Bound and Broken: An Isekai Adventure Dark Fantasy (Melas Book 1) by V.A. Lewis (autobiographies to read .TXT) 📕

"How about me?" I piped up from the side. "Are they looking for me?"

"Nope," Ihsan answered. "They didn’t ask for you. Just Karna."

I closed my eyes slowly, and exhaled. To be honest, I expected that; I hadn't spoken with Victor since he scolded me a week ago. Gerritt told me that he was apparently still unhappy over what happened, which only made me feel bad.

I wanted to speak with him— to make it up to him. But I wasn’t sure how he would react. I did not know what to do, I just knew that I had to speak to him soon before things got worse.

I resolved myself on that, and opened my eyes. Karna was already gone, but Ihsan was still there. He grinned.

"How’d training go? I only saw the end, but you made it so close to camp. I thought you had it!"

"I thought so too," I said, nodding. "But Karna is too fast. And he’s going easy on me. I probably never had a chance."

"Karna doesn’t go easy on anybody— he’s a show off! Sure, he’s talented and he totally deserves to act like that." Ihsan waved his hand dismissively. "But a show off is still a show off! So don’t be so hard on yourself. You did great."

"No— I mean, I could’ve done better…"

He nodded in agreement. "Anyone could always do better. And it’s good that you want to be better. But just so you know, never reject a compliment from a Goblin. It’s considered rude."

"Really? I’m sorry— I didn’t mean to offend you."

"Yes. Goblin society is based on respect and power. But there’s no need to apologize to me. I’m fine with it, since I grew up with Dwarves. ‘Tis just some general advice." Ihsan gave me a cool shrug.

"Oh, thanks." I bowed my head slightly. Then I paused. "Wait you grew up with Dwarves?"

"Yep. Born and raised in Taw."

That surprised me. The Taw Kingdom was allied with the Holy Xan Empire— they even supported the Empire during the Free Wars! If Ihsan really grew up there, why was he a Dark Crusader now?

He grinned. "I know what you’re thinking. ‘Why did you join the Dark Crusaders, if you grew up in Taw?’ Well, the answer is simple: money."

"What?" I stared blankly at him.

"You heard me right. I joined them for the money." The Goblin gestured to a pouch on his side. "I know it’s not some grand reasoning. But cut me some slack. I grew up poor in a big city, and wasn’t always treated fairly just because I was a Goblin. So I turned to crime to survive.

"So I joined some small gang, but it got busted. Found a bigger gang— got kicked out. And that was around the time I heard about the Dark Crusaders. I talked to some shady people, learned some magic, and somehow found myself here."

"But… couldn’t you have done something else? If you just need money— to survive— can’t you… find a job?" I asked stupidly.

"Not really, no. The only thing I’m slightly good at doing is fighting. I could try becoming a Hunter or a Mercenary, but as I said, very few people would hire me because, y’know." He shot a thumb back to himself, and I grimaced at the implication. "Plus, I’ve got what I want here. Food to eat, a bed to sleep, and money to spend. Well, I can’t really spend money here. Got to be careful in the Free Lands. Someone might try and capture me into…"

"Slavery." I felt an itch right next to my eye, as I finished his sentence for him.

His gaze slowly slid off my face. "Yeah..." he trailed off.

I ignored that.

"So, you can actually go out and spend money? And you’ve done this before, outside of the Free Lands? Despite siding with the Demons during the Holy Wars."

"Of course. And we didn’t side with anybody. No Goblin alive today was alive back then. And half of us here on this continent come from families that left Hell even before the Holy Xan Empire existed. Sure, the other half ran here seeking refuge after the Demon Lord was killed a hundred years ago, and that does make other species’ hate us. But if someone in this continent stabs us while we’re out and about— and that does happen more than we would like— they’ll still get thrown to jail. Well, they’ll get thrown to jail most of the time. But we’re Goblins. Just another species, and not... pests."

"I didn’t mean that. I just thought… since you’re a Dark Crusader..." I fidgeted on my feet.

Ihsan gave me a blank look. "...just because I’m a Dark Crusader doesn’t mean I carry around a sign saying that I am one."

"It’s just… the cave, you know?"

I did not know. But I was hoping he knew.

"We’ve only been in the Free Lands for less than a year. That cave you were in for over a week? Three months," Ihsan explained. "We tend to keep mobile. Take advantage of the disunity of the Free Cities. And escape into hiding if things go bad. Sort of like bandits or pirates, except we don’t just enrich ourselves or cause chaos. We further our agenda by listening to what the Infernalis tells us to do— kind of like rebels, if you will— which are sometimes vague directions, and other times specific orders, like what we’re doing now."

"I knew the second part. But the first is… I didn’t think you guys were pests. I just never really thought about it."

"Don’t worry," he chuckled. "Your questions were pretty amusing. I guess you thought being a Dark Crusader was a lot more formal than that, huh? Well, it kinda is formal. But we’re not a country or an army. We’re a lot more decentralized