30 Game of Tag 2

Kiro glanced at the woods. Then he saw a messy figure of Alina. Her disheveled clothing that filled with mud and dust, her glittering chestnut hair right at the moment entangled with dry leaves.

"... Alina?" Kiro called out. "Why are you here? Didn't I tell you to leave this place?"

"You idiot!" Alina screamed while both of her eyes moistened. "Do you think that I could abandon my companion just like that?" She said—gripping the hem of her clothing tightly.

With a moment of hesitation, Alina dashed forward as she pounced at Kiro madly.

"You idiot... Idiot, idiot!" Alina beat Kiro's chest, using her delicate hands as she sobbed like a child.

Kiro who was staring in confusion, finally realized what he had done. He could not help to release a soft sigh. "I'm wrong, I'm sorry for making you worry," Kiro said, but right at this moment, he did not know how to console the sobbing Alina.

"Master! At times like this, you have to embrace her, you know!" Fixie stated before she added. "Hee~ don't tell me you'll chicken out? How can you conquer Rosie if Master can't even handle a simple thing like this?" Fixie said in mockery.

Kiro was about to blurt out his rejection. However, when he heard Fixie taunt him like that, he could not help to be snapped.

'I'll just have to hug her right?' Kiro grunted inside while his right hand embraced the delicate waist of Alina.

Alina who was throwing a tantrum awakened from Kiro's sudden behavior. "... What are you doing?" She said, but Alina did not reject Kiro's advance.

This time Kiro did not know how to respond to her question, suddenly he heard Fixie's voice once more. "Sheesh~ Such a dense Master, what would you do without Fixie?" She said. "Don't let her go, Master! Tease her so that she would loosen her guard more!"

Kiro was speechless from Fixie's advice, but Kiro did as he was told. Embracing Alina tightly as he said. "Hee~ I thought our crybaby Alina needed someone to embrace, I would gladly give my service anytime." Kiro shamelessly said those words, but deep inside, he regretted doing so.

Alina who heard Kiro's teasing call struggled out of Kiro's embrace. However, when she found out that she could not escape. "Ple—please... Let go of me," Alina said weakly, after realizing how bold she moved a while ago. Her cheeks flushed red like a tomato.

Seeing her cute reaction, Kiro could not help but to tease her more. "Hehe, what did you say just now? Who is the idiot one? You can only blame yourself for jumping into the wolve's den." Kiro said wickedly. However, before he could take advantage of her, Alina threw a hard punch to his face.

"... Urgh!" Kiro groaned in pain. "That's hurt, why you! How could you punch your precious Kiro like this."

"Who is precious to who! You damn pervert!" Alina yelled at him in embarrassment.

After getting free from Kiro's grasp, Alina stepped backward cautiously.

Seeing her reaction, Kiro coughed lightly to mend the awkwardness from the two. "Ahem... Anyway, let's leave this forest." This time Kiro's expression became serious, staring at the northeast side of the plainlan forest. Kiro felt cold goosebumps all over his body.

Noticing Kiro's odd behavior, Alina asked. "Just did you see inside this forest?"

Kiro directly looked at her eyes as he said. "... I met a high ranking Goblin, a Goblin Mage, and two Goblin's Commander." Kiro said solemnly.

After hearing his voice, Alina could not hide her astonishment. "What! You idiot, you should've said that sooner!" She said as Alina grab a hold of Kiro's hand; however before she could drag him out of the place, Kiro voiced out.

"You don't need to worry, I already slew the Goblin Mage and one of their Commander." Kiro said, "But fighting two high ranking monsters simultaneously is quite taxing even for him." Even though he tried to act tough, He could not hide his ghastly face.

When he said those words, only then Alina noticed Kiro's tired appearance. "Then, what should we do now?"

"It would be for the best if I could rest for a while, then once I recovered enough mana to sustain another fight in the worst-case scenario, only then we could move out," Kiro explained while glancing at Alina with a worried look. With his current self, he wasn't even sure if he could defend himself.

