Chapter 07

Nadine was practically bouncing off the walls in excitement, and I couldn’t blame her. Field Surgeon seemed like an amazing class. Granted, Nadine would still need protection from monsters, because it didn’t have any offensive capabilities, but I doubt she would have any shortage of volunteers. Not only could Nadine heal other people's injuries, but both herself and whatever party she was part of would receive Exp as well.

I could understand why the surgeons Guild would charge hefty fees for training and membership. Basically, once you were in, you would be set for life. Judging by the shoddy suturing done by the surgeon the Guild had hired, you didn’t even have to be that good at it. I wondered how much they had been paid?

“It only cost one mana!” Nadine declared excitedly, Promptly activating the ability for a second time.

Clarice stifled a yawn, “I’m gonna head to bed.”

That wasn’t a bad idea. “Come on Toofy, we should be getting to bed as well.”

“Kay,” Toofy let out a quiet yawn and followed me out the door.

Heading down the stairs to the second floor, I stopped in front of the door to our room, remembering that I did not have a key. I should have asked Rose... I sighed and continued down to the common room. Toofy was beginning to drag her feet, so I picked her up and let her head rest against my shoulder.

Toofy snuggled in to make herself comfortable and was lightly snoring before I reached the bottom step of the stairs.

Kirk was going to call out to me, but took a look at Toofy and thought better of it, waving me over instead.

There was currently no one besides us in the common room and since Toofy was already asleep, I carefully took a seat at the bar.

Kirk made a point of checking to see if anyone was lingering near the stairs before moving in closer, “You should get your collar marked before the Guild manager sees it,” he whispered softly, making a point of rubbing at his neck where the tag of the collar was located around mine.

The nature of these collars was new to me and I suspected it was for Jacque as well since her oversight didn’t seem intentional. Nipping my middle finger enough to draw blood, I made as if to scratch my neck, dragging my lightly bleeding finger across the tag plate. I probably looked suspicious as heck, but at least I tried.

[Bond Successful.]

Huh?! I hadn’t expected that! I looked to Kirk for an explanation.

Kirk nodded slightly, leaning over the bar and rubbing at a particularly stubborn grease stain with his cleaning cloth, “Not all slave collars are used for enslavement. In fact, rumour has it that you can use it to protect yourself and hide in plain sight,” he gave me a surreptitious wink and leaned back again, apparently satisfied that the stain had been taught a lesson.

I smiled and nodded at Kirk to show I understood his meaning and appreciated the advice. I honestly doubt I would have thought to enslave myself as another layer of camouflage and protection.

Hearing someone quickly coming down the stairs, Kirk and I both looked over to see who it was, albeit with Kirk doing so far less obviously.

I relaxed when I saw that it was just Rose. I don’t know what I was thinking, but talking about slavery had left me a little jumpy.

Rose hurried around the bar, aggressively dragged her husband in close and began whispering excitedly. Or, at least I assume she was whispering because I could see her lips moving but couldn’t hear anything she was saying.

Kirk’s eyes grew wide and he looked at me with surprise before turning back to his wife.

Rose said something else and nodded emphatically in my direction.

“Ahrm!” Kirk made a show of awkwardly clearing his throat as he turned his attention back to me again. “Ah, Tim?” Kirk asked somewhat nervously, “Is what Rose told me true?” Asking in such a way that he clearly believed his wife and just wanted me to confirm it aloud.

Knowing that there was only one thing I had done recently that would interest them so much, I nodded. There was no sense trying to hide it, they both already knew generally what I had been doing.

Kirk’s balding head began to sweat and he mopped at it with his washcloth, “Ah, do you think perhaps you could give our daughter Millie lessons?” Kirk asked respectfully, wringing the washcloth between his hands nervously.

“Ah, I guess?” I answered noncommittally. I honestly wasn't sure what was going to happen with this raid and more specifically what we would do afterwards.

Rose gave her husband a none too subtle jab to the ribs, while still making sure to maintain her smile.

Kirk took it in stride, barely seeming to notice, “We would pay you for your trouble of course!” He insisted, “And both you and your party would always be welcome to stay in our inn free of charge!”

I couldn’t help but flush a little in embarrassment, “Ah, that’s not the problem, I am just not sure what we will be doing after the raid,” I explained nervously, “If I am available, I don’t mind teaching her the basics.”

Kirk and Rose glanced at one another for a moment, seeming a little confused.

“The basics?” Rose asked curiously.

I nodded, “That’s what I did for Nadine. That’s what you wanted right?”

Rose looked surprised, “You know more?!” She gasped incredulously.

I nodded slowly, now realizing that I had probably made a mistake. Oh well, I was committed now and at least Kirk and Rose had been decent to me thus far. “What I taught Nadine was field surgery, treatments for the battlefield, you know?”

Rose and Kirk nodded, after all, the description of the class was in its name.

“It would take much longer than an afternoon to cover the other important but more time-consuming components,” I explained, “I don’t know if it would unlock a different or higher class, but it's important information all the same.”

“So you will need to stay and teach Nadine this advanced knowledge,” Rose insisted with a predatory smile, “You can teach my Millie at the same time!”

Kirk gave me an apologetic smile.

“Ah, ideally, I guess,” I agreed nervously. There was a lot of medical theory to cover to meet earth’s basic medical standards. I had honestly just taught Nadine what I considered to be the bare minimum to qualify for a senior first-aid certificate. Granted, this world rendered a great deal of earth’s medical diagnostic theory irrelevant by healing peoples injuries in a matter of moments. Similarly, the existence of the status and HP stat itself made it obvious when someone was injured and what stage of recovery they were in. Still, the theory side of things seemed to be important in unlocking more advanced forms of a class, so it would be better to teach Nadine more if I had the chance.

“So you will do it, right? Teach our Millie the advanced knowledge alongside Nadine?” Rose pressed relentlessly.

I gulped and nodded, unprepared to deal with this sort of intensity.

“Good!” Rose replied cheerily, pecking her husband on the cheek before disappearing into the kitchen.

“Sorry,” Kirk apologised, scratching at the back of his head awkwardly, but clearly pleased that his wife had closed the deal.

“Could I have the key to my room now?” I asked awkwardly.

“Oh!” Kirk looked a little embarrassed, realizing that it was probably why I had come downstairs in the first place.

Accepting the key from Kirk, I walked back upstairs and unlocked the door to my room. It was a little strange to think of it that way, but I really did consider this room to be mine, a place where I belonged. Taking care to lock the door behind me, I sat down on the bed and grimaced at the sight of my dirty feet. I should have taken a bucket of water from downstairs so I could wash them.

Filled with regret, I pull back the blanket and get Toofy settled before replacing the blanket again. Removing my apron, I carefully lay it out at the foot of the bed, so my feet won't dirty the blanket or sheets. I was going to lay down but remembered that the Shadowcat had damaged my tunic as well and it probably had blood on the back of it. So I stripped my tunic off and left it on the bedside table. I would take a closer look at it tomorrow morning, but for now, I need sleep.

As I begin to drift off to sleep, I can feel Toofy wriggling closer until she is just about pressed up against me through the blanket. Thinking that perhaps she had woken up and was feeling a little frightened or anxious, I raised my arm and let her snuggle in closer. Within less than a minute, she fell asleep again and I wasn't far behind her.

Waking up early, I found Toofy humming the counting song to herself and marking off her progress with her fingers. Well, that’s a pleasant surprise. I can only hope that his worlds alphabet are similar enough in structure so I can adapt a nursery rhyme for that too.

[ 0d : 6h : 34m ]

I hadn't intended to look at the countdown for the raid, but now that I had, I couldn't bring myself to look away. There were six and a half hours left before the protective barrier surrounding the town would disappear. Feeling myself begin to panic, I decided that I needed to do something, anything to keep myself busy.

The moment I began to get up, Toofy’s attention locked onto me hungrily, “Breakfast!” She demanded happily. Leaping off the bed, Toofy unlocked the door, having apparently acquired the key while I was asleep, “Breakfast!” She repeated, waving her arms insistently to make me move faster.

Taking a quick look at my tunic, I could see that while it was not particularly dirty, the Shadowcat had torn two large holes in the back of it. It wasn't beyond saving, but I would need to cannibalize the sleeves for materials. So I just put on the apron instead, seeing that Toofy was just about on the verge of tears.

Making sure to take the key and stow it in my apron, I smirked as I watched Toofy race from the room over to the top of the stairs and begin waiting impatiently for me to catch up again. Toofy did the same thing again when I reached the top of the stairs, racing to the bottom and giving me an exasperated sigh when she realised I was still on the topmost steps. I was tempted to tease Toofy a little but decided against it. She was probably more than a little stressed herself and I didn’t want to make it worse.

Making a show of moving down the stairs faster than I normally would, I could see that this earned a satisfactory nod from Toofy and a stifled chuckle from Kirk.

Taking a seat at the bar, Toofy looked at Kirk expectantly, “Breakfast,” she reminded him curtly. No doubt wondering how he could manage to keep his job when Toofy had to keep reminding him how to do it.

Acting contrite, Kirk bowed in apology and went to the kitchen to fetch them some food. When he returned a few moments later with two bowls of stew, I motioned for Toofy to wait.

