Chapter 7 – First Omen

After finishing our meal and making sure we were ripe for battle, I and Merlin convened in front of the wall Merlin closed earlier with earth magic when we were running away from the goblin knight.

A sword hung at my waist as I held the glaive in my right hand. The wound on my side didn't even hurt anymore and I felt properly energized, ripe for battle. We managed to get quite a lot of sleep in, after all. If my guess was right, it was nighttime right now, maybe even past midnight. However, we couldn't be sure until we left the cave.

Merlin held a bow in his hand and managed to recover all of his mana, so we were both in top condition and unless yet another variable reared its ugly head, we had high chances of winning the fight.

"You ready?"

"As ready as I could be."

A brown magic circle appeared in the air and Merlin started to slowly created a hole in the wall once more. We had Anita and Rell coop up in the library's hidden room, in case some goblins made it past us into the facility.

As soon as the hole was big enough for a person, I slipped through, and instantly skewered the nearest goblin on my glaive. Two arrows flew by me, one wooden with an iron head, and the other made of solid ice, reaping the lives of two more goblins before they could realize they were under attack.

"Chiiiiiiiiik!"

One of the hobgoblins quickly came to its senses and alerted the rest of the cave to our ambush, though our plan had somewhat succeeded. Our goal was to eliminate at least a third of the enemy's numbers in the initial stages of our ambush.

Fighting the hobgoblins in my current condition would be a breeze, as I had the support of multiple buffs cast on me, greatly increasing my overall stats. One of the buffs was even a protective shield of mana that could ward off a few attacks before breaking, though I was hoping to keep it for the fight with the goblin knight.

I dashed to the hobgoblin and slashed at him with my glaive. It raised its weapon, a pickaxe, to block my strike. Having anticipated that, I spun around my axis and delivered a powerful kick into the hobgoblins stomach.

"Chik!"

The hobgoblin keeled over, clutching at its abdomen. My glaive found a path to the creature's neck and pierced it, forcing it to drown in its own tainted blood.

'Three goblins and one hobgoblin down. Four goblins, two hobgoblins and one goblin knight left.'

The other two hobgoblins rushed out from the entrance path, followed closely by the remaining goblins, while the goblin knight walked out from the room of death, gnawing on somebody's arm.

'These creatures just keep on doing things that make me despise them even more.'

However, now was not the time to fight the goblin knight. Our priority would be to get rid of the goblins and hobgoblins first, in order to allow us a bigger degree of freedom of movement and give us more room for mistakes while fighting the goblin knight later.

I and the goblin knight locked eyes for a moment, both our gazes overflowing with murderous intent and hatred for the other.

"Ghiik."

It waved its arm and its underlings rushed at us, as the goblin knight simply stood there, gnawing on the arm. I was puzzled as to why it didn't attack us alongside the other goblins, but if it decided to hold back, it'd be advantageous for us, so I wasn't about to complain.

"Summon Ghoul."

A black magic circle appeared in front of Merlin. An energy that reeked of death swirled about for a moment, as a rotting corpse with red eyes, a ghoul, materialized above the magic circle.

"Ueeeeeuuuh."

It smelled as bad as it looked. Skeletons are indeed far better. They don't smell and are actually kind of cute. This is literally just a half-rotten corpse that moves.

The goblins were now only a few meters away from us, so I decided to stop dawdling and went to engage them. I quickly overwhelmed one of the hobgoblins and managed to knock its club-like weapon out of its hand. The other hobgoblin tried to move in to protect its comrade, but my glaive was faster and slashed the disarmed hobgoblin's throat.

"Chiyeeeek!"

The last hobgoblin swung its war pickaxe at me. I evaded by moving a few steps back, but was then met with flying stones and daggers coming at me, thrown by the goblins behind it. I could see the ghoul run past the hobgoblin and crash right into the middle of the goblin squad. It started to tear the goblins apart as if they were made out of paper, showing no grace or mercy in the way it performed the slaughter.

