The fire was spreading quickly. All of the villagers were watching till the house burned down into ashes. The child saw that her house was on fire. She tried to get up, but she couldn't because of the pain.

Her mother's companion approached her and carried her away from the village. They couldn't go far as there were pursuers. Her mother's companion lay her down.

"Child, from here you will be on your own. I'll be behind you. You just need to head straight. Remember to keep running even if you can't walk anymore. Child, remember you have to survive and live as your mother wants."

"Who are you?"

"Run, run now faster!"

The pursuers were getting nearer and nearer to where they were. The child runs faster while her mother's companion distracts the villagers on a different path. The child kept running until she reached her limit and fell down, unconscious, to the ground.

The knocking sound brought her back to reality,

"Can I come in? I brought some food as promised,"

"Come in,"

Ramy opens the door and enter,

"By the way, may I know your name? Or maybe not? "

".."

"It's Della,"

"It's alright if you d-.... Yes? Come again? "

"My name is Della,"

"What a great name! Oh, you should tell your name to that man. He will be happy, I tell you."

".."

Ramy gets out of the room, and Della eats her lunch in silence, hearing the happy voices of every person passing by the inn.

*Forest of Danbell*

The vines shrieked loudly and began attacking him. The goblins inside were alerted. The cave trembled as if it was about to collapse because of the vines' aggressiveness.

Roswald struggled to cut through the vines attacking him endlessly. The big tree began moving as if it were alive, hiding the cave entrances so as not to let him get inside.

He immediately takes action. He runs through them like a bull as the vine keeps hitting his skin, leaving many scratches on his body.

Finally, he passes through and enters the cave, but the big trees and vines have already closed up the entrance, so he still goes on his way. As he walks further into the cave, he hears voices coming through as he walks near.

He felt a presence coming his way, so he hid behind a big rock. He took a peek. He saw the goblins making many objects and also the dead body of a sheep that he was searching for.

He was about to charge, but then he realized that he could get more information and catch their leader, so he waited and spied on them.

"Hey! Hurry it up," the general goblin said.

"General Sir, this one is a failure. What do we do?" goblin A said.

"Fix it, you moron. Don't you know how?" The general goblin yelled angrily.

"Y-yes right away," Goblin said, and he threw the failed object aside and made another one in a hurry.

After an hour of waiting and spying on the enemy, Roswald hears voices coming from outside the cave heading his way, so he hides on the other rock where the people entering the cave cannot see him.

"Is everything ready?"

"No, master, not yet," the goblin general replied.

"What the hell are you all doing? Didn't I say to hurry it up, why are you lagging? Move faster!"

"But master,"

"How dare you talk!" the general goblin master said, while hitting him and the other goblin with a whip.

"We're sorry, master; we'll get them done on time."

"You better be or you're all dead."

"What's happening?"

[Is that man their boss? Ray? Hmmm... From the mercenary group?] Roswald thought glancing at them.

"Ah, sir client, my apologies, it's just the thing is."

"Is it still not done?"

"Uh, no sir, it will be done shortly. Please wait."

"You fools, hurry it up!"

The goblins move in a hurry, fearing their master.

As he couldn't get out of the cave, he waited until the goblins were asleep and the master and client got out of the cave.

Night came, and the goblins rested as they finished the client's order. He sneaked up between the sleeping goblins scattered on the floor. As he gets closer to the box where the object was, one of the goblins makes a sound that causes him to stop moving.

He looks at the goblin and sees that it is nothing, so he continues on and gets to the box, but it is sealed.

He looked at every goblin to find out who was holding the key to the sealed box. As he turned left, he saw the key hanging on the general goblin's neck.

As he looked at the distance, he saw the general goblin was all the way across the cave wall, far from him.

He moved in a flash, like an assassin, and back to the sealed box. He couldn't help but use his skills, as he had no time to waste.

He opened the box and saw the object inside. The object was a mage's staff. The head was shaped like a moon, the purple ball, and the knife had a snake surrounding it.