“How many bowls of stew is there Toofy?” I asked, not expecting much progress on her counting just yet, but still interested to see her try.

Toofy furrowed her brow at me and pursed her lips for a moment before looking at the bowls of stew.

“Think about the song I taught you,” I offered helpfully, “If each bowl of stew is one finger, how many is that?”

“Oh!” Toofy began loudly humming the nursery rhyme, “This!” She held up two fingers on her right hand.

‘Very good!” I tousled Toofy’s hair, “You can eat now.” She was struggling to remember the words, but the principle of counting had stuck at least. Not bad at all considering I had only taught it to her yesterday evening.

Toofy grinned and eagerly began wolfing down her meal.

As an extra reward, I scooped a few spoonfuls of meat from my own bowl into hers.

“You are teaching her to count?” Kirk asked with no small amount of surprise.

I nodded, “It’s an important skill.”

Kirk nodded in agreement but was still somewhat perplexed, “Did Nadine teach you to count?” He asked probingly.

I shook my head, “No,”

“You taught yourself?” Kirk asked in surprise.

“Pretty much,” I lied, unwilling to expose my true origins at this point. If Jacque hadn’t done so, then it had to be for a reason.

Kirk was giving me the same appraising look Nadine had. Obviously coming to his own conclusions on how I knew the things I know. “Oh! Right, Don, the butcher, has put up a special request for Vrabbit meat. The Guild is footing the bill, but with so many injured adventurers and few willing to leave the foothold, we are running dangerously low on food reserves. I think he was offering twice the normal rate, which means about half a copper per Vrabbit, not including the mana stones.”

Hrm, it did seem like easy money and I had foolishly left Toofy’s coins out in the bunker. “I will talk to the others about it,” I shrugged, with the raid drawing closer, I was not particularly keen on the idea of hanging around outside the walls.

Kirk nodded, although he also seemed somewhat worried, “There is another reason for the increase in reward. During the raid, monsters will not respawn and monsters normally only respawn around midnight. So every Vrabbit taken care of now is one less to worry about later.”

That sounds like something someone should have told me a while ago. The thought of that tide of vermin descending on the town sent shivers down my spine. “I’ll go talk to the others,” I repeated with more conviction this time.

Kirk nodded appreciatively, “I am sure that if you're out there, other adventurers will be emboldened and join the effort,” he said encouragingly.

I nodded and let Toofy finish the rest of my stew, I wasn't feeling particularly hungry anymore.

Once Toofy had licked clean both bowls, we headed back upstairs to speak with Nadine and Clarice.

Knocking on their door, I was surprised to hear that they were already awake.

The reason quickly became obvious as Jacque was the one to open the door, “Particular reason you are visiting a room of young women without a shirt?” She asked with a smirk.

I tried to ignore Jacque and walked into the room,

“Morning!” Clarice grunted distractedly, pulling on her thick knee-high boots

“Good morning Tim,” Nadine smiled happily, “Was there anything you wanted?”

“It's probably about the Vrabbit hunt, right?” Jacque asked, a knowing look in her eyes.

I nodded, “Kirk said the Guild is paying double for the meat because supplies are running low.”

“Right,” Nadine nodded, “And they want as many of them culled before the raid as possible. Makes sense. Was that something you wanted to do?” she asked curiously.

I shrugged, To say I wanted to do it would be a gross oversimplification. I don’t want to get eaten alive by a swarm of Vrabbits during the raid, but that doesn’t make me thrilled at the idea of culling them en masse either.

“I was planning on doing it too,” Clarice interjected, now strapping on her padded armour, “You never know, getting rid of a few of those Vrabbits now could make all the difference later.”

I was about to say something but was interrupted by a knock at the door.

Jacque looked bemused as she moved to open the door.

Emelia staggered somewhat unsteadily into the room, nearly falling over in surprise as she noticed Toofy and I standing over by the wall.

“What do you want?!” Clarice spat irritably.

Emelia shrunk back as if Clarice had threatened her, “Ah, uhm, I just wanted to apologise...” She murmured timidly. “I...I know what I did was wrong. I...I’m sorry...” Emelia looked ashamed of herself and was staring at the floor.

“Bullshit!” Clarice snarled angrily, “You're just scared of being alone during the raid!”

Emelia flinched but said nothing, shrinking further into herself, trying to appear as small as possible.

Jacque watched the exchange with vague interest but showed no signs of intervening one way or the other.

Toofy wasn’t thrilled to see Emelia either, apparently understanding her role in what had happened and was understandably upset.

I had thought that seeing Emelia again would have made me angry, but it didn’t. What Emelia had done to me and Toofy was callous and ultimately quite cruel. But she had done it without malicious intent. I was actually a little surprised that Emelia had agreed to hand us over to the Guild manager Gilbert in the first place. I had been too stressed out to think about it clearly before, but it didn’t seem to fit Emelia’s personality. Or at least I didn’t think so anyway.

Emelia was admittedly quite lazy and didn’t seem all that bright, but she also didn't seem to understand how any of this adventuring business actually worked. When I considered what I knew of Emelia, I was left with the impression that she was in over her head and making mistakes because of her impulsive nature.

I wasn’t going to forgive Emelia so easily, but I felt like I could give her the chance to earn it. If Emelia was truly sorry for what she had done or at the very least the role she played in what happened, then I was willing to give her a second chance to do better. After all, Emelia had no power over me anymore, I didn’t even need her for a disguise. Even after the pain Emelia had caused me, if it weren't for her, I would very likely be dead right now, Toofy too for that matter. If Emelia turned out to be lying, then I would have lost nothing. But giving her a second chance might save the life of someone I care about.

“That’s enough,” I interjected calmly as Clarice was about to say something else. “I can’t forgive you, Emelia, not after what you did...”

Emelia slumped further, moaning quietly as her tears fell to the floor.

I could empathise with the fear and isolation she must be feeling right now, it was quite familiar to me after all. “That is, I can’t forgive you yet,” I amended.

Emelia grew still and glanced up at me, her expression desperate and afraid.

Toofy and Clarice stared at me incredulously, while Nadine and Jacque were more pensive.

“If you truly meant what you said, then prove it,” I challenged Emelia.

“Anything!” Emelia blurted, “I-I’ll do anything!” She cried desperately.

“Ah, how about we start simple then?” Nadine suggested tactfully, “Clarice and Tim were going to hunt Vrabbits in preparation for the raid. Why don’t you go help them out?” She offered.

“I’ll do it! Urk..” Emelia agreed eagerly but flinched from the pain from her chest injuries.

“Come lay down for a minute,” Nadine insisted, motioning to the bed.

Emelia nodded reluctantly and did as she was told.

Seeing Nadine pulling up Emelia’s tunic, I decided that it would be best to take Toofy and wait downstairs.

“Why?” Clarice demanded flatly as she joined me in the common room, evidently unimpressed with my decision.

“Because I don’t blame her for everything that happened. I owe Emelia at least a second chance to prove herself,” I replied bluntly.

Clarice frowned, “Even after what she did to the both of you?”

“Emelia enslaving us is the reason we are still alive Clarice,” I reminded her, “I meant what I said earlier, I haven't forgotten what Emelia did, I honestly don’t know if I can ever forgive her, but I at least owe her the chance to try and earn it.”

Clarice grew quiet, her expression now more thoughtful than frustrated. “Fine,” Clarice agreed, “But I won’t cut her any slack!” She promised somewhat coldly.

I shrugged, there wasn’t much I expected from the others. I was only acting according to my own conscience. ”How did you want to handle the Vrabbit hunting?” I asked, not so subtly steering the conversation towards a more productive subject.

Clarice sighed and scratched at the back of her head, “I dunno. Did you have any ideas?”

I nodded, “We are meant to reduce their numbers as much as possible right?” I asked rhetorically.

Clarice nodded, “Yeah.”

“Do you think we would be able to borrow the handcart or sled from the Guild?” It would make delivering the Vrabbits easier afterwards, so I really hoped it was doable.

Clarice smiled and nodded, ‘Yeah I reckon we could get the sled,” she agreed eagerly.

“I figure that we set up shop at the barrier and lay down a lure just outside of it. I’ll be the bait and deal with most of them and throw them back to Toofy to store in some sacks or whatever on the sled.” I explained.

“And what do you want me to do?” Clarice asked curiously.

I shivered, “Try and stop them from swarming me.”

Clarice nodded and gave me a resolute smile, apparently satisfied that I wasn't just putting her on babysitting duty.

“I was thinking Jacque and Emelia could do the same, assuming they are coming,” I added, “The more of us there are, the more comfortable I would be in using a stronger lure.”

Clarice had looked somewhat irritated at the mention of Emelia again, but it quickly passed and she nodded in understanding.

“It might be worth investing in some clubs or staves to keep the blood levels manageable,” I suggested, remembering how the adventurers were hard-pressed in staving off the Vrabbits during the Orc ambush.

“Yeah, probably a good idea,” Clarice agreed, paling somewhat.

[Nadine has healed a {Heavy Wound} +100 Exp]

Clarice and I were both surprised as the golden notification appeared. Really, we shouldn't have been, it was pretty obvious what Nadine had intended from the start. But it was still quite new and we weren’t used to it yet.

