The Life, Death, and Relife of the Mushroom Mage

Chapter 20

There was a crack in the brush behind them, and they whirled, ready to strike down the interloper, and then they froze.

Brown hair. Blue eyes, staring at them like saucers in the middle of her face. She was in riding pants and a neat little coat, and she had a lute over her shoulder. Fucking Daisy Aldova.

"What are you doing here, my lady?" Mally bit out, and she stammered for a moment.

"I... I wanted to see an adventurer in action," she said, pale faced and freaked out, and Mally frowned at her.

"This isn't a sight for tender eyes, my lady," they said. "Go home."

"I... don't know how to get back," she stammered, and Mally breathed out. Of course. Of course she was lost. "Did you just... kill all of them?"

"Yes," they replied, and she went pale.

"Oh," she said, her voice very quiet. Mally cleaned off their sword on their pants and sheathed it, and then they turned for the clearing.

"Let's get you home," they grumbled. "Go back to the clearing; I need to collect proof of death."

"You were... really brave," she stammered. "I would have panicked."

"Thank you, my lady."

"How do you become an adventurer?" she blurted, and Mally stared at her in silence.

"That's not a path for you," they said, and she turned bright red.

"Well, I wasn't asking for me," she said, even though she obviously was.

"Uhuh," they said. "My lady, I need to chop their heads off. You don't want to be here for that."

"I can handle it!" she protested, and Mally pursed their lips as they studied her. She looked small and scared. What did she even think she would see, coming out here like this? How long had she been following them? Why didn't they even notice?

This was disturbing. They didn't like this at all, and what was she doing with a lute? What was that going to do? Honestly, this girl...

"All the same, my lady, I would prefer not to do it in front of you. You'll get blood on your clothes," Mally said, and she looked down at her outfit. It was a very cute outfit. Browns and yellows.

"Okay," she mumbled and turned to walk away. "I'll... wait for you at the clearing."

Honestly, this girl... Mally was supposed to kill ten goblins today. They were deeply annoyed, and they got to the grisly work of chopping the heads off and tying them up by their sparse hair. The blood coming from their necks would probably stain Rat's saddle, they thought in annoyance. Honestly, why did the main characters keep following them? They were just a commoner and an adventurer. After all that damn work they did to get away from the plot...

Why was it still following them?

They lifted up the five heads and walked to the clearing, annoyed as all hell. They wanted to escape the plot, dammit. Why was it refusing to leave them alone?

A low growl assaulted them, and they turned. There was something lurking in the underbrush, and it was decidedly not a goblin. Yellow eyes peered out at them, and they drew their sword.

"Well? Come out," they said, and a luna wolf slunk out. It walked right past them and settled down to chew on one of the dead bodies, and they watched for a moment as it ripped a chunk out of the goblin's stomach. It was skinny, its ribs showing, and they felt for it. It probably was a rogue, banished from its pack and unable to eat.