Flames of Dracul

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There is gore and heavily implied Goblin rape. This is a Goblin Slayer story, after all. You have been warned.

For the Gods, it was a normal day.

They made their characters.

They sent them on adventures.

They rolled their dices.

Sometimes, it worked out well.

Sometimes, it didn't.

Sometimes, the one who didn't let the dice roll would walk in on the scene. Others Gods were excited to see what he would do, others were annoyed at his antics.

Yes, it was a normal day for the Gods.

Until a piece fell onto the board.

A piece none of them, not Truth, not Illusion and not the Gods of Chaos, had made. It wasn't born, it wasn't crafted beforehand.

One moment it wasn't there.

The next, it simply was.

The piece was that of a Dragon. A very powerful Fire Dragon to be precise.

Abundance, a God of Chaos and the one that primarily made monsters to fill the armies of Chaos such as Dragons like this one, denied ever rolling for such creature and no other Gods spoke up to take credit.

Curious and wary, the Gods peered closer to this mysterious creature and found something that they would never have thought possible.

The Dragon had a soul. A soul of a human, a young man to be precise.

And not only that, the Dragon's current form is that similar to a Lizardman, but taller and with airworthy wings. But, the piece on the board was that of a titanic form of a true Dragon. Maybe this thing can change its shape?

With all these factors coming into play, it was obvious to the Gods what this creature is.

An intruder. A trespasser.

An abomination.

Some Gods spoke up, that they should simply remove this creature from their game. None of them had rolled for it, none of them even knew what it exactly was.

Most Gods quickly denied that though. They had made a pact to not directly interfere in the world and even if this creature was not one of their own, it was now theirs. It should be rolled like all the other pieces.

And at that moment, The child Dragon made his move. He walked, he ran and flew around, as if frantically searching for something.

And found something he did.

An ancient ruin, deep in the Frontier almost forgotten by all but the Gods.

Without hesitation and perhaps with a certain amount of desperation, The Dragon walked into the ruin.

"Hahaha!" Truth laughed with childlike excitement at someone finally making their way to one of his dungeons, "Now, let's see how this thing's luck plays out!"

With a shake of his fists, he rolled the coveted dice.

And found out how unlucky the Dragon really is.

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"Momo, this isn't fucking funny anymore!" I shout out in the darkness, my trembling but growling voice echoes out the dusty halls of this shit hole ruin.

I didn't recognize this ruin and I almost didn't see it. It was almost completely hidden within the hills of dirt and grass. The only reason that I did is that my eyesight seems to be a hell of a lot better than what I'm used to.

"What the hell is even going on?" I whisper to myself, "I was in Nazarick with Momo, waiting for YGGDRASIL to end, but all of a sudden, I was in some kind of woods...Fuck, where are you, Momo?"

I feel something brush up against my back.

"What the fuck-!?" I quickly turn around to find nothing, but I feel something brush up against my back once again. I slowly turn my head to see that the tip of my wings are scraping against the ceiling with their nubs.

"I don't even know what's worse; The fact that my own wings scare me or that I can feel them. Not to mention the smell of this place."

I wrinkle my nose, or snout rather, at the smell of this place. It was like someone had used it for their personal toilet or something, it was disgusting.

"This can't be Nazarick…" I mutter to myself as I walk down the uncomfortably narrow hallway, "Momo wouldn't allow it to get like this. Maybe Tab-san got into one of his crazy fits again? Even so…"

Despite the almost complete darkness of the hallway, my eyesight seems to work just fine, though I dread to think why, I'm just going to count my blessings and try to find Momo.

"Where even am I? Forget Nazarick, I was in Helheim. If I was kicked out of Nazarick, it stands only to reason that I should've been in the marshes of Helheim...God, look at me. I'm already going crazy, talking to myself."

I let out a sigh and carry on walking. Just as I was thinking that this hallway carries on forever, I'm proven wrong thankfully by coming to a massive spiralling staircase, giving me room to stretch to my full height and even give my wings enough room to spread.

I look up and down the positively massive structure in wonderment, awestruck at what I'm seeing. Murals of battles or somethings were chiselled into the walls, but dirt and grime covered them for the most part.

I lean over the stone wall to look down only to be met by a gaping abyss of darkness. I could barely see something shine back at me, but I wasn't sure if I was just seeing things or not.

The stairways going up and going down haven't been smashed into rubble just yet, so I could go up or go down.

"If I was Momo, which way would I chose?"

"Dracul, before even thinking of going into anything, you should know what you're up against. That applies to anything, including real life and YGGDRASIL."

"Awwwwww, but Momo, that's boring! Where's the fun if you already know what's going to happen?"

"Is that what you said to yourself when you tried to kill Surtr?"

"Ehehehe…"

"...Well, he wouldn't really go in here in the first place. So I guess dow-?"

"Calm down, my champion…" A sensuous, husky feminine voice echoes out above me, "The adventurer is coming soon…just let me have my fun with him and then you can have yours…"

I snap my head upwards towards the voice, my heart racing at the thought of finally getting some answers. Before I know it, my feet carry me forth upwards the staircase, faster than I've ever moved before.

At the top, I enter a sort of wide throne room and I finally see not one, but two living beings ever since I came here.

Sitting on an uncomfortable stone throne is a beautiful and voluptuous woman with long white hair, dressed in little more than strings and giving me a full view of...everything.

What caught my eye though are her horns. Two small horns jutting out of her head like my own but instead of ram horns, they were more like devil horns. When I made my way up, her hungry red slitted eyes landed on me, glowing faintly.

I feel something wash over my mind before it was quickly swept aside. Whatever it was, the woman scowls for a second before she smiles at me.

A sickly sweet smell wafts through the room and through my nostrils, despite the fact I could still smell of sewage from where I came.

Her smile seemed good natured...but I didn't like it. It made me feel uncomfortable, combined with her, quite frankly, slutty attire, I just didn't like what I saw.

Beside her stood something that I could only call a freak of a Goblin.

Like a statue, it stood still and tall but its goat-like eyes glared at me. It wore surprisingly clean full plate armour that hid its physique and the large hammer it wields is leaning against the stone throne.

Its green ugly, wart-filled face with a long, hook-like nose looks down at me with a scowl, showing off its disgusting yellow tusks.

"Welcome adventurer," The woman drawled on every word as if tasting them, "To my humble abode. It's been so long since I've had any visitors...but, I must admit...I was not expecting you, whatever you are."

"...Uhhmm, hello-"

"Tell me," The horned woman interrupts me, "How much was it?"

"Errr...how much was what?"

The woman laughed at my genuine question, the sound of it uncomfortably pleasant to my ears.

"Oh, don't play coy with me. How much is the bounty on my head? I assume that whoever posted the quest at the Guild must've been quite rich indeed for someone like you to come here. Maybe the daughter of a merchant one of my Goblins stole to bree-"

"Okay, time the fuck out," I snap at the horned woman and the freaky tall Goblin snarls at me, "What the hell are you talking about? What bounty? What bloody quest are you talking about? And for that matter, Guild? Which Guild are you part of? Because I don't think I've ever seen you in Ainz Ooal Gown."

"...You don't know," The horned woman states in a shocked tone, "D-Do you even know who I am?!"

"...Should I?"

"Yes!" The horned woman suddenly screams at me and shoots up onto her feet, her bat-like wings flapping about and a long tail behind her slithers about, "I'm Succubus! One of the Demon Lord's most favoured consorts! I have corrupted pious men with but a touch! I have seduced great kings of old and stole faithful men from their wives with nothing more than a single word! My children have razed the lands in the name of our Lord and my name is echoed in hushed whispers! How do you not know who I am?!"

"...Is your name really Succubus?"

I know I'm not the one to talk, but-

"Goblins! Demons! Champion! Kill him! Kill him now! Paint these walls with his blood!"

With a savage grin, the freaky tall Goblin lifts up his hammer with glee, his tooth filled maw dripping with drool.

From behind me, I can hear various things make their way up the stone staircase and with each passing second, the noises grew louder and louder.

"Listen, I don't want to figh-" I say to the freaky Goblin, hoping he'll listen.

With a guttural laugh, he swings his hammer right into my ribs. The force of the blow sends me flying through the air, smashing right into the stone wall and turning it into little more than rubble.

To my utter surprise, I didn't feel any pain. My armour didn't even dent under the blow.

"Hmph," Succubus lets out a derives snort as I lay still under the rubble, "All that gear and he dies to this? Pathetic."

Like before, something washes over my mind.

But this time, it's coming from me.

I feel a vast number of presences surround me, chittering and snarling but not getting any closer. Maybe they know I'm still alive? Maybe they're waiting for their turn?

Or is it pity?

How dare they.

Fire floods my veins. My heart races in my chest as if trying to jump out of my rib cage.

"Champion, do what you will. I don't concern myself with trash."

How dare they.

The clanking of metal heavy footsteps make their way towards me, the scraping noise of the hammerhead on the stone floor echoes out in my mind.

The freaky Goblin stops over me, no doubt grinning. The scraping stops and with a grunt of force, I could feel him lift his hammer over my head.

The skank lets out a sigh, "I wish my Lord would just me my orders alread-"

"[Draconic Presence IV]"

Without knowing if the spell will work or not, I snarl the words out.

The chittering stops.

The freaky Goblin stops dead in his tracks. His hammer falls on the ground.

Without warning, my wings expand to their full length, the heavy rubble is thrown off of me like dust. I hear some screams and gurgles coming from the side of me, but I don't bother looking. I slowly stand up, finally getting a good look at the monsters that had gathered around me.

Smaller Goblins make up most of the horde in front of me, but some of them were large red gargoyle things with horns.

I don't count how many there are.

It doesn't matter.

"My turn."

Curling my hand in a fist, I punch the tall Goblin right in the chest plate. I feel it cave in like paper under my strength. The Goblin's eye bulge out of his head, almost popping out, and he pukes up an unhealthy amount of blood on me, the stench of it wafting up my nostrils.

Like I did, he flew across the throne room and caves in the other wall, rubble falling on top of him like a shallow grave.

Unlike I did, he doesn't get back up.

"You-!"

Without waiting, I quickly reach back for Balmung and unsheathe it in a wide arc in the horde in front of me. Severed body parts, disgusting viscera and coppery blood sprays out like a fountain, covering me and my already dark red armour.

The stench worsens than before.

My lips curl into a grin.

The Goblins let out a pitiful scream and they all scramble towards the only exit. Some of them slip on the bloody, viscera covered floor and are trodden underfoot by the other Goblins, dying under their weight.

