I observe Prina using my trained eyes as she travels from building to building.

“So Arn, think you can go with her for a while and help when she’s in trouble?”

“Yeah yeah can’t believe you had to do this to a total newbie again. But you know something smells fishy about her but I can say the same for all the people you were with.”

“Just go with her and make sure she doesn’t die.”

Arn’s figure leaps off from the building and makes his way to Prina. However for me I slowly make my way through the alleyways and stick to the shadows, good thing there isn’t sunshine at this time. As I get closer to the group I climb to the rooftop and see Prina preparing, setting up some magic traps along the pathway.

I wonder what kind of magic she uses. All the ones I’ve been with so far have their own set of magic, like Zitinna who focuses on shadow magic and poison. I sit on the roof and see that she is already hiding from their sight. Now let the fun begin.

The first thing that happens is I think an explosion or a fireball that is aimed at the shamans, the ones with the staff, is activated when they have moved forward from what I can see. At the same time that some of them are encased with ice. This is a good opening move, but the next part is integral to the hunt.

She comes out of her hiding spot and proceeds to kill one of the big guys by jumping on it and stabbing it with her sword. Unfortunately it seems she hasn’t killed it yet. The guy tries to shake her off while she hangs on and with her mouth moving as she gets one of her hands on its head as it burns to crisp and falls down.

The other goblins take notice of her and begin to charge at her as the ones with the bows ready their bows and the remaining shamans are readying their incantations. She fights with such ferocity almost like an animal that is on the hunt as she decapitates some of the goblins.

At one point I witnessed her crushing a goblin’s head by smashing it to the ground. I didn’t think she has this much strength at first but you never know what one’s strength is until you experience it or see it for yourself. Her red hair flowing through the crowd makes it easy to spot her as she moves through the crowd.

Seems that she isn’t noticing the one behind her as of the moment, but Arn quickly comes out and proceeds to maul it as he scares away the other goblins for a moment and disappears quickly. As Prina notices she gets a bit of breathing room I see her doing an incantation then a fireball appears in front of her and manages to cripple or kill some of them.

Another of those big ones approaches her, in turn strikes at its left leg thus crippling it. She slashes at its ribs and the big goblin reacts by swinging its club hitting not Sylia but at the wall. Then she proceeds to punch it at the same place as its recent wound but he flinches a bit as Prina follows up with a thrust into its heart and finally gets down.

She can definitely survive this job for a long while with those skills of hers. Fire and ice magic, a bit more variety can help her at least but I don’t think she’s at the peak of her magic mastery yet she’s just casting simple spells if she gets a bit of breathing room and not on the go yet.

Her skill with the sword is average at best so to say, she seems to be mixing it with some attacks with her fists which normally wouldn’t work unless you have the strength so it works in her favor. Add this to the fact that her swordsmanship is only basic at best but since her strength further enhances her attacks with it. It can only be improved if she takes lessons on how to handle her sword properly or maybe training just training.

I know that her preparing for the ambush seems great at first but that’s just only in the beginning of the ambush she didn’t make more preparations to follow up the initial attack but her taking my advice indicates that she can probably improve on those. Maybe a bit more ingenuity on her part and maybe she can wipe this kind of group in the first move.

The most important thing about her is that when I came into view to her earlier I could tell that she was observing me, all of my actions together until we got into this part of the city that she became wary around her surroundings. That’s a trait I prefer my companions to have in things like these. As my presence is almost nothing I’m surprised that she can follow my movements in the city but nonetheless useful.

Yeah it will be worthwhile to train her to say the least. Just remind yourself Santi to not get attached. They always leave after a year at most by then they already learned so much from me as they get on their own journey to their hometown, or glory, or maybe for battle. Now what does her journey consist of after she leaves me? It makes me wonder every time they leave.

No doubt about her success that’s for sure especially with that hair of hers that’s sure to attract attention all the time. Wait if I remember properly she wears her hood since the first time I saw her and she never took it off until she engaged the goblins. I might be overthinking for a bit and I should focus on what’s happening with her.

Let’s see, the goblins are already whittled down to I think around 20 or less. She's handling this pretty well but can her stamina keep up with them? Her movements are still fine; she's still moving around pretty well, being able to deal with some of the goblins from time to time and repositioning if she’s overwhelmed by them for a moment.

She moves to a tight alleyway away from the street she was in but suddenly a club smashing through the walls hits her and knocks her further inside the alleyway covering my vision of her. The owner of the club comes out of the wall as the big goblin smashes through. I should get down there before anything else happens. If she can survive that then good for her if not well I’m going to train her to endure the pain or maybe teach her some incantations on healing if she has the aptitude.

I drop down from the roof and proceed to run at her position. As I get to the street filled with goblins I brandish my dagger and proceed to kill some of the goblins to get to Prina. One with a quick strike to the heart, another to the head, the other one being sliced to half, then to an unlucky one as I stab its body multiple times.

