I effortlessly cut through the goblin troupe. All of them except three are instantly cut in half, the surviving members flee.

Eeeeh? I didn't expect that. Weren't goblin bones supposed to be as strong as human bones? I definitely remember having to hack into one two or three times to kill them for sure.

【Wow! That's the rose hero for you!】 Alpheba proclaims loudly.

【Looks like that new sword is doing wonders.】 Margaret says.

My new sword? Is it really that sharp? Isn't that a bit OP? That's too OP isn't it? I guess I'm attacking beginner mobs with end level equipment.

Thank you mister dwarf. I mentally thank the dwarf that made it for me.

【Shouldn't we chase after them?】 Alpheba asks.

Aaaah! She's so innocent. Cute!

【They won't come back.】 Margaret explains. 【Goblins don't run away unless they see a force that is truly beyond them on all levels.】

【What kind of goblins were those?】 Alpheba asks. 【Were they a special type?】

【Hey! Aren't you supposed to know all this? You're a witch you know!】

【I'm only an apprentice!】 she says, wildly swinging her arms in frustration. 【I don't know everything about every monster.】

【They were normal goblins.】 I explain, looking at the remains on the road. 【They were just covered in mud.】

【Uuugh.】 Margaret groans. 【I don't want to look at them.】

Wait. I look at two of the goblins more closely. Those are shoes. I mean, they're not very good shoes, but they're shoes! What goblin wears shoes?

And there's more here! A big knife!

I pick it up.

【Wooow.】 Alpheba proclaims wonder at the knife. 【I thought goblins only used clubs.】

【Goblins steal a lot, they use whatever they can find as weapons.】 I say. 【This probably belonged to a human.】

【No.】 Margaret is suddenly very serious. 【That is an orc knife.】

【O-orcs?】 Alpheba begins to panic.

【Don't worry!】 I try to calm her down. 【Margaret and I are both D level adventurers, we can handle orcs easily.】

【But what about the farms here?】 She says. 【They'll be pillaged by the horde!】

【One knife doesn't mean there's a horde.】 Margaret explains calmly. 【That thing could be decades old.】

Alpheba calms down. 【You're right. Let's continue searching for that flower.】

【I'm afraid we'll have to part ways here.】 Margaret sighs as we come to the intersection. 【I'm not going to find Laurus or a friend of his in the witchwood.】

【Good luck finding your friend.】 I shake her hand.

【Thank you. Good luck with your quest.】

【Don't forget to tell Laurus about me.】

【I'll try.】 She gives an awkward smile.

Then we split up.

I sure hope to meet this Laurus. If I'm correct, then I have found a fellow reincarnator.

It seems like ages ago now, that I was Sato Yui, normal Japanese highschool girl. Now I am Beatrice Dichtershire, a hero of noble birth in a fantasy land.

The days were ever so slightly getting longer again and the snow was melting.

When the trader envoy set out again the white stuff was relegated to the occasional tuft at the side of the road, but the morning dew still had an icy quality to it.

They had two locations to visit, one the meeting point for an organized group of goblins that was at least as large as their own, the other a half a dozen relatively young goblins that lived in a muddy hole in the ground. This trek should last shorter than the last, they would probably be able to return by evening.

"Isn't it exciting?" Kicker said. "We don't know what we're going to get."

"It better be worth or time." Teeth commented.

"We've got what they wanted, don't we?" Kicker asked Biter, who was walking behind the little sled.

"Cups and vases for the bird group, stone-tipped spears for the cat group." He answered, referring to the tribes by the most prominent creatures they shared their territory with.

"I think the cat group needs food more than we do."

"Well, that's what the spears are for, aren't they? Hunting."

They were stopped from discussing it further by Teeth suddenly drawing his sword. They stopped in their tracks and readied their own slings in response.

Right before them stood a tall flightless bird. One typical for that part of the forest.

It had been known to attack goblins with its sharp talons and beak.

"Come then. Bring it on!" Teeth shouted loudly, thumping his chest with his free hand. But the creature ran off, leaving the oldest of the three brothers disappointed.