He was suspicious of the objects, so he put them in his spatial bag to bring them back to the guild. At the same time, he burned all the goblins and materials inside the cave and sprung out of it. As the entrance was blocked, he used hell fire to burn the trees and vines. He then got out.

He was about to leave the plains when he remembered the two remaining sheep he had hidden. He looked for the two sheep and saw them untied and eating grass.

He looked left and right to see if there was someone nearby, and when he looked in front, he saw a shadow coming closer.

He attacked and stopped, as he saw it was the sheep owner coming into the plains to look for his sheep, as he couldn't wait any longer.

"What are you doing here?"

"Are you going to kill me?" the sheep owner said while lying on the ground.

"No, I thought you were a goblin."

"How am I a goblin?!  I'm human!"

"What are you doing here?" Roswald asked again, putting his sword back in its case.

"I came looking for my sheep," the sheep owner said while removing the grass stock on his pants.

"Didn't I take that quest?"

"You did?"

"Well, I thought you were dead, so I searched instead."

"Why would you think that?"

"For fuck's sake, it's night,"

"Is that the only reason?" he said as he glared to the sheep owner.

"I-It doesn't matter is it? So where are the other sheep?"

"Their dead,"

"What?! Why would they be dead? You must be hiding them. Bring them out! "

"If you don't believe me, I can toss you in the cave, though there's nothing there because I already burned all of it."

"W-what did you say?"

Roswald couldn't take any more of the sheep owner's fuss, so he walked out and left the sheep owner behind.

The sheep owner is flustered and hurries to take the sheep and follow Roswald, as he was afraid of the danger lurking in the dark.

In a while, the master of the goblins and their clients arrive at the cave and see the vines and trees all burned up.

They ran inside to see if the objects the goblins made were intact, but as they arrived inside, they saw nothing but ashes.

"What the hell happened here? The object, where is it? No, no, how could this be?"

"You useless thing," the client said, furiously unsheathing his sword and putting it around the goblin master's neck.

"Sir Client, please. I will try again. Please give me another chance."

"There's no another!"

The client swings his sword and kills the goblin master, then calls his superior to report the matter.

Roswald and the sheep owner arrive in the village and head to the guild. As soon as they arrived, the sheep owner quickly made a fuss about his sheep being killed and that he clearly stated in the quest that his sheep must be alive at all cost.

"Sir, please wait a moment, let me call the guild master," the lady receptionist said, flustered.

The receptionist knocks on the door of the guild master's office.

"Guild master, can you come down in a minute?"

"What's the matter? It's rather noisy down there. "

"That's one of the clients who made a request and is making a fuss about his sheep being two,"

Geld stands from his seat and heads down.

"What is the issue here?"

"Look at here. This is the request I posted, stating that all of my sheep should be alive, but look I only got two,"

"Sir, it is impossible to bring back all the sheep alive if there are situations that can't be avoided, and you posted that request three days ago. So you shouldn't expect that your sheep will be alive in these mere three days,"

"What?! Do you mean no one took my request until now? "

"You caught on very quickly, sir,"

"Why is that? Why did no one take my request? "

"Well, the rewards were cheap, so none took the quest."

"That can't be my sheep. What do I do now that my sheep are gone?" the sheep owner murmured in agony.

"Hey someone, take him and his sheep back safely to his home,"

"Y-yes,"

While Geld and the sheep owner were having a conversation, Roswald took a seat and listened to them talking as if he was watching a movie drama.

"Is he done?" Roswald asks.

"What? Were you there?" Geld replied by asking at the same time, as he was surprised.

"I've been here since that man left,"

"Did you just listen?"

"..."

"So what's up?"

"I found this in a cave,"

"A box? What's in it? "

"Open it and you'll see,"

Geld opens the box and sees the object inside it.

"A mage staff, a ball of sphere, and... this knife. Where did you get it?"

"You know something?"

"No, I don't, but can you leave this with me for now?"

"Why?"

"I'm going to appraise it."

"Why don't you do it now?"

