24 | Ogres, Goblins, and Human?
Keen hands out a guild emblem to each of his members. At the back of the emblems are unique engravings of the owner's name.
Instead of the typical scythe, however, the emblem used intricate designs symbolizing unity of magic and physique about to strike an embossed orb in the middle.
"How can you have so much
"However, we spent all our gold coins since Day One," Vi shrugs.
Elise quickly reaches for her emblem and embraces it with both hands before her chest. Instead of an infatuated face, she is showing resilience and determination. "I'll do my best to do what I must for this guild."
"Work fast, but don't be reckless," Keen reminds them.
"I'll keep that to heart," Shina nods once while sitting on the chair beside their guild master.
Everyone looks to her direction, surprised by her tamed behavior.
At the same night, they review the overall plan before heading to bed. Keen is determined to go back to old man Daryl's inn for some peace and quiet but both Elise and Shina actively refuse the idea. Jerud also protests when he realizes that the assassin duo would be staying in the same room.
"We have great rooms in this guild base. Let's stay the night here." Elise smiles widely to act innocent. In fact, she has plans of going to Keen's bedroom around midnight to check on his sleeping face.
Shina surprisingly supports the elf's statement, then giggles. "I think it would be more fun if we all sleep together in the same room."
Keen walks towards the exit, then looks back to his guildmates over his shoulder. "I think it's best that we do a night out in the wild hunting monsters so we know how to synchronize in battle for future reference."
Everyone immediately nods in unison. Their guild master is implying that he is expecting Elise, Shina and Jerud to complete their task fast so that they can rejoin him and complete their guild. Or so they think.
Keen's actual plan is to recuperate as much gold coins as he can before setting out on his journey with Vi. He didn't expect the
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Reaper raided about twenty monster hideouts and nests throughout the night. They were then regarded as the crazy guild who would hunt in Esprit during the night for better loots.
During sunrise, the guild was back to their spacious base. Everyone was so drawn out and exhausted except for Keen, who still felt no need to sleep.
While everyone else lazily slept on the giant bearskin mattress at the hall in the second storey, the red-clad guild master carried his equally dozed off apprentice on his arms. He then headed out to their next destination: the stables.
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Vi feels the slight trembling of the ground and quickly opens her eyes, pulling out a pair of bone lance from her improved waist quiver.
She is inside a carriage with finely assembled woodwork. To her front is a sliding door that leads to the coachman's seat. To both sides are doors with gold knobs. At the back is a small peering window with equally spaced metal rods.
"Did you kidnap me? I haven't even said goodbye to Elise and Jerud," the female assassin lightly punches Keen's lower back.
He looks back at her and steers the horses to a halt. "We have to act fast to finish this journey early. Anyway, let's have ramen for breakfast."
"Tch. Are you that obsessed with ramen?" She sits beside him.
"This is the only food I know how to cook," he laughs softly.
She sighs, then offers to make lunch for them. "Where are we heading now?"
Keen takes out a map he bought from the Guild Hall for a five hundred gold and twenty silver coins. It is not an elaborate map, outlining only at most two paths to take for the next several days.
"Maps are created by other Traveling Adventurers who made an initial survey of the land. This one specifically points to a path towards an ogre encampment," Keen explains while slurping his favorite broth.
Vi steals a glance. "What if this map is a hoax?"
He then gives the explanation that Cassandra gave him. According to the Topsy Town Guild Hall receptionist, maps made by Traveling Adventurers are referenced directly from their memories. As such, there is no way that the maps would be wrong. Unless the adventurer is under some kind of hallucination or amnesia.
"It is a self-drawing map. Amazing artifact, isn't it?" Keen chuckles and almost chokes from the noodle he is eating.
Vi stares at the map. "This is an artifact, huh?"
Keen nods and becomes serious. "And luckily, this map points to the way where the material for the map can be found."
Her eyes widen. 'How much has the guild master done while I slept?'
While preparing for the continuation of their trip, a group of level twenty Bandit Monkeys jump out of their camouflage under the grass of the plains to surround the duo. All of them point sickle-shaped tail tips towards the ambushed pair. When a smile breaks loose from their faces, Vi suddenly feels awkward goosebumps.
"Why the heck are they smiling? It's somehow creepy," she takes out her poisoned dagger.
Keen silently watches the enemy's four arms. Bandit Monkeys have no actual feet but has those four arms covered in reddish brown hair except for the palms. Their eyes are like the eagle's instead of a primate's.
"Shall we?" Vi glances shortly at her partner who simply nods.
There are ten Bandit Monkeys surrounding them and standing at almost the same height.
As if communicating, one of the monkeys points a calloused finger at Vi, then slides a tongue between its dark brown lips.
She is engrossed even further.
Without letting another second pass by after that perverted display, Keen unleashes his
"Vile beasts," he retracts his blood back to him and breathes deeply. Then, quietly, he proceeds to mounting the carriage.
Vi tries to inquire about the loots and cores dropped by the monsters but the red-clad just shakes his head and signals her to get on.
After encountering a few other monsters that pose almost no threat to the two of them, the assassin duo finally reaches a hill with no trees. A large fortress-like structure lies heavily guarded at the top.
The protectors of the entrance are three ogres with an axe, mace, and spiked bat as weapons. They are also wearing a sort of armor from the waist down. They don't seem too intelligible, only grunting and even quarrelling amongst themselves which is evident in them pushing each other with a threatening posture of their own weapon of choice.
On the other hand, Keen has hidden the carriage in a group of trees at the foot of the hill.
Aside from the guards at the fortress entrance, Vi sees no other ogres in the vicinity.
"Are the others inside?" she glances at him while preparing her waist quiver.
Keen pulls her behind a tree when the ogre with an axe looks over to their direction in a sudden turn of its head.
Nevertheless, the giant grotesque monsters seem to have been somehow alerted as they begin turning their heads actively in all directions.
A few seconds later, a horde of goblins come running uphill with spears pointed at the ogre guards. One particularly strong-looking goblin is dressed in a bloody cloth with purple scribbles and carries a voodoo doctor's stick. It shouts commands in goblin language and visibly invokes fear to its followers.
Without even speaking, Vi realizes Keen's plan to let the two monster species take each other out and minimize their involvement.
She pulls away from him and watches the goblin assault to the ogre guards who are in offensive stance instead of defense.
When the mossy green giant monsters growl in chorus while baring fangs protruding from their lower jaws, the weak-minded goblins start falling down on their knees. That was a clear warning that the attackers are outmatched.
However, the goblin shaman once again commands through its thin voice a sort of threat that makes the remaining assault group to run amuck and gather around one of the ogres.
Instead of impaling the guards with their spears, the goblins strike themselves with their own weapon and produces a purple mist with every drop of their blood. Within ten seconds, the ogre with a spiked bat drops dead on the ground with its eyes still open.
"Poison!" Vi gasps.
The purple mist begins scattering throughout the hill and getting carried down to where the assassins are hiding. The goblin shaman laughs maniacally as a thin barrier protects it from the deadly gas.
At that same moment, someone dressed in a reddish brown armor jumps in, draws a sword, and creates a slicing motion that instantly removes all the purple mist in the air.