"Anyway, I'll be relying on your observing skill, Alina." Truth to be told, with Kiro's current capability his eyesight was ten times greater than before. However, with his meager mana left that was torturing his mind, Kiro could not stay focused on his surroundings.

"Mm, I will definitely lead you out of this forest safely," Alina said with determination.

***

Deep inside the forest.

A three and a half meter tall Goblin was sitting on the throne made of bones, Its both eyes were glittering with Golden light. However, the unusual thing about this Goblin was its domineering aura that when you glanced at this majestic figure, a low-grade monster would subconsciously bow their heads.

"So... What is happening inside the forest?" Goblin King said solemnly.

"Ma—master! This servant is incompetent! I let Gegoblin died in vain!" The one who said it while kneeling on the ground was the Goblin commander that Kiro faced a while ago.

"I don't care about him, what happened to Gorogoblin?" The Goblin King asked in a piercing tone.

"... Master... Early in the morning, Gorogoblin was strolling outside while practicing his spell... However, I asked some low-grade Goblins if they saw him. They said he went to the border of the forest and then..." The Goblin Commander said he was afraid to voice out what happened next.

"Then what? Say it." The Goblin King said while releasing his intimidating aura.

Upon realizing that his Master would snap anytime soon, the Goblin Commander reported everything without missing any details.

The atmosphere between the two became heavy, then a moment later the Goblin King yelled in madness. "He did what? Say it once more!"

"Ma—master your servant is incompetent! When we arrived from the scene Gorogoblin was found dead!" The Goblin commander said while hitting his head on the hard ground.

The Goblin King's whole body trembled in anger; however, he tried to maintain his calm as he said. "Go tell this to everyone, move out and capture those humans!" The Goblin King proclaimed. "We cannot let those pests get out of this forest alive!"

"Ye—yes! As you command Master!" The Goblin Commander said while getting up on the ground and hurriedly left the place.

After the Goblin Commander The Goblin King Howl furiously.

***

On the other side of the plainlan forest.

Alyva and Mirabell who finally managed to get out of the border of the plainlan forest heard disturbing cries of the bird.

"I'm having a bad feeling about this... Alyva let's speed up our pace, every second count. The faster we report everything from the Guild, the sooner they will dispatch a party to save and help them." Mirabell said worriedly.

"Yes, Mira is right, we need to move faster..." Alyva was about to voice her concern when she saw a figure of a man carrying a woman behind his back.

"... Aldin!" Alyva called out his name in surprise. The moment when she was about to dash out, Alina noticed the unusual behavior of Aldin. "What happened? Where are Kiro and Alina?"

The moment Aldin heard the name of the two, the more guilty he became, "I... I..." Aldin tried to voice out his thoughts, but he couldn't. He stopped moving and tried to stabilize his chaotic mind.

A moment later, Aldin gathered all of his remaining courage as he said everything that happened inside the forest.

"... That's what happened, I—I abandoned them," Aldin said while biting his lip hard to the point of bleeding.

Mirabell was momentarily shocked when she heard that Aldin abandoned the two; however, when she thought how difficult the choice he made. She could not blame Aldin, but even so, she felt a bit of disappointment from his action.

But Alyva has her own thoughts, as she said. "Why! Why did you Abandon them? You could've at least brought Alina with you right? Why did you let her go like that?" Alyva said hysterically, to her Alina was like her own sister. In the moment of confusion, Alyva blamed Aldin for his decision.

Mirabell patted Alyva's shoulder when she noticed Aldin was about to be eaten alive from his guilt.

Realizing what she had done, Alyva said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it Aldin..."

Mirabell clasped both of her hands to mend the atmosphere. "Okay, you two, stop right there, It would be better if we leave this place. I don't blame you; Aldin, from your decision, It must be hard on you, but we have to report what happened here first.

"Mm." Aldin nodded his head, but on the closer look, his eyes were filled with regret.

"Let me carry my sister for you Aldin, and thank you for keeping your promise," Mirabell said to comfort him.

"Mm," Aldin muttered as he hands over Missa's sleeping body.

Then the group started their journey to head back to the town of Elmore.