In the room next to his, a resounding loud moan was heard, an intercourse was transpiring and the scent of it exuded through the open window. Riftan lit a candle and closed the window. The voice of the woman seducing him lingered in his ears, as if sneering at him.
“I can pleasure you.”
Riftan frowned as he felt a strange disgust crawling like a slug in his stomach. As he grew up and went through puberty, he occasionally felt his body heating up, like it longed for something. His lower abdomen itched for no apparent reason when he laid alone in his bed and he suffered the discomfort of having a swollen groin in the mornings. However, when women gazed at him seductively or even subtly touched him, his blood ran cold.
Riftan sat on the bed and massaged his forehead. He grew tired of being constantly chased by women and had lost interest for the opposite sεﾒ, but the main cause of his indifference were the memories of him carrying the corpse of his mother on his back. The feeling was carved deep into his bones, something that he couldn’t erase.
The limp forearms and cold chest of his mother pressed against his back, and her sparse black hair sticking on his nape has etched an eerie, strange feeling… He muttered curses and lay flat on his back. Perhaps, he would never be able to lie down next to a woman in his lifetime. Ever since that day, never did he pleasantly accept any contact with another person.
He had never been interested in women, and as he spent his childhood living in a world where people casually betrayed him for a few pieces of coins, he put up a front that would make him difficult to be approached at all.
Riftan watched the burning candle with somber eyes. The vision he had seen when he was in the cave suddenly flashed in his mind. Now that he realized it would be impossible for him to cherish someone like that, a sudden cold feeling crept in his chest.
***
The expeditions took longer than expected. In the recent years, goblins, who had been growing in numbers, crawled endlessly out of their dens, and to make matters worse, ogres awoke from their hibernation to ransack villages, ensuing large-scale battles one after another. As the Lords of the northern area of Livadon were forced to recruit more mercenaries, eventually Riftan had an unwelcoming reunion with Ruth.
“… I had no choice either. Every member of the Black Horn Mercenaries was forced to participate in this expedition!”
The wizard, who noticed the piercing glare Riftan was giving him, screamed as he deemed the situation unfair. Riftan clicked his tongue and turned his back on him.
“Don’t hang around near me.”
“Aren’t you being too much? If it weren’t for me, Sir Calypse would have been…!”
Ruth, who was screaming as he got carried away, bit his tongue, startled by his own words, and looked around him.
The Wizard Tower must be completely insane for teaching this idiot a magic that should be hidden from the outside world. Riftan shot him daggers with his eyes.
“You better watch your words or else I will sew your mouth shut.”
“Unless you want to be dragged to the Church’s jury”, Riftan added, mouthing the words. The wizard nervously licked his lips, understanding what he said. He left the wizard and went to the frontlines.
That day, they were ordered to search through dark caves, wedging between rocks as they found their way. The cave was a goblin’s den that reeked with the smell of feces and the stench of decaying animal carcasses. After rummaging through the filthy cave for half a day, Riftan suffered from forcing his nausea down. Confirming that there wasn’t any woman caught hostage in there, he lit it on fire. The den had to be destroyed to eliminate any goblin hatchlings that may be hiding in its nook and crannies.
“F*ck this, I’d rather fight an ogre. Searching in such a disgusting cave…”
Samon grunted, he sniffed his clothes and wrinkled his nose like the stench offended him. Riftan threw dry branches at the cave’s mouth to keep the flames burning and spoke in a sour tone.
“Didn’t you say you don’t like fighting such ignorant monsters because they aren’t worth the money?”
“It’s better than searching through goblin sh*t. Fighting giants is a more dignified work.”
“But when ogres appear, the person who blabbers the most, falls farthest from the fight.”
Riftan humbled Samon with his straightforward words, then focused on gathering and chopping firewood. Before they took notice, the sky had turned dark as they near finished incinerating the goblins’ remains. The mercenaries simply finished their meals despite the burning corpse of monsters next to them, ignoring the disgust lingering in their stomachs and packed their belongings.
The prevalence of goblin appearances significantly decreased after nearly two months of extinguishing their dens, finally their efforts were bearing fruit. If they continued at that pace, they would be done with the subjugation within the following week.
