Chapter Nine: Recovery and Self-Blame

Kenjiro was now bedridden, not permanently or because he needed to. No it was because after he came back from killing the goblins Eisen had of course found out. It was impossible for him not to.

And once he had been healed by the village's healer Kentaro, and scolded by Eisen and some of the people he worked with around the village, he was forced to stay in bed to accelerate his recovery.

He was still allowed to walk around the house and go to the toilet if he needed to but he was ordered to keep it to a minimum.

Kenjiro had of course apologised as he had seen how much he worried Eisen when he saw the state he was in. He looked as pale as a ghost and looked like he was about to have a heart attack. Although Kenjiro didn't look any better at the time.

He had told Eisen about his wish to get stronger during a heated talk that was about to turn into an argument. He didn't say why, and Eisen didn't push for it, but told him that people were waiting for him back home. And to get there he had to get stronger.

Besides the occasional row between them that didn't go very far everything was back to normal. He helped around the house as much as he could and whenever Eisen asked for something, which was rare, he would do his best to help out.

Kenjiro had actually gotten his mask back, well a fixed one of it. The buttons had to be replaced and the front of it had to be cleaned but besides that, it was actually in good condition. Which surprised Kenjiro quite a bit.

Also, luckily for Kenjiro his throat wasn't damaged during the fight. Although he knew it was close to getting damaged. And if it did get damaged from the goblin he ate it wasn't bad and didn't set him back in his progress of making his voice better.

Right now Kenjiro and Eisen were eating lunch together. Kenjiro was eating slowly as he didn't want to waste the food and everytime he bit down into it he thought about the goblin he ate.

The blood dripping into his face… the pieces of bone going down his throat… the blood going down like a cup of juice… the horrible taste it had… the retching he did after it.

Kenjiro shook his head out of it and focused on eating his food and not about that, even though he could tell he had slowed down eating once again.

While he was eating under the table he was moving his legs to get some movement in them. They didn't hurt to move and he could do it properly so he was okay.

That made him smile a little, at least his legs weren't crippled… like his throat and voice. And then his smile was gone as fast as it came.

Eisen sighed in frustration at the aura coming from Kenjiro, it was so depressing that even he wanted to feel sad. "Stop your pity party. I don't know why you're sad but there is no reason to be. You're getting stronger like you wanted, and now that I know you want to get stronger we'll get you some proper equipment."

Kenjiro looked up in shock at Eisen and shook his head. "No, I'll take care of it. I'll just use the clubs the goblins were using."

Eisen tilted his head a little confused and worried. "Clubs? What do-." Before he could continue they heard screams coming from outside the house.

They were distressed screams of women and some enraged shouting of some men. There was also the noise of people running, maybe out of their house to see what was going on or maybe it's the people screaming.

Kenjiro and Eisen immediately got up and headed outside, when they got out they could see some of the villagers standing outside their houses wondering what was going on.

But they also saw a group of people standing at the edge of the village at the fence. They went over there and saw that a part of the fence was smashed and there was a corpse of a goblin underneath the foot of Danno.

A few women were crying and pointing into the forest while their husbands tried to calm them down, looking stressed themselves.

"Everyone calm down!" Eisen said loudly with his old and authoritative voice as it rang out making everyone be quiet except for the women who were crying. "What happened?" Eisen asked calmly while still having the authoritative tone in his voice.

Danno spoke his accent really strongly but he spoke clearly so people who didn't know what was going on understood him. "The kids were playin' near the forest, before they rushed back here clearly distressed. A second later Goblins rushed out and grabbed 'em, then a second group tried to get in the village, me and few of the lads stopped them from getting in the village when we heard the commotion, but didn't know about the kids…" he then trailed off looking disappointed in himself as he couldn't speak anymore.

"Where are the kids?" Eisen asked sternly, worried about them. The women at this point were hysterical and Kenjiro realised that it was probably because it was probably their kids who were taken.

But why would Goblins attack? They had no reason to. Unless… It was his fault. He killed two of them the other day and perhaps this was their revenge? If it was because of that… he would get the kids back himself if he was told to, even if it killed him.

He wouldn't let a child be taken away from their parents if he could stop it. Not like he was taken away from his mother. He knew the circumstances were different and the age gap between him and the kids was big, but… as he looked at the crying mothers he couldn't help but think that was how his mother would have probably reacted.

Danno took a breath before letting it out as he spoke again. "The Goblins have 'em."

One of the boys that Kenjiro worked with at the fields the other day spoke up. "Then we should get some adventurers. They can help us and kill the Goblins-."

