Inverse System

"When we got back to the village to fight the dragon off, we did everything we could to save the young woman that guided us, and save the village. However, when Sho used his flame Spring, the villagers instantly turned on him, believing the notion that he was the one controlling the dragon that was attacking them.

They began attacking him, and drove us out of the village, giving the dragon and the goblin lord a chance to slip away with the girl. I still don't know why the goblin lord fled, he could've taken us out. Clyde theorized that it was because we'd already killed all of his allies, so he was taking the chance to flee and repopulate…"

As Rein heard him say that, his stomach churned, a feeling of anger and disgust washing over him.

"Repopulate..? So that means…"

"Yes…"

"And this girl, you fell in love with her, didn't you?" Rein confirmed, Reggie's pained gaze growing as he squinted his eyes, nodding painfully at Rein's question.

"I see. I understand then. But don't worry, it might not be too late," Rein encouraged, Reggie looking up at him, confused.

"What do you mean? It's already been a month since then…"

"Well, if this is the same goblin lord you encountered, then why hasn't he already found a new home? Why hasn't he repopulated already?" Rein posed, invoking thought into Reggie. "Goblin lords are almost never seen wandering in the wild, that's usually the subordinate's job. Something must've happened," Rein explained, a newfound hope appearing in Reggie.

"You're right… But that's only if this is the same goblin lord…" He said dejectedly, his puffed-up chest deflating after realizing that.

"I doubt it's different. Goblin lords are extremely rare, and usually only appear once per century. This is almost definitely the same one," Rein spelled out, once again instilling hope into Reggie's body.

"Really? Are you sure?" Reggie asked, not wanting to get his hopes up.

"Heh, who the hell do you think I am? You think I'd give false information?" Rein laughed as he set a hand on Reggie's shoulder.

"Thank you... for telling me that…" Reggie finally looked Rein in the eyes. "Let's go find this goblin," Reggie exclaimed, greatly encouraged.

They continued down to the goblin's sighting point, finally arriving in the area that he was seen. They looked around, seeing no goblin lord in sight. However, as they continued investigating the area for clues, Reggie found a large footprint molded into a patch of mud between the grass.

"This goblin lord definitely came to the island on the dragon. Judging by the fact that this is the first sighting point, and it's the western edge of the island, I'm almost certain that the dragon should've been landed here too," Rein concluded as he stood up from inspecting the goblins footprint, looking around to see if there were any more signs left behind.

About 10 meters west of the footprint, Rein found a charred patch of grass, with a large, lizard-like footprint beside it.

"Jackpot. This is definitely where he landed the dragon. And if that's the case, then it has to be around here somewhere," Rein claimed, Reggie no understanding what he meant.

"Why's that? Couldn't he have moved the dragon somewhere else?" Reggie posed, Rein negatively shaking his head.

"No, then the monster sightings would've included a dragon in the reports. Judging by the fact that nobody saw this dragon, it's safe to say that it was hidden somewhere upon entrance to the island. This goblin is actually pretty smart," Rein described.

"So then if that's the case, do you think the dragon was hidden at the shore? Wait, no, that wouldn't really make sense because then it would be in plain sight," Reggie put his hand over his chin, thinking to himself.

"No, you may be on to something. Shores usually have groves and caves one can hide in. If he's hidden along the shores, it must be in one of those groves. Let's go check it out," Rein jumped up and jogged to the western shore of the island, stopping at the cliff that was gazing out into the ocean of crashing waves along the sandy beach under them.

They hopped down the cliffed wall and walked along the sand, which was outlining the rocky cliff of the elevated island, looking for clear footprints that would've been left by the 2 big-footed creatures. However, they saw no evident footprints at their glances.

"I don't see anything… Maybe I was wrong…" Reggie stated as Rein suddenly saw something, pointing to a seemingly innocent patch of sand.

"That sand was recently altered. It's clear someone was trying to hide footprints there," Rein remarked as he ducked down to inspect it, Reggie amazed by his deduction.

"How did you know that? I couldn't tell at all," Reggie said in awe.

"You were looking for actual footprints this entire time, which was a mistake. I was analyzing and looking the pattern of the ripples of sand on this beach," Rein pointed to where they came from, Reggie now seeing the small patterns that were in the undisturbed patches of sand. "This patch of sand clearly deviated from that pattern, meaning that it was altered very recently. Sand usually takes back its form after being altered very quickly, so the fact that this is still here means that it was recent," Rein concluded, standing up and looking ahead, following the path of disrupted sands.

After following it for a while, Rein suddenly stopped abruptly, Reggie stopping behind him, confused.

"Found it," Rein claimed, stopping at a random point at the beach.

"Where?" Reggie asked.

"Come on, you weren't looking at the patterns? Look closely this time," Rein instructed as Reggie squinted his eyes, looking back at the way they came from, then forward to where Rein was looking, trying to see if he could point out any differences in terrain.

Suddenly, he noticed something in the cliff along the shore. The rock formation seemed disturbed at the point that Rein stopped.

"It's the cliff, isn't it? The goblin must've hidden the grove with rocks," Reggie realized, Rein nodding in affirmation.

"That's right. And that means that behind this wall of rocks lies a dragon and a goblin lord. Are you ready?" Rein asked as he put his hand on the rocky cliff, feeling a hollow cave behind the facade of rocks...