A red gargoyle lunges at me with their claws outstretched, their eyes containing equal amounts of fear and rage.

Without even thinking about it, Balmung suddenly lit up in flames as it always does and with a lazy one-handed swing upwards, I cleave the red gargoyle creature in twine, burning guts splattering me and spraying blood everywhere.

The other red creatures look at the one I had just killed, it's now cleaved body burning and filling the room with smoke.

With haste, they crush the slower Goblins under foot and scramble to make their escape.

"Y-you fools! Where do y-you think you're going!? Come back here and kill it!"

Do they think it'll be that easy?

"[Summon Lesser Fire Wargs]"

In almost a machine like fashion, I utter the spell and my mind is suddenly filled everything I need to know about the spell. CDs, Mana cost, that kind of thing.

Two red somewhat large glowing magical circle appear by my side. With a small flash of light, two large orange wolves with manes of fire and sizzling drool appear from the circles. In my mind, I feel a connection of some sorts with these two fire wargs. Curious, I try to think out my orders.

And then with a bone-chilling howl, the two large wargs shoot off towards the exit, their flaming paws leaving scorch marks in their haste to hunt.

With that matter settled, I turn over to the currently mute and wide-eyed Succubus.

"Wa-wait a minute!" The Succubus begs me with tears in her eyes, inching away from me as I make my way towards her with Balmung in my hand, "I can give you anything you want! Women! O-or even myself! Gold beyond your wildest dreams! Please just don't-!"

Without a word, I lift up Balmung with both hands, the intense flames rolling off of the blade lighting up the throne room and chasing away the shadows.

"D-damn it!" The Succubus flies up the ceiling, out of my reach, and stretches out her hand towards me that held a swirling ball of shadow.

"Shadow Tendrils!"

Shadow what?

Faster than I could react, thin worm-like tendrils appeared from the shadows and shot out towards me.

But when they got close to me, a sort of mystical shield destroyed them. Countless tendrils made out of shadow tried to attack or bind me, but the shield around me destroys them all.

"So my passives still work...I suppose that makes sense if my spells work."

My momentary distraction caused by this new spell was enough for the Succubus flies past above me, shooting towards the exit.

"[Flare Whip!]"

A cord of fire flares into existence on my arm and I whip out my arm towards the bitch that tried to kill me.

"Ah!" The skank screams out in pain as the cord of fire snakes around her ankle, the sound and smell of sizzling flesh could be heard as the [Flare Whip] tightened itself on the whore. I hold out Balmung in front of me and I wrench my arm back, the Succubus comes flying towards me.

Or Balmung rather.

She tried to scream or say something. More begging, maybe. I don't know and I suspect that I never will.

With my arm wrenched backwards and the Succubus unable to stop herself, she can't do anything but watch with wide terror-filled eyes as she's impaled chest first on the flaming sword, the size of the blade almost spittling her in two.

Sizzling blood drops down on Balmung before being burned off by the heat of the flames. The Succubus looks up at me, blood dribbling down her mouth and her eyes watering.

"Th-this...isn-" She coughs up blood on Balmung and me though I could barely tell with already been bathed in blood, "Isn't...fair…"

She slumps over, dead as the flames of Balmung consume her. With a sneer, I throw off her corpse of my sword like trash as it joins the others that littered the room.

The only sounds that could be heard in the room are the crackle of burning bodies and my own heavy breathing, each lungful of air that I took positively saturated with the taste of blood.

With each gulp of bloody air, my mind becomes clear.

Clear to finally process what just happened.

"I…" I look around the bloody room. Bodies of chopped up Goblins, two burning halves of that red gargoyle creature and the currently smouldering body of that Succubus.

"I...did this?" I whisper to myself. I look down at my steady bloody covered gauntlets. Balmung's flames died down to nothing, clean as if it didn't just chop through 20 or so Goblins with a single sweep.

My heart goes back to a steady calm beat and feel the haze fully leave my mind as I look over the graveyard that I had created with my own hands.

"Yo-you were just defending yourself, Ryan…" I mutter to myself as I drunkenly stumble to the exit, kicking away limbs and half cut bodies, my feet splash the puddles of blood that had pooled around the floor.

"They were gonna k-kill you...T-there isn't any shame in defending yourself…"

Like a mantra, I repeat it to myself as I finally make my way out of the bloody room. As if filled with lead, my body suddenly leans against a stone wall, my wings pressed uncomfortably flat and I skid down to sit on the floor and Balmung falls to the floor.

My mind races wildly with thoughts, visions of what I just did with a bloodthirsty grin on my face flash before my eyes as I chopped and burned my way through.

"They weren't human, Ryan…" I mutter to myself quietly, "S-she said it herself. Goblins and Demons. She's a Succubus, so she must've been a bad person, right?"

I feel something nudge against me and I lift my head to see one of the fire wargs I had summoned gently rubbing its head against me, only this time it's covered in blood.

I reach out to pet it and it gleefully licks my hand before nudging itself against me some more. Before I know it, I'm gently hugging my arm around the flaming warg's mane, the flames licking themselves on my skin feel...nice. Comforting, even.

Reluctantly, I pull myself away from the warg and give it a grin as it licks my face and yips at me.

"Thanks...I needed that," I pet him some more before standing myself back to full height and picked up Balmung and sheathing it on my back, "...I'm crazy for asking this, but if you can understand me, are you and your...brother I guess, done? No survivors?"

The warg tilts his head at me before looking behind. He gives me a little yip and turns around to walk down the staircase.

The connection that had formed when I summoned the two fire wargs gave me an inkling into its mind and I can feel that it wants to show me something.

"Well, you can understand me, so that's good enough. Is what you want to show me on the ground floor?"

The fire warg gives me a happy yip and shoots off into the darkness, its flaming mane acting like a torch in the dark.

I look over the edge to the maw of the dark abyss but at this height, I couldn't see anything. With a sigh, I start to make my way down.

It can't get any worse.

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My wings gently flap, slowing down my fall as I glide down the long, open area. I got tired of walking after a while and decided to just glide down with my wings.

I could get used to this.

As I hit the floor, the stench of faeces and piss got stronger and stronger until it felt like I was breathing in germs with every breath.

"Oh, this can't be very sanitary," I refuse to take notice of the blood currently drying on me and I really didn't want to see what just squashed beneath my feet. Looking around, I found the second fire warg currently growling at something.

He's growling at some...small green children? I make my way over to him to take a better look.

And that's when I notice something else.

6 women, tied up on wooden posts with rope. 5 of them are completely naked, but their bodies are covered in grime and what I hope is dirt.

They seemed...dead. They didn't even look at me when I glided down to the floor and I couldn't see their eyes.

The 6th woman has long, knife-like ears, long blond hair and still wore her clean clothes but some of it was ripped in some places. It seemed to be some sort of robe and unlike the others, she stared at me with wide eyes and an open mouth.

An elf? And women? Why would they be-

"Maybe the daughter of a merchant one of my Goblins stole to bree-"

...All the things that I killed. With the exception of the Succubus, they were all male.

All the Goblins I killed were male.

...Oh.

"W-who are you?" A voice broke me out of my dark thoughts and I snap my head to see that the elf woman had spoken, "Did you come to rescue us?"

"I…" The words choke on my throat as I feel a scarily familiar haze almost wash over my mind yet again, "My name is R-...Dracul. My name is Dracul. I'm sorry, but I didn't know any of you were here. If it wasn't for my wargs, I don't think I've would've found you."

The first warg comes up behind me, nudging my hand again. I nod my head towards the captive women and it goes to bite off their ropes. The five other women finally look up at me.

And I wished they hadn't.

Their eyes, dull and lifeless. Their faces marred with things better left unsaid.

What the fuck had I stumbled upon.

"...In any case, I must thank you," The elf woman told me quietly as she helps the other women to their feet, "...I'm sorry, but I have one request."

"What?" I frown at the elf, "If you want me to escort all of you out of here, I was already going to do that."

"Thank you," The elf woman gives me a small sad smile, "But that is not what I was talking about. Those Goblin children over there...I would like for you to kill them."

"...You want me to what?"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

After all I had done upstairs, after the massacre I just enacted, this woman wants me to kill fucking children!?

"What the hell is wrong-!"

And then a sharp rock bounces off my head.

I slowly turn my head to see that one of the Goblin children had picked some rocks off of the ground. The warg growling at them run towards them, teeth bared but I thrust out my hand to stop it and the Goblin kids scramble back from the warg.

"You don't seem to understand," The elf woman says to me as she helps the last woman up, "Goblins hold no remorse, mo pity and no regret in their hearts. These ones, they will only grow up to cause more despair and hurt even more innocent people."

"H-how do I even know you're telling the truth?" I stumbly ask the elf who looks at me with pity, "You can't seriously expect me to-"

"I can not force you to do anything. But look at what almost happened to me and what has happened to these women and tell me then, that I'm lying."

I stare at the elf woman as she stares back me, unflinchingly.

My eyes wouldn't move. No matter how hard I tried, my eyes wouldn't move to look at the 5 other women.

"...Stand back."

With a grateful nod, she gets up to her feet and moves away from me. I look over to the shaking group of Goblin children. With a thought, the second fire warg runs over back to my left side while the first warg goes to my right.

I held out my hand.

It wasn't trembling.

It never trembled.

I wouldn't look away. Not from this.

"...[Fireball]"

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.

It was a quiet awkward walk back.

I'm tired. I just want to sleep in a bed and forget this whole nightmare already.

My fire wargs had disappeared soon after I had…

I had done the deed.

It seems like their normal time limit was still in effect so I wasn't too shocked at them disappearing but I couldn't say the same for the others. Apparently, they had never seen a summon before or something.

I don't really care, honestly.

When we made our way back outside, much of the day had passed and it was getting close to the evening. When I asked if there was a nearby village or something, the elf woman had told me that a human village was nearby where the 5 women lived and that we could make our way there tomorrow.

And as such, after conjuring six blankets with [Create Greater Item] and handing them out, I lit up a fire and made sure to keep my distance from the women. I have no idea how to handle these things, but I'm pretty sure seeing a male is the last thing they need.

At least I'm pretty sure they could tell that I'm a guy.

I keep the fire going as I keep Balmung laying flat across my lap in case I have to use it. My eyes feel heavy and my stomach is currently trying to eat itself but I have to keep watch, at least for tonight.

I look up to the star-filled night sky. When I first saw it, I could feel my breath be taken away by the sight.

