"Find the shamans!" Alistair ordered as he lifted his shield to protect himself from a volley of incoming arrows and rocks.

A horde of goblins was spread throughout the forest, attacking the defending adventurers and guards with whatever dirty tactics they could. Their primary strategy was to overwhelm the defenders of Sunglow with sheer numbers. However, there were also a few hobgoblins and goblin shamans among them, making everything a lot harder.

The adventurers had actually been doing rather well defending against regular monsters on their own, but the addition of evolved monsters made things too difficult, and the whole guild had been called into action.

A large ice spear flew through the air, narrowly missing one of the archers and hitting the stone wall instead. Remi launched arrows at the place where the spear came from. Alistair couldn't see the little shamans among the bushes and trees of the forest, but he was sure that Remi's arrows would find their mark. They always did sooner or later.

So the shamans were not Alistair's problem. He was called to the battle to deal with the hobgoblins. There were reportedly five of them scattered about, and only three members of the Guild had the potential of bringing one down on their own—him, Barrett, and the Guildmaster.

"There you are, you overgrown tomato! Over here," Alistair used <Lightning Dash> to zip towards one of the hobgoblin, and beat his sword against his shield to challenge the monster. The hobgoblin sneered at him, slowly turning towards him. It regarded Alistair as if he were a fly.

We'll see who'll come out victorious in the end.

The hobgoblin charged, in a lazy sort of fashion, lifting his hand up to squash Alistair with his giant club. Obviously, he had no intention of taking the hit and rolled to the side, trying to slash at the hobgoblin's ankles. The monster proved surprisingly agile and jumped back.

Three smaller goblins charged at Alistair, trying to surround him from all sides, but he was not intimidated by them in the slightest. He cut down the one to the right with his sword, smashed the one to the left with his shield, and then turned around to finish the last one with a quick stab.

They were nothing more than a nuisance, but while he dealt with them, it gave precious free seconds to the hobgoblin to charge. Alistair managed to block it at the last moment and retaliated with a <Lightning Strike>. It collided with the monster's club, producing a loud sound that stunned it for a moment.

[Skill <Unyielding Blade> activated. Each next hit with a sword will be stronger than the last.]

Hobgoblin growled and slammed its club against Alistair's shield. It didn't do any damage to him, but it did give him another chance to strike. This time he managed to graze the hobgoblin's arm, leaving a rather nasty gash behind. The monster bellowed in anger and staggered back.

"Afraid of a little scratch?" Alistair taunted, and the goblin rushed at him. He didn't move, instead meeting the blow with his shield and continuing to build his attack combo. He was lucky—this hobgoblin wasn't as strong as the one that had attacked Melina on the way to Pertia. It was much easier to withstand its blows. But he had forgotten one crucial fact—this hobgoblin wasn't alone.

"Captain, behind you!" Barrett bellowed, and Alistair noticed that another hobgoblin had sneaked up on him while he was busy wearing down the first one. Both monsters had their clubs raised, ready for a strike.

I'll lose my attack combo if I move, but I can't block both their attacks. There is no choice.

Alistair activated <Lightning Dash>, moving out of the way of the attacks. The hobgoblins looked confused for a moment—he had disappeared so suddenly. Much to Alistair's surprise the chain on his attack hadn't been broken.

<Lightning Dash> doesn't break the chain? I was so convinced that even a single step away from the original position would break it. I wish I would have known this sooner.

Both hobgoblins charged at him, but the larger one—the one who joined the fight later—was faster and got to Alistair first. He blocked its attack and countered with a lightning strike. With the combo building, the strike was stronger, forcing the monster to stagger back. Then the second hobgoblin made it to Alistair, its club raised high.

"You're going to have to do better than that!" Alistair called and activated his bloodline skill. "Stormbringer's Legacy!"

He banged his sword against the shield, creating a powerful shockwave that stunned both hobgoblins. It wouldn't keep them still for long, but Alistair didn't need a lot of time. He began slashing mercilessly at the largest hobgoblin, quickly building up with his attack combo.

Electricity was crackling all around him–it was in his body, his muscles and even went into his sword. With a flourish, he struck with his sword at the monster, putting his whole power behind the attack. The hobgoblin tried to defend with his club, it was no good—the blow was too powerful and it smashed it to pieces, cutting deep into the monster's chest.

[You've defeated <Hobgoblin – Level 26>. You've gained + 98 exp.]

The attack had been so strong that some residual electric power had even struck the smaller hobgoblin. Alistair didn't give it the chance to recover and ran towards it, aiming for the hobgoblin's neck. But the angry monster didn't intend to take the hit. It jumped to the side, hiding behind the nearby tree and then ran.

