Youth 45 Years Ago

Goblin King Mulgarga, who had united goblins across the continent, had been defeated

by the Bahamut Knights, but remnants of his forces still rampaged across the land.

After being bested by the Kingdom of Avalonia's army, the goblins fled to the frontier

lands.

Peaceful Zoltan was no exception, and waves of the monsters poured in, leading to a

spike in banditry and the most perilous era in Zoltan's history.

Two adventurers, a young Galatine and Shien, were facing off against more than a

dozen of the creatures.

"Shien! Where are the guards?!" Galatine shouted.

The goblins were armed with spears, swords, and bows and wearing helmets. They

were clearly stronger than the typical ones found in Zoltan. They had raised their

blessings' levels through years of war and pillaging and were already strong enough

that C-rankers like Galatine and Shien were having difficulty dealing with them.

"Hyah-hahhh!!!" the goblins cried as they charged.

Galatine swung his war hammer, smashing the head of the first to draw near. He hit

the second with the gauntlet on his left hand. The third was done in by a blow to the

jaw from his hammer. Unfortunately, a spear-wielding goblin managed to flank

Galatine.

Fear of death rooted the man in place as the deadly weapon lanced for his side.

"Dimension Whip!"

Galatine's body quivered and vanished, only to appear again ten meters away.

"Heed my mantra! Wind of righteous destruction and revelation! Tornado Cutter!"

Shien hurled a blast of sharp wind, sending the goblins back. Using that opening, he

grabbed Galatine's hand.

"We should retreat!"

"Ngh!"

The pair were only up against a single squad of goblins. Zoltan hardly possessed the

most accurate data, but by recent calculation, there were at least one hundred of the

monsters lurking about. It was hardly the time for Galatine and Shien to be taking

risks.

"Our home… They're going to…!"

Zoltan had never seen this kind of threat before. It was supposed to be a peaceful, laidback, boring place. Galatine was trembling with rage.

Even if they were only the remnants of a once-mighty army, these goblin soldiers had

battled Central's Bahamut Knights. Fighters raised in Zoltan's tranquil lands stood no

chance.

A previous B-rank party had already fallen to the monsters, and from the moment the

goblins hoisted the party leader's head as a battle flag, Zoltan was as good as dead.

Surrounding settlements were constantly being assaulted, but Zoltan's forces made

no effort to help. People were too scared.

"Galatine. There are no reinforcements coming."

"Why not?! Elite or not, there are only one hundred of them! Zoltan is going to fall to a

few dozen goblins?!"

"They fought in some of the major battles of our time and survived. We're just bit

players who won't make the footnotes in the history books…"

Galatine and Shien had left home filled with youthful passion, planning to gather up

the warriors of the villages in order to drive goblins back long enough for everyone to

evacuate to a safe fishing village.

The goblins did not have boats, so as long as people could flee into the ocean, they

would be all right. That's what Galatine and Shien had hoped, anyway.

In the end, however, they only successfully rescued two settlements. All other times,

the pair had no choice but to retreat as they were now.

"No!"

Shien suddenly let out a cry of despair. Galatine stood staring in shock.

A village was burning before their eyes. The blaze consumed the innocents they had

bled to save.

"Stooooooooooooop!!!!" Galatine roared, clenching his war hammer as he rushed in.

Fighting now was suicide, yet Shien ran in alongside his friend. His Cleric blessing

demanded he bring an end to the meaningless loss of life.

The two were surely charging into certain doom, and were quickly surrounded by

goblins for their effort.

"Dammit!"

Galatine was barely an adult. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes as he glared at

his hated enemies. There was no hope of victory anymore. Each goblin Galatine and

Shien were up against rivaled the two in level.

Yet the pair did not falter, determined to bring down as many as they could with them.

"Arctic winds, life-stealing chill! Howl and roar! Blizzard!"

Powerful ice magic extinguished the flames and blew away the goblins.

Galatine and Shien stood dumbfounded, unsure what had happened and shocked to

still be breathing.

As the frigid storm settled, they were finally able to see who had come to the rescue.

"Get 'em!" a woman shouted.

Twenty powerful, cutlass-wielding pirates charged the goblins who'd been staggered

by the ice spell. A sailing ship had landed on the beach, and buccaneers with bows

lined the deck, showering the monsters with arrows.

A beautiful woman led this band of outlaws. It only took a few moments before the

goblins were running, and the young woman who was Galatine and Shien's savior

approached them.

"Adventurers of this land! Your valorous struggle is clear from the wounds you bear!"

She held out her hand to the two of them. "I've got experience fighting the goblin king's

army! All I need is some military support and no goblin in the world will be a match

for us!"

"What?!"

"Guide me to Zoltan! I'll take command! My name's Mistorm, and I'll exterminate every

last one of those monsters! I swear by my ship, the Regulus!"

Mistorm flashed the sort of ferocious grin that was characteristic of pirates.

The young Galatine and Shien were bewildered and bewitched by the lovely woman's

face.