“All right, let’s go a little farther in.”
At Mari’s words, we turned toward the depths of the forest.
The iron sword in my hand was still trembling faintly. Blood trickled down the blade, one drop at a time.
Until just a moment ago, the relief that we’d dealt with three of them and were done had come first. But once my breathing settled a little, my wrist and shoulder began to throb again.
Even so, I walked.
It was a goblin extermination request anyway, and going back after killing only three felt awkward. More than anything, we needed to get used to each other more. A party wasn’t something that was complete just because you’d fought together once.
The deeper we went into the forest, the rougher the path became. Tree roots jutted up through the dirt, and low branches tried to brush across our faces.
There was still sunlight left, but it didn’t reach the ground very well. The birdsong grew faint, leaving only the long, drawn-out sounds of wind rubbing through leaves and the cries of unknown insects.
After walking a little, I looked down again at the magic stone in my hand.
A murky gray-green. About the size of two or three finger joints.
It was uglier than a pebble, let alone a pretty gem, and yet this was money.
“By the way, how much is one of these worth?”
Kaya glanced at my hand.
“A regular goblin magic stone is 2 copper coins each.”
“Oh...”
“A warrior-type is about 4, and a shaman-type is about 5.”
“Aha?”
I did some quick calculations.
The three we’d just caught made 6 copper coins.
Considering food costs, bath fees, and the tab for equipment, it was fucking stingy for the price of risking your life. But then again, it wasn’t exactly pocket change either...
‘One silver coin is 12 copper coins, so...’
“It’s kind of ambiguous.”
“What is?”
“It’s less than I expected, but it’s also not that low of an amount.”
“That’s reality.”
Mari tossed the words out.
“That’s why everyone doesn’t just look at magic stones. The base reward matters too.”
“Ooh...”
“Looks like you’re starting to get a feel for it.”
After we went in a little farther, we saw traces right away.
Small footprints stamped into the dirt. Crude marks with the toes splayed outward. On top of that, there were patches of broken grass, trampled bushes, and greenish stains smeared on tree trunks.
I stopped walking and pointed at a tree trunk.
“What’s that?”
“Poison.”
Kaya answered briefly.
“There might be a warrior-type around.”
Mari immediately frowned.
“Just our luck.”
Before she even finished speaking, Kaya raised a hand and stopped us.
Beyond the low bushes ahead, four shadows flickered.
This time, we could tell for sure.
Two regular goblins. One warrior-type with a slightly larger build and thick forearms. And behind them, one shaman-type, hunched over and leaning on something like a staff.
“Oh...”
I lowered my voice as much as I could.
The shaman goblin was holding a staff adorned with dull bone ornaments, and the warrior goblin was twirling a short sword at waist height. A hazy green sheen gleamed along the edge of the blade. It was the same poison that had been smeared on the tree earlier.
Mari said shortly,
“I’ll open again.”
“Keep the shaman in check first.”
Kaya immediately followed up.
“I know.”
I gripped my sword hilt tighter. Sweat began to seep out into my palm again. My heart was pounding from the tension, the sound seeming to echo inside my ears.
Thump...
Thump...
Thump—!
“Here goes.”
Sparks flew from Mari’s fingertips.
Fwoosh!
The first fireball flew toward the shaman.
The shaman twisted its body aside and avoided a direct hit. Instead, one of the regular goblins beside it took the blow in the side and screamed. The second flame chased after it and struck its shoulder again.
Bang!
“Kieeek!”
The bastard rolled across the ground while on fire, but it didn’t die completely. It hastily put out the flames by covering itself in dirt, then staggered back to its feet.
All four were still alive.
Two regular ones.
One warrior-type.
One shaman-type.
The shaman goblin thrust its staff forward and let out a shriek.
“Kiek, kieeek, kieeeeeeeeek!!!”
‘Whoa, fuck! Isn’t that Fight, Fight, Fight?’
The situation was shit, but for some reason my chest swelled with emotion.
The battle began immediately.
“They’re coming!”
At Kaya’s shout, I drew my iron sword almost reflexively.
Shing!
But something was off. This time, they didn’t charge in mindlessly like before.
The shaman goblin tapped the end of its staff against the ground.
Tap.
As a low, thin sound spread out, the two regular goblins immediately split up.
