Sybrand had been at sea when he had gotten a revelation from his goddess.

He had taken a lift on a merchant's vessel from Eston to the Mist Isles, hoping to find gainful employment there. He was an adventurer by trade, quests were the only way for him to make money, and they were getting hard to come by, with how many adventurers there were.

In the captain's quarters stood a small shrine, showing the emblems of all twelve gods. Dower, god of the sea, was represented the most prominently, but Benesant's emblem, the winged deer, was also there.

It was on the last day of their journey that he was given access to the religious object. The captain had taken note of his religious character for the first time, and invited him to use "the old begging stone".

It being the last day, he would soon be able to find a temple or shrine in the harbor town, but not to seem ungrateful he took the man up on his offer and communed with his goddess on the ship.

There he was met with miraculous response.

-

Sybrand!

"Aah!" Never in his life had the goddess ever responded to his prayer.

Sybrand, among my warriors, you are among the most devout.

"A-are you certain?" He spoke against the empty air. "I had to become an adventurer, the order judged me-"

Uh-huh, that's great. You have no doubts in your heart, I sense it. I wish to send you on a mission.

"A holy mission? Am I to become your champion? My goddess-!"

At ease! I already have a champion. Your contribution will be more humble, more fitting for one such as yourself.

"I... see."

Pride is a dangerous affliction, young Sybrand. Would you imagine yourself worthy of more?

"No! No. I wholeheartedly accept your mission, your maje-. Uh, ma'am."

Very well, your directive shall be the death of a goblin.

"A goblin? One goblin?"

In the forests near Eston, near the cliffs to the sea, lives a goblin chieftain. An existence that must be erased.

"This goblin. Is it some sort of special being? Is it fated to cause a great calamity?"

Do not question my ways. Its evil offends me, now go.

"Wait! How can I find this goblin?"

When you arrive, you will know.

-

Invigorated by a holy mission, Sybrand made arrangements to return as soon as he arrived.

Five days later, he stepped foot on the continent again.

Right around this time of year, the adventurers' guild held the culling event in Eston. A game to get kids interested in adventuring, where they killed as much goblins as possible.

The forests were overrun by cullers. These were rank F adventurers trying to make a quick buck. He didn't even attempt to party up with anyone.

Sybrand had worked hard to rise up to rank D after leaving the order. He was now at the level where he was fighting orcs and trolls, beginning adventurers would just hold him back.

After buying a loaf of dry bread with the last of his copper, he determined in which direction the cliffs were, and just started walking.

A hike in full plate is laborious and exhausting, but he couldn't very well afford transportation. It didn't matter, he had been given a holy mission by the goddess of light herself. He would find the strength.

"When you arrive, you will know." The words spooked through his head. He has seen no signs of distorted corruption, of a darkness overtaking the lands. Only disparate bands of adventurers having fun, killing goblins.

So he kept marching, without pause, towards the cliff side and the ocean. If, having reached that, he could not locate any goblin of importance, he would scour the entire coastline in search of it. But no, he couldn't think like that, he had to have faith. Surely, the object of his search would reveal itself to him.

When he entered a part of the forest with no bird song, no chirping of insects, he knew he was on the right track.

With overwhelming force her obliterated the traps laid out in front of him. He was tired, and they were skilfully made, but the light magic of Benesant coursed through his veins. Every step of the way he boosted his body using mana, allowing him to maintain his strength.

-

Then, he heard the cries of pain of a woman.

His mind dulled by the exhaustion, but his body still in top form, he set course for the source of the sound.

He encountered some resistance on the way, from somewhere goblins were firing ranged weapons at him. He healed himself and kept his path straight.

Followers of Benesant were dedicated to spreading her influence, that meant not just slaying evil, but also doing good. Right now, someone was being tortured, saving her was the first thing that had to be on the mind of a paladin.

His destination was a small brick shack, sticking out of the side of the cliff. The sea had to be on the other side.

A handful of goblins stormed out of the opening in front, wielding primitive weapons. Sybrand didn't waste time, he kicked the one first to approach him, knocking it to the ground, and immediately stepped over it.

Any of the others that still blocked his way as he walked past he swung at with his mace, forcing them to duck away.

He jerked off the hide obscuring the entrance, and was greeted by the stench of sweat and blood.

In front of them stood a woman in her early thirties, dressed in rags. She had a terrified look on her face.

"Are you alright?" He asked. "I heard screaming. This place is filled with-" He felt a knife glance the armor on his knees and kicked the goblin that had ambushed him. "-goblins!"

