] [Alright deal, but it takes a lot of energy to regenerate so regular food won¡¯t cut it, I¡¯ll need blood. ¡­ Also, I may or may not have already sent a signal to my family not long after I was captured so it¡¯s hard for me to say I¡¯ll abide by the second condition.] [Since that was something you already did before I came here I can¡¯t really complain about it. If there¡¯s someone who¡¯s willing to donate blood for you then I¡¯ll allow them to eat normal food rather than the gruel that¡¯s reserved for useless people.] Jellal made sure to speak the last line loud enough for everyone in the room to hear it. Looking back over his shoulder he could see the conflicted expressions on the captives¡¯ faces as they stared at the bowls of gruel they were eating. He couldn¡¯t help but wonder what kind of wizardry Kira used on that pot of gruel to make these stubborn fellows seriously consider allowing themselves to act as a blood bag for Evangeline just to get away from eating it. The first one to volunteer was Meredith, but Jellal quickly shot her down, telling her to be more prudent and to think things through before she decides to do something. Seeing how eager she was to help others he started worrying that someone would end up taking advantage of her innocence so he silently made up his mind to teach her to be more cautious of others. The second person to volunteer was surprisingly Vincent which caused him to be at the center of a lot of questioning stares. Facing such stares he cracked under the pressure and admitted that he thought it would be interesting to feel what it¡¯s like to be bitten by a vampire, though he was blushing while saying it so it¡¯s hard to know whether he was speaking the truth or not. With a blood bag acquired Jellal began unlocking the chains and shackles one by one. It took a few minutes to take off all the chains and shackles since he was being careful not to accidentally get her stabbed by the spiked shackles. Even while unshackling her he never let his guard down so he¡¯d be ready just in case she decided to turn on him. Thankfully she was true to her word and didn¡¯t make any moves to attack after she was set free. Since nobody else volunteered to become a blood bag they had no reason to stay in the dreary prison area so they left to return to the dining hall which they¡¯d been using as a sort of common room. Along the way they passed by Jellal¡¯s room which Evangeline immediately tried to call dibs on. Jellal was going to make a joke telling her if she wanted to share a bed with him she just had to ask and not use such a roundabout method but stopped himself when he remember she was a vampire and would most likely sleep during the day most of the time. Since Evangeline¡¯s cell didn¡¯t have a bed in it due to the way she was being chained he decided to let her snatch a bed from the living quarters to put in her cell. Even if he was fine letting them out he isn¡¯t trusting enough to let anyone other than Meredith outside their cells when he was sleeping. When they got to the living quarters Sia had the brilliant idea of taking an extra mattress back to her cell. Jellal wasn¡¯t enthusiastic about her once again trying to take something of his without permission. [Kekeke, when did I say you could take a mattress back as well? Last time I checked we were here to get a bed for Eva, not you. I let it slide when you took one of my swords without permission because I had asked you to act as a guard while I was away and borrowing a sword would be in line with my request, but there aren¡¯t such circumstances this time.] Sia finally realized that she was doing something inappropriate and relinquished her grasp on the mattress as her ears drooped dejectedly. Vincent seemed to have noticed that the part their little goblin overlord was upset about wasn¡¯t her taking a mattress but her doing so without his permission. After a bit of pondering he decided to throw Sia a lifeboat and asked if he could take a mattress back to his cell. Jellal naturally couldn¡¯t care less about a mattress and told him he could take as many as he wanted. Sia finally took the hint and asked to bring back an extra mattress as well. Jellal¡¯s gut reaction was to turn her down but when he saw how excited she was over a mere mattress he changed his mind and gave her permission as well. Beth and Meredith didn¡¯t want to be left out of the bed bonanza and also asked to join in on the extra mattress give away. Beth got permission right away while Meredith was firmly denied since he had already decided that she would be using his bed which is by far the best one available in the hideout. Evangeline used the opportunity to make an appeal for permission to use the bed during the daytime but she lacked the rapport necessary to stake a claim for usage of the bed. The other captives were shocked when they saw the group of sell outs come back with extra mattresses, pillows, and blankets. They began questioning if it was the right choice to stubbornly hold out against the little goblin when the ones who listened to him got treated so much better. Of course, this was all a deliberate ploy by Jellal to get them to come around to his side, after all what good are a bunch of people who only eat away at his food stocks without providing him with anything in return. Seeing some of them trying to think up ways to be useful so they¡¯ll be treated better he secretly smiled knowing that his plan had been a resounding success. With their beds taken care of they returned to the dining hall. Jellal was about to go back to his room to continue investigating the suspiciously plain bags when he remembered the various berries, herbs, and mushrooms he had collected when he went out hunting. Taking the samples out of his belt pouches he asked his subordinates if they were able to identify them. They were as reliable as he¡¯d hoped they would be and were able to easily tell him about the different plants that he¡¯d collected. He was quite thankful that the people the bandits had captured were mostly merchants and adventurers who naturally had to have a lot of information on such things due to their line of work. Most of the berries and mushrooms were edible so he put those in the food storage after giving them a taste test. The herbs were used mostly for potion making as he had expected. Since he didn¡¯t know anything about making potions he decided he would keep them in the treasure room and deal with them at another time. After setting the herbs aside he was left with a few types of berries and mushrooms that were considered dangerous to eat due to being poisonous or causing some other kind of unwanted effect on the body when ingested. He was about to throw them out when a lightbulb flickered on in his head. ¡®Adaptability! If I eat something poisonous shouldn¡¯t adaptability help my body adjust so I won¡¯t be affected by the poison? It should be the same for the berries that cause temporary paralysis and other negative effects. Kekeke, isn¡¯t this the perfect opportunity to try to gain the legendary immunity to negative status effects? I¡¯ll definitely have to try it out tonight when everyone else is locked up and I don¡¯t have to worry about them stabbing me in the back while I¡¯m vulnerable.¡¯ Since he didn¡¯t have any reason to stay in the dining hall he decided to return to his room for now. Meredith followed behind him still acting as if she were his shadow. When he entered his room she hesitated before stopping just outside after remembering how he had scolded her for entering without his permission earlier. Plopping down on his bed he looked curiously at the little girl fidgeting outside his room. Seeing her acting so nervous he suddenly felt he may have scolded her a bit too much earlier. He tried to make his voice as gentle as possible to avoid scaring her away. [What is it?] [Um, ca-can I come in?] He gave her a light nod to acknowledge her request. Seeing this, her face lit up as she trotted over and parked herself next to him on the bed. Thinking about how easily she entered a strangers room without thinking about what might happen he couldn¡¯t help but sigh at her lack of awareness. [I don¡¯t suppose you came here for no reason, right?] [You see the thing is, I knew you were curious about those bags so I thought I could be of some help.] Goblin vs Intruder The moon hangs high above the forest bathing it in its calming light. Hidden amongst the brush is a cave with its entrance blocked by tables. Just outside the entrance a large wolf paces back and forth while looking at the tables with curious eyes. The wolf has shiny black fur which looks beautiful despite the fact it¡¯s connected to a beast that stands a meter tall and two and a half times as long. The giant beast slaps at the tables with its paw shattering them into innumerable splinters and sawdust. The sound of the tables being slapped into oblivion echoes throughout the cave as it charges in set on making this cave its new home. With a swipe of its razor sharp claws then last of the tables is annihilated leading the massive wolf to a large open room. Sitting on a table is a violet eyed goblin that seemed to be waiting for the intruder to arrive. The beast tilts its head confusedly when the goblin stands up and begins casually strolling in its direction. It¡¯s unfathomable that a lowly goblin would dare to so much as look in its direction much less maintain its calm and confronting it, yet such a thing is happening right before its eyes. A low growl is emitted from its snarling mouth as saliva seeps down its jaws and drips on the floor below. When the goblin doesn¡¯t have the slightest reaction to its intimidation it angrily pounces, planning to bite the wretch¡¯s head off with a single snap of its powerful jaws. The goblin somehow manages to avoid being gnawed to death by circling around the beast¡¯s mouth and moving next to its exposed flank. Before it has a chance to take advantage of the opening it¡¯s greeted by the wolf¡¯s tail whip coming straight for its head. Rolling to the side allows it to just barely slip under the deadly attack while also moving out of its range. Immediately popping up to his feet he tries to rush down the wolf before it has a chance to turn around. Unfortunately he underestimated the beast¡¯s agility as it spryly spun itself around while falling back slightly before swiping at the incoming goblin with its claws. Refusing to stay on the defensive Jellal jumps over the slashing claws and is greeted by the open mouth of the beast rocketing upwards trying to snatch him out of midair. With a spinning slash of his saw he manages to repel the wolf¡¯s offensive but is secretly startled when his slash failed to break through the beast¡¯s defense. The upward lunged allowed the wolf to quickly turn around while simultaneously attacking him which kept it in position to retaliate as he was landing. Unable to recover in time he has no choice but to take the open mouthed charge head on. Using his saw he manages to deflect the wolf¡¯s jaws just enough to avoid it clamping down on his shoulder. Even though he was able to avoid the potentially life threatening bite there was nothing he could do about the wolf¡¯s momentum which caused its shoulder to ram powerfully into his chest. As blood leaks from the corner of his mouth he stumbles three steps backwards while doing his best to fend off the beast¡¯s vicious follow up. Using his whole body as leverage he once again manages to change the direction of the vice like jaws of the wolf at the cost of leaving him completely exposed to the claws that come toward his back. Continuing his momentum he manages to spin around in time to use the saw to block the claws but to no avail. Without having a proper base he¡¯s unable to hold back the attack as it pushes past his saw and into his unprotected chest. Blood sprays from the gashes on his chest as he¡¯s rocketed across the room, bouncing along the ground before crashing painfully into a table with his back causing him to spew a bloody mist from his mouth. He staggers as he drags his beaten body off of the broken table, his eyes glowing with a vicious light as he glares hatefully at the enemy which slapped him across the room. The two rush at each other, both building up momentum to deal a powerful blow to their enemy. The wolf is the first to attack, lunging forward with its mouth open ready to devour its foe alive. Jellal uses a foot first slide to slip underneath the attack. Planting his foot in the ground he pops up while slashing his saw in an arc over his head. The slash lands precisely on the beast¡¯s throat but even with the momentum he had built up it¡¯s unable to deal any real damage. To prevent its opponent from staying beneath it where it¡¯s unable to properly attack the wolf has no choice but to jump back and put distance between them. However its move was anticipated and it¡¯s unable to put make a gap of any significance. As the wolf lands there is less than a foot separating the two leaving them face to face. Of course Jellal could have stayed under the wolf but allowed a small gap to form since he¡¯s incapable of injuring the beast even if he was directly underneath it. Without giving his opponent a chance to react he blows a bloody mist from his mouth. The wolf rears back as it¡¯s left temporarily blinded because of the blood mist. Taking full advantage of the opportunity Jellal swiftly circles to the beast¡¯s side and hops on its back. No matter how it thrashes about it¡¯s unable to throw him off thanks to the death grip his free hand has on its fur. Just when he thinks he has an advantage the wolf does something that is completely outside his expectations, it sinks into the shadows on the ground. Despite sensing the movement of mana in advance he¡¯s only able to watch as the wolf slips through his grasp and disappears completely. His rigorous training to sense mana finally shows its worth as he¡¯s able to feel the location and movements of the hidden terror even without being able to see it with his eyes. He keeps his eyes locked on the location where he knows his opponent is skulking about heightening his focus so he won¡¯t miss his chance when it reveals itself. As he continually increases his focus his eyes begin to glow even brighter than before. Suddenly the surroundings become flooded with various colors intermingling with each other yet remaining separate, individual yet part of a greater whole. Amidst the vibrant world his attention doesn¡¯t shift away from the wolf, in fact the beast which remains hidden to the outside world is blatantly out there for him to see in this new vibrant world. The wolf leaps from the shadow and tries unsuccessfully to rip its foe apart. Rather than land on solid ground it smoothly sinks into another shadow without setting foot on the tangible earth. Unlike the first time it sunk into the shadows, which was at a slow and steady pace, this time there was no resistance as it maintained the speed and momentum it had gained when passing into the shadow. Hopping from shadow to shadow it circled around its prey trying to find an angle to strike and catch its foe off guard. It continued circling while occasionally leaping at its prey standing powerlessly in the middle of the room, yet no matter how or where it attacked from it always ended in failure. Eventually the beast¡¯s impatience got the better of it as it carelessly leaped from the shadows without properly angling itself to land in a suitable shadow leaving itself vulnerable upon landing back on solid ground. Unfortunately for the wolf its opponent noticed the mistake before it had even left the shadows and made sure to keep close to it after avoiding its attack.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Looking over its shoulder as it was landing it could only powerlessly watch as Jellal launched himself onto its defenseless back, tightly gripping the beast¡¯s fur as he saddled himself around its neck. It thrashed about voraciously in a desperate attempt to throw the unwanted pest from its back but was ultimately unsuccessful. Knowing it wouldn¡¯t be able to get rid of the nuisance so easily it made a b-line for the nearest shadow it could enter. Seizing the chance Jellal inched forward and hooked his saw around the beast¡¯s throat. Gripping the handle in one hand while his offhand tightly held the back of the saw he used all his strength to force the teeth of the saw into the throat of his enemy. The teeth of the saw grinded away at the wolf¡¯s throat but failed to pierce its formidable defense. Seeing that he couldn¡¯t use the saw to penetrate the beast¡¯s neck he resorted to strangling it to death. In order to prevent it from escaping into the shadows he would jerk about forcing its head all over the place and throwing it off course. Unfortunately the saw was unable to hold out against such rigors as cracks started forming due to the accumulation of stress on the middle of the saw. With a loud crack the saw broke in two ruining the plan to strangle the wolf to death. By quickly discarding the broken pieces of the saw Jellal managed to latch onto the fur before the beast could throw him off its back. The vivacious jerking of the wolf caused Jellal to struggle desperately to hang on while trying to concurrently pull a saw out of his belt pouch. His effort payed off as he managed to retrieve a saw before the beast could sink into another shadow. Without the saw under its neck messing with its movements it was able to easily reach a shadow but as it was about to enter Jellal swung the saw over its head toward its unprotected eyes. Violently shaking its head while closing its eyes it somehow managed to prevent the strike from landing. Regardless of whether the attack landed or not Jellal was happy with the outcome since the wolf wasn¡¯t able to escape into a shadow. When it stopped shaking its head it tried to double back to the shadow hoping to get the annoyance off its back once and for all. Unfortunately it didn¡¯t even have the time to turn around before the saw was yet again firmly pressed against its throat. Energetically thrashing about, it hoped to break this saw with brute force the same way it had the last one. Things didn¡¯t go according to plan though as a stiff wind enveloped the back of the weapon reinforcing it. Jellal even forced mana into the saw to strengthen it internally as a second layer of support to ensure it would go the way of the first saw. The wolf desperately struggled for well over a minute before it finally collapsed heavily to the ground. Even though his enemy had collapsed Jellal refused to let off the pressure as he continued to strangle the beast as it lay motionless on its side. After a few minutes he reluctantly released his grip on the saw, prying his right arm free from under the motionless body as he jumped back cautiously. Before he had even landed on the ground he managed to pull out another saw so he would be ready if the wolf was still alive. He stared at his fallen foe intensely as he guardedly circled around it. As he moved he gathered the wind mana in the surroundings to condense formed magic in the form of thousands of tiny wind blades tightly compacted into a brutishly rotating sphere. Releasing the magic he controlled it so it would go into the open mouth of the downed wolf. Upon entering its mouth he swerved it into its throat before the internal ball exploded propelling the wind blades out furiously tearing through flesh and bone as they left a trail of destruction in their wake. There was no reaction from the beast as the magic tore its insides to shreds causing a large amount of blood to leak out of its open mouth. Finally convinced of the beast¡¯s death Jellal heaved a sigh of relief before throwing himself powerlessly to the ground. Lying on his back he couldn¡¯t resist his urge to break out into a maniacal laughter after overcoming such a powerful enemy. Deep in the cave, in the prison area, the captives nervously lay awake in their beds after being woken up by the sounds of intense battle. Jellal¡¯s maniacal laughter echoes through the cave before everything returns to silence. The eerie silence does nothing to help them calm their nerves as they anxiously pray for their own safety. The most nervous of all the captives isn¡¯t even in a cell. Sitting alone in Jellal¡¯s room Meredith sits on the bed and impatiently stares out at the hallway as the soft sound of footsteps slowly creep closer and closer. Encasing herself in a blanket, her heart sits in her throat as Jellal walks around the corner and enters the room. Seeing how worried Meredith is he pats her head lightly before diving into bed. After being stressed out over the intruder Meredith has a hard time falling back asleep so Jellal stays up with her to help her relax. When he finally manages to coax her to sleep he crawls under the blankets at the opposite end of the bed to catch some shut eye. Due to the size of the bed the pair of small fries are able to sleep at opposite ends without their feet touching in the middle. Waking up early the next morning Jellal quietly lets out a yawn as he sits up, stretching his arms high overhead. Being careful not to wake Meredith who¡¯s sleeping like a log he begins to extract the various berries and mushrooms that were deemed dangerous to consume from his belt, setting them on top of the blanket. He devours them one at a time, each time silently enduring the side effect. After eating one of each he goes back to the first one and starts over. It only takes a few cycles for him to stop feeling the side effects of the plants so he starts eating handfuls of the different berries at the same time. In a matter of minutes his collection of harmful edibles complete disappeared without a trace. He waits a few minutes to ensure there are no late side effects before pulling out one of the item bags. Last night Meredith explained to him what she had learned about item bags from her father. The extra space in an item bag isn¡¯t from the bag itself but a gem or special magic stone which is used as a proxy. The biggest issue with this is that the proxy is directly linked to a single user and can only be accessed by that person. If the person dies then the gem will turn to dust permanently sealing the space. Of course it¡¯s possible to use another stone to open a new space, though it will be an entirely different sub space. The most important part of the process is the gem or magic stone since the quality will be what determines how much space is opened up. ¡®What¡¯s the point of such a convoluted system? In the end the bag just acts as a tool to use the gems without being used itself, kind of ironic if you think about it. If I could clearly sense the space magic I might be able to find a way to break into the closed spaces, but I would need to waste a gem just to open a new space and even then there¡¯s no guarantee I¡¯d be able to sense it properly..¡¯ After a bit of pondering he decides not to open up a new space in the item bag immediately since he doesn¡¯t want to waste a precious gem for no reason, instead opts to wait since it would be better to figure out which gem is the least valuable and use that one for his research. Being careful not to wake Meredith he slips out of the room and heads for the prison area to check on the captives. When he looks at the captives in their cells he¡¯s surprised to see that many of them have black circles under their bloodshot eyes. Ignoring the useless prisoners he lets his not completely incompetent subordinates out of their cells. Compared to the rest of the prisoners they¡¯re in much better condition since they managed to sleep just fine despite the late night disturbance. As usual Evangeline lodges a complaint after being unceremoniously forced to wake up despite it being daytime. Ignoring the vampire they left the prison area to go to the dining hall. Along the way a certain vampire tried to break off from the group and duck into Jellal¡¯s room to resume her nap. Such an action was to be expected and Jellal stopped her with a chop to the back of the head before dragging her away by the back of her neck. They moved away from his room while the back of her heels dug trenches in the floor as she comically stretched her arms out longingly toward the room which was getting farther away with each step. Eventually the sulking vampire gave up her plan to take a nap in his bed after being scolded for almost waking up Meredith. With the problem child taken care of, they quickly arrived at the scene of last night¡¯s battle, the dining room. Since he was worn out after the fight he didn¡¯t bother doing anything with the body, so the giant wolf was left lying in the middle of the room for all to see. The group was shocked to find out that such a powerful monster had been the one to break in last night, but that wasn¡¯t the thing that surprised them the most. The thing that startled them most was that this particular type of monster, a Shadow Wolf, isn¡¯t supposed to live so close to the edge of the forest. From what they know Shadow Wolves should live deep in the forest in small packs, yet in front of them is a lone wolf near the outer edge of the forest. Unease began to seep its way into their minds as they thought of the implications of such a monster roaming about the forest¡¯s outer edge. The more disconcerting part was that they had no idea why it came to the outer edge. There is nothing that causes a greater sense of dread than the unknown. Without knowing they could only speculate which only gives rise to greater fear. Was it forced to leave its home turf? If so, what kind of monster is powerful enough to do that? Why is it alone? Was whatever chased it here able to wipe out its entire pack? What would happen if such a monster came to the outer edge, or worse yet they came to an undefended village or town? Would a city¡¯s guards be able to prevent such a monster from wreaking havoc through a city if it managed to somehow find its way to a highly populated area? The more they thought about it the more their thoughts focused on the unknown. As they thought of different what if scenarios the dread that had wormed its way into their hearts began to escalate. Without even realizing it their minds had been enraptured by fear of the unknown. Goblin Sees Possibilities Seeing everyone other than Evangeline standing around in a daze Jellal could only shake his head and sigh. He tried various methods to try to wake them from their stupor starting with simply waving his hand in front of their faces. Since motion didn¡¯t look like it would do the trick he moved on to using sound to try to bring them back. Snapping his fingers right next to their ears was also a resounding failure so he dug deeper into his bag of tricks. When clapping his hands as hard as he could an inch away from their faces didn¡¯t work he gave up on being gentle about it. Grabbing Vincent¡¯s shoulder he shook him violently causing his head to jerk about, even though it managed to snap him out of it momentarily it was obvious that he was still scared just by looking at the dead shadow wolf. As his annoyance reached a peak he gave up being subtle in favor of crude methods. Grabbing Vincent by the collar he began slapping his face back and forth until both his cheeks were bright red. The puffy faced Vincent wanted to protest about his treatment but immediately went quiet when he was glared at by Jellal who was reaching for the next person¡¯s collar. He reared back his hand and was about to do the deed when he thought of another way to wake them up that wouldn¡¯t involve him touching so many incompetent fools. Releasing his almost victim he went straight to the kitchen. After locating a small bucket he filled it up at the sink. Carrying the bucket of water with him he returned to the dining hall where his victims were patiently waiting. With one hand on the lip of the bucket and the other on the bottom he pulled it back as far as he could before swinging it forward. His aim was perfect as the water nailed Vincent in the face as he was standing there looking dumbfounded. He proceeded to hand the empty bucket over to the mumbling Vincent before sitting at a table to relax. [Now that I¡¯ve shown you the way, wake up the other two so they can get to work cleaning this thing off my floor which they should have started five minutes ago.] Making a trip to the kitchen Vincent brought back a bucket of water and reluctantly threw if in Sia¡¯s face. She was naturally not thrilled about having someone throw water in her face and responded by putting the culprit in a chock hold. No matter how the poor guy tried to escape it was easily thwarted by her surprisingly exquisite technique and the overwhelming difference in strength. Even his attempts to tap out were ignored and he wasn¡¯t released until he was foaming at the mouth. The depressed Vincent was glad that everything was over until he glanced around. His eyes landed on Jellal who was sitting at the table laughing his ass off. After noticing his gaze he did what any good leader would do, remind him that there was still a couple people left standing in a daze. Vincent¡¯s face began twitching as he begrudgingly dragged his body to the kitchen to refill the bucket. Trying to ignore Sia¡¯s glare which is burning a hole through his back, he walked up to Beth and splashed her the same way he had splashed Sia. When Beth came to she was glared at Vincent who was staring at her with a red face. Noticing his abnormal reaction she glanced down at herself causing her face to turn beet red. Unlike Sia, who is wearing leather armor, she¡¯s wearing normal clothes and now that they¡¯re wet they¡¯re sticking to her body emphasizing her form. Her only solace is that the fabric was thick and didn¡¯t become see-through. Seeing the death glare that Beth was sending Vincent, Sia decided to volunteer to act as a moderator to fix the relationship between the two. Vincent happily agreed hoping she would be able to keep things from becoming awkward between them. Unfortunately he didn¡¯t realize that her so called moderation was him being put in another headlock while Beth repeatedly kicked him in the shin. Everyone ignore Vincent¡¯s mumblings as he dragged himself back to the kitchen one last time. Remembering the magic Kira had used to get rid of the corpses previously he started feeling nervous about what kind of retaliation he would face when he splashed the mage. He swallowed nervously before appealing to Jellal with his eyes. The response he got was a thumbs up and a smile that said ¡°you¡¯ve put on a good show so far, keep it up¡±. As he was about to splash her he shivered, hearing Sia and Beth discuss how they think Kira should torture him with magic. The trembling Vincent managed to work up his courage and splashed the bucket of water on the dazed Kira. Immediately she started shaking in anger yet she refused to act. Thinking he would be spared from another round of unjust violence he couldn¡¯t stop a small smile from forming on his lips. His smile froze when he saw the livid Kira look over at Jellal as if asking for permission to beat Vincent to death. When he appealed for help he was met with Jellal looking around whistling as if it had nothing to do with him. Suddenly he felt an immense killer intent leaking from Kira, backing away slowly he hoped he would be able to find a chance to make a run for it. Unfortunately a hand firmly grasped his shoulder from behind thwarting his plans. Turning his head jerkily as if he were a broken robot he looked over his shoulder at the eerily smiling Sia. Sia and Beth each grabbed an arm as they dragged him forcibly toward the living quarters with Kira following just behind them. As they disappeared into the tunnel Vincent¡¯s declarations of innocence reverberated through the cave. For a few minutes various loud banging sounds mixed with screams could be heard coming from the living quarters. When the noise finally stopped, the girls walked out of the tunnel while chatting happily. Eventually a slouching and disheveled Vincent warily returned to the dining hall as well. Apparently they were loud enough to reach Jellal¡¯s room since a sleepy Meredith stumbled into the dining hall while rubbing her eyes not long after the noise died down. With everyone back to normal Jellal left taking care of the shadow wolf to Beth and Sia while Vincent was Meredith and Kira were tasked with cleaning up the mess that was made because of the fight. Now that he had some free time Jellal brought Evangeline and the human blood bag, Vincent, to the living quarters out of everyone else¡¯s way. Since this would be his first time personally witnessing a vampire¡¯s blood magic and regeneration he was glowing with excitement. He was also slightly interested in what would happen when someone got their blood sucked. As for the person who would be getting his blood sucked, he was quite nervous. Ever since waking up he had been repeatedly beaten down and when he thought about how awful hi luck had been up to this point he could already imagine being drained of all the blood in his body.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. When it was finally time for the demonstration to begin Jellal maximized his focus so he wouldn¡¯t miss even the tiniest detail. Using her fingernail Evangeline cut open the tip of her index finger. Blood began rushing from the scratch like would as if it were water being released from a faucet. The blood the flowed out from her finger never hit the ground; instead it floated in the air as if it were a floating stream. Watching the performance Jellal was shocked at how easily Evangeline was able to control her own blood. Not only was she able to control how fast it flowed from her wound but she was also able to stop it or even return the blood back into her body through the cut. She could also change its shape at will allowing it to form a sword, followed by a shield, then a halberd and so on. The thing that truly astonished him wasn¡¯t just that she was able to control it so well but the speed at which she was able to manipulate the blood. From his judicious observations he was able to tell that this wasn¡¯t something the average person could do. To be more precise, anyone who had adequate enough sensing ability could use blood magic, in fact he was positive he would be able to do it himself without much trouble, but no matter how skillful they were at manipulating their blood they would always pale in comparison to a true vampire. He reasoned that vampires are able to manipulate their blood so easily and to such an extent like it was second nature because their mana had at least partly fused with their blood and their body. In exchange for their huge advantage in blood manipulation and regeneration they would have a much harder time using any type of magic that didn¡¯t involve their blood or body. He found such a concept truly fascinating to think about. There were immense advantages and drawbacks to having their mana fused in a certain state. Even though he had ridiculed Kira for being an amateur when it came to magic, right now he felt like he had truly underestimate how many different possibilities could be achieved with magic. After pondering on it a bit he felt that he should have at least considered the possibility of a being having partially fused mana, after all any elemental would operate using the same basic principle: trade restrictions to variety for unmatched ability in a specific area. Since a whole new world of possibilities had opened up in front of him he had to ask Evangeline to temporarily pause the demonstration. The thing that occupied his thoughts the most was the gap in strength that would exist between a being who had partially fused mana and one who was normal. ¡®If I somehow end up facing off against an opponent that holds such an advantage over me would it be possible to overcome the innate difference in ability? Even if I was able to adapt to their speed of change I would still be on the defensive without much of a chance to actually counter attack. The only way I would be able to be certain of my victory would be if I was significantly stronger on the whole or if I was able keep up with them which isn¡¯t feasible, unless ¡­ Certain beings are able to naturally resonate with a particular type of mana and use magic of that type almost like second nature. Theoretically, if I was able to resonate with a type of mana with the same proficiency I would be able to use that type of magic just as easily, not only that, in theory it¡¯s possible to resonate with any type of mana so if one¡¯s skilled enough they should be able to use any type of magic to such a level. A normal, no an extremely talented person may not be able to do it but for a superior being such as myself it can only be seen as an interesting challenge, kekeke. I guess it¡¯s decided then, from now on I¡¯ll have to prioritize practicing resonating with various types of mana.¡¯ After putting his thoughts in order and deciding on the direction of his training in the future he asked Evangeline to continue her demonstration. He watched with a discerning eye as she changed the blood into various shapes. She was even able to somewhat effect how soft or rigid it was. Even though she wasn¡¯t able to make it completely solid, the ability to change it between a liquid and semi-solid state at will could have terrifying implications. He could imagine how devastating it would be if she was able to change it from a solid to a liquid after it had penetrated someone¡¯s flesh and allowing it to slow through their blood stream. He couldn¡¯t help but shudder at the thought of her tearing someone apart from the inside and how much internal bleeding it could cause; it would almost certainly be fatal if only a miniscule amount her blood managed to get inside an opponent¡¯s body. As she did her routine he started to look at her in a different light. If she was dead set on breaking out of this place it would be boarder line impossible to stop her. When she finished her demonstration Jellal was left nodding in approval. Since she had used a lot of energy during the performance she needed to replenish. When she walked over to Vincent, Jellal could faintly here him mutter ¡°please be gentle, it¡¯s my first time¡± under his breath. The only proper response he could make to such a comment was to hold his face in his hand while trying not to crack up. Evangeline drew in close to him, gently brushing her hand down the side of his face. The blushing Vincent tightly closed his eyes unable to watch what was to come. Jellal, on the other hand, was watching curiously and was at enough of an angle that he could see the playful smile on Evangeline¡¯s face as she intentionally messed with the poor fool. In the end, after she¡¯d had enough of teasing him she simply rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and bit into his arm. For Jellal who was paying attention to how her body reacted to consuming blood it was an interesting watch, but if someone were to be expecting something from a visual stand point it could only be said to have been anticlimactic. With her energy replenished it was time to move on to her showing off her regeneration ability. In order to properly demonstrate it she borrowed a throwing knife from Jellal and made a large incision down the length her arm. The cut ran from her elbow all the way down to her wrist and was quite painful to look at. In less than a second the wound had managed to close itself; if someone were to turn their head for a moment before she made the cut it¡¯s possible they wouldn¡¯t even realize she had injured herself since there was no evidence that it had actually happened. After analyzing her regeneration ability he finally understood why she said she would need blood to replenish her energy if she used it lot. Even though the regeneration is quick it uses a lot of energy. It doesn¡¯t just draw upon the fused mana but also the raw energy of the body. Regardless of how fast the person is able to recover it¡¯s meaningless if they¡¯re so fatigued that they can¡¯t move. If it wasn¡¯t for the vampire¡¯s natural ability to convert blood into energy the regeneration would be more akin to a curse than a blessing. Even though she had only healed a small cut Jellal could tell that Evangeline had used over five percent of her body¡¯s physical energy. Five percent may seem insignificant but little cuts can add up quickly, and there is still the matter of how much energy can you lose and still be able to fight effectively. In the end Jellal decided it had its uses for emergency situations so he would add it to his long list of things to practice. More than anything else he was interested in exploring the concept of using mana to draw out the body¡¯s physical energy. While the way it¡¯s applied may be different, it evokes similarities to aura which mainly focuses on enhancing the body. With the demonstrations finished the trio left the living quarters to join the others in the dining hall. Although not much time had passed the wreckage from last night¡¯s brawl had already been cleaned up. Due to the sheer size of the shadow wolf it would take a while longer before it was taken care of as well. Since Meredith was free Jellal decide to take her back to his room so he could ask her which gems were worst for the item bag. When they got to his room he had her turn around while he took the gems out of the secret compartment. After she was asked which gem was the worst she tilted her head to the side before holding cutely her finger to her lip while thinking. Even though he trusted Meredith a lot more than the rest of his subordinates due to her being an innocent child he still had her turn around when he put the excess gems back in the hidden compartment. In the end he even had her pinky promise to keep everything about the gems and item bags a secret. He focused everything he had on sensing mana before putting the gem inside the bag. Once it was in the bag he put a drop of blood on both the gem and the bag causing them to resonate as the function of the item bag began to activate. The process went off without a hitch and the gem managed to successfully open up a new sub space. Despite putting all his focus into sensing mana while the space was formed he was only barely able to feel an insignificant modicum amount of space mana. Since he knew when and where it would happen the only explanation he could think of for such a pathetic performance would be that he only has a smidgen of natural affinity for space magic. Naturally in his mind he wholeheartedly believes that he is a superior being and as such he could fix that in a jiffy so it didn¡¯t matter that much, especially since he had the bag which he could practice sensing and resonating with at any time. Since he had taken care of what he came to his room to do he decided to head back to the dining hall. As he was about to leave his room he once again bumped into Evangeline wobbling through the tunnel. His face started twitching when she walked past him and tried to blatantly enter his room without his permission. Grabbing the back of her dress he stopped her in her tracks only to see her look back over her shoulder teary eyed. After nearly a minute of complaining about unfair treatment and how hard she worked today she finally stopped her childish whining. In the end since he was in a good mood because of the various new ways he had learned to use magic and because he had an overall decent impression of her he decided to relent just this once and let her nap in the good bed during the day while he¡¯s busy brushing up on his magic someplace else. Goblin Has Style In the deepest parts of the living quarters Jellal sits cross legged on the ground with the back of his hands resting gently on his knees, his index finger and thumb lightly pressed together. Keeping his eyes closed he reached out with his senses to the mana in the surroundings. Locking onto wind mana, which he has the most affinity with, he begins to make his mana resonate with it before forming proper magic. Immediately after finishing forming the magic he forcibly scatters the mana into the surroundings. When the mana has scattered and he has fully stopped resonating he takes a deep breath and starts the process over again. Each time he resonates with the wind mana in the air he forms magic just a little bit faster. Even though the difference in the amount of time it takes is miniscule such seemingly insignificant improvements add up over time. If things go as he hopes and he¡¯s able to constantly improve, then eventually he¡¯ll be able to reach the point where he can do it as if it were second nature. Of course he didn¡¯t just randomly pick a type of mana to practice with. Since his affinity for wind is the best it will naturally be the easiest and fastest to improve which is what he wants. Before he starts messing around with a bunch of different types of mana he wants to reach a high level of proficiency in his most natural element so he¡¯ll be able to fight properly if he ends up throwing down with an enemy that has partially fused mana. It only takes a few minutes for him to realize he had yet to solve one major issue, his mana capacity. Even though he¡¯s only forming magic and dispersing mana the amount of mana he burns through in the process is nothing to laugh at. Since he hadn¡¯t used magic much he didn¡¯t put too much thought into his own mana capacity but such negligence ended up coming back to bite him. After giving it some thought he decides to look at it from another perspective. Rather than worrying over mana capacity isn¡¯t it better to use his current low reservoir of mana as motivation to increase the efficiency with which he uses mana? Nodding his head he makes a mental note to actually pay attention to the amount of mana he uses instead of using it all wantonly like he had been. In the dining hall Beth and Sia are working hard to finish dismantling the shadow wolf as quickly as possible. Kira, on the other hand, is lounging around with nothing to do. It had been a while since Jellal headed to the living quarters which is pretty much empty at this point. Even though she had managed to suppress her curiosity for a while, she still couldn¡¯t help but wonder what he¡¯s doing all by himself back there. Nervous about going back there alone she checked to see if her fellow slackers wanted to join her expedition. Vincent immediately rejected without a second thought, convinced he would end up being tricked into acting as the little overlord¡¯s amusement again if he went along with her. Meredith on the other hand was happily running errands for the pair that¡¯s taking care of the shadow wolf, such as helping hold the body still or washing knives, so she declined as well. With no one volunteering to go with her she was left to either wallow in her curiosity or to man up and go alone. In the end she couldn¡¯t resist the urge to find out what he was doing that required him to go off on his own like that. Clenching her fist she walked through the hallway. Perhaps due to being slightly on edge she felt that her footsteps sounded especially loud as she moved deeper into the living quarters. From up ahead she could hear wind billowing despite there only being a dead end at the end of the tunnel. She swallowed her saliva as she nervously made her way around the final bend. At the depths of the living quarters Jellal had long since noticed Kira approaching. He couldn¡¯t care less if she wanted to see what he was doing, but doing nothing other than training was getting bland so he decided it was the perfect time for a change of pace. Gathering wind mana from the surroundings he quickly started forming a small version of a large scale magic he had envisioned. First he formed a tornado around himself. From there he expanded it out until it was about one and a half meters wide, giving him a little extra space to move about if he wanted to. Next he formed four thinner tornadoes equidistant from each while using the large tornado at the center. The large tornado spun clockwise pulling the smaller tornados along with it. He even made sure the small tornadoes were spinning in the opposite direction of the large one they rotated around so the point of contact between them would be like a grinder. For his finishing touch he controlled the wind magic so he would hover in the center of the large tornado. In reality, having himself float in the middle of the magic was an unnecessary addition that only served to make it more stylish. Rather than being practical, sometimes it¡¯s better to have a visual impact to intimidate potential enemies ¡­ is the excuse he made up to justify making himself hover just because he thought it looked cool. When Kira finally found where Jellal was training she couldn¡¯t believe her eyes. In front of her was a cluster of tornadoes that seemed like they would be able to wipe out anything that came into contact with it. When Jellal had ridiculed her prowess in magic her pride stopped her from taking anything he said seriously, but now that she could see the difference in ability right before her eyes she was rendered speechless. Trying to think of a way to break the ice she stood there silently. It was at that moment that Jellal added the final touches onto his performance. He let the large tornado thin out slightly so his silhouette would be visible from the outside. With the extra mana he had been focusing on gathering he laced the tornado with lightning along with occasionally having lightning strike around the large tornado as an accent. The last thing he did to complete his stylish magic was to focus mana on his eyes so they would glow when he opened them. From the outside Kira felt her hair stand on end when the lightning started intertwining itself with the tornado. Seeing Jellal¡¯s silhouette in the middle of the twister she started wondering if she had made a mistake coming to see what he was doing. When he finally opened his eyes the lightning strikes that accompanied it made it seem as if some ancient beast had been awakened from its slumber. The glowing eyes seemed to pass through the tornado and look into her soul causing her to stumble backwards and fall on her butt. The maniacal laughter coming from inside the magic didn¡¯t ease her trembling as she sat there petrified, unable to even plead for mercy.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Seeing the state she was in Jellal backed off on the magic and slowly let the tornadoes dissipate one by one until he was left looking lonesome as he hovered above the ground. Gradually he lowered to the ground while letting his cape flutter in the wind for extra style points. Walking over to the dazed Kira he uncharacteristically offered her a hand to help her up. [So, what did you need?] It took asking three times before she finally snapped out of it. Even though it was a simple question she had no idea how to respond. Originally she had come out of curiosity but after seeing the way he used magic she wanted to learn how to use magic in the same way. Yet her pride wouldn¡¯t allow her to ask a goblin to teach her how to properly use magic, especially when she was technically his captive. Unable to find any words she was left repeatedly opening and closing her mouth doing her best fish impersonation. Having just used a substantial amount of mana for his little stunt he wanted to go rest but suddenly thought of a good idea. Among the conspicuous amount of treasure the bandits had managed to scrape together he distinctly remembers seeing a number of bottles containing what he could only assume to be potions of some sort. Even if he didn¡¯t know what they were one of his subordinates would certainly be able to tell him what most of them do. [Since you¡¯re free right now why don¡¯t we take a little walk, kekeke?] Before she had a chance to reply he had already started walking away. She hurriedly chased after him, matching his pace when she had caught up. An awkward silence hung in the air as the two of them inched ever closer to the dining hall. The uncomfortable atmosphere between the two continued all the way until they finally reached the treasure room. Seeing where the so called walk had brought them Kira was inwardly surprised since she knew how miserly Jellal had a tendency to be. Jellal led her to the back corner of the room where the potions and other items he deemed worth looking into were located. A single crate stood at the center of the pile while numerous bags were stacked on top of and around it. The bags had an unknown number of potions as well as other material hidden within waiting for someone to come along and let them see the light of day. [Now that we¡¯re here your job will be to tell me about these items. Of course everything you see here stays here, including your memory of what you¡¯ve seen. You won¡¯t have any problem with that, right?] After making sure she knew the ground rules he took a step back to allow her space to properly inspect the items. It took nearly half an hour to get through all the items. When it came to learning the basic information of the various items it actually didn¡¯t take as long as he had originally thought it would. The sheer number of items spread amongst the bags was what took a considerable chunk of the total time as it took what felt like forever just for them to sift through all of them. When they finished going through the items Jellal ¡°politely¡± reminded Kira not to talk about what items she had seen hidden in the treasure room. The cold sweat running down her back told her that she didn¡¯t have a choice in the matter so she made sure to reiterate over and over again that she didn¡¯t have loose lips. By the time they returned to the dining hall Beth and Sia had managed to finish dismantling the shadow wolf. Even its bones had value if they could find the right person to buy them so they kept every part of the wolf except its internal organs. Apparently it¡¯s even possible to cook the innards if you use the right method, but since none of them had any clue about something so obscure they easily came to a consensus to discard them. Jellal gave their work a once over before promptly snatching the wolf¡¯s lower jaw. Compared to a normal wolf¡¯s jaw it was nearly twice the size, perfect for making into a weapon. To start things off he removed the teeth at the front of the jaw. Using a throwing knife along with some wind magic he cut the bone in half before filing down the hooked ends until they were straight as an arrow. Since he was feeling a bit hungry he asked his subordinates to make a light lunch. While waiting for it to be prepared he took out the remaining furs from the animals he had hunted previously. Once again using the combination of wind magic and a throwing knife he shaved away the hair on the furs before using them to make an improvised scabbards. Since he¡¯s planning on wearing one of the new, larger saws on his hip he looked through the exorbitant amount of clothing the bandits had so kindly gifted him for a sword belt. In the end he couldn¡¯t find anything suitable to hold his saw so he was forced rig up something himself. Rather than going through the trouble of making something, he decided to use a long piece of cloth that could be wrapped around his waist multiple time. He figured if he could slide the saw between the layers and maybe wrap some of the excess cloth around it then it should be usable until he can find a suitable replacement. Due to taking over the bandit¡¯s hideout he had amassed a nice fortune. Unfortunately to use his money he would need to somehow manage to sneak into a city without being noticed. Even if he got in he would still need a disguise since no one in their right mind would do business with a goblin. If he managed to actually get into a town he would be able to get a proper scabbard for his saw. Then after that he could get a professionally belt handcrafted to hold his saw along with a properly stylish outfit the suits a suave guy like him. With such thoughts in mind he secretly decided he would someday find a good costume so he could masquerade as a human and sneak into town so he could properly equip himself. Of course while he was there he would stop by the adventurers¡¯ guild so he could get some identification so he won¡¯t have to go through the trouble of sneaking in and could walk through the gates like a normal person. Even though he had made up his mind to one day go to town he knew he wouldn¡¯t commence his plan for the time being. Before he infiltrates human society he would need to be strong enough to escape if things went south. ¡®I may be pretty strong but taking on an entire city is a tall order, even for a superior being such as myself. To do something like that I¡¯ll need a bit of preparation time. When my ability to resonate with wind mana reaches an acceptable level I¡¯ll definitely be able to escape if nothing else.¡¯ As he was contemplating how to legit fight a city Meredith came over to tell him that lunch was ready. Pushing his thoughts of conquering a city by himself to the back of his mind, he joined her at a table with the rest of his subordinates. Looking at the group eating together like a happy family his ego came out to spoil the mood. Even though it was unintentional his thoughts leaked out for everyone to hear. [I need a throne! How can a superior being such as myself sit together with mere subordinates when I¡¯m eating? I¡¯ll definitely have to look into it in the future.] The rest of the people at the table didn¡¯t know how to react when his ego reared its ugly head. If their eyes could speak they would definitely be questioning his mental health. The only one who didn¡¯t react to his comment was Meredith who seemed to be wholeheartedly focused on the food in front of her. The atmosphere soon returned to normal as they continued on with their meal. When Jellal finished eating he got up from the table so he could get back to his training. However, before he had a chance to leave Beth took the initiative to speak with him in a quiet, nervous sounding voice. [Umm, shouldn¡¯t we let the nearest town know there was a shadow wolf here?] [Hmm? Why would I need to do that? It¡¯s not my problem.] [Bu-but there could be others and they could attack the people living there.] [So you want me to go to town and warn them they might get attacked? I don¡¯t see any problem that could arise do to that. Humans and goblins have always been like next of kin after all, it¡¯s not like they would try to kill me on site or anything. Or do you want me to release one of the prisoners and let them tell the people in town about me and this hideout so they can send someone over for a friendly visit.] [I-but I ¨C we should- I didn¡¯t mean ¡­] The longer the conversation went on the quieter her voice got and the more she started to panic. By the end of it she couldn¡¯t even form a proper sentence. Jellal appraised her with his eyes. Dealing with such a kind hearted person he could only sigh. [Basically I just need to make sure someone from town knows there was a shadow wolf in the area right?] Leaving those words behind, he left the room. Returning to the treasure room he grabbed a small vile of glowing blue liquid and put it in one of his belt¡¯s pouches. The liquid was a more vivid blue than the ocean yet at the same time crystal clear to the point of being virtually transparent. That small amount of liquid is able to stimulate a person¡¯s body to briskly produce mana for an extremely short amount of time allowing them to quickly recover the mana they¡¯d used in a pinch. After picking up a mana potion to bring with him for emergency use he went back to the dining hall. From the shadow wolf¡¯s remains he takes the pelt, skull, and magic stone. From the outside it looks like he shoved them into his backpack but in reality they went into the item bag which is hidden within. [I¡¯ll have to think of a way to have you compensate me later. Regardless it shouldn¡¯t take long to find someone and secretly pass them the evidence that a shadow wolf was in the area. Sia and Kira will be in charge of defending this place while I¡¯m away. ¡­ If there¡¯s an emergency you can use the items in the treasure room, but only if it¡¯s an emergency.] Goblin On A Mission Jellal steps out of the cave, scanning the surrounding area with his eyes. High above the forest, dreary rainclouds block the sun¡¯s rays as a soft drizzle seeps between the leaves falling to the ground below. The liveliness the rain brings can¡¯t stop the pervading ominous atmosphere that looms over the forest giving all its residents a terrible sense of foreboding. Feeling something off about the forest today Jellal immediately unsheathes his saw. His plan to carry it at his waist while he navigates the forest is discarded without a second thought in favor of keeping it in his hands. Originally he was reluctant to spread the news of a shadow wolf finding its way to the forest¡¯s edge because he thought it wasn¡¯t a big deal. However, after leaving the hideout for only a moment he could see the atmosphere that¡¯s enveloping the forest. The worries his subordinates had about something awful looming on the horizon, which he thought was nothing more than baseless nonsense, seems to have hit the nail on the head. In order to maximize his chances of finding someone to pass the evidence to he heads toward the road which is the only place nearby that he knows of that should consistently have people in its vicinity. As he moves he gets farther from the center of the forest. The greater the distance he is from the center of the forest the less noticeable the oppressive atmosphere is leading him to believe whatever¡¯s causing the phenomenon is moving in his general direction from the center of the forest. With light steps he careens through the forest, all the while maintaining his vigilance. He only makes it a short distance before he comes across a group of ten goblins heading the same way he is. At first he ignores them and tries to slip past them without them noticing but when he was bypassing them something caught his eye. The goblins attacked anything that moved in front of them whether it was a horned rabbit or a falling leaf. Even if goblins aren¡¯t the most intelligent monsters they aren¡¯t dumb enough to seriously attack a falling leaf as if it were their mortal enemy. Knowing something¡¯s seriously wrong with the goblins he decides to stay hidden and watch them a bit more. If he¡¯d come across this scene on another day he wouldn¡¯t have wasted his time observing mere goblins but today¡¯s different. Unlike a normal day there¡¯s a strange atmosphere in the forest and now he comes across a bunch of goblins acting strange as well. Even if a reputable scholar told him it was just a coincidence it would go in one ear and out the other. Concealing himself he circled around in front of the goblins. Looking closely at each of them he tried to gleam a clue about their abnormal behavior. The thing that stuck out the most was their eyes. It isn¡¯t uncommon for goblins to have red pupils but he had never heard of or seen a goblin with entirely red eyes until now. On closer inspection he could see that the part of the eye where the pupil would be seemed clouded over. Making a mental note of the goblins¡¯ eyes he continued silently moving along with them as they went on their way. In less than ten minutes he had come across an unusually high number of monsters while following the goblins. The mystery only got deeper the longer he followed them. Sometimes they would attack the monsters the bumped into the moment they noticed their existence but as time droned on such an event became less common. Attacking the monsters they came across was replaced with joining together in an ever expanding horde which currently numbered over sixty. Paying close attention to the eyes of the monsters he came across Jellal was able to notice an obvious pattern. Without exception, the monsters that joined the group all had blood red eyes with clouded pupils. On the other hand, the ones that were attacked on site all had normal eyes and behavior. ¡®It seems like things are worse than I thought. If groups like this are forming in other area it would be bad enough but what would happen if a couple groups like this ran into each other? Worse yet, what if some monsters that are actually strong end up forming a horde? With enough numbers even these scrubs would be a pain in the ass to deal with so I can only imagine what it¡¯d be like if they weren¡¯t so unbearably weak. At this point it¡¯s safe to say them grouping up has something to do with whatever¡¯s causing the ominous atmosphere that¡¯s spreading out from the depths of the forest. So who or what¡¯s causing the strange atmosphere and is it only effecting monsters? But what doesn¡¯t make sense is why it¡¯s happening now? Was it unable to occur until now because it needed certain conditions to occur or due to having some sort of limit on when it could occur? No matter how I think about it something seems fishy, as if the whole thing is planned. But that still leaves who and why. There¡¯s also the possibility of it being a natural, occurrence. ¡­ If a certain unworthy scum lord con artist was involved everything would fall into place quite nicely wouldn¡¯t it? That¡¯s definitely if! That bastard is definitely responsible for this mess falling in my lap, I know it!¡¯ While pondering over the cause of the phenomenon Jellal noticed another group of ten or so monsters join the horde. Seeing the mass of monsters continually growing he decided to do a small test to see whether they would attack him the same way they had attacked normal monster before taking care of them so they wouldn¡¯t have a chance to become a threat. He takes off his backpack and sets it aside so it won¡¯t get in the way during the fight. Stepping out into the open he revealed himself in front of the horde. A contingent of goblins noticed him instantaneously and started shrieking as they charged at him wildly. The shrieks alerted the rest of the horde resulting in a continuous chain of shrill howls and shrieks as they followed suit madly rushing at him. With his suspicions confirmed he began gathering wind mana from the surrounding environment. Not knowing when he¡¯ll have a chance to gain experience fighting against a large number of enemies like this again, he planned to use the opportunity as practice since he was only dealing with small fries. To that effect, he decided to focus on physical close quarters combat. Instead of using magic to wipe out the crowd of monsters he kept it as a reserve he would only use if he was left with no other choice. The first of the monsters quickly arrived in front of Jellal. Attacking blindly without any sort of cooperation the goblins were even weaker than they would normally have been if they were in their right minds. This made it easy for him to avoid their telegraphed attacks and counter with a strike of his own. Each attack took the life of a goblin but the majority of the horde had yet to arrive. Three goblins in, he realized that killing one enemy per strike wouldn¡¯t cut it. In the mere seconds he¡¯d wasted a pair of boars had managed to build up a head of steam. They came barreling at him forcing him to dodge, yet no matter where he went he was met with another monster be it a wolf, goblin, or boar.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. The onslaught of attacks from all directions caused his offensive to slow to a crawl. Goblins swung their clubs down with vertical attacks while wolves circled around to flank. He could feel the temptation to use magic and wipe away everything that stood in his path, but he stubbornly persevered while trying to adapt to the chaotic brawl. A few minutes passed just like that. Despite being far stronger than any of his opponents individually, he could only manage to take down a couple enemies. Even if he wasn¡¯t able to kill many of them the time didn¡¯t go to waste. While dodging and blocking attacks from every angle imaginable he was continuously learning and improving. He no longer focused on attack or defense. In his mind the two concepts ceased to exist and he was left with only a singular flowing saw; neither attack nor defense, yet both at the same time. He stopped focusing on going for the kill with every strike, instead dealing damage wherever he could get it. His attacks weren¡¯t limited to single enemies either; in fact he had even started placing increased emphasis on injuring multiple enemies rather than killing one. Finally he found a gap in the enemies¡¯ offensive. Taking advantage of the opening he rushed forward killing a group of goblins. Instead of staying in one place and taking a beating, like he had at the beginning of the fight, he bounced around from one enemy to the next. Never allowing himself to stay in one place he was able to prevent his adversaries from closing in to tightly giving him much warranted breathing room. Weaving through the ranks of the horde he used their numbers advantage against them. The monsters running purely on their instincts to destroy tried turning and chasing after him only to collide with their comrades. Whenever he had the chance he would take advantage of the opening from them foolishly running into one another to deal fatal blows and reduce their numbers. No matter how juicy a chance presented in front of him was he never forced himself to take advantage of it, instead focusing on maintaining his flow in combat. Once he found his rhythm he achieved a breakthrough. He was no longer the one reacting to his opponents¡¯ moves. Actively seeking out his enemies he started gaining momentum and forcing the fight into his pace. As things fell into place he was getting more and more comfortable fighting large groups of enemies. This led to him moving through their ranks faster and more freely than ever before. Every step he takes blood soars into the sky like flowers spontaneously sprouting in a field of monsters. After hitting his stride the fight turned completely one sided. Sliding by a tree he would use it as cover while cutting through a wolf¡¯s neck, slinging the blood into the eyes of a charging boar causing it to turn its head shifting off course and leaving its throat open to an inevitable counter. Using trees and bodies as obstacles he separated his pursuers and whittled down their numbers until a lone goblin was left standing. The poor thing foolishly rushed forward as if it hadn¡¯t seen the deaths of the other monsters that had been with it less than an hour ago. Slipping past the club Jellal slides his saw past its throat mercifully ending its life in a singles strike. With the fight finished Jellal stands in the middle of the battle field reflecting on the experience. The blood caking his body completely covers his skin making him look as if he were made of blood. Only his glowing violet eyes remain untainted by the blood of his enemies. The surrounding area doesn¡¯t look much different. Bodies, limbs, and body parts are strewn about everywhere. The drizzle leaking through the leaves splashes in the puddles of blood left behind in the aftermath of the battle. The parts of the ground that haven¡¯t turned into puddles of blood are dyed red making this part of the forest look as if it was a passage to hell. Grabbing his backpack he starts heading toward the stream. As he¡¯s traveling he notices more groups of red eyed monsters wandering about. Rather than leave them to cause trouble later he bites the bullet and prepares to take care of them now. Since he¡¯s already confirmed they¡¯ll be hostile on site with the last group he doesn¡¯t attack them head on and instead takes a stealthier approach. Using wind magic he silently floats up and hides amongst the branches of a tree. With wind magic as an aid he moves silently across the tree tops until he¡¯s directly above the group of over a dozen monsters. Without a sound he drops into the middle of the groups. Spinning on the way down he kills the five central goblins before his feet even come in contact with the ground. The moment they do he shoots forward like a rocket slashing a pair of boars at the back of the pack. A single swift strike finishes off the boars as a triad of wolves try to flank him from the sides. Noticing the commotion the boar and goblins at the front spin around to help their comrades. With a quick change of direction he darts toward the front of the pack, taking out a wolf along the way. Jumping into the air he soars over the goblins¡¯ heads, removing them with a spinning slash of his saw. He lands a short distance behind the boar that had just finished turning around. Dashing at the wolf that¡¯s circled around to try flanking him from his left, he narrowly avoids its claws while the teeth of his saw tears at its throat as he passes by its side. Changing his course slightly he continues on to the boar. Without giving it a chance to charge he circles around to its side. The last wolf lunges at him from his right. Sidestepping at the last moment Jellal brushes past the wolf as its throat spurts blood from the freshly made wound. The body carries on and collides with the boar leaving its throat vulnerable. Finishing off the final enemy Jellal collects his backpack and continues his quest to clean himself in the stream. When the stream is in sight he rushes over to the bank. After a quick check of the surroundings he drops his backpack and hops in the water. Using his hands he scrubs away at the blood while the flowing water gently washes it away. When he¡¯s cleaned away all the blood he pulls himself onto the bank and goes to grab his backpack. With all of the distractions out of the way he jumps across to the other side of the stream so he can take care of what he originally ventured out to do. After wondering about in the thinned out woodlands he finally finds people. In the distance a familiar grey haired old man is helping a group of fledgling adventurers deal with a small group of monsters. The party consists of only three people. The two youths wielding swords are covered in blood which seems to be a mixture of their opponents and their own. Concealing himself, Jellal moves closer to check out the fight. When he finds a suitable spot he returns to his old habit of setting up shop in a tree. From his perch he carefully studies the battle. Mac stands a short distance in front of Silica making sure none of the monsters are able to reach her. Whenever the other members of the party are at risk of being seriously injured by an attack he protects them by throwing rocks at the attackers. In this way he¡¯s able to keep them alive without robbing them of valuable life and death experience. While Mac is playing the role of defender and mentor, Silica is muttering an incantation. She puts all her focus into preparing her magic not bothering with her surroundings at all, showing the extraordinary trust she has in him. The frontline duo breathe heavily while defending themselves from a combination of wolves and goblins. After fighting for over half an hour they¡¯re on their last legs. The compounding exhaustion and mental fatigue is causing them to make mistakes more frequently, leaving them more susceptible to enemy attacks. A wolf slips through they¡¯re guard and is about to bite one of them when a rock flies in from the back slamming into the wolf¡¯s eye and disrupting its attack. Knowing their mentor has saved them countless times in such a fashion, they find the pride in their skills they held onto so dearly has shattered into a million pieces. Even though their pride has been broken they still do everything they can to take advantage of the opportunity and counter attack. Working in tandem they push back their aggressors. While one of them attacks the other focuses on defending the both of them. When the attacker¡¯s momentum stops they switch rolls. Unfortunately the number of enemies they¡¯re facing is too much and they¡¯re soon overrun and both forced back on the defensive. While the pair¡¯s struggling with all their might to hold back the monsters, Silica is finishing the preparations for her magic. As she begins to launch her magic the rain that had been coming down in a light drizzle comes to a standstill in midair. The rainwater pools together into a myriad of floating bubbles in front of Silica¡¯s outstretched hands before being drawn into thin cones. A light mist rises from the water as it starts freezing, causing a crackle to pervade the air. When the icicles have finished forming Silica tilts her hands downward. In sync with the gesture the icicles fly forward skewering the monsters that¡¯ve been stalled by the frontline duo. Most of the monsters have either been killed from the attack or sustained heavy injuries making it difficult for them to fight properly. With the reduction in numbers the monsters are no longer able to push past the duo. Rather than wait for them to finish off the remaining enemies Mac steps forward to do it himself. Like a bolt of lightning he blitzes the enemies. His sword arcs through multiple monsters with each swing, quickly finishing off the spent enemies. The group of young adventurers let out a sigh of relief after the last monster¡¯s been killed. The duo drops to the ground and stare up at the sky exhausted, while Silica sways like a willow in the wind just barely managing to stay standing. Mac looks at the youths, reminiscing about his younger days. Just as he¡¯s about to suggest they leave the forest he senses a presence a short ways away. Goblin Drops By Jellal patiently watched the battle between the adventurers and the small horde of monsters from his perch high above. He paid particularly close attention to Silica and Mac. The old veteran had impeccable timing when it came to helping out the young duo that was fighting in the front which got him a decent rating from Jellal. Silica was chanting an incantation and gathering water mana, also putting her on Jellal¡¯s radar. ¡®Her speed at gathering mana is pretty questionable; maybe she¡¯s just started learning how to use magic. I wonder what would happen if I started messing with the mana she¡¯s using in conjunction with her incantation? I¡¯ll have to borrow Kira later and test it out, leaving something like that unknown is basically begging for trouble. Oh! Ice magic is it? To be able shift the water magic to ice after it¡¯s formed, not too shabby. Kekeke, there really are an infinite number of possibilities when it comes to magic. Looks like they should be finishing up soon. Now then, how should I make my entrance? I could stand next to a tree with my arms crossed. No, I did that last time. Only a chump would reuse such a plain entrance. I know! I¡¯ll use a bat style entrance!