profile 100% complete. Added to [Amalgamation]’s Loadout options.

  I flew back to the goblin corpses, eager to make use of my new raccoon belly, but to my surprise, they were gone.

  Not gone as in scavenged by other forest animals, but gone gone. Something had actually taken them.

  The goblins retrieved their dead, I realized after a moment. Brought them back to the nest. Why?

  Maybe the goblins had intelligence, empathy, and funeral rites. I thought back to what I had seen so far and what I had heard about them at the guild. Or, more likely, they cannibalize their dead. Not like I’m one to talk when it comes to eating the dead. That’s the whole reason I’m here.

  Still, it was frustrating, since I had hoped to get the profile. I couldn’t take another down on my own, so I would have to wait until the guild destroyed the nest.

  Maybe I can find it, at least, while I’m here.

  I was not an expert tracker, by any stretch of the imagination, but the goblins hadn’t been delicate about dragging the bodies back to their nest. Perhaps if it were a day or two later, I would have struggled more to find the trail, but within hours of the disturbance, it was fairly simple to follow the drag marks back to the cave they had made their home.

  Once I was at the cave, it was clearly a goblin nest. The smell alone gave it away, but it was also littered with bones and detritus. The adventurers would have no difficulty finding it, at least.

  I was a bit curious about how deep it went and how many goblins were inside. Maybe I could sneak in as a rodent. Though… goblins probably wouldn’t hesitate to try and catch and eat a rodent.

  Similarly, I didn’t feel safe going in as an insect or a bird.

  As I watched the cave, I saw a bat swoop out, heading out into the night.

  Ah. Bat.

  Switching my profile to full , I swooped in, using [Bio Sonar] to navigate and appraise the interior.

  The cave mouth led into a larger tunnel system, stretching deep into the ground. I swooped further in, stopping regularly to hang from the ceiling and stake out the various caverns, forming a mental picture of what the adventurers would have to deal with.

  Each time I stopped, dread built up in my stomach more and more. There are… quite a lot of goblins in here.

  How did such a large nest grow without anyone noticing, so close to Potchuk?

  I found a cavern that was used as either storage or a dump, it was unclear which, and in it I saw some ruined clothing and adventurer gear.

  Had guild members been going missing? How many adventurers have these guys killed already?

  Thinking back to the goblins flanking Willis, my stomach churned. Willis is a great hunter, but if I hadn’t intervened and revealed the flankers, would he have been killed?

  I explored another cavern, and this one explained the growth rate of the goblin nest. It was a nursery, of sorts, and it was filled with goblin babies.

  I have no idea how fast these things grow up, but if these young reach maturity before this nest is eradicated, this number…

  Sneaking a little deeper, I reached the end of the cave system. After shooting off a [Bio Sonar], I quickly pulled back and raced out of the caves, headed back to town.

  I had no idea what that monster in the back was, but it was big. Much bigger than the goblins.

  Swooping out of the cave, I switched back to and raced back to town. I have to warn Willis and the adventurer’s guild. But how?

  I couldn’t speak, and I couldn’t read or write. I could draw, maybe, but not with falcon talons. If I transformed into something with hands, like the raccoon, I would probably get called a monster, myself—rightfully so, to be fair—and not accomplish anything at all.

  No matter how much I thought, I couldn’t figure out a way to properly warn anyone in Potchuk about the danger.

  At the very least, I wanted to keep Willis from getting hurt.

  In the early morning, Willis wandered downstairs with me on his shoulder. The guild was rarely busy so early, only a few adventurers like Willis getting a jump on the day, and today was no exception. It was good for novice adventurers to start early, in order to get the beginner quests that there was always competition over, but the stronger an adventurer was, the fewer people were around to claim the difficult quests.

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  Willis was hardly a novice, but he had never broken the habit of getting a jump on the day. “Good hunting in the early morning” was what he said; by the time folks were traipsing through the forest, the game was scared off, and wouldn’t be back until dusk. And, if there were monsters near town, they’d already be picked off by the time he got out if he didn’t start early.

  Today was just like any other day in the guild. While Willis had reported the goblin encounter, he had only seen the trio, and while that was notable it hadn’t set the guild into a panic. If they knew what I had seen… I shook my head.

  Since Willis didn’t usually take quests, he turned and headed for the door, but I leapt off his shoulder and flew over to the reception. Hilda was there—she usually worked the early shift, which ran through breakfast and lunch, and finished in the early afternoon, so we saw her when we headed out and if we came back early with a magic stone, but not on days where we stayed out well after lunch—and she greeted me, stroking my neck feathers.

  Willis sauntered over, looking at me in confusion. “What’s got your feathers ruffled?” he asked me. “Morning, Hilda.”

  “Good morning, Willis. Maybe he just wanted to see me,” she said with a grin.

