"Wha... what! A -rank" Azure's face distorted into a mix of confusion and shock as she looked back and forth between the guild card in her hands and the man she got it from. Ria was standing behind him with a shit-eating grin her look just exuded I told you so energy.

"Hmppff " Ria was showing a rare side to herself that usually only came out when she was alone with Yuuta. Arrogance but this time she was being serious. Yutta smirked a little before continuing. "No need to worry about that. I'm more than happy to help ill need two of your best fighters. If I can have a preference I would like them to be quick on their feet ill need them to distract the goblins while I take care of the Hobgoblin. I would like to wait till tomorrow but we need to get to Querth as fast as possible so I'll take care of it tonight." Yuuta decided on the fly to get some help it would make the whole process faster and also let the village have a sense of pride in defending their village it was a win-win.

The chief nodded her head in agreement with his plan. "That sounds reasonable I'll let Azure handle who goes with you she is the head warrior she will have a better idea of who to send." Azure was broken out of her confusion after hearing her name. "Certainly ill go of course and maybe Cardinal if he is up for it. He's getting old but I still have trouble keeping up with him when he gets serious."

"Sounds good I'm sure whoever you decide on will be more than capable. I'll meet you two by the front gate when you're ready." Azure nodded to him before quickly exiting out of the building. Yuuta made eye contact with Ria and she seemed more calm than normal. Usually, she would be a ball of nerves before he left for a request but now she was relaxed sipping on her tea. The only thing that gave away her nervousness was the slight shake of her hand when she tried to put down the cup onto the saucer.

Yuuta made his way over to her before plopping down next her. He wrapped his arm around her pulling her a little closer. " No need to worry this hobgoblin isn't even worth my time. I'll be back in an hour, 2 at max." Ria gave a smile back to him but he could tell it was fake. " I know I said I wanted you to do this, help them but I still can't help getting that feeling. After we talked last night I told myself I would relax and trust you. I guess it's not as easy as just saying it though." She said with a small frown Yuuta could tell she was disappointed she couldn't follow through with her decision.

"It's ok I don't expect you to be 100 percent ok with it. Just the thought of you doing something as dangerous as what I'm about to do would make me have a heart attack. You should give yourself more credit Ria, you're definitely handling this better than I ever would." Yuuta leaned into her getting as close to her ear as he could his breath gently hitting her made her face light up in a blush. She glanced quickly to the Chief to see her reaction but she was pretending not to notice staring off into space with a small smirk on her lips.

Yuuta whispered as lightly as he could to keep his words between the two. "But as you know I'm not your average adventurer. I'm almost immortal excluding me pissing off a dragon again which I hope to avoid. I can't promise much in this world but I will promise, God himself will have to tear me to pieces to keep me away from you my love." His hand slowly drifted towards her know the bright red face. Guiding her head with his hands their lips met in an innocent kiss at first but Yuuta quickly dragged her into a steamy one that should be only done in private. But Ria no matter how embarrassed she was as soon as his lips made contact her mind went completely blank to the outside world. The feeling of being close and intimate with him was unlike anything else in the world.

Cerra watched on in envy thinking back to the time she was young and in love. In all her years of living, she had never seen something so passionate not even between her and her beloved who past not long ago to the curse of all living beings...' time'. She watched from the corner of her eye with a smile as they broke their kiss.

Yuuta leaned his forehead into hers before speaking. " I'll back soon love you." Her smile came back and he knew it was real this time. "love you too." she said as they finally let go of each other. A laugh came from across the room. "You two act as if your saying goodbye to each other for forever." Ria's blush reappeared and Yuuta only laughed mentally agreeing with her.

"Don't worry Yuuta she will stay with me until you get back there is no safer place in the village than my house I promise. Please in return make sure my granddaughter comes back safe I fear she only volunteered to gain back some of her pride she lost earlier. When people risk their lives for vain reasons they usually don't make it back." her eyes filled with the same nervousness and anxiety Ria's had moments ago.

" I promise I'll look after her and the warrior she chooses to bring along. Honestly, they will only be distracting the small fry for me so I can end the fight quickly. Once they see how easily their leader falls to my sword the will scatter like rats caught in the daylight. That is if there's any left to scatter. If I see her acting recklessly or get in a bad situation you have my word ill protect her." Yuuta gave his best reassuring smile before heading out the door.

