(Attendance… plz…)
….
It was quiet. Too quiet.
Not even thirty to forty seconds ago, the whole clearing had been a chaotic war zone covered with hundreds of shrieking Goblins and roaring Trolls. The air had been filled with their disgusting laughter, the clash of weapons, and the heavy thuds of bodies hitting the dirt.
Now, the only sounds that could be heard were the wind rustling through the trees and the faint drip, drip of black blood falling from Momon's two giant greatswords.
The whole quest was over before it could even officially begin.
This was a Gold Rank quest. It was supposed to be a grueling quest lasting two to three days, scouting, skirmishing, retreating to heal, and slowly wearing down the enemy numbers. With a normal team strategy, that would have been the reality.
But it was finished before any strategy could even be implemented.
And the most terrifying part was the time. It took less than a minute. Not even a full sixty seconds. Thirty to forty seconds at best.
Peter, Lukrut, Ninya, and Dyne slowly stood up from behind the bushes, their eyes wide, mouths slightly agape. They looked like they had just witnessed an unbelievable thing.
They hadn't even supported them. They hadn't nocked an arrow. They hadn't cast a single buff. The only contribution Peter made was shouting that the Goblins were retreating, and even that was unnecessary because Reinhard had turned them into pinballs a second later.
While the Swords of Darkness were in shock, Nabe and Felt weren't. To them, this was the obvious outcome.
Ninya, somewhat scared by the sheer violence that had just occurred, asked with a trembling voice, "Is... is it over?"
Peter swallowed hard. "I think so... unless some more come from somewhere else. But..." He looked at the carnage. "It hasn't even been a minute since this started. A minute, you know? Both of them are so strong... they have to be Orichalcum... no, even Adamantite Rank. Maybe even stronger."
Reinhard stood in the middle of the field of corpses. He dusted off his hands, though there was no dust, blood, or grime on them. It was just a habit, a sign that the work was finished. He looked around at the pile of bodies, monsters that had raided villages, killed merchants, and slaughtered innocents, with a calm expression. It looked as if he had finished tidying up a messy room rather than slaughtering a whole nest.
He turned around and offered a gentle smile. "Lady Felt. It is done."
Momon stood a few feet away. He swung his swords sharply to flick the blood off the blades before sheathing them on his back with a heavy clank. He didn't say anything. He just stood there, deep in thought.
'Weak... pathetically weak,' Momon thought.
To someone like the Swords of Darkness, this was a legendary feat, clearing out a nest in under a minute. But for him? It was nothing. These were all low-level trash mobs. He couldn't even properly estimate Reinhard's strength because the opponents offered zero resistance.
A single Death Knight of his would have done the job, maybe not as fast as thirty seconds, but it would have cleared the field smoothly without taking damage.
So, the problem remained. While Reinhard was undeniably strong by human standards, stronger than a whole party of Silver or Gold adventurers combined, Momon still couldn't gauge his upper limit.
Momon's eyes shifted to Reinhard.
'From what he has shown me, I can conclude he is strong... at least somewhat. But I cannot conclude what his limits are. The Goblins were too weak for him to reveal any trump cards.'
Momonga thought, 'Not to mention his skills, physical strength. He didn't use magic if he knew it, he didn't use martial arts if he knew it, he just brute-forced through the whole thing. One thing could lead to his class if he were to be a Player or NPC... and that being an Archer... Ranger class.'
Momonga didn't miss or disregard what he did at the end with a pebble no less.
And yet, once again, he couldn't or didn't know.
Felt didn't care about this or that. She hopped out off the bushes smiling somewhat as she thought of how much money she could get from the loot lying on the ground and all.
"Now that's what I'm talking about!" she cheered. "Good job, Reinhard!"
Reinhard beamed at the compliment from his master. "Thank you, Lady Felt. Though Momon was a great help. His strength was something else entirely."
Momon waved his hand dismissively. "Please don't. It was nothing. You handled the majority of them. And not to mention how you took out the retreating ones with just a pebble... I'm impressed. I have never seen anything like this, really."
Felt sneered playfully. "Well, whose knight do you think he is? Of course he is good."
Reinhard smiled at her pride. "I'm just glad that no nearby village or merchant will get attacked by these Goblins and Trolls... for now."
Peter and the others walked out into the clearing. Nabe went straight to Momon's side, while Peter and his party looked around in disbelief.
Peter shook his head. "You guys... That was... I don't know what to say. I have no words, genuinely. We didn't even get to do anything."
Lukrut laughed nervously, scratching his head. He was somewhat scared of them now. "We were supposed to cover and support you guys... but you finished this way too fast."
"It's no worry," Felt said, waving a hand. "There was no need for it to begin with. But we have a lot to clean up. Not to mention cutting the ears and getting proofs for the rewards."
"Right," Peter nodded, snapping back to reality. He looked at the sheer number of bodies. Hundreds of them. It would take hours.
Reinhard rolled up his sleeves slightly. "Well, let's get to work then."
Peter shook his head firmly. "No. We will do it. Your party did the fighting. It would be very bad form for us to take advantage of your strength and then your kindness by making you do the grunt work too."
He stopped and looked at them genuinely. "Please, let us do it. It is the least we can do in this party."
Felt looked at him, surprised by his integrity. She sighed.
"Hey, I know I said we get what we contribute. But that was just a figure of speech... and just so you weren't thinking of taking advantage of us. But since you guys are decent... we will distribute the reward equally. I'm not that greedy or petty, you know."
Peter blinked. "N-No, that wasn't wha…"
"I'm not asking you guys," Felt cut him off firmly. "I was telling you. So you don't really have a choice in that... we will equally distribute what we get."
Momon added his deep voice to the mix. "I agree with Felt. It is fair."
Peter and his party looked at them. If it were anyone else, any other powerful adventurers, they would have taken the lion's share and left the scraps for the support team. But these two terrifyingly strong groups were treating them as equals.
Rejecting it again would probably be insulting.
"Okay," Peter said finally. "I will accept it. But you guys have to let us do this remaining work of collecting proofs. And I mean it... because this is the least we have to do. Otherwise, I apologize, but we wouldn't be able to accept your condition. It would be really unfair."
Reinhard looked at Felt. "I think they are right, Lady Felt. We should agree. If it is their wish... we would just be doing something they wouldn't like by refusing."
Felt scratched the back of her head, defeated by their honesty.
"Well... do as you like," she grumbled, though she wasn't really angry. "You aren't giving me any choice."
….
A/N: Well, I hope it was good. You know, I just noticed something funny about Momon. He's curious about how he did all that and about his sword… and you know, he could just tell him simply if he just asked. So all in all, his paranoia is what's stopping him from knowing anything about Reinhard.
Q: Was it good? Or bad?
-Good
-Bad
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