The Goblin Quest

"Airon." He read my name off the application. "I'm Kayden." We shook hands. 

"Aren't you that Nutuber famous for those mukbangs?" I asked as I gave the paper to the receptionist. 

"I was, are you a fan?" Kayden asked. 

"No. Never really spent much time on Nutube, I've seen some of your videos on TokTik though. Have you met any of the other contestants yet?" 

"That sucks… but nah you're the only one." Kayden asked as the receptionist went into the room behind her. 

There was a bright light shining from the room, the receptionist had entered. Once the light faded, the receptionist walked out with a card.

"Here you go, this guild license also proves your H.C.A citizenship. That letter at the corner represents your guild rank, at the moment it displays E3, the lowest rank but you can increase it by completing requests available to your rank and bringing back certain items to mark your success. The sheets behind me only show requests for ranks B3 to S0." Receptionist explained as she looked for another sheet of paper. 

"Don't worry, Nashie, I can help him from here. He'll join my group. You don't have a problem with that do you?" Kayden asked as he looked at me. 

"As long as you don't slow me down I'm fine with it." 

"Thank you, Kay. Well then be safe on your journeys. I'll be here if you need anything." 

"No, thank youu~" He dragged his words while wrapping his arms around my neck to pull me along with him. 

"How long have you been in this city?" I took his arm from around me. 

"Ever since I woke up, I woke up in the middle of the road." Kayden said while chuckling. 

"Have you used your magic yet?" 

"I have and I was even good enough to get acknowledged by the spirit in my grimoire. I wasn't able to use much of it though besides restraining something. My party members have been helping me with learning how to attack and conjure spells mid battle." Kayden said as we stopped in front of a table. 

"I was struggling to but in the heat of the moment, you'll find yourself spewing words that you wouldn't ever put in a normal sentence. I found the best way to get used to magic is in actual battle, when your life depends on every move you make. There's a certain thrill in it."

"Calm down now, there's a tent in your pants." Kayden said sarcastically. 

"Really?" I didn't realize the smile on my face as I thought of my moments in the Colossal's forest and started patting my pants down. 

"So you've fought with the magic already?" Kayden said in a surprise. 

"Yes, monsters though not contestants. I managed to fight a large number of them after the spirit in my grimoire led me there." 

"You hear that team, we've got an experienced fighter here." Kayden said as he looked at the other two guild members sitting at the table. 

Kayden was just about my height but he has the body of a person who works out almost everyday. His party consisted of two members, a man who was bigger in shape (muscle wise), he also carried a warhammer that was as tall as me. The other member was a petite woman with dark green hair, a witch's attire (including the circle glasses) and a staff that was taller than her. 

The man stood, his height as abnormal as his body as he towered over me. "I am Drole, an E1 Hunter." His hands were as big as my head. 

"Airon, E3 Hunter." We shook hands. 

"I'm Pultra, E0 Adventurer." It was as if these two were physically the exact opposite of each other. 

Unlike Kayden and I, Drole and Pultra weren't contestants. According to them, they were lucky enough to meet Kayden and form a party with him ever since then, they've been doing quests together. How lucky were they to run into us, I wonder. It's clear Kayden was only waiting for more contestants to show but now he's grown attached. In the meantime until we do find our other teammates, we'll be doing quests with them. 

Fortunately before we started any quests, Kayden was kind enough to buy me some food and a room. Although it was for one day, we'd start doing quests the next day to gain money and to raise our ranks. 

The way we raise our ranks is simple, I just need to complete a total of 10 monster quests to get out of E3, however if I contribute to quests for E2 -E0 with sustaining any severe damage or lose, 5 times, I can rank up. Although ranking conditions will change depending on your rank. The rank shown on my guild card will change automatically once those conditions are met. 

"It's better to have a good relationship with the guilds because they erase a lot of suspicion regarding our sudden appearance, especially when traveling between countries." Kayden said as he sat on a chair with his legs up on a bed. 

"You learned a lot in such a short time." I said as I took off the over-shirt of this "gifted" outfit. 

