Edited by: Flubbykin

A few hours later, barely after the sun rose over the horizon, Elana started heading north. She couldn't sleep, all this time she felt a ballast in her stomach - an uneasy feeling, or - speaking bluntly, she was nervous as hell. She packed a backpack till she could barely lift it - proviant and equipment for a few days as well as a small box full of potions.

These potions were made by Mr. Zariel for purpose of her training, mostly stamina regenerating potions, but also few most common antitoxins and health-regeneration.

She checked everything that was known regarding goblin infestation. Apparently one of the tribes grew much bigger, because of that it was constantly lacking food which forced goblins to attack human's settlements. The less food they had, the more desperate they would become. And violent.

Well, of course, the food wasn't their only concern. Females among goblins were rare. If you would add the... specific urges that goblins are known for, you could clearly picture the current situation - more goblins meant more kidnappings.

In that case, you could ask - why are goblins ignored until they would start causing real troubles?

Because they were not the only troublemakers. Bah! Quite the opposite! In the beast-world, they were treated more like pests than a threat. So what that they would attack one village per week or month? If Behemoth would run into amok, he could completely destroy a small city. Per day.

Adding to that - griffins, wyverns, boggers, whisperers, undead, bandits, insectoids, devil-spawn, dungeons...

Army, militia, and adventurers could never complain about lack of duties.

Goblins were usually left to rookies, as a form of exam checking if they would fit into the role of fully-fledged adventurers.

And lately, the guild stopped hiring new members due to noble's crisis. Foolish bastards treated serious, dire fate of adventurers as a way to show off their kids and boost the rank of the family. You could literally say that among nobles it was "fashionable" to send your kids to the guild.

Oh, but the mortality was high. What would happen when a noble's child dies? Nobles would get crazy. "So what that we sent our offspring to work as a beast slayer!? You weren't supposed to send them against Manticora!"

Yeah, because they were thinking, that somebody would kill it just to hand over the trophy to their bastards so they could brag about deeds they never did?

Oh, Guild was independent, yes, but nobles, thanks to their connection with, for example - merchants, could block certain goods from reaching the guild. Imagine blacksmiths, whose entire weapon stock got bought by a few families. That would force Guild to look for a weapon outside of the city - which greatly increased the prices.

Fools. Egoistic fools.

Because there were no new rookies - there was almost no one to take down goblins before they would grow in strength. A madman circle. Stupidity on wheels rolling through the country.

El gathered as much information as she could regarding that particular group - they were located somewhere in the forest covering a few mountains three days of travel from the capital. No great trading route was located in that region - because of that army wasn't really eager to deploy troops to deal with problems in such a strategically unimportant region. It was the village mayor that asked for help - and because the village was rather small, the prize for extermination wasn't high either - even fewer reasons to help those poor people.

The raid on the village was carried on by a group of around ten goblins. Not THAT much. huh? The villagers armored in pitchforks could easily push such attackers back, right?

Well yes, but actually - no.

You see, goblins, even though they can live and fight perfectly both during the day and the night, were much more suited for night-time life. Their eyes adapted perfectly to the darkness, because of that most of the plunder raids were carried during the night.

Another thing that you have to know about the goblins - unlike the common statement says - they ARE NOT idiots. Quite the opposite, they know multiple tactics that - despite being simple - were more than effective while dealing with untrained villagers. For example - the forces that attack are never the full force of the tribe, usually, the second group would wait nearby in the darkness of the night protecting the retreat of their kin, or - if the villagers would actually put on a fight - they would support their brothers.

Yet another thing - goblins wouldn't destroy the village - they were smarter than that. They would steal food, cattle, pigs and chicken (and few females, of course), but would leave just enough to let it survive and rebuild itself - then they would attack few other villages before returning to the newly rebuilt village just to plunder it again.

Now, let's say hypothetically that the villagers would put up a fight - goblins knew the "art of creating a fire" - if they would think that the village dealt them too heavy loses - they would burn few (dozens) of huts and barns - pretty much forcing the entire settlement to look for a new life somewhere far away.

And, because villages were owned by the lord that governed them... the people would need the lord's permission to relocate. Yeah, feudal life of middle ages. Life was a bitch back then.

And even if they would eventually relocate, if they would raise a new settlement - you could never be sure that other monsters weren't living somewhere close by, even more dangerous.

Yes, after doing some math - goblins weren't that bad.

Especially if adventurers or army would eventually move their asses and deal with the problem - then, the village would live a happy life for a couple of years, maybe a few dozen, till eventually, new monsters would nest close to the village or - may the divines protect us from this fate - a dungeon would pop out.

Back to the math.