Another swing came for my left shoulder, but I blocked it with my glaive before it could reach me. I kicked the hobgoblin's stomach, forcibly creating distance between us, as I prepared to throw my glaive.

"Spectral Lance."

After throwing the glaive, it flew through the air at the hobgoblin in the likeness of a homed missile. The hobgoblin was too late to react to completely dodge my attack, but it managed to block the glaive with its arm, sacrificing it in the process.

Their intelligence to be able to block attacks even if it means sacrificing their limbs was truly frustrating.

I drew the sword hanging on my hip and continued my assault on the hobgoblin. With one of its arms now gone, its ability to manipulate the war pickaxe greatly decreased, giving me further edge in our duel. I slowly pushed to hobgoblin back into an area where lots of rocks and rubble, from when Merlin broke the wall, were littering the ground. When I had the hobgoblin in the right place, I struck it with a heavy blow in order to force it to hastily step back. It slipped on the rocks, losing balance and tumbling down onto its back.

"Game over. Slash."

I smiled and quickly cut the hobgoblin with a martial art attack, slashing off its remaining arm at the wrist as my sword sliced through its organs, killing it. I felt elated at a job well done, but quickly controlled myself. The fight was not yet over.

"Duck!"

Just as I was about to pull the glaive out of the hobgoblin's corpse, Merlin shouted at me to get down. I didn't hesitate and quickly crouched down. A few short moments later, I felt something fly centimeters above my head. I looked up to see what just passed over me, and saw as the ghoul that should've been on the other side of the room crashed into the wall, exploding upon impact.

'How fucking hard do you need to throw a corpse for it to explode like that?'

I stared at the gruesome sight with shock, but then the question of how it ended up like that flashed through my mind. I stood up and looked back only to see the goblin knight standing imposingly among the corpses of its slain underlings, as if to mock us if this was the best we could do. I couldn't see its mouth, as it was covered by the helmet, but I'm sure it was grinning right now.

The longer I looked at it, the more something about this goblin felt wrong. The other goblins were certainly sapient, sure. They could set up ambushes and traps and and apply them to effectively capture prey, but they weren't sentient in the truest meaning of the word. This bastard felt sentient. The way it looked at us, the way it scanned its surroundings, it all felt… deliberate. This bastard felt intelligent. And yet, the way it moved and the way it growled felt incredibly feral, even more so than the other goblins. It all felt wrong and I was getting massive uncanny valley vibes from this fucker.

"Merlin, re-do the buffs on me, I'm pretty sure it's about time they're going to run out."

"Got it."

Merlin recast the same spells he put on me before the fight began. While he was doing that, he looked at the goblin knight and his eyes narrowed.

"We've got a bigger problem on our hands than what we thought, though."

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

I turned to him, wondering what all that was about.

"When I used [Analyze] on that bastard all I got back was a message that said [Unknown Object]. I can't view that thing's status."

"Well, shit."

I narrowed my eyes as well and locked my gaze onto the goblin knight. The fact that Merlin couldn't see its status was already a massive red flag that this bastard wasn't normal, his behavior notwithstanding. Since Sera herself hasn't said anything, it meant she also had no clue what this fucking thing was.

I sucked in a deep breath and slowly exhaled in an attempt to calm my rising anxiety. This bastard is very obviously stronger than us, but now we had no way of knowing just by how much. Merlin finished recasting all the spells on me and I readied my glaive.

At that moment, the goblin knight finally made his move as well.

One step. Two steps. Three. Four.

It started walking towards us with a steady and calm gait, making no moves to draw the massive sword strapped on its back. It picked up the spear and axe that were lying on the ground from the hobgoblins I killed in the first battle and leisurely inspected them.

Despite the buffs I got from Merlin and the ridiculous stats we obtained from having a mythical class, I couldn't help but feel the cold sweat run down my back, the slow breathing doing next to nothing to calm me down.

The goblin knight steadily approached.

'It's fine. We'll make it out. We have to.'

