Chapter 5 - A Small Favour

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ET Chapter 5 - A Small Favour

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After updating my guild card and ranking up from F to E in the Adventurers Guild, I made my way out of the city and into the forest. It wasn’t difficult in the slightest — all I had to do was 10 F-rank and 5 E-rank quests, which were mostly odd jobs like gardening or doing manual labour around a farm. I kept it to 1 quest a day while spending the rest of the time practising magic, by now I was able to do all the spells in the Beginners Guide To Magic book without incantation and with a decent degree of control.

Finding a secluded clearing, I reached out with the Force to scan the surroundings for life… or traps. After confirming it was safe and that there weren’t any wild creatures or people nearby, I got to work raising a hand and channelling Earth Magic.

The ground rumbled as I shaped the soil and stone, forming a smooth, rock-carved bathtub large enough to stretch out in. The stone’s surface inside wasn’t exactly perfect, but I took the extra time to polish and smoothen it with some good old concentration, leaving it flawless and comfortable against the skin.

Next, I used [Waterfall], causing a steady stream of crystal-clear, palm-sized water to fill the tub. Once it reached a high enough level, I used [Heat Hand], creating a small flame above my palm and plunging it into the tub while maintaining the fire, heating the water to the perfect temperature. Soon enough, steam started to rise from the surface.

Satisfied, I stored my clothes in the [Inventory] and stepped into the bath, butt-naked. Another thing I noticed after the transmigration was my lack of prudishness, thanks to being attacked by adventurers trying their luck during my showers under a waterfall, no doubt trying to catch me off guard.

It always ended badly for them. Getting thrown into a lake only to be electrocuted moments later looked rather uncomfortable from where I was standing.

A contented sigh escaped my lips as I sank into the warm water, letting the tension in my muscles ease out of my body while I relaxed, leaning my head back against the smooth stone edge. It wasn't exactly luxury, and I was always more of a shower guy, but I wasn’t about to complain.

For a while, I simply enjoyed the moment, occasionally reheating the bath when the water cooled. Then I got bored and moved on to properly cleaning myself, scrubbing away the grime that had built up from the day's work.

Once satisfied, I pulled my clothes out of the [Inventory], then used Water Magic and the Force to levitate them above the bath, rotating them back and forth at high speeds to replicate the inside of an Earth washing machine. I didn't have anything on me to add a good fragrance, but adventurers didn't go for those things anyway due to the significantly increased likelihood of alerting prey, predators and enemies with good senses.

With that done, I used Wind Magic to dry the clothes like a high-powered hair dryer until they were completely fresh and ready to wear. There must have been several easier ways to magically clean myself and my clothes but SP doesn't grow on trees, so they'd have to wait for now.

On the topic of SP, I got SP for completing the quests, but not for each task. Unlike extermination quests, which would give me SP for killing each goblin, I got nothing for gardening until the entire quest was complete, which didn't add up to me. I would have thought I'd get at least some points as I worked, maybe per time spent or chore completed, but the system wasn't going for it.

With the clothes now clean and dry, I stepped out of the bath, pulled out a towel from the [Inventory], and dried myself off before getting dressed. Then I got to work using Fire Magic to evaporate the remaining water until the stone bath was completely dry, before using Earth Magic to reshape the tub, levelling it out until there was barely any trace I was ever here. The only thing that could be pointed out was probably the lack of grass in the area where I used magic.

Soon enough, I was back in the City, first heading into the supply store for some extra pair of camping equipment for longer travel, then stepping foot in the Magic Store. Just as before, the seven-foot-tall armoured guard sat silently near the entrance, being his Mountain look-alike self. I gave him a respectful nod, which was met with a slight tilt of the helmet in acknowledgement as I made my way to the front desk where the old lady looked up from her book to greet me.

“Welcome back, young man.” She smiled, before slightly lifting a brow. “Finished both books already?”

