As the caravan made its way eastward toward Jizhen, the mountains seemed to shrink into the distance the further east they went. The sun had risen to its highest point in the sky and most of the men were now weary not from the walk itself, that much they could all handle, Instead, it was from the constant pulling of the carts. There were 11 men altogether, Jack the leader of the caravan would sometimes ride the carts, but he wasn't lazy and would help pull as well. Benjamin, on the other hand, had no intention of pulling a cart, he was solely in charge of security. Although he was one man, whether it be bandits or beast he was confident he could handle them himself. Beyond that, a Mage would have no reason to attack a caravan, no matter how much mortal treasure the villager's carried, it held no value to a true Mage and a magical beast was just about as likely. Usually, they would stick to their territory not caring about anything but themselves and their land. With these subtle understandings of the world, the caravan had traveled at a steady pace and finally after 8 or so hours of pulling Jack decided the men needed a rest.

"Men, there's a small clearing up ahead, we'll pull the carts aside over there and rest for an hour for lunch."

The men cheered in joy, this journey had started unexpectedly quick for them. One minute the men were doing their daily chores and the next they were summoned to the village square and were ordered to pull carts for a 5-day journey to Jizhen and then another 5-day journey back. Doing most of their chores in the early hours, then suddenly pulling these carts until several hours into the afternoon, these men had yet to rest or eat. So when they were told they could finally rest, they couldn't help releasing sighs of relief.

As the sweat poured from the men like buckets, they all gathered in a circle and collapsed on their collective asses. After chugging down some water from a leathered bag, they quickly took out their food, wrapped in a clean cloth or in small wooden boxes. The men sat around scarfing down a simple lunch of dried meat and black bread. This meal was truly considered simple, with a simple jerky that was almost flavorless and a black bread that was just as tough as the jerky, the men were now feeling delighted that they were traveling to Jizhen. In Jizhen they could get plenty of spices for their food and Jizhen even had a wonderful new type of bread called white bread.

Apparently a few years ago, the owner of a small bakery had learned of a new refining method for wheat and flour, in turn, this small bakery owner invented a new kind of softer, tender bread. Compared with the almost rock hard like denseness of black bread, this new bread became all the rage in several cities and kingdoms. Due to this, the small bakery owner became rich overnight but because of that, many people became jealous. Eventually, the man's recipe was stolen and the man went missing, slowly the recipe was spread around and now most towns and cities have this bread but small villages like their own don't.

As the men sat around, the goblins also sat down, a few feet away tied to a tree. They as well ate some food, however, they were given no meat, instead, they received one fist-sized piece of bread to split among themselves and a mouthful of water each. It was the villager's idea. In order to keep these goblins tame and under control, they would make sure their energy was low. That way the amount of trouble they could cause would be minimal. Benjamin didn't see anything wrong with that and easily agreed, causing Jack to relax a little. Knowing Benjamin's personality, Jack was half expecting an argument but thankfully, Benjamin didn't really seem to care, solving the issue easily.

At this time, the goblins were conversing in their language.

"Are you going to make your move now? What's taking you so long? I'm sick and tired of being bound with this rope and we've already come quite far from that human village. If we travel too far into human territory, then even if we escape, it will be almost impossible to get back home."

The one with power looked at his two companions and shook his head.

"Not yet but soon, if there was no mage in that village then I would have done it then. We've been traveling all day and now my magic is completely exhausted. I need rest in order to absorb some magical energy, once night falls they'll set up camp, that's when I'll absorb some energy and show these humans what hell truly is."

This goblin said these words without even a shred of mercy. For his friends to be murdered and then for him to be kidnapped and enslaved, this was the epitome of utter humiliation and this would not stand. Looking at his wounded friend who had his ear sliced off from that vulgar human bitch, this goblins eyes burned with fury. Clenching his fist he quietly whispered.

"Tonight, they die."

With these two completely opposite atmospheres of delight and utter joy coming from the villagers and anger and humiliation coming from the goblins, no one seemed to be wise of anything. The time for rest was over and the caravan once more was headed east to Jizhen. As the caravan followed a dirt path, the sun was ready to set. Jack ordered the men to set up camp and with steady but tired hands, they skillfully pitched tents and started a fire. Some men went to get more firewood, while others gathered water from a nearby stream. With a big pot over the fire, a few men were seen cutting vegetables before cleaning them up and dumping them in the pot. As the water began to boil, the scent of a simple soup filled the surrounding area, however, with no spices, the flavor of said-soup was lacking severely in the taste department. Each man held a wooden bowl and the one in charge of cooking tonight ladled out a bowl full to each of them. The goblins once more got very little, they received one bowl to share between them and this time there was no bread.

Sitting around the campfire, each man with the same practiced motion, took their hard black bread and pushed it down to the bottom of their bowl of vegetable soup, this way the bread would somewhat soften and they could actually enjoy their meal.