The only thing that I could think that even rivalled this was the starry sky of Floor 6 of Nazarick in its night cycle. But that was fake, a bunch of pixels.

This was real.

And this place has two fucking moons.

The normal moon is as I would expect to be, big wide and white.

The second moon is smaller and green of all things.

"Oh, Momo…where the hell are you? What would you do?"

Would Touch do what I did? What am I saying, of course he wouldn't.

But what about Momo?

"Uhmmm…" I turn around to see that the elf woman, covering herself with the blanket I gave her, had walked up beside me after taking care of the other women, "I would just like to thank you again. For what you did for me and those poor women."

"...It's fine," I tell her before looking back towards the fire, "As I said, I didn't know anyone was even in that ruin. I was looking for a friend of mine."

"Even so, you still saved us and for that, you have my gratitude," She bows to me slightly. To my surprise, she sits right next to me and takes a good look at my face.

I glance over to the elf woman.

She's still staring.

"...Can I help you?" I eventually ask the elf who blushes faintly.

"My apologies, but I'm simply wondering what you are. I thought you were a Lizardman-"

Lizardman!?

"Who used a flying spell but now that I can properly see you, I must admit, I've never seen anything quite like you."

"I'm a Dragonoid," I tell her with a shrug and I could see her face scrunch up in thought.

"A...Dragonoid? I'm sorry, but I've never heard of a 'Dragonoid' before."

"Well, we're nothing like Lizardmen," I grumble at the thought of being compared to one, "We're descended from Dragons if the name and the wings weren't enough of a hint."

As if to express my points, my wings shuffle outward slightly before retracting.

"I...see…" She says in a tone that I don't think she sees at all, "And your name, Dracul, was it?"

I nod at her question, "It means Dragon where I come from."

The elf giggles at that, "My, what a strange name. My name is Missionary, from the temple of the Earth Mother."

"Missionary? That sounds like a title more than a name."

Missionary looks at me strangely before giving me a smile, "It may have been obvious, but you truly must come from distant lands, don't you, Dracul?"

"...Something like that," I admit to Missionary, "...Can I ask you something? Like, a lot of things?"

Missionary gently smiles at me, "Of course. It is the least I can do to repay you."

"Thank you," I let out a relieved sigh, "The other women...are they going to be okay?"

Missionary's face falls and she looks away for a moment, "...I hope they will be. I can only pray to the Earth Mother that in time, their wounds will heal. We have done what we can for them."

"I see…" I sigh out, not really sure at what I was expecting, "Then let me ask you this…"

And so, throughout the night, I more or less interrogated Missionary for information about, well, everything and she indulged me, not once asking me a question.

She has never heard of the words; YGGDRASIL, Ainz Ooal Gown or Momonga. When I asked about magic, she says that the number of casts depends on the spellcaster in question, but most can only do two or even three casts a day.

Which doesn't make sense. In anyway.

I used 9 spells today so clearly, my magic is working as it should be. When I asked about Tier magic, Missionary told me she never heard of such magic before.

Which is just fantastic.

So I'm in another world, in which my magic works in almost completely alien ways to everyone else's.

After that, she told me the general state of the world and other little common knowledge tidbits.

The Demon Lord has resurrected again and is waging another war against the civilised world while most races bands together to stop him and the Demon that I had killed, Succubus, was one of his consorts. Despite that, she was famed for manipulation of men than her fighting prowess apparently.

And then it struck me.

I basically killed one of Satan's whores.

Fucking. Fantastic.

Missionary goes on to tell me that we're deep in the Frontier, a stretch of uncharted wilderness hiding all sorts of things like ruins, treasure or monsters. Some farming villages were settled around here and like she said before, one was nearby to us.

Apparently, she was out here travelling and spreading the word of her god, the Earth Mother. She hired two adventurers as bodyguards, but they weren't prepared for the massive ambush of Goblins and Devils. They brought her back to the ruin, but before anything could happen, I had arrived.

And then she tells me something very interesting:

"The Adventurers Guild? That Succubus mentioned something like that. Is it famous or something?"

"Very much so. I don't think there is a single person that doesn't know of it...Well, maybe one," She grins at me and I couldn't help but let out a guffaw and my lips curl into a grin, "There are many reasons for someone to become an adventurer: Fame, money, maybe even to rescue a damsel in distress or several."

Fame…

Momo would become an adventurer, right? It would be an easy way to make money and we liked travelling around YGGDRASIL. It isn't that far of a stretch of the imagination and if he's stranded somewhere in this world, surely spreading my name is the best way to reach him.

Missionary doesn't say anything. The only sound that could be heard in the stillness of the night is the crackle of the dying fire.

"...Are you really not going to ask me anything?" I eventually say to Missionary, "I've got to be the most suspicious person right now."

"True," Missionary gives me a small nod, "But, even so. I owe you my life and the lives of those women. I believe the Earth Mother guides your path-"

"No offence, but I find that very hard to swallow. Until now, I've never heard of this 'Earth Mother'. It was simply random luck that I found you, you know that right?"

"Maybe so," She shrugs and smiles at me, "In any case, I do have one question for you, if you don't mind me asking."

"Go ahead," I shrug at her, "Not like I'm hiding anything."

"Thank you. Before, you said something about a...Momo? I'm simply curious what that is."

"...Momo is a nickname for my friend. His full name is Momonga and we both come from the same place," I tell her with a somber voice, "We were just together, but we've been...separated. I'm trying to find him, but I've had no luck so far. But I think you just told me the best way to find him."

"Oh?" Missionary looks at me with surprise, "What did I say?"

"Simple: I'm going to become an adventurer."

.

.

"Thank you, thank you so much!" An older man vigorously shakes my blood dried gauntlet, "I don't know how I'll ever repay you!"

"Uhhhh...it's fine, really. Like I said, it was only blind luck that I saved them."

At first, to say that I terrified the villagers would be an understatement but after they saw who I was bringing, their mood instantly did a 180.

Now I can't get rid of them.

"Blind luck or not, you saved this village from a terrible fate and for that, you have our gratitude. Even if we already posted the quest to the Guild, I'm just happy that our nightmare is over now. Please, if you want anything, anything at all, just say it."

"...In that case, can you give me some directions to the nearest Adventurers Guild?"

The old man, the Chief of this village I presume, looks at me with wide eyes, "I-is that it? You don't want any coin?"

"Not really," I shrug at the Chief, "Like I said, this whole thing was blind luck. I didn't accept a job for this and I don't want to get paid because of what was essentially me just stumbling around."

The Chief frowns at me for a moment before his face blossoms into a grin, "Heh, you truly are a weird one. Can I at least have the name of the person who rescued my daughter?"

"Dracul," I told him with no small amount of pride, "My name is Dracul."

"Thank you again, Dracul," The Chief smiles at me and points down a dirt road, "If you just follow this road, you should come across a city that holds a Guild. You'll find what you need there."

"Thank you," I nod at the Chief, "Sorry to cut this short, but I'm in a rush…"

"No worries. At the sake of repeating myself, thank you. Truly, thank you."

With that, the old man walks back towards one of the women now draped in a white sheet who is being hugged by a crying older woman. He gently hugs both of them and his daughter, for the first time I've seen her, starts to cry.

"They'll heal," A soft voice says behind me and I turn around to find Missionary in white robes, "I know they will."

"...I hope so," I let out a sigh, "Mission-"

"I'm sorry, Dracul."

"Huh?" I say with eloquence.

"For what I asked of you, back at the ruin. I understand that it wasn't easy to make-"

I hold up my hand to stop her.

I let out a shuddering breath and I try to push the thoughts to the back of my head.

"You've helped me, Missionary. You've helped me a lot," I tell her with a steady voice, "So I'm choosing to trust you and what you said back then. But, if I find out you lied to me…"

What would I do?

Kill her? Like I did to Succubus?

Or would I burn her alive?

"...I just hope for both our sakes, I never do find out."

Despite the underlying message, the elf simply smiled at me as if I just didn't threaten her. She closes her eyes and clasps her hands in prayer.

"I swear by the Earth Mother, I was telling the truth back then," She vows to her god and looks at me with a smile, "And if you do find out the truth, I don't think I have anything to fear from you, Dracul."

"...Yeah, I hope so too," I let out a tired sigh, "In any case, what are you going to do now?"

"I believe I will head back home. I've already hired a carriage to take me back and I think I'll carry on my mission somewhere else. In truth, I...don't really like this place as much as I used to."

"Well, that's understandable. Then, I guess this is where we part ways."

"I suppose it is," Missionary smiles at me and gives me a deep bow, "Thank you again, Dracul, for saving not only me but the others as well."

I rub the back of my head at her praise, "I've said it before, but it was only dumb luck that you were saved."

Missionary giggles at me, "That still doesn't make what you did mean any less. You really should learn to take a compliment, you know."

"Yeah, yeah…" I mutter under my breath at her giggles, "I wish you the best of luck on your journey, Missionary."

"And I wish you the best on yours, Dracul. I hope you find your friend."

"...Thank you," I give the elf a nod and start to make my way down the dirt road.

When I'm far enough from the village, I spread my wings and with a mighty flap, flew into the air.

Now, let's find a river and clean off all this blood on me…

.

.

After steam cleaning my armour, I took to the skies and followed the dirt road like the Chief instructed and soon enough, I could see the city in the distance. Of course, I was in the air so I would've seen it a lot sooner if I wasn't messing around.

Flying, as it turns out, is really fun. Who knew.

I passed over a single farm and I could see quite a lot of people walking on the dirt road. Some of them wore leather armour with longswords on their hip and others seem to wore robes like spellcasters.

Adventurers, if I had to guess.

Right.

So, how do I do this?

I'm currently high up in the air and none of them have seen me yet, for now anyway. And just crashing down is not the best first impression to make.

Damn it.

I flew back a bit until the drove of Adventurers trickles down to nothing. I look around to see that a girl with bright red hair pulling a cart by herself, but other than that, nothing really stood out to me.

Gently, I descended down onto the dirt road, just out of sight of the girl pulling cart.

Well, I don't hear any screams. So far, so good.

Patting myself on the back for my stealthy approach, I walk down the dirt road towards the city.

And soon enough, I caught up to the people that I saw while in the air.

And they saw me.

"Is that a Lizardman?" I hear someone whisper to their friend.

"I-maybe? But look at the wings! Do Lizardmen have wings?"

The thought of going into my human form did cross my mind and I almost did it, but…

I'm strong as a Dragonoid. I know I'm strong as a Dragonoid and I can defend myself if I'm strong.

Am I strong as a human? I don't know.

