Minute Mage: A Time-Traveling LitRPG Progression Fantasy

Chapter 184: Caution and Crisis

I spent the rest of the night by the guard outpost, making sure they never decided to turn me in. I listened for any sign of them waking up and talking, and Index also watched and listened, itself, which was especially useful during the times I dozed off throughout the long, dark night.

I had to wake up and move around semi-frequently due to wandering Gloomspurs threatening to damage me with their toxic breath, but that annoyance didn’t do much except interrupt my rest, since Index could warn me of their slow approach long before it became a problem.

By the time the sun began rising, I was moderately less sleepy and felt a lot more safe about the guards knowing what they knew. They didn’t wake up once throughout the night—or, at least, if they did, they didn’t do anything other than just try to go back to sleep, according to Index—so there was no secret plotting against me afoot, it seemed.

Noxious Grasp had also gathered yet more Spell XP, moving up by a massive 894 so it was now at 1.60k/2.43k. Not long until I hit Rank 17.

But for now, I felt like it was probably time to head back to town. The guards hadn’t done anything suspicious up to this point, and by now they were awake and talking, and Index still hadn’t seen or heard anything that could suggest they were planning on turning me in. Even Bon seemed much cooler headed. If they wanted to do it, they’d have done it by now.

Right before I could get back onto the road and start walking, though, Index said something to me.

“Hey, wait a second.”

What is it?

“I think you should go talk to them.”

What? But then they’ll know I was here listening to them all night.

“Exactly.”

Jannin sat with his two companions, eating a tasteless breakfast to start out their day. The slop the Empire gave them technically kept them alive, but it didn’t do much else.

“So,” Bon said. “Jannin, you and Poppins are patrolling this morning.”

“Yeah,” Jannin replied with a sigh, “I know. Our turn.”

“Mhm. Afternoon’ll be Poppins and me, so you’ll get a break then.”

“Sure.” Jannin glanced at the window they’d opened in the morning. For some reason, he almost expected to see Annor standing out there, staring at them with that damned black armor. But there was no sign of him. “Just, uh, hold down the fort for me, okay?”

“Yep.” Bon took another bite of the thick soup.

Jannin took another breath. Calm down, man. It’s just another patrol, like any other. The man’s probably long gone by now.

Poppins looked over at him. “Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah,” Jannin said back. “Just a little shaken up is all. From last night.”

“I wouldn’t worry about him,” Poppins said. “He doesn’t seem too dangerous.”

“R-right…”

Jannin hadn’t told them about his encounter with Annor in the middle of the night. Not yet, at least. He’d barely had the time. Maybe he would say something later, but right now…Breakfast seemed like a strange time to talk about a break-in. Maybe once he got back from his patrol. For now, what Poppins said was right. Annor wasn’t actually dangerous, he was reasonable, he’d left them alive, he hadn’t even damaged them. Jannin had nothing to fear. And it really did seem like he’d left.

“Anyway,” Poppins said, “are you ready to go?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jannin nodded, taking one last bite of his food. “Let's head out.”

“Okay. Let me just put on my boots.”

“Don’t have too much fun without me,” Bon said, leaning back and putting his feet up on an adjacent chair.

Jannin nodded again and stood, walking over to the door. “We’ll see you in a couple—”

When he opened the door, his sentence was interrupted by a shout coming from his own mouth. He leapt away, instinctively reaching for the weapon on his back.

“Wh, what are you doing here?!” he demanded, voice shaking alongside his entire body. It was only because of his training as a soldier that he hadn’t sprinted off in terror already.

Standing right in the doorway was that terrifying son of a bitch, staring right at Jannin, unmoving. The black armor created a silhouette in front of the bright morning day that seemed to stand fifteen times larger than it really was. In Jannin’s mind, the man’s presence was practically all-consuming. His hands were at his side, posture totally relaxed, but that did nothing to assuage Jannin’s fears. What in Hell was he doing here?! Why?! How long had he been standing there?!

