The Talentless Inheritor

"To think he actually knew how to fight..." Yule muttered and clasped Sebastian's shoulder, "I'm sorry for underestimating you. And, thank you for saving Van."

"It isn't a problem. I couldn't have survived without his directions either," said Sebastian while scratching his cheek. It was a little embarrassing to be the center of attention like this.

One by one, the other members also apologized for their earlier attitudes and thanked Sebastian. Rob looked equally as embarrassed as Sebastian as he walked up to him, "I've caused everyone some trouble, especially you two, sorry."

As Sebastian was about to tell him it was fine, Van cut in. "You got that right! Look at my arm! You're the leader so do things right!"

Sebastian stared at Van with wide eyes in surprise. The others didn't seem to have much of a reaction.

Yule was the one to fill him in, "Van constantly nags Rob, ignoring them when they're like that is in your best interest. Can you tell me what you two found?"

Sebastian nodded and began explaining, "we found a nest with six goblins and two hobgoblins. We were ambushed by a single goblin and then chased by four goblins and one hobgoblin."

Three hobgoblins and ten goblins.

"Then, we encountered another goblin on the way back."

Yule furrowed his brows. The expression on his face was solemn.

"We'll be able to take them down if that's all there is but with that many numbers, a goblin lord is all but certain."

"We might actually stand a chance against it without facing any casualties," Van cut in. He had stopped berating Rob and added to the conversation.

"No, we won't hunt the goblin lord," Rob said firmly.

"Why not?!" Van yelled back.

"It would be one thing if we're all in pristine condition but you're crippled and we would have to face many goblins before getting to where it is."

Van had nothing to say and closed his mouth. The decision would have been decided there but he began to speak again, "there's still a chance!"

Rob narrowed his eyes, an expression that Sebastian had yet to see on his face. They say that rough-looking people are scary but people with nice faces who can make that sort of expression are even scarier.

"Why is that? We can wipe out the goblins but the goblin lord is out of our expertise. We need to get reinforcements. At least a party of rank C mercenaries."

Mercenaries were ranked with letters. The strength of the numbers is ranked according from E to A with the strongest mercenaries being S.

Their current party is built up of two parties rated D-rank. That would be enough to take down a goblin lord but with the many uncertainties such as the number of goblins and the hidden threats, they had to take a big risk.

Van neither flinched nor had a change in expression. "We have him," he spoke while placing his arm over Sebastian.

"Eh?"

Sebastian didn't know what to say or do. He did want to test out his abilities against a goblin lord but in a situation where the slightest mistake would kill them, it was hard to calm himself down.

"You want to rely on Bastion?" Rob widened his eyes in surprise, "you? The guy who gets suspicious of everyone you talk to?"

It seemed that he was more surprised at the fact that Van would trust someone rather than the person being Sebastian.

"Look, I've seen his skill. He could take out the goblins with one or two helpers then the rest can focus on the goblin lord. He killed most of the goblins that were chasing us with a single arrow each."

That was the first anyone had heard of it.

"But still..." Rob was reluctant. It wasn't that he didn't trust Sebastian or Van's judgment, the situation was simply too dangerous.

"Well, why not? Van says that the lad has enough skill and we aren't ones to shy away from a challenge."

Unexpectedly, Yule was the one to come help Van's plea for Sebastian.

"Yule, you too... sigh..."

Rob scratched his head and sighed. He didn't know what to do. His judgment as a leader was telling him to call off the subjugation but two of his trusted teammates wanted to take the goblin subjugation a step further.

Finally, he turned to the rest of the ones who hadn't participated yet, "do any of you have opinions?"

Everyone looked at each other, then at Rob before giving big grins, """let's go subjugate a goblin lord!"""

That was a resounding yes.

"All of you..." having his last hope of ending the subjugation turn their backs on him, he wore a sullen expression and forced a smile. "Let's go..." he raised his hand weakly. That was the most unmotivated cheer that Sebastian had ever seen.

"Wait wait wait!" Sebastian suddenly yelled out. He had been watching everything unfold and forgot to intervene.

"You're seriously all betting your lives on this? On me? We've only known each other for less than a couple of hours! That's a goblin lord, I've only started fighting today!"

Facing his sudden outburst, nobody knew how to react.

"Well..." one of the people at the back whose name Sebastian had forgotten spoke up, "as mercenaries, we've always risked our lives fighting monsters and bandits. If we don't risk our lives, then we aren't really fit to be mercenaries."

Facing that logical yet stupid reply, Sebastian closed his mouth. He knew that convincing them any further would be futile.

He gave up and with a wry smile—spoke, "then, let's go subjugate a goblin lord."

"Yeah!" "Ou!" "Haha!"