And I'm not willing to take that risk.

I can't be Ryan.

I have to be Dracul.

At least until I find Momo.

Despite some very cautious glances and even more whispers, I enter the city easily enough and without issue. I look around to find the Adventurers Guild.

And then I stumble onto my first roadblock.

I have no idea where it is.

"Oh shit," I mutter under my breath as I swish my head around, looking at the various buildings.

The noise of the city combined with the whispers made it hard to think, but I try to keep the scowl off of my face. I finally notice a hanging sign of an anvil.

If anyone knows where the Guild is, I suppose the Blacksmith would know.

I make my way over to the blacksmith, my wings and tails sometimes brushing against people.

God, that feels weird.

I open the door and duck under it, my wings laying flat against my back as I shuffle through the doorway.

I have never seen anything like it.

Weapons lined the walls; Spears, swords, maces and all sorts that shined as if freshly cleaned.

Suits of shining armours stood up on stands and shields, big and small, hung up on the walls.

"Damn…"

"Be right with ya!" A gruff voice shouts at me from the counter. I look over to see that short, stout man working on something. Though I could see his back, his arms are bulged with muscles, looking like tree trunks.

I make my way over to the counter to see that stout blacksmith working on a grindstone on a short sword. After some time, he lifts up the sword and looks at with a keen eye. After a moment, he wipes it with a cloth and throws it into a barrel.

"Now, what can I do for ya?" He gruffly says to me and turns around to face me.

Or my chest plate rather.

He slowly looks up to me.

The blacksmith has an almost bald head with white hair thinning at the back, but a magnificent white beard and moustache that covered his chiselled chin. For some reason, he was keeping his right eye closed.

"Hello," I try to make my voice not sound like rabid alligator, "I was wondering if you could help me."

"Hmph," The Smith grunts at me, "By the look of ya, I don't really see how I could help you."

"You have an impressive stock," I compliment him, "But, I would just like to ask for some directions, specifically about the Adventurers Guild."

"You don't know?" He asks with a raised brow, "With gear like that, I thought for sure you were some high-end adventurer."

"I'm...new in town, you could say. I'm planning to sign up and become an adventurer though."

"Really now?" The Smith strokes his beard and looks at me from head to toe, "You some kind of Lizardman or something?"

"No," I almost snap at the Smith, "I'm a Dragonoid. Big difference."

If one more person compares me to a bloody Lizardman again…

"Hmmm…" The Smith hums and looks at me for a bit, "Never heard of a 'Dragonoid' before, but I suppose it doesn't matter. The Guild is one of the bigger buildings you see when you come through the entrance. It's almost always busy so just look for the big building that has people with weapons coming and going."

Oh. That makes sense.

"Thank you," I nod to the Smith, "You've been a big help."

"Hmph," He grunts at me again, "Now get out of my store. You're scaring away my customers."

He nods behind me and I turn around to look that quite a large crowd has gathered outside the store. When they noticed me looking, they all quickly ran away.

"...Well, I suppose I should get going," I turn my head and nod to the Smith, "Thanks again for your help."

"Yeah, yeah. Now get. This is a smithy, not a circus."

With that dismissal, I make my way out of the blacksmith's and go back to the square.

Within in moments, I found what the Smith had described. People with weapons, gear and staffs going into a single, large building.

You know, that should've been obvious at the start.

Finally having a grasp on where to go, I make my way to the Adventurers Guild and trying not to take notice of the stares.

On one hand, I want to be famous so I guess being stared at like a freak is one way to do it.

On the other hand, I'm seriously reconsidering coming back here in my human form.

After some people move out of my way, I make my way inside the bustling building.

The inside of the building is large as I expected with counters at the back being manned by Guild secretaries. Almost everyone wore some sort of armour and held a weapon or two. Other wore cloth robes and even had pointed hats.

"Damn, those guys weren't kidding," I heard someone whisper. A man in blue armour holding a spear on his shoulder standing with 3 other people. Two are women, one in armour and the other in revealing clothes and the third person is a gruff man with black spiky hair with a massive greatsword on his back, wearing heavy plate.

"Look at that...I wanna say guy? Wings and all. And that sword, heh. He's giving you a run for your money," The blue armoured spearman elbows the heavy warrior beside him, who gives him a scowl.

Well, they're not attacking me. So that's nice.

Ignoring the whispers, I walk over to one of the counters, the one had the shortest line. I could feel the other secretaries glance at me as I walked over to them, but most surprising was the blue spearman being held back as I walked over to the counter.

What's the matter with him?

I walk behind a young man making their report on something or other and silently wait for my turn. It seems they haven't noticed me yet.

"Thank you for your report!" The woman at the counter said with a smile as she puts away the piece of paper she was writing on and hands over a small leather bag to the group.

And finally gets a look of me.

Her smile drops.

"Thanks!" The adventurer, a young bald man with a greatsword on his back, accepts the small leather bag with a grin, "Now, I can get something to eat-"

He turns around and bumps into my chest plate, "Ah, dammit! Watch where you're goin…"

He trails off as he looks up at me and I look down at him.

I can feel my lips start to curl into a grin before I shut it down.

Can't really be doing that now.

"You okay?" I simply ask the young man who gives me a numb nod. He seems to snap back to his senses and quickly moves out of my way.

Rude.

I walk up to the counter and get a good look of the woman behind it. She has bright blond, almost gold, hair with some of twisted into a side plait on her left. Her gold-yellow eyes are equally filled with trepidation and nervousness as I made my way up to her counter but still gives me a very shaky smile.

"W-Welcome to the A-Adventurers Guild! Ho-How can I help y-you?"

"Hello. I would like to register as an adventurer."

The Guild clerk eyes lit up in surprise at my words, "O-Oh! Of course, l-let me just get the Adventure sheet!"

With somewhat shaky hands, she reaches for a piece of paper on her desk and hands over to me. I take it from her, ignoring the little noise she made, and take a good look at the piece of paper.

To my surprise, I find myself able to read the letters on the sheet of paper. It was all English but very stylized, with flicks and curves.

But readable.

Thank you, god, for looking over me for this at least.

"U-uhmmm… a-are you able to read?" Guild Girl asks me with a trembling smile.

"I can," I nod at her question, "I presume you want me to fill this in?"

"Y-yes please."

With a nod, I got to work.

Writing with my claws was a bit...difficult but I eventually managed to make my chicken scratch look eligible.

Never wrote with ink before though. That was a new experience.

Almost all of it was simple information; Name, Race, class, body type, even stuff like sex and my eye colour.

"Y-you can leave 'Abilities' and 'Adventure History' blank. The Guild fills those as you work as an adventurer."

After the woman told me that, I finished up and I hand back my sheet to the Guild clerk.

"Wait just a moment please," She finally says a sentence without a stutter as she reads out the sheet.

"Name: Dracul, Race: Drag...onoid?" She looks up at me and this time, I do smile at her and show off my very sharp teeth.

She gulps.

"Unlike what I hear some people saying behind my back, I'm, in fact, not a red Lizardman with wings. I thought my wings were a giveaway on that, but apparently not."

After I said that aloud, I hear some people start to choke and sputter behind me. I couldn't help but look behind me to see some people glance at me before looking away.

To my surprise, the Guild Girl giggles and actually gives me a big smile of her own, "I see then. Well, it all looks to be in order, but...I do have one question?"

"Is something wrong?"

"Well, it's just your age. You wrote down...16?"

"...Oh, that."

Shit! I did that by instinct!

Fuc-!

"Do you mean that in human years or Lizar-Dragonoid years?"

…

Lady, I could kiss you.

"Dragonoid years," I answer smoothly as if I didn't just make a major fuck up, "Among my own people, I'm quite young."

Just a small white lie. And I am young, for all intents and purposes.

"I see, that's all I needed to know, thank you," She smiles brightly at me. With a small flourish, she takes some sort of stylus and a small white tag. She writes on the tag before handing it to me.

"Porcelain?" I mumble under my breath as my gauntlet brushes against the small white dog tag with a bit of rope going through it.

"That's correct," The woman tells me in a business-like tone, "I'm sorry, but despite your gear, you can't be-"

"Oh, I didn't mean it like that," I interrupt the Guild clerk, "I just didn't know it was going to be porcelain, that's all. I don't mind working my way up the ranks if I have to."

I mean, I don't like taking shortcuts if I can help it. Working your way from the bottom to the top makes for a good story, right? People like an underdog becoming an alpha or something like that.

I think anyway.

"O-oh, I see. W-would you like for me to explain the rankings then?"

Jackpot.

"If it isn't too much trouble," I tell her with a smile and as if she was a teacher, Guild Girl told me what I needed to know.

Turns out, there are 10 ranks:

Porcelain, the lowest and where I am right now.

Obsidian.

Steel.

Sapphire.

Emerald.

Ruby.

Bronze.

Silver.

Gold.

And then, at the highest, is Platinum.

After that, I ask some general question about Gold and Plats and as it turns, Gold and Plats are more or less heroes of the country. They don't deal with stuff like most adventurers do and seem to be busy with the war against the Demon Lord.

This is it.

This is exactly what I need to find Momo.

Just work my way up to Gold and my name will become known enough to fight in that war.

If that doesn't work, I don't know what will.

"Please take good care of that," She gestures to my tag, "It holds your 'status' and it'll identify you if something were to happen to you."

So I was right. These are just like dog tags then.

"Something tells me that no one is going to confuse me for someone else," I joke and the Guild clerk giggles. It was too small to wrap around my head so I put on my hand, like a bracelet.

"Thank you for your help," I give the Guild clerk a grateful nod, "I believe I've taken up enough of time though and I should get to work already. Do you have any recommendations for my first job?"

"O-Oh!" The Guild clerk looks at me with wide eyes at my question, "Uhmmm...I would recommend hunting Giant Rats for a start, down in the sewers. Just to get your feet wet, if you excuse the pun. You'll find the quests posted over there and please pick one for your level."

"Giant Rats, huh?" I mutter under my breath.

It's just a recommendation and I know don't have to take it.

But, at the lowest rank right now, it's not like anything I'll pick might be a challenge for me, if the fight back at the ruins is anything to go by.

That, and I have no idea about the lay of the land so going into the city sewers and getting money to buy a map sounds like a good start.

"Then I might just do that then. Thank you for your help," I bow my head to stunned the Guild clerk and walk over to the board that she pointed at.

Damn, that is a lot of paper.

The quest board took up almost a whole wall and is positively filled with sheets of paper, all different quests for different ranks.

