As daybreak approached, in the city gently blanketed by a white mist, two inexperienced figures could be seen walking towards a large building titled the Adventurer's Guild. The soft singing of early birds combined with the cold misty air accentuated a fresh start to the day as Tau and Alice were ready for their first task. Yesterday they had signed up to become adventurers and today was the day that they would actually take a step forward in their lives by accepting their first official mission.
The two stood and stared at the magnificent red doors of the Guild, swallowing their tension as they entered. The soft fragrance of mana crystal 'air fresheners' entering their noses they realized that they were finally fully fledged adventurers. The number of people that were here with them could be counted on one hand; adventurers were a willful bunch after all, they worked only when they wanted to needed to.
"Ready Alice?"
Tau asked, unsure if even he was ready for this task. Growing up in the small village of Imik with his childhood friend the city had already proven to be quite a far cry from what he had been surrounded with up until now. Even the monsters around the capital were much different compared to the small critters that inhabited the area around his hometown.
Alice gave a ready nod as she stared back without a word. Her strong and willful eyes told him everything that he wanted to know. 'Together', that's what they promised each other before leaving the village as well as yesterday night. Though a rather unpleasant prospect, together they will accomplish Tau's goal.
They walked up towards the counter and spoke to the receptionist. They briefly wondered if this woman was the same one from yesterday or if they simply looked similar. If she was the same then she was amazing to have been so well presented from such an early time of day.
"Good morning, are you here to accept a mission?"
The receptionist lady asked with a pleasant smile.
"Y- yes, we signed up yesterday so we want to try out a mission."
Tau replied, slightly anxious about his first time receiving a mission. Having seen a lot of greenhorn adventurers throughout her time the receptionist knew how to handle these kinds of people. She gathered a few low rank missions that were easy to complete and set it out on the table for Tau and Alice to choose from.
[Decrease local goblin population]
[Gathering Herbs for medicine]
[Deliver a package to a certain individual]
These three were the missions available for the two at the current time. It wasn't that there weren't any more missions but for the rank of an E5 adventurer this was the limit.
"Which should we pick?"
Indifferent to the options Tau asked Alice for her opinion. Since they were in this together they needed to be unanimous with their decisions. Alice pondered a bit humming 'hmm~' to herself a in the end she decided with the [decrease local goblin population] quest. A simple subjugation mission for the lowest rank monsters, the Goblins.
"Are you sure?"
Tau asked for confirmation to which Alice nodded.
"Okay, then we'd like to accept this mission please."
Tau told the receptionist and she nodded with a smile.
"Understood, then your mission is to hunt 20 goblins. Once you have finished the mission it will automatically be updated on your adventurer cards which you can bring back to the guild for your reward."
The receptionist explained. Tau and Alice looked at each other and gave a firm nod to signify that they understood and were prepared. After confirming that their mission was accepted they left the guild and towards the outskirts of the Capital's territory where the Goblin territory were.
...
Basically Goblins were a pest; they were the equivalent to cockroaches in this world. Their numbers grew exponentially if unchecked and they had very little sentience and operated mostly by instincts. They had no form of civilization to speak of and wondered around daily in search of food and slept whenever they were full.
They were also unhealthy for the ecosystem as their iron stomachs allowed them to eat whatever was in sight, be it bugs, trees, animals or whatever. Coupled with their exponential population growth it was easy to see why they needed to be trimmed down.
After half a day's worth of walking towards the edge of the goblin territory Alice was already feeling the effects of walking too far. Her feet started to hurt and she was feeling plenty thirsty, though she did not voice these in fear of becoming a burden for Tau.
With a keen eye and quick reflexes, Alice's main class was [archer] thus naturally her weapon was a bow and arrow and small daggers for a secondary weapon. Back in the village she was on the hunter team with some of the other adults and for the most part brought in the most game as well. For now her role was to support Tau whose class was [Warrior] and thus he was on the front line.
Tau pulled out his short sword and buckler and slowly proceeded forward deeper into the goblin territory. Not even ten minutes had passed since they already ran into a goblin. Rough and dirty looking, sickly brown coloration, sharp and disfigured teeth and piercing blood shot eyes. Equipped with a clumsy stone club it noticed their presence and went straight into combat mode.
"Get ready Alice."
Tau instructed as he got into combat mode himself. The goblin ran straight towards Tau without much thought to clobber him to death. Goblins were unintelligent, even compared to wild animals their intelligence was severely lacking with the only reason they survived this long was purely due to their population.
The goblin attacked in a much telegraphed manner that even the inexperienced Tau could easily dodge his strikes. Left, right, left, right, they were all plain as day and was easily exploited by Tau who countered attacked by blocking the next strike with the buckler and stabbing his sword through the goblin's chest. It didn't have much in the way of defenses either and just like that one goblin had already fallen.
In fact it was so easy that both Tau and Alice were confused as to just how easy it was. If all goblins were at this level then it was a cake walk from here on out; they could probably even do it with their eyes closed if they concentrated hard enough. Tau and Alice simply stared at the dead goblin with a disturbed looked, it was almost sinfully weak, like they were picking on the vulnerable and they even felt a bit of pity for it.
