Volume II: Unforgiving Kingdom
Chapter XIV: Goblin Mage
Location: Courtyard, Castle Vallera
After Iska's recent defeat to Ragna and the others, the ice elemental attempted to contact her commanding officer, Prime Minister Aglovale. However, the moment that she was able to reach him, she fainted while in the middle of her conversation. The only information that the Prime Minister was left with about her was that she was badly injured, and somewhere on or near the twelfth floor of Goldenia. The information he had was not enough to be able to fully understand the situation, but he understood enough that he knew that capturing the group would be harder than expected. As of now, Aglovale proceeded to rely this little bit of information to Alexiel, who approached him upon seeing him in the courtyard. The two sat in the courtyard while Aglovale explained everything that he knew to Alexiel.
"You're telling me that you have no earthly clue where the hell your own retainer is?" Alexiel asked in a worried tone.
"All that I know is that she close to the twelfth floor." Aglovale answered. "Or hopefully somewhere on the twelfth floor. Iska fell unconscious before she could finish her report after all."
"How do you know she isn't dead?"
"I don't. But I wish to know."
"Then I believe that you know exactly what we need to do next." Alexiel stood back up from the chair she was sitting and grabbed her Zweihander which was beside her. "We need to find Iska and take care of her. And now, it'll be up to the two of us to hunt down that demon and the two traitors as well."
"That is another thing I wanted to mention."
Alexiel blinked as she raised a brow. "What do you mean?"
"I'm not sure if I am correct on this, but I do believe that their numbers are increasing. After Iska contacted me, when I looked in the corner of the crystal it seemed like I saw a figure standing in the background. The body type did not match that of our demonic foe, Weisswind, or Feena."
"You're kidding... In the short time period between Her Highness' announcement and Iska's defeat, the three of them managed to gain another ally while they flee?!" Alexiel banged her fist on the arm of the chair, breaking it in the process." Dammit! Things are getting even more complicated now!"
"Quite." Aglovale stood up from his seat. "Well then, how exactly do you plan to go about this?"
"I. . . .I'll get back to you on that..."
"You mean that you don't have any clue whatsoever on what you want your next move to be?"
"I didn't really think that much about it, okay?! I wanted to try and have a little faith in your retainer before I try planning out my next move! And since that didn't work out, now we have to work together in order to do this."
Aglovale sighed. "In that case, let's get going. The first thing we should do is locate where Iska is, and get her to an infirmary as quickly as possible."
Alexiel nodded as the two soon began to walk away from the courtyard and towards the lifts in order to head downward. Once the two reached the lift, they continued their conversation as they began to head downward towards the twelfth floor, where Iska is supposedly still lying unconscious.
"Tell me Aglovale..." Alexiel started to say. "Why exactly do you have so much faith in Iska for? Why choose her? In your eyes what is it that distinguished her out from among the rest?"
That is a difficult question." Aglovale said, resting his hand on his chin, looking down as he thought. "Let me think... For starters the woman is an Ice Elemental like myself, and that was something I was looking for in an retainer."
"Is that it?"
"Far from it. When I first met her she was still a mercenary after all. She had skill. She was excellent in her element, and clearly knew more about the kingdom than I did. She could provide me with information on things that none of us were even aware of. I needed someone who could be of great help to the kingdom." Aglovale looked up. "As for trusting her, I've known Iska long enough for her to earn that trust. She's never under-performed in previous assignments and always does her best. She's demonstrated her loyalty to the kingdom, the crown, and lastly myself. I see now reason why I shouldn't trust her."
"Meanwhile I do. The former mercenary's last report was her injured after fighting another mercenary and her friends. It's believable. But I won't deny the fact that she could have staged that and went with them to escape. Which, according to you, would raise their numbers to five."
"I still say those claims are preposterous. Iska wouldn't have any reason to want to double cross Goldenia in such a manner."
"Neither did Weisswind." Alexiel gestures a hand forward. "And yet here we are."
"You don't seem to be one to tolerate treason of any kind, are you?"
"I have my reasons, alright?"
