Chapter 3- Elder Rina

*Elder Rina's POV*

It was a complete coincidence. I had just been out for a simple hike in the Hellvast Forest to collect and hunt a Gale Bunny, a small E ranked Animal Beast that utilizes wind magic to move fast. Its tasty meat goes well in a stew and its pelt is useful in cloth making.

Normally, almost no one else dares to venture into the woods which are notorious for hundreds of goblins never coming back out the forest after adventuring into the woods to prove their manhood.

I, on the other hand, knew the truth, that the forest wasn't as dangerous as my fellow goblins thought. As long as you kept careful track of where you were going, then you could trace your steps out of the woods. There are also some dangers in the woods but being a magic user most threats are no problem for me.

I suppose most of the goblins were too superstitious of the eerie woods to change their minds. They had lost too many to the woods for it to be considered a place to venture into.

Because of my weekly ventures into the woods, many of the goblins in the clan began to treat me as an outcast, an old witch that must have gone crazy after losing her family to an ogre attack. Just a crazy old tragic goblin. Of course, It didn't really matter what they thought of me, as I had long ago given up on becoming close with anyone.

But Lux completely turned my way of life upside down.

I had been walking into the depths of the deathly forest when I sensed a large-scale use of mana nearby. I followed the mana trace and what I found was extremely alarming for us goblins.

A dead human soldier in knight armor, his entire bottom half of his body missing, lying with his mouth open with a look of terror and shock. As I got farther into the woods and nearer where the mana was used I found over 50 dead humans with similar knight armor.

As I inspected the corpses I noticed how high quality the shiny gold armor is. While most of them were dented, impaled, burnt, or cut I could still tell how light and strong the metal was.

Most of them had mana cores inside of them, so they must have been able to use magic. A couple of the higher level mana cores even have their armor enchanted with magic protection. No normal sword or magic could get through these.

Someone very powerful took out these humans. Which only raises more questions.

Where did the dead humans come from? Why did someone kill them? And where are they now?

There are humans that live south of the Goblin clan territory, but that is very far and there is no way they could've passed through Goblin territory without being noticed. Also, I don't recognize the name of the nation "Vraviel" as on their armor or the green and gold colors.

The only other way to get to Hellvast Forest would be across the Hellvast Mountains to the west, but those are massive mountains with extremely tough enemies and freezing weather conditions, it would be unlikely they came from there. Although.. Even the weapons they used are different designs to what anyone east of Hellvast Mountains use.

As for who killed them and why I can't seem to discern. Most of the knights seemed to have been cut in half, impaled in the heart, or burnt to death.

Except for what appears to be the leader, an Emerald core with a strong body and he seemed to have a handsome face, even after death. His corpse was different. Instead of being killed in one move, his armor had cuts and holes in it all over, it seems he was strong and didn't go down as easily as the others.

There was only one woman among the dead so I assume she had been the boy's mother.

I couldn't help but keep my eyes transfixed on her as I investigated her body. It struck me that she was strangely beautiful, even being long dead, she was lying peacefully holding a baby tightly in her arms in a pool of dried blood contrasting with the pure white of the snowy forest.

After prying the mothers dead hands off the boy, I realized he was still alive. I slowly bent down and touched the ice cold cheek. He seemed to be on the edge of freezing to death, but he was still alive and breathing.

I marveled how the boy was even still alive after both his parents lay dead. To be left alone, in the hands of your dead mother after being only recently born was at the same time a miracle and a tragedy. Before I had even noticed, a single tear ran down my cheek. I wiped it away and removed any negative thoughts from my head.

He reacted to this new change as he slowly seemed to open his eyes and stare at me. After a tender moment, he cried out, his pure, sweet innocence voice rang out, echoing through the silent forest.

He looked at me with a blank expression on his face.

There was a fancy necklace around his neck with a pendant attached. I opened the pendant and read "Family of Vraviel-Lux Vanhart '' and a crest marked inside the pendant.

I felt a pang of sorrow as I reflected on the boy's situation. He would freeze to death by himself in these woods if I didn't take care of him, I thought, leaving my mind with no room for dispute.

From then on, I took care of him like I was his mother. I don't know if he understood that the adopted goblin was raising him in place of his dead mother, but if he did, he never showed it.

He was a peculiar baby, even by my standards. He learned how to talk at 1 year old, and he always tries to reach for my books as if he could actually understand them. He sometimes has these nightmares and cries out in his sleep. I sometimes wonder if he should've survived at all. It would have been much easier than living as an outsider amongst the goblins and never having someone to call your own parents.

But still, he brings me unparalleled joy like no one has before. Every little thing brings me happiness and entertainment.

I truly love him like my own son now.

That's why I am so appalled to hear the words the chief is saying to me right now.

"We should just get rid of him, he's not one of us, it's for the best of the Goblin Clan. There has never been a human living with the us goblins, it just goes against our very being" he prattled on.

"He will not disturb the others, you will never even see him. '' I retorted as my fists clenched in rage.

"Humans are monster mortal enemies, it would be a sin to let him stay here when the rest of his human race kills indiscriminately." He replied angrily.

"He is a newborn, he has nothing to do with what the humans to the south do" I argued back, hoping to find a sense of reason with the chief.

This stupid old chief was so set in his ways and rules he could not even make a slight accommodation for a harmless baby.

The Chief merely shook his head in refusal.

I bit down my lip to keep myself from exploding at his stubbornness. I could just cast a spell and force him to change his mind, I desperately thought. No, I reconciled that would only end up in both me and Lux's deaths.

I was strong for a goblin, but the chief was chief of the clan for a reason. He had worked his way up the clan with his own strength and was capable of Earth magic.

"Dammit '' I muttered furiously.

"You have until next summer to find a place for him elsewhere, or I will kick him out personally" declared the Chief.

My lip started to bleed with the amount of force I was reading onto it. I can't get rid of Lux. But casting Lux out of the clan was certain death for a baby.

Then suddenly it hit me. We could just escape the Goblin Village.

The Chief would never allow a goblin to voluntarily leave the clans, as they could sell information to a neighboring tribe, but if I managed to sneak out without anyone noticing, we could start a new life somewhere else. Perhaps across the Hellvast Mountains to where the humans might have come from.

It would be hard and I would need some time to plan, but it was doable.

I took one last look at the Chief's smug face then walked out his chambers and started to think up our plan of escape. I only had till Lux turned 3, then the Chief would throw him out of the clan to his death.