"What is this all about?" Dumb was trying to fill in the role of leader when Scratch and the others still hadn't returned.

He should be focusing on the invaders arriving at their doorstep, but instead he found himself side-tracked by the prisoners starting commotion over some shiny metal.

"It's gold." Scream said in a very serious tone. "That's bad."

On the dinner table lay a piece of hewn stone with the glistening yellow material peeking out. It had a stain of blood on it.

"Why, is it poisonous?"

Scream swayed from side to side a bit, trying to come up with the proper words. "If the humans know there is gold here, they'll never go away."

"What are you saying, exactly?"

"Humans love gold." Laugh said, more agitated. "More than food, more than sleep."

Scream was still trying to stay calm. "We've seen before that if a human knows you have gold, he'll chase you for days to get it."

"Normally they'll attack when you try to steal from them, or during the great killing time, but they think all gold to belongs to them and they'll attack you just for having it." Digger said to corroborate the story.

"So we just won't show it to them. You found it in the deepest part of the mine, correct?" Dumb decided. "No humans can come down there."

"Well..." Scream bit his lip.

"Oh no."

"Patrick... was..."

"Snooping." Digger helped him.

"Snooping around in the night. He might have gone down the tunnel..." Scream quickly shuffled behind Digger to avoid Dumb's gaze.

Dumb sighed deeply. The stress was getting to him. He had received no word from Scratch's party, he was supposed to presume them dead, although he didn't really believe they were yet. Since the sun had come up a great big tribe of humans had come to the cave and was sleeping among the cleared trees of the perimeter and near the tower. And now he learned that a substance that aroused their bloodlust was inside, something that could possibly even overturn the calming effect of Scratch's bizarre lie.

Speaking of which...

"Is Quiet still outside?" Dumb said concerned.

"How's it smell?" The cook asked Quiet.

The two were standing over a large pot the goblins had lent to the bandits, in which soup from horse guts was being prepared.

With Quiet all vocabulary on cooking and smell necessary for an eloquent response was missing, and in any case he didn't have the social grace to adequately respond to a stranger.

He settled with an affirmative sounding "uh-huh". As if to say 'it smells as good as you're suggesting it does'.

-

"Are you keeping an eye on the goblin?" Harkness appeared next to Dee, who was watching the cooking hut from a distance.

"I think he's here to keep an eye on us." She answered. "But he's distracted by the food."

"I've looked around." The bandit leader said. "There are very little signs of life in the neighborhood. Goblins or otherwise."

Dee, in her tired state, leaned against the wall of a mud hut, but quickly righted herself when she almost pushed it in.

"You said a group of them snuck out last night to get their master."

"That's what I assumed they left for. But maybe they just fled. Have you ever heard of a noble house called Beatty?"

"Beatty? No."

"I thought so, me neither. The one that has tamed these goblins goes under that name."

"Is waiting here really the best plan we have?"

"It's the only one. We can't flee into the sea and we can't survive in the Witchwood. Sooner or later we will have to face the orcs." She looked around. "And I know none of you can continue riding in this state. You need sleep."

As if she had been given permission Dee lowered herself to sit down. "Maybe..." she yawned "... we'll fight them off, with the cleared forest and the hedge, we can pick them off before they get..." she closed her eyes.

Harkness stepped over her. Fight them off? Not on your life. Beatty... please hurry up.

Second and Biter were carrying Scratch, who was fading in and out of consciousness due to the severe head trauma, with his arms over their shoulders.

The whole troupe was leading the way for the orc legion towards a destination unknown. They had picked a random direction and just started hiking, an army of monsters in their wake.

"What's the plan?" Teeth whispered.

Second was racking his brain. "Small and Last..." he said eventually "...couldn't kill you on their own. So they led you to the humans so they could kill you."

"Right...?" Teeth wasn't impressed by the analogue of events, mainly because he would have thought of it himself if he had known about an enemy stronger than the orcs.

"As long as they're fighting someone, anyone, we can escape."

Teeth angrily pushed against him, effectively using Scratch's body as a battering ram. "When they win they'll come find us again!" He had lost his self-control and wasn't whispering anymore.

Behind them an orc made angry and accusatory grunts towards them, but the orc leader shut him down.

"...it's a feudal society though, isn't it?" Scratch was babbling.