I ignored the question in favour of sending a nod of greeting to the girl paying me an odd amount of attention seated off to the side behind her. She gave me a respectful nod in return, but there was something more to her behaviour that had no indication it was some sort of crush, but I just couldn’t be bothered to think more about it so I just let it go as I rested my arms on the counter. “I’m looking for a book on Battle Aura.”

The elderly lady’s other brow lifted to meet its twin before she sent a glance at the girl sitting behind her. “Go fetch the book, dear.”

Like one would expect from most teenagers, she sighed as she reluctantly set aside her own book she had been reading before disappearing into the shelves. As she did, the owner turned back to me with a small smile. “Seeing as you’re returning customers, you can just call me Granny Tina like everyone else does.” She gestured vaguely over her shoulder where the girl was. “Even the ones lacking respect from time to time call me that.”

I glanced toward the girl in question before raising an eyebrow. “Is she not a good apprentice?” I asked, leaning into the whole Sith master and apprentice vibe just a little. As part of my magic training, I had started trying to meld Magic and the Force through meditation, but all I came out with was an ability to sense people’s magic. 

I wasn’t sure if it was truly a successful combination of Force Sense and Magic or if I would have gotten to that point of magic sense with meditation regardless of the Force, but I could still feel the two separate energies coursing through my body not truly working in tandem as I had hoped. I couldn’t properly differentiate between people’s levels of magic, or if it was Battle Aura, but I could tell she had similar levels of magic to that of some of the B or A-rank mages.

Granny Tina and the girl exchanged glances, and for the first time, I caught a hint of playfulness in their expressions. Granny Tina let out a soft chuckle before lovingly caressing the girl’s hair as she returned with a book in her hands. “No, no. Tess is a wonderful student — diligent, sharp, and always eager to learn. If anything, I’m the bad teacher for constantly taking her away from her books to grab things for me.”

Tess huffed slightly at the attention but didn’t pull away. I simply nodded, taking the Battle Aura book from her outstretched hands. There was nothing wrong with a part-time job while you learned — I did it in my old life. While annoying, it’ll give her character, as the saying goes.

“How much?” I asked. I had already figured out how to use Battle Aura, or Touki, as some called it. It was similar to using the Force to enhance my movements, along with the added benefit of instinctually coating the body and weapon with a layer of magic for protection and durability. Much like the Force, it wasn’t visible when I did it, at least not to me — I didn’t have an eye that would allow me to see magic like that. 

I was able to use it alongside the Force, stacking their effects — which was a good thing as it allowed me to be a much more effective fighter, but the lack of unification of the two powers was getting on my nerves. To rip the band-aid off, I straight-up asked the system and had my idea instantly shot down, even when I tried rephrasing to see if it was just my wording.

On the bright side, there was a chance that I could use some transferable skill — like my now [Magic Sense] born from my talents in using Force Sense. While not instantly as refined as my Force sense due to starting from the ground up, it was still useful and I was planning to train it as much as possible. Then there was the fact that the System had an Essence in there that would allow me to mix magics any way I wanted, with the small cost of an arm and a leg.

Granny Tina raised her hand to stop me. “It’s on the house… if you do me a favour.”

I let out a resigned sigh as I rubbed my temple, knowing full well this was the start of what a true gamer would consider a side quest. I wasn’t completely against it, but I was getting a feeling this was going to be some kind of protagonist side mission — and it wasn’t even the Force telling me. “What’s the favour?”

Granny Tina’s smile widened. “My niece recently joined a newly formed adventurer party and took on her first quest. I’d like someone to keep an eye on them — make sure she doesn’t get hurt, and that the party she’s with isn’t up to anything suspicious that will end with her harmed in any way.”

“Babysitting duty,” I stated the obvious with a sigh. “She should not have joined a party with people who are ‘up to anything suspicious’. This sounds like a C-rank quest. I have only recently been promoted to E-rank, which means I can only do F-rank and D-rank missions. One above and one below my current rank as the rules go — or so I’m told.” 