"I know you don't know us that well yet but he meant it. Yuuta doesn't just say things like that for his reputation." Cerra smiled fondly at her new guest for the next few hours. It seems things were going to work out after all.

Yuuta walked casually through the village heading back to the front gate. Well, he tried too it seemed the word had gotten out about his little excursion. The scaled people of all colored shades whistled and yelled their cheers to their savior. He did his best to take it in stride as he made it to the big wooden gates. Two familiar faces were waiting for him at the front gate. Of course one was Azure holding a long spear with a smug smile on her face. Next to her was the older man Azure referred too earlier it was the same man he had seen in the watchtower it seemed his weapon of choice was a rapier. His slim figure seemed to match the sword Yuuta had no doubt he was as fast as Azure claimed.

Yuuta gave a wave to Cardinal but his head snapped to Azure with a frown. "Word got around pretty fast about our mission. Did you have anything to do with it perhaps?" Her smile turned into an open-mouthed laugh giving away any chance of claiming innocence. Cardinal tried to remain professional but a small smirk and chuckle made its way through.

"So that was why you screamed at me from my watchtower to come help kill the Hobgoblin with you and the 'White Haired A rank Adventurer' was how you put it I think."

"Who cares anyway they should be celebrating, no more being constantly on edge all night just hoping they make it to another terror-inducing day." There was a lull in her words before her face got a little more serious. " All jokes aside I know how I acted earlier towards you Yuuta was rude. But you still decided to help us without hesitation the village should know who their savior is." Azure's face turned just slightly pink in her apology. Yuuta was a little shocked her behavior earlier didn't make him think she had room in her personality for self-evaluation and humbleness.

Her face turned a little sour when she noticed him snickering to himself with a dopey smile. "Hey jerk why are you laughing at me after that perfect heartfelt apology!"

"Sorry I'm not laughing at your apology I really appreciate it even though it was unneeded. I would never leave innocent people in danger if I could help. Ria would never forgive me and even more, I would never forgive myself." Cardinal thought to himself how lucky they were for a man like this to stumble upon their village. People like him where far and few between.

"I was just thinking how your grandmother or the Chief was talking about you doing something stupid or reckless because of pride and asked me to make sure you don't get yourself killed. I half agreed with her but you seem to own up to your mistakes easy enough." Faux anger covered her face as she puffed the bright blue hair out of her face.

"Dammit, of course, she would still treat me like a kid. I'm 20 god damn years old I'm not some reckless teenager." Yuuta's comment earned both himself and Cardinal an earful as they walked towards the goblin's nest.

To Yuuta's surprise, the walk to the suspected nest wasn't more than 30 minutes away. Hidden in deep foliage and trees was a clearing roughly 50 meters in diameter. Near the north side was a small mound with a large cave-like opening. The two Savarians had a hard time making out the details. Thanks to his enhanced senses Yuuta could easily make out the opening and the goblin traffic moving quickly in and out of it.

Quietly observing the situation his two companions sat nearby. Yuuta's first problem was figuring out a way to get the hobgoblin out of his hole. Going in didn't seem like a great idea who knows what they kept in there. He could smell a terrible stench from where he was now and that was enough to dissuade him from getting anywhere near that trash pit. Next was his two companions they looked competent enough but he had to make sure the could handle themselves before the whole nest came after them. Goblins might be D rank monsters but anything can become deadly if there's enough of them.

"You two, don't take this the wrong way but I wanna make sure you can handle yourselves before we really get into the thick of it. I'm going to bait some of the goblins straying around the outskirts and you're going to exterminate them sound good." His voice was just loud enough for them to hear it, though it was very quiet it held a certain tone that he wasn't really asking a question. They looked to each other quickly then back to Yuuta before nodding their heads in unison.

Yuuta gave a small smirk before disappearing In a distorted image. He reappeared 10 seconds later the two Savara looking at him in disbelief. They didn't have time to ponder on what just happened not far behind him in the large clearing a small group of 10 goblins where running full hilt at them. Some had makeshift wooden clubs made from branches and old rusted broken swords for weapons while others were barehanded.