Alistair followed after it before it had the chance to recover. However, as he did an icy spear flew straight at him. Alistair didn't manage to fully block the hit—it collided with the very top of his shield and part of it embedded itself painfully into his shoulder.

"Captain!" Barrett called trying to beat off a group of goblins to come and help him.

"I got this one!" Remi released an arrow at the source of the ice spear, and a guttural scream resounded through the forest as the shaman got pierced by it.

"Greik rik gruakr!" The hobgoblin screamed, swinging its club around wildly. At this point, it wasn't trying to do any damage, but rather to run away. The Guildmaster had defeated two of the other hobgoblins, and the elves had managed to take care of most of the shamans. The outcome of the battle was clear.

"Come back here, ugly!" Barrett yelled as he finally got rid of the last goblin and charged at the monster. It raised its club in defense but the force of Barrett's swing was so powerful that it cut the club clean in half along with most of hobgoblin's arm. It screamed and ran, stumbling over the roots and trees on the forest floor.

Alistair was about to give chase with his <Lightning Dash> when the Guildmaster called. "Leave them be! They're not a threat anymore."

The adventurers and the guards cheered, or at least most of them did. Despite the victory, many got injured, most by the shamans' nasty ice spears or strikes from the hobgoblins. Some had broken limbs, others had deep cuts and some were barely conscious from their injuries.

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"Captain Sinclair, your status," Guildmaster demanded.

"Got partially hit in the shoulder by an ice spear, but it is not life-threatening," he informed with a pained wince. Blood was dripping down from his shoulder and he tried to staunch the bleeding with his hand.

"Dammit! So many were injured because of mere goblins, and our shipment of healing potions isn't due to arrive for a few more days. Can you make do with your injuries for a bit? I fear others require the healing more urgently," she asked, her eyebrow creased with worry.

It was no doubt a difficult decision to make. Many were injured yet there weren't enough healing potions on hand at the moment. Alistair knew that if he demanded a potion, even the tough Guildmaster would not refuse him. But as he looked around and saw that some had nearly lost their limbs and weren't even able to get up, he realized it would be selfish.

"I can wait," he announced, and Arianne's shoulder relaxed a little.

"Thank you! I promise you'll get the first potion from the shipment we'll receive in a few days," she said and turned back to the battlefield. "Take the injured back into town!"

Alistair put his sword back into the sheath and winced from the pain in his shoulder. The next few days would be rough.

I just want to go home…

Alistair groaned from the pain in his shoulder as it seemed to hurt with each step that he took. The wound had been stitched and bandaged up with a large helping of ointment on it. But it was not a healing potion and he could not remember the last time his wounds weren't instantly healed. Alistair wasn't enjoying the experience.

He had even given away potions from his personal stack as some guards had taken almost deadly injuries. They needed those potions to survive and that bit of knowledge helped him endure the pain, if only a little. Heilia had long since run out of mana and strength from all the healing she had done, and couldn't help him.

As he slowly made his way through the town, people often came up to him to ask about the attack. He forced out a polite expression and said that everything was fine, although he wasn't very convincing. People didn't prod for more information but they didn't look reassured either.

If it wasn't for this darned pain. Why does this particular spot hurt so much?

At one point, Leliana ran into him and began fussing, saying something about taking care of him, nursing him back to health, and making him dinner. But he was in no mood to deal with her at that moment, and just asked her to leave him alone. It was rather rude of him, but at that particular moment, he didn't care. He just wanted the pain to go away.

As he finally passed the threshold of his house, Alistair remembered the shimmertart Melina had made for him that morning. He had left it at the bakery. He wondered whether Melina was worried about him.

I'll pick it up tomorrow. I can't bring myself to go anywhere else today.

With that thought, he slowly lowered himself into his bed, without bothering to take off his boots or anything else. He wanted to sleep and forget about the pain, but it was so bad that he couldn't. His eyes wouldn't remain shut as his shoulder throbbed and flared up in pain again and again. It didn't matter how he shifted his position, whether he propped himself up with pillows or even was half-sitting.

Alistair resigned himself for a long, agonizing night when a knock sounded on his door.

"Oh, who is it now?" He grumbled to himself and begrudgingly got out of the bed. Slowly he made his way to the front door, ready to send away whoever had the gall to bother him. But when he opened the door, his anger vanished, as it was Melina. Her expression was filled with worry.

