Arthur was more worried about his daughter than himself as he watched her gear up to travel into the mountains and participate in the monster culling late in the evening.
They planned it around the moon and, fortunately it was a clear night, but it also meant that the air was particularly frigid. It would only get worse as the knights continued up.
That year, snow had come early to the very highest peak. It was a sight everyone dreaded waking up to when they knew they would have to go up for two days in order for the job to truly be completed.
As the knight watched cautiously from down below, his eyes never left Irene until she was no longer in view and hidden amongst the trees. He decided to trust her. She had a year more experience under her belt and was far less likely to be snuck up on.
With a sigh, the knight placed his helmet over his head. The real test for him was how the iron arm would fare considering it had caused him to bleed a few times. He had been practicing with it daily since he received it, but there was still a bit of uncertainty within him.
For his entire career, he relied on himself. Now he was having to rely on something that was very much not himself.
He somewhat wished a goblin would show themselves so he could practice slashing it down. He hadn’t had real prey yet.
For Irene, it was much the same as before except the group sizes were larger as they went up the mountains taking various paths. She imagined that it was the idea that there was power in numbers, so she didn’t complain. It was likely that she was the reason they made this change in the first place.
With Felix in front of her and Leif behind, they slowly went up through the trails inside the forests.
"It is just beginning for us!" Gunnar shouted from the front.
They weren’t sure what he was referring to until the apprentices’ horses stepped closer to his and they saw goblins tearing apart something in the middle of the forest.
Rather than risk their horses when the goblins were wielding axes, they hopped off of their loyal steeds and rushed forward toward the monsters. They wouldn’t allow them a moment to gather themselves. Catching them off guard would be for the best.
Fortunately, five goblins were practically nothing against a group of three knights and three apprentices. Discover more novels at novelFirｅ.net
But even in the darkness of night, something horrible was revealed to them once the goblins were down and they were burning bodies. While it was obvious upon arrival that the goblins were eating something, it wasn’t until they moved one of the large goblins from where it was eating in the first place that they saw the bones of its victim.
Expecting to see a deer, Leif was taken aback to realize there was a half-eaten human skull underneath the monster.
"Christ!" the apprentice exclaimed and dropped the monster’s body.
All eyes went to him and Sir Gunnar rushed forth.
"A body, sir," Leif explained more timidly, realizing he shouldn’t curse like that but he was genuinely taken aback.
The knight confirmed as he moved the goblin for himself.
"Felix, help Leif move the body," Gunnar ordered.
Unfortunately, it was Gunnar’s job to check the body for any sort of identification once it was uncovered, but he couldn’t help noticing something about the body.
"Sven, over here!" he called to one of the other knights. "I would like another opinion on this."
When the younger knight was in front of Gunnar he gestured towards what he was noticing about the body.
"If I’m not mistaken, this body looks like it’s been here for quite some time, no?" Gunnar wondered.
Even though it made him want to nearly gag, Sir Sven used a stick to turn the body and the person’s arm easily fell off of it.
"Yes, it’s quite decomposed since it won’t hold its shape at all," the knight agreed. "Wonder what poor soul was lost in this forest or how they passed. Quite an unexpected sight considering how barren these lands are."
"I will have to take note of this and prepare to bring the body down once we’re on our way back," Gunnar decided. "I will mark it with a stick and bury it as much as possible, but it’s likely to draw out more goblins. Hopefully, we don’t miss any on the way up."
"The other groups aren’t too far away and the largest peak only has a couple of trails going up," Sven responded with a light shrug, relenting that it could be a problem for them but it also might not.
It was good enough for Gunnar and he did just as he said he would.
When the bodies were burnt and they were sure that the fire was out underneath the dirt they had dumped over it, they returned to their horses and were on the last stretch of travel for their day. Since the sun would start rising in a couple of hours, it was time to hurry.
Due to how cold it was, when they dropped their horses off in the trees where they were going to have to do the rest on foot, Irene was looking forward to going back to the cabin she had been hurt outside of before. Anything would be better than the cold they were going to have to face.
As the group closed in on the cabin, the knights went first since they were wearing more armor than the apprentices. There was no sign of a monsters especially not one wielding a crossbow and they gestured for the apprentices to come closer.
Thinking nothing else of it, Sir Gunnar cautiously opened the front door. Even though he didn’t expect anything to be there, the knight was knocked onto his backside when a burst of black smoke erupted from the opened door.
Immediately, the knight began coughing, having taken much of it to his face and he tore the helmet off of himself.
Irene was right behind him and slammed the door shut.
"That smell!" she gasped with wide eyes.
She would recognize it anywhere.