Lone: The Wanderer

Book 1: Chapter 30: The King's Rage and The Lucky Rain

Lone had wanted to try and heal the elves immediately.

Sadly, doing so would require them to be cleaned from top to bottom. Honestly, Lone didnt have the stomach for it.

His own blood and guts were one thing. It was a different feeling when you were the one who was revolting. Besides, he was a man.

Sophie also seemed to be more than willing to at least spend the time to clean up the unresponsive women so he didnt hesitate to lump the task onto her.

It took her four hours to get the elves anywhere near a point that could remotely be referred to as clean.

There was only so much that could be done with soap and water, which Lone perfectly understood.

Besides, Sophie had to be very careful since each woman had numerous puss-filled infections festering all over them.

One even had such an infection on her left eye, rendering her completely blind in it.

The levels of filth on their bodies was utterly sickening and the sheer levels with which they had been mistreated left Lone wondering how they hadnt simply died yet.

Regardless, six of the seven women were now sound asleep while Lone sat in front of the seventh.

Like the others, her entire body was covered in cuts and bruises. She had a particularly bad black eye that didn't open fully which was going to be Lone's first target.

It wasnt as big of a lost cause as the woman with the blinded eye, so he figured this was as good a place as any to start.

He closed his eyes as he gently touched the elfs face and imagined a flawless eye with no swelling or damage at all.

Item does exist on Altros.

The host has no understanding of the item. 1,500 base MP cost. 6,000 additional MP has been consumed to compensate for the lack of the host's knowledge.

7,500 MP has been consumed to recreate the item: [Wood Elf [Inarudah]'s right eye, surrounding muscle, and skin tissue].

Lone was able to endure having almost every last drop of his mana points being drained out of him well enough that he didn't gain any skill levels in Mental Pain Resistance.

A shame, really, that he needed to go beyond his limits to level in that particular skill.

Still, a big smile was strewn across his face. The healing had been flawless. Just like when he had fixed his clothes, the womans eye was in perfect condition.

It was as if the black, swollen eye from before hadnt even existed. It was downright magical.

The elf slowly brought a hand up to her face so Lone removed his from her cheek. She slowly caressed the area surrounding her eye then started to cry faintly.

It doesnt hurt she muttered with quivering lips.

Lone smiled weakly. Im glad.

She didnt respond to him and just sat there quietly sobbing as if she hadnt noticed his existence.

He took no offence to being ignored. The trauma this woman must have experienced wasnt beyond his imagining, which was the problem.

It'll take a few weeks, but I can definitely heal these women. I could use a bit more MP though, he thought. Just how did they get caught though if the elves live and move as a group?

There were no captured men in that elven town hall. Sure, that made some sense. Why keep men when they couldnt be used to create more goblins?

Why were there no corpses though? Surely their husbands or lovers would have tried to rescue them. Hell, Rewaleh may have even organised a rescue operation herself. Shes powerful despite what she claims happened to her and her people. That Illusionary Dome of hers is no joke, Lone thought.

It all seemed very suspicious.

Shaking his head he helped the unresponsive elf up and led her back to her fellow kin. Once that was done, he headed to his and Sophs bedroom.

He flopped down onto the bed and began thinking some more.

After this successful healing session, Lones mind was filled with the possibility of repairing Soph's eyes. However, he knew that was a more complex matter than it sounded like.

From her own explanations, her Immortality restored her body to its perfect state on its own much like his Basic Regeneration did to him.

This meant that her body felt that being blind was a part of her perfect body.

He had no idea how to fix that. Sophie had explained that the blindness only took a hold of her permanently after Gods holy water had been poured into her eyes for over five decades.

This implied that he could perhaps restore her sight if he were able to somehow fix her eyes and keep fixing them for 50 years.

The issue with that though, besides how long it would take, was that her Immortality skill would need to be unsealed.

Hell, what would happen if Soph lost a finger right now then later had her Immortality restored? Would the skill restore her to the state before losing the finger or would the finger be forever lost?

He had no clue and this bothered him greatly.