Clarice smiled and shook her head, “I still can’t believe how much Exp we get from Nadine healing someone,” she muttered with a little jealousy.

I nodded. For native humans, who only had class levels to make them stronger, gaining so much Exp from healing people is borderline overpowered. I wonder if you could power level someone that way? Assuming you had the patients to heal, of course. Maybe that is why the surgeons don’t roam around the Labyrinth-like the other adventurers? They just don’t need to. The surgeons get all the Exp and money they want, just by healing patients in the comfort of their office or by making a few house calls.

No wonder Nadine had been so excited. Theoretically, she could retire from the Labyrinth after this raid was over. Maybe that was why Nadine wasn’t nearly as upset as Clarice?

[Emelia - HP: 15/25 - Normal ]

Noticing Emelia's information appearing in the group status, I could only assume Jacque was fine with her joining the party. The other thing I noticed was the amount of HP Nadine must have restored using her ability. Assuming that Emelia had been recovering one HP a day like Nadine told me before, then Emelia had just recovered roughly ten HP. That was pretty crazy since it only required bandages and thread.

Judging by the shock in Clarice’s expression I assumed she just noticed as well. “Bloody hell,” she muttered.

After a few minutes of waiting on the others, Clarice decided to go purchase a couple more cheap blunt weapons and borrow a sled or handcart from the Guild. It was a pretty good idea, because Nadine, Jacque and Emelia seemed to be taking their time coming downstairs.

[Nadine has healed a {Heavy Wound} +100 Exp]

While waiting, another alert appeared in front of me and predictably, I found that Emelia’s HP had now fully recovered. Shortly afterwards, the trio of young women descended the stairs. Each of them now wearing their padded armour and other equipment.

Jacque gave me an amused look while sitting down at the bar.

I avoided looking at Jacque and the others, instead, focusing my attention on Toofy. “Do you want to sing the counting song while we wait?” I asked.

Toofy grinned and nodded, “Ten fat sausage, frying in pan-”

I countered, rather pleased with myself.

“-All suddenly, one BANG!” Toofy curled one of her fingers before continuing.

Toofy’s grammar wasn’t all that bad considering, although her pitch could use some work. As Toofy counted down her fingers, she grew progressively more despondent until reaching the end of the rhyme and happily starting over again.

Jacque was giving me a pained look from over at the bar.

I shrugged,

Jacque looked surprised,

I nodded,

Jacque abandoned the seat at the bar and brought the remainder of her breakfast over and sat down by Toofy.

Toofy eyed Jacque warily but continued singing the nursery rhyme.

“Toofy, how many fingers am I holding up?” Jacque held up four fingers on her right hand.

Toofy stopped singing and eyed Jacque warily, “Four sausages,” she replied after counting on her own hand.

Jacque was amused, holding up her other hand with three more fingers raised, “And how many now?”

Toofy blinked and stared for a moment, “Seven sausages,” she replied slyly.

Jacque smirked, pushing the remains of her breakfast over to Toofy as a reward, “Oh but she is clever isn't she?”

Toofy looked at me for approval.

I nodded and gave her hair a good tousle, “You earned it for being so clever.”

Toofy grinned, her eyes practically sparkling at the praise before she began hurriedly shovelling the food into her mouth in case Jacque or I changed our minds.

After a few minutes, Clarice returned with the sled, a few dozen sacks, some lengths of rope and a bundle of staves. Since Nadine was going to remain behind and negotiate a deal for mana potions in exchange for healing wounded adventurers, the five of us set out for the town gate. Toofy insisted on riding the sled and I suspected it was to put as much distance between herself and the tall grass as possible once we entered the plains.

Passing the gate we entered the plains and continued until we reached the approximate position of the barrier.

Setting up a lure in a similar fashion to how Nadine had done days ago, I continued ahead of the group and waited until the telltale signs of the displaced grass gave away the approaching Vrabbits. Carefully walking backwards, I tried not to flinch when the carnivorous rodents came jumping at me out of the tall grass. With one gnawing ineffectually on my calf and the other firmly lodged on my arm. I was somewhat unnerved when the rabbits were forcibly wrenched off of me as I passed through the invisible barrier.

I honestly hadn’t known what to expect but was quite relieved that untamed monsters couldn’t just piggyback a ride through the barrier. But that raised an interesting question, why didn't adventurers just establish lures at the edge of the barrier and kill the Vrabbits from relative safety? Why was there a need to put themselves in danger?

I looked back at Jacque in surprise and she smirked. That was an interesting tidbit of information. I wasn’t sure how useful it would be, but it was still quite interesting.

Clarice removed a few short wooden stakes from her pack and a wooden mallet, “Quartermaster said we should mark the barrier to prevent accidents,” she explained with a shrug, carefully driving the stakes at least a foot back from the approximate edge of the barrier. “I think that should do it,” Clarice declared, now warily eyeing the small cluster of Vrabbits congregated around the lure.

I nodded and stepped through the barrier again. I was immediately set upon by the Vrabbits and had to act quickly to stop them from swarming over me and biting my more sensitive areas. I was glad that the kill notifications were so unobtrusive now, so I could just ignore them. Being informed of every fluffy murder-rabbit I killed kind of felt like I was being judged by an unseen bystander.

Just like last time, I began to find a rhythm and lost focus. Even with Clarice, Jacque and Emelia opportunistically whacking at the Vrabbits flanking me from the sides, I just couldn’t help but let my mind drift. I suppose it makes it easier to handle what I am doing, adding another layer of psychological and emotional distancing. I know that objectively the Vrabbits are more like wolves than rabbits, but the appearance still made me hesitate all the same.

Jacque’s question caught me by surprise and it took me a moment to adjust.

*Thwack*

Jacque brought the blunt end of her spear down on a Vrabbits neck, deftly retracted the stave, thrust it forward again and flung the limp Vrabbit’s body back to Toofy.

That was a pretty good idea, assuming Emelia would be on board with it. Having a pair of tier one monsters to help protect the group during the raid, even if they were just Vrabbits, could be the difference between someone's life or death. I was also far more comfortable with Emelia being responsible for animals than sapient beings, so occupying her taming slots would take a load off my mind.

Stepping back through the barrier for a moment, I turn my attention to Emelia, “Emelia? How do you feel about taking a pair of Vrabbits as your tamed monsters?” I asked bluntly.

Emelia seemed surprised, glancing briefly at the gathering mob of Vrabbits just beyond the barrier before answering, “Uhm, aren’t Vrabbits really weak though?” She asked meekly.

“They are,” Jacque agreed, “But if we upgrade them a tier, they should be able to fight the weaker Goblins pretty easily."

Emelia looked more nervous than before, “Would it really be okay? Ah, I mean, aren't the mana stones expensive?”

Clarice snorted and rolled her eyes, apparently upset by what she had said.

Emelia shrunk back and grew timider.

“It’s fine,” I reassured her, “Better to spend them on something to help keep us all alive.”

Emelia gulped and nodded, nervously turning to the Vrabbits beyond the barrier and giving one of them a solid smack with her stave.

*Thwack*

The Vrabbit turned on Emelia and hissed angrily at her, pawing against the barrier and baring its teeth dangerously.

Emelia stared intently at the Vrabbit for a few moments, some sweat beading on her forehead.

[Vrabbit - HP: 4/8 - Bloodied ]

The Vrabbit stiffened and suddenly looked around itself in a panic, instinctively backing away and accidentally leaping through the barrier as it desperately fled its now incensed kin. The tamed Vrabbit had crimson smoke-like tendrils radiating off of it and it took me a moment to realize what was happening. It had to be the effect of one of the Vrabbits racial abilities. I didn’t think it would be so noticeable.

“Stay!” Emelia commanded pointing down beside her.

The Vrabbit stopped bounding away and slowly began hopping back to Emelia’s side, if somewhat hesitantly.

Emelia chose another Vrabbit, seemingly at random, thwacking it on the head and bringing it to heel like the first, albeit after it took an unfortunate bite to its flank.

[Vrabbit - HP: 2/8 - Bloodied ]

“Uhm, so what do I do now?” Emelia asked nervously.

“We begin feeding them,” I shrugged somewhat awkwardly, “They will need to recover their HP to be of any use in the raid anyway.”

Emelia nodded submissively, apparently willing to go along with whatever I decided was best,

I felt a little bad about how subdued Emelia had become, but not much, given everything that had happened.

With the intent of killing two birds with one stone, Jacque had taken out her cleaver and begun beheading Vrabbits from one of the sacks and throwing the heads to Emelia’s recently tamed pair of Vrabbits.

Unfortunately, the combination of spilt blood and the tamed Vrabbits Bloodied Condition was attracting Vrabbits in positively terrifying numbers. I was quickly forced to retreat behind the barrier or risk being swarmed outright.

Jacque just gave me a noncommittal shrug, “I guess you will have to just cull them from the inside like the rest of us,” she suggested.

I sighed and nodded, the Vrabbits had not been generating much Exp for me in the first place, so this shouldn't be all that different to what I had been doing before. Except that it was. With the Vrabbits now in a frenzied state, they had taken on a more horrific appearance, actively brandishing their sharp teeth and pressing against the barrier in an attempt to break through. This meant that I was now reaching directly towards a mass of razor-sharp teeth. It was an entirely unpleasant experience, to say the least.