¡¯ Using wind magic he glides silently from tree to tree. When he reaches a tree that he deems to be close enough he stops to prepare his entrance. Hugging the tree branch he spins around it. At the bottom of the branch he uses the claws on his toes to dig into the branch. He hangs upside down from the branch by his feet making it look like he¡¯s standing on it. Using wind magic he supports himself while simultaneously controlling his cape so it looks the same way it would if he was on the ground. To add the final touches he sheaths his saw and crosses his arms. Sheathing his saw leaves him more vulnerable than he would like but if he didn¡¯t the adventurers might think he¡¯s going to attack them. With everything to his liking he releases a bit of his presence which he had been concealing. Looking down at the young adventurers he shakes his head in disapproval. Even though he stopped concealing himself only Mac was able to notice him despite him being less than ten meters away. Mac¡¯s eyes widen in surprise when he notices a presence only a short distance away. Even if he isn¡¯t the best at sensing lifeforms in his surroundings he¡¯s still a veteran that¡¯s spent most of his life walking a fine line between life and death so how could he not be shocked when something managed to sneak so close right under his nose. His hand grabs the hilt of his sword on pure instinct as he tries to locate the culprit. His posture naturally lowers into a defensive stance proof of his years of dedication and training. When he locates the target their eyes meet giving him a familiar feeling. The toothy smirk the goblin¡¯s giving him while hanging upside down is enough to make him want to climb the tree and punch the damned thing in the face. Releasing his hold on the tree Jellal drops to the ground. On his way down he rapidly spins doing his best ice skater impression. He uses wind magic to decelerate right as he lands on the ground. He lands inaudibly with his left foot positioned in front of his right foot while he leans back ever so slightly. His arms are extended to his sides with his elbows slightly bent as his palms face the sky at just above head level. A toothy smirk is plastered on his face as he stares at Mac with his head tilted slightly to one side. [Kekeke, long time no see, old man. Are you sure it¡¯s safe for a geezer like you to be hanging around out here?] The group of young adventurers only notice Jellal when opens his mouth. The frontline duo desperately try to climb up from the ground but their exhausted bodies won¡¯t listen to them and they¡¯re left kneeling while glaring at the new arrival. Silica almost jumps in fright when she hears the familiar voice come from seemingly out of nowhere. Jerking her head she looks past Mac and spots the voices origin. A flood of memories surge into her mind as she remembers how the last party she was in had been annihilated with same effort it would take her to step on a bug. A sense of powerlessness grabs hold of her as she sinks down onto her knees. Mac warily glares at Jellal, refusing to show even the slightest opening to the enigma in front of him. He keeps his hand on his sword, ready to react at a moment¡¯s notice if things go south. [You look tense gramps. Am I really that scary, kekeke? If I wanted to attack your little band of weaklings I had plenty of chances when you were distracted with those monsters earlier.] [Humph, you scary? I¡¯ve met literal ants more intimidating than you. If you¡¯re not here to die than why are you here?] [Kekeke, me die? And here I thought you were an adventurer, how could my eyes be so bad that I didn¡¯t notice you were actually a comedian? Speaking of not noticing things; you haven¡¯t noticed anything weird about this here forest recently, have you? You know, like monsters having a strange mist about their eyes, abnormal behavior, grouping together, showing up in areas they don¡¯t usually go to? That kind of thing.] [Huh, you think I¡¯m blind? Even if I was blind I would¡¯ve noticed the monsters in the area being affected by miasma. Come to think of it I have seen something really abnormal recently. Keep this between you and me but there¡¯s this freaky little goblin with purple eyes roaming around this place. The thing is, it isn¡¯t a normal goblin but a talking one! It¡¯s unfortunate it¡¯s a goblin with no intelligence that only spouts nonsense and doesn¡¯t know how to respect its elders, hehe.] [Really? Sounds kind of farfetched to me. Are you sure it¡¯s not your dementia acting up again? Now that I think about it you even forgot to bring your walker with you. Did you leave it at the nursing home? If you forgot your pain medication as well I can help you out. As long as your head isn¡¯t attached to your body you won¡¯t feel any pain, after all.] Off in the distance a horde of over fifty monsters caught sight of Jellal and the adventurers. Raising howls and shrieks they chaotically rushed forward. [Oh, looks like your friends are here. Hmm, is that your cousin over there?] [Where? I don¡¯t see them anywhere. Are they behind that swarm of ants? You must be quite nervous, after all a small swarm of ants caused you so much trouble earlier. It must be tough being so weak.]Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Even though he kept up his bravado Mac was actually extremely nervous. If he was alone he would be able to escape no problem, but right now he¡¯s taking care of a group of fledgling adventurers. How could he hold his head up high as a veteran and a mentor if he abandons them to save his own skin? ¡®Shit! Those brats aren¡¯t in any condition to fight. I can¡¯t take on so many of them by myself, especially if I¡¯m trying to protect the runts. What do I do? At the very least I have to make sure nothing happens to Silica. If something happens to her it won¡¯t matter if I survive. I believe I was told something along the lines of ¡°If something happens to my sister I¡¯ll hang you naked from a post in front of the guild before skinning you and letting the stray dogs eat you alive.¡± Think dammit. If worst comes to worst I can grab her and make a run for it.¡¯ While Mac was desperately trying to find a way out of the situation, Jellal calmly stood opposite him acting as if it had nothing to do with him. The young adventurers started panicking as the wave of monster closed in on them. Of the three of them only Silica had enough strength left to stand but even then there was nothing she could do to change what was to come. She looked to Mac hoping he would have a plan to get the out of this mess. On the outside he looked calm and at ease but after spending a considerable amount of time in his care she could tell he was nervous. Knowing she might not make it out of this alive she tightly gripped the pendent her sister gave her for her birthday. When she looked over at Mac again she noticed something odd. The goblin that had been constantly bickering with Mac wasn¡¯t paying attention to the monsters rushing towards them; instead it was watching their reactions as if this was all a game to it. Numerous thoughts scurried around her head as she looked at the only calm individual amongst them. All those thoughts led to one point she was absolutely sure of: that goblin is confident it can deal with those monsters with ease. Desperate times call for desperate measures. [Help us?] The stoic Silica asking him for help was something Jellal had never expected. If anyone was going ask him to help he thought it would be Mac. His gut instinct had told him something interesting would happen when he noticed the monsters in the distance, but he didn¡¯t think it would be to such an extent. A creepy smile bloomed on his face as he shifted his gaze to Silica. [What¡¯s in it for me? You can¡¯t honestly believe I¡¯ll step up and help you like some righteous hero. You¡¯re an adventurer right? Do you go around completing quests without asking for compensation? I¡¯ll let you know beforehand that money won¡¯t do the trick since I can¡¯t exactly use it the way a normal person would. Well, ball¡¯s in your court.] [I¡¯ll give you whatever you want.] [Whatever I want? Those aren¡¯t words a proper lady should say, have you really thought this through?] [Yes.] [Kekeke, so the little lady wants to make a deal with the devil. Alright, if you have the conviction to see your words to fruition then tell me what you seek, kekeke.] [I seek the total annihilation of my enemies.] Hearing the resolve in her voice Jellal breaks into laughter. His maniacal cackling reverberates through the area as the toothy grin on his face stretches wider. He shifts his focus to the monsters that are now only a few dozen meters away from the group. His eyes turn cold and he releases an enormous amount of killing intent as he casually walks towards the horde the way you would take a stroll in a park. The abundant water mana in the environment resonated with his mana as he strode forward. He had started resonating with the water mana in his surroundings from the moment he noticed the horde in the distance. Even though it took significantly longer than it would have if he were using wind mana, he still managed to successfully resonate in decent time thanks to the rainy weather providing an extremely stable supply of water mana along with the drizzle. With the abundance and stability of a single type of mana someone skilled at sensing like Jellal can have a field day with it. Since he¡¯s going to be using magic in front of others it¡¯s only natural that he plans to be as showy as possible. In order to do that he needs to be discreet with his preparations. Controlling the water mana he starts to exert a small amount of control over the rain falling on the monsters from above. Discreetly manipulating the droplets he maneuvers them into the orifices of the stampeding horde. The mana and water accumulate both on and inside their bodies while they remain none the wiser. The monsters make it to within five meters of Jellal but unfortunately for them he¡¯s already formed magic inside their bodies and all around them without them knowing. [Total annihilation? So be it. I seek that which is absolute ¡­ arctic flash] As he makes up a name for his attack he blows out steaming cold air and activates the magic. In an instant all the water magic he had accumulated freezes and transitions to ice. The monsters are attacked by an intense cold both inside and out zapping their bodies of all heat. In a fraction of a second the area of the forest around Jellal and the monsters turns into a frozen wasteland. The drizzle that had been falling turns to snow fluttering down gently. The previously wet ground becomes a sheet of ice covered in frozen plants and grass. The trees and their leaves are covered in icicles being dyed a brilliant white. Most impressive of all are the ice statues dotting the winter wonder land. The monsters are frozen mid stride, mouths snarling as if time had stopped. Jellal lifts his right arm horizontally across his chest. His hand forms a fist and bashes at the air in front of him with the right side of his fist. His fist stops with a loud thud as if it had collided with an immovable object. Cracks break out from around his fist as if space itself is crumbling. As if on que, the frozen monsters crumble to dust, completely annihilated. Of course for the most part this is an elaborate ruse. In order to make it appear as if he had frozen even space Jellal hammered his fist against an invisible sheet of ice no bigger than his fist. With the proper thud made he used ice to form a thin cobweb of ¡°cracks¡±. To finish things off he violently vibrated the ice magic in and around the monsters¡¯ bodies causing them to shatter and crumble. With his performance complete he released the magic. Instead of changing things back to how they were before he chose to leave the area frozen and let it unthaw naturally. Even if it¡¯s not great for the environment it should do wonders for his image. Mac, Silica, and the frontline duo stare at the scene in front of them in disbelieving shock. The horde of enemies they had been so desperately trying to find a way to deal with was completely annihilated in an instant. To them it was unfathomable that he could decimate a horde so fast that they could blink and miss it. The frontline duo rejoiced thinking about how lucky they were to be so exhausted that they couldn¡¯t stand when this freak popped up out of nowhere. If they were in better condition they surely would have attacked him and the inevitable result doesn¡¯t even need to be said. [I hope little lady Silica isn¡¯t the type to go back on her word. Whenever I decide what I want don¡¯t forget, you said ¡°whatever I want¡±, kekeke.] Silica didn¡¯t know how to respond after what she just witnessed. Even though she didn¡¯t plan on reneging her promise she had already decided to find a way out of it if the other party asked something inappropriate. Now that she¡¯s seen how powerful he is she could feel deep down that she can¡¯t wiggle her way out of it even if he asks her to do something terrible. Regardless of the differences between them the adventurers gained a newfound respect for Jellal. Since he helped them in their time of need they even formed a little goodwill toward him despite him being a goblin. Of course it would have been more than just a little if he hadn¡¯t only acted because of the deal he made with Silica. Seeing that he wasn¡¯t getting a response a lightbulb flickered on in Jellal¡¯s head. Walking over to Silica, he pats her shoulder firmly with his hand and gives her a knowing smile. [I understand. You¡¯re so overwhelmed with joy knowing you owe me one that you can¡¯t speak. I know the anticipation waiting for me to tell you what I want must be killing you but you have to be strong and endure it for now, okay.] And just like that the goodwill and respect they had in his regard crumbled to dust faster than the monster popsicles did when he finished his performance. They wanted to believe it was all an act and he didn¡¯t actually have such a gargantuan ego but the passion in his voice and the emotions he displayed on his face said it was genuine. A long ways away, not too far outside the city, a single person blitzed forward in the direction of Jellal and the adventurers. The tall yet lean figure navigated the trees and terrain expertly and they rushed ahead. No matter what obstacles stand in the way their course is always aimed directly at the odd group as if they¡¯ve homed in on them. After nearly twenty minutes of running at full speed without rest the distance between them has shrunk considerably. Continuing on as if she hasn¡¯t heard of fatigue, an immense worry mixed with an intense resolve fills her face as she desperately charges ahead hoping to arrive even a moment sooner. As she runs her right hand firmly grasps the pendent she wears around her neck. With his sharp senses Jellal is the first to notice something on a collision course with them. Unfortunately the direction they¡¯re approaching from is filled with thick brush so he can¡¯t get visual confirmation of what¡¯s coming. With the speed its moving it won¡¯t take long for it to arrive so he starts preparing wind mana just to be safe. The rustling of brush and constant intense footsteps grow louder tipping off Mac followed by the rest of the group. Not far away a disheveled figure bursts through the brush breathing heavily. Seeing the woman everyone¡¯s eyes widen in surprise. Goblin Is Pure Awesome Charging forward with a head full of steam Sionia plows through the thicket. This year when her sister came to the city to become an adventurer she gave her a special pendant. The pendant is a matching set with the one she wears and the two have a faint connection to one another. The material they¡¯re made out of can absorb trace amounts of mana when it¡¯s placed under pressure. That mana is then passed between pairs forming a connection. Sionia never told her sister about the properties of the pendant since she would probably be upset at her for meddling where she doesn¡¯t need to. However she did tell her sister it would bring her good luck if she held it tight during sticky situations. During her break she felt the pendant warm up due to its properties being activated and she immediately fell into a panic. After getting someone to cover for her she sprinted straight for the other pendent. For normal people the mana is unnoticeable, but it¡¯s indistinctly detectable for those who are extremely magically inclined or elves that are close to nature. Using her years of experience as a scout to her advantage she was able to get a lock on the trail of mana connecting the two. As she was running the connection between the pendants broke which caused her worry to skyrocket even higher than it already was. Her sister wouldn¡¯t do something as useless as holding onto a good luck charm unless she was really desperate. If the connection¡¯s been cut off it means she either doesn¡¯t need to hold onto it or she¡¯s unable to. She could only pray it wasn¡¯t the second reason. To make sure she stayed on course Sionia clenched her fist around her pendant to activate it, reconnecting the two and giving her a straight path to her sister. During her trip she bowled through any brush or thickets she came across leaving her with numerous scratches and a twig lodged in her hair. Grasping her dagger so hard her knuckles turned white, she burst through the last bit of brush blocking her path to her sister. Out of breath from her relentless sprint she her sharp eyes glare around and finds ¡­ no dire situation that needs her to intervened just a bunch of adventurers sitting around resting ¡­ with a strangely familiar looking goblin that seems just as shocked to see her as the adventurers. Looking around she can¡¯t even find the remnants of a great battle or even a small skirmish. The only thing out of the ordinary other than the goblin is the small section of the forest that looks like it got hit by a blizzard completely independent of the rest of the forest. Unable to understand why she ran nonstop to get to a place where everything is perfectly fine her brain fries leaving her standing there blinking as metaphorical smoke rises from her head. As if waiting for this moment a sparrow flies down and lands on her head trying to use the twigs caught in her hair to make a nest on her dome piece. She gloomily wobbles over and joins the group. Even though most of them want to say something no one can find the words since they don¡¯t understand why she just randomly burst through the bushes like a madman. The only one who has any idea why she showed up is Jellal since he was able to sense the mana connecting the pendants and he only had his own speculations. Jellal walks over to the depressed Sionia and places a consoling hand on her shoulder. Looking up to see who the kind soul who came over to console her is her face immediately begins to twitch in irritation. Who would want to be consoled by a goblin that has a look on its face that screams ¡°it¡¯s a pity you¡¯re an idiot, I hope you cheer up¡±? In an attempt to get revenge and gain good luck simultaneously she reaches out to rub his bald head. Her palm is easily brushed aside so she reaches out a second time, but faster. Swatted away like a fly. The third and fourth tries increase the speed again but to no avail. As the speed of the exchange gradually increases they begin to glare at each other. Finally giving in Sionia uses her ultimate technique: using both hands. The pair¡¯s hands become a blurry mess as Jellal wards off her hastening attempts. Getting sick of her refusal to give up he too uses his ultimate technique. Crossing his arms with a smirk he stops defending. Just as her hand is about to touch his head it¡¯s blocked by an invisible force. Using wind magic to stop all her shots cold turkey he lets out a cackle as he continues to glare at her. Unable to break his wind defense technique she has nothing left but defeat. Having finally remembered that they¡¯ve met during the exchange she angrily goes for a verbal cheap shot. [Dammit James! Fufufu, you may think you¡¯re better than everyone else but you¡¯ll never be average height, humph.] [Kekeke, that¡¯s low even for your standards Jessie. You seem a bit on edge could you be preparing for trouble? If you are, you can count on me to make it double.] Question marks floated around her head as she couldn¡¯t make heads or tails of his reply. Seeing an opening Jellal swiftly reaches out and rubs her stomach. Her response is swift as she hops back and glares at him indignantly. [What? I heard rubbing a pregnant woman¡¯s stomach brings the baby good luck. I was just trying to help. Oh my! Could it be that you aren¡¯t pregnant? I¡¯m truly sorry, I didn¡¯t think you would put on so much weight in such a short period of time, kekeke.] The final insult landed hard as she nearly coughed blood. The red faced Sionia¡¯s glare becomes even more hateful as a vein on her forehead bulges to the point of being close to bursting. [Che, what is someone like you even doing here? You¡¯re a little far from home aren¡¯t you?] [Kekeke, I recently moved to a new pad in this area so it¡¯s only natural that I¡¯m here. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m some stalker who secretly tracks people without their knowledge or anything. I can only imagine what kind of person would do such a thing.] [Oh you got a new place? Shouldn¡¯t you be at home like a good little boy, your parents will get worried about you if you go out on your own.] Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! [You don¡¯t have to worry about that, I don¡¯t have parents. You see there was once a mass of concentrated awesome that combined with a bit of all that is cool and a dash of perfection. The mass eventually gained an ego and formed a body. And that is how I was born, no parents necessary. The moral of the story is that I¡¯m made up of ninety five percent pure awesome so you don¡¯t have to worry about me, I¡¯ll be just fine.] [Are you sure a mass of ego didn¡¯t combine with a bit of concentrated annoying and a dash of ego before forming a body and gaining more ego? It sounds more believable to me.] [Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m well aware of how honored you are that a superior being such as myself is willing to speak to you but I didn¡¯t come here for no reason. You see since I just moved I want to decorate but I don¡¯t know if the fur I got last night would be better as a cape for my personal adornment or a rug for visitors to admire. As such I sought someone out to get a second opinion. Give me just a moment I¡¯ll grab it so you can take a look.] Without giving them so much as the option to respond he scurried off to get his backpack which he had hidden before he revealed himself. Grabbing his backpack he took out the shadow wolf¡¯s fur so they wouldn¡¯t have a chance to notice anything suspicious about his bag when he takes stuff out of it. Carrying the bag and fur he swiftly returns to the group. Seeing him bring back the fur of a shadow wolf Mac, Silica, and Sionia were inwardly shocked. If sold in the city a fur like that could easily fetch a high price since shadow wolves don¡¯t normally come near the outer edge of the forest, instead staying deep in where stronger monsters are abundant. [Kekeke, it¡¯s pretty nice right? The poor guy made the mistake of trying to force his way into my new home. It really is a shame. If he were more obedient he might have made for a halfway decent guard dog. So, what do you think? Cape material right? I think the coats luster is more suited to me than to being stepped on as a rug.] [You¡¯re just trying to mess with us aren¡¯t you? This kind of monster doesn¡¯t come to the outer edge. So unless you set up shop in the depths of the forest it wouldn¡¯t have been anywhere near where you live.] [Whatever, you can think what you want. Just don¡¯t blame me for not warning you when one of them scoots into town and starts wrecking your tables the way it did mine. The bastard had the gall to break over half a dozen of my tables you know? My, tables. Also, you wouldn¡¯t happen to know someone who¡¯s good at making capes and doesn¡¯t mind working with beings of high status like me would you? It would be a shame for such a nice material to be wasted by some like me that isn¡¯t a professional.] [Well shadow wolves are known for their intense hatred of tables, fufufu. Did it seriously show up here at the outer edge? If it did things may be worse than we initially thought. It¡¯s best if we report it as soon as possible so we¡¯ll be bailing, though I do feel bad about leaving a child alone in a forest.] [What about my cape? And my tables too I guess, but mostly my cape.] [Is a cape more important than the general public¡¯s safety?] [It is if it¡¯s my cape. Alright it¡¯s decided. While you¡¯re taking care of the leg work Silica will take care of the important stuff, namely my cape. Even though it isn¡¯t compensation for what you owe me it may affect my opinion of you which can be seen as indirectly influencing it. As for paying for it, do it yourself. I¡¯ll pay you back when I get the finished product. You all work hard out there.] With his mission complete he pushed the task of getting a new cape to a person who couldn¡¯t refuse. He bid farewell to the adventurers who seemed eager to get away from him, probably to tell their friends about how they met such an awesome person. After watching them hastily escape into the brush he did a one eighty and started heading home. Along the way he encountered numerous small groups of monsters. Compared to when he left there seemed to be a lot more groups roaming around. When he encounters a group of less than a dozen he uses his saw to wipe them out. Since he knows he can take care of them easily he lets them surround him and put him in difficult situations as training. The groups of over a dozen get the privilege of being his person lab rats for his magic tests and experiments. There weren¡¯t just more groups out and about. There groups also tend to be higher in number with more than a few reaching triple digits. With so many monsters out and about the chances of them stumbling upon his hideout also increases exponentially. Thinking about how his base could get attacked at any time he sped up and stopped toying with the monsters so much. Arriving at the cave he can see signs of battle around the entrance. The signs of battle continue all the way to the fork in the path. Quickly checking the grunt living quarters he finds a pile of charred remains. Since they were able to drag the corpses together and try to torch them he took it as a good sign. Going back past the fork he continues on to the dining hall. Sitting at a table the gang are relatively relaxed, though one of them always has their eyes on the passage leading to the entrance. When they notice something coming Vincent, Beth, and Meredith retreat to the tunnel leading to the storage room while Kira and Sia get ready to face whatever intruder dares set foot on their turf. When Jellal properly comes into view they¡¯re visibly relieved. From their reactions he can tell they¡¯ve had to deal with quite a few intruders while he was out. Since everyone is in one piece it¡¯s pretty obvious they didn¡¯t have to face something they couldn¡¯t handle. He had already noticed it when he took over the base, but the influx of enemies has really exposed the weak defenses of the cave as a hideout. He gets the cogs in his head kick started as he strolls into the dining hall. He gives the crew a nod as a greeting before continuing to contemplate how to improve the defenses of this place. [Looks like things got busy while I was gone. I trust you didn¡¯t have any trouble dealing with a bunch of mobs like them.] [No problems at all boss. If I could say one thing, this place is completely defenseless without manpower to guard it. I think we need to add some kind of actual defense if we¡¯re going to be dealing with waves of monsters like this.] Sia had also noticed the problems with the cave and mentioned it as she replied to Jellal. She appeared marginally tired but in spite of that her tail waved back and forth energetically. Compared to the rest of the crew she¡¯s far more enthusiastic about working for him which has allowed her to make a good impression on him. [I already have an idea to take care of the defense issues. More importantly do you have any idea what¡¯s going on with those monsters? I may have a general idea of what¡¯s happening but I still don¡¯t know the root cause.] [They should be infected by the miasma. According to the old stories when the malice and evil on the planet gets high enough it begins to manifest as miasma. The miasma causes monsters to become even more violent than they already are turning them into mindless beasts that only seek out destruction. If the old wives tales are to be believed the miasma caused the downfall of many great empires in the past causing us to fall into an endless cycle of rebirth and destruction.] ¡®I knew it was that dirty gutter loving con artists fault! In the end the miasma seems is a balancing system of sorts. I bet I was reincarnated in a place where the miasma was starting to spread on purpose. Just you wait till I find a statue or temple of you so I can show you what¡¯s for, kekeke.¡¯ [Good work. Kira will come with me to take care of the defenses. The rest of you can do whatever.] Without waiting for a reply or confirmation he started walking back to the entrance. Upon arriving he did a quick check of the surroundings to make sure they wouldn¡¯t get ambushed while they were fixing the defense. [First I want you to set up some divots and permanent spikes jutting away from the entrance. The spikes should be evenly spaced, but don¡¯t put them so far out that it ruins the natural cover we already have. After that¡¯s in place we¡¯ll seal up the entrance while leaving plenty of gaps to vent air. While you¡¯re setting up the divots and spikes I¡¯ll be doing a little experiment so don¡¯t mind me.] Kira immediately got to work chanting and gathering mana. While she was doing that Jellal started messing with her mana along with the mana she was gathering. Kira was unable to notice anything happening but Jellal did. With meddling he had done to the mana he could stop her from properly forming the magic if he wanted. To his surprise he still had I tiny amount of control over them mana even after she had formed it into magic. Seeing if he can take things further he started trying to wiggle his mana into the mana that made up the formed magic. The test was unsuccessful but his findings overall were huge. Being able to influence someone¡¯s magic by slipping in with their mana before they form it couldn¡¯t be understated. Kira started working on another area giving him another chance to experiment. This time instead of trying to negatively impact her magic he planned on enhancing it. Rather than controlling the magic himself he simply used his mana to reinforce her mana which was controlling the magic. The result was a middling success that wasn¡¯t cost effective. It didn¡¯t take long for the first part of the improvements to the defenses to fall into place. Going back inside the cave Jellal used earth magic to form walls to block the entrance. He made four walls in total with each being spaced three meters apart. The outer wall stretched all the way across the tunnel and had the top quarter replaced with bars rather than being solid. The second wall had its leftmost quarter replaced with bars while the third was the right side. The fourth wall was more akin to an earthen grid consisting of intersecting vertical and horizontal bars. With the new defenses in place they headed back so he could have someone start making dinner. Goblin Is Out Of Mercy The morning sun rises over the horizon bringing with it the gift of warmth and light. Yet even the sun can¡¯t penetrate Fang Forest. It doesn¡¯t matter if it¡¯s the depths of a thicket, under the canopy of the scattered trees, or a clearing that¡¯s open to the sky; no light reaches the ground inside the forest. Darkness looms over the forest leaving it bleak and uninviting. The monsters that call the forest home act like antibodies, eliminating any foreign beings that dare to enter their domain. In a cave hidden in the outer edge of the forest a group of so called foreign beings are going about their daily routine as if they¡¯re oblivious to the changes that have taken place in the forest. After letting his subordinates out of their cells Jellal heads to the cave entrance. Using earth magic he opens up holes in the walls he made to prevent outsiders from breaking in. Reaching the outside of the cave he inspects the condition of the spikes and the outer wall. Dozens of victims are scattered around the spikes. Among the victims he notices some that are odd. A few monsters somehow managed to get stabbed through the back with the immobile spikes. Examining the ground around the spikes he finds a set of tracks leading around the spikes and divots all the way to the outer wall. Three identical sets of claw marks descend down wall as if something had tried multiple times to jump through the bars only to fail and slide down the wall. ¡®How interesting, and here I thought the monsters in the forest all succumbed to the effects of the miasma. For something to notice the gap at the top before trying to jump in is a bit unexpected. Coupled with the monsters that look like they were knocked back into the spikes it appears we have a guest with decent intelligence nearby. I¡¯ll have to drop by to check on the defenses more often to see if it¡¯s hanging around or if it was just passing by.¡¯ Jellal easily repaired the damage done to the spikes and wall. Since there had been a break in attempt he added a slight slope to the top of the solid part of the wall angling it outward so it would be more difficult to climb. He also lowered the ground level around the wall making it even more insurmountable than it already was. Satisfied with his modifications and patch job he starts walking back inside, fixing holes he had made along the way. Arriving at the dining hall he gave his men a nod to reaffirm their confidence in the security measures before continuing on to where the captives are held. Walking into the middle of the room he looks around at the captives. There¡¯s a sullen atmosphere amongst them that wasn¡¯t present earlier. From the uniform mood amongst them he can infer why they¡¯re so down. He could infer that his subordinates most likely told them about the effect the miasma is having on the forest making them lose the last bit of hope they had of being rescued. [You¡¯ve probably already heard about what¡¯s going on in the forest right now so I¡¯ll spare you the long winded explanations. Recently we¡¯ve managed to collect a large number of monster corpses. For those of you who are interested in finding something to do other than rotting away I have good news. I¡¯m looking for volunteers to process these monsters since I¡¯m a little short on man power right now. I¡¯d also like some people that are good with their hands, preferably with sewing experience. Volunteers will also get a real meal instead of the gruel Kira has been so painstakingly making for you.] To his surprise the majority of them decided to volunteer. In his mind he started questioning whether it was due to boredom or Kira¡¯s cooking. Selecting a dozen workers he unlocks their shackles and lets them out of their cells. While leading them to the dining hall he made a quick stop at the treasure room to pick up some knives and daggers he was gifted by the bandits. When they reach the dining hall he gathers everyone together to issue orders. [Sia and Beth will be in charge of the group the will be processing the monsters. Your job is simple: gather the parts of the bodies that have value. Once you¡¯ve stripped everything you can move what remains to a separate room so it can be dealt with later. The other pair of new workers will be cutting the furs into rectangles. The excess that¡¯s cut off will then be cut into strips which will be used to sew the furs together into rugs and blankets. The coarse, bristly boar furs will be used for rugs while the softer wolf furs will be made into blankets. Since we have enough material, you should try to match shades as much as possible for aesthetic purposes. Vincent and Meredith will be running errands for the teams and collecting the materials. If you need anything you¡¯re to ask them, not try to get things for yourself. That should be everything so I¡¯ll be leaving you to it.] Breaking the new recruits into two groups he passed out knives for them to use during their work. The pair charged with sewing the furs together were also given some wolf teeth. Whether they used the tools available or not was up to them so he didn¡¯t mind their confused looks. After sending everyone off to work he was left alone with Kira and Evangeline. Kira was obviously going to be in charge of incinerating the remains when they¡¯ve piled. Evangeline, on the other hand, he didn¡¯t trust not to slack off if she was given a task. It¡¯s more likely she would use the furs as a pillow and hide somewhere to take a nap than actually work so he didn¡¯t bother with her. Looking at Evangeline he suddenly felt like he had forgotten something important. He started searching his brain for anything he could remember pertaining to her. After a minute of standing there staring at her blankly with his hand holding his chin things finally clicked into place. [Say, Eva. Unless I¡¯m mistaken you said you sent a message to your family after you were kidnapped, right? I¡¯m curious, how exactly did you send a message when you were locked in cell and gagged?] [Fufufu, that¡¯s a vampire trade secret. I suppose if you give me permanent access to your bed I could accidentally have a slip of the tongue. Wait, why not? It¡¯s a good proposal. I get to use the bed and you get to know what you wanted to know, everybody wins.] After her proposal is instantly shot down by Jellal she becomes confused and starts appealing her case while flailing her about wildly leaving Jellal dumbfounded. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡®Is she doing this on purpose or is she just an idiot? I can¡¯t tell. Does this world even have lawyers who specialize in abusing the language used in contracts? If it does I think she¡¯s missed her true calling. What kind of normal person is capable of so easily coming up with such a dubious proposition that sounds perfectly normal when you first hear them?¡¯ [There are a lot of things wrong with it. First, giving you permanent access would mean you would never have to go back to your cell since that would be limiting your access. I have no intention of letting someone run around freely while I¡¯m sleeping so that¡¯s a no go. Second, saying it¡¯s access to my bed is dubious at best. What if I switch beds? Wouldn¡¯t the bed you¡¯re allowed to use change since the bed that would be considered as my bed would have changed? And last of all, everything in this cave is mine including the beds. If all the beds are mine do I need to give you the keys to the cells so you have access to those beds as well?] Hearing Jellal¡¯s long winded rebuttal Evangeline started sulking. Dark clouds hung over her head as she squats and started drawing circles in the dirt. [But, I just wanted to use to comfortable bed to sleep during the daytime.] [How about I let you use the good bed during the middle of the day when you don¡¯t have any work to do? In exchange you have to tell me how you sent out the message. Deal?] [Isn¡¯t that what I said? Did you turn me down because you wanted to be the one to propose the deal? You¡¯re so immature, fufufu. Alright I¡¯ll tell you, but you can¡¯t tell anyone.] As she¡¯s about to tell him how she did it she looks around to see if anyone¡¯s listening in on them. Pulling Jellal close to her she whispers in his ear while acting all secretive. [You see vampires that are directly related and two or less generations apart can communicate telepathically. Well to tell you the truth I¡¯m not very good at it so I haven¡¯t been able to reach them since then.] Just as she¡¯s about to pull away and run off to her new part time bed her shoulders were caught in Jellal¡¯s iron grip, his eyes sparkling brightly. [You said your family should be on their way right? When they get here you have to convince one of them to let me observe them when they use telepathy. It would be a shame if I suddenly decided to carry the blankets and pillows from my bed around with me.] [How evil! That wasn¡¯t part of the deal!] [I said you could use the bed. I never said anything about the pillows or blankets, kekeke.] [Grr, fine. Why do you have to be such a bully?] Having gotten what he wanted Jellal released his grip on her shoulders. Free from his evil clutches Evangeline speeds off, escaping as fast as lightning to the safest place she can possibly escape to: beneath the covers. With all of his subordinates taking care of the leg work Jellal was left to his own devices. Moving to the living quarters he starts practicing the same way he usually does when he has free time. After an hour he started walking back to check on how his subordinates were coming along. Walking into the grunt living quarters he scanned over the work area with his eyes. The workers had split into pairs with each pair having their own area. Walking next to each pair he would stop and observe them for a few seconds before moving on. Satisfied with their work ethic so far he turned around to make his way back. As he steps past the last pair they jump up and lunge at him from behind. Spinning around he uses his arm to smack the closest ones wrist deflecting his thrust and changing his body¡¯s trajectory. The pair collide with each other, falling to the ground in a tangle mess. As they untangle themselves he leisurely pulls out four throwing knives, holding three of them in his left hand. One of them pushes off the ground with his hand to stand up but before he has a chance a throwing knife nails his hand to the ground. A guttural scream roars from his mouth as he clutches the throwing knife with his other hand. With a yank he rips it out of his hand before rolling around on the ground in pain. He lifts his head to glare at the one responsible but the back of his head is hammered with a force he¡¯s unable to resist. He grits his teeth as his face is pressed into the dirt. He swings the knife in his hand intent on slashing whatever¡¯s holding him down but his hand is met with another throwing knife. The knife slams down from above cutting off the fingers that were holding his weapon. Jellal glances at the rest of the workers as he starts to increase the pressure he¡¯s exerting. The poor fools head is slowly squished between his foot and the ground as if it was put into a vice. Blood starts leaking from the victim¡¯s orifices as his skull starts emitting brutal crunching noises. Jellal turns his head and stares right into the eyes of the other attacker. While maintaining eye contact he increases the pressure yet again. This time it¡¯s too much to handle as the skull collapses in on itself spraying blood everywhere. He uses the same foot that was previously stepping on the head to kick the body off to the side before slowly walking towards his next victim. [I¡¯m sorry! Pl-please forgive me. Show mercy to my foolish self. I¡¯m begging you don¡¯t-] The remaining attacker scoots backwards on her butt while begging for mercy. Her pleas are interrupted when she backs into a wall. Tears start gliding down her terror filled face as death slowly walks toward her. She loses control of her bladder as her whole body trembles in fear. [Mercy? Sorry but I¡¯m fresh out of mercy. I believe I was very clear that I used the last of it in the prison area the other day was I not?] Ignoring the pleas he continued walking closer. He uses wind magic to create a sharp invisible blade of wind extending out from the knife. Leaning close to her he looks her in the eye as he slashes past her throat with blinding quickness. Her eyes dim as a red line appears around her neck. Her body falls over and her head rolls away on contact with the ground. Jellal picks up her severed head and tosses it into the pile of remains that are set aside to be incinerated later. Next he picks up the pairs bodies. Each hand holds the shirt of one of the victims as he drags them to the pile of unprocessed monsters. He glances around the room before giving them a friendly smile. [How unfortunate. Now the rest of you have to do more work with less people. Regardless your job doesn¡¯t change: strip anything worth keeping and put what remains in the discard pile.] He brings Sia and Beth with him as he makes his way to the entrance to check on the defenses and see whether the monster that failed to invade previously has come back. He makes holes for easily coming and going the same way he did before. Walking out he takes a look around. From what he can see there are no obvious signs of any new enemies showing up. He scans the surroundings extra carefully with all his senses as the corner of his mouth curls upward. He has the girls start dragging the corpses inside so they can be processed along with the others while he carefully watches over them. They drag the bodies one by one inside the walls unsure what the smirk on his face represents. In the grunt living quarters the workers are restless. The pair that attacked weren¡¯t the only ones to have nefarious plans. Many had contemplated making some kind of move but didn¡¯t have the guts to see it through which saved their lives in the end. Unlike the captives from the other cells the pair of former adventurers that came along remained calm throughout the entire ordeal. The first time he showed up in front of them Jellal showcased how ruthless he was toward aggressors so they could see this coming a mile away. Even though they had planned to attack as well they didn¡¯t make a move because their sixth sense told them it wouldn¡¯t end well. No matter how wide open he was the feeling never went away leading them to the realization that he was perfectly ready to deal with any attackers he may face. For the first time they started reconsidering their plans. They were now certain they wouldn¡¯t make it out alive if they attacked him so they could only hope for an opportunity to make a run for it. Unfortunately the miasma is enough to make their chances of surviving in the forest close to zero since they don¡¯t know the way back to the city. Before they had a chance to rework their plan a male merchant stood up and started looking around suspiciously. Seeing the coast clear he started sneaking toward the entrance. When he noticed the bodies and open hole to the outside he made a break for it. Sprinting at full speed he burst out of the entrance. Not expecting the divots he tripped and rolled across the ground. He looked back to see if the goblin was going to chase him, but to his surprise it leaning casually against the wall with its arms crossed and a smirk plastered all over its face. Sia rushes out of the entrance, looking around with a sharp gaze. She glances at Jellal questioning whether she should pursue or not. He simply shakes his head before looking back to the newest rebel. Jellal releases trace amounts of killing intent, but doesn¡¯t move from his spot. The escapee rushes into the bushes while glancing back at him, hope clearly present in his eyes. Less than a second later his piercing wails drift over along with the sound of rustling bushes. The screams fall silent yet the rustling remains. The bushes the escapee ran through start shaking as the lifeless corpse of the former merchant flops out. Following behind the body is a light gray wolf. It stares at Jellal, intelligence clearly present in its deep, sky blue eyes. Sia holds her blade ready to attack once she¡¯s given the order. Jellal waves her off telling her to continue what she was doing. Keeping her sword ready, she cautiously walks out while keeping an eye on the wolf. Grabbing a body with her off hand she starts dragging it back to the entrance. Eventually Beth joins her and the two continue their work as if everything were normal. When all the bodies are inside they start moving them to the work area to be processed. Jellal finally ends his staring match with the wolf as he turns and starts heading in through the hole. Partway through the outer wall with his back to the wolf he calls out casually. [Let¡¯s go Sif.] Goblin Is Still In Need Of Good Workers Grabbing the back of the merchant¡¯s neck with its mouth the wolf lugs the body with it through the hole in the outer wall. When it¡¯s fully inside the cave Jellal closes the opening and they continue on. Sia and Beth are just coming back to the bodies to make another round trip as the pair saunters through the last defensive wall. They momentarily freeze at the sight of the unexpected guest. Snapping out of it quickly they return to what they were doing as if nothing changed. Jellal leads Sif to the work area where all the bodies are being deposited. Once there he grabs the corpse by the shirt and chucks it into the pile with the rest of the bodies waiting to be processed. Disregarding the workers reactions he turns and leaves without saying a word. Marching through the tunnel with Sif in tow he runs into Vincent and Meredith right outside the dining hall. Vincent does a double take before giving them a wide berth. He keeps his eyes on Sif as he scoots along the wall, walking backwards once he¡¯s past them and continuing like that until they¡¯re nearly out of sight. Meredith¡¯s eyes widen when she sees Sif. She energetically runs up to Jellal with her mouth hanging open while pointing at Sif. [Can I pet it, please? It looks so soft and fluffy. Can I?] Jellal smiles at Meredith¡¯s bubbly reaction to his new pet. Looking back at Sif he shrugs lightly. [It¡¯s not up to me. If Sif doesn¡¯t mind, then neither do I.] [Yay! Sif do you want me to brush your hair? I promise I¡¯ll be gentle.] Jumping for joy she rushes over to Sif. Lowering its head slightly it doesn¡¯t show any reservations about being treated as a pet. Meredith tentatively reaches out her hand and caresses the wolf¡¯s head, neck, and back. Getting more comfortable she brings her other hand over to rub beneath its neck. It doesn¡¯t take long for her petting evolves into full on hugging and face rubbing. Sif looks to Jellal, seeking help to get away from the overly enthusiastic little girl. He obliges walking up behind her and gently lifting her by her armpits. As her feet leave the ground she reluctantly lets go of her fluffy friend. Setting her back down next to Sif, Jellal pats her head before sending her on her way. Passing through the dining room they head to the abandoned living quarters. Walking to the middle of the hallway he stops and turns to Sif. [Since no one¡¯s using any of these rooms you can pick one for yourself. I usually practice in the very back so those rooms are off limits, but any of the others is fine. Basic rules are simple: no killing the captives without reason, no stealing food, and no taking something that belongs to me without my permission. Other than that, I¡¯ll be closing off the entrance to the dining room when night comes so you¡¯ll be locked up while I¡¯m sleeping just like everyone else. Once you¡¯ve decided on a room I¡¯ll mark it so everyone will know not to enter for no reason.] When he finished his speech Jellal leaned against a wall waiting for Sif to choose its room. Striding about it looked into each room. In the end it chose one of the rooms that was completely empty save for a bed. Jellal smiled widely as he walked over to Sif¡¯s new room and used wind magic to cut its name above the door. Giving a light nod in acknowledgement he started walking to the depths of the living quarters. ¡®As I thought! Not only is it able to effectively use the spikes as a weapon, but it¡¯s also smart enough to understand give and take well enough for me to let it inside. To top it off it seems to understand what I¡¯m saying or at least get the general meaning. It seems I¡¯ve made a good find, kekeke.¡¯ At the deepest part of the lining quarters Jellal sits cross legged and concentrates on improving his wind magic. The speed of his improvements are so impressive that even he finds it surprising. Naturally, he has always been extremely confident in his abilities and rate of improvement, so the fact it could surpass the standards he considers normal for himself shows how ridiculous it truly is. An hour passes by in a flash while everyone goes about their business. Walking out of the living quarters Jellal stops in the dining hall to inspect materials that have been brought out. On one of the tables is the clothes and items left behind by the three deceased workers while a second table holds the sewn together furs. Picking up one of the blankets he clicks his tongue when he checks out the stitching. He didn¡¯t give them any instruction on how to sew them together yet the workmanship still looks a hundred times better than what he has on his homemade bag. Leaving the room he first stops by the entrance to do a quick check of the defenses. Since everything¡¯s in order he moves on to the work area to check on how things are progressing. As he makes his rounds the workers actively keep their heads down showing no intention to look him in the eye much less pull another stunt. Giving them one last glance he turns and leaves. Passing through the dining hall he makes his way toward the treasure room. With the ridiculous amount of monsters about coupled with him having excess food available in the hideout he has no need to go out for the time being. Without needing to go out he can spend all his time training, but if he¡¯s going to spend so much time training he needs something to act as filler to keep things from getting monotonous. Because of his rapid improvements in regards to magic the schedule he had in his mind for paying a visit to the city has been pushed forward as well. Sifting through the treasure room to find a suitable disguise can thus serve the dual purpose of moving his plans forward and breaking up his practice so he can maintain his focus. As he passes by his room he glances inside. Evangeline lays sprawled out on the bed in an unladylike pose as drool leaks from the corner of her mouth. Looking at the useless vampire he lets out a sigh before continuing onward. Entering the treasure room he begins walking around peeking inside crates and bags as he goes. Circling around he gets to the pile of cloth and equipment he confiscated from the bandits. Finding some decent looking armor he throws it on for a test drive. He hangs his head as he looks at the armor that looks more like a dress than a chest piece on him. After trying on three more chest pieces he starts breathing heavily barely able to hold back his urge to turn the pile of hand me downs to cinders. Giving up on wearing armor he shifts his focus to the regular clothing. Tossing shirts and pants about he searches through the entire pile but is unable to find a single article of clothing that suits his tastes.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. He grabs a pair of shoes along with a set of clothes and stuffs them under his arm before continuing on. If worst comes to worst he can make something himself or have one of his subordinates that are definitely far less skillful then him do it. Digging through more bags he finally stumbles across something usable. A pair of thin black leather gloves stuffed in amongst a bunch of other fabric. Removing the gloves he continues looking through the bag. Although he isn¡¯t able to find any other useful articles of clothing he did find some needles and thread which could be useful if he needs to make it instead. He cut a mark into the ground with wind magic so he wouldn¡¯t forget where they were if he needed them before moving on. In the next set of crates he finds a hooded black cloak. Compared to clothes having a hooded cloak to help hide his features is a top priority so he immediately snatches it. Putting on the cloak he grabs a fancy silver platter from one of the crates he went through earlier. Using the reflective surface of the platter as a mirror he frowns. Even though the hood is able to shade his face it isn¡¯t able hide his features well enough that someone with half decent eyes will be fooled. ¡®Hmm, going forward I have two options that are somewhat feasible. First, I could find a mask which would be even more suspicious than just a hood. Second, I could try to work out a magic to block out light and make the inside of the hood pitch black when I wear it. If it can be put into practice it would be better than wearing a mask but much more annoying. I guess it wouldn¡¯t hurt to try for both just to be safe. With the amount of random crap that¡¯s in here it wouldn¡¯t be too surprising to find a mask or two. Looks like I¡¯ll have to come back every time I take a break from training.¡¯ Jellal set the items he collected on a nearby crate to mark his spot for when he comes back later. Leaving the room he started heading back to the living quarters to continue his training. As he was walking through the dining hall he heard sounds coming from the kitchen so he went over to take a look. Poking his head around the corner he could see the usual crew chopping vegetables and meat while chatting. Since it¡¯s coming up on time to have lunch he doesn¡¯t bother them and moves on. When lunch is ready Meredith sets off to inform Jellal. Skipping through the living quarters she notices a room with markings above it that weren¡¯t there before. Sticking her head in the doorway she flashes a bright smile and waves at Sif before getting back to her task. Arriving at the deepest part of the living quarters she finally finds Jellal who¡¯s sitting cross legged with his eyes clothes. His eyes slowly open as she approaches. Without needing to ask why she¡¯s here he stands up and starts walking toward her. The pair stop off at Sif¡¯s room on the way back so it can join them for lunch. Just like that one little girl and two monsters walk the halls of the cave. Entering into the dining hall Jellal isn¡¯t surprised that none of the new workers are there. Taking his seat at the head of the table he waits for the food to be brought to him. While he¡¯s waiting Meredith goes to wake up Evangeline so she can join them. Eventually she returns pulling the sleepy Evangeline along with her. She lets out a yawn as she starts fixing her bed head. After an entire minute she at long last notices Sif lying on the ground beside Jellal with its eyes closed. As if noticing her gaze its eyes shoot open as it turns its head. [A good dog! I shall call you Mathias! If you¡¯re a good boy I¡¯ll let you take me as your master. Here boy.] Her eyes light up as she suddenly decides on a name and tries to coax it over to her. Sif looks at her before turning to look at Jellal with eyes that seem to ask if she was being serious. Seeing Evangeline being ridiculed by a wolf he chuckles lightly while wearing a big smile. After they finish eating she¡¯s right back to trying to coax Sif to come over to her. When all her attempts fail she puffs out her cheeks and switches to plan b. She walks over to Sif and tries to pick it up, intent on carrying the new pet back to bed to use as a hugging pillow while she sleeps. Her attempts to pick up Sif soon devolve into simply running around chasing after it. The agile Sif uses sharp changes in direction to avoid her while ducking under and around tables to add an extra layer of difficulty. While everyone is enjoying the impromptu entertainment provided by Evangeline and Sif, Meredith heads out to get the new workers so they can have lunch. As the group arrives Jellal shoots a glance their way. Even though everything seems normal on the surface he can feel an oddly nervous atmosphere from them. His eyes narrow as he stops paying attention to the skit and starts observing the new arrivals. Without warning one a well-dressed man grabs Meredith. The man is from the cell next to Vincent meaning he¡¯s most likely a noble or fairly important person the bandits had planned on ransoming. He holds a knife to Meredith¡¯s throat as he glares at Jellal, madness present in his eyes. [If you make a move we¡¯ll kill her. We¡¯ll show you the true strength of the human race you filthy swine.] [Kekeke, this is the first time I¡¯ve seen someone think taking one of their own people hostage is a good tactic. How mighty the human race must be to produce geniuses like you. What exactly do you think you can accomplish with this little scheme of yours?] [You filth, you dare to talk back to me. Humans are the masters of the world not trash like you monsters. This bitch dares to act like your little whore and you say she¡¯s one of us? Don¡¯t make me laugh. If you don¡¯t listen to what I tell you we¡¯ll kill her first before slaughtering you. You filth aren¡¯t fit to lick the boots of the glorious human race since it would stain our honor.] [You, slaughter me? Stop, you¡¯re bringing me to tears, kekeke. Do you really think I would believe a word you said? You won¡¯t kill her. If you did that you pathetic cowards would have nothing to hide behind. Also you go on and on about how great the human race is and their glory and honor but do you really believe the shit that comes out of your own mouth? I know all about how great the human race is. They kill each other for fun and menial gains. They use status they never earned to get away with detestable acts while proclaiming themselves as righteous. They judge others by appearances and hold bias towards those that take their side regardless of how evil and disgusting they may be. There are also trash that take little girls hostage to try to save their own skin like a bunch of useless trash. You call monsters filth but I have to disagree. Some monsters may kill indiscriminately and perform heinous acts but I¡¯ve never seen a monster try to push their deeds onto someone else. Monsters also don¡¯t judge others by their appearances. If you enter their territory or look tasty you¡¯re an enemy to be killed. It¡¯s nothing if not fair, regardless of how stupid and pointless it is. Compared to hanging around with humans that¡¯ll stab each other in the back over the smallest things I¡¯d have to say hanging around with monsters is a much better choice. At least a monster won¡¯t stab me in the back while claiming to be my friend like a human would. So you can keep your so called human superiority and I¡¯ll stick with my honest and straight forward, albeit despicable, monsters.] As Jellal continually mocks humans in front of them complicated expressions show on many of their faces. The fact that anyone with even a modicum of intelligence would proclaim that they¡¯d rather be around monsters than humans is preposterous to them. Yet the way it was stated makes it hard for them to dispute even if they wanted to. [A damned monster dares to mock humans! We won¡¯t stand for such an atrocity! The only recourse left for this filth is death! Someone go cut that trashes head off. Don¡¯t worry, if it tries to attack you I¡¯ll kill this bitch right before its eyes.] The clown leading the group is livid at Jellal¡¯s mocking and angrily yells as he presses the knife closer to Meredith¡¯s neck. Jellal¡¯s icy glare scans the group as a drop of blood rolls down her neck. [Judging by the way you¡¯re ordering around those idiots and saying ¡°we¡± all the time I guess it¡¯s safe to assume the lot of you are in on this together. I¡¯ll give everyone one chance to prove their innocence. If you aren¡¯t with this idiot and have nothing to do with his little schemes then drop to one knee and throw away whatever is in your hands. After that you¡¯re to place your palms to the ground and lower your head. Anyone in the room that doesn¡¯t do so is with him and will be punished accordingly. Three ¡­ Two ¡­ One ¡­ Zero, time¡¯s up!] Jellal makes his demands with a tone oozing with killing intent. Without hesitation the normal crew drop to one knee, throwing away whatever¡¯s in their hands and placing their palms on the ground. Even the usually ditzy and noncompliant Evangeline stops chasing Sif and follows suit. Sif lays on the ground as well in a show of compliance rounding out the group. From the group of workers the pair of seamstresses immediately drop to a knee followed by a former adventurer and a male merchant doing the same. The former adventurer appeals to her comrade with her eyes, unease apparent on her face. The second adventurer hesitantly casts away her knife after looking at Meredith who¡¯s being used as a hostage. If it wasn¡¯t for such a despicable method being used she would never have faltered in her determination to escape this cave, yet her morality won out in the end and she caved. The rest of the group remained standing, glaring at Jellal defiantly. As Jellal counted down his killing intent grew thicker making it hard for the people in the room to breathe. The countdown hits zero while the captives fight the urge to lift their heads and see what¡¯s happening. While lecturing the rebels Jellal had already prepared wind magic. Taking advantage of their breathing he was able to slip wind magic inside everyone in the rooms bodies. On top of that he has five invisible wind needles aimed at each of their heads from varying angles. His final magic is a wind barrier ready to protect Meredith. Slowly Jellal lifts his right hand and makes a finger gun. Pointing at them one by one, starting with the idiot leader, he drops the hammer. The magic inside them explodes eviscerating their heart and lungs in sync with his firing motion killing them from the inside. One after another they drop dead without any wound visible on their bodies. The ones late in the order get to live just long enough to feel immense fear before their lives are snuffed out. Goblin Is A Magical Prodigy A telling silence creeps over the hideout as the captives nervously keep their heads down. Meredith sniffles loudly as she desperately tries to hold back her tears, breaking the silence. [You can get back to what you were doing now. Except for you, Eva, I have something I need you to do.] Jellal lets the group rise before pulling Evangeline aside. The mission he gives her is incredibly simple: take Meredith to his room and help her fall asleep. Why did he ask Evangeline specifically? Since the two of them are both immature she¡¯ll likely be more comfortable around her. Even though she¡¯s lazy she¡¯s still a powerful vampire that most of the captives would think twice before crossing. With her acting as a bodyguard there should be nothing to worry about. Just to be safe he convinces Sif to join them as well. He may not be clear on how strong Sif is, but he does know that its intelligence isn¡¯t to be underestimated. The fluffy Sif can also be used to calm Meredith down as well sating Evangeline¡¯s desire to get close to it, killing three birds with one stone. Evangeline playfully runs up to Meredith, grabbing her by the hands. Sif saddles up alongside her brushing past her legs. The pair skillfully distracts her from what just occurred while leading her away from the dining hall. Watching the trio fade from sight Jellal also takes his leave back to the living quarters to train. A little over an hour later he walks to his room while taking a break from training. Inside Evangeline is using Meredith as a hugging pillow while Sif lies at the foot of the bed. As he enters the room Sif lifts its head looking over cautiously. Confirming there isn¡¯t an intruder it sets its head back down and closes its eyes. Jellal goes over to his backpack which is propped next to a wall at the foot of the bed. He pulls out the item bag he¡¯d left inside before making a b-line for the treasure room. Upon arriving he finds his marker to continue searching where he left off. With his second round of searching complete he estimates that he¡¯s made it a quarter of the way through the room. His trip this time netted him a pair of baggy black pants that are only a little too big for him but still usable. He puts the pants, cloak, and gloves in the bag while leaving the junk on a crate to act as a marker before returning to the living quarters. He makes a trip to the treasure room every other hour during his breaks from practice. Instead of going on every break like he had originally planned he made the trip on every other break. The time he gained was used to investigate the item bag¡¯s space magic and play with magic to try to make it impossible to see his face when he¡¯s wearing the cloak. With a little inspiration from the shadow wolf he had fought previously he manages to make some decent headway in hiding his visage. Through his discoveries he¡¯s hypothesized he won¡¯t be able to achieve the desired effect with just shadow magic so his next step is going to be to mix in another kind of magic. The obvious choice is to use light magic to stop light from entering the hood but he quickly discovered he has a nearly nonexistent affinity for light magic. His forays into space magic were helped along by the existence of the item bag. Even though he had made some minor progress he was completely stumped in his quest to find out how the item bag actually functioned. He had a general idea as to how the space magic worked but he was clueless as to how the bag etches it into the gem, or how the gem is able to a separate space within it. His dream of making a piece of jewelry imbued with space magic so he won¡¯t have to carry around a bunch of lame bags seems more and more like a longshot as he researches. His adventure with the item bag gives him an idea that¡¯s just crazy enough to work. If he can use space magic to create a layer of space filled with darkness between the front of the hood and the outside world it should be possible to completely hide his visage. As the wheels in his head turn he decides to finally check his status again to see if there¡¯s anything new that could be useful in his experiments. Due to how easily he had been having it he didn¡¯t bother to check his status. Thinking about it again, he has to admit willingly giving up on an advantage like that, even if only temporarily, isn¡¯t among the brightest ideas he¡¯s had. ¡®I¡¯ve faced some pretty tough enemies since the last time I checked so it should¡¯ve changed a lot. Now that I think about it I don¡¯t know what the average monster¡¯s status looks like. Last time I ended up with Sawsmanship which seems like it was only meant to mock me, this time I hope I find something good.¡¯ [status open]
Name: Jellal Race: Goblin Gender: M Age: 0 Level: 36
HP: 1125/1125 DEF: 116 STR: 196 AGI: 249
MP: 790/790 MGD: 116 MGA: 99 Points Available: 108
Skills: Adaptability; Magic Eyes; Superhuman Strength; Magic Perception; Danger Perception; Concealment; Parallel Thinking; Sawsmanship; Battle Born; Berserk; Magic Manipulation; Healthy Body; Regeneration; Magic Synchronization; Agile Movement; Iron Flesh; Mercy;
Special: Named Monster; Heart of Darkness
