Chapter 1
That is simply how hunting works.
The towering building stood before them. A strange sense of fear and wonderment overcame them as the duo gazed up at the black and red building.
"S-so, this is it..." The black-haired boy looked up at the towering building. The first thing that enters his brain was dread; the second thing he noticed was the odd Oder that was coming from the area.
"I-It's not too late to turn back now." The short girl with a bow shivered as masked men and women walked by without a care. She had heard stories about what happened to unprepared adventurers, and she didn't want to be a part of the many corpses.
"If you want to turn back you can..."
"N-no way! I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. B-besides, monsters as a whole have gotten far weaker over the years. Now is the best time to do this sort of thing."
With those words, the two of them steeled themselves entering the large building.
The color matched the exterior, so did the odd smell. The black-haired teen looked around noticing that everyone had their eyes covered. Either by a mask, a blindfold or some sort of glasses.
Not only that, but everyone was either wearing a hat or helmet. Normally this wouldn't have been a big deal, but even some supposed archers seemed to have been wearing unfitting attire.
"The line is pretty long." The girl gripped how bow strap noticing the long line in front of them.
"Yeah...wasn't someone supposed to meet us here?" The black-haired teen rubbed his chin scanning the room. "We were given a note for our first quest by the kingdom itself, so it's weird no one is here..."
"I guess there is nothing to worry about." The archer replied. "As long as I'm with you Neutro I should be fine~. The archer giggled causing Neutro heart to pound ever so slightly.
"D-don't say that Cassable, people might get the wrong idea!" Neutro grumbled.
The two continued to wait in the line until they finally reached the receptionist. Like everyone else, her eyes were covered. It was a pair of glasses this time allowing the duo to at least see the color of the woman's eyes.
"Hey, you tw-" The receptionist stopped herself, her nose wiggling ever so slightly. "Oh my, that is a rather unpleasant but also sweet smell. I guess the two of you aren't from around here."
"No, the capital asked our village to send the best warriors, so they decided to send us."
"Ah, I see..." The receptionist looked down at a clipboard marking something off. "Then you haven't gone through the Ritual or Therapy yet, have you?"
"What?" Cassable tilted her head.
The moment the archer question the red-headed receptionist the woman gave them an unsettling empty stare. "So you two are going to be the examples, I suppose that makes sense..."
"Examples, is the capital looking for adventurers or something?" Neutro asked causing the receptionist to giggle.
"Don't worry about it, you two are about to be a part of something much greater than yourselves," The woman smiled handing the duo a sheet of paper.
There was something both reassuring and horrifying about the woman's words. Despite that, the two newbie adventurers decided not to question her words and took the paper and sat at one of the many nearby tables.
While the duo continued, they felt unease as if every single person was staring at them for whatever reason. The strange, sterile smell continued to wash over every object and person. It started to dig into Neutro's brain as if it was trying to rip away his consciousness.
The black-haired teen glanced over to Cassable who was starting to nod off.
"Hey, you must be the guys that they sent from that backwater village!"
Just when they were both about to fall asleep, a sharp voice snapped them awake. The two quickly turned their heads to see three figures standing before them.
One was a short blond girl wearing a scarf around her mouth. Her hair was in large princess-curls, and her dress wasn't suited for adventuring at all. Standing next to her was a woman with red hair and thick glasses wearing what seemed to be a suit of armor, a large pack was attached to her back with a strange woman at her side. The final person was wearing leather armor with short brown hair; he was tall...far taller than anyone Neutro had ever seen. Despite that, he was lanky, far skinnier than Neutro had ever expected an adventurer to be.
"H-hello there." Cassable stood up giving a small bow.
"Shesheshe, so you are the ones the capital wanted us to look after?" The moment the tall man spoke Neutro instantly disliked him. There wasn't any reason for his dislike, just a strange feeling.
"I think introductions are in order." The armored woman cleared her throat sticking out her hand. "My name is Lozen."
"My name is Elizabeth!" The small blonde woman cheered.
"The name is Due Facce, but please just call me Due."
"A-are you the ones that were supposed to meet us?" Neutro stuttered. The difference in both their postures and equipment was staggering. Compared to the three adventurers standing before them Neutro and Cassable were simply trash.
"Yes, I suppose you know what kind of quest we are going to do today." Lozen smiled.
Neutro glanced down at the piece of paper. "Goblin Slaying?
"Oh? They still use that outdated term for that?" Elizabeth giggled. "Back in the capital, we call it Goblin Hunting."
