Forgotten But Not Lost

6

The paves of the forest were already becoming familiar to Shirou, and he took the lead, first showing the group one of the hidey-holes marked on the map by Kuro, which could be used to store there food goods and other supplies so that they could go unencumbered during the first, before starting off to do the normal rounds, checking the watering holes for activity, as well as some high vantage points which could overlook a less dense section of the woods.

He could tell that Rin was still mad at him. He could practically feel the glare on the back of his neck. He would have to explain himself sooner or later, but he didn't know how to approach the subject. He couldn't just ask her to speak to him in private. Not while there were so many people with their eyes on him. They might get the wrong impression.
It had been nice to see Megumin again. She cheerfully talked his ear off about all the things that she wasn't allowed to talk about from during her Mage's Guild training. If a politician was someone who could talk a lot without actually saying anything, then she had earned her position as the emperor of all the known world just in that one morning. She had however told Shirou about one of the other Mage's she had met while at the guild. A cheerful woman who she called 'Mimori-nee-chan'.
Apparently Mimori had offered Megumin a spot in her veteran's party, but Megumin had turned her down because Rin had said not to accept party invites from strangers. While Mimori had been disappointed, she had still helped Megumin learn the super spell that she was always boasting about but had yet to tell anyone what it actually was.
Some of the other party members were visibly annoyed with Megumin but didn't say anything. Shirou didn't really mind so much. He found her chatter endearing in some ways. It didn't really distract him from his hunt. Once he had hypnotized himself with the [Tracking] skill, it would have been difficult for anything to really distract him. Just as he had been taught, his eyes registered the marks on every spot of dirt and every snapped twig.
It was amazing the things you could learn from a broken twig. The weight of what broke the twig would be guessed by the shape of the break, the speed and direction the thing was going from where it fell, the time elapsed by how fresh the wood inside was.
While normally a brand new trainee wouldn't have had more than a day of instruction in this skill and would find it difficult to maintain, Shirou had done nothing but practice it for days. He found more than a dozen trails that could have been followed in that single morning. However, nearly all of them were just animals; deer, wolves, a bear, and what was probably an entire swarm of pat-rats. And while some of them were good eats, none of them were what the party was looking for.
However, he still chose to point them out to Rin, hoping that they would make her see the value of having him as a Hunter. She continued to try to act determinedly unconvinced, though still asked for more details about the function and limits of his abilities. Megumin had thought it was pretty cool.
Eventually though, just as noon had passed, one of the watering holes bore fruit in the form of small group of four goblins. They were all around the small stream with food cooking in an iron pot over a fire. Two whole deer carcasses were nearby, stripped to the bone. Rusted spears and hatches were all copied onto Shirou's ever growing stockpile of weapons, though these goblins could hardly have been said to possess any skill with mimicking.
"Finally found some. I was starting to wonder if they had all ran off scared." Itsuki whispered with a smile as the Dread Knight fingered his blade. The rest were also preparing themselves for their first actually bit of combat. They were all visibly nerves but doing their best to hid it.
"Something isn't right here." Shirou said as he looked over the four goblins.
"Why, what do you see?" Rin asked him, causing the others to halt in their preparations to charge.
"According to my sensei, mud goblins are the lowest tier in goblin society. They aren't allowed any possessions beyond those they wear as a talisman around their necks and a weapon to defend themselves with as they scavenge for food. But these goblins all have cloth pouches, meaning they are at least lesser goblins, still low on the food chain, but not so low as to be forced to scavenge for food this close to humans. They shouldn't be here." Shirou explained.
"So, these ones are wealthy you say? Sounds like we got lucky." Richard said. "Even if they are higher rank, they are still just goblins, right? They are still the weakest of all the monsters and we still outnumber them three to one."
"So long as it is just the four of them." Rin said, looking more closely at the group of goblins. "I don't know how much goblins eat for lunch, but that seems like an awful lot of meat they are cooking."
"It could be that they are going to be staying here a while and are making extra food, or it could be that they are part of a larger group, in which case it is safe to assume that they are the bottom feeders of that particular group." Shirou said.
"Alright, we should hold off the attack to scout the area. If Archer's right, then they won't be moving anywhere any time soon." Rin said calmly. "Shirou, Sara and Megumin will circle them counter-clockwise, while I will go clockwise around them with Aoi, Richard and Touma. Itsuki and Riku will remain here with Yukari, Yui and Niko and keep an eye on them. If it looks like they have spotted any of us, launch an attack and we will strike at them from all sides. Even both groups reach the stream without any signs of enemy reinforcements, then we will attack them from all sides anyways. Understood?"
