CH 171.2

Translator: “Hakou”                             Editor: “Weasalopes”

The carriage arrived at the village before the evening as scheduled.

After being guided to the village chief’s house, they fill their stomachs with, although not so grand, plenty of food. Thereafter they take a bath and sleep on a futon.

It’s a normal life, but they’re grateful to the villagers.

「Well then, we’re going now」

The next morning, they entered the woods near the village. This is where the goblin has been sighted.

「Ew, bugs!」

The boy with the sword looks disgusted.

He isn’t bothered by tall grass, as he walks down the road that the villagers have threaded on. But a small bug flew around his face.

Probably reacting to his exhaled breath.

「Now there are flies too」

Perhaps attracted to the smell of sweat, some flies flew around them making a good noise.

The boy swung his sword, but couldn’t hit it.

「I don’t want to go to a forest in midsummer like this」

As a servant of a noble, he is not accustomed to this.

He left the boy to take point and was walking at the very end.

In his hand is a long wooden stick that was piled up in the carriage. This is more practical for him who has not practiced swords.

The young man in the middle has a similar wooden stick.

「Damn it, this thing!」

The boy’s sword that is swung to drive away the insects. It’s dangerous, so they keep a little distance from him.

And after they walk for a while.

「Eh?」

The boy in front let out a shocked voice.

The swing then stopped, then his sword left his hand and fell to the ground.

「Oi, what’s wrong?」

The boy looked back at the call of the other two behind.

He was crying while holding a wooden spear stuck in his belly

「It’s here!」

The two shouted.

The goblins may have been hiding in the grass.

Then they use their wooden sticks to sweep the surroundings.

「Wah–!」

The young man in the front throws his stick and screams.

When he looked at him, he saw a goblin clinging to his face, digging its sharp claws into one of his eyes.

(It’s just the size of a child she said)

Don’t joke around.

He feels anger at the naivety of himself and the receptionist.

(Monkeys are even smaller than children, but can you fight them and win?)

A human without any training or whatsoever will have difficulty if they try to engage them with bare hands.

(Goblins are much bigger than monkeys)

Moreover, they can use weapons. Their fighting power is incomparable to that of monkeys.

The story of how weak a goblin is, came from those who have been fully equipped and trained adventurers.

Ordinary people like them were not someone who can fight and win against them.

(Damn it!)

He decided to abandon them and run away.

He doesn’t have the power to help them.

But the next moment, he felt a spear piercing her flank.

(Ugh!)

And it’s not just one.

Immediately after the right flank, it hit his left flank, and then his back. It happened in succession and his body shook every time it pierced him.

The spear is the same as the one he gave to the boy, a wooden stick with a sharpened tip.

However, it has enough killing power. Especially to someone like him who only wears clothes made of cloth.

(I wonder how it’s going…)

As his field of vision rapidly disappeared, what popped up into his mind was his childhood friend.

She hides her freckled face with her long bangs. She is not that beautiful and has no breasts.

(….The temporary brothel. I hope it can properly attract customers)

He himself likes those about her, but there are only a few points that customers like.

He was worried about it.

(Uwaa, there are many of them)

Three goblins emerged from the tall grass.

Moreover, this doesn’t seem to be all of them. He can see the twigs move around and hear the sound of footsteps from the bushes.

(Who was it that told us there’s only one of them…)

That was his last thought before he left this world.

***

Half a day has passed and the sun begins to change position from directly above.

Villagers were gathering at the village mayor’s house.

「They aren’t coming back, huh?」

Said an old woman with a crooked waist.

The village chief wrinkled his eyebrows and squeezed out his voice.

「So there was a herd of goblins as I thought」

The surroundings become noisy.

Goblins are unlikely to act alone. If you see one, you should think that there are more than one around.

The problem is their actual number.

「The fact that not even one of them has come back here means that it’s true」

The old woman shakes her head from side to side.

If there are only a few, they will be wary of the adventurers and will not come out.

And if there are more than ten of them, they will come to attack and kill you.

The village chief was using the adventurers to confirm this.

