*Interlude*

This incident happened few days before Ean met Shion for the first time.

"Please! Let me fight too!"

Ean says that while looking at many adult goblins gathering up in forest. Each goblin hold a single weapon such as spear, sword and bow.

Then an adult female goblin pats Ean's head before talking.

"Ean, we need someone to protect the kids while we are away. So please..."

"But mom...!"

Ean said that to the adult female goblin who responded to her.

"You're the eldest child here. If something happened to us, we're counting in you."

"..."

After hearing her mom's words, she looks at the adult goblins finally move out in groups in order to fight against Sword Wolf.

Fighting monsters for the goblins is just an everyday occurence due to them living outside of cities and town.

But it can't be helped. As far as they can remember, no town in Elverwad would accept them. The other races don't even want to let them stay at places which is not too far from the town except the Liasr Guild Master, Stephanie.

Ean is desperate because she wanted to be more useful to others. But she can't talk back to her mother because she's aware that guarding the children is also an important job for her.

The parents and other adult goblins will defeat the monsters while Ean and other children hide while waiting for their parents to come back.

Except that unlike the usual everyday occurence, those parents never came back alive.

Only Ean sees it through her own eyes while hiding. The scene of the adult goblins get slaughtered by a Sword Wolf that is way more powerful than any Sword Wolf she ever see.

The aftermath of that battle is filled with cries and sobbing of the goblin children who know that they won't ever see their parents. The only ones who don't cry are either the kids who are too young to comprehend what happens or Ean who resolves herself to become the kids' leader.

"....!?"

In a large tent, Ean wakes up from her dream. As she gets up among the sleeping goblin kids, she looks at them.

(I am the eldest one here... that's why...)

She remembers the faces of her parents and other adult goblins for a moment.

(This time.... it's my turn.)

She clenches her right fist as she thinks that.

.....

....

...

"Alright guys! Go into your designated groups!"

The halfling beardy old man, Pepprica Phalanx, says that while standing on wooden box so that he can stand higher than the goblin kids standing right outside of his store.

"Yes~!"

The goblin kids separate themselves into 3 groups. Each of the group has their own leader and Ean is one of the leaders.

Today is the day where the goblins help Pepprica in creating potions for the upcoming raid. Each group have their own jobs in processing the herbs for potion making.

Ean's group has the job of grinding the herbs into mashes and as the leader, Ean's job is to oversee the kids and make sure no one hurt themselves.

Pepprica is walking around the three groups to make sure that they did a proper job as well as answer any questions from the goblin kids if they are unsure about something.

Aside from the goblins and Pepprica, a green-haired dyrad woman with blue one-piece dress is looking at them. That dyrad is one of the three receptionists working at Liasr guild, Erkimi.

Erkimi sighs while standing at the corner of the yard near Pepprica's store.

(That Stephanie... he knows that I'm not good with goblins and still ask me to watch over them...)

She crosses her arms as she gazes at the ground that she is standing. It's clear enough that she has no motivation to watch over a bunch of goblins. All she think right now is just complains towards that orc Guild Master.

(I still don't understand why he is stubborn about this. He should have known that forcing the people here to accept the goblins will just bring nothing but trouble in the future...)

As she thinks that, she looks at the outside of the yard where people from different races looking at the goblins inside Pepprica's yard.

Disgust, confusion, curiosity... people look at them with various expressions but most of them are coming from negative impressions.

People start talking each other while looking at them.

"What is that...?"

"Ugh... goblins..."

"Must be Guild Master's doing..."

"Can they just go away..."

Ean hears those statement while watching over her group. She bites her lip a bit for a moment but quickly covers it a smile so that she won't worry other kids.

(As I thought... this is not enough. At this rate...)

Ean keeps her thought to herself without anyone noticing anything strange from her.

.....

....

...

At the inn, a certain black-haired can be seen biting a thick meat dish and pulls it out from its bones using her teeth alone. On top of that, tons of plates are stacked on the table near her indicating how much she eats already.

That black-haired elf is none other than Veylene Reverangel, the A-rank Adventurer and also the strongest adventurer in Liasr Guild.

It is currently at lunch hour so the dining hall should be full with people eating for lunch. However, the tables around Veilene are empty as no people dare to sit near her.

As Veylene munches the meat dishes, a long haired blonde elf walks towards the table behind Veilene. That blonde elf is Rimikia, another receptionist from Liasr Guild.

Rimikia puts down her plate which is full of fruits and vegatables on the table behinf Veilene's and sits down. Both Veilene and Rimikia sit with their back facing each other.

Before Rimikia start eating, she starts talking without looking.

"The raid will start tomorrow. Make sure you come."

"*munch munch*..."

