After realizing I was preventing some creep from grabbing her, Agnes apologized. A lot. The entire night was basically her just apologizing to me, even after I forgave her.

The image of her naked was burned into my mind. Honestly, if anything I should apologize to her for that. Try and forget about it and all... but I don't think that's gonna happen anytime soon.

The sight of her big, round, beautiful breasts will be forever with me, and I have mixed feelings on it. On one hand, I've seen one of the most beautiful girls I've ever known naked. On the other... there's got to be repercussions for looking at a holy woman's nude body, right? Like I might get struck down by some cosmic force for that.

Well, I suppose no sense in worrying about that.

We stayed at a local inn, this time buying two rooms instead of one. I felt somewhat disappointed, but not surprised.

I did not sleep well that night.

The sight of the little goblin girls bleeding out in the streets kept appearing in my mind. Even if they're supposed to be my enemies... I could hear the big goblin's scream. Mani. Her name was Mani. They had names.

I mean, I suppose that was obvious... Synx had a name, so all of them probably would...

She definitely threatened us, or at the very least Agnes. If those two show up again, we'll probably have to kill them, won't we? Would I be able to do it?

The sight of the two of them hugging made my insides twist with guilt, and I tried to flush the image out. Think of something, anything else.

My mind instinctively went to Agnes's naked body. Good god, she could've been a model back home. As much as I hate to think it, I wished she wasn't a nun, then I'd have a chance with her...

Despite how icky it made me feel, fantasizing about Agnes actually helped me take my mind off of the traumatizing events that occurred today.

I fell into a restless, dreamless sleep.

My eyes slowly opened, my hands blocking the sun peering in from a window. They didn't use glass, the windows were just small openings in the side of the building, but I suppose having modern glass windows wouldn't make sense in this world.

I got up and donned my chain shirt. This was so much better than plate. I feel like I can breathe somewhat.

I slung my equipment over my shoulder, and opened the door.

Agnes was waiting outside my door, her hands behind her back as she looked down nervously.

"Good morning, Anon..." she said, fidgeting a little bit.

"Good morning, Agnes. What's got you up bright and early? If it's about last night, I already told you, forget about it. It's no big deal."

She shook her head, "no, that wasn't it..." she fell silent for a second, "I-I just wanted to give you this, to celebrate our first successful mission..." she put something into my hands. I looked at it for a second.

It was a holy symbol, almost identical to the one she wore as a necklace. It was a large, flat metal circle with a hole in the center. Ornate angel wings were carved around the hole, each wing made from a white, polished marble. Red and blue gemstones lined the outside of it, something that I noticed Agnes's symbol didn't have.

"Thank you." I said, clutching it in my hand. Her face turned a darker red. "I'll cherish it forever." I thought for a moment. I don't know any prayers... "could you teach me some prayers when we have the time?"

She smiled. "Of course. But I thought as a Paladin, you'd already know a few."

I scratched the back of my head. "Guess I'm an outlier or something." I smiled sheepishly.

We left the inn and looked around. The caravan would leave tomorrow morning, so we have a day to prepare for the trip.

Hopefully I could get better information here.

We found a library only a few blocks away and went searching for books with information about the area, local monsters, and maybe even some information about Paladins, so I could get a better grasp of what I'm capable of.

The library wasn't as decrepit as the one back at Westray, but it still wasn't anything too large. Then again, given that I'm in a medieval time period, most people probably can't read anyway. Not trying to be offensive, just stating facts.

I thumbed through some titles, and actually found a sort of adventurer's guide to Aknepata. It had some basic travel info, explaining how to properly navigate a desert, where resources could be found, popular towns to stop at.

Nothing about monsters.

Like, come on. Are monsters just that taboo of a subject to talk about? Really?

However I did find some descriptions of Paladins while I was browsing.

Paladins are holy knights bound by oath to their gods. Their noble warriors who can use a wide variety of weapons and armor.

While they can deal a heavy amount of damage to enemies, they also possess the ability to heal other creatures they touch. This power can also neutralize most toxins from their system, including poisons and venoms. Kinda broken, but whatever.

They also possess the ability to channel divine power through a holy symbol. Nice. It says that the abilities the divine power grants depend on the god, as well. So that's interesting.

I was curious about the gods of this world, so I did some research.

The pantheon of gods in this world was vast, and separated into three categories:

The Allies, or gods that align with humanity, gods that choose to remain neutral, and the Betrayer Gods, or gods who allied themselves with a Demon Lord.

The allied gods were as follows: the Chieftain Goddess, the god of Order and Light. Supposedly the one who created this world and everything in it, Mielikki, the Goddess of Nature, and Athena, the Goddess of Knowledge.

The neutral gods were Ares, Goddess of War, Eros, Goddess of Love, Hel, Goddess of the Dead, Bacchus, Goddess of Alcohol and Parties, and Loki, Goddess of Mischief.

The Betrayer Gods were barely mentioned at all, but the ones mentioned in this book were Poseidon, Goddess of the Sea, and Ra, Goddess of the Sun and the Desert. Most people who had worshipped these gods before their betrayal have either betrayed humanity by continuing to worship them, or joined the church of the Chief Goddess.

I noticed a section of the book had been torn out near the back. Curious.

Oh well, I put the book back on the shelf.

We could always purchase some items or gear for the trip.

