A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

Chapter 503 The Boulder Crab - Part 1

"let's go," oliver said. verdant didn't move until he said those words. the priest seemed to trust him implicitly when it came to matters of the battlefield. he was likely one of the strangest men that oliver had ever met – how could you trust anyone so completely without having a mountain of proof that they were right?

of course, oliver had shown him that he could swing a sword, but oliver didn't think he'd done anything to show verdant that he knew what he was talking about. in fact, oliver was sure he didn't. he was only a little stronger than the rest of them. that was strength, though. it didn't necessarily mean he would be a good teacher, and yet here he was, training five people.

what would dominus say seeing that? it was hard to picture. he probably wouldn't say much... though, dominus himself hadn't taught anyone until he'd taught beam, so maybe he'd encourage it.

there were too many doubts to deal with, and something as savage as a hobgoblin was not want to wait for him to clear them up. they burst back into the clearing with the hobgoblin hot on their tails.

oliver came to a screeching halt, pinning the hobgoblin in place, and deflecting the attack of its club with his sword. the others had paused their process of butchering when they saw the hobgoblin come running in. most of them were on their feet now, and blackthorn had already drawn her sword.

oliver wasn't going to force them to keep working whilst the hobgoblin was there, but he decided to at least keep it far away enough so that working was still an option, should they be brave enough to do so.

"ready, verdant?" oliver asked, ducking his head out of the way as the club came for him again. he'd taken the full aggression of the beast. its entire focus was on him right now, giving verdant whatever time he needed to prepare himself.

"as ready as i imagine i will ever be, my liege!" verdant shouted back, above the roar of the hobgoblin. experience tales at empire

the priest stood up quickly, just before the hobgoblin arrived.

his short spear was up over his shoulder. oliver's eyes widened in surprise, at the same time that the hobgoblin's did. with a powerful throw, like a bolt from the blue, verdant's spear blasted through the tiny distance between him and the hobgoblin – only five paces at most – and punched its way straight through its next, killing it.

it was hard to think of the right words to greet such a sudden kill. from the emotionless expression on verdant's face, as he unceremoniously pulled the spear out from the throat of the hobgoblin, the man himself thought nothing of it.

but regardless of how he'd killed it, that was a hobgoblin. a beast that had wounded oliver more than once. even if the way he'd killed it was rather unceremonious and ungraceful, it still had worked. whether it would work again in future was another matter...

"you were right, my liege," verdant said. "it seems that i am capable of slaying even such a savage beast. the blessing of bohemothia is a wonderous thing."

"uhh... yeah," oliver said, still pretty much speechless. "...good work."

with the two hobgoblins tended to, their organs gutted and bagged, along with their fingers and toes, the party set out once more, in search of truer prey. oliver found his heart pounding. a good sort of nervousness. a foe that he'd never encountered before. just an honest competition – a true battle. he lacked those in his life as of late.

with the loot that they'd gathered – the equivalent of a couple of sacks full, which the three new retainers easily carried slung over their shoulders – oliver hoped that his finances would once again be put into a more positive position. it certainly felt good to have the extra hands.

only kaya and karesh were needed to carry them as of yet – since only two of the waxed sacks had been filled – with kaya and jorah swapping every now and then, to keep themselves fresh. karesh insisted that he was fine to carry it the whole way.