Guardian joined a caravan heading towards the coastal city. Being a business-minded as always, he joined as a guard; this allowed him to earn a small sum while he travelled and to shave off the boredom. He landed a good deal, his reputation as an excellent monster hunter and his sheer size allowed him to rake in five times more than a normal caravan guard would. He was to receive 25 coppers a day, which was a bit more than 2 silvers.

To further benefit from his travel he had a massive sack tied to his back with rope, which was full of stuff. He hand oils, perfume, potions, soap and dried herbs all for sale. Aiu even gave him a jarful of peanut butter, he so much loved, to consume. It was even sweetened with honey.

The caravan consisted of various merchants, their guards and donkey-pulled carts full of wares. There were around 50 people travelling in a caravan. Not all of them were merchants and guards, there was a good number of simple travellers heading for Coastal Town. It was safer to travel in numbers.

At their current pace, it would take 5 days to reach the coast. The whole trip was pretty much uneventful, one might think the roads were safer than people assumed and the caravan was overprotected. This was, however, not the case.

A number of better guarded caravans and even armed bands were known to disappear on these roads. Bandits and monsters were largely to blame. They were just lucky not to run into any trouble so far.

On their last day of travel, they have encountered some trouble. The band of bandits were harassing a small group of travellers heading out of Coastal Town.

“Pay a toll or hand over a small portion of your cargo.” One of the bandits demanded.

“Half of it is not a small portion and it would be useless to you anyway.” The spokesman for the travellers argued back.

“Pay up then! It is that simple.”

“The roads are free, you won’t get a single copper from us.”

The bandits raised their weapons in preparation to strike the travellers.

“Looks like trouble up ahead. Shall we run and assist them?” one of the guards in a caravan asked?

“I am paying you to protect my wares not others, you stay here!” the merchant shot down. This was how the world worked, everyone for his own. The caravan guards could easily take down the bandits but it was not their job, and many of them were hesitant to do that. No one would pay for their injuries or compensate for their damaged equipment.

“I am heading out.” The Guardian told to his employer. The merchant looked at him wanting to say something but once their eyes met he hesitated and said nothing in the end. He was afraid to offend Guardian because he heard about other not so savoury deeds of his.

Guardian ran up to the bandits who were busy assaulting the travellers. It was 12 bandits versus 20 odd travellers. The civil men were poorly armoured but they were able to hold their guard. Clearly they were not simple city whelps and knew how to defend themselves, however, the bandits were gaining an upper hand.

One of the travellers was hit in the head and dropped unconscious. Half a dozen others were injured badly but still standing. One of the bandits was raised by his shirt and thrown into the air. This took them by surprise as they did not see the caravan approaching from behind, not to mention the guardian sneaking up on them. Travellers did a good job in keeping them busy and ignorant of a large beastman approaching at their backs.

“Who the hell are you?”

“Do you want to die too, you fool?”

Bandits shouted out at him.

“Won’t be me who is dying today, human.”

“We will see about that, beastman.”

The travellers stood back as the bandits approached the Guardian. Better him than them.

“I am not a beastman!” The guardian shouted out and charged at the group of bandits unarmed.

“He is either crazy or very stupid.”

“Typical for beastman.” one of the bandits retorted.

“He thinks he stands a chance against all of us, Ha!”

The Guardian just kept running as the bandits readied their weapons to pounce on him. Once he was dangerously close he said something unintelligible and a burst of shockwave radiated from him knocking all eleven bandits in front of him.

He stepped on the ones who were laying in a quick succession. His massive weight and overwhelming strength allowed him to crush their ribs and cave in the skulls with a single stomp. He jumped and stomped while the men were still laying down in their confused state. He managed to ruthlessly snuff the life of four of them, two more were too injured to fight anymore but still alive.

The rest of the bandits quickly rolled away and picked up themselves. The one who has been flying just a moment ago was the only one not affected by the shockwave and he was running back to the forest by now.

“A mage!”, “Monster!” The bandits shouted out in a panic realising that half of them were dead.

Even the travellers gasped in shock as they saw what happened to the bandits. It was too quick and too brutal to take in. Some of them were standing frozen trying to process what happened while others wanted to run but could not; they were too afraid.