"Regardless of what it's called, it's clear these two haven't been through the Ritual or Therapy. Are we sure we should be doing something like this?" Due grumbled. For some reason, everyone kept remarking about a Ritual and Therapy.
"Look at it this way. We can show them just how amazing it is and they can spread the word!" Elizabeth said.
"Enough you two, I want to finish this assignment as soon as possible." Lozen said straightening her posture. "Please allow us to handle everything from here on; you may simply watch."
Neutro eye twitched, a small part of him felt insulated, but also relieved. There was no way something could go wrong if adventurers like them were with them. "I guess we'll count on you!"
"Good; we should head out." Without even sparing a second glance Lozen and the others walked towards the exit causing the newbies to stand.
They quickly followed the strange adventurers out of the building and towards their destination.
The sun was still high in the sky while the group of five continued to make their way towards a nearby forest. Neutro looked down at the sheet of paper given to him scratching his head at the request. "Don't goblins usually live underground? Why would they be near a forest?"
It felt like a stupid question to ask, but it was still one that needed asking.
"Simple, due to the construction of the new capital city most of the goblins near the center were slaughtered and removed. The only goblins that you'll find around the center of the capital are stragglers that happened to wander too far away from the outskirts," Elizabeth explained.
"So goblins aren't really that dangerous huh?"
"Oh no, they're dangerous to you two, but to us...they are pretty much our toys," Duo smirked before scanning the newbies. "You two haven't been to the capital have you?"
"Sorry, we kind of live on the outskirts of the country, so we don't really know how things work around here," Neutro replied.
"Well duh, you have to go through the Ritual and Therapy to be allowed there."
"What really?" Cassable frowned. "That means we won't be able to get our reward even if we do complete the quest?"
"Don't worry, once we are finished here the two of you should be eligible to get it done." Lozen smiled finally stopping in front of the large overreaching forest. "Let's get this over with."
"Blegh, wouldn't it be easier just to set the entire forest on fire with your flamethrower?" Elizabeth pouted.
"Don't be stupid; the surrounding towns would throw a fit if we did something like that. Even if sixty-percent of the kingdom has had the Ritual and Therapy completed they still need to hunt for food." Lozen glared at the blonde before walking into the bush.
The others quietly followed the sun had completely faded from their vision. The only thing that signified that the star was still in the sky was the soft streams of sunlight that pierced the leaves.
"T-this is kind of scary..." Cassable whispered under her breath holding her bow as tightly as possible.
"It's still not too late to go back," Neutro replied.
"N-no it's fine like I said as long as we're together there is nothing to worry about," Cassable replied.
The only thing Neutro could do was sigh. He would have been lying if he said he wasn't a bit worried about the situation. The only thing he had ever hunted was animals; he had never drawn his blade on a monster before.
They walked until they stopped at the outskirts of a clearing. A strange smell seemed to emulate from the field. It was clearly a trap, even Neutro and Cassable knew that much.
"Talk about insulting..." Elizabeth sighed as Lozen stood up.
"H-hey are you going out there?" Neutro stuttered as the armored woman completely ignored him.
"S-she's not even wearing a helmet. Is that really okay?" Cassable swallowed harshly.
Lozen stood straight in the middle of the clearing while both Cassable and Neutro waited with bated breath. If goblins really were in the area, then Lozen had just made herself a prime target for an assault.
A second past, then a minute. For a moment it seemed that nothing was going to happen, that was until a black figure jumped from the trees. A knot formed in Neutro's stomach, he could even form any words as the small goblin jumped onto Lozen's shoulders plunging a dagger into the back of her skull.
Despite that, not a single hint of blood escaped from Lozen's head. Rather the knight quickly reached around taking hold of the goblin's neck. Then, with her free hand, she grabbed one of the monsters arms, the creature struggling the entire time.
"A rather small one, well I suppose beggars can't be choosers." In that moment whipped her head around, allowing her glasses to fall from her face. She then grinned, a sharp row of inhuman teeth filled her mouth as she opened her maw and took a bite out of the goblins head.
The creature twitched as the woman took another bite, this time out of its jaw before allowing the corpse to fall out of her hands. The redhead then chewed some of the teeth before her ears picked up another sound. Without hesitation Lozen spat out two of the recently devoured fangs hitting two unseen goblins.
"W-what?" Neutro body was shaking. He truly couldn't comprehend if what he was seeing was actually happening.