This continues until I almost get into the alleyway as several big ice shards the size of a claymore flies out piercing the other goblins standing in front of the alleyway. Next thing that happened is the body of the big goblin from earlier comes flying as it crushes some of the goblins. There must be only less than a dozen of them left anyway and the most important thing of the extermination contract is make sure a few to none remains from the aftermath.

Seems to be that some of the goblins are already wavering as some of them are visibly shaking that another feat of strength intimidates them or they only see death coming. It’s imperative I do this as fast as I can.

I start muttering the incantation for an earth spell and as I do so I immediately jump to the farthest goblin I can see and pierce its forehead and turn around to get to the next goblin to grab and throw to the others to get more time before they can react properly.

I throw one of the goblins’ weapons on the ground and throw to the next goblin I see. Arn has already maimed another goblin while I was throwing and Prina crushes another goblin’s head. Just a few more until the job is done.

“By your word Basrila may you change the land. Earth spikes'' I finish the incantation as the earth rumbles and the next thing that happens is little spikes coming out of the ground to pierce the remaining goblins and kill them.

I see Prina panting already as she gets her hands on her knees to breathe for a bit as Arn goes back to his spirit form as I feel his presence beside me. I approach Prina and tell her.

“Prina before we go back we have to clean up this mess, help me drag these bodies into this spot.” I point to the middle of the carnage where most bodies fell. I continue “It’s better this way as we don’t have to drag the bodies from one side to another and it consumes less time.” I say in a cold tone.

We start dragging the bodies to the middle of the street as Arn keeps watch in case any stray Zokun comes within the area. Dragging the bodies is easy because most of the goblins here are light enough that you can drag 2 at the same time. She’ll get more goblins than me that’s for sure. Once we finish dragging the bodies the sun is almost setting, giving us maybe an hour or 2 before it turns into night time.

“Prina, this part is essential when you need to dump a huge amount of bodies of Zokun into it without burning them.” I start chanting my spell

“Basrila, you who govern this earth, shape the entire world with your will, created this majestic land, give me your strength to bury these unfortunates. Burial”

The street opens up like a huge mouth swallowing the bodies and closes up leaving a mound on the street visible enough for everyone to see.

“Let’s go already, the job’s not done until we get back to the guild and get our pay.”

I’m already making my way there as I say that to her. And as expected Arn begins to talk to me telepathically.

“You know that girl makes me feel funny for some reason.”

“In what way?” I ask him

“In all my years as a spirit companion I never saw someone with that strength for a person with her body type. I mean the type of girls who can crush a goblin’s head to ground must be muscular or someone who uses magic to strengthen herself to do so. And with her body type and the way she uses magic earlier, she didn’t seem to be able to know how to strengthen herself. So it makes me wonder how in the gods is she able to do that.”

“We’ll probably ask in the coming months either way. Right now she’s tired and we need to go home.”

“So you’re still going to train her right?”

“Yeah she’s worth the effort she has that potential to be like the others you know.”

“Yeah famous all around this continent and too good at their own jobs at that. I don’t know, something tells me different about her. I smell it on her.”

“Either way I’m going to train her and that’s final. Besides, Veron asked to do this again. He gives me leeway if I do this for him from time to time.” I look back at her for a bit, she just seems like a person that’s just finished a very hard task and can’t wait to go back home. How naive.

“I still have to teach her the basics and see how she can take it and test her knowledge on magic, with a bit more training and she’s going to be a powerhouse in the future.”

“Still there’s something isn’t right with that girl. Just take care around her.”

“Yeah yeah Arn.”

“I’ll take my leave. I’ve been out for 2 days with you so I’m going back to my home to get some rest, summon me again if you need me.”

A portal appears in front of Arn, and he walks right into it. Once the last of his body goes into the portal, the portal disappears. I look back to Prina and she seems surprised by the whole thing. Ah right I forgot to tell her that wolf is my familiar and her guardian angel during the whole thing.

“Don’t worry, that was guardian angel during your fight with the goblins. He’s my familiar, you’re going to be seeing him from time to time.”

She looks more calm at least.

The journey back to guild house is uneventful, the streets being slowly tinted with orange as we walk through them with the destroyed buildings around us. The noises of rats and crows scuttling around us looking for dead things laying around in this part of the city.

At least I don’t hear or see any Zokun following us at the moment, things always get dicey when you’re going back to complete the job especially when it’s a small job. The unexpected happens, an ambush from Zokun or maybe even the Von who likes to take prey on travelers.

Once we get back into Winstow proper, the sun is replaced by the moon shining in the sky. The lights in the city makes it feel like the city is already preparing to sleep with most buildings having a light or two giving a faint color from the inside. The people are already closing shop, dusting off on their property, and taking some of the stuff they have and going to their respective homes.