"What is he saying?" Teeth asked Second.

"A farm like that, it sells produce. Who does it sell produce to? A nation. A country. A specialized society, with a military." Scratch continued.

"Scratch, what are you saying?" Second asked him.

"Downriver, follow the river downstream." Scratch answered.

In his delerium, life was passing him by. Even the most early stages of his previous life. Suddenly he remembered them with blinding clarity.

"Your mother is going to jail." His father dropped on him while he was watching tv. "You'll be living with me."

While distracted by the colourful images he was still cognizant of the great impact. "Mama is going to...?"

"Jail. The slammer. Prison." The man opened a can of beer, the so-manieth that day. Strangely, alcohol never seemed to affect him.

The blabbering of cartoon characters ran through their conversation. "Why?"

"Why? It's the law, you do the crime, you do the time."

"But why?"

It was an empty protest, but the man took it seriously.

He set down his beer and lowered himself next to his son. "How would you feel if someone in your class took your ruler and the teacher didn't do anything about it? Wouldn't you want them to get detention?"

Detention for borrowing a ruler? He looked unconvinced at his father.

"Maybe after spending some time in detention, he'll have a different outlook on things, right? Maybe he won't take anything without permission anymore."

"So if she won't do it again, and she says she won't do it again, and they know she won't do it again, she doesn't have to... do the time?"

"I... not quite. Think about how thee victims must feel if she doesn't get punished. That would be unfair."

"Unfair..." Because of their feelings, taking away his mother was fair. He didn't understand, he could never understand. Why were their feelings anybody's responsibility but their own?

"And think about this," his father father continued, "if everybody saw you could do a crime once without getting punished, everybody would do it, once."

Over time, he would come to see the logic of this argument. For an orderly society, the people had to fear their leaders. A consistent policy of punishment, a consistent reminder of the powers of the institution, to scare the regular citizens into behaving.

Throughout all his years, he would never hate law enforcement. They were fine men, doing a fine job keeping the footfolk in check. For that they needed to demonstrate their power on people like him, it was only natural, nothing to be bitter about.

It was obvious to Grat that the goblins were planning something, they seemed like they were conversing, arguing among each other. Although when he came near he could only make out shrieking monkey noises.

"It's a trap! Boss, they're planning something!"

"Grat. Shut up." Kubar grunted.

He had been shaken by the mystic's words. So completely had he changed priorities that he had mobilized the entire war force to follow this little cadre that had promised them the location of the dungeon core.

It had to be expected, Kubar was a champion of Manshuu, god of bloodshed, and he had promised him the core. If

Kubar couldn't satisfy the promise Manshuu would feed his soul to demons.

Suddenly the goblins changed directions.

"What are they doing, where are we going now?" Kubar demanded to know in an agitated fashion.

The goblins made some noises towards each other, but eventually the one that could speak the best explained it to the orcs. "Is safest path..." he said. "no tribes..."

The stinking monkeys had made them take a huge detour to avoid something the average orc could stamp through on his own.

Grat bared his teeth against his fate. I am surrounded by idiots. He thought.

I am killing crimson graspers with Margaret.

They're a fun enemy to slash at, but they're actually pretty rare. You never see a group of graspers attack a town, or a merchant requesting crimson grasper extermination. You usually have to look for them to find them. Oh well, it can't be helped.

【Damn these creatures.】Margaret slashed on with her sword.【Holy lance!】A beam of light emerges from her weapon to make her attack more powerful.【Isn't this supposed to be a level F area?】

She's right. Crimson graspers are ranked in the adventurer's manual as having threat level D. A level F area can have a few level E enemies, and there's no preventing higher level monsters from passing through once in a while, like orcs.

But elementals? How is that possible?

【There.】Margaret wipes the sweat of her brow.【That was the last one. These sure are annoying.】

Just as she says that, abruptly one of the graspers emerges from the ground beneath her and grabs her leg.

【Eeek!】She screams in shock at it seemingly tries to feel up her thigh and get under her clothes.

【Thorn shackles!】I quickly execute a powerful spell to stop the enemy from harassing her. My vines shoot up from the ground and pull the monster away from her leg, constricting it.【Mar-! Use holy lance!】I yell.

She does so and immediately kills the thing.