¡®I knew that bastard scum loving mutt of a con artist is messing with me! I could accept it as a coincidence that Sawsmanship showed up but why the hell is there a marked out mercy on my skills list? And what is with the special: Heart of Darkness? That fuckboy is planning something, I know it! First he reincarnates me as a goblin. Then the forest I¡¯m in just so happens to be where the miasma is rearing its ugly head. Now there¡¯s this Heart of Darkness nonsense as well. You can¡¯t fool me you son of a bitch, I¡¯m on to you!If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Putting the potential tampering aside, how should I invest my points? I¡¯ve let them stack up quite a bit so it should be enough to give a significant boost in whatever I add it to. I haven¡¯t found any reason to increase my health so I can strike that from the list right away. If I don¡¯t get hit I don¡¯t need to worry about how high my defense is so those categories can get lost for all I care. I haven¡¯t had any trouble with mana and how effective magic is can be greatly affected by how it¡¯s used so increasing my magic abilities is also unnecessary. That just leaves the good old physical attributes. Being stronger wouldn¡¯t hurt. I would probably have to go through a minor adjustment period to get used to it but it shouldn¡¯t be a big deal. Strength and agility go hand in hand with one another. If I have a ton of strength I may be able to run fast but a lot of good that does if I can only go in a straight line when I¡¯m not walking. Being super agile also doesn¡¯t mean much if I¡¯m unable to utilize it to its fullest potential. If I leave behind forty or so points it should be enough to give me a boost in one area if I really end up needing it. With the points I don¡¯t set aside I suppose I¡¯ll do the same as I did the first time and bring them up till they¡¯re about even. The main problem with focusing physical abilities is whether or not my weapon can handle the strain. Using magic to shield it can only go so far since that¡¯s not its specialty, but if I can figure out aura that would perfectly solve any potential problems I may run into in the future. The real problem is finding someone to mooch an aura lesson off of. My perception wasn¡¯t as good as it is now when I thrashed the bandit leader so I wasn¡¯t able to figure it out. Hmm, I bet that geezer knows a thing or two about aura. I guess that¡¯s just another reason to speed up my trip to the city.¡¯ After cooling his head he returned to his cycle of training, searching the treasure room, and investigating various things. He continued the cycle all the way until Meredith came to get him for dinner. Even though Meredith had time to calm down after everything that happened she still refused to go anywhere without her new best fried Sif by her side. Her usual bright demeanor seems to have gone missing after being betrayed by people who were in the same situation as her. Throughout dinner her demeanor had a surprising impact on the atmosphere. There was no friendly banter. The usual lively atmosphere was replaced with a solemn quiet. Jellal may not like seeing so Meredith down and unlike her usual self but he personally quite enjoyed being able to eat a meal in peace and quiet. Rather than return to his training immediately following dinner he made a quick pit stop to the treasure room. Moving about in the areas he already searched he did a quick scan of the contents in each pile before moving on. Halfway through the room he finally finds what he¡¯s been looking for. In an inconspicuous crate there¡¯s a litany of dresses of all different shapes and sizes. If he were to hazard a guess he would put his money on it being a shipment to a clothing store that specializes in women¡¯s clothes that the bandits ran off with. Digging through the dresses he finds a white frilly dress with a pink ribbon sewn around the waist. Eyeballing it the dress looks to be bout the right size for a little girl of around eight making it the perfect size for Meredith. Taking the dress with him he continues looking through the surrounding bags. His scouring pays off when he comes across a cloth doll stuffed in amongst an assortment of cloth and cotton. The bag also contains some yarn, needles, and thread likely tracing its origins back to someone with a hobby of making dolls. The quality of the doll isn¡¯t great. One of its button eyes hangs slightly loose matching a smile that¡¯s coming loose at the seams. The yellow yarn hair is slightly dirty giving it a used appearance. The stitch job repairing a tear on its leg shows how it¡¯s seen better days but it¡¯s still better than nothing. With the dress and doll in hand he leaves the treasure room and makes his way over to his room. He lays them out on her half of the bed, leaving the doll sitting up on top of the dress. After dropping them off he returns to the living quarters to resume his training. A few minutes into his practice a smile floats to his face. His ability to control wind mana and magic has reached a high enough level that he can prepare magic in less than a second if need be. Compared to a well-crafted magic it might pale in comparison, but being able to have it ready so fast is a major merit. It¡¯s not like he has to use it the moment it¡¯s ready, after all. If he can form the base structure in less than a second the rest of the time before he needs to use it can be used to improve its quality. In this way he can strike a good balance of quality and speed. Since he¡¯s reached his minimum standard for wind he can finally focus on other things. Focusing on shadow or space magic would be the most beneficial for the short term so they¡¯re at the top of his list of things to focus on. Regardless of how annoying his status is he did draw a bit of inspiration from it. Rather than just looking into shadow magic it¡¯s logical for there to be some sort of darkness magic as well, and if his status is anything to go by he should be exceptionally gifted at it. His main concern with darkness magic is the dubious nature of his status. When he thinks of the things he¡¯s gone through up until now he can¡¯t help but think of it as a trap. His urge to research is locked in a battle with his paranoid nature leaving him at a loss for what to do. ¡®That settles it. When in doubt ask somebody who knows the answer. Even if I don¡¯t know someone that for sure knows about darkness, I do know a magician who should know a lot of things with regards to magic. I would be a fool not to use a resource so readily available to me. Putting darkness on the backburner until I feel like wasting time to ask Kira, I guess I¡¯ll start with space magic. The ability to create separate spaces is already good, but if I can parlay that into some form of teleportation it would be more useful than ducking into and controlling shadows. Though on second thought, if I was able to move through shadows I would be able to enter town without too much trouble.¡¯ Unable to make up his mind he started experimenting with both types. With the difficulty and time it takes to sense space magic he decides to once again put it on the back burner. This time he decides to focus on shadow magic until he can enter and leave the shadows at will, when he¡¯s able to do that he¡¯ll be able to switch over to space magic without hesitation. He starts by sensing the mana. Next is getting his mana to match and resonate with the surrounding mana. No matter how he tries he¡¯s unable to forcibly enter the shadows. He racks his brain trying to figure out what he¡¯s doing wrong. Thinking back to his fight with the shadow wolf as a reference he remembers using his Magic Eyes to see the mana and where the wolf was hiding. Focusing his mana to his eyes he can feel a slight heat on his eyes as the world starts to change. Vivid color permeates the world flowing through each other and mixing seamlessly. The scene is beautifully chaotic, yet balanced and stable. As he watches the various types of mana dance about intertwining and separating he becomes mesmerized. ¡®How can so many different types of mana stay in harmony without clashing? Their properties should be different causing them to come in conflict with one another as they move through the same area, yet it doesn¡¯t happen. Why? What am I missing? If they were all the same type of mana I would understand, but they¡¯re not. Wait! Maybe I¡¯m looking at it from the wrong perspective. I¡¯ve only been paying attention to how their different. So, what if I look at how they¡¯re all the same. No, I can¡¯t just focus on how they¡¯re the same. If I did that I would be doing basically the same thing I¡¯ve been doing. I should look at it as if I know nothing about them then apply what I know after wards. So what do I see if I take away my previous knowledge? Harmony. Balance. They don¡¯t oppose each other regardless of color or quantity. Hmm, they aren¡¯t separate entities but small parts of a larger whole. I see! I¡¯ve been thinking about how different elements oppose one another but I¡¯ve completely neglected their other interactions. If I look at fire mana as raw heat rather than fire then it makes much more sense. Heat is everywhere, rather than a physical thing it¡¯s closer to a concept. Everything down to the smallest particle has some form of heat whether it¡¯s from itself or an external source. Different types of mana weave through each other, merge, and separate as if they¡¯re all tiny pieces of one giant whole. I guess they¡¯re like atoms that make up everything, except for them they make up mana. So in the end all mana regardless of type is just that, mana. When I put it that way it makes a lot more sense to be able to synchronize and resonate with mana to control it. A person¡¯s affinity should be related to how easily their mana blends with different types of mana to fit in with the greater whole rather than their ability to control it. Being able to manipulate it should be more like leading those that have become connected as a part of the same whole rather than truly bending it to ones will.¡¯ Sitting motionless in the depths of the living quarters Jellal reaches a state of enlightenment. His eyes glow vibrantly as the mana around him surges. As he breathes the mana in the surroundings expands and retracts along with him becoming one living breathing entity. Jellal lets go of his mana letting it flow freely and join the larger world. As his mana merges and passes through the mana surrounding him the opposite is also true. The surrounding mana, no longer forcibly blocked from entering his body, flows gently through him as if he didn¡¯t exist. Jellal grits his teeth as the massive flood of mana permeates his very being. Even if the mana is willing it doesn¡¯t mean his body is accustomed to it. He realizes he can¡¯t just let his mana become one with the greater whole but he himself must do so as well. Closing his eyes he forces his body to stop resisting the mana. Cracking noises can be heard coming from his grit teeth as his nails dig into the palms of his clenched fist. His body slowly changes as his trademark adaptability works its magic. While adapting he feels the pain of being thrown into an exploding sun as his body is forcibly remade. Goblin Is A Goblin? The sun drops below the horizon as the moon claims sole ownership of the night sky. In a cave that once served as a bandits¡¯ hideout a group of people sit around a table having a discussion. [What do you think¡¯s going on? Usually the little goblin overlord would have already chucked us back in our cells by now, excluding Meredith of course.] [Who cares, if it¡¯s not here right now we should use this chance to escape this damned place.] [Escape? Running around in a forest at night is a big enough pain in the ass, and you want to escape when we have no way of knowing where we are? Not to mention the hordes of monsters running around thanks to the miasma. If you want to escape be my guest, but I¡¯m not leaving this place just to die pointlessly in the woods without anyone knowing I¡¯ve died.] [I¡¯ll have to agree with Anri on this one. What¡¯s the point of escaping if we¡¯re just going to die? Besides as long as no one does something stupid like they did today our lives aren¡¯t in danger ¡­ I think.] [Humph, you two are just cowards. Do you all really want to sit around waiting to die in this place?] [Can it! Even if we die at least someone else will know and be able to tell our families. If we die out in the forest our families will worry themselves to death without getting any closure. At the very least Meredith will make it out of this alive since it seems fond of her. If worst comes to worst she can relay news of our deaths back to the city.] [And you think that thing will just let her do that? I bet it¡¯s just into little girls like that. It¡¯s already a miracle that we¡¯ve remained untainted after spending more than a minute around a goblin and you think it¡¯ll remain like this indefinitely? I for one will pass on such humiliation.] [Things aren¡¯t that bad here. We only get locked in our cells at night because the goblin¡¯s paranoid about being attacked in its sleep. Besides, with how strong it is it could¡¯ve killed us at any time it wanted, but it¡¯s only killed the people who provoked it first so far. Compared to outside, it¡¯s a lot safer here as long as you don¡¯t do anything reckless.] [I can¡¯t believe you guys. It¡¯s a goblin for fuck¡¯s sake, and a talking one at that. Since when have goblins been able to speak? I¡¯m telling you there¡¯s something strange about that thing and I don¡¯t want to stick around to find out what it is. You all heard how it talked about humans. Didn¡¯t you see how disgusted it looked as it talked about humans as if they¡¯re worse than dogs? Yet you trust it enough to say it¡¯s safer here than outside?] [I hate being here just as much as you, but throwing our lives away isn¡¯t the answer.] [Fine, I get it. Then why don¡¯t we try something else, like poisoning it? That way we could take this place under our control so we can all escape when we feel we¡¯re ready.] [Don¡¯t bother wasting your time. Last time it came back from a trip outside I saw it eating some poisonous berries like they were a regular snack food. Not to mention, getting caught would mean getting the death sentence.] [So we can¡¯t escape, kill it in a head on fight, or poison the bastard. What can we do other than wait around hoping to be rescued? Don¡¯t tell me you want to walk up to it and say ¡°hey I know we¡¯re prisoners and all but can you let us go?¡±] [Ironically I think that may be our best shot at getting out of here. The little overlord was abundantly clear how it felt about humans earlier so it obviously isn¡¯t keeping us around because it particularly wants to. With that said, it must have some reason for keeping us around. If we can figure that out maybe we can find a way to use it to our advantage. So, any ideas?] [It doesn¡¯t like or trust humans in general, right? So aren¡¯t we being kept around because it doesn¡¯t trust us not to lead an army here to take revenge if we¡¯re set free?] [Hmm, so it¡¯s like that. Basically we either need to convince it to trust us, which I don¡¯t see happening, or we need to somehow find a way to get all of us far enough away from this place without knowing the route so we won¡¯t be able to find our way back even if we tried. It¡¯s a long shot but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s impossible.] [So you¡¯re saying we ask to blindfold ourselves while it leads us out of the area? Will that really work?] [We¡¯re supposed to trust a goblin to lead us through a monster infested forest while we¡¯re blindfolded? Are you insane?] [I don¡¯t mean to play the spoilsport but a major part of any plan we come up with is the goblin acting the same as it usually does. Usually we would be locked in our cells at this time of night, meaning there¡¯s something strange going on with the goblin.] [That¡¯s why I was saying we should escape while we have the chance.] [But what about everyone else? You can¡¯t just leave them behind.] [Why not? What have any of them ever done for me?] [Can you give it a rest already? We aren¡¯t escaping and that¡¯s that. I guess trying Vincent¡¯s plan wouldn¡¯t hurt, but we should discuss it with the others first. Before that we need to see what¡¯s up with the goblin.] [I nominate Kira to go and check.] [I second that.] [Agreed.] [Why do I have to do it?] [Normally it would be Meredith but since we don¡¯t know if something is wrong we can¡¯t very well send a little girl to check things out can we?] [You also didn¡¯t have to spend all day with monster corpses like us ¡­ and there¡¯s that crap you called food you made for us to eat before we started helping.] [That¡¯s- hey, what¡¯s with those looks! I did my best you know. You can¡¯t single me out just because a little food. Guys?] Drawing the short end of the stick Kira begrudgingly stands up. She mumbles to herself as she starts walking to the living quarters to look for Jellal. She gulps down her saliva as she nervously moves forward at a snail¡¯s pace. As she treads deeper into the living quarters she starts noticing some irregularities with the mana in the area. This discovery truly shocks her since she¡¯s never been particularly skilled at sensing mana. Never in her wildest dreams could she imagine a magic phenomenon powerful enough that she would notice it without trying to. She inches her way forward until she reaches the last bend leading to the deepest part of the living quarters. The mana in the area surges violently making it hard for her to breathe. Her feet stop in place as she tries to build up the courage to move forward. Thinking about how the miasma affects monsters a tinge of fear creeps into the back of her mind.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Composing herself she eases forward, taking a few seconds between each step. At long last she peeks around the bend to the depths of the living quarters. Startled she jerks backwards and hides behind the bend, losing the progress she had taken so long to make. Shaking her head she tries to expunge the images from her mind. She considers going back to the dining hall but she eventually manages to convince herself to continue on with her mission. ¡®I¡¯m just imagining things. The only ones in this cave are us captives, Sif, and the goblin overlord as Vincent would call it. The stress of checking on things by myself just caused me to hallucinate that¡¯s all.¡¯ After brainwashing herself into thinking she saw an illusion due to stress she clenches her fists before going back around the bend. As she looks to the depths of the living quarters she¡¯s stunned by what she sees. She blinks repeatedly and pinches her skin but it isn¡¯t an illusion or a dream. In the center of the room a pool of blood forms a whirlpool. As the blood spins in circles rather than spraying out it stay together as if bound by some invisible force. Occasionally an object will momentarily be formed from the blood appearing within the whirlpool. Sometimes it¡¯s a flame of blood burning on top of the pool¡¯s surface, other times bloody lightning crackling as it streaks through the blood, yet they always return to the blood from whence they came. A figure sits motionless in the middle of the swirling blood pool. The man¡¯s skin appears to be nearly clear with a very slight tinge of pale green mixed in giving him the appearance of a statue carved from crystal. His skin makes one feel as if they should be able to see through him but leaves them unable to causing a sense of incongruity. His glossy white hair was shorter in the back yet relatively long up top with it falling over to one side. The hair was slightly wavy yet spikey at the same time. It seemed to fall perfectly in place almost contradicting its spikey and wild nature giving an almost unnatural feel. A pair of short, slightly bushy eyebrows sat scrunched close together above a small, slightly hooked nose. His slightly round face was accented with a pair of long, marginally pointed ears that are wide at the base before jutting out wide. The jagged edges on the bottom of his ears make it look as if something has bitten chunks out of it. ¡®An intruder? How did they manage to make it so deep into the cave without anyone noticing? The only entrance is blocked off so we should have heard them if they broke in. Unless there¡¯s an entrance that no one knew about it could only mean they were already here. The only one who comes here is the goblin so it¡¯s possible for them to stay here without us knowing but I doubt that monster wouldn¡¯t notice someone that stands out so much.¡¯ Kira stared at the figure trying to discern his identity. Looking over his well-defined yet lean muscles she couldn¡¯t help but praise him inwardly for his physique. As her eyes scanned down her face turned beet red when she finally noticed he was completely naked. She jerked her head to the side in embarrassment as she took her eyes off him for the first time since coming here. With her eyes on a different part of the room she finally noticed Jellal¡¯s trademark cape lying to the side with its straps broken. The belt he usually wears sits not far from it in two pieces, one of its pouches also ripped open along with it. The poisonous berries he likes to snack on strewn across the ground for anyone to take. ¡®Hmm, these are the little goblin¡¯s things, but where¡¯s the one in question? Could the intruder have killed it? No, how could that be? The goblin was able to kill a shadow wolf one on one and even wiped out those rebels earlier with ease. With its strength we would have known if it was in a major fight. The only way we wouldn¡¯t have noticed is if there¡¯s a huge difference in strength and that guy was able to kill it without a struggle. I refuse to believe such a scary figure just randomly showed up in a cave. Ah, ah I give up. Why bother wasting brain power on something I don¡¯t know the answer to.¡¯ [Um, excuse me, anyone home?] Giving up on doing mental gymnastics Kira tries to communicate with the stranger but to no avail. Either they can¡¯t hear her or they¡¯re choosing to ignore her. Regardless there¡¯s nothing she can do about it other than accept the silent outcome. Violently rubbing her head in frustration she takes a glance at Jellal¡¯s broken belt. She sinks into thought as she comes to a crossroads. Does she go back to the dining hall to tell the others, or does she stay here and hope she eventually gets a response from the stranger? Once again looking at the broken belt she makes up her mind. If she goes back without some sort of evidence she¡¯s been here they¡¯ll think she¡¯s lying so first she needs proof. She nervously slides over to the belt. Keeping her eyes fixed on the intruder she reaches down and brushes her hand along the ground in the belt¡¯s general area. When her hand finally bumps it she cautiously grabs it before slowly backing away. As she takes her small steps back she doesn¡¯t move her gaze from the intruder. When she reaches the wall she uses her right hand as a guide as she continues backing away. Once she makes it around the bend and the intruder is no longer in sight she turns around and legs it. As she sprints at full speed through the tunnel she looks back over her shoulder paranoid she¡¯ll be chased. In the dining hall the workers are sitting around a table impatiently waiting for Kira to return. They stand up as sound of frantic footsteps rings out from the hallway to the living quarters. They anxiously watch the tunnel as their nerves tense up. They become even more apprehensive as a sprinting Kira rockets into view intermittently looking over her shoulder as she franticly charges ahead. Kira bursts into the dining hall while looking behind her one last time. As her feet come to a rest she hunches over panting heavily from overexerting herself. [What¡¯s wrong Kira? Did you sprint all the way back?] The group circled around Kira as she struggles to catch her breath. After chugging a glass of water that was sitting on the table she started doing her best to recount what happened in the most believable way possible. [I went all the way to the deepest part of the living quarters where the little goblin usually spends its time. When I got there I found some naked stranger sitting in a whirlpool of blood. The little goblin¡¯s cape and belt were broken and lying on the ground so I tried to talk to the stranger, but I didn¡¯t get a response. I didn¡¯t want to stay there with some unknown stranger so I grabbed a piece of the goblin¡¯s broken belt as evidence and ran back here.] [Did someone say blood?] While Kira¡¯s telling her story Evangeline struts out from the other tunnel as if summoned by the mention of blood. Meredith follows close behind her wearing the frilly white dress that Jellal left for her. Using her left hand she holds the raggedy doll in her embrace as her right arm rests on Sif¡¯s back, her hand tightly gripping its fur. [Hmm, what¡¯s up with all of you?] [The little goblin overlord didn¡¯t show up to usher us back to our cells like usual so we thought something might be up with it. We sent Kira to go look but she came back saying she didn¡¯t find him and that there was an intruder in a blood whirlpool. I¡¯m paraphrasing of course, but that¡¯s the gist of it.] [How exciting! It smells of adventure! Mathias, Meredith let¡¯s go, adventure¡¯s afoot!] [This isn¡¯t the time for adventure. We need to figure out what¡¯s going on in this place.] [Then, does that mean you¡¯re coming, or are you staying? I don¡¯t understand.] Vincent¡¯s attempt to rein in Evangeline is brushed aside as she sets her sights on adventure. Holding his head in his hand he looks around at the others as they nod coming to a silent consensus. [Yeah, we¡¯re coming. It¡¯s better if we go and have a look for ourselves after all.] The troupe marches through the tunnel as they make their way to the depths of the living quarters. When they get close they¡¯re hit with the same surging mana Kira was hit with making it hard for them to breathe. In truth they had only half believed what Kira had told them, and if it wasn¡¯t for the piece of Jellal¡¯s belt they wouldn¡¯t even have given her that much credit. Now that they¡¯re faced with such a strange phenomenon they can¡¯t help but look over at Kira who¡¯s wearing a smug grin on her face. Making their way around the bend they start to feel tense remembering Kira¡¯s story. Crossing into the final room they can¡¯t believe their eyes. Not only did she not lie to them she seems to have downplayed it to a considerable degree. Evangeline looks on curiously at the ever changing blood whirlpool as various bloody shapes appear and disappear. Meredith grips Sif¡¯s fur even tighter as she looks at the broken belt, cape, and berries scattered all over the ground. They move closer with extreme caution unsure what to do. [The keys should be in one of the pouches of the belt right? Why don¡¯t we grab them, let everyone out of their cells and book it first thing tomorrow morning?] The novice adventurer still had plans of escape as she threw out another plan for consideration. Her partner Anri opened her mouth to retort but upon realizing her plan was actually sensible for once she remained silent. [And when did I give you permission to touch something that belongs to me?] Jellal¡¯s eyes shot open as he looked between the adventurer and Kira, who was still holding half of his belt. His big pupils looked like a violet kunzite gemstone shining brightly despite their exceptional clarity. His eyes had a crystalline rainbow reflection faintly visible as if opal were mounted in his eye sockets. Seeing how Kira instantly dropped his broken belt a toothy smirk flowered across his face revealing razor sharp teeth that would put wolves to shame. [Why are you all here? Do you need a superior being such as myself to tuck you in at night to make you feel safe, kekeke?] As soon as his ego reared its head they finally understood that the person in front of them was actually their little goblin overlord, after all the chances of two individuals with such a massive self-important personality showing up in a remote, random cave like this is basically zero. Instantaneously they showed the same exact look on all of their faces. To get them to make the same face without any coordination can be attributed to Jellal¡¯s very nature which elicits such reactions. Of course if the look on their faces could speak it would scream at the top of its lungs ¡°Be more normal!¡± [What¡¯re you standing around for? You should know where you¡¯re cells are without me having to lead you by the hand. Shoo, off with you. I¡¯ll be over to lock you up in a few minutes.] As they begrudgingly take their leave Jellal starts testing out his new body. It doesn¡¯t take long for him to realize the change is massive. ¡®Such a ridiculous change should be reflected in my status right? The only problem is what kind of nonsense will come along with it.¡¯ [status open]
Name: Jellal Race: Gaia Kin (Goblin) Gender: M Age: 0 Level: 0
HP: 2500/2500 DEF: 580 STR: 650 AGI: 650
MP: ???/??? MGD: ??? MGA: ??? Points Available:
Skills: Adaptability; Danger Perception; Concealment; Parallel Thinking; Sawsmanship; Battle Born; Berserk; Regeneration; Mercy; Normal;
Special: Named Monster; Heart of Darkness
¡®I knew that bastard scum humping, poo stain, dirtbag con artist was messing with me this whole time.¡¯ Goblin Has Dreams In amongst the dense jungle sits a small village. Houses are hidden in the brush and wild grass grows in the streets. The smell of burnt gunpowder lingers in the air as Jellal leans his back against a graffiti covered wall. He peeks his head out for a mere moment before dipping back behind the wall. Gunfire sounds out leaving his ears ringing as the other side of the wall is riddled with bullet holes. He takes a deep breath as he leans his rifle against his shoulder. The weight of the gun relaxes his tense nerves as he waits for the enemy fire to cease. He can hear shouting but he¡¯s unable to understand what they¡¯re saying since they¡¯re speaking a foreign language. The moment there¡¯s a break in the gunfire he pivots around the corner. He presses the butt of the rifle firmly against his shoulder as he ducks his head slightly, peering down the sights. He keeps his body turned slightly as he advances at a quick walk. A small bit of movement ahead and to the right catches his eye. He hastily turns his body as he moves, jerking his rifle on target. He rapidly pulls the trigger three times in less than a second. The target is hit in the arm by the first bullet as he tries to lift his AK. The second shot drills him in the sternum. That¡¯s closely followed by the third bullet striking him between the eyes. Realigning his body as he moved he continues forward. He fires intermittently at a building he knows the enemy is using as cover. Ducking behind a building he reloads his magazine while keeping his back to the concrete wall. Quietly inching along the wall he slips inside the building through the unlocked backdoor. Gunshots slam into the side of the building at the corner he used to be hiding behind. Listening carefully to the shots he locates the general area they¡¯re being fired from. Careful not to make a sound he creeps up to the front door and methodically turns the doorknob. When the knob is fully turned he cracks the door open just enough to keep it from latching. Timing to right before he thinks the enemy will stop to reload he slams into the door with his shoulder flinging it open. As he steps through the doorway he fires a series of shots in the area he¡¯d heard the enemy fire come from. One unlucky man catches a bullet with his face while the other two are unharmed. He locks onto them as they duck beneath the windowsill but he¡¯s too late to take them down before they take cover. Knowing they¡¯re pinned down one of them pulls the pin on a grenade and starts counting down in his head. Without looking he lobs it over his head. Before in can make it out the window it¡¯s shot down, falling back into their laps as it explodes. Briefly checking how many bullets are left in his magazine he moves down the street sticking close to the buildings as he moves. A group of soldiers pop over the hill in front of him shouting as they lift their guns. Taking the initiative he fires his remaining bullets killing four of them as he bursts through a door and into an adjacent building. As he comes through the door he slams into an enemy that had been planning to ambush him. Letting go of his rifle he wraps the assailant in a bear hug as he tackles him to the ground. As the pair roll across the floor he grabs hold of his opponent¡¯s hand, which is holding a pistol, and forces it above their heads. Lying on their sides, he headbutts the other man while pulling his own pistol from its holster with his off hand. Taking advantage of the space created by the headbutt he sticks his pistol in the man¡¯s gut and pulls the trigger. As the man is in shock he shoves it under his chin, firing it upward. Blood splashes on his face as his foe falls to the ground. Rising to his feet he keeps his pistol trained on the front door. The sound of marching drifts in as the soldiers outside surround the building. Spotting a piece of debris on the ground he bends over to pick it up without making a sound. Throwing the chunk of concrete to the other side of the room he readies his pistol. As the debris lands, the front and back doors of the small building are kicked in simultaneously. The soldiers fire wildly at the sound employing the spray and pray method of attack. While they¡¯re firing at his distraction he pumps the soldiers pouring through the front door full of lead. With his pistol out of ammo and no time to reload he throws it at the last guy charging in. The pistol smacks him in the face stopping him from accurately lining up a shot as Jellal rushes him. Lowering his body he grabs the man by his legs before lifting him off the ground and slamming him into the ground. Landing on the back of his head the man is left dazed as Jellal pulls out his combat knife. Due to being severely concussed the man is unable to stop the knife being driven into his throat. The soldiers that came in through the back door approach the room from the opposite side. Rushing to the doorway Jellal meets the first one coming through by pushing the soldier¡¯s gun skyward as he jams his knife into the man¡¯s armpits. Disregarding their ally, the other six soldiers open fire. Using the man as a meat shield he pulls out his knife and grabs the pistol in the man¡¯s hand. Placing his knife hand on the man¡¯s chest he pushes him gently creating a small amount of space between them. Taking advantage of the gap he kicks the standing corpse back into his allies. While they¡¯re busy dealing with the corpse he throws his knife into the throat of the one farthest away killing him instantly. Chasing after his knife he spins the pistol around so he can use it, firing his whole clip into the pair that has the best line of sight on him. When his gun runs out of ammo he throws it at the closest of the remaining three soldiers. Approaching the first of the three he kicks the soldier in the knee causing it to bend backwards. Without missing a beat he grabs the man by the head and snaps his necks causing a brutal crack to ring out. Reaching out he grabs the next guy¡¯s gun pulling him close, blocking the last enemy¡¯s line of fire. Drilling his elbow into the man¡¯s gut he stuns him before hooking his elbow. Applying force to the man¡¯s forearm he shatters his elbow causing him to drop his gun. Bypassing the injured soldier he does a diving roll forward to the last enemy. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. His arm is grazed by a bullet but he ignores it as uppercuts the soldiers arm causing his gun to point to the sky. Using his front leg he kicks the outside of the man¡¯s knee before following it up with a kick to the inside of the knee breaking his stance. Jellal¡¯s right hand grabs the arm holding the gun while he uses his left elbow to smash his jaw. Keeping his momentum he pulls the man forward by the arm while sticking his hip out. Using the leverage he¡¯s gained he flips the man, slamming him on his back. Seeing the other soldier reaching for his pistol Jellal steps forward and kicks him in the face causing the gun to fly from his hands. Placing both his hands on the back of the man¡¯s head he proceeds to repeatedly knee him in the face sending blood flying everywhere. Releasing his hand¡¯s the unconscious body falls powerlessly to the ground, landing face first. Lifting his leg high he stomps on the back of the unconscious man¡¯s neck creating a spine tingling crunch. The last soldier gets to his feet while reaching for his gun, which is on the ground. As he tries to lift it a foot slams on top of it breaking his fingers before sliding the pistol to the corner of the room. He rushes forward in anger throwing a three punch combination toward his opponent. Jellal parries the combination, catching the man¡¯s wrist on his final swing before countering with a hook to the ribs. Following that he pushes the man¡¯s arm to his side, twisting him off balance and opening up the back of his knee for a kick. The blow to the back of the knee causes the man to buckle. Circling around he wraps his right arm around the man¡¯s neck. His left arm slides overtop the other behind the man¡¯s head. His right hand locks in to his left elbow while his left hand braces his right shoulder. Hooking his legs around his opponent he begins bringing his elbows closer together, tightening the choke. The man claws at his arms as they roll around the ground. This continues for a few seconds before the man goes limp. Pushing the unconscious body to the side Jellal got to his feet and casually picked up the pistol he kicked to the corner of the room. Walking over to each of the soldiers he puts a bullet between their eyes one at a time. Everything becomes fuzzy as his vision becomes pure white. Suddenly he¡¯s in a field looking up as a helicopter lowers to the ground. Next to him are a group of soldiers and a prisoner with a sack over their head. As the helicopter lands a man in full military uniform jumps out and greets him as ¡°captain¡±. His mind becomes hazy as things shift once again. An intense ringing obstructs his hearing as his hazy vision shifts. Only able make out bits and pieces of what the voices are saying, he bounces around between various scenes. One moment he¡¯s in battle, the next in a chopper. Other times he¡¯s in a house. Things finally stop changing as he settles in a maximum security prison. An inexplicable anger and feelings of betrayal surge within his heart as he stares through the bars of his cell. With chains on his feet and wrists he¡¯s escorted by ten armed guards as he makes his way through the hallway. A buzz sounds out as the door in front of him is unlocked. Walking into the next room he arrives in the visitation room. A little eight year old girl with brown hair and eyes sits at a table. When he enters a wide smile blooms on her face as she rushes forth and leaps into his chest. As she opens her mouth all sound disappears from the world. The surroundings get increasingly darker until he¡¯s left in a pitch black void. He feels as if he¡¯s falling as he speeds toward a white speck in the distance. Everything becomes bright rapidly as he reaches the white speck. His eyes shoot open as his body jerks to a sitting position. Trying to get his bearings he looks around only to find he¡¯s sitting in his bed in the cave hideout. ¡®A dream? No, it felt too real, as if I¡¯d actually experienced it. That sense of betrayal couldn¡¯t have been fake. Memories? But why now of all times? Is it a coincidence or is it another one of that bastards little games? Regardless I can¡¯t let it affect me. If I do I¡¯ll be doing exactly what he wants. Besides, it¡¯s called the past for a reason ¡­ More importantly I refuse to let that bastard¡¯s plans go smoothly.¡¯ Shaking his head he pushed the unnecessary thoughts to the back of his mind. Hoping out of bed he prepared to put on his cape and belt like he always does. Remembering how they broke yesterday he¡¯s left at a loss. Without his usual getup he started feeling like he was almost naked. Rummaging through his bag he finds a pair of pants that are a little too big for him. Ripping the lower part of the legs off, he ends up with a crude pair of shorts. Putting on the shorts he ponders whether he should have the seamstresses make him some new equipment or wait until he makes his trip to the city. Based on his own estimations he should be ready to go by tomorrow so there wouldn¡¯t be much point in having them made, but wearing normal clothes at this point feels almost foreign to him. Looking back at the bed he gazes at Meredith sleeping while curled up in a ball, the raggedy doll held tightly in her arms. As he stares at her the little girl from his dream overlaps with her. Their striking physical similarities are enough to convince anyone they¡¯re twins. His eyes become gentle as he walks over and tenderly caresses her cheek with the back of his hand. Realizing what he¡¯s doing his hand freezes. He frowns as he shakes his head trying to get rid of the images. His mood turns somber as he closes his eyes to shut out the overlapping girls. Doing an about face he hastily walks into the hallway before opening his eyes. He makes his way to the dining hall as his mind wanders. Reaching the sealed entrance of the living quarters he uses earth magic to remove the wall. Just like the outer wall at the entrance he made bars at the top so air could properly flow to and from the area. Walking through the tunnel he made his way to Sif¡¯s room. Inside, Sif is resting on a bed that has one of the fur blankets he had made yesterday on top of it. Opening her eyes she looks at Jellal before jumping off the bed. Soundlessly she lands beside him as he turns around and starts heading back to his room. Just from the look he gives Sif is able to understand her role. Climbing onto the bed Sif sidles next to Meredith. Lying on her stomach she closes her eyes and rests while she waits for Meredith to wake up. Strolling into the prison area Jellal observes his potential workforce. Less than half of the twelve he let out to work yesterday lived to make it back to their cells. Clearing his throat he begins his recruitment. [Due to various circumstances we were unable to clear up all the corpses yesterday. As such I¡¯ll be taking volunteers once again. I¡¯m not a broken record so I won¡¯t tell you what jobs you¡¯ll be performing or the conditions since I already told you yesterday. Those of you that want to work raise your hands. The rest of you can spend another day rotting away in here.] To his surprise all the survivors from the day before volunteered to return to work. With the number of people who didn¡¯t return the rest of the captives were hesitant to join in, but three new faces worked up the courage to volunteer. Jellal unlocked the cells and shackles of the workers. Naturally the usual crew was included in the ones unchained. With no other volunteers he started leading the group toward the dining hall. Evangeline predictably made a b-line for his bed making him want to retort ¡°be more normal¡±. Pretending Evangeline is a figment of his imagination he brought the workers to the fork by the entrance. Having them wait there he went to check on the defenses. Over a dozen corpses were left standing, impaled on the spikes. He found it baffling how miasma could make monsters so stupid that they¡¯d end up skewering themselves on stationary spikes. Before returning to the workers he scanned the area carefully. Using the flow of mana he could sense everything in a hundred meter radius. At the edge of his range he found a group of two hundred monsters wandering about. Deeming them a non-threat he headed inside to get the workers to move the bodies. While the group pried the corpses off the spikes Jellal leaned leisurely against the wall with his arms crossed and his eyes closed. Opening one his eyes he looked over the group before giving them a smirk. [If you don¡¯t want to drastically increase your workload, the speed it up.] In the end they managed to drag the last of the bodies inside less than thirty seconds before the horde of monsters crossed in front of the cave. As the monsters passed by Jellal had the workers move the bodies to the grunt living quarters. When they finished they stood around near the entrance wondering why they weren¡¯t getting to work. A few minutes passed with them doing nothing before Jellal opened the entrance revealing over a dozen fresh bodies. Being able to foresee that a horde of monsters would pass by caused another layer of mystery to be added to the mysterious talking goblin. After all the bodies were moved inside Jellal closed up the entrance. Letting them get on with their work he prepared to make his way to his usual training spot only to notice Vincent blatantly following behind him like a lost puppy. Growing annoyed he stopped before glaring over his shoulder. In his mind Vincent was cursing Kira for pushing the role of messenger onto him. He had no defense when she said he was the most articulate and thus the most reliable to put forth their request. Was he supposed to say he¡¯s a fool that can¡¯t speak properly? Impossible! [Care to explain why you¡¯re following me when you should be busy taking care of corpses?] [Well, you see, the thing is ¡­ us prisoners have had a discussion and we were thinking. You don¡¯t seem very fond of us, that is to say you would prefer if we were out of your hair rather than stuck in cells for you to take care of, but if we leave we could potentially reveal this place¡¯s location. So we thought if we were to be blindfolded and have our ears plugged we would have no way of knowing where you led us from if you brought us out and let us free. That way you¡¯ll never have to bother with us again.] [So you want me to let you go? I¡¯ll tell you what. If all those bodies are taken care of by the end of the day, I¡¯ll consider it ¡­ work hard] Goblin Is Prepared The hideout is exceptionally busy this morning. After Jellal said he would consider letting them leave if they cleared all the bodies Vincent made an appeal to the other captives to join the work. For the first time since taking over this cave every cell is empty. Even the people who had no experience processing monsters buckled down and learned as fast as they could in order to increase their chances of escaping. ¡®There really isn¡¯t anything in this world more powerful than hope. Even though I only said I would consider letting them go if they took care of all the bodies they still rallied together and are working so hard. It seems they forgot the bodies also need to be incinerated. It seems Kira has a gift for drawing the short straw with her assignments. It should be interesting for me though. Will she try to tuff it out on her own or will she finally give in and ask me for help, kekeke.¡¯ Finishing his lunch he headed back to the depths of the living quarters to continue his training. Thanks to his unexpected transformation his overall ability skyrocketed, especially his abilities related to magic. His ability to sense and manipulate mana improved to the point he barely has to put in any effort. The major drawback with his new form is his lack of mana. Unlike before where he had mana stored in his body specifically for his use, now his mana is more ethereal. It may be a part of him but it is also a part of the surroundings limiting what he can do by using brute force. His current training regime is more focused on figuring out his new abilities and limits rather than using a specific type of mana. Calming his mind and becoming one with the mana in the surroundings he can feel how he interacts with mana as a whole. By gauging how well his mana merges or passes through the different types of mana he roughly estimates how much influence he has over those types of mana. For him wind and light are on opposite ends of the spectrum. His mana merges with the wind to the point the two are almost indistinguishable, showing how close they are. On the other hand, his mana and light mana pass through each other with almost no interactions. They stay separate to the point they almost seem to exist on separate plains of existence. From there he moves on to using the mana to form different types of magic. How well his mana merges with the type he wants to use for his magic heavily influences how long it takes to form. Using wind and light as an example; he can form wind magic almost instantaneously while he would require around ten seconds if not longer to form even the crudest light magic he can muster. The new properties of his body and mana also led to him coming up with a couple new theories. Unfortunately in order to test portion of them he needs a partner that can use magic. While he¡¯s pondering an anomaly appears in the mana by the dining hall. A person¡¯s silhouette moves through the mana in his direction. Because the mana in their body repels outside mana it allows him to see what they look like through their silhouette despite the distance between them. ¡®She¡¯s right on time! Just when I needed someone that could use magic to assist me in my experiments she comes to me. With her mana pool and the number of bodies to be incinerated it was only a matter of time, but to think she had such a great sense of timing. There¡¯s also the matter of darkness to discuss as well. Now that I really think about it I have a lot of things I need her help with.¡¯ A smile floats on his face as he waits for Kira to arrive. When she slows down to a snail¡¯s pace at the bend, as per usual, he lets out a sigh. Finally she inches her way around the corner only to find Jellal staring at her as if he was expecting her. [Are you sure you have time to be paying me a visit? There should be a mountain of corpses waiting for you to torch them after all.] [I was wondering if I really have to burn all the bodies by myself. There¡¯s no way I can do it, there are too many of them. Even if they can finish taking the valuable parts it¡¯s impossible for me to finish incinerating them by myself, yet everyone keeps telling me I¡¯ll manage if I try hard enough. Do they think I¡¯m made of mana?] [It isn¡¯t impossible for you to do it all by yourself. You just don¡¯t know how to do it. How about this: if you help me with a couple small experiments and tell me what you know about darkness magic I¡¯ll give you some advice to help you finish your job in time. Of course whether or not you can properly use the advice I give you isn¡¯t my problem, so don¡¯t come to me if you still fail.] [Darkness magic is it? I don¡¯t know much, but you didn¡¯t say I had to tell you a lot, just what I know. Let¡¯s see, I think there was a book that mentioned it that I read when I first started learning magic. I don¡¯t know how reputable of a source it is but it claimed that darkness magic could only be used my monsters or other beings corrupted by the miasma. According to the book instead of using mana it uses miasma to create the magic, and apparently only extremely evil being are capable of using it. It¡¯s said it can take on almost any type of mana but the magic will always be dyed a deep black due to the miasma¡¯s tainting properties.] ¡®Using miasma which is supposed to be concentrated malice and evil as a source for magic? A bit of a novel concept I¡¯ll admit, but in bad taste. Still the corrupting nature of miasma would definitely make it extremely dangerous, especially to me with my close connection to mana. Yet at the same time I have Heart of Darkness which should have something to do with darkness magic. I bet if I had tried using darkness magic before it would have tainted my mana, making it impossible for me to become like I am now. I knew it was trap! Kekeke, I bet that annoying bastard is pulling his hair out knowing I didn¡¯t fall for his little trick. Back to darkness magic. Maybe only beings with special abilities like the one I have are able to use darkness magic. If I can use darkness magic I should theoretically be able to prevent the corruption of the mana around me. In theory it should be possible to separate the miasma from mana if I¡¯m skilled enough at using both. If I can do that I could even reverse the effects on the monsters. I¡¯ll definitely have to run some tests when I go out later.¡¯If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. [Alright, with that out of the way we can move on to the experiments. First I want you to use magic in front of me. It can be any type or style, it doesn¡¯t matter. As long as you use magic I¡¯ll take care of the rest of the test so you don¡¯t have to worry about anything else. You can start whenever you¡¯re ready.] As Kira starts her chanting, Jellal leaves his mana permeated out the way it naturally is. As her magic starts to take shape he can sense every tiny change in it no matter how insignificant. She releases her magic causing a small flame to float in the air. When she stops releasing mana Jellal influences the mana to keep it from separating. Kira stares at the flame in shock as it starts circling around her as if it had a mind of its own. When Jellal stops influencing the mana it separates, causing the fire to disappear in a flash. [Good, now do the same thing again but don¡¯t cut your mana off so soon. Your job is simply to try to keep the flame alive as long as possible.] It doesn¡¯t take long for another flame to hoover in the air in front of Kira. This time while she tries to keep the magic going Jellal does the opposite. Exerting a small amount of influence he easily causes the mana to dissipate, breaking the magic. Kira is once again left stupefied as the flame fades away as if it were an illusion the whole time. Disregarding his assistant Jellal gives her instructions to do the same as she just did for the third test. Soon another flame floats in the air. Before she started chanting her magic Jellal made sure to rein in his mana so it isn¡¯t influencing the area she¡¯s operating her mana in. In this way he¡¯s able to see how much of a difference there is between his influence on a magic prepared in his sphere of power as opposed to when it is made outside and brought into his sphere. He lets his mana permeate back through the surroundings when she finishes preparing her magic. Although there is a tiny amount of resistance from her magic, his mana manages to flow through it regardless. The same as before he makes the flame dissipate. The difference in the amount of time he took to destroy them was negligible but he can¡¯t be sure if it was due to her being too weak or if he¡¯s able to do it so easily because of his recent changes. Kira¡¯s instructions for the fourth test don¡¯t differ much from the previous three tests. This time Jellal actively prevents her mana from properly interacting with the mana in the area. She can only look on befuddled as her magic refuses to even start forming due to his intervention. Jellal¡¯s about to call an end to the experiments when an idea comes to him like a bolt of thunder. He pauses, pondering whether it¡¯s actually feasible or not. Deciding it¡¯s best to find out in a controlled environment rather than in the heat of battle he prepares for the final experiment. [Just one last test and we¡¯ll call it a day. This experiment will be a little different from the ones we just finished. This time you¡¯ll be attacking me with magic.] [You can¡¯t be serious! Are you trying to find an excuse to get rid of me? What did I do to deserve this?] [There will be no repercussions or grudges due to something I ordered you to do. You have my word.] [You¡¯re for real about this? You actually want to be hit by magic? I don¡¯t get it, but if say I won¡¯t get punished I don¡¯t mind letting off a little steam.] Kira starts chanting as a spear of fire forms in front of her. When the spear if completed she hesitates for a moment before sending it careening toward Jellal¡¯s chest. Even with an attack bearing down on him he stands there calmly as if it wouldn¡¯t affect him in the slightest. Rather than attempting to dodge or block Jellal focuses on becoming one with the mana in the surroundings. The fire spear hammers into his chest, yet he doesn¡¯t react at all. If Kira could see mana she would notice a mass of fire mana flow out his back before dissipating and blending with the surrounding mana. Looking down at his unharmed chest Jellal smirks at the confirmation of his theory. Even if it¡¯s compressed together and given form magic is still just mana. When he becomes one with mana it can pass right through him the same way it would the air why can¡¯t magic. Unfortunately his theory wasn¡¯t perfect. Even though he knew people¡¯s mana is usually resistant to the mana in the surroundings he didn¡¯t place much emphasis on it. When he was hit by the fire spear he still felt the impact from Kira¡¯s mana. ¡®The amount of mana people use to control magic isn¡¯t enough to cause me any harm but that doesn¡¯t mean I can disregard it. If I was facing an opponent that uses a massive amount of their own mana in their attacks it could become dangerous. Still, since I¡¯m able to let the mana pass through me that also means I only have to worry about my opponents mana. If I can filter out or block their mana from coming in contact with me I¡¯ll be able to ignore pretty much all magic attacks.¡¯ [Since I said that was the last experiment I won¡¯t keep you here any longer. As for my advice on how to burn the bodies easier, that¡¯s simple. Which do you think is more difficult and mana consuming: creating a river then using it to flood your enemies, or manipulating an already existing river to do the work for you? Unless you have some other business you should probably get back to the rest of the captives. You have a lot of work to do after all.] Having spent so much time for such obvious advice Kira felt like she had been cheated. Even if what he said was true, was it really worth the time she spent to hear it? Unable to even complain she sullenly turned around to head back to work. [Before you go back, stop by the treasure room and pick up a mana potion for yourself. People would look down on me if I were to have you spend so much mana just for a little advice after all. That and having a bunch of flies saying I sabotaged their chances of escape as they sit in their cells after failing to take care of the bodies would get annoying. Now when you fail you only have yourselves to blame.] Kira was surprised at Jellal¡¯s generous offer. She didn¡¯t think he would be so kind as to let her take a potion from the treasure room. Inwardly she praised him for his morals. That praise immediately turned into complaints when he didn¡¯t stop after his second sentence. After Kira left Jellal was once again left alone in his personal training area. With no one around he decided to do an inventory check on the items he had picked up from the treasure room for his trip to the city. Grabbing his item bag he started pulling out the things he had prepared. The first thing out of the bag was a grey, hooded cloak. Compared to the one he had originally grabbed it was significantly nicer. The back was embroidered with gold thread which, combined with the nice fabric used to make it, gave the cloak a refined feel. Amongst the various boxes he had also managed to find a nice button up silk shirt. The off white color meshed well with the cloak despite its rather plain appearance. To go with the long sleeve shirt he found a pair of tan pants. Instead of focusing on style he found the most comfortable pair of pants he could. Despite looking through the entire treasure room he was unable to find a pair of shoes that he liked. In the end he grabbed a brown pair that looked decent and somewhat matched his pants. The last item he prepared was the pair of black gloves he had found at the beginning. The only thing he was missing was a mask to hide his face. Unfortunately he didn¡¯t find a single mask in the entire treasure room. He did find a lot of half masks amongst the bandits¡¯ belongings but he didn¡¯t see any point in only covering half his face. ¡®I can always try making a mask. It won¡¯t look very good but it¡¯ll be better than nothing. I could go without a mask but if I let the prisoners go and one of them spills my appearance to the authorities or the adventurer¡¯s guild it would make things annoying. I suppose I could still use magic but constantly keeping it up will be a major pain. Speaking of magic, couldn¡¯t I use magic to manipulate a sapling and grow a mask? It should work in theory at least. Hmm, it¡¯s decided! Growing a mask also sounds the most interesting.¡¯ During his next break in training he walked out into the forest. Using his mana to scan the area he found a sapling growing on top of the cave. Careful not to damage the roots he slowly digs it out with earth magic. Not bothering to deal with the monster hordes he could sense he went back inside and closed off the entrance. Back in the depths of the living quarters he replanted the sapling. Pulling earth, water, and light mana in and merging it with the saplings own mana he started helping it absorb nutrients from the ground and air. Since the process was too slow he started using raw mana to supplement its growth. As it slowly grew taller it became thin and wide. The front of it formed a bit of a wedge as the sides curved back slightly. The sides grew thin vines that would be perfect to keep the mask in place. A pair of low spots made it look as if a face was growing in the wood. As it got taller it began to curve back giving it the appearance of a forehead. Pulling the sapling from the ground he held it up to his face to check the fit. The final product had a pointy bottom from where the roots hung down while the front curved around his face. The center line protruded slightly thanks to the curve giving it a bit of character. The top sprouted in multiple directions giving it a wild yet natural look. Satisfied with the end result he put it with the rest of his stuff. Loading up his bag he set out toward the entrance of the cave. Goblin Gets Sidetracked Entering the dining hall Jellal comes to a stop. Side tracking for a minute he walks not toward the entrance but back in the direction of his room. He looks inside to find Meredith rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Seeing her still holding the doll he gave her his eyes soften. In the room with her, Evangeline is sitting on the bed surprisingly still awake while Sif lounges around as usual. [Eva you know the rest of the prisoners are working hard right to trying to convince me to let them go right? With that being the case what are you going to do if I let them go? You said before that your family¡¯s on their way so I was wondering if I was still going to be stuck with you if everyone else leaves.] [You¡¯re letting everyone go? That¡¯s no fair! I already said I would wait here for my family when I contacted them yet now I have a chance to be released so easily. Where¡¯s the justice in this cruel world?] [The other prisoners are all working desperate to fulfil the minimum requirements for me to consider freeing them; every single one of them. What about you? You sleep all day doing nothing, yet you complain when you won¡¯t be able to leave with them. If you ask me that sounds extremely just.] [How can you say something so mean? I never did anything to deserve such treatment. Meredith he¡¯s bullying me! Make him stop.] Evangeline¡¯s complaining quickly devolves into soliciting help from Meredith. Making herself small she ducks behind Meredith¡¯s back, only poking her head out to stick her tongue out at Jellal. [If everyone is working hard we should too. Let¡¯s go Eva!] [No! You traitor, how could you betray me like this?] Meredith grabs her by the hand and starts dragging her out of the room. Evangeline feigns putting up a struggle as she¡¯s pulled toward the dining room, leaving Jellal and Sif alone in the room. [I¡¯ll be heading out for a while so you¡¯ll be in charge of watching over the prisoners. As long as they don¡¯t get out of hand or try to take my stuff I don¡¯t really care what they do so for the most part you can just lay down and relax.] Leaving his room behind Jellal continues on his side quest. Stopping at the treasure room he loads up his item bag with random expensive looking things. He¡¯s about to leave when he remembers something he forgot to look into. Sitting down he focuses on sensing the bag. He tries to distinguish the layers of space magic that form separate spaces for storage. He¡¯s able to sense his open layer just fine but is still unable to find any traces of the ones that belonged to the bag¡¯s previous owners. Familiarizing himself with his layer he continues to search for any signs of overlapping that could possibly indicate a sealed pocket of space. Time passes slowly as he tries to find any clue he can use as a starting point. Finally after ten minutes of meticulous examination, he notices a tiny patch of space mana that is nearly indistinguishable from the one used for his layer. Probing deeper he finds two other seemingly insignificant blemishes in the space mana. As his mana pushes into the spaces he feels a strong resistance coming from it. ¡®It¡¯s the same kind of resistance I felt when my mana interacted with Kira¡¯s. The level of pushback is much higher than I faced from hers though. When setting up a space it involves using the person¡¯s blood as a catalyst. Rather than just acting as a stimulus it should also binding it together to stabilize the space. This should be great practice for separating an individual¡¯s mana from their magic. If I can pull apart a person¡¯s mana that¡¯s being used specifically to hold space together I shouldn¡¯t have any problems filtering out even an abnormally strong opponent¡¯s mana from their magic. That being said I can¡¯t just force them apart. If I do that there would be nothing holding the space together. I¡¯ll need to use my own mana to stabilize it while simultaneously separating the other person¡¯s mana. Even if I do that it won¡¯t be permanent so I¡¯ll also need to find a way to fix the space back in place so it won¡¯t collapse. I guess in theory I should be able to use my blood to bind it the same way I did when I set up my space. Unfortunately if things go south and the space collapses I probably won¡¯t get a second chance. Well, with two bags I should have more than enough chances to save at least one space.¡¯ Jellal throws his spare thoughts to the back of his mind as he begins the operation. He thins out his mana and starts purposefully merging it with the space mana. The binding mana resists his takeover but he ignores it. Once his mana has fully permeated through the surrounding space he makes his move on the previous owner¡¯s mana. He doesn¡¯t use force, instead choosing to slowly grind down the mana as if he were a river cutting through land and rock. His persistent approach pays off as his mana methodically takes the other mana¡¯s place stabilizing the magic. Sweat forms on his brow as his concentration peaks. While he¡¯s using his mana to stabilize things he pokes his index finger with his thumbnail. A drop of blood seeps from his finger as he sticks his hand into the bag. He flicks the blood at the space he¡¯s currently stabilizing. The blood disappears into thin air as it¡¯s absorbed into the magic. After carefully removing his hand, he gradually eases back his mana. Without his mana¡¯s support it begins to destabilize. Acting quickly he floods his mana back over the magic in a bid to re-stabilize it. His desperate action is for naught as it collapses despite his best attempts to stop it. The space where it had been begins sucking in the surrounding space mana, threatening to destabilize the other layers of space magic. Jellal decisively uses his mana to isolate and normalize the area where the collapsed magic previously was. The procedure goes much more smoothly than his attempt to take over the space. As things calm down he takes a deep breath, exhaling loudly as he wipes the sweat from his brow. Taking a moment he contemplates where he went wrong.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Staring at the bag he comes up with his hypothesis. With no real clues to go off of he can only move on and test his hypothesis with the next layer. Calming his mind he regains his focus in preparation for attempt number two. Beginning the process over again he permeates his mana through the area. He follows the same procedure he used the last time until the point he successfully takes over the role of stabilizing the magic. Once again pricking his finger with his nail he reaches into the bag. This time he flicks a drop on both the space and the bag before pulling his hand back. Just like last time, the blood is absorbed into the space. He carefully watches as the blood that falls in the bag reacts to the latent formation trying to create a new space. Without a gem to act as proxy and blood stabilizing it the magic collapses harmlessly. Even though the blood he threw into the bag didn¡¯t stabilize the magic the way he thought it would, it did give him a greater insight into the way the bag works. Squeezing out another drop of blood he sticks his hand back into the bag. The blood drops into the bag in the same fashion the last one did. This time Jellal focuses every spare bit of concentration he can muster as he diligently observes how the blood reacts with the mana and the structure it forms. His concentration is so dialed in he even stops breathing during the half second the reaction is taking place. Forcing another drop of blood from his finger he controls it with mana as he tries to replicate what he just witnessed in the bag. As the mana structure envelops the space magic he removes his hand. Keeping his magic in place as a stabilizer he carefully observes the magic to see if it has any noticeable signs of collapse. Feeling confident it will stay together he sluggishly removes his mana. A few seconds after his mana leaves the layer shows signs of destabilizing. Holding himself back from trying to intervene, he watches the fluctuating layer with baited breath. Even though it wasn¡¯t stable the support and binging from the blood and mana on both the inside and outside of the space keeps it from breaking down and collapsing. After a few seconds of fluctuation it eventually settles down. Just to be safe he gives it another minute of observation to make sure it is truly stable. Time seems to crawl by as he waits in anticipation. Even after a minute there are no new developments. Seeing how things appear to have ended successfully he begins probing the space with his mana. His mana easily merges with the magic, increasing his confidence that the experiment went as expected. Extending his senses inside the separate space he tries to locate any items he can as proof of success. Despite making his layer as small as possible with the resources he had on hand it¡¯s still slightly larger than the new layer he just took over. With this confirmation he withdraws his mana. Unable to find anything interesting inside the new layer he can¡¯t help but feel disappointed. He reaches his hand into the bag planning on retrieving the little bit of money and potions he found in the layer. His hand moves toward the space before slipping into the layer he created. His hand abruptly freezes as he realizes he never came up with a plan to get the items out of the overlapping pockets of space. If they were in different areas he could just change where his hand interacts with the magic. Unfortunately the bag was only designed to have one pocket open at a time with all previous ones being sealed off. Because of this design all the pockets are essentially stacked on top of each other. A hamster on a wheel runs in his head as he contemplates a way to fix the problem. His internal lightbulb flickers on has he tries reaching into the bag a second time. Before his hand reaches the layers he connects his mana directly to the older of the two layers. Maintaining the connection he moves his hand forward but it once again slips into the new pocket. With his first test failing spectacularly he moves on to plan b. After taking a long hard look at the remaining sealed space he envelopes it with his mana. Rather than trying to take over the magic he once again tries to understand its structure. A few long minutes of examination later he pulls back his mana, ready for his next attempt. Rather than using his mana to control the older layer he opts to deal with his new one. As he¡¯s about to begin he stops and takes out the items he had kept in the layer just in case something goes horribly wrong. Resuming where he left off he begins slightly altering the magic in an attempt to temporarily close the space. When things go exactly how he envisioned them he¡¯s stunned. Considering the number of failed plans he¡¯s gone through when dealing with these bags he had already anticipated thing not working out. Pleasantly surprised he sticks his hand into the bag. His hand passes by the new layer and at long last gains proper access to the old layer. He pulls out the items one at a time with a smile plastered all over his face. Piling the items up with the ones he took out of the new layer he gets himself ready for the next step. Once again setting his sights on the final space he begins probing it with his mana. Before trying to unseal it he¡¯s determined to commit the structure of the magic to memory. If he had proper knowledge of the way the structures functioned he¡¯s certain he could recreate it on his own. When it¡¯s firmly cemented in his mind he moves on to unsealing it. Using the same procedure that successfully unsealed the second layer he gets to work. Making a slight change he tries adding in extra mana to the support structures of the magic in hopes it won¡¯t fluctuate as much. The added reinforcement seems to pay off as it stabilizes faster than the previous layer. His follow up probing reveals the contents of the third and final space to be money. The layer is a tad bigger than the first layer yet it just contains money. No swords, no potions, just money, a lot of money, but still just money. The revelation leaves him unsure how to feel. He wants to be glad about gaining an unnecessarily large sum of money, but at the same time he¡¯s unable to escape the overwhelming disappointment from painstakingly opening up two spaces only to find a bunch of ordinary things and money. In the end he¡¯s left wondering if his expectations were set too high or if he was simply unlucky. To get his mind off the pathetic turn out he fiddles around with the different layers. As he plays with them he becomes more accustomed to opening and closing them as well as how it affects which space he has access to. If he wants to access the first layer which he made he only has to make sure it¡¯s open. To get to the second layer, which he unsealed first, he only needs to make sure the first layer is sealed closed. Getting into the final layer requires him to seal both the first and second layer. In this way he gains access in order of newest to oldest. ¡®Since I don¡¯t need to do anything special to get into the first layer I should reserve it for the things I¡¯m going to be taking in and out often. The last layer is the opposite so I¡¯ll reserve it for the things I know I¡¯m never going to need to grab on short notice. Second layer shall be relegated to manager of the leftovers. I still have one more bag to go through as well! Depending on how many spaces it has I may be able to pack up a surprising amount of junk. Of course, that can also be a detriment since it¡¯ll be hard to keep track of where I put various things. I suppose if there are enough layers I can file things based off of which layer and bag they¡¯re in. Regardless, dealing with two separate bags will be a bit annoying. When I figure out how those structures work the first thing I¡¯m doing is making an earring version of it. After all, what good is it to have big ears if I don¡¯t put them to good use? I should take care of the second bag before I leave for the city. Still, to think my side trip to close off the treasure room so no one can even try to steal something out from under my nose would end up becoming such a fruitful endeavor.¡¯ After running to his room to get the second bag he returns to the treasure room. Examining the second bag he finds a total of five sealed layers. As he observes more closely he feels like something is off with the layers. Compared to the other bag this one¡¯s layers seem to almost be in contact with each other. ¡®Is there a maximum number of spaces each area can contain with the way they¡¯re structured? Even though the other bag¡¯s layers were overlapping it didn¡¯t feel like they were at risk of coming in contact with each other. I guess my luck in choosing which bag to open a new space in was quite good. I don¡¯t know what would happen if two spaces came in conflict with each other but it¡¯s certainly a dangerous bag of worms. Of course, a superior being such as myself would naturally be able to handle whatever happens and put that knowledge to use, kekeke.¡¯ Being extraordinarily cautious he begins unsealing the layers one by one. Instead of stopping to check what¡¯s inside each layer he decides to put it off until the end to spare himself from any potential disappointment that could convince him to do dangerous experiments with the bag. With all the layers open he begins going through them one at a time. It soon becomes apparent to him that only boring people without interesting things use such bags. Based on his anecdotal evidence he categorizes the bags users into two categories. The first are adventurers that carry around an excessive amount of potions, fearful of their inevitable demise. The second are extraordinarily wealthy misers that dream of drowning themselves in gold to escape the reality that the only people they call friends are the type of jerks that only care about their money. Jellal designates bag one in its entirety to money; the higher the value, the higher layer. After piling it in his face twitches as he realizes he¡¯s almost completely filled up the bag. He uses his original formula for the second bag with items put in based on how often he¡¯s going to mess with them. Running around the treasure room he fills the second bag in its entirety. All of its layers are bigger than any of the layers from the money bag allowing him to hold an abnormal amount of stuff. With approximately one tenth of the treasure rooms goods stored in bag two he leaves the room. Using earth magic he seals up the treasure room like he originally planned and sets off for the entrance once again. ¡®Sidetrack over! Time to in(vade)-I mean visit the city!¡¯ Goblin Sets Off Sia goes to each worker moving the excess remains to the incineration room. While the others are processing the next set of monsters she rounds up the materials they had set aside. The furs are given to the seamstresses while the remaining parts are stacked separately to be taken to the dining hall. Loading her arms up with as many rolled up blankets and rugs as she can carry she leaves to take them to the dining hall. As she comes to the fork that leads to the entrance she comes across Jellal. Before she passes by he tells her she¡¯ll be in charge of security while he¡¯s gone like usual. Without giving her a chance to reply he heads to the cave entrance. Reaching her destination she piles up the items on a table. As she¡¯s about to leave she notices a new earthen table by the path to the prison area. Curious about the new addition she walks over to take a peek. Laid out on the table are three swords, a mana potion, and a healing potion. ¡°For emergency use¡± is carved in front of the items leaving no question as to the reason they were left there. On her way back to the work area she runs into Evangeline and Meredith. As she walks past them she can hear their back and forth. [Can¡¯t we take a break now? Even if we take a break now we¡¯ll still carry the materials eventually.] [No, you can¡¯t do that Eva. If the others aren¡¯t taking a break how can we. Did you forget they were working hard while we were still sleeping without a care in the world? That isn¡¯t fair at all, Eva. We need to work hard to make up for the time we missed.] [But] [No buts! Now, let¡¯s hurry, we still have a lot of work to do.] ¡®How nice, they¡¯re just like sisters. But why is the eight year old the one acting like the older sister, while the vampire of unknown age acts like a spoiled child?¡¯ Jellal steps out of the cave, closing the way in behind him. He¡¯s greeted by the dark and gloomy forest. The trees have started withering, looking wrinkled and dry. Dead leaves constantly fall from the branches littering the ground below. ¡®Is this all because the miasma? How can a forest go from being a beautiful, peaceful looking place to a place that looks unfit to support life in a matter of days? I may have underestimated the miasma.¡¯ Setting off he heads in the direction where he last met Mac and Sionia. In a matter of minutes his way¡¯s blocked by a horde of over three hundred monsters moving perpendicular to him. He moves stealthily to the back of the pack to go around them even a little bit faster. Continuing on, he weaves between smaller groups ranging from ten to fifty. In a few short minutes he runs into yet another sizable horde. They number just under two hundred and unlike the last horde are moving toward him. Getting annoyed with the never ending supply of monsters blocking his path he decides to try changing the way he¡¯s moving. Bypassing the horde he climbs into a tree. Reaching the very top of the tree he pokes his head out above the canopy. With things in the sky appearing to be all clear he gathers wind mana. Using magic to create wind he gives himself an updraft. Complimenting that he keeps wind magic all around him to push him in any direction he desires. Concentrating on the surrounding mana he begins trying to tinker with the gravity around him. Since it¡¯s his first time playing with gravity magic he takes a while to get the hang of it. In the end the effort and concentration to barely decrease the gravity around him isn¡¯t very efficient as well as being distracting so he decides to put this prototype flying magic to the side for now. Using the updraft he adjusts the concentration of wind until he hovers above the trees. Nodding he lets off of it slightly and gently floats back to the tree tops. Bending his knees he pushes off the tree with a powerful kick. The branch he kicked off of shatters thunderously and rattles down to the ground below. Soaring five meters above the tree tops he uses the updraft to keep him from dropping while a tailwind bolsters his speed. The air rushing by his ears makes it difficult to hear anything while the wind pounding his face causes him to squint. As he¡¯s soaring he tries messing around with wind magic to block off the wind in front of him. The way he decides to do it is by curving the air in front of him around his sides before curling it either below or behind him to join and supplement his previous magics. His momentum slows as he flies. Decreasing the updraft he glides gracefully down to another tree top. His flight magic had one problem he didn¡¯t foresee which ate away at his efficiency as he went on. If there¡¯s one ability he¡¯s been putting extra effort into it¡¯s his ability to let mana pass through him. He¡¯s been working hard to perfect it so he can do it as naturally as breathing. Because of his practice he¡¯s been unconsciously letting some of the mana from his magic pass through him, killing his efficiency. Taking his future into consideration, he scraps his current flight magic prototypes. Going back to the drawing board he comes up with a new version. Sitting on a branch he concentrates on becoming one with the surrounding mana. From there he begins merging his mana with the wind mana. Taking it a step further he attempts to merge as well. This type of magic that focuses on the physical aspect of the body is more suitable for aura which specializes in it, but since he hasn¡¯t learned how to use it yet he can only wing it with his superior magic skills. Partially merged with the wind mana in the surroundings he can feel every movement of the wind as well as every foreign object it touches. Influencing the wind to flow in the direction he wants to head, he once again kicks off the tree. He soars through the air, moving along with the wind. His speed, while still fast, is only about three quarters of his previous flight magic. His altitude also decreases gradually until he reaches the tree tops. Using his foot to propel himself higher he continues on while making adjustments on the fly.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Adding in a light updraft he stops himself from continually losing altitude. Concentrating the wind in around his direct area instead of letting it spread so far he¡¯s able to increase his speed a fair amount. Even though he isn¡¯t able to fly as fast as he did with his original prototype the feeling they give off are completely different. His first flight magic was basically using brute force and his ridiculously powerful control over mana, while the new version is comfortable with him becoming one with the wind. One tries to bend nature to its will while the other attempts to join with nature. These completely opposite styles of approach perfectly encapsulates the huge scope of possibilities when using magic. While Jellal¡¯s admiring the endless possibilities that comes with magic a figure shoots at him from a large tree off to his left. As the figure speeds toward him it displaces the air. Taking advantage of his oneness with the wind he rides the displaced air brushing harmlessly past the aggressor. His vision follows them as they circle around for another pass. When it finally turns its head towards him he can see the visible indicators of corruption in the giant bird¡¯s eyes. It flaps its wings powerfully as it climbs into the sky. From his lower angle Jellal can see the massive gold talons large enough to easily cover a human head. The burgundy wings it beats give it a wingspan of nearly three meter. Letting out a screech from its bright gold beak it goes into a dive. Jellal hovers in the air admiring the handsome hawk-like beast. Pulling his saw out from his bag he patiently awaits its arrival. He doesn¡¯t have to wait long as it approaches at blistering speeds. Riding the wind he slightly shifts his body allowing him to once again brush past his attacker. Moving along with the tailwind created by the beast as it flew past he pursues it calmly. He could have attacked as he dodged its attack but the hawk¡¯s momentum would¡¯ve been partially transferred into his weapon. Rather than allowing himself to be pushed back he chose to stay in control of all his movement. When the hawk starts to circle around he moves to intercept. His foe pulls up trying to use its talons to latch onto him. Slipping between the talons he hacks at the bird¡¯s right wing, sending it plummeting out of the sky. He follows after it as it crashes through the branches of a tree before landing headfirst in the dirt. Floating down head first he kicks the bottom of a branch launching himself at the downed bird. Flipping as he rockets down his heel smashes squarely on the back of the hawk¡¯s neck like a guillotine. A shiver inducing crack echoes through the area as the battle concludes. Gathering concentrated wind magic into a spike he gives the hawk a double tap as usual. Looking at the corpse he¡¯s reluctant to leave it sitting there. Instead of bringing it with him he decides to grab it on the way back from the city. To ensure it¡¯s in perfect shape he uses ice magic to preserve it. Following that he uses earth magic to make a giant cube around it to protect it from predators. Moving to the top of the tree it fell under, he ties a colorful ribbon to the highest branch to act as a marker. As a final touch he freezes the top of the trees in the area so it¡¯ll be nearly impossible for him to miss the location. With that taken care of, he sets off once again. In order to draw less attention from corrupted birds he stays one to two meters above the trees. Crossing over the stream the forest seems to be in slightly better condition. At the very least the forest only gives off spooky vibes rather than looking like it belongs in a horror movie. Sinking down through the trees Jellal lands on the ground to try to find his desired location. His estimation from the sky proves to be accurate as he locates the spot in less than a minute. Using the direction Sionia ran in from as a basis he adjusts his trajectory before setting out on foot. Not knowing much about the terrain or land markers he decides to pass on flying to enhance the experience. Compared to the other side of the stream the hordes of monsters are much smaller with almost none reaching triple digits. The number of hordes is also significantly lower. With his tremendous sensing ability Jellal was unable to find a spot on the cave side where he was unable to sense at least one horde. On this side he can walk in peace without monsters constantly buzzing like flies inside his sensory range. Keeping his wits about him Jellal trudged along through the brush, taking the shortest path to the city. Intentionally sparsely dispersing his mana over a huge radius to drastically increase his sensory range he started checking out the situation of the forest. It didn¡¯t take long for him to pick up on the differences between the two sides of the stream. By increasing his range he was able to find plenty of traces of battle such as gashes in trees or corpses littering the ground. ¡®The progression of the miasma¡¯s corruption may be linked to how close each side is to its origin at the center of the forest but outside factors likely play a big role in it as well. If I¡¯m only looking at the path I took, there were almost no signs of battles occurring on the cave¡¯s side of the stream. Contrarily all signs point to adventurers or knights making a play to hold back the monsters on their side of the stream. I don¡¯t know how the miasma¡¯s corruption spreads but I can make a guess based on the information at hand. My money is on there being a source or spring of miasma which corrupts the forest and monsters. Since there are stories about miasma people in the know probably know a bit about how it functions, yet they only try to corral it instead of dealing with the source. This tells me that in all likelihood even if they knew its exact location there would be nothing they can do to stop it. Looking at the concentration of corrupted monsters, distance from origin, and the state of the forest there is a correlation. They wouldn¡¯t be sending people to kill off monsters for no reason so they¡¯re likely trying to slow the spread while preventing raids on nearby towns. The last thing that concerns me is the sheer number of monsters. There are too many, to the point of it being unnatural. This is also likely to be a result of the miasma. My best guess would be it having an effect on their reproduction and birth rates, but since I have nothing to go off of that theory¡¯s only a shot in the dark.