"Ehh?" Pallabi replied, her mouth wide open as if she had seen a ghost. "You're fighting without a weapon?!" she asked. As surprised as she was, she was also impressed that he had survived so long without one.
"Actually, I just became an adventurer and hadn't had the time to purchase any weapons so…"
Shyam said, rubbing his hand behind his head.
A smile of stupidity could be seen on his face. Though even without a weapon, he could fight—it would just take much longer that way.
"Oh! Makes sense. Well, I have this second knife, wanna take it?" Pallabi said as she took out a knife from under her—PANTIES? What the actual heck is this girl?
Shyam's face tightened with regret. "Why did I even ask?" Shyam whispered.
"Don't want it?" Pallabi said, her face that of an innocent kid who doesn't even know what wrong she's done.
Shyam took a deep breath and somehow held the handle of the knife. "Sure, why not. Thanks," he said and quickly put it somewhere accessible.
He didn't have a scabbard just yet, so the pocket was all he could use. Luckily, it was strong enough to hold that sharp knife. Sharp enough to cut through Shyam's entire existence.
"Who even makes these?" Shyam whispered.
Slow but steady, they reached the quest area. Trees and bushes on both sides and a dirt path in the middle. Shyam and Pallabi walked together slowly, waiting for the goblins to attack.
Shyam's field sense hadn't sensed anything yet.
"Is there no Goblin?" Shyam murmured.
Suddenly... [Monster Alert]
An alert from Field Sense popped up—not once, not twice, but over twelve times.
"Finally," Shyam said and held the knife Pallabi lent him tightly.
"Get ready, Shyam!" Pallabi shouted as many goblins suddenly surrounded them from all sides.
"So, what's the plan?" Pallabi said as she tightened her eyebrows. It was a full-on fight situation—do or die.
"Plan? I don't have any," Shyam said as he ran toward a goblin.
"What!!!" Pallabi shouted. "You have no plan?!"
But before Shyam could answer her, or before she could say anything more, the goblins attacked as well.
Pallabi ran toward a goblin, readying her knife.
She struck the goblin in the heart, but it wasn't so easy. The goblin caught the knife and held it tightly so she couldn't move. Although it bled, it still held on while its companion tried attacking from behind.
"No way... Am I going to die like this?" Pallabi murmured and closed her eyes.
Tears fell down her cheeks—instant regret for why she even recommended such a quest in the first place. She had lost all hope. Over four goblins—and she was alone. How could she fight back?
"PALLABI!" Shyam shouted as he chopped down the hand of the goblin who held her.
Pallabi opened her eyes, but even after getting freed, she was traumatized. She couldn't move an inch. Her hands shook like a vibrator, her eyes widened with shock. She couldn't think of anything to do.
She had never fought anything but slimes. Although these goblins were as low-level as they could get, for Pallabi they were far stronger than her.
"Snap out of it or I'll let you die here and now!" Shyam said as he pierced through the heart of a goblin.
Pallabi finally heard him, but she still doubted herself. Even if she fought, would she be able to defeat them?
"I'm not strong enough," she whispered, her hands crossed together, reaching her chest.
"Please forgive me, Shyam. I can't fight anymore," she said as she fell to her knees.
"THEN FIGHT FOR ME!" Shyam said.
"If you can't fight to protect yourself, then fight to protect others! You're not weaker than anyone—it's your self-doubt that makes you weak! Now stand up and fight!" Shyam said as he sliced through the neck of another goblin.
The head of the goblin fell to the ground, so did the body. Blood bled through its throat and it finally died.
"I... Shyam, I... Thank you, Shyam. I think I can fight now," Pallabi said as she picked up the knife once again.
She stood up and held the knife tightly. This was a situation where giving up was never an option. It was do or die.
She dashed toward the goblins and somehow stabbed one through the stomach. She pushed it as far as she could and rotated it clockwise. The goblin screamed in pain. Pallabi took the knife back and stabbed it again—this time in the heart.
