She Jumped Into the Fire

In the meeting room, Christian, Keith, and the knights stood around a large map of the local area. The captain circled a spot farther downstream from the town.

"We've tracked them up to this point, but we've always managed to lose their tracks. The treants in this area are quit a large amount. In fact, if you hadn't arrived, we were getting ready to burn the forest to smoke them out."

"And the children?" Robin asked. "What you would have done was ensure their deaths. Such plans are not worth considering."

The captain turned towards Robin, displeasure emnating from his face. "Who is this? Why was he allowed in here?"

"This, dear captain, is the brave adventurer that managed to kill a wyvern with a mere two men's assistance." Christian explained. "The adventurers guild has assessed him at S-rank, which is why we have the pleasure of his company."

An S-rank. No wonder even Sir Keith was treating this young lad with respect. If they were to encounter a hoard of goblins, this man's fighting prowess would most definitely necessary.

The captain swallowed down his distaste. "You don't understand, lad. Here, if anyone goes missing for over a day, then they are already presumed dead, especially the children."

"What a hypocrite you are. You are here to protect the people, yet don't make an effort to save those who are most in need of your help." Robin muttered, causing the captain's face to turn red with anger.

"Oh? And you can just waltz in there, and bring every last child home alive? Don't be ridiculous!"

"I can." Robin said.

"What was that?" the captain seemed to have not heard her well.

"If they're alive, I can bring them back alive." Robin said, staring the captain in the eye. "And, if they're dead, then I can still at least bring back their corpse."

"Hahahah! Do you hear that, men?! This lad says that he can do by himself what we haven't been able to do for a whole week! Even without General Keith!" The soldiers laughed.

"And, if I can?" Robin said, an angelic smile gracing her lips. Christian and Keith tensed up. They knew that Robin was about to cause trouble.

"If you can, then I will step down as captain, and let you comandeer the men!" The captain smirked. "But if you can't, then you must become one of my men!"

Robin shook her head. "A pity. I have no need for incompetents." She said as she walked back towards the room entrance.

"You're going to admit your loss now? Then you must bow your head and sincerely apologize to our captain!" One of the soldiers guffawed, angered at her labelling him as an incompetent.

Robin's eyes narrowed, as she cheerfully responded. "I said it was a pity that your captain will have to step down before old age or injury have incapacitated him. because it's a sign that either his head or his heart are already incapable of retaining his office."

The room was silent as Robin unceremoniously left the barracks.

"Leave him be." The captain snorted. "It's nothing but a loser dog's fart."

Christian held his tongue. If the captain had shown any bit of respect towards Robin, then he might have warned the captain of her capabilities. But, now that Robin had declared war, Christian could only stand back and watch quietly.

"Your highness, you saw it, yourself. That man picked a fight with us. While I do not mind his words, so much, please witness this bet so that there will be no reneging once he returns."

A strange glimmer shone in Christian's eyes for a moment before he agreed. "All right. I will be witness to this bet. You have my word that, even if it is my own man, I shall remain impartial."

The captain, satisfied, returned to the map.

Keith watched the captain, with pity in his eyes before turning away, with a sigh.

'He brought destruction down upon himself, The poor man. ' was all that Keith could think of the man who would soon step down as captain. And so, he turned his eyes towards the soldiers.

Now... Who would make a good replacement captain?

-------

Robin, upon leaving the town, once more found herself in the forest, and breathed in the musty air. No matter whether it was Earth or this world, a forest was a forest.

After confirming that the surounding vegetation was similar, she set out. She only needed to avoid what she didn't know. From what she had gleaned in her brief time before the large map in the captain's room, the area she needed to search was to the northest of the city.

'Thank you, very much Mr. Soon-to-be-ex-captain~!' Robin chuckled to herself as she set out across the forest. As a precaution, Robin did not move about on the ground, but jumped from branch to branch up in the trees, scoring every branch she stepped on, and avoiding those which had too many branches.

Treants were a kind of living tree, that did not like to be disturbed. They could tell the proximity of a person using their sensitive root system underground. The only time one could escape their wrath would be in the winter time, when they entered hibernation.

Even then, if you wanted to use a treant for firewood, you had better be able to slice through the trunk in one go. Otherwise, you would instantly die being pierced by sharp roots. For this reason, being a lumberjack was a risky business, and was quite lucrative.

The reason why Robin scored the branches she landed on was a good one. If she accidentally landed on a treant branch, then she was relying upon the treant's initial reflexive reaction to pain to propel her out of the treant's range. This lessened the likelihood that she would get caught, as well as informed her of where the treant was. She needed to assure that there was a safe path back to the town for the children, after all.

Another reason was because goblins were a small demon, the size of a child, yet twice as strong. Being a demon so close to the ground, it was less likely that they'd pay attention to what was over their heads. It was also easier for Robin to spot them from a bird's eye view.

Soon enough, Robin found she had reached the area she needed to search. How? Easily enough, almost every tree in the area was a treant. Standing upon a lone unaffected one, Robin looked at the waving tentacle-like roots crawling about on the ground.

"Now what do I do?" Robin mumbled as she stood still for a moment.

----

In a nearby section of the forest, goblins danced around a burning bonfire. It was the night when their Goblin leader would finally become a goblin king. They had gathered many tasty children for him to devour these past days, to prepare for this day.

Many goblins stood around underneath a nearby basket-like woven cage hanging from a tree, drool dripping from their toothy maws, yet they dared not touch a finger of their leader's meal, our of fear of being killed.

Inside the cage, the young children clung to each other, frightened out of their minds. If anyone started crying out loud, they were ruthlessly beaten. If anyone refused to eat the raw fruits they were given, they were also ruthlessly beaten. Thus, they could only huddle together in the center of the cage, and cry soundlessly.

"I'm scared, Gertie!" One of them tearfully whispered.

"I know." The other murmured back. "Don't cry, Beth. The soldiers will come to save us."

"Liar. It's been a week, and the soldiers don't even know where we are. How could they save us? We're going to die here, and end up another bundle of bones in the goblin's dump heap." Beth sobbed soundlessly.

"Stay calm! If you cry now, they'll beat you to death!" Gertie whispered.

"What's the difference between being beaten to death and being roasted to death, if we're just going to die anyways!" Beth bitterly hissed.

Over the sound of drums, and the goblin's shrieking, other soundS began to steadily become louder.

Crack...

THUD.

BOOM!

The goblins paused their celebration, fearful of the sudden loud noises drawing closer. The goblin leader looked in the direction of the noises, listening intently. There were no more noises.

Suddenly, out of the blue, a treant landed right on top of the bonfire, shrieking as it caught afire. It thrashed about, smacking goblins away, and scattering flaming logs about the hidden clearing, which caught the nearby tents afire. It only took a mere five seconds for pandemonium to ensue.

The goblins fled the treant's range, retreating from the bonfire's clearing. With a final screech, the treant collapsed as the flames reached its core.

After that, the children only heard the roar of the bonfire, and a light tap as someone landed on the unburned portion of the treant, in the center of the flames.

"So it was here, huh?" Robin said in a relaxed voice, as if everything was perfectly fine.