"Talk about showing off," Elizabeth grumbled.
"Yeah, despite being all serious she just wanted to show off in front of the humans," Duo scoffed as both he and Elizabeth jumped from the hiding spot into the slowly filling clearing.
Neutro and Cassable, on the other hand, could only stand there and watch the events unfold in front of them.
"Oh, this is so fun~" Elizabeth grinned taking out her whip. The weapon seemed to have had a mind of its own as the weapon wrapped itself around the limbs of the goblins allowing her to yank them off.
Lozen on the other hand finally lifted her weapon allowing a harsh stream of fire to consume the monsters. Any smell that had been in the area had quickly been replaced with the smell of burning corpses.
It was apparent that despite the goblins overwhelming numbers the battle for them was simply impossible. The creatures weren't even being granted quick deaths as both Elizabeth and Duo took their time taking each and every one of the creatures apart. The monsters cries filling some sort of sadistic checklist in their head.
"T-this is..." Cassable quickly covered her face, not wanting to bear witness to the rather violent massacre.
Neutro, on the other hand, couldn't keep his eyes off of the scene. With each yank of an arm and with each spill of intestine a feeling started to creep onto his chest. It was like he was watching a sort of nightmare unfold in front of him. The only sound breaking up the situation was the sound of Elizabeth's laughter.
"Oh~ what do we have here?" The blonde woman glanced down to one of the legless goblins crawling towards a direction to escape. Elizabeth giggled slowly walking towards the wounded monster. "Now, now, it's rude to leave a party that you started."
Elizabeth placed her head onto of the creatures chest wrapping her whip around her hand. "Now, should I pluck out your eyes or maybe cut off your no-" The blonde woman wasn't even able to finish her statement as the goblin used what little energy it had left to shove its dagger into her chest.
There was a moment of silence as Elizabeth dress was torn. A single droplet of blood escaped her skin causing the whipmaster to bite her lip hard enough to shed blood. "You little shit! Do you know how much this dress cost me!" Her fury slowly turned into a cruel smiled before she grabbed the goblin's dagger hand.
"I think I know the perfect punishment for you." A horrible breaking sound echoed through the woods; the goblin let out a screech as it dropped the dagger allowing Elizabeth to pick it up. "Your knives...are pretty sharp, like razor blades." Elizabeth then pressed the tip of the weapon against the creature, then slowly open up its chest and stomach like it was some sort of bag.
"Oh wow, it's still alive even after I open its body! Do you see this?!" The whipmaster waved her hands around trying to get the attention of her two comrades.
"Yes, yes Elizabeth. You showed us that trick before..." Duo sighed pinning more goblins to nearby trees.
While Duo and Lozen remained, unimpressed Neutro could feel his stomach turning. He held back as long as he could, but his body finally forced him to vomit.
"Hmm?" Elizabeth turned her attention to the hiding newbies. "What is wrong wi-" She cut herself off before a twisted smile plastered itself onto her face.
"Oh, that's right. You two haven't gone through the ritual." Elizabeth got up grabbing one of the goblins remaining limbs and yanking it off. She slowly made her way towards Neutro and Cassable.
Despite her being their comrade a true sense of dread overcame Neutro as the small petite woman inched her way closer and closer. She lifted up the severed arm, pressing its fingers against the cheek. "Why don't you take a bite?"
"Elizabeth! That's enough!" Lozen shouted turning off her miniature flamethrower.
"Aw, I was just having a bit of fun with the newbies," Elizabeth pouted shoving a piece of the goblin's arm into her mouth.
"Speaking of that, bring them over here for a moment," Lozen said causing Elizabeth to grumble.
"Come on you humans..." Elizabeth grabbed Neutro and Cassable's dragging them out of the brush towards
It was strange, he hadn't done anything nor did anything happen to him, despite that he was having trouble controlling his body. The once golden brown ground was drenched in blood and body pieces.
"It'd be a shame if these two don't get to kill one of them," Lozen said looking at a goblin who's legs were pinned to a nearby tree. The creature struggled to remove the knives that had been firmly placed into its bones. "Go on, take your sword and end it."
"Oh, oh, make sure you do it from the legs up! It's way more fun watching it struggle that way." Elizabeth clapped causing Neutro's blood to run cold.
Neutro hand shook as he grabbed the blade wrapped around his waist. The goblin glared at him with sheer hatred. It's not like he had much sympathy for the goblin or anything; it was just the situation he was placed in was far too jarring to describe.
