The group of ladies headed back toward the entrance. My plans were to ditch them and go find some fun before rejoining the men. Other than an experience with that centaur, I hadn’t don’t anything recently. I had played with Beedle, but she was exactly the kind of girl who reciprocated all that much, so it left me only hotter and more bothered.

The five of us moved as quietly as we could through the hallway. The one whose eyes were blank followed along where she was pulled, but she didn’t seem to have another thought in her head. Occasionally, one of the women would let out a sob or shiver, which echoed in the darkness. I didn’t bother to tell them if they kept it up, we might be heard and found by a few goblins. At that point, the guard better pull her weight, because I wasn’t inclined to do much more to save these women.

I should be more sympathetic, especially since it had been others who had saved me from my goblins. However, the only reason that band had even succeeded was that I had knocked the majority of the goblins unconscious. Besides, I had personally worked off that debt with them before being left in the cave of a spider monster. In the end, I don’t feel they had ever really saved me. No one had rescued me. I rescued myself. Even when it came to Nova, it was my choices that led to his death.

“We’ll be okay.” The weepy woman with the dagger spoke. “I know the way.”

Although she said that, the group moved extremely slowly. Whenever there was a thump, an echo, or a screech in the distance, they would freeze up, and it’d take at least a minute to get them stumbling forward again. One would think these girls would be all too eager to flee this place, but it didn’t seem to be the case. They were too afraid to even try to fight.

That’s why when we heard the sounds of gibbering and lights ahead of us at an intersection, the girls all froze in place. The one who had been holding the dagger stepped in front of everyone, but her eyes resembled a deer facing down a hunter. I considered letting nature take its course, but I decided to attempt such an act a second time would only be inconvenient for me. I grabbed the girls and pushed them to the side.

“What are you doing?” hissed Beedle. “We need to run!”

“Shhh!” I hissed back, keeping the girls behind me as I turned to face the incoming goblins.

I lifted my hand and began to weave magic. A group of three noisy goblins turned the corner, facing us. The girls all immediately gasped, and the soldier with the knife tried to lunge forward, but I blocked her advancement. She stared at me with wide-eyes, so I took my hand to my face and put a finger over my lips, telling her to be quiet. These girls were all whimpering and gasping so much, they might as well be advertising us. I used wind magic to suppress the sounds and smells, but the goblins seemed to have heard, as they were no looking around suspiciously.

They wouldn’t have had to look hard, because we were standing right there, in an alcove on the side of the hallway. Yet, as their eyes fell on us and all of the girls stiffened, their scanning gaze kept moving. One of the goblins took several steps into the hall toward us. He ended up only a meter or two away from us. The soldier girl’s dagger hand was shaking. I reached out and put my hand on hers, calming her.

A few moments passed as the goblin looked right through us, or seemingly through us. Then, he let out a grunt, turned around, and headed to the rest of the group. They had been walking perpendicular to our path, and they continued undisturbed. As the goblins left us behind and their lights disappeared in the distance, the girls behind me all let out cries of relief.

“A-aria… what did you do?” Beedle asked.

“Was that a special skill of yours?” Asked the soldier.

I looked at them and then gave a nod. Technically, I had a special skill that had opened up my path to illusion magic. It wasn’t just for my enjoyment. It was rather easy to trick simple-minded creatures like goblins into seeing whatever I wanted as well. I had never used it so blatantly as to make someone see nothing where there was something, but it seemed to work all of the same.

The girls waited another minute, and then we continued. It didn’t take much longer before we found the exit. This was the same door we had entered from. When the door opened, a flood of light came in. It was day outside now, which was hardly noticeable within the dank fort. Some of these girls hadn’t seen sunlight in weeks, and covered their eyes and paused as they were blinded by the flood of light. As the girls slowly filed outside and gathered outside of the door, I turned to reenter the castle. Beedle was still holding my cloak, so she felt as I tugged the other direction. She spun toward me.

“You’re going so soon?” Beedle asked, a flash of panic in her eyes.

“You guys are out.” I shrugged. “The guys might need my healing.”

Beedle reluctantly tightened her grip. “You have other skills took, don’t you? Those goblins… you fought off and killed the ones that attacked you.”

I was a bit surprised she had come to that conclusion just from what had happened so far, but I saw no reason to lie. I gave a silent nod. Beedle shook for a second, clenching her teeth.

“Please, take us back to the camp, at least,” Beedle asked.

I raised an eyebrow as all of the girls were looking at me now, other than the helpless girl with a blank look. Goblins did leave the fort. It wasn’t like out there was much safer from goblins than in here. After all, other than the guard and Beedle, these other women had likely been captured during goblin raids.

