Return to Jorgaldur Volume III: blood warrior

Parting

At 14, she had recovered the blood passive, which allowed her to improve her blood proficiency, thus increasing its effectiveness.

At 15, there was the Decoy spell. It allowed her to move quickly through the shadows, and leave a momentary illusion of herself behind to fool her enemies.

At 16, there was Detect Wounds. It was a blood spell that allowed her to find out if and where her adversary had been injured, even if they tried to hide it, since she could detect the blood essence. While it wasn't very useful in itself, it could be used in combination with other spells.

As for her skills, at 14 she had regained Manual Block. Eldi claimed that it made her look extremely cocky, something she couldn't deny, nor that she loved it. Just using her fingers, it allowed her to catch and stop the edge of a weapon, as if it posed no danger to her, as if it were child's play, as if she was laughing at those who opposed to her.

At 15, there was Bloodlust, with which she could emit an intimidating aura. She could even direct it, thus choosing who she affected. While it was ineffective against beings similar to her level, it could be very helpful in avoiding low-level annoyances.

At 16, she unlocked Fleeting Dagger. It was another skill shared with Goldmi, with which she could throw a dagger with precision. It was one of the reasons why she had so many high-level daggers, as she had sometimes used them continuously with that skill.

Tili was hugging her around the waist. She was crying, not wanting to let her go, while Gjaki gently stroked her head. Although somewhat older than the vampire, the goblin's stature didn't reach higher.

Some children were crying too, while hugging their stuffed bats. They had grown fond of the vampire, and were too innocent to fear her, unlike some adults.

Although they had become accustomed to her, some goblins couldn't help but feel apprehensive towards the vampire, towards a being out of the most terrible legends. It wasn't the case of Hili and Jilo, an elderly couple of goblin tailors.

In fact, the stuffed bats were their making. They were made from a prototype by Gjaki. At first, they had believed that it was impossible, but the vampire had disassembled several stuffed animals into small components. Those components were then sewn together, as if they were a three-dimensional puzzle. Creating the components with cloth stuffed with straw wasn't difficult.

They had soon managed to copy the designs, and bats had been the most popular among children, since they really adored Gjaki. That was something that she wasn't used to, and she hadn't known what to do at first, even having wanted to escape. However, she had soon given up, unable to resist the innocent childish giggles.

In fact, the tailors couple had a new design, already quite advanced. It only needed a few tweaks, but it hadn't been shown to the vampire. On the one hand, it was a surprise, and on the other, they didn't want her to try to boycott them until it was too late.

After dealing with her, they had gotten to know her well enough to realize that, despite her appearance and attitude, she was much more shy than she might appear. In fact, her attitude was in part a mask to hide her true self, to protect herself.

"I'll be back," Gjaki assured her. "I don't want to miss your wedding to Tado."

"Gjaki!" she exclaimed, ashamed.

Embarrassed, the goblin looked around her to make sure no one had heard her friend. She looked at Gjaki pouting as the vampire giggled.

Not that the rest of the village didn't expect this to happen soon or later, but neither of them had yet taken the step of confessing their feelings. It still embarrassed them.

"Take care of her. Don't let her escape," she whispered to Tado a little later.

The vampire smiled mischievously. She had achieved her new goal of embarrassing that goblin too.

After that, she said goodbye to all of them, while smiling, although inside her heart was heavy. Maybe the goblins were different in many ways, and some of them still looked at her reluctantly, but this place was the closest thing to a true home she had ever had. Besides, Tili was the first true friend with whom she had been able to interact directly, beyond the computer screen.

At that moment, she couldn't help but think of Eldi and Goldmi. They had been her first friends, even though she had never met them in person.

"Will they come?" she asked herself, but no one could answer.

Thus, in the falling night, the goblins watched as her savior silhouette disappeared in the shadows of the forest. She took with her their thanks and many gifts. Although humble, they were extremely valuable to her.

One of the ones she most valued was a thin wooden board. On it, they had drawn some kind of abstract woman with two fangs, gray hair that was supposed to be silver, and something in her hands that had to be daggers. There were other shorter and greener figures that she was protecting, and others that she was attacking. There was also a black thing in the sky that should be a bat.

It was a composition that had been drawn between all the goblin children for her. She had almost cried after picking it up, and while she was being hugged by them. It was signed by all of them under the scene, and by the rest of the village behind.

She had also obtained many small sweets of different kinds, whether it was with fruits, nuts, honey or various creams. While they weren't quite up to the level of Goldmi's chocolate cake, the vampire had become fond of some of them. After realizing it, the goblins hadn't hesitated to cook several hundred.

That had touched her, not so much because of the sweets themselves, but because they had been made for her.

While it is true that she had contributed much more to the village than they could give back, the sincere thanks of the villagers was something new and emotional. It was something that she had never known in the past, at least not directly.

She had some fuzzy memories, between game and reality, but she didn't know if they were real or not. However, these were.

She didn't turn, as she didn't want them to see her cry, but she was watching them through a Bat, until the distance that separated them grew too large.