Chapter 8
#8 - Rookie Adventurer Bern (6) - Swift and Decisive
Bern and Blanca's first order of business was reconnaissance.
They couldn't even begin the fight without knowing how many enemies there were, how strong they were, or the exact location of their lair.
Bern's keen senses accurately picked up the goblins roaming nearby, while also allowing him to observe them one-sidedly without being detected in return.
“…Are goblins normally this organized?”
“Of course not. Even I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Surprisingly, the goblins weren't just wandering around aimlessly, hunting for food wherever they could find it.
At minimum, groups of four or more always moved together to reduce the chance of unexpected developments, and even if some of them were taken down, the survivors would spread the word to other goblins nearby.
Wild animals of a certain size, like boars or bears, weren't easy prey for goblins and sometimes even drove them off, but even those animals would eventually fall if the goblins brought in more of their fellows and overwhelmed them with numbers.
The goblins didn't immediately gorge themselves on the animals they hunted right there on the spot; instead, they split them into as many pieces as they could carry and took them somewhere else.
Blanca got chills seeing them neatly recover not only animals, but fruits, fish, and even the corpses of goblins who died during the hunt as “resources.”
The farther they went, the more goblins they found, and the less trace there was of other creatures.
It was a mercy the goblins didn't touch plants or insects; if they'd even used those as food, this place might have turned into a complete wasteland.
On top of that, the quality of the equipment the goblins wore clearly improved as they moved toward the center.
If the goblins roaming the outskirts wore crude stone axes or clothes that were little more than animal hide tied together with string, the ones they saw now carried spears with blades fixed to long wooden shafts and wore properly sewn clothes.
The goblin group's lair was a large cave, and near the entrance as many as ten goblins remained like gatekeepers, watching the surroundings.
Bern lowered his voice and said,
“Even most mansions only have one or two gatekeepers. Looks like goblins really do have manpower to spare.”
“How can you make a casual remark like that now? With that many guards, there's no way we're sneaking in by taking them down one by one.”
“Is it impossible to wipe them out all at once with magic?”
Blanca looked as if she were thinking it over for a moment, then answered.
“Low-tier magic won't cut it, but a mid-tier spell would do. Still, I wouldn't recommend it. If you burn through half your mana without even knowing how many enemies are left, it could cause problems later. More than that, fire magic is loud, so the others in the area would come swarming over in no time.”
Bern was impressed inwardly.
Blanca's attitude was far calmer and more rational than he had expected.
As far as Bern was concerned, he was confident in his own abilities and thought this sort of thing was perfectly manageable; even in the worst-case scenario, he was sure he could at least keep Blanca safe. But she was different.
She didn't know how capable Bern really was, so she would certainly be keeping defeat in mind as a possibility, and since she knew goblins well, she could probably imagine just how horrific the outcome would be.
Normally she'd have panicked and changed her mind, saying she couldn't do it, or on the flip side simply given up and assumed Bern would handle everything somehow. She wasn't doing either.
She said what could be done could be done, and what couldn't couldn't. She also gave clear reasons for each.
She really was a remarkably capable talent.
Honestly, at this level, if he took her to the imperial palace and...
'...No, I can't do that.'
Bern swiftly banished the 'crown prince mindset' that was about to surface again.
Right now, he wasn't the Empire's Crown Prince but a guild adventurer.
It would be far too strange for an adventurer to look at a senior adventurer and think, 'Ah, I should scout her for our side and put her to work.'
RP—roleplaying. Stay in character.
After letting out a small breath, Bern said,
“I think it would be best to save the magic after all. Area firepower is precious, so this isn't the time.”
“Then what are you going to do?”
“We don't need anything fancy. They're already making an opening for us on their own.”
Blanca frowned as if she couldn't understand.
To her silent request for an explanation, Bern said,
“Not necessarily. More guards don't always mean better security.”
“Huh?”
“Take a closer look at those guys.”
Ten or more goblins were swarming around.
Yet hardly any of them were actually focused on watching the area.
Most were dozing against the wall, idly poking at the sand with the spears in their hands, or huddled together gossiping and laughing.
“The dangerous creatures around here have already been swept away by their 'hunts,' and above all, there are plenty of comrades here to watch the perimeter besides themselves. In a situation like this, even humans would have trouble staying focused, so how much more so goblins, who are impulsive and childlike?”
Whoever had ordered them to stand guard had probably seen them doing it while raiding a village, or learned the idea and figured out how useful it was.
But he probably hadn't realized that having too many hands could actually make the work less efficient.
“I'll give the signal. Once I do, count exactly ten seconds, then cast a fire spell into the open where the goblins can see it. Even the weakest one is fine.”
“Understood.”
“Begin.”
The moment he finished speaking, Bern quickly darted off to the side.
How on earth did he move through the brush so effortlessly without making even the slightest rustle?
While thinking that, Blanca was already counting in her head.
What she was preparing was a low-tier fire spell, 『Wood-Burning Magic』.
Though it was absurdly too weak to wipe the goblins out in one go, it would be enough if all it had to do was draw their attention.
Three seconds until launch.
A stone flung from somewhere struck two goblins who had been standing guard with unusual diligence.
Two seconds until launch.
They fell to the ground with a thud, and the goblins playing in the sand and the ones chatting turned their eyes that way.
