Elana collapsed exhausted on the ground. Too much running in a too short period of time. But not only her body was exhausted. Her heart was trembling. She took away the lives of six creatures – six intelligent creatures – in her eyes goblins were no inferior to humans, dwarves or elves. Bah, she heard a story that Mister Zariel lived in a small goblin’s village for a few days – that’s where he got his tattoos from.

Not-stray goblins were known to even trade with villages. They were another sapient race. In her opinion, El wasn’t hunting monsters, but committing a crime of murder.

She remembered Zariel’s teachings – “There are no good or bad people, El, there are only sides of the conflict. The one hailed a war hero in one nation with be called a savage butcher in the other one. But, because of that neither your deeds are ever good or evil. You and I would simply decide to support one of the sides of the conflict. What was your reason? Your motivation? Faith? Love? Sense of duty or desire to gain fame and money? It’s irrelevant. If you want to live in this world and not be used as a tool you have to see past unimportant, meaningless matters.”

If you would deem your action as good, proper or just – you would become nothing but a pawn in hands of organization, country, church or guild – for there were their tools to manipulate foolish people – to let them believe what they are doing is a correct thing to do, and what someone else is doing is wrong. Don’t ask questions, don’t start a dispute – it’s unimportant. We are right, they are wrong. We are smart, they are fools. There is no way you could talk some sense into fools.

But El… El couldn’t fully adapt to those teachings. Because, in the end, she considered her actions as wrong and evil. For goddess sake! She killed a creature?! Who let her decide whose life is more important than the other one?!

But they are attacking villages! They are plundering, killing and raping!

They plunder because they are starving, they are killing, because they are feeling threatened, they are raping, because they have almost no female which would let the prolong their bloodline…

BUT WHAT ABOUT HUMANS?! Aren’t these villagers barely managing to survive from one harvest to another?! Aren’t they fighting back because they wish to protect the work to their lives?! Their homes?! Their wives and daughters!?

They are, indeed.

When the two forces collide, the collateral damages are bound to happen.

El, you have to pick a side. No, you already did. You promised to help the village mayor. You already killed six goblins. It’s too late for regrets.

But… It hurts.

Life hurts. That’s why Mr. Zariel and Miss Aiele have been trying to teach you these whole time. Life devours life. Three days ago you ate a chicken for dinner. And there always is a bigger fish. Chicken eats worms, human eats chickens, monsters eats humans, once monster dies it shall be eaten by worms. You have to find your role, your position, and protect it El.

El, what are you? A worm? A human?... Or maybe…

No! NO! There must be another way!

There is not. The world has been turning for countless ages this way. The sun will not rise on the west and die on the east just because one little girl wishes to change it.

Stop thinking El. You didn’t do anything bad. You didn’t do anything good. You just did what you did. You picked a side. Side of your family. Side of your friends. Side of weaker villagers.

I don’t know if I can… keep it up… It’s… too much.

You can always stop.

W-what do you mean?

Stop what you are doing right now, get to some bigger city, pay a merchant to take you to some harbor village and then pay a smuggler to take you the Holy Kingdom. To your sister. To your father. To your church. Ah, church… what will put into you this time? Will you once again become nothing but a sick doll not strong enough to even sit up in your bed? Will they once again use you to blackmail your father and sister? It wasn’t such a bad life. You didn’t have to worry about anything. You could just sleep and wake up every few days to your sister brushing you hair…

NO!

Why not?

I can’t be a burden… Not again.

Why? What else can you do? You don’t want to keep pushing forward… you don’t want o turn back and return where you hail from… what is your other option? Staying here? If that’s what you chose, then you can as well walk straight into goblin’s nest and try to make a deal – they would stop attacking village and you would stay with them as their pet…

Well, they would most likely just capture you and continue attacking the village, but hey, intention matters, right?

N-No.

Then… stop thinking. Stop. Let it go. Stop judging other people. It’s unimportant… irrelevant. Only the outcome of your actions matters.

But… But…

Little girl’s lip was trembling. She was still all sticky with her sweat and goblin’s blood. She had to once again rub masking mixture of herbs all over her body.

You did well El. You did so much today. Rest for a moment – you can’t keep drugging yourself with Mr. Zariel’s potions… mostly because soon you would run out of them and they were meant to be be used only during emergencies.

Yes, the voice of her reason definitely had a point. She returned to the place where she buried her bag pack, picked it up and got herself a few tasteless food rations. Up until now, she didn’t realize how hungry she was. In the guild, people would call her a birdie because she ate “as much as a sparrow”. Later some smart-ass tried lecturing rest of the guild that sparrow eats the equivalent of its body mass per day. That gentleman must have been fun at the parties.