Riftan heaved a long sigh, massaging his stiff back. Fatigue has dawned on him as it accumulated from the days and nights he spent outdoors. He was sick and tired of sleeping on a mere blanket cushioning him from the ground. Most of all, he longed desperately for a bath. He heaved another sigh as he looked down at his dark tunic, stained black with monsters’ blood and filth. He didn’t even have the luxury to wash his face for fifteen days as he had to conserve water for drinking, let alone wash his dingy clothes. He suffered enough that he even missed the promiscuous, shabby rooms of inns.
“Hey! Wait a minute!”
As Riftan rubbed his rigid shoulders while hiking down from the mountain, he heard a loud voice behind him. He turned his head and saw two other mercenaries who had left to search the northeastern area, running towards them.
“What’s going on?”
Samon asked with a puzzled expression. The mercenaries explained breathlessly.
“We found another goblin den! We need help right now.”
Curses flew from the mouths of everyone. The news was clearly unsolicited for as it came just as they thought they were finally going to be able to rest. The group grumbled as they climbed the mountain again. After around twenty minutes of hike, a steep rock wall with a huge fissure as an entrance came to view. The two mercenaries pointed to it, explaining what happened.
“Everyone else is stuck in there. We suspect that they are trapped in there by the goblins and have no means of getting out. We were the only ones who were able to escape.”
“How many monsters are there?”
“We’re not sure exactly how many but we’d estimate there are at least fifty of them.”
Riftan made a torch and lit it to investigate the cave. It was quite wide and deep. He inspected in the darkness for a moment and then left six men to guard the entrance, leading the rest into the cave. The path was long, steep and complicated like a labyrinth. Him and four other mercenaries casually explored the cave when they suddenly heard the angry cries of goblins.
Riftan rushed to the sound without any hesitation and saw the wizard with eight other mercenaries, surrounded by dozens of goblins. Riftan immediately drew his sword.
“Sir Calypse!”
Ruth spotted him and exclaimed with a mix of alarm and relief. A wave of goblins suddenly moved to attack like his call was a signal. The clash was more of chaos than a battle. The goblin attacks came from everywhere, hurling themselves and bouncing around like small balls, pulling the men’s hair, scratching their faces, and unskillfully swinging their toothed axes and rusty scythes in random directions. Riftan snarled and unsparingly cut off the goblin who was clinging to his leg.
Goblins were used to the dark, so they could clearly see movements and avoid them. Their small physique posed a great advantage in the narrow space. Riftan wielded his sword incessantly and shouted instructions to the mercenaries.
“I’ll clear a path so hurry and get out of the cave first!”
The mercenaries quickly secured an escape under his directions. The Goblins surrounded Riftan and the mercenaries didn’t miss the chance to flee to the cave’s entrance.
Riftan swung his sword at the goblins, cutting his blade through the monsters that tried to chase after the others. Goblins appeared endlessly from every direction. Riftan muttered profanities.
What, fifty? There are at least well over a hundred.
“This is the reason why the number of prey has dwindled in this area.”
Riftan stood a distance from the narrow entrance, brandishing his blade to buy time for those who had gone ahead of him. All of a sudden, the cave’s ceiling began to collapse.
“Sir Calypse!”
The wizard ran to him, wanting to rescue him. Riftan snatched the foolish man and pushed him into the hollow space of the cave’s wall and squeezed himself in. A pile of dirt poured down right next to him, while the ceiling shook endlessly. He covered his face with the hem of the cloth in his arms, preventing the dirt from getting into his eyes.
After a long moment, the rumbling died down. Riftan groped at the wall. He narrowly avoided being buried under a pile of dirt, but he was stuck in a cramped space.
“Damn it… the path has been blocked.”
“A-are you saying we’re stuck here?” The wizard stiffened and swallowed dryly.
Great, that means I’m stuck with this guy. Riftan grunted and punched the cave’s wall. Dirt and stones fell on his head.
“I think the ceiling will collapse if we force to remove the rocks.”
“T-then what should we do?”
“Don’t ask me, make use of your brain too.” Riftan exclaimed angrily. Then, the wizard pursed his lips tightly.
Just as I thought, it’s better not to expect anything helpful to come out of this guy. He sighed and clicked his tongue, searching for a way to clear out the rocks. At that moment, Ruth, who was in deep thought, called out in a bright tone.