  I glanced between the two. There definitely was chemistry, but I had determined they hadn’t pursued anything, probably because Willis was a drifter and would probably leave eventually. Shame.

  But I wasn’t just looking for attention from a pretty receptionist; I had a goal. I let out a quick screech, surprising the two.

  “Sssshhh, people are still sleeping,” Willis hushed me, and I glared at him before hopping forward and turning my head to the quest board.

  Hilda followed my gaze, then looked back at Willis, who shrugged.

  “Maybe he’s worried about the goblins yesterday?” she offered.

  “He’s smart, but… he can’t be that smart. Have you even put out a quest yet?”

  “Just an exploratory quest to find the nest. Yours was the first report of goblins we received, though… well, some novice adventurers are missing. No way to know if they just left town and moved on, though.”

  Willis glanced at me. “You want to find more goblins?”

  I looked at him, then looked back at the quest board.

  Hilda and Willis watched me for a moment. “Guess not,” Hilda said.

  No, I’d rather keep you away for now, I thought. Only way to keep you safe. What I need right now is power.

  “Well, what other quests are there?” Willis asked

  Hilda glanced back at the board. “Just the usual, mostly. Sprites and treants, but you’d want fire or a blade for that, and they avoid town. Giant spiders and gremlins, but they’re predominantly nocturnal. Burroworms—”

  I screeched again.

  “Burroworms, eh?” Willis said. “That makes sense. You want to eat one?”

  “...Eat one?” Hilda asked.

  “Yeah. Back when I first met him, he was fighting a burroworm. After I dropped it, this guy gorged himself on it. Gorged on the goblin yesterday, too.”

  “Oh. Gross.”

  Willis shrugged. “Got a taste for monster meat, I suppose. Anyway… don’t see why not.”

  Success!

  Willis and Hilda said their goodbyes and I perched back on the hunter’s shoulder pad, letting him carry us out the guild building and towards the town gate. He stopped a few times along the way, picking up small stones and tucking them into his pockets.

  Out in the woods, he checked the forest floor, and examined the trees.

  We hiked for a while, with Willis continuing to check the earth and the plants, until we came upon an area that even I could tell was slightly different.

  There were more dead trees here, and some had fallen over, and I saw some soil turned over in a few places. Burroworm territory, I guess?

  Willis crouched down near a tree at the border of the territory, sticking a couple arrows in the dirt in front of him, as well as piling up the stones he had collected, and prepared his bow.

  Quietly, he picked up a stone, and tossed it near a healthy tree.

  He waited a moment, watching, then picked up a second stone, tossing it a small ways away from the first, closer towards where the ground was churned and the trees had fallen.

  My eyes were locked on the stone, waiting to see what would happen.

  After another few moments, he picked up two stones. He tossed one another hop away from the previous, and then quickly followed it with the next.

  The ground shifted slightly. Willis pulled an arrow out of the dirt and nocked it just as the ground erupted and the burroworm emerged, swallowing up the rock that Willis had thrown.

  The worm whipped its head around, confused that the animal it had thought it was tracking was gone. Willis aimed his bow and fired the arrow, then quickly followed it with a second and a third. Two of the three thunked into the side of the burroworn’s head, and it screeched, whipping around in fury.

  Willis shot off a fourth arrow at the monster, and it slumped over.

  “There we go,” Willis said quietly, but his eyes stayed sharp and he didn’t move.

  Scanning the area, I wondered what he was waiting for, then I saw the ground slightly raise nearby.

  Willis shot an arrow at the ground, and another burroworm burst out, chomping down on it. It screeched as it bit down on the arrow, and my hunter companion quickly fired off a few more, dropping the second monster with ease.

  After that, he stood. “You don’t want to get caught claiming the first by a second one,” he said, glancing at me on his shoulder. “It’s not likely, given how slow they mature, but if it’s going to happen, it’s in an area like this, where they’ve been established for a while.”

  Makes sense, I thought, admiring the man’s know-how. And hey, two for the price of one.

  I let him claim the magic stones while I ate some of the burroworm, but this time I didn’t eat my fill. When Willis was done, I looked up at him.

  I need you to leave so I can transform. Sorry, buddy. I’ll meet up with you later.

  Turning away from the man I’d spent the better part of a week with, I flapped my wings and flew away, leaving him behind.

  Once I was out of sight of the hunter, I switched from to and flew back. Willis was still standing there, frowning and looking up at the sky.

  After a while, he sighed. “I feel used,” he said, shaking his head and chuckling. “Hope I see you again, pretty bird.”

  He rolled his left shoulder, adjusting the pad that I usually rode, and turned to head back to town, rolling the magic stones in his hand as he walked.

  Well, I feel bad, but he’ll still get paid. But now… the pretty bird gets the worms.