Survive in the parallel world, please!

221 Find the goblin, please! part “I’m sorry, but I can’t do that”

I shrugged as I took the freshly made loaf of whatever it was.

“Then, there’s nothing else to talk about”

Lea said as she turned her back to me, but after quickly slicing the bread I stopped her and handed a slice to her.

“This isn’t enough for me to tell you anything, so why did you even bother in giving it to me?”

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry for the way I treated you.”

“It’s ok, we were supposed to be enemies anyway. I don’t think I would have done something like that, pushing a novice healer to cast heal on an near death patient is the cruelest thing you can do to someone, but after spending so much time with Bob and Luke in the forest I think I got it. You guys come from the bottom of the world and don’t have any common sense.”

After walking a few steps Lea noticed I was walking towards the same direction I was, to make things less awkward I gave her some space and kept walking behind her.

To my surprise, she was dividing her share and offering a piece to everyone.

.....

“There’s no need for that, I made this for everybody, everyone gets a slice.”

Lea looked dumbfounded as she looked at me sharing what little food we had, but for the rest of them it wasn’t surprising. If this was a regular party only the strongest fighters would get a share, meanwhile the rest would need to hold on for as long as they could.

“I didn’t think you would share it with everyone, It seems like what I heard from the kingdom may not all be the truth.”

“What do you mean by that, Lea?”

“Father Stefan always said that people from the kingdom wouldn’t hesitate to abandon their companions, are cheap with pay and don’t treat all their members equally”

“Isn’t that sort of what he did to your other companion?”

“Things were different, we were on a sacred mission and it was expected of us to die in the line of duty.”

Fearing I might say something that could be offensive to her, I simply let it go and enjoy my measly slice of bread. It’s dry but fragrant, it’s actually pretty nice if it wasn’t so stiff.

We simply sat next to each other and started eating our meal as we chatted about unimportant matters. It was tough for everyone to see how little food we had, but at least we had something.

“So, Ryu, I heard you’re going out to look for this lost goblin, is that really necessary?”

Risa inquired after finishing her piece of potato bread.

“It is necessary. Goblins had been good to me and, like I said before, I’m technically their leader now. If we don’t find Bardun, I may be stuck into this position for who knows how long.”

“A human being the goblin leader, it’s just incredible. I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t see it myself, they follow your commands and now they’re even building you a house.”

“It’s not actually a house miss Risa. We need some time to prepare before going to look for Bardun. We need food, but for that we need weapons, and to make weapons we need a place to work properly. Besides, having a nice place to rest won’t hurt.”

“This is heresy! how can you be helping those mindless beasts!”

Lea scoffed at the same time she finished her last piece of food.

“First, it’s not heresy because I don’t share your beliefs, don’t try to measure me with your own rules. Second, they’re not mindless, they’re capable of learning so fast It’s amazing, and last, they’re not beasts, they’re just another race.”

“You just don’t get it do you? The sacred empire has been holding off the beastkin attacks for a long time, we have suffered heavy casualties all this time and even...”

“I’m going to stop you right there Lea, are you sure you are still with the sacred empire? I heard from them that they excommunicated you so there’s nothing for you even if you return alive. Before judging them as evil beasts that need to be exterminated you should consider who hurt you and left you for dead and who healed you. If I were you I would reconsider my opinion on goblins and beasts, because right now, you belong to them and the only way out would be becoming my wife.”

My words seem to have struck Lea’s core of beliefs, because she fell silent for a few seconds. She seemed to be struggling but the next words that left her lips were nothing I could have expected.

“You wanted to know about magical beasts, right? Magical beasts are not the same as regular beasts, that’s obvious, but the difference goes beyond what can be seen with the naked eye. They are filled with mana and consuming them is impossible for humans and beasts alike. Only magical beasts can feed upon them. Besides that, they’re hard to kill and can cast skills or even magic, hence their name.”

“Then what use is killing them? even if we go out to find your goblin friend, we might not find any food.”

Luke, who was exhausted after being healed, was disheartened by Lea’s words, but things were different to me. I already knew they were filled with mana and that they can’t be consumed, but, isn’t Famine a magical beast too? I bet he can become a lot stronger and having him fight magical beasts can both reduce the amount of food we need to gather and help him become stronger.

Now that I think about it, the so called goddess told me she was being kept prisoner inside the obelisk. I may be able to gather information from Lea, but I need to find a proper way to ask without giving her any information about myself.

“Tell me something, what is the obelisk and why was there a war for its control?”

“I only know what they taught me in school, the obelisk is the core of our kingdom and we need to protect it from the heathens. It’s also filled with all sorts of magical beasts and we often use it to train or gather rare materials. Magical beasts are way stronger than regular beasts and their parts can be crafted into powerful equipment, if you add some elemental stones or crystals you may also get an enchanted item.”

Enchanted items!? Now we’re talking!