At least it feels like I’m in my zone right now, in the night no one noticing me or anything and my sense of smell at its height trying to find anything dangerous and the like. I like this atmosphere at least, the quiet, the darkness covering the city, it feels like I’m home.

I lost focus there for a moment. Gotta get back to the guild house but it does seem that Prina is more energetic than when we were in the ruins. Weird you’re supposed to have a tendency to be more tired due to all the walking.

Arn’s right something is off about her but all I can observe about her is that her body is different from others, even Zitinna didn’t get this kind of body when I first met her. I had to train her body and skills in order to do those kinds of things. There must be something with her background, she’s interesting so to say.

We get back to the guild and the ground floor is mostly empty save for some of the receptionists working behind the desks and cleaning the place and reorganizing everything. Then there’s some mercs staying around for maybe a contract or some of their companions and other reasons I can’t comprehend.

Anyway Prina and I go to the desk where Sylia is cleaning up the documents for today and sees us while she was doing so.

“I take it that it's a job done, hold on for a minute and let me just clear the contract.”

She takes the contract underneath the desk and places it so she can sign it and designate the contract as a cleared one and won’t have any more problems with it in the future.

She takes a pouch underneath the desk and hands it to me and says

“Here’s the reward, and remember to share it with Prina over there.”

“Yeah yeah I’ll remember that.”

“Well that’s done, if you guys want to we can eat dinner together.” I reply back to her

“That’s weird you typically never ask for dinner together.”

“Prina’s here and I wanna hear about her first contract, if you don’t mind Prina?”

“It’s fine with me Sylia, I’m tired from the whole thing and I think I stink a lot from the goblins’ blood and guts.”

“I don’t mind that Prina besides I got a place suited for you.”

“That’s nice Sylia.”

“I should hurry up with these, so if you could wait over there that would be good for me.”

“Sure sure Sylia” I replied back to her.

“Let’s go Prina let’s not distract her for the time being.” I say to Prina

We took some chairs and sat along the wall where we could see Sylia doing her thing. Prina then proceeds to talk with me.

“So how did I do?”

“For the most part you did pretty okay for my standards.”

“Just okay?”

“In the first place you had to get some of my help in order to do the whole thing disregarding the last part. You had me worried when you were knocked down in the alleyway.”

“Right I didn’t expect that.”

“It’s your job to expect those kinds of attacks especially unseen ones.” She’s getting droopy all of a sudden.

“Look in the first place you did great by the average standards. Most beginner parties won’t be able to handle a goblin group like that in the open. In my standards you did what I expected you to do, to be able to handle yourself in a situation like that.” She smiles for a bit. I continue.

“I gotta say though you surprised me when you threw one of the big goblins out of the alleyway. Didn’t think you were able to handle a goblin with a size like that so easily.”

Prina’s face lights up a bit more from that compliment.

“I’ll treat you to this dinner, how does that sound?”

“That sounds great.” She says with a smile.

“Before we finally go to dinner we should probably split the reward we got from the job.”

I check inside the pouch and see if the reward checks out. After doing so I take a few silver from the pouch and hand the rest to Prina. I then tell her

“Since it’s your first job you get most of the rewards for now. That has around 40 silver if I check correctly.”

“Thanks Santi.” she says to me, smiling all the way through.

Sylia comes out from the reception desk and makes her way towards us.

“That’s finally done.” She sighs. “Let’s go then.” She beckons for us to follow her. We get up from our seats and walk alongside her.

Once we are walking outside Sylia and Prina are talking together. I put a certain amount of distance to make sure I don’t eavesdrop on them or anything. It's their time together after all. It’s been a long day so it’s fine if I let them go like this. At one point Prina beckons me over as we talk about what exactly happened during the whole thing.

We get into a place which seems to be a tavern or a bar, there seems to be many people who are drinking or eating or having their own thing in the corners of the place. We manage to get a table in the middle of the establishment or close to it at least.

We managed to order enough food for Prina and got some drinks to go along with that as well. Right now we’re continuing to talk to each other about everything that happened earlier.

“I didn’t expect for the goblin to burn that easily.” Says Prina as she stuffs her mouth with some of the meat.

“Majority of the goblins are smaller than us and if I remember correctly smaller things are easier to set fire or you know burn them as you say.” Replies Sylia as she takes a sip of her beer.

“But the way you throw them seems so easy for you. Like I can’t believe my eyes that you have that capability.” I add to the conversation.

“They just feel so light to me like how a kid feels when you carry them although this time it feels more like you’re punishing bad children or the mischievous ones.” Then Sylia adds to the conversation

“I do hear that the creation of goblins is more akin to one of the gods or goddesses copying the naughty or mischievous children’s behavior but they amped that to the max or so the legends go.”

