Key:

( ) = Speaker or side notes

{ } = POV

[ ] = Titles/Move names

Location: Runscav, Draacia Kingdom, Paradisial Plains

{Rex Yamamoto}

Date: 16 days since Merge

“My name is Brutus. I’m a goblin of the Yarik clan, and was on my way here to become an adventurer,” said the goblin. Those were the first words to emerge from the monster-man’s mouth after he had woken up.

After we found him in the forest, Pops immediately rushed back to the Association hall to get some help for him. Evening was approaching and several of the Association’s workers would be heading home for the day, including the medical team that was stationed at Runscav’s Association hall. They would be switching shifts with another group of doctors who worked the nightshift. Said nightshift doctors would be signing in for their shift not long after their colleagues had signed out for the day. However, it would still take time for these doctors to get fully prepared for work, and if they took too long, or Pops took too long to finding help, the goblin would die.

He’s got at least 2 lacerations on each arm, and both arms are broken. He has 3 stab wounds on his stomach and his face seemed to have been brutally beaten. His legs seemed to have suffered the least damage, with only minor cuts appearing here and there. He had been bleeding profusely, and although we did manage to stop the bleeding, he had already lost at least a liter of blood. To put this into perspective, an average human adult has around 5 liters of blood in their body. This goblin was half my size and height(I’m 5 feet and 1 inch tall). A typical human can only lose around 2-3 liters of blood, or else they’ll die. I’ve heard that the monster race is much hardier than most of the other races, however, considering that goblins are also regarded to be almost as weak as a human, I don’t think it’ll(I don’t know its gender yet) be able to hold out for much longer.

Luckily, within another 15 minutes Pops had returned with Lilica, who he had managed to catch as she was about to head home for the day. Aside from her role as the Association hall’s receptionist, she was also in charge of the medical division that was stationed in Runscav’s Association hall. We didn’t know the full details of how she had managed to acquire such a position, but we decided that it would be best to ask her later. She began by transfusing some blood into the goblin from the blood bags she had brought along with her. Afterwards she started to clean the wounds that it had attained and stitched them together. She bandaged wooden splints onto its broken arms and bandaged an ice pack onto its face. Pops had grabbed a stretcher from the medical department of the Association hall and brought it along. We gingerly lifted and set the goblin onto the stretcher and began to head back to Runscav.

Along the way, I decided to ask Lilica about how she had ended up as head of the medical division.

“Hmm? How I ended up in charge of the medical division?”(Lilica)

“Yup. I mean, you’re the receptionist of Runscav’s Association hall, yet you’re also the head of its medical division. I just feel like its an unusual situation.”(Rex)

“I’ll have to agree with him there Ms Lilica, usually a receptionist doesn’t have that type of power.”(Takeru/Pops)

“Hey, what have I told you about calling me Ms Lilica. We’re friends, aren’t we? Just call me Lilica. Anyways, I ended up with the position because I used to be a doctor for one of the noble families in the Draacia Kingdom. My skills weren’t famous or anything, but they weren’t unknown either. During my time as a doctor for that family, I gained a pretty good reputation for my skills in the medical field, and was one day offered a position in the Association’s medical department. I had to take several different tests to not only determine if I was up to par with the Association’s standards, but to also see where I would fit best. Apparently, I had passed each test flawlessly, and ended up with my current position.”(Lilica)

“Interesting. So you had that type of backstory. Anyways, it looks like your people have quite a few of the same medical techniques as ours. However, ours still seems to be more advanced due to your people’s technological limitations.”(Takeru/Pops)

“Yes. From what I’ve heard about your world from both you and Rex, your world’s medical research and technology is vastly superior to ours. If you don’t mind, when you have the time, I’d like to ask you about it in detail.”(Lilica)

“No problem. It’s the least we could do after all you’ve done for us.”(Takeru/Pops)

As the conversation came to an end, we managed to reach the Association hall. We’d left the goblin in our room and had waited there for it to recover. It’s been about 3 hours since then, and he’s finally woken up, which now brings us back to the present.

After he had woken up, we had given him a short recap of the situation he had been in and who we were. Afterward he had proceeded to give us that short self introduction. Although I didn’t really find anything wrong with what he had said, Lilica had a different reaction.

“….Are you sure you really want to become an adventurer?”(Lilica)

“Yes, I’m sure. I know the dangers that come with the job, especially for us goblins.”(Brutus)

“Lilica, what are you guys talking about?”(Rex)

Lilica looked like she was both anxious and uncomfortable about the current situation, and the question that I had given her. But she, being he reliable receptionist that she was, gave me the answer to my question.

“Goblins are looked down upon and bullied by many of the other adventurers. Although the Draacia Kingdom itself doesn’t hold any prejudice towards any of the races, not all adventurers come from here. As I believe Lance has already told you during your first meeting in the Association hall, the Association was originally created to combat the rise of demonic beasts. The Association, however, did not originate from just a single nation, but was coalition between the hundreds of different nations from the various continents who were being oppressed by the demonic beasts. Although it was created by various nations, the Association itself has managed to remain independent. However, it also means that we cannot impose any rules that may go against any one nation’s belief or principles, otherwise the Association claim of neutrality would be worthless. Thus, as you may have already gathered, there is nothing that prevents adventurers from placing prejudice on one another merely because of their race or looks. Although killing and dealing grievous harm to other adventurer’s is prohibited and punishable by death, injuring them is not. Your adventurer’s cuffs will only log kills, thus adventurers injuring or dealing grievous harm to another adventurer is still hard for us to keep track of.”(Lilica)

“What the hell…. that’s one really flawed system.”(Rex)

“I know, but it’s just something we all have to put up with, there’s no way around it without possibly causing an international incident.”(Lilica)

Pops, who’d remained silent till now, shifted his gaze toward the injured goblin.

“….Hey Brutus, why do you want to become an adventurer?”(Takeru/Pops)

“….It’s because I want to become someone that’s strong enough to protect those that are important to me, and to also get rid of the stereotype that goblins are weak. Becoming an adventurer is the only way to do so.”(Brutus)

“Could you just join the military?”(Takeru/Pops)

“There are no wars to fight currently, the Draacia Kingdom is currently at peace. The only way to gain the fame that I’m looking for would be through participating in military campaigns. Since that isn’t an option, becoming an adventurer is the only option that I’m left with.”(Brutus)

“….Then why not join us?”(Takeru/Pops)

At the unexpected response that came from Pops, everyone in the room turned to face him with somewhat confused expressions.

“What? You don’t have any problems with this right Rex? We won’t get that far if we keep our party size at two people you know.”(Takeru/Pops)

“Yeah I know, and I’m not against it, it was just unexpected.”(Rex)

“Hey, are you guys sure about this? You may get into a lot of trouble from now on.”(Lilica)

“We’ll be fine Lilica. Those who hold prejudice to other people, especially those who are in a situation which is worse than their own, are just narcissists that are looking for a way to boost their own self-esteem. We’ve got nothing to fear from those types of people.”(Takeru/Pops)

Pops grinned at Lilica after giving her his response, and then turned toward Brutus. Still grinning he asked,

“So, will you join us Brutus?”(Takeru/Pops)

It took a while for Brutus to understand that Pops was serious about his request for Brutus to join. When he finally understood that Pops was sincere with his request, a big smile began to spread across the goblins face, and he said,

“Yes! I’d be honored to join your party.”(Brutus)

With that, a new member had joined our party.