Two of the bandits braved themselves when Guardian charged at them again, remaining three turned around and ran trying to catch up with their comrade. The two were dispatched in a matter of seconds as they stood no chance against an opponent who was much taller and heavier than them. One of them died when his face was crushed by a mighty fist, another one was kicked to the ground and then his life snuffed out with a series or ruthless stomps.

Guardian’s fists and legs were drenched in blood, chunks of his victim’s tissue sticking to his skin. He looked at the travellers and waited for something. A simple thank you would have been enough, but they just stood there looking at him flabbergasted. The ungrateful lot, or so he thought, but they were just too scared to say anything. Some of them were still in shock, especially the young and women.

Guardian launched himself in sprint trying to catch up with the bandits. He did not want them to go, they have offended him. Also, he took this as some sort of sport.

Eventually, he caught up with one of them. He grabbed the man by the neck raising him in the air. The bandit struggled to pull Guardian’s hands away from his neck. Bandit was brought closer and then slammed to a tree when Guardian ran past it. The man’s face met the tree bark and a sickly crunch could be heard, bandit’s blood stained the three in red as his face still clung to the bark.

Guardian kept running still chasing the other one. The bandit was running out of stamina by that time, he was becoming slower and slower, he hoped to lose his purchaser in the woods. However, the guardian had no trouble tracking him as he was too loud and not too far from him.

The man stumbled on some tree roots and fell in a tumble. His ankle was sprained he could not run anymore. He sat up clutching his injured ankle in pain and raised his head. The man saw something more horrible than his worst nightmare. An outlandish creature was looking down on him in full smile. He looked like a monster who will eat him alive, his maws were full of sharp teeth, his body still died in fresh blood. The bandit knew he was done.

“No please! I beg you! Let me live!”

“Why should I?”

“I will do whatever, please.”

“I have no use of you, human.”

“Please! Please! I beg you, Sir.” The man was now sobbing.

The guardian stretched his hand to grab the bandit.

“No, no, no!” The man screamed.

“Actually, you might be useful. You must have a camp. Where is it?”

The bandit pointed to the general direction of it and quickly described how to get there.

“And how many of you are there?”

“Two dozens or so.”

“I see. Now you can rest in pieces.”

“But I told you where t…. ahhhh”

“I promised you nothing.” Guardian said as he slashed the man’s throat with his claws.

He then went towards the alleged location of bandit encampment. He hopped to loot it and reap some guilt-free profit. No one would punish him for robing he robbers. This was his intention from the beginning, and to let some steam off.

In a short time he found the camp, but it did not look like he expected it to. The fencing was broken, the tents were collapsed, and fresh chunks of wood and other debris littered the campsite. Most alarming to all were the dead corpses of men which were scattered all around the grounds. They were in incredibly sorry condition, parts of limbs were missing and huge portions of the body seemed crushed to a pulp.

“What happened here? This looks recent…” He thought out loud in confusion. “A monster maybe?” the forest was a dangerous place after all.

Then out of nowhere, he got tackled from the side. He turned to look at his attacker, just before he hit the ground and rolled to break the fall. The thing that attacked him was definitely not a human even though it vaguely resembled one, but not a normal monster either. It was a big creature made entirely out of the rock, a golem.

The guardian rolled and jumped away avoiding the hammer like fists of a golem which slammed the ground where he has been seconds ago. It packed a good punch. If he has gotten hit he would have suffered some serious damage.

Guardian stood up and collected himself. He was ready to fight it. At first, he fought defensively, this was an opponent he knew nothing about. It did pack a serious punch, more than he himself could hope for. However, it was slow, much slower than him. Guardian had no trouble avoiding its punches.

Deciding that he observed his enemy enough he changed his tactics. He would throw a few probing punches and kicks towards the golem trying to whittle it away slowly.

“Darn hard thing!” the golem was made entirely of rock as one would expect. Brawling with it would do more damage to him than the golem. However, the guardian did not want to give up. He wanted to find a way to defeat it, somehow.

Since his physical attacks had no effect he had to change his approach again. He quickly sidestepped the massive lump of animated rock and pressed his left hand to its bulky side. A surge of energy pulsed through his arm towards his palm. A burst of magic was released making a small explosion of rock and dust.

“How do you like that?”

