Trouble in Magnolia Gardens (pt 3)

Miho, Karen, and Hanna made their way through the thick thorny forest, heading in the direction the goblin escaped.

“Silverbell! Silverbell!” Hanna yelled, hoping to catch the attention of the princess's royal cat. But until now, this had proven pointless.

“Aren’t we going in circles?” Karen asked.

Miho pointed at the sun, which had risen to its highest point in the atmosphere.

“I’m confident we’re heading in the right direction; we just need to hold onto hope.”

“You are right, there should be a borough somewhere, goblins don’t usually wander off too far from home,” Karen added.

“It must be somewhere her-”

“Silent!” Hanna yelled, interrupting Karen.

“I hear something.”

The girls carefully listened and heard a high-pitched noise.

A cat meowing.

“That must be Silverbell!” Hanna cheerfully exclaimed.

Miho turned off the hedge trimmer to reduce their noise, leaving it up to Karen with her sword to cut the branches in the direction they heard the cat noise come from. After a bit of cutting, the branches started to become less dense. Karen lifted her arm and with one big swoop, she cut away the final branch.

The girls found themselves at the edge of another clearing in the forest. However this time, it was completely different. Instead of a peaceful grassy area with flowers, the ground was dirty with a big pile of dirt in the middle. Out of it led a bunch of tunnels in each direction. But even worse, the grounds were overrun by green, dirty goblins. They were looking at a big ball of dark energy hovering above the dirt pile.

This must be a goblin nest, Miho surmised.

She turned her head and spotted a little cage made of twigs containing…

“Silverbell…” Hanna said with a soft voice.

“We need to save her! We need-” Karen put her hand on Hanna’s mouth.

“You are making too much noise. I can’t take all of them out at once,” Karen whispered.

We must come up with a plan and most importantly, make sure we don’t get spotted by the goblins.

Carefully, Miho and the others took a few steps back deeper into the foliage. Miho grabbed Clarice tight and started discussing with her party.

“We need to move ourselves into the forest and get as close as possible to Silverbell. After that we have to make a distraction so we can get back in the forest quickly,” Miho said, the other girls nodding, signaling their agreement.

“Also that ball of evil energy reminds me of the goop monster I accidentally created in the dungeon. I think we need to deal with it, it might be the source of this evil forest.”

Hanna looked at Miho.

“Do you think you can banish that evil ball using Clarice’s magic?”

I am not sure I understand Clarice’s magic anymore, although I feel we are left with no choice. There is no way we can fix this situation in a non-magical manner.

Miho laid her hand on Hanna’s shoulder.

“Clarice’s maker told me it could clean up everything, so don’t worry.”

The girls decided to split, Hanna and Karen started hacking a new path closer to Silverbell, while Miho stayed put. Her task was to create a distraction and then unleash Clarice’s cleansing magic.

“The most important thing is to stay quiet,” Miho emphasized. Karen started hacking at the branches but soon stopped.

“Chopzilla! It’s chipped,” she yelled while she inspected her sword. Miho who was watching the goblin saw them look around in confusion. After a moment of chaos, their evil black eyes stared right in her direction. With about a dozen monsters locking their eyes with hers, Miho had to act quickly.

Oh crap, Miho thought while she braced herself with Clarice.

“Dear goddess Lifhild, please let my tool be able to cleanse these goblins and save me and my friends,” she whispered desperately, pointing the bristle side toward the approaching goblins.

“Stop worrying, you little bird. Chopzilla will save the day!”

Karen stormed Miho with her broadsword at the ready. She jumped between her and the army of green dirtmen. With a loud yell, she started hacking at them. The narrow corridor they created in the midst of the evil forest worked to their advantage, funneling the goblins toward them one by one. Still, Karen had to be extremely careful not to get overwhelmed.

Miho watched the goblins getting cut in halves by the stoic swordsman, their green bodies crumbling to dust. Exhausted, Karen wiped away the sweat from her forehead as she prepared for another wave of goblins.

If only I could help.

Sadly, it was impossible for Miho to turn Clarice into a weapon. The peaceful life she wished for at the goddess seemed further and further away from her. In a magical land like this, “clean up” meant something entirely different than at home.