Danno cut him off by destroying the head of the goblin he was standing on, putting his weight down and crushing it like a watermelon. "It'll be too late by then. We go to their nest now and kill them. We still have a chance to save the kids before it's too late."

Eisen nodded his head gravely, knowing how ruthless the Goblins were to women, he didn't want to think about what would happen to the girls if they got there too late. "Go, take anything you think will help you."

Danno nodded his head and looked at his friends, all were fairly muscular and he knew that they would be able to beat a goblin even if some of them had never fought before. "Come on lads, we're getting the kids back. You girls go back home and get some food ready, the kids are going to need it."

The men nodded and started walking towards a shed that had some swords and if they didn't have enough they would use some shovels. And the women, although still crying and desperate to get their children back, nodded and started to walk back to their houses, giving some encouragement as they walked by.

"I want to go as well."

Danno didn't even need to turn around to identify that voice, although he rarely heard it, it was unmistakable. He turned around to look in the eyes of Kenjiro and saw what he thought he would see.

Blame.

His thought process was obvious to Danno, he attacked and killed Goblins and a few days later some attacked and took the kids. He was blaming himself. And Danno couldn't blame him, he might've started it but he had no intention to, but it was clear now that it had happened he was going to finish what he had unintentionally started. And Danno respected that.

"Alright, you can come." Danno said and continued walking as Kenjiro followed him as well, fastening his pace to walk along with the adults.

Eisen looked in shock at Kenjiro. Not that he didn't expect him to go, but he had just been injured recently and was just recovering?! He couldn't go! He might get injured again! "Wait! Kenjiro!" He shouted.

Kenjiro stopped and turned around to look at Eisen, and so did Danno but he didn't stop but kept walking but seeing the look in Eisens eyes he knew it was a good idea to keep walking.

When Kenjiro looked at Eisen he could see desperation that begged him not to go, but also acceptance that he would go.

It was silent for a moment before Eisen spoke again. "Make sure to come back, I'll make sure to make a full meal tonight. And if you can't handle it, don't be afraid to run. It might sound cruel to the kids but right now I'm not talking as the leader of the village but…" He wanted to say as family, but didn't know if Kenjiro would be comfortable with it.

That was what he felt Kenjiro had become after staying here for the time he had. He had somehow worked his way into Eisen's old heart as one of his family. And Eisen didn't mind, he had no family left so having someone he felt like was family was really good to have for Eisen.

It seemed Eisen didn't have to finish speaking as Kenjiro's eyes softened and he stuck a thumbs up at him as he smiled brightly behind his mask, even though it hurt and Eisen couldn't see it. "Don't worry, I'll be back… Granddad." His voice was hoarse and rough and didn't sound nice to hear but hearing that was like music to Eisen's ears, and he knew this was a kind voice he could practically hear it in even through all the deformities it had. He then turned around and started chasing after Danno.

And Eisen could only let a single tear fall as he put a hand over his heart. "That kid… calling me his granddad, does he want me to die early?" He said sarcastically while cheering himself up. Hopefully Kenjiro could keep his promise, although he did keep his promise before about coming back early when Eisen told him to, so hopefully he could keep this promise.

With Kenjiro he had just caught up to Danno he was putting on a small leather plating that only covered his heart, he had leather gloves in as well as leather boots. He was holding a well made iron sword that was longer than the others. Although it looked well made, it was probably only well made compared to the other swords there.

"Hurry up, we don't have much time. Take whatever you need and then we're leaving, you take too long and we're leaving without you." Danno informed him as he then went over to some of the other men who were having trouble putting on gear or holding the weapon.

Kenjiro looked in the shed and saw that there wasn't much but he took out an iron sword that looked fairly good in terms of condition, as well as a leather plate that went on his back to hold the sword.

He put all of it on. Putting his arms through the straps of the leather like he was putting on a school bag and putting the iron sword in its holder that he felt around for like he was putting his water bottle into his school bag as well. It helped him calm down imagining things as stuff from his world.

When they were all geared up they started a March towards the forest and Danno started to track the Goblins foot prints, that had dragged mud beside them that they all knew were the kids struggling, but the foot prints didn't stop and that was a good thing as it meant that the Goblins didn't do anything to the kids.

But once he started seeing the footprints get more frequent and cross paths he guided them up a small hill so they could get an overview of what he hoped would lead to the nest of the Goblins.

And luckily for them they started hearing the Goblins' laughter and the cries of the children.

Danno signaled them to stay at the bottom of the hill so he could quietly go check out what the situation was.

Once he was at the top of the hill and was crouching down so as to not get spotted. What Danno saw shocked him, and he knew this was going to get a lot more difficult. "Mother fucker…"