“That explains some things but I don’t know they look horrible as if some god just made a mashup of the ugliest things in the world.” Prina replies back to her.

“All that matters is that you killed and finished the job and made sure to bury them properly.” I add to the conversation.

“Cheers to your first job.” I raise my tankard

“Cheers” As they raise the drinks to bump with my tankard.

We continue on our conversations until Sylia turns to me with her already intoxicated with the alcohol from earlier.

“Santi please take care of Prina, no matter what.”

“Don’t worry Sylia , I’ll take care of her because Veron asked me to train her and I owe him for some of the things I asked.”

“I’m glad for you to say that” As she tries to hug me.

“You’re one of my friends Sylia, I won’t let you down.” She then slumps down on the table and it seems that she’s sleeping?

I take a closer look and she already closed her eyes and with her body starting to go up and down a bit. I look at Prina and she still seems kicking in and here I thought she’s the one that drank the most.

“Well I’ll pay for the meal. You can go home if you want to. I'll take care of Sylia here. Don’t worry it’s fine.” As I urge her I stand up from my seat

“Soooo when and where do we meet tomorrow?” She asks me.

“How about mid morning at the guild.” I start carrying Sylia over my back.

“Wait where does Sylia live again?” She asks me again.

“I think she lives more closely to the residential and commerce districts border, yeah somewhere around there.” Last I remember that the barracks for the newbies is somewhat near the guild and the guild is inside the commerce districts.

“You don’t mind if I walk with you a bit until we’re close right?”

“Do whatever you want.” I move to the counter and ask for our bill and pay it.

“Let’s go then.” She beckons

She’s already waiting outside for us looking at the starry sky and seems to be mouthing something.

“Saying your nightly prayers?” I ask her. She gets startled for a bit and a few seconds later she tells me.

“I do worship Lontihol for his many blessings that he gave us this night.”

“Don’t worry I worship him as well so you can rest easy.”

We start walking to our destinations. It seems the nightlife for the city is going to sleep for today, drunks walking around with someone sober to guide them, or them trying to walk sluggishly alone. The bars and taverns are fixing up the place. There is less light compared to earlier when the night seems young. As we walk Prina suddenly asks me.

“Why do you do this type of lifestyle in the first place.” I take a deep breath and tell her politely.

“It’s best if you don’t ask much about my past or the things I do, or generally about me.”

“Why?” She replies

“I’d rather not get into it. I'll tell you about it in the future.”

“Oh okay then. Then how about how you fight then. It seems way different than how I picture mercenary parties do it.”

“That’s because we’re either working alone or with a partner most of the time, we could get outnumbered easily by Zokun if we’re not careful.”

“You don’t get into parties?”

“What did I say earlier, no questions about me or my past.” I tell her again.

“All you need to know for now is that we only work together without anyone else on the job or you do your own alone except in extreme cases.” I continue.

“I understand.” She replies.

“Anything else you want to ask?”

“Nothing really, most of the questions I want to ask are about you and you said no about those topics.”

“Then why did you get into this job in the first place?”

“I don’t know actually, maybe to fulfill my dream of being a famous mercenary or being able to travel the whole world, but now I just think of it as I have to do this.” She gives a wry smile to me.

“I won’t bother why but you know you have the potential to still become famous, if you still want to go down that route.” I don’t know why I said that actually, am I doing it again?

“Thanks for trying to cheer me up but I have a different purpose.” She says as she looks down on her feet.

“Your choice then.” I reply to her.

We didn’t talk with each other after that exchange but walking together like this reminds me of my past partners. Those are some painful memories for me, I thought of them as my best friends, comrades so to say, They always leave for one reason or another. I miss them.

“I think we’re probably near to where we have to split up.” I notice when looking at big crossroads.

“Oh is that so, funny how time passes when you’re with somebody.” She says to me.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then.” I reply to her.

“Yeah, tomorrow at midmorning I’ll be waiting.”

I carry Sylia with me and separate from Prina. Her body feels weightless for me, how many years has it been since I met Sylia? Was it when I was 15 or 16? I have to thank her for all the shenanigans she put up with me. She suddenly speaks to me

“Santi can you please never let Prina go this time.” She says in a drunkish way.

“It always pains me when you have a partner you just get along with. Getting introduced with each other, hanging out with each other, and seeing you being happy with them when you get back from doing jobs. I don’t want to see that again please.”

I’m sorry about that Sylia, I didn’t think that also affected you but I don’t know if I can stop that from happening again. I feel like it’s just a curse for me. I can’t try again this time. I don’t want to make my memories more painful as it is. From now on she’s just a job from Veron, that’s all she is. What I do know is this, she’ll be a great person in the future. I promise you that.

I continue carrying Sylia into her home that night.