The day was relatively uneventful. I had been hoping for magic items or something overpowered, but there wasn't much for me to do. We were recognized by several people out in the streets, who applauded us for our ability to destroy a good portion of the goblins that had invaded the town. Apparently the guards were labeled incompetent because they were all knocked out before the battle finished. Unfortunate, considering they took out most of the goblins themselves. Agnes only took out two.

Them reminding us of yesterday didn't help our mood, and the two of us tried to find a quiet place to retreat to.

That night, we slept back at the inn, and woke up the next day. My sleep was better than the night before... but I mean, it still wasn't great.

The caravan set off that morning, and we went with them.

Apparently the capital was the next stop, but it'd take around three days of travel, three days of misery.

The desert sun was just as hot as I remembered. I longed for the shade that Kesi provided, panting heavily in the desert sun.

Agnes casted her water spell several times, and while it provided momentary relief, it didn't help the caravan in the long run. I'm insanely jealous of those traders up in their carriages. At least they're nice and cool in the shade, somewhat.

The day passed on, the heat was excruciating. As we trekked through this horrid desert wasteland, I jumped back in surprise as something landed in front of me.

The caravan halted, and I bent down to investigate. It was a javelin. We're under attack.

I squinted out to the horizon to see a massive monster approaching the caravan. She stood well over 7 feet tall, clutching a massive pinkish-silver sword in her hands. Two large horns protruded from her head, and her skin was a pale green color, with what looked to be war paint all over her. She wore a loincloth and a fur bra that barely held her massive rack back, and she swung her greatsword in the air, slamming it into the ground.

Her eyes locked with mine, and a large grin spread across her face.

"You!" She bellowed, her voice shaking the ground itself, "fight me!" She raised her sword and charged towards me.

Oh boy.

I ducked underneath her blade as it swung over my head, slamming against the side of a carriage, cutting deep into its side.

She pulled the huge sword out effortlessly, and turned back to me, raising it up in the air again.

I dodged to the side as it slammed into the ground, sand flying everywhere.

Agnes raised her holy symbol, and a blast of energy fired at the monster, striking her shoulder.

The monster's head snapped towards Agnes, and I watched the color drain from Agnes's face.

"You... don't interfere!" The monster lunged towards her, bringing her sword up to slash at her.

I raced forward, clutching my own holy symbol as it began to glow a dark blue color.

The monster swung her sword, and it made a loud clang as it collided with something. A blue field of energy had surrounded Agnes, and then abruptly faded.

The monster looked at her, confused, before shaking her head and raising the sword again. This time however, I was close enough to hit her.

I slammed my sword into her side, and the monster let out a gasp of pain as she staggered backwards, I rammed my shoulder into her side, pushing the blade in deeper as she turned to face me.

"Hehe... ouch..." she said, chuckling at little bit.

"You're fighting me, aren't you?" I asked her, "leave the girl alone!"

The monster grabbed my sword arm and yanked the sword out, dark crimson blood gushing from her side. Her grin grew wider as she looked down on me.

"Heh, I like you. You'll make a great trophy!" She swung her sword at me again, and I raised my shield to counter it.

The blade casually knocked the shield out of my hand, sending me staggering backwards as the metal disk went flying into the sand behind me.

I felt the giant sword pierce through me, and liquid began gushing out of it.

I looked down at the wound, and noticed something odd. I wasn't bleeding. The fluid coming out of me was a luminescent white color, and the liquid faded from view as soon as it impacted the ground.

The wound didn't hurt either... but I feel so tired...

I shook my head. No, not now! The monster slowly brought the sword back out and prepared to swing again.

I grit my teeth, and rolled to the side as it slammed right where I was laying. I focused on my sword, and it was wrapped in a dark blue light, and shoved the sword right into her stomach, just above her belly button.

Blood gushed out of the wound as the monster staggered back, letting out a roar of pain as she glared down at me.

She swung her sword again, but I nimbly ducked under it. She was having trouble hitting me at close range with that big sword... so I need to stay close to her.

I pushed my sword even deeper, and slowly dragged it up her body, carving into her. Blood poured down on top of me as the monster roared, before her grip on the sword loosened, and she staggered down on top of me.

Her breasts were shoved right into my face, and I could hear her heartbeat, beating rapidly as she breathed.

"Hehe... you're strong... I like that..." she rasped in my ear, gasping for breath, "You'll be perfect for me..." and then her body collapsed, pinning me to the ground.

Her blood was now seeping into my hair, and she stopped breathing.

I pushed the corpse off of me, and Agnes and I stared at it. Oddly enough, it looked peaceful, compared to its savage demeanor. I grabbed the sword off of it. It was heavy, but with two hands I could wield it fine.

The caravan erupted in applause, cheering for me.

Agnes smiled at me, and I looked at her.

"They're cheering for you. I don't anyone has ever single-handedly taken down an Ogre before..." she said, "I must say, you've made quite the impression."

I looked back at the corpse, and felt another pant of guilt. Another sentient creature, felled by my hands. At least this one didn't look like a child, but still. I mean, she was trying to kill was, wasn't she?

I suppose there's no point in worrying about it. However I did get this cool greatsword, so I mean, there's that.

Night passed shortly afterwards, and Agnes took the first watch. I curled up into my bedroll, trying to shut my eyes...

It seems there really isn't any peace in this desert, because just as soon as I got comfortable, I heard a loud scream.