Veylene does not reply while munching the food. After finished munching, Veilene puts the bone to the empty plate in front of her before talking to Rimikia.

"Your Guild Master sure has peculiar hobbies. I see no point in helping those weaklings."

"... who told you that?"

Rimikia says that after hearing Veylene's statement.

"Anyone can figure it out after seeing those goblins at Pepper's house."

Veylene purposely calls Pepprica's name as Pepper in that statement. Even so, Rimikia can still understand who Veilene refers to.

"... I see."

As Rimikia says that, she takes a tomato-like fruit from her place and start eating it.

"It would saved a lot of time to just let me destroy that squid monster quickly. What a meaningless farce."

Hearing that statement, Rimikia quickly finishes eating the fruit and talks to Veilene again without looking at her.

"It is certainly a farce. For you."

.....

....

...

A certain middle-aged lady with black witch outfit can be seen walking towards outside of Liasr Town.

That middle-aged lady is Griselda Kisatoa. She is currenly holding a bag made of animal skin with her right hand.

As she is about to reach the gate of the town, she notices a human little girl with long black hair standing near the gate. She is wearing a long-sleeved brown shirt, small silver chest plate and long black pants.

(Shion...?)

She immediately thinks that as there is no other person wilk match that appearance in Liasr Town.

.....

....

...

*End of Interlude*

_________________________________________

"To think that Steph asked you to accompany me..."

I hear Griselda's statement as both of us are walking towards the forest.

"He said that you have a bad habit of going out from town alone. So he asked me to accompany you today."

"Steph..."

Griselda says that in uncomfortable tone as if she realizes that she just got badmouthed by other people behind her back.

Then she starts talking again.

"I- I used to do that a lot alone in the past. But now is different, you know..."

"Then what about that time when Miika and I found you fainted in the forest?"

"W- well, that's..."

Griselda have trouble replying to my question. After few seconds, Griselda finally talks again.

"B- by the way, where is Miika? You guys are not together today?"

That's a rather lame way of changing the subject. But I have no intention to pursue that matter further so I'll just reply to her question.

"He stays in the inn because I asked him to pratice healing magic. It would be helpful if he can use it before the raid tomorrow."

"Practicing... but his Astral Level is..."

I cut Griselda's sentence because I know what she wants to say.

"Of course I asked him to stop practicing once he feels tired. He needs to save energy for tomorrow after all."

"The same goes for you though..."

"It's fine. I won't push myself too hard."

After hearing my reply, Griselda smiles a bit before talking again.

"I see..."

As we arrive at the entrance to the forest, Griselda stretches her left hand to prevent me from walking further.

"Wait a minute..."

Then she brings out a light blue crystal-like ball from her pocket.

Then she let it fall to the ground.

"Your turn, Piney."

Soon after that, water comes out from that small ball. It quickly accumulates into ball of water carrying a crystal-like ball inside it.

Griselda told me about her magic power back when I was still adjusting to the life in Liasr Town. But this is the 1st time I ever see it myself.

An artificial slime made from alchemy. She named it Piney and it acts like a real slime. But in reality, it's a water magic familiar that is connected to her sight senses.

Familiar is a term for manmade monster that is made using alchemy to become an obedient servant serving it's master.

"Piney will scout ahead to see where the Fiend Kraken is."

As I nod, the blue-coloured slime goes inside the forest.

.....

....

...

After the slime confirms the location of Fiend Kraken. Both Griselda and I arrive in front of a river inside the forest which is connected to the lake where the Fiend Kraken is residing.

I can see that the river's water flow is directed towards the lake. The river looks so big and deep. No wonder a big monster like Fiend Kraken can went through this river and arrived at the lake.

Griselda is currently holding a brown map. She then approaches the river while putting back the map into the bag and taking put a volleyball-sized azure crystal ball from the same bag.

The appearance might be similar to that slime's crystall ball, but it's a completely different magic item except for the fact that it operates using water-based magic formula.

When Griselda's is about to crouch while holding the azure crystal ball, I start talking to her again.

"I'll dig the ground."

"Oh. Thank you."

Griselda decides to not crouch. I can't let her snap her back again just like when she was about to pick up the ball that time.

Instead, I take out Emeraldian from the right side of my belt. I point the small sword handle to the ground.

As I use Overtake to activate the magic formula within the sword handle, the green gem on the bottom part of the handle shines indicating that the mana within the gem is used as a fuel to activate the magic formula.

*woom!*

Immediately after that, a green blade of light appear from the sword handle towards the ground.

The green blade of light turns everything it touches into ashes. So I use this blade to slowly dig the ground.

As I slowly twirl the green blade to create a small circle hole, I start talking to her again about our current job.

"Still, I was quite surprised."

"? About what?"

