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2. Start Of The Journey

  [ Raven's city, next day ]

  Raven quit his job, got what little money he saved and went shopping, he went to the gear merchant to buy armor and a weapon.

  Raven, still fantasizing about being a magic knight, picked a full set of plate armor and a great sword.

  "There you go sir, now try to move with it, test it's flexibility and such." The merchant said.

  Raven moved his leg, he felt a heavy force pulling him down, and before he makes his first step, he falls on the ground.

  "No use, this is too heavy." Raven says.

  Following the merchant's suggestion, Raven puts on a set of leather armor.

  "It's a bit tight, but let's see how I look." Raven thinks.

  Raven walks up to the mirror, puffs his chest and looks.

  "I look... Ridiculous!" Raven thinks.

  He turns to the merchant and shakes his head, the hope goes out of the merchant's face.

  "I don't what you're looking for is here." The merchant says.

  Raven, still looking for a suitable weapon, starts to look around and then he sees it, a mannequin wearing matt black jacket, pants and boots.

  "So your eyes landed on that one." The merchant said. "The jacket may not look like it, but it's padded with thin plates of metal all over your chest, stomach and back keeping your hands free, each of the boots are padded with a single plate of armor over your toes, same goes for the pants but between your legs, it provides good defense and prevents your enemies from landing cheap shots, but the price is a bit higher, the skill needed to make such a set of armor while maintaining the look of clothes you would wear on daily basis is hard to come across."

  Raven set all his budget on the counter, he stated that he wants a weapon for what's left of it, the merchant knows what just to bring to him.

  Word spread about the young hero's feat of holding off the goblins with nothing but a sword giving the party of adventurers enough time to come and save the city, so the merchant knew which weapon to bring, a curved single edged sword similar to that Raven's used.

  The merchant kneeled and held a sword up with his two hands.

  "As a custom, I must pass this sword to you in this position, I present to you the katana, the handle and the sheath even match the color of your gear."

  Raven grabs the sword, sees a string on the sheath, he freezes thinking about how is the sword carried.

  "So how do I carry this around?" Raven asks.

  "You'd actually need a belt for that, I think I got one around." The merchant says.

  The merchant to the back and bring a belt, Raven puts the belt on.

  "I will tie the sheath on the belt for you." The merchant says.

  [ Outside the city ]

  Raven is ready to take on an adventure, he hears that there is a nearby town having problems with bandits.

  Raven suddenly realizes, he may have brought a travelling back full of the food and water he will need, but his pockets are light on money.

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  [ Raven's city ]

  Raven takes his bag back to his apartment and looks for a quick job he can do.

  After the goblin attack, the guards are working on pushing the goblins back by hiring adventurers to go and hunt them.

  Raven has proven himself capable to deal with goblins, he heads to one of the guards' barracks and he talks to a guard there.

  "You'll need to head south, just look for footprints that aren't hooves and you'll either find yourself at a goblin's camp or a goblin's cave, then you have two to go about it, kill them until they start fleeing or kill their leader, get it?" The guard explains to Raven.

  "You can count on me." Raven assures the guard.

  [ Southern forest ]

  Raven moves forward looking at the ground and the various footprints, he sees hooves, paws, but not humanoid feet.

  Raven moves deeper and deeper into the forest, in a split second, he sees the tip of a blade coming towards him.

  Raven dodges and look up, he sees three goblins with throwing knives.

  Once spotted, the goblins move forward and surround Raven.

  Raven puts his hand on the handle of his sword, with a single continuous motion he unsheathes his sword and slices off the heads of the filthy goblins.

  Raven looks at the ground behind, their footprints are as clear as day, Raven follows the trail.

  [ Behind a rock near the goblin cave ]

  Raven hides, he scouts the area, he sees many goblin, most of them look like the one he fought, but then he sees ones more heavily armor and larger in size.

  They are the goblin overseers, they superior to every goblin but their leader in every way, though they are still smaller than humans and few in number.

  Raven can deal with most of the goblins he saw easily, but the overseers are something else, Raven looks around planning.

  No blind spots, no way to distract them, Raven watches them closely until his patience runs out.

  Raven leaves.

  [ Somewhere around the goblin cave ]

  Raven goes around the cave looking for less guarded entrances if there is any, then he smoke coming up from the top of cave.

  Raven climbs up and crawls near the hole where the smoke is coming out of.

  He looks down and he sees a pot on fire, he also sees some goblins around it.

  "Hurry up! Hurry up! Boss want his meal!" An overseer shouts.

  After a few minutes, the goblins lift the pot using metal rods and take it out as the overseer throws water on the fire.

  Raven hears the sound of a door shutting, he looks down and he sees no goblins around, he readies himself to jump but then he hears a voice.

  "Now, I got the kitchen all for myself." The overseer talks loudly to himself.

  Raven looks down, the overseer looks up and Raven quickly pulls his head back.

  "Must've been a squirrel." The overseer mutters to himself.

  "I must wait for the chance to jump in." Raven thinks.

  Raven waits and waits, he hears the footsteps of the goblin coming and going, then they stop and he hears him eating.

  [ Goblin cave ]

  Raven jumps in with the swiftness of a feather, he sneaks up on the overseer and thrusts his sword right into his heart.

  Raven opens the door just a little bit and looks, he sees just two goblins walking around.

  He waits for them to pass in front of him, then he gets out and slices their heads off.

  Raven goes up to the corner and peeks.

  He sees no one so he runs through it with swift and finesse.

  A goblin comes out from behind another corner, this one is an overseer.

  "The boss sure has a grand appetite." The goblin mutters for himself for he doesn't dare to say it out loud and get his head cut off.

  Raven cuts his head regardless, he realizes that he he came from the goblin leader's room.

  Raven sprints through cave until he finds a room with a big metal door.

  Raven peeks through the door's key hole and he sees a fat goblin sitting on a big chair, then he sees a goblin coming his way.

  The goblin unlocks the door, Raven hide behind it, the goblin gets out then he turns to close the door only to get his head chopped off.

  Raven enters the room and faces three goblins and another in a rope wielding a staff.

  The goblin leader just watches, Raven cuts the first goblin's head and charges up to the second.

  The goblin in a robe is casts a fireball, Raven sees it coming, he watches it fly in the air and even feels its heat, but he manages to duck under it.

  Raven moves in to deal with the goblin mage but the other two block his way.

  Raven cuts their heads and thrust his sword in the mage's throat.

  "Without your voice you can't cast spells, now, can you?" Raven says to the goblin.

  Raven pulls his sword out as the goblin mage falls on the ground and bleeds out.

  He slices the air and the blood comes off, he turns his sights to the goblin leader.

  "I guess I have to deal with you myself." The goblin leader says, his voice is deep and intimidating.

  The goblin grabs a big spoon from his side and stands up.

  The goblin dwarves the human, Raven looks up, and then the goblin swings.

  Raven dodges, he notices that something is off, he thinks the goblin might be holding back.

  "That was too slow, is he trying to bait me?" Raven thinks.

  Raven decides to end the fight quickly, the goblin swings, Raven steps on the spoon.

  The goblin raises the spoon up, he falls in Raven's trap.

  "You tried to bait me, but you're too stupid to outsmart a human." Raven says to the goblin.

  He jumps off the spoon and slices the goblin's head off.

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