Actually, I was right that nothing bad would happen.

My group of three wandered through the vibrant woods as we pierced into the deeper parts of the vast forest. The only enemies we encountered were a few poorly armed goblins and a total of three horned rabbits that had the bad luck to encounter us within this time frame.

These horned rabbits were quite common monsters spread across most of the Haelia kingdom and were not much different from normal rabbits apart from a long, straight horn that grew on their forehead. Truth be told they looked like cute little unicorns and it felt like a waste to kill these adorable critters.

Unfortunately, these adorable beings were quite aggressive and gave 4 experience points per killed rabbit. One more than the ugly goblins. In other words, they were the perfect target for low level adventurers and a beginner hero like me.

As we entered the remote parts of the woods further inside the forest the number of mobs increased and after only another hour, I had already reached level 3.

My stats had more than doubled compared to my level one self and I could easily dispatch a group of five to eight goblins while still having spare mana. Honestly, I could most likely kill these weak monsters with basic attacks only, but using the skills made killing them more effective and also allowed me to train them and become more proficient at using them.

My two companions Enri and Riina mostly just stood around and watched me as I massacred the helpless goblins. Occasionally they would begin to chat or draw pictures on the ground. I’m quite sure that Riina even dozed off at least at two occasions!

Honestly at that point I could have just gone off on my own and they wouldn’t even have noticed.

Three hours later I had reached level 10 and we stumbled across a tiny goblin village located in a clearing. It belonged to a small tribe of about 30 goblins and had a hobgoblin (a stronger version of a normal goblin) as their chieftain.

A small, rough palisade surrounded the crude and simple shags while eerie totems made of animal bones guarded the surroundings. While the goblins were primitive, they did have a religion based around the worship of spirits and nature. As soon as we came closer the few guards were alarmed and dozens of goblins began swarming towards us.

Despite knowing that they were easy game for me I couldn’t help but feel nervous while facing such a large group of enemies.

Swallowing hard and gathering my resolve I grabbed my sword and gathered my mana in the right foot. Stomping against the ground I was catapulted into the air and towards the horde of murderous goblins. While mid air I triggered another skill, creating a wind blade and sending it downwards. Immediately two goblins were beheaded by the wind blade followed by another one I cut down while landing on the ground.

Excited and feeling a little of a blood rush I let out a war cry. There was no mana nor skill behind this cry but the goblins visibly hesitated to come towards me. I used this hesitation to resume my assault.

Whirling around I once again channeled mana into my sword and incensed the air around the shiny blade. As crimson red flames began to form around me, I summoned even more mana to create a strong wind current and send it outward.

“Taste my fire storm of death!”, I suddenly yelled. The moment I said it I felt like dying from embarrassment.

“Great name!”, Enri said while laughing. She was sitting on a fallen tree trunk and was merrily observing my struggle.

Despite it being very cringy the name I had given this skill was truly quite fitting. The flames that were powered by my mana grew in strength and the wind transformed them into a storm of fire that raged around me and transformed a 3-meter-wide area into a hellish abyss of dying goblins.

Desperate and pained cries full of despair and hate filled the air as at least ten goblins miserably burned to death. Three others were heavily injured and could no longer move while another 5 head only suffered light burns.

This was the strength of the intermediate martial skill I had created by combining the two low level skills wind blade and fire blade. Many intermediate skills worked this way, being the combination of different skills. The challenge that prevented many to use them was to be able to manipulate your mana into two different skills at the same time.

Even though my divine eyes provided no help with this, I was a hero after all and my talent had allowed me to perform this feat after only a week of training.

Now that a third of their forces had been killed and another part of them were injured the unintelligent goblins began to panic and some of them began to show signs of trying to flee. This only made it easier for me to cut them down as I pounced after them and stabbed them from behind. For a change I abstained from using skills and killed them with basic attacks and without the use of mana.

Then suddenly my sword was blocked by another, slightly cheaper sword. A goblin that was very different from the other goblins had appeared in front of me and tried to hold me off while shouting commands to the other goblins.

It was the hobgoblin that lead this tribe. Though it had green skin like the other goblins it was taller and looked far more human like than the low-level members of his species. Also, he did seem to have some skill in wielding the sword in his hand.

After a brief period of surprise, I immediately began to build up pressure and used mana to increase the strength of my arms. The struggling hobgoblin was pushed back and lost his footing. He stumbled and I immediately used the chance and invoked a spell.

A small fireball flew towards the falling hobgoblin and burned his skin. Earthshaking, blood freezing screams echoed through the clearing as the miserable leader of the goblins rolled around the ground trying to extinguish the fire.

I felt my stomach churn at this sight. The goblins which had been fleeing towards the village turned around and began to shout loudly and cry out in sad voices. It seemed like they were mourning their leader.

As the miserable screams continued, I gathered my resolve and walked over to the defenseless hobgoblin who was still desperately trying to stop the fire from burning away his flesh. Once slash and his throat were severed. Blood splattered as he was finally released from his pain.

