Chapter 10
The clatter of something woke me.
When I opened my eyes, everyone was up and getting breakfast ready.
My sleeping bag was still bulging, so it looked like Eah was still asleep.
Just then, my eyes met Schutz's. I gave him an awkward smile, and he smiled back like a kindly old grandfather.
He seemed to know about the promise I'd made Eah yesterday and where she was right now.
Anyway, I should probably get up soon. Should I wake her?
As I wondered what to do about Eah, the sleeping bag wriggled.
Huh? Was she awake?
"Eek!"
Just as I lifted the sleeping bag to peek inside, I felt hands roaming over my body and got goosebumps.
I jumped, and everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at me.
I hurriedly opened the sleeping bag to find Eah looking up at me, her hands busy exploring my body.
When our eyes met, she gave me a beaming smile.
"Did you sleep well, big sis?"
"Yeah. Why don't you stop that and come out? Everyone's waiting for you."
Only then did Eah wriggle her way out.
"Mmm~! I slept great."
I stared blankly as she stretched as if nothing had happened, then went over to Schutz to ask what was on the menu.
"This is a problem, Karin."
Despite his words, Chris sounded playful rather than concerned.
"What's the big deal? I've got a cute little sister now. I'll put up with it."
I climbed out of my sleeping bag, tidied it up, and went over to Schutz, who was preparing breakfast.
"I'm glad to see Eah taking to you so much. It makes me happy, too."
"Eah's adorable."
"Heh heh. She lost her mother when she was little and never really got to be spoiled. Now she's pouring it all into her new big sister."
"Ah... I see."
Maybe because I'd lost my mother, too, I felt even more fond of Eah.
"She must've had a hard time, but Eah's so cheerful."
I would've gone astray without Chris. Eah's strong, I thought as I looked at her.
Eah was talking with Maria.
Was she bragging like she said she would?
They were a little way off and whispering to each other, so my curiosity got the better of me and I slowly approached.
"...say... and..."
What were they talking about?
When I got close enough, my sharp ears picked up what Eah was saying.
"It's so big, and best of all, it has a faint peach scent. It's really nice."
"Is it that soft? It already looked pretty big... Oh... hello? "
"Hmm?"
Wait, why was she bragging about that?
Smack.
"Even among humans, women don't just touch each other like that."
I found that out while walking and chatting with Maria for a bit.
It seemed Eah did the same thing even to Maria.
I mean, she has plenty of her own, so why touch someone else's? Ah, I guess touching her own body might be a little much to watch, too.
As I let my mind wander over such silly thoughts, I spotted Eah chatting away with Schutz behind me.
Her shoulder-length green hair swayed this way and that, and she kept smiling, so she seemed to be in a very good mood.
Maybe she could feel me looking at her, because she turned her green eyes toward me.
When our eyes met, she raised her hand high and waved it back and forth. I couldn't help chuckling.
"That's why you can't hate her, right?"
"That's right. You can't hate her."
"You can speak casually with me, too. You said you'd be Eah's big sister, didn't you?"
"Would that be okay?"
"Yes, that's more comfortable for me, too."
I was chatting and laughing with Maria thanks to Eah when Eah came running over.
She came close, looped her arms around my neck, and rubbed her cheek against mine.
"What are you two talking about so happily?"
But she's taller than me, too... Is she around 170 centimeters? If someone saw us, wouldn't they think I'm the little sister?"
"We're almost there."
At Schutz's words, Eah and the others made one last check of their gear.
I took out my bow, too, in case I needed to help.
Eah stared in amazement as the bow appeared out of thin air.
"Wow! I've never seen a subspace pouch before. But didn't that just appear out of thin air?"
"It's one of my secrets. I'll tell you about it later."
"No wonder you were traveling so lightly without any weapons. So that's your secret."
"We'll be there soon, Eah. If you make the same mistake as last time, you'll get scolded this time."
Maybe because we were about to get into a real fight, Schutz, who'd been such a kindly grandfather, spoke sternly.
Eah nodded and returned to her place.
"Though it's called a settlement, it hasn't been around long, so there shouldn't even be any hobgoblins. We should be able to handle it just fine."
"Yes, Grandpa."
As Eah moved forward, Schutz told us he was counting on us, then followed after her.
I'd assumed a goblin settlement would have houses out in the open like an orc village, but it was in a cave.
They said there were anywhere from thirty to forty goblins living there.
Even if they're Silver rank, will three of them be okay? I was a little worried, but Schutz seemed cautious, so I decided to watch and see.
As we neared the cave entrance, I spotted two goblins standing guard.
Maybe they hadn't seen us yet. They were yawning so widely it was revolting.
"Wind, with your sharpness, cut down the enemy before me! Wind Cutter!"
Watching Schutz cast magic, I was grateful I had no talent for it.
Mages always had to chant their spells... The incantations differed from person to person, but apparently they were essential.
They were supposed to help you shape mana more easily? I was too embarrassed to do it. It didn't matter for simple things anyway, since I could command spirits.
Anyway, once Schutz had finished casting Wind Cutter, he sent it flying toward the goblin on the left.
The left goblin panicked as Wind Cutter suddenly came flying out of the bushes. When the goblin on the right turned its attention to the spell, Eah charged at it.
I saw a blue film covering the sword in her hand.
So she's an Aura User. I knew next to nothing about mages, and I didn't know how strong Eah and Maria were, so I'd been a little worried...
With firepower like this, it didn't look like the three of them would have any trouble dealing with forty goblins.
Maria sent a ball of light flying at the goblin on the right. I hadn't even seen when she'd made it.
