Chapter 366 A Terrible, Tragic Accident

Hermit wailed, his body wracked with shudders.

“He was hurt! Lying there! His head—oh, his poor, bleeding head! Blood pouring out like a river! We didn’t know what to do! The goblins, they panicked! Scattering like frightened rats! Useless! Helpless! Clumsy fools, all of us!”

Hermit’s tears streaked through the dirt on his face, his thin frame trembling violently.

“We tried, Master! We tried so hard to protect him! But it was too late—too late! The beasts wouldn’t stop! Their teeth, their claws—they ripped through us like we were grass! The screams, oh, the screams! I can still hear them!” He clapped his hands over his ears, as if to block out the haunting screams in his memory.

“With what little strength we had left, we dragged him into the barn! Fortified what we could, piled whatever we could find against the doors! But it wasn’t enough! The Pig Wolves, they kept coming, Master! Clawing, snarling, attacking us! And the goblins... the poor goblins... they could barely hold a weapon! Some cried just looking at the blades in their hands! They weren’t warriors, Master—they weren’t ready! None of us were!”

Hermit collapsed to the ground, his face pressed into the dirt as he bawled, his voice a pitiful wail.

“We couldn’t stop them! We couldn’t! Oh, Master, we failed you! We failed you so badly! Mercy, Master! Please! Show mercy!”

Hermit collapsed fully to the ground, his face pressed into the dirt, his wretched sobs muffled as he clawed at the ground.

“Please, master, forgive us! We tried, we really did! But them Pig Wolves, they was too much! Too strong! We is weak, useless! Just useless goblins! Please, master, don’t punish us! We’ll work harder, dig deeper, anything you want! But please—don’t be mad!”

His voice dwindled into pitiful whimpers, his small frame heaving with the weight of his despair. He dared not look up, fearing Suzuka’s wrath as he waited, trembling, for her judgment.

Suzuka pinched the bridge of her nose, exhaling slowly as she tried to rein in her frustration. Her crimson eyes flicked down to Hermit, who was prostrated before her, his tears mixing with the dirt on the floor.

“So, let me get this straight. Jacob’s skull is cracked open because some brainless goblin tripped over his own feet and managed to hurl a brick at his head during a panic attack? You’re telling me that Jacob—a trained earth mage, mind you—got himself nearly killed... by a brick. And now he’s lying there, useless, because of your idiocy? And now, because of your collective stupidity, we’re left with half-built walls, terrified goblins, and a pack of rabid Pig Wolves circling around?”

Hermit’s head bobbed up and down so vigorously it was a wonder his neck didn’t snap. 

“Y-Yes, Master! That’s exactly it! A terrible, tragic accident! None of us wanted this to happen—no, no, no! We swear it! We didn’t mean to hurt Master Jacob!”

Suzuka pinched the bridge of her nose again, exhaling sharply.

 “An earth mage,” she muttered under her breath, her tone dripping with disdain, “getting himself nearly killed by a fucking brick. What a joke.”

 She leveled a glare at Hermit, who recoiled with a whimper.

“P-Please, Master! The walls are barely standing! The goblins—they’re useless too, Master! They can’t fight! They cry just looking at weapons! And the Pig Wolves—they’re out there! Waiting! Watching! Ready to tear us apart the moment we make a mistake! Oh, Master, we need your help! Your strength! Your wisdom! We’ll all die without you!” Hermit wailed, clasping his grubby hands together. 

“Oh, for god’s sake, Hermit! Stop your sniveling, groveling, miserable display! It’s pathetic! No one is going to kill you or your useless kin,” she snapped, “I’ll take care of Jacob—he’s my problem now. And the Pig Wolves? I’ll handle them too. Someone here has to act like they have a spine.”

She crossed her arms, her sharp gaze cutting into Hermit. 

“But you fellas really made a mess of things, haven’t you?” she said coolly.

Hermit whimpered, his entire body quaking.

 “Yes, Master! A disaster! A complete disaster! But you’re here now! You’ll save us, won’t you, Master?"

"Listen carefully,” Suzuka continued, “You need to pull yourself together. Go calm down your pathetic little goblin friends, restore order in this gods-forsaken camp, and make yourselves useful. Start fixing those walls—do something. Anything! If you want to prove you’re worth, now is the time to act.”

Hermit opened his mouth to speak, but Suzuka cut him off with a sharp gesture.

