Courage

Running inside the forest, it thought it had escaped it's fate only to be dumbfounded. Four more oddly shaped greenish fireball were chasing after it.

Barely it his behind the tree, from the fireballs.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The explosion were loud and made everything the fire collide burn in greenish flames. The goblin which was hiding behind the tree was now surrounded by the river of greenish flames ready to devour it at anytime.

Boom!

With another oddly shaped fireball was thrown by Oslo, the tree fell down with a large explosion leaving the creature no place to hide. Scared of fire, the creature couldn't run around freely as it surrounded it from every direction making it unable to escape in anyway.

The goblin which had nowhere to escape was looking at the surrounding in panic. Oslo emerged from the blazing green flames and looked at the goblin which was like a cornered rat. Even though he had walked through the fire, his clothes hadn't burned nor was it charred.

His eyes shining golden, another ball of fire appeared in his palm. Goblin felt cornered and had a look of a desperate beast that wished to live. It then took the blood stained dagger and tried stabbing Oslo with it.

It was the same dagger which it had used to slash the elder's throat and with the fresh red blood dripping off it, the goblin was ready for another kill.

The flame in Oslo's hand became even more intense when he saw that blood stained dagger. The blood of fire shot out from his hand hitting the goblin running towards him with a dagger in hand.

Boom!

The fireball wasn't aimed at any of the goblin's vital and when it collided against goblin's right shoulder, it had created a hole in it. The goblin let out a shriek as the dagger fell from it's hand. Using it's left hand to stop the green blood gushing out of the hole in it's shoulder, it was rolling in the ground in pain.

Not only its body but even its blood was green.

Oslo slowly moved towards the creature and picked up the dagger that fell from it's hand. He didn't know why but he could feel that the goblin in front of him was truly scared of him. It wasn't because of its action he could tell that but because of the aura it had which was flickering more and more intensely.

He didn't know how but he could somehow see the aura of this monster before him.

A smile formed on his face as he slowly marched towards the goblin with a dagger. He was oddly satisfied with this scene. Maybe this was karma. The situation right now was just like before but it was Oslo now which was smiling and goblin shaking in fear.

It was grinning and was evilly watching the Alphonse who was scared out of his wits and was amused killing the old man but now that it was on the same boat, the expressions in its face were different.

Oslo coming more and more closer made it shudder as it's heart didn't stop pounding. Subconsciously, it crawled back with trembling eyes but what greeted it was river of green flames.

Slash!

The dagger mercilessly slashed goblin's neck making blood splatter in every direction. It now couldn't move anymore and fell on the ground. With Oslo's vision, one could also see that the aura the goblin gave off was becoming dim by the second. The aura it had vanished completely as the corpse of the goblin laid lifeless.

"I take it that it is now dead." Oslo muttered.

[Ordinary Magic Beast (Rank D) Goblin killed. Magic core of the goblin obtained.]

Oslo took the magic core which was stained with goblins blood from it's stomach and like the heart of the goblin, it was black in color, but Oslo didn't feel nauseated because he had done something like taking out the core for many times and he had some experience in it.

But the blood in the core just made him angry. He then swiped his hand controlling the flames which were burning the trees and as fire danced at this will, he burned off the corpse of goblin and used the same fire to dry the magic core off the goblin's blood.

But after the fire in the core was used, the black magic core somehow turned green in color. It's color didn't matter to him in anyway so he put it in his pocket and waved his hand which dispersed the fire from the surrounding and not even a spark of the flame was left. If one were to see it, they would feel like the fire wasn't there to begin with.

He quite liked the ability to control the fire as per his will. He wanted to see and learn more and more about the strength he possessed but it wasn't the time for it. He then looked at the dagger in his hand and said,

"Looks like I'll use it for a while."

***

Leaving the area that was burning before he returned to the entrance of the village. The man was still there with a expression of someone who was shocked. Looking at him still hopelessly lying there, blue veins appeared in Oslo's forehead like earthworms.

"You bastard! What were you doing then?"