El smiled weakly to her memories. To warm fireplace letting our cracking noises, adventurers dinning and laughing aloud. One, big family.

She was away just for three days, but she already missed them as much as she misses her father and sister.

She… she had to return.

She had to save the village and kidnapped women. Yes, the goblins were first to start the aggression, their number will just keep on growing and so will their hunger and thirst.

But that’s… for later. For now, she had to rest.

The next day the goblins lord was sitting in shamans’s tent with his two advisors. He was deeply lost in thoughts – he wasn’t speaking, he wasn’t moving – not even blinking.

- “Something wrong, my lord?” the older shaman asked in his rough, snarling speech

- “Patrols are late, they were supposed to report back by the dawn.”

- “Maybe they found new hunting ground and decided to scout area more before heading back and…”

- “Both of them? At the same time? No, they were scouting area close to the nest, it is impossible they found a location that we didn’t know about before… no, not this close to the nest.”

- “Wise words my lord. Is there anything you want us to do in this particular matter?”

- “You tell me, you are my advisors.” Lord growled angered.

- “If you would allow me then, my Lord…” younger shaman, bah, barely a kid that recently was taken by the elder as apprentice yes quickly surpassed his skills in magic-wielding raised his tone “… For now, I would give them some more time, but if they wouldn’t report back till noon we should…”

Yells followed by mass confusion could be heard in front of the tent. Guards struggled to stop someone from entering the tent – that was their job – in the end during meetings of wisest of the tribe no one should disturb their focus.

But somehow, the importunate invader managed to get inside.

- “Mah Lo’d! Mah Lo’d!” he yelled while dropping on his knees in front of his liege.

His intelligence and ability to speak were lacking, even as for a goblin. Harvester?

- “You better have a good reason to force your way in.”

The master of the tribe considered if he shouldn’t kill impudent fool on the spot, but he decided to hear him out first, he could cut his head off after hearing him out, because, you know, hearing him out AFTER cutting his head off could be proved to be quite difficult.

- “Mastah, the fieldz! Berriez fieldz! Trapz!”

His was out of breath and struggled to spit out his words, even more, as he himself was clearly confused he would just mention things without a context. That didn’t help to calm down the leader that was violent in nature.

He grabbed much smaller goblin by his throat and raised him up. The creature started choking fighting for breath. After dozen or so seconds, he mercifully dropped the foolish Gob that fell on the ground.

- “Now. Breath in. Breath out. In. Out. And now – talk. From the beginning. Who are you, from which squad, what happened and why was it important enough to let you leave after storming into gathering’s tent.”

Goblin loudly swallowed his saliva.

- “Gottaru. Name’z Gottaru. Harvezterz group… But can’t harvezt! Trapz! We came to ze fieldz, az alwayz, but Gottek fell in a pit and broke neck! – pit waz not zere yesterday! Zen, ze Goleff got crushed by ze tree! Zen, ze keeper Gorbek said he zaw something in ze woodz, so he went to check it… we found him dead later… Sire, harvesterz are dying! Trapz!”

Lord cursed under his nose.

- “First vanishing of patrolling teams, now that? This can’t be a coincidence.”

- “Who could attack us? In our own forest?...” the older shaman was thinking aloud “… something that would pick a fight with an entire nest? Monster? If so, then intelligent specimen. It is setting up traps after securing his safety in the forest by eliminating roaming groups first… Humans? No, we got reports from all of the outposts by nearest villages – no one came into the forest, was that creature inside of the forest from the start? Or did in enter through not-guarded borders of the forest?”

Curses! As if their food supplies weren’t already thin! That creature HAD to attack one of the most vulnerable places!

He quickly did the “math” in his head. He had almost fifty warriors and over twenty hunters… no, with the dead of the patrolling group he had around fifteen hunters left. He won’t count their younglings – immature goblins are almost as savage and stupid as animals – they understand something only with shouts and screams.

- “Ga’toi!” Lord addressed younger shaman “… send ten warriors and five hunters to the berries field. Secure the harvesters team that is already on the place and make them look for the attackers.”

What was the goal of this creature? Guessing by what he just heard, it wasn’t after the meat – it didn’t touch the corpses – at least not of the harvesters, he can’t be sure what was the fate of patrolling teams.

- “It will be done as you command, my lord…” shaman wanted to leave to execute his master’s orders, but was stopped while he headed toward the exit.

- “Ga’toi, wait – tell them also to bring the bodies of the dead back. We will feast on their flesh and offer their bones to the totems.”

He really couldn’t allow himself to waste any good meat. They had food for today, maybe for tomorrow, but what will day after tomorrow bring? Those that were too weak and failed the tribe will at least serve their one last purpose – for the greater good of the nest.