Griselda tilts her head a bit while looking at me. So I continue talking while digging the ground.

"I'm well aware that Pepprica has a vast amount of alchemy knowledge. But I didn't expect him to be able create a magic device that involves the leylines."

Leylines are underground places that contains an infinite amount of mana in Desparia. Leylines is something like a planet's vein containing those mana that is spread around Desparia without any physical form. In short, Leylines is planet Desparia's Astral Body.

"Ohh. You mean this Topology Mana Denser huh."

Griselda replies while looking at the azure crystal ball that she is holding.

"Well, I guess it can't be helped if you don't know much about Phanlanx family huh."

"Yeah, I can guess that Pepprica Phalanx is also a former halfling noble. But that's about it. Is that family famous?"

I continue digging the surface of the ground as I say that.

"In the past, yes. You know that halfling's town in Elverwad is located underground right?"

I nod so that Griselda can continue with her explanation.

"Phalanx family used to be a halfling noble family responsible for watching over the Leylines of Elverwad continent. So it's not surprising that he got some knowledge about Leyline that other people won't know about. It's what his family taught him ever since he was young."

"... Used to be?"

Hearing my question, Griselda looks at the azure crystal ball again before replying.

"I only heard this from rumours, but it seems that his whole family got affected by unknown disease back when he lived underground. It was a disease that almost annihilate the entire race. Pepprica was the only survivor from Phalanx family."

"I see..."

I can only say that as a reply. Hearing my lack of response, Griselda continues talking.

"Well, I only heard it from the rumours. I never hear his past from the person himself. By the time I met him around 40 years ago, he was already some kind of mad alchemist who never stop messing with Leylines for his experiments. Honestly, he would have been considered criminal if Stephanie and I did not stop him from doing those experiments."

"Mad alchemist... like someone who always blow up their own home whenever they experimented something?"

I say that because mad alchemist sounds really similar to mad scientist to me. So that's the first impression I got when I hear the name.

"..."

Griselda becomes quiet for a few seconds before answering my question.

"It would have been a lot better if that's what he did..."

I started to get curious about what happened. But after seeing Griselda's empty eyes as if she is remembering a very unpleasant past, I decide to change the topic.

"Oh. If I'm not wrong, the device can take mana from Leylines and convert it into liquid form, right?"

"Yes, and we will put those water into this river so that it will flow into the lake. As a result, the lake will be full of mana liquid by tomorrow."

Griselda says that while I finishes creating a small hole on the ground. Then I use the same method to slowly create a small water passage from the river.

"I understand that part. But what will you do after that? It's not like the monster will just get out of the lake just because the water is full of mana."

"Stephanie will cast Mana Shaker on the lake that is full of mana."

I recognise the Mana Shaker magic that Griselda just talked about. A magic spell that is used to create oscillation waves from the mana around the user. It requires either Light or Earth basic attribute to use it.

Griselda continues talking as I think that.

"The mana inside the Lake will act up and it will also affect Fiend Kraken's Astral Body. As a result, the Fiend Kraken won't stand the motion sickness from its Astral Body and will decide to leave the lake."

As Griselda finishes her explanation, I also finish making the water passage.

"So it's the adventurers' job to defeat the Fiend Kraken without letting it get inside the water again huh..."

I say that as I put Emeraldian from my right hand to my left hand. And then I strecth my right hand towards Griselda indicating that I want the Topology Mana Denser.

"Yeah. That's about it."

As Griselda says that, she hands over the crystal to my right hand. It's unexpectedly quite light.

The plan basically has a similar concept with Gestalt Hydra's mist as it gives a sense of incongruity between the astral body and mana surrounding it.

I crouch down and put the azure crystal ball on top of the hole that I just made.

Then it suddenly emit a dim blue light. I can see that a mana from underground rises towards the crystal ball.

As the mana enters the azure crystal ball, the crystal ball starts pouring out water which is the mana in liquid form.

The mana liquid starts flowing into the water passage I just made towards the river.

As Griselda also sees that, she starts talking again.

"All that's left is..."

Griselda takes out four yellow talismans from her bag.

She hands over two of them to me and continue talking.

"Can you please place these on those two trees over there?"

I immediately nod and place those two talismans on the trees that Griselda pointed at. Griselda also does the same for other two trees behind her.

"Alright, now monsters won't come to this place for about three days. Better be safe than sorry."

Griselda says that while looks satisfied after completed her job for today.

.....

....

...

After that, Griselda and I go back to Liasr Town. We separate because Griselda wants to go home to rest.

It's already almost evening now. The preparations against Fiend Kraken is already done for most adventurers by this time. However...

My preparations are far from done.

I arrive in front of Antarea's Blacksmith shop as I think that.