As he waited for the captured woman to answer, he went in to kill the goblin.

It was then when he heard the sound of glass shattering, and felt cold liquid seeping into his neck.

As the smell of the toxin reached him the world started to blur, colors danced for his eyes, and he fell to the ground.

"What the hell was that?" Scratch yelled out after intruding upon the scene, he had a visible headwound from the fight.

The adventurer lay prone on the ground, Linus was in a half upright position, breathing heavily, and the infants were screaming. Barbara stood still, her mouth slightly agape.

"Mom killed the human." Linus groaned. His legs had been crushed in the fight.

Scratch stepped towards the heavily armored body, he turned the head around using both arms on his little body to look at the wound. But he found none. What he did see was the pupils of the man rapidly dilate and contract over and over.

"Fucking hell." He cursed over the screaming. "He's still alive. Somebody hand me a kni-"

"Linus!" Mac came storming past him out of concern for his brother. "Your legs!"

Other goblins gathered around the entrance, looking concerned. Using the magic potion on his legs in their current state would leave them permanently disfigured, perhaps non-functional. But not using it at all would give him a slow painful death.

"I'm alright." Linus put up a brave face. "The babies. Look at the babies."

"No." Scratch demanded. "Look at the enemy. Look at this, he'll be up raising hell any moment now."

"He won't..." Barbara slowly lowered herself to the ground. "In an enclosed space... the vapors of the mana toxin... will hang around for an hour or more."

"What's this? What's she talking about?" Scratch asked Linus, like he'd know.

Linus gave a hint of a shrug and went back to looking at his ruined legs.

"With mana toxin..." Barbara sunk to the ground completely. "...our own magic is turned against us. The more magic..." She collapsed on the floor.

"Poison." Scratch covered his face with his hand. "Everybody evacuate, take the children. It's a goddam bio-weapon."

-

They lifted the babies from their bed and ran outside with them.

Mac took Linus over his shoulder and dragged him out behind the rest.

After the goblins had been secured, they went on with secondary concerns. Covering his face up with a piece of cloth and picking up one of the spears, Biter went inside to slice the man's throat.

Only after that did he drag Barbara out.

It took several minutes of fresh air for her to regain consciousness.

In that time, a light rain started. The cold water made the children uncomfortable, and they started to whine again.

"Not now, we haven't got time for that." Fyro admonished them, and in some capacity they understood his words, quieting down.

"There's still a roof over the lumber." Mac said. "We can keep dry over there."

They moved the newborn to the lumber, only Scratch, Kicker and Biter remained where they were. Waiting for the rain to wake up their woman.

-

"The others should come back soon." Kicker commented.

"Uh-huh." Biter answered.

"They'll be in for a surprise!"

"Uh-huh." Biter's response was still tepid as he kept his gaze on Barbara.

"Because they... didn't expect... hhm." The dialogue petered out.

After a period of silence, Barbara opened her eyes.

"Well, start talking." Scratch demanded.

We are back in the eastern area from before. It still looks just like the other rank F areas in the region.

【A single orc and multiple goblins, you said?】David comments, he is leading the way, walking ahead of us.

【That's what it was looked like.】Theresa answers, not far behind him.

【I'm only asking because orcs usually live in large tribes.】

【I think we'd know dearie.】Comes Angela's call from the back.

They're all part of "Xandra's party" now. Theresa and Angela decided to join us after we saved them here, they're a duelist and a healer respectively. David is a ranger we picked up in Eston.

This is a proper adventuring expedition now. We're not just some kids lifting along with our uncle. I suppose this sort of thing is common in this world, normal adventuring of mob characters is what the adventurers guild is for, not the world saving adventures the heroes of the story will do.

I think I remember the location where the orc dungeon will be, years from now. Now that our party is a lot bigger, maybe we can challenge the orc before it starts a tribe, and prevent the high orc dungeon boss from ever being there in the first place.

【Hey. Hey!】As I am thinking about these things, Xandra is trying to get me attention.【Hey, Rudy!】

【Hm? What is it?】

【I don't understand why you're so fixated on this monster. I just want to say... I'll help you, okay? I'll help you do what you think you have to do.】

【Yeah, that's great Xandra. Angela,】I turn around and walk backwards for a bit to talk to her, 【, was it around here somewhere?"

【We must be getting close.】She answers.【Of course, we weren't able to explore our surroundings much, I hope you understand. Rudy.】

【Yes. I understand.】My mind is already imagining how stopping the dungeon will change the course of events in the story. If the orcs never get established in the area, the road to the harbor is never blocked by a defensive fortification from the army. And the heroes will be able to travel by boat whenever they'd like. They wouldn't need to go through the entire arc in the witchwood and win the trust of the fairy queen first.

