Chapter 6
#6 Rookie Adventurer Bern (4) - Goblin
Hearing that Bern had finally chosen Blanca as his party member, the adventurers each sighed or clicked their tongues.
“There goes another promising prospect.”
“Well, that seems a bit much. She’s a mage, after all.”
“Quiet. A mage is only as good as the mage. I heard she’s basically useless unless she has her staff.”
“She seemed good at reception work too. If she’d just stayed there, everyone could’ve parted on good terms without any hard feelings.”
“Don’t be too discouraged. There may still be a chance to work together someday.”
Not only the adventurers, but the guild itself was equally uneasy.
Especially the section chief who had first brought Blanca in as a receptionist openly showed his dissatisfaction.
“You really had to do that? I don’t think I treated you badly.”
“It wasn’t bad. I just had something else to do.”
“Tsk. For a while, people around you are going to get on edge. That’s how rumors are. When they spread in a good direction, even trivial things turn into great achievements; when they spread in a bad direction, things you never even did somehow become things you definitely did.”
“I did it knowing that. I had to catch him somehow, even if it was like that.”
“...Heh, I know you’re promising, but even so, you’re saying that?”
The section chief was one of the people who knew what Blanca had been like in her prime.
After her staff broke in an accident during a quest, her magic output dropped sharply, and she was mocked for being gear-reliant, but there were plenty of people in the world who couldn’t even make proper use of that kind of gear.
What good was firepower if you couldn’t use it in the right place? It was nothing but a pearl before swine.
Blanca didn’t bother answering.
To be honest, she herself had only half acted on instinct when she brought Bern in.
Seeing her remain silent, the section chief shrugged and held out a quest request.
Blanca skimmed it and frowned.
-Title: Goblin Nest Extermination.
-Client: Atra Viscounty.
-There have been frequent reports of goblins being spotted in the forest within the domain. It is presumed that there is a nest somewhere in the woods, so swift extermination is requested.
-Byproducts obtained during the extermination of the goblins may be taken.
“There’s no one willing to take it because the work is a pain and the pay is lousy. Even when I suggest they raise the reward, they don’t even pretend to listen. Then they go on and on about why it isn’t solved already. Damn bastards.”
“I don’t want to do it either.”
“You asking that newbie to join your party was during work hours, wasn’t it? If you did something else while on the job, then you should take the corresponding penalty.”
“That and this are separate. Just cut my receptionist pay instead.”
“Hah, geez. You really don’t give an inch. Definitely a talent optimized for receptionist work.”
The section chief puffed out pipe smoke, clicked his tongue regretfully, and then corrected himself.
“You and your partner. I’ll add bonus points to the evaluation scores needed for promotion.”
“That’s a given, and from next time on, make it so we can accept rank-3 requests the same way.”
“Don’t you know party requests are always based on the lowest-ranked party member?”
“That’s to stop talentless leeches from hanging around higher-ranked adventurers and forcibly raising their rank. If they’ve got the skill, then there’s no problem, right?”
“Tsk. Then, including this one, you’ll need to clear about three troublesome rank-2 requests that everybody else avoids. If you don’t want to be called biased, you’ll need some results.”
“If I count those requests with the bonus doubled as well, then I guess it’s not bad. I’ve already memorized the criteria for assigning evaluation points while working as a receptionist, so don’t think about trying anything funny.”
“You’ve really got some nerve, don’t you? Hurry up and go do your work!”
The section chief waved her away irritably, and Blanca bowed before leaving.
“What a shame, what a shame...”
***
“Because of something like that, goblin extermination became our first request. Sorry for deciding on my own.”
Blanca had returned to adventuring after finishing her receptionist duties.
Bern shook his head in response to Blanca’s apology.
“No, it’s fine. I was planning to take as many different requests as possible anyway. If my evaluation goes up as a bonus, there’s no reason to refuse.”
“...Well, if you say so, I’m glad.”
Blanca felt conflicted.
It was good that he wasn’t being picky, but it was also true that Bern’s attitude felt a little too casual.
“How much do you know about goblins?”
“I’ve heard a lot about them. If you’re asking whether I know the details, then no.”
“Well, that’s normal. Even more so if you’re from the Empire.”
“Does where you’re from matter?”
Blanca shrugged.
“Goblins are monsters with a high reproduction rate, so if you leave them alone for long, their numbers grow quickly. That’s why the more powerful the nation, the harder it is to see goblins. If even one is spotted, soldiers from the neighboring territory deploy and wipe out the nest and all.”
The Kingdom of Birka was exactly the opposite, she continued.
“The royalty and nobles of this kingdom basically don’t care about anything outside the land they directly govern. No, even the things that happen in the land they govern tend to be brushed aside unless the damage is immediate. So monsters like goblins spread all over the place.”
“If goblins multiply enough to threaten the commoners, doesn’t that also pose a risk to territorial management? Setting aside good and evil, if you look at it purely as a matter of profit, wouldn’t steady extermination be more beneficial? If they’re such a prolific species, you could even designate them as prey to give soldiers real combat experience, then carry out regular purges.”
Blanca blinked.
Bern also tilted his head, puzzled.
Did I say something weird?
“...That was very noble just now. Talking about protecting the commoners as a matter of profit, and using goblins as training fodder—it’s the first time I’ve heard that idea.”
Bern shut his mouth, realizing his slip a beat too late.
