There he stood.
Seemingly in his early to mid-twenties, a blond-haired man with forest-green eyes, wearing a simple gray tunic, brown pants and leather boots.
His body towered mine and well-muscled. He must had spent his days doing hard labor for him to earn such physique.
Despite his somewhat formidable appearance, he displayed a gentle handsome face.
Moreover, he did not have the air of a warrior. He lacked the fierceness of a trained combatant.
The voice said this land would be the place for the master's army of heroes.
But this man did not really seem like one. Or how I would imagine a hero would be.
Given the cluelessness on his face, I doubted he was my master I was supposed to serve either.
"Um, hello! My name is Jonah Brohm!"
The man greeted me nervously, but politely as well.
"Nice to meet you, Sir Brohm. I'm Serafina Magda Zeref."
I greeted him back.
"Ah, please, just call me Jonah."
I simply nodded to his request.
From the way Jonah was speaking, I could tell that he was uneasy about something.
He quickly made me know what was bothering him.
"Um, Lady Zeref, do you perhaps know what this place is and why am I here?"
I frowned upon his question.
I could tell from his face that he asked me this because he genuinely did not know the answer.
"You don't know? You were here before me, though."
"I haven't been here long. I suddenly found myself here without knowing how I got here and why."
My frown curved deeper.
He did not know why he was here? Did the voice not tell him?
Jonah saw me looking at him confusedly. He had figured out I knew something he did not.
"Can you please tell me what's going on, my lady? You do know something, right?"
"Why don't you tell me what happened first? What can you remember?"
I asked Jonah.
Luckily, he was composed enough to give me a proper answer despite the situation we were in.
"About an hour ago, I was tending to my flock of sheep at the field near my house. And out of nowhere, I found myself inside the giant building by the square. I have no recollection as to what happened in between the two events."
Tending sheep?
He was a shepherd?
Not a warrior?
"Jonah, can you tell more about who you are?"
I asked again so that I could clarify my suspicion.
Jonah nodded and complied to my request.
"Very well. I'm Jonah Brohm. I'm a shepherd from a remote village in the Shalju region of Tsatu Empire."
"Is that all about you? Are you not working as a mercenary on the side?"
Jonah shook his head.
"No, my lady. Shepherding is all I do. Though I also farm if the season in my land allows it."
This was interesting.
I wondered whether he arrived here without the voice's involvement.
Or the voice did invite him but the man simply forgot the conversation they had.
Or whether the voice just spirited him away without his consent.
Another thing I noticed from what Jonah said to me.
Shalju region.
Jonah said he was tending to his flock just an hour ago. However, Shalju region had—
"My lady, be careful, it's happening again!"
Jonah disrupted my thought.
I immediately noticed a bright bluish-white light was enveloping both Jonah and I.
From the shepherd's alert expression, this was not the first time it happened to him.
We soon found ourselves standing inside this bluish white dimension due to the bright light.
The dimension soon faded and revealed a new landscape to us.
We were no longer in the forged land the voice sent me.
Burning houses and dozens of far-off people running away and screaming became the backdrop of our environment.
Jonah and I were transported into the middle of a burning village.
Once again, it was not a teleportation spell that moved us. It was a power that was entirely different from magic.
Kekeke!
My ears suddenly caught a disturbing laugh behind me.
"Careful, Lady Zeref! Here they come!"
Jonah tried to warn me. A rusty iron sword was somehow in his hands now.
"(Odd. I did not see that weapon with him earlier.)"
I thought to myself.
Anyway, I turned around to see what was causing the laugh.
I soon discovered four hideous goblins staring at us with nasty smiles. They were very eager to attack us.
"I see…"
This must be the trial the voice was talking about.
One of the trials, at the very least.
"We need to fight them to return to that strange place, Lady Zeref!"
Jonah spoke convincingly as he readied his sword.
Despite having no clue as to why he was sent to the forged land, this man did not show any signs of panic.
Alert and worry, yes. But not fear.
Maybe there was a reason he was summoned to the forged land.
Graaahhh!
The goblins finally made their advance toward us.
Despite their disturbing cry, Jonah held steadfast on his ground, gripping his sword tightly.
I smiled and tapped him on the shoulder.
"You may relax, shepherd. They won't be able to harm you."
"Huh?"
I extended my hand toward the charging goblins and casted a spell.
[Davah Shashanam]
The four goblins suddenly rose to the air, pulled by an invisible force.
Krahh???
The hideous creatures rose higher and higher. They were squirming confusedly as to what was happening.
Once they were thirty choro up in the air (one choro = one meter), I deactivated the spell.
The four goblins fell from the sky and slammed hard to the ground.
One of them immediately died upon impact, the three others were incapacitated.
"You might want to step back a bit for this one."
I told Jonah. He was left speechless by the spell I just performed.
I betted he would be even more astounded by what I would do next.
[Maha Agni]
A ball of flame manifested on my palm within a second and burst forth like a blazing trail toward the goblins.
Boom.
The remaining goblins were instantly charred by my fire attack.
"Incredible…"
Jonah whispered as he witnessed the goblins' annihilation.
With the deaths of the monsters, we soon found ourselves being engulfed by the same bluish-white light from before.
Similar as to how we appeared to the burning village, we were returned to the forged land.
I noticed that Jonah's rusty iron sword did not came back with him.
"You were so powerful, Lady Zeref!"
Jonah praised me as soon as we got back.
"It was nothing. And please, call me Serafina."
"I must say, I have never seen a mage before in my entire life. That battle before was simply amazing!"
Now that Jonah mentioned battle, there was something I wanted to confirm
"That battle we just won, you did not seem completely surprised when it happened. Had you done it before I arrived?"
I asked, wanting to confirm my guess.
Jonah nodded.
"Right after I got here, I was engulfed in that same light earlier. I suddenly found myself in that burning village we were just at."
Jonah told me. He continued.
"Back then there was only one goblin I had to face. Nonetheless, it was only after I killed the monster that I was returned to this empty place."
He recounted.
"What happened after?"
I asked more.
"I stayed inside this lodging beside us and then I heard someone walking from the square. That was when I met you."
Nothing much happened before I arrived here.
He basically just underwent a trial right after being summoned to this place.
Still, though it was just one goblin, it was pretty incredible of him to complete the trial despite not knowing what was happening to him.
Although he did not have anyone to tell him things, he was quick to grasp the situation and did not hesitate to fight.
"So, um, Serafina?"
Jonah called out to me. He continued.
"Can you tell me what this place is? Why were we brought to fight those monsters earlier?"
I assumed I would not be completing the trials alone since we did the previous one together.
I would be relying on this man and possibly more others for the future trials.
It would be hard to work with Jonah if he did not know the true purpose of him being in this forged land.
"It is as you said earlier, Jonah. We were brought here to fight."
I explained.
"Fight? But why? Who brought us here?"
"It's quite complicated to explain--"
Creak.
The echoing sound of a door creaking suddenly caught our attention it stopped our conversation.
It came from one of the circular buildings in the square.
But not the one I appeared from.