"Very well."
Aglovale didn't question Alexiel any further on that subject, knowing that she wasn't going to talk.
"Perhaps it would be best to save all our conversations for after we've rescued Iska first and foremost." He said.
"Agreed." Alexiel responded.
Alexiel and Aglovale both remained quiet as the lift continued to descend downward.
Location: 11th Floor, Goldenia
After their recent victory over Iska, the group of Ragna, Monika, Feena and Grena had successfully managed to escape from the twelfth floor and make their way into the eleventh floor. Wanting to take a break, the group had stopped for a moment and were hiding out in the eleventh floor. Ragna, Monika, and Feena had remained seated inside of an alleyway close by the tunnel while Grena had left for a moment in order to see if she could find any useful information while they were on the floor.
"You sure leaving her back there was a good idea?" Monika asked. "I know she wasn't moving or anything and that she was after us, but did we really need to just leave her stranded on the twelfth floor?"
"We were kind enough to backtrack and place her out in the open in hopes someone would find her." Ragna replied. "If we left her in that tunnel no one would've found her. At least this way someone will be able to take care of her and get her back into shape, all without us getting involved."
"I doubt Iska would let herself die like that anyway." Feena added on. "If anything, she's probably doing all she can to cling onto life until someone comes around and finds her. So there's no need to feel down about what we did."
"Well... I guess you're both right..." Monika said. "Do either of you think she would've helped us out if we healed her up back then and there?"
Feena laughed. "Hell no."
"You seem real confident in that statement." Ragna stated.
"I know people that have had run-ins with Iska in the past when she was still a mercenary. Every last one of them said the same thing; 'She won't abandon a target or cooperate with them. Whenever she takes a mission, she sees it through.' I wouldn't be surprised if the moment she gets healed up, she starts looking for us again."
"She's not a mercenary anymore Feena." Monika responded. "Maybe that's changed."
"Yeah, changed as in it's gotten worse. Now that she's part of the Imperial Army her loyalty's for Goldenia now. And considering Her Highness decided to make us all criminals, she's not gonna help us for shit."
"In other words, we can expect to see her again..."
"Then we'll just deal with her again if we have to." Ragna added to the conversation. "Besides, having Grena along with us made that a lot easier once she was awake."
"Speaking of which, where is Grena?" Monika asked. "She's been gone a while. You wouldn't expect her to turn on us now would you?"
"What good will that do? After what happened, she'll probably be in as much trouble as we are if she decided to turn on us. If anything, it'll just cause her more trouble."
"He has a point."
The group looked up to see Grena on a roof of a building above them.
"Yo." She said to the three below.
"Where have you been?" Feena asked. "You were starting to make us worry."
"Relax, there was no need. I'm fine." Grena started descending from the roof. "But, I did run into to a... little complication while I was looking around the eleventh floor."
"What kind of complication?" Monika asked in concern.
"Well..."
Grena finishes lowering herself down to the rest of the group. As the chained mercenary landed, she turned around. The group eyes lit up at the sight before them. Clinging onto Grena's back was a young girl in a green cloak dress, holding a staff in one hand and the other was latched onto Grena.
"This..." Grena said.
"Um... Hi." The girl said.
". . . Um, Grena?" Monika questioned. "I don't wanna make assumptions but why do you-"
"Goblin Mage?!"
The group looked back at Feena, who exclaimed loudly.
"Goblin Mage?" Ragna asked.
"Hi, Feena." Goblin Mage said as she slid down from off of Grena. "I'm here to-"
Goblin Mage couldn't even finish her sentence as by the time she floated down to the ground, Feena had already lifted the little girl up in concern, smothering her cheeks with her hands.
"Feena..." Goblin Mage whines. "I can't feel my cheeks."
"What the hell Goblin Mage?!" Feena started to ask in a worried tone. "How did you get all the way up here?! Why are you all the way up here?! I thought you were still back home waiting for us to get back not up here trying to come to find me! Do you even realize how dangerous this was?!-"
"Hey! Feena!"
