26 Guards

Later…

Several people were inside the goblin hut. Men were carrying the kidnapped woman out of the goblin's nest. Will had obviously called for them.

Grace made sure to keep close to the elven women and made sure that their disguises weren't exposed. As soon as they're healed, Grace is gonna lead them back to the nearest elf village.

Many people were outside talking to themselves. Some ran up to some of the women because they were her relatives, husbands, fathers, siblings.

Some were just dropped to the ground crying. Many of their relatives were already dead, and eaten by the goblins.

Will would be lying if he didn't feel bad for the villagers, but he remembered the other village, and how he wanted to help them but they ended up attacking him instead.

He had learned his lesson and not to help everyone he crosses paths with.

Even if there are those who seek your help, sometimes they don't deserve your help.

The only reason why he did what he did is because he needed the goblin parts for Adaline, and Grace wanted to save the elven women. And these men were the only ones who could heal them.

"Thank you brave man. Someone from the Reyes kingdom finally came." An elderly man came to thank Will. He was old, short, and used a wooden cane.

"What?" Asked Will.

"We asked help from the kingdom to eradicate the goblins nest. Here's the promised payment." The elderly men handed Will a pouch full of coins.

Will counted the money, and it was 50 silver coins.

"Thanks." Will kept the money. It was basically free money, and he had done them a service that so happened to coincide with his goals, why wouldn't he take it?

"Mary!"

An old man and an old lady ran up to one of the women who was being carried away. She was still awake. The lady called 'Mary' slowly said something to her parents, they had to place their ears closer to her mouth to hear her.

"If there's anything you need, please tell us." The old man slowly walked back to the village, with the help of his young nephew supporting him.

Will followed Grace and the elven woman back to the village. The village was doing far better than the one that was led by Jim. They were healthy, the economy was good, they were all well fed, their hygiene was good.

But Will would have a hard time trusting so many strangers like that again. He kept his guns close to him and was wary. He still wore his dragon armor at all times just to be safe.

They took the injured women inside a building that was the hospital.

They placed two of the elven women in a separate room after running out of space in the other room.

Will and Grace were naturally there.

"Relax, I am a professional."

It was a man in his mid twenties. He took out a pill/potion, crushed it to dust, mixed it with water, and poured drops of it on their cuts.

Their bodies were getting in better shape.

"They are so badly hurt that they can't even open their mouths to eat this. Lucky for us there are other ways to administer these healing potions. Physical damage is not a problem for us to heal. But mentally I cannot say if they will ever recover from what they had just gone through. If it's okay they need to stay here for a few days until I can assess their condition."

Grace nodded.

"Hold on." Will said.

"Yes, young man?"

"What did you use just now? That pill thing."

"This thing? It's a healing potion."

"Where did you get it?" Will needs to know how to make those potions.

"Right around the corner you will find someone who sells and makes potions."

"Thanks. I'll be back Grace." Will knelt beside her ear and said "be on your guard."

Grace nodded.

Will walked to the potion store. No matter what he needs to know how to make potions, and that starts now.

The building was oddly identical to the one he saw in the kingdom of Reyes.

"Hello?" Will entered the store.

"Hey. What are you looking to buy?" Another young man was labeling and cleaning the potions that were for sale. There were several vials, each of them had pills inside with different colors.

"I don't want to buy, I want to know how you make potions."

"Oh." The man went back and got a book.

"Here ya go. That'll be 5 silver pieces for this book. It details every single basic pill the potion makers have discovered." He said.

"No, I don't need… actually, I'll take it." Will handed him 5 silver coins and took the book.

"Thanks. Anything else?"

"Yes, how do you grow ajio?"

"Grow them? I'm surprised you don't know that since basically everyone knows." The man went back to the store and took out a pot filled with dirt, and two things that looked like broccoli but different colors and sizes.

"These are ajios." He said.

"Um… both of them?"

"Yes, you see this little, white one, is an ajio seed. It doesn't look like a seed at all. It causes no harm when you eat it, but it does taste like an onion, and also very sour, the same goes for the other one. Place it on a pot filled with dirt, water it daily, keep it out of the sun, they grow in cold, dark places." The man gave Will a small presentation for him. He was very helpful.

"And then wait a few months and the ajio will grow into this red one. It's bigger and fatter. Once it has turned into this color and size, you are ready to make potions."

"How many seeds do you have?" Asked Will.

"A few hundred. How many do you want?"

"I'll take 50 ajio seeds. And also 5 fully grown ajio's."

"That'll be… 1 silver and 25 copper coins."

Will handed him two silver coins, the man gave Will his change.

"How do I make potions?"

"Everything you need to know is written in the book."

"Thanks a lot." Will left the store while reading the book. It was less than 60 pages, and it even had pictures, this is the kind of book Will likes to read. It was simple and easy to remember.

Will noticed on his right 3 men were looking at him. Once Will looked at him they turned their heads around.

Will frowned. He closed the book and kept it safe beneath his shirt. He took out his pistol and was wary of them.

He came across another store, it was a store that sells masks.

The store wasn't a building, it looked more like a garage sale.