Most of the ones left were Porcelain or Obsidian rank though and going by the low number count on the bottom of the quests, they paid very little.

One thing that caught my eye is what most of the quests were about:

Goblins.

So many different quests, but they virtually say the same thing.

Goblins are harassing villages, stealing or killing livestock and ruining their harvests.

Unfortunately, more than I'm comfortable with also mention women being kidnapped as well. Some of them are even ranked Ruby or Sapphire.

Visions of what I saw back the ruin flash before my eyes. I shake my head and take a better look at one of the Goblin quests, specifically, where the village is located.

Which it didn't tell me. It just told me the name of the village and nothing else.

I should take the Giant rat one. I should take that one, get paid for it and get a map or even buy some food. It's been almost 24 hours without any food for God's sake.

I go to grab the Giant rat quest-

"Oi, big guy. You got a minute?"

A young but rough voice stopped me before I could do anything. I turn around to see that two people have snuck up on me, carefully avoiding my tail.

One is a man in blue armour with peach blond hair, his eyes the same colour. He lazily holds a spear against his shoulder and he looks at me with a disbelieving eye.

The other person, his companion if I had to guess, is a mature, beautiful woman wearing a very revealing robe. She has long purple hair and gold eyes that shone with mischief and under her right eye was a beauty mark.

But around their necks shone two silver tags.

"Yes? Can I help you?" I bewilderedly ask the two Silver ranked adventurers.

"Well, I was just wondering...are ya really gonna go down in the sewers in that?" He waves his free hand at my armour and Balmung.

"That was the plan, yes," I tell the Spearman dryly, "I don't plan on coming back here dripping with sewage if that's your worry. I do, in fact, know how to bathe."

What the hell did this guy think I was going to do? Go down there naked or something? Why does he even care what I do?

True, I've only seen Elves, Humans and Half-lings so far and not a single other Heteromorphic being but by now, the whole wonder of the 'Lizardman with wings' deal has died down and now people are just going around, doing their business.

Hell, if anything, most people seem to be interested in my gear of all things.

The woman laughs softly at my dry tone, "A bit...overdressed...aren't you?"

"Yeah," Spearman nods with an annoying grin, "You could do a lot better than some stinking rats with gear like that."

I couldn't help but frown at what Spearman and the woman said.

They had a point, as much as I hate to admit. I know for a fact that not only did my armour protect me against that freakishly strong Goblin but my [High Tier Magic Immunity III] also warded against that Succubus's spells.

During my flying around, I checked my inventory and I still have my helmet but nothing else.

God, I wish I was a hoarder like Momo.

"Even if that is the case, that doesn't change the fact that I only just signed up to be an adventurer. Ignoring the fact that the quests I decide to undertake is my business and not yours, you still haven't told me what you want."

"Heh, today is your lucky day, rookie," The Spearman gives me a cocky smirk and I try not to grimace though going by the smile the woman gave me, she noticed, "Me and Witch here are about to go on a quest to hunt a manticore. How about we see if you can use that sword to good use, eh?"

"A manticore?" I mumble aloud as I thought over this guys offer for a moment before disregarding it.

It was obvious what was going on.

New guy comes in sparkling gear, big sword and big wings. He stands out and all that tripe so the veterans decide to haze him for whatever reason.

What a waste of my time.

Though hunting a manticore sounds like a good way to get famous, I'm not going to piggyback off this cocky guy. Plus me being alone makes it easier for me to fight and garner fame.

But he did make a good point.

I could do way more good than just killing some rats.

I turn my head around to look at the paper filled board behind me.

"There is a disturbing amount of quests about Goblins here. From what I've seen, I'm surprised no one is doing anything about them."

"There is...one person, but...he's away...on a quest..." The woman, Witch, says in a slow drawl and Spearman scoffs at whoever this person is.

"Just one person?" I mumble under my breath as I look over the multitude of different quests about Goblins, visions of before yet again flashing in my mind.

"Hey, little advice rookie-"

"All by himself?" I interrupt the blue armoured warrior who gives me a confused look, "This person, he does it all by himself?"

"Yeah...The guy, Goblin Slayer, he's a bit...off. He's done nothing but kill Goblins for 5 years. I don't know how he even made it to Silver rank by killing nothing but Goblins or why the Guild even promoted him."

5 years? Of killing Goblins?

"...[Fireball]"

Does...does he have to do something like that? For 5 years?

"...Excuse me, but I never got your names."

"Oh! Yeah, sorry about that. I'm Spearman and this is Witch."

Really.

Then again, there is someone out there literally called Goblin Slayer.

Maybe my name isn't too bad after all.

"Dracul," I give a nod to the both of them and ignored their curious looks at my name, "And thank you. I'll follow your advice and put my sword to better use."

"Great!" Spearman's face lit up, but Witch covers her mouth with her hand, her eyes smiling, "We'll wait-"

Before he could continue, I turn around slightly and grab a Porcelain level quest off the board, the only one that I could take and still do something about.

Without a word, I walk past the stunned Spearman and laughing Witch and make my way back to the Guild Girl who looks parts amused while trying not to turn her smile into a smirk.

I could feel a bunch of eyes on me from the other adventurers but I don't bother paying attention.

I need to finish this quest fast.

"Thank you for your recommendation from before, but I think this would be a better use of my skills."

I hand over the quest I picked up from the board to her and she takes it from me.

Her smile drops.

.

.

"Oh my...it seems we've been...blown off…" Witch says in a seductive drawl as they watch the winged Lizardman leave on his first quest.

A Goblin extermination quest.

"Pah, whatever. Last time I try help him if he's just gonna blow us off like that," Spearman grumbles as they walk to the counter with their quest in hand.

"Is that...how it is? Even though...you were talking about...wasted effort or something?"

"Big red over there was seriously about to go down in the sewers to kill some Giant rats with that sword of his! As I said, he's better off doing something actually useful. Goblins don't pay much, but nothing ever does when you're just starting out."

"And were you...serious about bringing...him along on our 'date'?"

"Eh," Spearman shrugs at his friend who just gives him a smile, "Doesn't matter now. Who knows, maybe he isn't all show. We'll see if he comes back."

.

.

After getting directions from the Guild clerk, I quickly made my way out of the city and flew towards the village that posted the quest.

God, I love these things.

The quest is simple enough: Goblins have been harassing a village with escalating acts of violence and vandalism, eventually stealing food and livestock and destroying what they can't steal.

Thankfully, unlike the other quests, it didn't mention any women being kidnapped.

Yet anyway.

It may not be much, but like Spearman said: It'll put my sword to good use.

Eventually, I see a small village in the distance with small ploughed fields with a river running through or near the fields. All but one building that looks to be a shed or something and the rest are made out of wood, presumably out of the large forest that surrounds it.

A large, but shoddily made fence surrounds the village, no doubt to help keep out the Goblins.

With slow flaps, I gradually descend to the ground and-

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

My head snaps toward the scream that came from the forest.

The scream of a young girl.

My feet leave the ground just as I finish landing.

"Let go of her, you bastards!" A more mature voice of a woman shouts out, only for guttural, mocking laughter and chittering squeals of something inhuman.

My wings smash through the tree branches and my tail leaves indents in the trees as the screams become louder and louder, ringing inside of my head and accompanied by the disgusting laughter of Goblins.

Through the red haze of my mind, I had finally made it.

20 or so vile, wart-faced Goblins are holding down two women, or rather a woman and a young girl. Their tops and clothes are ripped to pieces, leaving their upper bodies bare. They had almost ripped open their skirts before I had arrived. Shoddy looking spears are on the ground, the rusty iron tips covered in some sort of green gunk.

The depraved creatures all turn to look up at me in shock as my tail smashes aside a tree, toppling it over with a mighty crash.

"[Triplet Magic: Blazing Arrows]"

9 familiar arrows of fire blazed into existence above my head and shot out towards the nearest of the green creatures. Some of their heads burst in a show of crimson blood and bits of their white skull like overripe fruit. Others had their bodies almost incinerated by the searing heat of my [Blazing Arrows] due to their small stature.

One of the Goblins holding the older woman hostage fell victim to one of my arrows, his head popping like a red cherry and sprays the woman's face red with blood. The shower by blood broke her out of the stupor caused by my sudden appearance and with a furious snarl, she punches one of the Goblins holding down her arm, finally wrestling free control as the Goblins find themselves in disarray.

The sickly sweet smell of burning pork snaps the Goblins back to reality. The two holding down the young girl look at each other for a brief moment.

Then back to me, my wings spread out, my teeth bared in a growl and my tail swaying.

They hastily let go of the girl and ran back into the thicket of the forest, like dogs with tails between their legs.

"Sis!" The young girl cries out, tears running down her face as she reaches towards the older woman.

The older woman quickly tries to stand up only for something to grab her hair and pull her back down.

The Goblin the older woman sneered at her with its bloody broken nose. It lets out a snarl and it pulls out a rusty, dirty knife from its loincloth, raising the knife above its head.

With a single leap forward, I backhand the evil thing into a tree, its broken body falling into a lifeless pile of meat and shattered bones amongst a pile of wood chips and splinters.

I look over the remaining little green devils, a deep, rumbling grow escaping from my lips. The repugnant things grabbed the spears lying down on the grounds, pointing them at me.

The girl clutched at the woman behind me. I could hear small sniffles as the blood covered woman tries to comfort her but I can feel her eyes boring right on the back of my head.

One of the Goblins lets out a wild shriek like a rabid cat and charges right at me, along with three others. The other four Goblins lunge towards the women, their lips curving into a depraved grin.

I spread my wings to their full length, acting like a great shield and the poorly made spears break themselves upon me like twigs. A single flap generates a gust of wind that knocks back almost all the Goblins flat on their backs.

Before they could get back up, with a single step, I lift my clawed greave up and stomped on a Goblin like a bug.

Its head popped like a blood-filled balloon and the spray of the warm, coppery fluid splash onto my face, dying my crimson scales in red with small bits of white bone sticking to me.

Grey matter and blood splatters onto the other Goblins. I snap my head towards the creatures as they stared up at me, trembling with tears in their eyes. They frantically start to crawl away in a pathetic attempt to run from me.

I reach behind me and unsheathe Balmung in a wide swing, catching five Goblins in its slicing arc. Organs that didn't stay on Balmung flew through the air, hitting the branches high in the air and hanging like decorations.

Another big step, another stomp and one more dead Goblin, sopping guts spill forth as I press my foot against its flattened and torn open stomach.

The last Goblin hits a tree in its frantic backwards crawl to get away from me. I walk over to it and I lift Balmung high up in the air, blood, guts and fat dripping from the blade.