-

【They're weak against magic.】I explain.【But strong against normal attacks. Because they're elementals. That's why you were having trouble.】

【Thanks Laurus. I promise I'll do better in the future.】She sounds apologetic.

【Not at all, you did great!】I try to put her at ease.

【How did you do that spell? Don't tell me you're proficient in earth magic too?】

【That's right. Both fire and earth magic, I've been taught by the elves after all.】

【woooow】

It feels nice to be complimented. Most people that have studied magic only know one school, but I know two, which makes me special.

【But still... that has to take up a lot of mana, doesn't it?】

【Well... I was born with a bigger mana pool than most. But mostly, I didn't like seeing you get hurt like that.】

【Laurus...】Margaret looks in my eyes, I look at hers. We're so close to each other.

【B-but anyway!】I stammer, quickly changing the topic. 【Those orcs! They're zigzagging all over the place! Just what are they doing?】

【Y-yeah.】She says.【But I think we're catching up to them soon. Lady! Lady come down.】She whistles at her mount, who is circling above her in the sky. 【It's safe now.】

I musn't think such impure thoughts about Margaret, I'm sure she just sees me as a reliable traveling partner and nothing more.

【Alpheba. Alpheba wake up.】

I poke her pudgy little cheek and she quickly cover herself in her traveling blanket.

I start shaking her.【Come on little witch apprentice! The sun has come up! Let's get back on the road!】

I fill up my coffee percolator with river water.【We still have a few days travel ahead of us, you know.】I add.【Maybe we should have brought a horse after all.】

Behind me I hear Alpheba's blanket being thrown off.【Absolutely not! The feybloom is fragile you know! You can't move it on horseback!】

【I see you're awake!】I move on to add coffee to the filter.

She sighs and gets up to stretch, which allows me to take a little peek at the skin between the pants and shirt of her cutesy pajama.

【Maybe if we had a pegasus.】Alpheba ponders, while trying to touch her toes.【Do you think we'll see Margaret again? I mean everybody walks by the same river to get in and out the forest, right?】

【I don't think so.】I heat up my percolator with fire magic.【It's been months since we last saw her. She has probably found her friend by now. And if she is traveling here she'd probably fly right over our heads.】

【Yeah...】Alpheba seems a bit disappointed.

Her mentioning Margaret reminds me of Laurus again. I hope she told him about me. I really want to unite all heroes together and find out how we got into this game world.

As I think about all this my coffee is done and I almost pour it all over myself. I quickly retrieve two mugs for me and

Alpheba to properly wake up.

-

【Fuwaah!】

Alpheba is at her cutest when really enjoying something.

【I'm glad we're out of the Witchwood.】She says. But then she quickly adds.【Don't tell my master that!】

I laugh.【He'd understand. There's lots of interesting magic there. But it's nice when you don't have to worry about monster suddenly appearing and attacking you.】

As I say that I hear the heavy breathing of an abhuman creature. Right around the corner six goblins and about thirty heavily armored orcs appear.

In bits and pieces Scratch was regaining his clearness of mind.

The blow had knocked him out and most likely concussed him, but he was awake now and trying to process his surroundings.

It was day now, and the cave had to be overrun by the rest of the so-called 'bandits'. They had no way of knowing the creatures they were running from had now been redirected.

Orcs... it didn't make sense to him. Just when he thought he had pinned this world as some sort of derivative high fantasy theme park it gave him these pig beasts. No work ripping off Tolkien ever differentiated between orcs and goblins to such a degree.

"Oh, nerd culture. What the fuck.." he murmured to himself, greatly confusing his brothers, who where holding him up.

-

Would they be able to keep this up? It would be at least a day before they'd reach the human run farm, who knows before they stumbled upon a city?

What if the orcs started to recognize the territory they were marching into?

Needless to say, the plan was full of holes. But it was the only one they had.

-

Just as Scratch was despairing at the hopelessness of their situation the group came across two campers by the side of the road.

They were a peculiar duo, neither of them seemed of age, but one was clearly younger than the other. The older teenager had intense red hair and was wearing the lower half of a protective padding outfit, possibly used in battle.

The younger one had dyed green hair and was wearing nothing more than a patterned pajama suit. They were simply sitting on some rocks and holding mugs, talking to each other before they noticed the cadre of monsters approaching them.