¡¯ Jellal¡¯s theory about adventurers being sent to stymie the spread was quickly confirmed as he moved forward. From time to time he would find groups of adventurers patrolling. They didn¡¯t stay in one area meaning they were likely tasked with simply eliminating as many monsters as they could. Regardless of whether they were winning or being beaten down he didn¡¯t interfere. Even when adventurers were being killed he didn¡¯t step up to help. Of course every rule has its exception. As he was lollygagging about observing how the adventurers fought he came across a familiar duo mixing in with a group of ten. One he could tell by his abrasive deep voice he used to spout nothing but insults. The other was a familiar gray robed blonde bombshell. Not willing to owe her a favor Jellal flies into the air. Positioning himself directly above the group he readies some wind magic to protect her while he makes preparations for his flashy entrance. The group they were with was getting attacked from all sides. The group formed a circle as they made their stand but the onslaught was endless. At the center of the circle stood the blonde and a man with thick glasses. The two of them chanted quietly while trying not to get distracted by the never ending siege on their comrades. As they were desperately fighting for survival the abrasive man stabbed a goblin in the chest. The blade passed through the goblin only to get lodged in a wolf¡¯s shoulder. The wolf bit the blade and thrashed its head making it impossible for him to pull it out. With so many enemies bearing down on the group such a mistake turned out to be fatal. With a death in their ranks the rest of the adventurers had to carry an increased load. It took less than a minute for the extra burden to cost another life. Rather than it being a mistake it was a result of lacking the physical abilities and skills necessary to fight so many opponents at once. Even Jellal had to give credit to the adventurer¡¯s superb technique, but his lacking physique couldn¡¯t keep up leading to his demise. With a second adventurer dead the flood gates opened. A pair of wolves managed to slip through a gap in the formation killing the glasses wearing mage. Glasses managed to pull out his dagger as they were chewing on his leg and neck. With his fatal wounds he manned up and took the wolves down with him. Unfortunately his heroics were in vein as the wolves breaking into the middle of the circle caused enough of a distraction to cost three more adventurers their lives. The three adventurers remaining from outside of the circle went into self-preservation mode as they abandoned their teammates to make a run for it. With them being surrounded this was akin to suicide as it opened them up to attacks from their previously protected sides and back. With monsters rushing toward his acquaintance Jellal decided to make his grand entrance. Rocketing down from the sky he directs his landing so it¡¯ll be right in front of her. He has his back facing her as he using a classic three-point-landing. As he makes contact with the ground he uses magic to make the ground ripple with only a small circle around the two of them being a safe zone. The half meter tall ripple surges out like a rolling wave knocking down the attacking monsters. Placing both his palms on the ground Jellal flexes as he causes another, mush smaller ripple to form. Of course he only does it for the style points as the inch high ripple has no real effect on the monsters. As the ripple passes under downed monsters he uses timed earth spikes to impale them from below to give the illusion the ripple killed them. Getting out of his pose Jellal stands up and crosses his hands in front of his chest. He looks back over his shoulder, his eyes meeting hers. [With this we¡¯re even. You should be careful on your way home. I won¡¯t go out of my way to save you a second time.] Leaving those words he starts to walk away, wading through a sea of blood as he does so. Goblin Crosses The Final Hurdle Getting back on course, Jellal once again begins his trek to the city. Pushing his way through the brush he avoids the conflicts between the hordes of monsters and adventurers. Except for a few rare triple digit hordes the small groups of monsters are on the losing side of the conflict so far. ¡®It may be in their favor now but what about when larger groups pop up. Besides even if they take care of these ones the monsters will just keep coming. They haven¡¯t made a move on the other side of the stream causing an increase in the size of the groups. Plus it¡¯s impossible to tell when those stronger monsters will come out from the center of the forest. If this is how they tried to deal with the miasma in the past it¡¯s no wonder there are legends about civilizations collapsing. While they¡¯re playing around out here the monsters are gaining strength elsewhere. Well, maybe they know something I don¡¯t. Hmm, now that I think about it, I haven¡¯t seen any aura users amongst the adventurers I¡¯ve come across. Do they think it¡¯s unnecessary to send them out, or are there too few of them? With the ridiculous number of swordsmen running around you¡¯d think they would have some sort of training program to teach people how to use in case of an emergency like, I don¡¯t know, miasma spreading near their city. I guess they could be focusing them somewhere else, after all I only know the general situation around where I¡¯ve been living while remaining ignorant to the rest of the world.¡¯ Jellal continues to analyze the situation as he moves about. His straight path to the city cuts through some of the thickest brush on this side of the stream making it easy for him to sneak by the fighting. Eventually he comes upon the road running perpendicular to him. Hiding in the brush he watches as numerous groups of adventurers run around on the road leaving him no gap to sneak through to the other side. With plenty of time to think he mulls over his options. According to his original plan he would continue on a straight path until he hit the city but his curiosity makes him hesitate. After careful deliberation he makes up his mind to stick with his original plan. Even if he uses the direct route to get to the city it won¡¯t be too late to check out the road on the way back. Quietly moving to an area with more space to move around in he takes out his disguise. Looking at the inconsistent color scheme, he vows that finding a place to buy an outfit will be the first thing he does when he gets to the city, even before he visits the adventurers guild to get an id to make moving around easier. After all, running around in such clothes for long will tarnish his pristine image and reputation. While changing into his disguise he¡¯s careful not to make any noise that could draw someone¡¯s attention. Putting on the mask he has the vines wrap around each other to hold it in place before he pulls his hood up for the finishing touch. With his ensemble complete he has no skin showing making it impossible to tell from the outside that he isn¡¯t human. Rather than immediately hopping out of the bushes and utilizing his disguise to get passed the adventurers he chooses to act stealthily. Seeing this as an opportunity to practice his infiltration before he arrives at the city he begins gathering shadow mana. Unfortunately he doesn¡¯t have the innate ability to merge into shadow like the shadow wolf so he has to do it manually. His inability to fully merge with the shadows leaves him looking as if he was buried waist deep in the ground. Thinking about the advantages and disadvantages his physical change brought him he comes up with a new idea. Since natural mana can merge and separate, he figures he can use it to his advantage. For a normal person to use magic they have to resonate with it causing it to be ridiculously difficult to use two types of magic at the same time, much less merge two types of mana into one magic. With his new form and his closeness with natural mana he decides to try his hand at merging two types of mana and using them to form magic. Given the situation, his first choice for supplementary mana is space since it would allow him to fully sink into an extended space within the shadow if he¡¯s successful. He climbs out of the shadow before attempting to influence the two types of mana to merge. The merging goes unexpectedly well for his first attempt, seeming to work perfectly. Before he has a chance to celebrate they start separating, raining on his parade before it even began. In preparations for his second attempt he shrinks the range of his mana, concentrating it within ten meter radius with him at the center. He influences the two types of mana to merge again before having his own mana join the mix. He keeps increasing the amount of his mana he adds until they stop trying to separate. With his mana acting as an adhesive to help keep the two merged, he feels comfortable enough to start working on forming his magic. The plan for the magic is for it to extend the space inside the shadow. In this way he¡¯s essentially turning the shadow into a temporary item bag that only lets in things that have the ability to merge with shadows. If he created a space without any sort of restrictions it would be too easy to be discovered by the roaming adventurers which would go against the point of the magic in the first place. Once the magic is formed he gives it a minute to ensure it won¡¯t separate unexpectedly. It holds up to his thorough examination with no flaws to be found. With his magic set and meeting his standards he begins to merge with the shadow mana. When he¡¯s as at the limit of his ability to merge, he steps onto the shadow. Controlling the magic he slowly sinks down into the shadow. As he sinks he keeps some contingency plans ready in case things go off the rails. Sinking past his waist he passes his first version¡¯s record with ease. Soon it¡¯s just his head out of the shadows. Taking a deep breath he prepares to fully enter the shadow. His head slowly sinks down as he disappears without a trace. Inside the shadow everything feels muted. Jellal can still sense and spread his mana into the outside world, but the response feels sluggish. Curious if he can still use magic from inside he tries to gather wind mana above the shadow. The mana slowly congregates as he starts forming magic. The amount of effort he has to put in to create a simple magic reminds him of when he first started using magic.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. His experiment eventually succeeds as he forms a wind needle successfully. Taking it to the next level he uses the magic to attack the shadow. The needle drills into the ground leaving a skinny hole. A small amount of residual magic managed to reach the shadow, though it was harmless. ¡®It looks like it¡¯s a pain in the ass to attack me in this state. Since I can attack from in here without my enemies knowing where I am this could end up being an incredibly broken magic. That being said it¡¯s still possible for some magic to get through if the shadow¡¯s attacked by magic. If it was hit with a powerful enough magic attack it could get dangerous. I don¡¯t think it would have any problems if it¡¯s hit with a large number of small attacks, but it¡¯s still best to play it safe. Unfortunately I¡¯m also restricted which does balance it out a bit. With my magical abilities this would only hold me back if I use it for something other than stealth.¡¯ Reaching his hand up to his face the vines that had kept the mask secured unwind. Pulling of the mask he started looking around the mysterious space. Around him there was nothing but darkness, with only a faint light leaking in from above. Looking up he could see a dark and hazy version of the outside world through the ceiling. The shadow acted like a filter making it difficult to see clearly while simultaneously draining away the color, allowing him to see the world in an interesting new way. Because of his magic the space around him is almost ethereal. Even though he isn¡¯t standing on anything he doesn¡¯t continuously sink. When he moves his arm he can feel a resistance as if he was submerged in water, yet it¡¯s just empty space. That feeling of being in water while standing in nothingness gives him a sense of incongruity that is only heightened by his inability to breathe while in the shadow. Shifting his gaze to the mask in his hand he started regretting not putting eyeholes in the mask. Even though he can use mana to ¡°see¡± the world instead of his eyes there are somethings that can only be relayed visually. He seriously contemplates adding eyeholes to the mask but in the end not having them will give him a bit of mystique he wouldn¡¯t have otherwise. He stops worrying about his looks as he tries to come up with a solution for his breathing problem. Controlling the shadow to push him up he pokes his head out of the shadow and takes a breath. Before going back down he gathers wind mana around the shadow for his next experiment. Sinking back inside, he starts his tests. First he tries the simple and straight forward method of pulling wind inside, which fails miserably. Since his wind needle didn¡¯t penetrate the shadow he expected it to fail, but tried anyways to cover his bases. Moving on to options he expects to work, he once again uses wind mana. He tries to influence the wind mana to merge with the space he created in hopes it would bring air along with it. As the wind mana begins to merge the resistance on his body also decreases slightly. Taking in a deep breath he confirms it¡¯s a success, but only a minor one. The air is incredibly thin making it impossible for him to stay inside for an extended period of time. If he only looks at it from the perspective of gaining extra time by being able to breathe it¡¯s acceptable, and since that¡¯s all he wanted in the first place he decides it¡¯s fine for now. Leaving his mask off he controls the shadow to move him instead of trying to do it himself physically. He continues drifting through the shadow until he reaches the roadside. Around the road trees have been cleared out leaving a gap in the canopy. Light shining through the leaves causes the shadow on the road to be speckled with light, constantly shifting as the wind blows. The inconsistency causes an interesting challenge for Jellal. His original magic used a large shadow as a base so it isn¡¯t ideal for the situation. In theory he could create as big of a space as he needs within any shadow by mixing space mana with it but he would still have to travel between shadows. While crafting a solution he realizes crossing this road is much harder than entering the city. If he wants to enter the city he only needs to sneak into the shadow of a person or carriage entering the city and he¡¯s golden. To cross the road he needs to deal with broken, inconsistent shadow causing an abrupt spike in difficulty. The easiest way to solve the problem would be to merge the shadows, but he¡¯s trying to be stealthy. Unless the adventurers are blind or completely inept dolts they would notice the change in no time at all. Even if they all happened to be so incompetent they didn¡¯t notice it¡¯s impossible for everyone he comes across in the future to be that pathetically useless, so he ditches the easy way for the good of his future self. The idea of making a large enough space to hide in regardless of the size of the shadow seems to have legs, so Jellal decides run with it. Backing into the bushes where he started Jellal begins working on his newest magic experiment. Popping out of the shadow a smile creeps onto his face as he begins what he would call trial and error, without the error. Starting with a shadow he lengthens it while also slimming it down. When he¡¯s finish he¡¯s left with a hair thick shadow coiled in a spiral in front of him. From there he begins merging space mana into it so he¡¯ll be able to fit inside it. Making a rough estimation based on the last shadow he sinks in to test its depth. He ends up with only his head above ground, looking like a botched attempt at photoshop horror. Climbing out he adjusts the depth of the space, jumping in periodically to test. When he¡¯s able to properly fit inside he starts merging wind mana with the other two so he¡¯ll be able to breathe inside. Under his control the shadow unwinds as one end creeps across the road, going unnoticed by the adventurers. The other end stays with Jellal to act as his access point. His estimation of how long to make the shadow is right on the money as it extends all the way to the bushes on the other side of the road. He sinks into the shadow and does a final test for good measure. While inside he takes the risk of trying to control the shadow to move. It¡¯s extremely sluggish but he¡¯s able to do it. As it inches along the three types of merged mana begin trying to separate, signaling the immediate end of the unnecessary and dangerous test. With a bit of effort he sets everything back to normal before setting out inside the shadow. Because of the difference in size between the shadow outside and what¡¯s inside the distance he has to cover is significantly longer. To travel a meter forward on the outside he has to travel ten meters inside. In the end he successfully crosses to the other side of the road, though it took him nearly a full minute to do so. Before getting out of the shadow he puts on his mask as an extra precautionary measure. As his head pops out he takes a deep breath, filling his deprived lungs of much needed oxygen. With the bushes blocking him from view the whole time the adventurers are left none the wiser to what transpired right under their noses. Now that his test run for infiltrating the city is complete he sets out so he can do it for real. Continuing to wear his disguise he pushes forward through the brush. The forest on this side of the road is relatively thin with less brush in general than the other side. For some odd reason the path he¡¯s taking seems to push through a section of overly thick brush which happens to be the only one of its kind in his considerable sensory range. Rather than trudge through the pointlessly thick brush he breaks out and walks next to it. This continues until he finally reaches the very edge of the forest. The patch of senselessly thick brush constituted a tiny line within the forest that just happened to be on the exact path he took. Thinking about the fool who ran headlong through it when they could have simply ran next to it he couldn¡¯t help but shake his head while face-palming. Logically speaking the ease of movement would have easily made up for the ten seconds it would have taken to get out and run next to it. Just the prospect of someone choosing to run through it ¡°to save time¡± is enough to leave him baffled. Reaching up to his mask the vines loosen as Jellal peaks one of his eyes out from behind it. Looking at the meadow in front of him, he laments its inevitable corruption. The wind billows causing the knee high grass to sway along with it. The sea of green is dotted with colorful patches of wildflowers allowing onlookers to feel at peace. Once again hiding behind his mask he continues his journey. He moves leisurely through the field, enjoying the feeling of the wind hugging him as he walks through this untainted land. The farther along he gets the shorter the grass becomes. Even the tall, majestic flowers are replaced with ones that can fit on a fingertip. Far off to his right the road coils around into view. It angles ever so slightly in his direction giving confirmation the city is near. It doesn¡¯t take long for the city wall to make their grand appearance felt on the horizon. The walls¡¯ massive fifteen meter height seems excessive to Jellal at first, but after considering the physical prowess some monsters possess as well as how powerful magic can be he begins to wonder if they¡¯re really that effective. Wanting to get a look at the walls with his own eyes, he adjusts his mask. Not wanting to expose his face for long he puts his mask back in order while wondering how much effort it would take for him to destroy such massive stone walls. Eager to get inside the city he hastens his steps as he moves to converge with the road. ¡®Crap, I didn¡¯t think about how to sneak close enough to the city to sneak in without being spotted ahead of time! No need for brainstorming, a simple and quick solution is best. Step one: get near the road unnoticed. Step two: latch onto the bottom of a carriage and hitch a ride close. Step three: use shadow magic to infiltrate. The first two steps are the hardest but I know a flawless way to accomplish such a stealth mission, kekeke.¡¯ Goblin In The City A lone carriage leaves the forest as it travels along the winding road. At the front of the carriage two massive reddish brown horses pull it diligently. The owner sits inside along with his escort of six high ranking adventurers. [It should only be a few minutes till we reach Pavise, completing our contract. If you need to hire guards in the future be sure to look for us first old man.] [With the way the forest has gotten I probably won¡¯t be making any trips to Seabreeze any time soon. To tell you the truth, I wouldn¡¯t have gone this time if I didn¡¯t already promise an acquaintance a month ago that I¡¯d pay him a visit when I stopped by. Since I won¡¯t be heading through such dangerous territory I won¡¯t need to spend so much on b-rank adventurers like you. Besides you all should be out exploring and enjoying your youth, not wasting time following around an old man like me.] [It can¡¯t be helped, escorting is one part of being an adventurer after all. Plus guarding someone with your rich experience can also be seen as enjoying our youth. It¡¯s the privilege of the young to listen to the stories of wizened veterans that¡¯ve traveled the world.] [Even if I¡¯ve been all over the world there are things I¡¯ve never seen or only heard rumors about. No matter who you ask you won¡¯t be able to get firsthand information on the miasma, only old legends. When it comes to the miasma your generation will be the old veterans telling stories, hahaha. The stories I¡¯ve heard about it all describe it as a world shaking natural disaster. I fear this is just the beginning of something much more sinister.] [Do you really believe that nonsense? If it was so world shaking why has it happened so many times without wiping us all out?] [How many ancient relics from ages past have been found? Yet no matter how old or recent they are, the max level of technology is always about the same. I¡¯ve lived a long life and seen how fast technology progresses, so I can tell you from experience something unnatural is going on. Our current technology has just about caught up and now we¡¯re seeing an outbreak of miasma which is said to kill civilizations. I don¡¯t think the timing¡¯s a coincidence.] As the group chatted inside the carriage they were unaware that someone was hovering in the sky above them. Looking for a good moment to enact his plan Jellal waited patiently. Seeing the driver look back into the covered carriage he made him move. Rapidly descending he lands on the road fifty meters ahead of the carriage. Before the driver has a chance to turn around and spot him, he takes out a large box. Employing a classic stealth method he hid under the box in a totally inconspicuous manner. The driver looked back to the road only to find a box had magically appeared in their path. Confused about what to do he called back inside the carriage. One of the adventurers had their interest peaked with the appearance of a magically appearing box and volunteered to take a look. The carriage slowed to a halt a few meters away from the box. Hopping down from the carriage the adventurer casually approached the box. Underneath he found an ominous note reading: ¡°Carelessness leads to death. If I wanted to, I could¡¯ve killed you while you approached the box, or even as you¡¯re reading this note. Take this experience as a lesson so you don¡¯t make the same mistake when your life is on the line. ¨C Just A Totally Normal, Definitely Not Suspicious Box¡± The adventurers head jerked around as he looked for the source of the note, but to no avail. Using his shadow technique Jellal left the note before rushing through the shadow to the underside of the carriage. Even though he could have waited in the shadow of the box, if they had ignored and ran it over he wouldn¡¯t have had the opportunity to sneak onto their carriage. To counter that Jellal laid out a razor thin shadow in a serpentine pattern on the road. When the carriage stopped he left behind a note to serve as a distraction as he made the trek to the underside of the carriage. The rightfully bewildered adventurer picked up the note and the box as he suspiciously eyed his surroundings. Unable to find anything out of the ordinary he returned to the carriage. With the adventurer on board and the obstruction out of the way the horses gradually pulled the carriage up to speed. The passengers discussed the suspicious box and note. Compared to before the adventurers had lost their relaxed demeanor and had switched into battle mode, ready for any attack that might come their way. They were completely unaware the one responsible was literally right under their noses, clinging to the bottom of the carriage. The extra caution they showed ended up being completely pointless as they arrived at the base of the city walls without incident. Their carriage slowed down as it approached the base of the wall, before coming to a standstill at the back of the line waiting to enter the city. The line was separated into carriages and people on foot. The majority of people were in the later line standing off to the right side. The line for carriages was considerably shorter with only three in line before they arrived. The evening sun caused the massive wall to produce an equally huge shadow covering the entire line of carriages. With such advantageous conditions Jellal got to work making a space to pass through the gate unimpeded. Sinking into the shadow he temporarily took of his mask to observe the situation above. The guards seemed abnormally serious about searching the carriages as they checked every box, nook, and cranny leading him to believe something was going on in the city. Casually strolling through the shadow he reached the other side of the gate. Moving to the center of the road he scoped out his next move. As a carriage passed overhead he checked to make sure no one would see him before sticking his hands out and clinging to its underside. As the carriage slowly came to speed he got to work on another thin shadow. When it passed by an empty alleyway he dropped off into the shadow he prepared. Slinking through the shadow he arrives in the alley. After making sure no eyes were on him, he put his mask back on and climbed out of the shadow. Pulling his hood down low he exits the alley, stepping onto the main street.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Things in the city are lively. Carriages come and go, while people of different races walk about in droves. The main streets through the city are reserved for merchants and businesses, with the center of the city being a giant market plaza. The streets away from the main road are mainly used for houses, with the ones closer to the main roads and the plaza being the most valuable. The exception to these is the northeastern section of the city which is reserved for high ranking officials, nobles, and people with high status. Walking through the streets Jellal listens to the hustle and bustle of the city. Street vendors line the left side of the streets soliciting passersby to try their goods. Those with wares rather than food haggle back and forth trying to gain as much profit as possible. As he strolls along casually one particular stand catches his eye. A stand with various types of jewelry spread out on a fine silk cloth sits manned by a short and stalky man with red-orange hair. The man¡¯s eyes and braided beard match his short, curly hair. The creases on his face show his age as he glares at the people who pass him by. Drawn by the fancy jewelry, the intrigued Jellal decides to head over. While he¡¯s closing in on the stand a young man with pompous clothes, whom he can only assume to be a noble, begins goading the owner of the stall. [How¡¯s business been going for you Yurnaag? You can¡¯t possibly believe you would be able to do business in this city after turning down my request, hahaha. I¡¯ll tell you what; if you make what I requested for free I¡¯ll consider putting a good word in for you with the people of this city.] A malicious smile floated on the young man¡¯s face as he openly mocked Yurnaag. The situation was easy to understand, leaving Jellal with the dilemma of whether or not to visit the stand. Naturally he couldn¡¯t care less about some random brat in a city he didn¡¯t live in. Walking up to the stand Jellal used his mana to closely inspect the craftsmanship. He immediately understood why the brat would specifically try to force the owner into making things for him. The gems were beautifully cut while the metal was flawlessly shaped leaving Jellal in awe. He would understand if they were made with highly precise machines but to be made by hand the craftsman who made them had to be truly miraculous. Seeing Jellal blatantly ignoring him and walking up to the stand the young man became furious. He had come all the way here just to purposefully show that the rumors of him being displeased with the owner were true. Yet someone had the gall to act like he¡¯s air in the middle of his display. [Did you not hear me? This fool turned down a personal request of mine! What do you think you¡¯re doing walking up to this stall? Could it be that my words mean nothing to you?] The fuming brat grabbed at Jellal¡¯s shoulder as he angrily tried to dissuade him from buying from the stand. Getting his shoulder pulled Jellal spun around until he was face to face with the pushy man. Looking at the strange mask without any eyeholes the man was stumped. Jellal leisurely lifted his hand and cleared his shoulder of the pest latching onto it. Pretending the other man doesn¡¯t exist he turned back to browse the stands goods. Smoke rose from the man¡¯s head as he finally reached his boiling point. About to blow his top from the disrespect he¡¯s been shown he once again reaches for Jellal¡¯s shoulder. [If you want to keep your hand I suggest you think carefully about your next course of action.] Without giving the young man the time of day to glance back over his shoulder to look at him while speaking Jellal doled out a stern warning. Continuing to ignore the nuisance he returned to perusing the jewelry on the stand. While he was busy inspecting the items the troublemaker stormed off in a rage, screaming how he¡¯ll regret what he¡¯s done like a stereotypical bad guy. Among the pieces displayed Jellal found a group of four small hoop earrings that look more like rings for fingers than ears. Unlike the rest of the pieces they had an interesting reaction to mana making him wonder if they were made with a special technique or from a peculiar material. [How much for those four?] [Are you sure you want to buy something from my stand? If you do that punk won¡¯t let it slide. He may not be much himself but his father has a lot of sway in these parts.] [I don¡¯t care who he is, if he picks a fight he¡¯ll only have himself to blame. So, how much?] [Hmm, for the syneel earrings it¡¯ll twenty five gold a piece. Take it or leave it, I don¡¯t haggle. Syneel is an extremely rare metal and they were made by me personally so they aren¡¯t cheap. Even if someone comes across the metal they always use it to make swords so it¡¯ll be nearly impossible to find another set like them.] Reaching into his designated money bag he fishes out one hundred gold coins along with a small pouch. Right about now he¡¯s feeling like a genius for adding a bunch of small pouches in the bag so he wouldn¡¯t have to carry all of them in the open when he does a transaction. It was something he thought up spur of the moment before he set out in order to keep from attracting too much attention to himself. With the coins loaded into the pouch he pulls it out of his bag and tosses it to Yurnaag. Catching it with one hand he gives it a light shake before bouncing it up and down on his palm a few times. Giving a nod he stuffs it into his bag and hands over the earrings. Taking the earrings he tucks them away safely into his other bag. Since he¡¯s planning on using them later he puts them in the first layer in the space that was opened up after he took out his disguise. [This is my first time in this city. You wouldn¡¯t happen to know where I can find a good place to offload a large supply of miscellaneous goods do you? Also a place where I can get some new clothes, these are a bit meh after all.] [If you¡¯re looking to sell you could go to the merchants association. They don¡¯t give the best prices but they buy just about anything that has any value. All they are is a collection of merchants that buy everything in one place before selling it to merchants for a profit. If you want to get the best prices you can you¡¯re better off trying to sell to merchants individually but if you want to get rid of something quick to a reputable buyer it¡¯s the way to go. As for finding clothes if you ask them they can set you up with a merchant who has what you¡¯re looking for. Of course they¡¯ll only send you to merchants affiliated with them, but those guys are all trustworthy and skilled so it¡¯ll be fine. The merchant association¡¯s main building for handling customers is on the other side of the plaza directly across the street from the adventurer¡¯s guild. It¡¯s a big building with three scales on the signboard so it¡¯s hard to miss.] [I appreciate the help. I have a lot of business to attend to so I¡¯ll be on my way.] [Pleasure doing business with you.] Now that he knows where to go to take care of his business Jellal parts with Yurnaag and makes his way towards the plaza. As he leaves a few greedy people try to tail him in hopes of striking it rich. Walking into a back alley devoid of people he waits for the less than subtle stalkers to catch up. Searching through his bag he finds a chair amongst the nonsense he¡¯s collected. Rather than standing around, he pulls up a chair and munches on some extremely poisonous berries that have an interesting bitter yet tangy flavor. ¡®They¡¯re sure taking their sweet time. I know my smaller stature makes it easy for me to weave through the crowds but I wasn¡¯t even trying to throw them off. I figured the type of people to give into their greed like them wouldn¡¯t be too bright but aren¡¯t they a little too bad at following people? Judging by how quickly they decided to follow me I was under the impression that they do this quite often, so why are they so bad at it? While I¡¯m waiting should I modify my mask? It¡¯s fine in the looks department but I didn¡¯t leave any way to eat with it on. Having to stick food up under the mask is too inconvenient, and then there¡¯s the lack of eyeholes. If I could find a way to make retractable eyeholes it would be great since I wouldn¡¯t have to mess with my mask every time I want to look at something with my eyes. Hmm, if I cut the lower part off and attach it with vines I would be able to make an opening mouth so I can eat all I want without taking off the mask. To that effect, if I cut some eyeholes and had vines hold them in place I would be able to choose whether or not my eyes are visible. The only thing I¡¯m unsure of is whether or not it¡¯ll be comfortable to wear still when I¡¯m done. I suppose I could use some fabric as a backing and run the vines under it. If I do that it shouldn¡¯t be too uncomfortable to wear. I have plenty of fabric to choose from so I should be able to find one that¡¯s suitable.¡¯ While Jellal¡¯s busy killing time thinking about how to improve his mask, the thugs finally show up. Based on how startled they are to find Jellal waiting for them it¡¯s safe to say they truly believed they were being discreet. The thugs look at each other and pull out their knives as they glare at Jellal. [If you hand over everything you own, we¡¯ll let you off easy, brat.] Hearing their uninspired threat he begins to feel sorry for them. In order to have such lacking awareness of their situation and surroundings they must have incredibly low intelligence. Being the way they are they must have had it tough up to now. [Luckily for you I¡¯m in a generous mood today. If you get lost in the next ten seconds, I won¡¯t do anything to hurt you. Consider it my way of showing kindness to ingrates like you.] [There¡¯s only one of you and so many of us, what can you do short stack.] [That¡¯s true! There really is only one of me; I¡¯m a very unique individual after all. You¡¯re also right about there being many of you. The world is full of foolish ingrates with no self-control after all. You don¡¯t need to worry though; I know you¡¯re all special in your own way. Only truly special individuals would purposefully pick a fight with a superior being such as myself.] Goblin Is Patient [Ten, nine, eight, seven¡­] [Do you think we¡¯re scared of you just because you talk big? We¡¯ll teach you a lesson about how the world works.] Without heeding his warning the thugs fanned out to surround Jellal. Unable to break through their thick skulls with words he helplessly shakes his head in disappointment. [Six, five, four, three, two¡­] [What do you think you¡¯re doing? A group of grown men ganging up on a child, how unsightly.] The bozos jump in surprise when a heroic voice calls out from behind them. Jellal even stops his countdown due to the unexpected visitor. There had been a couple people walk by and notice the group of dimwits in the alley, yet this is the first person to stop and try to do something about it. He had never expected someone to act all heroic to save the bullied person in an alley, much less a thin, weak looking teenager. The youth¡¯s heroic spirit was betrayed by his shaking knees. Despite rushing forward to help a stranger it¡¯s obvious to see that he¡¯s genuinely scared doing so. Dealing with so many people who seem to him to completely ignore basic logic Jellal¡¯s at a loss for what to do. At the very least he found the new arrival somewhat interesting so he decided to wait it out and see how the kid tries to get out of this situation. The young man gulped his saliva as he pointed towards the wannabe muggers. They return a sneer at him causing him to let out a high pitched squeal in fright. [You all had better leave that kid alone, or else.] [Or else what? You¡¯re gonna tell on us. I¡¯m sooo scared, can¡¯t you see me shivering, hahaha.] [Just you wait until ¡­ GUARDS, THERE ARE MUGGERS SOMEONE HELP!] Jellal watches like a bystander as the boy screams at the top of his lungs trying to alert the guards. The screaming leaves him even more baffled as to why the young man tried to get involved in the first place. If he wanted to tell the guards he could have done so without setting foot in the alley, yet here he stands shivering in fear while screaming like a madman. The muggers seem to have completely forgotten about Jellal as they turn around to confront the youth. The kid backs away slowly while shooting a glance towards Jellal, who¡¯s casually enjoying the spectacle while chewing on some berries. Seeing the person he¡¯s trying to help sit by and eat a snack like they¡¯re watching a play the young man¡¯s face twitches. Silently cursing he shoots a glance at the mask without eyeholes pleading with his eyes for the person to use the chance to run away. Jellal clearly notices this and nods before deciding to blatantly ignore it, causing a vein to bulge in the heroic helper¡¯s forehead. Out of options the young man laughs dryly as he tries to talk down the muggers. [We¡¯re all people here, there¡¯s no need to be so violent. In these troubled times we should be banding together, not making enemies.] He¡¯s completely ignored as they move to surround him. In the distance a group of guards charge toward the alley, having been told about someone screaming like a madman and disturbing the peace. Bursting into the alley the leader of the group sees a young man being ganged up on by a group of thugs while a masked figure sits behind them watching. Judging the situation on first looks he has one of his men block the entrance to the alleyway, while two move to confront the thugs. The other six are sent to surround the thugs¡¯ boss sitting behind them, watching things menacingly. The young man heaves a sigh of relief as the muggers give up without a fight. The leader of the guards walks over to him to get a closer look. [You again! Why do we always get reports of someone screaming like a madman only to find you in some alley getting toyed with by criminals? Well, you know the drill by now right?] [Yeah, come to the guard office for statements, reports, etc. I know.] In a strange twist of fate Jellal is once again surrounded by scowling armed men. As the thugs are tied up the head guard walks over to join the fray. Seeing the boss treating his men like air he gets a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Worried something may go bad if he forces things he tries negotiation. [If you don¡¯t resist and come with us peacefully you might get off a little easier. As long as you admit to your crimes the worst punishment you¡¯ll get is some time in jail or maybe some hard labor. Don¡¯t make things difficult for us and we won¡¯t make it difficult for you, within the extent of the law of course.] [Admit to my crimes? What crimes did I commit, and what evidence do you have to prove I did anything wrong? I¡¯m completely innocent.] [Innocent? Your subordinates were surrounding this young man with their weapons drawn and you still claim to be innocent? You can¡¯t lie to me; I saw it with my own eyes.] [Kekeke, that¡¯s funny I don¡¯t remember taking such incompetent idiots as underlings. I¡¯ll tell you now, I require my subordinates to have functioning brains. Those guys obviously aren¡¯t qualified so I can only question your laughable eyesight. Are they perhaps for decoration, or are you just slow up top?] [O, if you¡¯re not their boss then why are you sitting behind them watching as they bully a kid?] [I was sitting here first. In fact I was sitting here when those guys showed up, and when the kid showed up as well. If you want to know why I was sitting here watching them surround him then it¡¯s simple; he deserved it. He poked his nose in someone else¡¯s business so it¡¯s natural for him to deal with the consequences.] [So he tried to help you, but you sat back and watched as they ganged up on him? Do you even call yourself a man?]This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. [A man takes responsibility for their actions. He showed up and saved their worthless lives, so he has to take responsibility for it. Besides knowing that not everyone will act the way he wants when he comes along playing hero should be a good lesson for him.] [Regardless we¡¯ll have to bring you to the guard station for a statement while we clear up this mess. If you¡¯re innocent like you say then there¡¯ll be nothing to worry about.] [I¡¯ll have to take a hard pass on that. I¡¯ve got a lot of things to do, and I plan on leaving before sundown so I don¡¯t have a lot of time to work with. If you really want me to go the guard station you can try to use force, but I wouldn¡¯t recommend it, kekeke.] Despite being wrongly labeled as a criminal Jellal¡¯s enjoying the interesting situations he¡¯s run into since coming to Pavise. Unfortunately, as he said, he¡¯s tight on time so he can¡¯t enjoy giving the guard a hard time as much as he¡¯d like. [You can¡¯t do that! You have to come to the station to give a statement. It doesn¡¯t matter what you want to do, you have to follow the rules just like everyone else.] [Oho, you¡¯re wrong again. What I want to do is the most important thing you should be worried about right now. If I want to do something, you can¡¯t stop me from doing it. For your own sake I hope you don¡¯t go putting ideas in my head, you understand me boy.] As he lectures the head guard he gradually releases his killing intent as a form of intimidation and as a warning. By the end of his speech the air around him begins contorting under the influence of his killing intent, leaving the fools who thought of making a quick buck by robbing him faint in fear. The guards take a step back as their hands start trembling, while the wannabe hero falls on his butt. The head guard is the worst off of the entire group. Unlike the other guards and the thugs, the killing intent is pointed directly at him. Sweat rolls down his face and back as the killing intent steadily subsides. His trembling hand wipes the sweat from his brow while he tries to calm his ragged breathing. [I think I already know the answer but I¡¯ll ask anyways. There won¡¯t be any problems with me going on my merry way, will there?] The head guard lowers his head, staring at the ground. Resolving himself he lifts his head and stares at Jellal with firmness in his eyes. [My duty is to uphold the law under any and all circumstances. If I were to bend now I wouldn¡¯t be able to call myself a man, much less a guard responsible for protecting a cities worth of people.] [Oh, I like you! That¡¯s how a true man should be! So, what happens when you can¡¯t stop me from leaving here in a few seconds from now? Will I become a criminal with wanted posters of my mask hung up all over the place?] [It¡¯ll be marked in your official record to show you¡¯re likely to ignore at least minor rules and laws which will in turn make you a more likely suspect in cases that happen around you due to your noncompliance. You¡¯ll only get posters of you put up if you¡¯re guilty of the crime or we have reason to believe you are and need to bring you in for questioning.] [Then I guess we won¡¯t have any issues. Later.] Giving the interesting head guard a light wave goodbye Jellal packed up his chair. Walking toward the guards he waited to see how they would react before making his escape. Inspired by their leaders display of courage most of them manned up as they reached out to apprehend Jellal. Jellal seemed to glide as weaved through the pouncing guards like a fish in water. Just as the head guard was about to step up he put a little extra strength in his legs. Speed blitzing past the head guard and the guard blocking the entrance to the alley he casually joins the sea of people as if nothing had happened. Once again continuing his stroll on the main road he starts making his way toward the plaza. The bustling plaza is filled with numerous stall with products ranging from fruits and vegetables to various types of potions and everything in between. Suppressing his urge to sift through the smattering of items he pushed forward. The most surprising find he came across in the plaza had to be the special tent in the center. Unlike the others it was manned at all times by members of the city guard. Inside they sold slaves of varying age, race, and gender. He was quite interested what kind of people he would find inside. In order to become a slave the person has to agree to it in writing with at least two officials and a local guard captain present. Such strict requirements were put in place to prevent people in power to unlawfully enslave someone. According to what he heard from a certain despicable con artist they even use a pen with special ink that reacts if the person holding it writes unwillingly. The reaction is delayed so it won¡¯t occur in front of the guilty party allowing them to preserve the secret so other wannabe criminals can¡¯t find a way to exploit it. With such a setup it¡¯s obvious how seriously they take the slave business. In fact, anyone unfortunate enough to get caught trying to force someone into slavery gets a lifetime of hard labor as punishment. Considering the ridiculous procedures required to turn someone into a slave and the harsh punishment for trying to bypass that system he can smell something fishy. Thinking back to when it was described to him he recalls that the system is supposedly adopted all over the world, furthering his suspicions. The final nail in the coffin is how proud the annoying con artist sounded when describing the system to him like a child showing their report card to their parents to get their praise. ¡®It seems so good on paper making it so only people who willingly volunteer can become slaves. That leaves the question of how well do they bind and keep track of the slaves. If they don¡¯t have a way to keep the slaves in check won¡¯t they just escape the first chance they get and be back at large? Not to mention how easy it should be for one of their undercover buddies to buy them, effectively allowing them to avoid their punishment altogether.¡¯ Pushing his interest to the back of his mind he keeps moving past the center of the plaza. Approaching the other side where the merchant association is supposed to be located he makes one last stop. The most popular way for merchants to do business in the plaza is to use nice carts to draw attention. Occasionally there will be an odd man out sitting on the ground with their wares displayed on a blanket in front of them. Of these outliers the one to catch Jellal¡¯s attention is a tattered blanket displaying seedlings and flowers. The attendant at the stall is a dirt covered girl who looks to be no older than ten. Standing in front of the stall he reaches out and picks up a particular seedling. Even though there¡¯s nothing remarkable about the seedling he¡¯s already made up his mind to buy it. The most important thing about the seedling is that it¡¯s nearly identical to the one he used to make his current mask. Buying it will allow him to make a new mask with similar qualities to the first. He doesn¡¯t know if the type of seedling would make a difference or not, but since he¡¯s already here with money to burn he doesn¡¯t mind buying it solely for convenience. Reaching into his money bag he begins pulling out coins of smaller value. Using the opportunity to offload some coins of smaller denominations he puts a small handful of copper and silver coins in a pouch. Placing the pouch where the seedling had been he walks away without a care in the world, completely unaware he just singlehandedly payed for an orphanages food for the week. Leaving the plaza he steps back on the main road. The main road doesn¡¯t pass straight through the plaza, since it¡¯s meant to act a market. The road instead travels along the outside edge of the plaza. The road is one way, with carriages only allowed to move in a clockwise direction. The interesting design of the city center leaves him wondering if he¡¯s just had the bad luck of only encountering people with questionable intelligence. Convinced, he assures himself he¡¯ll break the string of bad luck at the merchant association. Only thirty meters from the plaza he finds the building he¡¯s looking for. On both sides of the street large buildings stand tall, seeming out of place when they¡¯re compared to the surrounding buildings. Based on what Yurnaag told him he¡¯s certain they¡¯re the adventurer¡¯s guild and merchant association respectively. His ever so slightly flawed mask once again shows its pension for being useful. Unable to see what¡¯s on the signs he can only use context clues to figure out which building is his first target. The building on the right hand side is filled with people who are predominantly wearing armor, while the one on the left has far fewer. Since adventurers are likely to sell things they pick up on their missions it¡¯s no surprise to find some in the merchant association, though not as many as would be in the adventurer¡¯s guild. With things cut and dried he drifts on over to the building on the left. The building has a total of four lines formed, with two in the center of the room and one on each side. The layout leaves most of the building cut off behind the clerks at the center. ¡®There¡¯s only enough space for the clerks on the sides so it¡¯s likely they¡¯re for small scale sales or for giving out information. The two in the middle with most of the building hiding behind them are likely receptionist to send people to the back to do business in private. At least that¡¯s what makes the most sense. They wouldn¡¯t have a good reputation if everything was done out in the open for random passersby to learn how much money their customers have on them.¡¯ Randomly choosing between the center desks he hops into the left line. He gives the person in front of him a light tap on the shoulder, causing him to turn around. The man tries not to show his surprise on his face when he finds a strange person wearing a mask that doesn¡¯t allow them to see standing behind him. [Would you be so kind as to tell me how this place works? It¡¯s my first time coming here.] [I, guess I could ¡­ The counter on the far left is for selling items in small amounts as well as being a place to ask questions about the merchant association. The far right is reserved for affiliated merchants. It basically allows them to immediately be able to do business since there are always some extra workers not helping normal customers in case a member shows up. The two desks in the center are for us unaffiliated folks. Business is handled in private rooms to avoid being spied on but we don¡¯t get fast tracked like members.] [As expected I suppose.] After learning what he wanted to know the conversation stagnated. Rather than stand there in awkward silence the man turned to face the front. Jellal patiently waits as the line inches forward, eventually reaching the desk. Goblin Can Do Business The receptionist looks through a stack of papers as she greets the next customer. [Good eve-ning, are you looking for a specific associate to help you or would you prefer to work with the first one available.] Despite the customers abnormal appearance giving her an unexpected shock upon lifting her head, she continues on unfazed. Seeing her catch herself and maintain a perfect business smile Jellal gives a stamp of approval to merchant association. If the receptionist couldn¡¯t act normal under these unusual circumstances he¡¯d be forced to question whether their reputation was natural or if they had been influencing things from behind the scenes. [I¡¯ll go with the first one available. I was wondering what the requirements are to join the merchant association and if it¡¯s possible for non-merchants to join.] [There are several requirements to meet if you want to join as a merchant. We have a reputation to uphold after all. As far as non-merchants, they only need to pay a yearly membership fee to enjoy the benefits membership entails. If you wish to learn more I would suggest making a stop by the far left window. They¡¯ll answer any questions you may have.] ¡®I don¡¯t know how often I¡¯ll be stopping by this place so it¡¯s hard to say if it¡¯ll be worth investing. Then again I still have a ton of items left in the treasure room so I¡¯ll definitely stop by a few more times. After that I probably won¡¯t put it to much use though. The only reason I¡¯d have to visit is if I collect too much junk that isn¡¯t useful to me, which is unlikely to occur for a long time if I don¡¯t run into more bandits.¡¯ After a few short minutes of waiting he was ushered through a door leading beyond the counters. An assistant was assigned to lead him to a private room. Walking through the long corridor he paid attention to the intermittently spaced doors on either side of the hallway. He found it safe to assume they¡¯re mostly offices private rooms like the one he¡¯s heading to. Passing by twenty doors in total he finally reaches his destination near the end of the hall. With a hallway for each front counter and over twenty rooms in each hallway the building seems to be made for dealing with as many customers as possible. The size of the building makes it obvious there are at least two floors, showing the scope of their organization. The specs of the association leaves Jellal impressed. To have a line despite being set up for large scale business shows how many people pass through here on a daily basis, lending credence to their reputation. The small private room Jellal¡¯s taken to is furnished with a single table and a pair of chairs. The lack of decorum and small size screams ¡°make it quick, time is money¡±. The no nonsense approach to the private rooms shows their nature as businessmen causing Jellal to nod in approval. He plops down in a chair as the assistant backs out of the room, closing the door behind her. He taps his fingers on the desk while waiting for his new business partner to arrive. He doesn¡¯t have to wait long as a tall man with gray hair and a beard reaching his bellybutton stiffly walks through the door while holding his hands behind his back. Jellal immediately disregards the man¡¯s refined entrance and appearance as he¡¯s distracted with his own thoughts. ¡®This old man¡¯s really going out of his way to look dignified. Did he bring an assistant with him just to open the door so he can walk in like that? Well played! He¡¯s definitely a man who knows the importance of style. Looks like I got a good draw in the associate lottery.¡¯ Setting his eyes on the mask wearing anomaly sitting at the table the old man pulled up the chair opposite. Judging the customer by their clothes, he tries to urge things to finish as quickly as possible. [We¡¯re very busy today so I hope you won¡¯t beat around the bush and state your business clearly and upfront so we can finish this as quickly as possible.] [Good, just the way I like it. First off I have a bunch of junk to sell. Next I¡¯d like you to help me find some nice new clothes. Due to various circumstances the ones I¡¯m wearing are the only suitable ones I have at the moment. Lastly I¡¯d like to discuss potentially becoming a member.] [If you want to make a large scale delivery we have warehouses in the back. What items we¡¯ll buy and for how much will be determined after we carefully inspect the products. With regards to membership, the cost is twenty gold annually. You¡¯ll get fast tracked so you don¡¯t have to wait in line and we also give our members first crack at the mismatched items that come in. Affiliated merchant have first dibs on sets and batches, but you can also bid for any leftovers. Other than that you can ask us to keep our eyes out for specific items, and reserve them in advance. As for your clothes, I would need a bit more information before I can give any suggestions. What kind of price range you¡¯re working with. Do you have any specific requirements for fabrics or properties? Do you want custom or ready-made?] [For clothes the most important thing is that they look good and are comfortable. My price range isn¡¯t as important as the value of the clothes. Even if I had a million gold I wouldn¡¯t allow myself to be blatantly ripped off. That being said, if it¡¯s worth the price then I¡¯ll pay it, be it one gold or a thousand. Now that I think about it I also need to find someone to custom make a belt and scabbard for me. I would also ask you to find someone suitable to finish the task quickly. The same goes with the clothes, if they can make it custom in a short amount of time while retaining the quality I¡¯d prefer custom made. If they can¡¯t, I¡¯d prefer not to waste time and will have to ask for premade instead. When it comes to the membership fee we can figure it out after I sell my items.] [Then shall we set up an appointment for you at one of the warehouses. You¡¯ll need a permit to allow a carriage to pass through the gates out back. We can fill out the forms now if you¡¯d wish.] [If possible I¡¯d like to sell right now. There¡¯s no need to bring any carriages through either. As long as you can get someone to inspect the products I can bring them over at any time. The items used to be part of a bandits¡¯ stash so they¡¯re varied if that information helps in any way.]The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. [We should have some people free to inspect items at the moment if you can really do it right now.] [Lead the way.] Standing up Jellal waited for the old man to stop stroking his beard. Walking over to the door the old man gave it a knock with his knuckles before placing his hands behind his back in a dignified manner. The assistant opened the door allowing them to leave before closing the door behind them. Walking through the hall they continued their discussion where they left off. [I have a few tailors in mind that could make your clothes overnight if that suits you. Of course the rush job will cost a little extra and you¡¯ll still need to buy something to wear in the meantime. I also have an old acquaintance who works leather for a living that can make the other things you wanted; if you can convince him to do it that is. His shop is next to one of the tailors so I would give that one the first look if I was you. They¡¯re just down the street so you shouldn¡¯t have any trouble finding them. Just look for the first building with a sign shaped like a t-shirt. That¡¯s the tailor and the leather worker is the next building past it if you keep going.] [Since we¡¯ve been too busy doing business you haven¡¯t introduced yourself yet. There¡¯s still more useless stuff from the bandits¡¯ hideout I can¡¯t use so I¡¯ll ask for you when I come back with it.] [The name¡¯s Isaac. There¡¯s another guy with the same name here so be sure to ask for old Isaac if you¡¯re looking for me.] Exiting through the back door walked over to the closest of the five warehouses. To keep out intruders the entire property is fenced in with guards constantly patrolling. The warehouses are also kept locked by double locks, requiring two people to unlock them. Jellal waits at the door under the watchful eyes of the guards while Isaac and the assistant run back inside to get the keys and inspector. While they¡¯re away at least one guard team always hovers around his location as the others continue their rounds. It doesn¡¯t take long for Isaac to return with extra hands in tow. Seeing Jellal stand there without any carriages they look at him suspiciously but keep their mouths closed. Isaac and another elderly man stand in front of the locks and insert their respective keys at the same time. They turn them at almost the exact same time before giving the large double doors a solid tug. When the doors don¡¯t budge they¡¯re left scratching their heads in embarrassment as they take out their keys to try again. Three failed attempts later and Jellal gives up on them getting him through the doors. Walking over to the old man with the key he sticks his hand out, palm up. Waving his fingers he gestures for the elderly man to hand over the key. The old man frowns before glaring at Isaac, only to get a nonchalant shrug in return. Snorting in displeasure he begrudgingly hands over the key while mocking Jellal inwardly. To open the lock both keys have to be turned in a specific way or the door won¡¯t open. Even the tiniest mistake will cause it to stay locked leading to seasoned workers that¡¯ve done this job for years taking multiple tries to get in, much less so random schmuck off the street. Naturally, it¡¯s impossible for him to know Jellal¡¯s able to see the inside of the lock with his mana, revealing all its secrets. Jellal stands in front of the lock and waits for Isaac to start unlocking the door. He starts doing the same a fraction of a second after Isaac. The speed he turns the key is slightly faster as well leading to him finish fully turning the key an instant before Isaac. Knowing the door¡¯s been unlocked he pulls it so it¡¯s cracked open and then hands the key back to the old man. Clenching his teeth the elderly man unhappily accepts with a red face. Letting the others open the door for him, Jellal waits for them to tell him where to dump his items. They walk over to the empty front right corner. With his spot picked out he begins unloading the useless junk he¡¯s collected. He piles up boxes of merchandise, swords, armor, clothes, and just about anything a merchant might take on the road. Of course the things he thought might have even the tiniest use were left in the cave for his personal use. The people from the association are slightly surprised to come across someone with an item bag at first. That soon turned into shock as the items seemed to never end, going beyond what any single bag should be able to hold. When he finishes unloading, Jellal takes a step back and nods. Taking the cue, the staff gets to work inspecting the small mountain of items. Not one to stand around, Jellal pulls up a chair and snacks on a type of paralysis inducing berry. The taste of the berry may be average, but the tingling sensation it causes on his tongue puts it near the top of his most interesting berries to eat list. Occasionally the group would come together while staring at particular items while glancing back at Jellal casually sitting nearby. Although unintentional, Jellal listened in on their conversation and was able to understand the main points. Apparently they were able to find items that had been robbed from merchants they know. This naturally cast a shadow of suspicion over the masked person who brought them in. unsure what to do they had an assistant run to get the current leader of this city¡¯s branch the association. With how busy things get they can¡¯t be sure how long it¡¯ll take for the leader to make it over, so in the meantime they continue their inspection of the items. By the time they finished the leader had yet to make it over, leaving them in an awkward position. [Is it okay if we notify the original owners of their products reappearances? If you really took down the bandits that robbed them I¡¯m sure they¡¯d love to meet you.] [I don¡¯t care what you do with them after you buy them. Just don¡¯t forget about customer confidentiality. If you do, the best case scenario is losing a customer and whoever has the loose tongue. Worst case, we¡¯ll see how fast I can make a loose tongued individual, a building, and five warehouses disappear along with anyone that has the gall to stand in the way. I¡¯d put my money on under a minute personally, kekeke.] All the staff present made a mental note to watch what they say around questionable people in the future. The less than accommodating response also stoked many of their suspicions about his identity. Most of them believed he was involved with the bandits responsible for robbing merchants in the area, if not having direct involvement himself. His temperament also left them in a dilemma. They would usually pay a small fraction of the cost for any items under suspicion of being stolen. With the customer claiming to have gotten all of the present items from a bandits¡¯ den they can either take it as him rightfully taking possession of the items from the bandits or as potentially stolen items. It¡¯s already well known they don¡¯t pay full price for items since they buy and resell constantly. They have to make money and the merchants that buy from them have to make money so the price is effectively cut enough for the two parties to profit. It¡¯s already questionable how it¡¯ll be taken if they pay their regular prices much less what they¡¯d pay if they considered the items potentially stolen. Just as their brains were frying from worry three figures walked into the warehouse. At the front of the group was a pair of black haired women with extremely similar features, with the main difference between the two being which eye their beauty mark is under. The assistant that went to get the association leader trailed behind meekly as the final member of the group. The woman with the beauty mark under her right eye walked slightly ahead of the other as they approach the staff members. The staff keep their voices as quiet as possible as they explain the situation to the women. The front most woman steps in front of Jellal and extends her right hand. [Nice to meet you, I¡¯m Violet, current leader of the merchant association. From what I hear you claim to have gotten these goods from a bandits¡¯ den, is that correct?] Jellal lightly shakes the hand, while Violet intensely squeezes his as if trying to ascertain something. Releasing her hand he immediately cut the pleasantries and got to business. [Do you enjoy asking questions you already know the answer to? I have other things to do while I¡¯m in the city so I¡¯d appreciate it if you didn¡¯t waste my time beating around the bush.] [Since the items were last known to be in the possession of bandits we can¡¯t pay our normal price for them. If we did that it would be the same as encouraging people to commit crimes. Of course, if you can prove you killed the bandits that won¡¯t be an issue.] [And how exactly would I do that? Should I start carrying around human heads as evidence of the people I¡¯ve killed? I know, you must have a list of every bandits clothing and weapons so people can bring you that instead.] [As long as you have a reputable source check the bodies it should be fine. Alternatively if you¡¯re someone well known with an exemplary reputation it wouldn¡¯t be a problem to give you the benefit of the doubt.] [Unfortunately I¡¯ve already incinerated the bodies. Also, since this is my first time visiting Pavise I¡¯m unable to rely on my reputation.] [That truly is unfortunate. If you wish to sell we can give you a tenth the normal price at most, otherwise you¡¯ll have to look elsewhere.] [I may consider the things I brought as junk, but it¡¯s my junk and I won¡¯t allow myself to be cheated just to get rid of it. Since we won¡¯t be doing business I guess I¡¯ll have to look for another business partner.] Shaking his head he starts packing the pile of items back into his bag. Some of the staff looked as if they wanted to say something but remained silent after getting a stern look from their leader. After everything in the pile is put away he walks slowly over to one of the staff members. Reaching his hand out, palm facing up, he gestures for the young man to hand something over. The rest of the staff stares on in confusion, unable to make heads or tails of the situation. [You¡¯ve got three seconds. Three, two ¡­] [I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about.] [One ¡­] The young man takes a step back while feigning ignorance, before making a run for it. [Zero!] Goblin On The Case Jellal surprisingly doesn¡¯t give chase when the young staff member bolts. With his mana¡¯s range it would be nearly impossible for them to escape so he decides to take his time. Casually walking toward the front of the warehouse he brushes past Violet, not forgetting to pause and taunt her on his way past. [It would seem the merchant association isn¡¯t all it¡¯s cracked up to be. To think an employee would even dare to steal in front of their boss. With such shady individuals working here it raises a lot of questions. The reason you¡¯re able to stay afloat and make so much money isn¡¯t because you¡¯re working with criminals, is it? I would love to stay and chat, but someone took something that belongs to me and I¡¯d like to know why. Ah, good luck with the damage control when people find out your employing thieves, kekeke.] Leaving the warehouse he takes a leisurely stroll, following after the thief. The guards see him walking around like he owns the place and move to intercept him. As they¡¯re about to draw their weapons Violet also steps out of the warehouse and waves them off. Leisurely making his way to the three and a half meter high wall surrounding the premises he jumps. Turning his body horizontal he places his right hand on top of the wall as he easily clears it. Landing on the other side he speeds up his pursuit. Instead of following behind the criminal where he would be expected to be, he moves down streets running parallel to them. Eventually the thief makes his way to a rundown building. Looking around suspiciously to ensure no one¡¯s following him he ducks into the building. On a nearby street a group of guards patrol, looking for suspicious activity. Seeing the familiar head guard and his men Jellal adjusts his plan. Jellal walks up to the head guard and throws his arm around his shoulder. [Long time no see, umm ¡­] [Kite] [Well then Kite, we have work to do. Let¡¯s go.] [Unhand me! I have an obligation to protect the citizens of this city. Listen to me! You can¡¯t just drag people off on a whim!] [I told you already, it¡¯s work. Your job is to stop criminals. I know where one is, so do your job.] Kite¡¯s complaints fell on deaf ears as he¡¯s dragged to the building the thief entered. Barging in as if he owned the place Jellal traced the steps of the criminal. Arriving at an inconspicuous fireplace he releases his temporary partner so he can continue forward. Sticking his hand under the pile of burnt wood he presses a hidden button. While it¡¯s still pressed he reaches up and tilts a brick on the top of the fireplace forward. Releasing the button he uses his newly freed hand to flip a switch that had been previously hidden by the brick. The back wall of the fireplace creeks as it swings open to reveal a flight of stairs leading down into a secret passage. The noisy Kite finally falls silent when he sees such a thoroughly hidden secret tunnel. With his guard down he¡¯s once again grabbed and pulled into the secret tunnel. His men reluctantly enter the house chasing after their kidnapped leader only to find an empty house with no one in sight. No matter how hard they search they can¡¯t find so much as a single clue. Unsure what happened to their leader they leave three people in the house, three in front of the house, and send the remaining three to the guard station to report the situation. Meanwhile Kite and Jellal are reaching the end of the tunnel. Being extra quiet they climb the flight of stairs up to a brick wall which blocks their path. Placing his index finger in front of his mask Jellal signals his partner to stay silent. Without a sound he pushes a brick on the wall with both his hands and one of his feet. When all three disguised buttons are pressed he methodically turns the wall and slides through the opening. Kite, having already come this far, follows along willingly. Crawling out of the fireplace they find themselves in what seems to be a study. The wall opposite the fireplace is lined with bookshelves while a large desk sits at the back of the room. Behind the desk hangs a large painting of a dragon spewing flames toward the viewer. At the desk Jellal twists the base of the candle holder before pressing down on the handle of the top left drawer. Moving to the centermost bookshelf he grabs the wood on the left side between the fourth and fifth shelves. A solid yank reveals it to be a well-hidden lever, opening another hidden door. ¡®The owner of this place must have some sort of obsession with secret rooms and contraptions. What kind of person puts a hidden tunnel leading off their property and a secret room in the same study? I¡¯m sure it¡¯s convenient for concealing anyone who comes through the tunnel, but putting them in the same room is just increasing the number of things an outsider can stumble upon. There¡¯s also the hidden safe to worry about being discovered. Taking the risk of sticking so many contraptions in a single room doesn¡¯t make much sense unless they¡¯re obsessed.¡¯ Silently creeping next to the door Kite listens in on the conversation happening within. Jellal takes the opportunity to slip away to handle some other business while Kite¡¯s distracted. [Are you sure it¡¯s his?] [Yes, my lord. The items we gave him were marked with a symbolic spiral in three places. It¡¯s as you said, if something happens to the bandits the normal items will be sold to the merchant association. You¡¯re truly brilliant to brand them so we¡¯ll know immediately if something happens. This humble servant could never have thought up such a magnificent plan.] [Are you sure it wasn¡¯t one of the bandits trying to eke out some extra profit?] [There were several armors and weapons we provided along with some shoes, my lord. The person who brought them in also admitted to them being from a bandits¡¯ den. All signs point to total annihilation. Unfortunately I was noticed collecting the evidence and had to make a run for it. Please punish this useless servant for being unable to perform his tasks properly.] [You were caught? Are you certain you weren¡¯t followed?] [Of course, my lord. I checked behind me on the way to the house and at each entrance I passed through. There¡¯s no way I could have been followed, rest assured.] Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. [Go back where you came from, and tell the others to be on the lookout for the person who brought in the items. First Ellis gets caught, and now Murdoc¡¯s done for as well. Why is it so hard to find competent subordinates?] The pair walks to the entrance of the secret room before going through the overly complicated procedure to unlock the secret door and leave. Stepping into the study everything appears normal. The mastermind sits behind his desk, waiting for the grunt to take his leave. When the room is clear of any extra eyes he turns around to look at the painting. Standing directly in front of it with his feet shoulder width apart he begins caressing the right side of the painting, knocking it slightly off kilter. Pushing the lower right corner it sinks into the wall. Reaching under the corner he pushes the button that unlocks the hidden safe. With it unlocked he straightens the painting before pulling its left side, causing it to swing open along with the door of the safe. The safe is filled with jewels and gold, along with an item bag containing a stack of papers detailing his shady business practices. Using these files he¡¯s managed to avoid being cheated by the less than reputable people he¡¯s been doing business with. Naturally, having detailed accounts doesn¡¯t always have persuasive power on criminals but coupled with his status and ability to manipulate things from behind the scenes very few have the guts to try to double cross him. The business partners that do betray him or lose their usefulness tend to be killed by reputable figures shortly afterwards. When they no longer exist their files don¡¯t need to either, which is why he only has the single stack in the safe. The files that become a liability are immediately destroyed to keep things well organized. Reaching into his item bag to grab the files he notices something wrong; he can¡¯t use his item bag. He specifically chose to use an item bag because they can only be accessed by a single individual. As long as he didn¡¯t pull out the files in front of people it would be completely safe, or so he thought. Panic sets in as he whips his head around to find Kite and Jellal standing in front of the secret tunnel. Jellal is flipping through the files while a displeased Kite glares at the mastermind. While the criminals had been finishing up their conversation they had slipped back into the tunnel. Jellal ran to unlock the other side and let the guards waiting outside in before he rushed back to meet with Kite who had stopped part way through the tunnel to catch the pawn. He never expected Jellal to throw a knife over his shoulder and kill the perp without giving him the chance to make an arrest. After killing the pawn they rushed back to the mastermind just in time for him to turn around and spot them. [What a coincidence meeting you here Sir Holt. Care to explain why I ended up here when I was following the trail of a thief?] [For a guard to break into a noble¡¯s house is a grave crime. I¡¯d like to see how you worm your way off the execution block after trying to frame a noble. Security!] Following Sir Holt¡¯s scream a group of twenty armed guards rushed into the room. Backing away Sir Holt attempts to circle around behind the guards. [Any of you that get in the way will be charged as accomplices in your bosses crimes. If you drop your weapons and surrender you still have a chance to prove your innocence.] While talking down Holt¡¯s security a pair of Kite¡¯s men come out of the tunnel as backup. [Go to the guard station and have them send backup to Sir Holt¡¯s manor. Be sure to leave a couple people to guard the secret tunnel just to be safe.] Giving a salute the city guards immediately rush back through the tunnel to carry out their orders. [Last chance to surrender peacefully. If you don¡¯t, you¡¯ll only have yourself to blame if you don¡¯t live to see the investigation.] [Hurry and kill the intruders. That¡¯s an order.] Facing threats from both sides Holt¡¯s guards glance at each other before unsheathing their blades. Grouping together in threes they lunge at the intruders. They have three groups go after each intruder while the two odd men out act as guards for Sir Holt. Kite draws his swords as he circles to his left. He uses a series of horizontal swings to threaten as many of them as possible he keeps his back close to the wall, preventing himself from being completely surrounded. Jellal pulls out a pair of throwing knives as three groups approach him. Four blades approach him at the same time, yet he casually lifts the knives. Stepping forward he ducks two blades while using his knives to simultaneously deflect the other two. Lunging forward he jams a knife under one guards chin. Springing off the ground he places his hand on the freshly deceased man¡¯s shoulder and spins over top of him, deflecting two attacks in the process. Giving the corpse a solid kick he launches it into some guards while propelling himself forward. As he lands he throws both knives at guards approaching from either side before charging two guards at the back of the pack. Doing a spin horizontal to the ground he narrowly avoids a pair of horizontal strikes aimed at his neck and knees. Kicking out the left guard¡¯s knee he causes him to collapse. Placing a foot on the guards shoulder he uses him as a platform to perform a backflip off of, giving him a foot to the jaw in the process. The right guard¡¯s sword cuts through where he had just been standing as he soars over the guard¡¯s head. He pulls out another pair of knives before sticking the landing. Four guards approach from behind, but he ignores them and rushes the two in front of him. Spinning as he brushes past the foremost guard he deflects one attack while throwing his second knife at the one struggling to stand. Planting his foot past the guard he lodges his knife in the back of his head. Instead of kicking the body he aims for the hand holding the sword, wending it flying toward the four approaching guards who hastily dodge. Taking advantage of the gap created he turns on the jets, speeding past two of them. Blood spews from their necks as they fall lifelessly to the ground, not even knowing how they died. Before the other two have a chance to turn around one of them has a throwing knife lodged in the back of their neck. The final guard turns around at the same time as Jellal. Slowly approaching the last guard Jellal sticks his hands out to show he¡¯s unarmed. The frightened guard refuses to attack even when he gets in range, intending to counter when he¡¯s attacked. Jellal reaches toward his opponents face, prompting him to counter with a short precise swing aiming for his hand. Stepping forward he catches the enemy¡¯s wrist preventing them from attacking with their sword while simultaneously delivering a kick to their ribs. The guard throws a punch to force him to retreat, but it¡¯s caught by Jellal¡¯s free hand. Using a series of kicks to the inner knee he forces his opponent to kneel in front of him. Delivering a knee to the face he releases his off hand and pivots around to their back before wrenching their sword arm. Unable to keep hold of the sword it falls gently into Jellal¡¯s waiting hands. Holding the hilt with one hand and the blade with the other he holds it in front of his foe¡¯s chest. He brings it toward their neck as he uses his he to press them forward. Desperate to protect his life the guard uses both hands to grab the blade, attempting to force it away from his neck. Blood drips from his palms as he uses everything he has to stop the blade, but to no avail. It moves closer at an intentionally slow pace as it begins to cut into his throat. As the sword inches forward increasingly profuse amounts of blood flows from his neck. The light gradually fades from his eyes as he stops resisting. A final strong knee to the back sends his head and body falling to the ground separately. With the grunts that came after him taken care of Jellal moves in front of the door to ensure Sir Holt doesn¡¯t escape. Under normal circumstances he wouldn¡¯t go out of his way to stop a criminal, but Sir Holt made the mistake of ordering his men to kill him. Such a transgression is something he obviously can¡¯t overlook, thus Sir Holt¡¯s fate has been sealed. Pulling up a chair he plays the role of spectator as Kite fights with his life on the line. With a sword in each hand he maintains a solid defense. Being chased around he waits for one of them to overextend and separate from the pack before unleashing a flurry of blows. The guard blocks a good portion of the attacks but is still left with numerous cuts. When the other guards catch up he returns to kiting them until one of them is alone. The guards aren¡¯t stupid enough to fall for the same old trick every time and intentionally spread out. Instead of chasing they block his escape routes and slowly close the net around him. As they get closer together a light blue glow faintly covers Kite¡¯s swords. He crosses his arm in front of him, a blade pointing behind him with the blade out on each side of his body. Letting out a shout he swings his swords at the same time. His aura trails the blades forming a crossing pair of crescent moons stretching from one of his sides to the other. The aura only travels out two meters, but it¡¯s far enough to hit all the guards that had grouped up to attack him. The guards use their swords to block, but are ultimately unable to stop the aura. Every guard in the vicinity is left with bloody gashes on their chests. Two of the weaker ones failed to block in time resulting in their deaths while the other seven are left severely wounded. The attack also did a number on the guards¡¯ weapons. Although they aren¡¯t broken, their integrity is already compromised making the fight even more dangerous for the guards. The sound of clapping comes from the entertained spectator in the doorway, disrupting the tense battle distracting the guards. Kite jumps at the chance and goes on the offensive. With his aura coated blades he charges forward delivering a flurry of blows, easily breaks through the compromised defense of a pair of distracted guards and giving rise to two more casualties. The next guard to fall is a victim of untimely weapon failure. With a broken sword the chances of stopping the onslaught disappears along with his life. Half of the remaining four move forward together while the other two swap weapons. Joining the fray with their fresh weapons they allow the other pair to back off and swap their weapons as well. Fending off the pair of guards Kite makes sure to always keep them both in front of him. When one of them gets overzealous and attacks alone he chops at their sword from both sides with his blades, breaking it. The other guard is quick to react, but is unable to protect his comrade while defending himself. The guard retreats to find another sword leaving his partner to deal with Kite alone. Following an intense flurry of blows another sword is shattered to pieces leaving both guards vulnerable. [You can either surrender or you can die fighting. Take your pick.] Goblin Gets His Style On With only four guards left Sir Holt begins to sweat. The only light of hope remaining is the mysterious stranger accompanying Kite. If the two were close they wouldn¡¯t have fought separately even after the stranger defeated his guards. Wholly unable to rely on his guards he tries talking his way out of the sticky situation. [May I ask what this good sir has come to my humble abode for? I may not have much but a good host does their best to accommodate.] [Me? Someone had the balls to steal something from right under my nose. Normally I¡¯d kill them immediately but I was curious why someone would steal my useless junk and then run away when they¡¯re found out. That¡¯s why I¡¯m here.] [It would seem all of this occurred because of a simple misunderstanding by a worthless subordinate of mine. He misunderstood my orders and offended you. I can only lament his lack of judgement. There¡¯s no need to worry about what was stolen, I¡¯ll properly compensate you. Now, if you don¡¯t mind I¡¯ll be on my way.] Hearing the preposterous reason for Jellal breaking into his house Holt was relieved and worried at the same time. He was relieved that a powerful enemy didn¡¯t have some irreconcilable grudge. At the same time he was worried that such a person marched into his house over they consider junk. He can only imagine what kind of consequences there would be if someone so much as laid a finger on something that kind of person values. Walking confidently, Holt and his two personal guards head for the doorway. The other two injured guards try to catch up, but are cut off by Kite. Seeing their refusal to surrender Kite resumes his onslaught. The handicap of fighting with broken weapons is too much for them to overcome as their defensive battle turns one sided. Sir Holt doesn¡¯t blink as two more guards lose their life. Approaching the door he¡¯s surprised to see Jellal stand up. Jellal turns around to lock the door before plopping down in his chair once again. [What¡¯s the meaning of this? You have no reason to stand in my way. I already said I would compensate you for your loses, so why do you insist on blocking my path?] [Didn¡¯t you order your guards to kill me not to long ago? Do you think I¡¯m going to take something like that lying down? You didn¡¯t personally attack me, but you¡¯re responsible for the actions of your men. Because of your orders I was attacked by nine guards, and I know for a fact it wasn¡¯t them misinterpreting your orders since I heard them myself. How can I possibly let you off easy when they had to pay with their lives? That¡¯s just unfair to them.] Jellal¡¯s words crushed Holt¡¯s last bit of hope, leaving him between a rock and a hard place. He could try to push forward, but considering how his guards ended up it would be the same as tightening his own noose. His alternative is to go through Kite. Even then he can¡¯t guarantee success, or that Jellal won¡¯t prevent him from leaving. The last option available to him is surrender, which he isn¡¯t too keen on. At this time Jellal calls out to the guards, making things extremely clear. [If you throw away your weapons, drop to your knees, and place your hands behind your head I¡¯ll be nice and take it as you unwillingly being his subordinates. If you don¡¯t want to do that you can die with him. There will be no second chances to make your decision.] Realizing he had already been marked for death by Jellal, Holt begins to panic. The only way to live through this predicament is to surrender, and even that isn¡¯t guaranteed to save him. If he surrenders all his crimes will come to light and it¡¯s highly likely for him to be executed. The lightest punishment he can hope for is to be stripped of his rank and assets, but to get such favorable treatment he would need to bring something to the table no one else has. Unfortunately the files he could use as a bargaining chip are already in the enemy¡¯s hands leaving him with nothing. With no alternatives Holt begrudgingly drops to his knees and places his hands above his head. His personal guards don¡¯t hesitate to do the same, throwing away their weapons in the process. Kite quickly rushes to tie them up before Jellal can kill Holt. Taking them into custody he glares at Jellal suspiciously, showing that he¡¯s already claimed them for the city. [Well this leaves me in an awkward position doesn¡¯t it? If I kill him no it makes me look like a criminal with no respect for the law. Say Kite, why don¡¯t you let him go? He needs to be punished properly. Are you certain he doesn¡¯t have any secret contacts to get him out of this situation? It would be terrible if such an evil person is able to do what they want in your city, so why don¡¯t you let me take care of it?] [I can¡¯t do that. I¡¯ve sworn to uphold the law. Even if you kill me because of it I¡¯ll never bend when it comes to completing my duty!] [Kekeke, that¡¯s why I like you. You¡¯ll do a lot of good for the masses in the future with that kind of mentality. If you truly want to help people I¡¯ll give you a little advice: leave this city. The people that think a few patrols will slow the miasma are na?ve idiots. This city¡¯s fall is already set in stone; the only thing left to be determined is how many people go with it. Instead of pointlessly dying here you should leave and help people somewhere else. If you feel rotten about leaving people to die then warn them of the danger. If you do, what happens after that comes down to the choices of each individual.] After giving his speech Jellal stands from his chair, putting it back in his bag immediately after. He unlocks the door before walking toward Holt. Kite tenses up as he stands in front of Holt, set on protecting him. Brushing past them Jellal continues to the secret tunnel as if everything he said before was nothing more than bravado. As Jellal disappears into the tunnel Kite heaves a sigh of relief, his heart still beating a thousand times a minute. Maniacal cackling comes from the tunnel as the passage closes, causing Kite to turn his head and look that way on reflex. Thinking about how paranoid he¡¯s become around someone he just met he inwardly mocks himself. Behind him Sir Holt¡¯s eyes lose their light as his body tilts forward, falling to the floor. Kite¡¯s face drains of color as he looks down on Holt¡¯s lifeless body. The two guards are similarly stunned. Not one of them has the slightest clue what happened to Sir Holt despite being in the same room.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. All the evidence points to Jellal being responsible, but they can¡¯t tell how he did it. Even if they accused him they have no evidence. Before leaving he had even acted as if he was leaving Holt to Kite which would take the heat off him as a suspect. Add to that Holt dying while Jellal wasn¡¯t in the room and his alibi is so airtight on paper it¡¯s waterproof. Jellal strolls through the tunnel, the huge smirk on his face hidden by his mask. He had been very deliberate in his actions when he left so he would have a perfect alibi even if they knew he was guilty. How could they possibly know he had prepared a wind magic inside Holt before leaving. Activating it after the door to the tunnel shut not only served to enhance his alibi, but it also acted as a show of force. He wanted to make it clearer than crystal what happens to people who provoke him. He may not have confidence in this city¡¯s survival but his reputation is still of utmost importance. Even if only ten percent of the city¡¯s population escapes there will be some that can pass his reputation along and help it spread regardless. At the very least his reputation would make others think twice about picking a fight or shortchanging him, saving him the annoyance of dealing with too many of those types of people in the future. Passing through the other side of the passage he gives the wary guards a light wave before continuing past them like he owns the place. Fortunately they¡¯re Kite¡¯s men and aren¡¯t about to risk their lives to stop the person who led them here. After he passes they go back to guarding the secret tunnel, waiting for their leader to return. Jellal leaves out the front door of the building while the guards watch the tunnel, not knowing the other side¡¯s been closed already. Tracing the path he took on the way here he returns to the outer wall of the merchant association. Following along the wall he returns to the main road. From there he goes past the association and sets off on his quest for new clothes. Paying particular attention to the signboards he finds one shaped like a t-shirt. Stepping inside he makes his way to the counter. [I hear this is a good place to get high quality clothes in a short amount of time.] [That depends on what you want and how much you¡¯re willing to pay. If you want some premade clothes they¡¯re on the racks. Custom made will take time, though we can rush it if you¡¯re willing to pay extra. So what¡¯ll it be?] [Depends if you can meet my standards. First I¡¯ll need to see an example of your work. If it¡¯s up to par we can go from there.] The receptionist slips into the back room to grab a sample, leaving Jellal waiting at the counter. She comes back with a pair of pants and a shirt. Jellal grabs the shirt from her hands and inspects its quality. Everything looks good on the surface but to be sure he grabs it with both hands and gives it a tug. Since it didn¡¯t rip apart at the seams from the amount of strength he put in it passes his minimum requirements. Moving on to the pants he gives them a thorough inspection before grabbing each pant leg and pulling. The seams once again hold firm meeting his minimum standards as well. [The quality meets the minimum standards so we can continue. If you¡¯re interested in the job I¡¯ll need the clothes as quickly as possible. If you¡¯re swamped, we don¡¯t need to bother wasting time, I can find someplace else.] [With the way things are in the forest business has slowed to a crawl. People would rather buy armor and weapons than clothes so I¡¯m pretty free right now.] [Good, then I¡¯ll need some examples of the types of fabric you have on hand. I¡¯ll also need some examples of the different styles of clothes you make.] The receptionist goes to the back room once more before returning with her arms full of colorful pieces of cloth. [We can make whatever type of clothes you want so I brought some cloth samples for you to go through. Of course I¡¯ll also need to get some measurements to ensure the clothes you order will fit.] Jellal uses his hands to feel the various types of cloth, narrowing it down to a few that are pleasant to the touch. He separates two heavier fabrics to use for pants and some lighter ones for shirts, before passing them back to the receptionist. [How about two shirts from each of these fabrics as long as you have it in dark colors. If you can, make some slightly baggy pants with these two types to go with the shirts. I need long sleeves on the shirts, that¡¯s a must. I¡¯d prefer button up shirts with high collars, embroidered with gold thread if it¡¯s possible to get it done quick. Make sure the wrists can be buttoned so they stay tight. Also make the backs slightly longer than the front. Lastly I¡¯ll take a white long sleeve shirt made of fine silk with an accompanying vest and dress pants. If you have socks and shoes that¡¯ll match up well show them to me as well. Oh, I¡¯ll also need a couple hooded cloaks. I¡¯ll be wearing my mask with it so you¡¯ll have to take that into account. Other than a pair of premade clothes to replace these dregs in the meantime that¡¯ll be it.] While Jellal spouts demands the receptionists carefully writes down everything down. To be safe she goes over the list with him to make sure she didn¡¯t miss anything. With everything in order she leads him to the back to get measured. Carefully writing down his measurements to go along with his demands she quickly finishes up. Before she has a chance to escape Jellal request her to pick out some suitable premade clothes since his mask impedes his vision. Even if he can see how the clothes look with his mana, he can¡¯t see what color they are making it difficult to find a good looking outfit. Bringing back a couple outfits she leaves him alone to try them out. When she¡¯s out of sight Jellal takes off his mask and checks out the clothes before trying them on. Compared to his current clothes they¡¯re a step up, but still not up to his standards. Picking out the most comfortable set he keeps them on, throwing his cloak and mask on afterwards. He stuffs his old clothes back into his bag before grabbing the extra clothes and walking out. Returning to the counter he prepares to find out what he owes. [The premade clothes will be five silver. Your order can be ready tomorrow afternoon if I skip sleep and work hard. Of course that¡¯ll cost extra. If you want them as soon as possible it¡¯ll run you ten gold, half of which must be made as a down payment.] Jellal reaches into his bag to get the money before remembering the extra cloth and needles he brought from the treasure room. Figuring he might as well try to get rid of it while he¡¯s here he pulls it out instead of the money. [I¡¯ve got some extra fabric I picked up from a bandits¡¯ hideout not too long ago if you¡¯re interested. It¡¯s not particularly high quality but there¡¯s a decent amount of it.] The receptionist sifts through the boxes of fabric before giving her reply. [I told you before that business hasn¡¯t exactly been booming so I can¡¯t give you market price. If you¡¯re willing to let it all go for one gold I¡¯ll take it. I can¡¯t afford to spend much on something I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll be able to use so that¡¯s the best I can do.] Reaching back into his bag he digs out nine gold and five silver to cover the bill, throwing it on the counter. Since he¡¯s inside and there¡¯s no one around to see he doesn¡¯t waste a pouch like he would if there are spectators. She quickly collects the money and hides it behind the counter before writing up a receipt. The receipt will act as proof of purchase as well as confirming his identity when he comes to pick up his order. With that taken care of she gets to work moving the items she bought to her back room as Jellal makes for the front door. While he was inside he noticed some new stalkers had shown up outside the shop. Nobody was trailing him when he came here meaning only someone who knew where he was going to be would show up, and the only person who knew he¡¯d be here is old Isaac, and by extension the merchant association. Of course they could be after one of the local store owners but the timing is too coincidental for that. Shaking his head is disappointment he continues his shopping. Walking next door he enters the shop of Isaac¡¯s leather working acquaintance. Outside the stalkers shift around his position, confirming he had previously ascertained. As the door closes behind him a gruff voice calls out from the back room of the store. [Be with ya in a minute so hold yer horses.] While waiting for the store owner to show his face Jellal notices Silica coming toward the store. He¡¯s pleasantly surprised since he was planning on tracking her down to get his cape, yet now she¡¯s saving him the trouble of her own accord. The only problem is his disguise which she hasn¡¯t seen before, but he¡¯s fairly certain she wouldn¡¯t be so foolish to make a scene about him sneaking into town. Originally he had planned to walk out of the store and stop her but from the way she¡¯s walking she isn¡¯t walking past the shop but to it. Instead of going out he decides to wait and see if she¡¯s really going to come straight to him. Sure enough, she walks right up to the front of the store and pushes the door open. The store owner finally makes his way to the counter, carrying a folded up fur cape with him. His bushy beard obscures his constant scowl as he looks over his two customers. Chucking the cape on the counter he crosses his arms and grumpily greets his customers. [I¡¯m busy so hurry up and tell me what ya want so I can turn ya down. As for you missy, your order¡¯s ready so give me my money.] [I¡¯ll start then. Make me a belt. It needs to be sturdy and have a couple small pouches. I¡¯ll also need a pair of scabbards for my weapons, so make sure they¡¯re compatible with each other. I don¡¯t like wasting time so if you can¡¯t make them of high quality in a short time with your skills I¡¯ll find someone who can.] Getting straight to the point Jellal gives the grumpy old man his demands as he pulls out his saws. Silica is left stunned as she recognizes his voice and weapons. He had told her he would find her, but she never thought they would meet so soon. More surprising is that they met in town, something she never imagined would happen. Goblin Is Back [Ya questioning my ability? I¡¯ll show ya what it means to be a craftsman. Give me those things you claim to be weapons.] Jellal laid his saws on the table for the old man to grab. Picking them up and inspecting them he¡¯s surprised to find they were actually made from a shadow wolf¡¯s jaw. Rather than saying they¡¯re made from a jawbone it would be more accurate to say they¡¯re simply repurposed from one. [Ya call this a weapon? It¡¯s just a friggin bone nothing more, nothing less. To think ya want me to make a scabbard for a bone, how laughable.] [It may be a bone, but it¡¯s enough to deal with annoying store owners who talk big without being able to back it up.] [Humph, to throw together a belt and scabbards for these things I don¡¯t even need an hour. Why don¡¯t ya run along and play while I fix up yer toys for ya. And don¡¯t forget to ask yer mommy for a gold piece to cover the costs.] Having convinced the owner to quickly make what he needs Jellal takes a step back, allowing Silica to come to the counter. [It¡¯ll be two gold for the cape little missy. Of course if yer willing to sell the leftover hide I can bring it down by fifty silver. What do ya say?] Instead of answering she looked back at Jellal who was still hanging out in the shop. Getting a nod in confirmation she does the same to the old man¡¯s delight. Of course, he¡¯s unaware that Jellal agreed because he wants to get rid of as much money as he can from his bag. The amount of space a single gold coin takes up can¡¯t be compared to how much fifty silver wastes, making his decision easy. Walking next to Silica, Jellal throws two gold and fifty silver onto the counter in a rough manner. Some of them try to roll away only to be snagged by the owner¡¯s surprisingly dexterous hands. With the cape paid for he quickly swipes it off the counter and unfolds it. Satisfied with its looks he tries it on. Compared to his handmade cape he had used preciously the difference is like night and day. The fur plume¡¯s especially high around the neck as it sits comfortably on his shoulders. A finely crafted chain clasps the two sides together near the neck but is barely visible through the fur. Considering he wasn¡¯t around to be measured the length is just about perfect, coming down to just above the back of his knees. Having time to kill before his order is ready Jellal decides to set out back to where the merchant association and adventurer¡¯s guild are, leaving Silica confusedly standing in the shop. Rather than doing something to bring trouble upon herself she makes up her mind to act like none of this ever happened. As expected, Jellal has a tail when he leaves the shop. Compared to the thugs from before they¡¯re more discreet, but it¡¯s still plain as day to him that they¡¯re following him. Curious why they¡¯re following him he ducks into an alley and whips out his trusty chair, waiting for them to arrive. The stalkers try to act discreet as they walk past the alley but when they glance over to find their target sitting in a chair facing their direction it¡¯s obvious they¡¯ve been found out. Instead of pursuing him any further they abandon their mission, returning to the merchant association to report. Seeing that they aren¡¯t joining his little game he decides to start a new game. After they leave he chases after them following them in the most blatant way possible. Since they aren¡¯t blind they catch on quick and try to lose him by ducking into an alley. Instead of following them into the alley he finds where they¡¯re headed and cuts them off so they run into him before they have a chance to leave the alley. Their previously casual stroll changes into a frantic sprint as they attempt to escape. Reaching the end of an alley, excitement blossoms in their hearts when they see it¡¯s empty. Just as they¡¯re about to step out, Jellal pops around the corner and stands in front of them. They slam on the brakes before turning around and bolting. This continues for a solid five minutes before Jellal finally gets bored of messing with them. Looking around suspiciously they find no signs of their pursuer. They take a step forward before jerking their heads around, looking in every direction in paranoia. Convinced they¡¯ve lost him they revert to their calm demeanor. Suddenly a hand firmly grabs each of them by the shoulder. Stiffly turning their heads, their faces become pale when a certain mask wearing individual enters their vision. [What a coincidence to run into you two here. It seems like we just can¡¯t manage part with each other doesn¡¯t it? I¡¯m curious, how much do you get paid to risk your lives like this. It must be a lot. I know I wouldn¡¯t follow around someone who¡¯s prone to killing people who provokes them. Could it be, you¡¯re doing it because you secretly have a death wish you want fulfilled? If that¡¯s really the case you could have just asked and I would have taken care of it for you; no act necessary.] The pair nearly break down into tears hearing Jellal. The scariest for them isn¡¯t the contents of the message he¡¯s conveying but the manner in which he¡¯s doing so. His voice is calm and he speaks to them in a polite tone as if he was having a friendly chat instead of blatantly threatening to take their lives. [Why do you look so flustered? It was only a joke. I couldn¡¯t hurt a fly even if I wanted to; I don¡¯t have the strength of will to see lowly beings that are below me dying so pointlessly. I¡¯m sure this was just a misunderstanding anyways. The reason you were running around in a panic must be because you¡¯re lost right? Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll help you pitiful lost sheep find your way home. It just so happens I was about to head over to the merchant association myself. Why don¡¯t I show you the way? We can¡¯t stay together all the time though. After all, I need to have a ¡­ chat, yeah a chat, that¡¯s it. I need to have a chat with someone who doesn¡¯t know how to keep their mouth shut.] As Jellal weaves his narrative he releases their shoulders, using his hands for dramatic gestures and poses instead. The pair want to retort his obvious lies but are too afraid to do so. He gives them a light shove on the back as he helps them find their way out of the alley. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. [It¡¯s just down this street here. Do you need me to hold your hands or will you be fine on your own?] Mocking them one last time he sets them free on the main road. They escape as quickly as they can while trying to act casual despite their nerves. This results in a conspicuous stiff high speed walk toward the merchant association, completely failing what they set out to do. No longer bothering with them Jellal continues on his way at a leisurely pace. Arriving in front of the merchant association and adventurer¡¯s guild he has to decide which to enter first since he needs to stop at both. Ultimately he decides to start with the merchant association since it shouldn¡¯t take much time to handle his business. Approaching the store he notices a number of guards moving in different directions. One of them spots him and they quickly wave him down. ¡®I thought they¡¯d be making arrests in connection with Sir Holt so why are they wasting time waving me down? Ah! I forgot to hand over the evidence to Kite before I left. They must have confidence in their men to send them out without knowing if any of them are crooked.¡¯ He returns a wave of his own before continuing into merchant association. His reputation must have already started spreading amongst the guards since they didn¡¯t show any sort of negative reaction to him disregarding them. Rather than waiting in line he walks over to the rightmost counter. [Do me a favor and tell old Isaac to come over here. I have, business, to discuss with him.] [I¡¯ll need to see your proof of membership first. If everything checks out I¡¯ll get him right away for you.] [It seems you¡¯ve misinterpreted my pleasantries as a request. Allow me to be a bit more clear this time. Go bring old Isaac here or I¡¯ll go find him myself. Understood?] Seeing a group of guards following Jellal the worker quickly ran off to report to the higher ups. While he¡¯s waiting for the worker to return the guards cautiously approach him. [Sorry to disturb you, but we have a matter of the utmost importance to speak with you about. Naturally we¡¯d prefer if you came with us to the guard station, but procuring a private room temporarily will suffice.] After careful deliberation he decides using a private room to speak with the guards won¡¯t hurt. Turning in the direction of a worker who¡¯s minding their own business he starts acting like he owns the place. [Hey you! Take us to a private room. When your colleagues come looking for me be sure to send them there as well, and don¡¯t forget to tell them to knock before entering.] Seeing the group of guards next to him the worker reluctantly nods in agreement. The group passes into the hallway and are directed to the first available room. After letting them inside the dejected employee marks the room as in use and leaves to find someone to keep an eye on the room while they go make a report detailing what happened. Inside the room Jellal sits down behind the table while the guards stand, cramped together in the small room. Without wasting time with small talk he pulls out Sir Holt¡¯s files and spreads them out on the table. [I already know what you want and I don¡¯t mind giving them to you, given you agree to some small conditions first. To start with, every person in the room must look through the files before you take them. In this way if one of you happens to be crooked they won¡¯t be able to hide it by swiping their file. More importantly I want you city guards to agree to purchase the weapons and armor I procured from a bandits¡¯ den not too long ago. Of course, since you¡¯re out there working hard to protect the people I won¡¯t rake you over the coals. As long as you agree to buy all of them paying half price is more than enough. So, do we have an agreement?] [I¡¯m sorry but we can¡¯t decide to purchase items on behalf of the entirety of the city guards. If it¡¯s a must we can try to scrape together some money and hope to be compensated later, but we can¡¯t guarantee how much we¡¯ll be able to pay. If you can accept that we agree to your terms.] [Alright we¡¯ve reached an accord. You can collect the items from me if you have a way to carry them. If not I can drop them off at the gate when I leave later tonight. Don¡¯t forget to negotiate well with your boss to cover your costs, and give me additional compensation if possible.] Jellal leaned back in his chair while the guards scrounged together every coin they could muster. They don¡¯t know how much of what they¡¯ve heard from Kite is true but they aren¡¯t about to take a chance and offend someone over what little money they have on them. After passing him the money they take turns looking through the files as per the agreement. Having witnessed how committed the guards of this city are once again Jellal finds himself wondering how they were recruited. He can¡¯t imagine gathering so many loyal and trustworthy people to act as city guards was an easy feat to accomplish. When the last of them finishes looking through the files they collect them off the table, splitting them evenly amongst themselves. [We have a lot of work to attend to so we can¡¯t guarantee we¡¯ll be able to pick up the items. If we can¡¯t we¡¯ll let the guards at the gate know you¡¯ll be coming. On the off chance we¡¯re able to collect them it¡¯s imperative we know where you¡¯ll be.] [Sounds like an excuse to keep tabs on me. That being said, it doesn¡¯t matter if you do that or not. If you want to find me I¡¯ll be in town until the order I placed is finished, which will be less than an hour. During that time frame you can find me in this area on the main road.] The guards confirm with a nod before piling out of the cramped room. Jellal stays behind in the room to wait for Isaac to show up. In the meantime he plans to make use of the privacy provided by the room. Reaching into his bag he pulls out the seedling he bought earlier in the day. Using his mana he influences it to grow so he can make another mask. Growing from the top of the mask down it begins to form, mirroring the original. When the size and shape are about right he stops its growth. Pulling out a throwing knife he begins cutting the eyeholes. The top parts of the eyes are straight lines slanting down slightly as they move toward the center of the mask. The bottom slant slightly more before turning at an obtuse angle and meeting up with the top part. Taking out the eyepieces he cuts a groove in the back of them before putting them back in. Controlling the vines he leads one into each of the grooves, gripping them tightly. He moves the vines around to confirm they can move the eyepieces in and out of place as needed. With the eyes working as intended he moves on to the mouth. Starting from one side he cuts small wedges all the way across, giving the mask its own set of teeth. When he reaches the other side he cuts a pair of grooves on each side of the mask, one on the top half and the other on the bottom. The same way he did with the eyes he uses vines to hold the two halves together. Worried about stability he cuts a few extra grooves, leaving the middle free from vines. Testing the mouth it opens and closes fine, though looking a bit creepy with vines looking like the shredded corners of the mouth. To add to the theme he cuts three chin grooves into the lower part of the mask. Finishing things off he cuts apart his old shirt to act as an inner liner for the mask. To get it to stay in place he has the vines grow through it intermittently. The roots at the top of the mask twist together into five spikes sticking up from either side. Content with the new look he puts away his old mask for safe keeping and tries on the new one. The vines reach around his head to keep it snugly in place as he puts it through its paces. A few minutes of waiting later and there¡¯s a group of people walking down the hall. Stopping and knocking on the door without entering. Using wind magic Jellal pushes the latch in causing the door to slowly swing open. Isaac, Violet and her look alike walk into the room along with the two stalkers from before. Out of the group only the ladies have calm appearances. Everyone else is rightfully nervous given the circumstances. [I don¡¯t need to tell you why I¡¯m here, do I? So, Isaac, do you have anything to say for yourself?] [He didn¡¯t tell anyone where you were going. I-] When he calls out Isaac the secretary tries to stand up for him only to be met with an intense wave of killing intent. [I didn¡¯t ask you. Well Isaac, I¡¯m listening ¡­ for now.] [As per protocol I filled out paperwork detailing what stores I recommended my customers to after you left. Although the stores I recommended are on file, who I suggested them to isn¡¯t.] [Oh, then why were those two following me after I went to the stores you mentioned? Surely the merchant association doesn¡¯t have the manpower to send people to every store that was recommended to customers today.] [Humph, brats nowadays only like when people kiss their asses. They would rather wait for someone else to be free to give them a good smooch then do business with me, arrogant brats.] Reaching up to his mask Jellal covers the closed eyeholes while he moves them out of the way. After rubbing the mask for dramatic effect he loads mana around his eyes and spreads his fingers. His glowing eyes stare at Violet through the eyeholes. [Do you have any way to prove what he said is true? If you were a well-respected reputable business I would give you the benefit of the doubt, but unfortunately that isn¡¯t the case.] [And what happens if we can¡¯t prove it? Are you going to murder someone in broad daylight?] [Kekeke, you catch on pretty quick. Are you going to let someone else pay for your mistakes? If you hadn¡¯t foolishly abused the information at your disposal we wouldn¡¯t be having this conversation. Will you be able to sleep at night knowing your actions are the cause of one of your employee¡¯s death?] A small stare down confirms her fears that the man in front of her is one hundred percent serious. Unwilling to trade a trusted employee¡¯s life for her pride she relents. [Daisy, go bring old Isaac¡¯s work file for today.] Daisy gives a small nod before leaving the room with long strides. A short minute later she returns with a single sheet of paper. After being handed the paper Jellal skims its lacking contents, revealing Isaac¡¯s monumental three business transactions for the day. At the top is a list of items bought along with the quantity, next is a store recommendation, and last is the stores he suggested to Jellal. [It seems you got lucky this time, but I won¡¯t be so kind if something like this happens again.] Goblin Can Adventure? Walking out of the merchant association Jellal crosses the street into enemy territory. Taking his first steps into the adventurer¡¯s guild he feels the excitement well up inside him. The institution itself doesn¡¯t matter to him. The important part is what it stands for; freedom. Members are able to travel seamlessly between countries without any questions asked. Of course, the interconnected system linked between the branches has a good deal to do with that. If an adventurer becomes a criminal it¡¯ll be known to every branch, and by extension every country. This causes them to be a criminal everywhere instead of just where they committed the crime, balancing things impeccably. For Jellal, who isn¡¯t planning on spending much time around people, the only thing that matters is the ability to move through cities as he pleases. Of course the detriment he would face for committing a crime isn¡¯t any different than what he would be dealing with if he didn¡¯t wear a disguise, making it easily dismissed for him. He glances around the room as he walks in. The layout is spacious with the reception desks at the back of the room blocking off a quarter of the first floor and the stairs to the second floor. Scattered sporadically around the room are tables for adventurers to rest at and have a drink. On the left side is a small section cordoned off housing a kitchen and bar. The right side is left bare, with the wall covered in different quests for people to take. The quests are divided into three sections: escort requests, subjugations, and miscellaneous. These are further subdivided into ranks according to their estimated difficulty, labeled by a letter. Each rank has their own subdivisions labeled from one to five, with five the easiest and one the hardest. Since he has time to kill before his order is ready he scopes out quests first. Even though he has no interest in acting like an actual adventurer he¡¯s still curious. Standing in front of the escort section he looks at a few examples. The requests each have specific requirements for party rank and numbers. Some even specify certain skills required amongst the group in order for the quest to be accepted. Moving along he takes a gander at the miscellaneous section next. The quests range from herb picking to cleaning up waste and everything in between. There are even requests to find lost pets and tutoring, truly a random smattering of options. Most of these types of requests are low rank, perfect for beginners. Occasionally a high rank will appear with extremely precise specifications for who can accept, and are most likely posted by people with high status. Stepping in front of the subjugation section he scans over the quests. It¡¯s as you¡¯d expect, the requests are mostly to eliminate monsters with the occasional bandit making their way onto the wall. Since he doesn¡¯t see anything particularly interesting he plans to get down to business. As he¡¯s about to turn around he spots a familiar face hanging amongst the requests: Murdoc. Seeing the face of the bandit leader he killed he paper off the wall for a closer look. His eyes weren¡¯t mistaken, and to his surprise his bounty is ten gold. While it may not be enough to buy a house it¡¯s enough to cover living expenses for a few months at least. Since Murdoc¡¯s already dead he folds up the paper into an airplane and floats it away with the wind. The guild staff are less than thrilled seeing someone throwing around their flyers and chase after it. The young lady reaches up to grab it only for a rogue gust of wind to cause it to spiral out of her grasp. Her second attempt ends with the plane doing a loop before turning over and flying the opposite direction. The quest to snatch the flyer continues for a short time before Jellal gives her a break and lets it float down naturally, ending up in her hands. Having just embarrassed herself chasing after a paper airplane she angrily huffs her way over to the culprit. Using two fingers she pushes up her glasses as she interrogates the troublemaker. [What do you think you¡¯re doing, throwing the flyer around like that?] [I was doing you a favor. The dude¡¯s already dead so having his face plastered on the wall will lead to people wasting their time they could be using for something more important. You¡¯re welcome.] [There haven¡¯t been any reports of Murdoc¡¯s death to date. How can you be so sure he¡¯s dead when last we¡¯ve heard he¡¯s still at large? Do you really think our information network is for show?] [I met the guy a few days ago, and since I¡¯m here right now you should be able to guess how well that went for him. Maybe your information network doesn¡¯t spread inside bandit hideouts and that¡¯s why you didn¡¯t know. By the way, do I need to go to a specific window to register as an adventurer, or is any one fine?] [To be able to take down a prominent bandit even though you haven¡¯t registered as an adventurer; you must be sooo powerful.] [It seems your eyes aren¡¯t just for show after all.] Jellal uses his thick skin to take her sarcastic response as a compliment, rendering her speechless. Her face turns red as she points at him, barely able to contain her inferno like rage. [You-you! Go to any counter but the one I¡¯m at if you want to register, humph.] Unable to come up with a comeback she turns around and stomps back to the counter area, settling back into her spot. Jellal scans the counters looking to see who his options are. He had hoped he would run into Sionia since it would make things slightly easier, but it appears that¡¯s a pipedream. Since he doesn¡¯t know anyone he heads to the only empty counter at the moment. The staff members face sinks as he does exactly the opposite of what she told him. Stopping in front of her counter he gives a light wave as a greeting. [You wouldn¡¯t happen to know where Sionia is right about now, do you? Of course, you can help me register if you¡¯d prefer. I know, you must be wondering how you could be so lucky to bask in the light of a superior being such as myself. I can only say that good fortune is with you.]You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. [Since you asked for someone specific it can¡¯t be helped. I¡¯m not skipping my duties, just being helpful to the newcomer.] Finding a perfect excuse to escape she hops up from her chair and rushes out of sight. Not knowing how long he¡¯ll have to wait he pulls out his trusty chair, which has seen a surprising amount of use today. Kicking his feet up on the counter he rocks the chair back on two legs. ¡®Maybe I should buy a nice rocking chair to replace this one. It¡¯s done a good job until now, but it leaves something to be desired. Since I¡¯ll be outside a lot it¡¯ll need to be durable as well as comfortable. If I can find it, a waterproof coating would be preferable to reduce how quick it¡¯ll deteriorate. Now that I¡¯m thinking about chairs I haven¡¯t gotten around to looking for a proper throne either. It¡¯s necessary for a superior being to show their status after all. Wait! Why have two chairs when I can have one super awesome one? Who said a throne can¡¯t double as a rocking chair? Anyone who believes that rubbish lacks imagination. It¡¯s decided, if I have time after this I¡¯ll look for someone to make the ultimate all-purpose thrown/rocking chair.¡¯ A lot of people give him dirty looks as he kicks back and relaxes at the counter, especially the staff. While they¡¯re contemplating what to do a guard walks into the building. Spotting Jellal he marches over as a vein bulges from his forehead. [Care to explain why a group of fellow guards complained to the captain about being hamstrung into buying equipment. I know it was you so don¡¯t try to act like you¡¯re innocent.] [Hey Kite, long time no see. Did the boss prepare funds for them or is he being a miser? I¡¯m giving them to you guys at a good price so you should be overjoyed. Why be so grumpy? If your face is always scrunched up like that you¡¯ll get wrinkles you know.] [Do you really believe the crap that comes from your mouth or is it all some elaborate act?] [No crap here, just gold. Maybe you¡¯re too tense because of all the work you¡¯ve been doing and somehow got the two confused. I understand, being around me is so glorious it can make you scatterbrained, but try to keep a hold of yourself.] [If there¡¯s a person who¡¯s met you without immediately wanting to punch you in the face I want to meet them and get blessed because they¡¯re undoubtedly a saint.] [Just being in my presence can¡¯t make people saints ¡­ that I know of. Maybe if I gave them a handshake being in contact with a superior being will heighten them above an average human, but becoming a saint may be tough. By the way, you didn¡¯t come here to chat right? I mean, I don¡¯t mind if you want to be around me, it¡¯s a totally normal reaction after all, but you have to remember your work. The people need you.] Kite blinks rapidly as he stares at Jellal, unable to fathom the person in front of him. It takes all his might to stop himself from coughing up blood due to Jellal¡¯s verbal onslaught. Every part of his being urges him to leave the building before his brain starts melting from being too close to Jellal¡¯s ego. [There¡¯s a wagon outside waiting for you. If you don¡¯t mind I¡¯ll be leaving to search for criminals as far away from here as humanly possible.] With the eyes of a dead fish Kite stumbles out of the building, hoping to get away as quickly as he can. From behind him another verbal danger hits him, nearly causing him to fall down. [I understand, truly I do. Being around me so much must have caused you to realize how small you are when compared to a superior being such as myself. It¡¯s okay though, if you work hard you can become an exemplary person. You may never come close to reaching the tops of my shoes, but it¡¯s okay you can still be a great figure by normal standards. Take care of yourself out there, and don¡¯t forget to keep your head up even though you¡¯ll never be me.] Jellal gives Kite a heartfelt goodbye speech to cheer him up before heading out to load up the wagon. Next to the adventurer¡¯s guild two of the guards that payed for the items before wait for him. Jellal gives them a nod as a greeting before hopping into the back of the wagon and unloading the weapons and armor he collected from the bandits. The guards are grateful they were given a wagon to transport the items after seeing how many they were actually being given. With the increasing prices of weapons and armor due to the arrival of the miasma, the fact they could get such a large supply on the cheap is an unexpected boon. Originally they had thought he was planning to dump his junk on them. They never thought they were actually getting such a good deal. After everything¡¯s unloaded Jellal jumps off the back of the wagon. The guards give him a hearty wave as they leave him to return inside. Walking back to the counter he takes a seat with his kicks on their desk, waiting for the staff to come back. When she finally returns after having calmed down her face immediately starts twitching. It took a lot of convincing to get Sionia to agree to help her even though she¡¯s off right now, yet before she has a chance to arrive what¡¯s waiting for her is some disrespectful punk putting his feet all over the counter. She can feel her blood pressure rise as she takes deep breaths, doing her best not to blow her top. Sionia walks out of the hallway behind her and pats her on the shoulder calming her down. Having someone she looks up to comfort her immediately blows away all the hatred she had built up. [Hey long time no see, Sionia. You wouldn¡¯t mind going somewhere a little more private to talk would you?] At the front door Silica had just taken a step inside when she heard a familiar voice once again. Suddenly deciding she forgot to do something she spun around and bailed, leaving Sionia to deal with everything on her own. Hearing Jellal¡¯s voice Sionia couldn¡¯t quite place it until she saw her beloved little sister turn away and abandon her as if she would catch the plague by setting foot in the building. Instantly she knew who she¡¯s dealing with. Dejected she stared at Jellal, unsure what to do. [Why is it you? No, how is it you? Who¡¯s the idiot that let you into our city? I want to file a complaint with their boss.] [I know you¡¯re excited to see me, but we should go somewhere private first.] Wondering if it¡¯s too late to switch careers she reluctantly leads him to the second floor. Entering a private room she drops heavily into her chair as if she¡¯s lost all her strength. [So, what¡¯s so important you had to ruin my good day?] [Don¡¯t be like that. We¡¯re friends aren¡¯t we? I just need a teensy bit of help with something. You see I want to register as an adventurer so I can travel the world as I please and visit all the cities. Unfortunately with the way I am it¡¯s a bit difficult to register in a normal way, and that¡¯s where you come in.] [First as a sign of trust tell me how you got in. If there¡¯s a breach in the wall it could be catastrophic.] [I came in through the gate just like everyone else, well maybe a little stealthier but at least I came in where I was supposed to. I could have opened a hole in the wall or dug a tunnel underneath the wall but I¡¯m not some evil monster who would put an entire city at risk for no reason.] [I don¡¯t like the way you phrased that. Aren¡¯t you saying you would put the entire city at risk if you had a reason?] [It sounds so evil when you say it like that. Yes, yes I would. Of course I would need to be given a reason for something to occur. Like say, I don¡¯t know, people deliberately trying to keep me out of the city. That would probably be a good reason to find a permanent way in.] The way he casually threatened the lives of the entire city made Sionia¡¯s scalp go numb. If someone else had said it she might have taken it as a joke, but she¡¯d heard how strong this little goblin truly is from Mac, whom she trusted enough to watch over her sister. With a potential disaster like Jellal skulking about things suddenly looked grim for Pavise. If they didn¡¯t give him a convenient way in he¡¯d make his own. With such a casual statement he effectively held the entire city hostage. Yet, she found a silver lining in those dark clouds. His reason for becoming an adventurer wasn¡¯t just to get into this city but to travel the world. If they could get through these tough times they may be rid of him for good after a while. [Listen, I want to help you. I really do. But I don¡¯t have the authority to do such a thing. Only the guild master can make someone¡¯s information private. Even then, it can still be accessed by the guild masters of other branches. There¡¯s nothing I can do.] [I see. If I want things to go smoothly I need to get all the guild masters on my side. I might be able to convince them if they listen to reason. The only problem is whether or not they know what¡¯s good for them. Why don¡¯t we start by having a chat with this branches guild leader? You should have enough pull around here to help me with that right?] Jellal wanting to meet the guild leader came out of left field, leaving Sionia stunned. She could get him a meeting, but it could damage her reputation if something happened or if it leaked outside. She and Mac have both already personally reported Jellal¡¯s existence to the guild master so he won¡¯t be completely blindsided, but that doesn¡¯t mean everything will be sunshine and roses either. Silently she sat there mulling over her options. No matter what she has to keep the lunatic in front of her from doing irreparable damage to the city. That¡¯s especially true now, with the miasma throwing a wrench into things. With no good ending in sight she gives in and tries to mitigate the damage as much as possible. [Alright, I¡¯ll take you to see the guild master. What happens next is all on you. Whether he agrees or makes you into this city¡¯s mortal enemy it has nothing to do with me.] [From what you¡¯re saying this guild master sounds like a swell guy. To tell you the truth, being the mortal enemy of the city isn¡¯t too bad of a result. I¡¯ve been itching to test the walls durability and that would give me the perfect excuse to do so.] Leading Jellal down the hallway Sionia began praying internally for cooler heads to prevail. After climbing to the third floor they stopped at the end of an empty hallway. In front of them is a closed pair of double doors with a mural of a group of adventurers fighting a dragon carve on them. Jellal whistled to show how impressed he is by the carving while Sionia takes a deep breath and knocks. Goblin Isnt Evil A grizzled voice calls out from within, beckoning them inside. Pushing the door open Sionia leads Jellal into the office. On the right hand side, immediately after entering is the secretary¡¯s desk. Sitting behind the desk is a young looking woman with long ears, a button nose, and peculiar dark skin with a slightly bluish tinge. Her black eyes stare at Sionia as she walks in. [You¡¯re bringing guests here without an appointment? This isn¡¯t a place where you can do as you please. We¡¯ve already told you to make appointments beforehand if there isn¡¯t an emergency, yet here you are again showing up out of the blue.] [Since when have I brought guests without an appointment? I may stop by to say hi on my own but I would never bring a guest in if it isn¡¯t an emergency.] [That¡¯s enough!] The pair¡¯s bickering is cut short by the guild master, causing the two of them to immediately fall silent. At the back of the room, standing with his back turned, the guild master peers out the window. His long white hair can¡¯t hide his long pointy ears which stick out prominently. Being as discreet as possible the guild master begins preparing chantless magic, proving he didn¡¯t get the position just for show. Since this is his first time dealing someone who can use chantless magic Jellal decides to play it safe and use his mana to bore into the mana making up the forming magic. Now that he¡¯s able to easily interfere in the magic he gets down to business. [Don¡¯t you think you¡¯re being a little overly cautious? Well, I suppose someone in your position¡¯s made a lot of enemies over the years so it¡¯s hard to blame you. I¡¯ll let you know right now, things won¡¯t end well for you if things continue along this path.] For the first time since they entered the room the guild master turns to face Jellal and Sionia. His thin face has signs of aging faintly visible making him look close to middle age. His pointy chin, thin eyebrows, and constantly squinting green eyes give his face an extremely streamlined look. Staring quizzically at Jellal he continues his magic preparations. In his long life he¡¯d only come across a handful of people capable of seeing through his chantless magic when he¡¯s trying to be discreet. Every single one of those people had their names spread across the country; most were household names throughout the world. Yet another such person has appeared in front of him without so much as a whisper preceding him. Normally meeting a person of tremendous ability would be great news, but today is different. On this day the person is being brought to him by one of the guild¡¯s most trusted employees under the guise of an emergency. For him to be here due to an emergency could only mean one of two things: he¡¯s come across something he¡¯s unable to handle alone which could threaten the city, or he himself is the emergency. Neither possibility bodes well for the city, leaving the guild master understandably on edge. [So, what can I help you with? It¡¯s been a long time since we¡¯ve faced true emergency so it¡¯s hard to imagine why you¡¯ve come here.] [Does the miasma not count as an emergency? I don¡¯t know if you¡¯re overconfident or na?ve, but either way it doesn¡¯t change the grim future the city¡¯s heading towards. Regardless I didn¡¯t come to talk about that, I came to get a smidgen of help from you.] [For you to say such things about the miasma makes me wonder if we¡¯re truly taking things too lightly. Although I would like to discuss the miasma since you put so much stock in it I¡¯ll put it to the side until I hear what you want my help with.] [It¡¯s simple really. I just want you to help me register as an adventurer before blocking access to my information. If you can do that I¡¯ll be out of your hair in no time.] Hearing what the ¡°emergency¡± is the secretary stands from her chair and slams her palms on the desk. [I don¡¯t really see how that constitutes an emergency. Do you think you can use an emergency as an excuse to mess around? Well you can¡¯t!] [Of course it¡¯s an emergency. If I have to keep sneaking into town every time I come here it¡¯s too much work. Instead of wasting time to break in I¡¯ll be better off opening up a hole in the wall, or digging a tunnel under it so I can come and go as I please. It may not mean much to me, but for you having a breach in your outer defenses can be considered a true emergency. If helping me means you don¡¯t have easy access to the city from outside isn¡¯t it worth me coming here?] [If you want to register you can do it at the front desk like everyone else.] [Calm down Dirrale. I¡¯m sure our friend here has a good reason for coming to me specifically. If he could get what he wants so easily Sionia wouldn¡¯t have brought him here in the first place.] The guild master uses a calm tone as he tries to calm down the short tempered secretary, Dirrale. Clenching her teeth she sits back down while glaring daggers at Jellal and Sionia. [Of course I have my reasons. It¡¯s important for my information to be inaccessible since it would cause unnecessary trouble for both me and this city.] [Even if you say that, we don¡¯t know the slightest thing about you. There¡¯s no way we can trust someone that hides behind a mask during a private meeting. If you want to convince us you need to at least let us know who we¡¯re dealing with.] [I can do that on the condition it never leaves this room. If you want to leak what you see you¡¯d best prepare your will ahead of time because your days will be numbered.] After straight up threatening everyone in the room Jellal waits for their decision. A serious expression looms over the guild masters face as he nods in agreement. The fiery Dirrale immediate follows suit, showing no hesitation as she jumps in the same boat as the guild master.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Grabbing the front of his mask with his right hand Jellal slowly removes it. Using his left hand he flips his hood back as well, fully revealing his head. Everyone in the room is stunned by his appearance, especially Sionia. The guild master and Dirrale are both stumped by his abnormal looks. They¡¯ve never encountered this type of person in their lives causing them to be unsure what to think. From their perspective Jellal looks like a cross between a human or elf and a goblin. His face has a resemblance to that of a goblin, especially his ears, but they¡¯re muted compared to normal goblins. He¡¯s also missing the distinctive dull green skin common amongst goblins, instead sporting crystal like skin that seems to have a tinge of pale green mixed in. Despite having met Jellal multiple times Sionia¡¯s even more surprised by his appearance then the other two. Compared to when they ran into each other a short time ago his look has completely changed. The difference is so drastic she wouldn¡¯t believe the current him and the previous one are the same person if she didn¡¯t interact with him. In the back of her mind she wonders if she¡¯s been tricked and they¡¯re actually two different entities. That thought is immediately consigned to oblivion when she realizes there would be two freaks running around which isn¡¯t something she can accept. She doesn¡¯t reject it out of some logical impossibility, but pure refusal to admit there could be two of these things in existence. [I suppose proper introductions are in order. I¡¯m Jellal. No need to thank me for introducing myself to you even if it¡¯s your natural reaction. Your turn mister guild master.] [Where are my manors? I¡¯m Aegis, guild master of the Pavise branch of the adventurer¡¯s guild. Why don¡¯t we get down to business? Dirrale, go get what we¡¯ll need to register him as an adventurer while we discuss things.] Giving Jellal one last glare she stands up and walks to the door, slamming it after she leaves. [Now where was I? You want your information blocked. Based on appearances the reason has something to do with your race. On my end you don¡¯t end up messing with the wall which is a plus. There are a few problems though. First I don¡¯t know what your race is, which puts me at a loss in the negotiations. Second my side gets nothing out of the deal which makes it too one sided. And last, but not least there are some problems that come with hiding someone¡¯s information. Even if normal people won¡¯t be able to see it other guild masters will. In order to truly keep it from prying eyes you need to be able to convince not just me but the others as well.] [So basically, on top of not busting a hole in your city¡¯s defensive wall for my own convenience, you want me to sweeten the pot so to speak. You should be careful with your greed. The more I give you the greater the repercussions if someone from the guild goes against our deal.] [I don¡¯t have the power to speak for the adventurer¡¯s guild in its entirety so I don¡¯t dare make promises for the other guild masters. That being said most of us are on good terms and typically won¡¯t do something to blatantly sabotage another guild master. If you can give them a good enough reason to keep your identity a secret they probably won¡¯t act rash.] [Then I guess it¡¯s time to get negotiations underway. To even the playing field a bit I¡¯ll tell you beforehand that I¡¯m a goblin, I think. I used to be then some stuff happened and now I¡¯m a bit unsure how I would be classified so we¡¯ll go with goblin for now.] Upon hearing Jellal¡¯s declaration Aegis¡¯ face turned dark. Sionia had told him about an abnormal goblin she met by chance not too long ago, but he didn¡¯t think the person in front of him was that very goblin. Her most recent report on it didn¡¯t mention it having such an appearance so he can only assume Jellal¡¯s ¡°some stuff happened¡± occurred recently. [Since you¡¯re a goblin I¡¯ll have to start by asking you not to attack adventurers. I can¡¯t let someone join us if they¡¯re going to be attacking our members.] [No can do. I don¡¯t attack innocent people for no reason, but I won¡¯t agree to some vague request not to attack adventurers. That¡¯s the same as me asking you not to attack monsters. Even if you agree it won¡¯t stop them from attacking you and will only make things overly annoying in the long run. I won¡¯t attack adventurers for no reason but if they mess with me I won¡¯t hesitate to get rid of them. That¡¯s the closest thing to a compromise you¡¯ll get from me.] [I don¡¯t like it, but it¡¯s fair. We¡¯ll settle on that for our baseline. Shall we get into the meat and potatoes of the discussion? What can you do for me to make the effort of hiding your identity worth my while?] Jellal silently ponders what to give him in return. Even though he has a lot of junk from the bandits, a few physical items won¡¯t be enough to convince someone in his position. The only thing he can rely on is being able to get him something he doesn¡¯t have. Thinking about those annoying prisoners he left in his cave a great idea worms its way into his mind. Why not use them as a bargaining chip? He already told them he would consider letting them go so why not get a little value out of them in the meantime. [A while back I took over a cave some bandits used as a hideout. Their leader even had a flyer hanging on the wall downstairs, which I pulled down for you. Anyways, inside that hideout I found some people who were captured by the bandits. A few of them perished due to their own hubris but there are plenty left dreaming of being set free. I could be persuaded to let them go if you help me out. Of course I¡¯ll have to keep them from learning the location of the cave since I¡¯m currently using it myself. We can have Sionia pick them up at a designated location and lead them from there, cutting all ties between me and them.] [A truly compelling offer. Unfortunately it¡¯s not quite enough. We can use all the manpower we can get around here, but in the end it¡¯s only a one time deal without any major implications on our future.] [Alright, how about I throw in some extra information to make it worth your while? Your defense line doesn¡¯t cross the stream, leaving you blind to what¡¯s happening in the majority of the forest. I, on the other hand, have been moving on both sides giving me much greater insight into what¡¯s happening. If you know what¡¯s happening over there you can better prepare for the future. Compared to the lives of a few useless captives the impact of information is much more important. What do you say? Not a bad deal, right?] [You make a sound argument. I¡¯ll tell you what. You give up the information and the prisoners and we¡¯ll call it a deal. Of course that¡¯s just for me personally. You still need something that can convince the rest of the guild masters.] [It can¡¯t be helped. I don¡¯t plan on staying in one specific area in the future so I can¡¯t make any specific offers. I can offer them information about the areas I¡¯ve been to if they need it. On top of that I can offer assistance, as long as I¡¯m properly compensated. My prices won¡¯t be cheap but it¡¯s only fitting for it to be expensive to acquire the help of a superior being such as myself. As for what I can do, that¡¯s easy. I was able to enter town undetected. I can locate secret tunnels and hidden safes, as well as break into them. I¡¯m pretty versatile if I do say so myself. Of course I won¡¯t go out of my way to help so the other guild masters can only leave it up to luck if they can procure my services. If they need me they better pray I¡¯m in the area and they can find me or else they¡¯re out of luck. Naturally this will apply to all guild masters, given their requests are within reason.] [I see, not a bad tactic. Offer them something they can use while also allowing yourself to remain unbound and free. The only issue is whether or not you¡¯re as good as you say. To put it bluntly, guild masters have access to every adventurer in the guild. In fact most of them would jump at the chance to be given a job by one personally. How about this: in this room there¡¯s a hidden vault. If you can tell me the location of the vault I¡¯ll relay your skill to the others. If I¡¯m personally vouching for your skills, they might accept your proposal. Of course if you can¡¯t find the vault we can call this whole thing off.] [Oh ye of so little faith. To think a poor lost lamb would be masquerading as a guild master. First off there isn¡¯t one vault in this room, but two. More importantly they¡¯re located under yours and Dirrale¡¯s desks. Should I also mention the trap by the door which can be triggered by adjusting a floor tile by the window? In fact you were standing in a perfect position to activate it when we walked in.] Aegis is left floored by Jellal¡¯s flawless answer. His plan to put pressure on Jellal while testing his abilities ended up backfiring spectacularly. Not only were the vaults revealed, but so was the hidden trap. The trap was put in place by the first Pavise guild master as a failsafe on the off chance his secretary betrayed him. Since the secretary works close with the guild master they¡¯re privy to a lot of secrets and have a lot of trust placed in them. The trap was put in place as a secret only known to the guild masters, yet now a random person off the street had discovered it with ease. If Jellal had looked around the room and inspected everything in detail he could accept the vaults or even the trap being stumbled upon by chance, but that isn¡¯t what happened. From the time Jellal entered the room his feet haven¡¯t moved. Looking closer at where Jellal¡¯s standing Aegis realizes the trap was never a secret to him. On the off chance the trap is discovered by outsiders it was built with a failsafe. By equally distributing ones wait on a specific set of tiles in the middle of the trap it¡¯s possible to prevent it from activating. This failsafe was the paranoid first guild master¡¯s most lauded accomplishment despite it never seeing use. For Jellal to not only discover the trap but the failsafe as well is enough to leave Aegis speechless. In the end he can only tip his cap in respect at his complete defeat. Remembering Jellal¡¯s warning when he first entered the room Aegis finally gives up on his magic. Why bother wasting energy when his opponent was a step ahead of him from the start? [I concede. I¡¯ll put a word in for you with the other guild masters after you register.] ¡®And I¡¯ll be sure to mention how dangerous you are as well; wouldn¡¯t want them poking a sleeping dragon for no reason.¡¯ Goblin Registers Dirrale returns with impeccable timing. Walking past Jellal she glares at him with a look that speaks for itself. If she could kill him with her eyes he¡¯d be dead a thousand times over. She passes the paper and rectangular card she brought back to Aegis before retreating behind her desk. [In order to register you need to fill out this form for us to keep on file, and drop a bit of blood onto this card. The form is basically for our records and so we can help pair up adventurers, while the card is what ties you to the network. Our network has different nodes all over the world and is used by every nation in existence today. Once you¡¯re in it¡¯s impossible to escape, even if you evolve, wear a disguise, or die you¡¯ll still be in it. Every time you enter a city legally it¡¯ll be recorded, and the same is true with any crimes you commit will be. To get the most benefit out of your status as an adventurer you have to be active. Not taking any quests during a specified time period will list you as inactive revoking a majority of the perks. The time frame will get longer the higher your rank is so if you don¡¯t want to waste time on quests I would suggest increasing your rank as quickly as possible. At the lowest rank you¡¯ll be allowed up to two weeks between quests before you¡¯re considered inactive, while the highest rank will give you two full years between quests. In emergency situations we may issue an emergency quest which will be sent out to every registered member in the area. This is done through the network and is based on proximity to the node. Emergency quests are mandatory, with major penalties being given for disregarding them. Penalties range from fines and reduced rank to having your status as an adventurer revoked. It¡¯s possible to have someone specifically request you for a quest, but it isn¡¯t mandatory to accept. Refusing may affect your reputation but there are no sanctioned penalties like with an emergency quest. In order to reduce the number of casualties among new adventurers we require new recruits to be looked after by a mentor before they gain the benefits of being registered. Once they¡¯re given the stamp of approval the adventurer is no longer considered a fledgling and will receive full benefits. Hmm, that should cover everything. I can block access to your information but I can¡¯t do anything about the rules. You¡¯ll need to gain a mentors approval and complete quests just like everyone else if you want to receive benefits.] After finishing his overly long spiel he passes the form to Jellal to fill out. The form is straight forward, requiring name, age, gender, race, and specialty. Jellal blazes through the form writing as little as possible. With that taken care of Aegis passes him the card. Pricking his finger, a single drop of blood falls onto the surface of the card before soaking into it. A faint light envelopes the card for a few seconds before fading away, proving his success in registering. Lines begin appearing on the surface of the card, slowly forming letters. When everything is formed the card resembles a simplified version of his status screen.