Forced to exercise far less control than before, I resorted to crude yet effective tactics instead. Grabbing a fistful of fur, I would squeeze and yank my arm back to the barrier, usually killing however many Vrabbits was caught in my hand before pulling their lifeless bodies through the barrier. It was an entirely unnatural motion, like starting a belligerent lawnmower, so I couldn’t psychologically mask what I was doing by letting my mind drift as I had done before. The murderous behaviours of the Vrabbit swarm did make me feel slightly less guilty about it though.

Clarice and Jacque had given up on retrieving any of the Vrabbits they killed, prioritising thinning the growing swarm as much as possible instead. After all, this was the primary reason we were out here. Every Vrabbit culled now, was one less we would need to face during the raid.

In their frenzy, the Vrabbits tore into their own dead like rabid piranha, apparently capable of even eating the bones, they left no traces of their fallen.

By the time the swarm was depleted, I was breathing hard and my hands were covered in blood and stray fur. Glancing back at the sled for a moment, I couldn’t help but stare at the mound of bulging sacks piled on top of it. The pile was easily almost twice as tall as me and was only still standing because someone, probably Jacque, had bound it all thoroughly together with rope.

“It’s pretty impressive huh?” Jacque gloated, “We ran out of sacks, so Clarice and I made buttresses from the already filled sacks and started tossing the remaining Vrabbits into the middle. Pretty clever if I do say so myself.”

It took me a moment to overcome my shock, “How many...” I couldn't even finish the question before becoming overwhelmed again.

Clarice shrugged, “Hundreds?” She guessed, “You’ve been at it for a couple of hours after all.”

“Easily more than a thousand,” Jacque corrected, shaking her head in amusement.

“Really?!” Clarice regarded the sled again and whistled, clearly impressed. “The Guild is going to throw a fit!” She declared happily, “With the double rates for the meat and so many mana stones!”

Jacque nodded in agreement, sharing Clarice’s enthusiasm.

Strangely, Emelia was still quite subdued, standing off to the side of the group with two rather large unfamiliar monsters flanking her. Still somewhat resembling rabbits, the two monsters looked more like rodent-like dogs with long rabbit ears. They had lost their fluffy bunny tails and instead, each had a pair of whiplike tails similar to that of a mutant twin-tailed rat. The two monsters were covered in bristly dark rust coloured fur with protruding bone spikes from their shoulder blades.

Taking a second look at the two monsters, I didn’t quite understand how they had descended from the Vrabbits at all. Although I supposed when it came down to it, most rodents were incredibly similar, especially when it came to rabbits and rats. Did the Vrabbits perhaps share an evolution with other rodent monsters? I vaguely recalled Nadine mentioning something like that when she was reading through Emelia’s Monster Tamer book, but I couldn’t be sure. Briefly glancing at my peripheral vision, I could see that Emelia hadn’t changed the names of the monsters yet.

[Bloodhunter - HP: 16/16 - Normal ], [Bloodhunter - HP: 16/16 - Normal ]

Bloodhunter? I suppose the Vrabbit origins now made a fair bit of sense. I wonder what racial abilities they have? “Status,” I ignored most of the status information and focused on the Group Synergy.

[Group Synergy: {Vicious: 1 }, {Underfoot: 1 }, {Agile Reflexes: - }, {Scent Blood: 3 }.]

Scent Blood? “Emelia? Can you share the Bloodhunter stats with me?” I asked, genuinely curious.

Emelia hurriedly nodded and a few moments later I was able to look at their stats.

[Bloodhunter - Bloodhunter Pup: 1 ] [HP: 16/16] [MP: 0/0 ]

[Emelia’s Slave*] [Class: ??? ] [Exp: 0/0 ]

[Strength: 7 ]

[Agility: 13 ]

[Toughness: 8 ]

[Intelligence: 3* ]

[Willpower: 4 ]

[Presence: 2 ]

[(Racial Ability: Scent Blood {Rank 4}): Detects and highlights {Bloodied} and {Bleeding} targets within a predetermined range. {Intelligence} increases the range of the effect.]

Well, I couldn’t see the synergies on either of the Bloodhunter’s statuses, but I have their racial ability as a synergy, so I guess this confirms that certain information is restricted when shared. On the whole, they more or less had the same stats, one had a point higher strength and the other had a point higher agility, but that was it. So I could assume that going forward, most monsters would probably follow similar patterns in progression to others of their kind. The Bloodhunter’s didn’t seem all that special either, but I suppose that considering they used to be just somewhat large rabbits and were now around twice as large, it was still a rather significant improvement.

Just as Kirk had predicted, it does in fact seem like our presence on the plain emboldened other adventurers to do the same. I could even see Tobi and his Shadowcat Shady helping out as part of one of these other groups.

“We should probably head back now right?” I asked, Glancing at the remaining time before the raid would begin.

[ 0d : 3h : 13m ]

By the time we brought the sled of Vrabbits to the Guild office, there would be only around three hours left. I had no idea if the Guild staff would even bother trying to count them or not, let alone when we would be paid. So I wanted at least a couple of hours to work on a few things for Toofy before everything got out of hand.

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” Jacque agreed.

Clarice nodded and regarded the overburdened sled somewhat guiltily, “Are you sure you can pull all that?” She asked.

I shrugged, “I honestly don’t know. But we will probably get back faster if the three of you push while I pull,” I suggested.

With everyone in general agreement, I was about to begin pulling the sled, when I noticed that Toofy was missing and that I hadn’t seen her for a while. “Toofy?” I called out worriedly, quickly looking around the sled, “Toofy! Where are you?!" I am beginning to feel more than a little panicked as I search the surrounding area and can’t find her. The only thing stopping me from losing it entirely is that I can still see Toofy’s HP is at full.

“Heeheehee,” I very nearly missed the muted giggling coming from above me.

I look up just in time to see Toofy’s head disappear from view at the top of the Vrabbit filled sacks. Thoroughly relieved, I can’t bring myself to be angry with her. With the raid drawing closer, I had been worried that Toofy had wandered off beyond the barrier and towards the forest. Still, I should probably discourage Toofy from playing such tricks for the time being.

“Boohoohoo,” I made a show of being upset and searching through the tall grass around the sled.

Toofy’s giggling stopped and I could see her hurriedly climbing down from the sled, “No sad Tim! No sad!” Toofy cried out as she jumped down the remaining distance and raced over to comfort me, “See? Toofy no hide! Se-eee!” Toofy squealed as I stopped pretending and snatched her up in a hug.

“Found you!” I laughed and began mercilessly tickling Toofy’s sides. This will teach her.

Toofy’s squeals of surprise turned desperate as she began laughing and trying to escape.

I didn’t let her go so easily, ruthlessly tickling her for another couple of minutes before draping her over my shoulder and moving into position to begin pulling the sled.

Toofy seemed to be incredibly ticklish and was panting heavily as her small body trembled on my shoulder.

“She isn’t a child, you know that right?” Jacque asked somewhat derisively as she took her place behind the sled.

I shrugged. To me, Toofy was Toofy. The main reason I indulge her child-like behaviour was for a degree of much-needed normalcy. Particularly given that I rarely need to eat or drink, having fun with Toofy anchored my mind in the present without miring me down in the darker tasks that necessitate my survival. I liked to think that I provided the same service for Toofy in return, but I had no real way of confirming it one way or the other.

Dragging along the sled behind me, I was thinking about monster evolutions and why Nadine, Emelia and Clarice had not tamed a Vrabbit and levelled it up sooner. Granted, the Bloodhunters do not look particularly impressive and they lost the swarming ability the Vrabbits were meant to have, but they were still much better than nothing. The impression I had of the three young women desiring more money and easy Exp was at odds with their early behaviour.

I vaguely remembered Nadine calling it not worth the effort, or something along those lines. But was it really? True, I didn’t see how many mana stones Jacque fed each of the Bloodhunters, but they had just been Vrabbits. It would only have taken them a couple of days at most to evolve a Vrabbit into a Bloodhunter right? And once they have one, it would have been easier to get the second. Then again, if they had done that, then neither myself nor Toofy would have been tamed, so...hrm.

I wasn’t prepared for Jacque’s sudden input and it took me a moment to gather my thoughts again,

Three hundred?! Geez, that’s just a crazy amount of mana stones. Or is it? Hadn’t Jacque said that we killed more than a thousand earlier? Hrm...

Bringing the sled to a halt in front of the Guild office, it was hardly surprising that we were getting a great deal of attention. Adventurers and Guild staff members alike were gathering around the sled and staring in disbelief at our accumulated bounties.

Toofy was preening pridefully from her vantage sitting on my shoulder as if it was all her doing.

Emelia’s new pets were getting some attention as well, albeit for a different reason. To call Bloodhunters grotesque is somewhat of an understatement, not that Emelia seemed to mind.

“Are you alright to watch the sled?" I asked Jacque and Clarice.

They both nodded.

“This will take them at least a half-hour to sort through,” Jacque explained, “So you can go do your own thing if you want.”

“Yeah,” Clarice agreed, “We got this.”

Emelia and her pets showed no signs of leaving either, so it was very unlikely that anyone would do anything stupid.

