Chapter 3

Leaping out of the bushes in unison, Roxanne loosed a stone at a Goblin Archer before he could react to our surprise attack. Watching his face cave in, the archer backpedaled a few steps before collapsing to the ground. Hearing their comrade's arrows spill out of his quiver, all the goblins in the village immediately turned to see what happened. Using this momentary distraction to attack, I launched a barrage of Fireballs at the group. Seeing their impending death just moments before impact, they let out a shriek of terror before an explosion swallowed them whole.

As expected, the surviving goblins immediately began to panic and started running in every direction. Quickly closing the gap between us and those leaving the village, we swiftly dispatched them with bloody efficiency. Culling their numbers to four in just a few moments, the hobgoblin finally snapped out of his shock and began his own offensive. Ripping one of the houses apart to make a makeshift club, the big oaf came roaring out of the village fuming with rage.

Turning his attention to me first, as I was the mage, he charged forward whipping his club around in a poor attempt to intimidate me. Instead of attempting to flee, like he was anticipating, I ran at him with my dagger drawn. Swinging his club at me once I was close enough, I dropped to my knees and slid under both the club and him. Watching his weapon harmlessly pass over me, I flicked my blade around and cut his right Achilles' heel. Rolling out of his range as he whipped around to hit me, a loud crunching sound rang out which resulted in him dropping to his knees in pain.

With him down on all fours, I softened the soil beneath him and sunk him two feet. Hardening the soil immediately afterward, the monster began thrashing around trying to break free.

"NOW!", I commanded Roxanne.

Letting her stone fly like a bullet, just as I had instructed her, the stone crashed dead center of his forehead. Watching his eyes roll back into his head, it slumped over and became silent.

"We did it!!", Roxanne shouted, full of excitement as she looked toward the remaining three goblins.

Dropping their rusty weapons, the three of them turned and ran toward the forest. Having expected this, I used the spell Air Cutter to decapitate them while their backs were turned toward us.

"Too easy.", I snickered, walking over to Roxanne, "Good job, we did well!"

"Yes we did!", she agreed, scurrying over to the closest goblin, "Other than the ears, are there any other valuable parts on goblins?"

"No, Goblins are considered trash monsters. The only value they have is in culling their numbers around settlements and farms.", I advised, "The Hobgoblin though, it has some value. A few of its organs are worth some money as alchemical ingredients, and they sometimes have small magic stones."

Helping her collect proof of our kills and the few valuable parts of the Hobgoblin, we proceed to rummage through their settlement for anything of value. Finding several hundred dia, several rusty iron weapons, a cast iron pot, and a few tools, I was disappointed that we did not find anything cool in our search. Looking up at the sky to see what time it was now, my stomach began to growl signaling that it was lunchtime.

Using Purification Magic to cleanse the two of us, I broke out my lunch and offered half to Roxanne. Drooling as she looked at the half of a sandwich, she forced herself to reject the offer.

"I…I cannot take your food from you.", she told me, "My aunty would be mad if I took from the Baron's son."

"I see, would she be mad if you accepted half a sandwich from a friend though?", I inquired, cracking a smile.

"Hmm…I suppose she would not…", Roxanne conceded, nervously taking the food from me, "Thank you…Leon."

Scarfing the sandwich down in mere moments, Roxanne let out a fake, satisfied sigh. Hearing her stomach growl right afterward, she turned red with embarrassment and looked away from me.

"There is nothing wrong with being hungry still.", I remarked, taking a bite of my half, "Since the Guild is open twenty-four hours a day, there is no rush to go home. We can go fishing if you want more food."

"Is that really okay?", Roxanne inquired, "I heard that we were not allowed to fish as they all belong to the Baron."

"I will take responsibility for our fishing, do not worry about it.", I assured her, "Besides, my dad is far too busy with other things to worry about us eating a few fish."

Agreeing to my suggestion, I quickly ate the rest of my sandwich and drank my tea before heading toward the stream. Reaching the stream a short time later, several fish darted for cover the moment our shadows touched the edge of the water. Running to the water without any hesitation, I grabbed Roxanne by the collar and told her to slow down for a moment.