If it had come to a fight both parties would have been severely wounded, and who would have survived was up in the air. Either way, the outcome would be undesirable, not the kind of thing you'd encourage with a 'bring it on!'.

"Anyway, do you know what the word is for cups and vases made from clay?" Kicker asked, ignoring what just had happened and continuing onwards dragging the sled.

"It's crockery, isn't it?" Biter answered.

"Ah, so you do know."

"I think we learned it at the same time."

"It's not very long until sunrise." Huckabee whispered.

"This is stupid. Why didn't you just tell the boss about the hobgoblins." Dee snapped at him, trying to sneak along with him through the frost encrusted forest edge, all the while possessing the stealth and subtlety of a berserking mammoth. "On top of that, why do I have to come?"

"I tried." He pleaded. "She wanted to have proof it wasn't orcs. I told you this."

They both stiffened as an ice cassowary burst through the underbrush and ran past them.

"Why are you spooked by a level F monster?" Dee admonished her colleague.

"Wh-? You froze too!"

"Shhhh!"

He had raised his voice while they were on a stealth mission. The magical bird may have been in the lowest threat category set by the Adventurers' Guild, hobgoblins and orcs were not, and both were monsters that collected in large groups.

So they continued trashing through the layers of dead plant matter on the forest floor, in search of the ruins of the old palace.

"Fat, hold out your hand." Scratch commanded.

It was getting warmer now and with less work around and some prisoners to do it for them the boys saw fit to relax in front of the cave in the sun from time to time.

Currently there were about four goblins there, loitering and doing nothing. Scratch had been clipping his nails with the leader's knife and now demanded his brother to show him his nails.

"Your nails are too long, it's time for a manicure."

"What are you doing?" Fat said, letting his leader grab his hand and slice of the front of his fingernails one by one. "I need those."

"You'll hurt yourself if they get too long."

"No. I need them for fighting." Despite his protestations he didn't struggle against the treatment.

"You're gonna scratch them? Please." Said the goblin that had been named after the act of scratching. "We've got spears and axes all around, you can even carry a fork with you if you want."

He didn't stop his work while talking.

"It's a trick." hummed Dumb. "If you can't fight without weapons you have to stay with us to live."

"Aww- Scratch. I'm not gonna leave." Fat said affectionately.

Dumb scoffed.

Scratch laughed. "I see some holes in your theory- give me your other hand, Fat- I see some holes in your theory Dumb."

He continued on Fat's left hand.

"First of all, anybody that has a weapon in his hands can just take it and leave with it."

"Hhm-hm." Dumb gave a disinterested confirmation, he had made a joke and now it was turning into a whole lecture.

"Second..." Scratch paused a bit to concentrate on the fragile pinkie, "fingernails grow back. And last of all..." He let go of Fat's hand. "...I am a magnanimous and kind leader and would never do something like that. There you go."

Fat looked at his fingers, it gave a neater and cleaner feeling to have them end at the end of the finger.

"Scream doesn't have to cut his nails." Dumb said.

"You want to be like those guys? You know, even they can't have them grow too long. They bite them off, like this." Scratch pretended to chew on his fingers, trying to make the kids laugh. Then he became serious again. "Now, you show me your fingers, Dumb."

"nooooo-" his protestations fell on deaf ears.

"Why are we giving weapons to these gangs?" His co-conspirator wanted to know. "You said you wanted to get rid of gangs.

"Simple Ceasarian strategy." He answered inspecting the firing chamber on a smuggled pistol.

"I know what you're doing, you want me to ask you to explain it further. Well I won't give you the satisfaction, Scissoring strategy it is."

He gave her a raised eyebrow. "You, do know who Ceasar was, don't you?"

"Yeah, a Roman emperor, so what?"

"Before he was an emperor, he was an imperator. He knew when conquering Gaul that if he declared war against all tribes of the region, no military would be big enough. Instead, he created vassal tribes, he armed smaller tribes that were willing to work with him to take over their neighbours. He made sure they fought amongst each other, instead of the larger power. The internal power structures in the region left them weakened, the people in power were the ones most reliant on his patronage, and any unification of tribes against him was delayed until it was much too late to stop the roman forces."