"Come on. I say we just go for it. If we take too much time, then this will be the only group we see all day." Itsuki said stubbornly.
"We shouldn't underestimate them or overestimate ourselves. We've never done this before. Caution is the best approach. Humanity and the goblins had been at war for hundreds of years. Its safe to assume that while none of us… besides Archer perhaps, has ever killed anything, these goblins won't hesitate for a second before going for our throats." Rin said calmly, not letting the boy work her up. "One mistake out here and we could all die. I'd rather not make that mistake a stupid one where we saw that there was something wrong but then charged forward anyways."
"Hmph, sounds like the excuses of a cowardly girl if you ask me." Itsuki said, perhaps forgetting that more than half the team were girls.
"If group wishes to take the risk right now and attack before scouting, then I am more than willing to change plans to a quick ambush. So, let's put it to a vote." Rin said simply, looking around at the others. When comparing Itsuki and Rin, it was hard to image anyone trying to follow the former. This entire thing was just a demonstration to put Itsuki down without making Rin look like a tyrant. She asked the party to decide and everyone was behind her because she spoke sense. The only exception being Itsuki himself who was left seething and looking at the other boys with betrayed eyes. Only Touma gave him an apologetic shrug.
"Than its decided. If anything happens have your mage cast [Mystic Missile] to alert everyone. Aoi, we'll follow your lead." Rin said following the Thief girl into the bushes on their life, the two Warriors right behind her.
Shirou himself moved to the right, telling Megumin and Sara to walk in the path directly behind him and to make as little noise as possible. He moved quickly, keeping his eyes and ears open in case of more goblins lying in wait, but saw nothing but the woods around him and heard nothing but the birds, the goblins that were already in the clearing, and the sounds of Sara and she ungracefully tried to sneak about.
As he snuck along, Shirou couldn't help but wonder what it was he should do in this upcoming fight. He could have easily shot down all four goblins before they even had time to sound any kind of alarm, if they had one. Even if they did have reinforcements, he had twelve arrows, each one might as well be counted as a kill, and even once he was done with them, he would still have his blades.
But the purpose of this hunt was for his less experienced party members to get their feet wet. For them to become more accustomed to the idea and feel of killing. None of which would happen if Shirou just slaughtered everything for them. At the same time, he didn't want them to get themselves killed.
He would have to temper his shots. Injure, but not kill. Leaving the goblins too injured to launch their own lethal attacks, but still strong enough to put up a fight. While it would be bad if his party was wounded, they had Priests for that. He just had to make sure that none of the strikes were deadly.
There were no signs of recent movement through the brush surrounding the stream. Which wasn't all that surprising. The vegetation was thick, so the goblins probably wouldn't have tried to push through it. They would have just walked through the open area closer to the stream, where the goblins were currently waiting for them. He won't know the exact situation until he reached the edge of the clearing.
They had gone half way down the slope towards the stream when Sara got her foot caught on a root, causing her to trip and fall. Her sword rattled in its scabbard and she gain an involuntary cry of alarm. Her arms cartwheeled as she tried to catch herself, slapping bushes as she went down.
Shirou froze and motioned for Megumin to crouch down. If the goblins had heard and were going to come closer than…
"Charge!" Itsuki shouted out as both he and Riku ran down the hill they had started in, straight down towards the goblins, each of them shouting like idiots. Their cover was blow and it was time to fight.
Shirou stood up, pulling is bow off his back and fitting an arrow in one single motion. The goblins were startled but quickly started to form on in order to move in on the two attackers. They had yet to notice that they were completely outnumber, else they would have probably retreated to join up with their reinforcements. Unless they truly were alone. This gave time for Richard and Touma to circle behind them and cut off their retreat.
Two of the goblins, the ones with hatches in hand were a little faster than those with spears, so they were the first to reach Itsuki and Riku.
Shirou let arrows fly, one after another, hitting both goblins in the back, right underneath the shoulder bone of their main arms. They gave shrill screams of pain but didn't let go of their weapons. Still, they hardly had enough strength to try to block any incoming attacks and were left to dodge the strikes rather than tanking them. Goblins were nasty creatures, as they didn't seem to care if they had suffered wounds, even of the mortal variety. They just kept moving. Whether that meant fighting or running away.
The two spear users were about to be in position to assist their brethren when a bolt of purple light came down from the hill behind the two human fighters. Yukari had finished her [Magic Missile] chant and had fired it at the two spear users. But either she hadn't been able to make up her mind as to the target or her accuracy could use some work, as the bolt just struck the ground between the two, kicking up dust. The only affect it had on them was that they stopped charging in surprise.
Something that did have a greater effect was when ice began to incapsulate one of the spear wielder's legs, quickly growing upwards until it extended from the ground all the way up to its hip, leaving the goblin immobilized.