He just sighed lightly. One thing at a time. Goblins and elves first, huh?

"... I wonder what rank the Goblin King is?" he asked himself as he stared at the ceiling.

The door to the room clicked open and then shut before the sound of soft pitter-pattering filled Lone's ears.

A few seconds later and a cold body was snuggling up to him as it coiled itself around his tails and laid down on top of him.

Reaching over with his arm, Lone grabbed the covers and pulled them over himself and the small girl that had decided to curl up on top of him like a cat.

It was clear to him that Soph was now in control instead of Sophie since she was being so innocently affectionate.

He wrapped his arms around her back and began to play with her long hair as he kept silently thinking.

Minutes passed before Soph finally worked up the courage to ask, "Will they be okay?"

"Physically?" Lone responded. "Sure. I might even be able to erase the pregnancies. Worst-case scenario, I create some pills that force a miscarriage. Gruesome, but it might be better than forcing them to birth more goblins. Mentally? Unlikely."

"... I'm scared," Soph's grip on his tails tightened and she buried her face deeper into his fluffiness.

Lone stopped messing around with her hair for a moment to ask, "Of?"

"Of becoming like them... What... What if the goblins get me? I-I don't want to end up like them... You can't see it, but I can," Sophie claimed with a tremble in her high-pitched voice.

Lone raised an eyebrow. "See what?"

"Those girls... They don't move, but they're full of emotions." Sophie shuddered. "I feel it in their mana. Normally, I can't tell that kind of stuff, you know? I just get the general shape of something, its colour, and how dense its mana is... but those girls... All I can feel from their mana is a deep fear and a longing for release."

Lone closed his eyes. "That's... good."

"That's good?" Sophie asked in surprise.

"Mmm, it is. It means there's still hope for them. If they can feel fear, then they can still feel hope." He pulled himself up and hugged Soph tightly. "Also, don't be stupid."

"Eh?" She was befuddled as she sat there on his lap.

"Don't be stupid, Stupid," he repeated himself.

Lone then moved her fringe out of the way and kissed her forehead before he held her cheeks and gazed into her eyes. "As if I'd ever let you become like them. I will always protect you. Both of you. When I'm not enough, The Summoning Room will keep you two safe. So long as Im not dead, nothing like what happened to those women will ever happen to you. Got it?

"Ah..." She looked into his golden eyes as if searching deeply for something before she said, Mmm, youre right. I I trust you.

"Rain... Rain... Rain!" The Goblin King screamed at the top of his lungs as he threw his precious treasures around.

Precious as they were though, they didnt come even close to the value of what had been lost.

"Tracks... washed away! Planned... All planned!" He yelled and shouted until his throat felt coarse. Betrayed! We have been betrayed!

His three remaining Hobgoblin generals all cowered in fear at the foot of his throne.

Rage clouded the massive monster's mind as he screamed, "Find them! The females! We need the females! The pointy ears too! Find and kill them all! Betrayers! All betrayers of the great king, me!"

His gaze landed on the only two remaining Goblin Mages. They were rare in the first place since there was only a one-in-twenty chance for a Goblin Mage to be born from a goblin and a magic-based species like an elf.

However, even they had been slaughtered like cattle and reduced from the once-grand number of nine to a mere two.

It was clear in his mind that he was being plotted against. His kingdom was being threatened!

Luckily, the most common type of Goblin Mage was a fire mage, which was exactly what he needed right now.

Madness filled the Goblin King's mind. "Go! Burn down the forest! Flush out the thieves! Find the females! Burn all that the betrayers call home! Destroy their food! Kill everything!"

The two Goblin Mages made several unintelligible noises before they scampered out of the dungeon temple.

Pointing one of his humongous fingers at the three Hobgoblins, he ordered them, "Go! Protect the magic ones! Bring all of the weaklings! We must find the females!"

As soon as he was alone in his throne room, the Goblin King slumped down onto his magnificent throne of bones.

He picked up a small jet-black orb before he stroked it and enjoyed the humming sounds it made. "I must protect you... I know... The females come second to you... I know..."