Ten attackers in the main forces - a second similar group protecting the retreat - that would give twenty individuals. But the nest is never left alone - that would be thirty or so goblins that could fight. Plus-minus five elders that were too old to carry a weapon - but were fed and treated with respect by the rest gathering - simply because mortality among goblins was high and being able to live till a certain age was a proof of wisdom and experience. To that out of twenty to forty kids that would grow up within a month or two - most wouldn’t make it till adulthood.

If the numbers were right - this was not just a "nest" of a single tribe.

In the best-case scenario - two rivaling tribes would fight for dominance in the region - they would gather food before carrying on a bloody ritual that (usually a set of battles between war chiefs and their squads) till one would last.

In the worst-case scenario - a chieftain was born and managed to rally a few lesser tribes under one banner.

Well, both scenarios had good and bad sides - in case of scenario NO.1 - the tribes would more or less kill one another by themselves, then you would only have to finish the deed and bring mercy to dozen or two of those who would survive the bloody purge.

In scenario number two - the job was both easier and harder at the same time - easier because once the chieftain dies new challengers would try to take his place - and that would lead us to even more brutal scenario NO. 1 - because, nobody knows why, but the death of the leaders causes all the goblins to fall into a frenzy of bloodlust forcing them to kill everything in sight - including one another. The hard part of this plan is... well, killing the leader. Those bastards were not leading tribes because of their beauty. They were strongest, fastest and smartest son-of-a-bitches among the goblins.

Elana tried calming down as much as she could.

Fifty or so goblins? Quite an overwhelming number. Still, she kept repeating to herself the teachings of Aiele.

- "For a Rogue - the number of enemies is unimportant. Irrelevant. Dealing with one, ten, hundred or million enemies is exactly the same. You are not a warrior that charges in waving sword or mace over your head with a war-scream up to the heavens. You are a dark lurker. Blade in robes, poison in the wine. The chain is as strong as its weakest link. The net will be useless once their vital knots are cut open. This is your job. One thrust of a blade that will make the body bleed over time. Your job is to throw a single pebble from the mountain's peak and wait till the avalanche you caused would swallow the army below you. Be patient..."

- "Be methodical..." this time it was Elana that kept repeating her teacher's words "... use arrows, knives, and traps. Play dirty. Be a shadow on the street. Be behind the next corner before the body of your victim would fall lifeless on the ground. Be miles away before your enemies would notice the body of their friend, and locate and kill another victim, before they would sound the alarm in the place of your previous murder."

Murder.

Ha. Great words as for someone that was hesitating to even attack another person with a wooden blade.

No!

She had to snap back! She promised it to herself! Never again she will be a burden for her family and friends! Never again she will let innocent kids suffer from the hand of the Church just as she suffered.

It's one way or another! In the next couple of days, she will either save the village or die trying...

Die....

Will she die?

The shivers ran down her spine.

Death. She was so close to death so many times. There were times when... There were times when she hoped for death to take her. So she would stop being a burden to her father and sister.

- "Big sis Amelia, what would you do?"

Elana asked the air, yet she heard no response.

She reminded herself of one of the days when she was conscious, and her sister came back from the mission to visit her, even if just for a day, she asked her then.

- "Big sis, what does it mean to be Paladin?"

- "Paladin, huh?"... Amelia's beautiful long hair was forced into a dance by the sudden breeze of air. She was so beautiful... most likely still is "...It means that you dedicated your life to saving people. From monsters, witches... and other bad people. And to protect bad people too."

- "Bad guys too? What do you mean."

- "I am saving them from the sins that they didn't yet commit. You see, the teachings of Luxia says, that when a man commits a sin, there are two possible outcomes - either he regrets his actions, or not. If he regrets the action, he is full of sorrow; if he considers his sin as a good thing, then he loses a piece of his humanity. He would keep committing a crime after crime until he becomes nothing but a monster disguised as a human - a devil's hearted. By stopping bad people, I am saving them from either more sorrow or losing what makes them human... But I am also doing this for cute little girls! Such like yourself! So they could be proud of their big sisters, tell me, El, are you proud of me?"

- "I AM! I love you, sis! You, father and mother too!"

- "That's a wonderful thing to hear! Ooookay! Your smile gives me strength! From now on I will try even harder! I will make the world a better place! Place where girls like yourself can always be happy!"

...

- "Making the world a better place..."

El was crying.

She wanted to hug her sister. Her big, strong sister.

She greeted her teeth.

- "I will make the world a better place, for you, sister Amelia. And for every other person."

She was afraid. She wanted to run away. The mere thought of facing a lone monster was enough to make her shake. But she didn't back down, she didn't turn around.

She kept heading north.