One ducked low into the bushes on the right, while the other, giving off a half-burned smell, circled wide to the left. The warrior-type took the center and slowly walked forward. Its sword was held low, only the poisoned blade gleaming.
“Wow... These bastards are smarter than I thought.”
I muttered with my sword in hand.
‘Aren’t we fucked?’
The shaman murmured again.
It was a low voice I couldn’t understand. But at that moment, blue letters flashed briefly at the edge of my vision.
[Recording language patterns]
[Applying interpretation correction for Goblin dialect]
[Partial translation of tactical speech commencing]
Right after that, the kieeeking no longer sounded like mere shrieking.
“Circle around! Kill the light-wielder in the back first!”
My heart dropped.
‘Damn it, the Dimensional Archive is a god. I must worship it.’
“Scatter!”
Kaya shouted immediately.
“I know!”
Mari clenched her teeth.
The shaman murmured again.
This time, the words were forcibly driven into my head.
“Humans... bind them. Poison first.”
At the same time, blue letters overlapped in the center of my vision.
[Curse interpretation correction]
[Signs of Lesser Binding Curse]
[Recommendation: move away from underfoot]
“A curse is coming, be careful!”
Kaya shouted.
Even in the middle of that, the two regular goblins didn’t stop. The one that had dug in from the right lowered its stance completely and crawled through the bushes, while the one on the left circled around a tree and picked up a few stones, throwing them at Mari.
Thud! Thud!
“Ah!”
One of the stones grazed Mari’s arm. It wasn’t a serious injury, but I saw the mana gathering at her fingertips scatter for an instant.
“So annoying, seriously!”
In that opening, the warrior goblin came in. It didn’t rush. Slowly, as if measuring the distance, its eyes watched first to see where I would raise my sword.
I adjusted my grip on the iron sword.
‘Son of a bitch. It’s reading my movements?’
The warrior goblin was holding me in place, and the shaman goblin was preparing a curse behind it. The two regular goblins were each waiting for the timing to dig in toward Kaya and Mari.
“Siyun!”
Kaya called me.
“The closest one first!”
“Yes!”
I ignored the warrior-type in front of me.
That was the way to throw off their calculations instead.
I immediately turned and ran toward the bushes on the right.
It was exactly the moment when the hidden regular goblin was about to spring out toward Kaya. Maybe it hadn’t expected me to come this way, because its eyes widened.
“Kill the light-wielder!”
Now I could hear the goblin language clearly too.
‘Ah~ I can hear you, I can hear you. My mind-reading art has been unlocked, you bastards!’
The bastard swung its dagger.
I twisted my wrist briefly and struck it hard with my iron sword.
Clang!
The dagger flew from its hand, and its arm was knocked upward. At that moment, my foot stepped one pace farther in.
I drove inside its guard and swung my iron sword.
Slice!
The weighted blade drove heavily through the flesh and bone of the goblin’s neck.
Its head and body separated and fell to the dirt.
One down.
At that moment, a chilling numbness spread from beneath my ankle.
Black tendrils.
The shaman had changed direction at some point and laid a curse beneath my feet.
‘Damn it, am I too late?’
In that instant, blue letters popped up first.
[Lesser Binding Curse activated]
[Estimated time to reach: 0.8 seconds]
[Recommendation: evade to left rear]
Almost reflexively, I pulled back my left foot and threw my body backward. The black tendrils spread out, grazing the spot where I’d been standing just a moment ago. The ground was dyed a dull, dead color.
“Whoa, fuck...”
Cold sweat ran down my spine.
In that opening, the regular goblin on the left moved again. This time, it was toward Mari. It was trying to steal her attention by throwing stones, then creep in low.
“No.”
I immediately turned direction.
But the warrior goblin had been waiting for that.
Its sword came in from below, rising upward. An angle meant to slash my lower body. Poison gleamed on the blade.
I hurriedly lowered my sword to block.
Clang!
My palm rang.
It was stronger than I’d expected.
While the regular goblins harassed us and threw us off, the warrior goblin had been deliberately waiting for the moments when I was shaken.
Then a short phrase slipped out of its mouth.
“Got him pinned. Take it slow.”
‘Look at this bastard?’
I clenched my teeth and twisted one foot. If I took it head-on, I’d be pushed back.