Taking Toofy back to the inn, I glanced at the raid countdown timer and tried my best to stay calm.

[ 0d : 2h : 56m ]

I had a little less than three hours before the raid would begin. Hurrying up to Nadine and Clarice’s room, I shrugged off my pack and removed the sewing kit. Hoping that Nadine would understand, I appropriated her bedroll and began visualizing the outline of the necessary cuts I would soon make on the quilted fabric.

Encouraging Toofy to practice her counting song, I set to my task and did my best to keep an eye on the remaining time. Working quickly, I sewed together a padded tunic and cap for Toofy to better protect her from the weapons of the other Goblins. I also made padded caps for Nadine and Emelia since they didn't appear to have helmets of their own and this would be better than nothing.

Assumedly, the town and the adventurers were considered too poor to warrant an armour shop. I suppose it sort of makes sense, depending on the type of armour, but I had always been led to believe that cloth armours were actually rather cheap. The fact that the majority of the adventurers in town were using variations of the padded cloth armour reinforced that assumption too, but oh well.

With just under an hour remaining, I tried to think of something I could do to improve our chances of survival but came up blank.

Heading downstairs, I was surprised to find that Kirk and Rose were both wearing padded cloth and leather armour. They also had weapons strapped to their sides and a number of crossbows laid out on the bar alongside a truly staggering pile of ammunition.

Nadine was downstairs as well, helping Kirk stack the majority of the furniture against the walls to block the windows. I decided to help and insisted that they should leave at least one table free for emergency medical treatment purposes. It was far easier to work on someone while standing than kneeling. Similarly, I filled three of the large tubs and four of the buckets with water and brought them into the common room, just in case.

Nadine gave me a curious look when I presented her with the padded cap I had made for her, but she accepted it gratefully all the same. All the more so when I pointed out that it would help keep stray hair and sweat from her eyes while fighting the Goblins or administering treatment to the wounded.

There was apparently some good news on that particular front. Nadine had negotiated and finalized a deal that secured the alchemist’s entire stock of mana potions on a provisional basis for the duration of the raid. She would also be compensated for serving in the role of triage for the duration of the raid, rather than by the number of spells cast and wounds tended.

Jacque, Clarice and Emelia were waiting for me outside, which gave me a chance to give Emelia the padded cap.

“Where did you find a gambeson in Toofy’s size?” Clarice asked curiously, taking a closer look at Toofy’s padded armour.

“I made it,” I confessed, keenly aware that it was a pretty rough looking product.

“Really?!” Clarice looked even more impressed, “Where did you find the materials?”

I shifted somewhat uncomfortably and scratched the bridge of my nose, “Ah, I may have ruined Nadine's bedroll,” I confessed.

Clarice didn’t seem to immediately understand, but then she took a closer look at Toofy and began to laugh, “Oh this is too good!” Clarice crowed. She quickly rushed inside the inn and returned a few moments later with Nadine in tow, “You have to see this!” Clarice kept insisting.

“I don’t see what is so...IS THAT MY BED ROLL?!” Nadine demanded.

Toofy grinned and gave a demonstrative twirl to show off her new armour, completely misunderstanding the mood.

“It sure is!” Clarice confirmed before snorting with laughter.

Jacque was similarly entertained, chuckling quietly as she watched the drama unfold.

Even Emelia was shyly smiling from a short distance away. Although she was at least polite enough to hide it behind her hands.

“Sorry,” I apologised, “But we didn’t have any coins for materials or time to make it from scratch. I thought that maybe you wouldn’t mind so much given the circumstances.”

Nadine turned her attention to me, clearly wanting to say a few choice words but restraining herself through an act of will.

“It’s just, well, everyone else already has armour to help protect them, except for Toofy. I already saw what those wild Goblins were capable of and I didn’t want to leave her unprotected. I am sorry for ruining your bedroll, but I just didn’t see any other way,” I explained helplessly.

Nadine gnawed at her lip for a moment, glancing briefly at Toofy and then releasing a deep sigh, “No, you are right. I overreacted,” she conceded, “Besides, I can just buy another one after this is all over. Sorry Tim.”

I just nodded awkwardly, I didn’t think Nadine had anything to apologise for. I mean, I was the one who destroyed her property without permission. I really should have asked first.

Unsure of what I should do at this point, I just waited around with the others outside the inn and watched the timer countdown.

[All defensive wards and transportation portals will now be deactivated for the next 24 hours.]

*****

Gobgob and his trusted elite warriors watched as their lesser kin approached the great plains and began depositing prepared supplies just inside the edge of the tall grass. Gobgob had given considerable thought over the years to how he planned on wiping out the human nest and had settled upon a rather simple yet effective plan. Fire, Gobgob would weaken the humans with fire before assaulting their nest in force. The smoke and crazed biters would do much to weaken the humans in preparation for his eager warriors.

Lowering his spear to signal the beginning of their attack, Gobgob smiled eagerly as the gathered piles of wood and dried leaves were set alight and began spreading into the plains. Even if the fires themselves did not spread to the walls or buildings inside of the human nest, the smoke would make it much harder for the humans to watch Gobgob’s minions movements.

Once the plains were well and truly ablaze, Gobgob signalled for his minions to begin their advance in the wake of the fire. Driven by the breath of the dark god itself, the flames rapidly approached the human nest while leaving Gobgob’s minions unharmed.

“CHICHICHI!” Gobgob screeched commandingly.

Gobgob’s loyal warriors shifted nervously and made room before their chieftain.

There was a screeching howl from the forest and a few moments later a larger and drastically stronger biter scurried out of the forest and obediently laid itself down by Gobgob’s side.

Unlike the wild soft biters of the plains, Gobgob had raised this biter to be stronger and faster than its kin. It was largely the reason for his ascendancy as chieftain all those moons ago. The large biter had made it easy to eliminate his rivals and seize the staff of leadership from the old chieftain.

Climbing onto the biter’s back, Gobgob dug in his heels and took a firm grip of the biter's fur with his left hand to avoid falling off its back.

After a couple of moments, the large biter stood itself back up and snarled intimidatingly at Gobgob’s warriors. Although it was even less intelligent than they were, the large biter understood that its position in the hierarchy outstripped thier own and would tolerate no rivals.

Gobgob observed this exchange dispassionately. If any of his warriors were foolish enough to stand up to the large biter, then they were either too stupid, ambitious or strong to be of use to Gobgob anyway. Gobgob would tolerate no rivals.

From his higher vantage, Gobgob could better watch the progress of the weakest Goblins in the wake of the fire. It would not be long until their path of attack was secured and the attack could begin.

Gobgob grinned in excitement, the wrinkles of his face parting to reveal cracked and broken teeth as he cackles in anticipation of the bloodshed soon to come.

*****

The town was blanketed by smoke and was making it difficult for some of the adventurers to breathe. Thankfully, Kirk and Rose had been somewhat prepared for this eventuality and quickly began distributing wet segments of cloth to wear over peoples mouth and nose. I wasn’t certain how much it would reduce the effects, but for most adventurers, it seemed to be enough.

Curiously, I hadn’t felt the effects of smoke inhalation myself, but I still tied on an outlaw-esque bandana around my mouth and nose, just to be sure. Toofy took my instruction to only breathe through her nose in stride and seemed to be fine with just wearing the wet mask as well.

The gates to the town were now firmly shut and a large thick plank of wood barred it from opening again. From what little I knew of Goblins, I knew they wouldn’t be able to break through the gate without the help of the Orcs, they were just too small and weak. However, I also knew that Toofy’s strength was not, well, strength, but her agility and proclivity to climb just about anything and everything in sight when given the opportunity.

So it was with great reluctance that I began rather foolishly scaling the outer walls of the inn towards the roof. The inn was easily the largest building in town and I would be afforded a decent view of the pains from up there, that is, I would under more optimal circumstances anyway. Kirk had assured me that the roof would support my weight, but I was still incredibly nervous. Toofy had insisted on coming with me, so I had to be fast to make sure that she didn’t breathe in too much smoke.

Clambering up onto the roof, I cautiously made my way to the highest point and braced against the brick chimney for support. As I had expected, the plains were awash with fire and smoke. However, upwind of the smoke, I could occasionally make out small shapes scurrying across the open ground towards the town.

“There! There!” Toofy screeched excitedly, pointing into the smoke near the closest section of the wall.

Quickly concentrating where Toofy indicated, it took me a moment to realise what I was looking at. The Goblins were all descending into a large hole in the ground a short distance from the wall!

Unsure of exactly what I should do, I decided that passing along the information was probably a good start. ‘THE GOBLINS ARE TUNNELING UNDER THE WALL!!!” I shouted as loudly as I could while pointing in the direction of the Goblins hole. Unfortunately, my sudden outcry did not have the effect I had hoped for.

Most adventurers had been unaware that I was on the roof of the inn to begin with and couldn’t see through the haze of smoke. Other adventurers became panicked and began running around like headless chickens, spreading panic and disrupting the few who were moving to investigate my claim.

Toofy hurriedly climbed onto my back and I began making my way back down to the ground as quickly as I could manage. Unfortunately, I didn’t seem to be quite fast enough. Before I was even half way down, I could hear cries of pain and frightened shouts for reinforcements. Opting to just fall to save climbing down the final floor, I managed to keep my feet under me and hastily strapped my shield to my arm.

