The next morning, Amelia was the first one awake. Looking outside, the sun hadn’t risen yet, and there would still be enough time for breakfast if the other two woke up soon.

Slipping out from underneath the covers, Amelia cast [Clean-Up], pulled on a dress, and gently shook Lilith awake.

“Dear?”

“Yeah?” Lilith awoke, looking blearily towards Amelia.

“It’s almost sunrise. I’m going to make breakfast for you and Kass before you head off.”

“Thanks. Let me just clean up…”

“I already did. You’ve got to save your MP for today.”

“Oh, right. Thanks. Do you want me to get breakfast ready while you go wake Kass?”

“That’d be lovely.”

Going into Kass’s room, Amelia cast [Clean-Up] once more, resulting in another mess of cum coalescing and disappearing. 

“Hey, Kass.”

Kassander was unresponsive.

“Kass, wake up,” she said again, this time shaking him.

“Wha- I’m up! I’m up.”

“Do you want breakfast?”

“Yeah. That’d be great. Give me a moment.”

With that, Amelia went back into the main room to take over preparing breakfast from Lilith.

Well, she said preparing, but it was mostly just getting out some bread and cheese. As she did so, she got out the bottles of milk she prepared yesterday.

“I prepared these bottles yesterday. They should let you restore MP if you run out.”

“Thanks,” Lilith said, setting out three plates.

“What are we thanking Amelia for?” Kass asked, walking out, still yawning.

“She prepared some bottled milk in case we run out of MP.”

“Oh. Thanks.”

The three finished breakfast just as dawn was arriving, and Kass and Lilith walked outside to see Milo discussing plans, two knights on either side of him.

At least, Lilith assumed they were knights. The four of them were dressed in full armor, with blue crests and capes, and carried large, imposing greatswords; none of their weapons were as big as Milo’s surfboard-sized blade, though.

“Alright everyone, listen up!” Milo called out.

“Within the next fifteen minutes, we’ll be heading out. Get into your respective groups. Pender, Gabriel- you’re with group two. Flanagan, raise your hand.”

Flanagan raised his hand, evidently proud that Milo selected him, even if it was just to serve as a tall signpost.

“That’s Flanagan. He’s part of group two. You two will be working with group two to escort the captured womenfolk back to the village and protect them from any goblins or wild animals along the way.”

“We’re on escort duty?” complained either Pender or Gabriel.

“It’s the most important job,” Milo said. “Remember, our goal is first and foremost to save the captives. Hector, can you raise your hand?”

Hector obliged.

“Hector’s part of group three. Jonah, you’re with group three. You’ll assist in forming and maintaining a perimeter so any goblins can’t escape. Seth, you’ll be doing the same thing in group four. Casey?”

As Casey raised his hand, Jonah and Seth moved over to their respective groups.

“And now, let’s move.” Picking up his sword, Milo began to stride out of the village, the rest of the fighters following him.

Almost two hours later, Milo stopped the march and turned around to address everyone.

“Alright. Groups four and three, you each split off in either direction so we can attack from three directions. We’ll be making the attack in twenty minutes, so try to get in position quickly. I’ll be moving on my own, and I’ll be attacking from the back. Groups one and two, head into the center of the camp to find and free the captives. After that, group two heads back to the village and group one join up with three and four.” With that, everyone split off, and the first two groups began to wait.

A while later, either Pender or Gabriel drew their sword. “It’s been about twenty minutes. Let’s go.”

Standing up, everyone else drew their weapons as well, and began to approach. Soon enough, the rough wooden wall came into view. However, when they approached, they saw three goblins, all holding rough swords.

“Stand back,” one of the knights said. He’d pulled out a large metal bow, the bowstring straining against the arrow. As a path cleared, the knight let the arrow fly, spearing the goblin through the head and burying the arrow almost six inches through the now-corpse.

Oh damn.

However, there were still two other goblins. When their comrade fell, they both took his corpse and bit a large chuck of flesh out of it, to Lilith’s revulsion.

As the knight loosed another arrow, the goblins began to change, growing and bulking out. One of them reached out a disproportionately muscular hand and caught the shaft of the arrow mid-flight, breaking it in two. A few moments later, the now human-sized muscular monstrosities rushed towards the group, their claws extended.

Well, now or never. Throwing out her hands, Lilith cast [Holy Shield], causing the goblin’s claws to clash against the magical golden barrier. Kass, could you blast them?

Got it. As the barrier disappeared, Kass leaped from the back of the group, landing a leaping kick on one of the goblin’s faces, before using a weak [Static Blast] to knock the goblin down.

While the other goblin was distracted, Lilith rushed forward to uppercut him, using a [Static Blast] to throw him into the air. As the goblin tried to twist in midair to land properly, the knight had loaded another arrow. This time, the goblin couldn’t react fast enough, and got shot through the heart.

Meanwhile, Kass had killed his target, having stunned it with the blast enough that he could drive his blade through their head.

As Kass and Lilith turned around to see the rest of the group, they were treated with expressions of shock and surprise. The two knights had grim, measured expressions on their faces. “We don’t have time to discuss this right now,” said the one who didn’t have the bow. “But believe you me, we will be getting to the bottom of this the moment our job here is over.”

“Fine by me.”