"Hello there, is there anything that you like here?" It was another old man, he wore a red hat, and had grey hair, and wrinkles all over his body.

"What are these three masks?" Will asked. There were many masks, but three of them stood out the most.

"This mask is from the image that I drew when I saw the pig king one time. It's a pig, with a gold crown on it's head that's also part of its body. Although it is merely a legend, I heard that no-blade could pierce it's hide. And legend also has it that it once defeated a squid after almost an entire year of fighting… how I heard it is way better than I am telling it."

"How about this one?"

"This is from a design that I drew from a corpse rabbit from the stories. Though I only finished halfway. It is a story that scares kids, that it's nothing but terror, and has the lowest, deepest voice that could shake your bones, or so the stories go."

"And this one?"

"This is a mask with a smiley face, and dots for eyes. This idea came to me in a dream."

Will took a look at the masks and walked away without buying anything.

"Wonder who would buy those ugly masks. But the rabbit one looks kinda cool to be honest… eh, not worth it." He chuckled to himself.

As he was in thought, someone ran up to him from behind and hit him on the head with a heavy blunt object.

Will felt it, but thanks to his dragon helmet he didn't feel any pain.

Will turned around and saw it was the same three men who were looking at him weird.

"Hey, it was just a joke man." He dropped his weapon when he saw that Will was still standing. His two buddies were also behind him.

Will took a pistol out and shot him in the leg.

"OW!!! BASTARD ELF!!!" He cried and screamed in pain.

"Elf?" Will said.

The two other men ran up to Will with bats on their hands, but Will pointed his gun at them and they stopped.

"We already know who you are now. The guards will come for you now." The man on the ground laughed at Will.

"What are you saying?"

"You elves thought that you could hide with your disguises, but we know."

Will realized something, they somehow knew Grace's identity, but mistook him as an elf because he's with her.

"That's the one. He came with the elf. Our daughter overheard them in the goblin nest."

It was the same old woman and old man who ran to her daughter 'Mary' as it turns out. Mary was still conscious when they rescued her. She heard Will and Grace talking about elves, and realized that they were elves.

As soon as she got out, she told her parents, and they told the village. Everyone held weapons on their hands, some were guns, others were blunt objects.

The man on the ground was laughing at him.

Elves could be sold as slaves as it was a legal law in this world. If someone sees an elf, reports it, they will get paid if their information is right.

Everyone here was greedy to their very core. Why would they all let this opportunity escape from them? It was free money. And since they weren't near a forest, their Goddess Lea wouldn't protect them.

Will was angry right now. This village was doing a whole lot better than Jim's village. They didn't need the money. Not only that but he rescued their people practically 10 minutes ago.

"I see, that's how it is then. Even after what Grace and I did for you..." He dropped a chest and grew in size, he dropped it on top of the man that he shot and it crushed his head, killing him instantly.

Some of them yelled in horror. To kill a person in front of them and in such a brutal manner.

"This is the thanks we get. Then let me show you all just how grateful I am. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6…"

Will started counting down. He reached for his chest and took out his assault rifle.

"1, 0."

He started a volley of bullets and shot them all. The villagers began screaming, never in their wildest thoughts did they think an elf would be so brazen enough to use an assault gun and shoot them all to protect himself.

The ones who had guns started firing back at Will.

Will also got some stone from the chest and built a wall in front of him for cover. He reloaded his weapons and began shooting them once more.

The villagers stood no chance. They all began hiding and running.

Will had his dragon armor, and a shield. He deflected practically all of them. As long as he wasn't shot with a enchanted weapon he was good. Will slowly made his way to Grace to get them out of here.

"Grace?"

He ran inside the room. The middle-aged man had his throat cut by Grace, and there were several other men here with an arrow on their hearts.

Grace was on the corner of the room, the elves were behind her.

"Did you plan this?! Did you tell them?!" Grace was scared and angry at the moment.

"No, one of the women we saved from the goblin's nest overheard us talking. They think that we're both elves." Will explained carefully.

"That…"

"Grace, I would never put you in danger. Just like I would never put Adaline in a position like that, I would never do that to you." Will said.

Grace looked in his eyes, it was sincere. She could tell he was telling the truth.

"Let's get out of here." Will kept a lookout in case other men were pursuing them.

"It's okay. We can trust him." Grace assured the other two elven women.

"But, Princess…"

"He might be a human… but I think we can trust him." Grace said sincerely.

The elven women nodded. If it were anyone else they would never believe them. But the one who assured them was the Princess of the elves.

Silvas is the king of the elves. That would make Arbor and Grace royalty of the elven race.

Will and Grace were shooting and protecting the elven women. The villagers didn't think this through at all. If JIm were here he would've let a better assault force. Good thing no one smart here was leading them.

"If we make it to the forest we'll be safer there." Grace said.

"I agree." As they were about to leave the village, they heard tremors beneath their feet and they felt the ground shaking.

Dozens of horses entered the village. They all wore the same armor as the ones from the king of Reyes. They all had pistols and assault rifles with them. The one in the front wore enchanted armor.