Name: Jellal Gender: Male Level: 10
Race: Goblin Age: 0 Rank: F
Escort: 0 Miscellaneous: 0 Subjugation: 0
Looking at his brand new id he¡¯s thankful he was able to level up after his evolution since it kept everything on the card from being at the lowest possible level. [I¡¯ll need to borrow your card for a moment in order to block the information.] Aegis takes his card before walking out of the office. Since his business is just about finished Jellal puts his mask back on before flipping up his hood, hiding his appearance. While they¡¯re waiting for Aegis to come back Dirrale and Jellal busy themselves with a staring contest. A minute passes in silence before Aegis steps through the door. The updated card only shows Jellal¡¯s name and his guild related stats. Looking at the card he nods in satisfaction before looking at Sionia. [As per the agreement I¡¯ll be leaving the captives to you. It may take a while to drag so much dead weight through the forest so let¡¯s meet where we last met at around midday tomorrow.] After one sidedly nominating Sionia to play babysitter for the captives he turns to Aegis, who¡¯s patiently waiting for his report about the other side of the stream. Acting as if he forgot Jellal turns around to leave causing Aegis to yell out in an attempt to stop him. Without looking back Jellal stands in front of the door. He clears his throat in preparation for his report before making it as brief as possible. [Basically the largest groups of monsters you find on this side are about the same size as the small ones on the other side. Plus none of the stronger monsters have made it across the stream yet. Taking into account their massive numbers advantage you guys are boned harder than a pair of skeletons making love in an ancient mass grave. Later.] Having played around enough Jellal pushes open the door and strolls through the hallway. On his way back to the first floor he receives a lot of stares from the staff but he disregards them. Passing through the front door he arrives back at the main road. He thought about stopping and picking up a quest on the way out so he could get it out of the way, but decided not to since he still has to deal with a mentor after he accepts his first quest. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Since there¡¯s still time left until his equipment is ready he takes a stroll around the plaza. Not finding anything of interest he wanders over to the tent in the middle of the plaza. The guards watch him like a hawk as he enters the tent. Chained to poles on either side are the slaves up for sale. They¡¯re covered in dirt, not having the opportunity to bath and clean themselves up as they wish. Their matted hair looks almost natural on most of them, suiting their bandit like appearances. The only slave for sale that isn¡¯t grimy is the sole female who¡¯s dressed in clothes that emphasize her curves. When she sees Jellal looking at her she puffs her chest out and gives a flirtatious smile. ¡®Oh, a seductress? It¡¯s a shame I don¡¯t have any way to ensure a slaves loyalty or I¡¯d buy her and let her roam around the city. Having someone with her particular set of skills could be handy after all. It would work if I had some way to track her but I don¡¯t even have that. Still, maybe it isn¡¯t bad to leave her here. It¡¯s obvious what she¡¯s planning by how she reacted when I was looking at her. If she¡¯s that obvious the chances of her causing me trouble due to her lack of subtlety increases exponentially. The rest of the slaves aren¡¯t much better. They were quite expectant when they heard me approach but when I came inside they immediately changed their tune. If the guards haven¡¯t prepared an ambush for when one of their allies to buy their freedom they¡¯re either idiots or blind.¡¯ After looking around the tent Jellal quickly gets bored and bails. The woman does her best to sell herself, but her wispy voice falls on deaf ears. Continuing his exploration he fails to find anything of interest. Instead of hanging around the plaza he shifts his approach to checking out random stores. As he roams around he tries to pawn off his useless items on the cheap. By matching the types of items he brings out with the items in the store he has moderate success since no self-respecting merchant would pass up such a prime chance to turn an easy profit. With a bit of luck on his side he manages to get rid of most his stock, but continues his exploration regardless. When he¡¯s finally wasted enough time he makes a b-line for the store he left his saws at. Pushing the door open he finds the old shopkeeper sitting behind the front desk. [You got my stuff geezer? Don¡¯t tell me those rickety old bones of yours couldn¡¯t handle such a simple job and you¡¯re waiting to grovel as an apology for your arrogance?] [Humph, I may be old, but I aint so old I can¡¯t take care of a few toys. With how long it took ya to get here I thought you were planning on dumping your trash on me and making a run for it. It¡¯s a good thing I didn¡¯t throw your junk away. If I did people might accuse me of bullying kids.] The old man fishes the items out from behind the counter as Jellal approaches. Snatching them from his hands Jellal gives them a once over to make sure everything¡¯s in order. Confirming everything checks out he throws them into his bag before pulling a one eighty and leaving. Annoyed at the smug face of the owner he can¡¯t help but spit out a comment before the door closes. [Not bad, if I didn¡¯t know any better I would think it¡¯s the handiwork of a partially blind man instead of a bat like geezer. Maybe next time I¡¯ll find a monkey and see how they do.] The door swings shut behind Jellal before the owner has a chance to respond. Knowing the old man can only swallow his words or talk to himself like a senile old man, Jellal smirks under his mask. With his business taken care of, Jellal struts along the main road without a care. He drifts along until he makes it back to the gate. While most people rush to get inside the city before it starts getting dark, he leisurely passes through the gates and into the embrace of the great outdoors. On his journey home Jellal has plenty of time to let his thoughts run wild. This is especially true for the section leading up to the forest. Since there are so many adventurers making their way back from the forest he chooses foregoes flying until he at least reaches the forest. ¡®Having to run back and forth is really a drag. Now that I can come and go as I please I need to deal with the annoyingly long trip. Flying¡¯s all well and good but it still takes time. There¡¯s also flying monsters like that supersized hawk from earlier. Plus I still have a ton of useless junk to get rid of, which¡¯ll cost me a few more trips to Pavise. As expected, taking a trip every time is too inconvenient and time consuming. Since I don¡¯t have much to do, I guess it¡¯s time to research better methods of travel. More precisely, teleportation. I¡¯m able to create an entirely new space with mana, but instantly moving through space to arrive at a designated location is an entirely different beast. Anything that involves space magic is dangerous due to its proclivity for isolation and separation. If I mess up even a little I may end up with body parts that are no longer of speaking terms. The last thing I want is to end up as a head in someone¡¯s back yard so I have to be extremely careful when I practice space magic. That being said, a superior being such as myself won¡¯t be dissuaded by potential consequences. Still, there¡¯s the issue of where to begin. When I was learning how to make separate spaces I had an example to go off of and play with in the item bags. For teleportation I¡¯ll be winging it from the start. To be safe I¡¯ll come up with some theories first. The next step will be testing on small items before moving on to more substantial ones. If I can get through those safely it¡¯s on to live tests with small monsters. Horned rabbits should work perfectly for the first round of testing thanks to their size. From there I can move on to larger monsters like goblins. Since goblins have many similarities to me they¡¯re perfect to use for the tests before I step in myself. Of course there¡¯s always the issue of my physiology. It could have unforeseen effects, both positive and negative. For that I can only rely on luck which is unfortunate. Since I¡¯ll be catching monsters for my experiments I should remember to look into separating mana and miasma while I¡¯m at it. If things go well I¡¯ll be able to ensure I won¡¯t be affected by the miasma in the future. Worst case scenario, I practice teleporting dead bodies instead of live ones.¡¯ While rushing ahead toward the forest Jellal¡¯s inner mad scientist runs wild. The gears in his head only stop running wild once he reaches the edge of the forest. Taking to the skies, he rides the wind. Staying a few meters above the forest he doesn¡¯t fly high enough to be an obvious target for flying monsters. He¡¯s also low enough to the trees to be hard to spot from below, allowing him to travel undisturbed. Every once in a while he increases his altitude to get a better look around. The treetops are died in an orange hue as the sun gradually descends, offering up a feast for the eyes. The view is enough to make him almost forget the forest is filled with mindlessly raging hordes of monsters seeking to kill anything they come across. He continues soaring through the sky until he comes across a section of frozen trees. As he descends he scouts around for the ribbon signifying the tree he¡¯s looking for. Locating the ribbon he drops to the base of the tree, finding the cube of earth mostly intact. Although there are scratch marks and gouges all over the cube, none of them are deep enough to penetrate the protective layer he placed around the monster. Using earth magic he opens up the cube to reveal the frozen remains of the hawk he killed. Not wasting any time he unfreezes it by pulling away the ice mana encapsulating it. Doing this allows it to stay extremely cold and preserved while getting rid of the actual ice protecting it. He thought about leaving the ice on it for the captives to deal with as a final cruel joke, but decided against it since he wants them to actually be able to process it. Even if it would be entertaining it isn¡¯t worth making extra work for himself. Jamming it into his item bag he soars back into the air to continue his journey home. As he progresses he comes across an increasing number of trees that look ill, their once lush green foliage now scattered on the ground withering. Without the cover of the canopy the hordes of monsters become keen to his presence, chasing after him along the ground while glaring into the sky. At first he disregards them, but as their numbers increase beyond triple digits he rethinks things. Seeing as they want to come at him in such numbers he decides to use them to test some of his ideas. He¡¯s already tested combining types of mana, but never on a large scale or to attack an enemy. The horde beneath him just so happens to fit the criteria to do both, making them perfect subjects to experiment on. Since he¡¯s planning on using space magic a lot in the near future he uses it as one of the types of mana. To increase the chances of success he uses wind mana as the second type, since he¡¯s most experienced with it. To start things off he creates hundreds of tiny patches of separated space mana in an attempt to create small tears in space. Following those patches is mana specifically there to mend the space that¡¯s been torn apart. When the two are together they don¡¯t seem like much, but this is only the beginning. Mixing in wind mana across a wide area his preparations move along. The two types of mana don¡¯t combine perfectly but work together. The space mana moves freely through the wind causing invisible tears in space wherever they travel. Cementing everything with his own mana he activates his magic. Tiny space tears constantly form in the middle of the horde. Any part of a monster that comes into contact with the tear is immediately cut to ribbons, leaving small holes and gashes all over them. Although the magic is deadly it¡¯s lacking practicality. To prevent space from becoming unstable and causing a major incident he¡¯s forced to repair the tears immediately after they form, drastically reducing the damage they cause. Considering the magic a failure he moves on to attempt number two. Instead of an offensive magic he tries his hand at a defensive one. Sticking with wind as an auxiliary he attempts to solidify space surrounding a group of monsters. His invisible shield forms slowly but turns out to be extremely effective. The main issue is the time needed to construct the magic. Solidifying space is extremely dangerous just the same as any other magic involving space. To safely create a barrier the time needed makes it unfeasible to be used as a reactionary measure, constituting another failure. Giving up on using space magic for combat he switches tactics and tests one idea for teleportation. Gathering together space mana he selects his test subject, a goblin that¡¯s slightly taller than average. With his target selected he begins attempting to use the properties of the space mana to shift them instantaneously to another location a few meters away. The mana shifting is a resounding success, but that¡¯s only the mana. The unfortunate test subject appeared along with the mana ¡­ in an innumerable number of tiny, almost microscopic, pieces. Rather than a corpse a puff of blood is basically all that remains of the poor goblin. His first test in teleporting a living being results in what can only be described as essentially atomizing the test subject. Goblin Isnt Lost ¡®That wasn¡¯t exactly what I had in mind. Well, it could be useful in its own way at least. Having a ridiculous attack like that in my back pocket for a rainy day doesn¡¯t hurt. If someone¡¯s extremely talented at magic and has an affinity for space magic they may be able to stop it, but what are the odds of coming across many people that fit the bill. The only other way I can think of it being prevented is if someone has a way to stop the use of magic, or mana in general which is also extremely unlikely. Barring a few select outliers using a botched teleportation magic to attack is a practically guaranteed death sentence. Still, letting so many of these weaklings gather together isn¡¯t a good idea. I guess I should quit playing around and get rid of them. There will undoubtedly be more opportunities to experiment on teleportation in the future. Such a big group isn¡¯t ideal to do trials with anyways.¡¯ Instead of immediately using wind magic to decimate their ranks Jellal gathers lightning mana. Although he could win easily against most opponents with his wind magic, relying on a single type of magic could cause major drawbacks to arise depending on the situation. With the lightning mana he doesn¡¯t form lightning but sets up pockets of mana within the horde¡¯s ranks first. Next he manipulates the other types of mana in the area to make it easier for the lightning mana to pass through without resistance. As everything falls into place he forms a ball of lightning at the tip of his finger. Lowering his hand to point at the ground the ball descends to the ground in the middle of the prearranged pockets of mana. When it¡¯s a meter above the ground he activates his magic. The ball of lightning bursts like a bubble shooting lightning in all directions. The pockets of mana serve as lightning rods, attracting the rogue lightning and changing its direction, eventually becoming a stream that¡¯s interconnected as it worms in and around the horde. In the sky Jellal finishes off the final touches. Thunder rolls as a bolt of lightning descends in the middle of the formation. The trace amounts of lightning forming the stream is suddenly supercharged, causing it to glow brightly. From above the stream of lightning forms a pattern resembling a giant palm print. Due to the overwhelming power of lightning it didn¡¯t stay exactly according to form causing some small irregularities in the formation. Jellal admires his work for a moment before dissipating the magic. In the aftermath of the attack the horde is left completely annihilated, save for a few incredibly lucky stragglers. Smoke rises from the charred bodies cover the ground as the stench of burnt flesh permeates the area. Smoke rises from the ground below where the formation was, while small fires rage throughout the vicinity. The fires started by rogue electrical discharges are put out by Jellal using water magic, preventing them from spreading and growing out of control. With only a few survivors left Jellal nominates them to become test subjects for his experimental teleportation initiative. Focusing mana on his eyes he prepares to repeat his initial test. He already knows what the result will be, but by paying extra attention he hopes to gleam some clues to improve his chances of success for his next version of teleportation magic. For those goals to be achieved he selects an unfortunate wolf to act as the sacrificial lamb. Preparing the space mana in the exact same way he did previously he repeats the experiment. Once again the subject is turned into a puff of blood on the other side, perfectly replicating the results of the original test. Although he didn¡¯t gain much new information, he was able to confirm his previous suspicious why the subjects ended up the way they did. As he had expected he was able to influence the space mana to shift positions instantaneously, but that¡¯s all. The way he was doing it only influenced the mana on a small scale. To put things more simply: he could convince a large amount of mana to move, but only as individual bits of mana and not as a uniform group. Because the mana changed locations separately the subject also had millions of tiny pieces of their body move separately. The separate pieces arrived at the same time but they didn¡¯t move together as one entity, resulting in a bloody puff of blood arriving instead of an intact body. With three stragglers left his chances to improve his technique is limited. In order to make the best use of the subjects he has left he overhauls his magic. Instead of letting the mana flow freely he clumps it as tightly together as he can, hoping it¡¯ll move together as one instead of as singular bits of mana. He carefully chooses the location he wants the subject to end up and tries to get the mana to move as a clump. Activating the magic the unfortunate goblin used as this rounds lab rat disappears. It reappears near the area he designated in another puff of blood, signifying another total failure. The pair of remaining monsters are let off the hook for the moment as Jellal mulls over the experiments in his mind. ¡®As expected, teleportation isn¡¯t easy. Maybe it¡¯s because I wasn¡¯t paying close enough attention at first, but there¡¯s also an issue with where the teleported subject ends up. Of course, there¡¯s also a chance I got lucky at first and they appeared perfectly on target. Regardless, not being able to pinpoint an exact spot as the end destination is extremely troublesome. If I can¡¯t go exactly where I want there¡¯s the possibility of moving to a position that¡¯s already occupied by something. I don¡¯t know what¡¯ll happen if that occurs, but there¡¯s no way it¡¯s going to be pretty. Adding in the inability to move all the space mana as a single entity and teleportation is looking like it¡¯s a long way off. If I can¡¯t make it work there¡¯s always partially merging with space mana and going from there, but that¡¯s a last resort. Making others¡¯ mana merge isn¡¯t something I can do right now so I would only be able to test everything out myself, and I¡¯m not too keen on doing something so dangerous when I have even a single alternative available. I only have two more attempts right now so trying to perfect my technique is out the window. The best I can do is pick an area and try to improve that part of the magic. Since moving targets in one piece looks like it¡¯ll take a while to solve, the two survivors ought to be used for target practice instead. Besides, if I can manage to get them to end up at the exact destination I want it could provide me some clues to solve the separation problem as well.¡¯If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Selecting his focus, Jellal begins his new round of tests. He permeates the area with a mixture of space and wind mana. Merging the two together he attempts to put the entire area under control, even though it would never work for long distance teleportation. He gets as many factors in his favor as he can during the prep. The wind acts as a barrier to keep other types of mana clear from the teleportation zones as much as possible. Meanwhile he gathers an exorbitant amount of mana to perform the magic. Such an investment of mana isn¡¯t feasible in the heat of battle, but since it¡¯ll stack things in his favor he does it anyways. When everything is ready he commences his plan. A puff of blood appears in the designated destination. Thankfully his loaded deck did the job, gifting him the solace of success. No matter how minor the success it¡¯s irrelevant to him. What¡¯s important is the proof of concept. Instead of rushing into the next test he analyzes the results so he can pick and choose what to change in the next trial run. ¡®The best way to narrow down the causes of success is to do repeated tests changing as few variables as possible. Unfortunately my goblin friend over there is all by himself so I can¡¯t do that. To speed up the process I can only change things based on my personal observations and conclusions. To start things off I need to reduce the amount of mana by at least half. Mixing in wind mana appeared to do the trick to block interference but it¡¯s hard to tell due to the sheer amount of mana. If the mana in the area is actually a factor it would make things much harder. I would need to clear it out completely to hit an exact target or ¡­ I could be a genius and mix the destination with space mana and teleport it someplace else the instant before I teleport the subject. Sometimes I even surprise myself with how brilliant I am! It¡¯s decided, this is a must test theory so everything else can go on the backburner. Half mana, no, quarter mana and teleporting the mana at the destination it is.¡¯ A flash of sudden inspiration jolts him into gear as he prepares for his final experiment. By reducing the mana used and not warding off other types of mana, he steeply increases the speed of the first part of his setup. The time consuming part came afterwards. In order to pull off consecutive teleportation an instant apart it¡¯s necessary to put intense focus on both starting points as well as their destinations. Since one starting point is another¡¯s destination it mitigates the strain a smidgen, but not enough to make a difference in the overall speed. Considering his alternatives, the best solution is to teleport them at the same time. In this scenario he would swap them in each other¡¯s places so he won¡¯t have to do so many things concurrently. The main issue with this is whether or not they¡¯ll interact with each other during the swap. In order to get a baseline to work off of in the future he buckles down and sticks to the original plan. If he can prove the concept has a leg to stand on he¡¯ll look into swapping. If the swapping space mana interfered with each other it would be hard to tell at first glance, rendering it impossible to know if a problem arose do to that or some other factor. For now, the premise is more important. A considerable amount of time passes as he hovers in the air. By the time his preparations are complete the sun¡¯s almost completely disappeared over the horizon. The braindead goblin, influenced by the miasma, stayed in the same spot staring at him in the sky while screaming the entire time. Unwilling to disappoint his obviously excited subject Jellal¡¯s finally ready to commence the experiment. All the time he put in leads up to a single moment which passes in the blink of an eye. The shrieks of the goblin disappear without a trace as it becomes a cloud of blood. For Jellal it was all worth it. The test went off without a hitch and he was able to successfully relocate the goblin to the designated location. In addition, the other mana failed to successfully transfer to the exact location it was aimed at, slightly missing the mark for its teleportation. ¡®A fantastic test! Being unable to completely control the destination of the mana that originally occupied the goblin¡¯s target area perfectly falls in line with my theory of minute mana interference. Throw in the success of the goblin¡¯s relocation and my theory¡¯s cooking with gas. Next time I¡¯ll have to look into swapping the two. The amount of time for such a short range teleportation is truly unbearable. If the mana doesn¡¯t interfere during the switch it would greatly reduce the time needed to complete the preparations. Of course, my theory on mana interference throws a wrench into those plans. It won¡¯t hurt to check and see, but the chances of the switcheroo working is slim. The only evidence I have toward the two not interacting is the last test. If I make a leap in logic and hope the same type of mana won¡¯t interfere it could still work. Even then there¡¯s the question of what happens to the one being teleported. On the off chance identical types of mana don¡¯t interfere with one another it doesn¡¯t mean whatever¡¯s going along with it won¡¯t be affected. From the looks of things there¡¯s a ways to go before this magic becomes usable.¡¯ Having wasted more than enough time, Jellal soars high into the air. To shorten the time spent traveling he opts to use a new ¡°flight¡± magic. Whether or not it¡¯s actually considered flight magic may be up for debate, but if successful his old wind style flight magic won¡¯t hold a candle to its raw linear speed. Before taking off he wisely stores his disguise in his bag. As an extra precaution he carefully solidifies the space surrounding the bag, putting it in what¡¯s essentially a protective shield. Lightning mana gathers around him as he begins partially merging with it. When it comes to speed, lightning can only be outdone by light. For Jellal, who¡¯s particularly awful with light, it¡¯s a no brainer what type of mana to use in his high speed flight magic. This magic isn¡¯t something he came up with spur of the moment. Ever since he noticed how annoying it is to travel great distances he¡¯s been thinking of ways to hasten the experience. The two best ways he could think of were obviously space and lightning. As his merger approaches target levels static begins to form around him. The high pitched chirping of the electricity sparking around him is accompanied by faint arcs of electricity moving on the surface of his body. His choice to remove his disguise proves to be wise as his loin cloth gets zapped by the arcs, catching fire in the process. After ripping off the last of his clothes he hovers in the air, butt naked apart from his well-protected bag. The lightning mana around him surges as he prepares to set off. The theory is the same as it was for his wind: merge and ride along with the lightning. The two differ in startup time and difficulty to control, though. His lower affinity for lightning and its general unruliness make it the far less stable of the two options to go along with its far greater upside. When his preparations finish he quite literally bolts. Rolling thunder accompanies him as his high speed flashes through the sky. He only continues for a second before stopping to check his position. The immense speed of travel makes it nearly impossible to see where he¡¯s going, resulting in him flying blind during the short trip. Refusing to turn his body, he jerks his head about trying to find any clue he can to figure out his location. After a short investigation he concludes he¡¯s lost. The most likely culprit is him overshooting his target due to being unable to properly see his surroundings. He could¡¯ve also angled off course, but he doesn¡¯t have a good solution in that case. Betting it all on black he does a perfect one eighty, facing the direction he came from. Since he¡¯s already performed the magic once and he¡¯s still in his optimal state to use it, the charge time is much shorter than before. Thunder roars over the forest as he flashes across the sky. This time he ends his magic a fraction of a second after he starts it. Upon coming to a stop he looks around at the unfamiliar forest and dejectedly prepares for another go. A few flights later he confirms his fears to be a reality. During his first flight he ran askew causing him to end up in an unfamiliar section of the forest. Now that he has no way of knowing where he is, he officially declares himself lost. The sun dips below the horizon as lightning flashes through the sky above the forest. The sporadic starting and stopping of the lightning seems random as it fires off in different directions each time its accompanying thunder calls out. Hovering in the sky after numerous failed attempts to find a familiar are Jellal¡¯s frustration peaks. Spotting a group of unfortunate monsters below him, he grasps the opportunity to clear his mind through some good old fashion venting. He slams to the ground, accompanied by a bolt of lightning. A shockwave spreads from the point of impact as an electrical charge spreads through the region. The trees are uprooted and charred in the aftermath while the smoldering monsters are sent hurdling into the distance. Getting ready to unleash his fury it only compounds when he looks up to find no one left alive to vent on. His anger is so immense he even forgets to control his magic. Yet, instead of dissipating it carries on in an even stronger state. No longer binding the magic his raging mana acts as a catalyst, causing lightning to strike in his vicinity. The thunder rolls as the air around him becomes a surging sea of furious mana, as if the planet itself is expressing its anger. Flashing around just above the trees, Jellal searches desperately for something to punch into oblivion. During his escapade he comes across plenty of potential targets in the form of monsters, but they always perish before he has the chance to physically touch them. In the distance he spots his next victim and rushes over. Striking the ground like a bolt of lightning, he lands in front of his new punching bag. Unlike the others he¡¯s come across it doesn¡¯t die merely by being in his presence, causing a malicious smirk to decorate Jellal¡¯s face. Goblin Vents An enraged draconic roar blasts out from within the depths of the forest, causing its inhabitants to drop to the ground. The pain from the viciously loud, piercing roar leaves many monsters bleeding from their ears, while the vast majority of them shiver in fear. The origin the roar propagated from is a lone wyvern, lauded as one of the rulers of the forest. Its massive reptilian body is over seven and a half meters long with a wingspan reaching over ten meters. The wyvern¡¯s worthy to be a ruler of the forest as its size is enough to make even a normal wyvern look small in comparison. Propping itself up on its two legs it increases its intimidating air. As it bares its teeth viscus toxic green liquid oozes from the corner of its mouth, blending with its gleaming scales. The poison smears down the spikes on the wyvern¡¯s chin before plopping on a rock below. The rock sizzles as smoke rises from it, before slowly melting into a pile of goo. A deep growl sputters from its throat as it glares at the one responsible for interrupting its nap with its large purple eyes. Its arrow like tail swipes back and forth, kicking up dirt as it sends tress careening into the distance. How long had it been since its position as one of the rulers has been challenged? Decades? Centuries? Yet now a foe dares to provoke its ire despite being less than a quarter of its size. Even more insulting is the look on the tiny enemy¡¯s face which is eerily similar to the look the wyvern usually gives its prey: the look a superior being fives when it looks down on ants. The wyvern¡¯s chest expands slightly as it arches its neck back. Extending its head forward it opens its mouth and a toxic green mist at its foe. In an instant the tiny guy flashes to the side, just out of the area affected by the poison breath. The mocking smirk on Jellal¡¯s face grows larger as he reaches his hand out to touch the deadly cloud. Other than giving him a slightly tingly feeling it¡¯s completely harmless to him. Flicking his hand he flings the liquid that had accumulated on it onto a tree (which was minding its own business, not hurting anyone) causing it to melt and collapse. Thunder cracks as he streaks to the wyvern¡¯s chest while surrounded by lightning. Rearing back his right fist he drills it into the protective scales covering the wyvern¡¯s body, causing it to lurch back from the impact. Using its wings to stabilize itself it retaliates with a powerful swipe of its tail. Jellal allows the wind created from the beast¡¯s wingbeat to carry him backwards out of the tail¡¯s range. Blitzing forward as soon the tail passes, he unleashes a barrage of punches at his punching bag. Shockwaves blast out due to the impacts, carrying with it a heavy sound as the wyvern is pushed back. The steps of the giant creature causes the earth to shake, creating a mini earthquake around where they¡¯re fighting. Lowering its head it tries to snap at Jellal in its mouth but the attack is narrowly avoided. Adding insult to injury the attack opened it up to punches to the face, an opportunity Jellal happily capitalized on. Tilting its head to the sky the wyvern lets out another loud roar, causing a shockwave to emanate from its body. Bending its legs it launches up into the sky while beating its massive wings. The air repelled by the wings is powerful enough to uproot trees and kick up a cloud of dust, leaving destruction in its wake. Not one to be outdone in the air, Jellal also takes to the skies. Using small bursts of speed he maneuvers around the wyvern. To counter his straight line speed it constantly shifts its position, making it difficult to lock in on its exact position. Jellal slams into its chest with a shoulder ram. At the same time it retreats to mitigate the impact while simultaneously firing off a close range breath attack. Even if the poison can¡¯t hurt him, the force of the breath is enough to send him rocketing back towards the ground. Before he touches the ground he bolts up into the sky, far above the wyvern. Striking down from above like lightning he clasps his hands together and smashes his enemy back to the ground. He zigzags around the beast as it falls, delivering punches and kicks from every angle. The wildly flailing tail and claws narrowly miss him as he darts in and out. As the wyvern¡¯s about to crash into the ground he hits it with another powerful blow while moving along with lightning. It¡¯s catapulted sideways through the forest as it bounces along the ground, leaving a trail of broken trees and empty swatches of land. Shaking its head it tries to brush off the damage it has accumulated, before glaring ferociously at Jellal. In a flash they¡¯re eye to eye as an axe kick sinks into its forehead, bouncing its head off the ground. He immediately follows it up with a falling knee to the back of the neck. He repeatedly drops from above smashing the wyvern deeper into the earth until the two of them are in a giant pit. Being beaten into the dirt it has no chance to turn over and retaliate. It swipes its tail around aimlessly but it proves to be a fruitless endeavor. From that moment on it becomes a one sided beat down, with one side continually pummeling their defenseless opponent into submission. The beating doesn¡¯t end until the wyvern completely stops struggling due to losing consciousness. Having finally vented his rage Jellal manages to calm down. Regaining his normal state of mind, he checks to see if he can put the still breathing wyvern into his bag. Unfortunately the bag restricts access from living beings as expected, which is really bad news for the victim in all this. Since he can¡¯t put it in his bag while it¡¯s alive he does what any logic person would do and fixes the issue. Using water magic he attacks it from the inside. Its scales are solid enough to block the majority of physical damage with properties able to disperse magic that comes into contact with it, but they only cover the outside of its body. Inside it¡¯s just as vulnerable to damage, both physical and magical, as any other living being. In order to preserve it as much as possible he doesn¡¯t explode the magic in its internal organs. Instead he carefully maneuvers his magic until it¡¯s at the base of the brain. In a single slice he finishes off the monster wyvern without as much as a groan coming from it. The reason he used water magic instead of wind is because of the goal he wanted to achieve. Wind magic could easily go in the lungs and internal organs through the mouth, but it¡¯s limited from then on out. Water magic can seep into the blood and travel around the body. With a bit more effort it can pass through tissue that contains moisture, which constitutes the majority of living things.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. He chucks the body into his bag before rising into the air. He may have vented his frustrations but it doesn¡¯t change him being lost. If there¡¯s a silver lining it would be him getting a clue to find out his general location. ¡®This isn¡¯t the type of opponent you¡¯d find wandering around in the forest, at least not in the edge. It would be plausible if we¡¯re in the depths of the forest, but even then it seems unlikely. The most likely place to find a monster this powerful should be the center of the forest, probably. If I¡¯m at the center like I suspect I just need to pick a direction and fly till I reach the edge. After that it¡¯s just a matter of circling around until I enter familiar territory. Of course finding someone to point me in the right direction wouldn¡¯t hurt, but I don¡¯t think that¡¯s too likely. For one it¡¯s too dark for normal people to still be wandering around, this is especially true now with the miasma mucking about. And even if I found someone I¡¯m running around buck naked since it would be a pain to constantly focus on protecting my clothes while I¡¯m zipping around. The chances of finding someone willing to give directions to a naked stranger is slim to none, and that¡¯s if I count on them not noticing I¡¯m not a normal person. I guess it¡¯s circling duty for me. At least I can practice my new flying technique so I never have to do this again. After so much time I¡¯m able to see when I¡¯m not going full tilt, so it¡¯s only a matter of time before I improve enough to see where I¡¯m going even at full speed. When that happens traveling around will be a piece of cake. Still, it makes me wonder why my adaptability skill is so broken. From what I know it should be a common skill for monsters, with only a small minority not having it. So why aren¡¯t they constantly churning out ridiculously powerful monsters? My gut response is to say it has something to do with intelligence, but I doubt that¡¯s the case. Their instincts would catch on if they had access to something so overpowered. After a couple times adapting to harsh environments they would surely realize they can keep adapting to things until they¡¯re nearly invincible, yet it doesn¡¯t happen. This is enough to tell me it isn¡¯t them with the problem, but me. Considering how abnormal my whole existence has been in this world it wouldn¡¯t be a stretch to push the blame on me. So what¡¯s the root cause? If I came to this world through a more normal form of reincarnation I would chalk it up to my old arch nemesis, but I wouldn¡¯t consider the bastard my arch nemesis if I came here normally. Since I see no reality in which it¡¯s a gift from above I can only assume it to be an unintended consequence of me being reincarnated as a monster. If I make some inferences and leaps in logic it makes sense. I had to adapt to an entirely new world with different rules and logic compared to where I¡¯m originally from, then I had to adapt to being a goblin instead of a human. If I didn¡¯t have some latent skill at adapting I would¡¯ve never ended up here in the first place. Combining my natural ability to adapt with the common monster skill to increase their ability to adapt and you¡¯re left with a superior being that can get used to almost anything given enough time. Regardless of how good my adaptability is it doesn¡¯t come with a map home. In the end I can only wander aimlessly until I find what I¡¯m looking for.¡¯ Clapping thunder rolls over the forest as a single bolt of lightning streaks across the sky. Jellal gradually increases his speed as his eyes adapt in order to keep up with his ridiculous speed. It¡¯s not just his eyes that adjust, but his reactions continually improve as well. It would be pointless to see what¡¯s happening if he¡¯s helpless to do anything thanks to a lack of time to react. One of the perks of his improved sight and reaction time is his ability to change directions more fluidly. Before, he had to stop to change directions because he couldn¡¯t keep up with his own movements to make adjustments. Now, even if he can¡¯t perfectly control where he¡¯s going due to the unruly nature of lightning, he¡¯s still able to make adjustments to his course while he¡¯s moving. As it turns out, being able to adjust your course midair is incredibly helpful in not getting lost. His tour of the forest goes on without interruption until the trees begin thinning out. Visible from the sky is a path running through the forest where all the trees are cleared out. The chances of a mostly straight conduit devoid of trees to pass through the forest being a natural formation is infinitesimally small, meaning it¡¯s likely manmade. The most obvious candidate is a road, which would point him straight to civilization. Upon reaching a town he would be able to find someone to point him toward Pavise so he can go home. He tracks the road from above as he continues his journey through the forest. Flying directly over the road might allow him to come across a traveler setting up camp, but the extra effort to stay above it isn¡¯t worth the payoff. Off to one side of the road in the forest he spots a large horde of monsters locked in combat with a small group of people. The people all wear fancy armor indicative of a knight. They don¡¯t stay in one place as they fight, but instead constantly move around to avoid being surrounded. Even when they move they stay perfectly in formation, showing off their years of hard work and dedication. Sometimes the biggest factor in surviving a large scale battle is luck, and today luck isn¡¯t on their side. First they wiped out a small group only to run into two more groups merging to form a larger horde. From there everything went downhill as they entered a prolonged battle only for their enemy to constantly replenish their forces with random groups of monsters that happen upon the scene of the battle. The fight has been going on for over an hour and the dice are finally rolling in their favor as they whittle away at the enemy horde. Little do they know another sizable horde is wandering in behind them. Seeing an opportunity to get directions, Jellal descends into the middle of the encroaching horde. The shockwave combines with the electrical discharge bringing the mighty horde to their knees in an instant. He quickly changes into his disguise so he can meet with the group of knights. Meanwhile the group of knights, who¡¯ve been fighting diligently against the miasma induced hordes all day, split into three groups. One group acts as a decoy while the other two flank the horde from the side. This technique is accountable for hundreds of deaths amongst the monster hordes with just today¡¯s battles. For the knights this mission isn¡¯t just about victory, but it¡¯s also about progression. The miasma has forced the kingdom into a tough spot, and to prevent other kingdoms from trying to take a bite out of them they need to prove their strength. At least that was the plan until they stepped foot into the forest. It only took a few minutes for them to realize how much they had underestimated the miasma. Just like the other countries they looked at it like a minor inconvenience instead of a real threat, but after experiencing it for themselves they realized its true horror. Monsters influenced by miasma don¡¯t feel fear, they only seek destruction. To make matters worse their numbers never seem to decrease as more monsters are always funneling in from somewhere. If there¡¯s a saving grace it would be the monsters succumbing to the miasma are all on the weaker side, but that could change. According to old legends passed down through the ages, only monsters capable of becoming named monsters have even the tiniest chance of overpowering the miasma¡¯s influence. The knights¡¯ flanking maneuver is a resounding success and the two off shoots continually shave away monsters until the horde is left with only a few stragglers remaining. They swiftly encircle them and cut them down with their tired bodies. The second in command scurries over to the leader of the knights and removes his helmet. Dropping to a knee, he lowers his head and speaks his mind. [Milady, we should evacuate the cities bordering the forest as soon as possible. I fear this is only the opening foray and we can¡¯t afford to lose so many citizens this early on. If possible we should seek aid from other kingdoms.] [Have you gone mad? They¡¯re waiting for a chance to swallow us whole and you want to invite them over to help? That¡¯s no better than feeding ourselves to the wolves!] [But if stronger monster start showing up in hordes there¡¯s no way we can hold out. I beg of you, put aside your pride and ask the king to request assistance. He trusts you more than his own heir, if it¡¯s you he¡¯ll surely¡­] [Enough! We¡¯ll discuss it when we get back. For now we should check out that strange lightning strike. I¡¯ve never seen lightning to travel across the sky before suddenly changing directions and falling to the ground. Everything about it feels unnatural.] The knights quickly regroup and move towards the unusual lightning strike. In a tight formation they pass through the trees until they reach the outer edge of where Jellal landed. Smoke rises from the scatter chunks of trees and corpses as well as the ground. Seeing a group of monsters had gotten so close to them without them knowing leaves a bitter taste in the knights¡¯ mouths as they continue on. They cautiously approach the epicenter, their weapons at the ready. At the center of the area they find a small crater created by Jellal during his landing. When they finally approach Jellal lifts his head to look at them, his face hidden by his mask. Standing up he casually brushes the dirt off his backside before approaching the knights. [Halt and identify yourself!] [It¡¯s impolite to ask someone¡¯s name without introducing yourself first. It seems knight training doesn¡¯t come with a course on proper manners. If you must know who I am, then think of me as the person who saved your sorry hides from being hit from behind while you were playing with a group of weaklings.] The knights are understandably annoyed after a stranger insulted them to their faces. They reach for their weapons and prepare to rush, but are stopped by their leader. Simply raising her hand is enough to erase any thoughts of continuing, showing the level of respect she commands within the group. [It seems you¡¯re a decent commander. At the very least you¡¯re able to properly hold the leash on your dogs. Want me to give you a cookie as a reward?] Goblin Experiments The knights clench their teeth as they desperately hold themselves back. It would be fine if they were insulted, but their captain¡¯s being treated like a joke. If they had one thing they take pride in as knights it¡¯s their captain. Not their fighting ability or formations, but a single person. [Since you¡¯re busy playing around with the weaklings around here I won¡¯t waste much of your time. Just point me toward Pavise so I can save some time. Of course you could be stubborn and refuse, but I wouldn¡¯t recommend it.] [It isn¡¯t very often I come across someone with the balls to blatantly threaten knights of the kingdom. I would be lying if I said I¡¯m not curious where you get your confidence from.] [So, do you intend to find out? It¡¯s starting to get late and I want to go home, so if you keep wasting my time I¡¯ll show you. Of course one of you will have to live long enough to point me in the right direction. If you want I can let you choose who the lucky survivor will be. I¡¯m a gentleman after all.] [If you¡¯re a gentleman I¡¯m the royal princess of five different kingdoms.] [Oh, then I apologize for my rudeness your highness.] [Hehe, how could I be a princess if I hold a grudge over such trifling matters? It is unfortunate mister gentleman, but my loyal knights and I must be off. We have a kingdom to protect after all. The fine city you are looking for is northeast of here. Do have a wondrous trip my good sir.] [And you as well your royal highness.] Arcs of electricity begin rolling over Jellal¡¯s body in a flashy manner before congregating around his right hand. The lightning forms into a giant claw as he lifts his hand high above his head. To get the electricity to stay in the shape he wants he manipulates the mana in the surroundings. To achieve the desired look and shape he mixes in some wind mana. Part of the mana is easy to merge with to form the shape while a layer of resistant mana is secured around it. Doing this he can theoretically make the magic hold the shape he desires. Bringing his hand down the claw follows and extends in length as if reaching out. The claw slams into the ground, with the captain positioned in its palm. By some miracle the attack strikes the ground around her without harming a hair on her head as a hole opens in the palm to accommodate her. A painful wail leeches out from behind her as a bloody figure is ripped from her shadow. The claw closes around the older man as he screams out in pain. Electricity courses through his body as he¡¯s forcefully dragged in front of Jellal. Jellal releases the magic, causing the man to flop on the ground. Most of the man¡¯s clothes were destroyed by the attack leaving him with only a small patch of cloth covering his nether regions. The attack also caused the rest of his body to be covered in severe burns, making it nearly impossible for him to stand up. The man¡¯s long gray hair falls over his face as he struggles to lift his head. He manages to tilt his head enough to glare at Jellal, who¡¯s looking down on him. [Hey there little rat. Didn¡¯t your parents teach you it¡¯s rude to listen in on other peoples¡¯ conversations? You never know when you¡¯re going to hear something you can¡¯t afford to know. Of course even if you don¡¯t learn anything important you could seriously offend someone you really don¡¯t want to. I may not have said anything worthy of being listened in on, but that doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯ll allow you to hear my voice without my permission. Now that you have I can¡¯t very well let you go now can I? So tell me, would you like to die a slow and painful death, or die a quick and agonizingly painful death? I don¡¯t have all day so you if you don¡¯t answer quick you¡¯ll get the honor of taking the third option. What is the third option? I¡¯m glad you asked. For wasting my time you get the luxurious privilege of dying in a fashion which leaves no body behind. But wait, there¡¯s more! For a limited time only I¡¯m offering you the exclusive slow and agonizing death upgrade, free of charge! That¡¯s my exclusive no body left behind package coupled with the slow and agonizing death upgrade, all for no charge! But you have to act now; this exclusive offer is only effective for the next three seconds!] The discovery of a hidden assailant and Jellal¡¯s subsequent ¡°as seen on tv¡± style pitch leaves the knights unable to understand the situation. The only thing they can be certain of is the stalkers fate. Jellal may have used a bright uplifting tone for his pitch, but the terrifying contents didn¡¯t go unheard. They may not know much about him, but he has enough confidence to insult their entire group to their faces and find a rat hiding in their midst. There is also the state of the area he appeared in. There¡¯s evidence of a horde of monsters being wiped out in a single attack, though they didn¡¯t personally witness it. If they follow the evidence to its logical conclusion it¡¯s safe to assume the masked stranger they happened upon isn¡¯t someone to trifle with. Unfortunately for the spy his luck is even worse than knights. If he had been doing this job on any other day everything would be coming up millhouse. Yet today, for some inexplicable reason, the knights coincidentally crossed paths with a masked madman who¡¯s lost in the forest. While the knights are baffled by Jellal, the captain is focused on the spy. The knights may not recognize him due to their standing in society, but as a knight captain she¡¯s different. [I wonder what a duke¡¯s most trusted butler is doing stalking the forest in such dangerous times. It would really be a shame if something were to happen to you. Then again, being caught stalking the kingdom¡¯s knights when they¡¯re completing a mission given directly by the king isn¡¯t a good look for the duke you serve. With all the strange occurrences we faced earlier it truly makes me wonder what your purpose is. Perhaps you¡¯re responsible for us coming upon so many hordes. No, that couldn¡¯t be the case. If it was it would mean you and the duke are planning a rebellion which I¡¯m sure you¡¯d never do.] If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. [Don¡¯t you try to spin things you bitch! When the news gets out you¡¯re slandering a duke you and your knights will be put to death. Even if you try to pin false allegations on us it¡¯ll never stick. Do you really think some commoner has any power to influence a true noble like the duke? You¡¯re going to regret ever crossing paths with us!] [I didn¡¯t know dead men had such bravado. Not only do you talk big, you also ignore a superior being such as myself. I¡¯ve got to say, for someone about to die, you really don¡¯t seem to understand what kind of a position you¡¯re in.] [Some masked freak dares to call me a dead man? I¡¯m a duke¡¯s s-butler. Do you really think a commoner like you can do anything to me? If you some much as harm a hair on my head the whole kingdoms army will come after you. What¡¯s wrong, shaking in fear now that you¡¯ve realized your mistake? It¡¯s too late for that! There¡¯s nothing you can do to make up for your transgressions against the duke; unless you obey my commands that is. If you work under me I¡¯ll forgive you this once. You can only thank my magnanimous nature for this chance. Now help me up and capture that woman!] ¡®A duke¡¯s illegitimate son is it? And one with a major superiority complex at that. Not only that, they seem to have some issues with the little princess here. For her to be able to be trusted by the king while having bad blood with a duke is pretty interesting. I guess she¡¯s hiding some secret of her own. Who knows, maybe she actually is a little princess and that¡¯s why the duke wants to catch her? Regardless of her identity it has nothing to do with me. The same goes for the idiot butler. For him to think he can make me a subordinate with just the duke¡¯s name is pretty unbelievable. Does he really think everyone he comes across will kneel down and beg to lick his boots if he mentions having a connection to a duke? I really hope such people aren¡¯t the norm here. If they are my time traveling will be a lot less entertaining. Maybe I should find some people to take care of these types of people before I show up so I don¡¯t have to deal with them. I can even spin it as doing a necessary evil for the good of the world, kekeke. If I do, tons of people would be itching to sign up to prove their moral righteousness. Not a bad idea at all! Sometimes I even surprise myself with how much of a genius I am. Of course I¡¯ll need funds for the organization to use and someone to run it while I kick back and relax. For now I have plenty of money I have no use for which is perfect to blow on this plan. Finding someone to run the organization isn¡¯t so easy. I might be able to convince Kite, but the goody too shoes doesn¡¯t seem like the type to do something illegal for ¡°the greater good¡±. I guess finding a good leader will have to wait until I set up the organization. Until then I¡¯ll keep an eye out for potential candidates.¡¯ Jellal looks at the butler with eyes filled with pity as he shakes his head. The butler is utterly shocked someone would turn down working for someone related to a duke. The shock quickly changes to rage as he blows his top. [You dare to disobey me? Do you think I¡¯ll let you off? Not a chance! The kingdom¡¯s army will hunt down your entire family and everyone you ever cared about. No matter where you hid you¡¯ll never escape your punishment.] [Your brain must not function properly. Since you¡¯re slow on the uptake and don¡¯t know how to read between the lines I¡¯ll spell it out for you. This is secret so don¡¯t go spreading it. You ready?] Jellal looks back in forth suspiciously before putting his hand by his mouth as if he¡¯s trying to be secretive. [I. Don¡¯t. Care. Did you get that? Well, it doesn¡¯t matter. Your time to choose how you¡¯ll die has already run out. Slow and agonizing, with full body removal it is, kekeke.] The arrogant butler unknowingly resigned himself to the worst fate imaginable: being used as a test subject for Jellal¡¯s teleportation experiments. Unlike what he did with the monsters his plan with the butler is for small scale tests. First he¡¯s going to continue his previous experiment on a single body part. By doing this he can simulate what would happen if someone was caught up in a partial teleportation. To save as much of the butler as possible for future tests he decides to only do this on a single finger. Due to him gathering space mana since he noticed the guy he already has an ample amount ready for his experiments. Beginning with the pinky on the butler¡¯s left hand his experiments get off to a loud start. He targets the destination just slightly above where the finger currently is. He¡¯s careful not to overlap the starting point and the destination since that¡¯s an experiment for later. Out of nowhere the man¡¯s the man¡¯s finger explodes into a cloud of blood, causing the arrogant fool to scream out in pain. His other arm shakes as he desperately reaches for his deformed hand. The knights are all confused, and only able to offer up conjecture about what happened. Unwilling to waste time Jellal continues to his next experiment. This time he targets the left thumb. Quickly setting up his magic he initiates the test. Once again the finger bursts into a puff of blood, leaving nothing resembling a finger behind. The most recent test revealed bit of new information regarding whether or not having the initial location and destination overlapping. It also gave him some insights into a potential reason why he¡¯s unable to move the mana as a cluster. By carefully observing he noticed the mana in the overlapping area didn¡¯t move like he had anticipated. He had thought everything would shift up, but reality was different. The mana in the overlapping space stayed put, only shifting slightly. Through this abnormal behavior it¡¯s clear to him his control over how and where each bit of mana moves is even worse than he originally thought. It turns out he hasn¡¯t even been controlling the mana to move in the shape it was in as he had thought. This discovery is only possible due to him paying extremely close attention to each particular bit of mana instead of observing the situation as a whole. Putting his thoughts aside until he finishes his first round of tests he moves on to a much anticipated experiment. This time he¡¯s only using one finger but the follow up will be with two. Targeting the middle finger he prepares to test the viability of swapping. To give himself the best baseline he¡¯s starting without switching two fingers since there are too many variables for an initial test. That¡¯s why he¡¯s doing it afterwards, to finish off his first round of tests along with what¡¯s left of the victims fingers on his left hand. The pair of experiments go off without a hitch as the butler is left with a fingerless left hand. With the first round of testing over Jellal takes a short intermission to gather his thoughts and prepare for round two. ¡®In round two I have a lot to figure out. Finding a way to more accurately control the mana is of the utmost importance since it¡¯s directly correlated to my chances of successfully teleporting in the future. A new important discovery is how viable swapping is. Previously I learned how necessary it is to clear the destination to ensure an accurate movement. Now I¡¯ve proven the lack of interference amongst space mana and the objects moving along with it. My main concern is not knowing why. My lack of control I have over the mana means I can¡¯t be sure things are going exactly as I plan them. I can only throw up conjecture why it went smoothly due to the difficulty in examining the tests. Most likely the mana avoided coming in contact with the mana swapping with it. If this is true it makes perfect sense why the physical objects would never cross paths. If I can get the mana to follow the path I want, I can redo the test to see if there are any changes. With everything I¡¯ve learned I think it¡¯s best to focus on how to control the movement of the space mana for round two. After I figure it out I can move on to other tests, pending the continued existence of the lab rat.¡¯ Starting with the victim¡¯s right fingers Jellal begins his second round of testing. Due to the nature of the tests he goes one finger at a time to increase his chances of success. The first five tests ended up going poorly. The subject¡¯s fingers disappeared without Jellal gaining much insight how to fix the control issues, which he found quite wasteful. While Jellal is pondering how to improve his magic the knights have figured out what¡¯s going on, at least they think they have. With no evidence they can¡¯t up and accuse Jellal of making someone¡¯s fingers explode into clouds of blood one after another. No matter how obvious it is who¡¯s responsible they¡¯re still in the dark on how he¡¯s doing it. Regardless of how carefully they watch him or the rat there¡¯s no evidence of him doing anything, leaving them terrified. Without a sound or movement this stranger they came across randomly in the forest can make someone¡¯s fingers disappear. All of the sudden the mocking they received from him seems normal. How could a group of knights be worth anything in such a person¡¯s eyes? They can only thank their lucky stars they¡¯re not the ones who offended a random monster into erasing them from existence. Round two continues for the rest of the butler¡¯s life and beyond as Jellal tries every way he can think of to control the mana¡¯s movements. ¡®How annoying! To control things perfectly I need to control each bit of mana individually. How many ways would I need to split my focus to move even a small cluster in the exact arrangement I want? At this point I can either look for other ways or buckle down and practice until I can perfectly control enough mana to move a person. With only the head left I suppose I do have one last thing I could try. If I merge with space mana and increase my familiarity with it there¡¯s a chance I could see some results. If it works I have a way forward, but if it fails the chances of me teleporting anytime soon will go the way of the dinosaurs.¡¯ For his final test he targets the whole head. Instead of moving it he increases the chances of success by making the target destination the same as its starting point. This will reduce the movement of the mana as much as possible. To preserve his hope of teleporting in the near future he doesn¡¯t merge with the space mana. In this way he has a baseline for teleporting objects in place. From the outside it doesn¡¯t look like anything happens to the head, but Jellal knows the truth. For the first time he¡¯s proved the viability of teleportation magic! To keep his discovery under wraps he promptly makes the head disappear into a cloud of blood, finishing what he started. Goblin Returns [I¡¯ve wasted too much time here already so I¡¯ll be going now.] [As it turns out, I have some business to attend to as well. If you¡¯re ever around the royal capital feel free to pay us a visit. My knights and I are pretty well known so you shouldn¡¯t have any trouble finding us. If someone in the capital tells you they don¡¯t know about Freya, they¡¯re either lying or they¡¯ve been living under a rock.] [I would take offense at you saying I live under a rock, but you¡¯re technically correct. Now that I know who you are, I guess I have the qualifications necessary to move somewhere else.] Breaking the silence, Jellal and Freya say their farewells as the knights prepare for their return trip to the capital. Conversely Jellal sets out by foot toward Pavise. When the knights are out of sight he stops and strips away his disguise, leaving himself naked. Partially merging with lightning he leaves along with a clap of thunder. For the knights the nearby roar of thunder is enough to make them flinch and hastily luck in the direction it sounded from, leaving a disappointed Freya shaking her head. In the night sky a single bolt of lightning streaks over the forest while accompanied by rolling thunder. Above Pavise it finally comes to an end before changing directions and firing off again. Traveling at the slowest speed possible for his lightning magic, Jellal carefully maintains his course to prevent himself from getting lost a second time. By keeping his eyes on familiar terrain he manages to accomplish his goal as he streaks over the stream. Spotting his territory in the distance he disengages his magic, letting his momentum carry him the rest of the way. Switching to wind magic he slows himself down and slowly dips toward the forest below. As his built up momentum finally degrades he lowers right in front of the cave entrance. Before opening up the outer wall he quickly throws on the attire he usually wears around the captives. With his loincloth and fur kilt on he opens a hole in the wall and walks through, closing it behind him. By wearing the same getup he usually does he¡¯s able to demarcate two separate identities. One version of him is known to the captives as the boss of the cave and the one who controls their fates. The other is seemingly normal person whose true identity is only known by a select few. To keep the two separate he¡¯s careful what items he shows himself carrying. As the goblin overlord he openly carries his primitive looking saw in a makeshift scabbard. When he wears his disguise he hides them in his item bag, keeping them in their professionally made scabbards to boot. He even hides away his new cape since he¡¯s already been wearing it as part of his disguise. Treating the two identities as separate entities he lowers the chances of someone learning the truth and causing trouble for him. While he may not care if people know, he would be greatly displeased if his being a goblin has an adverse effect on him traveling and seeing the world. For Jellal traveling the world is a good way to kill time while he thinks of a way to get back at a certain individual for reincarnating him as a goblin. Of course, with such a nonsensical goal he¡¯s going to spend a lot of time planning his revenge. His goal is to pull a fast one on a self-titled god after all. Patching up the final defensive wall behind him Jellal relaxes slightly. Strolling to the fork in the path he hangs a left, heading to the grunt living quarters which has been repurposed as a temporary work area. Inside the work area the captives are slaving away as they desperately try to finish taking care of the last of the bodies before the day ends. They obviously noticed Jellal¡¯s absence not long after he left but there wasn¡¯t much they could do about it. Some of the prisoners lobbied to escape, but they were quickly shot down. With multiple walls as a defensive perimeter the amount of time it would take them to break through was too much of a risk for them now that they had hope of getting out alive. The captives set on escape were unhappy with the response and tried to counter by pointing out Kira¡¯s existence, but their plan quickly backfired. Kira personally explained how it would be extremely difficult if not impossible for her to break through the walls with her remaining mana. Her reasoning was based around her lack of mana and specialization in fire magic rather than earth. Of course, she ¡°forgot¡± to mention the mana potion in her possession which would poke holes in her excuses. While her claim of specializing in fire magic was true she exaggerated the strain using earth magic to remove the wall would bring her. She¡¯d seen enough of what happens to people who get on Jellal¡¯s bad side to completely abandon any thoughts of running away. There¡¯s also the hordes of monsters outside to worry about on top of just escaping. The supporters of making an escape had no way to counter such an argument. Jellal had already sealed off the treasure room, blending its entrance perfectly with the wall. To stand a chance against the monsters they needed supplies, all of which were now cut off from them. The nail in the coffin was again Kira¡¯s supposed lack of mana preventing her from being able to search rigorously for the now hidden treasure room. With no weapons or supplies, and no way to get them, their hopes of escaping were left in ruins. For the most part the supporters gave up and returned to work to increase their chances of survival. In the end the few remaining stalwarts were guilt tripped into rejoining the workforce when the others pointed out that Meredith was working harder than they were. Even if they¡¯re captives they still had enough pride to feel ashamed about being out worked by a child. From then on the workflow never stopped. When they grew hungry they took turns eating to keep their momentum going. Even when Jellal was uncharacteristically late they pushed through their nagging desire to take a break and pressed on. Finishing off one of the corpses, Beth looks to the pile to confirm it¡¯s empty. She¡¯s been constantly lifting her head between cuts to check the pile since the numbers were reduced to five. Her anticipation runs high, knowing someone should have already taken the final body for processing.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. She nearly screams out in surprise when she finds a giant hawk placed where the pile used to be. Jerking her head around she spots a familiar goblin overlord leaning against the wall observing the workers. It isn¡¯t just her surprised by the sudden appearance of the new monster, as other workers finish their current job they look to the pile for their next target only to find a new addition. The new monster itself isn¡¯t the most surprising part. More surprising to them is how Jellal managed to drag such a massive monster into the room and throw it on the empty pile without a single one of them noticing. After getting over the shock of a giant hawk being added to their pile their faces immediately turn sour. They spent all day processing monsters, nearly killing themselves from exhaustion. Yet now the boss is throwing extra work their way. They want to scream out in protest, but can only silently hold it in when they recall the fates of the people who went against their overlord in the past. Vincent clearly notices the downtrodden atmosphere spreading amongst the workers and bites the bullet to act as the representative of the group. Slowly walking over to Jellal he gulps down his saliva as he makes his case for the workers¡¯ rights. [Um- boss, sir, you never mentioned you would be adding monsters as we go. I¡¯m not complaining but- but, isn¡¯t it too cruel? Clearing the bar you set initially was already a near impossible challenge, yet now you¡¯re adding to it. Everyone¡¯s already worked from morning to night without rest. Why must you do this now? Were your words about setting us free all a lie?] [Do you take me as a liar? First off, I said I would consider setting you free. The key word being consider. I also never said I wouldn¡¯t continue increasing the number of bodies you had to deal with. You decided that on your own to keep your spirits up. Adding this one thing on top is already me being considerate. You may not be able to see what it looks like outside but I assure you this one bird would be the least of your problems if I wanted to break your hope. Sitting on the spikes outside are almost a dozen fresh bodies from brainless dimwits killing themselves while I was away. If you¡¯d like I could have you collect and process them as well.] [That¡¯s- I understand. We¡¯ll definitely finish this last challenge before nightfall.] [Before nightfall? I hate to burst your bubble but it¡¯s already been dark out for a while now. With that being the case it¡¯s time for you to return to your cells. You all have a big day tomorrow so you¡¯ll need your rest.] The captives begrudgingly dragged the corpses to the incineration room before dejectedly walking out of the work area with their heads down and spirits broken. The last one to leave is Kira, who had to finish incinerating the new bodies before joining the other captives on their trek back to their cells. The trip is silent as the prisoners stagger through the halls looking more like zombies than humans. Some of the more hotheaded ones consider attacking their warden in retaliation, but refrain due to the nearly inevitable futility of it and the cost associated with attacking Jellal. The captives funnel into their cells while hanging their heads. Jellal locks them in, nice and secure like, before giving them a piece of good news. [I¡¯ll be here to pick you up tomorrow morning bright and early so you can work on processing the overgrown bird. The sooner you get it taken care of, the sooner I¡¯m rid of the lot of you. So do your job and work hard tomorrow so I can spend as little time as possible putting up with you useless bums.] The depressed atmosphere immediately becomes joyous when the prisoners learn they¡¯ll be getting their freedom. At this point they don¡¯t care about how they¡¯re going to be set free, only that it¡¯s happening. Walking blindfolded through a monster infested forest, somehow manages to become an afterthought due to this tidbit of good news. Leaving the prison area Jellal returns to the dining hall to close Sif in the living quarters for the night. On his way out of the dining hall he grabs emergency supplies he left out along with the blankets and rugs the seamstresses made during the day. Passing by his room he makes a side trip to the treasure room to drop off the items. Before leaving, he restocks his bag with another round of random junk in preparations for tomorrow. Since he¡¯s going to cross the stream anyways he might as well make a trip or two to get rid of his stash. If he wants to get rid of it as quickly as possible he could fly back and forth until his treasure room¡¯s empty, but in the end he deems it a waste. For now he wants to leisurely look around the city so he doesn¡¯t need to rush. While he¡¯s hanging around he also plans to look for someone to make his thrown. With the materials he has on hand he can easily make one, but his handiwork may leave something to be desired. The issue with having a craftsman from Pavise make it is the throne¡¯s function. A throne is more suitable to his goblin overlord persona to use as a form of intimidation. However, this leaves the possibility of an opponent he lets live to spread rumors about him realizing its origins and blowing his cover. Thinking along these lines, Jellal decides to find a professional to make a chair for his disguised alter ego while he makes the throne himself. In a worst case scenario he can always have a throne made by a craftsman and then ¡°lose it¡± during the shipping process so it can conveniently end up in his own hands. Stepping into his room he notices Meredith sitting on the bed desperately trying not to nod off as she waits for him to arrive. His expression softens as he walks over and gently rubs her head. [You didn¡¯t need to wait up for me, you know? Tomorrows going to be a big day so you should get some sleep. A little lady like you needs to sleep properly so you can grow up big and strong. If you stay up all the time you¡¯ll get all wrinkly and we don¡¯t want that do we?] [But you were gone all day and we didn¡¯t even eat dinner together. Why do I have to go to bed when you get to do whatever you want, it¡¯s not fair?] [Alright, alright, I get it. How about a bedtime story to make up for it?] Meredith nods and crawls under the covers as Jellal sits by her side. Pulling the covers up he tucks her in until only her head is poking out. [Once upon a time there was a little boy who grew up in the country. The little boy grew up reading stories about great heroes. The heroes were strong and were always able to stop evil from sending the world to its doom. They always showed up when the people needed them most. Inspired by these stories the boy worked hard and trained every chance he got. It wasn¡¯t long before he was going around stopping bullies in the name of justice, just like the heroes he admired so much. Eventually the boy grew into a man. As a man he strove to do everything he could for the good of the people. To this end he joined the army. In the army he could stand on the frontline whenever a major threat appeared and threatened the home he loved. One day a terrible enemy came and attacked his people. Taking up arms he fought the mighty foe until they retreated in fear. From that day on he was lauded as a hero by the people of his country, just like the people from the stories he always emulated. His reputation spread far and wide, scaring away any enemies that dared to set their sights on the land he held so dear. In these times of peace he met a beautiful woman and fell in love. They had a beautiful daughter with brown hair and eyes whom they loved more than anything in the world. But then ¡­ she fell asleep, huh. She didn¡¯t even let me finish my story. Well I suppose what happens next isn¡¯t suitable for a child¡¯s bedtime story.] Jellal stares at Meredith sleeping peacefully without a care in the world. He rises off the bed, careful not to wake her. Moving to the opposite end of the bed he slides under the covers to turn in for the night as well, gradually drifting off into dreamland. Jellal suddenly finds himself in a haze unable to control his body. A familiar feeling washes over him as scenes play before his eyes. He walks onto a stage as the crowd looks on from below. In front of the podium he receives an honorary plaque and medal while shaking the official¡¯s hand. The middle aged man wears a fine suit and is surrounded by three security guards at all times. Only when he goes on stage to shake Jellal¡¯s hand is he free from the guards. After receiving his awards Jellal moves behind the podium at the behest of the man in a military uniform standing behind it. The man¡¯s uniform has four stars in a line on each shoulder and a litany of medals covering the front left side of his uniform. Gesturing for Jellal to step up to the microphone he takes a step back. Standing behind the podium Jellal looks out over the crowd of people cheering excitedly. Reaching out he grabs the sides which signifies the start his speech. His vision turns hazy as the scene changes and he finds himself in his house. Sitting on the couch he looks at the tv as a news report flashes across the screen, the caption reading ¡°Immortal Stalwart publically receives awards¡±. On the screen is a familiar visage he used to see every day in the mirror. The youngish looking man with sharp eyes glares at him, an imposing air surrounding him even though it¡¯s only a still image. A black cap sits on his head hiding his hair from view, leaving his dark brown eyebrows as the only indication of his hair color. Before he has a chance to take everything in his vision turns hazy yet again. A series of scenes quickly flip by leaving him no chance to look into the details, only that most of them are battlefields. As the haze lets up briefly he finds himself once again at his home. Sitting at his desk he stares at the computer in front of him, skimming articles. Most of the articles have clickbait titles to draw in readers. The titles vary but the themes of the articles do not. The majority of the articles are about ¡°the new age¡± and openly bash on the way the previous generation handled affairs worldwide. One article in particular catches his eye before things become hazy again. His picture from the previous news report is in the thumbnail while the title simply reads ¡°Evil Incarnate¡±. Goblin Tests Opening his eyes Jellal sits up in bed. Lifting up his left hand he checks his skin to make sure it has the pale green tinge he¡¯s grown accustomed to. Confirming he isn¡¯t dreaming he slowly gets out of bed, making sure not to wake Meredith in the process. He starts the day with a light stretch as usual before quietly slipping out of the room. He heads through the dining hall to the closed off entrance of the living quarters. When he reopens the passage Sif is already coming down the hall to greet him. He gives Sif a few seconds to catch up before passing through the dining hall and back where he came from. Along the way Jellal lets Sif know about today¡¯s agenda, since it¡¯s going to be different to what they normally do. [Today we¡¯re finally getting rid of the dead weight humans. Unfortunately the lazy vampire has to stay behind so we can¡¯t be completely free of nuisances just yet. First we¡¯ll have the prisoners take care of the oversized hawk I caught. Then we¡¯ll lead them out to a designated location so someone else can babysit them the rest of the way to the city. During the trip they¡¯re going to be blindfolded so they can¡¯t track us back to the cave. Your job will be to keep an eye on them so they don¡¯t sneak any peaks on the way. If you catch one looking feel free to deal with them as you see fit. Whether they die slow or fast doesn¡¯t matter as long as they can¡¯t leak the location of our base. If you have confidence in your strength you can return here after they¡¯re handed off. If you don¡¯t think you can make it alone I¡¯ll escort you back so you don¡¯t have to worry about being in danger at all during the trip, only whether one of the prisoners is an idiot and peaks.] As they come to Jellal¡¯s room they split up. Sif ducks into the room and lies down next to the bed while Jellal continues past the room. He makes a pit stop at the treasure room to dig out some of the scrap cloth he collected from the bandits. Due to their occupation most of their belongings are dark in color to facilitate stealth. This aligns perfectly with Jellal¡¯s needs. To prevent the detainees from being able to see through the blindfold it¡¯s necessary to make them out of a dark fabric. This allows him to repurpose the cloth which isn¡¯t likely to be sellable in Pavise and make use of it instead of letting it rot away without a purpose. He holds each piece of cloth up to his eyes to make sure he can¡¯t see through them. After he has enough for each person he grabs enough extra cloth for each of them to have three. Having gotten what he needs he walks out of the treasure room, closing off the entrance behind him. Getting back on track he continues on to the prisoner area. Even before he arrives they¡¯re up and ready to go, filled with vigor like they¡¯ve never been before. As he walks down the hall into the room they rush up to the cell doors, eagerly waiting to get to work so they can finally be set free. [I won¡¯t drone on since I¡¯ve already told you yesterday, but today will be your last day under my care. The final task is waiting for you in the work area. When you finish we can start our trip out of the forest. While everyone¡¯s working on the main task I need some people handy with a needle and thread to sew up some blindfolds. For the blindfolds you need to sandwich one piece of cloth I¡¯ve prescreened to ensure isn¡¯t see through between a pair of unscreened cloths. There¡¯s exactly enough cloth here for each person to have a three ply blindfold, no more, no less. You¡¯ll be lined up in two columns which will move side by side. The thing keeping you from getting separated from the group is the shoulders of the person in front of you so grab on tight. During the trip, if you¡¯re caught peeking you¡¯ll be subject to death. Also note, if you stray from the group I won¡¯t go back for you so I wouldn¡¯t recommend getting any bright ideas. I¡¯ve already arranged a human to pick you up and lead you to town at a designated location. What happens after you¡¯re out of my hands isn¡¯t my concern so you¡¯re free to do whatever you want at that point.] After giving them a rundown of today¡¯s plan he unlocked the cells so they could get to work. Upon being released they would each rush to get to the work area even a second sooner. The only exception to this being the long time subordinates. With so many people working on a single objective the more people rushing over the more they¡¯ll get in the way. To that end Beth rallied the group to the kitchen to make breakfast for the rest of the prisoners. Compared to bunching together and making it hard to complete the task their choice to support the group in a different way showcases how clear each group is thinking. While the prisoners are hard at work Jellal moseys back to his usual training area at the back of the living quarters. It¡¯s unknown how long he¡¯ll have to train, but a little practice is better than none. With the little free time he has before he has to babysit the prisoners he decides to practice his teleportation magic. The last series of tests gave him a direction to work towards and hope of succeeding in the future. For now the most important aspect he needs to master in order to properly use teleportation magic is controlling the way the mana moves. It may sound easy on paper, but reality is a cruel mistress. Unlike other types of mana which can be easily tracked as they move with either his eyes or his mana, space mana is able to instantaneously shift its position. To put things in simpler terms, it¡¯s basically impossible to track how it moves. At one moment it¡¯s at position a, the next moment it¡¯s at position b. With Jellal¡¯s ridiculous skillset he¡¯s potentially able to track where each of the individual bits of mana end up, but tracking where and how they got there is even beyond him. His solution to this is repeated testing and hypothesizing. He prepares the swapping method of teleportation before focusing his test subject, a finger size piece of table that was shattered by the shadow wolf when it invaded. He invokes his magic causing the chunk of wood to disappear and reappear in an instant. It only shifted by a few centimeters, but how it moved still escaped his sight. To make matters worse he wasn¡¯t able to perfectly teleport it, causing half of it to turn to sawdust.Stolen novel; please report. Disregarding the results he refocuses and repeats the test. This cycle is continued until the piece of wood finally turns completely to sawdust. Unperturbed by his lackluster results he takes out another chunk of wood and continues testing. The reason he chose to use chunks of wood as the target for the experiment comes down to many factors. The chunks of wood are abundant and all have similar properties, making them ideal for repeated small scale testing. There is also the lack of monetary value associated with a busted piece of wood which saves him from burning through items he could use or sell. Most importantly is how solid they are. When the teleportation magic doesn¡¯t work perfectly only the parts that went awry are destroyed, leaving behind evidence he can use to construct a hypothesis. ¡®From my experiments thus far I still haven¡¯t determined the nature of teleportation. If it was disassembly and reassembly the objects wouldn¡¯t be in one piece when they reappear, the burden would be far too much for any substance I know of to bare. If I had to put my money on a horse I¡¯d go with instantaneous dislocation but I don¡¯t know exactly how it works. I don¡¯t see any evidence of forcefully bending space so it isn¡¯t likely to be a wormhole, which leaves me throwing darts while blindfolded. While I¡¯m on the subject of wormholes, I should test the theory out some time. Under normal circumstances the prospect of bending space at will to connect two points is ludicrous, but I¡¯m not dealing with a normal situation. Even if my current displacement method works it would be nearly impossible to use for long distances. The wormhole method, on the other hand, is tailor made for going anywhere regardless of distance. There are still a few things I¡¯ll need to confirm before I look into wormholes though. To start with the difficulty in controlling space mana won¡¯t change irrespective of the method I use. Even if I could control it perfectly I would still need to see what kind of effect bending space has on the target areas as well as the surroundings. Not to mention the possibility of it causing issues in a separate location. What would happen if space was contorted in a random city because I wanted to bend space over here? The far reaching consequences of playing with space can¡¯t be taken lightly. Giving the theory the benefit of the doubt and claiming everything goes perfect up to that point still doesn¡¯t leave me out of the woodwork. I would still need to observe the effect traveling through a wormhole has on both organic and inorganic tissue. If passing through a wormhole is like being in space I¡¯ll have a whole new set of issues to deal with. Pending the viability up to this point would bring on testing for what happens when the wormhole isn¡¯t used as intended. I don¡¯t want to hop into a wormhole not knowing what happens if I¡¯m knocked off course after all. In the end the amount of variables I need to deal with is significantly lower for the displacement method I¡¯ve been testing for short range teleportation. After I figure it out I can move on to the nightmarish wormhole experiments.