Azure was the first to react but Cardinal wasn't far behind. With a swift slice of her spear, she took the goblin leading the charge down without hesitation. Cardinal followed up with rapier his speed was no joke. Three quick thrusts and three dead goblins followed all of them a small hole directly on their foreheads. Not wanting to be showed up Azure twirled her spear around beautiful connecting with the next wave of goblins. The speartip sliced through the first two goblins necks like butter killing them instantly, the last goblin on the end of her attack, however, wasn't as lucky the wooden pole made contact with its head eliciting a wet crunch sound followed by a loud wail of pain. The goblin was shaking violently letting out a gurgle before Azure silenced him. Cardinal finished the remaining three monsters with accurate thrusts.

Making sure no more where coming, the two warriors hastily made it back to the man that was judging their combat abilities. "Nicely done, you two made it look easy out there. You both can easily handle these small fries. So I'm gonna be a little honest I'm not trying to go in that nasty cave thing. So, I came up with a little plan!" His excited tone threw the two off guard before they had time to ask what his plan was they watched his hand exploded into a ball of fire about the size of a basketball. They both looked on mesmerized by his magic Azure bit her lip in jealousy she had seen magic a couple of times when she ventured out to cities and the adventurers who come by the village occasionally. She went to get tested for her aptitude, unfortunately, she didn't have a magic bone in her body. Cardinal was just impressed by how quickly he could cast magic from his experience magic was usually accompanied by a long-winded chant. Not this time though just as fast as the fireball appeared it flew off into the distance before it imploded loudly inside the large mound lighting up the surrounding area revealing the shocked and confused goblins loitering around outside.

Large plumes of black smoke began funneling out of the hole followed by screams and loud grunts. "You two are gonna up soon get ready and get their attention I want them moving away from the entrance." Just as Yuuta finished explaining the small horde of black soot-covered goblins flooded out of the hole. The two scaled warriors made their move revealing themselves in the open field banging their weapons together and screaming. The goblins didn't take long to notice the two and focused their anger on them. The horde of 30 goblins all pushed and tripped over each other as they ran towards the intruders. Yuuta got a little worried about the size of the horde 30 seemed a little dangerous for them and decided to help out a little. He slowly gripped the handle of his katana and pumped mana into the blade waiting for them to cross his path. He took his sideways and drew his sword so fast it created a layer of afterimages as a blade of wind flew from his katana slicing through the horde with zero resistance. Goblin bodies fell fast as the wind blade cut through them almost killing half their numbers. Yuuta winced a little at how much power he put into it as the blade continued through the horde and kept going into the wilderness cutting anything in its path for another thirty meters.

Azure and Cardinal watched his attack in amazement not believing someone could be that strong. Just like before they didn't have much time to think on the magnificent attack as the remaining goblins charged on although a little less motivated than before. The two used that to their advantage, meeting them head on and making quick work of their rattled opponents. Azure stabbed the last goblin in the stomach before whipping it into a close by tree. The stench of blood and goblin musk permeated the field as a loud howl echoed from the mound.

Yuuta made his way to the clearing this time ready to end this boring fight by this point in the night he was ready to get back to Ria, stuff his face, and go to sleep for the night. The scaled warriors watched patiently for the upcoming fight. Seeing his true strength now Azure instantly regretted making fun of him. A deep-seated fear hit her thinking about what would have happened if he didn't shrug her insults off or was actually offended him. It was enough to make her shake. Cardinal was just as in awe by Yuuta's feats but his experience in fighting told him Yuuta wasn't even trying this was like a light workout for him. He was maybe showing off 10% of his true power.

The massive figure of the hobgoblin could be seen coughing and trying to fight the smoke from infiltrating his nose and eyes as he barreled out of his home revealing himself, Yuuta thought he resembled and uglier cyclops that he fought on his first request. It was roughly the same hight maybe a meter smaller and not nearly as bulky and muscled out, more looking like a tall goblin on steroids to him. Another loud roar left its mouth as it observed the battlefield 40 or so dead goblins strewn across the clearing. The Hobgoblins eyes darted back and forth between the three humanoids he took a couple of steps towards the closer target Yuuta. Those few steps were all it could do before Yuuta disappeared in a blur as the ground literally ripped itself apart cracking in a trail leading straight to the hulking monster. Azure tried to make sense of what she was watching as her eyes focused the now headless Hobgoblin limply falling forward, The A rank adventurer was nowhere in sight.

"Hey" The voice of Yuuta made Azure yelp in surprise while Cardinals quick reaction and experience made him ready an attack on instinct but quickly relaxed seeing the voice was attached to Yuuta standing behind them with a small smirk. " You guys ready to go? I'm starving!"