"Okay. So it's just that 'divide and conquer' thing."

"Exactly."

"Just say that! Why do you have to be so damn pretensious all the time?"

The sun was at its highest point when the Scratch clan envoy reached the trading post for the Bird territory group.

For some reason the chosen spot was at a place where the population of birds was the highest, there was no point at which not at least one of them was visible. Luckily they were furtive creatures and they weren't likely to attack out of nowhere.

"Did we agree on a time?" Kicker asked.

"I don't think so." Biter answered.

"We'll wait until sunset." Teeth decided.

As it turned out, they didn't have to wait that long to meet the goblin tribe.

When they had settled in their place and were sitting on the sled in boredom they were suddenly assaulted by a dazzling fast flying tiny spear that impacted into the crockery and made it explode all over the place.

Aware of the concept of a projectile Teeth had his sword in his hand and was charging in the direction it had come from before the cloud of dust dissipated.

Into focus came the small figure of a goblin, wearing a shirt of interconnected metal rings and wielding a complicated instrument, he quickly fumbled another bolt on his crossbow and aimed it at his target before he had time to close the distance.

Kicker and Biter released stones from their slings and sent them arcing over Teeth's head. They didn't hit their attacker, but it made him flinch, giving Teeth enough time to jump on him and jab his sword above his collarbone. They both fell to the ground, Teeth on top of the enemy, his weapon still lodged in his body, and the enemy still clutching the loaded weapon. It seemed like the other was about to activate the mechanism and drive the projectile into teeth's stomach, but his eyes rolled back and his hands lost their strength, he was dead.

Teeth stood up and pulled his sword out of the cadaver by the time his sidekicks arrived, there was a hint of disappointment in his eyes.

"Human weapons." Biter said.

"Are you sure?" Kicker asked.

"Not even Scratch can make something like this." He answered, kicking the peculiar ranged weapon. The impact made it go off and a bolt shot between them into a distant tree.

"Whoa."

"Awesome."

Teeth was still on edge and looking around. "Be quiet, I'm listening."

The two younger siblings looked at each other and then questioningly at Teeth.

"What are you listening for." Kicker whispered.

"They're all around. It was an ambush."

Then they heard it too, the scuttling feet on the forest floor, the hushed voice from behind the treetops, there was a whole tribe of goblins surrounding them.

"Come then!" Teeth screamed. "Come out and show yourself!"

Out came a single elderly goblin, he had his empty open palms turned towards them to show he wasn't a danger.

"You kill leader. We give up." He exclaimed from a distance.

"Why did you attack us?"

"Afraid, thought you is human."

"He's lying." Biter whispered, still turning around, catching glimpses of the tribe. "This is the group that agreed to meet us here."

"It was a trap." Kicker agreed, speaking metaphorically with the image of a rabbit snare in his mind.

"Come here." Teeth order the enemy negotiator. "I said COME HERE!" He yelled when the goblin hesitated and violently slashed the side of a tree with his weapon.

When the creature approached him he suddenly lunged at him and grabbed him by the hair, he began sobbing miserably.

"Where did you get that weapon, huh?" He put the tip of his sword against his throat threateningly.

It didn't take advanced interrogation tactics to make him talk. "Big pig. Big pig give us weapon. Big pig say 'defeat other goblins'. Us do what big pig says."

"Big... pig?" Is that a goblin? Kicker asked.

The enemy shook is head as much as he could with his hair painfully pulled by Teeth. His face was a drooping teary mess.

Teeth slid his throat and threw him on the ground. "Let's go. Biter, you pull the sled this time."

Around them a small army of goblins simply started running away in all directions.

The old palace was abuzz with activity.

It had been the homebase of a small group of primitive goblins for almost a month now. With the place in ruins after an ancient war and countless of years abandonment it didn't have much useful rooms anymore. However, the throne room still offered some protection against the elements.

