1 Cain The Fool

"Cain, Quick! Stab the Grublin's throat while it's still affected by Paralysis!"

In a dense forest, a blue-haired girl was pointing her staff at a convulsing huge green ape-like monster. The girl's hands were shaking and the expression on her face clearly reveals that she could not hold the paralysis spell for much longer.

A few meters away, a girl covered in cloak was hiding behind a tree, she currently had her arms stretched towards an unconscious man whose body was wrapped in a broken armor.

The last person was the brown-skinned young man called Cain, who was currently pointing a sword at the grublin's throat.

"Cain, what the hell are you doing!? KILL IT! I can't hold the spell anymore!", said the blue haired girl.

"B-but, we saw Grublin children earlier. This might be their father!"

One must know that holding a Paralysis spell takes a huge toll on one's mana, even more so for a low level Mage like her. And yet, the young man was hesitating to land the final blow- his sword just an inch away from the grublin's throat.

"What the fuck are you saying!? It's a monster! Do it now or else we will be the ones to die! Do-!", as the blue haired girl was about to finish her sentence, she felt her legs go limp and the staff fell from her grip- signs of running out of mana.

"W-we're dead. Lillia! Go! Run and take Rasmus with you, you should still be able to escape!", the blue haired girl stuttered as she slowly kneeled to the ground.

With the paralysis cancelled, the grublin finally regained control of its body again.

The grublin roared as it revealed its fangs, it was certain of its victory. After all, the only threat left, the female human with a fancy staff, was now rendered useless as she struggled to lift herself up from the ground..

And the brown-skinned male human in front of him? Psha, it felt like it was on his side.

But alas, the grublin's expectations instantly betrayed him.

"I am sorry, may you be resurrected as a bird in your next life!", Cain said as he swiftly pushed his sword through the grublin's throat. There was a bit of resistance due to the monster's thick skin, but in the end, steel won.

A single tear could be seen on Cain's face as he watched the grublin lifelessly fall to the ground.

'T-take care of my children', if the grublin could talk that is probably what it would say, at least that's what Cain thinks.

"A-are you alright, Theresa?", Cain said in a soft voice as he helped the blue-haired mage up.

"Don't touch me!", Theresa slapped Cain's hand, with her strength coming back to her, she immediately rushed towards the other two members of her party.

"How is Rasmus doing?", she said as she tried to catch her breath.

The young man that was lying on the ground was their vanguard.

"He-"

"Tch, w-what do you think?"

Before the healer called Lillia could answer, the young man she was healing opened his eyes and answered for her. "S-so, did we win?", the young man asked.

Theresa sighed as she nodded in relief, but afterwards, she looked at Cain, who was now kneeling beside the dead grublin with his eyes closed.

She could not help but feel annoyed as she looked at his peaceful face, "You! You almost got us killed!"

In truth, they were only a 3-man party but the Adventurer's Guild minimum requirement for the grublin subjugation quest was 4 people. Her party was in a rush because they were in need of money to buy new equipment, as their vanguard, Rasmus's armor was already old and tattered.

Obviously, Cain was not their first choice of companion to add to their team. After all, Cain was notorious as being the most stupid person in the guild, with people often calling him "Cain the Fool".

Cain has been stuck as a Substitute in the guild for 2 years. Substitutes were barely considered as adventurers, as they have not really formally completed the test to be one.

What was the last test? It was to kill a monster. A monster that was captured by the guild to be used as a test.

And for Cain, it just did not feel right.

With that, most of the members treat Cain as the adventurer guild's number one trash, only suitable for filling up their numbers. Mostly carrying the party's things, or cooking for them.

Theresa and her party tried to recruit everyone else but Cain, but in an ironic turn of events, only Cain was available to join them on this mission of theirs.

"If you were going to kill the grublin you should've done it earlier! I swear, I will report you for sabotage!", Theresa continued to shout as she flailed her finger towards Cain.

"N-no! Please... I-i'm sorry! D-don't report me!"

Like most adventurers, Cain was in need of money and being an adventurer was the only thing he was capable of. He tried being a merchant once but he ended up giving away all of the things he was selling to people who needed it.

Cain also worked as a miner during his free time. But although one can live a normal life as a laborer, he didn't live for just himself.

Cain lived in an orphanage in the city for all his life, and once he was old enough to repay and help the people that helped him grow, he did so without a second thought.