I swallowed and steadied my anxious mind. Stressing about whether or not we could make it out was pointless and would only serve to distract me from doing my best in the fight.

The goblin knight steadily approached.

I gripped the glaive in my hands and forced my legs to move closer to the goblin knight, as it steadily approached. When we were about four meters from each other, we both stopped at the same time as we sized each other up.

The goblin knight stood at easily two meters in height, towering over me. I wasn't short by any means, with my comfortable 185 centimeters of height, but it was evident from a single glance the goblin knight was taller.

The goblin knight then moved so fast it almost looked like it teleported in front of me as the axe in its right hand came flying at me from above. I deftly parried the attack and tried to weave in a counter attack with the end of my glaive, but that was thwarted by a slash from the spear in its left hand.

An ice arrow flew past me, but the goblin knight sliced it mid-air, as if it were the most natural thing to do. These magic arrows move faster than actual arrows, mind you, making it very hard for normal people to even notice them coming. This bastard just sliced it with precision while blocking my attacks.

I kept on exchanging blows with the goblin knight, my arms slowly becoming numb from parrying and deflecting the force behind each of the goblin knight's attacks. I had to outsource all of my attention to blocking this bastard's attacks, lest I make a mistake and get turned into cutlets.

Merlin kept on pestering it with magic, but the goblin knight dodged and blocked most of the attacks, and those he didn't, he simply tanked, as if they were of no consequence. I'm guessing the armor has some enchantment or whatever, because Merlin's magic should be dealing a lot more damage than this, even if Merlin's low level.

As I was being pushed back and we danced around the room, the goblin knight struck at me with a big and powerful swing of the spear. I was in a horrible position to deflect, so I opted to simply block the attack.

"Ugh!"

I stumbled back from the force, clenching my teeth to push through the pain that spread throughout my arms. The goblin knight turned away from me and raised his axe-wielding arm into a position as if it were to throw the axe.

"Oh no you don't! Spectral Lance!"

I threw my glaive, aiming it at a gap in the armor, hoping it could penetrate inside and stop the bastard from throwing the axe at Merlin. I'm barely able to keep up with the buffs Merlin cast on me. If an axe thrown by this fucker comes flying at Merlin, there's no way he'll be able to dodge.

The glaive flew true and pierced through a shoulder gap in the armor the goblin knight wore.

"Chiik!"

It managed to throw the axe, but thankfully, the glaive struck it at the exact moment it was ready to throw, messing up its balance and making the axe fly in a direction far away from Merlin. It turned to me in an anger filled roar as it pulled the glaive out of its shoulder and threw it to the ground.

'A chance!'

I quickly closed the distance with the goblin knight in order to get as close to it as possible. Now that its only weapon was a spear, it'd have an advantage if it started fully utilizing its range. Before, it tried to get up close and personal and mainly used the axe to slash at me, using the spear only for big and heavy blows. Because I was now forced to use a sword after throwing the glaive to stop it from throwing the axe, I would have the advantage if I managed to slip into its personal space. Swinging a long weapon when your opponent is in your face makes it much harder to hit them than you'd think.

I managed to get right up at its face while it was distracted from roaring at me. I swung my sword at it, forcing it back into a position where it'd actually be able to block my swings. I kept on pushing it further and further, never letting it gain that golden distance, hoping Merlin would take advantage of the reversed battle flow and create a trap for this bastard.

"Chik?"

And it didn't take long for my wishes to come true, as the goblin knight tripped and fell down a shallow hole that was filled with pointy spikes made with earth magic.

"Chiiik!"

The goblin knight screamed out in pain as a dozen stone spikes pierce through its armor and dug into its flesh. I took a stance to maximize the potential of a martial art empowered attack, and just as I was about to swing the sword down…

"CHYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK!"

A powerful roar that threatened to rupture my ear drums assaulted my ears, followed by an incredibly powerful shockwave that threw me back multiple meters. I landed right next to my glaive, so I decided to sheathe my sword and pick up the glaive, my main weapon, again.