With Eah and the ball of light suddenly coming at it, the goblin tried to scream and warn the others inside the cave, but the ball of light hit its face first.
Slash.
Eah's sword soon took the goblin's head off, while the goblin on the left had already been killed by Schutz's Wind Cutter.
When there was no particular response from inside the cave, Eah looked at Schutz and nodded.
Schutz saw her and prepared a Fireball, sending it deep into the cave.
Boom!
A loud explosion rang out from inside the cave.
Boom!
The second Fireball exploded in quick succession, and I saw Maria arm herself with a mace and take up position behind Eah.
What? I thought she was a nun, but she used a mace?
Soon, panicked goblins began rushing out from inside the cave.
They didn't seem to be coming out to fight the intruders, but rather to flee. Four goblins came out empty-handed and were easily killed by Eah's sword.
She looked so relaxed, dispatching them one by one with a single, clean strike.
Just then, I saw arrows being shot from inside the cave.
"Morphe, please watch over us and grant us your protection! Holy Shield!"
Clang.
Ah, so that was why Maria was standing near Eah. They worked together so smoothly that it was obvious they'd been a team for a long time.
Eah took care of the goblins coming out of the entrance, while any that slipped past her were killed by Maria's mace. The arrows were blocked by Holy Shield, too.
Schutz dealt with the goblins attacking from range with bows, and they continued taking the goblins down.
Hmm, it didn't look like we'd need to step in at all. I just watched their seemingly perfect teamwork.
Just then, a goblin three times the size of the others came barreling out of the narrow entrance.
What? That thing's a goblin? I'd never seen one like that in the game.
Eah and the others seemed to be seeing it for the first time, too, because they looked startled for the first time.
"But that thing doesn't look normal, does it?"
Its eyes were unfocused, and drool dribbled from its mouth.
It was like something... Yeah.
"It looks like it just came out after doing drugs."
Anyway, would they be okay? They'd already taken down more than twenty goblins.
Even if Eah was an Aura User, I didn't think she could block a club swung by a goblin that big while she was tired. What should I do?
The giant goblin glanced at Eah with its vacant eyes and swung its enormous club.
"Guh!"
As expected, Eah didn't seem strong enough yet to cut through the club in one blow.
She barely managed to block it, but the difference in strength sent her staggering backward. She lost her balance and looked about to fall.
"Eah!"
Schutz, who'd been watching, called out to her in alarm, and I charged forward the moment I saw her being overpowered.
I caught Eah from behind as she was about to fall, then passed her to Maria, who was behind me.
"Big sis?"
"Graaah!"
Maybe it was angry that its prey had gotten away. It roared at me and swung its club.
I lightly dodged to the left, put the bow in my hand into my inventory, and drew my sword.
The moment it lost track of me, I swung at its exposed side.
"Guh?"
Its flesh split and blood sprayed everywhere, but it didn't even seem to feel pain. It looked at me as if wondering when I'd gotten there.
What? I hadn't coated my sword with aura, but that should've hurt. Why wasn't it reacting?
It raised its club again, so I brought my sword up at an angle, cut through the club, and slashed deeply across its chest.
The mutant goblin didn't react to its wounds. It stared stupidly at the club I'd cut apart, so I cut off its head as it tilted it in confusion.
Thud.
So it still died when its head came off. After taking down the mutant goblin, I checked on Eah.
"Are you okay?"
Eah hesitated for a moment.
"Yeah, I think I'm okay."
Let's see...
"Aah!"
Judging by her reaction when I touched her shoulder, she didn't look fit to keep fighting goblins.
"No, you're not okay. Mr. Schutz, Chris and I will take care of the rest. Please look after the others. Chris, let's go."
Chris and I chased after the goblins that had fled deeper into the cave when the mutant died, and finished them off.
The cave was deeper than I'd expected, and quite a few goblins were still alive. There were thirty-eight in total.
There were about twenty dead goblins at the entrance, so that made fifty-eight.
Ah, fifty-nine if you count the mutant. That's way too many.
We cut off the ears of the goblins we'd killed and put them in the waterproof pouch Schutz had given us earlier.
Ugh, how disgusting. Collecting them is bad enough, but what did the person who has to accept and check them do to deserve this?
I know why they do it, but couldn't they use some other method?
It couldn't be helped.
Once we'd finished what we needed to do, we returned to the entrance.
"Thanks to you, we made it through."
"How's Eah?"
"She only strained a muscle a little. She'll be fine after some rest."
Anyway, what was that goblin? It looked like something was embedded in the middle of its chest.
Sure enough, a black stone was embedded in the middle of the goblin's chest.
I carefully used a dagger to pry the stone out, then examined it.
I could feel a strange kind of mana emanating from the fist-sized black stone.
"What is this?"
Since none of us knew what it was, we decided to take it to the guild for now.
They'd figure out what to do with it once we brought it in.
Eah was hurt, and we didn't want to camp on the way back, so we carried her and hurried toward the city as fast as we could.
Fortunately, we made it to the guild by evening.
I spotted Ren, who was just about to clock out, and asked for the reward to be settled. Ren looked crestfallen.
"So you're saying there are fifty-eight goblin ears in there?"
"Yes. Ah, fifty-nine."
Maybe because we'd put them in the waterproof pouch, the blood pooled inside and sloshed around whenever we moved it.
"I have to count all of these by myself... It's not difficult, but..."
"Ah... Do you have to do this kind of thing at the counter?"
As Ren nodded with a pained expression, I felt like I'd done something wrong.
"Um... sorry."