The golem got damaged. It was a minor damage but a significant improvement from no damage at all. The guardian reckoned he had enough magical energy to slowly defeat it, but it was still a rough guess. He repeated the action damaging its side again.

“How about you stop it there! Your bandits are dead and city guard will be coming shortly!” A feminine voice rang from one of the collapsed tents.

He turned towards the voice. Meanwhile, the golem rushed past him in an unexpected dash to protect its master.

“What are you talking about, stranger? Show yourself!” Guardian said anxiously as he now understood that this rock construct was not a stray monster.

“Just as I said. Look around! Your men are dead, your camp destroyed. There is no one for you to lead and you stand no chance against my golem. Surrender!”

“First part makes no sense and I have doubts about the second part. Look at its side, can’t you see? I can clearly damage it. Do you believe it is still capable of taking me down?”.

“Even if it can’t hit you, it will take you time to dismantle Rocky. As I said, the city guard is coming!”

“So what? I did nothing wrong. The bandits attacked my caravan and I dispatched them. I should be rewarded.”

“What?” Guardians answer confused the stranger.

“What is your role in this? I understand you are the one who took the camp out?” He asked his opponent.

The guardian was slowly approaching the tent, circling it. The golem was having none of that and matched his movements not letting him get closer.

“You are not the leader of the bandits?”

“What are you talking about? You make no sense at all.”

“Do not lie! Buying time is pointless as I said guards are coming! Or are you trying to regenerate your mana? Should I strike then?”

“Ha, bring it on!” He said as he approached to fire another burst of a shockwave.

The golem punched at him but he was able to duck it and send his magic towards the tent. The fabric of the tent was blown away and a sight of a golem master was revealed.

The haughty golem master was just a small girl, probably still in her early teenage years. She was short and slim, her skin was white with a hint of tan. She had long blonde hair, sky grey-blue eyes and some freckles on her cheeks. She was wearing thick cloth battle robes. Both her clothes and her appearance resembled someone born in nobility.

“What is a city girl doing in a den of bandits?” he said in surprise jumping away from another slam directed at him.

“Taking out your lackeys with great success! Their leader will be next!”

“You are confused, girl. It was me who wanted to kill these bandits, you just got here first.”

Another small chunk of a golem was blown away. He was able to talk and fight at the same time.

“Damn you! Do you have any proof! I do not want to fight you anymore!”

“Yet your monster attacked me first!”

“I will stand down if you stand down!”

“No way! I am winning.”

“If you think you will get off easy you are mistaken. Even if what you say is true and you are with caravan you will still be in trouble from city guard.”

“How so? All I did was kill a few bandits who attacked me, then you attacked me out of the blue. You are no better than a bandit yourself.”

“I was tasked to dismantle the bandit band. And I am a noble. I attacked you by mistake! So, stop damaging Rocky and cease hostilities if you want to avoid the might of the city guards. They will be here very shortly!”

“Hmmm… I guess you are right. I will stop.” He distanced himself from the golem.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“You are not trying to, somehow, trick me?”

“No, why would I?”

“Ok then… If you speak the truth show me your caravan.”

“Keep your golem away from me then and follow.”

The girl was wary of him and he of her. He led her out of the forest following his old tracks.

“You did this?” she pointed at the dead bandit slumped in his own pool of blood.

“Who else?”

There was no reply from the girl.

Eventually, they emerged from the forest and were back on the road. The travellers and the caravan were still there. It seems they were waiting for him.

“Should we be concerned about this rock thing following you?” his employer shouted from the distance.

“Possibly! I do not know that yet!” He shouted back.

“Absolutely not! Rocky is friendly!” The girl shouted too.

“Who is she and who is this Rocky? Did you rescue them from the bandits perhaps?”

‘The travellers should know if what she says is true.’ Guardian concluded to check if any of the city folk recognise her. He led the girl and the golem to the injured travellers.

The girl observed the place of a recent battle. Dead bandits were littering the road.

“Ok, If I did not know better, I would say Rocky did this. Your fighting methods are similar.” The girl pointed and the cold smashed remains of four bandits.

“Do you know anything about this girl? She claims she is from the city, some sort of a fancy noble tasked to take down the bandits.”

“Ha!” the man laughed. “Why would a noble bother to hunt the bandits? They are the selfish lot.”

