chapter 62 Humanity choose to forget 3

Goblins were normally found in very small groups on the outskirts of territories, but they were always the frontline of forces from monsters in times of war when gathered in large groups like this. In terms of the overall distance from the Halvark territory, the group of goblins was quite far. Asher and Reika would need to travel nonstop for the entire night to reach them.

"Huff… Hooh… Huff…."

As a result, Reika was exhausted before even meeting the goblins. Her whole body was covered in sweat, and she had dropped her armor off and threw it in the bushes as they took a brief break. Asher threw a canteen at her.

"Drink water."

"Thanks…."

As they had been traveling for a long time and Reika had been sweating a lot of the water out of her body, she would be incredibly dehydrated.

"According to the state of your body, the body can't accept large amounts of water right now, so only squeeze the bare minimum on your lips. Just enough to get your throat wet."

"Okay…."

As Asher had spoken, she was able to finally recollect her breath and safely drink after she followed his instructions.

"I'm tired…."

"You kept up with me quite well. You have a lot more endurance than I thought, so I apologize for not being able to pace myself with you properly."

Asher wasn't sprinting, but he had to traverse through a rough forest for several hours. He was thinking of taking a break in the middle because he expected Reika's physical strength to not be able to withstand it, but she followed well without complaining. She had better stamina than most soldiers of the Empire.

"It's because I've been following your training every day… It's made me much more fit."

"It's this much, you definitely won't have a problem in the future either."

Asher had only run for a few hours, and it was not a whole lot comparing himself to his previous life. During the Demon Lord's invasion, he only ran without sleeping for four days. He almost died back then.

"We're almost there. You just need to work a bit harder."

"Wow…."

While Reika was exhausted, she raised her body up at Asher's words. After traveling another thirty minutes through the forest, Asher suddenly stopped his movements and raised his hand. Reika took a deep breath in and stopped moving. In front of them, a loud cry rang out. The cry was something that was significantly different from a human's vocals.

Asher stuck to the tree with his body and hid his body from being seen. Reika ducked down in turn. As the bushes that were in front of them started to move, two green and ugly creatures suddenly emerged with worn down armor on their bodies.

"Kyareuk. Kyaureuk."

"Karreuk."

They cried, scouring through the bushes with their spears. They looked like scouts. The number was only two. Asher pulled out two daggers from the wrist brace and held them in both of his hands.

They shook their spears through the bushes, poking around and slowly approached Asher's location. As they touched the tree with a spear, Asher dashed out from the other side of the trunk.

"Kyareuk!"

The goblins became frightened and swung their spears. Asher ducked and avoided the spears as he twisted his body and brought the dagger upwards in a sharp motion. Asher quickly stabbed one of the knives in the neck of the first goblin and quickly pulled it out, letting blood spurt out on the grass. Asher then dropped low, kicking the other goblin's foot in the air, kicking it away, not killing it. Asher then quickly spoke signaling to Reika who was hiding.

"…Reika."

"Yes."

Reika, who was staring at the dead goblin and the other goblin who was getting up after getting kicked by Asher, replied in amazement. Asher trapped the goblin's escape route and then spoke to Reika once more.

"You kill this one."

"…What?"

Reika's eyes suddenly shuddered. There was also a hidden sense of fear that was present in her voice and trembling eyes, but Asher spoke once more with indifference.

"You said you want to walk the path of a swordsman. Then there is no doubt your life will be filled with people or creatures that will try to kill you. The only way you'll survive in the future, will be the same as how you will survive here. You better get used to it now and get it over with."

"Geruk!"

Goblin struggled as it got up and glared at Reika. Reika's body trembled with fear at the Goblin's expression. Taking another life. The very action was something that brought chills to her body. She had resolved herself before leaving the estate with Asher but found herself trembling right now, that resolve shaking. Nevertheless, her body responded naturally without her mind being able to. Reika raised the sword.

She slowly approached the goblin. The goblin saw this as a weakness and shot forward with crude movements. Reika's eyes shook for one last moment before turning ice cold as her body reacted on it's own and stabbed through the goblins neck with ease.

"…"

Reika withdrew her sword. There was green blood on the sword. After she started to suddenly realize what she had just done, she hugged herself with her arms and knelt down, shaking violently. Asher cleaned up the bodies and hid them as he spoke.

"Don't forget that sensation. It's a sensation you'll feel over and over again in your life."

There was no need for encouragement, but rather cold truth. The act of killing something was not easily forgotten with flowery words. The cold hard truth was the only and best option for someone to recover from their first kill. If Reika came out on the other side of this as a determined swordsman, she would be able to continue walking the path of the sword.

Still, she would need some time to organize her thoughts. Asher respected her space and gave her time to do so, as he started to wipe their traces from the surroundings.

***

After a while, Reika had somewhat calmed her nerves. Still, compared to most, this kind of progress was shocking to Asher. Most of the time it took people anywhere from a day to a week.

This could also be a kind of talent in it's own right he guessed. Asher pondered on it as he signaled Reika to follow him quietly. He started to walk forwards and she followed his footsteps diligently.

After a bit of time, no more than a minute, there was a much louder cry coming from out in front of them.

"Uh…."

Reika groaned a little as she saw the scene before her. Asher and her ducked down in the bushes as they looked over at the monsters. They had arrived much sooner than expected.

In front of them was a large group of goblins.