「Let’s evacuate to the Royal capital! Everyone has their luggage ready, right?」

He reported that there was only one of them because the smaller the number, the cheaper the advance payment of the request fee.

If the actual number is large, you will have to pay an additional fee when it’s completed. In the case that no one returns like this, they don’t have to pay the additional fee.

Incidentally, this village doesn’t have the financial power to repel a herd of goblins.

It was a decision made by their own wisdom.

「Let’s leave the village before the sun goes down. And don’t act alone. Or you’ll die」

Everyone nods all at once.

They knew the dangers of goblins.

***

Meanwhile at the lobby of the adventurer guild in the Royal capital.

At the counter void of customers, the receptionist boringly rests her cheek on one arm.

(I hope those children are doing well)

She thought of the three young adventurers who left to help people yesterday.

(The opponent is just one goblin. They should’ve defeated it and received praise from the villagers by now)

The villagers who got helped are grateful, and the adventurers who helped them also get a sense of fulfillment.

Her heart became warm as she imagined everyone holding each others’ hands and dancing with joy.

(What a wonderful job this is)

If she had paid a little more attention, she would have felt something was off with the fact that there’s only one goblin sighted.

If there’s really only one goblin, they wouldn’t have to put a request and pay for it. It’s because they should’ve been able to defeat it by themselves.

If she had consulted with her seniors, she would have been able to get some advice.

However, her self-judgment is the same as when she was in the merchant guild where she worked before.

She holds onto the request on her own accord and sends out adventurers to complete it.

『A herd of goblin attacked a village in the south. There were no casualties since the villagers had already evacuated』

A few days later, such information came to the guild. By the way, not even one of the three adventurers returned.

Her expression was dark as she started to work on post-processing.

(Hmm…. two of the three haven’t paid the registration fee. And since it was treated as a provisional application, let’s treat the application itself was never made to begin with)

She takes out the documents, tears them into small pieces and tosses them in the trash.

(It was a request from the villagers, but since the number of goblins reported was different, it was invalid. With this, it won’t be treated as a failed quest)

She disposed of another document.

It wasn’t kept in the guild’s cabinet. Both of them were kept in her desk drawer.

It was thrown casually without being put together.

(What’s left now is to pay the blacksmith for the remaining payment for the sword. If I pay them using the advance payment from the villager, we shouldn’t go to the negative)

Like this, the request from the southern village and two new adventurers who registered on that day. These two did not exist from the beginning.

For the boy who already registered, it won’t be a problem because he has paid off all his debts.

Next month’s guild fee will be unpaid and he will be removed from guild’s registration the month after next.

Now that there are less requests, the fact that new adventurers stopped coming has become a common story in the guild.

(To think that there will be a herd of goblins, no one could’ve predicted that)

It was a completely unexpected force of nature.

The one who put up the request and the adventurers, no one should be blamed here and no one should be held responsible. Of course I am too.

She thinks so from the bottom of her heart.

(I should work harder for the next job)

She switched her feelings and remembered the other request.

The documents are in her drawer.

Just like the request from the southern village, it was a request that stopped at her level. It was a request that hasn’t been registered yet.

(It’s much more easier to process once everything is completed after all)

From receiving the request to paying the reward, she only needs the approval from her superior once. This is a method that she conveniently adopted to simplify procedures for small quests with low success rewards.

(“The baby of Climbing Bear. It strayed and has been ruining the fields, so we wish someone would get rid of it”, was it?)

It’s a really easy job.

At that time, the front door opens and the outside light reaches the lobby.

Looking in that direction, a young man who seemed to have trouble living was looking around the lobby at the entrance.

(Hmm~)

She raised her face and corrected her posture.

She watched over him as the young man walked towards the bulletin board for gathering requests. After looking at it for a while, he sighed and shook his head.

Seeing that, the receptionist stands up from her seat.

「Don’t worry, I will help you out」

The reception desk of the adventurer guild, which has received fewer requests than in the past, is a one-person shift system. The conduct of monitoring each other’s work has been lost a long time ago.

Thus in this way, the wound widened without anyone noticing.