Then it starts to beg.

Tears spill forth from its eyes as it holds its hands in a sort of praying gesture and it starts to say some indecipherable gibber that I can't understand a word of.

I stop.

I look around to the bloodstained forest, bits and pieces of Goblin gore decorating the surrounding area. The burning bodies have simmered into a burnt carcass and only the gentle wind now blows through the forest.

Then I hear someone sniffling.

The two women are still here.

The older woman holds the young girl in a tight hold, her body drenched in the aftermath of what I did compared to the young girl who remained somewhat clean. Her long black hair matted with blood and gore.

She stares me right in the eyes, her bare but blood-drenched chest rising with every breath.

And serving as a reminder of what almost happened.

I slowly sheathe Balmung.

The disgusting green gremlin sees this and almost immediately stops praying to start running.

It doesn't get very far as I grab its throat and lift it up to eye level.

The Goblin starts to scream bloody murder, clawing and grabbing at my hand, only to find no purchase. It shoots its hand down its loincloth and pulls out a dirty knife and starts violently stabbing my arm.

The blade of the knife snaps off.

"[Combustion]"

As soon as I casted the spell, the Goblin is engulfed in flames. The screams of rage from before has turned into gibbering wails of agony as it desperately tries to escape from my grasp, bringing down its broken knife down upon me, again and again.

It doesn't work.

The smell of roasting pork drifts into my nose and the Goblin in my hand goes still. The flesh consuming flames eagerly eat away at its body, showing me the soon to be charred skeleton underneath.

I drop the burning carcass like the flaming garbage that it is.

Resisting the urge to stomp on it, I slowly turn around to look at the two women. The young girl clings to the older woman when my gaze meets hers and her sniffles become louder.

...Not my best first impression.

"I'm sorry if I scared you," I finally open my mouth and talk, a strange coppery taste on my tongue. The two flinch back as I take a step towards them.

"My name is Dracul," I lift up my left hand to show off my porcelain dog tag and the older woman's eyes widen in shock, "And I've come about the quest."

.

.

I stood out on the edge of the forest, a bit away from the village as the blood of the Goblins I killed soaked into my armour, again and I try my best to forget the vivid taste of the blood that was in my mouth.

Considering the state of the older woman and the young girl, who I found out are sisters, the older sister asked me to stay away for now and let her explain so no misunderstandings arouse.

I had no issues with it and after escorting the two sisters back to the safety of the village fence, I stayed far back as the girls walk back to the village, hand in hand.

It didn't take very long for the entire village to notice the blood-drenched, half-naked girls coming back from the forest. A man with a big bushy black beard runs up to the both of them, grabbing them in a fierce hug.

And it didn't take them long to notice me either.

After some more talking and weird looks, the man with the bushy beard sent the girls back into the village, presumably to get cleaned and dressed. He gives me a scared look but marches towards me anyway. Some men go with him, but he just shoos them off.

"Thank you for saving my daughters," The man bows deeply to me, "They...they told me what happened and what you did. I-I don't know how I'll-"

"It's fine," I wave him off, "It was just luck, nothing more. In any case, I'm here about the quest you posted at the Guild. Any help you can give me would be much appreciated."

The man's eyes lit up at my statement, "O-Oh! Right, yeah. Well, we don't really know how many of the little devils are hiding away. It used to be small things at first, stealing our crops and stomping on what they couldn't take, but they always did it at night. Now though, they've almost completely destroyed our crops, some of our men went into the forest, but they never came back. And now, they...they almost kidnapped my youngest."

"Is that why your elder daughter was out here?"

"Aye," He gives me a slow nod, scowling at the thought of what almost happened, "She's just little, sir. I try to tell her to stay put, but the youngins don't listen to old folk. That's why I ask her sister to keep an eye on her, but she kept running away until…"

"Say no more," I cut him off and he gives me a thankful nod, "Do you know where these Goblins are hiding? Their nest?"

"I'm not entirely sure…" The bearded man frowns in thought, "But if I had to guess...When I was young, I used to explore these woods. Not too far from here is a big old cave. Now, I never went inside of it, but that's the only place I can think of where their nest might be."

"I see…" I mutter under my breath.

Didn't some Goblins run away before I could get to them? Would they run away to their nest?

"...If you would like, I could lead you to the cave."

The man's offer broke me out of my thoughts and I rolled it around in my head for a bit…

His glance behind himself, back to the village. Back to his home.

"Thank you for the offer," I give him a nod, "But, I believe it'll better for you to go back home and lock up. I'll be back after I deal with these Goblins."

"A-are you sure?"

"I am. Some Goblins ran away before I could kill them and I'm hoping they'll lead me right to their nest. For your safety, go back home and make sure no one leaves their home. I'll come back after the job is done."

Before he could say anything, I turn my back to him and walk back into the forest, following the scent of blood.

.

.

Jackpot.

Tracking the small footprints of Goblins was harder than I expected but they didn't even bother trying to hide their tracks. If they did, I probably wouldn't have been able to find them.

As the old man said, the tracks eventually led me straight to a massive cave opening with a bunch of Goblin sized footprints in front of it. If that wasn't evidence enough, there are two totem pole things planted on either side of the cave with a skull of a wolf on top of it.

Reaching into my inventory, I pulled out the sole thing I had stored in there: My helmet.

Putting on my helmet for the first time since coming here, I descended down into the dark, dank cave.

Folding in my wings as close as I can and ducking down my head so I don't scrape my helmet on the low ceiling of the cave system, I quietly walk down until I see something in the distance.

"Another one?" I mumble as I walk up to another totem pole thing. It was exactly the same as the ones outside. I ignore it and I push onward, trying to find any Goblins.

Moving on, my nose only smells the scent of the dank cave and the dried blood on me so that isn't much use. The only thing I could hear is the slight scrape of metal against stone as I try my best to duck.

I should've changed into my human form for this, small as it might be. My stats or passive didn't change whatever form I'm in, so I guess it shouldn't matter really.

But then I couldn't use Balmung or my armour, so in the end, what would be the point?

I find myself walking into a wide open area that I can fully stand up in, if barely, with old bones of various animals scattered about like rubbish. And right at the back stood a small chair made out of...human bones?

Well.

That's tacky.

Ignoring the quite frankly stupid looking throne, I-

Without warning, I feel something strike itself against my back of my neck.

Almost on instinct, my tail goes wild and swipes violently to the right, smacking something to the cave wall that landed with a wet splat.

The now familiar smell of blood drifts through the wide area as I turn around to see that a 10 or so loathsome Goblins had managed to sneak up behind me, not counting the one that I smacked aside with my tail.

Most of the Goblins had the same poorly made spears that I saw before, but others wielded small knives, clubs or stone hatchets.

What caught my eye though, is the Goblin right at the back. Wearing a cowl that hid its eyes and carrying a staff with a human skull on it, the staff wielding Goblin starts barking orders to the others as they block the entrance.

"Now, how did all of you manage that?" I mutter as the Goblins glare at me with their goat-like eyes but don't do anything.

The cowl wearing Goblin scowls at me with its yellow sharp teeth and starts to chant in its gibbering language. Its staff starts to crackle with yellow electricity and with a guttural laugh, points the crackling staff at me.

A bolt of electricity arcs towards me, only for my [High Tier Magic Immunity III] to kick in and safely neutralize the spell.

The magic flinging Goblin stops laughing.

I feel my lips curl into a grin.

"My turn," I tell the filthy creature as it starts to yell and beat the others to rush me in a wave of green as he prepares another lightning bolt.

I reach behind me for Balmung so I can get to work.

Only for the handle to hit the ceiling.

Shit.

3 Goblins leap onto me, grabbing onto various bits of my armour as they frantically try to stab the joints in my armour.

The deafening sound of laughing Goblins ring in my ears as many of them grab onto my legs to restrict my movements. They scratch and stab at the membrane of wings and hack at my tail.

A Goblin climbs up to my head, grabbing onto the helmets horns as leverage. It leers at me with its yellow, disgusting teeth and its goat-like pupil. Drool drips from its mouth and slops onto my helmet as it drips onto my face through the gaps and lifts up a dirty knife to stab me.

"[Flame Aura]"

A wave of blazing flames explodes from around me. The rocky walls of the cave turn red hot as my [Flame Aura] goes out of control.

The laughter of the Goblins stop.

The Goblin on my helmet dies far too quickly. The flesh is almost instantly eaten away by my flames, revealing the cracking skeleton underneath. It falls to the red-hot floor, the skeleton crumbling to ash.

I don't bother to look at the others.

With clenched, shaking fists, I make my out of the red-hot oven that the cave had become.

When I leave the cave, the totems pole outside catch alight and the grass get caught on fire.

I let out a few shuddering breaths as I get my [Flame Aura] under control and not get the whole forest set on fire. I look back into the small, but boiling cave and reach behind me to grasp Balmung's handle.

"...If I was normal, could I have died?" I mumble to myself the question before shaking my head.

No point asking myself that.

I already know the answer.

.

.

"Someone had already finished the quest before me."

"Eh?" Guild Girl says with a stunned face, "R-really?"

A day after Dracul has taken his first quest, a certain warrior in dirty armour came back to report on a quest he had undertaken.

"Yes. I scouted the ruins and every Goblin there was already dead."

Goblin Slayer's report was something Guild Girl looked forward to, but this was a new one.

Who would go into a ruin to kill Goblins without even knowing the quest beforehand?

Well, she knew the answer to that but the man in front of her had taken the quest and he just admitted that someone else had done it.

"I talked with the village chief. He said someone called 'Dracul' had done it," Goblin Slayer's monotone words shook her and she couldn't help her mouth dropping at the name of that strange Lizardman.

Or Dragonoid, as he called himself. In truth, she doesn't know what a 'Dragonoid' is, but she did know that Lizardmen didn't grow massive wings so maybe they are just rare?

"Erhm...Goblin Slayer, did you get a description of this person?"

Goblin Slayer's helmet tilts to one side slightly, "The village chief described him as a red Lizardman with wings. He wore heavy plate armour with images of a Dragon emblazoned on it and he wields a large greatsword with a red centre."

And just as she feared, Goblin Slayer describes the strange Lizardman's equipment that she and others saw first hand. She bit her lip in thought as to why Dracul would do such a thing.

Ignoring his rather strange name, it was clear to her that Dracul didn't know very much about the Adventurer's Guild as she had to explain the ranking system to him and how quests work.

Could it have just been an accident?

