Chapter 11

With the plan done, Kakashi and the two girls went to the goblin camp. They walked silently, trying to get as close as possible before alerting the goblins. The small path connecting the camp and the exit was small, so they could easily be overwhelmed if they alerted the goblins.

While they descended, Kakashi eyed the path’s end. If Syorin jumped or ran too far, then she would waste a turn to move, so he must keep her movements over short distances.

Ten meters…

It was the distance their testing gave them. Any more than that, then a turn would be wasted.

They managed to reach the bottom end of the ramp undetected. With the goblins still looking at the crate, Kakashi began the battle. Half of the camp was in Kakashi’s twenty-meter range, which meant he captured a lot of goblins.

“Syorin, Four Strike!”

Syorin shot forward, pummeling four different goblins with attacks. As expected, the goblin weaklings were taken out with one hit. The rest of the group turned to Syorin. Now that they were alerted, numerous goblin pictures appeared on the left side of his vision, but their turns were below Neila, and despite their struggles, they couldn’t move before Neila moved.

“Neila, Party Tricks!”

Using magic, Neila created a stream of water that flew straight up, pulling the enemy's attention toward her. Her distance from the goblins was close to the twenty-meter limit. The goblin swarm closed the distance, but they wasted their turn in doing so.

“Syorin, Four Strike!”

Using her most targets, non-AoE ability, Syorin punched through the group of goblins, reducing their numbers. The goblins attempted to defend, but they couldn’t do anything. They weren’t strong enough to even slow down Syorin’s punches. Their large numbers didn’t help in the slightest, thanks to Kakashi’s ability.

“Neila, Smoke Bomb!”

Now, the goblins were close enough that they would be able to move and attack at the same time. Neila’s smoke bomb covered the battlefield, preventing everyone from seeing. The goblins reacted by attacking randomly. Most of their hits hit empty air, some landed on a fellow goblin, and some headed straight for Syorin. Syorin was ready to accept, and used the chance to counterattack, knocking out all the goblins that attacked her.

Kakashi gave them all equal chances to try and punch their friends, before telling Syorin to do another Four Strike, all while paying attention to Syorin’s mana. Since Syorin stood far away from Neila, Neila was kept safe. Some of Syorin’s attacks missed, but the ones that hit took out their foes in a single strike.

“Neila, Smoke Bomb!”

“Syorin, Four Strike!”

Kakashi kept Neila on the move, constantly deploying her Smoke Bomb. Floating above, he had a good look at the entire battlefield, even with the dense smoke. He kept Neila safe while guiding Syorin to the closest group of goblins.

After a while, the goblins' large numbers dwindled to just four. All four were taken out by Syorin in a single move, but this didn’t mean the battle’s over, however. Outside the barrier, numerous goblins had been punching, attempting to break through. Kakashi prepared himself to bark the same orders over and over again when he saw a red glow coming from the exit.

What followed was an area-wide fire spell, taking out all the other goblins in one fell swoop.

“Astill!”

“You’re taking too long,” Astill shook his head disapprovingly, then descended the path. By the time she attacked, the goblins were all surrounding Syorin and Neila. Since they stood away from the crate, Astill's spell left the crate intact.

“Alright, time to transport this back.” Syorin approached the crate and picked it up. Despite its size, it was light, and she had no problem carrying it in one hand.

“What’s in there?” Astill asked.

“We don’t know, haven’t opened it,” Neila answered.

Astill narrowed her eyes. “Open it.”

“Should we really?” Syorin put the crate back down. Despite her response, she looked into the crate curiously. “Well… I do want to know.”

“This isn’t a request.” Astill glared. She’s not backing down from this one.

The three exchanged glances and unanimously decided that they deserved to know at least. Thus, Neila kneeled in front of the lock, brought out a complete lockpicking set, and began her work.

“You’re taking so long,” Astill complained.

“Patience, Astill, good things need time,” Syorin said.

“This one is surprisingly difficult,” Neila said, her eyes still on the lock.

“We should just destroy it, then.” Astill readied her staff, but Syorin quickly held her hand.

“What? If it’s destroyed, we can just say the goblins got to it first.”

“But what about its contents? It’s pointless if we don't get to see it!”

“Ca- calm down, you two.”

“Stay out of this!” Astill gritted her teeth, directing her anger toward Kakashi while trying to wrestle Syorin off her.

“A bit more… done.”

Neila stood up and pulled the lid off, revealing its contents.

“What’s… this?”

Syorin and Kakashi came closer to take a peek. Inside, there was nothing but a rock.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it, apparently.”

Syorin lifted the rock out of the box. “Is this rock even-”

“Aaahhh!”

An ear-piercing scream came from Astill, who kneeled on the floor, holding her head.

“Astill?”

“Astill! Are you alright?”

“That rock… Get it away…”

Syorin grabbed the rock, ran to the side, and smashed it into the wall, destroying it completely.

“Huff… huff…” Astill’s breathing was still heavy, but she had calmed down a bit. Syorin took her left, while Kakashi took her right. Neila came closer and put her finger on Astill's neck.

“Her heart… It's beating so fast.”

Sweat rolled down her forehead. Kakashi and Syorin shared a glance, then worked together to support her back to the exit while Neila ran to the carriage. By the time they reached the forest, Neila and her horse were already waiting.

“I’ve contacted the guild.”

“Alright.”

They loaded Astill onto the horse, and Neila ran straight for the forest exit.

•••

“How’s Astill?” Syorin asked. She and Kakashi returned to the carriage and waited there for Neila. After transferring Astill to the guild staff, Neila returned with her horse. She hooked up her horse to the carriage and continued their journey west.

“By the time the guild staff arrived, Astill was already strong enough to stand on her own. She didn’t look like usual, though.”

“Did she say anything?”

Neila shook her head. “She’s surprisingly silent.”

“Is she not usually like that?” Kakashi asked.

“She’s anything but silent,” Syorin answered. “She loves complaining. If it were the usual her, she'd have slapped our hands out when we tried to lift her.”

“I see…”

“Did that person tell you where to meet them, Neila?”

“Yes.”

“We should check him out.”

“Are you sure it’s the rock’s fault?” Kakashi hadn’t known Astill for long, but it seemed weird that she would suffer just because of seeing a rock. He didn’t want to accidentally attack someone innocent.

“Well… I wouldn’t be so sure myself if that person had told us what it was.”

“Syorin has a point. If it’s just a rock, then he would tell us so.”

The person who gave them that quest kept it a secret. The rock didn’t look valuable, and even if it were a valuable rock, he could just say it’s a rock.

“No one would go to great lengths just for a rock.”

“And I don’t recognize that rock.”

“Oh, yeah, you can appraise rocks, can’t you?”

Neila glanced at Kakashi. “Is that in my abilities list?”

Kakashi nodded.

“Phew, there’s no keeping secrets from you, is there?”

“Sorry.”

“No, it’s alright. I don’t intend on keeping it a secret anyway.”

Neila mentioning the word secret made him remember Astill’s secret, her dark magic arsenal.

I wonder if that has anything to do with this.