At 7:30 in the morning, Damian stood in front of a desk. At the desk was a tall man with gray hair and a well-groomed beard. He was wearing a neatly pressed black suit with a purple shirt. This man was the guildmaster of the Freewalker guild, Rohan Stronghold.
Guildmaster Rohan looked at Damian, his assistant, in front of him with a warm smile before writing some documents and asking Damian.
"Has anything happened at the guild during my absence? Has anyone finally deigned to take the quest?" the guildmaster asked, but Damian shook his head.
"I'm afraid no one has wanted to take the quest. They don't seem to be interested, Master" Damian admitted, causing the guildmaster to sigh in disappointment.
"Sigh, it's the same in every guild. No one wants to take the quest. What the hell is going on with adventurers these days?" the Master wondered, disappointed.
"So we're not the only ones with that problem, huh?" Damian asked with a wry smile. "Although something has happened during your absence, Master."
"Oh, and what happened?" The Master asked curiously.
"It's Finn. His condition has improved exponentially" Damian said, confusing the Master. "We still don't know how, but it seems his body has recovered its soul, which was lost 15 years ago" Damian said, showing Finn a screen showing the tests Damian had performed.
"Curious..." said the Master, looking at the results of the tests. "It's undoubtedly his soul, according to the tests, but how do he recover it?" the Master wondered curiously.
"That's what Amelia and I have been trying to discover over the past few days. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to establish contact with the wizard Merlin, so we haven't learned much" Damian admitted, causing the Master to nod.
"Don't worry, son. Merlin is one of the few people who understands these types of issues related to the anima and souls" said the Master, closing the screen. "What about Cristel? Hasn't she returned from her mission?"
"No, Master, there have been reports of storms in the desert, so we believe they're waiting for them to pass" Damian said, causing the Master to nod in understanding.
"I hope she return soon, and let's hope someone deigns to take on the mission" the Master said.
—
In the castle of the Firorn capital, Albert, the kingdom's Royal Knight, entered the infirmary room reserved for the knights. Several novice knights were lying on the infirmary beds, all of whom had been attacked by monsters during a trip to the forest. Shortly after Albert entered, a white-haired young woman dressed in knight armor entered the room. She was Vana Rosegold.
"What happened, Master Albert?" Vana asked, looking at the knights lying on the beds.
"A surprise attack. The novice knights were ambushed by a group of goblins" Albert replied.
"Goblins?" Vana asked incredulously, not understanding how goblins could cause so much damage to a knight if they were so weak and foolish.
"Believe it or not, Vana, this was caused by goblins. There have already been several reports of adventurers being attacked by them" Albert said, confusing Vana even more.
"And why didn't they just eliminate them? They're goblins after all" Vana asked.
"That's the problem. These goblins are acting differently. They choose their prey wisely, attack in coordination, create stone weapons, or even steal merchants' weapons" Albert revealed.
"I see. It seems they've finally gained some intelligence" Vana admitted. "Do you want me to take care of this problem? I'd be happy to do so, Master Albert!" Vana offered quickly.
"Sigh, you know you can't, Vana. You're not allowed to leave the capital or even the castle" Albert said, watching Vana's face slowly darken.
"Sure. Sorry, I won't ask again" Vana said, lowering her gaze.
"Don't worry, Vana. Once the remaining two months are up, I'll submit the application again to transfer you, I promise" Albert said, stroking her head.
"Of course… and they'll surely be rejected like the previous five times," Vana whispered. "I won't take up any more of your time, Master. I'm leaving to fulfill my duty. The princess wanted to see me at 10 in the morning" Vana said, turning around.
Albert sighed heavily when he heard the mention of the princess and saw Vana walking down the hallway toward the royal quarters. 'I'm so sorry, Vana, but we told you so many times not to join the royal cavalry' thought Albert.
—
Two days later, Finn and Darwin were sitting at a table looking at the job applications again. This time they looked more bored than usual, and not a single mission seemed interesting enough.
"Same, same, same… isn't there anything different?" Darwin asked, looking at the missions.
"Gardening, dog walking, babysitting… being a stripper at a party?" Finn asked as he read the missions.
"Oh yeah, I know someone who already worked doing that…" Amelia said from behind Finn. "By the way, never work as a model."
"Amelia? When did you get here?" Finn asked.
"I just got here. I was about to post new missions, but I saw you guys were looking for one, so I brought this one for you…" Amelia said, giving him the mission.
