“Ladies, want to team up with us?”
“The job’s real simple, you know?”
Ignoring the flippant invitations from passing adventurer parties, Anna led Lydia out the gates of Albion.
Stepping past this gate meant having half a foot in the Demon Territory.
Though they had an old map to guide them, no one could predict the dangers now hidden among the ruins and ravines.
Thus, every adventure was a gamble.
“Stay close to me—never be more than three steps away.”
Anna focused her mind and pored over every mark on the map.
The map in her hand was a mass-produced item distributed by the Adventurers’ Guild—far from accurate, and served only to point a general direction.
Still, it was better than nothing.
The map could only lead them to the rough area where goblins were active. As for finding the nest itself… that was up to Anna and her companion.
To Anna, goblins were no unfamiliar foe.
Goblins were the lowest, and also the most widespread, members of the Demon race—creatures that every Warrior and adventurer was bound to face.
Anna considered herself rather knowledgeable about those squat, green, humanoid beings.
“Listen, goblins may look weak, but they’re actually a sly bunch.” While dividing her flatbread in half to share with Lydia, Anna chattered on, “Stay close to me. Whatever you do, don’t run off on your own, or you’ll end up regretting it.”
Anna had seen what happened to reckless, overconfident adventurers, especially female ones.
Those scenes—like a living hell—were things Anna would never forget for the rest of her life.
“What happens?”
Lydia blinked her big eyes, looking so innocent and carefree, it was as if she were heading out on a spring outing, not about to fight a bloody battle.
“You’ll understand once you see it—you’ll never forget.”
Anna had no intention of explaining. Some things could only be truly understood through firsthand experience. Otherwise, no matter what anyone said, it would always sound empty and meaningless.
People can never truly understand something they’ve never seen with their own eyes.
If she could, Anna wished Lydia could remain forever innocent.
But her own fate had forced her onto this path of no return, and now that she was on this journey, the first thing she had to kill was her own naivety.
Cruel, but not fatal.
Anna had already worked out her plan.
At a fork in the road, the adventurers from Albion scattered toward their own destinations.
Anna stepped over a broken, rotting wooden sign and led Lydia toward the village once named Amiens, as marked on their map.
Amiens—a small town nestled in a valley, swamped with marshes—had once been famous for its orchards.
Now, it was nothing but a nest occupied by goblins. According to Albion’s records, multiple incidents of missing people and livestock had occurred there recently.
The Guild had dispatched adventurers to investigate, but even those adventurers vanished without a trace.
That was why, though the request was merely to subdue goblins, the bounty was nothing to scoff at.
After passing through the woods, a Swamp spread out before them.
“Big sis, there are footprints here.”
Lydia tugged at Anna’s sleeve. She parted the grass to reveal a shoeprint, almost fixed in the dried mud. Judging by its size… it was likely human.
“From how fresh it is… it hasn’t been here long. Maybe the day before yesterday. Big sis, it’s probably from a previous team.”
Lydia dabbed her finger into the dirt, rubbed it between her fingers, then sniffed it, her nose twitching like a rookie hunting dog.
“You know how to do that?”
Anna was a bit surprised. She had assumed Lydia came from some noble family ruined by misfortune—never expecting her to know how to track.
“Mmm… My father taught me a little. He originally wanted me to join the army.”
Lydia brushed off the subject, and Anna didn’t press further.
“Can you follow the prints? Lydia?”
“I’ll try.”
Tracing the direction of the prints, Lydia soon found the next one, and bit by bit, she managed to work out a path through the Swamp.
Maybe… this girl wasn’t a burden after all.
Anna silently apologized in her heart.
“Big sis, hold my hand as we cross the Swamp.”
Without waiting for Anna to answer, Lydia took her hand herself.
It was rare for Anna to be held by a girl other than Ophelia.
Unlike Ophelia’s soft, boneless hands, Lydia’s were much sturdier, her palms a little rough.
Perhaps, as she said, if not for her family’s downfall, she would have joined the army as her father wished. She’d surely received a fair amount of training for that.
She wasn’t just a pretty face. Maybe she was naïve, kind, and ignorant of the world, but she was definitely not useless.
Anna felt sorry for having been so judgmental before.
In the bushes near the Swamp, a rustling sound could be heard, but Lydia was too focused on finding their way to notice anything amiss.
Anna drew her sword, slashed through the air, and the arc of the blade swept toward the bushes, slicing them clean in two.
A spray of blood mist burst out from the undergrowth. A scrawny, ugly-faced green goblin tumbled into the Swamp, swallowed mercilessly by the mire.
“We’re being watched, Lydia.”
Anna’s warning was sharp as she spoke to Lydia ahead of her.
Her eyes swept the perilous forest. Any random bush or cluster of leaves could be hiding a goblin’s crossbow or trap.
They had to get out of the Swamp, fast.
“Lydia, how much farther!”
“Uh, uh? Still…”
Lydia was starting to panic.
“Calm down! Tell me, how many steps left?”
Clang! Anna flicked away an arrow flying at them.
“Th-three steps! Big sis, you have five more steps!”
“Lydia, get out of the Swamp first.”
Anna’s sword flashed again and again, each strike sending a goblin crashing down—some split apart, some flailing in the mud as they drowned.
“Big sis, I made it!”
Lydia called from the bank, drawing her short sword and waving it to keep approaching goblins at bay.
Anna leaped high, using her sword as leverage to twist mid-air, arcing gracefully like a crane before landing on the riverbank.
But she didn’t stick the landing, and Lydia ended up cushioning her fall.
So soft.
Anna moved her fingers—round, springy, smooth.
Surprisingly pleasant to the touch.
“Big sis…”
A rush of Lydia’s warm, damp breath hit Anna, her palm pressed against Lydia’s pounding heart.
Only then did Anna realize the position she’d landed in.
“Sorry.”
Anna scrambled up and turned, slicing a goblin in two with a single stroke to ease the awkwardness.
While hacking apart goblins, she sneaked a glance at Lydia… It seemed the girl had taken her for a lucky lecher.
Lydia crossed her arms over her chest, tears brimming in her eyes.
Anyone watching might have thought Anna had done something terrible to her.
“Big sis… You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”
Anna was at a loss for words.
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