It was rare, but sometimes adventurers would look at a quest above their level and decide to go and do it anyway. Most of the time, they would never return, but other times, they would just outright lie and say they finished the quest.

This would never work, of course. When some uppity adventurer tried this, they were quickly found out and thrown in prison after they've been disbarred from the Adventurer's Guild.

But, before a couple of days ago, she had never seen the immensely intimidating but strangely polite winged Dragonoid so that couldn't be it and he didn't even say anything about completing a quest beforehand.

Guild Girl goes to tell Goblin Slayer that Dracul had signed up as an adventurer, but the bell rings as the door opens.

She was used to the smell of blood. Goblin Slayer grungy gear is something she had grown used to and even enjoy, if only a small bit.

What she wasn't used to is the smell of burnt pork and ash.

Dracul's imposing figure walks through the large doors but wearing a helmet that seemed to be made after a snarling Dragon. His wings fold against him much like they did the last time he was here and his tail drags behind him.

Whispers once again started up when the Dragonoid made his entrance, but this time, it was much milder and not nearly as many people gave Dracul even a second glance.

The image of Dracul's dagger-like teeth flash through her mind, but she forces it back. From what little she talked with him, Guild Girl knew that Dracul is more than willing to listen if she explained the situation.

If it had not been for Spearman, he would've gone to the sewers to kill Giant Rats with that gear of his instead of taking on a Goblin nest. She didn't know how to feel about such a thing, but on some level, she was glad that someone like Dracul, dressed in such rare armour and wielding that sword of his, was able to take on a Goblin nest than rather some poorly equipped adventurers.

"Oh, Dracul!" She calls over the towering red Lizardman who snaps his helmet to her, "Can you come here for a minute?"

Goblin Slayer turns around to meet the winged Lizardman approaching them, his helmet hiding his face and any reaction he might have.

"Yes?" Dracul asks, his voice deep and rumbling inside of his helmet like thunder, "Is something the matter?"

"You are Dracul?" Goblin Slayer asks, his monotone voice making it seem like a genuine question.

"...Yes, I am," Dracul nods at Goblin Slayer and looks between her and the Silver ranked adventurer, "Who are you?"

"Goblin Slayer."

Guild Girl couldn't help but giggle as the Lizardman stares at Goblin Slayer, no doubt trying to find out why he was being called out by this strange man.

"Excuse me Dracul," Guild Girl gets Dracul's attention and puts on her patented smile, "Goblin Slayer has brought a matter to our attention that involves you, I'm afraid."

"Really?" Dracul says with surprise, "Have I done something wrong?"

Guild Girl smiles at the surprisingly earnest question, "I don't think so, but in any case, I would like it if you could just make your way to the interview room upstairs. Goblin Slayer, you'll need to give a full report as well."

"That's fine. Follow me."

With that, Goblin Slayer goes off, uncaring about the Lizardman that looked at as he walked away.

Dracul looks back at Guild Girl who just smiles back at him.

.

.

Goblin Slayer.

Now, my best friend named himself after a squirrel and I always found Touch-san's name funny.

But, Goblin Slayer? Really?

Not to mention the smell of blood that came off of him, but after what I've been through, I find myself caring less and less about smells.

I roll my shoulders, trying to get the stiffness out of them. Sleeping was a pleasant experience to finally have, but I'm hoping to actually get a bed for tonight instead of just grass.

The interview room is quite a large room with a desk, where the receptionist was sitting behind with a large paned window behind her, the sun shining through. It holds a large sofa with a table

Goblin Slayer sits in a simple chair to the left of the desk, staring at me with that grated helmet of his. I had removed my helmet and held it under my arm, but he didn't seem to really care what I look like.

Or I think at least. Hard to tell when you can't see someone's face.

But there's also a third person here, a woman dressed in the same uniform as all the other Guild clerks with a necklace of a sword with scales around her neck and long flowing hair.

Instead of sitting down, I chose to stand up. The sofa seemed kinda small for me and my wings and tail would just get in the way.

"Sorry for calling you up here so soon after you just got back," The Guild clerk smiles at me, "But, there is a rather serious matter that needs discussing."

"It's fine, but I'll admit, I don't really know what I've done..."

"Just answer me this: Dracul, before you registered here, did you just so happen to clear our a Goblin nest in some ruins?"

Goblin nest? What the hell is she-

Oh.

Those ruins.

"Yes, I did," I give a slow nod as I try to force the images of what I did to the back of my mind.

"O-oh! In that case, can you tell us why you decided to enter these ruins?"

To look for my friend, a walking talking Skeleton necromancer.

Yeah, that won't go over well.

"I don't have any money on me so I tried to find some treasu-"

"That's a lie," The long-haired woman interrupts me and gives me a slight glare. I feel Goblin Slayer's unrelentingly stare on me strengthen and a look of disappointment flashes on the clerks face.

"What?" I say to her, floored by what being outed so soon, "How could you even tell?"

"...You don't know?" The woman with long hair looks genuinely surprised at my question, "I casted the Sense Lie miracle before we began. I can tell if you're lying or not."

Oh. So that's a thing.

Shit.

But, why doesn't my [High Tier Magic Immunity III] block out the spell then? Does it just not work for spells like these?

Or unless the spell isn't affecting me, but rather her.

It must work like a buff then. If she 'buffed' herself, then it stands to reason her spell allows her to sense when I'm lying.

Suppose that's why they call Sense Lie.

A sigh escapes my lips. I'm caught so I'm just going to have to tell the truth.

Or at least word it so they don't suspect anything.

"...Sorry for lying," I apologised to all three of them, "The truth is, that I went inside those ruins to look for someone. A friend of mine."

The Guild clerk glances towards the other woman who shakes her head, "I see. Why would you think that your friend were in those ruins?"

"Looking back on it, it was stupid of me to think that he would ever enter some unknown ruins," I admit with a shrug, "But, I was desperate to find him and that led to me entering those ruins."

The Guild clerk nods at my statement and pulls out a sheet of paper, "Dracul, you may not have been aware, but those ruins you cleared out already had a quest posted and Goblin Slayer had already accepted the quest in question. As by the rules of the Guild, you won't be paid for this."

"That's fine."

The Guild clerk looks at me wide eyes and even the woman with long hair raised her brow at me, but didn't say anything.

"What?" I ask them with a sceptical look, "I'm not gonna argue for money I didn't earn."

"O-oh, okay then. In that case, Goblin Slayer, you can-"

"Give it back to the village," Goblin Slayer tells the woman, "I didn't slay those Goblins. I shouldn't get the money for it."

The living lie detector lets out a giggle at the Guild clerks face that shifted between happy, but slightly annoyed. She eventually lets out a sigh and nods at the grungy adventurer.

"In any case, I would like both of your reports on these ruins, just to make sure they line up with each other and with the quest itself."

Goblin Slayer gives a nod, "Most of the Goblins were either burnt or eaten-"

Oh fuck.

"-They tried running from something, but it caught up to them. Fresh scorch marks lined the walls as if someone or something set fire to the ruins."

Both woman look at me with open mouths and wide eyes that stare at my teeth.

"I didn't eat any Goblins," I couldn't help but snarl out the statement and the Guild clerk blushes in embarrassment, "I had used a spell that summoned some elementals to make sure that no survivors would escape, that's all."

"You can use magic?" The Guild clerk asks me and I give her a nod. She looks at the woman again who simply nods at her, "Why didn't you mention that in your Adventure sheet?"

Because I don't want people to find out how weird my magic really is and start trying to kill me for it.

"I consider myself a warrior, before anything else. I find magic boring, but I had the opportunity to learn it so I took it."

"That is really something you should've told us beforehand…" The Guild clerk gives me a slight glare before giving Goblin Slayer a nod.

"It was difficult to tell how many Goblins were killed or how many nested in the ruins, but it was a great number. I counted 60 to 70 in total, but there were no Hobgoblins or Shamans among them."

"6-60?!" The clerk snaps her head to look at me with wide eyes.

"Yes," Goblin Slayer nods stoically, "In the throne room, a battle had taken place. Most of the bodies in there were either cut down or burnt. Some of the bodies weren't Goblins."

"Not Goblins?" The clerk looks at me with a frown.

"Besides Goblins, there was some kind of...red gargoyle things that I didn't recognise. There was also a woman calling herself Succubus that seemed to be in command in all of them," I tell them my experience.

"Eh?!" The Guild clerk eyes almost pop out of her head, "S-Succubus?! Are y-you sure?!"

"...Yes?" I say with a frown, "That's what she called herself."

"Huhhhhhhhh…" The Guild clerk lets out a massive sigh as she sags on the chair, "This quest just got a lot more complicated…"

"I have a question."

"Eh?" The Guild clerk looks at Goblin Slayer who spoke up suddenly and then at me but I just gave a shrug.

"On the ground floor, there is a giant, scorched hole. Was that you?"

"...[Fireball]"

"...Yes. What about it?"

I try to ignore how I growled at him or how suddenly both of the woman jolt at the sound of my voice.

I try to ignore how my heart beats within my chest.

"How did you do it?" Goblin Slayer asks me, stoic and calm as the first time I met him.

"I used a [Fireball] spell," I growl at him as my tail starts to swing from side to side.

"Why?" Goblin Slayer asks me as if it really were that simple.

"Does it matter?" I force the words out of my throat.

"I'm afraid it does."

"What?"

Unperturbed by my rumbling growl, the clerk stares at me with sharp eyes.

"If this ruin really did contain Devils and a Succubus, the danger this ruin represents is more than what we thought initially. If you have done something or killed something, we need to hear the full details so we can gather an appropriate team to thoroughly check the ruins and see if they still pose a threat."

Despite my furious glare, the woman meets it, unflinchingly. Goblin Slayer sits forward slightly, putting his hand on the short sword on his hip.

For a few moments, I say nothing.

I couldn't lie. I couldn't deflect the question or twist the words around.

I couldn't say it was just more Goblins, otherwise, I wouldn't react like the way I did.

Fuck.

Fuck.

"...One of the women I rescued was an elf. Her name is Missionary."

It's time to see if she was lying to me.

Time to see if I really did just murder some innocent kids.

"She was the only lucky one there. She was ambushed by the Goblins and taken back to the ruins, but before anything could happen to her, I entered the ruins and I must've set off some sort alarm or something."

"They probably smelled you," Goblin Slayer has lifted his hand off his sword, "Goblins have an excellent sense of smell. Your armour and sword are too clean."

