The next dawn.
Getting up around this time was slowly becoming a habit.
So this was the life of a morning person.
“Haahm.”
Sitting on the bed and yawning, I handed a hardtack biscuit to Gerangi, who was scuttling around on top of the desk.
Click.
Gerangi took the hardtack with his claw, put it in his mouth, and chewed.
Hm, were crabs omnivores? It should be fine to give it to him, right?
To begin with, he wasn’t exactly an ordinary crab. He didn’t even have that distinctive fishy smell seafood usually had.
I figured I should just think of him as “something shaped like a crab.”
Gargle. Ptoo.
I roughly gathered some water, rinsed out my mouth, and got out of bed.
‘I should head out soon.’
I tightened the straps of my armor and packed my things.
I’d said I’d only be gone until morning, so I probably didn’t need to pack much.
After I finished packing and fastened the pouch at my waist, Gerangi sidled over. He seemed to want to climb onto the pouch.
“Fine. You’d better show me something this time too.”
I carefully placed Gerangi on top of the pouch and headed to the lobby.
When I went down the stairs, I saw a few mercenaries sitting at the tables, yawning.
About four of them? That meant half the mercenary corps had gathered.
“Oh, you’re up early.”
“Good morning.”
I lightly raised a hand in greeting to the mercenaries who spoke to me.
“Is this everyone?”
“No, that coward hasn’t come out yet.”
Coward? Ah, so Piren was going too.
That bastard caused trouble even at times like this.
Then the members heading out on reconnaissance today numbered five, including Piren.
They were all faces I’d gotten used to while training.
The first one who stood out was the lanky “Jeminig.”
His height, with a bit of exaggeration, was like two people stacked together, and seeing as he was always attached to Captain Barrett’s side, he was practically acting as the vice-captain.
Thanks to his calm and polite personality, he was also the first person I became close to after Barrett.
Next was the fat man, “Charlie.”
Judging by his appearance, he looked like he would swing a massive hammer around, but surprisingly, he used a spear.
His personality was round and gentle, but thanks to his size, he gave off a presence that couldn’t be easily ignored.
Then there was the foul-mouthed “Gailson.”
From what I heard, he had been with Barrett since the founding of the Barrett Mercenary Corps.
He had a nasty temper where curses came out the moment he opened his mouth, and lately, perhaps because of his injury, he seemed even more sensitive.
Still, his skill with an axe was undeniable, so everyone avoided needling him for no reason and let things slide.
Last was the gambler, “Nick.”
He was always paired with Gailson, wandering from gambling table to gambling table, and whether his sleight of hand was good or bad, he kept winning and losing in endless repetition.
Still, maybe his persistence deserved some recognition. I’d wondered where he kept getting money every time, but it turned out he was the only archer in the Barrett Mercenary Corps.
With Piren added to these four, there were five in total.
There were plenty of strange people, but recalling what I’d seen at the training ground, their skills were certain.
As if speaking of the devil, a thudding, clattering sound came from the stairs.
Piren hurried down the stairs and said,
“Huff! Everyone’s already here?”
“Yeah, you bastard!”
As soon as he arrived, Piren got a knuckle to the head from Nick.
Serves him right. That’s what he gets for not coming early.
Jeminig, who was the leader of today’s party, said,
“Then, since everyone’s here, shall we head out right away?”
“Aren’t we eating first?”
I’d just woken up, so I was hungry.
Breakfast was a fairly important matter.
“Goblins don’t show themselves much unless it’s dawn, so we have to hurry.”
“Well, if that’s the case, I suppose it can’t be helped.”
Tsk. I’d have to chew on some hardtack on the way.
And so we set off straight for the northern forest.
The northern forest was the last area the mercenary corps had yet to search.
The chances of finding the goblin settlement there were the highest.
Today’s goal was simply to “confirm the existence of the settlement” and then return.
With our current numbers, subjugation would probably be impossible.
As we walked through the village, I chatted with the mercenaries about this and that.
I asked Charlie, the fat man walking beside me,
“If a higher-ranked individual appears, would subjugation be difficult?”
“A higher-ranked individual? Hm. A hobgoblin would be fine, but… if there’s a command-type individual, we’d have to report it to the guild.”
When I thought of goblins, they were just low-level monsters in games, but in this world, they seemed to be quite a headache.
Thinking about it, it was only natural.
Even dealing with a single wild beast wasn’t easy, so if that beast had intelligence on top of that, it would be far more troublesome.
“Have you ever actually encountered one?”
“Hm, not one of those… but I have seen an ogre once.”
“An ogre?”
Ogre.
A large, stupid monster commonly seen in games.
This one, too, was usually treated as a common mob, but depending on the work, it could also belong to the stronger side.
“It appeared on the road near a village a long time ago. Even seeing it from far away was horrific. It crushed a carriage with its bare hands.”
…A carriage, with its bare hands? What was it, a toy?
“Fortunately, the ogre seemed satisfied with that and disappeared into the forest carrying the broken carriage. After that, the guild was commissioned, and mercenaries came to deal with it.”
Mercenaries capable of killing an ogre… They were probably gold-plaque mercenaries.