Currently the occupants of the ruins were being slaughtered by a pair of orcs, beastmen with pig-like features and full access to steel tools and protection.

The large pigmen had brought their own army of subservient goblins, some of which they had trusted with their own steel weaponry. Eventually the last remaining occupants turned to flee, one or two servant goblins gave chase but the orcs stayed where they were. They made their pig noises at each other and seemed agitated over something, frantically searching for something between the half-buried rooms that they couldn't find.

Dee and Huckabee were hiding by what remained of the the goblin king's old palanquin, a massive thing that had required dozens of goblins to carry their king around back in the day.

"Are they looking for something?" Dee wondered.

"Shhhh!" Huckabee shushed her in a panicked fashion. Beads of sweat were forming on his forehead.

"Let's sneak around and get a closer look." She whispered, already making ready to do so.

"What, are you crazy? Do you have any idea what orcs do to prisoners? I mean, you're a woman, it's worse for you."

She thought about it for a bit and then reconsidered. "Do we make a run for it?"

"They'd definitely notice that, we've got to stay here and wait until they leave."

"Huck, I don't like the idea of doing nothing."

"Dee, you'll fucking well survive it."

"Could it be that the mystics were wrong?" Gubok of the orcs said, in their own language that accommodated their pig-like mouths and throats.

"You'd do very well to watch your tongue around me, youngling." His elder, Ragar, responded. "The mystics are not to be doubted. The dungeon core is around here somewhere. It must have been what shaped the demon incarnate that ruled here."

"Well, it's not here." The youngling said, frustrated. "They said it'd be here and it's not. Just these... humanoids." He had a disgusting look at his face when talking about the beings. "I thought we were supposed to keep clear of humanoids."

"These stunted humanoids are not the dangers we were warned about, it's the pink humanoids that form a threat to our operation, the green ones can function as slaves. Now show some deference before I put you to work with them, the dungeon core must be underground somewhere."

"Speaking off..." Gubok changed the subject. "I suppose you've smelled them by now."

"You mean the cowards behind the big stool. I have."

"I suppose we better take care of them, so they don't report this to their king."

"I suppose we better do that. We'll take them alive to find out where their camp is."

"The female... smells delicious."

"Not until after we've found the dungeon core Gubok, you useless shote."

First was surprised by the sight of the juvenile human.

She was smaller than even himself and robed in layers of the human-made cloth and distributing feed to the different caged animals. The difference between them was striking, it made him feel self-conscious about his dirty green skin and makeshift fur clothing.

"Mr. Goat, you've had enough. This is for Ms. Goat." She babbled against the creatures while sticking long plants into the pen for them to munch on.

She continued on talking to the livestock in this manner while spreading around crumbs, plants and food rests. She even patted the heads of the geese that were allowed to walk around freely through the camp. "Be good, okay."

After a while it seemed like she was about to leave.

"They can't talk." First said. "They don't understand what you're saying."

The girl seemed a bit shocked by him suddenly speaking but then wildly shook her head in response. "Nu-uh, all animals can talk. They just don't want to."

"How rude!" First exclaimed. "Are they ignoring us?"

"No..." She thought about it. "It's because... they don't have to, you know? Because we'll feed them anyway, because we love them."

First stared at a goose, it stared back at him and honked.

"My name is Cobaline." The girl said, sticking her hand out, but not coming close enough for him to grab it. "My mom said not to come too close to the goblin."

"My name is... First." First mimicked her gesture without knowing what it was for. "My brothers told me not to come close to humans."

"First." She giggled. "Why is your name First?"

"Because I was the first to be born."

"Okay. Bye." She ran off.

"Wait..."

The human called Huckabee had been feeding him, but after finding out about Horns he had left, presumably to let him die. First hadn't eaten in a full day. He looked at the goose again. "I suppose you won't tell her to bring me some of those breadcrumbs." But the bird refused to even look at him.

Teeth was caked in dried blood when the trio arrived at the hole in the ground that was used by the muddy goblins. It was more than a little intimidating, but Biter managed to calm them down. They weren't here to fight, fighting had just happened to them.