Oslo was very throughly enraged this time. It wasn't like he couldn't accept death because it was also a part of life but what he couldn't accept was how it occurred.

The arrogant and almighty adventurer who even dared to call him weak was pathetically lying down with an expression of a shocked person when it was the time for him to perform his job. He just helplessly let the old man die. Oslo grabbed him by his armor and stared coldly at the face of Alphonse.

If eyes could kill, Alphonse would have died million times by now.

"You bastard!" The more he looked at that face, more angry he became.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Punches hit Alphonse' face again and again to the point it was swollen. The almighty man had now tears flowing down his face like river. It wasn't because of the punches he received but because of himself.

He couldn't believe he did that. In the face of death, Old man was sitting quiet with the eyes of having no regrets, but there he was, subconsciously crawling back just from seeing the face of the monster. He wanted to kill himself for that but he was too much of a coward to even do that.

"I'm sorry." The words left his mouth with a glint of cry, "I'm sorry...I know my apology won't change anything, I know my apology can't bring back what's gone but I admit my mistake. The truth is, I fear monsters. It is shameful, yes, but I don't know how to get rid of it? I want to change myself but I don't know how?"

"I want to repent for my mistake but I don't know how? I wanted to save the old client but in the face of danger, I froze and I'm ashamed about it. I hate myself for not saving him. I ant to remedy the mistake I made but I don't know how?"

"Please, tell me what should I do? Tell me how can the person like me be helpful? I used my higher rank as an excuse for hiding my fear and I admit the mistake I made, I want to repent as well but I don't want to atone for it because I know that no matter what I do would atone for the mistake I made today. So tell me, what should I do?"

Oslo's fist came to a pause when he heard Alphonse. He could sense what this dude was saying wasn't a lie and he wanted to change himself.

"It's good that you know that you made a mistake for which you can't atone, no matter what. But it is also me who made the same mistake with you and I can't atone for it either" Oslo said.

"The best we could do is fulfill his last wishes. So, if you want to be helpful then start by completing the quest. Kill the goblins which the old elder didn't want to step in the village anymore."

"But first..." He glanced at the corpse of the old elder and frowned, "Let's dig a grave for now."

Inside the village, there wasn't a graveyard so Oslo contemplated for sometime before finding a place to bury the old elder. Alphonse used his some weird magic to created a rectangle shaped hole in front of the windmill which was in the center of the village.

Oslo then buried the old elder and closed his eyes mourning for a minute before clapping his hands. He knew how much the elder loved his village, so he had chosen the center of the village to be his resting place.

"Elder, do watch over the village you love and...after sometime I'll gift you something." With that said, Oslo turned toward Alphonse.

Noticing his gaze, Alphonse walked towards him and asked what he had meant to ask for long, "You're a D-rank but how are you strong?"

"Strong? Me?" Oslo said shaking his head, "I'm not strong, I'm weak. I have always been weak. But I don't want to be weak anymore, so I'm trying my hardest to become stronger."

Hearing Oslo, Alphonse said as if dissatisfied with the answer, " Then how were you able to defeat that horrible creature if you were weak? Even I was stunned when you chased that creature."

"You know, it might sound as an exaggeration coming from me but there is something inside everyone's heart." Oslo said, "We know that something as courage. It hides deep within the heart supressed by the fear but...once you let it rampage, you'll become a beast free of shackles binding you. What you saw back then wasn't my strength but the courage I possessed."

"And if you want to fight goblins again then you must have to muster up whatever courage left inside your heart and shatter the blades of fear pinning you down first." Oslo added, "But for now let's go hunt them down!"

In this world, the words spoken from the mouth of weak would become a joke but the same words were spoken from the mouth of a strong then it would become an iron rule.

'He is lower in both rank and strength than me but why didn't I laugh, I wonder?' Alphonse thought, 'Why do I feel inspired and feel like I should follow him right now?'

"Aren't you coming?" Oslo from the entrance of the village said.

"No, I'm coming alright." said Alphonse, "Wait for me!"