Will and Grace saw them.

"Shit! The guards are here. We need to run." Grace dragged them all before they could see them.

"Are they strong?" Asked Will.

"Strong? Yes. The weapons and armor they're wearing make them impossible to kill with our puny weapons. Even if you shot them in the head, a shield will protect them."

Will took one more look at the guards and fled as fast as they could.

Once the guards in horses saw the scene of the village, the one in charge said, "Spread out. The elves must've done this."

They all acted swiftly and surrounded the village.

Grace and Will saw that and cursed. They ran inside the nearest building.

"What do we do?" Asked Grace.

"If they catch us, we fight." Will said.

They hid underneath a counter and backed up against the wall. Will was planning how to get out of here.

He felt something cold and hard on his back, what he thought was the wall, was actually a small safe.

"Any ideas?" Grace asked.

"No."

"Well… I knew this day would one day come."

Will could hear the guards swiftly running around the village checking building by building.

"Man, this all happened because we happened to help a couple of village idiots that were chained up underground… wait, underground." Will had an idea.

He took out his pickaxe as quickly as possible and started digging as fast as he could.

"Grace, tell the elves that when I tell them to, jump down this hole. Which is now, go!"

Grace led the elven woman inside the hole. First thing Will did was take the metal safe with him, which shrunk as soon as he touched it with his pick.

He covered the ground using the same floor tiles, completely covering their tracks. Minutes later, guards showed up and searched the area. Once they found nothing they continued looking elsewhere.

They couldn't tell that beneath them were the ones they were looking for.

Grace, Will, and the two elven women were very silent, not making a sound in the slightest.

Will kept mining as quietly as he could to make them a path that leads outside the village.

Will knew that living underground like this would only give them a limited oxygen supply. So waiting for the guards to go away was not an option.

Will purposefully mined a little bit lower so they would be further away from the surface and no one would hear them. He covered the path he made to cover their tracks completely.

Beneath the surface, the guards kept looking and looking.

"Sir, we did not find the ones who attacked the village. But we did find many victims and they all gave detailed drawings of their faces. Here's how they look."

It was 2 portraits, one looked identical to Grace. The other was hard to tell because it was just mostly drawings of a guy wearing a dragon helmet.

"Can we get a better detailed picture of him?"

"No one saw his full face as he never took off this helmet."

"Hmm…" The one in charge was in deep thinking.

"Why would elves suddenly attack this village knowing that we were coming? Why did they even bother coming here?"

The soldier didn't explain because he too didn't know.

"Doesn't make sense, but it does not change the fact that we need to pursue them. Find them."

"Yes, sir."

The one in charge was doing a little detective work and finding bits of clues and asking the surviving victims.

Further away from the village, Will dug a hole to the surface.

"That was tiring." Will sat down and rested. Mining for that long without taking a break was too much for him.

Grace noticed that Will dug out in the middle of the forest. She immediately contacted the trees.

"It seems you brought us pretty far away from that human village. Those guards won't find us here." Grace sighed in relief.

"I know, I'm too good." Will laughed a bit, then took out a bottle of water and drank it all.

"Princess…" The elven women didn't know how to express their thanks to her.

"The village is a bit far from here. But you two can make it there easily." Grace.

"Princess, we're too scared and weak to walk there."

"I know. Good thing I called for help."

An organic creature came and rubbed it's body on Grace's legs. It was the same organic creature that she rode in the past.

As soon as she arrived at the forest, she called for her mount in order to help them travel faster. Who would've know that he would be used in this situation.

Sten resembles a lot like a 6-legged goat made out of organic material.

"His name is Sten. He'll carry you both to the village."

"Thank you, Princess." They couldn't bring themselves to thank Will at all. Today was a terrible, traumatizing day for them.

First goblins scarred them for life mentally, and spiritually. Next, humans tried enslaving them soon after.

They got on top of Sten, and they rode off.

One of the elven women looked at Will for a short moment, she wanted to thank him, but couldn't.

"They'll be fine." Grace was now relieved and sat down on a log.

"That's good. I even got this from the village." Will placed the metal safe that he stole.

"Why'd you take that?"

"It was there, and I had the power to take it, so why not?"

He jammed the steel pickaxe and pried it open like a crowbar.

"And… it's gold… I expected something better." Will frowned a bit.

Grace reached the inside the safe and took out a leather pouch and looked inside it.

"And also I think that's diamonds. I heard those are pretty rare."

Inside the chest were three gold bars, a pouch of diamonds, and coins that equaled 10 gold coins.

"How much are gold bars worth in coins?" Asked Will. He didn't want or need money, but it didn't hurt to have some.

"If I remember correctly, each bar is worth like… 20 gold pieces give or take."

"So 60 gold for the bars… how about the diamonds?"

"I don't know. I never paid that much attention to how much things are worth. Elves don't use money, only humans do."

Will touched the gold and tried to place it inside his chest, but he got a new recipe unlocked.

"Now that I think about it I have never found gold when I mined during the past month."

He opened the brown book, and what he saw what he had just unlocked in his book, it shocked him to his very core.