One second until launch.
Just as the goblins, startled by the sudden turn of events, were about to let their confusion turn into vigilance—
'Now!'
The flame erupting from Blanca's hand painted the air in brilliant streaks, drawing every goblin's attention to it.
And Bern didn't miss that moment.
He burst out from the brush and closed the distance to the goblins in an instant, slicing their throats cleanly.
The goblins distracted by something else died on the spot without even registering Bern's shadow, and Bern immediately finished off the dozing ones as well.
A feat as swift as lightning.
Bern said toward the brush,
“Come on out.”
“…Did you even need my help?”
It looked like he could have killed them all by himself just by gathering stones and throwing them, or by charging in.
Bern didn't bother with false modesty.
“Still, about ninety percent of it would have been fine.”
“Then why?”
“Better to be certain than to risk ruining everything on the ten percent chance. Dice aren't something you should trust lightly, after all.”
“That's the same thing as gamblers who ruin themselves chasing bets.”
Bern shrugged.
Strictly speaking, the dice he liked to play with weren't for gambling, but there was no need—and no way—to explain that.
“Should we clear the bodies?”
“Leave them be. If nobody's around, it'll look suspicious either way, so it seems like a waste of time.”
“Then wait here a moment.”
When Bern tilted his head, Blanca took something that looked like dried grass from her bag, scattered it near the entrance, then put enough distance between herself and it before firing another flame spell to burn it.
“'Green Hunter.' It's a herb that gives off a smell goblins and monsters with green skin like orcs hate. Unless the situation is unusual, they won't even come near the place where it's been burned. It should at least make the ones who come back hesitate and keep them from barging in so easily.”
“Then wouldn't it be better to let it soak into our bodies instead of burning it separately? That would make goblins less willing to approach us.”
“That would just make your location easier to give away. And if they're extremely agitated, it won't work anyway, so it's not all that useful in combat.”
Bern accepted that.
Thinking that her three years of adventuring experience weren't for nothing, he moved on.
As they advanced deeper into the cave, their strategy was very simple.
Find them first, strike first, and subdue them before the noise got any bigger. Just repeat that.
Of course, simple didn't mean easy.
If it were actually that simple to roam an enemy stronghold and suppress them in such a short span that they couldn't even resist, then things like stronghold defense and patrols would have disappeared from the world as useless nonsense.
From Blanca's point of view, the reason this absurd stronghold raid was possible was entirely Bern's overwhelming physical ability.
'Even looking straight ahead like I do, he seems to see more than twice as far. And the power of those stones is no joke either.'
However, even the best senses had situations they couldn't overcome.
Faced with a three-way fork deeper inside the cave, the two of them fell into brief thought.
Since they had no way of knowing where each path led, there was a strong chance they'd end up lost inside the cave.
Bern asked,
“How would a normal adventurer act in a situation like this?”
“First of all, normal adventurers don't try to conquer a goblin nest with only two people. ...Still, if I were to give the general answer, they'd block the path. That way, they can avoid the worst-case scenario where enemies crawling out of Routes A, B, and C steal their rear while they're moving down Route A.”
“The specific method?”
“If there are plenty of physical obstacles, use those to block it. If there are lots of allies, have some of them use this place as a midway stronghold to defend. If neither is possible, just set the relevant passage on fire.”
“Then what we can use right now is about the last one.”
“That said, depending on the cave's layout, we might end up suffocating and dying too.”
“Can't you do anything with magic?”
“I heard there's a spell like that somewhere, but I can't use it. The spells I know amount to two fire spells, one body-enhancement spell, and one wound-healing spell. Do you think spells are something that easy to learn?”
Blanca grumbled that even learning one mid-tier fire spell had cost an outrageous amount of money.
[If they only wanted to learn, wouldn't your subjects bring you any spell you wanted, Your Highness? What a hardship you'd never understand.]
Ignoring Lucidra's sarcasm, Bern fell into thought for a moment.
There wasn't any wooden furniture inside the cave, and piling up goblin corpses didn't seem like it would make a convincing barrier either.
Splitting their party of only two in half was out of the question. Bern himself was confident he could survive, but if Blanca got caught in a bad situation, that would be the end of it.
Since starting a fire had just been ruled out, Bern had only one option left.
“Then we'll just have to move fast and strike decisively.”
“Well, I think so too. ...But what's the meaning of that pose right now?”
Bern, crouched with his back to Blanca, said,
“Get on.”
“Have you lost your mind?”
“It would be faster for me to carry you than to match your speed. Since I only need one arm to carry you, I can fight with the other one. Better yet, if you can fire spells from there, even better. Basically a mobile artillery platform.”
“No, how little do you know me that you're suddenly telling me to get on your back like this!?”
“I'm not so starved that I'd have dirty thoughts about a comrade in the middle of a fight.”
“Wow, that's a wonderfully trustworthy thing to say.”
Blanca grumbled, but she also knew that dragging this out was only going to backfire, so in the end she sighed and let her body lean against Bern's back.
“From now on, you're my bomb. Just fire when I tell you to.”
“I kind of want to fire a fireball right into your mouth, so could you shut it?”
“Then let's go. You don't need to hold on too tightly. I'll keep you fixed in place.”
Right after saying that.
The shadows of the two of them shot forward like arrows.