The next day, the heroes and the soldiers set out to the south border. Going there by horse would take 10 days to reach. Although Rosetta could cast teleportation magic, she needed to have at least visited the location once which she hasn't.

But the heroes have their own beasts which were faster than a horse.

Not Rye though. He rode a normal horse alongside the knights and the soldiers following behind.

"Sir Rye, are you not going to advance together with the heroes?" A knight asked.

"It's fine like this. I won't destroy their teamwork flow and dynamic that they've polished for 6 years. They also don't want me to go with them as you can see," Rye turned to the knight, "You're the one who welcomed me yesterday, aren't you?"

The knight seemed surprised, "Ah…yes."

"You can just call me Rye. It's not like I have a higher position than you or anything. What's your name?"

"August."

"Sounds knight-like. Is it short for Augustine?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

"There was a book I read where the knight's name was Augustine. He was also called August by his friends," Rye recalled the ending, "But you died in the end though."

"…"

"Oh, not you, your character." Rye corrected.

"I know," August laughed a little, "Somehow, you're different than I expected."

"I got quite worked up yesterday, so I must've not made any good impression," Rye fixed his glasses, "Just to let you know, I look like I'm always glaring at people because of my eyes, so I'm sorry if I accidentally glared at you yesterday."

"Oh…I really thought you were dissatisfied about my attitude or something," August scratched his neck, "But your impression wasn't all that bad. It was the first time for me to see someone talk back to the king like that."

"Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't do that. As you heard yesterday, I don't want to join the hero's party."

"Is your relationship with Sir Ludric that bad?"

"It's hard to believe, isn't it? For someone so friendly like Ludric to have a bad relationship with his brother. Well, nobody in my family likes me."

"That's not–"

"Look," Rye pointed at the grass field beside them, "Is something moving over there?"

August turned his head to look. When he looked carefully, there really was something green moving at a far distance. Not only one, there were several of them who entered the forest, dragging something with them.

August then saw what they were dragging.

"Goblins. They're kidnapping 3 girls into their lair," August turned to his comrades, "You guys continue forward. I'll catch up later." He whipped his horse to chase after the monsters.

Rye promptly followed August.

The goblins must've heard their approach. They immediately carried the girls up together and ran away.

Rye reached out his hand and an invisible barrier formed right in front of the goblins. Realizing they were trapped, the goblins threw the girls away and took out their weapons.

Rye created another barrier in front of August and himself to protect them from the goblins' arrows.

August leaped down from his horse and swiftly slew all the goblins. When Rye reached there, everything was over.

"Thanks. I can only use buff spells, so the goblins would've gotten away without your help."

"It iss nothing," Rye got off his horse, "Are the girls fine?"

August checked them, "They were hit in the head by the goblins."

Rye knelt down and cast a healing spell on them. A few seconds later, they woke up one by one.

"Where are…?" One of them was startled to see Rye and August, "Wh-Who are you?"

"I'm August, a knight. This is Rye, my friend. You were kidnapped by goblins, but you're safe now. Do you feel any dizziness? Is there anywhere that hurts?"

The three of them shook their heads and cried in relief, "Thank you very much for saving us."

"We're glad to," August smiled, "Can you go back by yourselves? Or do you want us to accompany you?"

They wiped their tears and shook their heads, "We don't want to bother you more than this. Our village isn't far from here. Thank you Mr. August, Mr. Rye."

Rye and August watched them leave.

Once they were gone, Rye burned the goblin corpses, "Their village is not far from here. From their reaction, they must have had similar cases before."

August looked at the cave mouth, "Once they find out that their comrades got killed, they will definitely attack the village for revenge."

"You want to exterminate them?"

"Goblin extermination requires more than 2 people and proper equipment. We don't know their numbers either. If we're not careful, we'll only be their next victims," August frowned, "But…"

"The fact that the goblins kidnapped a new batch of girls, going so far as to leave their lair, means their previous victims have already died. Currently, there are no humans that can be saved inside."

"You're right. But, why are you telling me this?" August looked at Rye confusedly.

"Then, we can exterminate them from outside."

"You can do that?" August was stunned.

Rye approached the cave mouth, "But this will kill anyone and everyone inside that cave. Are you sure you want me to do this? The possibility that there is still a human inside is not zero. I can just close the entrance to prevent them from going outside."

August nodded, "Higher rank goblins can also use magic. Closing the cave mouth won't guarantee they will be trapped inside forever. The victims inside…even if they're alive, I don't think they can be saved. It's better to end their suffering now for the sake of stopping any more victims added to the list. It takes a long time to arrange a goblin extermination mission. It'll be too late by then."

Rye raised his hands chest-level.

He has a good feeling that he can get along well with August.

A green magic circle formed as big as the cave mouth and sprayed out thick, dark green smoke. Rye patiently held his stance until no more smoke could flow inside. Before they spilled out, he created a barrier to block the cave mouth.

He snapped his finger and the green smoke instantly exploded, shaking the entire ground and crumbling down the cave walls. The ground shook for a full 5 minutes before it finally died down.

Rye dispelled the barrier once he saw the smoke has completely cleared out inside.

"It is done." Rye walked back to August.

"What in the heaven was that?" August was still dumbstruck.

"It is a combustible poisonous gas. It contains acid that will burn and melt the skin. Anyone who inhales it will have their organs dissolved inside their body. Once finished, it needs to be burned to be cleared out, resulting them having the same effect as an explosive with 5 times the power," Rye fixed his glasses, "I almost forgot about it, but your character died from this gas."

"Huh? You mean that spell is from a fictional story??"

"Yes, well, the book explained the principle behind it, so it is usable. You will be surprised how many good ideas a fictional writer can have," Rye looked back at the cave thoughtfully, "It is very effective, but it is too risky to use it in the open air. The protagonist of the book could do it though since he could control the flow of the smoke itself. Unfortunately, I am not that powerful."

"Wait, stop, I still can't wrap my head around the fact that you used a fictional spell," August held his forehead from confusion, "Did the writer also draw the magic circle in the book? Isn't that too dangerous? What if some bad people misused it?"

"What are you talking about? You have never read a novel before?"

"No, not really."

"It is all words. But once you understand the principle, you can just create the magic circle for it, right? Is that not how magic spells are created?" Rye didn't understand what August was fussing about, "Come on, let's go back to the others."

The two of them climbed up their horses despite August's confusion.

"Is this what the king meant by you couldn't deceive his eyes? Is it alright for you to tell me this? You don't want it to be known, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"That you can use fictional spells and create magic circles."

"Everybody can do that. Why would I need to hide it?" Rye looked at August strangely, "Rather, the king can only see an object's overall strength. Not the details of what skills and abilities they possess."

"Why don't you want that to be known? If people know you're powerful, you'll be more respected and the heroes will accept you as their member. They wouldn't care about you not having any heritage."

Rye shook his head, "It's not just that, is it?"

"?"

"I will become their tool. At least the king doesn't look at me that way."