And finally, killed the first ever goblin of her life.
"I did it," she murmured.
"Good," Shyam said.
She had finally gained confidence in both herself and her power. It didn't take them too long to finish off all the goblins.
"Finally done," Pallabi said as she took a deep breath.
Her heart raced faster than a V8 engine, but she had a smile of relief on her face. She had overcome her fear today—the fear of fighting someone more powerful than her.
Shyam, on the other hand, stood still above one of the defeated goblins, staring at his blinking system window.
[New Ability - Shadow Capture]
He had leveled up by quite a lot after killing those slimes and these goblins. But his skills remained the same.
Pallabi noticed Shyam's silence so she asked, "Is there a problem?" She showed concern for Shyam. Who knows if it was because she was tired, but her voice carried more weight than it usually did.
Almost as if she had learned something more—something important—today. She didn't have that shyness in her voice anymore, or the tease.
"No, I'm okay. Let's collect these Goblin ES and go back," Shyam said as he picked up the ES of the goblin he stood above.
Pallabi nodded her head and started doing the same. Soon they collected all the ESs of the goblins they had killed. A total of twelve.
"That's five silver coins for the quest plus ten copper coins for the remaining ESs," Pallabi said.
"Let's head back now, shall we?" Shyam asked as he turned in the direction of the village.
"Yeah, let's," Pallabi replied and followed Shyam. Soon after reaching the village entrance, Shyam and Pallabi went straight to the Adventurer's Guild.
The same lady whom Pallabi addressed as Arna stood behind the counter. Her posture the same as yesterday, and so was her smile. But surprisingly enough, she was awake today.
"Well, if it isn't Miss Pallabi and her—friend?" said Arna as she leaned forward on the counter table.
"I'm Shyam, nice to meet you," Shyam said, sitting down on a chair.
"I'm Arna, nice to meet you as well," she said. Her voice was somewhat different from when she spoke with Pallabi. As if she saw him in a lower position than her.
"So, Miss Pallabi, what brings you here straight to the counter today?" Arna asked, as Pallabi would often either stare at the quest board or sit behind the solace of reality just behind the chairs.
"Well actually, I and Shyam completed the Goblin Slayer quest," Pallabi said and took out a bag full of Goblin ESs. Arna's eyes widened with shock as she opened the bag. There really were twelve Goblin ESs.
"No way, how did you even kill all these twelve goblins by yourself, Pallabi?" she said, completely ignoring Shyam who had just come with her.
"Actually, Shyam here was the one who killed more than half of them," she said as she pointed her fingers towards Shyam.
Shyam didn't really care if he got credited for it. All he cared about was half the reward money. But he did feel a little bad seeing her ignore him like this.
"Oh my, well I have to apologize then. Thank you, Adventurer Shyam!" she said as she bowed her head.
Shyam felt a little bit embarrassed by the sudden change in behavior though he said, "Oh no, it's fine. As long as I get my reward, I don't care that much."
(Damn, Shyam, hold your intrusive thoughts to yourself a little more.)
But better to speak the truth than to lie about your feelings, isn't that right?
"Oh yes, of course, here's your reward," Arna said as she gave them a bag of coins with five silver coins and ten copper coins for the extra ESs.
After taking the reward, Shyam and Pallabi left the guild and went to a tavern, which was awfully empty with only a few people around.
"Well, this is emptier than I thought it'd be," Shyam said, stepping inside the tavern with Pallabi.
"Not many people are free at this time of the day. This tavern is usually full of people at night," said Pallabi as she sat down on one of the free chairs.
Shyam too sat down in front of her at the same table.
"Here's your share, Shyam," Pallabi said as she handed Shyam a bag of coins. Shyam looked inside and was shocked to see that Pallabi hadn't given him half the reward but 70% of it.
"Why so much? Shouldn't we share it equally?"