Feena stopped as Monika called out to her, getting her attention.
"Mind filling us in a little?" Monika asked the mercenary. "Who's this girl? How do you know her?"
Feena looked back and forth at everyone else before sighing and nodding in confirmation.
"Yeah. I know Goblin Mage." Feena answered. "She's someone I really do care for. I guess I can say now, she's a friend of mine."
"It's nice to meet you all." Goblin Mage waved at the group.
"You keep calling her Goblin Mage." Grena mentioned. "Why is that? Don't you know here name?"
"That is my name. I'm Goblin Mage." Goblin Mage pulls back her hood covering her head, revealing her pointy ears to the rest of the group. "I'm a goblin."
"Wait, you're a goblin?!" Monika asked suddenly. "Feena, you've been harboring a demon before we met Ragna?!"
"You don't have to put it like that, okay?!" Feena exclaimed. "I've known Goblin Mage ever since I was a child. She's stuck with me throughout everything that I've been through and then some. She's always been by my side, so there was no way that I could leave her out there in Riverbrandt alone."
"You forget Feena, just like Ragna, Goblin Mage here is a demon as well. If she had been found, she could've been killed here! You know this! Why the hell would you think this is a good idea?!" Monika turns to Grena. "More importantly, how the hell did you find her?!"
"I was walking around the eleventh floor earlier, when I saw this girl walking around." Grena started to explain. "She's been asking around several people across the floor if they knew Feena and where she were."
Grena was cut off by the sound of whining as Feena smothered Goblin Mage's cheeks angrily.
"What the hell Goblin Mage?!" She exclaimed. "Don't you realize how much danger that's putting us in?!"
"I'm sorry Feena..." Goblin Mage whined. "I was worried. Can you put me down?"
"Don't be too hard on the girl Feena." Monika sighed. "Can't blame her for being concerned. Granted, I wish she hadn't done this, but there's nothing we can do about it. Let's just be glad no one followed Grena."
"But if she's been asking around, then there's bound to be people here looking for us." Ragna said. "Feena's just as much a wanted criminal as Monika and I are. If she's been mentioning her on this floor, then there's bound to be people done here looking for us."
"Wait, Goblin Mage." Feena questions. "You didn't use my name did you?"
Goblin Mage looked down with an embarrassed blush on her face. "One or two times, by accident." She said. "I'm sorry."
Feena sighed, putting a hand to her head. "You're a handful alright... But at least you're safe."
"That aside, I say it's about time we get out of here." Ragna stated. "You said that the same tunnel we're using should take us down even further than this floor right?"
"That's right." Grena answered. "If an earthquake hasn't broken it that is."
"Then we should head out now then. If we move now, there's less chances of us being caught here."
"Ragna's right." Monika said. "Let's move."
The group nodded. Soon Feena picked up Goblin Mage into her arms and held her on her shoulder.
"Come on." Feena said with a smile. "You're coming with us from now on. Can't have you out on your own causing trouble now can I?"
"I'm here to help, Feena!" Goblin Mage replied.
Feena laughed a bit before going to catch up with the group. As the now group of five started to head back towards the underground tunnels, Ragna suddenly looked down to the ground with a concerned look on his face. All of a sudden the man went wide eyed.
"Huh?" Monika said while looking back. "Ragna, what's-"
"Move now!"
The girls blinked, but all went wide eyed and jumped high up into the sky. Suddenly, several pillars of dark energy erupted from the ground under them. Thankfully, all five of them landed down on the ground away from the eruptions.
"What the hell?!" Grena exclaimed. "Where did that come from?!"
"There you are!"
"Wha-?!"
The group snapped their heads behind them. At the end of the alleyway that they were walking down, there stood several soldiers all armed and ready to fight. In front of them there stood a blonde haired, red eyed witch. She wore an obvious hat that gave away her profession, and a white shirt with black shorts and a purple and black cape. She wielded a short staff in her left hand and a longer staff in her right. The woman in question also had a very angry look on her face at the moment.