However they soon realized that it really was too easy as they found themselves surrounded by several dozens of goblins. Goblins were also known for being opportunistic and quickly tried to take advantage of their fallen. They used each other to gauge the strength of the outsider to their territory, and once they determined that they could have an advantage they attacked with overwhelming numbers.
Just in a single glance their numbers could easily total to about 50 or 60 of them. While Tau and Alice were confident that they could take on about 10 at a time any more would be impossible. The best course of action right now would be to run away and come up with a different strategy but as they tried to back away their escape routes were cut off by the appearance of more goblins.
"Tau, what should we do?"
Alice asked, slightly worried that their escape was cut off. 'Weren't these goblins supposed to be unintelligent?' she thought to herself. Indeed, for goblins these actions seemed much more premeditated than earlier anticipated. The goblins slowly started to draw closer, even this was unnatural. Earlier the dead goblin charged straight for them without a care in the world but now these mindless goblins showed signs of being cautious.
"Stay behind me Alice."
Gripping tighter onto his buckler Tau instructed Alice. Two goblins lunged towards them to which Tau quickly reacted by blocking one and slashing the other but that was a fake out as behind them a third one was ready to strike the moment Tau was occupied. Quickly noticing this Alice drew her arrow and shot at the incoming goblin scoring a direct hit. Slightly happy that she managed to help out but her excitement was short lived as more Goblins rushed towards them, too many to keep track of.
Trying to protect Alice Tau rushed in and defended her but in the process was hit a few times by the stone clubs. Their movements had changed, they were no longer the predictable mindless enemies but somehow more intelligent. Only a few minutes passed but they were already on the verge of failing their first mission, a far cry from accomplishing Tau's goal, he was about to die here.
At the very least he wanted Alice to survive but battered and bleeding out on the floor he couldn't speak out the words; 'run'. Alice valiantly tried to fight them off on her own as well as protect him but even she wasn't unscathed. Bruised and bleeding she too was quickly getting to the end of her rope.
The goblins understood that their prey was on their last leg and one more push would be enough to kill them. The goblins cried out almost as though they were taunting the two humans who foolishly entered their territory and all lunged towards them for a final strike. Tau managed to get up and embrace Alice to cover for her but even this wasn't going to be enough but he didn't know what else to do.
Waiting for the attack to come, they shut their bloodied vision. However the attack never came. What came was a loud explosion and something dropped from the skies and kicking up a violent dust cloud. As the dust cloud came to a close the sight of a dark warrior appeared. A slender womanly figure clad in a ghastly but elegant dark armor, showing no skin she was covered from head to toe. A single long and red scarf around her neck though it was most likely for purely aesthetics as it wouldn't really warm the person inside. Her identity covered by a fully encapsulated helmet.
The jet black armor gave off a strange and mysterious aura, almost bone chilling and menacing but at the same time reliably powerful. It was an odd feeling, the armor itself didn't particularly look all that durable and seemed like it was made purely for intimidation purposes; it didn't feel defensive but rather offensive with its menacing looking.
The black knight slightly lifted her leg and stomped on the ground causing a powerful shockwave and earthquake. The goblins lost their balance and some where even crushed by the quaking earth beneath them, but Tau and Alice remained unharmed. Followed by a tense silence the goblins instantly recognized that they had no chance to win and fled with whatever numbers were remaining, leaving Tau, Alice and the black knight behind.
The knight then turned towards the two inexperienced adventurers muddled with bruises and cuts. Without saying a word she took out some potions from her small pouch and offered it to them. At first they were curious as to what it was; in their small village they never had any luxuries like potions before.
"They're healing potions."
"T- thank you."
Alice and Tau expressed gratitude as they accepted the potions. Taking a sip, it was extremely bitter but they powered through and drank the entire bottle. Already they could feel their strength returning and their wounds starting to heal, though not instantly.
"Thank you."
They expressed their gratitude once more.
"It's fine. You best not come here for the time being. The movements of monsters have been strange as of late. Most likely the Adventurer's Guild will notice this soon too and give an official announcement. For now return to the capital and get some rest."
The black knight told them in an elegant and powerful voice, though strangely flat seeming for some reason. Thanking their savior once more, Tau and Alice decided to take the advice of the black armored knight and return to the city for the day.
...
After returning to the chief's house they received immediate first aid was put to rest. Having becoming extremely exhausted after escaping a life or death situation they couldn't believe that they were able to make it back alive. Throughout the night Alice had silently wept to herself reminiscing about the situation and how it could've all just disappeared in an instant.
She finally realized how dangerous this job was; it was no joke. People were putting their lives on the line every day trying to fight these monsters and she had been taking it as a fun exercise all this time. Her eyes were finally opened and with renewed spirits she wanted to try again with honest hearts this time.
"Alice. I think it's best if you returned to the village-"
Tau was about to suggest something that bordered on an insult to Alice's newfound determination but was cut off.
"No, I'm staying. I finally realize it."
"Alice?"
"I know now that this isn't a something to take lightly. Putting our lives on the line every day from now on is scary, I can admit that but because of today I learnt that I need to change as well. I promise I won't become a burden so please let me stay."
Taking to heart Alice's determination to start over Tau was unable to refuse her.
"Okay Alice. Let's try again, from the top tomorrow."
They promised each other as they went to bed.