As everyone else ate, one goblin laid down and slowly closed his eyes, with slow steady breaths one would not be laughed at if you were to think this goblin was asleep. As the clouds parted in the night sky, a beautiful silver laced moon shone down on the world like a sparkling jewel. Tonight the moon seemed to radiate especially bright as 11 villagers sat around a campfire laughing and joking with one another.

"Hahaha, that reminds me of the time we were at old Grams place for him and his wife's 50th anniversary and while everyone was laughing and having a good time, old Gram had gone missing. Eventually, he was found humping a goat in the middle of a field, hahaha."

*HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA*

The men burst out in wild laughter, then one of the men spoke.

"But do you all remember what he said when he was caught, hahaha."

They all leaned in closer to listen as they tried to remember. The man saw that no one but him could recall old Grams exact words and so he spoke up in excited glee.

"He said, hahaha, old Gram said".........["I thought the goat was my wife."]

*BWAHAHAHAHA*

The men roared with laughter, even Benjamin was no exception as the mouthful of water he had just taken was now spit across the ground. Some were hugging their sides in agony as they laughed out bellyful after bellyful of air, while the most dramatic was seen rolling around on the ground but that only added fuel to the flames, causing the men to laugh even harder in hysteria. After a while, the laughing finally came to a stop and one of the men jumped up, he looked over at Benjamin and politely asked.

"Ben, could I ask you something?"

Now that Benjamin was in a great mood, he saw no reason to say no, so with a small nod he said.

"Ask away."

The man then looked at his other fellow villagers as though he were seeking confirmation and with nods from them as well, the man gained some courage and asked.

"Ben, everyone here knows about your strength and we've all heard plenty of stories and rumors. Heck, you even saved Jack earlier today by slaughtering those goblins. What I, no, what we all want to know is, how strong are you really?"

Hearing this, Benjamin's eye slightly twitched. Whether it was due to anger or annoyance the man didn't know and immediately jumped back in fright.

The other villagers as well grew weary, they wondered if Ben would beat the young man up just for asking. What surprised them, however, was the small smile that formed on Benjamin's lips. Standing up, Benjamin lifted his silver hammer that laid by his side with one hand and tossed it at the feet of the young man. With a loud thump, the dirt and ground right in front of the young man's feet caved in slightly causing a small hole in the ground to form as well as a cloud of dust to fly up and hit the man in the face. Crossing his arms over his chest, Benjamin's smile grew larger as he said proudly.

"Pick it up."

The young man was frightened but he did what Benjamin said and grabbed the handle of this large battle hammer. With a slight pull, the man immediately noticed something, this hammer, it didn't budge. Looking at Benjamin, the man thought.

(How weird.)

This time with more strength the man tried to lift the hammer, again and again, he failed. Then he tried one more time, this time with his full strength, yet, in the end, nothing, not even a fraction of an inch did this hammer move. The young man looked at the other villagers and said.

"You guys, somethings not right, this hammer is way too heavy."

With confidence, the other villagers jumped up wanting to try it out but again and again with shock on their faces, none could lift Benjamin's hammer. Finally, with 5 men lifting together, the hammer slowly rose off the ground by about 5 inches before the strength left these men and once more the hammer slammed down into the dirt. The men were sweating profusely while staring at this hammer in awe. Benjamin slowly walked over and with one hand grabbed the handle of his battle hammer and easily lifted it but before the men could be shocked by that, Benjamin then tossed the hammer high up into the night sky. Since it was plenty dark around, the hammer disappeared into the blackness of night. The men now were absolutely flabbergasted and terrified, not only because Benjamin could lift the hammer with such ease but also because it had already been a few seconds and yet this hammer had yet to descend. Suddenly, the air could be heard moving away from something at great speed and with a thud, the hammer was caught by Benjamin. One of the men shouted out in amazement.

"4 seconds!! that hammer took 4 seconds to fall!!"

The other men looked at Benjamin as though he were a monster, even two of the goblins couldn't understand how a human that wasn't a mage could be so strong. They looked at each other thanking the heavens that they surrendered before this man had killed them. Benjamin held his long battle hammer in one hand, looking at its beautiful silver body, its sharp pointed tip and the ferocious wolf face stamped on it, Benjamin couldn't help but feel elated. Looking at the men sitting around the campfire, as they stared at him like he was a monster, Benjamin couldn't help but grin from ear to ear, swinging the hammer casually, Ben said.

"To answer your question, I'm this strong."

*CLAP...CLAP...CLAP*

Suddenly the sound of clapping could be heard but what was odd was that it did not come from the men at the campfire, instead, it came from one of the goblins. As this goblin stood up, his clapping came to a slow stop. Staring at the men, with broken words the goblin said.

"You strong, good, this makes easy."

Pointing at Benjamin, the goblin's face twisted in anger and he spoke once more.

"I command you, KILL...THEM...ALL!!"