26: Report

"Good job Jack! See what happens when we work as a team?" Mari asks as she holds her hand out for a high five.

"I do, sorry for causing everyone trouble." Jack says, his face filled with remorse.

"Those things are relentless, but we were able to best them today!" Sachi says as she falls to the ground in exhaustion.

"It was a group effort, without each of us playing our part it could've easily had gone sideways." I say as I can't help but feel proud of my party.

"Uh oh! Everyone run!" Jack says as the entire hideout collapses near us.

We all sprint like our lives depend on it and get away from the vicinity of the falling trees. The trees fall on the ground and instantly explodes! We hear the final cries of all of our enemies as the fire grows very large.

"It's a good thing we didn't stay up there, they had a bunch of explosives." Sachi says as she's trying to catch her breath.

"Malnio! Are you okay little man?" Jack asks, as he kneels down and checks his injuries.

"They roughed me up a little bit, but it's nothing I couldn't handle!" Malnio says as he cracks a smile.

"Hey, Mari? Do you think you could put out these fires with your water spells? We all should check if there's anything they left behind that could give us some clues." I say.

"Good point! Mardian Art: Rain of Adora!" Mari says as the clouds turn dark and it starts raining all around the forest.

Mari puts out all of the flames and we begin our search.

"Disgusting, all I've found so far is burnt goblin kebab!" Jack says as he covers his nose.

"Ugh, there were a lot more than we originally thought!" Mari says as she looks under all of the rubble.

"Nothing but weapons so far. I wonder how long they'd been staying at this hideout?" Sachi asks as she starts sniffing the whole area.

"It's weird that they choose the trees though." Mari says as she's thinking really hard.

"Why? Is that not normal for goblins to do?" Jack asks as he picks up more rubble.

"It's not, Goblins like setting up base underground since they know they would have a disadvantage above it. I read in the monster manual that they are naturally nocturnal creatures and like to stay underground where they can increase the population in peace. It just doesn't make sense that they'd set up a hideout above ground." Mari says as I can tell she really wants to get to the bottom of this.

"I haven't had any luck on my end either, maybe it wasn't the best idea to knock the hideout down like that." I say as all I can find are more weapons.

"Hey everyone, I think I've found something!" Malnio says as he pulls out a spellbook.

"How embarrassing, the kid is outshining us already!" I say as we all walk over to Malnio.

We look through the rubble and find spell books, ancient history books, combat manuals, and a very strange-looking scroll with a square in the middle of it.

"Why would goblins have all of this?" Sachi asks as we observe all of the items.

"Maybe they stole it from some of their victims?" I ask.

"No, that wouldn't make any sense. Most Goblins only care about stealing weapons from us. Any way you cut it, it seems like our theory is true. Another Frodian is not only controlling them but also supplying them with the ways of our people." Mari says as she flips through the spellbooks.

"What is this weird scroll? There's something about it that's throwing me off!" Jack says as he observes the scroll.

"Let me see all of this. Mardian Art: Magic Pack!" Mari says as all of the items are instantly put into a blue backpack.

"Should we keep looking some more?" Jack asks.

"No, we should head back and show our findings to Kira and Almar. I'm positive they'd like to see this." I say as everyone nods their head in agreement.

"I almost forgot! I have to head to the market and buy groceries! Master Almar is probably wondering what's taking so long by now!" Malnio says, his eyes full of panic.

"Don't worry little man, we'll help you with shopping and if Almar complains I'll sock him in his face, okay?" Jack says, trying to reassure him.

"Okay! Sounds good!" Malnio says excitedly.

We all make it back safely to Tario and head straight to the market to help Malnio with shopping. Jack, Sachi, and Malnio go look for the meat, while Mari and I get the seasonings.

"Did you write down everything Malnio asked for? My memory is pretty crap, to be honest." I say, as we slowly walk down the lively market.

"Yep, it's all in my sketchbook!" Mari says as I notice the book looks like something from our old world.

"Wait, is that book from your past life?" I ask.

"Sure is! It's the only thing that came with me when I reincarnated. I'm glad I still have it for posterity's sake!" Mari says as she holds it with the utmost care.

"Oh, do you plan to have children one day?" I ask nervously.

