Hanji (3)
The early morning light of dawn had yet to fully break when a soft knock shattered the silence.
Knock knock—
Under the faint glow of a lantern, the village chief's shadow appeared. Urgency etched his face where his usual gentle smile should have been.
"Sorry to wake you so early... but something urgent has come up. The goblins turned our fields into a wasteland."
I rose slowly from my seat.
The monster extermination we'd discussed yesterday was needed far sooner than I'd expected.
"Understood."
I turned to Rowen standing behind me.
"Rowen, get ready."
"Yes!"
I shot Rowen a sharp glance at his booming reply. He immediately caught his mistake and corrected himself.
"Ah... right, got it."
Last night, I'd told Rowen we were now mercenary comrades and to drop the formal speech.
But he'd shaken his head like the sky was falling, insisting it was utterly impossible. Only when I made it an order did he reluctantly agree.
Guided by the chief through the dim dawn light, we headed to the village entrance.
As the morning mist began to lift, the fields came into view—a scene of devastation. Crops lay trampled mercilessly, the carefully tended plots ravaged as if a storm had swept through.
Narrowing my eyes at the wreckage, I thought:
They targeted the crops on purpose.
Goblins. Despite their dumb-looking exteriors, they were cunning monsters. When hunting humans who outnumbered or outmatched them, they used tactics like this.
Destroy the food supply, wait for starving humans to venture into the forest in small groups. The woods were their home turf.
They were baiting a handful of us to come.
At the village entrance, Hanji was waiting. The moment he spotted me, he reflexively opened his mouth.
"Astr..."
I quickly gestured to silence him.
"C-Cain! You're here already."
These two really lack caution. If I were the chief, I'd be suspicious by now.
Fortunately, the chief showed no particular interest in our awkward exchange. If anything, he looked anxious, eager for the goblin purge.
"Have you pinpointed the goblins' location?"
Hanji seemed tense at my formal tone, lowering his voice. An eagle spirit beast circled above his shoulder, scanning the surroundings with sharp eyes.
"We found tracks leading into the western forest. They probably haven't gone far."
"Rowen."
"Yes... er, yeah?"
I swallowed a sigh at Rowen's still-awkward casual speech.
This elf knight was stubbornly rigid. Then again, unlearning centuries of habit overnight wasn't easy.
It's like telling an ordinary North Korean citizen to speak casually to Kim Jong-un.
"Let's move fast, before they get farther."
"Of course... yeah, obviously."
I turned to the chief, who paced anxiously behind us.
"Chief, we'll take Hanji too. We need someone familiar with the surrounding woods."
The chief hesitated briefly, then nodded.
"Alright, be careful out there. Goblins can be dangerous in numbers..."
"Don't worry."
"Hanji, you watch yourself too."
"Yes, Chief. I'll be back."
The three of us left the village behind, heading west into the forest.
Hanji's eagle spirit beast circled overhead, guiding our path.
Once we'd ventured deeper into the woods, I glanced at the white cloud tattoo etched into my left palm.
The mark of a spirit beast contract.
Channeling mana into it, the tattoo glowed softly, and Fenrir's form gradually materialized from the light.
Store spirit beasts in tattoos and summon them at will.
That was the true value of spirit beast contracts.
Can't let those goblins escape.
To Fenrir, a mid-grade spirit beast, the goblin pack was nothing but prey. Numbers meant little to him.
Plus, experience from monsters slain by my contracted Fenrir flowed straight to me.
"Rowen, Hanji. Let Fenrir handle the goblins. It'll be good for you to see a mid-grade spirit beast in action up close."
"Yes, understood."
True to form, Rowen reverted to formal speech the moment we left the village.
"Lord Astra's wolf spirit beast is named Fenrir. A truly magnificent name."
Come to think of it, what were Hanji's spirit beasts called?
I'd never heard him address them by name.
Curiosity struck.
"Hanji, what about your three low-grade spirit beasts? Got names for them?"
"Oh, my spirits? Sure."
His tense expression brightened instantly at the topic. True to his Soul Companion ability, he lit up whenever spirit beasts came up.
"Yeah, I named the low-grade pig spirit 'Gyeopsal,' the horse 'Mallang,' and the eagle..."
Hanji hesitated, then continued sheepishly.
"... 'Nalcheong.'"
"..."
I was speechless. Utterly speechless.
Pig: Gyeopsal. Horse: Mallang. Eagle: Nalcheong...
