"The monster hunt was successful. We killed a lot within a few days, almost eliminating the entire horde of goblins. However, there were casualties. We lost many people in that confrontation," Moss said, taking a deep breath again.

Zephyr and the rest waited for him to continue.

Moss thought back to the painful memory and sighed. Most of them were not warriors. They were just normal people who fought to protect their families.

The goblins, though weak, were great in number. And unlike the farmers, they were used to life-and-death battles. Inexperienced farmers, the peaceful and warm-hearted, were the first to die in the clash.

Moss sighed again. Then he arranged his thoughts and began to speak.

"Tom was one of the villagers who was recruited to the monster subjugation army. Because of his hunting experience, he was given a group to lead."

"And from that moment, it all went downhill for him." Moss sighed again.

Zephyr frowned. The story was twisting and turning a lot. He wanted Moss to quickly come to the point.

Moss saw the frown and resumed.

"Tom was ordered to lead his group to hunt stragglers who ran away from the vanguard. It was supposed to be an easy job. The goblins who ran away should have been in bad condition. They were supposed to be injured and dying. They knew the path they were taking. A simple ambush would have been enough to kill a dozen or so goblins."

"However, it didn't go as well as they expected. The group led by Tom faced against injured goblins and lost. From what I know, Tom was the only survivor of the battle. All eight men who went with him died that day."

"Tom was the only one who returned. Returning alone, bathed in monster blood…" Moss vividly remembered the scene.

Tom looked like a monster himself at that time. It looked as if he had fought a war alone and returned.

"So, what happened next?" Aurelia asked.

"Let me take a guess," Zephyr said, holding his chin like he was thinking hard about a problem. Then, with a cynical smile, he continued. "He was kicked out of the monster subjugation army of yours. Or was punished for letting his men die."

"How could that be?" Aurelia shook her head in protest. "Although men died, he stopped the monsters from reaching the village. The monsters were going towards the village, right?" she asked Moss.

Humans were the most basic prey for the monsters. Normal people were slow and easy to hunt. If the monsters were injured, they would need food to recover. Looting, killing, and consuming villagers was the best option for them.

Moss nodded with a yes.

"See? Tom saved the village by killing the goblins that fled." She lifted her nose and said.

Elenor watched everything from the side without speaking a single word. She was the silent kind. She didn't voice any opinion of her own.

Meanwhile, Zephyr and Aurelia turned to Moss, asking for an answer.

Moss shook his head and stated, "Both of you are wrong." He met Zephyr's and Aurelia's eyes. "He was neither treated like a hero nor like a criminal. Instead, he was tasked to move with another group to hunt more goblins."

His reply made Aurelia and Zephyr lean back a little.

"Wasn't he injured?" Aurelia asked, concerned.

Moss shook his head.

"Not in a way to be unfit for battle."

"That Baron…" Aurelia ground her teeth. "Why didn't he let him rest?" she complained out loud.

The lord of the land was Baron Ashwick. As a princess of the nation who found his action reprehensible, she felt a burning desire to make him take accountability.

Although the kingdom allowed the lords to recruit the men in their fief to defend the land, there should at least be the decency to let them rest. And, for monster subjugation, he could have requested help from the neighboring lords, or even the king himself. Why was he going around, using injured men like disposable tools?

"Anyways, what happened to Tom after that?"

Despite neither seeing Tom nor knowing anything about him, Aurelia was hooked on his story. She shoved back her thought of punishing the baron and asked Moss to continue.

Moss obliged with a smile.

"For the next seven days, Tom was thrown into the meat grinder, marching out with wave after wave of conscripted villagers. Yet, despite the bloodshed, he returned from every engagement without a single major wound. As the week wore on, however, the survivors began to notice a disturbing pattern in the skirmishes."

Moss raised his head.

"Tom and his group were always being attacked by monsters. Thus, the people in his proximity were dying. Some of the villagers began to slowly avoid him because of that."

"But correlation does not mean causation," Aurelia raised her voice.

Elenor and Zephyr nodded simultaneously.

Moss gave her a confused look. He never expected Aurelia to be so immersed in the story. To him, the lady was a high and mighty mage. There was no reason for Aurelia to be concerned about Tom. So, the sudden outburst made him pause for a while.

"I agree. It's like saying mana recovery potions kill mages because most mages who died drank mana recovery potions before death. Although the number of mana recovery potions consumed correlates with the death of mages, it doesn't mean not consuming them will save their life," Zephyr chimed in.

Elenor nodded from the side in agreement.

"That's true. It's not the potion that kills." He paused. "But the villagers treated Tom like a jinx nonetheless. They were not smart enough to understand that," Moss said and sighed.

"Tom slowly became an outcast as more and more people avoided him. Still, he held it all in and completed his missions without complaint for the next few weeks. At the end of it all, he survived, killing dozens of goblins. Finally, it was time for him to return home."

"What reward did he get for participating in the monster subjugation?" Aurelia inquired.

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