A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

They clasped their spears in their hands as well. Beam thought such weapons to be unsuited for combat amongst the trees and yet they carried them anyway. He supposed that was why they all had a large knife sheathed at their waists without exception – so that they might have the choice between range and manoeuvrability depending on what the situation demands.

"So, what do we do about it? The other patrols have said they've been seeing these same patches of goblin blood popping up as well, amongst other things. Apparently they found a few giant spider legs left behind the other day as well," another man said. "Clearly something is out here hunting them."

"Aye, but I'm of the same opinion as the captain – as long as it's hunting them and not us, then it's doing us a favour and we should be thankful for it," came a reply.

"Well, if that's what the captain says… Then I guess we'll just leave it, huh?"

"He also said to report any information on whatever it is, should we catch sight of it. 'Cos we still don't know for certain whether it's friend or foe. Best we keep our guards up as we're wandering."

"Whatever it is, being able to slaughter the bastards one-sidedly without leaving any bodies behind – it must be quite a threatening thing. Can't say I'd want to be the fucker getting caught out by it."

"Too right," another agreed, as the party turned to continue their patrol. "Let's just get out of here as quickly as we can. No point provoking it if you don't have to, y'know. Leave the information gathering to someone else – I'm getting shivers just standing here."

Their voices soon faded into the distance as they chatted away. Beam sighed, watching them go, realizing that they were considering him to be a monster.

Slowly, he got down from his spot in the tree, taking great care to make sure that the soldiers weren't about to backtrack and catch him out. When he was quite sure that they were gone, he shifted the goblin corpses to a location that they'd be harder to find and he grasped the sack full of heads to take with him.

The day had only just begun, after all. Even if the soldiers were considering him to be a monster, in Beam's mind, he wasn't quite there yet. There was still work to be done. His morning patrolling had gone well, with him being able to deal with so many goblins at once, but now it was time to get on with the rest of his training.

He considered the results of his skirmish more as he ran back to camp, his sack full of goblins heads in his hand. Whilst he was satisfied with the way the goblins reacted to his new techniques and he was pleased to be able to beat them so easily, he still felt that things were lacking somewhat. He was quite sure that such techniques would not be so effective against stronger opponents.

And yet knowing that, it wasn't obvious to him yet just how he might improve. He'd spent the past few days urgently considering it. Though he'd made progress and he felt like he was on the verge of coming up with something, he wasn't quite there yet and he was continually struck by the urge to experiment and try new things out.

Next on his agenda for the morning was one such experiment.

He ran into camp, where Dominus was just finishing up the last of his breakfast. Beam figured that he would be going off to start his own training soon, just as he usually did. Dominus greeted him as he arrived.

"Another successful hunt, was it?" He said, nodding at the sack that Beam was carrying.

Beam nodded. "The goblins aren't up to much anymore."

"Heh, getting cocky, are we?" Dominus laughed. "Well, that's fine I suppose – but you're going to need to seek out something stronger so you can keep yourself humble."

"I wish there were stronger things for me to hunt around here," Beam mused.

"I'm sure the villagers don't," Dominus said. "Don't forget, you have the responsibility of keeping them safe now. I will not forgive any slacking in this regard. However… despite what the villagers want, it would seem that things are only continuing to grow worse. It would seem your wish will soon be granted."

"It will?" Beam asked curiously, throwing his sack to the ground, before drawing his sword and fetching some wood as he prepared for the next bit of his morning training.

"Indeed. I won't give too much away, since it's meant to be your job to do this investigating – but there's been a shift in things. Whatever is causing this explosion in the monster population, it's only getting worse. New creatures are flooding in and the old ones seem as though they're getting stronger," Dominus said gravely as he sipped his tea.

Beam looked up from his task in excitement. "Really!? I'm going to be able to get stronger much faster then," he said with a grin.

"Perhaps – but you will also have to be working harder. If any of these monsters leak from the upper forest down into the lower forest where your friend is hunting, things will be looking nasty, won't they?" Dominus said.

Mentioning something that Beam cared about finally put things into perspective for Beam." Ah… Nila," he murmured, biting his lip. "The soldiers will help out somewhat, I suppose… But if the monsters are getting stronger, I don't know how good they'll be…"

"Indeed, you're going to have to think about it. Better yet, get to the bottom of all this before someone gets hurt," Dominus said, giving him one last piece of advice as he drank the last of his tea and stood up. "Well, I'm off to train. Good luck boy. Hopefully Claudia blesses both of us with some nice progress today, eh?"