The guardian looked at the girl suspiciously, he was ready to fight again. She has lied and probably was plotting something.

“However, I have heard about a girl and her golem in the city. What was her name?”

“I am Cynthia, you must have heard about me and my golem Rocky.”

“Ah yes, this was a test. Having a golem is extremely rare, I just wanted to know you are no imposter.”

“So she is what she claims to be?”

“I think so.”

“How about being a noble then?”

“I am from a noble family. Well, my family is in a decline and it is complicated. That is why I do dangerous jobs on a side for money.”

“That makes sense. So, where are those city guards? We could use them to escort us.”

“Sorry about that. I have lied”

“What?”

“They are not coming.”

“Why did you lie about them then?”

“I thought you were one of the bandits and you were damaging my Rocky successfully. So I have bluffed to make you surrender or flee at least.”

“Well, it did not work did it?”

“It kind of did. You were reluctant to kill a noble and face the waft of the city guards. Ha ha ha.”

“If the guards are not coming… I could have done you there and gotten off with all the loot”

“You could, but you do not kill innocents. Do you? Clearly, you have saved the travellers and protected your caravan.”

“I guess so. Yet I have gained nothing from it. I assume you will claim all of the rewards for taking down the camp.”

“Naturally.”

“Oh well.” Guardian was not too happy about the outcome. He planned to steal the loot from the bandit’s camp, now he could not do that.

The stolen goods or whatever left of them will go back to the merchant guilds. Any spare money found in camp and on the bodies were rightfully Cynthia’s. However, she would keep only a fraction of it as she would donate it back to the society. It did not sit well with her keeping the dirty money, she was completely happy with her monetary rewards issued for this quests.

Guardian picked his sack from his employer. He was kind enough to look after it.

“Oh and thank you for stepping up for us!” the head traveller thanked the guardian properly this time.

“No need.”

“As I understand, no one else was willing to help us. And I do not blame them. We would have done the same in a similar situation.” The man said looking at caravan guards and nodding, there was no contempt in his eyes. Some of the guards looked back at him they felt somewhat ashamed.

“Yet you did help us and saved us. We are injured but alive. We are alive because of the rare selflessness and kindness you showed. Thank you again, we cannot part with money but take this” the man gave him a small metal token with a symbol ☭ etched on it.

“This is a symbol for unity and people. Show this in the adventurer’s inn. This way my acquaintances will know that you are friends with travellers and my lot. You can ask for a discount or even a favour if you are in a bad pinch. The guys will help you as long as it is not life-threatening, just mention my name and that you saved my life. I am Gustav by the way. What is your name?”

“I am referred to as Guardian.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Guardian. Goodbye, for now, we have to head off. Thank you again.” He and the rest of the travellers thanked him.

The caravan continued their journey towards the Coastal Town. It was close as they could already smell the see in the breeze blowing towards them.

Cynthia tagged along with a caravan; merchants were more than happy to welcome another powerful person.

“You saved these travellers. Are you a traveller as well?” she could not think of another reason why a stranger like him would help others unless there was some kinship involved.

“You could say that.”

“Where are you actually from? You must come from a distant land. You look very unusual.”

“You tried to kill me; now you are being friendly all of the sudden.”

“I am sorry! That was a misunderstanding.”

“That does not explain your friendly attitude. I have damaged your golem thing after all.” He was still trying to understand what sort of creatures the golems were. He had absolutely no knowledge about them. Today was the first time got to know something about them.

“Look, I have attacked you, and you did what you did. If you forget about me provoking you I will forgive the damage you caused. Is it a deal?”

“Only if you tell me about the golems.”

“No problem, I could speak about Rocky all day.”

He raised his hand for a handshake so did Cynthia. They shoock it.

“You remind me of Rocky. You both so big and appear threatening. Also, you are kind even though your looks would suggest otherwise. Kind people need to stick together don’t you think?”

“You are mistaken, I am not kind.”

“Ohhh… Humble as well. You did save some random people risking your life, and for no reward, did you not?”

“I guess so.” He did, even if it was self-serving. Saving travellers was a by-product of him letting some steam off and going after some easy loot.

“What do you want to know about Rocky?”

“Well to begin with…”

He asked various questions as they made the rest of their way towards the city.