The goblin knight crawled out of the pit, bleeding profusely from his entire back and legs. Even if I couldn't see its expression, it was evident the bastard was now wholly pissed. The prey it didn't even view as a worthy opponent hurt it, which only added to the goblin knight's fury.

It threw away the spear it was holding and spread its arms wide. The corpses strewn about the room started radiating a murky and black energy that began to converge on the goblin knight. It was evident at a glance that whatever this energy was, it wasn't good. Merlin tried to hit it with big spells while it wasn't moving, but they were all stopped by some kind of black barrier that formed around the goblin knight. After a few seconds of the energy gather on the goblin knight, it entered its body and the black barrier surrounding it disappeared.

The goblin knight grabbed the armor it was wearing at the seams and tore it apart. It threw the pieces of armor to the ground, the giant sword dropping down along with the armor parts. Its body grew in size as its muscles bulged out. Its skin was dark purple instead of green, something I didn't notice before, as it was covered from head to toe in armor. It took off its helmet and threw it aside. It slowly opened its eyes, that now had a deep black color with a yellow iris in the center.

The fucker's intimidation meter just jumped through the roof. The goblin knight picked up the massive sword that used to be strapped on its back with one hand and rushed at me. I could just barely follow its speed before, but now it moved far faster than anything I've encountered so far.

Out of instinct, I raised my glaive to block an attack I knew was coming from above, but it didn't occur to me then that the glaive I held wouldn't stand a chance at blocking a sword that massive.

The sword came down at me and I watched as it easily cut through the glaive, splitting it into two parts. The sword continued further down, slashing through my right shoulder, then through my chest, my stomach and finally out of my body. I dropped the part of the glaive I was holding in my right arm as I lost all feeling in it, the nerve paths severed by the slash.

"Argh!"

I screamed out, as a pain incomparable to anything I've ever experienced assaulted my body. The goblin knight grabbed me by the neck with its right arm and raised me into the air.

"Astoshan!"

Merlin screamed my name, but I barely registered it. I smirked at the goblin knight and struck the sharp end of my glaive I held in my left arm into its armpit in a last-stand attempt. I refused to go out like this without making the fucker bleed some more. It dropped me as it yelped out.

"Ugh."

I couldn't even scream as the goblin knight kicked me in the stomach and I was sent flying into the wall. I fell to the ground and my consciousness grew hazy from the massive loss of blood and trauma to the head from hitting the wall.

Just as I thought this was the end, the world around me stopped moving and turned monochrome. My wounds all rapidly closed and healed and my mana instantly regenerated.

[15]

I was slightly confused at first, but it only took me a few milliseconds to realize what happened.

'[Rewind], huh.'

<Correct, Master.>

I quickly collected myself and patted all around my body. My clothes and leather armor were still torn, but there weren't even any scars left on my skin.

[10]

A world where time doesn't move. A world of my own.

[5]

I drew my sword and approached the goblin knight and tried slashing it, but my sword merely bounced off. Guess I can't interact with the world while time is stopped. No matter, this ability would be too bonkers if I could do that.

[3]

I stepped behind the goblin knight and took a stance, prepared to cut off the bastard's sword wielding arm.

[1]

The flow of time slowly returned and I swung my sword enveloped in aura, empowered by a Slash and supported by my full strength. The sword sliced through its shoulder like a hot knife through butter and seamlessly dismembered the goblin knight's left arm that held the sword.

"Chiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiik!"

The goblin knight screamed in pain and confusion as its left arm was cut off out of nowhere. I kicked the goblin knight's knee from behind, which forced it to drop to the ground as it lost balance.

Merlin didn't waste the opportunity I created and started spamming the bastard with magic, which was now actually doing damage after it was forced to take off its armor due to its transformation.

I also slashed at the goblin knights back and dealt a good amount of damage. Black blood seeped out of its wounds, splashing onto the ground.

"CHYAAAAAAAAK!"