Rushing in the direction of the wall, I could see that Jacque and Clarice were already engaged in a pitched battle against more than a dozen Goblins. The other adventurers who had come ahead of them were already desperately staggering away in retreat, bleeding from multiple wounds and barely standing upright.

My sudden appearance had an immediate effect on the Goblins and overwhelmed adventurers alike. The Goblins instinctively shied away from me for a handful of seconds, allowing the adventurers a much-needed opportunity to withdraw. Similarly, the adventurers, while frightened by my sudden appearance were thankful for the reprieve.

Toofy slid off my back and began swinging her sling.

Jacque, who had almost definitely known I was coming, didn’t even glance back in my direction once as she proceeded to rapidly bludgeon four of the startled Goblins to death in rapid succession.

Clarice, although a little surprised by my sudden arrival, followed Jacque’s lead and beheaded one Goblin and amputated the right arm of another at the shoulder.

Somewhat distracted by the ruthless displays of violence, by the time I reacted the Goblins had rallied and pressed the attack again.

Fairly confident that the Goblins could not hurt me with most of their weapons, I knew that finding their point of entry into the town was a higher priority than avoiding minor damage. So with that thought firmly in mind, I grit my teeth and pushed through the ranks of the Goblins and towards the wall.

Not that I had any experiences from my life on earth to make a direct comparison to, but shoving my way into and through the unruly ranks of the Goblins was what I imagined it would be like to work at a particularly unruly daycare facility. That is if the children were all carrying weapons and trying to kill you.

As I had hoped, thus far, none of the Goblins seemed strong enough to deal any actual damage to me, accomplishing little more than tattering my already ragged pants. This meant that it was the sling throwers like Toofy that I had to watch out for, after all, they had been the only Goblins to actually hurt me since I arrived in this world.

This was my actual reason for wanting to locate the hole, if I could stop the sling throwers from getting into the town, the chances of my survival would increase dramatically and I had to assume that everyone else's would as well.

Glancing over my shoulder to make sure that Toofy, Clarice and Jacque were alright, I was relieved to see that another four adventurers, as well as Tobi and his pet Shady had joined the fray and were managing to hold the Goblins back and avoid being overrun.

Turning back to the wall, I saw another wave of Goblins suddenly appearing from beneath a large patch of bushes. I hadn’t noticed these bushes earlier from the rooftop due to the smoke, but looking at them now, it was pretty obvious that they didn’t belong here. So far as I knew, there was no vegetation larger than the grass permitted within the town limits, for what I assumed was for reasons such as this.

Battering my way through the fresh wave of Goblins, doing my damnedest to ignore their shrieks and cursing, I swept aside the bushes and revealed an admittedly small hole. Only a little larger than the Goblins themselves, the hole would only allow one Goblin at a time to climb up into the town. In fact, I was currently staring back at one such Goblin who was half way through climbing up the hole at this very moment.

Right, so, now what do I do? I needed to plug the hole somehow to stop the Goblins from climbing out. Glancing briefly at my shield, I quickly dismissed the idea and moved closer to get a better look.

“EEEK!” The Goblin in the hole shrieked in terror as the walls of the hole began to collapse.

That was completely unintentional, but I guess it solves my problem. I was so heavy that the poorly dug hole began collapsing when I got too close to it.

The Goblins still fighting the adventurers behind me began to panic and scatter, perhaps realising that they were doomed without fresh waves of reinforcements.

Seeing that things were still very much in hand, I aggressively stamped my foot over the collapsed hole and the nearby ground to make sure that the hole would stay closed for at least a short while.

Unlike the other adventurers, Clarice and Jacque did not pursue the fleeing Goblins, instead escorting Toofy as she dashed over to my side.

“Tim see?! Tim see?!” Toofy demanded excitedly, pointing back to the fallen Goblins of the failed incursion, “Toofy kill five sausages!!!” She cried ecstatically while holding up her left hand and wiggling her fingers and thumb.

I wasn’t sure whether I should be proud, horrified or amused by Toofy’s demonstrated potential. On the one hand, this was a matter of life and death, and Toofy was just defending herself. But on the other, she really seemed to enjoy it just as much as the Goblins and adventurers had. I was glad that her communication skills from learning to count were working, but this isn’t exactly what I had in mind when I started teaching her. And yet, despite the carnage, Toofy referring to the fallen Goblins as sausages was pretty damned cute and I couldn’t help but smile a little in spite of myself.

Jacque was less amused, “I think this was meant as a distraction,” she said coldly, scanning the nearby area, “Did you see anything else while you were on the roof?”

I thought back on what I had seen and looked back at the small number of Goblins that lay dead nearby. “I saw maybe hundreds of Goblins headed towards a large hole outside. But for only this many to have come out already...It doesn’t make sense.”

Jacque frowned, “You're right. They almost definitely have more holes or are in the process of digging them. We should fall back to the inn and gather some of the other adventurers to help look for them.”

Clarice nodded, “If the Goblins are going to use a tunnel to invade the foothold, we need to make sure everyone stays in sufficiently large groups so they can at least weather a surprise attack long enough to receive help. If we let the Goblins pick us off one by one, it's over.”

More than willing to defer to their expertise, I followed Clarice and Jacque back to the inn and the other adventurers involved in the skirmish did the same.

Many of the adventurers were now standing around or worriedly pacing in the main street of the town. I didn’t quite understand why more of them hadn’t come to help when the Goblins were discovered inside the wall. As we passed one of these other groups, the explanation became obvious, they were afraid.

It wasn’t much of a surprise really. Most of the adventurers were young adults like me and some of them were even younger. Who in their right mind would willingly rush off towards danger to help strangers?

Clarice didn’t seem nearly so understanding, glaring contemptuously at those who had simply watched from afar without providing any meaningful assistance.

Even though the four of us had all managed to avoid injury thus far, I could still empathise with Clarice’s position, I wasn't overly thrilled with the other adventurer’s behaviour either. I mean, I am pretty scared too, but I am still doing my part, so why shouldn’t they?

Seeing the Guild manager Gilbert exiting the inn, I immediately stopped and kept my distance from him. Conversely, the nearby adventurers all began surging towards the man with demands for an explanation.

Clarice decided to stay by me and Toofy, but Jacque began determinedly shoving her way through the gathering crowd and was by no means gentle about it.

I could see that once Jacque reached the front of the crowd, she leaned in close to Gilbert and began explaining the situation to him.

Gilbert’s mask of control slipped for a moment and I could see how afraid he was of the news Jacque had given him. But to my surprise, he regained his composure and began exuding an aura of authority and determination.

“SILENCE!” Gilbert cried stiffly, his voice only muffled slightly by the wet cloth tied over his face.

The effect on the surrounding adventurers was immediate, causing them to become quiet and still.

“All adventuring parties with three or more members are to partner with another party and form a group of no less than eight people! You will then take a position in front of one of the foothold’s storefronts and await further instructions! Those who do not have a party or lack sufficient members are to gather in front of the Guild office!” Gilbert’s loud commanding voice carried up and down the street with ease, noticeably reducing the nerves of most of the frightened adventurers.

All too keen to increase their numbers and secure a greater sense of safety, the various adventuring parties quickly teamed up with one another. Unsurprisingly, the higher levelled and better-equipped adventurers joined forces with one another in preference to their weaker colleagues. Similarly, it was these same adventuring parties that quickly claimed the positions closest to the inn. Whether it was to better receive Nadine’s healing or to take shelter in the sturdy building was unclear.

Jacque ignored the frantic requests of other adventurers to join their party or to team up, instead pushing back to us through the crowd.

Since I am taller than anyone else around us, it only took a few moments for me to find Tobi and Shady amidst the crowd. I pointed over in Tobi’s direction, unsure if Jacque could see what I saw.

Jacque nodded and began pushing her way through the now thinning crowd. After a brief exchange with Tobi and what I assumed was his party, Jacque pointed back over to me and extended her arm to Tobi. A few seconds later, Tobi’s group information was added to my peripheral vision alongside the others, signalling that he had joined the party.

Tobi and his previous party quickly began making their way over to Clarice, Toofy and I while Jacque began carefully regarding her surroundings.

“Thanks for letting us be a part of your group,” Tobi smiled nervously.

The four other young men and women nodded determinedly in agreement, even though they were obviously intimidated by me. Judging by their equipment, they were not nearly so well off as Tobi, so their gratitude was very likely sincere.

I nodded, “Did Jacque tell you why?” I asked curiously.

Tobi shook his head, “She just said something about needing Shady’s synergy, I think.”

Hrm, interesting.

“Woah!” Tobi exclaimed, “Are you serious?!” He looked up at me incredulously, “How does your party have so many synergies?!”

Shady seemed quite pleased with the situation, tensing his muscles and flexing his claws inquisitively.

Before I could reply, Tobi slapped himself on the forehead, “Oh of course! Duh! Monsters!”

The members of Tobi’s previous party gave him inquisitive looks, “What do you mean?” One of them asked, “How many synergies does Shady have?”

“Like, seven!” Tobi crowed excitedly, “And pretty much all of them are combat-oriented too!”