With that arc skipped over, the demon king would be defeated within a few weeks. He probably won't be able to attack Linefort with his army and kill the princess. The death of the princess is considered a shocking and tragic moment by all players of "four kingdoms". Stopping it would be amazing.

-

Eventually we do arrive at the nests where Angela and Theresa were captured.

We all ready our weapons, but there are only a few goblins there.

Theresa, Xandra and I quickly kill them.

【There've been a lot of 'em here." David comments as he inspects the marks on the ground.【Rhada in the heavens a lot! More than a hundred!】

【That can't be right.】Theresa states.【When we were here only a few dozen of goblins around.】

【Well, there's more of them now. And most of them are out.】

He has to be right. All around us are the signs of a large tribe. The remains of multiple animals hunted for food, countless paths of trampled undergrowth instead of a few, and discarded items and clubs everywhere.

Theresa is unconvinced.【Well they can't-】

【They can.】Angela interrupts her. 【Goblins are a weak race. They follow any creature more powerful than themselves. The 'pig', the orc, if he came with the plan to subjugate more goblin nests, it wouldn't be hard for him to do so.】

【That's it!】Xandra yells out painfully hard, hurting my ear.【A dark lord! Dark lords always start out as strong monsters that force weaker monsters to obey them! This is that! If we stop this pig, we might even be stopping the rise of the next demon king!】

【Haha. Sure.】I laugh it off.

【Don't laugh too soon, Rudy.】David ponders.【Xandra might be on to something. Even if he's not the next demon king, this orc is a growing threat to the region. If not for the farms, then at least for the adventurers that practice their fighting here.】

【Most likely to the farms too.】Angela taps the side of her nose.【Why do you think there's so little here to defend the home? They're out raiding.】

【Oh no! We have to stop them! We have to warn somebody." Xandra yells out.【Dave, can you track them. You're a ranger, right?】

【I am only rank F, but it's a big war path. More importantly, can you guys take them on? There's a hundred of them.】

【Ye-】

【No.】I interrupt Xandra.

If we were the heroes of the story, we would get lucky and win a fight against the odds. But we're just mob characters. Fighting against the odds with your life on the line is just a bad gamble! That's like betting all your savings on a mahjong game with no pairs in your opening hand.

【Even if we can win, the chances that we die are also very large.】I explain.【I don't want that.】

【Your boyfriend is wise.】Theresa comments.

【He isn-】【I'm no-】

We talk through each other and it gets awkward.

【We should head back and report this to the guild.】Angela comments.【Didn't you say you had found a world memory in a ruined farm? That could very well be related.】

【Do we have to?" Xandra complains.【What about the culling?】

I too am worried about the culling. The spring amulet is important to the story of the game, and now it isn't where it's supposed to be.

【This is more important." Angela berates her.【The culling is supposed to be a safe event for rank F adventurers like us, but now the danger has gone up. People need to know.】

-

We immediately head back, making sure not to follow the path of the goblin army.

【It looks like it's leading downriver.】David says.【I've been there before, there's a family with a mill there.】

Xandra almost immediately changes direction to save them, but I pull her back.

On our way out of the forest we see another group of adventurers. There's five of them, a Vanguard, a healer, and some damage dealers.

【More people coming into the orcs' territory.】Theresa says.

【Tell them about the army】I say.

【Hey!】Xandra calls out to them.

But they suddenly take a defensive stance.

【Don't come any closer. We mean you no harm!】The vanguard says.

【What's the problem?】She starts walking towards them.

【I said don't come closer!】

I quickly run up to her and stop her from advancing.

【They don't seem like they want to make conversation.】I tell her.

【Well why not?】She hisses back.

Eventually, the two groups circle around each other in a wide arc, until we both can go our separate ways.

【That was strange.】Theresa comments. 【They made it clear they didn't want to attack us, but they didn't trust us not to attack them."

【Makes you wonder what kind of people they think we are.】Angela responds.

"So the poison is meant for opponents that are, what, strong?"

"Stronger than oneself, yes." Barbara sat on the ground being interrogated. The rain was getting stronger and soaking their clothes. "The vapors of mana toxin disrupt how your magic works. The more magic, the more damage."

She put her hand against her head. "I'm not an adventurer or knight, so it only hurts a little."

Scratch folded his arms. "And you were hoping to defend us against adventurers with it?"

