Episode 041.
“Kiyahoo!”
“It’s true! Gold coins are pouring out!”
Some nameless mercenary let out a cheer that was practically a scream.
“What?”
“I’m going too!”
It was hard to believe these were the same bastards who, just moments ago, had been trembling with weapons in hand, muttering, “Why did I even come here… We might die,” or “The Ersha Kingdom’s destruction is right before our eyes…”
Jingle, jingle!
Thud, thud!
From the spot where the treasure goblin’s head had flown off, not blue blood, but dozens of gold coins and raw gemstones gleaming with mana came spilling out.
“Th-this is insane!”
“Jackpot!”
The moment that light reflected in the adventurers’ eyes, the atmosphere in the canyon flipped one hundred and eighty degrees.
The adventurers and mercenaries, worn down by the forced march, suddenly regained their vigor.
“Hey, hey! Tanas! I knew I could trust you!”
“I take back all my grumbling about the forced march! To think there was such a grand purpose behind it…”
“Hey, what did I tell you? If you stick around that guy, there’s always something to pick up.”
It was hard to believe these were the same men who had been frightened or exhausted and complaining just a few minutes ago.
They were no longer watching out for monsters. Instead, they were keeping one another in check, terrified that someone else might snatch a goblin first, and charged in like madmen.
“Move! That red-hatted goblin is mine!”
“Whoever catches it first owns it, you bastard!”
It was sheer chaos.
Of course, not every monster was a treasure goblin, but that didn’t matter to the adventurers.
After all, it was the same principle as everyone flocking to a lucky spot the moment even one person won the lottery.
To put it another way, this place was a lucky spot with no blanks.
No matter what they killed, at least low-grade materials were guaranteed to drop, so everyone hummed as they threw themselves into the monster subjugation.
“……”
I watched the scene indifferently and brushed the dust off my hands.
“Treasure goblins… They’re an extremely rare species you almost never see, but they’re everywhere here. How much is all that worth?”
“Whoa, Tanas. Did you know this was going to happen?”
Gran and Milene came over and asked, sounding dumbfounded.
“Well, to some extent. You don’t need to worry about me. Aren’t you two going?”
“Hey, we didn’t come here just for money. We came to help you.”
Gran puffed out his chest once and struck a pose as he spoke.
What a show-off.
“Right, Milene…? Huh? Milene? Where did that woman go?”
“Over there.”
“Hey, hey! That’s dirty, catching them by yourself! I’m coming too!”
When I pointed into the middle of the monsters, Gran hurriedly ran in that direction.
“Not bad.”
It was far better than them hiding in the back without any motivation.
In truth, this was exactly the kind of destruction of the continent the goddess’s oracle had warned of.
A phenomenon where mana was artificially distorted, causing low-grade monsters to evolve into variants. If left alone, Lord-class monsters that might appear once in a hundred years would start pouring out.
It was fortunate they were stage-one goblins. If they had been orcs or undead, all sorts of things like Death Knights and Orc Champions would have come crawling out.
And in that process, some of them had begun mutating into treasure goblins.
“Hmm.”
When I suddenly looked to the side, I saw Prisia sitting on a rock with her back turned, busily moving something.
Naturally, I thought she was preparing for the next battle or recovering her mana.
But as I took one step, then another, and my gaze reached over her shoulder—
Swish, swish.
Prisia was carefully wiping Barsha’s sword, which hadn’t been stained by even a single drop of blood in the previous battle, with a top-quality silk cloth.
It was good to maintain one’s weapon, but this seemed less like maintenance and more like…
“…Prisia, what are you doing?”
At my question, she flinched in surprise and hugged the sword tightly to her chest.
She must have been so focused on wiping it that she hadn’t even noticed me approaching.
“A-ah! Master! I was worried that lowly blood from mere goblins might stain your precious sword and leave a flaw… so I have been polishing it frequently!”
“It’s not an accessory… It’s a weapon. Why go that far?”
“I cannot allow otherwise! To me, it is proof of a promise more precious than my life… No, it is a precious weapon that will protect my life! I cannot permit even the slightest crack!”
Her eyes shone at least twice as moistly as usual.
When she looked at me with those bright, sparkling eyes… I felt an inexplicable sense of danger and turned my head away.
The way she looks at me these days is getting too burdensome. If she cherishes it that much, it’s hard to say anything.
Just then—
“Master! More monsters have appeared over there!”
At the same time as Prisia’s shout, dozens of goblins sprang out from the path beyond the forest.
“Grk, grrrk!”
“Kieeeeeek!”
The grotesque cries unique to variant goblins echoed through the canyon.
If this were an ordinary army, someone would have shouted, “Enemy attack! Form ranks!” But the money-mad adventurers before me instead had their eyes gleaming.
“Waaaaaaah!! It’s money!! Money is walking toward us on its own!”
“If this goes well, I can pay off all my loans this time!”
“There have been a lot of requests at the Magic Tower lately, so this is perfect!”
“Hey! I’ve got dibs on the one in blue clothes over there! Anyone who touches it will taste my axe, which is scarier than the Four Heavenly Kings!”
The holy knights muttered in bewilderment.
“Lord Tanas… These people seem impossible to control. A unit that moves not out of fear, but greed… I have never seen such a sight in my life.”
“Isn’t it good? At least no one will say we should run away.”
I glanced back and added.
“Do not worry. Their numbers will gradually decrease, but treasure goblins will continue to appear from now on.”
“Is… is that so?”
No sooner had I finished speaking than the adventurers and mercenaries charged into the goblin horde.
“I’ll catch it!”