*Ding*

The sound of something ringing appeared in my mind and I knew that I had reached level 11.

I turned around to face Enri and Riina.

“Let’s go back and meet up with the others. The sky is already getting dark.”, I looked up and stared at the orangish clouds in the sky. A heavy expression appeared on my face.

It had only been one day.

One day and I had become accustomed to killing.

One short day and I didn’t mind cutting down thirty lives, each of them having their own history and desires.

That is right. I had not forgotten that these goblins were living beings. They weren’t some mob that was only meant for leveling. These beings were people with their own life’s, their own wishes, hopes and their loved ones. Albeit primitive they were beings with lives that were worth as much as a human’s life.

The hobgoblins miserable dead had vividly remembered that I was doing a killers work.

And yet I only felt a little bad for killing them. And yet this selfish me would continue to kill them in order to become stronger.

I suddenly shook my head and tried to expel these dark thoughts. This was what I had come here for. This is what I was meant to do.

“Shouldn’t we kill the ones in the village too?”, Enri asked with a leisure expression. She came strolling over and pointed towards the small shags.

She was talking about the escaped male goblins, their women and the children who had hidden themselves within their homes and were hoping to survive this violent assault on their village. Her sort of thinking was right. Each of them would give a sizeable amount of experience and they might even heave me into level 12.

But I simply shook my head.

“No, let’s go.”

The dragon girl suddenly grabbed my arm and her overwhelming strength forced me to remain were I was.

“Why? After slaughtering all of their men in such a violent and ruthless way you cannot tell me that you feel bad for them, do you?”, a curious expression had overtaken her face coupled with a bit of cruelness. The same cruelness I had felt while killing all these goblins around me.

I shook my head.

“Two reasons.”, I stocked.

“First. If I kill the children and women there won’t be anymore goblins. I will have killed a whole tribe. Taking this further I might someday eradicate a whole species.

Genocide is not something I can bear on my shoulders nor is it something I want to bear.

Second. I have killed their fathers. If I killed the children, I would rob them of any chance to take revenge on me. Taking their lives is something I have to do in order to become stronger an fulfil my role as hero. But killing their children would be the same as denying their entire existence. I don’t want to do that.” I had calmed down a little and the unease I had felt at killing all the goblins had subsided. This was the mindset of a warrior. The mindset of someone who had to kill in order to survive.

Enri silently mustered me for a minute. Finally, she smiled and nodded.

“You are my owner, if you really want to spare them your pet will oblige.”, oh god she was really getting into that pet thing, did she?

I couldn’t help but grin and the heaviness in my mind disappeared like it had been a lie.

“Let’s go already. I don’t want to make them wait!”, with this I turned around and left the small clearing that was now tainted with blood. Enri and Riina leisurely followed me and we quickly left the tribal village behind us.

“I’m hungry. What are we going to eat, master?”, Riina suddenly asked and held her stomach. Once again, her behavior was really quite adorable.

“Why is it that you only talk to me when it’s about food?”, I replied with a fake-offended expression.

She immediately felt guilty and came closer to me.

“That is not true. Last time we talked about… these things…”, her face blushed in the very moment she realized that this was even worse than talking about food.

I had to laugh and petted her head.

“You must have some sort of hobby or things you like other than food right?”

Riina began to think for some time.

“I like gold!”, Enri said from the side lines.

I rolled my eyes. “That’s something all of us already know.”

The dragon girl grinned.

“Hm… then I also like being your pet!”

I gave her a weird look.

“Do you actually realize what being a pet of someone means?”, I really doubted it.

“Sure.”, Enri replied.

“It’s being submissive towards the person that is your owner and listening to his orders. Also, the owner is supposed to feed you and take care of you. Since the pet is the property of the owner it had no right to refuse the orders of the master. Some people consider it to be a humiliation to be a pet.”, she talked in a very roundabout manner, but a tiny flush did appear on her cheeks.

“And you don’t consider it to be humiliating to be the property of another person?”, I asked surprised.

She shrugged her shoulders in an easy-going manner but the flush on her face only deepened.

“You have bought me with your gold and I don’t really mind a little…. humiliation.”, her voice became smaller and smaller the more the talked.

“You really are a pervert.”, this realization hit me, and I couldn’t help but have mixed feeling about it. Of course, my inner pervert was happy beyond reason.

Enri suddenly began to pout and turned away from me. I guess being called a pervert was a little much for her.

At that moment Riina suddenly began to speak.

“I also like being master’s slave.”, oh god, don’t tell me she is also….

“You are a very good master and treat us well. You even try to understand us and don’t force us to do anything we wouldn’t do.”, her adorably big eyes look up to me and my mind began to flutter,

“So… I like being with you.”, though her words could have been interpreted differently I knew that they were intended innocently.

A big smile appeared on my face.

“I also like you.”, I patted Riina’s black hair a few more times.

Enri angrily harrumphed.

“You are also quite cool!”, I said humorously.

The dragon loli did not respond but I could swear that there was a smile on her face.