Chapter 31: Bad news.

31-1

"You know a good fried chicken place?" I asked.

"Yes, it's near the west part of the city. The fried chicken there tastes really good." Said Phil.

Talking about chicken makes me hungry.

"Take me there someday," I said placing my hand on Phil's shoulder

"Sure, I don't mind and it will be a good chance to bond with each other." Said Phil.

Hearing this from his mouth sounds kind of weird because he was ready to throw hands with me on our first meeting.

He turned to face Frank.

"You will join us too, right?" asked Phil to Frank.

"I don't eat from the same place as commoners and fried chicken is a commoner's dish, I only eat meat which was made delicately with an intricate combination of spices made by top chefs." Said Frank as he puffed up with pride.

"Oh okay. Then it's only us, Grey." Said Phil.

"Then I will let you know later, whenever I am free," I said as I and Phil walked together in the forest.

Frank was walking behind us and the rest of the group was walking ahead of us.

"If you guys insist so much then I don't have a choice, I will join you guys too." Said Frank without looking directly at our face and breaking eye contact.

Why are you acting like a girl and you wanted to come with us after all...

As we were near the gate of the city after leaving the forest, more and more people were getting visible in my sight.

Some of them were hunters and others were traders on their cart.

I saw a bunch of men standing near the gate, they were discussing something. Their conversation was getting more and more audible as I was getting closer to them.

"Have you heard the news about hunters?" asked one man to another.

"Yes, you are talking about hunters who were dispatched to fight an unknown monster, right?" the same guy continued "Yes I have heard about them, they got wiped out by that monster. Everyone hunter that was dispatched died."

At first, the thing they were talking about had nothing to do with me.

Or so did I thought…

I kept walking further until a certain piece of information flashed through my mind.

Mark was sent to a commission as well.

I turned around immediately to ask men who were discussing this topic.

"Are you talking about the monster with no information about it?" I asked.

Please say no….

Please say no…

"Yes, the same monster." Said the Man as affirmative.

It can't be…..

Mark's face flashed through my mind.

I rushed towards the city.

Wiped out? Died? Don't shit with me.

That man is still young, he has a kid and wife for god's sake.

My thoughts weren't straight, all I knew was I had to rush. I need to find out if rumors are true.

I reached Mark's house.

I got near to knock on the door.

But I paused, I was scared...

I was scared to find out the truth….

Somehow I gathered the courage to knock on the door, but I got no reply

As I was going to knock once more, I heard a voice from behind me.

"Oh Grey, what are you doing here?"

I looked behind to find Mark standing with his wife, I felt relieved.

"You are sweating like Crazy, are you okay?" asked Mark.

Usually, he would make jokes about whether I was worried about him or not, But this time Mark didn't.

The important thing was, the mark standing in front of me had a leg missing, he was standing with the help of a walking cane.

I thought asking about it would be insensitive.

"Go and take a rest, don't think about anything. I will visit you later." I said as I walked away.

"Grey, you don't need to be considerate. I know that you want to know that how this happened."

He continued "And you deserve to know because you were worried about me.

He started walking towards his house with help of a walking cane and the support of his wife.

"Come inside I will tell you everything." He said.

31-2

"I am glad you are okay," I said I was currently sitting inside Mark's house.

Mark was lying down in his bed.

His condition was in no way good, most of his injuries were already healed by the healer in the adventure guild.

But healers only close wounds, they can't regenerate limbs.

There are only a few higher-grader healers who can perform feats such as regenerating the whole limb.

But even doing so takes a long amount of time and it's a very tiring price that drains an excessive amount of mana.

getting hold of such high-grade healers is nearly impossible.

Mark was quiet, he just kept staring at the ceiling pointlessly.

"All of the hunters that went with me died, I was the only one that survived," said Mark in a broken voice.

he covered his face with his right hand.

"They all died one after another, swallowed by the darkness. not even their body remained to show their family."

I could see tears at the edge of his eyes.

I didn't say anything, I thought it would be best if I stayed quiet.

after a long moment of silence, he spoke again.

"The monster we faced was not exactly a monster, it was a hobgoblin. But, it was bigger than a normal hobgoblin and far stronger.

Just being in the presence of that creature was enough to send chills to the core of the soul. I was afraid, for a moment I thought death would be better than being under this presence"

Mark's hand was shaking, so was his whole body

"the helplessness I felt being in that darkness, I don't want to ever experience that again. Never aga-"

Mark suddenly covered his mouth with his hand.

"I feel sick," he said.

I didn't want him to remember about it anymore.

"Take a rest, we can talk later." I said I continued "don't think much, and remember we are always there for you."

There were many things to process after hearing what Mark had to say.

the thing that bothered me most was the mention of...

hobgoblin.....