Celebration at the Goblin Village…

"Ugh, my head... where am I?"

In bed, a certain injured goblin found himself, full of some shallow and minor wounds, at most, one over his left eye, all of which treated in bandages, luckily enough, he could still see out of it, the soreness was what he found the worse of it.

"Oh, you're awake?"

Ag, the one in bed, looked over to find another in bandages, with a makeshift crutch on his right, he was someone Ag finds very familiar.

"Qier? So glad you're alright, I thought the worse when that abomination hit you and sent you flying, I couldn't even see where you landed... but where are we? And what happened to that monster?"

"Back home, and as for the monster, the guards managed to kill it, lucky enough that we tired it out and Olivia-"

"OH CRAP! How's Olivia? That thing got her the worse! Please, in the name of Argustus she's not de-"

"She's okay, don't worry, I was thinking the same, but I looked outside, and I think it all ended good....

Ag looked outside and saw what Qier was implying...

There was monument that looked like a giant metal fire pot, with small holes and carvings all over it, making out a some kind of story.

Currently, a great fire burned in it, outside the window, located in the middle of the town, and there were people everywhere, celebrating, there were tables with food, drinks, and everyone was talking, dancing the night away like no tomorrow, they knew it as...

"A festival? But why?"

At that moment, a female goblin walked into the room and saw them.

"Oh, both of you are up? That's good, we have bandaged your wounds as you see, and you both should be good to walk around, but don't push yourselves, not all of your wounds are shallow enough to be ignored, some even are stacked on top of each other, so it's very possible for them to open up again if you engage in any vigorous physical activity, so give yourselves a couple of weeks or maybe even a month, and you both should be good & healthy again."

"Umm, hey, why is everyone celebrating? I know we just defeated that monster, but I don't think that's big enough of a reason to-"

"Oh, it's quite simple, the Chief's daughter, Olivia, the one you were with, was extremely injured in the battle and was thought to die from the wounds as her condition was continuously getting worse and the treatment wasn't helping at all, but a miracle happened and she was completely healed, and the Chief declared a celebratory festival was in order.

Both Ag's and Qier's face transitioned from shock & fear to astonishment and relief, both with a single question in mind, with Qier beating him to the punch and asking...

"How did she get healed, I know for sure there are no healers in our small village, and the village is little known about, at most, there's that human village… but I'm aware they don't have any healers either..."

She responded with, "Why don't you ask her yourself? She's with her family on the porch of the house."

"Thank you for the information."

They bowed and followed after her as they left, as they exited the building where they cared for the injured, the woman said her goodbye's and left to enjoy the festivities, while the two scurried on over to the chief's house, grabbing something quick to eat and drink as they walked over to the house, which was on the other side of the fire pot, as the infirmary where they were cared for was directly opposing the house, and once it came into view, they were surprised to find what was waiting there...

There was a large table shaped like a upside down "T", with the ceremonious fire pot a fair distance away, it was used for a good majority of the people who were eating, and at the side facing the Chief's house, that's where the family sat, talking with each other and their people, it was loud and full of talk, always in the background, well, more so than anywhere else in the village.

With the Chief and his wife in the middle, and the trio of sisters on their right side with the other, older one on the left side, speaking of which...

"Ag! Qier! I'm so glad you guys are okay!"

As they walked over, they found Olivia getting up from her chair and running up towards them, and before they could think, she was hugging the both of them.

"Easy! You're going to open up our wounds again if you hug us like that!", Qier remarked.

She immediately released them and then, clearing her throat, spoke...

"Sorry about that, I was just worried about you guys, I wanted to check up on you, but my dad didn't want me to leave his sight and after all of the fuss about me nearly dying... and with my family missing me so much after leaving... I just couldn't leave."

"It's all right, that's more than understandable, especially considering how you were the most injured out of all of us, I think you had more than enough of a good reason for not being able to see us, and on a related note..."

Ag looked her up and down, causing her to end up a little red.

With a straight, honest, surprised face, said, "I am surprised that you don't have a single cut, gash, or puncture on you, I know you got healed, but to be so thorough to the point where there's not a single wound or scar left, and you being able to walk around like nothing happened... it's honestly amazing."