“And save your excuses and groveling for later. We’ll deal with assigning blame for this disaster once the mess is cleaned up. Do I make myself clear, Hermit? Or do you need another kick to the head to help you understand?”

Hermit scrambled to his feet, nodding so frantically it looked like he might pass out.

“Y-Yes, Master! Of course, Master! Right away! I-I’ll calm them, I will! I’ll fix it, I swear it! No more crying, no more excuses, just action!” he squealed, bowing so low his forehead smacked the dirt.

“Good. Now get out of my sight."

“Yes, master! We will do everything we can! We’ll make up for our mistakes! We’ll rebuild and defend! Please, just save Master Jacob!”

 With a final, penetrating glare at the trembling goblin, as he scurried through the door, Suzuka turned her attention back to Jacob. 

Half an hour passed, and the transformation was visible. Jacob’s once-swollen head began to ease, and signs of awareness flickered behind his bruised eyelids. As his consciousness returned, he blinked groggily, struggling to focus. Suzuka quickly handed him a shimmering healing crystal.

“Jacob! Focus and listen! Infuse mana into this,” she instructed sharply.

 “It will speed up your recovery.”

Jacob, still disoriented from his severe concussion, managed to grasp the crystal with trembling hands. His sense of orientation was shaky, but he infused the crystal with mana purely by instinct, guided more by the desperate will to recover than by clear thought. The crystal glowed with a fierce light as it absorbed the mana, its magic beginning to weave through Jacob’s body.

The healing crystal worked its wonders, the intense, pulsating light suffusing Jacob’s form. The brutal injury, once a grotesque mess of torn flesh, started to close and heal at an accelerated rate. The once-gaping wound was now gone. Jacob's pain eased, his mind slowly clearing as the agony of his concussion receded. 

With a low groan, Jacob managed to turn his head to face Suzuka. His voice was hoarse and filled with confusion.

 “What’s going on? What happened to me?”

Suzuka took a deep breath and recounted the harrowing details. 

“You were hit in the head by a falling brick during the attack. The Pig Wolves came in full force, and the goblins were left in a state of panic. They had to drag you to safety. The goblins tried to defend the camp, but they were overwhelmed. That's about it.”

Jacob's eyes, still clouded with pain and exhaustion, searched Suzuka’s face as he absorbed the gravity of her words. His voice, now tinged with a profound sadness, broke through.

 “How many, Suzuka? How many died because of me? Because I failed.”

The question hung heavily in the air, a painful reminder of the cost of the attack. Suzuka’s expression darkened as she grappled with the answer. 

“Well, it's not the end of the world but there were a few casualties,” she said grimly. 

“But don't worry, only the goblins suffered. I found their bodies scattered, torn apart by the Pig Wolves. They were overwhelmed, and their attempts to defend themselves were... well... pitiful to say the least. The exact number is hard to say, but so far, I have seen around twenty. There might be more, it was hard to tell from the piles of gore.”

Jacob’s face contorted with a deep, wrenching guilt. 

 “So many? Gods, I failed them,” he said, his voice breaking. 

“They trusted me,” he continued, his words carrying the hardened cadence of a veteran who had seen too many comrades fall. 

“Those goblins... they weren’t soldiers only workers. They were kids, most of them barely old enough to swing a hammer properly. And they were counting on me to keep them safe. Hell, I was supposed to be the one they could rely on.”

His lips curled into a bitter smirk, though the humor in it was buried beneath layers of anguish.

 “Some protector, huh? The great and mighty Jacob, brought down by a damn brick. Never thought my toughest opponent would be shoddy masonry. They’ll be singing songs about that one for centuries.”

The self-deprecating quip did little to hide the pain in his eyes as he clenched his fists, his knuckles whitening with the force of his frustration.

“This is on me. I let my guard down. I was too confident, too cocky with my powers, and I missed the warning signs. I should have been there when it counted, should’ve been on my feet, fighting alongside them. Instead, I was laid out on my back, useless. And they were left to face those monsters alone. I failed and now they’re dead because of me.”

He tilted his head back, staring at the ceiling as if searching for forgiveness in the rafters. His voice cracked slightly as he continued.

“How many of them died in fear, Suzuka? How many of them looked to me for help as they were torn apart, only to see me bleeding out like some goddamn amateur? They didn’t deserve that. They were just trying to do their jobs, to build something out of nothing, and I let them down.”