The other adventurers looked surprised, “Woah! And one of those is that overpowered recovery ability isn't it!” One of the young women asked excitedly.

Tobi nodded, “But I can see now that that ability isn’t even the best one! With these abilities, I bet Shady could take down even high-rank Orcs with no problems!”

Throughout this exchange, Toofy had somewhat shyly taken to hiding behind me and peeking at the strangers from around my apron. An interesting development, considering that she could probably take them all on in a fight and still come out on top.

Glancing back at Clarice, I could see that she was scowling somewhat while staring at nothing in particular. She was probably a little sore about not being able to use the Shadowcat’s Shadow Step ability since she had no mana. But that raised an interesting question. Could we use the Shadow Step ability or other racial abilities if we had a nearby source of mana to draw on instead? Like maybe using a mana stone from a dead monster like a battery? Theoretically, it seemed like it should work. It was basically just the same thing the ability was doing anyway so far as I could tell.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have any mana stones to test that theory with just at the moment, so I guess that is something to try later.

A sudden outcry from down the road breaks me from my musings. Seeing the group of adventurers beginning to panic, I can only assume that another pack of Goblins has made it inside the walls.

“We going?” Clarice asked, but was clearly prepared to accept my decision either way.

I nodded, “Let’s go,” I agreed and motioned for Toofy to climb onto my shoulder

With Toofy ready, I began hurrying over towards the slowly retreating adventurers.

We barely reached them before the small horde of Goblins did. With Tobi and his friends left to support the floundering adventurers responsible for this area, Clarice Toofy and I crashed into the Goblins before they had the chance to gain any momentum.

Toofy had leapt off my shoulder and onto the roof of the nearby building, her vantage point giving her a prime position to attack with her sling without allowing her landbound cousins the opportunity to retaliate.

Clarice was content to follow in my wake, sweeping her sword in deadly arcs that cut down any Goblin foolish enough not to immediately back away in retreat.

For my part, I clumsily swung my morningstar back and forth on my right side while buffeting with my shield on my left side. I honestly felt quite silly and if it weren't for the deadly circumstances, I wouldn't have been surprised if someone laughed at me.

“Hole! There!” Toofy pointed emphatically at a large incredibly conspicuous bush near the wall, releasing a stone from her sling that crushed the skull of a Goblin that had begun crawling out from beneath it.

Pushing forwards, I swept aside the bushes with my shield and began stomping my heel near the edges of the hole. Just like the first, there was a Goblin already part-way up the hole staring up at me in terror as the hole began to collapse. Glancing over my shoulder as I busily worked at filling the hole, I could see that Clarice, Toofy and the other adventurers now had the situation well in hand. Our initial assault dividing the attention of the Goblins had proven fatal and it didn’t look like any of the Goblins would escape the melee alive.

Just as I was about to shift my attention back to the hole, I was very nearly blinded as a sudden explosion of light on the nearby rooftop caught me unawares. The flash of golden light burned into my retinas and was accompanied by Clarice shouting excitedly, “HELL YEAH! LEVEL UP!”

Having now quite thoroughly sealed the hole while blindly trying to keep my balance, I had to wonder if anyone else had as much of a problem with that particular part of the class level mechanics as I did.

Quickly rejoining the group, I let Toofy jump down off the roof and onto my shoulder again. From what I could see going on around the town, it was obvious that the Goblins had more than a few holes they were using to break in. Most, if not all the groups of adventurers were actively engaged in fending off the small hordes of Goblins streaming in from the direction of the town's walls.

“Oh, shit...” Clarice swore.

“Poop!” Toofy agreed sourly.

In addition to the Goblins using clubs, there were now more than a few of them using slings from behind the battle lines.

It was obvious that the less experienced adventurers were no match for the onslaught and would soon be overrun if something wasn’t done to change the situation soon.

“We need to help them regroup at the inn,” I decided. I might not be a master of strategy, but even I could figure out that losing so many of the defenders so early would not be good. Motioning for Tobi and the other adventurers to follow, I rushed towards the closest group of besieged adventurers.

*Crunch*

My morningstar struck an unfortunate Goblin’s head with enough force to rupture it like a rotten melon, spraying the other Goblins nearby with blood, brain matter and broken bone.

As if taking it as their cue to flee, the small Goblin horde turned and ran, crashing into their approaching reinforcements.

“Fall back to the inn!” Clarice roared and she followed up my charge with a brutal cleaving blow that cut down a pair of Goblins.

Toofy was trailing behind Clarice and opportunistically slinging stones into the Goblins who attempted to hold their ground. She had no shortage of ammunition since she had begun scavenging stones from the other Goblins.

Tobi and his friends joined the charge behind us to keep the pressure on the Goblins while I pushed through their ranks to cause as much chaos as possible.

Once the adventurers had all disengaged and made progress back towards the inn, I motioned my morningstar to the next beleaguered group of adventurers and gave Clarice and Toofy a short head start.

Some enterprising souls had the tactical sense to begin forming exterior barricades out in the road to better obstruct the Goblins projectiles and serve as a bulwark against the Goblin’s foot soldiers. Made from tables, barrels, crates, benches and just about anything else that isn't bolted down, it looked quite a sight but was hardly impressive.

Thankfully, at least one of the better equipped adventuring groups had similar thoughts to Tim and was actively assisting other groups on the other end of the street to disengage and retreat to the inn.

*Thwack*

A rock struck and bounced off my right arm, shaving off a single HP. It was the fifth time I had been hit so far, so I was still fine. But the pain still made me flinch all the same.

Pushing the pain from my mind, I began charging towards the last group of adventurers. Two members of their group were already down and quite possibly dead despite their best efforts to protect them.

*Thud, Thud, Thud*

Three Goblins are caught by my shield as I plough straight into the heart of their group, they fall to the ground with dazed expressions and begin emitting red tendrils of smoke. I ignore them and focus my attention on healthier Goblins, leaving the wounded for Clarice or Toofy to deal with if necessary.

*Thud*

Another rock hit me in the back, coming somewhere from down the street. I didn’t have time to go looking for my attacker, so I battered away at the Goblins all around me instead. I wasn’t dealing much damage, but the Goblins were terrified of me. In fact, they were so scared of me that they kept backing away or dodging into the reach of Clarice and were cut down so quickly they didn’t have time to regret it.

This final group of adventurers didn’t need to be told what to do and disengaged as quickly as they could manage, carrying their incapacitated companions and rushing back to the barricades further along the street.

Curiously, the Goblins made few if any attempts to break into any of the buildings of the town, making attacking every human they could see their top priority. Was this why all the shop owners and Guild staff had taken refuge in the inn? If it was true, then I really had to admire their courage and pragmatism. Particularly in the case of the weapon shop owner. But I suppose to the Goblins, these buildings must all seem very similar.

*Thump*

Another stone struck me in the small of my back.

Damnit!

*Crack*

Turning suddenly in the direction the stone came from, I accidentally caught a Goblin in the side of the head with my morningstar. The Goblin’s body grew limp and spasmed weakly before sliding off the spikes and collapsing on the ground.

I could see the Goblin that had attacked me, he had climbed onto a rooftop and was preparing to sling another stone at me. Just as he was about to release the sling, a stone struck the Goblin in the chest and he tumbled backwards off the roof.

“No hurt Tim!” Toofy shrieked angrily, already spinning her sling again and locking onto her next target.

That Goblin was not the only one smart enough to take the higher ground, there were already dozens of Goblins jumping up and down on the rooftops of the town. Fortunately, very few of them had slings and ammunition. Unfortunately, in the haze created by the smoke, those few adventurers with ranged weapons of their own were hard-pressed to retaliate against the sling throwers, unable to differentiate them from the rest of the Goblins due to the poor visibility.

[Jacque has slain {Goblin: 1 } +50 Exp]

If it weren’t for the occasional kill notification with Jacque’s name on it, I would have truly doubted whether she was helping at all. I hadn’t seen her since we collapsed that first tunnel.

“Ow! Cheeky fucker!” Clarice swore, cracking open the head of a Goblin that caught her in the back with their club. Clarice cussed a lot when fighting, but she actually gave off the impression that she enjoyed fighting quite a great deal. Then again, Jacque had insinuated that she enjoyed pain...

Damnit! Why am I thinking about stupid things like that during a battle for our lives?! Stupid, incredibly stupid.

I made an extra effort to push back the Goblins to give Clarice and Toofy time to disengage, “Head to the barricade!” I called out, more for Clarice’s benefit than Toofy’s. Fighting my way clear, I snatched up Toofy and began hurrying towards the barricades.

*****

Nadine hastily washed her hands in one of the large tubs of water Tim had thoughtfully left out earlier. Even though the folded sleeves of her tunic were stained with blood, Nadine was thankful that Rose had generously donated a thick cooking apron which kept the rest of her clothes relatively clean.

Carefully unstopping a mana potion, Nadine chugged the entire contents down and braced against the wall as she waited for the dizzying side effect to subside. It only took a few seconds, so Nadine was ready to get back to work quite quickly. “Next!” She called out, moving over to her operating table.

Emelia, who was serving as her assistant, had already wiped down the table twice to prepare it for the next patient. Once with water, and once with alcohol, as Tim had insisted Nadine should do it when situations allowed.