"Children? I guess there is a part of me that always wanted to be a mother, the question is will I be able to find a good husband? So far, the guys here are a little bit too pretentious for my liking. I'd prefer a guy who's a little bit more down to earth, maybe someone like you!" Mari says as I've clearly been put in the friendzone.

"Who me? I'm nothing impressive, I'm just a former runaway with a lot of luck." I say, trying to hide my internal pain.

"That's not true! It's actually thanks to you that we were able to get our act together earlier! All of us were just yelling at each other, but you found a way to get us back on track! You're a great leader Crow, you're funny, you wear your heart on your sleeve, and you really care about all of us as if we've known you for years! I'm grateful to have you in my life… " Mari says, as she starts blushing.

"I'm grateful to have you in my life too Mari!" I say, as we both awkwardly stare at each other.

"MARI! CROW! Where the hell did you go?" Jack says as we can hear him across the market.

"Let's hurry up and get the seasonings, that idiot is going to cause a ruckus if we don't!" Mari says as we finish up our shopping.

We make it back to the Mansion as Almar is waiting at the front door.

"Oh, what's this? You all went shopping with Malnio?" Master Almar asks.

"We saw him on the way back from our job and decided to help him with the last of his shopping! There isn't a problem is there?" Jack asks.

"Not at all, thanks for helping my servant out. I know it hasn't been easy on him doing all of this work on his own." Master Almar says as he grabs the grocery bags out of Malnio's hands and brings them into the kitchen.

"By Adora, what smells like dead goblin?" Kira asks as she enters the lobby of the house.

"That would definitely be us." I say.

"Wow, seems like all of you were fighting pretty hard. Your return confirms that you beat all of them. Did any of you write a report of your findings?" Kira asks as she takes some of our bags in the kitchen.

"Of course, I have it all written down in my sketchbook!" Mari says.

"Good, well let's head into the study I'd like to hear what happened. Malnio, go get some rest." Master Almar says, his voice full of curiosity.

"Yes sir." Malnio says as he walks to Jack.

"What's wrong?" Jack asks as he kneels down.

"Will you guys be okay without me? I know I caused you trouble during your job and I'm willing to make up in–" Malnio says.

"Stop, everything is okay. Go get some rest little man, we'll take it from here!" Jack says as he smiles.

"Okay, supper should be ready a little bit later." Malnio says as he walks to his quarters.

"He really is a good kid, it's a damn shame what happened to him." Jack says.

"Yeah, life is just so unfair sometimes." I say as we all head to the study.

We spend the next 30 minutes or so explaining to them what happened during our mission.

"That is very strange indeed. I've never heard of goblins making hideouts in the trees, what about you Kira?" Master Almar asks.

"Nope, everyone knows that goblins like to burrow underground. It's in their best interest to hide from any potential enemies. Something really isn't right here… " Kira says thinking really hard.

"We also found these!" Mari says, as he pulls out her magic pack and shows them all of the stuff we found.

"This can't be, they've been learning spells?" Master Almar says, his face full of shock.

"And this scroll… I know this symbol!" Kira says as she examines the scroll.

"The hideout was really complex too, they'd probably been there for at least 4 months. They had traps, scouts, and barrels full of oil. It's almost as if someone has been helping them get all of these things." Sachi says.

"I see, I'll be sure to update Master Elyon on all of your findings. In the meantime, all of you should take tomorrow off until I can figure out what I want you to do next! Now if that's all, then all of you go take your baths and get ready for dinner. You deserve the break!" Master Almar says, as he quickly leaves all of us alone in his study.

"Wow, he sure was in a rush." Jack says.

"Good work today, I'm proud of all of you! I noticed the kid looked pretty shaken up, what really happened out there?" Kira asks.

"Malnio got kidnapped by the goblins, thankfully we saved him from any serious harm." Jack replies.

"Mari, be sure to heal him later on! Anyways, while Almar says we have an off day tomorrow, we still have some work to do. All of you will be joining me tomorrow to meet up with an old friend. She should be able to figure out what's the deal with this scroll. Now please get the hell out of here and take a bath even Mari smells bad right now!" Kira commands.

"WHAAA! I better hurry up!" Mari says, as she bolts of the room.

We're starting to uncover the mystery of the goblins, but something still doesn't seem right. Who would do this and why would they do it? We have to get to the bottom of this and hopefully find Malnio's sister.