The goblin knight bellowed out a roar once again, but it was much weaker than the previous one and I managed to withstand it with in only a few step backs. The goblin knight turned around to look at me, pure wrath swirling in its gaze.

I raised my sword, challenging it to one last clash. The goblin knight apparently didn't like that, because the hatred in its expression only deepened. It lunged at me and tried to claw at me with its remaining arm, but with deft swordsmanship I cleaved through it. I spun my sword and drove it into the goblin knight's neck. Its massive body stopped moving mere centimeters away from me as I looked up into its eyes that were quickly losing their focus.

I pulled the sword out and the goblin knights staggered backwards. Merlin then struck it with a volley of arrows and magic, turning it into a porcupine. The goblin stumbled a few times and then finally fell to the ground.

[Your level has increased by 6]

I stared at the message that signified the end of the fight.

"Ha. Hahahahahaha. Hahahahahahaha! We won! We fucking won!"

I started laughing like a maniac and shouted out of joy. I tried to control myself but it was harder than I thought it would be as the exhilaration refused to leave my body.

Merlin approached and squatted next to me.

"You done yet?"

"Nope. Not yet. This was so much fun!"

Merlin looked at me as if I had just said something incomprehensible.

"Fun? You almost died. If it weren't for [Rewind], you'd be dead."

"Yeah. But it was still so much freaking fun!"

Merlin's look of confusion deepened further and I could almost hear the gears in his head turning, trying to make sense of what I was saying. Then his expression brightened, as if something clicked in his mind and he struck his palm with his fist.

"Ah. So that's why you kept on grinning throughout the entire fight!"

"I was?"

I asked incredulously. Merlin ignored my question and continued with his train of thought.

"You're a battle junkie."

"Ha?"

Now I was the one that looked as if Merlin had said something incomprehensible. Me? A battle junkie? How does that make any sens-…. Hmm… No, now that I think about out it, I did feel a sense of elation throughout the whole fight, despite the fear of getting sliced into human cutlets, I couldn't help but enjoy myself. What Merlin's saying has merit.

But I refuse to believe it!

"Me? A battle junkie? No way! Ahaha. Ahahaha. Ha."

Yea. No. I'm a battle junkie. Not even I believe the lie that I'm not one as the nervous laugh gave me away.

I stopped my nervous laughter and just sighed defeatedly. Whatever! Not like it changes things. Just another quirk I can add to my 'Fun things about me! (Definitely not red flags)' list.

I jumped back to my feet and patted my back from the dust and other things. Not like it mattered much, as my upper clothes were now completely fucked, stained with blood and beyond repair.

"Let's go get Anita and Rell. Time to leave."

"Agreed."

We went to pick up the sisters and told them the fight was over. However, as soon as we poked our heads out of the cave, we changed our minds about going back right away. It was pitch-black outside and the gates would likely already be closed, so we decided to stay the night in the ruins.

○○○

In the morning, we packed all our things, which were only weapons, and proof we subjugated the goblin nest by cutting off the left ears off of the goblin corpses. We decided to bring the goblin knight's whole head, as his existence was highly unusual and we thought it prudent to give the guild a warning.

Merlin carried our proof of subjugation wrapped in cloth we took from the blankets in the ruins, while I carried Anita on my back and Rell trotted a few steps behind us. Because none of us really slept throughout the night, as we all took a good long nap in the afternoon the day before, we left the cave at first dawn.

We arrived at the town's gates shortly after they opened and we and greeted the guards. After showing them our adventurer cards and explaining that the sisters were kidnapped by goblins, so all of their belongings were stolen, they let us through. The walk to the guild was short, as Sandhol wasn't that big to begin with. We gave the sisters to the guild to take their testimony, as per protocol, while we gave a report to Maya.

"A g-g-g-g-goblin shaman? With just the two of you? Aren't you two only F-rank?! You registered just two days ago!"

As you would expect, Maya was absolutely livid after hearing what we encountered. Mind you, we haven't even told her about the goblin knight yet.