Just two of the cat group members were present and they had laid out their trade ware on a bed of large leaves. It was an unrecognizable pile of meat. Whatever creature it was, it had its head and skin removed, as well as the feet on all four limbs.

"Is it worth it?" Kicker asked Teeth. But he already knew the answer, they didn't have much use for the spears and this was a comparatively large amount of meat.

"Not coming all this way for." Teeth answered. "But since we're here already... why not."

They put the prize, leaves and all, on the sled. There was plenty of room with the earthenware shards discarded and the spears finally handed over.

With not much appetite for socializing the party was set to return pretty much immediately.

Their trading partners stood in the same place in absolute silence, keeping them in their sight until they were too far away to see.

"Think this is a trap too?" Kicker said. "Think they gave use weird monster meat?"

"I'm only thinking about my warm fluffy bed." Biter responded. "I'm glad we'll be back before bedtime today."

"Unhand me, you pig!"

"Oh, real original."

"What, are you on their side now?"

Dee and Huckabee had been tied up against a tree by the orcs, but they didn't stop arguing between themselves.

"Greeeonk!" The younger orc squealed at them, if the pig creature had been capable of speech it would have said "Silence!" or something like that. Every time he fell out against them, the other orc got mad at him.

"Look at that, you made him angry!"

"What? Me? Like he was such a bundle of joy before."

"Whatever, will you keep it down?"

"Ah, I see. I'm the noisy one, huh? Mister 'unhand me, you villain'."

"First of all-"

In a mad rage the orc smashed the gigantic war axe into the tree, right between them. "Greonk!" This time he was pulled aside and squeeled at by the older orc. His impatience with the prisoners was a point of contention with his own ally. When the older orc left again th younger one eyed them angrily, but staying silent.

"First of all..." Huckabee proceeded to whisper. "I did not say that. And second-"

"I didn't say you said that."

"Well you heavily implied it, and secondl-"

"No I didn't. I said it's the same thing."

"Woman, will you let me finish?"

They had gone from whispering to raising their voices again.

Grasping his snout in irritation the guard stomped off to cool down.

"Excellent work, Huck."

"Huh, what?"

"It's a good thing you saw what I was doing and played along."

"Uhh, yeah. Haha."

"Do you still have that knife hidden in your sleeve?"

"I have."

"Great, cut us down, we'll make a run for it."

"Is that all?" Fat said dissapointedly.

"We had to fight." Kicker proclaimed.

"We almost died!" Biter added angrily.

"We're glad you all survived." Second said, quickly occupying the space between the offended parties to pick up the meat. "What... kind of animal is this exactly?"

All three traders shrugged simultaneously.

The rest of the day was slow paced. There were a few chores, cleaning, cooking and carving furniture, but most of it could be spend relaxing in the sun and playing hide-and-go-seek in front of the cave. The various buildings and workstations made for a great hiding landscape.

For dinner Fat and Quiet set up a large barbeque to roast the mystery meat on, together with the last of the cattail roots.

Scratch had been absorbed in a project all day and finally came outside when the smell of the meat roasting started to spread.

He took one look at the carcass being spitroasted above the fire. "That's a goblin isn't it?"

The humanoid shape of the skeleton was undeniable.

Scratch ate vegetarian that day, him being the leader half of the tribe followed suit and a large portion of the thing was left when dinner was over.

Ice Cassowary

Family: Bird

Threat Level: F

Reward: 1 copper piece

The ice cassowary is an elementally aligned monster, completely immune to cold and extremely weak to fire. Because their weakness is so well documented they are considered a very low threat, but if for any reason an adventurer does not have access to fire abilities the creature can form a significant obstacle. Their main weapon is their head casque, which they use to attack their foes, each other and obstructing flora.

Ice cassowaries are mostly active during the winter or in northern territories and go into hibernation when the weather is warm. They posses a degree of animal intelligence and grow to fear humans and humanoids in places near civilization but are a lot more confident and belligerent in territories with no nearby civilization. They can not be domesticated and do not contain useful ingredients.