Chapter 3: Must I Shed Blood?

I didn't proceed further as I had already identified it. Instead I put a magic barrier on top of it so that it doesn't leak so much mana. The Thousand year frozen flower was useless to me. It can only be ingested by someone with ice or water attributes.

If someone of another attribute, especially if someone with an opposite attribute like me ingested it without countermeasures, there would be gruesome pain and permanent damage to the body.

I rose to the top and came back on land. I used my mana to dry myself. My eyes suddenly met with the reflection of myself on the surface of the water.

My white hairs have grown long enough to reach my shoulders. The dark circles under my eyes seemed to be less now that I left the army. I should start looking after myself from now on.

After I looked around the pond, I was fortunate enough to find five Moonflowers. I carefully plucked them and placed them inside a pouch and kept it in my subspace pocket. Just as I was about to return back to the city a familiar scent gained my attention.

The smell of blood. If it was animal blood in this forest I would have ignored it, but it was human blood. Without thinking for a moment I ran straight towards the smell.

It wasn't just one person. Around three to four people's blood's scent was mixed in the air. The scent soon led me to a cave.

There was a quest on the board about a goblin lair. This was probably the party who took that quest. I saw blood trails that led inside. Goblins were a sadistic race. They would torment their prey and sacrifice them to their priest. I don't want to even think about what they do to women.

Should I go in? I decided not to shed blood anymore. But this isn't killing but saving. Settling my mind, I set foot inside the cave. Goblins were weak physically. They overcome their disadvantage with numbers and traps. Fighting them in their own turf alone was pretty suicidal. But I have enough experience.

As I followed the blood trail the cave started to get darker and darker. Thankfully, I was also trained in stealth missions so that I could see enough in the dark. 

Kekeke

Suddenly I heard some goblin noises and immediately pulled out my sword. With my feet shoulder-width apart and my knees slightly bent, I maintained a low center of gravity for stability. My grip on the sword was firm but not tense, with my left hand positioned closer to the hilt's guard, while my right hand gripped the lower part of the handle. The blade extended forward, pointing straight ahead.

With small steps I moved ahead. On a turn I saw the captured humans. Taking a closer look, there was only one female alive. There were corpses scattered here and there around her.

  Goblins should have started ravaging them by now but they were just guarding them, as if they were waiting for someone.

  I decided to take this chance and kill the goblins that were guarding them swiftly and silently. Thankfully I didn't raise any alarm. 

I quickly carried the lady on my shoulder and came back the way I went in. I was quite surprised the rescue went smoothly. Way too smoothly. Something was wrong.

As I came out of the cave, I placed the lady under a tree a bit far from the cave entrance. I can't just leave a goblin lair alone like that. I started to gather dry twigs and leaves and make a barricade in front of the cave.

After gathering enough materials to cover the entire entrance, I lit it all up with flames from my mana. It burnt quite well creating a massive amount of smoke. An experienced hunter would use this technique instead of fighting in the cave directly. 

Few minutes later, goblins started to crash into the barricade only to be trapped by it and get burnt in the process. Eventually all the goblins would either die from inhaling smoke or being burnt by fire—

Roar

A roar was heard from inside and the ground kept shaking as the sound kept coming closer.

Bang

The barricade was smashed through as a gigantic figure came from within the smoke. It was the goblin lord. 

Goblins make their lair under the leadership of either the goblin priest or the goblin lord. The latter one was more annoying as one needed to fight it directly to kill it.

As the goblin lord broke the barricade, some other goblins made out of it as well. 

Sigh

The goblins charged in first. I decided to go around them and line them up.

!!!

The goblin lord trampled on them to come closer to me. I quickly rolled to my left avoiding the incoming punch. A goblin lord had much more strength than an average ogre and about nearly the same strength as a troll. But they didn't have any regenerative powers like ogres or trolls.

Since the small fries were taken care of by the goblin lords rampage I decided to slide right under his body cutting his left leg in the process.

Go for the legs for a big monster. This strategy was old but worked every time. This wasn't my first time I was hunting a goblin lord. If I must say, I have quite the experience in hunting monsters.

Just as the goblin lord fell on its knees, I climbed on his beck and pierced my sword directly into its neck and slashed it to the side, leaving its head half hanging on its shoulders.

I landed on the ground as the lifeless body of the goblin lord fell with a loud thud noise.

After cleaning the sword with my sleeves I sheathed it and went to the lady to check her.

Surprising to see that she's still unconscious after all that. Should I just leave her here?

I crouched down and came closer to her.

Slap

It didn't work. I tried again.

Slap

Didn't work as well.

I raised my hand for another try. Suddenly the lady started to twitch her eyes and slowly opened it. Seeing that I quickly rose up assuming a normal stance.

"Um– Where? Where am I?"

The lady started to blink as she kept looking at her surroundings. When her eyes came into contact with the dead goblin lord her eyes widened. "Where are they? Where are my friends?"

"I am afraid to say that they are dead" Instead of going on a roundabout way I thought saying it directly would be better.

"No, no…" She started to tremble as she heard my words.

I take back what I said about saying things directly was better. I don't know what to say anymore. 

Her long, jet-black hair gracefully flowed down, reaching her lower back. Her figure possessed an elegant balance, with a modest yet alluring bosom. Her eyes were misty with tears that were about to burst right away.

She took a deep breath and stood up. "This won't do. I am Jessica. Our party took the job of subjugating goblins but… I am thinking of going back to the village after this. Thank you very much. I can return on my own. I know this is rude but I need some time." The girl then gave me a deep bow.

"Very well" I don't want to interfere anymore. I found her in danger and saved her… What she does now, does not matter to me. SIgh

The sun was about to set. I entered the city again after showing the guards my identity card. I then went directly to the adventure guild to turn in my collected herbs.

The guild was bustling with more people than it was at noon. This is probably the time when most of the adventurers return from their quest. I went to one of the counters and handed over the pouch in which I had the herbs in.

The receptionist took the pouch from the counter and examined the herbs in it carefully. She then went somewhere for a while and brought another pouch with her as well.

"The herbs are fine and the quest can be considered cleared. Here is your reward, please check it" The receptionist handed me the pouch with her usual cheery smile.

As I checked the insides, a somewhat weird feeling struck me. 

'So, I earned money without killing anyone?'

Though I did have to kill a goblin king but it wasn't related to this quest. Is this what normal life is supposed to feel like? But I somewhat didn't get the enjoyment I expected to get.

After I received the reward I exited the guild to get some fresh air. The inside of the guild was very congested and it smelled a lot.

I have yet taken another life today even if it's a monster. Can I not just escape from this killing?

My first kill was when I was just five years old. Maybe it's because of what happened that day that I suffered so much.

I still vividly remember that night. The night when I killed the priest who took me in. He, who treated me like his own son.