"There was a total of five hobgoblins, too, but that's far from the worst part yet."

"There's more?!"

Maya looked at me with eyes that were slowly starting to glaze over. The amount of paperwork she'll have to do because of what we found is probable going to be astronomical.

"Merlin."

At my command, Merlin slapped the cloth holding the goblin knight's head onto the counter. We made sure to let all of the blood in it flow out throughout the night, so the cloth wasn't blood-soaked.

"What's this?"

Maya eyed the cloth warily.

"The biggest reason we think this quest should've been classified as C-rank at the very least. The only reason we're alive is because we managed to catch this sucker off guard with my unique skill."

Had it not been for the brokenness of [Rewind] and me managing to cut off the goblin knight's arm, we definitely wouldn't have survived the encounter. I mean, I got nearly killed in one proper hit and I have the higher VIT and DEF out of the two of us. Merlin would die before he even hit the wall if he was in my position back then.

"An abnormal goblin knight."

Merlin unwrapped the cloth, revealing the severed head of the goblin knight.

"Purple?"

Maya instantly recognized that something was wrong with this goblin knight.

"Goblin knights don't normally have the ability to increase their size and stats by absorbing some sort of black energy from the corpses around them, I assume?"

"No, I've never even heard of such an ability. Wait-"

"Yep. This fucker had precisely such an ability."

Maya stared at me with a blank face for a short few seconds before sighing and grumbling that she doesn't get paid enough for this.

"Wait here, I'll go inform the guildmaster. This is too much for me to handle."

With those words, Maya left and trotted off to the second floor to inform the guildmaster of our findings. After waiting for a few minutes, she came back down to fetch us and we were led to the guildmaster's office. Maya knocked on the door.

"Guildmaster, I've brought the adventurers."

"Come in."

A gruff voice called from inside the room. Maya opened the door and ushered us in.

A beautiful office decorated with wooden furniture, tasteful plants and the skulls of high-ranked monsters entered our sight. Expensive looking couches were placed in the center of the room, surrounding a brown table. At the far end of the room, an office table with stacks of papers lay in contrast to the large window behind it, letting light shine through and illuminate the whole room.

The guildmaster stood up from behind the towering stacks of papers and walked over to us.

"So, you're the young'uns my daughters told me about, hmm?"

He was a tall man, sporting a mustache and a monocle. He had short grey hair, piercing eagle-like eyes and carried an intimidating aura around him. His muscles were clearly outlined even below the white button-up shirt and black vest he wore. It was evident he used to be a high-ranked adventurer when he was younger, probably before he met Mrs. Arkleit. Or perhaps they both used to be adventurers, Merlin didn't check her status with [Analyze], as we felt it we unnecessary, so we don't actually know.

"I am Gustav Arkleit, the guildmaster of Sandhol's Adventurer Guild branch. It is nice to meet you."

The guildmaster walked closer and extended his hand in greeting.

"I'm Astoshan Vikra. Likewise, it's a pleasure."

"Merlin Wisteria."

Both I and Merlin shook his hand as we introduced ourselves and the guildmaster motioned for us to sit down on the sofa.

"Maya, bring our guests some refreshments, this talk might be a bit lengthy."

Great, even the guildmaster thinks this conversation is going to drag out. Just bloody brilliant.

Maya left the room to bring us some refreshments, leaving us alone with the guildmaster. Looking at him this closely, I can't see a semblance of Maya or Lisa in him. Well, it isn't that surprising, as they both look like a younger version of their mother, so they probably inherited most of her looks.

"I hear you managed to cause quite the ruckus on your very first extermination quest? Taking down an entire goblin nest filled with half a dozen hobgoblins, but also inhabited by a goblin shaman and a goblin knight is a feat not even some C-rank adventurers would be capable of achieving. Just who are you two?"

The guildmaster scanned us with his piercing gaze, as if to determine whether we were quacks or whether we were telling the truth.