Unexpectedly the redhead immediately performed an impressive acrobatic manoeuvre, with a high jump and a back flip she landed several meters behind her where she grabbed an ornate looking épée from between her luggage. The younger one flicked her wrist and a long staff of wood appeared in her hand, which she held out threateningly.

"Orcs!" The younger one exclaimed.

For some reason Scratch was surprised to hear his own language from a non-goblin again. Even though it hadn't been that long ago that he had spoken with the bandits.

Kubar was annoyed at the appearance of two hostile humanoids.

He wanted to find the core quickly and it felt like their guides were leading them on a wild goose chase.

He glanced over at Grat, who hadn't shown any of his usual paranoia at the coincidence, didn't he suspect the humanoids of banding together to ambush them? Probably not, Kubar suspected Grat would say something to the effect of "different kinds of humanoids don't work together! UGH!". Kubar did listen to what his subordinate had to say, even if the little guy was beyond annoying.

"Just. Kill them." He grunted.

Two warriors of his tribe stepped forward to hack the thin monkeys down, but they were surprised by both enemies projecting different magical projectile from their bodies. One of flame, one of a thick poisonous sludge.

"What!?" At impact they exploded into clouds of harmful substance, singeing Kubar's whiskers and heavily wounding the lunging orc warriors.

The goblins that were standing between them had been hurt by the flame also, but didn't wear any clothing that could catch fire, so they came away with just a few burns on their bodies. They shrieked in pain and ran backwards.

Keeping them to lead them to the core was a high priority, but staying alive was higher. And for that the magic users needed to be killed before they could cast again.

"Chaarge!" Kubar screamed, his voice more panicky and desperate than other times they had fought for their lives.

The whole group sprinted forwards as one, like a stampede of wild animals.

"Do you hear that?"

Now that Laurus had mentioned it Margaret heard it too, the distant sound of orcs screaming.

"A battle!" She said.

They had been trodding their pegasi leisurely down the river, where the orc tracks led. But now Laurus gave his pegasus, shadow, the spurs and flew forwards.

Margaret did the same and followed him.

-

Within seconds they had reached the source of the commotion.

The orcs were attacking a duo of unsuspecting adventurers.

And they were... What are the odds! Margaret slapped her forehead. My rival!

It was the girl of Laurus' own age that had been so eager to meet him. She had acted like she would help her, but silently had sworn to keep them apart. And now they were fighting the same foe!

"Laurus, this is-" She began to quickly fulfill her promise before a conversation could start. But Laurus dove down to attack the beastmen.

It was necessary. The adventurers looked capable, but the orcs had a great superiority in numbers.

Beatrice- Right, that was her name. -was keeping them at a distance with fireblade magic, while her witch friend was behind her, throwing various poison balls and thorn arrows into the crowd using her staff.

One particular orc, the largest one, was about to overwhelm Beatrice's stance with his large body and battleaxe, turning the tide of battle. But with him so pre-occupied on getting the better of the swordswoman he was unable to see Laurus' attack coming from above.

-

"Decapitation!"

Laurus was fond of calling out his attacks.

With a graceful arc the orc's head flew through the air, landing into the river clay.

The entire orc troupe was stunned by the eradication of their leader.

"Take some time to equip the rest of your gear." Laurus said suavely to the two ladies. "I think we can keep them busy for a while."

That was Margaret's cue to stop admiring Laurus' battle prowess and come into action herself, which she did by dropping herself from her mount and landing right in the middle of the orc horde, immediately killing the ones closes to her with a light aura spell.

As I swoop in on shadow I kill the orc standing between me and the pretty girl. 【Decapitation!】

【Take some time to equip the rest of your gear.】I mumble awkwardly.【I think we can keep them busy for a while.】

After I say that Margaret, my paladin travel companion, lands right in the horde and starts decimating it with powerful light spells from her blade.

The orcs' formation has been completely broken. They want to get away from the magic, so they rush in various directions. I mostly defend the two other girls, who are not dressed yet, by engaging the orcs that flee towards them.

Each of them has a different weapon, so I keep switching up styles parrying and dodging them.

Eventually the horde backs away from me too, and as a group they start to flee into the woods.