"There she is, officers!" The witch exclaimed, point at Goblin Mage who was atop Feena's shoulders. "That's the woman I told all of you about! The one that's been looking around for that mercenary and stole my necklace!"
"Goblin Mage!" Feena said to the girl. "You stole something too?!"
"It was shiny..." Goblin Mage whined.
"Hey wait a minute!" One of the guards said. "Isn't that...?"
"That's them!" A second one exclaimed. "It's the ones that the Prime Minister spoke of! Get them!"
Almost immediately, the group of guards all rushed at the entire group. Ragna sighed, forming his hand into a monstrous claw and sweeping it among the ground. Immediately, several pillars of dark energy came up and knocked back all the guards, all being heard screaming as they were sent flying backwards. The witch girl looked around repeatedly as the guards crashed to the ground.
"Are you kidding me?!" She yelled. "What's the point of all these soldiers if they can't help me catch that thieving little brat?! Fine, I'll handle this myself!" She aimed her staffs at the group. "Give me back my necklace or I'll blast you all into nothingness and take it back then!"
"H-Hey, wait a minute! Calm down!" Monika quickly said. "We don't wanna fight you, okay? She'll give you back your necklace, and we'll leave you alone! Promise!"
The witch started to calm down as the angry look on her face started to fade away. She slowly lowered her staffs downwards.
"Fine." She answered. "Hand it over."
Feena put Goblin Mage back down on the ground. Quickly the little girl started searching through her large dress looking for the necklace. Goblin Mage however, suddenly raised a brow in concern as she searched through her dress constantly, which started to make the others worry. Suddenly Goblin Mage turned around to the others.
"I can't find it." She said.
"You WHAT?!" Everyone exclaimed, a vein pulsing on the once again angry witch's forehead.
"I put everything in my dress, and I can't seem to remember where else would it be."
"Alright that's it!"
The witch once again aimed both her staffs at the group, charging two beams of dark energy.
"Run for it!" Ragna exclaimed.
The group of five quickly booked it, with Feena pulling Goblin Mage along. The witch fired her beams from her staffs, leaving a hole in the wall where the group of five was formerly standing. She then growled angrily and went over to each guard, banging her staffs on their helmets to wake them up.
"Come on! Get back up!" She exclaimed. "They're getting away and I'm not hunting them all down by myself! If you guys wanted to catch them so bad then come on!"
Finishing her mini-rant at the soldiers, she quickly ran off after the group, with the soldiers all soon getting up afterwards and following suit in doing the same thing.
With the group of five, they quickly scurried off into the same direction regardless whether it was the right way to go or not.
"Dammit, this is gonna set us off big time!" Grena said. "If we keep running, this way then we'll be far off from the tunnels."
"But if we head back there with those soldiers and that witch on our asses then that'll just create more problems for us in the long run." Feena responded. "We gotta at least shake them off of us before-"
The group were suddenly stopped as a blast of dark energy came soaring over their heads. They looked behind them to see the witch from earlier flying after them at high speed.
"You won't get away that easily!" She exclaimed.
"Scatter!"
Grena yelled out as she suddenly threw out her chains and latched onto a nearby roof, jumping upwards and climbing to the top.
"Once those soldiers catch up there's no way we'll get out of here staying in this alleyway! We gotta split up and lose them! If you get away, you know where to meet!"
"Right!" Everyone answered.
"There they are!"
"Stop them!"
The group turned around to see the soldiers behind the witch, who had stop flying and was aiming her staff towards Feena and Goblin Mage, in which the former placed the latter onto her back, and flew off to another roof using her abilities with Wind. Watching them get away, the witch quickly turned back around and flew after them.
"Monika, you go on ahead." Ragna said.
"Alright." Monika replied. "Be careful."
Monika vanished without a trace.
"Everyone split up!" One of the soldiers ordered. "Hunt them all down!"
Quickly most of the soldiers all ran back off in the direction they came from, fanning out into the city in order to track down the rest of the group. This just left Ragna and one other soldier standing in the middle of the alleyway.
"So..." Ragna started to say. "You wanna go off with the rest of your buddies?"