Similarly, Nadine’s sewing needles were cleaned in alcohol between uses as well. According to Tim, it improved the sanitation of the materials, which reduced the chance of spreading diseases and infections. This directly translated into a higher level of treatment, which provided a greater healing effect from her Field Dressing ability. This was important, because the greater the amount of healing, the more likely it was that Nadine would earn greater amounts of EXP.

A pair of battered-looking adventurers carried their unconscious companion over to the table and laid him down on top of it.

Waving the two adventurers away, Nadine leaned in closer to take a better look. Unfortunately, it looked like another case of blunt force trauma. It was the tenth adventurer that had been knocked unconscious by a blow to the head. There was not much Nadine could do to treat injuries like this, which was unfortunate.

“Bandages, pain salve and a cold compress,” Nadine ordered, confident that Emelia would quickly organise the requested materials. Using one of the clean rags to clear the blood away from the swollen area of split skin, she then discarded the rag into the rag bucket.

After applying a liberal amount of the pain salve over the split area of skin, Nadine began binding two layers of bandage around his head. She then applied the cold compress and bound it in place with two wider layers of bandage before cutting the bandage and tying it off.

Concentrating on the wound, Nadine gently pressed her fingers against the bandages and activated her Field Dressing ability. Nadine immediately felt the tingle of mana passing through her fingers and into the unconscious adventurer. Almost immediately, the bandages and cold compress began to glow with golden light. A couple of moments later the golden light began to disappear as the bandages and compress rapidly disintegrated.

[Nadine has healed a {Heavy Wound} +100 Exp]

“Oh!” Nadine was pleasantly surprised since the previous nine cases of head injuries had only managed to heal moderate wound levels for fifty EXP each. She wondered if perhaps it was because this particular adventurer had taken a much more substantial blow to the head than the others. However, Nadine did not have time to waste on thinking about such things at the moment and motioned for the two adventurers to take their companion upstairs.

If prior experience was any judge, that adventurer would not be waking up any time soon and Nadine had other patients waiting.

*****

I ducked into the inn briefly to make sure everything was alright and was glad to see that Nadine and Emelia were running a rather tight ship in Rose and Kirk’s absence. However, I did have a few words of advice for them all the same.

“Nadine,” I announced myself quietly to avoid spooking her while she was suturing a rather nasty looking cut to a young woman’s thigh.

“Mmm?” Nadine grunted good-naturedly, without taking her eyes off her patient.

“You should designate a pair of adventurers to serve as orderlies, erm, helpers. There are a lot of relatively healthy adventurers here who are needed outside, but they are...stuck taking care of their friends until it is their turn for treatment,” I explained, “If you appoint a couple of people to keep an eye on the wounded, and even retrieve them from outside, it will free up more people to fight.”

Nadine paused for a moment and then nodded vigorously before continuing, “You are right,” she agreed, “I will get right on it.”

“You are doing really well by the way,” I encouraged her, “Keeping your mettle under pressure like this is a rare talent and important skill. Keep up the good work!”

I received a mixture of scowls and smiles from the wounded adventurers and their accompanying partners on my way heading back outside. No doubt some of them were terrified and glad for the excuse to take refuge in the inn for a while. While the majority of the smoke had cleared, it only made the Goblin slingers on the rooftops all the more dangerous and there was already a pair of dead adventurers lined up by the wall outside as a constant reminder of how deadly they are.

Kirk and his wife Rose were currently hunkered down behind a table that provided some measure of cover for anyone entering or exiting the inn. Kirk was grunting, huffing and puffing as he drew back one crossbow after another before handing them off to his wife Rose, who would then load a bolt, take a steadying breath, rise slightly from cover, aim and fire at a Goblin slinger on one of the rooftops across the street, before quickly ducking back down again, setting aside the crossbow and beginning the process anew.

Toofy had been waiting behind the same table for cover and retrieving the stones the wild Goblins had been slinging at them to replenish her own ammunition.

They had started this raid with hundreds of crossbow bolts in reserve but were rapidly running out, now reduced to less than a few dozen at most. From what I had seen, Rose was a rather good shot and rarely missed in spite of the Goblin's naturally high agility. Unfortunately, the Goblins racial defensive ability was drastically reducing the lethality of the bolts that managed to hit them, only inflicting flesh wounds the majority of the time. To make things worse, the Goblin slingers were actively using the other Goblins as meat shields, improving their longevity still further.

Giving the pair of them a nod of encouragement, I grimaced somewhat as I saw the sheer number of Goblins assaulting the barricades. There were hundreds of them. Seeing Clarice in the thick of the fighting in an area where the barricade was weakest, I made that my destination. Toofy cautiously followed along behind me, cleverly using my bulk as cover from the rooftop slingers as she engaged in a brutal series of counterattacks of her own.

Unlike Rose, Toofy did not appear to trigger the wild Goblin underfoot defensive racial ability, so her attacks struck their mark far more often than not. Another point in her favour was that Brute Strength appeared to enhance her sling damage as well, often requiring only a single strike to a Goblins chest or head to immediately kill them outright. Then again, I think the sling does a deceptively large amount of damage on its own. After all, the Goblins were able to damage me with them, and that was something the Orcs with their larger muscles and weapons hadn’t been able to manage with any real degree of consistency.

The barricade had been condensed since its original conception. Instead of blocking off the entire street, the barricade had been brought back on both ends and closed over at about half the width of the street. Normally, this would be incredibly stupid, allowing the Goblins to assault yet another flank to apply more pressure on the defenders. However, everyone had noticed rather quickly that the Goblins were all avoiding the tailor’s shop like the plague. As if they somehow knew about the existence of ‘the tailor’ and wanted nothing to do with it.

This didn’t mean that they could leave that flank alone entirely, but it did mean that they didn't need nearly so many adventurers to defend it.

Unsurprisingly, Tobi’s pet Shady was a killing machine, with so many combat synergies it would have been disappointing if it wasn’t. I was pretty sure that it had gotten much larger since the last time I saw it as well. After watching Shady disembowel an unlucky Goblin with one swipe of his paw, I decided that just watching the battle was probably not a good idea.

Is it weird that I am actually more afraid of my allies than my enemies? Hrm, probably not, considering the company I keep.

*Thwack*

Stepping into the breach, I raise my shield just in time to stop a stone launched from a rooftop from striking Clarice.

Startled by the noise, Clarice rounds on me in surprise, “Don't scare me like that!” She demanded tiredly, panting heavily to try and catch her breath.

[Clarice - HP: 21/29 - Normal ]

“Go take a break for a few minutes, get something to eat,” I told Clarice after glancing at her HP. She was already somewhat injured, so it would be better if she took a few moments to recover before coming back to fight again.

Clarice looked like she was going to refuse, but stopped herself and nodded, “You’re right,” she agreed, I’ll be back after taking a breather.”

It was a little strange being able to have a quick conversation like this on a battlefield. If the Goblins worked up the nerve, they could easily rush us and swarm through the breach. But they didn’t.

Clarice jogged off to the inn, leaving Toofy, myself and a few adventurers I didn’t recognize to hold it.

*Thwack*

Another stone ricocheted off my shield, but this time caught a Goblin's shin. The poor Goblin fell to the ground shrieking in agony.

I guess just standing here is almost as effective as me actively trying to fight, sad but true.

*****

Watching the battle take place from his cunning hiding place, Gobgob was not happy. Not only was he not happy, but Gobgob was also borderline enraged. The Ogre was proving far more cunning than he had anticipated. Even with the outer defences of their nest breached, the Ogre’s minions had hastily erected new defences and rallied without suffering many, if any, casualties!

This was not how the great reclamation was meant to go! The great prophecy had lied!

Gnawing angrily at his withered lower lip, Gobgob tried to think of how he could turn this situation around. There was no retreating now, if Gobgob allowed it, the other Goblins would kill him to appease their dark god. But it was already taking every one of his dwindling number of remaining warriors to keep the lesser Goblins in the fight.

“Gah!” Gobgob cried irritably, frustrated that the lesser Goblins wouldn’t ignore their cowardly nature and just rush the Ogre already. Didn’t they know that this was all for Gobgob’s grand ascension?!

Gobgob was about to call out for one of his elite warriors when he noticed the large biter beneath him had stiffened and was scenting the air. Strange, was it perhaps one of his rivals attempting to seize power? Or maybe one of the humans had snuck up on him? It didn't matter either way since the response would be the same.

Gobgob rolled off the large biter and swung his spear in a sweeping arc that would easily hack down anyone foolish enough to have been sneaking up behind him. However, to Gobgob’s immense surprise, there was no one there at all. Unfortunately, the hissing growl coming from the biter's throat told Gobgob differently, only that now the enemy had somehow moved behind him again.

Gobgob repeated the attack again and was denied again when he found no one was there.

*Thunk*

Gobgob heard a meaty impact behind him and turned just in time to see a human female pulling a large short metal blade from between the large biters now separated head and neck. Somehow she had killed the biter in one blow. Impossible! Impossible!!!

Gobgob turned to flee but the human female appeared in front of him again, hefting the blade in a practised grip.

“Gobgob, right?” The human female asked with a cruel smile, “I’ve been looking for you!”