“What is it?” Bon said. Jannin didn’t dare look over at him. After a second, Bon shouted again, “Oh, flames!”

Jannin heard Bon topple out of his seat to the stone floor, quickly scrambling back up. At the same time, Poppins drew his sword.

“What in flames are you doing back?!” Bon shouted from behind Jannin.

Annor still didn’t move. He just stared at the three of them, dark sockets of his helmet absorbing all light that came near. After an agonizing few seconds, he spoke. “Hi. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Like Hell you did!” Bon snarled. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m just here to thank you for keeping your promise.”

“W-what?”

“You didn’t report me all night. You kept your word. So, thank you.”

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With that, Annor turned and walked away. Right out of their door, into the woods.

Jannin was still frozen in place. Part of him wanted to chase after the man, ask him what in Hell he was doing here, what he meant by that…but he also felt like if he did that, he’d be putting his life at risk.

Argh! Jannin screamed internally at himself. He hasn’t even hurt you! Why are you scared of him?!

“What in Hell…” Bon muttered.

Jannin looked back to see him and Poppins standing, looking between each other.

“What was that?” Poppins asked. “Why was he…”

“I…have no idea,” Jannin said.

“Hey,” Bon said, looking between them. “How…How did he know?”

“Know what?”

“How did he know we didn’t report him?”

The blood drained from Jannin’s face.

“If we did report him, I doubt he’d have found out right away. And he knows that, I’m sure. So…how did he know?”

“S-someone should go after him,” Poppins said. “Ask.”

Nobody moved to leave the safety of the room.

It was at that moment Jannin figured it out. Why he was so goddamn terrified of Annor. Why, even though the man had never actually hurt any of them—he’d even said to their faces time and time again that he didn’t want to hurt them—he still felt immensely threatened any time he was near that suit of armor.

It was a simple thing to realize. Annor, even if he hadn’t hurt them yet, was the type of person who absolutely could kill someone. He had the attitude. The stance, the feel, the impression, whatever. Maybe he was a good man. Maybe he only did it to protect himself, or to save others, or he only killed evil people. But whatever the reason Annor did it, Jannin could tell. That man had taken lives.

“Guys,” Jannin muttered, “what in Hell have we gotten ourselves into?”

Erani walked through a field as she approached the forest the Goblins resided in. This was where Ainash wanted to meet so she could show Erani the new ‘home’ she’d made for the two Goblins she’d captured, so hopefully they’d see each other soon.

As Erani trudged across the tall grass, she eventually got a message.

“I see you!”

Glancing around, she eventually saw Ainash sprinting full-speed through the hills, easily traveling five or six times faster than a normal Human, before she leapt up into the air and landed gracefully in front of Erani.

“Hello mother!”

Erani laughed. “Hi, honey. How are you?”

“I am so good! Have been training Goblin pets to be good. I think they are very interesting, and you will like them so much!”

“Right. So, Goblins, huh? Why don’t you…tell me about that?”

Ainash guided Erani through the forest. She’d apparently built this home somewhere beneath the emerald-green canopy, which seemed like a good idea to Erani. This way, she’d be less likely to be seen by Humans. Really, getting seen by other Humans shouldn’t have been an issue, since Ainash wasn’t aggressive, but Erani didn’t really trust others to always act correctly around a monster. Also, Erani appreciated being able to walk beneath the shade while in search of this house; the cool breeze felt so much more refreshing when the sun wasn’t so brutal on her back.

They also traveled only through the edges of the forest, not venturing too deep within. According to Ainash, she’d done a lot of looking into the ways the Goblins acted, and she found that they didn’t normally travel too close to the edges of the canopy or set traps near there, since it was too dangerous. How long that caution would last when the Dragon was forcing them to expand so recklessly, Erani didn’t know, but at least for now sticking to the edges was safe.