Luckily the witch girl summons a mass of thorns to restrict them, and me and the two others proceed to slice their throats.

-

【That was some fight.】Margaret panted.

I have to agree. Orcs are fun to kill because there's no real gimmick to them. They don't cast magic, but they are strong, so it's just a matter of being better with a weapon than them.

【Laurus, did I tell you about these two adventurers before?】Margaret mentions.

As I gain back my breath I see two orcs prying an orc head out of the clay and trying to drag it off, I ready my sword to kill them.

【These are Beatrice Dichtershire and Alpheba.】

【Nice to meet you.】

【Nice to meet you t-.】I respond automatically.

I pause.

That was Japanese. That was Japanese wasn't it!

"By the skin of our teeth!" Scratch exclaimed, swaying from side to side now that Teeth and Second were busy carrying the orc head. "It's enough to make you believe in god." Suddenly he went from ecstatic to morose. "An evil god..."

Biter steadied him with a hand on his shoulder. "What do we do with Scratch?"

"He's... confused." Second concluded. "He just needs some rest."

"Confused... listen to this guy... confused." Scratch chuckled. "Nah mate. Brain damage. I'm always dieing, ain't I? Every time."

"It's the humans fault." Teeth grunted. "Yeller, First, Scratch."

"Teeth..." Scratch righted himself, he was in one of his peaks of lucidity. "You do remember your promise towards me, don't you?"

Teeth decided to focus on carrying the head.

-

"Where is Runt?" Kicker asked.

"Behind us." Biter answered. "We forced him to come this far. He can decide if he wants to follow us after all."

"He can decide?" Scratch began. "I don't remember giving aaannnyyybody permission to immigrate into our community."

"Scratch." Second said curtly. "Shut up."

"We've come to get Patrick back." The speaker was one of the bandit warriors, she wasn't with their leader, but Huckabee, one of the initial scouts, was there with her.

"Patrick is fine." Dumb lied. "But he stays inside. He's leverage."

"He's what."

"Leverage."

"What's that mean?"

Dumb paused. He had simply copied the term from Scratch.

"He's a hostage."

The woman unsheathed her sword.

"Beth." Said Huckabee. "Please, don't do this."

"What are you talking about? They're goblins. What would you do if I was captured by goblins?"

Huckabee bit his lip.

"The sun's going down, the orcs are probably on the move again, and we're negotiating with goblins?" Beth pointed her sword at Dumb. "Where is Clyde Beatty!?"

"C-Clyde is coming... any second now." Dumb stood his ground repeating the same lie all of them had been repeating over the past day.

"This whole thing is a sham! Do you expect me to play along with-"

"With what Beth?" Lydia Harkness, the bandit leader, had arrived. Even here she found ways to pass unseen to others and appear suddenly in their vicinity. "If you take issue with my policy, I expect you to address it with me privately, not go out to break it on your own."

"Boss!" Both bandits responded in shock and embarrassment.

"I... he... We need Patrick for the last stand." Beth said petulantly.

Lydia started to chuckle.

"W-what's so funny?"

"Nothing is funny. I am relieved. You see, only a few minutes ago I would have agreed with you and wiped out our hosts."

Dumb audibly swallowed.

"But see here, we have been saved." She held up a larger than average orc head, now drained of blood, that had been chopped off in a single clean strike.

"Did your master not see fit to heal you?" The bandit called Stanford asked as he projected a soothing light over

Scratch's skull, which numbed his pain and brought back his senses. The others had gotten minor burn damage and had been quickly healed, but Scratch's trauma was more severe.

"Mr. Beatty... is more interested in avenging harm than in undoing it." Scratch ended up saying. It was a way to explain the lack of care they received from the imaginary Clyde Beatty that did not take away the threat he posed for the bandits if they betrayed the goblins.

"Is he near here?" Stanford asked.

"He's... around. He said he didn't want to meet you."

"But-"

"I don't know anymore. Thank you for curing my brain damage. Bye."

Scratch was about to jump off the rock, but Stanford stopped him.

"Let me take a look at your eye."

"Can you restore it?"

"Maybe, can you take the bandage off?"

Scratch pulled the piece of cloth from his head, it stuck to him with dried blood and was painful to remove, he did it in small tugs.