"Alistair, sorry to bother you at this late hour. I just heard that the battle was over so I came to check on you," she said, her eyes glued to his injured shoulder. It looked like she would burst into tears, and Alistair didn't know what to do about that. It somehow felt worse than the pain itself.

"Oh, I'm quite alright. Nothing life-threatening. It's just a bit painful." He tried to force a smile, but it came out crooked.

She was silent for a moment, contemplating something, but then she said, "I brought something that might help."

He saw a box in her hands and noticed a vague strawberry scent coming from it. "Oh, sorry. Please come in, Melina. I didn't mean to leave you standing at the threshold."

"It's alright. It's my fault for barging in so late," she said, stepping inside. He didn't miss how her nose scrunched up at the clumps of dust sitting in the corners. He had been neglecting cleaning lately, too busy with this thing or that. If it wasn't for the pain gnawing at his shoulder, he'd probably be embarrassed about it.

But she didn't comment on it and instead headed to the table in the large living room. She placed the box on the table and gazed at it for a moment, as if uncertain of its contents. "I hope you'll forgive me for my ineptitude, but unfortunately this is the best I could manage at the time."

Melina opened the box, revealing the shimmertart she made in the morning along with a few smaller buns that were covered with what looked like glitter.

"Thank you. That's kind of you. But I'm afraid I don't have much of an appetite right now," Alistair said. He did feel bad for rejecting her goodwill, but at the moment he just wanted to return to his bed and rest.

"I understand that, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist that you eat at least one of these," Melina said and offered one of the small rolls to Alistair. It looked similar to the pear roll, but there was something unusual about it—besides the glitter. But he didn't know what.

"What are they?"

"Healing Strawberry Rolls."

"Healing?"

"Yes. Once you were called to battle, I was worried you might get injured... so I made them."

"Wait, they actually heal?" Alistair asked in shock. He had never heard of food that could heal like a potion could. He's heard that Count Speziale's sweets had a minor effect on them—like increasing one's strength for a short amount of time. But food with strong healing effects was unheard of.

"Yes. I think. I believe the System wouldn't call them "Healing" otherwise. Although I have to admit I do not know the extent to which they heal."

Alistair gaped at Melina in shock. Yet again this girl had done something revolutionary as if it were something mundane. He couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity.

"Is everything alright?" She asked nervously.

"Yes, yes. You just never fail to amaze, Melina," he said and took one of the pastries from the box. It smelled pleasantly of strawberries and mint, so he didn't need much encouragement to take a bite out of it. However, the moment he did his whole being froze.

The bun tasted absolutely putrid. The bread had a weird grainy texture that reminded him of sand and the flavor was reminiscent of how a moldy stack of hay smelled. The filling didn't help matters as the strawberries were overwhelmed with a strong minty and meaty flavor. He had no idea how it could taste like raw meat, but it did. To make matters worse, the glitter on top tasted like salt mixed with sawdust.

"What's wrong?" Melina asked, noticing his expression twist. He stared at her for a moment, then forced himself to swallow the hellish roll.

"The flavors might not be… quite right," he said awkwardly and hurried to the sink to pour himself a glass of water. He rinsed the nasty flavor out of his mouth and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Not right?" Melina questioned and took one of the rolls, biting into it before Alistair could stop her. Predictably, her expression also twisted into a nasty grimace, the urge to spit it out clear on her face. Somehow she managed to swallow it, and he handed her a glass of water which Melina drank greedily.

"I am so sorry! I didn't think it would be so awful. Please, forget that I ever brought them here," she said, her face flushing red with embarrassment as she hurriedly gathered the rolls. "Sienna, we'll burn these as soon as we're outside."

Alistair chuckled awkwardly, but then he noticed that something had changed. The pain in his shoulder was steadily receding. "Wait, don't burn them!"

"Oh, I will! Something so dreadful has to be destroyed," she huffed indignantly, heading for the door.

"No, really, wait! It's working," Alistair said, removing his shirt and unwrapping his bandages. Melina stopped and stared as he removed the layers of bandages, each next one bloodier than the last. However, when all of them were off, he was left with an almost healed wound instead of the nasty injury he had before.

Hurriedly, he grabbed the unfinished pastry from her hands and ate it—or rather swallowed it whole to avoid its putrid flavor. The wound continued mending itself right before their very eyes, the stitches falling out until he was left with a barely visible pinkish mark.

"It's working!" He cheered, relieved that the intense pain was gone.

Melina, on the other hand, didn't seem pleased by the fact. "What's the point of it healing, if it tastes worse than a healing potion?"

"It doesn't matter what it tastes like. Many were injured today and many still need help. With your rolls, we could go and help them!"

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