She calmed herself and answered plainly, "It was all thanks to a mushroom."

They both were at first confused, then, as if realization dawned on them, they laughed, with Qier replying, "Nice joke, so they used some kind of miracle mushroom to treat you and it healed you completely?"

Ag didn't believe that, as he remembered what the woman from earlier mentioned how all treatments weren't working, so it wasn't like that, and a mushroom that somehow healed all wounds, rejuvenated energy, and left no scars in record time, that sounded impossibly rare and something from the innermost area of the forest, and they just returned from a trip from there, so that was definitely not it, just what did she mean by it all being thanks to a 'mushroom'?

She looked at them both seriously, Qier realized what her look meant and said, "Wait, so what did heal you?"

They both gazed at her with questioning looks.

"A mushroom healed me."

They both looked confused but before they could mention another word, Olivia busted out laughing, she was clutching her stomach as she couldn't contain her laughter, with tears in her eyes, both of the boys eyed each other, and both thought at the same time, 'Did we miss the joke?'.

They both waited patiently for her to finish laughing, which took almost a solid minute, this confirmed in their minds that Olivia was completely okay and healthy, which made them smile in happiness that the event didn't affect her, despite how gruesome it was.

Before they started to relieve the memory, Olivia finally calmed down and spoke, "Sorry, sorry, let me just catch my breath, ~𝐈𝐧𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐞~ ~𝐄𝐱𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐞~, okay, I did that on purpose just to see what your reactions would be, I just had to see your reactions, I'll show you what I mean, come with me."

They both knew Olivia and understood this was just her messing around and dutifully went with her, and as they went to the left side of the table where she was sitting, they already found two seats left for them, which touched them for her thinking ahead and saving seats for them, and then they realized...

"You planned that joke, didn't you?", Qier guessed with a smirk.

"Guilty as charged", she winked at him, and as they finally arrived at their seats, they found another one on the left of Olivia's chair, and what was on it immediately left them flabbergasted and gave them the answer at the same time.

On the chair was two boxes to raise a small red pillow, and on that pillow, lay a mushroom, only a good couple dozen of inches tall with roughly half that in diameter for its stem, colored black with its cap a deep, luscious green, and with a slight look of translucence, it looked magical.

"You weren't joking... but if it 'healed' you, how is it still here?"

As Quier asked that question, he approached it, along with Ag, and he was quick to notice a small hole the shape of a small oval.

"Why does it have an empty hole? Was whatever in it used to heal you?"

Qier thought that was it, but Olivia almost immediately said, "Heavens no!"

They looked confused again and Ag asked, "What caused that reaction?"

Olivia was about to give them the actual answer before thinking of something else, and smiled innocently, "How about both of you touch it, and then you will get your answer?"

They both gave a weird glance, and simultaneously, walked right in front of the mushroom's seat, bent down a little to face it, and each put a single finger on the cap of the mushroom...

Before they could exclaim why it felt warm, two dots of green light appeared in the dark hole where its eyes are supposed to be, and now, the two groups were know facing each other, with one groups' hands on the other...

On both sides, they all yelled at the same time, "WHAT THE-!?"

Except, for Cari, he only thought that and made an odd, high pitch squeal in surprise.

~QUEIIII~

They both jumped back in surprise, Ag and Qier back towards Olivia, and Cari as he managed a backflip and landed on the ground opposing the new trio.

"It's ALIVE?!", Qier shouted in astonishment towards Olivia, who seemed to be barely holding herself together as she laughed hysterically.

With uncontrollable laughter, she said, "Guys, meet the mushroom who saved my life, and I didn't think it would wake up PERFECTLY when that happened… I thought it might happen but..."

At the same time, Cari, who just conveniently woke up in the middle of two young men putting their hands on him, was stunned on the spot that two random guys were intently staring at him, unknown to both him and the other 3, there were small streaks under his eyes and he was glowing a bit more than normal, he felt a weird fluctuation of emotions then, and now.

This moment caught the attention of the people nearby, and a good lot laughed, including the Chief's family.