So I deflected it.
I angled my sword diagonally, let the poisoned blade slide off to the side, and immediately turned my shoulder to shift my body away.
The tip of the warrior goblin’s blade grazed past my sleeve. The fabric tore, and the bark of the tree right beside me caved in with a soft crumbling sound, as if it had rotted.
‘Poison swords are total bullshit, seriously.’
Just as the warrior goblin tried to close in again, Kaya’s light flashed from behind.
The regular goblin covered its eyes for a moment.
That much was enough.
This time, a short, condensed flame sparked from Mari’s fingertips.
Bang!
Half the face of the regular goblin whose shoulder had been burned earlier was scorched black. The bastard screamed and fell backward.
The warrior goblin used that opening to take one step back, then slid into position in front of the shaman again.
“Two!”
Mari shouted desperately.
Now, only the warrior-type and the shaman-type remained.
The problem was that they were sticking together.
The warrior-type guarded the front, while the shaman threw curses from behind.
If I charged in recklessly, I’d be the first one to get taken down.
Kaya said in a low voice,
“Cut off the shaman’s line of sight first!”
“Yes!”
I immediately turned toward the thick tree beside me. The straight line between the shaman and the warrior-type was broken once. The shaman’s curse angle was delayed ever so slightly.
The shaman spat out a curse.
“Damn humans! One human hid! Stick to him! Stick to him!”
The warrior goblin immediately chased after me.
This time, it pressured me with short, clipped slashes of its poisoned blade. Its movements were completely different from a regular goblin’s. Its center of gravity was low, and it didn’t swing its sword carelessly.
I blocked twice, deflected once, and retreated once.
Clang!
Kang!
Clang!
My arm went numb. But strangely, the more we clashed, the more I could see its rhythm little by little.
If its right shoulder moved first, it would slash from top to bottom. If its wrist curled inward, it would cut sideways. If its foot stepped deeply in, the next move would be a thrust.
‘I can see it.’
The warrior goblin dragged its sword in low.
This time, I didn’t dodge.
I stepped half a pace in as well.
Its eyes widened slightly.
I pressed down on the poisoned blade with my iron sword, twisted it inward, then closed in and slammed it hard with my shoulder. Its balance wavered for a moment.
‘Now!’
I drove my iron sword in with a short motion, almost like I was stabbing it in.
Thud!
As the blade tore heavily through flesh and insides, the warrior goblin’s body bent once toward me. The bastard opened its mouth as if swallowing a scream.
I didn’t pull the sword out right away. I pushed it in farther and twisted.
Crack!
Only then did its knees buckle.
Three.
The only one left was the shaman goblin.
The shaman was already retreating. It struck its staff hard against the ground and spewed out black mist. The mist spread along the ground.
The golden light at Kaya’s fingertips immediately covered it, but the shaman used that moment to widen the distance again.
Mari clicked her tongue.
“Cowardly bastard.”
The shaman’s murmuring voice spread through the forest again.
“Bind them... slow them... rot their eyes...”
At the same time, the Archive reacted.
[Curse interpretation correction]
[Sensory dulling type]
[Recommendation: prioritize close combat]
“I’ll stick to it!”
I ran toward the shaman.
The shaman was the type that threw curses from a distance.
‘Mages are fucked in close combat.’
I deliberately circled wide to the side once. The shaman’s gaze followed that way. At that moment, Kaya’s light burst briefly from the side. The shaman’s eyes closed for an instant.
‘FBI, OPEN UP!’
I dug in just like that and struck the staff aside with my iron sword. There was a sound of bone ornaments breaking. Then I immediately swung my iron sword toward the dead center of its torso.
Slice!
At that moment, Mari’s flame flew in.
Bang!
The shaman’s chest burned as if it had burst open. Its body bent backward, slammed into a tree, then slid down limply.
A short silence.
This time, it was truly over.
The forest fell quiet again. In its place, all I could hear was breathing far rougher than before.
I stood still for a while, my iron sword lowered.
My wrist throbbed. My shoulder ached too.
But my hand was trembling less than before. Even watching the severed head roll across the dirt didn’t make my stomach turn. I just stood there with my bloodstained sword lowered, catching my breath.
I was getting used to it... I didn’t know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.