As Miho watched Karen behead the last goblin, Miho started transforming Clarice into the little black box she used to get rid of the goop monster in the dungeon. The broom started sparking and soon morphed into its new shape.

"Hurry up, I can see new goblins forming out of the mud,” Karen yelled. Hanna passed by Miho and hid by Karen. Together the two rushed toward the meowing cat. Miho stepped forward holding the tiny box. She moved closer to the dirt hill from where earthen sculptures representing tiny men with pointy ears started to appear. Carefully, she opened the box. A magical gush of wind blew toward it. Miho placed her heel firmly in the mud, making sure she didn’t get blown over. With an immense force, the box started sucking up the ball of energy hovering above the hill. While trying to keep her flowing hair out of her eyesight, Miho witnessed the energy shrinking.

“Look out Miho, a goblin!” Karen yelled while sprinting toward her. One of the goblins had crawled out of its mud mold and was heading for Miho.

Oh crap, what do I do? I am completely unarmed…

Miho lifted her leg and gave the approaching goblin a powerful kick with her boot. Unfortunately, this brought her out of balance. While still carrying the active magic box, she fell flat in the dirt. Her whole body was covered by the soggy brown mud. Even worse, the goblin had gotten up and was ready to attack Miho.

“Waahh!” Karen yelled while sweeping her sword just in time. Only an inch away from Miho, the goblin was split in two and crumbled into another pile of dirt.

The other forming goblins had just hatched, but deterred by the faith of their brother, they started running in the opposite direction.

From the corner of her eye, Miho saw that Hanna came hurrying toward her, carrying Silverbell. The ball of energy had completely disappeared, and now the forest started crumbling itself. The leaves started turning brown and fell off, and shorter branches snapped and disappeared. The trunks turned back and thinned until they were about as thick as a toothpick and fell to the ground. Grass started to grow in the fresh dirt, and the garden's beautiful hedges reappeared from underneath the dead forest. In the span of a single minute, the majestic gardens had returned to their former glory.

Miho felt exhausted… her eyelids became heavy.

“Miss Miho!” she heard Hanna yell before her vision turned black…

X

“Please alert your guards! Some goblins escaped and they are heading in the direction of Friedenshain,” Karen yelled at one of the princesses' staff members. Miho woke from Karen’s loud voice, feeling her muscular hands carrying her body.

“K-Karen?” the exhausted Miho whispered. She opened her eyes and saw the walls of the palace tower above her. Karen smiled back at her, and then quickly her face looked serious again.

“That group of goblins got away, I had to prioritize your and Silverbell's health, so I couldn’t go after them,” Karen added after which she put Miho down at a bench next to the palace’s entrance. She grabbed Chopzilla from her back and started obsessively scrubbing it.

I thought she was concerned about those goblins, but I guess I see what her priorities are…

Miho tried to transform Clarice, but she felt too tired. She coughed a couple of times and tried it again. With a lot of effort, her magical tool turned back into its duster form.

“Let me try,” Miho said after which she started lightly brushing Karen's sword. Soon enough, the sword sparkled as before, looking as new with no dents to be found. Karen stared at Chopzilla with a look of disbelief.

“I feared I had to leave it in the hands of an untrusty blacksmith, but you fixed it with no effort at all,” Karen laughed.

You should know how tired I feel, all this magic is taking its toll.

“My dearest Silverbell! Someone, start preparing a bath!” Miho could hear the princess yell.

“You all could use one, actually,” she added after looking at the girls covered in dirt. The princess’s head maid led the girls to the back entrance, where they had to take a bath together with Silverbell.

"I've never seen such a big bath! I could definitely swim in here!" Hanna exclaimed, her excitement palpable as she stepped into the heated bathing room. She gently petted the dirty cat, trying to calm her, before lifting her into the bath. The cat struggled, squirming in an attempt to escape, but Hanna held on firmly, determined to get her clean.

“You need to be washed,” she whispered while playing with some foam.

“Those goblins, how much chaos could they make?” the concerned Miho asked Karen.

“The princess sent her guards to deal with them, we have done enough for today.”

Karen failed to take Miho’s doubts away.

All this is caused by my magic… something I fail to properly understand, let alone control.

You know what? Maybe Karen is right. I only make things worse, don't I?