What surprised me was that after helping them escape those goblins, they had put all of their hopes and dreams of escape on me. All I had done is play with their perceptions a bit. If these girls knew what I was truly capable of, maybe I could understand them acting this way, but still.

Looking at each of their hopeful gazes, I sighed and nodded. Who knew? Maybe on the journey back, one of the girls would be so appreciative that she’d visit my bedroll. This was merely called planting some seeds if I did say so myself.

The group of us left the fort. It was hard to believe that there was such a grisly scene being left behind since the forest was peaceful with a bright sun overhead. Beedle and I lead the girls away from the fort, and toward our camp, which was a place out of clear eyesight of the fort. As we made it there, I immediately began to notice that there was something off.

“What happened here?” Beedle cried out in a shrill voice.

The horses were gone, and so were the majority of supplies. As the other girls started to see the destroyed nature of the camp, they also began to panic.

“Aria, the goblins found our camp.”

While they were becoming noisier, I was looking around the camp. “No…”

I grabbed my sword and pulled my blade, moving at full speed as I struck. My blade slashed out and struck a truck. There was the protesting shout of a man’s voice, but it ended as quickly as I had struck. The girls muttering instantly silenced. Standing against the trunk where there hadn’t been anyone before was a man. He had been holding a knife in his hand and was pressed their hiding. Once I struck, the illusion that was hiding him ending, and he appeared as if from nowhere.

As for where my blade went, it cut directly into his neck, half decapitating him. Blood spurted out, running down my blade and the front of the man’s outfit. He looked into my eyes wide-eyed, a few gurgling sounds coming out as he quickly died.

“Wh-what is that?” Beedle demanded.

“An assassin,” I responded, pulling the blade out of his neck and allowing him to drop harmlessly to the ground. “That would be my guess.”

Who else would have a dagger, and be hiding with illusion magic? If I wasn’t a master of illusions, I wouldn’t have been able to see him. However, no illusion magic worked on me, so whatever he used that made him looked blended with the tree was lost on him.

The girls stared in wide-eyed silence. They had all been expecting goblins, but why would there be a demon assassin here? Was he the one that destroyed the camp and made the horses flee? Wasn’t that goblin work?

“I don’t understand.” The guard shook her head. “What’s going on?”

I was looking over the camp, making sure there was no one else present. I had reacted too impulsively. Seeing the dagger, I had felt threatened and attacked with my blade. I should have seduced the man so I could get information from him. That would have been the smart thing to do. Then again, that would only expose more of my skills to these women. They now knew that the sword I wore on my belt wasn’t for show. Beedle in particular watched in awe as I cleaned the blade on the grass and then put it back in my scabbard.

“Aria, please, what is going on?” Beedle begged.

“Someone didn’t want us returning to camp,” I spoke my thoughts out loud picking up the dagger the man had. “Rather, they wanted anyone returning to quickly perish. Poison.”

I spit out after taking a small lick of the dagger. I knew exactly what poison it was. It wasn’t the kind that would have killed someone, but it definitely would have weakened them and made them an easy target, especially if they didn’t have any horses or supplies.

“Who would want us dead?” the guard woman asked.

“Not you… us… or rather…” My eyes widened. “Bradrick.”

“Brad!” Beedle jerked.

“There must be a trap inside. This was set up just in case he managed to escape the trap.” I declared, putting the poison dagger away. “I’m returning inside.”

“W-wait! What about us?” Beedle asked in a squeaky voice.

“Just get out of here. You’re not so far that it’s impossible on foot. Just get back to town quickly.” I declared.”

“But… if they are in trouble…” Beedle looked hesitant.”

“You’re not in this party anymore.” I declared. “You’d be best off removing your clothing and blending in with the goblin raped victims… well you’ve already earned our status.”

Beedle’s face turned flush. “Wh-what are you saying?”

“You can’t reveal you know anything about us or our party. Just leave. You were goblin victims who managed to escape. That is all.” As I spoke, I was quickly checking my equipment and getting ready to

“And you? What are you doing?” She asked worriedly. “Come with us. You can keep us safe!”

I frowned, looking back down at the fort in the distance. “I’m going back in.”

It probably wasn’t the brightest thing I had ever done, but I felt like I had to see this to the end. If Bradrick and Rio were in trouble and I did nothing, then I could only blame myself if bad things happened after. I knew that it was a foolish way of thinking, but I wasn’t ready to turn my back on this life just yet!