Fine, the others might pass, but who names a pig "Gyeopsal" in a world that doesn't even call pork belly that? Where did he pull these from?
I was genuinely curious what went on in Hanji's head.
"Unique names... very unique."
"Hehe, they all seem happy with them, so it makes me feel good!"
I eyed the pig spirit beside Hanji... no, "Gyeopsal."
That looks happy?
It had the face of one of those "angry pig" memes from the internet.
No passing kid would look at that and think "happy."
Even low-grade spirit beasts had at least kindergarten-level intelligence.
Would a kid be thrilled if you kept calling them "Pork Belly, Pork Belly"?
Whatever. If the owner was thrilled...
Hanji's face beamed like he'd given them the coolest names in the world.
You picked your master—deal with it.
We'd walked a bit longer when Nalcheong dove from the sky, landing before Hanji.
"Lord Astra, goblins ahead."
"Got it."
Stroking Fenrir's silver mane, I said:
"Fenrir, your turn. Slaughter every goblin up ahead. Show me what you can do."
"Awooooo!"
Fenrir's howl echoed through the forest.
A gentle wind wrapped his legs, and he shot forward like a gale.
"Let's follow."
Heading toward where Fenrir vanished, a metallic tang of blood hit my nose from afar.
"Kweeeek!"
The scene before us was a one-sided massacre.
The goblins had some tactics. Some hurled sharp stones from range; others charged Fenrir's flanks en masse.
Futile.
The wind barrier cloaking Fenrir deflected every stone. His claws cleaved goblins in two wherever they struck.
Fewer than I thought.
Maybe Greenwood had been culling monsters properly—the goblin numbers were lower than expected.
"About twenty, looks like."
As Rowen said, between the corpses under Fenrir's claws and the stragglers pelting stones from afar, that was it.
"Hanji, double-check the surroundings, just in case. Make sure this is the whole pack."
"Yes, Lord Astra."
Hanji sent Nalcheong skyward and ordered Gyeopsal and Mallang to scout.
"Lord Astra, this seems to be all of them. No other tracks."
While Hanji scouted, Fenrir finished the last goblin with a slash of his claws.
Damn, should have dragged it out for more kills.
For a level 5 like me, even goblins were prime XP. So few was disappointing.
Still, gained one level.
I dumped all my new stat points into Charisma without hesitation.
"Back to the village."
The return was effortless.
I rode Fenrir; Hanji mounted Gyeopsal; Rowen kept pace with his superior footwork.
The spirit beasts' swift strides got us out of the forest quickly.
But at the village entrance, several fine steeds were tied to posts, heavy-armored knights standing tall beside them.
"Lord Astra..."
Hanji's face hardened at the sight.
"Greenwood knights."
So that's Greenwood's knight order. Faster than expected.
I scanned for her among them, but she wasn't there.
She didn't come?
Then the chief spotted us and rushed over.
"All goblins taken care of?"
"Yes, handled completely. No need to worry... but those guys..."
Before I finished, a knight stepped forward from behind the chief.
Unlike the others, his armor was even more ornate and intricate.
"Are you the C-grade mercenary the chief mentioned?"
Must be the highest-ranking one here.
I replied calmly.
"That's right. I'm C-grade mercenary Cain, and this is my fellow C-grade, Rowen."
The knight eyed me up and down, smirking.
"Hmph. You don't look like C-grade to me. D-grade might be pushing it."
Rowen's teeth ground audibly at the arrogance.
But he held back, remembering my orders.
"I'm Raizenfels, vice-captain of Greenwood Territory's 1st Knight Order. Here on the lord's command to protect this village. You lot..."
He waved dismissively.
"...should head out now. You're just in the way."
A vice-captain for a tiny village? Suspicious, as I'd thought. Something was definitely up.
"Haha, got it. We'll be off."
Rowen and I gave a light bow and walked into the village.
Once out of earshot, I murmured to Rowen:
"Rowen."
"Yes. Shall I kill them?"
Killing intent laced his voice; my dismissal had infuriated him.
"No, don't kill. Just figure out what they're up to and report back. Without getting caught, obviously."
"Understood."
If the lord and her goal is harvesting villagers' life force, they wouldn't need this charade.
I analyzed coolly.
With the lord's authority, he could drag them off without protest. Yet here they were, playing protectors—even handling monsters.
There must be a reason for the facade. With knights here now, the real purpose should surface soon.
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