“If I put a shield against the ceiling to keep it from collapsing while removing the rocks, we can get out of here.”
Riftan eyed him with doubt. “Are you sure you can do that?”
“Of course! I’m a top-tier wizard. This is going to be a piece of cake!”
Riftan’s doubts only grew bigger at the wizard’s confident statement. However, since there was no other way left, Riftan meekly stepped aside.
“Fine. Give it a try.”
“Keep close to me. I need to conserve mana and make the shields as small as possible.”
Riftan stayed close behind him. Soon, a bluish light surrounded them, gradually, the cave’s walls that trapped them began to crumble. Ruth gave him a triumphant look and made the way, so Riftan cautiously followed him. Their progress was slower than what he expected, perhaps the entire cave had collapsed on the paths.
“I have no idea if those who went ahead of us made it out safely.”
Out of nowhere, Ruth muttered in a somber tone. Riftan did not answer at all. They made their way out of the cave little by little in deafening silence. However, as soon as Ruth became exhausted, he flopped down on the ground.
“This won’t do. I can’t do it further because it’s tiring. I will need a little rest.”
Riftan merely nodded. He noticed that the sun had to be set by now. He searched the mountains all day long and the fact that they were in distress did not help at all, it was reasonable for him to be tired. He unpacked the bag he was carrying over his shoulder and took out some pieces of jerky, handing it to Ruth.
“Here, eat and restore your strength.”
“Thank you. My food supply was stolen by the goblins earlier.”
The wizard stuttered as he reached out to take the jerky. They sat facing each other in the narrow cave, sharing jerky and a few sips of water, and Riftan felt like they were ground moles. He leaned against the wall, positioning himself to get comfortable. Ruth, who had been silent, opened his mouth to speak.
“Close your eyes for a moment. You haven’t had a good rest during the past days. I heard from Samon, have you been on guard duty for more than 10 days?”
“I closed my eyes from time to time.”
“Were you sleeping for only three hours a day?”
Riftan didn’t give him an answer. A sigh was audibly heard from Ruth.
“The enemies won’t be able to attack us from here. So, sleep, even for a while. I’ll wake you up if anything happens.”
“Don’t worry about me, you go to sleep.”
“Sir Calypse, you’re only sixteen. You can try relying on adults too at times.”
Riftan blinked blankly, he couldn’t believe what he just heard from Ruth. Did this dimwit just treat me like I’m a child?
“Who’s the adult you’re talking about?”
“I told you, I came from a clan with an elven ancestor. I may look like a weak, innocent, little boy but I am a bit older than you think.”
Riftan raised an eyebrow. “Are you around eighty years old?”
“How could you say something so rude!”
The wizard leapt to his feet, hitting his head against the cramped cave’s ceiling. Riftan clicked his tongue and Ruth spoke vehemently while groaning and pain.
“I’m a little older than Sir Calypse but I’m not that old! I’m still young and fresh!”
It only made Riftan more suspicious when he overreacted so heatedly. However, he didn’t question further as he didn’t really care how old the wizard was.
“Stop being noisy and go to sleep. You will have to dig the rocks again after resting.”
“Can’t you just rest when I tell you to?” Ruth took a deep breath, frustrated at his unbudging attitude. “Really, your body is not made of steel. Sometimes, you also have to listen to what other people say.”
Riftan frowned. He was about to argue and yell about how it was nor Ruth’s business, but he felt the fatigue weighing his whole body down heavily. He gazed up at the cave’s dark walls and muttered almost vaguely.
“How much mana do you have left?”
“I still have plenty. I’m just tired physically. If anything happens, I can still take care of it with magic so don’t worry and go to sleep.”
A fading breath came out of his mouth. This wasn’t the first time he told him such unreliable words, but it wasn’t like the guy didn’t save his life anyway. It would be a pity to think it could already end there. Riftan, whose shoulders finally drooped from exhaustion, opened his mouth and spoke quietly.
“…the magic you casted on me before.”
The wizard flinched visibly. “The taboo magic?”
“No, not that… the magic that gave me illusions back then.” Riftan took off his gloves and stroked the corner of his lips before speaking hesitantly. “Can you cast it again?”