Itsuki and Riku managed to cut down the two injured goblins they had been fighting, though they hesitated afterwards, both breathing hard as their lungs were filled with the stink of blood for the first time.
With two of his companion's dead and the final one stuck in ice, the last of the goblins decided that now would be a good time to run. Too bad for him that Richard and Touma were standing there with their massive swords raised and serious expressions on their faces, Aoi and Rin a few feet behind them.
Recovering from their shock, Itsuki went to finish off the immobilized goblin while Riku joined the other two Warriors in encircling the last of the goblins. The goblin kept spinning around, trying to make sure that all of them kept their distance with his spear, but it was only a matter of time.
It looked as if it was going to be a total victory, and Shirou began to lower his bow. Then he noticed a strange smell. Something smelled like it was burning.
"Delm hel en balk zel arve…" Megumin chanted, holding her staff out in front of her as a dark crimson red magic circle began to appear. Shirou could only blink, wondering why he suddenly felt the urge to run when the girl finished casting her spell. "[Blast]!"
What happened next was something hard to describe. The goblin that had been trying to preserve its life as best it could, suddenly exploded. A ball of fire, over six feet in diameter, appeared out of nowhere, blowing the goblin to piece and sending the bits flying through the air. The dirt underneath where the goblin had stood was thrown up from the power of the [Blast], joining the pieces of goblin in raining down from the sky. A sound like thunder ripped past everyone. And then finally, as their ear drums started to recover, they all heard human screams of bloody murder.
Touma had been caught by the edge of the attack.
"Oh hell!" Rin shouted raising her free hand and starting a cast. "Jeeru mea gram fel kanon, [Freezing Blood]!" She shouted, using the same spell she had used to entrap the goblin to put out the flames and cool the now mangled chainmail.
The chainmail and cloth had been burned away, leaving a rather gruesome looking sight.
Luckily, Touma had only been going in for a taunt, and not plunging his blade into the goblin when the explosion happened. While his arm and face were horribly burned, the boy was still very much alive, and in horrible pain.
"Yui, Niko, get down here, now!" Rin shouted up the hill for the Priests, though she hadn't needed to. They were already on their way down to perform their jobs. They paled and shivered as they got close, but after a quick prodding by Rin, they got to work healing the boy's wound.
Their cure spell was surprisingly powerful for the first level of healing magic. After seven casts, there wasn't even a scar to show that Touma had nearly been blown to bits. The cure spell did have drawbacks though. It couldn't be cast at a range and wouldn't counteract the pain that the boy was even now feeling, and like all of the Priests' healing magic, it wouldn't replace organs.
Even as they were healing him, Touma went into shock and lost consciousness. At least he stopped screaming.
"What in the hell was that!? Are we still under attack!?" Riku said, looking all around. He looked like he was going to piss himself. "Where is the enemy!?"
"There is no enemy. It was accidental friendly fire." Shirou said as he joined the group. He was half carrying a rather unstable Megumin with him.
"I'm sorry. I was so excided to finally cast my spell on real bad guys. I didn't think anyone would get hurt." The child said weakly. Rin recognized the symptoms of having used too much magic.
"What, are you telling me that you did that!?" Itsuki shouted, pointing at the hole in the ground.
Rin's mind finally caught up with what had just happened. "It's Arve type fire magic, the [Blast] spell." Rin said in half shock. She had read a bit about the spell and had even played with the idea of learning it for herself, but she hadn't expected that the mystery magic that Megumin had been talking about with be that. What moron thought it would be a good idea to teach a little girl such a dangerous spell?
"Arve type? What's that?" Yukari asked, as she looked at the damage her fellow Mage had done with wide eyes.
Rin instinctively went into lecture mode at having been asked the question. "Fire magic can be divided into two types. The first type is called Avel, which creates and sustains fire for extended periods of time. The other type is called Arve, which releases all the magic energy used to cast the spell in a single powerful burst." Rin said, reciting something she had read while at the Mage's Guild. "It could best be explained by looking at two upper tier elementary level fire spells; [Fire Wall] and [Fire Pillar]. [Fire Wall] is an Avel type fire spell that creates a ten-foot-tall wall of fire and can sustain that wall for up to ten minutes if nothing happens to the caster. That said, the wall of fire is more of a deterrent than an actually wall to be depended on, since if you run through the fire fast enough you could get through with only minor burns, or without any burns at all."
"[Fire Pillar] is the Arve equivalent of [Fire Wall]. It only lasts for about a second and is only around five feet tall and one foot across. But if you get caught in it… well, the goblin should give you a good idea of what would happen to you." Rin said, pointing to a bit of blackened flesh.
