The word quickly spread through the guard line of a small assassin moving through the battle, crippling Goblins, and everywhere Dominic went, the guards started to make an effort to turn their opponents away from him, allowing his strikes to take dozens of the creatures by surprise before he found a gap in the lines and fired another Arcane Blast to clear his path to freedom.
Once he was behind the guardsmen’s lines, Dominic dropped to one knee to catch his breath and slowly fired Arcane Blasts at anything that tried to exploit the gap he had run through.
Once he caught his breath, Dominic got back to his feet and noticed for the first time that he was completely covered in Goblin slime. If he was going to go back into the city, he would need to be rinsed off first. The smell was foul, and the only thing keeping him from gagging was the knowledge that opening his mouth would only make the situation worse.
"Need a rag? I’ve got a bundle?" A voice asked from behind him.
A young boy had a wheelbarrow full of torn rags, mostly intended for bandages, but Dominic greedily grabbed two. One for wiping himself off, and one to fashion a crude mask under his goggles.
"Thanks kid." he laughed as the boy ran off to the triage centre with his precious cargo.
Dominic wiped the filthy rag off on the grass, then tucked in his belt for next time. With his hands free, and his face clean, he continued his spell barrage until the Goblins stopped coming near his position. Their numbers were dwindling, and the guard patrols were beginning to cycle out for freshly rested fighters.
The mechanical steeds he had arrived with were all behind the lines now, and a few of the men had returned to them now that their section of the fight had been relieved by fresh soldiers.
Soldiers like the ones headed his way.
"Good work, adventurer. Thanks for the assist, you can head back to the city now. They’ve got a water witch there creating a shower to rinse everyone clean." The first soldier in line informed him.
"Thanks for the relief. I’ll see you soon." Dominic replied.
Not on the front lines, most likely. But the guardsmen were always at the commoners staging areas anyhow. It was where all the affordable drinking establishments were.
There was a large lineup for the showers, and the guards were happily stripping down under the pouring water, rinsing off their gear so that no goblin filth was brought back into the city.
Dominic stepped to the side of the line, looking for a separate area for not communal showers, and not finding one. That was a dilemma. He wasn’t really up for public nudity like the guards, but he also wasn’t going to be allowed into the city in this state.
When he made it to the front of the line, the Water Witch gave him a disgusted look, and Dominic gave up on any hope that the woman might take pity on him. Instead of asking, he stepped forward into the water, allowing it to wash the goblin blood from him, then removed and scrubbed his coat and hat before stowing them in his inventory cube. He could let them dry later.
Dominic had just begun to use his face mask rag to scrub down his armour and pants when four large guards stepped up beside him and offered him a bucket full of soap bars with coarse grit in them to get the dried and caked on goblin blood off.
"You did good out there. It’s the least we could do." One of them mumbled.
Once he was clean, Dominic quickly stripped and changed into the fancy black mage robe and cloak that the Princess’s Guards had provided him, ignoring the fact that it was now soaked as well. Then he put on his only dry footwear, a pair of soft slippers, and stepped out of the shower area.
Once he stepped out in his fancy robes, he saw the Water Witch’s expression turn from open disgust to shock, but he didn’t wait for her to say anything, and moved toward the gates, letting the breeze dry him a little while he walked.
There was another line for the gates, and the city officials were checking everyone who reached the entrance to the city.
"What are they after?" Dominic asked the man beside him, without looking up.
"Loot. The fight is a guard fight, so they don’t want anyone coming out and claiming the good stuff for themselves while the guard takes all the risks." A familiar female voice informed him.
Dominic looked up to see Princess Alexis, the younger of the two unwed twin Princesses of Cygnia City, standing next to him, soaked to the bone, the same as he was, and in a black silk suit that closely matched the black silk robe and cloak that Princess Eleanor had gifted Dominic for the dinner after their second battle together.
"Then this should be fun. I’ve got all sorts of stuff on me from my trip to town." Dominic muttered.
"Don’t worry about it. Hand me your Inventory Cube and we will walk right through." Princess Alexis whispered back.
He reluctantly handed her the small magical device with all his worldly possessions inside, and then fell into step a half pace behind her and to the left, covering her nondominant side, and allowing the Princess to escort him back inside the city.
As they got closer to the front of the line, Dominic adjusted his robes and pulled the hood up to cover his head, despite the heat. The Princess shook her head, but Dominic was well aware of how the Nobles felt about a Sorcerer who was openly mutated or nonhuman.
Not that most of them made the distinction, they just despised everyone who wasn’t a Noble.
The appearance of the duo caused quite a stir among the city’s civilian Nobles, who were watching from behind the gates as the guardsmen came back inside. The Princess was with an unknown young man, returning from the battlefield, and both of them were soaked from the combat showers.
It was deluxe, extra juicy, scandalous gossip for their dinner parties. The thought that the Princess might have been nude in front of a potential suitor put their chosen candidates and romantic ships way behind the game.
Most of them couldn’t even get an invitation to the Palace outside official functions.
Was that man the Princess’ type? Had they been pushing the most prestigious of established noblemen at a Princess who preferred some younger boy who would go out and fight Goblins with her?
"I could let them see my horns and totally ruin your reputation." Dominic joked as the Princess’ expression got more and more annoyed as she heard whispers of the idle Nobles’ gossip.
"Honestly, it might make things easier if I did. With a ruined reputation, none of their idiot Noble Sons would want anything to do with me any more. My father would be furious, but the idea of never having to hear another incestuous suggestion involving my twin sister would be completely worth every bit of Father’s disappointment.
Dominic was quite certain that the Princess had mentioned that her father understood her position. Plus, she was close enough to the King to be considered in line for the throne, so it was shocking that something like that had happened more than once.
But the history books said that there were always politics and perverts among the elites, and the Cygnia Nobles would not want one of their nation’s prized Princesses to escape their clutches.
They reached the gate guards, who gave them a suspicious look, and then gestured for Dominic to raise his arms. He complied without hesitation, as he didn’t have anything at all on his person, other than the single crafted dagger at his hip. The other dagger and the sabre he didn’t own a holster for, so he could only really carry them in his Inventory Cube, or in his hand in combat.
The guard made a show of patting him down, even checking to ensure that his horns were real, and not just stuck to his head to disguise a storage item.
"Where are the rest of your belongings?" The Guard demanded.
"At home, of course. What use does a Sorcerer have for random trinkets in combat?" Dominic replied with his best attempt at the snooty tone that the Nobles used.
The Princess nearly choked on her tongue at his sudden change of demeanour, but the Guard just accepted it as normal for a companion of the Princess.
They stepped into the street, headed for the Princess’s chosen meeting point with her carriage and driver, as the gossip spread.
The Princess had been out fighting alongside a strange Sorcerer, and he was so confident in his skills that he didn’t even bring along anything but the jewellery with his Enhancement Cores and spells.
"It looks like the rumour mill will be in full swing tonight. How about we head somewhere to eat before I drop you at home?" Princess Alexis asked.
"Food sounds wonderful. It’s been a rough day, and I have news to pass along as well. But not in public, unless we want to start a panic."