Being an adventurer was the only job that paid well enough to support the orphanage. It was alright if he doesn't have anything to eat, but the people in the orphanage should always have food on their table.

"I-I need the gold to feed my brothers and sisters!"

"That's enough, Theresa. We knew we couldn't rely on this trash! It was just our bad luck that he was the only one available to join us", Ramsus said with disdain as Lillia helped her get up.

"R-rasmus!", Lillia was shocked when she heard Rasmus badmouthing Cain.

"What, Lillia? it's true! Already 19 years old but still a substitute adventurer!"

"..."

Rasmus scoffed with disdain at Cain. Although Lillia wanted to mediate the situation, she knew deep in her mind that both of her party members were in the right- Cain was a burden.

Yes, Cain did kill the grublin in the end, but if he had the courage to do so from the start, maybe Rasmus wouldn't have been in the bad state he was in.

"Y... I-I will not take any of the profits from selling the grublin loot. Just please don't report me!", Cain pleaded to the group.

"Tch. Let's just go back for today, we're in no shape to hunt any more of these monkeys. We will decide what to do with you when we go back to the guild! Make yourself useful and carry the grublin's corpse back to the cart!", Theresa said as he walked past Cain.

"O-okay!"

Cain could not help but grit his teeth as the weight of the grublin was too heavy for him to carry alone.

But Cain has no right to complain, after all, his adventurer license was at stake and he knows that this is ultimately his fault.

'I must endure... the orphanage needs me'

The party continued to walk back to the town, the other three were merrily chatting while Cain was at the back trying to catch up.

"After this quest, the 3 of us should take the promotion exam to become Bronze rank adventurers!"

"You know we can't yet, Rasmus. I need to be a level 30 Mage before I can take it"

"I... I think you've levelled up our last fight. You should apply for a reevaluation when we get back"

"Haha! I guess the trash not killing the grublin sooner might have been a blessing in disguise!"

"Y-you guys don't need to call Sir Cain trash, that's mean... e-even when it's true!"

'You guys do know I can hear you, right', Cain thought as he sighed.

*GWAAAAA!*

Suddenly, the group heard a loud roar.

"W-what was that sound!?"

The party looked at each other for questions, but they didn't have to look for long.

Soon, they heard the trees and leaves rustle at the direction they came from. A huge bulky canine with wings on its back could be seen slowly walking towards them.

"T-this... What the hell is that!?", Rasmus went in front of the girls and raised his shield.

Cain, who was nearer to the beast stared in shock.

"T...that's a W-wulfnir. It's a Level..C beast! It must've smelled the grublin's blood!", Cain said as he slowly put the grublin corpse down. 'T-this is bad'.

"A level C beast!? What the hell is it doing here!? We don't have a chance here, we need to run!"

"I-I will cast a movement spell! Sir Cain, p-please come here!", Lillia beckoned as she placed her hands together.

"O-okay...", Cain nodded. Slowly moving towards the group, careful not to alarm the wulfnir. But before he could even take 2 steps-

*GRRRAAAW*

The Wulfnir growled and showed its fangs as it also slowly walked towards the group.

"Cain! Stop moving!", Rasmus gestured Cain to stop.

The Wulfnir also stopped moving when Cain stood still.

Sudden realization came to the group, the Wulfnir was not after the grublin, it wanted fresh meat. Testing this theory, Rasmus stepped back and the Wulfnir growled in response.

The party's breathing started to get heavy.

"Any suggestions here, guys?"

"S-Should we try to fight it?"

"Against a level C beast? We're as good as dead"

The party tried racking their brain on what to do, if they started to run, no matter how fast they were, a level C beast would definitely catch them. If they tried to fight, well, let's just say they would last longer running away.

Being the one nearer to the magic beast, Cain's breathing was the worst. But even so, he wasn't thinking about himself. He thought of the orphanage and all of the kids that are relying on him, he thought of his current party members, all of them probably younger than him and have a life full of adventure ahead of them.

'They don't deserve to die here', Cain thought. "Guys, there's an orphanage at the 10th street, please take care-"

But before Cain could finish what he was saying, he felt a heavy object hit him from behind, causing him to lose balance and hit the floor hard.

He could not really look at what the object was, as his eyes were solely focused on the monster that was in front of him.

But if he were just to look slightly behind him, he would know that the object that hit him...

...was Rasmus' shield.