"If it weren't for one of my unique skills being absurdly powerful and allowing us to catch the goblin knight off-guard, we wouldn't have survived. Honestly, we're still here mostly thanks to luck."

I wasn't entirely wrong. If I didn't have [Rewind], I really would have died with the single slash after the goblin knight tore of his armor and his stats received a boost.

"And while we're on the topic of the goblin knight…"

Merlin tossed the cloth with the goblin knight's head onto the table and revealed its contents to the guildmaster.

"…this bastard's abilities were abnormal."

Gustav looked at the goblin knight's severed head with great scrutiny.

"What abnormal abilities?"

"After we caused it some major damage with a trap, he tore of his armor and absorbed some murky black energy from the corpses around him. His body grew in size, his muscles swelled and the wounds we inflicted up until that moment closed, as if they were never there. He became much faster and stronger, and I nearly died from a single strike. As I've said, were it not for my unique skill, which I'd prefer to keep confidential, I would currently be the goblin knight's next meal."

"Also, before the goblin knight used this ability, he wore an armor that greatly mitigated spells that hit it. Though, it destroyed the armor when it transformed."

Merlin added.

The guildmaster traced his mustache with his fingers and appeared to be in deep thought.

'Please, don't pry further.'

Internally, I was hoping the guildmaster would trust our word for it and leave it at that. I was super not comfortable in revealing my unique skills. In most cases, demanding an explanation about an adventurer's unique skills was against the guild's rules, but exceptions could be made during investigations, though such cases were rare.

<Master, Merlin told me to tell you not worry about such matters. Ater using [Analyze], it was revealed that the monocle guildmaster is wearing an artifact capable of discerning between truths and lies. As such, he definitely going believe what you've said.>

'Is that so?'

I internally relaxed, glad that we would have some solid credibility to our story thanks to the guildmaster's artifact.

Artifacts were items unearthed within ancient ruins, much like the one we used as a refuge while we recuperated and prepared for our fight with the goblin knight. They were highly advanced pieces of equipment created by an ancient civilization.

There were a few artifacts, like the Adventurer Guild's card-printing tool, whose creation method was reproduced, though such artifacts were incredibly scarce.

"If what you're saying is true, the difficulty of this quest would have been C-rank at least, though B-rank wouldn't have been out of the question either. I heard you two registered just the other day."

"That is correct, yes."

The guildmaster looked at us with exasperated eyes. I thought I could now see a shadow of Maya in his expression, as her reaction was much the same when we told her what we ran into. Guess those two really are father and daughter. Not that I doubted that to begin with, Mrs. Arkleit didn't strike me as a woman that would commit adultery.

"Haaa. I will send a team to investigate the cave and have some researchers take a look at this goblin knight. I'm hoping this is a one-time mutation, but my gut as a seasoned adventurer is telling me otherwise."

"Ahaha. Sorry for the trouble."

I gave him a nervous laugh, feeling a bit sorry for the additional work.

No, wait, what do I have to feel sorry for? We could've died because of the guild's wrong threat assessment!

Maya then came back, carrying three glasses and holding a glass jug with filled with water and some leaves. She silently placed a cup in front of everyone and deftly poured us all a full glass of water. She then placed the jug in the center of the table and looked at the guildmaster.

"If that is all, I shall go back and tend to my duties as a receptionist. Should you need anything, please call for me."

"Ah, there's no need for that, Maya. Pick up a piece of paper and a pen form my desk and come sit here. I'll trouble you with writing down Astoshan's and Merlin's report about the incident."

Maya's face was smiling, but the smile didn't reach her eyes and I swear I saw one of her cheeks twitch in annoyance.

"Guildmaster, I believe that is your duty? Why would you have me, a mere receptionist, take on such an important task?"

"Ahahaha! Don't be like that, Maya! Your handwriting is far prettier than mine, is it not? Come on, do this for your poor old father, my dear daughter."