Lone was smiling from ear to ear as he looked out of a window and saw the rain heavily pouring all over the place.

Back in Scotland, it rained all of the time. This heavily though? Maybe once or twice a year, sometimes more if it was a bad year, of course.

In the few weeks that he and Soph had been on this island, it hadn't rained once. The climate was mild and it was usually somewhat windy, but there hadn't been so much as a single drop of rain since they came here.

"Soph, how high is your luck stat? I'm curious," Lone asked as he glanced at the girl who was still happily wearing her pyjamas with a sleepy look on her face.

"Hmm?" She wiped her eyes and yawned lightly. "Just over 60,000. Why?"

Wait. No bullshit? Lone asked with shock in his tone.

She smiled shyly. Mmm.

"I see..." Lone nodded his head in a sagely manner. "That explains a lot... No wonder a pretty normal - while badass - girl like Sophie could evade the Templars for so long as well as be so lucky as to not have some templars, well, lets say ignore Gods commands... This rain is just such a stroke of good fortune."

He stood up and approached Soph before picking her up. He spun her around a few times and laughed heartily.

The girl who was mere moments away from dozing off again suddenly got flustered and waved her arms around.

Lone sat her down and kissed her on the cheek. "You're my beautiful little lucky charm now."

"Eh... Um... Ah... Thanks?" Soph was both very happy and very confused. That was kinda fun unexpected though

"This means the cart tracks are gone. Rain this heavy? No doubt it's muddled up the markings in the sand and the dirt," Lone explained. "Sure, an expert tracker might still be able to see the residue of the cart tracks, but gobs? Fat chance."

"Ah..." Soph nodded in understanding. "So... is the plan any different since we don't need to worry about the gobs so much now?"

Lone nodded. "Yeah. Let's rest here for a few weeks. I'd like to heal the elves completely. More MP would be great but I think I can manage without. Maybe get one of them to a point that they can talk openly again. I'd like to know where the Goblin King is and if he has any more... hostages."

"Mmm," Soph agreed. I think thats smart.

A month passed in a flash. The first thing Lone focused on was the matter of the pregnancies.

Luckily, his Creation Magic was able to deal with that problem. He was just glad he didnt get any stats for dealing with the unborn goblins in this way. That that might have been hard to deal with.

As each day ticked on by though, Lone got more and more skilled at healing the women, so it became cheaper and cheaper. They still refused to talk to him to this day. Perhaps because he was a man, he wondered.

Regardless, Soph had managed to learn from their mumblings that the Goblin King lived in a very old temple that had become a dungeon on the western side of the centre of the island.

The elves didn't elaborate on what a dungeon was, but Lone had a few guesses.

He and Soph were both happy to learn that they were the only victims and that there weren't any more elven prisoners.

This did imply that the rest had died if there were more, but surely that was a better fate than being forced to endure such torture for years on end, Lone felt.

The only other thing of note was that Lone's Bone Armour skill had increased to Advanced-Level-8.

It was free to invoke once every 30 minutes, after all. Because of that, he simply had Sophie smash it apart every half an hour or so.

It wasn't exceedingly efficient, but he had to save his mana points for the healing of the elves, so it was better than nothing.

Sophie's Sword Mastery skill had also levelled up and reached Beginner-Level-5. Nothing much in comparison to Lone's development, sadly, but it was hardly fair considering his Growth Accelerator was broken beyond belief.

In regards to Lone and Soph's romance, despite four weeks having passed, their relationship hadn't advanced at all beyond the odd kiss and the usual cuddling, all of which with her adult form, of course.

Now that they were in a relationship, Lone refused to allow either Soph or Sophie to do anything with him in any other form, even just sleeping.

Soph wasnt a fan of that but Lone didnt care. He had lines he would not cross regardless of her mental maturely and actual age.

"We're here," Lone said as he stopped pulling the wagon momentarily and waited just outside of the Illusionary Dome that covered the elven settlement.

It was time to confront Rewaleh and see how she would react to having her people returned to her.

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