“Oh, posh to those infernal rules, they don’t take into account what a person can actually do sometimes — even when it’s obvious that they should, just how successful they are on the quests given.” She shook her head in disappointment before her eyes started to almost twinkle. “Buuut~ the favour is more like a watchful guardian. Just a little reassurance for an old woman’s peace of mind.”

The fact that I knew she could do it herself went unsaid as I tapped the Battle Aura book with my finger, before letting out a small smirk. There was absolutely no chance I was going to skip what could very well be a mission I had a feeling would go awry, gaining me more points and finally getting away from simple chores for a while. “Fine. I’ll keep an eye on her.”

Granny Tina’s eyes lit up with genuine pleasure as her smile deepened while clasping her hands together. “Good. Then the book is yours. Who knows,” she added with a teasing grin, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively, “maybe you two will get along well enough for her to finally accept another into her bed, eh?”

Ah, I almost forgot this was one of those types of anime. While Millis was a region that adhered to the one man one woman marriage, the rest of the world was essentially an anime lover's wet dream in regard to how many people you can be in a relationship with. While I wanted a lady of my own, the grind came first, as it always should, so I had yet to indulge even now.

“…Right.” I blinked, purposefully not dignifying the comment with a response, leaving my expression blank as I powered through the awkward silence that followed. “Anyway,” I said, brushing past her innuendo, “what does your niece look like? Where can I find her? When did they leave? What route and method are they travelling? And what job is her party on?”

The old lady let out a theatrical pout, clearly disappointed her words had no effect, but she sighed and shifted into a more serious tone. “It’s a quest to clear out a group of goblins,” she said while pulling out a map from beneath the counter. She unfurled it carefully, placed some paper weights on the edges, and pointed to a location a few kilometers outside the city, nestled near a bend in a river and surrounded by thick forest. “This is where they said they’d be heading.”

I glanced at the marked spot before raising a brow, unimpressed. “Goblins?” My brows knitted together ever so slightly. “Not exactly something that needs a babysitter. Any half-competent adventuring party should be able to handle that.”

Granny Tina gave me a slow nod, lips pressing into a firm line. “I’d agree with you — if it were just a handful of goblins. But the scout that passed the information to the guild estimated there are enough to make this a C-rank job — a proper nest — and my niece is primarily a healer. Her party is new, literally just formed. Uncoordinated. Unproven. That’s what worries me.”

I let out a soft sigh with a thoughtful nod. “Alright. What does she look like? And her team?”

Granny Tina’s grin returned in full force, complete with her signature old-lady eyebrow wiggle. “Her name is Mary. She’s a quarter-elf, so her ears aren’t too pointy, just a little at the tips. She’s got long navy blue hair, blue eyes, and she tends to wear black, navy blue, and light grey. Pretty thing. Too serious sometimes.”

I committed the description to memory, visualising her image as clearly as I could. I had the Force to help me find her anyway, so I wasn’t worried.

“As for the rest of her party…” Granny Tina tapped her chin. “Let’s see. There’s a big human lad with a shaved head and a battle axe, a short red-haired girl in heavy armor with a huge tower shield with her identical sister who had a sword and shield combo, and a wiry, quiet boy who carries a staff. The lass didn’t want me to know their individual names, but they go by the party name ‘Grand Spring’ and I could get their individual names from the guild if needed.”

I looked at the map for a moment, then back at her with a straight face. “That’s a nice map.”

She rolled her eyes, folded the map and handed it to me. “All yours.”

With a small smile, I put the map in the [Inventory]. “By the way,” I asked, “is it normal to have this many goblin-related quests? I had to deal with a whole goblin village on my way to the city when I first arrived, and I saw a few on the job board.”

Granny Tina let out a long, tired sigh. “From what I’ve heard, they’ve been multiplying like weeds lately — more reports of nests, patrols, and ambushes in the surrounding forests than usual. It’s their rapid reproduction that’s to blame. You wipe out a nest and two more pop up the next week.”