"Ye-"

"Tell us the truth Barbs."

"I kept it to use on you."

There was a moment of silence. Kicker and Biter looked at Scratch to see what his reaction would be.

Then he burst out laughing.

"Ha! On me!" He slapped her on the back. "Because I'm the most powerful creature you know, right?"

She didn't laugh along.

"You can sit with the others, we're getting soaked out here. Guys, let's go back inside and clean up the corpse. Maybe get some salve for Linus' legs."

As Barbara shuffled towards the lumber he gave some vague hand gestures to the others, signaling Kicker, Biter, and he were going back to the cave.

"It's not dangerous?" Biter asked.

"Not to the likes us of. Goblins have no magic." He explained.

-

Barbara put the trauma of ruining her own chances of escape out her head as she approached Linus and the newborn.

The newborn were put on the damp grass underneath the little shelter, they were surrounded by Fyro and George, who couldn't gt enough of them as curiosity. Linus was resting with his back against a split log of hickory. He was putting on a brave face and trying not to be obtrusive to the others, but Mac was squeezing his hand in sympathy.

She thought about his namesake, the ruthless bandit boss Lydia Harkness. She couldn't imagine Harkness being comforted by another.

"Linus, baby, how's it going?" She whispered, kneeling next to him.

"Huuuuh." He sniffed. "My legs."

"I know, I know. Be strong, okay? Your dads are getting you some magic." She stroked his hair.

It was strange being so lovey and motherly towards a goblin. But she couldn't let her pride get in her way now. Even if it was playing into Scratch's hand, or somehow destroying her ability to escape, she had to be there for the boy she'd been taking care of.

She felt a tug at the crude garnment she was wearing. It was a tiny baby hand of a goblin exploring the world.

She picked him up, a big smile appeared on the newborn's face when he looked at her.

"Have you boys seen your new brothers?" She asked Mac and Linus, holding the baby towards them.

Co-operating with the attempt to distract him, Linus reach out with his hand and pressed his finger on the child's nose. The child slapped it away with an indignant expression.

"I've been getting to name you boys." She said, bringing the infant back to her chest. His eyes sparkled with intelligence, he seemed to almost understand what she was saying.

"I think this time, I'll name you after heroes of legend." She turned towards the rest of the litter. Fyro and George, who had been playing with them, paused to listen her words.

"So this one will be Haruto, this one Yuto, Sota, Yuki, Hayato, and... Haruki."

"What sort of names are those?" George asked.

"The first heroes came from a different world." Barbara explained. "They had strange and exotic names from a wonderous foreign star."

"You hear that, Hayato?" Fyro said. "You're just like a hero, yeah!"

The child laughed at his older brother's enthusiasm and wildly waved his arms about.

"Are we going to take the whole jar?" Asked Kicker, looking at the tall ceramic vase.

"We should take the whole jar." Biter said.

"What's the alternative?" Asked Scratch. "Cup it in our hands? Come on, put your knees into it."

They had alread dragged the body outside where it could lose the rest of its blood, and thrown the bloodied pelts into the water basin. Now they were retrieving the magic salve for healing purposes.

"Scratch, you're hurt." Biter tutted, and reached for the ladle.

"Oh no. Nonono, not me." Scratch held his hand in front of his forehead to cover the scrape the adventurer had given him.

Biter loosened his grip. "Why not?"

"Vanity. Now you two carry this thing."

-

Scratch led the way as his brothers shuffled behind him, holding the precious container.

He stopped when he came to the cell door and slammed his flat palm against the thin planks multiple times as a sort of knock. "You hanging in there?"

"Go to hell, monster!" The captured woman screamed.

"She's alright, continue upward."

-

When they came to the staircase, Scratch, who was in front, kept the vase upright as it was pushed through the trap door.

"Hey!" He called to the outside. "We're preparing the wonder juice! Anybody happen to have mangled legs in need of jesus powers?"

The one that appeared in the doorway wasn't any of the people that had fled the premises less than an hour ago, it was Fat.

"So, back from setting traps? We're not making ready for bed yet, thinks have been a bit hectic-"

"T-there's a problem." Fat stuttered.

From behind him appeared a foreign goblin.

Ranger Class

The ranger class is for survival specialism, and very suited for solo adventuring.

Adventurers registered as rangers have access to combat lessons and ranging equipment in the guild store.

Monster components harvested by rangers of rank E and up can be sold on guild premises directly to other adventurers.

Parties setting out for long quests through wild lands are advised to take at least one ranger along, making it a much sought-after class among high level parties.