"You taunting me you demon?!" The soldier asked in an offended manner. "Why you-!"
The soldier reached to both of his sheathes and pulled out a pair of dual swords. As if to show off, he spun his weapons around all around him, and then ended with holding them right in front of them. The soldier let out a warcry as he rushed over towards Ragna. However, the moment he was in range, Ragna summoned his shield and smacked the soldier dead in the faceplate of his helmet, sending him flying over his head and crashing into the ground. Ragna then sighed before pulling out Armasa as the soldier got back up.
"Alright." He said. "Let's get this over with.
With Feena, the mercenary was holding onto Goblin Mage's legs tightly as the little girl rode on her back while they ran through the rooftops, all while discussing what happened.
"Goblin Mage, why would you just steal someone's necklace like that?!" Feena asked. "I know I'm a mercenary and all, but come on! I thought you would've had some common sense!"
"I couldn't help myself..." Goblin Mage whined. "When I saw it, it was very shiny. I had to take it."
"Dammit, I forgot about this...!" Feena thought to herself. "Goblin Mage is obsessed with anything shiny. Of course she'll go for it." Feena sighed and spake out loud. "Why are you even up here Goblin Mage?"
"I... wanted to see if I could help you out in anyway. I was getting worried about you."
"I can't be mad at you for that obviously. But come on Goblin Mage. You know I can handle myself."
"I know..."
Feena sucked ducked down while running as another blast of dark energy came from behind them quickly, indicating that the witch was closing in on them. Immediately, that was Feena's cue to run faster as she quickly picked up the pace. While in the middle of jumping between several buildings, in an attempt to shake her off Feena dropped down from one of the buildings, hugging the wall of one close to keep her and Goblin Mage out of sight. The witch stopped for a moment and looked down, trying to find Feena. Not seeing her, she flew downward and started flying around the area below the buildings. Fortunately, she went in the opposite direction where Feena was currently hiding. Seeing the witch fly away from them, Feena looked around before grabbing Goblin Mage and running back off in a different direction. However she soon had to change directions once again as she ran straight into more soldiers patrolling the area.
"Dammit!" She complained to herself. "Today is just not my day!"
Meanwhile elsewhere, several more guards were searching around another part of the floor. Their current target was Monika, who had managed to completely disappear from their sight. By the time the guards came close to catching the girl, she was gone from their sight almost immediately. As the guards continued to search around away from her, she quickly ran from building to building, keeping herself out of sight from any soldiers.
"Let's see here..." Monika said quietly to herself as she pokes her head out from behind a building. "Which way was the tunnel again? Ah, dammit I'm lost aren't I?"
Monika moved her head back upon seeing some soldiers suddenly head through the area.
"She's gotta be here somewhere men!" One of the soldiers said. "Keep searching!"
The soldiers continued to patrol around the area. Monika watched as the other soldiers all headed off, eventually disappearing from her sight. She then sighed and ran off in the opposite direction.
With Grena however, she didn't seem to have as much care for stealth as the others. She purposely put herself out there in the middle of the crowded streets in order to draw as much attention to herself as possible. As of now, almost a dozen soldiers had been drawn in by the commotion Grena chose to cause on the eleventh floor, keeping their attention on the chained mercenary and away from the other four in hopes they can get away easier.
"Move it people!" She yelled out to the crowd of people she ran through while spinning her chains. "Mercenary, coming through! I'm in a hurry here!"
"Cut her off men!" an axe-wielding soldier yelled out. "We can't let her keep running through this floor like this!"
"We need to find a way to cut her path off!" Another yelled out as well.
"Perfect. They're fixated on me, just like I planned." Grena thought while she ran, a smirk on her face. "If I can get enough of them to chase after me, the others can reach the tunnels no problem. All I gotta do is keep this-!"
Grena suddenly found herself faced with a problem. As she ran through, the crowd of people all started to move out to the side of her and leave her exposed. As they did so, she could see a squad of soldiers straight ahead, all having guns aimed at her, She immediately started skidding to a stop.