Before Olivia could explain, the Chief himself got out of his chair, and walked over to Qier and Ag, passing by Cari, and said, "Thank you both for protecting my daughter, she is one of the stars that light up my life, so I thank you, truly."

"Daaaaad..."

He gave a slight chuckle at his daughter's reaction, and explained, "You see, as I brought her to my home for treatment after the monster was dealt with, I tried to stabilize her, but nothing was working, it was as if the very energy of her was sucked away, and I had lost hope, then, for some reason unknown, this mushroom made an appearance, and in a show of green light, healed her condition, wounds, and even her eyes.

If I had to take a guess, the monster was a Beast, as it seemed much stronger than any regular animal or creature, however, I must ask, just what did it do to leave Olivia in such a condition?"

Cari heard it all and was also naturally curious, he still remembered the amount of pain and suffering he felt, and she was almost empty of life energy, so whatever happened with that 'Beast' was not normal.

Qier looked at Ag for a moment, a look of complication, as if contemplating something, before Ag himself decided to answer accurately and swiftly, not wanting to remain on the subject for long.

"The plant-based monster had no method to eat, so, it is easy to say before it became a Beast, it was parasitic, so it kept that part of itself as it grew into the monstrosity it was, to put it straight, it used intrusive thin roots to-"

Before he could finish, the Chief held up his hand, and said plainly, "I think I can guess the rest, it used her injuries, huh? I didn't find any thin punctures when examining her, it makes complete sense."

He nodded in agreement.

He was the only one to witness it as Olivia fell unconscious due to her injuries during the fight, and Qier was knocked out when he was sent flying away, so only Ag knew the full picture, and based on that, the Chief could tell...

"You were the one to get the Beast off of her and get her to safety before we managed to arrive and put an end to it, that is my best guess as to why no-one could give me an explanation to her condition, you collapsed from exhaustion the moment we arrived and guaranteed your team's safety."

The Chief now knew the full story, Olivia already filled him in on how they encountered the creature; as they were returning to the town from the journey, they had to stick to the border of the inner and outer forest, and unfortunately, the Beast was there to meet and greet them, they fought and ran, eventually getting close enough to the village where some of the hunters found them and ran back to alert the Chief, and the rest is history...

With all the holes in the story filled, he had no more questions, and stepped up so that he can whisper in Ag's ear, and whatever he said, managed to get rid of that empty, downcast expression he had instantly as Ag lit up red like a cherry.

With a goofy smile from the Chief, Qier was able to answer a question long on his mind...

'So it is genetic, I knew it.'

With that, he turned to face Cari, who was now facing him.

They stared at each other for a moment, but in that moment, Cari saw a mysterious glint in his eyes, which made him uncomfortable.

But as it turns out, he continued to stare at Cari, with that uncomfortable, blank face.

The stare only lasting longer and longer, making him more and more oppressed, Cari began to fidget about, but as if waiting for that, sudden, boisterous laughter sounded out, which startled him.

"Hahaha, so you are aware, so sorry about that, but I had to know if you were able to understand me, with you just standing there, it was impossible to tell if you were like an animal, or like me and my people, cognizant."

'Definitely genetic.', Qier reaffirmed.

'Wait, that was calculated?', Cari thought.

Cari continued to listen to Chief, with a new respect for him.

"I have to thank you too, for you saved her life just as much as the others, if it weren't for you, she would've died either way."

He walked forward, which looked intimidating to Cari as he was just short of the Chief's ankle, he could easily squash him if he had the chance, but Cari waited patiently, trusting him.

The Chief slowed to a stop in front of him and knelt on both knees to make eye contact easier.

"Thank you."

~Uhp!~

He may not be able to talk, but he can be damned if he isn't going to try and imply "Your welcome" with sounds.

"Do you have a name?", Olivia asked.

Olivia wasn't able to talk to the little one until now, but upon figuring out that the mushroom was aware of itself, she wanted to thank it with... his? Her name?

With learning the general language from En, it also came with the common written language, which was symbols.

Cari started to drag himself across the dirt, forming the symbols that eventually spelt...

They all read it, with Olivia saying out loud, "C-A-R-I, well, thank you Cari, from one girl to another."

"..."

'You got to be kidding me.'