"I want to, but I can't because I have work to do. Once I'm done appraising it, come back tomorrow afternoon and we will discuss it. "

"Alright,"

"Go and rest up,"

Roswald waves his hand, saying farewell, then heads back to the inn to rest for the day.

The night was quiet, insects singing peacefully into the air surrounding the city. Roswald walks down the road, heading to the inn. As he kept walking, he felt a strange sensation throughout his body, and as he looked back, he saw a fleeting shadow running by the corner of the road, heading for the forest.

Roswald was chasing it, but as it was a fleeting moment, the shadow disappeared the instant it went out of the village entrance.

He was about to report it to the guild, but as he was tired, he stalled it for tomorrow, and headed quickly to the inn.

"Oh, Roswald, your home," the inn owner said.

"Yeah, how's the child?"

"The child is just fine. She's just upstairs sleeping already. "

"Thank you,"

"Hm? What are you thanking me for? You're our customer, so it's to be expected." the inn owner said, while smiling ear to ear and giving thumbs up.

After their conversation, Roswald headed upstairs to rest, and when he opened the door of the room, he saw the child was still awake and had been waiting for him to come back this whole time.

For some reason, seeing the child sitting on the bed looking distant and lonely made him feel bad.

"Why are you still awake?"

"...."

"Did you have a nightmare, perhaps?"

"No,"

"Then, why are you awake?"

"I'm waiting for you to come back,"

"Oh, sorry, I was on a quest."

"All night?"

"Yes."

"I see,"

The room went silent.

"You should go to sleep," Roswald said, while putting his sword, gloves, and jacket down.

"I can't sleep,"

"...."

The two look at each other for a moment of silence.

"Are you alright?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Your wound,"

"Oh, it's just a small scratch."

"You should treat it,"

"Tomorrow I will,"

"Doesn't it hurt?"

"No,"

"I see,"

"...."

Roswald sits on the chair and closes his eyes as soon as their conversation ends halfheartedly.

The child stares at Roswald's face silently and lays on the bed as she is tired and unknowingly goes to sleep.

He was conflicted as to why the child was staring at him intently and going to sleep. He touched his face as he thought that there was something on it, and after that, he slept while sitting on the chair.

The night ended with the two falling asleep, and at the same time, accidents happen, silent screams echoing from the street as blood spatters in the fountain, staining the water.

As morning rises, people are gathered in one place, and the voices of many people reach the inn. Roswald and the child were woken by the noise coming far from their room.

"What's that noise?" The child asks while she sits up on the bed and rubs her eyes.

"Looks like something happened," Roswald replied, while preparing himself to go out.

When Geld came into the scene where the body was found, so many people had already gathered that he couldn't pass by easily to see the body.

People felt anxious at the scene they saw; the body of the woman was torn to pieces and her eyeballs were floating in the water. The sight was gruesome to the point that it gave them shivers.

Then, Geld ordered some people from his guild to bring the woman's body back to the guild for an investigation.

Roswald headed down and left the child in the room.

"Inn owner, why is it noisy outside?"

"Oh, you woke up. I don't know exactly, but I heard they saw a body by the fountain this morning.

"A body?"

"That's what I heard."

"....."

Ramy suddenly comes in, banging the door loudly.

"Dad, people said a body was found by the fountain this morning. Sir Geld and Sir Mario were already at the scene, and, oh, Sir Roswald, you were requested to head to the guild. "

"Then, can you give breakfast to the child?"

"To Della? Sure,"

"Della?"

"That's her name. She didn't tell you?"

"No," Roswald said, feeling conflicted.

"Oh, then I'm the only one who knows. hehe." Ramy said, while grinning and teasing Roswald.

For a minute, he was speechless by Ramy's words.

"I'll get going then,"

"You're not going to eat your portion?" the inn owner asks.

"No,"

"Oh, well, have a safe trip,"

Roswald heads out to the guild, passing by many people on the streets coming to gather at the scene. As he passes by the fountain, he senses a dark aura in the air.

Many more people occupied the street space as they gathered at the fountain. Then, all of a sudden, the top of the fountain blew up, causing the rocks to scatter, hitting the people near it.

To be continued..