I frowned slightly at that. “Should I be worried it’ll reach the point where we have to deal with a full-blown goblin army?”

I was getting a bad feeling about the small green creatures. I hadn’t heard of them being such a big problem in the anime and hoped it wasn’t something to do with some kind of grand plan by Hitogami. If it was, honestly, I couldn’t see how. He was a manipulator whose powers primarily worked on humans and couldn’t influence non-humans the same way he could demons and beats, after all.

Granny Tina paused, tilting her head in thought. Her eyes stared off for a moment, clearly combing through decades of knowledge. After a beat, she shook her head slowly. “Nah. Goblins are pests. Dangerous in numbers, sure, but disorganised and dumb. I’ve never seen, read or heard it become anything more than that if I’m honest. Not in all my years.” She gave a reassuring smile. “Still, better safe than sorry, hmm?”

“Right,” I said with a nod, putting my paranoia aside for now. “Anyway, I’ll take care of it right away. When did they leave for the job? And did they take a horse?”

“Oh, they left first thing in the morning, and they’ll be walking to save money on purchasing a horse. Smart move on their part, owning a horse is more money than people realise.”

“So they should be at the location by now based on the location you pointed out, and may have already started their assault — provided they didn’t decide to deviate or take their time.” I hummed. “It shouldn’t take me long to get there though.”

Granny Tina gave me a genuine, grateful smile this time. “Thank you, young man. You’re a star.”

With that, I turned and made my way to the door, giving the guard a parting nod on my way out. Not being one to waste time, I made a direct line for the tree line at the edge of the forest as soon as I left the city gates. The moment I crossed beneath the canopy of leaves and branches, I began channeling Touki to significantly enhance my speed, bursting forth and becoming a blur to the world.

Racing through the forest, weaving between trees and leaping over large logs, roots, and foliage, it didn’t take me long to feel the sensation of life at the edge of my awareness. What took the Grand Spring party hours, I was able to cover in less than one with the use of Touki alone, and I had barely burned through around twenty percent of my magic.

It wasn’t surprising, though. I had been training my magic to the point of near magic exhaustion every day to build my reserves, letting my Essence do its work with the whole limitless potential and growth and whatnot. While the results didn’t have me reach a point of legendary wizard yet, I could definitely feel it had grown since I started using magic, if only slightly. But it had only been a week, for now the plan was to go a full year of almost pure Magic and Touki use to grow it as much as possible.

A small group of goblins nearby, five to be specific, if my [Force Sense] were as accurate as I knew it was. Unfortunately, [Magic Sense] would have to take a back seat as far as combat sixth sense is concerned, it just wasn’t at a high enough level, at least for now.

Further ahead, an even larger cluster, more than a dozen. Based on their direction and proximity, they were definitely connected. Narrowing my eyes, I silently leapt onto a thick branch, shifting my movements to travel from branch to branch, each leap near-silent until I finally spotted the group.

Five goblins trudged along below, all carrying foxes and rabbits, fresh kills slung over their backs — likely hunting for their larger camp.

Summoning my trusty wooden sword from the [Inventory], I started channeling Touki into the wooden blade, significantly enhancing its sharpness and durability. Then I didn’t hesitate. With a burst of movement, I shot off the branch like a bolt of lightning.

Two of the goblins didn’t even have time to scream — their heads severed instantly by a single, fluid slash as I passed by. The third turned just in time for my heel to crash into its chest, sending it flying into a tree with a sickening crack of shattered bones.

With a controlled spin, I impaled the fourth through the chest like one would a vampire, right where its heart was. It was a strange sight watching wood behave like the most refined and durable metals, but this was my life now. 

Only the fifth remained. It turned to flee, but my instincts kicked in and I lifted a hand, and the goblin’s feet left the ground. A brutal [Force Choke] cutting off its breath and suspending it mid-air while it writhed and clawed at its throat, legs kicking the air.

