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It was a rare occurrence for him to reach the limits of his personal mana reservoir, but it did happen at times; it was finite, and especially when casting more potent spells, it happened faster. Still, the incredible amount of mana he had used against the chief had still not recovered itself the past couple days.

He jumped back, moving near the stallion again as the swift goblins gave chase.

If I keep tossing magic around, I might end up hurting myself…if I compromise myself in the middle of a fight, that could be it…! I’ll have to rely on my sword for this! He planned.

Luckily, Vandread was taking the brunt of the raiders; he made efficient use of the goblins’ own weapons as projectiles to slay approaching reinforcements. If this were a competition, Emilio would be losing sorely.

While he ran a bit more to put space between him and the chasing goblins so he could get his bearings, throwing knives were tossed towards him, embedding into the stone tiles of the road by his feet.

“Gah!” He let out.

Too close! He thought.

Just as he turned around, a lanky, pale goblin leapt towards him, prompting him to counter with a desperate swing,

A success.

The edge of his blade swept through its gut, spilling the creature’s life essence onto the ground as it landed behind him, deceased.

To his surprise, the goblin that was with it began to contort its expression; its features sharpened with rage as tears welled up in its eyes. There was no doubting that fiery look as emotion swelled in its beady irises,_.

It was enraged; anguished.

It’s upset…because I killed its comrade? He realized, glancing back at the slain goblin.

Though looking back was a mistake as the sorrowful goblin charged towards him, slashing rapidly as it left a gash across the young man’s forearm.

“Ghh…!” He gritted his teeth to bear the pain.

The sheer humanity that was presented by the raider was something that bothered him. Somehow, he found himself on the defensive as the goblin snarled and rapidly swung its sword, forcing him to block as he backed up. Sparks flew as steel collided with steel, but he planted his foot down and countered.

A straight slash directly through its shoulder and down its torso; it was an instant-kill.

[Level Up!]

[Level Eleven Achieved.]

“…Huff…” He caught his breath.

Once he’d finished that one, it seemed Vandread had cleaned up the rest of the goblin raiding party as well.

Vandread was as casual as ever, wiping his knives off as he returned to the stallion, “Did you get hurt?”

He nodded, holding his arm, “Yeah. Nothing I can’t heal though…”

As he caressed his forearm, he focused healing magic around the gash on his limb; the wound slowly closed itself up as if magical stitches brought his flesh together seamlessly.

Vandread grabbed the horse’s lead, “We’ll walk the rest of the way. It seems we need to be ready for trouble.”

“You think this might happen again?” He asked.

“Goblins being this close to Larundog isn’t normal,” Vandread told him, “Usually local adventurers would have neighboring goblins handled. They would be too scared to approach the city, but it seems they’re getting brave.”

“…I thought goblins like that wouldn’t have any reservations about attacking. It seemed like they actually had tactics,” he said.

Vandread glanced back, “I know what you mean, but goblins are goblins. Reckless, but pragmatic, in a way. They tend to have a good nose for finding what they can and can’t handle.”

As they moved forward, opting to walk and lead the stallion to stay ready for anything else that may come their way, Emilio glanced around to find thrashed carriages and carts.

Vandread stopped, giving him the lead to hold, “Stay here a moment. I’ll check on the carriages.”

The platinum-eyed man carefully approached the tumbled, desecrated carriage, peeking around and lifting the veil to make sure there were no lurking goblins.

What the man found in the interior of the toppled carriage was unpleasant; vases filled with oil, likely to be sold, had poured over onto the corpse of the merchant responsible for the cart.

“–” Vandread looked with his unmoved gaze.

Something’s going on here, Vandread thought.

Emilio had trouble keeping the shaggy-haired stallion calm as it neighed and whipped its head around, moving its hooves anxiously.

“Hey, hey, give me a break…!” He said, keeping an iron grip on the lead.

As he struggled to rein in the beastly horse, Emilio found the hand of Vandread coming to his rescue, taking the lead from him as the stoic man took over again.

“–Did you find anything?” Emilio asked.

Vandread stared at him for a moment before looking forward, beginning to walk with the horse following behind, “Nothing important. Let’s get to Larundog; I have a feeling staying out here in the valley isn’t a good play.”

“Yeah…I was feeling that, too,” he agreed, looking around anxiously.

The paranoia of more mountain goblins stuck in his mind as he constantly watched the trees that sat on the colossal mounds; the thick foliage and trees made it difficult to watch out for enemies.

It was over an incline that it was finally seen: the city embedded between the mountains–”Larundog.”

The sight of such a place tucked away in an open valley between the two, enormous mountains was almost surreal; great walls of logs, reinforced with steel, stood high and mighty. As if standing as a secondary set of barriers, perfectly-lined, colossal trees surrounded the city.

“That’s it?” He asked.

“Yeah. A city like this, sitting straight in the road towards Vasmoria should have more traffic though,” Vandread said, “Something is definitely up.”

It was true; there wasn’t a single moving carriage to be seen or anybody coming in or out of the city gates.

“Nnnheh!”

–Suddenly, the stallion thrashed around, jerking its head as it slipped its lead straight from the man’s grip; the yell that left it was one of intense fear as it immediately bolted in the opposite direction.

It was far too sudden and swift for either of them, unprepared for this reaction, to catch the horse. Partly such abnormal behavior made Emilio not even want to stop it.

“Hey!…Damn,” Vandread scratched his head.

Emilio watched as the horse quickly vanished into the distance past the treeline, “…Isn’t that a bad omen?”

“Something like that. Animals have a sixth sense for the abnormal–at least, that’s what they say,” Vandread sighed.

It’s only looking worse by the minute, Emilio thought, I just wonder…what could be going on? Vandread seems positive that something is wrong within the city.

Absolute caution was kept now; Vandread moved slowly with his eyes peeled, keeping a knife drawn as he had Emilio stay behind him. Though the stoic man said this position was for the boy to watch his back, Emilio could sense that this was to protect him.

“What do you think it could be? Goblins?” Emilio asked.

As he glanced around, the only thing neighboring the road to the front gates were oak-brown trees that softly swayed in the passing breeze. Sunlight was blocked out by the tall, bristly cedar on the Larundog pathway.

Vandread answered quietly without moving his gaze, “No. That’s not possible. Larundog is a city with its own local adventurers, and even traveling adventurers since it’s a common stop for those going to Vasmoria and those coming from. That’s not to mention the city guard itself. Goblins wouldn’t be able to invade a place like this.”

“Then what…?”

The front gates were close now, and it became more clear that something was wrong; carts were toppled over, cargo was lost on the roads and in the ditches, and no guards were stationed beyond the tall, wooden doors.

“There’s three possibilities that I’ve narrowed it down to,” Vandread said, raising three fingers, “One, that a plague broke out within the city and they isolated themselves, or died out completely–I say it’s a fair bet, considering the lack of life outside. Two, Larundog was targeted by enemy forces–most likely, though. Three…a massacre-level threat entity has breached Larundog.”

“How likely is the third option?” He asked.

Vandread noticed something that made him answer, “…Highly likely.”