Lucidra cackled from the shadows.
[Of course! There’s no way the precious crown prince who grew up in the palace would suddenly change his way of thinking just because he changed his speech and appearance, right?]
Bern groaned inwardly.
With memories of his previous life, he wasn’t, as Lucidra said, a hothouse flower who knew nothing of life outside the palace, but after living that way for over twenty years, it was unavoidable that he would be influenced to some extent.
There’s even a saying that a position makes the person, and since he was expected to be “the crown prince” every second except when he was asleep, what else was he supposed to do?
[Why don’t you quit with the clumsy acting and just go around openly as the crown prince? Then there wouldn’t be any idiots picking fights with you like the last bunch, would there?]
‘The crown prince is Alond over there, and the one here is Adventurer Bern.’
[Your stubbornness is disgusting.]
Bern resolved to commit to even more thorough role-playing and put on a deadpan face.
“Is that so? Lords collect taxes from their commoners, so in the end, if the commoners become poor or lose their lives, the lord takes a loss too. Naturally, a lord has the duty to protect his commoners. Whether out of principle or for profit.”
“Well, there must be plenty of lords who can’t even think that far. There are always plenty of fools in the world. Being in a high position doesn’t automatically make you smart.”
So it wasn’t just me—Blanca’s remark there didn’t sound like a commoner’s way of thinking either.
Bern thought that, but didn’t bother pointing it out.
“In any case, let’s set out.”
“Yes.”
***
The road to Atra Viscounty, where their extermination target lay.
The two decided to take a short rest and began a simple exchange of information.
Bern and Blanca had each independently investigated the other, but if they were going to work together, it was definitely better to hear from their own mouths what they could and couldn’t do.
『Wood-Burning Magic』
When Blanca held out her hand and concentrated, after about three seconds of preparation a fireball roughly the size of a soccer ball burned through the pile of firewood they’d gathered for the campfire.
It could instantly incinerate something the size of a grown rabbit or a medium-sized dog, but it didn’t seem like it could subdue a creature as large and tough as a wild boar in one shot.
“It’s the lowest-tier fire spell. One goblin is easy enough to subdue with this.”
“How many times can you cast it? And can you use stronger magic than that?”
“If I’m in top condition, about twenty times. There’s also a mid-tier spell called 『Stone-Burning Magic』, but just preparing it takes about ten seconds, and if I limit myself to once a day and don’t use any other magic at all, I can only cast it twice.”
“What about healing magic?”
“That depends on the severity of the injury, so it’s hard to say exactly how many times. I can usually heal minor cuts, but not anything down to the bone. If an entire body part has been cut off, I can hardly fix it at all.”
Bern thought it was more useful than he’d expected.
Since her staff had broken and her magic output had dropped sharply, he’d thought she might be nearly useless, but at this level she was certainly practical enough.
That made him even more curious.
“I’ve heard you didn’t get along with the other rank-2 adventurers. Why is that?”
Being kicked out of the rank-3 party she had been with—well, he got that.
The people capable of keeping up with Blanca in her prime were there, so it wouldn’t be strange if they decided they could no longer stay with a weakened Blanca.
But from what Bern had seen of rank-2 adventurers—and he’d even fought some of them, since some of the group that had picked a fight with him were rank-2—Blanca’s abilities were the kind they’d be incredibly eager for.
How convenient would it be in camp to be able to make fire without any special tools, and in an environment where even ordinary medicine for cuts was hard to get, how valuable would it be to be able to heal even minor wounds?
It was hard to believe Blanca had been putting on airs and looking down on rank-2 adventurers, because the woman he’d been watching so far didn’t seem like the type to do that.
[How would you know? Do you think a woman treats someone she’s trying to impress the same way she treats someone she’s not?]
‘Hmm.’
[What, what? Are you going to say that isn’t the case again?]
‘No, I just thought it was surprisingly reasonable.’
[…That’s annoying in its own way, isn’t it?]
“Mm.”
At Bern’s question, Blanca hesitated before answering.
“Do I really have to say it?”
“If it’s an awkward subject, I won’t pry.”
“Then please do that.”
[Exactly. See? I told you!]
Could the thing in my shadow right now be not a devil, but a fool?
Just as Bern was smiling faintly at that thought,
-rustle
Sensing a presence nearby, Bern turned his gaze toward the forest.
“Is the forest we’re aiming for maybe the one right in front of us?”
“No. We still have to walk for about another day from here.”
“Is that so?”
Bern picked up about four stones he’d used to ring the campfire.
Worried he might get burned, Blanca hurriedly tried to stop him, but Bern, showing no sign of finding them hot, readjusted the stones in his hands and threw them one after another into the bushes.
-Kiek!
-Kwek!
Short, grotesque screams rang out one after another.
When Bern and Blanca went into the bushes, four monsters with green skin and long noses were all unconscious, collapsed on the ground.
“Goblins?”
Blanca was flustered. If the information they had received from Atra’s domain was true, goblins shouldn’t have been wandering around here.
Meanwhile, Bern focused on something else.
The goblins’ clothing, woven from things like animal hides and plant stems.
The crude blades in their hands, ugly but apparently more than enough to kill.
And finally, even the ragged sacks they used to carry prey or fruit, which looked as if they had once been human clothes.
It looked like this job was going to be bigger than he’d expected.