Sometimes my instincts to use the Force instead of magic would override my desire to stick to magic, but it wasn't something I think needed to be unlearned. It was something that would end up saving my life in future, if anything.

I watched with a cold gaze until its struggles stopped and its body went limp, twisting my wrist ever so slightly until its spine let out a distinct crack before letting it fall unceremoniously to the forest floor.

[Enemy Eliminated: Goblin] x5

[+125 SP]

A quick use of water magic later, the blood on the sword was cleaned off, and I was placing the corpses and hunted game in the [Inventory]. Luckily, or rather, skilfully, I was trained and skilled enough to move at speeds which allowed me to kill quickly. So quickly, I could move past my opponent after killing them, and not a drop of blood splatter would end up on my clothes. So a water spell for my clothes wasn’t necessary.

Turning my eyes toward the larger goblin group further ahead — likely the nest Mary’s team was sent to handle, I was surprised by the low population. Not only could I sense a significantly lower amount of goblins than I initially anticipated, but I could also sense two living people in the camp, both in bad shape, as well as some… odd others too.

Narrowing my eyes, I resumed my silent advance, jumping onto the branches and bounding from tree to tree like a shadow. While it was possible I had beaten Grand Spring to the goblins, I was hoping the two survivors weren’t the only ones left alive from the party, which would explain the dwindled number of goblins in the village.

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Crouched in the cool shade of a thick branch, my sharp gaze was fixed on a recently ruined goblin village below, observing goblins piling up corpses — fresh ones. Adventurers, judging by the shredded bits of armor and gear that lay scattered near the bodies. There was no mistaking it — Mary’s party had already been here… and while they were able to take out a large amount of the goblin numbers, if the large pile of green bodies off to the side were anything to go by, they had still lost.

Amid the activity, I counted four hobgoblins — towering, muscular brutes compared to their regular counterparts, standing around regular human height. One of them, a little larger than the rest, barked guttural commands that caused the smaller goblins to scurry about, continuing their grim tasks of stripping away armour and gear from the dead like vultures. Soon enough, a few extra naked bodies joined the growing pile.

The larger and more muscular hobgoblin stepped forward and grabbed two still-living girls, one of them matching the exact description Granny Tina had given me — navy blue hair, blue eyes, and subtle ear points. The brute carried both girls — bloodied, bruised, and unconscious but still alive — toward the largest, untouched hut, which seemed to serve as the chieftain’s den.

My frown deepened into a scowl as I scanned the carnage. With no time to waste, I launched forward, rocketing through the air with Touki like a streak of fury, ramming a Touki-enhanced wooden sword straight through the eye socket of one of the hobgoblins. The creature was dead on impact as the wooden blade pierced deep into its skull, easily exiting the other side while forcing it to act as a snowboard in the dirt for me to stand on due to the force of my jump.

[Enemy Eliminated: Hobgoblin] x1

[+100 SP]

Huh, a significant increase in SP per kill even though they're not that much stronger than their smaller counterpart, while I assumed it would be double at most. Odd, but okay then.

All around, regular goblins froze, wide-eyed with terror, some still holding scraps of armour or bits of food scavenged from the wreckage of their homes, which seemed to have been destroyed via explosion from the previous fight. The Hobgoblins, on the other hand, roared in fury and sprang into action, breaking the smaller goblins out of their stupor as they grabbed massive, jagged clubs from their belts.

As they charged with murder burning in their eyes, I smirked, wrenching my wooden sword free from the slain hobgoblin’s skull with a wet, cracking sound, then blurred forward. While I wasn’t yet as fast with Touki as I was with the Force, I was definitely fast enough for these creatures. The closest hobgoblin barely had time to raise its weapon before my blade slammed into its throat, punching through the flesh and bone, exiting out the other side.

[Enemy Eliminated: Hobgoblin] x1

[+100 SP]

Before the corpse hit the ground, I pivoted, spinning on my heel as the third hobgoblin came in swinging. Its club met my sword mid-swing — but the impact didn’t slow me at all. My Touki-enforced weapon sheared clean through the crude club, and continued across the hobgoblin’s face, cleaving through the top half of its skull. The monster fell backward, twitching violently as blood pooled beneath it.

