We managed to take out most of the Goblin encampment we were at, for now, it seems we're playing the waiting game for the Hobgoblins inside, or, there are no Hobgoblins.

"Mik, we should flood it with fire now." I pointed to the cave and he nodded.

Mikael jumped down, reeling one arm back, flames materializing in his hand before sweeping his hand through the air, flames pouring into the cave, stopping after a minute had passed, a few drops of sweat dripping from his face.

Mikael jumped back up to us, waiting for the flame to come back out.

"There were a few holes so my guess is that the cave is a lot larger than we expect."

"My guess is..." I put my thumb under my chin, "I think this is only one of many camps, so what should be here is a Hobgoblin Knight or something to that degree."

"If it's a Shaman, it'll be a bit troublesome."

"You can use your magic nullification, but I don't suggest you use it for spells so..." I looked to Beatrice, "You're going to have to focus on defending Mik."

She nodded.

The flames came back out, multiple goblins who were still alive coming out, rolling on the ground and attempting to stifle the flames that covered their bodies.

I took out a mask to cover my nose with so I would vomit from the smell.

After all the heat had left the cave, Mikael went back to the holes he had plugged and unplugged them.

We began moving in, killing any stragglers along the way.

It looks like my strategy worked - when we got to the end of the cave, the Hobgoblin Knight we had theorized to exist was melted into the stone wall behind them.

We moved back up to the surface, inspecting our surroundings and moving on.

We went around, checking if there were more camps, only there to be remnants of other hunts.

Mikael and Beatrice helped me to get up to a higher point so I could see more, taking out a small telescope and slowly scanning the area.

"Make sure to take notes of what I say," I pulled out a compass, glancing at it frequently as I spot areas of interest, "Smoke, northwest, some explosions east, uh..." I adjusted the telescope so I could see a bit farther out, "I think I Melamir, should we go to her?" I looked at Beatrice and Mikael.

They both nodded - we found our current goal.

It took almost an hour to get to her location, at least for Beatrice and me, Mikael being way ahead of us.

When we got there, Mikael had her in his arms wrapped in cloth.

"What happened!?" I asked, heading over to them.

"She ran out of mana," Mikael let out a quick sigh, sitting down next to a tree, pressing his back against it. "I managed to get there before anything happened but she's probably gonna be a bit scarred by this."

"What do you mean?"

"Well... it's not like they did nothing. They beat her over the head," He pointed to the blood on her head, "They tried to rip her clothes off, but I stopped them from going farther than that."

I felt relieved, didn't want some naive dumbass to get herself fucked over by her own stupidity. Even if they're arrogant assholes, no one deserves what comes to them regarding Goblins, specifically women I guess, what they do to them is some horrid shit after all.

"So..." I looked to the encampment, bodies everywhere, "Are there any more?"

"There was definitely a Shaman, but they seemed to have retreated back into their base."

"How would we find it?" I sighed, running my hands through my hair, "What a pain..." I looked at Mikael and Beatrice, "What should we do?"

Mikael shrugged, "I'm not sure."

Beatrice rose her hand, "I think we should retreat, we hand an injured person after all."

"I agree," I looked back at the Goblin corpses, "Now... how did she run out of mana?"

"Probably because of the Shaman, yes? They're known to know how to nullify magic."

It felt a bit suspicious though because I'm pretty sure her mana capacity way exceeds a certain amount, unless she was just going camp to camp blasting, not even taking into consideration how much mana she had left.

I sighed, "Well... we'll never be able to know until she wakes up and tells us herself," I paused, "My theory is that she didn't take her mana consumption into consideration and just went camp to camp going wild on the Goblins, and then she met a Shaman and got her ass beat by them since they could actually nullify her attacks, and, when she realized she was almost out of mana, it was too late because Shamans also have a way to completely shut someone's mana circuit down temporarily."

Mikael nodded, "I think that makes sense."

"Let's get out of here," Beatrice waved for us to follow her.

We set up a red flare and moved to somewhere safe, the teachers taking us back to the school.

We got a decent grade for our decision-making and the like, though my role as a navigator and trap maker wasn't taken into much consideration.

I've been thinking about it for a while but I believe that a gun would significantly improve my rating in these dungeons. I'm gonna try and find a way to get one since it would be very useful for me.

As I was about to leave the area where the dungeon gate was, I noticed multiple large screens hovering above it, multiple students looking up and watching what was occurring. There were quite a few notable people.

There was a Dark Elf with a peculiar sword art, and that Gentleman Orc that I saw earlier, if anything, he was the most impressive.

That Orc had no wasted movements, taking things out in singular punches, leaving massive dents in their chests, skulls, arms, everything. Beside him was that one woman who looked to be royalty, taking out any stragglers he had missed and restoring his clothes if torn. It was easily one of the most impressive shows from any of the first-year students so far, not considering the Princes of course since they're the equivalent of a nuclear bomb together.

I decided to head to that Blacksmith once more.

She was there again, hammering at whatever she was making.

"Hello!"

She turned to me with a vacant expression on her face.

"Um... may I ask for some weapons to be made for me?"

"What use would it be for you?"

"Well... I think I might actually have a curse and someone suggested getting 'my weapon' as a step to break it."

"That could break the curse?"

"They said it was a step, plus I want to order some weapons like guns for when I go on dungeon expeditions."

She sighed, "Alright, I'll make your gun since you're a student."

"Also... do you know what it could mean by, 'my weapon?"

"It?"

"The person."

"Maybe it's the gun that you requested?"

"I don't know about that."

It feels like she's avoiding the question.

"Is that truly the way?"

I sighed scratching the back of my head, "Well... it's my only option."

The paused with what she was doing, placing a large blueprint onto a table and drawing schematics down, "How would you like the gun to be made?"

I walked to her, looking at what she was drawing, "I'd like it to be a revolver."

"Why? Wouldn't that be hard for your small body to handle?"

"I was..." I was just saying it because I thought it'd be cool, but she's right, I need to actually think about this. "Okay... I'll draw it myself."

She nodded, handing me the pencil. I drew up a gun that would make sense for me to hold, along with other items that would help in combat that wasn't only just the gun.

"Can this work?" I looked at her.

"Yes... I can make all this if you want."

"Thank you."

"Also, come with me."

I followed her into the forest and she stopped at a rock and sat down on it.

"Come here."

I crossed over to her, curious as to what she wanted.

"I, am your weapon."

"What?"

"I am an Ego, something that has been destined to become someone else's weapon, and you, just so happen to be that person. Of course, I was extremely disappointed so I wish you'd kill yourself or die so I could move on to someone else but... if becoming yours officially will lift that curse limiting you, then I will offer my assistance."

"I don't know how to feel about what you just said."

"You don't need to know, it's not like I wanted someone to actually die..." She sighed, "But if it'd lift this curse off of me then so be it," She pointed to the blackness on the right side of her body. "If I keep getting stronger, I'll die. But if I get a master's, I won't. So... you are now my only hope."

"And if I can't lift the curse?"

"I'm sorry... but I'd have to find a way to kill you since if you can't get stronger, I'd die."

"Very calculated..."

She silently nodded.

"Okay... so what do we do to confirm the contract?"

She showed me her hand, "All we need to do is shake on it."

I nodded, "Okay..."

We both shook hands, a mark burning through before disappearing as quickly as it appeared.

"Now, what do we do?" Freyja asked.

"I have to see that person again. I will tell you when the curse is broken and... when that happens could you help me become stronger?"

She nodded.