"That's enough!" Cassable cried out putting her body in front of the goblin, turning her back to the creature.
"Eh? What are you doing?" Duo sighed.
"I-is this torture really necessary? C-can't you just end its life peacefully?" Cassable asked.
"Really? I'm pretty sure if the situation was reversed that monster would be having some fun with you right now," Elizabeth replied.
"M-maybe so bu-" Sadly the archer couldn't even finish her statement as a sharp pain entered her shoulder. "Gah!" She fell forward, a small dagger being embedded into her arm.
"C-Cassable!" Neutro ran towards his friend quickly removing the blade from her body.
"What an idiot..." Elizabeth sighed glancing over to the still struggling goblin. "You are lucky. It was one of Duo's blades and not its own, a human like you would have been poisoned for sure."
"Enough, hurry up and kill that goblin Neutro," Lozen gave a simple demand causing Neutro to wince. He looked down at the archer, before swallowing harshly.
His hand slowly picked up the blade. Once again he held the sword pointed to the defenseless goblin, despite everything that had happened his hand was still shaking.
"Do you need some help?" Lozen asked slowly wrapped her arms around the swords me before pressing her fingers against his hands. The harsh commander vanished, replaced with a seemingly kind teacher.
Lozen slowly lifted Neutro's hand forcing him to pierce the goblin's thigh. "Yes, that's it..." Lozen pressed her cheek against Neutro, the sterile smell that was he smelled before returned. "Just make your way up."
Neutro hands twitched, he allowed his blade to carve into the creature. The sword made its way across the creature's body until it finally cut the monster's heart in two. The goblin gave one last death throes before dying properly.
"Good, now I don't feel bad about taking you to the capital," Lozen smiled releasing her grip on Neutro's body.
"Speaking of that, should we check for any children? You know how the boss lady likes them young," Elizabeth asked.
"It'd probably be pointless. I doubt the goblins would have dragged their offspring all the way out here, besides, young goblins are rather rare at the moment," Duo sighed running his fingers through his hair.
Neutro swallowed harshly finally getting a good look at the three. He noticed strangely inhuman features on each and every one of them. Their eyes were an unsettling color of red. Lozen had two pointed horns sticking out of the top of her head while Elizabeth had a long slender tail sticking out of her back.
"Y-you guys aren't humans," Neutro said.
"Well, duh!" Elizabeth giggled. "But don't worry, you'll be just like us soon enough."
"Speaking of that, the caravan should be here soon enough to pick us up."
"C-caravan? I thought we were the only ones completing this quest?" Cassable asked.
"That was a lie, we simply wanted to know how you did under pressure before taking you to the capital," Lozen said, "truthfully you two are going to need far more training than we thought."
"Come on, let's go. The cleanup crew is probably going to take the corpses for food," Duo rubbed his head slowly heading back into the brush.
"Yeah, I need to head back to the capital and get a new dress," Elizabeth groaned following the slender man.
"Come on you two, we'll take a look at the archer's wound once we reach the capital," Lozen added making sure the two newbies followed her closely.
It didn't take long for the group to leave the forest, and almost on cue, there was a small wagon waiting for them right outside of the bushes. The coachman was completely covered in wraps removing any way to see his face or even their gender.
Despite the whole situation being eerie Neutro was just happy to be away from the crimson forest. He crawled into the wagon helping Cassable inside. Without warning the wagon started to move, the five adventurers sitting silently for the first ten minutes of their trip.
"S-so, you keep mentioning something about a ritual and therapy...what do you mean by that?" Neutro asked. "Like are we going to talk to someone or something?"
"No," Lozen said. "The ritual is what we do to prepare you for therapy, and the therapy isn't what you are thinking of." Lozen closed her eyes. "It's gene therapy. Once we get to the capital we'll be..."
"You'll be." Neutro urged the red-haired woman to continue.
"Turning you into demons like us..."
Author note
I really wanted to focus on the idea of social horror in this fic. Being pressured into doing horrific things just because everyone else does it and how it could tie into the idea of goblins being chained to humanity even if the context is different. Less about them stopping humanities advancement and more bringing out the worst in humanity instead.
That is also why I set it so far into the future, since I find it would be interesting to explore certain aspects of humanity as a whole.
Also I played with the idea of giving characters titles as their names. And I have title versions for each character.
Neutro=Swordsman
Lozen=Pyro
Cassable= Archer
Elizabeth=Whipmaster
Duo=Assassin