Just hearing the rough description made it seem impossible for silver plaques.
“Surely an ogre won’t show up in the forest too, right?”
“No way. Ogres aren’t common, and they’re enormous from the start, so even in a forest, their heads poke right out. If there was one, we would’ve seen it ages ago.”
He wasn’t wrong.
This forest wasn’t that dense.
Still, saying things like that tended to become a flag, so I had to be careful.
“These days, bandit bastards are a bigger problem than monsters like that.”
“Mm.”
Without realizing it, I nodded quietly.
Honestly, I had more memories of running into bandits than monsters.
“But why have there been so many more bandits lately?”
When I asked, Charlie shrugged.
“The number of bandits has increased… probably because of the kingdom’s situation, don’t you think?”
“The kingdom?”
“Yes. I don’t know the details either, but they say war clouds are gathering with the neighboring country. The border regions have been unsettled for years, and apparently the royal family has even started forced conscription. Since even young men from rural villages are being dragged away, those who don’t want to live like that just hide in the mountains… Then they starve, plunder, and become bandits like that.”
“…Ah.”
I let out a short breath.
Border disputes, forced conscription, deserters.
None of it sounded like someone else’s problem.
“That’s why, if you say you’re traveling along country roads these days, you have to be armed no matter what. Those guys come at you like their lives depend on it. If they get caught, they’ll be dragged to the battlefield.”
“…So that was it.”
I’d thought I had no interest in politics, but I didn’t expect it to hit so close to home like this.
No wonder I’d been seeing bandits so often from village to village. Now I understood why.
“Haha, you don’t know much about the state of affairs, do you? Well, I heard mages are originally like that.”
“You know about mages?”
Charlie furrowed his brow, as if it was hard to answer.
“…Only from fairy tales I heard when I was young. Truthfully, to a country bumpkin like me, mages are no different from beings in stories.”
Were mages really that rare?
I’d heard there were organizations like mage towers.
The people I’d met lately hadn’t seemed particularly surprised either…
Ah, I hadn’t talked much.
Come to think of it, I really didn’t remember seeing any mages while traveling.
“That’s why Captain Barrett is so determined to hold onto you, Sir Liv.”
Charlie spoke frankly.
Hm, if real mages were that precious, then I suppose it made sense.
It was a little embarrassing to say that myself, though.
“What are you talking about?”
Perhaps bored, Piren joined the conversation.
“This is grown-up talk, so children should go away.”
Charlie waved his hand at Piren as he approached.
“Huh? I can understand calling you an old man, Uncle Charlie, but Sir Liv looks about the same age as me.”
…Judging by appearance, that was true.
Piren had said he was eighteen, hadn’t he?
Liv’s body looked roughly similar too.
Of course, my original age was in my late twenties.
“Hey, you brat. Mages use magic that keeps them from aging.”
Charlie suddenly interjected.
“Huh? Really?”
…Was there really something like that?
Charlie said it with such a serious face that even I was confused for a moment.
I wondered, “Does it exist?” but it was probably just something from fairy tales.
“Really, really?”
Piren asked again, his eyes sparkling.
Seeing that look, it felt awkward to deny it, so I gave a vague nod.
“Huh? Uh, yeah, sure.”
He wouldn’t know my actual age anyway, so let’s just go with that.
“Wow, mages are amazing…”
…This is burdensome. I can’t use anything like that.
If there was something like “Blue Magic: Botox,” maybe I could imitate it.
“Piren, quiet down now.”
As soon as Jeminig spoke from the front, Piren closed his mouth with a startled expression.
Ahead of us, the forest path stretched out.
We had finally entered the northern forest.
The mercenaries, who had been noisy in the village, shut their mouths as if by magic once we entered the forest and checked their weapons.
I also carefully raised my staff.
I hadn’t brought the mace on this request.
All I had was a training mace, but it didn’t have enough power to use in actual combat.
Well, if things got urgent, I could just swing my staff.
It had a crystal ball attached to the end anyway, so it would probably be similar.
Rustle, rustle.
Aside from the sound of birds in the forest, the only thing we could hear was the sound of us pushing through the undergrowth.
Since this was an exploration request, I thought we’d spread out to search, but this was practically a march.
When I quietly asked Charlie, he said they’d been ambushed while moving separately last time, so they had stuck together ever since.
It wasn’t for nothing that the request had been delayed.
A signal to stop came from the front.
Jeminig was crouched down, examining the ground.
Those were… footprints?
“Has anyone come through the northern forest?”
“No. I heard no one has come here since the last incident.”
The footprints Jeminig was looking at were far larger than a goblin’s.
They were clearly large enough to have been made by something at least human-sized.
That meant either a villager had secretly come through, or there was something else here.
“No one in their right mind would come alone into a forest crawling with goblins. This might be a higher-ranked individual.”
Damn it, had one really shown up?
This was why you shouldn’t raise flags.
“Then what should we do?”
“Hmm, it’s still only speculation, so we should look for the settlement first.”
Jeminig added to my words.
“Not all higher-ranked individuals are strong. A centurion isn’t always stronger than a decurion, is he?”