¡¯ Getting back to his experiments he takes out another chunk of wood. Changing things up slightly, he tries to teleport half of the splintered bit of wood in place while sending the other half a few centimeters away. The wood he teleported in place is left perfectly fine while the piece he moved is reduced in size, with part of it becoming sawdust. Switching the roles of the pieces he redoes the experiment. Yet again the chunk not changing locations ends up fine while the relocated piece is damaged. He stops to think before pulling out another chunk of wood. Instead of immediately teleporting it as is, the way he¡¯s been doing it, he cuts it into two identical looking blocks. Using the identical blocks he performs the same experiment he¡¯s been doing. After each block has had its turn being teleported in place and to a nearby location he examines the blocks. By using blocks of identical shape he¡¯s able to perfectly compare the damage done to the blocks. Using this data he can look for a pattern to crack open the mysteries of teleportation. He repeats the experiment with three more pieces of wood to give himself a good baseline. To limit the number of variables the starting point and destination for each block is the same as the first set. He also places them so the grain of the wood is facing the same direction in each test, further limiting the number of potential points of contention within the tests. With four complete sets of data he reexamines the blocks to ensure he didn¡¯t miss even the smallest detail. His final verdict after examining the results: teleportation is still mysterious. Even after so many tests he can¡¯t find any leads to push him forward. The blocks didn¡¯t have identical results despite him cutting them into identical shapes. ¡®Not a great start. Maybe I should switch it up some more. If I use an object I know the exact structure of I¡¯ll be able to get even more information. The wood blocks may look the same but they¡¯re internal structures should be slightly different. If I can find a way to get rid of that final variable I may very well be at the end of my leash. What could I possibly change from there to make things more exact and have as little variance as possible? Do I have to try to use the exact same mana in each test and arrange it in the same exact fashion? Doing that may be taking it a bit too far but there isn¡¯t much else I can do. Before going overboard and using specific bits of mana it¡¯s best to start with a subject I have intimate knowledge of. The only question is what to use? No matter what I pick, learning the objects exact structure will be a massive headache ¡­ unless I make the object. Why not make a cube of dirt? I can control it with earth magic, so I should be able to ensure I make two cubes with identical structures. Or at least as identical as humanly possible. By adjusting each individual grain of dirt making it up it should be theoretically identical. Of course I can¡¯t control if one granule of dirt has a single extra electron or some other nonsense like that. Alright, let¡¯s do it! Carefully putting together two perfectly identical cubes may be a pain in the ass, but if a single granule is out of place I¡¯ll know about it. Besides, this is important for my future world traveling adventures.¡¯ Jellal stays true to his plan and begins creating two perfectly identical dirt cubes with earth magic. To kick things off he forces a pile of dirt to the surface to use as material. For part two of his master plan he begins sifting through the dirt and separating it by size. The large chunks are easily discarded while the smaller bits are more difficult to differentiate. To make things easier he mixes in some gravity and water mana. The general idea is to agitate the water so the lighter bits mix in and the heavier deposits sink out. Simply put he¡¯s panning for gold, or in this case dirt. When his general categorizations are finished he moves on to more precise delineations. The way he achieves this is through the power of earth magic and mana. He carefully examines each granule of dirt before first separating them by general shape. After they¡¯re in their own piles coordinated by their general shape he thoroughly goes through each pile further separating them by even the most minute differences he can make out. During this time consuming process he¡¯s interrupted by Kira. Once again she¡¯s drawn the short end of the straw and is tasked with acting as the go between for the prisoners and Jellal. As she works her way closer he places the piles of dirt into his item bag to ensure they¡¯re unsullied. Poking her head around the corner Kira attempts to draw Jellal¡¯s attention with exceedingly small hand movements, displaying how nervous she is about interrupting him. [What is it? Did you finally finish taking care of your task? I thought everyone was eager to get away from here, yet you still took ages to deal with one insignificant bird. Well I wouldn¡¯t be so happy to be rid of you all if you were even I tiny bit useful, which you¡¯re not.] In typical Jellal fashion he doesn¡¯t wait for a reply and brushes past her on his way out of the room. Kira runs to catch up to him as he struts through the passage. Stepping into the dining hall he¡¯s greeted by a group of excited prisoners who can¡¯t wait for their release. On one of the tables is a plate with his lunch on it, waiting for his arrival. Instead of taking the chance of their overlord demanding to eat before they leave the detainees took the initiative to prepare it beforehand. On a different table the materials collected from the giant hawk are laid out. Most of it has value or is useful so the table is packed. The items include the meat, feathers, and bones as you would expect from a monster. There¡¯s also the talons, beak, and eyes placed on the table as well. Most surprising is the pair of internal organs placed amongst the items. For the other monsters the organs were always discarded so seeing them on the table feels a bit off. The organs in question are the air sac and gizzard of the giant hawk. They don¡¯t have much use other than in certain potion recipes. Jellal casually sits down and eats his meal while the prisoners anxiously wait for him to finish. Each time he brings food to his mouth it signifies them being one step closer to being free. When he finishes one of them quickly snatches up the plate and runs to the kitchen to wash it. They don¡¯t want to leave any excuse to be kept here so they planned everything out in advance. When the dishwasher returns Jellal stands up and turns to look at the people who¡¯ve been under his care since he took over this cave. His eyes narrow and stop on one particular person. [Greed isn¡¯t considered a deadly sin for nothing you know. You¡¯re so close to being free and getting your life back, yet you can¡¯t contain your greed long enough to see it happen. In your next life you should try to use your head a bit more so you don¡¯t die a foolish death for no reason.] Goblin Escort Service In a single step Jellal appears in front of the woman. His right hand latches onto her throat as he lifts her off the ground. She flails about as she tries to break free of his grip, but it¡¯s no use. Her attempts to escape gradually lessen in strength before her hands fall down limply to her sides. Using his left hand Jellal reaches into the top of her pants. One at a time he pulls out a knife, some feathers, and a boar¡¯s tusk she¡¯d been concealing under her clothes. The boar tusk had been hidden in her cell the night before but he didn¡¯t bother look for the thief. Since they were leaving today the thief would either leave it behind or bring it out with them, revealing their true identity. Today his patience paid off when she acted exactly how he predicted. The rest of the prisoners could feel the urge to speak up in anger over another death, but they refrained from doing so. In the end she¡¯d made a conscious choice to steal from their warden despite knowing they would be set free today. Of course whether their overlord can be trusted is another issue entirely. For the most part they trusted his words, not out of real trust but out of their desire for hope. Not believing him is the same as giving up their dreams of being free which is what sustained them to this point. They watch silently as Jellal throws the body to the side and walks over to the table with the items on it. Placing the items on the table he turns around and looks at the group. With the exception of Meredith and Evangeline, all the captives are gathered together. Since Evangeline isn¡¯t coming with them she has no need to be here and is still sleeping in her cell. Meredith is also sleeping, but that¡¯s due to Jellal never waking her up. [This may be the wrong time to ask, but are they going to let you in the city without any identification or money? Now that I think of it I stacked up a bunch of papers the bandits had collected and never went back to look at them so maybe your ids are in there. Since I¡¯m an exceptionally generous person and I have no use for them you can have them back. Just don¡¯t get sticky fingers and everything will be fine.] Leading them out of the dining room Jellal opens the treasure room before they¡¯re even close to it. On the way he stops by his room to wake up Meredith, who¡¯s still being guarded by Sif. Understanding it¡¯s time to leave Sif comes along with them as they stop by the treasure room. Piled up in the furthest corner from the entrance they find a random stack of paper. Jellal gestures for them to have at it as he plops down in a chair. They dig through the pile passing papers back and forth while setting most of them aside. When they¡¯ve gone through the entire stack each of them has at least one paper in their hands. Not wanting to leave their fates up to chance they take turns showing what they took to Jellal before they leave the room. The last person left is Vincent who¡¯s holding a handful of papers. Knowing Vincent won¡¯t do something stupid to get himself killed Jellal waits for his inevitable explanation. A forced smile appears on Vincent¡¯s face as he sets the stack to the side. [Would it be possible for me to take the rest of the identification papers with me? Using the papers we can accurately gauge who was robbed by the bandits and who was using them as an excuse to pull a fast one on the people. There¡¯s plenty of precedent for people to use bandits as an excuse to lobby for financial assistance if their business is failing. The benefits they gain may not be much, but they¡¯re still stealing away taxes from hardworking people for their own selfish agendas. I may not have much sway in the kingdom but I¡¯m still a noble. As such it¡¯s my responsibility to procure these papers, if possible.] [I couldn¡¯t care less about a bunch of papers or your duty. If you want to carry a stack of papers through the forest while blindfolded be my guest. Just don¡¯t forget what I told you earlier. If you fall behind or get separated it¡¯s on you.] Vincent quickly grabs the papers and chases after the group. Jellal leisurely gets out of the chair and follows after him. After leaving the treasure room he seals it up so Evangeline can¡¯t get in while he¡¯s guiding the captives to the rendezvous point. When he steps into the dining hall he¡¯s greeted by the waiting captives. After collecting their papers they returned here to practice walking around with their blindfolds on. With one person acting as the lead they cover their eyes and try to navigate around the tables. They blindly stumble about as they try to get the hang of it. Occasionally someone will become separated from the group and lead the rest of the column to collapse into a pile flailing bodies. Jellal doesn¡¯t say anything and navigates through them on his way to the other side of the room. When he starts heading for the entrance they quickly uncover their eyes and race after him. The group ends up as an amalgamation of nerves and excitement as they stop in front of the defensive wall. [Alright, Meredith, you stand off to the side. Everyone else form two columns. There¡¯s fifteen of you present so without Meredith it¡¯s a perfect seven-seven split, not hard to figure out.] Following his instructions they split into groups and line up. Walking up to the first person in each line he hands them a dirty old cloth. Each of them takes a hold of an end while Jellal keeps the middle. Using the cloth he can lead them through the forest as he wishes without having to drag them around by the hand. On his que the group put on their blindfolds leaving them unable to see what¡¯s happening. Feeling around in the dark they locate the person in front of them, placing their hands firmly on their shoulders. Meanwhile Jellal wraps the cloth around his wrist so he can use his hands freely before they set off. When the rest of the prisoners are taken care of Jellal turns his attention to Meredith. Leaning down so he¡¯s at eye level with her, he carefully helps her put on her blindfold while keeping his left hand on her shoulder. With her blindfold secure he runs his hand down her arm and holds her hand. By keeping his hand on her shoulder he allows her to know it¡¯s him grabbing her hand so she doesn¡¯t have to feel anxious about it.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Along with Meredith he walks up to the first defensive wall. After one last check of their blindfolds he removes the first three walls. Passing through the opening he leads them to the outer wall which acts as the final barrier keeping them from leaving the cave. Instead of opening the entrance he stops, causing the train of people to bump into each other. While he¡¯s almost causing a human pileup inside, a horde of monsters wander around the entrance outside. The horde is made up of weak monsters but numbers over two hundred. Thanks to their awful sense of timing the start of the journey is delayed. While Jellal could easily kill them, the bodies would prove to be an annoyance to the people he¡¯s babysitting. The thought of letting the monsters pass only lasts for a few minutes before he gets sick of waiting. Calling an audible he uses wind magic to massacre any monster not in their path to reduce the time he has to wait. The monsters slowly get out of the vicinity and he finally opens the entrance to the outside. Taking his first steps outside he uses earth magic to repair the divots he previously used as a defensive arrangement. The spikes too are returned to the earth so the blind tagalongs don¡¯t skewer themselves. The blindfold and line up method of leading the captives away proves to be extremely inefficient only a few steps out of the entrance. Since they can only rely on the person in front of them to know when and where to move the lines movement is janky and disjointed, with the prisoners constantly starting and stopping. Their tendency to be cautious with their steps doesn¡¯t help matters. It¡¯s understandable for them to be wary of their steps given their inability to see, but when it¡¯s combined with them using their hands to connect together it causes them to move around by scrunching together then lengthening back out. This inchworm method of travel immediately gets on Jellal¡¯s nerves, forcing him to come up with a quick fix. Bringing everyone to a stop Jellal rips a vine off the side of a tree. Putting to the side he finds another similar vine and snatches it up as well. Using mana as fuel he makes the vines grow until they¡¯re long enough to easily reach the length of the lines. He lays the vines on the ground in between the lines. Using earth magic he props he the ends so the vine is around waist height before having the prisoners blindly reach out to their sides until they found them. With the new vines they have more room to space out and walk comfortably. Since Jellal¡¯s holding the other end of the vines he can easily control the pace they move at, making things less annoying on him. Of course he still plans on holding Meredith¡¯s hand during the trip so he ties the ends of the vines he¡¯s going to hold onto together while sticking a chunk of wood between them closer to the prisoners. The piece of wood acts as a spacer keeping the vines from tangling together and causing the people relying on them to have a pile up. Having taken care of the inchworm issue they once again set out. When everyone is out of the cave he puts the defensive walls back in place, leaving a larger gap than usual so Sif can come and go at will. He also replaces the divots and spikes once they¡¯ve cleared the area, leaving the base well defended. During the short time they¡¯ve spent marching so far numerous hordes of monsters have passed through Jellal¡¯s detection range. Even if they all attacked at the same time he would be able to handle it, but that¡¯s not the important part. What¡¯s important is the variety of monsters in the hordes. Up until this point this is the first time he¡¯s come across hordes with stronger monsters mixed within. Orcs and bears may not be the top of the food chain when it comes to monsters but their inclusion in the hordes is a telling sign. The monsters being effected by the miasma¡¯s no longer limited to the smallest of the small fries. It may be fine now, but the implications it has on the future of the forest and the world as a whole is troubling. If these monsters can be taken over by the miasma it¡¯s only a matter of time before stronger and more dangerous monsters suffer the same fate. More troubling still is whether they¡¯ll be subject to the same nearly infinite reinforcements the weaker monsters are. If every type of monster is available in infinite numbers like they¡¯re being pumped out on an assembly line the amount of danger facing the world in the near future can¡¯t be understated. Orcs may be fine, but what happens when it¡¯s wyverns being mass produced by the miasma? What happens if dragons are also subject to the same fate as goblins and wolves? Jellal frowns as he ponders the prospective implications of this new information. He may not have much of a connection to this world but he¡¯s living here now so he can¡¯t very well ignore the issue. ¡®I don¡¯t get it. What¡¯s the purpose of the miasma? Looking at the way it¡¯s shown to work so far it almost seems like a reset switch to bring the world back to square one, but that shouldn¡¯t be the case. There wouldn¡¯t be stories about how it caused the collapse of society and ruined empires if it was meant to be a hard reset. Since there¡¯s technology floating around from the last time the miasma spread it shouldn¡¯t be meant to wipe out everything. So what¡¯s its purpose? The stories mention it being the result of built up malice and evil intentions which might be a good clue. Usually I wouldn¡¯t put too much stock in old stories with no real evidence, but the stories are too suspicious to ignore. According to Kira the stories are pretty common yet they still don¡¯t know how to stop the miasma. If someone knew how to stop it why isn¡¯t it mentioned in the stories? If it hasn¡¯t been stopped before the only candidate to spread those stories is the same bastard who¡¯s responsible for the miasma. My conjecture being true would mean the stories tell us the true cause of the miasma. If it¡¯s caused by malice it definitely isn¡¯t meant to be a reset button. It¡¯s more likely to be a poor attempt to get the worlds inhabitants to behave. If I was a uselessly incompetent con artist of a god it would make sense to me to get people to not be total dicks through such an idiotic method. Following the same line of thinking brings me to a conclusion I don¡¯t like unfortunately. If the goal is to decrease peoples tendency for evil there shouldn¡¯t be a true solution to stopping the miasma¡¯s spread. To stop it you would probably need to decrease the evil in the world, which is an equally stupid way to fix the moronic problem. Now I really want to know what it takes to be a god, because it obviously has nothing to do with intelligence.¡¯ The moment his thoughts start pointing fingers at his old arch nemesis he loses the ability to contain it. He immediately blames everything on the world¡¯s god as his irrational anger flares to the max. As he starts looking around for something to punch out of existence his eyes fall on Meredith. Keeping his eyes glued to her his anger slowly subsides and he calms down. With his temper under control he decides to think of his old nemesis as a figment of his imagination. In this way he can escape reality and deny an idiots existence at the same time, which is a double win! Switching his focus to leading the group through the forest, he does his best to avoid hordes of monsters. This way he can make it more difficult for them to remember the path he brought them on and keep them protected at the same time. Whenever a stubborn horde refuses to cooperate and insists on getting in the way he wipes them out with magic from a distance. To ensure as smooth a trip as possible he dodges the corpses making their path wind even more incomprehensibly. A few hours of slowly trekking through the forest later and the sound of running water blesses the ears of the captives. During the entire trip the surrounding area¡¯s been eerily quiet, causing them to grow nervous. The only sound to reach their ears prior to this has been the distant screams of monsters. Naturally those screaming monsters were mostly annihilated by Jellal for coming too close to him, an incredibly dubious crime. Having finally reached the stream Jellal has the group take a small break. Exhausted from the long trip most of the captives sink to the ground like puppets with their strings cut. Jellal leaves Sif in charge of watching the group while he takes Meredith over to the stream. Taking a clean cloth from his bag he wets it in the stream. Using the wet cloth he gently washes her face, neck, and arms. Using water magic he creates a sphere of water. Manipulating it further he creates tendrils which spread around her hair. Unpacking some soap he washes her hair before using a new cloth to dry her off. Returning from his side trip he can only shake his head and sigh. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it also claimed the life of a captive. The former adventurer¡¯s inability to control herself caused her to be the first casualty since the start of the trip. Sif¡¯s blood soaked mouth releases its clamp on her neck as the body lies motionless. Unsure what¡¯s going on the rest of the prisoners can only sit on the ground with their heads tucked between their knees, not daring to take their blindfolds off to check. [Up and at ¡®em. Things will only get easier from here on out, so unless you¡¯re foolish enough to break the one rule I set before we left there¡¯s nothing to worry about. For any of you thinking of breaking the rule: you reap what you sow.] Getting everyone lined up again and holding the vines he leads them toward the stream. Using earth magic he creates a wide bridge over the river. Since it¡¯s held together with magic structural integrity isn¡¯t as important as it would normally be. To make sure it can handle the weight of the group crossing he adds in a gravity magic to reduce the gravity around the bridge. Due to his lack of practice he can¡¯t reduce it by much, but he¡¯ll take what he can get regardless. When the entire group finishes crossing the bridge he returns the area to normal to hide all traces of them passing through. Goblin Transfers Custody The group blindly makes their way through the forest while being dragged along by Jellal. Due to the smaller number of hordes on this side of the stream their progress is much faster than it had been previously. Unlike when they first left the hideout the prisoners aren¡¯t as cautious with their steps. Having gotten used to marching through the forest blindfolded is a major contributing factor to them being able to keep up their pace during the second leg of the trip. The more spacious environment doesn¡¯t hurt either. With more room to maneuver they don¡¯t have to take as many detours to find a path they can all take at the same time. Overall the journey is smooth sailing allowing them to quickly close in on the rendezvous point Jellal prepared for them. As they approach Jellal slows their pace to a crawl, waiting for the right timing to move in. At the meeting spot Sionia and a group of adventurers fight off a small horde of monsters. They work together seamlessly as they efficiently take down the monsters in the quickest way possible. Mac carves through any enemy that¡¯s foolish enough to approach him, causing a comfortable space in the area around him. Behind the group Sionia rapidly fires off arrows, displaying her excellent marksmanship and taking down each monster with one arrow a piece. The rest of the adventurers work in smaller groups as they ward off the horde. Focusing on defense first, they kill the attacking monsters momentum before shifting back and switching places with their comrades. They swiftly attack the off balance and stunned enemies before quickly retreating behind the shield bearers. This method allows them to easily deal with their foes while slowly falling back. Due to them falling back constantly the horde has to continually rush forward to reach them, thinning out the herd and making them easier to pick off. If the monsters had their heads screwed on properly they wouldn¡¯t fall for such an obvious ploy like a bunch of broken records, but the influence of the miasma has caused any ability they once had to use basic tactics to disappear into thin air. When the last of the enemies are wiped out they put away their weapons and retreat out of sight. The adventurers back out until they can no longer see what¡¯s going on at the rendezvous point, leaving everything to Sionia. Initially they planned to stay with her and act as her guards in case she was double crossed, but Mac vehemently opposed the decision. Out of the entire group he¡¯s the only one who was allowed to know what the real situation is. The rest of the adventurers only knew they would be escorting a group of people who had been captured by bandits and nothing more. For them the most likely explanation is a bandit making a deal with the guild to evade punishment, which would perfectly explain why they have to pick up the people so far away from the city. Being under the impression they¡¯re dealing with bandits caused them to be extra wary of betrayal due to who they¡¯re dealing with. Despite knowing the truth Mac is the most nervous of the bunch. If they were really dealing with a bandit things would be much easier after all. Even the most vile fiends don¡¯t want to be stuck in this miasma infested forest where death waits around every corner. Thanks to that they wouldn¡¯t dare attack the people they made a deal with since it would jeopardize their safety, but Jellal¡¯s different. To Mac, Jellal¡¯s nothing less than a beacon of bad luck. Wherever the strange goblin shows up there¡¯s bound to be trouble. Regardless of whether it¡¯s true or not, Mac sticks to his belief that nothing good will come of dealing with Jellal. He¡¯s already proven himself to have a short fuse, and having a bunch of extra adventurers running around is a match waiting to be struck. If they dared show their faces the fuse would be lit and the chances of stamping it out would border zero. Such a thing happening definitely can¡¯t be allowed, thus Mac personally watches over the group of adventurers to ensure there aren¡¯t any overly curious cats in their midst. Seeing the group clear out and leave Sionia on her own Jellal leads the prisoners to the clearing to hand them over to her. He already expected the adventurer¡¯s guild to send extra people to escort them back. If they didn¡¯t, the chances of the prisoners making it back alive would be greatly reduced and there would be no point in them making the deal in the first place. After all the captives are in the clearing Jellal brings them to a halt. Sif doesn¡¯t come out with them and instead stays hidden in some bushes at the rear of the group. [You seem to have had a rough time waiting for us. As per the agreement I¡¯ve brought the people who were captured by the bandits; fourteen in total. Now that we¡¯ve arrived at our destination there¡¯s no longer a need for them to wear the blindfolds I suppose, unless you also want to try leading around a bunch of blind people through the forest. It¡¯s an interesting experience. Not one I want to take a second stab at, but still interesting. What do you say; want to give it a shot?] [Of course I do! I love making people I waited in a forest to escort to safety wander around defenselessly in monster infested area. How did you know?] [You always struck me as the type of person who doesn¡¯t have any morals. As expected, I was right on the money.] [Says the pot to the kettle. You should try looking in a mirror some time. Ah, I take it back. Even if you looked in a mirror you wouldn¡¯t be able to see anything other than your oversized ego.] While the pair engage in some banter the prisoners stand in place unsure what to do. There¡¯s nothing they want to do more than take off their blindfolds, but they haven¡¯t been given permission to do so yet. The last thing any of them wants is to make it to place their being handed over at only to get killed for taking off their blindfolds. Looking at how well trained the captives are Jellal can¡¯t help but let out a little chuckle. [From now on you¡¯re no longer my problem. Also be sure to return your blindfolds, they¡¯re my property after all.] The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Relief washes over the group as they¡¯re finally able to say they¡¯re free from captivity. Ripping the blindfolds off many of them try to hold back their tears as they embrace in their excitement. Jellal gently removes Meredith¡¯s blindfold before fixing her hair. The others begin funneling over to turn in their blindfolds forcing Jellal to shift his attention. Once their blindfold is collected they move across the clearing and wait next to Sionia. In the end the last person left on his side is Meredith. To make sure she doesn¡¯t have any trouble in Pavise when she gets there he slips one gold and a few silver into her pocket. Giving her back a light nudge he urges her to join the others. She hesitates momentarily before trotting over and standing next to Sia and Beth. [I suppose our business is finished then. Be sure to tell the geezer keeping an eye on your friends in the forest not to break his hip acting like he¡¯s still young.] Before leaving he can¡¯t help but throw a verbal jab at Mac. He even made sure to crank up the volume so the old man would hear him. Out of the forest behind Sionia Mac¡¯s voice sounds out in response. [Why don¡¯t you bring your mother over and I¡¯ll show you what it means to break a hip, you runt!] With the prisoners out of his hands, Jellal has no reason to linger. Doing an about face he casually strolls back into the brush he came from. When he¡¯s out of sight Sif joins up with him as they start their trip back to the cave. Without the extra baggage slowing them down the two freely sprint through the forest. Under Jellal¡¯s leadership they easily avoid any potential enemies on their trip. Thanks to Sif¡¯s agility Jellal doesn¡¯t have to waste time circling wide when they dodge a horde. Instead they weave through the various groups by the smallest margin possible without getting noticed, shortening the time needed for their trip even more. They arrive at the entrance of the cave and slip inside before any nearby monsters have a chance to notice them. As always Jellal seals off the entrance after they¡¯re inside so they won¡¯t have to worry about their cave being discovered. Finally home they stroll through the empty hall to the dining hall. Jellal gives the material from the giant hawk a once over to make sure a certain vampire didn¡¯t mess with it while he was away. Confirming everything¡¯s in place he loads the materials into his bag. He didn¡¯t do this earlier because he didn¡¯t want to reveal the existence of his bag to the prisoners, doubly so since it was right before they were set free. One of them died do to their greed before they even left the cave so how could he have confidence they wouldn¡¯t get greedy the moment they¡¯re free. A room full of bandit treasure may be enticing for adventurers, but they wouldn¡¯t take the risk with the climate of the forest. However if the prize their after is something far more useful the chances of them taking the risk and venturing out greatly increases. The types of items this applies to is limited, but storage items will always be chief among the desired items due to their utility and rarity. After the material is stowed away Jellal passes through the dining hall and toward the treasure room. The first thing he needs to do before he can get back to his training is make sure Evangeline didn¡¯t take any of his stuff. Walking past his room he glances inside at the sleeping vampire. At some point when he was escorting the prisoners she moved her sleeping spot from her cell to his bed. Looking at her drooling all over his pillows his face twitches and he has to suppress his urge to stuff a week old sock in her mouth. ¡®I wonder how vampires are categorized. Are they considered monsters or an ¡°intelligent species¡±? The others didn¡¯t seem to have any problems being around her so she probably isn¡¯t classified as a monster. Then again, she didn¡¯t really spend much time with anyone other than Meredith so it¡¯s hard to tell. I¡¯d imagine as long as they don¡¯t go around sucking peoples¡¯ blood without permission they would be thought of like elves or dwarves. The main proponent against it is their strength. Humans tend to consider themselves the top of the food chain and don¡¯t like when others are stronger than them. It wouldn¡¯t be surprising if they made up some excuses to consider vampires as monsters so they could righteously strike them down and eliminate the potential threat they pose to human superiority. More importantly is how they¡¯re considered by the world. If they are monsters the possibility of me having to deal with some miasma inflicted vampires in the future is a something to take note of.¡¯ Arriving at the still sealed treasure room Jellal opens it up and steps inside. Using his mana to scan the area he already confirmed nothing is out of place before he came inside. He heads to the left side of the room and walks along the wall until he finds his objective. Looking at his reflection in the mirror he turns his head back and forth while looking at his jagged ears. Grabbing the earrings he bought during his trip to the city from his bag, he holds them up to his ears before deciding how to wear them. Popping open the clamps, he prepares to jam the wire through his ear. To ensure it goes through he coats the wire in mana to reinforce it. For the first earring he lifts it up to his right ear and stabs it through the earlobe near the base of the ear. He repeats the process on his left ear leaving him with two normal looking piercings. The third earring is poked through the lower part of his ear approximately three quarters of the way down the length of his ear. His final earring is jammed in right next to it with only a small gap separating the two. Turning his head in front of the mirror he inspects his handiwork. ¡®As I thought, goblins are tailor made to wear earrings. Maybe it has something to do with the way the ears are shaped. The earrings definitely accent the jagged uniqueness of the ears. It¡¯s a shame I could only find four of them last time. To really get the most out of these ears I¡¯ll need a few more.¡¯ Jellal takes some time to admire himself in the mirror before leaving the treasure room and sealing it behind him. If he wanted to sell the mirror he could undoubtedly get a good price for it, but then he wouldn¡¯t be able to use it to admire himself. Naturally being able to check himself out in the mirror is far more important than some material wealth. Passing through the dining hall he makes his way to the living quarters. To pick up where he left off with the experiments he returns to the depths of the living quarters where his personal training area is. Taking out his piles of dirt he gets right back into sorting it. The more time he spends sorting the granules of dirt the faster and more accurate he becomes. Even with his best efforts it takes him nearly an hour just to finish divvying up the dirt. With the dirt ready he moves on to constructing the blocks. To save time he only makes them five square centimeters. To make the blocks identical he builds them in layers, while checking for any minute differences between layers. When the layers are all stacked up and held together by magic he moves on to the next step: compacting the dirt together. Using earth magic to compress the dirt; being sure to examine the blocks for any flaws along the way. When he¡¯s finished he¡¯s left with two identical blocks, with identical structures. The cherry on top is his perfect knowledge of the cubes. If even a single speck of dirt is out of place after the teleportation he¡¯ll know about it. Now at long last he can resume his experiments. For his control he teleports them in place to get confirm his previous conclusions. Thoroughly checking the cubes, he confirms they haven¡¯t had any changes due to the teleportation. Getting into the real experiments, he picks out a position on the makes a slot for the block to slide into with earth magic. A few measly centimeters away from there he makes a second identical slot to use as the target destination. Before he tests the dirt cubes he pulls out a chunk of wood and puts his dirt cubes away. Placing the wood in the slot he teleports it to the other slot, only slightly off the mark. This results in an unexpected explosion that sends him flying into the wall. ¡®Note to self, teleporting something to an already occupied location is extremely dangerous. I knew it wouldn¡¯t end well, but I wasn¡¯t expecting an explosion. I thought the object would be ripped to shreds not explode in my face. Extremely dangerous, but incredibly useful information. What kind of defense can stop me from teleporting a rock inside an object to make it explode? As for what would happen if an actual living being was involved instead of a pair of inanimate objects, we¡¯ll find out later. I bet it¡¯ll be a nice big explosion of blood and flesh. Why is space magic so useful when it isn¡¯t used correctly? Sure it¡¯s dangerous, but being able to intentionally cause an accident with space magic is basically an instant kill.¡¯ Brushing the dirt off his body Jellal fixes the hole in the ground and remakes the slots. Bringing out one of his dirt blocks he begins the experiments. In an instant the dirt block disappears from one slot and appears in the other. Carefully scrutinizing the cube Jellal notices something strange: there¡¯s no damage to the cube. Even when he only shifted the wood blocks to the side a tiny amount they were damaged, yet the dirt cube is completely unharmed. Placing it on the ground away from the slots he picks a new destination at random. Teleporting the cube once again it falls from the sky and lands in his outstretched hand. After careful inspection the result is the same as the other test: a perfect teleportation. ¡®Why? I went through so much trouble to make a pair of blocks perfectly identical and then the first one teleports perfectly. It¡¯s like a slap in the face to put in so much effort for one objective then not be able to complete it. I only wanted to see where my magic was going wrong so I could fix it. Unless, the answer is right before my eyes. The difference between the two tests is the test subject, or more precisely the structure of the objects. The most important difference should be my knowledge of the objects¡¯¡¯ makeups. To know for certain if my line of thinking is correct I need to do a few more tests though. Teleporting may not be so far away after all, kekeke.¡¯ Sitting on the ground holding a dirt cube, Jellal laughs like a mad scientist about to see his dreams come to fruition before his very eyes. Goblin Isnt Crazy Awakened by a sudden explosion in another part of the cave, Evangeline sits up while flailing her arms about. Hopping out of bed she stumbles through the hallway. Since the cave¡¯s currently empty (or was the last time she was awake at least) she has to be ready to defend herself from potential threats. Making her way to the entrance of the cave, the most likely area for a break in, she stops and jerks her head around looking for the culprit. Not seeing anyone she sucks in her gut and tries to slip between the bars of the innermost defensive wall. Slipping her left side of her body through she tries to bring the rest of her body through, starting with her butt. Having trouble she tries her upper body, to no avail. Giving up on her plan to slip through the bars she attempts to slide out from between the bars. Wiggling vigorously she gives her all to escape, but it¡¯s futile. Realizing her predicament she wraps her hands around the bars and shakes them violently in a bid to break them lose. Her desperate struggle yields no results, only serving to tire her out. From within the cave nearly silent footsteps approach her. She panics thinking the intruder has come to get her after catching her with their clever scheme, but her violent thrashing doesn¡¯t help her get any less stuck than she already is. Seeing Sif saunter down the hallway her eyes sparkle brightly. At the same time an intelligent light flashes through Sif¡¯s eyes. [Here Mathias. Be a good boy and help me. Mathias? No! Don¡¯t lay down, help me! Do you understand, you must help me! How can you abandon your master like this? I was so good to you! Help!] While Evangeline franticly screams for help Sif leisurely plops down on the ground, resting its head on its front legs. The desperate pleas for help only grow louder the longer Sif ignores her. Eventually the vampire tires herself out and stops being noisy. At that very moment a revelation struck Evangeline as if it were a message from heaven: she¡¯s a vampire, and vampires can use blood magic. She¡¯s left shocked when she finally realizes she could have used blood magic to escape at any time. She pricks her finger with her nail causing blood to ooze from the wound. Controlling the blood she whips the top and bottom of one of the bars she¡¯s stuck between. The cut is incredibly clean and thin to the point the bar doesn¡¯t loosen up and fall over. Growing frustrated she repeatedly whips the top of the bar in an attempt to break free. Using her hands she angrily pushes the bar forward, finally dislodging it. Due to her overzealous shove she falls with it to the next bar before using that one to brace herself. The repeated slashes to the top of the bar prove to be effective in dislodging the bar and the pieces as evidenced by the thin slices of earth dropping on her head. Her anger reaches a boiling point due to the series of events and she angrily lashes out. The target of her venting is the poor defensive bars that did nothing wrong. She wildly swings her blood whip around, cutting through the bars like a hot knife through butter. When she¡¯s finally satisfied she gives one of the bars one last kick out of spite. This, however, turns out not to be the brightest idea. The bar she kicked, which had somehow stayed in one piece despite being cut into an inestimable number of pieces, collapses due to the small force exerted on it. The pieces tumble in every which way causing a domino effect to take place among the bars. Naturally the majority of the ruble falls toward the source of the reaction where Evangeline is standing. In the blink of an eye she¡¯s buried under a pile of dirt chunks with only her head, arms, and a tiny bit of her chest sticking out. Finding herself trapped once again she reverts to flail mode as she swings her arms around wildly. Due to her being face down her view is limited by a substantial degree. Almost mockingly Sif adjusts its position so it¡¯s inside her field of view before lying down again. [Pull me out! Mathias, help! Please don¡¯t abandon me! Haven¡¯t I always been a good master to you? Traitor! How can you be so cruel when I was nothing but kind to you?] Unable to gain favor with the pet wolf she switches to plan b. using blood magic she creates a claw attached to a chain. Throwing out the hook she uses her blood magic to slam it into the ground. After giving the chain a light tug to see whether the claw was securely lodged in the ground, she begins trying to forcefully pull herself out from under the pile of dirt. After enduring much hardship and suffering she finally escapes the clutches of the dastardly trap the invader set for her. Before she has a chance to give up on chasing down the intruder another explosion rings out from the depths of the living quarters. [Come on Mathias, we have an intruder to catch!] Calling out to Sif, she pops to her feet and rushes to find the source of the racket that¡¯s keeping her awake. Unfortunately the hamster on a wheel that powers her brain is taking the day off so she¡¯s yet to realize she¡¯s not the only one in the cave anymore. Even after calling out to Sif this fact flies straight over her head and blows away with the wind. Pausing in the dining hall she looks back and forth between the two halls she has to choose from. She originally came from one of them, but there¡¯s a distinct possibility the intruder is looking for her and went that way after she fell for his evil trap. While she¡¯s busy racking her brain Sif moseys past her on the way back to its room. Seeing this she believes her beloved pet Mathias is leading her on the correct path to make amends for earlier. [I understand Mathias, you couldn¡¯t help me earlier for my own good. You wanted me to find a way out of the precarious situation using my own power the way a noble vampire should! Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t betray the trust you¡¯ve placed in me!] As she gives her speech she tilts her head back slightly to avoid crying from happiness. Clenching her fist she strikes a pose before rushing into the living quarters to track down the intruder. Wondering if there will be any more free entertainment Sif tags along as well, boosting her confidence.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Bursting around the final corner of the living quarters they arrive at Jellal¡¯s personal training area. There they find the person in question holding his dirt cube in front of him while cackling maniacally. On top of that he¡¯s even mumbling incomprehensibly to himself. Evangeline tries to figure out what he¡¯s saying but she can only make out him saying something about perfection while looking at the cube with an affectionate gaze. No matter how she looks at it there¡¯s something suspicious going on between him and the cube of dirt. Not wanting to get infected with some strange disease she slowly backs away, putting an end to her grand hunt for a nonexistent intruder. To Jellal the insignificant interruption isn¡¯t a big deal. Rather, it would be strange for someone not to investigate a pair of explosions within a cave system they¡¯re currently in. While Evangeline was on her escapade Jellal¡¯s research was steadily moving forward. He ran through multiple tests with splintered wood, randomly thrown together dirt balls, and his perfect dirt cubes. In fact the second explosion was him using a dirt ball to verify his findings from earlier. As for why he was holding the dirt cube in front of him while staring at it affectionately: that was a result of his rapid advancements. ¡®I¡¯ve already confirmed both dirt and wood explode when teleported to an already occupied zone. Their similar reactions were an expected result. On other fronts I have theories to test. Using the dirt balls I threw together I was able to prove the perfect teleportation wasn¡¯t due to the substance used since the dirt balls were damaged in a similar fashion to the splintered wood chunks. Yet the dirt cubes continued their show of excellence and have yet to have a result other than perfect teleportation. I can only think of two reasonable explanations for this anomaly. The far less likely explanation is them performing so well thanks to the internal structure meeting some, as of yet, unknown requirement. However, it¡¯s a higher probability it¡¯s a side effect of me knowing the exact internal structure of the cube down to the placement of each individual speck of dirt. I¡¯m almost certain it¡¯s the latter reason so I¡¯ll focus on testing related to that theory from now on. If I need to know the exact makeup of the object I want to teleport things will get tricky in the future. First I need to figure out how specific my knowledge needs to be to achieve a perfect teleportation. After that will be the live tests. If I need to know exactly where each drop of blood is in the body and how the muscles are moving to teleport a living being it¡¯ll add an extra layer of difficulty. Regardless of how difficult it is I can tell I¡¯m closing in on teleportation which is exciting. It won¡¯t be long before I can start the live testing necessary for the final stretch of the grand experiment.¡¯ Using earth magic Jellal pulls together a dirt ball at random. Passing his mana through the ball he gets a general idea of its internal structure before teleporting it above his hand. Snagging it out of the air he inspects it for damage, only finding trace amounts. Breaking apart the ball he creates another one from its remains and teleports it without paying any attention to its internal structure. By doing this he can compare the amount of damage done when he has a general idea of the structure of an object versus going in blind. Since both balls are made from the exact same materials this experiment will give him an idea of how important it is to know not only the material but how it¡¯s arranged. The ball predictably ends up with more damage than it did the first time around, adding weight to his theory. Without wasting any time he makes a group of five new dirt balls. He inspects them all for an equal amount of time before teleporting them one at a time. Even though the difference is slight there¡¯s a differing amount of damage on each of the balls. This tells him the complexity of the balls makeup likely differs causing the more multifaceted ones to require a higher degree of knowledge. During these tests he keeps in mind the material he¡¯s working with. Although dirt seems plain at a glance its actual makeup contains various types of minerals instead of one consistent material. Switching over to a chunk of wood he carefully inspects it with his mana before teleporting it. The piece of wood appears above his hand allowing him to easily catch it. A quick check for damage reveals a pristine piece of wood and a perfect teleportation. Moving on to the next phase of his experiment he decides to step up the complexity of the items he¡¯s teleporting. To do this he creates a batch of dirt balls with water inside using a combination of earth and water magic. The hope is to do a series of crude simulations to determine how a living being would react to being teleported with the water acting as a stand in for blood. The method is extremely crude and inaccurate but it¡¯s a starting point. For the initial test he tries to teleport the ball of dirt without moving the water. He goes forward with the test despite his confidence the results will meet his expectations so he can cover all his bases. As expected the water splashes on the ground after the shell holding it disappears. Due to his lacking inspection of the shell it comes out damaged causing the results to skew. Not satisfied he redoes it after carefully inspecting the shell. One successful teleport later and everything turns out as expected. Pushing ahead he does another series of tests to determine the viability of teleporting the water and dirt both separately and together. Things end up going surprisingly smoothly throughout the entire testing period. ¡®As long as I¡¯m familiar enough with the object I¡¯m teleporting there¡¯s no issue with moving things separately of as one. I can confidently say I¡¯m capable of teleporting simple objects at will after inspecting them. To continue down this path I need living subjects to perform tests on. Since I haven¡¯t finished all the different experiments I have I¡¯ll put it on hold for now. More importantly, I think it¡¯s time to test the swapping style of teleportation. Now that I can ensure the objects would normally reach their destination in one piece I¡¯ll be able to know for sure if it¡¯s viable. After that I have a more interesting idea I want to play with.¡¯ To facilitate his experiment he creates a solidified space shield in the form of a cube. If the two items he teleports collide and explode or do something worse he has some level of protection. For the initial phase of testing he stars simple with some good old dirt balls. He gets ready to run for cover as he initiates the test, but all his precautions are for naught as things go off without a hitch. Ramping it up a bit he uses the water filled dirt shells he prepared for the last test. Yet again they swap without any problems arising. After the anticlimactic swapping experiments he¡¯s ready to move on to something a little more interesting. To start things off he gathers together some wind mana and attempts to teleport the raw mana to a different location. Under normal circumstances it would be difficult to tell whether such a test succeeded because of mana¡¯s ethereal nature. Fortunately Jellal is far from normal. By focusing mana to his eyes he was able to watch the mana at both the launch point and destination. For the first test he didn¡¯t mess with the mana around the destination so he could get a baseline. Even though it was negligible there was a slight reaction between the preexisting and newly arriving mana. With his interest sparked he changes up his plans. Using the same bit of mana he repeatedly teleports it between a two nearby locations. The longer he keeps it up the more obvious the reaction becomes. Finally it reaches the critical point and the portion of mana he¡¯s been teleporting begins emitting a faint glow. Maneuvering the mana so it floats around he observes how it interacts with the natural mana in the area. It doesn¡¯t pass through or merge with the mana but repels it as if showing its dominance. ¡®After a prolonged period of constantly being forced to collide with other types of mana by way of teleportation did it become supercharged? Under normal circumstances mana doesn¡¯t collide in such a manner so it¡¯s easy to pinpoint the cause. Why it reacts the way it does, on the other hand, is still a mystery. I can think about it after I play around with it a bit more.¡¯ Controlling the mana, Jellal makes it come into contact with a splintered chunk of wood. He considered testing it on the wall but adapted the idea to use wood for safety¡¯s sake. The piece of wood is instantly turned to dust when it comes in contact with the supercharged mana, and suddenly his decision not to smack the wall with it proves to be a brilliant move. In the end his curiosity can¡¯t be contained and he brings the mana in front of him. Having it land on his palm he¡¯s greeted with an intense searing pain. After keeping it in place for a second he moves it away to check what kind of damage he¡¯s taken. For him to take any damage is enough to prove how potent the supercharged mana is. Even the most powerful breath attack of a mutant wyvern couldn¡¯t scratch him yet little bit of mana was able to despite not being formed into magic or being used to deliberately deal damage. Looking at his palm, which is covered in tiny divots where the mana touched him, a smile floats onto his face. Controlling the mana he makes it land on his palm a second time. Unlike the first time he tries to interact with it the way he would a normal magic attack and have it merge or pass through. The supercharged mana refuses to cooperate with him so he decides to do some other tests instead. Creating a solidified space shield he has the mana collide with it to test its physical and magical power. The usually trusty space shield is slowly cut through without much effort. ¡®If it¡¯s so powerful in its basic mana form what would happen if I formed it into magic?¡¯ Riding that thought he focuses on the mana in an attempt to form it into magic, but stops midway through and stares at the mana in surprise. The mana doesn¡¯t have any true attribute yet it can take on the properties of any mana he wants. ¡®It¡¯s so broken! Whatever its true origins, I know it isn¡¯t ordinary. Who knows, maybe it¡¯s the original form of mana before it turned into its current form? If that¡¯s the case wouldn¡¯t it basically be some kind of divine mana? Is being born with this how they become gods? No wonder my arch nemesis is a total idiot; being a god is something he was probably born into. All that aside, I see the path forward to revenge on the bastard!¡¯ Goblin Seeks Teleportation Keeping the supercharged mana off to the side for now Jellal resumes the experiment he was doing previously before he got sidetracked. Once again he starts things off with teleporting mana. The result is the same as before giving him confidence to move forward. Gathering some more wind mana he compresses it and forms it into a needle shaped magic. This simple magic will be the next target of his teleportation. His eyes glow brightly as he activates teleports the formed magic. When it reappears he finds no obvious problems with the magic other than the slight agitation of the mana it¡¯s composed of. To confirm the effect the agitation has on the magic he creates a second wind needle and a giant block of compressed earth. Using the block of earth as a target he fires off the pair of needles simultaneously. To ensure data he collects is accurate he uses the same amount of force to propel them forward. The one he previously teleported is just a hair slower, though the difference is so tiny it¡¯s negligible. Small round holes are left in the aftermath of the attacks striking the block. To ensure he doesn¡¯t influence the test he releases his control over them the moment they hit the block. Carefully inspecting the holes he¡¯s surprised to find a few differences. The hole created by the teleported magic is less clean when compared to the smooth, perfectly round hole the normal wind needle created. The depths of the holes are nearly identical, with the teleported magic edging the normal version out by a hair. The major difference comes in the area around the holes. The normal wind needle creates a clean path of damage with only the area directly touched by it being affected. On the flip side, the agitation from the teleportation causes residual damage off of the hole and into dirt. This shows the main difference between the two. One is perfectly concentrated and contained while the other is constantly trying to break free of its constraints causing it to exhibit a stronger force, but in multiple directions instead of focusing it at one point. Jellal makes a mental note of the results before moving on with his experiments. Repeating the previous tests he uses the mana swapping method instead of leaving the mana in the area be. The results are the same as ones displayed by the normal wind needle confirming his earlier speculation regarding the cause of the mana¡¯s agitation. After creating another wind needle and fixing the target he prepares his teleportation magic. He propels the needle forward before teleporting it in front of the target. The needle drills into the block of dirt in the same manner as the previous tests. To gather as much data as possible the test is repeated with the swap method as well. The swapped needle acted the same as a normal wind needle as expected. The other needle, however, gave him some unexpected results. Due to the collision between mana directly following the teleportation the needle was thrown off course slightly. Any decrease in an attack¡¯s accuracy can play a major role in how it¡¯s used. To avoid any potential accidents he decides not to teleport magic without swapping it with the mana in its destination. Having learned enough about how magic reacts to teleportation he pulls out a throwing knife and carefully inspects it as he prepares for the next round of tests. In a fluid motion he throws the knife to the side. Right before it hits the wall it vanishes, suddenly appearing in front of Jellal. The knife continues on until it¡¯s lodged in the wall. A second later the knife appears in his hand. He takes a second to prepare his teleportation magic again before throwing the knife at the wall to his right again. It appears in front of him again, but this time it¡¯s flying toward him. Reaching out his left hand he catches the knife. He continues throwing the knife and making it reappear from different angles until he¡¯s confident in his ability to control the orientation of an object he teleports at will. Switching back to using wind needles he practices the same technique for teleporting magic. By perfecting his ability to control a subject¡¯s orientation when it¡¯s teleported he¡¯ll be able to easily attack enemies from blind angles. The technique truly shines in the field of assassination. If he throws a knife and teleports it behind someone while he¡¯s standing in front of them he¡¯ll be able to have a perfect alibi during any subsequent investigations. Finishing up his experiments he moves on to more important matters: the supercharged mana. Compared to when it was first created the power has decreased a bit, though its air of dominance is still present despite it slowly reverting to natural mana. Staring at the mana he gets to work. Gathering a much larger amount of mana he proceeds to repeatedly teleport it back and forth in a bid to create a much larger pool of supercharged mana. When the large pool looks to be the same as the original he attempts to combine the two together. The two mingle in a similar manner to normal mana, but combining them into one is a tall task. Carefully he adjusts them and forces them to maintain similar properties as he joins them together. Achieving his goal of merging them into one he goes back to teleporting them repetitively until it reaches a certain point where the mana stops changing regardless of how often it¡¯s teleported, having reached its maximum potential. Madness shines in Jellal¡¯s eyes as a wicked grin appears on his face. The mana floats over and surrounds him as he begins cackling maniacally like a madman. As if being drawn in by an unstoppable force the mana surges towards him pressing close to him from every direction. Blood spurts from Jellal as he¡¯s burdened with the overwhelming power of the superior grade of mana. Gritting his teeth he endures the intense pain coursing over every inch of his body. His mad laughter doesn¡¯t end even when he collapses into a bloody heap. Knowing anymore will risk his life he reluctantly makes the mana back off. As he lies in a pool of his own blood he can say beyond a shadow of a doubt his first attempt to adapt to the supercharged mana has ended in failure.Stolen story; please report. ¡®So much for my plan to immediately gain a higher form of mana and search for a way to locate my arch nemesis so I can give him the beating he deserves. To think my adaptability would fail me at such a crucial time. I guess it isn¡¯t something I need to worry about too much. Even if my plans for revenge are delayed I¡¯ve at least made tremendous leaps in regards to teleportation. In fact the only thing left to do is to start doing some practical tests with living subjects. Initially I thought it would take much longer, but I guess I forgot to take into account me being a genius when I made my introductory estimation. Other than that I only need to look inward to complete my preparations for teleporting, and I mean that in the most literal way imaginable. In order to teleport myself I¡¯ll need to have a perfect knowledge of my body, and therein lies the problem. Good old adaptability combined with my attempts at gaining the superior mana will surely cause many changes to occur within my body. Even if I gain perfect knowledge of the current version of me who knows how many upgrades I¡¯ll go through a week later. This is the first time I¡¯ve ever considered adapting so well to be a double edged sword. Of course I can always figure out exactly how I¡¯ve changed before I teleport, but doing something so tedious defeats my purpose for seeking out teleportation which is for its undeniable convenience. For my future ease of use I may have to look into merging with space mana for a solution. Thankfully all the time I spent researching teleportation won¡¯t be wasted even if I don¡¯t use it since I found a superior mana as a result.¡¯ The mana in the surrounding area begins to surge toward Jellal, who¡¯s still sprawled out on the ground. He begins absorbing it like a dry sponge tossed under a flowing faucet. Manipulating the energy he begins to feed it to his body¡¯s cells to kick them into overdrive by applying the same principals demonstrated by Evangeline when she healed and by the saplings he grew into masks. His body creaks and moans as his body begins reverting back to how it was before he was injured, or that¡¯s how it should¡¯ve been. His adaptability skill decides to make a late appearance and throw a wrench into his healing. Although his outward appearance doesn¡¯t change, internally his body adjusts to accommodate taking on a tremendous force of mana and healing, proving his worries about him being adversely affected by his adaptability skill to be warranted. Sitting up Jellal begins to meditate and inspect his own body. It becomes immediately apparent it will take time for him to know his body perfectly so he can teleport. Not wanting to take the time at the moment, he instead begins merging with space mana. While he¡¯s merging he has his mana do the same causing the surroundings to flood with an abundant amount of the usually sparsely scattered space mana. When he¡¯s merged to an acceptable degree he creates a block using earth magic. Permeating his space infused mana through the cube he slowly attempts to force it to adopt some properties of space mana. If the earth cube gains some properties of space mana it can act as a shoddy nonliving substitute for him in his current form. Thinking up to here he pauses and uses water magic to create some veins filled with water running through the cube before repairing the external damage with earth magic. Now that his substitute is newly improved he continues infusing it with space mana. During the entire process he doesn¡¯t pay special attention to the makeup of the cube. He knows what it¡¯s made of and where the veins are but nothing specific like he would usually need to achieve a perfect teleportation. The idea is to use the properties of space mana to make up for it, or at least that¡¯s what he hopes will happen for the sake of his future teleportation needs. Deeming the cube to have taken on the minimum amount of properties necessary for the experiment he prepares to move forward with the test. The cube appears a few meters away, resting on the floor for a few seconds before disappearing again and reappearing in Jellal¡¯s right hand. Carefully inspecting the cube he finds no evidence of damage having occurred. Theoretically this means he could use his current form to teleport if he wished. The reason he doesn¡¯t jump for joy at the successful experiment is due to it not involving any living tissue. For him to truly feel comfortable teleporting himself he needs to know how living tissue is affected by it, not just a cube shaped amalgamation of dirt and water. Returning to his base state he surrounds himself with the superior mana again. No matter how he tries he¡¯s unable to get his body to sync up and resonate with the superior mana. This is unthinkable since it should only be natural for a superior being to use superior mana. Disregarding his own safety he bombards himself with the mana. It crashes over him like a tidal wave as the puddle of blood he¡¯s standing in expands continuously. Even when he reaches his limit he doesn¡¯t stop causing him to black out for a moment. Finally giving up he has the mana retreat as he struggles to stay standing. Due to the boost from his adaptability he was able to withstand the beating slightly better, but not enough to keep him from ending up in a sorry state after a constant bombardment. Drawing the natural mana in from all around him he begins healing his wounds. Even after his body¡¯s healed, he still feels light headed. Shakily he sits down to take a much needed rest. ¡®How annoying. My brilliant plan to attack myself with the superior mana and then heal up in a recurring cycle until I ascend to become a higher being than I already am seems to have a few glaring flaws. I guess the burden is a bit too much even for me. Since my grand strategy can¡¯t be seen to its conclusion I have time to kill. I could continue working on teleportation, but doing so in this state would make me feel like I¡¯m rushing things. I suppose I could head to Pavise after I recover a little. I still need to deal with the whole mentor issue at the guild, so I could take care of that while I¡¯m there. I also have plenty of junk to sell and a craftsman to make a perfect chair to find. While I¡¯m there I can use the opportunity to ensure none of those prisoners have big mouths. Then again they may not have made it there yet. If they took the fastest path possible they might have made it, but I doubt those adventurers would want to drag the lot of them through the brush. Assuming they took the road, they would still have a ways to go. That being said, getting there before them might not be such a bad idea. At the very least it would be easier to track them if I¡¯m there when they walk through the gate. I¡¯ve got plenty of time before I need to be there. In the meantime why don¡¯t I work on something else? I still need to make a throne for myself. There¡¯s also the wyvern from yesterday sitting in my bag waiting for me to chop it to pieces. Speaking of things being chopped into pieces I have a ton of bones lying around I have no use for. Nothing says ¡°don¡¯t mess with me¡± like a throne made from the bones of my enemies. Still, the bones are mostly from small fries so it might not end up looking too impressive. The last thing I want is for someone to see it and think ¡°oh, I was worried but judging by his throne he can only bully weaklings¡±. If such a thing happened it wouldn¡¯t drive away nuisances at all. In fact they may intentionally come after me thinking I¡¯m easy prey. I could go into the depths of the forest to find some more intimidating bones to use, but it¡¯s a pain in the ass to sift through all the weaklings. I don¡¯t even know if there are any more ¡°okay¡± strength monsters like that wyvern left in this place. Since I have no other option I guess I could use the wyvern bones after I process it. As long as I don¡¯t permanently connect the bones I should be able to switch out the less impressive bones further down the road when I get ahold of some that look intimidating.¡¯ With his time killing activity selected he pulls the wyvern out of his bag. The massive body nearly fills the room making it feel cramped. Taking out one of his trusty throwing knives he taps the body a few times causing a metallic clang to ring out. Floating above the corpse he circles around looking for the best place to start cutting it apart. After nearly a minute of circling he gives up and shoves it back in his bag, deciding to deal with it later. ¡®Why should I put in effort trying to figure out how to take this damn thing apart when I can have someone do it for me? Maybe this is a sign for me to go to Pavise now instead of waiting. It¡¯s definitely not me being lazy after remembering how obnoxiously huge the thing is, that¡¯s for sure.¡¯ Even though he gave up on the wyvern he could still make a temporary throne from the other bones he has. At the very least he can make a prototype so he can have an idea how to redesign it when he does get the wyverns bones. With that in mind he stumbles out of his training area and slowly makes his way down the hall. Wobbling his way through the cave he arrives at the sealed treasure room. Opening it up and going inside he heads to the mountain of bones he piled up next to the fur blankets and rugs. Picking a bunch of bones at random he creates a small pile. He uses earth magic to make an earthen wagon under the pile and heads for the exit. The wagon follows him down the hall as he seals the room and works his way back to the dining hall. Once there he looks around to find a good place to build his throne. In the end he picks a position in line with the hall that leads to the cave entrance. If he does something about the useless tables and closes up the other hallways and the kitchen he can make the dining room look like a grand hall. With his perception range he can easily do that before anyone has a chance to get close so they won¡¯t know any better. What¡¯s more important is the vibe they get when they show up. Stopping his wagon he piles the tables on top of it. Moving by a nearby wall he opens a new room with earth magic and dumps the tables and chairs he isn¡¯t using inside before closing it off. Returning to his selected spot the wagon lowers into the ground leaving behind his pile of bones. As he¡¯s about to get to work his face turns serious and he lifts his head, glaring down the hall. Goblin Is Very Welcoming ¡®Talk about terrible timing for unexpected guests. They just had to show up when I¡¯m in a sorry state like this. They also didn¡¯t give me enough time to make my throne. How am I supposed to sit menacingly atop my throne and look down on uninvited guests if I don¡¯t have a throne yet?