Helping hand

After hearing what Riki had to say, Aion lowered his head and Nessa patted him on the back.

"Aion, you don't have to make a decision right now, and you don't have to do it if you don't want to," Nessa said, he looked at her and then smiled.

"Most people think of us goblins as useless; most never get the chance to evolve into hobgoblins like we did; I want to get stronger, too, I will take the offer," He replied.

"And so will we," Nessa and Riki both smiled as the others spoke.

"I am checking one last time, are you guys sure?" Riki asked and they nodded, then Riki looked at Nessa and she shrugged then he grinned.

"All right, go to him; he'll begin your training right away," Riki said.

"OK, see you later," Aion replied as he and his friends dashed away, and Nessa glanced at Riki.

"Do you think we need more fighters because if something happens, we might not be able to defend ourselves?" She asked, and he looked at her.

"I- Yeah," He responded, lowering his head.

"Lift your head up, I didn't say anything was wrong with that, I thought the same thing, thank you," She said and he left staring at her before smiling.

"You're welcome; as long as we're here, we'll put our skills to use; see you later, my lady," He said before leaving.

'Things are going perfectly fine so far, I just have a bad feeling, I just hope we don't have to face trouble anytime soon,' Nessa thought as Dalia approached her and she looked at the girl.

"Are you okay , my lady?" Dalia asked.

"Yeah, I am fine," She responded as Dali gazed at her then sighed.

"You're doing well, my lady; perhaps you should go get some fresh air, I will go put my strength to use," Daila said as she walked away, and Nessa smiled at her.

While looking at everyone's work, Nessa looked up in the sky and saw the very same phoenix passing by and she smiled at it when she remembered how afraid she was of it when they first met.

'If I can build the nation of my dreams, I'll protect it and make sure that even if something bad happens, the people who live in it can still smile,' Nessa thought as she jumped up on one of the houses that were under construction and Youthim and the others looked at her.

"My lady," Dalia remarked.

"What do you think you are doing?" Youthim asked.

"I can also help you guys," She responded with a grin, and Youthim smiled.

"We know you can do it, but are you certain?" Youthim asked as she took a deep breath, releasing the red strings using her fingers and they wrapped around the woods and as her eyes glowed red, the strings began to move, pulling the wood up, and Youthim sighed.

"Do you have to pull it with your strength?" Tehitos inquired.

"Nope, the strings move according to my will, no strength required, I can just stand here and it will do whatever I want," She responded as Tehitos and Youthim exchanged glances.

"That's a very useful ability," Tehitos observed, and Nessa smiled.

"Fine, you can help," Youthim said, and Nessa smiled as she began easily moving the woods around with the red strings.

The goblins brought them food and drink while they worked and they took breaks in between too, everyone in the town were helping, doing their own share of work.

"Guys, have you ever been past the waterfall?" Nessa asked and they looked at her.

"No, I don't think we'll be able to pass," Zietaz responded.

"I think you might, I will see to that later, anyways, let's get back to work, also I want to leave for Masca in a few days," She said, and they smiled, realizing she needed to do a lot more to form the nation she desired and understood that she had to leave in order to do so.

"May I ask, my lady, where you got the money to do all of this?" Youthim asked while working and she looked at him and then smiled.

"It's fine, it's only natural for you to want to know. I got it from a friend, at least I think he is, though he has a similar desire to ours, he wants to see if we can actually create a place where we can all coexist without a problem, he recommended I go to Masca," She responded.

"Well, after hearing that, it doesn't appear that he has any bad intentions, giving that much money, but still be careful," Youthim said and she sighed.

"I had the same thought before, more than once, don't worry, I'll be careful," She replied and he smiled.

Everything was going well for Nessa and the others who had started living with her, but she had no idea that trouble was on the way, trouble that threatened the entire forest and everything within it, and her town was in the way.

Despite being their leader, Nessa spent the entire day assisting everyone. They were all taken aback by her willingness to get her hands dirty.

Nessa may have come from a more modern world, but she had many struggles to overcome, so helping her people out was nothing to her, and she was determined to make her mark in this strange and still unfamiliar world to her because she had not had the opportunity to visit anywhere else but understood the ways things worked for most of them.

After nightfall, Nessa had dinner then went to bed because she was tired, but when she fell asleep, her chest began to glow bright red, and a flower marking appeared on her, and her body began to get really cold, causing her to wake up immediately, after which her chest stopped glowing, and she left staring at the mark on her chest, before getting out of her bed and looking at herself in a mirror, wondering what it was and why it had appeared on her.