Hearing Jack’s words, Roy’s expression turned serious. “How many of the tall goblins are there?”
While Roy did want to go and save the villagers, he could not decide on behalf of his friends without properly judging their chances of winning first.
“I counted thirty small ones and fifteen tall, but there could be more.”
Roy nodded at Jack’s words. If it’s that much, we can handle them without too much trouble.
He then looked at his friends and announced, “Let’s go save them. I wouldn’t be able to sleep the night if we leave them to die.”
“They better give us some medal crosses or something after this,” Fred half-complained, but his annoyed expression soon turned into a smile at the thought of testing out his newly awakened powers.
“Oh, wait a second.” Roger rushed out of the living room and came back with a sword in his hand. “Here, take your sword.”
Roy looked at both sides of his weapon and smiled, “Thank you for cleaning it.”
“It’s nothing,” Roger shook his head. “It’s the least we can do when you’re fighting with your life. It should normally be us who should be out there, how shameful are we?”
“No, it’s not shameful at all,” Roy shook his head. “We were lucky and we were able to awaken. If not for that, it would be hard for us too.”
“It’s not about luck, it’s about will.” Roger let out a bitter smile and looked down. He then looked up and took a small breath. “Well, this is no time for talking. You guys can go and save those people; our house is open for everyone.”
Roy nodded at Roger before walking toward Jaimie with an uncertain expression.
“Jaimie, you’ll be staying here this time. This battle is going to be hard for you.”
The young boy raised an eyebrow before shaking his head at Roy’s words. “No, I wanna go with you guys.”
Roy couldn’t help but be surprised at Jaimie’s words. This was the same little kid who, just a couple of hours ago, was shivering at the sight of a dead goblin. For a second, Roy felt proud of the little man. However, his proud feelings were one thing, and his duty as the older brother was another.
“Listen here, this is not a game. You might die out there. Listen to your big brother and stay safe here.”
“No!” Jaimie shook his head with even more vigor. “If you guys are fighting, I want to fight with you too. We’re brothers, aren’t we?”
Roy looked deep into the young boy’s eyes. There was no hesitation, just an endless eagerness to join his friends in battle.
“The little kid is right,” Jack smirked. “Plus he is faster than a deer, I’m sure he is gonna be alright.”
“Damn, You have become a grown man now,” Fred said to Jaimie while laughing heartily.
Alfonse looked at Roy and said to him, “Why don’t you let him come; I’ll keep an eye on him. Plus, you can’t keep him safe forever, especially in this world.”
Seeing that everyone was against him in this matter, Roy couldn’t help but sigh in defeat. On the other hand, Jaimie cheered as if his parents had agreed to let him stay the night with his best friend. Looking at the young boy being so happy, Roy let out a smile.
“Okay, okay, I get it. You can come, but don’t do anything reckless, understood?”
“Yeah, I promise,” Jaimie nodded his head at Roy with a large grin on his face.
As such, the group made their way out of the living room and opened the main door. However, just as they were about to leave, a voice came from the side.
“Are you guys not forgetting someone?” Robb stood up from his bed of cushions with bandages all over him and looked at his band of friends. “How dare you try and leave me behind and go have fun by yourself.”
“Oh, the sleepy princess has woken up,” Roy smirked. “Go and get your sword, we’re going to slaughter some ugly ass goblins.”
Robb grinned at Roy’s words before taking off his bandages. Meanwhile, Roger walked upstairs and came back with Robb’s sword. With everyone ready for battle, the group marched towards the knight under the guidance of Jack. Their expressions were serious, and all of their eyes glimmered with an undying fighting spirit.
“There they are.” Soon, Jack led them toward the group of knights and villagers. They were stuck in a dead-end, with the villagers cowering at the wall, while the knights held their ground against the pack of goblins. Around the villagers and the knights were dozens upon dozens of monsters corprses, both tall and short, showing the ferocity with which the knights had fought.
However, even with that accomplishment, the battle was at a stalemate. The knights were too weary and wounded from their past fights, so they did not have the stamina to finish off the rest of the goblins. The monsters on the other hand, while full of energy, did not have the strength or power to breach past the well-armored knights.
However, this stalemate was not going to last for long. The knights were heavily outnumbered with only five against the twenty-five or so goblins. And even though their steel-plated armors blocked most attacks, their joints were still exposed to slashes and stabs from the monsters.
Looking at this situation, Roy laid out his plan. “Alfonse, Jaimie, you guys will take care of the left flank. Jack and Fred, you will go from the right. Me and Robb will attack their center, understood?”
“Yes!”
Everyone nodded at Roy’s words before they took their stance and dashed toward the goblins. Roy and Robb’s speeds were otherworldly as they sprinted past their friend and pounced at their targets. With one slash, the body of the tall goblin was cut in half.
What… this is amazing. Even Roy was surprised at the level of power he had shown. He knew that he had grown stronger when his agility crossed the barrier of the Initiate rank, but he didn’t think it would have been this much of an increase.
Robb, truthful to his title as the fastest in the group, showed a speed that was even more impressive than Roy’s. His sword left after-images as it slashed one goblin after the next.
Seeing that Robb was killing more monsters than him, Roy’s competitive spirit was ignited. He dashed towards the next and cleanly slashed off its neck before moving to the next one. His movement was fluid like water, mixing in feints and faux movements to trick the monsters. With his increased agility and flexibility, he sidestepped every slash or stab and jumped out of the way when the goblins tried to surround him.
Fred, Jack, Alfonse, and Jaimie did not slack either. Fred used his strong body to overwhelm the monsters, while Jack cleanly finished them off. Alfonse used his finesse to dance among the monsters without being hit, while Jaimie used his small stature to stab them from their blindspots and kill them.
Soon the battlefield was littered with the corpses of the goblin variants. The knights, who were surprised that there was a strong group who could save them, walked toward Roy.
As they faced each other Roy immediately recognized the face of the captain of the knight. It was the same man that was tasked with guarding them at the stables and that escorted Roy to the plaza. The knight had a surprised look on his face before it turned into a melancholic one.
He then took a ninety-degree bow and said, “Thank you for saving us. We will never forget this favor.”
The other four knights also took a bow and repeated after him, “Thank you for saving us. We will never forget this favor.”
Roy nodded at the knights' words and replied, “You’re welcome.” He then looked deeply into the knight captain’s eyes. “Seems like we meet again.”
The knight nodded his head before looking with a relieved expression at Roy, “I’m glad that you survived.”
Roy chuckled, “I’m glad too. Anyways, let’s introduce ourselves. You guys already know my name, what’s yours?”
“I’m Marth,” The captain replied. He then introduced the rest of his squad from right to left, “This is Alric, Conrad, Hassan, and Hawk.”
Roy looked at the four knights with interest. They were all well-built men whose plated armor only added to their might. However, Roy took more interest in the third one whose name was Hassan. Unlike the others who had white skin and light brown hair, characteristic of the Vaserian people, his hair was black and his skin was dark brown; even his name sounded foreign.
However, while he had some interest in them, he did not have necessarily any goodwill. The knights served the noble, and the noble betrayed them, killed their leader, and was going to kill him too, and imprison his brothers. The only one he liked was Marth; he was a genuine man.
Well, if they’re under him, they shouldn’t be too bad…
Finishing his thoughts, Roy looked back at Marth and asked him, “So, where were you planning to go with such a big group behind you?”
The captain looked down while gritting his teeth, “Honestly, I don’t know. The only thing I knew was that we could not stay with sir John, else things would go very bad.”