[Enemy Eliminated: Hobgoblin] x1

[+100 SP]

The final hobgoblin, who was holding the two living girls, froze for a heartbeat after seeing his kin die in mere seconds, assessing the situation. As my cold gaze landed on it,  it stepped back once, then barked a harsh string of words in the guttural goblin tongue. Though I didn’t understand the language, the meaning was clear — he was ordering the smaller goblins to attack in his stead, most likely wanting to tire me out of an easy kill.

Of course, the dumb goblins obeyed, closing in from all directions, driven by sheer desperation and fear. As the swarm of goblins rushed me, I channeled wind magic, sending a [Wind Slice] at the closest to me. The goblin was easily split down the middle by an invisible blade of compressed air. Two more were shredded in an instant, sending limbs flying as they collapsed to the ground in crumpled heaps.

[Enemy Eliminated: Goblin] x3

[+75 SP]

At that point, it was turning into a gruesome version of a carnival game. The chantless wind spells carved through the goblins like a scythe through wheat, each sharp gust slicing cleanly with surgical precision to ensure I get the highest amount of compensation for the guild for when I eventually sell them.

Panic set in. The remaining goblins, now seeing their actions as futile as they trembled, wide-eyed with terror, began to scream and flee in all directions, reminding me of the tiny annoying Covenant creatures from Halo games. A few more [Wind Blades] later, those goblins joined their brethren, torsos, severed limbs, in heaps on the forest floor. By the time the dust and blood settled, only one creature remained standing.

[Enemy Eliminated: Goblin] x19

[+475 SP]

The hobgoblin chief was now visibly shaking. With his crude bravado shattered, he glanced at the two girls in his arms before a surprising amount of intelligence shone in his eye, lifting their limp forms like shields. He roared something in goblin tongue, holding the girls forward, clearly hoping the hostage tactic would stop my relentless assault. But I had already moved.

In a blur of motion, I was directly behind the hobgoblin. A single swing of my Touki-enhanced wooden sword later, the hobgoblin’s head slid off its shoulders, toppling to the side before the rest of the creature collapsed backward like a puppet with its strings cut. It never even realised when it had died.

[Enemy Eliminated: Hobgoblin] x1

[+100 SP]

Like the gentleman that I am, I caught both girls effortlessly before they could hit the ground. Mary’s breathing was steady, though her face was bruised and she bore a gash on her arm. The other girl had a cut across her thigh and a busted lip. Nothing too deep — but enough to need care.

Setting them both down gently on the grass nearby and started channeling the [Healing] spell. A green light enveloped their wounds, sealing the gash on Mary’s arm and easing the tension in her face, while the other girl’s bruises faded and her breathing even out. Once both girls were stabilised and sleeping peacefully, I stood, scanned the battlefield, and stretched out my [Force Sense].

The bodies of slain goblins lay strewn about the camp, along with the broken remains of adventurer gear and the rest of Mary’s part, and I surprisingly didn’t sense any goblin scouts out and about like I did the goblin camp a while back. They were most likely killed by Mary’s party before they got here to cause havoc, but that was a question for another time.

Without missing a beat, I began putting all the gobin corpses, scavanged equipment, and fallen adventurers carefully in the [Inventory]. They would receive proper handling back in March City. That was the least he could do.

With that, the side quest was half finished. Now I just needed to get the two sleeping beauties back to the city.

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“It doesn’t hurt having a variation of the same skills.”

—Rou, Re-monster.

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Hello there!

FYI: The image I have in my head for Mary is a girl of the same name from the Hai to Gensou no Grimgar anime, only with slightly pointed ears.

[Current SP: 2,425]

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Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC and original ideas. All credit goes to their respective owners.

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As always, stay awesome.

Until next time, Light's out.