"Aim for the legs!" The captain of the gun-wielding soldiers spoke. "Incapacitate her!"
"Shit! Shit! Not good!"
As the soldiers fired downward to Grena's legs, she spun around her chains in front of her, deflecting the bullets to the ground away from her. She then looked around quickly, and noticed another back alleyway. In an instant, she changed courses and dashed into the alleyway in order to escape from being boxed in by the soldiers. One after the other, the soldiers poured into the alleyway in order to chase her down. However, the moment they were all in, Grena suddenly soared above their heads via swinging around with her chains. She landed outside of the alleyway, and went back through town, leaving the soldiers to continue chasing after her.
"Damn, that was too close!" She said to herself. "I didn't realize how dangerous this was gonna be."
Back inside of the alleyway, Ragna continued to fight with the dual wielding soldier, who refused to stay down. The soldier rushed at him, swing his blades back and forth while Ragna only blocked with his shield. Following several slash, Ragna rammed his shield forward, and knocked away one of the soldier's swords. In response, the soldier held out his other sword in front of him and rushed once again at Ragna. In return, the man spun around and spin kicked the soldier into a wall, knocking him back down.
"You guys don't know when to quit do you?" Ragna asked, though he wasn't expecting an actual answer.
The soldier stood back and grabbed his sword, quickly going on the offensive with a horizontal swing, in which Ragna ducked under immediately. The soldier spun back around and went for a vertical slash downward on Ragna, but was met with his blade colliding against Ragna's shield. However, that did not make the soldier stop his attack. He repeatedly slammed his blade against Ragna's shield in an effort to break through it, to no affect. Eventually after almost ten full strikes, Ragna grew tired of holding up his arm. When the soldier went for another strike, he rushed in and drove his fist into the soldier's gut, knocking him backwards and off balance, causing him to fall. Just as the soldier attempted to get back up again, Ragna pointed his sword at the soldier's face.
"I wouldn't if I were you." Ragna said. "If you get back up, get out of here. You're not gonna will this fight."
"Damn you whatever kind of Demon you are!" The soldier groaned. "You'll pay for this!"
The soldier left his weapons on the ground and quickly stood up and scurried off. Ragna sighed and placed his sword back on his waist while his shield disappeared.
"I'd better go see if I can find the others anywhere."
Ragna started to walk off. But suddenly as if on cue, Monika suddenly appears next to him, startling him as he placed his hand on his sword.
"Hey relax!" Monika said. "It's me. Now come on. We should run."
Ragna looked back behind them to see several more soldiers coming after them. Quickly the two of them ran off deeper into the alleyway while the soldiers followed.
Feena on the other hand of the chase had continued to run through the streets, diving into the crowd in order to avoid being seen. As the witch landed, she held her staffs behind her as she forced her way through the crowds of people while keeping an eye out for Feena. The mercenary held Goblin Mage close as she keeps moving forward, away from the witch chasing them.
"You see her Goblin Mage?" Feena asked.
"No. I don't." Goblin Mage answered.
"Good. Then stay close to me. Just keep moving and we'll-"
"Coming through!"
Feena and Goblin Mage looked up and all of a sudden, they could see Grena running straight at them. By the time Grena realized who was in front of her she had already crashed into the two of them, landing straight on top of Feena as all three girls crashed into the ground. Goblin Mage managed to get back up first. However instead of helping up the two on the ground, her attention was suddenly caught as she could see a shining object not too far off in an alleyway nearby.
"Shiny..." Goblin mage said as she slowly started to walk away.
Feena and Grena groaned, as the latter slowly started to get back up. However she suddenly found herself unable to stand back up. Looking behind her, both girls could see the witch from earlier standing behind them, her foot on top of Grena's behind and pushing her back down.
"Kinda hard to run away when there's a foot on your ass isn't it?" The witch said with a smirk.
"Shit..." Grena said under her breath.
The witch aimed up both of her staffs towards the two girls and charged up an energy blast. However, the moment she was prepared to fire, Feena suddenly sat up and fired a gust of wind from her palms, knocking the witch away, and knocking back Grena in the process as well. Grena could be heard groaning as she landed on her head.