“Hey! Don’t steal it!”
“Hey! It’s too late there! The other side, let’s go to the other side!”
Since they were competing among themselves and swinging their blades wildly, whether a hundred goblins came or two hundred, they vanished in an instant.
They would need about five hundred charging in at once to last a little.
At this point, the bizarre sight of the goblins getting scared and backing away unfolded.
Every time a treasure goblin died, a pouch of gold coins dropped with a thud, or occasionally a low-grade artifact rolled across the ground, emitting light.
“I hit the jackpot! This is an artifact!”
“I got a magic ring! Wahahahaha!!”
The canyon was less a battlefield and more a kind of farming ground… filled with the adventurers’ frenzied cheers.
Every time the variant goblins fell, gold and silver coins, as well as low-grade artifacts, poured onto the ground like lottery winnings.
The battle ended in an instant.
No, rather than a battle, it was closer to plundering.
Even as the adventurers wiped off their sweat, they couldn’t erase the smiles hanging on their lips.
The discontent that had built up from the forced march had long since been washed away along with the gleam of gold.
“……”
Prisia, who had been quietly watching the scene, tilted her head and came to my side.
Still holding Barsha’s sword carefully in her arms, she asked me,
“Um, Master.”
“What is it?”
“Is it all right for you not to catch those?”
A hint of concern filled her eyes.
Even though I had cleared numerous requests and had some financial leeway, she seemed unable to understand how I could ignore such a gold rush pouring out right before my eyes.
Well, my wealth wasn’t exactly infinite enough for me to spend as I pleased.
And the money I had saved during my days as the Hero of Recovery had been seized by my shameless former party members.
From a disciple’s perspective, she might be worried about her master’s finances.
I casually patted Prisia on the head and said,
“Watch carefully. See why I’m not moving.”
“Yes…?”
Prisia looked up at me with a puzzled expression, but perhaps thinking her master must have some profound reason, she turned back toward the battlefield.
“Kiyahoo!”
“That’s what I’m talking about!”
Once the first subjugation was perfectly wrapped up, the adventurers and mercenaries began returning one by one, jingling their now-heavy bags of spoils.
Among them, Gran, who had been moving with the most momentum, approached while laughing heartily.
“How was it, Gran? Manageable?”
At my question, Gran brushed the blue blood off his body and grinned.
“Manageable? Are you kidding me? Tanas, at this rate, I could buy a mansion in the capital. This wasn’t the east—it was heaven!”
He laughed loudly, genuinely delighted.
Then he took out a pouch from his clothes, so heavy it looked like the leather might burst, and tossed it to me.
Jingle—!
“Here, take it, Tanas. Your share.”
A heavy weight settled into the hand that caught the pouch.
Prisia, who had been watching from the side, widened her eyes and tugged on my sleeve.
“M-Master, what is this? You didn’t catch even one of them, so why is Mister Gran giving you money? Did you perhaps lend it to him?”
“It’s fine. Gran, why are you already taking care of that? You could settle it all at once later. I’d even turn a blind eye if you skimmed a little.”
When I grinned and refused, Gran shook his head as if he had a headache.
“No. If I forget later, the calculations won’t work out. I have to give what I owe on time so I can comfortably dig up the next treasure. And if I skimmed money, what would the other adventurers think?”
“Gran is right. Tanas, here…”
“Mister Tanas, I’ll also…”
After Gran, Milene also tossed me a pouch and left.
Prisia looked at the line of adventurers and still tilted her head, unable to understand.
“Master? What on earth is going on? Why are they giving the rewards they earned to you?”
I checked the gold coins and materials inside the pouch and quietly explained.
“It was written in the contract. Ten to thirty percent of all rewards obtained in the field belong to me in a lump sum.”
“…Pardon?”
“Of course, for artifacts or expensive items, priority goes to the person who obtained them. But for ordinary currency or magic stones like these, we agreed I would take a cut like a tax.”
When I heard from the goddess that goblins would appear, hadn’t I been doing a hip-hop dance in my head?
I had already predicted this from that moment.
“M-Master?”
Prisia’s eyes widened, and her mouth fell open.
In truth, this was also why I had Jack and Milene recruit skilled adventurers and bring in veteran mercenaries.
In exchange for guaranteeing them a safe farming ground, I had built a platform where I collected part of the profits they earned as a commission.
Well, the adventurers probably hadn’t known treasure goblins would pour out like this.
“Th-then… Master, does money come in even if you just sit still?”
“I’m not just sitting still. I read the overall flow and command.”
Every time the adventurers killed goblins like madmen,
ten percent, and at most thirty percent, of their labor steadily piled up in my pouch.
Rather than running around myself and catching one goblin at a time, it was far faster and more convenient to unleash people and take a commission.
Maybe this was what it meant to become rich just by breathing.
It wasn’t as if I could keep suffering forever.
Prisia stared blankly at me for a moment, then her eyes sparkled as if she had achieved enlightenment.
“As expected of you, Master…!! You are truly amazing!”
I chuckled and placed the mountain of gold pouches into my magic tool.
If this keeps up a little longer, I’ll make more than the money that was seized from me, won’t I?
It was a sight that would make those women who tried to do me in faint from shock if they knew.
“Let’s go. There are still mountains of goblins left to catch.”
At my words, the adventurers and mercenaries all raised their weapons at once and shouted.
“Waaaaaaah—!! Tanas! Hurray!!”
“Hurray!!”
“My gold coins, wait for me!”
The destruction of the east, once called hell after the goddess’s oracle descended,
had before long transformed into the most profitable excavation site in the history of the continent.
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