Then Kaya spoke as she steadied her breathing.
“...That was really dangerous just now. If even one curse had landed properly, we’d all have been done for.”
I let out a hollow laugh.
“I know. I nearly had a heart attack midway through... We almost got off early from the goblin forest today.”
Kaya looked at me once as if she couldn’t believe me, then shook her head briefly.
“You can still joke at a time like this?”
“Hey, at least my mouth has to stay alive.”
“Still, you held out well. You didn’t crumble when you faced the warrior goblin, and you cut off the regular goblins coming in too.”
I blinked.
“Oh... Was I that good?”
Mari added curtly.
“...This time, you were fairly useful.”
I immediately looked toward Mari.
“Wow, high praise! You just acknowledged it, right? That I’m useful!”
“If you say that one more time, I’ll take back what I just said and make you end up like that shaman.”
“Eek.”
“If we’re done, let’s take out the mana stones.”
“...Yes, ma’am.”
We took the mana stones out of the goblin corpses one by one.
The two regular goblins had dull gray-green stones. The warrior type’s was darker and rougher in texture. The shaman type’s was blackish green and a little rounder.
I placed the four mana stones on my palm.
Until a little while ago, these hadn’t looked like money to me, but now it was a little different.
The price of risking my life and going through hell. They had at least that much weight.
“We should get a pretty decent settlement for this today, right?”
“With the base reward included, it should come out to a fair amount.”
Mari answered.
Kaya looked deeper into the forest once more, then shook her head this time.
“This is enough. If we go in any farther, the sun will set, and there’s no need to push ourselves.”
“Then we’re heading back?”
“Yeah. Let’s stop here for today.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
We checked the corpses one more time, packed up the mana stones, and turned our feet toward the village.
The road back was quieter than when we came. Maybe because the battle was over, words didn’t come easily. Still, strangely enough, it didn’t feel bad.
My body was tired, but my heart felt a little lighter.
✧ ✧ ✧
By the time we returned to the guild, the sun had tilted quite a bit. The area in front of the reception desk was quieter than it had been in the morning, and Luce was still organizing the ledgers.
When we approached the counter, Luce turned her eyes toward us.
“You’re back.”
“Yeah. Settle it for us.”
“You weren’t badly hurt?”
At that, I smiled for no reason.
“Yes, well. I’m alive, after all.”
“That’s a relief.”
Luce checked the mana stones in our hands one after another.
Five regular, one warrior type, one shaman type. Then she added in the basic quest reward and turned the pages of the ledger.
“Basic reward for clearing the remaining goblins on the northeastern outskirts is 2 silver coins, five regular goblin mana stones for 10 copper coins, the warrior type for 4 copper coins, and the shaman type for 5 copper coins. Altogether... that comes to 3 silver coins and 7 copper coins.”
“Oh...!”
I did the math for a moment.
For money earned by risking our lives, it wasn’t some tremendous fortune. But considering meal costs, bath costs, and the equipment I’d bought on credit, it wasn’t money I could ignore either. It was ambiguous, and that ambiguity made it feel even more real.
“It’s less than I expected... but better than I expected.”
“That’s the scariest kind.”
Luce said with a smile.
“It’s the price of your hard work.”
Kaya added.
“That’s true too.”
Three silver coins and seven copper coins. If converted entirely to copper, it was forty-three coins.
Split three ways, each of us would get one silver coin and two copper coins. And one copper coin would be left over.
“There’s one copper coin left.”
“The one who rolled around the most today can take it.”
“Then... that’s Siyun.”
“I’ll keep working hard!”
Once the settlement was finished, my body felt a little heavier. It was as if the fatigue was belatedly rushing in.
That was it for today.
As I stepped out through the guild doors, I looked up once at the sky where the sun was sinking.
A day in Astrania was about to end.
Until yesterday, this world had seemed like an oddly normal fantasy world, but today was a little different.
It had been dangerous, exhausting, and painful.
And yet, it had also been bearable.
“Hmm... One silver coin and three copper coins, huh. Pretty stingy for the price of my life.”
For now, my goal was simple.
Get stronger and kill a fucking ton of goblins.
Scrape together mana stones, earn money, and pay off my debts as soon as possible.
Grand dreams could come later.
For now... I had no choice but to become a goblin slayer.