Stanford looked at it closely and fired off little ticks of light, which cause the wound to itch a bit.

"It looks like most of the tissue is gone, I can't bring it back, but I can heal the open wound."

"Anything you can do is good, doctor."

It was a strange way to address him and Stanford was confused, but he applied his healing magic and turned Scratch's empty eyesocket into a clean pocket, his green skin covering the entire inside.

Scratch couldn't see what it looked like, but when he felt his face it was like his eye had been surgically removed years ago and the remaining opening had long since healed.

"How did you get such a wound?"

"How does anybody?"

"..."

"Anyway, thanks for the help doc. I'll see what I can do to get you people packing and back to your home as soon as possible. We'll release your friend of course."

Quiet tucked at his arm and whispered into his ear.

"Oh." Said Scratch. "Patrick might need some healing too. He... slipped and fell."

It took a while for the bandits to get ready to return.

In their compromised position they had been forced to eat some of the animals they had rode in on. In the grand scheme of things this was the least of their losses, but it did hinder their immediate return. Their original camp wasn't that far off on foot, but the hotsprings they had fled to was days away.

The way the move was organized was that half the warriors would escort half the population there, who would transport the various surviving animals, furniture, supplies and tents back to the original location, where they had left a number of non-essential property and some buildings.

The other half would leave later, and reunite with them in the original camp, to start again, as best as they could.

-

This meant that Huckabee, Dee and Patrick were staying the night in front of the cave.

As payment for their hospitality the goblins were given an abundance of left over horse meat, which Quiet turned into a more than decent meatloaf-like dish with some breadcrums and egg.

In the spirit of inter-species diplomacy they were all eating it around the fire, nine goblins and sixteen humans, almost double their number.

There weren't enough plates and forks for everyone, luckily a number of the adults didn't mind eating their from a sheet of shale rock.

-

Conversation between the two species was minimal, despite speaking the same language they spoke only amongst themselves.

That is, except for a very young human girl that went around asking the goblins' names.

-

"What's your name?"

"Kicker"

"Why?"

"Because of my kicking."

"Okay."

-

"What's your name?"

"Biter"

"Why?"

"Because I bite. Rah-rang" He clacked his teeth together.

"Okay."

-

"What's your name?"

"...Quiet"

"Oh! Because you're so quiet?"

"hhmnn... yes."

"Okay."

-

"What's your name?"

"Tell me your name first." Said Dumb.

"I'm Cobaline."

"Oh." It didn't seem like a meaningful name as they had. "My name is Cobaline too." Dumb said.

Laugh almost spit out his water. "His name is dumb!" He sputtered.

Cobaline started laughing.

-

Eventually she started asking where First was.

Dumb looked away.

Teeth growled at her.

"Oh, he died." Said Scratch in-between bites. He was famished.

"Huh?"

"Yeah. You know. Goblins. Fodder."

Cobaline looked like she was about to cry when Second walked up to her to stop it.

"You haven't asked my name. I'm Second."

He had totally distracted her. "Ah! Because you were born second?"

"No. I was born seventh, actually." He showed as many fingers as goblins had been born before him plus himself.

Cobaline seemed confused, but her mother called for her, probably concerned to have her daughter near the rape monsters.

When night fell it fell on Teeth to keep the first watch.

Rather, he had insisted on taking the first watch.

A light drizzle had started and the humans had taken refuge in the various builder tents to shelter them from the rain. Only their guards remained in the middle square, right in front of the goblins' own guard Teeth.

He was clutching the orc crossbow. When the human called Huckabee got up in the night to relieve his bladder Teeth followed him, with the intent to kill him.

Coins

Coins are made up out of gold, silver or copper. Every countship mints its own coins, but all maintain the same standards of weight. This is a carefully chosen index that makes sure every gold coin always contains the exact amount of gold to give it the same worth as ten silver coins and a silver coin contains the exact value of ten copper coins in silver. This is why the coins decrease in size up the echelons of value.

The universal standard for coin value was introduced by the Adventurers' Guild, which needed a standardized way to show quest rewards. Because of the widespread reliance on the Adventurers' Guild in every country for safety it was able to unify the money in the entire overworld, this greatly benefitted commerce.

This shows the tremendous benefit our organization has to society, even beyond the slaying of monsters.