¡¯ Glancing at the pile of bones behind him he quickly comes up with a plan b. He spreads the bones out so the pile covers a wider area at the cost of some height. Climbing to the top of the pile he adjusts the bones to make it more comfortable to sit on. Taking out his saws he puts their scabbards away before propping them up on either side of him with their handles pointing at the ceiling. Plopping down in between them he awaits the arrival of his guests as if he were the final boss of a dungeon. Moving through the dark hallway three people cautiously approach the dining hall. The group makes it to the dining hall, finally revealing themselves as they enter. The group consists of two males and one female, each with blood red eyes, black hair, and pale skin. Their clothes are all a familiar gothic style, with the woman¡¯s dress being nearly identical to the one Evangeline wears. [Vile fiend, you have a lot of guts kidnapping a member of our family. The price for laying your wicked hands on a noble vampire will be death. Don¡¯t even think about talking your way out of it either. We already made sure we¡¯re in the right place. Vampires are very keen when it comes to blood, even more so when it comes to the blood of our kin. No matter what excuse you come up with I can smell my kin in this cave and there¡¯s no hiding it. Do you have anything to say for yourself scum? If you have any last words you¡¯d best speak now. Even though we won¡¯t believe you we¡¯ll at least pretend to be listening to the words of a soon to be dead man.] ¡®Vampires, as expected. It seems the Youngblood family has finally come for Eva. Still, it doesn¡¯t look like they have any intention of hearing me out. At the very least fighting three of them at the same time in my weakened state might be slightly interesting.¡¯ [I hope you¡¯ll forgive my lacking reception, after all I wasn¡¯t expecting guests. Now what business could a group of noble vampires have in my humble abode?] Jellal questions the vampires despite knowing full well their purpose in coming here. To make matters worse he ¡°accidentally¡± let out a suppressed chuckle while calling them noble vampires, obviously mocking them. [Ah, I know! You¡¯ve heard of my prowess and have come to beg me to accept you as underling. If that¡¯s what you truly want I don¡¯t mind, but you have to be sincere about it. Anything less than putting your forehead to the ground is an unacceptable to show true sincerity in begging for a potential master to pity you and take you under their wing. Of course, even then I have high standards for accepting underlings. If I accepted dregs like you just because you begged this place would be full of useless trash. Well? I¡¯m waiting, and I don¡¯t like being made to wait by lesser beings than myself, though all beings are lesser beings when held up against me.] Jellal smirks maliciously at the fuming vampires. Their anger is obvious for anyone with eyes to see. Trying to contain their rage and keep up their noble visage they clench their fist so tightly their nails dig into their palms, drawing blood. Unable to contain their anger after being so blatantly looked down on they activate their blood magic. Whether by coincidence or some form of silent communication they all activate it at the same time, causing the blood dripping from their palms to draw out into various weapons. Looking at the blood magic Jellal¡¯s tempted to intervene and try to break their control over it. Fighting back his mischievous urges he leisurely climbs to his feet. Leaping into the air he lands at the bottom of the bone pile he uses wind magic discreetly to slow down and glide for the last couple inches, causing his landing to exude elegance. His bone saws are left standing up at the top of the pile. By leaving his weapons behind he¡¯s able to mock the vampires without so much as opening his mouth. The enraged vampires fan out with the woman staying in front of him while the men position themselves on either side of him. The female vampire¡¯s weapon of choice is a spiked whip while the man on his left opts for a halberd and the man to his right goes for a spiked mace. The crack of a whip signals the start of the battle. The halberd user maintains his distance while the mace wielder rushes in to engage in close combat. To Jellal their actions look as if they¡¯re in slow motion, which is to be expected from someone whose eyes adapted to traveling via lightning. Turning his upper body slightly he faces the man to his right while the whip passes centimeters away from his face. When the whip is fully extended he reaches out his left hand and grabs hold of it, before using it to block the mace being swung at his head from above. Releasing his grip on the whip he spins around to his right as the halberd narrowly avoiding the blow aimed at his back. Completing a full rotation he clutches it with his right hand he pulls it past him toward the stomach of club man who gets a flesh wound on his waist while attempting to dodge. The whip quickly returns to the fray, this time aiming at his ankles. Rather than avoid it, he steps on it with his left foot before releasing his grip on the halberd and throwing a spinning back kick at its wielder. The man manages to lift his weapon up in time to protect his chest but is sent careening into the wall. Blood leaks from the man¡¯s mouth as he loses control over his blood magic and falls to the ground. Brushing the blood from his mouth he lifts his head to glare at Jellal but he¡¯s shocked to find his vision filled with a foot. The man catches a boot to the face knocking him upward into Jellal¡¯s waiting right hand. In a smooth motion Jellal grabs the man by his face while he¡¯s on his way up from the kick and smashes the back of the man¡¯s head into the wall causing a spider web of cracks to spread out from the point of impact. Thanks to his discreet use of earth magic the impact was mostly mitigated, running counter to the flashy cracks he created for dramatic effect. Even with all that he made sure to knock the victim unconscious so no one will ever know the truth.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. The man slumps to the ground after Jellal releases his face, his head drooping as he sits against the wall. Ever the showman, Jellal turns his head to look at the other two vampires before casually turning to face them. [If you have any last words say them now. I¡¯ll at least pretend to care about what you¡¯re saying even though I don¡¯t speak weakling. So, what do you want to do now? If you run away at full speed there¡¯s a millionth of a percent chance one of you actually gets away. Will you abandon your kin and run like pathetic cowards or stay here and suffer similar fates together?] While leisurely strolling toward the vampires Jellal doesn¡¯t forget to taunt them. To give them hope he even exaggerated the odds of one of them escaping his clutches. Now all he¡¯s waiting for his how they respond. The pair look at each other before wildly rushing at him. Seeing their response he can only sigh and retort internally. ¡®Didn¡¯t you just say you could smell your kin in the cave less than a minute ago? Did you decide to abandon the person you came to save and commit suicide by attacking me or is there an alternative motive? If you know you can¡¯t win it isn¡¯t a bad choice to avoid drawing in another one of your kin, if that¡¯s what you actually intend. There¡¯s also the possibility they consider Eva unreliable in a fight so they left her alone. Whatever the case may be it doesn¡¯t matter. They¡¯re taking her and leaving whether they want to or not ¡­ after I teach them not to act so arrogant in front of a superior being such as myself. I can almost picture it now. I¡¯ll finally be free of all the nuisances I inherited from those useless bandits. At last it¡¯ll just be a man and his pet ruffing it in a cave the way it should be. Only this cave is total crap. I haven¡¯t been here that long and I¡¯ve already had multiple invasions. I thought this place was supposed to be hidden, yet somehow everything that moves in this freaking forest is able to find it. The first thing I¡¯m doing when I finish my business in Pavise is moving to a new base. Better yet, I can make my own. If I do that I can make the layout however I want, plus I can hide it so it¡¯s impossible for outsiders to stumble upon.¡¯ While Jellal¡¯s thinking about unnecessary things the pair close in and start their attack. The whip extends towards him while darting around sporadically thanks to clever use of blood magic. The club, on the other hand, changes shape as it approaches. The club transforms into a pair of blade crossing as the vampires aim for a one hit kill. As the weapons approach, Jellal maintains a calm expression as he stares at his opponents. When the weapons are centimeters from his skin he seemingly disappears, causing their attacks to hit nothing but air. Rather than disappearing Jellal simply took advantage of his superior specs. With just his raw physical strength he can easily move faster than their eyes can keep up with. Normally exerting that much power would damage the ground and leave obvious traces, but with a little bit of earth magic backing him up he¡¯s able to go zero to a hundred in an instant without leaving any evidence behind. Before they have a chance to look around for their missing opponent the remaining man is struck in the back of the head, falling unconscious next to his comrade. The final vampire turns her head slowly as she stares at the menace who easily took them on with ease, a hint of fear present in her eyes. [While I¡¯ve got your attention there¡¯s something I want to ask you. You don¡¯t mind right?] Hearing his question she immediately responds in a panic, not daring provoke his ire. [Of course not, not at all. As a noble vampire it¡¯s natural for me to try to help others the way a true noble would. I would never think of dodging something you asked.] [If only true nobles acted in such a humane manner. If they did this world would certainly be a much better place. Alas it isn¡¯t so. Back to my question. Due to circumstances beyond my control I¡¯ve been in contact with one of your kin lately and it¡¯s led me to wonder, do vampires require some exorbitant amount of sleep? Until you showed up I had only met one vampire and she¡¯s almost always sleeping. If you would be so kind as to enlighten me I would appreciate it.] Her face twitches when she hears him mention a certain lazy vampire who always prioritizes sleep above all else. Even though she did her best not to let it show he still caught it, confirming his earlier suspicions that Evangeline is the embodiment of laziness. Letting out a cough she pretends nothing happened as she tries to downplay her own words. [While we do mostly sleep during the day it isn¡¯t due to needing an abnormally large amount of sleep. You see, under direct sunlight our abilities weaken quite a bit. This is because of our bodies¡¯ unique makeup. As a result of us not usually coming out during the day there are many myths about us floating around such as needing excess amounts of sleep or being killed when exposed to the sun. Well would you look at the time. We¡¯ve really stayed too long this time and should really be going.] [Oh? Didn¡¯t you come here to find your kin who had been kidnapped? Do you really not need to find her before you go home? It seems like a waste of a trip if you don¡¯t even try to accomplish the task you set out to do.] [It¡¯s true one of our own has been kidnapped and it saddens us more than you could ever know. In our distress we mistakenly barged in here and acted rude to you and I hope you can find it in your extremely big and generous heart to forgive us for that.] [I understand, really. How could I hold a grudge against such amiable people? But there is one thing I¡¯m confused about. When you first arrived you said you could smell your kin in the cave. Not only that, you even claimed it was impossible for you to be wrong. If that¡¯s true how could you have ended up in the wrong place.] [Hehehe, that was just bravado. You know how it is, we can¡¯t very well act like we¡¯re searching at random can we? It was truly a mistake we ended up here and if you let us go we promise to never step foot in this cave again. We just got the wrong spot, that¡¯s all. In fact we got the wrong general area. Just let us go and you¡¯ll never see us again, we promise. Since we¡¯re in the wrong area we need to go a ways away to search. In fact, we have to go a long ways to search, like the other side of the world. You¡¯ll never see us again, promise.] After throwing out any excuse she can think of the vampire immediately turns and tries to walk away as if nothing happened. Before she can make it a single step a hand latches onto her should with an iron grip, stopping her dead in her tracks. Her face cramps up when she realizes she can¡¯t escape. [I haven¡¯t been much of a host since you arrived. I insist you stay a while longer, until your comrades wake up at least. In the meantime I can help you look for that kidnapped kin of yours. You just stay here and wait, I¡¯ll go look around and see what I can find. You never know what¡¯ll pop up around this place; it used to belong to bandits after all.] In the blink of an eye Jellal leaves the dining hall and dashes to his room. Inside Evangeline is sleeping as per usual, leaving him speechless. Grabbing her by the back of the neck like she¡¯s a kitten, he pulls her out from under the covers. Completely exposed to the air she finally wakes up. Looking around frantically she finds herself suspended in midair at Jellal¡¯s hands. Without giving her a chance to complain he carries her toward the dining hall. When he arrives he¡¯s greeted by the sight of the female vampire vigorously shaking her companions. [Would you look what I found? It¡¯s a vampire! This wouldn¡¯t happen to be the one you¡¯re looking for would it? It must be nice to be reunited after having been separated for a long time.] [Hehehe, Evangeline, sis, long time no see.] Evangeline¡¯s face lights up with a bright smile as she rushes over to her sister. Grabbing her hands she starts excitedly shaking them while telling the tale of her great adventure. [You finally arrived! You wouldn¡¯t believe what I went through this time. I was sleeping in my special place when a bunch of bandits came and kidnapped me. They must have been incredibly careful while moving me since I didn¡¯t wake up until after I was already here. Then this guy showed up and killed all the bandits. He even let me out of my cell. And then earlier I heard a loud bang and went to investigate only to fall into a trap he set up to protect this place. If it wasn¡¯t for me triggering them earlier you would¡¯ve certainly been doomed before reaching this room. After that I heard another bang and found him sweet talking a strange dirt cube. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s special about it, but I suspect it¡¯s some kind of rare secret treasure!] Listening to her explanation Jellal begins wondering what the world looks like from her incredibly slanted perspective. When Evangeline settles down they grab the unconscious vampire before heading for the exit. Before they enter the passage Evangeline stops to turn around and give a wide, exaggerated wave towards Jellal. [Bye! I¡¯ll be sure to stop by for a visit some time!] Turning back she leaves with her sister while Jellal stares at her back dumbfounded. ¡®Is this the legendary power of positive thinking? How formidable! Speaking of formidable, I wonder what my status is looking like after all the nonsense I¡¯ve been through recently.¡¯ [status open]
Name: Jellal Race: Gaia Kin (Goblin) Gender: M Age: 0 Level: 60
HP: 4000/4000 DEF: 950 STR: 950 AGI: 950
MP: ???/??? MGD: ??? MGA: ??? Points Available:
Skills: Adaptability; Danger Perception; Concealment; Parallel Thinking; Sawsmanship; Battle Born; Berserk; Regeneration; Mercy; Normal; Hyper reactive; Masochist;
Special: Named Monster; Heart of Darkness;
¡®I see my status is at the pinnacle of not making sense like always. It¡¯s nice to see incorporeal screens can have a sense of humor in this world.¡¯ Goblin Can Haz Throne [I¡¯m finally free of all those annoyances. This is how it should be. Just a man and his dog (actually a wolf) ruffing it in the wilds.] Returning to the pile of bones Jellal retrieves his saws. After sheathing them he puts them back into his bag so they¡¯re out of the way. Grabbing some bones he begins to build the base of the throne. To do this he builds it up one layer at a time. The bones in each layer sit parallel to one another. For consistency¡¯s sake he uses similarly sized bones, starting with the larger bones at the bottom. Every layer is rotated so it¡¯s perpendicular to the layer below it, creating a checkerboard like pattern. Looking at the gaps created due to the shape of the bones gets an idea. Scrounging through his bone pile he finds some thinner bones and slides them vertically through the gaps. In theory this should add some extra structural integrity as well as holding the inner bones in place. When the base is almost up to his knees he stops building. The plain looking base is a square with each side being around the length of his legs, giving him ample room for a sturdy back and armrests while still leaving sitting space. Pausing the construction for a moment he quickly runs outside and grabs some thin vines off the trees by the cave entrance. Slipping a vine in the gaps he feeds it mana to get it to grow, spreading through the internal structure of the base. While growing the vine he carefully weaves it through the base in a manner that keeps it from being visible from the outside. To make sure the bones on the outer edge stay in place he drills the vine into them and runs it along the length of the bones. To build up the armrests and the back he only lays the bones facing the relevant direction instead of the bulky checkered pattern. Each section is two bones wide, with a series of bones running between them. After building the parts on the ground he discreetly runs a vine through each piece. With the parts solidly held together he sets them into place and uses a final vine to connect all the parts of the chair together as one. Since the base product is too plain he packs up the remaining bones and returns to the treasure room. Before throwing the excess bones onto the mountain he scours it for bones with character to decorate his throne with. The first type of bone selected is the spine. When it comes to having a distinct character it truly reigns supreme. For the second type he chooses boar tusks. The unique split into two pronged tusks on the monster boars seem like they could be useful for decorating so he grabs a handful of particularly large ones to go with the spines. Leaving the treasure room he doesn¡¯t bother to seal it back up since he¡¯s finally the only one living here. Once he¡¯s back in the dining hall he gets straight to work styling up his throne. He runs spines down the four outer corners of the throne to help add character. Using vine meta he secures the boar tusks around the top and sides of the back portion of the throne and at the front of the armrests. Taking a step back he checks out his handiwork. Although it¡¯s not as intimidating as he¡¯d like it to be, considering the material he had to work with the results aren¡¯t bad. Ready to try in out he hurries back to it and plops down. His good mood from completing his throne mark one immediately turns sour. As it turns out, bones aren¡¯t the most comfortable thing to sit on. Hopping up he makes another trip to the treasure room, this time in search of something to act as a cushion. Unsurprisingly foam and other such cushiony materials aren¡¯t the type of items merchants would load up their carriages with and travel great distances to sell. Without finding any particularly appealing alternatives he settles on using fur, a material he has an almost unlimited supply of. He returns to his throne carrying a few rolled up fur blankets and rugs. Leaning them up against the throne he takes a step back to decide which shade is best suited for the task. In the end he prefers the dark and light contrast the darkest roll has with the bones and goes with it. Cutting the undesirable rolls into thinner strips he starts improving the comfort level of his throne while being sure not to skimp on style. The other rolls are used as lower layers to add comfort while the roll of choice is put overtop for the finishing touches. The end results of his amendments is a strip of fur running from the bottom of the throne on up. The strip is slightly thicker than body width, with the base¡¯s portion is only made of the select fur as it¡¯s only for decoration. The seat maintains the width, though the layers hidden underneath add thickness and comfort. The cushioned layer runs halfway up the back before it¡¯s replaced with a thin decorative layer. Starting halfway up the back the decorative layer is broken down into seven thinner strips. One goes straight up to the top while the rest curve to each side in a symmetrical fashion. The strips end in between boar tusks, adding to the overall design. Sitting down, Jellal tests the new throne mark one. It may not be the most comfortable seat but it¡¯s far superior to the plain bone version, gaining it a nod of approval. Stepping away from the throne he gives it another appraisal after his new additions. The fur lining isn¡¯t a fancy addition but it adds some much needed flavor to the plain areas, causing him to give it the seal of approval in the form of a self-satisfied nod. With his new throne set up and ready for future use he¡¯s finished everything he wanted to do before heading back to Pavise. To make the most of the trip he checks his bag to make sure it¡¯s filled to the brim before setting out. After stepping out of the cave he puts the defensive walls back in place before stripping down. Taking to the skies he activates his lightning version of flight magic and thunders toward his destination. Along the way he checks out the situation in the forest.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Prior to crossing the stream the size of the hordes are still continually increasing. Occasionally there are more powerful monsters mixed in with them, but it still isn¡¯t frequent enough to expect one stronger monster per horde. On the other side of the stream the hordes are still significantly smaller and weaker. The size of the hordes is slowly increasing, but not at the same rate as the other side. This side also lacks any powerful additions to their hordes, making it safer for the adventurers fighting to hold them back. Coming to the large meadow outside the forest, Jellal does a quick check to ensure no prying eyes are around before landing. Once on the ground he throws on his disguise and heads toward the city. To speed things along he uses the wind version of flight magic while hovering less than half a meter above the ground. As he moves he always keeps a close eye on the surroundings so he won¡¯t be spotted. When the line leading into the city is visible he gradually decreases his altitude as he goes, eventually transitioning from flying to running without stopping. His speed also decreases as he closes in on the gate to keep from standing out too much. Walking up along the road he bypasses the line and heads straight for the gate. The people waiting in line to go into the city are naturally not pleased about it, but he treats them like air and continues on his merry way. The commotion he causes draws the attention of the guards and they move to assess the situation. Luckily for Jellal Kite¡¯s team is responsible for gate duty today. After spending all day running around town thanks to Jellal¡¯s escapades they volunteered to take over the usually tedious gate duty to escape the never ending treks through the city. Just when things looked to be working out for them the master of disaster personally came to the gate. The guards¡¯ faces immediately cramp when they see who¡¯s causing the commotion. The people in line, who had originally been expecting a good show, quickly notice the change in the guards and curiously discuss the mysterious line hopper amongst themselves. Many strange theories pop up about the masked man¡¯s identity. These range from him being a guard on a secret mission to being an influential noble in disguise. Some even claim he¡¯s the king in disguise or a big shot from a foreign power. Listening to the crowd speculating about his identity Jellal isn¡¯t sure how to feel about it. Should he be honored they think of him like a big shot, or upset because his reputation hasn¡¯t spread enough for yet? Thinking about it logically, this is only his second trip to Pavise so everyone knowing about him is a bit of a tall ask so he decides to accept them thinking of him like a powerful figure for now. As he meets up with the guards he doesn¡¯t stop, but gives them some face and slows down slightly as he continues on. Not surprised they quickly do an about face and move alongside him. [It¡¯s a copper piece fee to pass through the gates. We also need to see your id; it¡¯s standard procedure to look for criminals after all. Also we¡¯d like to know the reason for you skipping the line. You should understand that we can¡¯t just let someone skip for no reason, right?] [Let¡¯s just say I¡¯m passing important information through the guild. If you want to know what the information is ask the guild after I tell it to them.] One of the guards receives his guild card along with a copper piece and rushes ahead to go through the necessary procedures. He walks with the guards until he reaches the gate and the guard comes back with an impeccable sense of timing. Taking back his card he continues on into the city. Cruising down the main road he sets his sights on the adventurer¡¯s guild as his first destination. Even if he only said he had important information to tell the guild to bypass the line he should at least pass on something so it doesn¡¯t affect his credibility. Along the way he picks up a snack at one of the stalls and munches on it as he goes. His opening and closing mask, with its creepy looking face, draws a lot of attention from onlookers. Apparently the mask was creepier than he originally thought when it¡¯s in use since a bubble of empty space forms around him as he walks. He finishes up his snack around the time he reaches the plaza, causing his bubble free of people to return to normal. As he moves through the plaza he keeps an eye out for anything interesting, but nothing catches his attention so he moves along without stopping. Walking inside the adventurer¡¯s guild he finds a receptionist he¡¯s familiar with and walks over, ignoring the line much to the dismay of the people waiting in it. [I¡¯m going up to see the guild master.] After giving a heads up to the receptionist, mostly because he thought her reaction would be interesting, he continue on to the stairs without giving her a second glance. [Hey, wait you can¡¯t- Ahhhh! Someone cover for me for a minute I have something to take care of.] The receptionist was too caught up in dealing with the current person at the counter to notice Jellal walking up. Upon hearing his statement she glanced over to see who the idiot trying to go see the guild master without permission is only to find a familiar annoying masked man walking past her. When her attempt to call out to him fails she looks around for someone to cover her spot at the counter. Luckily someone nearby is free and comes over to help, giving her the opportunity to rush after him. As she comes up on him from behind she decides not to bother with him anymore since she¡¯s had more productive conversations with brick walls than him. She gives him a glare as she blows past him on her way up the stairs. Arriving at the oversized doors she knocks three times and waits to be allowed to enter. Upon receiving permission she hastily walks inside and tries to explain the situation to the guild master. [Guild master, that crazy masked guy¡¯s back again and he says he¡¯s coming up to see you. I tried to stop him but he ignored me so I rushed here to give you a heads up an-] As she rushes to warn the guild master the door creaks open. Her voice stops cold as she turns her head to see Jellal walking in without knocking or asking permission. Before she has a chance to flare up the Aegis gently places his hand on her shoulder to stop her. Seeing how the guild master seems to have everything under control she quietly leaves them to it. When the door shuts Aegis¡¯ face becomes exasperated, dropping his fa?ade. [What did you come for today? I thought you only wanted an id to move around as you wish.] [I didn¡¯t feel like waiting in line so I skipped it. Apparently you need an excuse so I told them I had important information to give the guild. It wouldn¡¯t be much of an excuse if they could easily find out it wasn¡¯t true so I dropped by for a chat.] Hearing his perfectly justifiable reason for coming here Dirrale gives him a death glare while Aegis rubs his temples and sighs. [So you just wanted an excuse to skip the line? Why did you have to drag me into it? Shoo, go away.] [Come on man, don¡¯t be like that. If they come to check up on my story without me ever showing my face here I wouldn¡¯t be able to skip in the future. Also I can pass on new information about the forest to you when I do. It¡¯s a win-win situation. You get information you wouldn¡¯t have access to otherwise, and I don¡¯t have to wait in a stupid line to come into the city.] [You¡¯re acting like the situation is so bad I need daily updates. Even if I cover for you how am I supposed to get by when they come to confirm things with me? I can only spread information so thing before I run out of excuses and people start questioning my credibility.] [It¡¯s fine, the forest gets worse every day so there will always be something new to say. For instance, on my side the number of four digit hordes is increasing and you can¡¯t find any below triple digits anymore. There¡¯s also stronger monsters like orcs and bears being affected by the miasma and mixing in to the ranks. See? That¡¯s two days¡¯ worth of information right there, we¡¯re golden.] [Timeout! Is what you just said true?] [When it comes to information about the forest I have no reason to lie or stretch the truth. Even if me having important information was stretching the truth, I wasn¡¯t totally lying. Even normal information can be considered important from the right perspective. Take my information about the forest as an example. For me it¡¯s normal, insignificant information, but for you it¡¯s something that could potentially affect your livelihood.] [Your deal about offering assistance to guild masters if you¡¯re in the area and they can provide sufficient compensation applies to me as well, right?] [As long as you can provide proper recompense it does. Just because I said they have to pay doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m limiting to what I want to cash. In fact, money isn¡¯t a big deal to me so I¡¯d prefer not to deal with it too much for large transactions.] [Alright, then what¡¯s the price for having you check out a village for me. It¡¯s a ways away and near the stream so it¡¯s the most likely one to be hit by a horde without us knowing. Since you were supposed to meet with Sionia earlier I can assume you¡¯re able to move at a descent speed since you beat her back. The job will be to check on the village and report back to me as soon as possible.] [Hmm, the compensation depends on how fast you want to know and if there are any other caveats. If you want me to do anything other than check and come back it¡¯s extra. Even if the village is getting railed by monsters my job will be to check and come back. As for the base price I have a few quality of life things I¡¯d like taken care of. First I want to be able to skip the lines at the gate and here. Other than that I want you to sell off my junk for me. I have a ton of stuff from the bandits¡¯ hideout to get rid of and since I¡¯m going to come here whenever I enter due to my excuse to skip the line it makes since to have you take care of it for me. If you want to sell it to the merchant association or as bits and pieces doesn¡¯t matter, but if you do go with the merchant association ask for old Isaac since he¡¯ll get down to business immediately.] [I, can manage that. If the village is under attack I can only bite the bullet and find a way to compensate you for stepping in on my behalf. As for the timeframe, I would prefer if it happened today if possible.] Goblin Goes To Town Before leaving the guild master¡¯s office Aegis gives Jellal a letter to pass to the guards on his way out of the city. Since it¡¯s part of gaining the ability to skip the line at will he happily accepts the letter. He¡¯s also given a key to a large room on the second floor which he can use to dump his junk in. He¡¯s already come to an understanding regarding the sales of his stuff with the guild master so he doesn¡¯t have to worry about being shortchanged. According to the guild master¡¯s plan they¡¯ll hold the items for a week so their original owners have a chance to buy them back at a reduced price. If no one claims them they¡¯ll be passed off to the merchant association to be sold. As for the price of the sales, it isn¡¯t that important. At the very least they came to a mutual understanding not to sell if they¡¯re intentionally lowballed. Just in case things don¡¯t work out Aegis even guaranteed a minimum price based off of how Jellal described the items and the remaining amount. Stepping through the door he makes a b-line for the stairs and the second floor. On the second floor he walks down a straight corridor with lettered doors on each side. His key is for room J which could either represent the first letter of his name or stand for junk since that¡¯s what he¡¯s loading it up with. Locating the door, he inserts the key into the lock and turns it. Pushing open the door he¡¯s met with a large albeit very dusty room which looks like it hasn¡¯t been cleaned in the last decade. Using wind magic he creates a gust spreading throughout the entire room. The wind leads all the built up dust to one corner where it¡¯s quickly burnt with fire magic. He immediately puts out the flames with water magic before making the excess water evaporate. Even though there¡¯s a little soot left over he calls it good enough and begins unpacking his bag. Exiting the room he locks the door before making for the stairs again. Back on the first floor he passes by the counters and walks out the front door. He considered stopping to pick up a quest and a mentor so he could get it out of the way, but he was already going to come back later so it¡¯s better to do it then. At least in this way he can avoid any annoyances that may come with a mentor, for now. After leaving the building he doesn¡¯t head toward the plaza and the city gate, but in the opposite direction. When he comes to the tailor¡¯s shop he dips inside to see if his order is finished yet. Behind the counter the owner is struggling to stay awake while looking over the shop. Her eyes have dark circles under them and her head is constantly drooping and jerking back up, making it obvious for anyone to see she didn¡¯t sleep last night. It takes a moment to register when she sees Jellal come in. After a moment she realizes why he¡¯s here and runs to the back room to grab his order. The clothes are neatly folded and stuffed into a bag before being handed over to him. Examining the clothes there¡¯s nothing to complain about. The workmanship is flawless despite the order being rushed and her pulling an overnighter. The shades are all dark as he requested and the varying colors give him plenty of options to choose from. Giving a nod of approval he puts the clothes into his bag and turns to leave. Stepping out of the shop he heads over next door to pay the old leather worker a visit. When Jellal enters the grumpy old store owner is sitting in a chair behind the counter with his head barely visible as only his eyes and above is poking out. Glancing at the customer he snorts and turns his head away. [Say geezer, do you know anyone who makes good chairs? An old bastard like you should have a guy, right? Also I need someone who knows how to take care of a wyvern corpse.] [Who ya calling geezer, pipsqueak? Also, are ya saying I should know a chair maker because I¡¯m old and have to sit down all the time or because I¡¯m an experienced craftsman? It¡¯s important to differentiate insults and complements after all. And what¡¯s this nonsense about a wyvern corpse? Do I look like yer damn butler?] [Oh put a sock in it. Can you help or not? If you¡¯re lucky I might even sell some of the hide to you without raising the price sky high if you¡¯re useful, mister butler.] [Humph, ya think I can¡¯t take care of wyvern. Unlike an uneducated brat like you, I have a lot of experience dealing those overgrown lizards. Since you obviously don¡¯t know how, I can do it myself. If ya got some gold from yer mommy I might consider teaching ya.] [You think you know something I don¡¯t? That¡¯s the best joke I¡¯ve heard all day. I could take care of the lizard if I felt like, but it¡¯s beneath me. Why would I waste my time on it when I can have someone else do it instead?] [Let¡¯s find a place to plop it down and I¡¯ll give ya my price.] [Does this shed you call a shop have enough room to fit a wyvern?] [That¡¯s a low blow even for a brat like you. I¡¯ll have ya know this here shop is on one of the best locations in the city. It¡¯s not my fault the person who built it originally made it so small. Luckily the land behind it was cheap so I bought it so I could have my workshop, which is where we¡¯re going.] Following the shop keeper through the back door he passes through a small backyard to reach the workshop. Inside there are numerous racks with hides hung on them as well as workbenches and various tools lining the walls. [I told you there wasn¡¯t enough space. Unless you want to waste my time moving all the racks to open up the floor it isn¡¯t fitting.] [Alright brat, ya think yer so smart then we¡¯ll do it yer way, but if it aint as big as ya claim it to be I¡¯m charging extra regardless of if I take the job or not.]Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Jellal waits on the side while the old man laboriously pushes the racks to one side of the building. Instead of waiting quietly he constantly taps on a workbench with his nail causing a rhythmic tink to ring through the building like an annoyingly loud second hand on a clock. After clearing up some space the grumpy old man glares at him with a ¡°put up or shut up¡± kind of look. Without saying a word he removes the goliath wyvern from his bag, leaving it empty save for his clothes. The massive body takes up a majority of the space in the building causing the old man¡¯s face to twitch. Seeing his reaction Jellal smirks beneath his mask like a kid who just pulled a prank on his teacher and got away with it. [Yer having fun at my expense aren¡¯t ya? Ya never said it was a mutated ya bastard.] [So you taking the job or not? I want everything useful removed. Skeleton, meat, claws, everything. And don¡¯t think about swiping anything for yourself, I¡¯ll know if there¡¯s anything missing.] [Ya say you want the useful bits so why do ya want the meat? Even an idiot knows it¡¯s poisonous. Unless yer planning on trying to find someone to buy it for the poison before it rots yer better off tossing it.] [I said I want the meat. What I want it for is none of your business. The important thing¡¯s knowing how much of the hide you want in exchange. I could pay you in gold, but we both know you¡¯re going to try to buy it anyways so why not cut to the chase.] [I¡¯ll only ask for one square meter in exchange, but I get to pick where it¡¯s from.] [Alright, deal. How long will it take you to finish? An old man like you can probably barely hold a feather without shaking, much less a knife.] [Humph, I aint no amateur like you. I¡¯ve got some people I can have help so we can finish it by the end of the day and yer meat won¡¯t go bad. It¡¯ll cost me a bit of money, but this kind of hide never ends up on the market so it¡¯s worth it.] [Good, I¡¯ll be back later. If anything other than your payment is missing I¡¯ll make your business go missing to make up for it, kekeke.] Leaving behind his obligatory warning, Jellal shows himself to the exit. Making his way back to the main road he starts walking toward the plaza. Even though he wants to find someone to make him a fancy custom chair it isn¡¯t like it¡¯s urgent. More importantly his deal with the Aegis is time sensitive and he has to keep an eye out for the former captives when they arrive so he doesn¡¯t want to have obligations outside the city. As he¡¯s walking through the plaza he comes across the little girl he bought the seedling from. Together with a dirt caked young man she waits for people to stop by her stall. This time her tattered blanket has some wood carvings laid out on it. Looking carefully at the carvings Jellal decides he stop by the stall again. He picks up one of the carvings and examines it from close up. Despite the shoddy wood the carving is well made and the one who made it even worked around the knots in a way that doesn¡¯t ruin its looks. [Hey runt where¡¯d you get this?] [Who¡¯re you calling runt, runt? It¡¯s mine so don¡¯t go around acting like I stole it. What kind of carver would use such crappy wood if they could get their hands on anything better? If I could buy some descent wood my sculptures would sell for sure.] [You made this? Not bad for a runt. How are you with making things other than sculptures, like a chair for instance?] [A chair? Any idiot could make a chair. If you¡¯re asking if I can carve a chair to look good the way I do sculpture than the answer is obviously yes. Why do you care?] [Oh, then how about you make a chair for me? Of course, a plain chair doesn¡¯t suit me so you¡¯ll have your work cut out for you. Design wise I don¡¯t care as long as it suits me. Can you handle that, runt?] [I could if I had the materials, but I can¡¯t even get my hands on any descent wood.] [I have some things to take care of right now. If you¡¯re still here when I get back and have some free time we can talk business. If you¡¯re not here, I¡¯ll look for someone else.] Placing the sculpture back on the blanket, Jellal turns around and continues on his way to the gate. Upon arriving he passes Aegis¡¯ letter to one of the guards before leaving the city. Stepping outside the city he faces in the direction of the village he was told about. Rather than getting directions he had Aegis point toward its location so he could go there in a straight line without wasting any time following a set path. Since there are a lot of people around he starts off running. Gradually he picks up speed as the distance between him and the onlookers widens. To him it feels like he¡¯s moving at a snail¡¯s pace, but for the onlookers his speed seems inhuman. When he gets far enough away to be certain he¡¯s out of visual range he stops to take off his disguise. Just as he¡¯s about to take off his cape he thinks of a brilliant idea. Up till now he¡¯s been taking his clothes off then stuffing them into his bag. What would happen if he tried to put them in the bag directly from his body? His first attempt ends in failure but he doesn¡¯t get discouraged. He goes through three more tries before he figures out the trick to putting his clothes into the bag while he¡¯s wearing them. Not content with just that he tries to put them on directly from the bag as well. It may seem like something insignificant to save time, but for someone who uses lightning to travel it¡¯s much more convenient than that. If it works he won¡¯t have to stop and change clothes before and after he travels. Instead he can put them on while he¡¯s landing and his visage is obscured by the lightning. It takes a few tries to work out the kinks, but in the end he¡¯s able to put on an outfit directly from his bag. The caveat with using the bag is that he has to have been wearing it when he put it away to put it on from the bag due to how it works. Items will remain in the position they¡¯re put in the bag at. If he isn¡¯t wearing the clothes when he puts them in his bag they won¡¯t be able to come out ready to wear. To ensure the ease of changing in the future he puts on each set of clothes before putting them back into the bag. Instead of putting them in the second bag he puts them in the money bag so they don¡¯t waste space. To achieve this he takes out a bunch of money and puts it back in after he puts the clothes in. The money ends up all around and inside the cavity in the clothes, but doesn¡¯t touch them. Thanks to this the space taken up is minimal. With his outfit situation handled he sets out for the village. The place has a population of less than a hundred and doesn¡¯t even have a proper name, but Aegis is still willing to deal with his demands just to have him check out the village. Since he¡¯s never been to the location before, he maintains the slowest possible speed and keeps his eyes peeled. As he¡¯s looking around he spots smoke in the distance. Since it¡¯s the way he¡¯s going and there shouldn¡¯t be any other settlements in this area it can only be his target or some sort of natural disaster. While it is possible a fire broke out or some mage blasted a meteor into the ground, it¡¯s highly unlikely for it not to be his destination. As he approaches he sees a horde of monsters bearing down on the village, which is already in ruins. Rather than these monsters being the attackers it¡¯s more likely they¡¯re just a horde that happened to notice a commotion and came over to look for something to attack. Further along a familiar group of knights hold a defensive circle around a group of civilians. Judging by the number of people it¡¯s likely the knights were at or around the village when it was attacked. If they weren¡¯t he would have to question the prowess of the monster hordes. ¡®I¡¯m already here, and I did agree to intervene if the village was attacked so I guess I should take care of this. I¡¯ll be sure to think up something good for my extra payment.¡¯ Dropping in altitude, Jellal flies two meters above the ground. As he passes over the horde outside the village he discharges lightning without stopping. His lightning arcs through the horde turning the monsters into smoldering corpses. Before approaching the original horde that¡¯s currently engaged with the knight he goes high into the air. Dropping into the middle of the horde he sends out his arcs along the shockwave, but carefully controls it so it doesn¡¯t fry the knights or civilians. For the shockwave, on the other hand, they¡¯re on their own. As he lands he quickly swaps into a new set of clothes. Since landing in the middle of the horde and wiping them all out in an instant isn¡¯t a cool enough way to enter he blitzes behind Freya before anyone notices and stands there with his arms crossed. [I don¡¯t know if I should call you unlucky after being caught in two ambushes by hordes in two days, or if you¡¯re lucky I happened to be passing by both times. Perhaps you¡¯re beyond just lucky since I usually wouldn¡¯t bail someone out without a reason, yet this is two times you¡¯ve been helped by me.] While giving his speech he has electricity arc around him to give him the cool and imposing air he wishes to give off. Of course he carefully controls it so it doesn¡¯t affect his clothes and ruin his image. The knights and civilians are obviously surprised when someone appears in the middle of the knights out of nowhere. Unable to understand how he got there they can only thank their lucky stars he¡¯s on their side and not an enemy. The calmest amongst the group, Freya, turns around to greet Jellal. [We had everything under control, but I appreciate the help no less. With your complete lack of chivalry it¡¯s obvious you¡¯re not a knight, so I guess I should consider myself lucky you went out of your way on our account.] [You should be more careful in the future. I won¡¯t always be around to throw a rope down when you dig yourself into a hole.] [Even if that¡¯s the case it doesn¡¯t matter. I can take care of myself. And I would appreciate it if you didn¡¯t treat me like some damsel who would break down and cry for help if I was ever in a perilous situation.] [Maybe you should try it. You never know, I might just show up to take in the sight, kekeke.] [Hehe, I¡¯ll keep that in mind.] Goblin Seeks A Chair [I¡¯ve taken care of what I needed to do here so I¡¯ll be setting off. Hopefully next time we cross paths I won¡¯t find you in such a tight spot so I can collect on two favors you owe me.] [Who knows, maybe you¡¯ll be the one in need of help next time and I¡¯ll be the one to swoop in and save the day.] [That¡¯s a vivid imagination you¡¯ve got there. The only time you would be able to help me is if I become an enemy to the kingdom or people on the whole, and even then I won¡¯t need help.] Walking out past the knights Jellal slips into the forest and out of sight before taking off. Although it¡¯s possible for him to take off while protecting his clothes long enough for the lightning to obscure him, doing such wouldn¡¯t be ideal. By leaving their field of vision before flying away he protects the air of mystery around him. The knights may have seen the lightning accompanying him twice now, but they¡¯ve never seen how he arrived. The first time he came across them he waited in the crater created by his landing, letting them know he was responsible for the destruction on the surroundings. This time he snuck behind Freya before they had a chance to see him together with the lightning bolt, hiding how he randomly showed up. Whenever he¡¯s had to leave in front of people he¡¯s done so without revealing his lightning style flying magic. People have always sought power and what has a more powerful image than someone who¡¯s able to fly via lightning? If news of his magic leaked it would be inevitable for some big shots to try to flex their influence to get to him. Whether the try to force him to hand over his secrets or they simply want to force him to work for them, it¡¯s a path which leads to trouble. Depending on how much clout the big shot has it could even lead to him being enemies with an entire country or worse. Since he doesn¡¯t have to look for a village he¡¯s never been to anymore Jellal can go full speed on his trip back. He sets his initial direction close to Pavise before changing his course when he flies over familiar territory. When his cave is in sight he drops down and lands in front. Since he¡¯s going back to the city he can save an extra trip by refilling his bag now, instead of just going back right away. It only takes a few minutes for him to go to the treasure room, fill his bag, and leave. Not only can he save a trip with this, but he can also extend his time away making his speed slightly less suspicious. Going to the village and coming back so quick will naturally catch the peoples¡¯ attention so taking some extra time may help cast away peoples¡¯ greed and fear with regards to power. On his way to the city he follows his standard entrance procedure to make onlookers less startled by his speed when he arrives. Thanks to his deal with Aegis he can bypass the line without having to throw an excuse to the guards. They quickly go through their procedures while he¡¯s walking up, making things nice and convenient. Back inside the city he cruises along the main road, going with the flow of the crowd. Passing through the plaza he heads for the adventurer¡¯s guild. Instead of stopping at a desk he walks directly to the stairs and goes up to the second floor. He makes a quick side trip to drop off his junk in his designated room before leaving for the third floor and the guild master¡¯s office. When he gets to the giant doors he doesn¡¯t bother knocking and strolls in like he owns the place. Since there¡¯s only one person who would disregard common curtesy and treat the guild master¡¯s office like their property, Aegis and Dirrale can easily figure out who walked in without looking up from their paper work. [I¡¯m back, and you owe me extra!] [So it was like I feared. What¡¯s the situation like over there?] [The village was in ruins by the time I arrived. Actually the smoke rising from it made it much easier to find than I originally anticipated, so I¡¯m pretty grateful. There was also another horde coming up on the village when I arrived so I wiped out the group that commenced the attack along with the horde coming in as reinforcements.] Aegis¡¯ face sinks as he listens to Jellal¡¯s report. He had pushed hard for the nobles to treat the situation as an emergency, but their stubborn pride caused them to look down on the encroaching miasma. It¡¯s already a miracle he was able to secure the little funding he did to fight off the hordes near Pavise. In the end he only managed to convince them to bend by convincing them it would improve their image among the population if they provide financial support to aid the guild in stopping the miasma. When all was said and done he could only gain a small amount of financial support. None of the nobles were willing to let their men join their battle, claiming the surrounding kingdoms are waiting for them to show their vulnerability. The village may have been wiped out but at least it didn¡¯t fall for nothing. Hopefully a village being wiped out without having a chance to send for help should be a big enough incident to put the miasma on the nobles¡¯ radar. [Also there was a group of knights there protecting the civilians outside of the village. Since you specifically requested I intervene if the village is under attack I went ahead and helped them out. More importantly, there¡¯s an extra fee associated with the assistance I lent the knights. I may not need anything now, but don¡¯t forget you owe me one now. When the time comes for me to collect the debt I hope for your sake you don¡¯t ¡°accidentally¡± forget. Well, I really should be going. I have a tight schedule to keep. I¡¯ve already dropped a couple loads of items in my room so I¡¯ll be back here when it¡¯s time to collect your payment.]Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Leaving the office while giving a shady debt collector-esk speech Jellal meanders down the stairs to the first floor of the guild. Due to his uncertain, yet busy schedule today he doesn¡¯t stop to pick up a quest or mentor. Because he wasn¡¯t gone for too long the old leatherworker shouldn¡¯t have finished taking care of the mutant wyvern he left at the shop. It should also be a bit longer before the former captives make it to town since they weren¡¯t in sight when he returned. Having a bit of free time he strolls along the main road to meet up with the dirty woodcarving runt. The pair of kids were still there when he passed by to go to the guild so he doesn¡¯t have to worry about finding a new person to make his chair. As expected they¡¯re still sitting with their tattered blanket trying to sell sculptures when he steps into the plaza. [Hey runt, I¡¯m back. Let¡¯s talk chairs. I want a durable rocking chair that won¡¯t have any problems whether I use it on a rocky hill during a downpour or in the city on a sunny day. Style is a must. I don¡¯t want to be seen in a chair your grandmother might sit in for her afternoon naps. Don¡¯t be afraid to make it a little big since I¡¯ll be the one using it. Design wise I¡¯ll leave it up to you. A true craftsman does their best work when things are left up to their interpretations after all. Just make sure you don¡¯t leave it plain or I¡¯ll have to test its value as a blunt object on your skull. If you can¡¯t handle it you¡¯d best speak up now. I don¡¯t take kindly to people intentionally wasting my time, after all.] Hearing Jellal¡¯s unreasonableness the youngster nervously gulps down his saliva. After taking a moment to consider the proposition he gives his response while lowering his head. [I could do it if I had the right material, but I don¡¯t.] [Then we¡¯ll get you the materials first. Let¡¯s go. You should know where to get the things you need so lead the way.] Since the kid only needs materials Jellal decides to buy them so he doesn¡¯t have to look for someone else to make his chair. Besides, dealing with this kid is easier than finding some seasoned craftsman who¡¯s free to take the job right now. He had good luck with the tailor since her business wasn¡¯t doing too well, and the old leather worker is easy to deal with by throwing out some insults and money. The chances of him getting lucky three times in a row with top notch craftsman are pretty low. On the other hand, some random kid who¡¯s skilled at carving is much more likely to do things quickly. It¡¯s more risky, but based on the kid¡¯s raggedy getup he isn¡¯t well off. A little money can go a long way to motivate someone who¡¯s down on their luck financially. Jellal walks along the main road with the pair of dirty kids. Their first stop is a small shop with various knickknacks covering the shelves. At the back of the store they find a leather case housing a litany of wood carving tools. There are chisels, gouges, carving knives, sharpening instruments, mallets, and a small saw in the pouch; just about everything you could possibly need for wood carving. They take the leather case to the counter at the front of the store to check out. The total comes out to four silver and fifty copper. For a one time investment in his chair it¡¯s a bit steep, but since it¡¯s a good way to get rid of a bunch of copper coins there¡¯s nothing to argue about. As they leave the store the runt protectively squeezes the leather case into his chest, afraid it¡¯s going to be snatched from him. Jellal can¡¯t be bothered to waste time with a kid desperately clutching at his new possessions so he turns to look at the girl. Thankfully she gets the memo and starts leading the way to their next destination. With the tools necessary out of the way the only thing they¡¯re lacking is the wood for the chair. To that end they head for a lumberyard located along the wall near the gate. Since wood is one of the primary building materials used in the city there is a constant flow of it coming from the outside. To prevent carriages carrying logs from slowing down the traffic in the city a lumberyard was built near the gate. This way the people bringing in the wood can stay off the main road and traffic can move along at a normal pace. Upon arriving at the yard the foreman gives the trio a dirty look before walking over. The man¡¯s burly physique and beard gives him a classic lumberjack look. The knit beanie and flannel jacket he wears solidifies the look. His rolled up sleeves reveal a pair hairy, yet muscular forearms as the cherry on top. [What do you want brats? I thought I told you, you¡¯re not welcome here. If you want to pick up scraps of wood go beg someplace else.] [Wow! This is my first time meeting a talking bear. Do you do any other tricks, like riding a unicycle perchance? If you¡¯re working at this place I regret to inform you you¡¯ve missed your true calling. A bear of your talents should be working in a circus. If you do a good job you might even become the main attraction and get on the posters.] [What¡¯s your problem kid? You think I won¡¯t pummel you just because you¡¯re a kid? Scram before I have the guards drag you back to whatever hole you crawled out of.] [It seems like bears can learn to talk but they can¡¯t learn manners. Do you look down on all your customers or just the ones smaller than you so you can feel like a big man?] [Humph, you can take your business elsewhere for all I care. A bunch of twerps can¡¯t afford anything anyways. This is the last time I¡¯ll warn you: SCRAM!] [Kekeke, alright have it your way. Since you want to act like an idiot it¡¯s your funeral. We¡¯ll find someplace else to get what we need. As for you, good luck dealing with the fire that¡¯s been raging in the back of the yard since before we arrived.] Even if he said the fire had been there since before they arrived anyone with half a brain could understand from his tone he¡¯s lying through his teeth. Of course a wise criminal never leaves behind any evidence to trace the crime back to them. The lumberjack got on Jellal¡¯s nerves the moment they met, so he had been preparing a little present in secret on the off chance the bear pushed his buttons. Unfortunately for the foreman, he picked the wrong person to stubbornly refuse to do business with. If they had tried and failed to come to an agreement it would be fine, but outright refusing a walking disaster waiting to happen¡¯s right to do business wasn¡¯t the smartest move he could have made. At the back of the yard the incinerator flares beyond its breaking point as the fire inside rages out of control. The fire leaks out and catches on the surrounding lumber causing a chain reaction throughout the yard. The cause of the incident is a broken ventilation system. The closed door caused the fire to be starved of oxygen and burn down. When the vent swings open due to a random gust of wind (Jellal¡¯s wind magic, cough, cough) oxygen is reintroduced to the combustion resulting in a backdraft blasting flames through the vent and into the yard. All it took was a little manipulation of the already busted incinerator to cause an ¡°accident¡± in the yard. To make things match his story he accelerates the burning a bit while he¡¯s leaving. Unless someone was extremely familiar with fires they would never be able to tell it had just started due to the size of the blaze. Adding in the busted incinerator and all the evidence points to this being an accident which started before the trio arrived. ¡®A little blaze like that won¡¯t do too much harm to the surroundings, only the lumberyard. Throw a little water magic at it and everything will end in a jiffy. Besides this is a lumberyard with an incinerator to burn the junk they can¡¯t sell. If they don¡¯t have any precautions in place to deal with a fire they kind of have it coming.¡¯ The trio turns to leave the yard right as a commotion starts to break out. The workers inside rush to grab buckets of water in hopes of extinguishing the fire, but it isn¡¯t enough. Fearing they won¡¯t be able to contain in they immediately send for help from the surrounding people. Even though his back is turned to them, Jellal keeps a close watch on the events transpiring behind him. Seeing the complete lack of a fire protocol in a business where a single small fire could potential threaten the entire area is enough to make him shake his head. As far as he¡¯s concerned this is a valuable lesson they were going to learn one way or another. Instead of being upset they should be happy it happened at a time when everyone is up and about. If an accident like this occurred in the middle of the night it wouldn¡¯t end with just the lumberyard being destroyed. While they slowly make their way to another place to look for wood, crowds of people rush over to see what¡¯s going on. Thanks to the trail of smoke leading into the sky most of the people in the area are already aware of the fire and are rushing to see it firsthand. Moving along the wall the trio comes to another lumberyard. This one is much smaller than the other and has less activity around it. The foreman sees them walking up and comes over to greet them. Unlike the bear they dealt with last time the foreman of this yard is a woman, she¡¯s still a bear though. On the foreman¡¯s head is a pair of round ears that blend seamlessly into her brown hair. Her exposed arms and legs have poufy brown fur sticking up making her look soft to touch. Rounding out her bear physique is her broad shoulders holding up a round face with a pair of beady eyes and a button nose. [What can I do for you? Most potential customers usually go to the other yard since it¡¯s cheaper. Why did you come here?] [Is there any reason to come to a lumberyard other than buying wood? I¡¯ll give you a bit of free advice; don¡¯t tell people it¡¯s more expensive to buy from you as a part of your greeting. You¡¯ll get a lot more customers that way.] [But then I would be lying to them. Papa always said the shoulders of a true businessman bear the burden of the truth.] [Are you sure he didn¡¯t just have a guilty conscience after repeatedly lying to customers? Isn¡¯t he telling you to lie while bearing the burden of knowing you did so?] [But he said to bear the burden of the truth not lies silly.] [Out of curiosity; you wouldn¡¯t happen to be charging people the same price you paid for the lumber would you?] [Huh? How did you know? Can you read minds? It isn¡¯t polite to read someone¡¯s mind you know; you really shouldn¡¯t do that.] Goblin Is Innocent

Chapter 51: Goblin Is Innocent

Jellal and the children walk along a street near the wall as they make their way to the orphanage the children are staying at. In his bag he¡¯s carrying a few good size pieces of wood to use in the manufacturing of his chair. ¡®That bear was really something else. Based on how the business is still open despite her being the one running it I can only assume someone else is helping her to manage it. If no one was interfering she would definitely end up constantly losing money after all. I wonder how they¡¯re doing it. Are they adjusting the prices they buy and sell at when they¡¯re there or are they straight up lying to her? With how trusting she is it would be easy to claim you¡¯re paying a higher price than you are so she¡¯ll sell things for a profit unknowingly. To whoever¡¯s stuck with her as a business partner you have my sincere condolences.¡¯ The back road they take on their way to the orphanage is covered in holes and rocks. It¡¯s painfully obvious how few carriages move along the seemingly deserted road. The entire area gets increasingly dilapidated as they walk down the street. Unlike the main road where buildings look well built and maintained the houses in this area seem as if they could collapse under their own weight at a moment¡¯s notice. Holes in the roofs are a common sight for the houses along this road. Broken or missing windows and doors are such a normalized look you would be forgiven for thinking it¡¯s some kind of hip trend everyone¡¯s using to fit in. Occasionally people can be found hiding in their houses or scurrying around the streets. Their appearances are just as varied as the people found on the main road with all of them having one feature linking them all together: they¡¯re covered in dirt and look like they haven¡¯t taken a bath in days, if not weeks or longer. Even with the run down appearance of the area the smell isn¡¯t as bad as you would expect. It isn¡¯t sunshine and rainbows, but at least it doesn¡¯t smell like sewage. Up ahead is the largest building in the area, the orphanage. The building has definitely seen better days with its busted windows and roof. There are even holes in the siding allowing line of sight inside the building despite being outside. Inside the building consists of one large main area surrounded by a number of rooms along the walls. Each side has a staircase leading to a second floor which forms a ring around the main hall. The walls of the second floor are also lined with rooms like the lower level, while the walkway around is bordered by a rail to keep people from accidentally falling down to the main hall below. When they walk in the elderly caretaker and her assistant glance at Jellal suspiciously, but ultimately don¡¯t make a fuss about him being there. The rest of the orphans also notice him and temporarily stop their playing around. The boy¡¯s room is on the second floor with the rest of the older kids, while the younger children are relegated to the first floor for safety reasons. His room is filled with wood chips and carvings he¡¯s built up from his hobby. Finding an empty space Jellal sets the wood for his chair on the floor so the kid can get to work on his chair. With his business taken care of and no reason to stick around he decides to take off. Walking out of the orphanage he¡¯s confronted by a group of guards. By now the blaze at the lumberyard has been extinguished. It managed to cause a massive amount of damage before help from the guild arrived to put it out. Over half of the stocks of wood as well as the buildings on the premises were destroyed leaving them with a massive financial loss. Even the help they received to put out the fire cost them money since it was an emergency commission from the guild. The foreman immediately blamed Jellal for the fire when the guards arrived on the scene. As it turns out, not many masked men wearing dark clothes and a fur cape can be found roaming around the city. His conspicuous appearance tipped the guards off to the suspect which led them to seeking him out. [Is there something I can help you with? I may not look busy at the moment, but I have a lot of things to do in the near future.] Before the day started all the guards in the city were informed by their superiors about Jellal¡¯s presence in the city. For them he¡¯s listed as one of the few extremely troublesome people to watch out for and try not to hassle. Thanks to his previous displays he¡¯s been listed as highly dangerous. Unfortunately this incident has been linked to him so they have no choice other than investigating him. With his reputation among the guards they first checked with locals to ensure the accuracy of the foreman¡¯s claims before they made a move on Jellal. As luck would have it, multiple reliable witnesses spotted him in the area prior to the fire breaking out so they were left with no choice but to question him. [According to eyewitnesses you were present at the lumberyard immediately preceding the business catching fire. You¡¯ve also been accused of intentionally causing the fire due to a disagreement over the price of lumber with the foreman. The owner of the company is filing a report and has insisted you be arrested in connection to the incident. As such we¡¯d like to invite you to the guard station to discuss the series of events you experienced leading up to, and during the fire.] [Whether I¡¯m going or not will depend on the station¡¯s location. I¡¯ve already mentioned being on a schedule, so I don¡¯t want to be somewhere I can¡¯t keep an eye on how things develop when the time comes. You can already count your blessings I¡¯m planning on observing some people in the near future and can do so from afar. If I couldn¡¯t I wouldn¡¯t bother giving your request any thought.] The guard lets out a dry laugh as he tries to explain the guard station¡¯s location. For the sake of convenience there are multiple stations throughout the city, with a couple groups of guards based out of each depending on where they¡¯re patrolling for that particular day. The closest one, which these guards are working out of, is located near the gate. This station is mainly used by the guards monitoring the gate and the area in its immediate vicinity.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Since he¡¯s already going to be hanging around the gate, waiting for the former prisoners to arrive, going to the station isn¡¯t out of the way. Knowing he¡¯s complying with their request lets a huge weight off the guards¡¯ shoulders, but it doesn¡¯t alleviate the tense atmosphere they experience during the trip. The journey back toward the gate is characterized by an abnormal silence. Jellal has nothing to discuss with the guards so he doesn¡¯t bother interacting with them, while the guards are nervous and don¡¯t want to accidentally get on the bad side of one of the most dangerous people in the city. Along the way he controls the vines in his mask to block the eyeholes, reverting his mask to a state where it lacks any visible eyeholes. By hiding his eyes he can make himself more mysterious and difficult to read, granting him a slight psychological upper hand in the interrogation. The station sits on the opposite side of the gate as the lumberyard and is sidled up against the wall. The guards monitoring the gate constantly run in and out as they process the entrants, while others are carefully inspecting carriages and people before they enter. The front of the building has multiple entrances, each with their own purpose. One door is specifically for processing entrants and has cabinets full of paperwork and secretaries going over the detailed procedures at work at all times. The door Jellal and the escorting guards are entering is used by the area patrol. Inside are four separate rooms and a small holding cell for criminals. Under normal circumstances the suspects are asked to wait for interrogation in the holding cell to prevent them from trying to escape, but that isn¡¯t exactly viable for Jellal so they instead lead him to an interrogation room to wait. This is usually not done so the interrogator has the mental edge when the suspect is led to the room, but letting him into the room to wait is better than him getting annoyed and leaving so they can only choose to compromise. In the interrogation room, Jellal sits in one of the provided chairs. In typical Jellal fashion he rocks back and puts his feet on the desk so he can comfortably wait. The guards¡¯ faces say they want to protest his actions, but ultimately none of them speak up. Considering his track record their complaints would¡¯ve fallen on deaf ears anyways. One guard stays in the room to keep an eye on him while the others go to find their superiors. Given who the suspect in the case is, they aren¡¯t qualified to interrogate him. For high profile suspects it¡¯s natural they have high ranking personnel handle the situation. Interlocking his fingers behind his head, Jellal patiently waits for whoever they¡¯re bringing to arrive while keeping an eye on gate in chorus. Coming up on the line in the distance he finds his targets of interest, the former captives he released earlier. Since they¡¯re still on their way and he¡¯ll still be able to see them for a while after they enter the city he doesn¡¯t rush to leave. In fact, the guard station is a decent place to hide away and wait for them to pass by before following them. While he¡¯s keeping an eye on their progress toward the city the guards are also returning with a couple of new people in tow. One of them is his good friend Kite, who¡¯s wearing a gloomy expression, while the other is a new face he hasn¡¯t seen before. As they walk into the room light reflects off the new man¡¯s bald head thanks to its reflective sheen. The man has a large scar running partially across his neck and down his chest giving him a distinctive look. His guard uniform is in perfect order other than the top few buttons being undone to show off his chest. Seeing Jellal¡¯s feet on the desk Kite¡¯s head drops and he sighs. On the other hand, his superior is livid, and it shows as his whole head starts turning red. Taking a few deep breaths he tries to calm himself as he moves along to the questioning. [According to what I¡¯ve been told you were in the vicinity of the fire before it started. Is this true?] [Depends on what you mean when you say vicinity. If you mean the general area around the lumberyard, then I was. If you¡¯re talking about being in close proximity to the origin of the fire within the lumberyard, I wasn¡¯t. The foreman was extremely persistent in not allowing us to do business with them after all.] [Noted. The foreman and other workers claim you and the aforementioned foreman were arguing over prices before the fire broke out. After arguing you threatened to burn their business down before rushing to the back to start a fire. Is this accurate?] [Oh? That¡¯s an interesting spin they put on things. First off, as I mentioned before, we were never allowed to enter the yard. The foreman immediately refused to have any sort of business dealings. The moment he noticed us coming close he ran up to us and demanded we leave. At no point did we get into an argument over price, only entry. Also, as I previously stated, I never set foot inside the yard. The claims of me rushing in to start the fire are blatantly false. In fact, I¡¯m the one who warned him there was a fire in the back. To think they would accuse me of something they are responsible for. Their lack of integrity really knows no bounds. For Baldy McNoHair to be so easily convinced by such dishonest people is truly disconcerting.] The man¡¯s head becomes even redder as a series of veins bulge on his forehead. He glares at Jellal, but is met with an expressionless mask with no eyes showing to stare at. [In short you say it wasn¡¯t you and their lying. Since you claim to have told them about the fire, might I know how you were aware of it in the first place? You must know it¡¯s extremely suspicious for you to have known a fire¡¯s breaking out despite having claimed to have never set foot inside the yard.] He narrows his eyes as his allegations continue. At this point it¡¯s obvious he doesn¡¯t harbor any positive impressions of the suspect he¡¯s interrogating. [I knew it was breaking out the same way I know a guard just entered the building, or a merchant caravan consisting of three carriages and two dozen people just entered the city. I can wear this mask without my eyes visible because I don¡¯t need them to see what¡¯s happening around me. If you doubt the truth of my statement you can ask Kite, he¡¯s been around me a few times and can attest to it.] The man glances over at Kite, who was brought along precisely due to his past experiences with Jellal. Kite reluctantly nods, unable to lie while doing his job despite how much he wants to deny having ever met the suspect. To confirm his statement a guard leaves the room and runs towards the door to check, passing a guard who had just entered the building in the process. Looking outside the guard spots a merchant caravan with multiple guard teams passing by, having passed through the gates mere moments ago. After confirming his statements the guard returns to the interrogation room. Under the watchful eyes of the other guards he nods heavily in confirmation. [If you knew there was a fire why didn¡¯t you do anything to stop it? It was eventually contained, but it could have potentially caused an enormous amount of damage to the city if it wasn¡¯t.] [Is it my job to babysit a bunch of grown men at their workplace? Of course not. Given how disrespectful the foreman was he should be grateful I even told him about the fire. Besides, if they had properly maintained their equipment it wouldn¡¯t have failed in such a catastrophic manner. In my opinion they got what they deserved, nothing more, nothing less. On second thought, I take that back. They deserve worse than what they got. Not only did they refuse to do any business with me despite this being our first meeting, but they even had the gall to lie after I so graciously let them know a fire which could threaten their business was brewing around their incinerator. It would¡¯ve been more appropriate for their business to be destroyed in its entirety.] [So you refuse to admit you¡¯re responsible? From all accounts you were the only one there, so it¡¯s hard to side with you on this.] [They said I was the only one there? So the two orphans who were with me at the time don¡¯t exist? Maybe you should try finding sources that haven¡¯t been payed off next time you ask for eye witnesses. I don¡¯t know about the laws here so I don¡¯t know if they did anything illegal, but paying people to lie about events and intentionally skew the results of an investigation isn¡¯t a good look regardless. If you always believe any nonsense you¡¯re told I can only imagine how many innocent people¡¯s lives you¡¯ve ruined by allowing them to be framed for crimes they didn¡¯t commit.] While Jellal¡¯s busy being questioned the former prisoners have finally arrived at the gates. The group looks worn out yet lively, and considering what they¡¯ve been through it isn¡¯t surprising. Since the guards at the gate have already been informed about their arrival beforehand they quickly get down to processing the group. To their surprise, most of the group has some form of identification. They had originally been expecting to have to give most of them temporary passes until they could be reissued some form of id so this was a pleasant surprise for them. The ones without any id were taken aside to get a temporary one, while the rest were processed the same way any other entrants would be. Being former captive and all, they weren¡¯t able to pay the fee to get in, but they were lucky enough to have it taken care of for them by Sionia on the guilds behalf. Of course they would be expected to pay it back, but a single copper isn¡¯t much to begin with so no one had any complaints. After moving into the city they all stayed together and went with Sionia toward the adventurer¡¯s guild. They had been prearranged to meet with some guild staff and guards to discuss the sequence of events leading up to their capture and eventual release so none of them rushed to go home despite wanting to. In the guard station Jellal is finishing up and the guards are funneling out to look into his allegations of the business paying off people to sway the results of the investigation. Since the yard is managed by the son of a prominent member of the city whose reputation is widespread, such a scandal can¡¯t be taken lightly. They had previous reports of unethical actions by the manager, but nothing so overtly illegal. If his claims are true they¡¯re facing a major incident they never expected going in.