"What is it?" Darwin asked.
"It's an ingredient-gathering quest," Finn replied, reading the quest.
"Collecting plants again? I'll pass" Darwin said, declining the quest.
"No… this one asks us to bring back the teeth of a goblin" Finn said, earning Darwin's interest.
"Goblin? Is it?" Darwin couldn't finish his question because Amelia interrupted him.
"Yes, a gathering and combat quest" Amelia stated. "You'll have to find and fight a goblin and then pull out a dozen of its teeth. Old Dan commissioned this quest. He's the owner of the alchemy and development shop."
"It's the shop that was also robbed a few days ago" Finn said, remembering the name.
"Yeah, apparently they stole a lot of ingredients, and now poor old Dan has to replace them" Amelia said. "So?"
Finn and Darwin looked at each other for a moment before nodding quickly.
"We accept the quest!" they both said.
"It's about time. I've been wanting to do quests that involve fighting monsters for a long time" Darwin said excitedly.
"You couldn't do them before?" Finn asked.
"No, as an adventurer without a team, you can't go out and kill monsters alone," Amelia replied. "It's forbidden by the guild, since you never know what might happen on a quest."
"I see, so why didn't you ever tell me you wanted to do one? Since we're a team now, we can, right?" Finn said, but Amelia spoke again.
"Actually, no. You need three or more members to go out on combat missions with monsters. Those with only two members have to be approved by the supervisors" Amelia said, causing Darwin to nod.
"I understand, so this is your way of saying you approved us?" Finn asked.
"No, this is your test. If you complete that mission without problems, then I'll let you do missions outside the capital. Do you understand?" Amelia asked, and they both nodded quickly. "Fine, but before you leave, I have to ask you to be careful, as several adventurers have reported strange behavior from the goblins."
"Understood, we'll be careful!" Darwin said quickly.
"Okay, now get lost. As soon as I finish posting these quests on the board, I'll record your quest" Amelia said, shooing them away.
Finn and Darwin didn't hesitate for a moment and ran out of the guild toward the capital's gates.
—
Finn and Darwin left the capital, equipped with their swords and a small bag hanging from their belts where they carried potions and food bars that adventurers usually used.
"I can't wait to try my fire magic on the goblins," Darwin said excitedly.
"You can use magic!?" Finn asked, amazed.
"Sure, fire and light, can't you?" Darwin asked, but then remembered Finn's previous condition. "Oh, of course you couldn't learn... Well, you can start learning as soon as we get back to the guild. We have to buy you an Impe Gem first, though, or you won't be able to use natural magic. A basic Impe Gem will do the work."
"Is there more than one?" Finn asked, since he didn't remember the novel mentioning more than one Impe Gem.
"Yes and no, all Impe Gems are the same. It's just that some of them have writing magic in them that allows us to cast spells faster or stronger," Darwin said.
"I see... and how much does a basic Impe Gem cost?" Finn asked.
"They're not that expensive, they cost around 50 bronzes, otherwise they'd have raised the price even more," Darwin said.
'50 bronzes, each bronze is like $5 in my previous world, so that would be around $250 for a gem' Finn thought. "In that case, it should be enough…" Finn said confidently. "By the way, how far should we go?"
"At the entrance to the southern forest, there should be a few goblins," Darwin said confidently.
"And that's about how many hours away?" Finn asked. They'd been walking for a while, but he still couldn't see the forest Darwin mentioned.
"About 48 hours… but we've already gone 8, so there's only 40 left, more or less" Darwin said.
"Two days!?" Finn asked incredulously. "We're walking for two fucking days!?"
"Yes… Firorn's capital was built with possible invasions in mind, so they built it where there were no trees at all" Darwin revealed. Finn sighed in resignation and followed Darwin into the forest.
—
The two days passed, and Finn and Darwin could see the forest in the distance. A vast, sprawling forest that Finn couldn't even see the end of. It had gigantic trees that Finn believed someone could easily build their home inside, and a slightly sinister aspect. As they got closer to the forest, a faint mist appeared, giving the forest a darker and more magical feel.
'It looks like a forest out of a fantasy movie' Finn thought in wonder.
The two continued along the same path until they reached the forest, noticing that the path continued, creating the only road in the forest. It was lit by headlights, which Finn wondered how they maintained.
"This is the path that leads to the bridge over the great cliff, but we won't go there. We'll just look for some goblins around here and kill them to collect their teeth" Darwin said, and Finn nodded immediately, as he was a little nervous about crossing the dark, foggy forest.