So across the forest they walked, with Ainash leading the way to her home. The way she talked about it, it seemed like the Goblins were very well-behaved, which was good. Erani would be worried if it was too dangerous. Maybe they understood that Ainash could act as their ticket out from under the Dragon’s thumb—that would be extremely helpful, if they would willingly help Ainash get them away from there.

Eventually, Ainash stopped and spread her arms out wide. “Here it is!”

Erani frowned, looking around. “Sorry, uh…where?”

Ainash turned to look at her. “Here, silly mother! We are standing in home! Look, that rock is a place to sit, and that tree you can lean on! The dirt is very soft so you can sleep on it, and there is leaves on that tree which you can use for shade.”

The place seemed like a completely normal clearing, nothing moved around at all, much less shaped into an actual set of walls and turned into shelter.

“Will try to find better place near river later, but could not find it so fast. But for now I think home is very nice!”

“Uh…Yeah, I like it,” Erani said. If this worked for Ainash, then who was she to tell her it was wrong? “It looks very different from what Humans use for homes, though, so I was kind of surprised. But I think this place seems great for you!”

“Thank you!”

“But, um…” Erani looked around again, trying to make sure she hadn’t missed anything. “...Where are the Goblins?”

“Oh, almost forgot! I remembered that Goblins like to have walls in their house, so I made them a house with walls in it!”

“That’s great,” Erani said. Apparently Ainash had actually made a proper house, in the end. It must’ve been located somewhere else. “Do you mind taking me to see them, too?”

“Okay!” Ainash walked over and bent down to the ground, using her hand to clear away some loose dirt.

“Uh, what are you doing?” Erani asked.

“Am showing you their home!”

She continued clearing away the dirt, revealing a set of wide leaves that’d been intricately layered together and placed on the ground.

“This is the entrance! Made it the same way that Goblins make their traps, so I think they like it. That way, it has walls and it has trap entrance!”

She picked up the layered leaves and moved them aside, revealing a hole that’d been dug into the ground. Erani was too far away to see all the way down, but she could tell it was deep.

“Come look!” Ainash said, gesturing for Erani to look down into the hole.

Erani frowned and walked forward, closer to the hole, and peered within.

It was easily ten, maybe even fifteen or twenty paces deep. And narrow. It was a square shape, probably only one or two paces wide on each side. And far, far down at the bottom, was a pair of Goblins. They growled and scratched at the walls, and from the looks of the marks on the dirt down there, it seemed like they’d tried to climb up and escape several times.

“Uh oh!” Ainash said. “Think they are trying to leave.”

She shouted something out loud in her own language down at them, and the pair of Goblins visually flinched and stopped moving.

“Look! They understand what I say! I always tell them ‘stop that’ when they are bad, and if they do not stop I punish them. They already know to stop!”

“What…do you do to punish them?”

“I drop rocks on them!”

Eyes wide, Erani glanced back down to see the pit was, indeed, full of stones beneath the Goblins. Some were as small as her fist, others as large as her head. “Um…Ainash, honey, I don’t think…they like it here.”

“Yes, they are sometimes mad or do not like me, but I have to teach them to be good before I can give them good things. Right now they are mean guys, so I have to hurt them until they are not mean anymore. Father taught me!”

“He told you to…beat the Goblins?”

“No, but he taught me some people are good guys, and I should be nice to good guys, and some are bad guys, and I should kill bad guys, but some people are in between. Are not bad, but are just mean. And you do not kill mean guys, just hurt them so they are not mean anymore. That is what I am doing! I think that once Goblins turn into good guys, they will really like it here! Is a very nice home.”

“Um…huh.”

“And because they are already kind of understanding my words, I think they soon will be able to be trained into being very good and obedient! Then they will do what I say, and I will teach them words! Words like, ‘go kill that bad guy,’ and ‘go blow up that building full of bad guys!’ Very helpful.”

