Chapter 8 - Goblins and Curse

We entered the Forest with high guard, as we approached the screams getting clearer, it sounds like the voice of a woman, we accelerated a little more after that, reaching the source of the noise, we hid in the trees to observe the situation, green creatures of low stature with pointed ears and red eyes, goblins I recognized, there seems to be 6 of them, two of them are dragging a girl with white hair in a black kimono, while the others walk ahead 'I don't know what they want with her, but it can't be good'

I signal Leone and Nier to approach and start whispering the plan "nier you go ahead and prepare traps using {Bungiee gum} to get in their way, when they fall into your trap we will move in, try to hit your dagger from afar, I'll try to get as many as I can with {CHIDORI}, Leone you attack with {Scissors} and cut them both carrying the girl, me and Nier take care of the front" I look at them to see if they understand the plan, they agree telling me they understand.

We went into action, Nier and I went over the group to trap Nier with his aura, while Leone follows the group from behind, Nier put pieces of his aura on the ground in front of the group and prepared for the attack.

When they approached we were ready, they stepped into the trap and three got stuck, I ran out with Nier following me, sending a large amount of mana to my right hand, I left my palm open and lit my aura, the lightning at my fingertips begins to sharpen like a blade made of light. "{Chidori: Lightning cut}"

It still hurts, but the pain is bearable, putting mana on my legs, I run faster to the goblins, I run to the goblin that didn't get stuck, he was surprised with the ambush but tried to attack me quickly by swinging the stone hammer on me, but couldn't hit me because my hand had already passed through his head, When he started to attack, the goblin stopped for a second before exploding in a black cloud leaving a small crystal behind, quickly looking at Leone I see that he was cutting the first one's head, seeing him with everything under control, I step to my next target.

The trapped goblin can't deviate from the attack and has my hand lit up with the lightning going through his chest, I don't pay attention to him and run to the next one, the next goblin seemed prepared swinging his wooden club at me, I wasn't prepared for the attack when the club seemed to be inches from my face, By instinct lighting my electrical aura through my body, blue rays crackled all around me, my black hair got goose bumps from the electricity, I moved so fast that it seems I disappeared for a second, appearing behind the goblin across my {chidori} on his neck, the goblin behind me was cared for by Nier throwing a dagger at the goblin's eye,

'maybe he'll have a knack for a killer after all'

'I almost had a serious injury, I'm not used to fighting, I need more experience.'

I deactivate my aura quickly, I still can't deal with the pain of my last movement, I take a deep breath, I look at Leone in time to see him finish the last goblin.

All the goblins exploded and left only one stone behind, I look at my hand stained with their blood, but I stand firm, it was going to happen sooner or later.

Nier takes all the magic stones from the goblins, meeting with him, we go to Leone who is trying to appease the girl's fear, but failing miserably, I can understand his fear, attacked and dragged by goblins after 3 'adventurers' unknown men appear, I would also be cautious.

Getting close to the girl I watch her carefully she seems to be my age 16, she is beautiful white hair like snow and cold blue eyes, she wears a black kimono with white flowers drawn, I am surprised to see her ears and fox tail, 'renard, known for his rare magic, the first Demi-human that I saw, I almost regret to choose the elfic race, they are so beautiful, the desire to make affection'

Looking at her I begin to receive her emotions, ~fear, anxiety, distress, impotence, loneliness~

'no, no, no! because it had to come with me, this curse... I thought....I thought it was gone'

I start clenching my teeth in anger, I clench my fists so hard that they turn white.

"Nii-san, you're scaring her! "Nier calls my attention out of my anger, looking at the girl I see that she is even more scared and her emotions confirm this.

Nier and Leone keep quiet watching me as I approach the girl, "sorry for that, I just remembered something I thought I forgot, it's ok now, my name is Merlin Peverell, these behind me are my brothers, the one with the stupid red hair is Leone and the one with pink hair and stoic face is Nier, can you introduce yourself and tell us what happened?"

The girl seems to have calmed down a bit and started telling us her story, her name is Ahri Corine, Ahri said that she was going to Orario to try to enter a family and work, as everyone in her family died she decided to come to Orario and try her luck, But the carriage she rented with her savings was attacked by the goblins, without anyone to defend the carriage the coachman was killed and she was captured, that's when we arrived, we told her that we are going to orario to be adventurous and enter a family.

"You're not part of a family!!? " Ahri, who had already calmed down asked us incredulous.

Merlin, "no, but we've already got a little bit of falna out of orario, so we're a little strong, level 1 however" I lie to her, that was the lie we elaborated if someone asked about our skills, it's not uncommon outsiders in orario to get falna in other countries.

Merlin, "So, what do you want to do?"

Ahri, "I would like to accompany you to Orario, since we are going to the same place, can we go back to the carriage and get what's left of my luggage?"

Melin, "You can come with us, more people better, my brothers will accompany you to the carriage, I'll catch up with you" I gave them a false smile.

Nier, "nii, what's up?"

Merlin, "yes, everything is fine I just want to check one thing"

Leone, "Merlin... "

I watch them walk away, when they are far enough away, my smile falls and turns into a dark expression, 'following me here, why? I finally thought I was free. '

Empathy a skill with which I was born and my curse, if I just read the emotions this would be excellent, but it's not so simple, the emotions I feel from others are very strong, they influence me, in large crowds I'm practically drowned by them, if a large group feels anger, my emotions are influenced to anger, I worked hard to get at least to go to school, but it did not help at all the envy that my colleagues felt of me, I literally almost suffocated with their envy, Seeing through people is not a good thing either, humans have an incredible ability to speak one thing and feel completely the opposite, they tried to approach me politely, but all I felt is that they wanted me to disappear, false all of them, one of the reasons why I spent so much time with my brothers, I don't receive any emotion from them, they are immune to my ability, when I get close to them the emotions I receive get weaker, as if they pass through a filter, with them they are not screaming they are just a whisper.

'I can't change anything... I've already lived with it and I'll live again, no problem' I get out of my frustration and start walking to the carriage, my brothers wait with worried looks for ahri waiting with their suitcase recovered, I give them a reassuring smile.

"It's okay, let's go," I tell them and start to move on, Leone and Nier reach me and start to question me, I tell them what happened, and they try to comfort me, telling me that I've been through it and I'll pass again, I smile at them.

Walking to our destination we started to talk with Ahri, she proved to be a very sincere and understanding person, I could feel her anxiety about her uncertain future, new city and new beginning, I also feel like this, we stopped to sleep, me and my brothers continued the training, I lent my sleeping bag to ahri while I watched the night, when I went to sleep I used Leone's that woke up to watch, the rest of the trip went without problems, and finally we reached orario.

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Hey guys Zan here

Next chapter, we finally got to orario, now things start to get interesting, i decided not to mess with canon characters yet, but soon.

Comment what you think of this chapter in the comments.

See you in the next chapter.

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