"Sheesh..." Grena started to say. "Could've given me a little warning-"
"Where's Goblin Mage?!" Feena asked while looking around.
"Huh? I don't know. I haven't seen her since I crashed into you two. Maybe she got sent flying-"
Grena was interrupted as she and Feena barely avoided another blast of dark energy. The witch had managed to get back up from Feena's surprise attack and was ready to go once again. To make matters worse, almost two dozen soldiers were behind her, as they were chasing after Grena.
"Ah shit!" Grena exclaimed. "They caught up! Let's move!"
Not wasting any time, Feena and Grena ran off into a nearby alleyway, with the witch running in straight after them.
"Surround the area." One of the soldiers said. "Find any escape routes and cut them off."
The soldiers all fanned out around the area that Feena and Grena ran off to, looking to surround them and close them in.
With Goblin Mage, the little girl had been running through the alleyway by herself. Her eyes were locked on a shiny object that was inside of the alleyway. Unaware of anything that was happening else, the little goblin girl eventually managed to reach the object that had grabbed her attention. Goblin Mage kneels down and scoops it up with her hands.
"Huh?" She blinked as she looked closer at the shiny object. "Oh! I know what this is! It's-"
Goblin Mage jumped at the sounds of people rushing into the alleyway.
"I think I should leave."
Goblin Mage started to reach behind her as if she was grabbing something. She then blinked as she suddenly looked around.
"Where did my staff go?"
Goblin Mage started going deeper into the alley.
Feena and Grena on the other hand were still strolling through the alleyway, keeping an eye out for any soldier or the witch all the while looking for Goblin Mage.
"She must've went in here somewhere." Feena said. "She probably wanted to get away from all those guys outside the alley, and might've gotten lost."
"Do we need to take her with us?" Grena started to ask, getting Feena's attention. "What's with you and find that girl? You said she's been following you around forever right? Why is that? Why do you keep her around?"
Feena blinked for a moment and looked down.
"Because..." She started to respond. "It's because, to be honest, Goblin Mage is really the only person that's actually shown any care for me since... since when I was a child."
"What do you mean?"
"To tell you the truth, I hate goblins. I hate them with a burning passion after what they've done to my family and my home village when I was a child. But Goblin Mage... When I found her, she seemed... different compared to other goblins. It's not that she was someone who was loving and caring or anything like that. She was still a child, like I was. The goblins didn't care too much for her and she was left behind when they left my village. So, when I grew up, and decided to take revenge by becoming a Goblin Hunter, Goblin Mage said she would stick by me no matter what I decided to call myself. She was... No, she IS someone that I can always count on..." Feena tilted her hat over her eyes. "I guess you could say she's like my best friend or something."
Grena looked in surprise. Not knowing relatively anything about Feena, she was shocked to hear about her past in response to her question.
"I don't know any other way to describe it." She continued. "It's like I don't know how to explain myself. Goblin Mage just means a whole lot to me. If I left here or Goldenia without her, I don't think I could ever forgive myself." Feena looks back up at Grena. "That's why I really need to find her. You can go on ahead if you want. Go on and find Ragna and Monika. I'll catch up."
"No, don't worry about it." Grena smiles. "I'll help you find her."
"Really? Thanks Grena."
"Relax, it's fine. And besides," Grena points to behind Feena. "I think finding her will be pretty easy."
Feena turned around and there plain as day, there was Goblin Mage walking around the alleyways behind them.
"Goblin Mage!" Feena called out. "Come on! Let's go get her!"
Feena and Grena started to run after Goblin Mage. However, both were suddenly forced to stop as a blast of dark energy came from behind them, striking the ground in front of them. Both turned around to once again see the witch from earlier floating above them.
"Don't think I'm gonna let you go that easy!" The witch said as she aims her staffs at the two.
"Crap, we don't have time to keep dealing with this!" Grena exclaimed.