"We need to remove our socks and shoes before entering the water. After that, roll up your pant legs so you do not get them wet. Believe me, it is uncomfortable walking around in sopping wet clothing.", I chuckled, following my instructions.

"I guess that is true.", Roxanne agreed, mimicking me.

Wading into the stream once we were done, I showed Roxanne how to catch fish with her bare hands. Slowly reaching under a large stone, my hands gracefully slid across the pebbly bottom till I felt a fish above them. Pressing the fish up against the rock in one fluid motion, I immediately yanked my hand out and flung the fish to the shore. Watching it flop around wildly, Roxanne began clapping her hands with excitement.

"That is so cool, I did not know you could do that!!", she remarked, "I thought you needed a fishing pole or a net, this is much easier!!"

"Just be careful, sometimes you might find a crayfish and they will pinch you.", I warned her, as she set out to catch her own fish.

Spending the next hour catching a total of ten small trout, we decided that we had enough and got to prepping the food. Leaving me to gut the small fish, Roxanne gathered some firewood and got it piled up for me to use. Rinsing the fish off in the stream once I was done, I used a simple fire spell to ignite the cooking fire. Sharpening some branches with our blades next, we butterflied the fish and waited for them to cook.

"Do you want any salt on the fish?", I inquired.

"Oh no, that is really expensive!", she refused, "I could not bother you for any of that!!"

"It is fine, I make it with Alchemy.", I said, using a simple spell to create a small pile of pink mineral salt, "You do not need to hesitate if I am offering you something. If I am asking you, it means that yes and no are both acceptable answers."

"I… I just do not want to cause problems for my aunty and uncle.", she stated, with an apologetic smile, "My parents died when I was two, and they took me in even though they have six kids of their own."

"I see, so that is why you come out here alone?", I questioned.

Nodding her head, Roxanne looked into the fire while I seasoned the fish. Taking a few moments to collect herself, she explained to me that things were not going well at home.

"Even though they do not show it, we are barely making ends meet right now. Uncle sometimes skips meals so we have enough to eat by pretending not to be hungry. I do everything I can to help out and do my best to stay out of trouble.", she told me, as she wrapped her arms around her legs.

Knowing that this was not something children should be worrying about at our age, I quickly shifted the topic elsewhere.

"The two of us can continue playing together more, if you would like.", I offered, rotating the fish.

"Are you sure? You do not find me weird?", Roxanne pressed me, surprised that I was not going to turn my back on her like the other children had.

"Of course, today was a lot of fun.", I chuckled, giving her a genuine smile, "It would be very reassuring to have you watching my back for future adventures. My goal is to chart every square inch of this island in the hopes that I find an undiscovered dungeon!"

Taken aback by my declaration, Roxanne was shocked that I had an interest in exploring the island. Based on the fact that none of my siblings liked to venture far from home, I assumed that she thought nobles did not really like exploration.

"Even though I am the son of Baron Bartfort, I am the third son so I stand no chance of inheriting anything. Once I turn eighteen, my family will no longer support me so making my own way is a necessity.", I said, pulling the fish off the fire, "Since I will lose my nobility at eighteen, how about forming an Adventurer's Party with me? The two of us can travel the world conquering dungeons together!"

"I… I do not know.", she stated, "I really want to stay here and pay my aunt and uncle back for all they are doing for me."

"When we become successful Adventurers, you can send money back to them to help pay their bills and buy food.", I reminded her, "You could upgrade their house, buy them a nice plot of land, or even allow them to retire comfortably."

Looking at me to see if I was serious, I nodded my head in confirmation.

"We can make several hundred million dia by conquering a Tier Five dungeon easily.", I told her, "If we clear a few of them, your family will be set for life!"

Recalling information she had heard from adventurers passing by, she understood that Tier Five dungeons were the hardest to clear. Remembering some of the materials that had been pulled out of one recently, Roxanne realized that I was not exaggerating when I said a few would set her family up for life.

"Alright, we are a team then!", she said, extending her pinky toward me, "You pinky promise to not betray me?"

"Absolutely.", I replied, pinky promising her, "I swear to never forsake you or turn my back on you. We live and die together as a team!"

Cracking a big smile, Roxanne's tail began wagging uncontrollably. Turning our attention to our fish lunch, the two of us began chowing down on our small feast.