“...Okay. That seems like it could be helpful. But…maybe we could be nicer to them for now, right? I don’t…I don’t know if dropping rocks on them is a…good idea.”

“I think it is!”

“Right. Um, but if you keep hurting them, they might not like you, right?”

“Do not think that will happen. They will understand. Can already feel them kind of understanding! That is why I know it will work. When first captured them, they hated me so much! But now, they only kind of hate me, and kind of are afraid of me. And they are not as afraid of Dragon anymore, because they are too afraid of me to even think about it! Soon, once they do not hate me and are just afraid of me, they will do what I say and then I will not have to hurt them anymore, so I can be nice. Then they will stop being afraid and just like me. But have to make them afraid first, that way they know they cannot be mean anymore.”

“But how do you know that’s the right thing to do? I mean, what if they don’t ever stop being afraid or mad?”

“No, they will not. Before bad guys attacked, I learned how to do this as little baby! When trying to help monsters, sometimes they do not know you are there to help them. But you have to help the monsters, because if you do not, they will die and be sad! And you have to make them know you are helping them, because if they know you help them, then they will give you Tribute, and then you can help them even more! So with the monsters who do not know you are there to help them, they will not like you at first. They will attack sometimes! You have to beat them up a lot so they stop attacking. Then, once they stop attacking, they will be able to see that you were actually helping the whole time! And they will like you. This is how I always do it, and always works! And if does not work, that is okay. I will kill these Goblins and get more to try again.”

“Well, isn’t it…kind of mean? To keep hurting them like this? I mean, they’re just trying to go back home. Is this really the right way to treat a pet? You’re supposed to take care of them, remember?”

For a moment, Ainash seemed somewhat confused. “It is okay to be mean to pets. And if they are bad, then they should be punished. Sometimes, when turning monster into pet, you have to hurt them so they turn into a good pet. They must listen and do what you say! And sometimes pets get hurt and die, and that is okay too.”

Erani took a breath. When Ainash had first talked about adopting the Goblins as pets, she thought it would be more like…the way a Human might get a pet. Like, something to be affectionate towards, something to take care of just because it was nice to take care of something. But Ainash clearly didn’t have that attitude. Maybe ‘pet’ wasn’t actually the right word? She’d thought ‘pet’ must have been right when Ainash was first talking about them, since it was the only thing that made sense in context. But translation errors had happened plenty of times in the past. Maybe this whole time, Ainash wasn’t talking about turning these Goblins into her pets. Maybe this whole time, she was saying…

“Am very excited!” Ainash said. “They will make such great soldiers!”

Right. That was definitely it.

For a moment, Erani didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know if these Goblins actually deserved the treatment they were getting here. Sure, it was probably better than what the Dragon had been doing to them, but here they were, under the care of Erani’s own daughter, being beaten down and made to fear her. That didn’t seem right at all. Poor things couldn’t even defend themselves. But what could Erani even say to change Ainash’s mind? She’d already decided that she’d be running this Goblin boot camp, and Erani knew the kid well enough that she knew Ainash didn’t easily change her mind on these things.

“So…” Erani tried to figure out the best way to word this.

But before she could, something came flying out of the hole beneath them.

A rock came up and bounced off Erani’s forehead, and she got a notification about Angelic Shield preventing 7 damage.

“Ah!” she said, leaning back out of surprise. She wasn’t hurt, of course, but the sudden sensation still startled her. She could hear the jeering of one of the Goblins below.

“Oh, am sorry mother!” Ainash said. “Goblins are not supposed to be bad around guests!”

“It-it’s fine.”

“No it is not! Um…” Ainash looked down at the two Goblins. “Think number two did that. Will kill him.”

“W-wait, what?!” Erani blinked at the sudden declaration. “I don’t think that’s necessary.”

“It is! Number two has been bad before. Killing number two will make number one behave good later. Then number one can be good example to new Goblins I capture! I will be right back, mother.”

And Ainash jumped right down into the hole, whip ablaze.