"Listen, I'm very sorry about what happened to your necklace, okay?" Feena stated. "But there's nothing else I can do to help you! Please, just leave us alone!"
"Never!" The witch exclaimed. "You can't understand how important this is for me! If I can't have my necklace back, then I'm certainly gonna make all of you pay for causing it to go missing!"
"We need to move." Grena said to Feena. "Run for it! Don't look back!"
Feena and Grena quickly took off in the alleyway behind Goblin Mage. The witch didn't hesitate to quickly follow after the two of them.
"Staff? Staff? Where did you go?"
With Goblin Mage, the little girl was repeatedly calling out as she looked for her staff. Goblin Mage searched left and right looking for her staff, but could only come up empty handed. Goblin Mage then sighed.
"It's not here..." She said. "Oh well... I guess I should head back to find Feena."
"Goblin Mage! Wait up!"
Goblin Mage turned around to see Feena and Grena running up to her.
"Oh, right." the little girl said to herself. "Feena, I-"
"Hold it!"
Soon the witch ran in right behind them.
"This is th end of the line for you three!" She exclaimed. "You're not running away anymore!"
Feena and Grena looked up and around, and soon realized that they were in a dead end. The only way out was past the witch. At that moment Feena pushed Goblin Mage behind the two.
"Goblin Mage, stay back." She said.
"But Feena!" Goblin Mage responded. "I-"
"This isn't the time to talk right now. We've got no other choice but to fight."
"But-"
"Like it'll be a fight anyway!" The witch said with an angry look on her face. "I'll take you all down for losing my necklace!"
"But I found it!"
Immediately all three girls dropped everything they were doing and turned their attention to Goblin Mage.
"What... did you say?" The witch asked slowly.
"I found your necklace while I was wandering around."
Goblin Mage ran out from behind Feena and up to the witch, who walked closer slowly. As she bent down to Goblin Mage's height, the little girl held up a multi cube-shaped necklace in her hands. That immediately caught the witch's attention as she dropped her staffs and took the necklace in her own hands.
"I-It is!" She said frantically. "This is my necklace! Y-You actually found my necklace!" The witch threw her arms around Goblin Mage for a hug. "I can't believe it! I never thought I would see it again!"
"What's so special about that necklace anyway?" Grena asked.
"Well..." The witch started to explain. "This necklace is kind of a family thing. My mom gave it to me when I was young, and I promised that I would do everything I could to hold onto it ever since."
"O-Oh..." Goblin Mage said while looking down. "I'm sorry... I didn't know I took something that important for you."
"Why did you take it in the first place?" Feena asked.
"When I saw how shiny and beautiful it was, I thought that it might make a good present for you, Feena."
"E-Eh?!" A bright red blush went across Feena's face. "Really?!"
"We went through all this because the little girl wanted to get you a present for coming up here to help out!" Grena laughed. "Well I'll be damned! That's the last thing I would've ever thought of!"
"Sorry about all that too." The witch apologized while rubbing the back of her head. "I was really upset when I lost my necklace."
"It's fine. We get it." Feena responded. "We're just glad that everything's solved now... uh... um..."
"Oh right. Daria."
"Feena."
"Grena."
"Goblin Mage."
All four girls shook hands.
"Well then, we really should be off now." Feena said, tilting her hat upward.
"What about the rest of the soldiers?" Goblin Mage asked.
"I'll see if I can throw them off of your trail." Daria answered while picking up her staffs. "Think of it as payback for finding my necklace."
"Really? Thanks Miss Daria!"
Daria nodded as she headed off.
"Come on." Feena said. "Let's find Monika and Ragna so we can get out of here. I've had enough action for one day."
"Fine with me." Grena said.
"Wait! I wanna find my staff first!" Goblin Mage spoke up.
"Don't worry, I remember where we dropped it. I was planning to go back and get it of course." Feena responded, putting a smile on Goblin Mage's face. "Now let's get moving."
"Right!" Both girls answered.
Feena, Grena, and Goblin Mage ran off into the alleyway in order to find Goblin Mage's staff and reunite with Ragna and Monika.