Perhaps having read my expression, he even deliberately said something to reassure me.
“Have you seen a higher-ranked individual before?”
“I’ve taken down a hobgoblin before. It was just a somewhat larger goblin.”
“Hmm.”
Hesitating here would only waste time.
We began searching again.
In truth, no matter how uneasy I was, I had never intended to turn back from the start.
We wandered through the forest like that all night, but we couldn’t find any further traces of goblins.
The forest was much wider than expected, and the traces disappearing quickly because of wild animals and fallen leaves also played a part.
In the end, we came up empty-handed and dragged our heavy bodies back to the inn.
***
The third day after I joined the request.
At last, we found new traces.
“Did these bastards go hunting or something?”
Clear bloodstains were left on the dirt ground.
Along with traces of something heavy having been dragged.
“The blood’s still warm. They’re definitely nearby.”
“Yeah, no matter how much they hide, they’re still goblin bastards.”
None of us disagreed that this was the work of goblins.
Of course, there was also the possibility that wild animals had fought each other, but given the circumstances, goblins were most likely.
The bloodstains stretched on in a long trail, like Hansel and Gretel’s breadcrumbs.
We carefully followed the traces.
After a short while, a low hill appeared.
On top of the hill were five goblins.
They were groaning as they dragged along an animal that resembled a deer.
‘They didn’t get as far as I thought.’
We hid ourselves in the grass below the hill.
“What do we do? Hit them right away?”
Gailson whispered.
But Jeminig gave a small shake of his head.
“No, we follow them quietly.”
“What?”
“It would be good to reduce their numbers, but we have to identify the settlement first.”
“…”
Gailson narrowed his eyes in dissatisfaction.
Yeah, lives were on the line here, so we had to be cautious.
He really wasn’t acting as vice-captain for nothing.
“Let’s follow them for now.”
We began trailing the group of goblins while keeping a suitable distance.
In the middle of it, Piren nearly got us discovered by tripping over a tree root, but fortunately, Charlie quickly caught him.
Thanks to that, two more lumps sprouted on Piren’s head.
“Kiek!”
“Kiek, kiek!”
The goblins pushing through the forest suddenly stopped.
Were they taking a short break?
A few of them simply flopped down on the ground.
It seemed they really had gone into rest mode.
“Those bastards, sleeping rough on the roadside must be their daily routine.”
Gailson grumbled, jutting out his lips.
Jeminik quietly drew our attention with a gesture.
We lowered ourselves deep into the grass and held our breath.
After quickly scanning the surroundings, Gailson whispered in a low voice.
“Should we ambush them now? This would be easy.”
The goblins were off guard, and some had even lain down.
If we struck now, it certainly seemed like we could finish things easily.
But Jeminik gave a small shake of his head.
“No. We wait. We still don’t know where the settlement is.”
“Tch. You’re right, though.”
Gailson grumbled and tapped the ground.
Jeminik really did make calm, sharp judgments.
He wasn’t playing vice-captain for nothing.
“······.”
We watched the goblins again in silence.
Before long, one of the goblins in the group rose to its feet.
Breathing roughly, it looked around as if its nerves were on edge.
‘...Is it sniffing something?’
My chest tightened.
Could it smell humans even amid the thick scent of the forest?
One goblin sniffed the air, then suddenly let out a short scream.
“Kiiik!”
“What is it?”
Our surprise lasted only a moment.
We soon understood the situation.
One goblin bit at its pinky while making bizarre gestures.
Then it cut off the tail of the deer it had dragged along and began chewing on it.
“···Guess it was just hungry.”
Charlie muttered, as if he could relate.
The goblins paid it no mind and began moving slowly again.
We kept our distance and carefully followed behind them.
The forest path grew more and more rugged.
Vines caught at our feet, and the ground was a mire of sticky mud.
‘Are we getting close?’
An unpleasant smell that seemed to creep up from somewhere stung my nose.
The smell of rotten meat, the smell of beasts, and a sticky stench that was hard to describe.
Jeminik raised a hand to halt us.
All of us lowered our bodies by instinct.
Up ahead, through the trees, faint shapes came into view.
Tangled branches, ornaments with skulls hung from them, torn tents.
Anyone could tell it was a goblin settlement.
“······We’ve arrived.”
Jeminik murmured in a low voice.
We held our breath and surveyed the surroundings.
The settlement was smaller than expected.
A rough count put the goblins at around twenty.
But deeper inside, one particularly large fellow could be seen.
‘···Is that the higher-class specimen?’
I swallowed without realizing it.
“What do we do?”
Gailson whispered.
Unlike his cautious voice, his eyes were bright with excitement.
“We watch a little longer.”
Jeminik spoke firmly.
That was right. It still wasn’t time to act rashly.
We hadn’t come here for a subjugation in the first place.
Their numbers, their positions, their leader.
Only after we grasped everything could we move.
Let’s endure just a little longer.
But then, at that very moment—
“Kroooo···!”
From behind the goblin horde, an enormous shadow slowly approached.
A bloated silhouette easily more than twice the height of a man.
Jeminik clenched his teeth as well.
“···Goblin King.”
The true higher-class specimen had revealed itself.