Alex Grayson

Alex Brim was finishing his lunch, together with his Party for that Quest. Gabriel Dawson got up after finishing his meal and said, “Before anything else, I need to pee. I will be right back to help with tidying the campsite.”

The Fairy Wenammy spoke while disguising a smile and trying to remain serious, “If you get in trouble, try not to scream like a little girl. It’s kind of embarrassing hearing such a big man scream like that.”

Gabriel grunted. “I didn’t scream like a little girl when those Goblins attacked us in the morning. I made out a very virile scream because of surprise!”

He went to the nearest bunch of trees as fast as he could while the others were laughing their hearts out.

Alex Brim munched on another piece of bread while glancing around to their partners, that hired him to help them in getting rid of a group of Goblins that terrorized that region of the ‘Kingdom of Bouria’.

Their Leader, James Macdonald, a Human Mage that paired up with Bethany Matthews, a powerful Mage woman. He was strong with Water Spells, but she was dangerous with Fire and Wind Spells. When she combined some of them against the Goblins she faced in the morning, those ugly things did not stand a chance.

Pearl Pearson, an Elf woman with incredibly beautiful golden skin and green hair that acted as an archer together with another woman, Anika Wright, a Mermaid archer with white skin and blue hair that could use a lot of Water Spells.

The Fairy Wenammy acted as a close combat fighter and used her Wind Spells to increase her speed and strength more perfectly and powerfully than the screaming Human, Gabriel Dawson, a man that also used Wind Spells in his close combat fighting.

James Macdonald noticed Alex’s gaze and asked, “What is in your mind, Mister Rented-Hero? You seem worried about something. You are looking at all of us very suspiciously. I do hope you are not thinking about doing something stupid, like robbing us, for instance.”

Alex took a sip of his tea and answered to the puzzled looks upon him, “You are mistaken if you think I would ruin my reputation by robbing you guys of the handful of tiny Orbs we took from those Goblins. My contract was very clear, five gold coins and one Orb of my choosing. Nothing more, nothing less. I was just thinking that I did not choose my Orb and strangely, those Goblins this morning did not have a leader, as they normally have. Besides, you should be more worried about your partner, Mister Gabriel Dawson. Unless he has some problem with his bladder, he is taking too long for a mere piss. Unless he was lying, and he has a… smelly problem.”

Before James Macdonald could say anything more, a girlish squeal filled the air for a brief moment, going silent immediately. Alex got up and kicked the edge of his shield that was on the ground next to him that went up and, after a couple of turns, his left hand grabbed the strap while his right hand took the sword. He then turned to the group of trees to where James Macdonald went minutes ago and saw the foliage of the nearby bushes shaking strongly. The others grabbed their weapons as well and saw in horror a group of twenty Goblins emerging from the bushes, followed by a huge Four-Armed Orc that was carrying a big wooden mace and dragging by his right foot the fainted Gabriel Dawson.

Everyone stood still for a moment until the big Orc slowly raised Gabriel while looking at Alex. He pointed the mace at him, and then at the members of his Party, one by one.

Alex squeezed the hilt of his sword and said, “There’s my Orb. You guys take care of his friends, the big one is all mine.”

Alex then shouted to the Orc, surprising everyone, “Eat him already! He is in my way! I want your head and the pretty Magical Orb you have inside you! You are not dead already because that dumbass is still there, but as soon as you kill him, you are all mine!”

The Orc let go of Gabriel’s foot, and he fell on the ground with a muffled bump. The Orc raised his mace to the sky and screamed, giving the signal for the Goblins to attack. At the same time, Alex whispered, “Give me a little of your strength, Shinatobe.”

A small dot of light near his right ear answered in a low voice, “As you say, Master.”

Alex became surrounded by an almost imperceptible light glow, and from his belt, he took daggers after daggers that he threw in quick succession, aimed at the Orc’s legs and arms, making him scream in pain and losing the mace.

That was the signal for the group of archers and Mages that began shooting arrows to the farthest Goblins while the Fairy Wenammy joined Alex on his run forward, landing a punch on a Goblin and a kick on another, opening a path for Alex that went straight to the Orc.

An endless rush of slashes cut off the Orc’s arms, one after the other, while Alex used his shield to fend off the powerful punches the Orc tried to land on him, and a powerful kick to the Orc’s groins made him bend over.

Alex approached the Orc and looked into his eyes, “This is payment for all the Farmers and villagers you and your group killed.”

A side slash took the Orc’s head, which rolled on the floor. The Goblins that were still alive looked back, staring in surprise at the head of their powerful Leader, making them forget the fight and being killed easily by the others.

Alex stuck his sword in the Orc’s chest, a few centimetres below his heart and used the sword as a lever, to take out the Magical Orb that was, as usual, attached to the heart like if it was some weird extra organ that granted Magic to some Magical Monsters and that was probably the reason for the extra pair of arms.

Alex grabbed the Orb and cleaned it on the Orc’s loincloth. He took a quick look back to see if the others needed his help, and after checking that they were also removing the Orbs from the Goblins, he approached Gabriel Dawson and checked his wounds. A bump on his head was probably the reason he got knocked out, because there were no more wounds or blood.

After a few slaps, Gabriel woke up and looked around, a little confused. “I… didn’t have time to react. When I saw one of them, I felt a pain in my head and everything went dark. They used me as a hostage, right?”

“The big guy tried, but I told him I didn’t care less if he killed you or not. He got confused and angry, and he let you go, becoming an easy target for me. Can you get up? I want to take his arms and legs with us. We can sell his meat in the City.”

Gabriel grabbed the helping hand and wondered how that boy could lift him so effortlessly. He then asked, while picking up two arms, “What about the rest of his body? We will leave it like this?”