"That...explains a lot about what happened on my quest, actually," I mutter under my breath, "In any case, after I had finished fighting in the throne room, one of my elementals lead me to the bottom floor of the ruin...That's where they kept the women they had kidnapped."

I force the images of lifeless, dead eyes to the back of my head, "After I had rescued them, my second elemental had a group of small green creatures cowering in front of it. They were Goblins. Goblin children."

And just like that, understanding dawned on the two women.

"The elf, Missionary, told me to kill them. After a small debate, one of them threw a rock at me, but looking back, it could've been aiming for her considering what she wanted me to do. I used a [Fireball] spell. That's what you saw."

My shoulders sag as I feel everything from that day flood back to me in an uncontrollable wave. The scarred and dirty bodies of those women.

The terrified look of the Goblin children as they saw a ball of light rush towards them.

The-

"You did the right thing."

I'm sorry, what?

"What?" I snap my head to the person who said that.

"You did the right thing," Goblin Slayer repeats himself, "The children would've learned from the experience. You destroyed their den. Killed everyone they knew. Had they survived, they would've used that experience to not repeat the same mistakes as before. They would've become Wanderers and join another nest or even lead their own."

"And you know this for certain?"

I don't know if I was pleading him or asking him.

I suppose I don't really care.

"...Yes. I've seen it happen before."

And just like that, the weight on my shoulders lift, even if a little.

Witch and Spearman mentioned a person who only took on Goblin quest for 5 years and I don't doubt that person is in front of me right now.

The name kinda gives it away but I suppose someone called Goblin Slayer knows more about Goblins then I do.

And if he said I did the right thing, what else can I take from that?

"...Thank you. That helps me a lot," I let out a sigh and shake my head slightly, "After that, I escorted the women back to their village and Missionary went back home. That sums up my experience with those ruins."

The Guild clerk looks to Goblin Slayer who silently shakes his head. She lets out a small sigh and looks back to me with a small, but strained smile.

"I see then. With that then, we're finished," She picks up a pencil and starts to write on a sheet of paper. The long-haired woman and Goblin Slayer stand up from their chairs. I turn around to open the door before a voice stopped me:

"Dracul, can you stay behind? Since you're here, I would like to hear your report on your first quest."

"Alright," I move away from the door as Goblin Slayer and the woman moved past me and walk out of the room, closing the door behind them.

With a flourish, she finishes writing on the sheet and places it to one side and looks at me with a smile and goes to say something.

"Before we start, I just want to say I'm sorry."

"E-eh?" She blushes as I deeply bow to her, "Uhm-?"

"I didn't mean to put you or anyone else on edge. I understand that I'm not...friendliest looking person, but I let my temper got the best of me and I scared you because of it, despite how much you've already helped me. I'm truly sorry for what I did."

The blush on her face turns into an almost bright red but quickly dies down as she gives me a genuine smile.

"It's fine, really. I can understand why you got so upset. It couldn't have been an easy choice to make, but like Goblin Slayer said: You made the right one and he's not the only one that believes that."

"...Thank you, that's nice to hear," I give her a smile of my own and proceed to tell her about my quest.

Turns out the magic flinging Goblin was a Shaman, which makes sense. Then that must mean the freaky tall Goblin in the ruins was a Hobgoblin then.

I told her about the number of the Goblin horde and their shoddy equipment, giving concise answers.

"There!" She smiles as she finishes writing up my report, "With this, you'll be able to get your first reward as an adventurer."

"Maybe I'll be finally able to eat some real food then," I mumble under my breath.

God, I'm sick of burnt rabbits.

"Heh heh," The clerk gives me a cat like smile, "Take a quest, do the work and get paid; That's an adventurer's responsibility, his trust and his source of goodwill."

"...How many times have you said something like that before?" I genuinely ask the woman who gives me a small pout.

"...Can I ask you something? About Goblin Slayer?"

"Eh?" The woman turns to look at me as she gets up from the desk, "Well, I guess. What do you want to know?"

"Has he really only taken on quests about Goblins for 5 years? All by himself?"

Her face morphs into a complex expression. One that combines worry and happiness with a healthy dose of a blush.

"Yes, that is true. Goblin Slayer is...determined about what he does. He may not look like it, but he is a Silver rank adventurer through his 5 years of taking on Goblin quests."

"And no one else does anything about them?" I ask her and she gives me a solemn shake of her head.

"Other Porcelain's like you take the quests but only because the villages can't pay for any higher rank usually and they often don't know how much danger they are in before it's too late."

"High risk, low reward then," I state as she gives me a sad nod.

My mind races on what to do. My first and foremost goal is to get famous and try to get my name out so Momo or possibly others will know that I'm here.

But, it took someone like Goblin Slayer 5 years to become Silver rank when my goal is Gold or Plat.

And then my mind flashes back to the two girls that I saved.

What would've happened to them, had I not taken on that quest? What would've happened if I took on that Giant Rat quest instead?

Lifeless eyes flash through my mind and I find my answer to all my questions.

"Thank you for indulging me, Miss…"

Oh.

I don't know her name.

"Oh!" She blushes at my mention of 'Miss' "P-please, just call me Guild Girl."

…

Whatever.

"Thank you, Guild Girl, for all of your help."

She brightly smiles at me and both of us leave the room. We go down to the busy ground floor and see Goblin Slayer standing at Guild Girl's empty counter with two quests on it.

As we both walk down the stairs, I pick up some chatter and whispers, something that I'm getting used to as I spend time here.

But this time, they were about someone else.

"Look at him. Silver rank, but his gear isn't any better than a Ruby or even an Emerald's. They'll let anyone become Silver nowadays."

"I know right? And all he kills are Goblins. What a weirdo. At least we can smell him before we see him, but that could be worse."

Are they being serious? Have they not done a single Goblin quest?

Have they not seen what they do?

"Pah, at least that Lizardman has the excuse of being a Porcelain but what does he have? Pathetic, I tell you."

I shift my eyes over to the idiots talking, a man in leather armour and with a bow on his back and a woman wearing some sort of green robe with leaves in it.

They see me staring at them and I see the bronze tags around their necks glint in the light.

A slight shove to my side makes me turns my head and I look down to Guild Girl who just shakes her head wordlessly.

I couldn't help but frown. At both the whispers and the smug grins those two idiots gave me.

So I did the next best thing.

"...Tch."

I very loudly and publicly click my tongue, the sound echoing throughout the building. I give the idiots a glare as they scowled at me before ignoring them.

"Damn Porcelain, who the hell does he think he is?" The man with the bow spits out, "Hiding behind the skirts of that clerk."

Thank god for my armour or I'm pretty sure my [Flame Aura] would set this building alight.

The both of us make our way to Guild Girl's counter where Goblin Slayer stood. Guild Girl walks to her counter while I go and stand next to Goblin Slayer.

Now, how do I do this?

How would Momo broach this?

Guild Girl smiles warmly at Goblin Slayer, "Just a moment, Goblin Slayer, I have to get Dracul's payment."

Goblin Slayer gives her a wordless nod and Guild Girl goes to a shelf filled with bags and scrolls. Probably where they store the money from the quests.

"...I presume you're going to kill Goblins?" I ask a stupidly obvious question.

"Yes."

"And you're going to do it alone?"

"That's right."

"...Do you mind if I take a look at the quests?"

His grated helmet finally turns to look at me.

I've seen worse, but damn, that is unnerving.

"Why?"

"Call it curiosity. If you don't want me to, you don't have to show me."

He silently looks at me for a moment before nodding once.

With his permission, I move forward slightly to look at the quests.

One was an Obsidian level quest. Three to four Goblins have been stealing some crops and some chickens, but nothing serious.

The other was a Ruby level quest. Some Goblins have kidnapped some women from a village and have even killed a couple of the men, not to mention almost destroying their crops. It doesn't mention where they might be nesting.

"Why take the Obsidian quest along with the Ruby quest? Wouldn't it be better to just do the Ruby quest first?"

"No," Goblin Slayer shakes his head, "The villages aren't far from each other. Those Goblins stealing aren't the work of a horde but they could be building a nest or even be Wanderers. It would be better to take them both out at the same time."

So he knows the lay of the land along with knowing about Goblins, though I suppose that's a given.

That settles it then.

I open my mouth to ask Goblin Slayer something, but Guild Girl comes back holding a tray with a small leather bag on it.

"And here is your first reward, Dracul."

I take the pityingly small leather bag that I'm pretty sure I could crush in my palm. I jiggle it about and the sound of clinking coins could be heard from it. I fiddle with it, my claws making it harder than it should be. I open it up to see five silver coins and a couple of coppers.

"So, is this the usual amount of how much you get paid for quests about Goblins?" I ask Guild Girl who gives me a nod, "I see. In that case, I have a request."

"Eh?" Guild Girl says aloud as I turn to Goblin Slayer who tilts his head at me.

"Goblin Slayer, do you mind if I come along with you on these quests?"

I could feel everyone's eyes on me as they caught wind of my words. Even Goblin Slayer turns to look at me, his head tilting to one side.

"Why?"

"Because I want you to teach me."

"Teach?" The words come out from like he isn't used to saying it. Whispers pick up in ferocity and I could feel some people stare at my back.

"I want to learn how to slay Goblins."

.

.

So here it is, the Goblin Slayer x Overlord crossover like I said. In truth, I'll be totally honest as to why I wanted to write this:

I kinda want to write more gory stuff and more action compared to my other fics. And also write about Dracul killing Goblins and other stuff.

First of all, I just want to say this: Dracul will not be going with Goblin Slayer for some of his adventures. Simply because he would trivialize most of them and quite often, it'll just be him as he tries to desperately search for Momonga or a way back home. In terms of the timeline, it's a couple of months before Priestess joins and that means it'll be a couple of chapters before Canon hits.

I'll be honest, I was seriously tempted to nerf Dracul quite heavily, but I decided against it. It wouldn't make sense and I feel that it's unneeded for the story to be enjoyable.

With that out of the way, I'll clear some things up if you're confused by Dracul.

Dracul is the MC and OC for my first story, the Overlord's Dragon. For more information, you can read that or read the Omakes that give a more detail view of his Classes and Racial levels.

Another thing I want to talk about is my DxD SI and the mistakes I have made with it. It's been brought to my attention that I have made some major mistakes with a certain character, Samantha, and I'm currently writing an Omake to solve this issue. I explained this more on SB, but the bottom line is, is that she simply doesn't have a lot going for her.

Speaking of SB, I don't know if I'll post this story there. I think the gore might be too much for it and I don't see it getting much, if any attention.

In any case, this is it for this A/N. Have a good one.