If this were a manga, a vein would've popped on Maya's forehead by now. She opened up her mouth and was about to protest, but then just drooped her shoulders and heaved a deep and exhausted sigh. She picked up the pen and a piece of paper from the guildmaster's desk and sat down next to him.

The guildmaster smiled contently and motioned at us.

"Now, if you could recount your experience of this quest from the moment you accepted it to the moment you came back to the guild, please."

"Sure, but I'm no storyteller, so don't expect it to be embellished in beautiful words."

"That works better for us, actually."

"Very well. So, after we accepted the quest…"

I then told the guildmaster everything, from how Maya showed us where the goblin nest was located on a map, how we stopped by the Spider's Web and picked up our lunch, how we fought with the goblins and hobgoblins, defeated the goblin shaman, rescued the sisters, encountered an ancient ruin where we took refuge from the goblin knight and explored them. I toyed whether I should completely omit mentioning the steel box, but decided to simply tell them we found an artifact we'd like to keep. I then told them about our fight with the remaining goblins, hobgoblins and then our fight with the goblin knight. Naturally, I omitted how we actually managed to defeat the goblin knight, simply stating that my unique skill played a great role in the fight.

Merlin occasionally added in details from his point of view, as he usually fights in the back and has a wider view over the battlefield, meaning he can notice details that eluded me.

I took us about an hour to be done with retelling the events and answering the guildmaster's questions. Throughout it all, Maya diligently wrote down everything we said. Her concentration was almost superhuman as she jotted down our every word.

When we were done, she elegantly put the fountain pen down, stacked all the papers and neatly arranged them.

"Here you are, guildmaster. The entire report, word for word, written down, just as you requested."

Maya passed the stack of papers to the guildmaster and started massaging her wrist that had started hurting from writing almost nonstop for an entire hour. She stood up and walked to the door, but just before she left, she turned around and looked at the guildmaster with an 'Ah, I almost forgot!' face.

"Oh, right, papa. Mama will hear about you shirking your duties to me. Again. Astoshan, Merlin, I'll see you downstairs."

With an angelic smile, Maya left the room. The guildmaster turned white as a sheet of paper at the mention of Maya telling Mrs. Arkleit of his abuse of authority as a father and guildmaster. Again, apparently.

"Well, if that's all, we'll get going. I need to buy new clothes and leather armor, so if you'll excuse us."

I was wearing a cloak to hide my shredded shirt and armor, but as I didn't have a change of clothes, one that wouldn't stand out like a sore thumb, anyway, I was in dire need of some shopping.

"A-ah, sure."

The guildmaster, pale as a ghost, stammered out his acknowledgment and we left the room. We picked up the reward for the quest at Maya's reception booth, where she told us we would be given a separate reward as an apology and recognition of our strength later in the day, once the guildmaster was done with calculating the size of the reward.

We entered the Spider's Web Inn and Lisa eagerly greeted us, but upon noticing my slashed shirt and armor, she started freaking out.

"A-A-Astoshan! Are you okay? Why is there a hole in your shirt? And your armor? And Why is your shirt and armor stained with blood? Should I call a healer?"

I found her frantic panicking adorable, but it would be evil of me to let her worry about me for long, so I decided to tell her I was fine. Or maybe I'll let her fuss over me for a bit longer, she's really acting adorable right now. It soothed the soul when a cute girl worried over you like this. Merlin, of course, realized my thoughts and smirked as he looked at me. This annoyed me, so I decided to bring Lisa out of her panic pronto.

"Yep, thanks to my unique skill, I'm fine, but my shirt is mess."

Lisa inquired about what happened, so I gave her a short rundown of what went down, as I was starting to get tired of reciting the flow of events for the umpteenth time today, and it wasn't even noon yet. Mrs. Arkleit popped out of the kitchen for a bit to greet us, and we then went to our room to unpack.

Merlin decided to stay back at the inn and play with magic in the room while I went out to buy a new shirt and leather armor. The reward from the quest and our leftover funds should be more than enough to buy me some cheap shirt an armor of decent quality.