The responses were varied but they all shared one common goal—to send the goblin lord down to oblivion.

...

Sebastian moved behind the thickets. This part of the forest was deeper and had fewer paths to move on but for them who planned to do an ambush, it was perfect.

Unlike before, Sebastian and Van had help. Any lone goblins found nearby were taken care of. If they managed to resist and make noise, Sebastian would quickly deal with them.

His range had expanded once more. But, that didn't change the fact that he only had one black arrow inside his quiver.

He had one shot to kill the goblin lord. He wasn't proficient enough to kill it with regular arrows using the stigma's power.

—The goblin lord's skull is several times thicker than that of a goblin's. Aim for its eyes, it's the only chance you have in your current state.

Sebastian took Balanos' suggestion to heart and continued. The group didn't talk, they relied on gestures to move silently.

Their progress was slow but at the very least, the goblin lord and its soldiers wouldn't be ready for them.

Sebastian and Van were at the very front as the group's spotters. During battle, they would be the first to retreat to the backlines.

"There," Van broke the group's silence first. In the distance was a goblin nest built the same as the one they had seen before but this one was way bigger and it was attached to a stone wall. They couldn't see the inside, it was pitch-black.

"That's the goblin lord," Sebastian who had the keenest eyes told the rest of the group. He could see that the shadow inside the nest was actually the goblin lord's enormous body.

"We need to lure it out. I can't guarantee a perfect shot while it's inside the nest."

He had to shoot it in the eye after all. No matter how good he was, he couldn't just do a blind shot that pierces through a nest made of wood and twigs.

The nest was at the side of a mound of stone and moss.

"We can set up a decoy to lure them out," Yule suggested. It was a very common tactic for mercenaries.

"...Wait. Do any of you have any water-related abilities?"

Sebastian turned around to ask them.

Rob shook his head. "No, most of us here have abilities that help boost our physical strength or support. Abilities that control the elements are rare after all."

Sebastian knew that. There were other houses that could control fire but none of their flames are a match for the House of Sol's. As for water, there was one among the subsidiary houses of the House of Luna but they weren't nearly as strong as any of the major houses.

—Do you plan on setting the nest on fire?

Sebastian nodded.

—I can stop the fire from spreading to the trees but I can't guarantee the moss.

Sebastian lowered his voice to respond, "that's fine. It's better so they don't have any paths to escape from."

After he settled it with Balanos, Sebastian pulled out an arrow and aimed it at the nest.

"Everyone get into your positions," Rob saw Sebastian move and began to sneak over to a different spot. They were on the same level as the enemy, the first shot and execution of their charge is crucial.

Once they surrounded the area and prepared their weapons, Rob gave the signal.

Sebastian reached into his pouch and took out a small cylinder with a small mechanism. He placed it in front of the arrowhead and with his stigma, set the arrow on fire.

To everyone else, it seemed that he used the tool but only Sebastian knew that the arrow was powered by his stigma.

"Wait, you're going to set the nest on fire? You're going to cause a forest fire!"

Van who was the one to stay behind with him nearly shouted but managed to hold his voice back.

Sebastian ignored him and closed his eyes. He drew the bowstring back and used a fourth of the stigma's power. Now, the arrow's flames grew more intense until it began spreading through the shaft.

Van and the others were nervous but Sebastian kept his calm. He took a deep breath and released his grip on the bowstring.

THWANG

The thrum of the bowstring was covered by the sound of the flames. It pierced through the air like a phoenix made of flames.

None of the goblins had any time to react. The next thing they knew, the nest was burning and the ground they stood on was set ablaze.

It happened in an instant. The fire suddenly traveled from the nest to the air and burned the entire area. It was as if the air was filled with flammable gas.

Seeing the unexpected sight, everyone stood blankly. The goblins were burning to death and the goblin lord was roaring.

Not even Sebastian had expected it. He had only planned to burn down the nest but ended up burning everything instead.

Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to kill the hobgoblins and many of them burst out from the flames to attack but Rob and the others were prepared.

In the blink of an eye, a fight started amidst the flames. The goblin lord was struggling to break out of the burning nest and Sebastian held the black arrow in his right hand.

BOOM

The goblin lord burst out of the burning nest and roared. The flames had run out of things to burn and spread to the rest of the stone mound covered in moss—leaving patches of the ground free from the flames.

The goblin lord ran through the weakened sea of flames and quickly spotted Sebastian. The latter could see the anger hidden in the former's eyes.

Their eyes locked as they both moved. The goblin lord with its gigantic body and log then Sebastian with his black bow and arrow.

One was trying to get close while the other was trying to kill it before it does.

Once the goblin lord reached fifty yards, Sebastian drew the bowstring back and fired.