Finn and Darwin deviated from the path, going deeper into the forest little by little, but making sure to stay close to the edges. Time passed, and it was getting darker and darker. Finn could barely see in the forest, and it was getting harder and harder to walk through the branches. As the sun set, the two were making a small camp, creating a small fire for the two of them when they suddenly heard footsteps not far from them.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
Footsteps breaking branches came from some bushes near them, and a few shrill laughs could be heard. Darwin slowly began to generate a small flame in his hand, hiding it with the flame of the campfire they had created. Finn held his sword ready for an attack.
"Ghiak, die, humans!" shouted a goblin emerging from the bushes near Darwin.
Darwin quickly extended his hand, launching a small fireball directly into the goblin's face. Just a second later, four other goblins jumped out of their hiding places, armed with leather armor made for children and steel daggers that they used as swords.
Finn, seeing a goblin approaching him, quickly drew his sword and swung it, ready to clash with the goblin's dagger. The confident goblin tried to use his dagger to repel Finn's sword, but as soon as their weapons clashed, the goblin's arms gave way to Finn's strength, causing the sword to pierce through his shoulder and into his chest.
"What the fuck? There was no resistance at all" Finn thought, astonished.
At that moment, another unarmed goblin leaped onto Finn's back, trying to choke him.
"Get off me, you fucking monkey" Finn said, grabbing the goblin by one of his arms and pulling him off, then slamming him into the ground with great force.
The goblin hit the ground with such force that Finn could hear his bones breaking upon impact. Finn watched for a second as the goblin gasped for air, but little by little, he was choking on his own blood.
'I'm that strong?' Finn wondered in amazement.
"WE WON'T LET YOU HAVE THEM!" Another goblin shouted, lunging at Darwin, but Darwin simply hit him with the back of his hand, sending him tumbling into some trees.
'They're a little smarter than in the training simulation at the guild, but that was to be expected. These aren't golems after all' Darwin thought, examining the goblins. "Have who?" Darwin asked curiously.
"YOU CAN'T HAVE THEM, THEY'RE OURS!" Another goblin shouted, only to be cut down by Darwin's sword.
"Fucking lunatics" Darwin said, turning to look at the last goblin still alive.
"Nighk..." The goblin groaned, trying to get to his feet, but Darwin's blow had left him completely disoriented.
"Don't you think they're too weak for monsters?" Finn asked, approaching Darwin.
"No, we're just very strong compared to them" Darwin clarified. "I think you're forgetting that we're D-class adventurers. We're not normal humans anymore."
"No?" Finn asked, surprised.
"It's normal for you to be surprised since you haven't had to use so much strength before, but D-class adventurers who focus on combat, like us, can be at least 3 to 10 times stronger than a normal human" Darwin revealed, surprising Finn even more.
"Wow, I didn't expect to be so strong…" Finn said, surprised.
"That's nothing. The higher your class, the stronger you'll be. I swear, the difference in strength between classes is huge" Darwin said, walking toward the goblin leaning against the tree.
"Is there really that much of a difference? How much would you say? They're about twice as strong as the strongest D-class?" Finn asked, watching Darwin grab the goblin.
"Yeah, not even close. I don't know how strong they can be, but a few months ago I heard that a C-class adventurer was able to destroy an ogre's arm just by clashing fists" Darwin revealed. "Although, of course, not all of them are that strong. In fact, many B-class adventurers aren't even as strong as us, since they focus on magic or other things instead of strength."
"I understand. Strength depends on the type of adventurer you are" Finn said, nodding.
"That's right…" Darwin affirmed, lifting the goblin and beginning to bend his arm, causing him to scream in pain. "Speak, goblin. Where did you get that armor?"
"UGHH!" the goblin simply shouted, shaking his head, but his gaze occasionally strayed toward the bushes they had emerged from.
Finn, without hesitation, went to check, finding two crates full of armor and weapons. He then turned to Darwin, confirming that he had found the place where the armor had been stolen. Darwin nodded, taking one of the goblin daggers and stabbing the goblin in the head.
"That's a lot of stuff. They probably stole it from a merchant" Finn surmised, looking at the crates.
"It's very likely. We should take it with us and deliver it to the guild" Darwin said, also looking at the crates. "They might give us compensation for recovering lost merchandise."
"Well, in that case, all that's left is to collect the teeth" Finn said, looking at the dead goblins. "How disgusting."