Scouting

Vanitas was currently in the same forest where he had lost consciousness before he was taken to the Demon Extermination Corp. When he thought back to that day, really, a lot had happened in a very short span of time. It all felt like it had all happened in fast motion, in the blink of an eye and now, he was a Lieutenant of the Demon Extermination Corp.

He was currently on a scouting mission. It was his first mission as a member of the Demon Extermination Corp so he was feeling something akin to a mixture of excitement and nervousness.

"There is a goblin horde heading this way." Eleanor gave a warning as she ran along with Vanitas.

However, even without her warning, Vanitas had already seen them coming and drawn his sword. He sliced his sword horizontally once and the heads of all seven goblins were cut clean from their body. They continued to walk for a brief moment with blood spurting out like a fountain before their body fell limply down to the ground with their heads missing and their green body dyed red. Eventually, they disappeared into black ash.

Eleanor muttered a wow as she witnessed his power and elegant use of sword when two more goblins attacked her from behind.

She managed to sense them early and quickly manifested her scythe in her hand with a blue light emanating from the blade.

She swung the long scythe with ease and sliced the head of one of the goblins with the curved edge - it turned into black ash and disappeared - while the pole end stabbed the other in the chest. It was not enough to kill it so she delivered one final blow to its heart to end its life.

Vanitas watched as Eleanor finished her fight against the goblins and jogged to where he was.

"You fight pretty well, Eleanor."

"Huh?" With how unexpected that remark was, Eleanor blinked in surprise and stopped in her tracks.

She eventually followed up with a, "Really?"

"Yeah. Your skill with that scythe is pretty good and your movements are pretty sharp as well."

Vanitas said that not only because of the fight against the goblins just now but rather her overall performance. Although Vanitas was going a bit slower than usual, Eleanor had managed to keep up with him. Along the way, they had encountered countless other goblins, hobgoblins, and orcs, among which many were quite powerful. But even against them, she had fared well and had shown her experience with battles like this. Though, she did have difficulty fighting against an orc lord they encountered which was only natural given her level. She had promise but she will have to put in more work so that she could grow stronger. Vanitas thought that he should help her get stronger. There was no harm to it. He could train her as a side mission while he kept going after the seven greater demons. There was a possibility that - if trained well enough - she could become an asset for him against his imminent war with the seven greater demons. There was no harm in having more allies.

"Thank you very much. Though I am nowhere to your level."

"No need to compare yourself with people who are well and above you. The one you should compare yourself to is to the past you and see how much you have grown from that point."

There are people in this world that are strong - like crazy strong. They are so powerful that whenever you feel like you have taken one step closer to them they have leaped a thousand steps ahead. People like those that you can not seem to catch no matter how much you chase after them, exist. And if someone were to keep chasing after their back, what they will find when they can't seem to achieve their goal, is despair. Not to mention, comparing two things, quantities or people, who have completely different personalities and traits and abilities, is not possible. It will be an unfair comparison as people will compare themselves to the things others are good at - forgetting the fact that there are things that they are better at than them. The best and the only comparison one can make is with oneself. It helps a person to grow while reflecting on their past mistakes and learning from them.

Whether Eleanor understood Vanitas's intentions behind his words, she did respond affirmatively.

"Yeah."

"Let's continue."

Eleanor nodded at his words and they once again began running deeper into the forest - towards the south.

As they ran, Eleanor spoke once again, or rather it seemed like a monologue she ended up voicing aloud unintentionally, "I wonder if they are alright."

But having heard her, Vanitas responded with a question.

"You mean the others?"

"Yeah."

In the scouting mission that they were given today, a total of eight of them had been dispatched that included one Lieutenant (being Vanitas himself) and three Captains with the rest four being normal rank soldiers.

They had all come together till they reached the middle of the large forest and that was where they decided to split up into teams of two to continue the scouting efficiently by heading into the four cardinal directions. Dominique had headed east with one of the female Captains while the other two teams headed towards the west and the north. Vanitas and Eleanor were thus scouting the forest towards the south.

"I am a bit worried." Although she didn't explicitly say her name, to Vanitas, it was clear that she was worried about Dominique.

"While it is good that you are worried for your friends, don't go overboard. It messes with your brain and might affect you badly in battle."

In this huge forest when you didn't know when a monster's attack was coming, you needed to always be vigilant. Having your brain preoccupied with these things might prove to be deadly.

"Not to mention, you worrying too much about someone else can imply that you don't trust them. Or is that really the case?"

"No, it is not. I trust her completely!" Eleanor didn't waste a second to defend herself and her friend at the same time.

"I know that I should not worry too much but I can't help it. I just don't want anything to happen to people I know. Not only Dominique but others as well. Like the people we have on this mission today. And all the other people I have met. That includes you as well."

"I see. You are a kind person, Eleanor." That was just his honest impression that had formed in his head over the period of time he had spent with her, and the words left his mouth even before he formed them in his head.

But, somehow, his honest words got a reaction from Eleanor that he had not expected in the least.

In the midst of running, she tumbled suddenly and was about to fall down. But Vanitas managed to catch her in time.

"Hey, are you alright?"

"A-Ah, yes. I just tripped on some bushes. Seems like I was a bit careless now that the clearing is near." She followed it with a weak laugh.

"Is that so? Be careful."

Although Vanitas said that, his mind was focused on her excuse. She said she tripped but tracing back to the place she tumbled, there were no bushes, grass, twigs, or any other thing that would cause her to trip.

Vanitas deduced that the fact she was trying to cover up how shaken she was because of his words meant she didn't want him or anyone else to pry too much into that topic.

After making sure that she was standing on her two feet properly, they continued their march.

'But, I wonder why she took my words that hard. All I had said was that she was kind. Was that something bad? Or did I say something I shouldn't have and haven't realized yet? I would probably ask her about it if not for the fact that she doesn't want me to pursue that topic further.' Vanitas thought while running ahead.

"Vanitas, the river is up ahead." Eleanor's words pulled him out of his thoughts and he could see something sparkling a slight distance ahead.

They came to a stop in the small clearing before the river and Vanitas let the sound of the water whistling past him reach his ears. It felt familiar and he had finally reached the main goal that had caused him to agree to the scouting mission in the first place.