"Well knowledge is key." Kayden said. 

"So is magic but you aren't as well versed in it. Are you?" I asked. 

"No but now that we found each other, you can help me with that." He said enthusiastically as he looked at me. 

"Am I ?" I questioned.

"Well you aren't going to fight these participants alone." 

"…I guess you're right but then again, we have other teammates."

"Would you really risk running into the enemy contestants, instead of sticking with the ally you already found?" He asked. 

"If that ally slows me down, then I won't have any problem leaving him." I said bluntly as I pushed his feet off the bed. "You know it's getting pretty late now, shouldn't head to your room so we could start tomorrow off properly." I told him as I looked at the window. 

"Hmph." Kayden let out as he stood up. "Goodnight teammate, I hope you aren't so hostile tomorrow." He said as he walked out of the room. 

"…Goodnight." I said although he probably didn't hear me as the door closed behind. 

I made sure the door was locked before I popped onto the bed. It made slight creaking sounds as I put my full weight on the mattress supported by the wooden frame, I didn't even have a chance to get under the neatly tucked polka dotted covers as my mind cleared. I fell asleep only seconds after I hit the bed, only feeling the exhaustion in that moment. 

The next day, I woke up to Kayden knocking on the door. He handed me a pair of clothes to change into for the quests today as well as some hygiene products to wash up. 

I met up with him and the rest of the party members after, I cleaned myself up. They had already chosen a rank E1 hunting quest, to hunt a group of monsters called "Goblins." 

Humanoid monsters with dirty dark green skin, a short poster and long noses. They carried clubs made of wood or hatchets made of stone, frequent violent tendencies and are known to immediately attack any human on sight. Viscous neanderthal like creatures with uncontrollable urges, they would even fight amongst each other out of random but the goblins are smart enough to form clans and communicate amongst each other. 

A very savage creature to run into unprepared.

We left through the northern gate, there weren't any guardians in that area. So low ranked guild members can venture into the woods further down the roads to hunt and increase their ranks. 

"That's what the description entails, though it only just scratches the surfaces. This is a hunting mission so we must bring back at least their tooth if not their heads for coins." Pultra said as she sat near the back of the horse drawn carriage. 

"Right these monsters are disgusting, deplorable creatures. More closely related to demons than any other monsters on this land, it's wise we keep Pultra out of their sight." Drole said as he steered the carriage. 

"That won't change anything, they're sensitive to female pheromones so the moment we get close they'll know I'm here." Pultra said as she started using her hand as a fan. 

"What would they do if they did get their hands on a woman?" Kayden asked as he started fanning her down with the quest paper. 

"You can't tell? They're disgusting and deplorable, what more should they need to say." I said, I sat closer to Drole. Keeping an eye on the road along with him. 

"….Oh I- something's better left unsaid." Kayden's hands slowed as he realized what they meant.

"So if the horses were to get hurt in the middle of our fight with the goblins, are they docking that from our pay?" 

"The horses are magically enhanced by the guild and are protected by a barrier, so we shouldn't need to worry about them unless they are intimidated by something. " Pultra said before the carriage stopped. 

"We're surrounded." Drole said as he quickly grabbed his weapon. 

"What-" "Their mana is so low I didn't even notice them at all." Pultra said as she stood up. 

"We need you to open the area Kayden." Drole said as he took his stance. "Airon, watch the back. Protect Pultra." 

"…Got it." I said as I rushed to the back of the carriage. 

"Great Mother of earth…" Kayden began his incantation with both of his hands on the bottom of the carriage. 

As I got to the back, I jumped out of the carriage to have a better view. As I touched the ground, I felt Kayden's mana spreading through the ground. I can see his mana filling all of the trees that block our view before they begin to shrink into small little shrubs. 

However the speed at which they shrunk was unbelievable, the goblins fell to the ground as they lost their footing, there were some even hiding behind the trees but they were revealed. 

The amount of goblins in the area was astounding, there were more here than the monsters I ran into in the forest. 

Over a dozen goblins surrounded us.