"Holy hell. A rookie mage could cast magic like that? Why am I even out here?" Richard said, going pale. "We could have been killed."
"I don't know how Megumin knew that spell, let alone was able to cast it. It was a higher intermediate level Arve spell. With her being as new to magic as she is, she shouldn't have the magical energy needed to cast it. I'm surprised she's even conscious right now." Rin said looking the girl up and down.
"I did pass out the first time I used it." Megumin admitted weakly.
"Wait, that was the intermediate level? What is the advanced level spell like?" Yui asked.
"[Explosion]. It's described in the books as a spell that could be used to take down groups of giants, small armies or even entire castles. It is similar to the [Blast] spell, only with a radius of two hundred feet. Supposedly, no one currently alive is able to use it due to the sheer cost of the spell. The closest they can get is by having three Wizards all casting together. Users of the Arve element are rare, and ones who have the kind of magic reserves needed to cast the highest tier of spells are even rarer." Rin explained.
"[Explosion]." Megumin said in wonder, her eyes seeming to sparkle at the prospect of it.
Rin saw that look in her eyes and was worried. It seemed as though Megumin had decided that her goal in life would be to learn the [Explosion] spell. Lord help them all if she ever did. Considering that magical energy tended to grow with one's vitality as well as practice, if Megumin could cast a [Blast] spell after just one week of training and when her body was still developing, she might just have enough magic to do it once she was fully grown. Rin thought that the [Blast] she had used looked a bit larger than what her books had described… as in almost twice the normal size.
Then a thought occurred to Rin. "The [Blast] spell should have cost too much for you to have learned. Didn't it cost ten silver?"
"Well… I kind of spent all of my money to get it." Megumin said weakly.
Rin took in a small breath. "By all of it, do you mean… all of it?" She asked the girl. Megumin only nodded in response. "Great. But that was still only five silver and thirty copper. Where did the rest of the money come from?"
"Mimori-nee-chan helped to pay for the rest." Megumin admitted weakly.
"…And why did she do this?"
"She… said that I would look cute using it."
"…We need to have a serious talk with this 'Mimori-nee-chan' of yours." Shirou said with a sigh. "I can cover for her living expenses. I've still got all of my money."
"Thank you, Onii-chan." Megumin said. It probably would have been a shout, but she was too tired for it.
"Well, this is good isn't it? We have a mage on our team with a really powerful spell." Sara said softly.
Rin shook her head a little. "Sort of. It would be amazing if we were in the normal army, but because we are with the volunteer forces, Arve type fire magic comes with some down sides."
"Like what?" Yukari asked, wondering what could possibly be bad about having such powerful magic.
"For starters, because of the cost of the spells, you can only use them a few times a day, so after one or two casts, you have to call it a day, regardless how much or little money you've made that day. Also, as ironic as it might sound, its sheer power is a disadvantage. Fat chance we are getting any loot out of that goblin she killed." Rin said with a shrug. "Then there are environmental effects that have to be taken into account. If she had used the spell closer to the brush instead of this dry clay clearing, then she could have set the entire forest on fire. And if you use it in a building or in a cave, you are likely to have it collapse on top of you."
"So it is a powerful spell, but one that is almost too powerful to ever be used." Sara summed up.
"Finally, there is a matter of the noise it cau…" Rin started but then stopped and her eyes widened. "Riku, Richard, pick up Touma now! We need to move!"
"W… what?" Richard said in surprise. "What do you mean? Why do we have to move him?"
"There isn't any time to explain we have to…!" Rin started to shout at him, but before she could finish, Shirou had jumped on her and started to pull her down. There was a thudding sound as an arrow landed squarely in the center of Shirou's arm which was currently covering her chest.
Before she had time to speak, Shirou was back on his feet, bow draw and firing an arrow. Almost four hundred feet away, something fell out of a tree and hit the ground hard.
"Onii-chan, are you alright!?" Megumin shouted, having been jarred into a more aware start by Shirou having dropped her in order to perform his diving tackle of Rin.
Yui started to move closer to Shirou in order to heal him, but he brushed her off. "It's only a flesh wound, conserve your stamina." He said, his voice strict enough to get her to stop in her tracks. The arrow hadn't gone deep into his bracer, just a quarter of an inch. He pulled it out and hardly any blood was on the tip. "This isn't over yet."
Rin saw what he meant as in the distance, and all around them, bushes began to move as things began to be drawn in. The final weakness of Arve type fire magic was the sound of the explosion, which could be heard for miles around, alerting all enemies.
The dinner bell had just been rung.
Sorry the update is late. Some people actually put out something I wanted to read, and I am a VERY slow reader. LOL.