Chapter 26 – Defeat the Goblins

We literally scrambled up the mountain, looking for traces of the goblins. Sant, who came out energetically, was a bit cheesier than expected, so he didn’t help at all in tracking down the goblins. Tracking is an advanced technology, so not everyone can use it.

But damn, that’s not a problem, so I don’t know why I’m taking the lead without knowing it. It was so rough that I couldn’t even say anything. Isn’t there no answer if you say something for nothing and aim the spear with a straight face? Above all, a sword cannot beat a spear.

In the end, the search continued until the sun rose in mid-sky, but the goblin couldn’t even find the nose. It was clear that they were digging burrows somewhere and living in huddles, but the mountain was so wide that it was not easy to find them.

Although it wasn’t as difficult as finding a needle in the desert, it seemed certain that the difficulty was similar to that. Goblin footprints, overgrown bushes, and whatever else I tried to look for, it wasn’t easy to spot.

I wonder if it would be better to wait until the goblins have plundered the crops and then secretly pursue them. Well, that might be better.

“Ah, it’s hard. Let’s have a meal first.”

If I continued to climb the mountain like this, I suggested a meal because I thought I would die from the exhaustion, spitting out bubbles. I moved a lot, so I need to take a break at this timing.

“…It is.”

Said Sant, who was silently leading the way through the mountain.

I turned my head back to look at Meria and Gibson, and they nodded as well, so I immediately sat down on the rock next to me.

My back hurt because it was too much climbing. Sweat was already wet his forehead. A blazing thirst arose, I opened the lid of the canteen and gulped down.

“I thought I’d find it soon, but it’s harder to find than I thought.”
“Well, well. You’ll find it within today.”

Gibson and Meria also sat down and said. Each of us settled down and took out the food we had brought with us. Unlike me, who only brought dry food without the head, the other party members brought beef jerky. As poor as I was, it was extremely jealous and I couldn’t stand it.

The dry quantity I usually eat is a highly preservative biscuit-like biscuit made by obsessively toasting and baking bread to make it hard. I’m not joking, but it’s actually more like a thing than food, so I said it as a thing.

It’s disgustingly tasteless, and it’s hard to even chew unless you eat it with water. However, it was my main food because it could fill my stomach, and it was cheap and easy to carry. It was human fodder itself, so to speak.

“Oh, I can eat this.”

Taking off the shield from her back and standing by the tree, Meria reached out and plucked one of her black berries from her.

It was a fruit I had seen a few times, but it was the first time I knew that it was edible. I didn’t know if I would get an upset stomach if I ate the black crab, so I just ignored it. I asked Meria just in case.

“Huh? Can I eat that?”
“What? Don’t you know? This fruit is just a sweet fruit.”

Hurrying up at those words, I also picked a fruit. Right now, I was in desperate need of this kind of fruit, or sugar, so I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes and took a bite of it. It feels good until the flesh bursts pleasantly.

“…Not that sweet.”

However, unlike Meria’s words, it tasted more sour than sweet. I didn’t even know that this level of sweetness was not irritating to me, who had consumed all kinds of sugary foods in the modern world.

“Doesn’t it feel subtle?”
“It only tastes sour… Isn’t this just sour?”
“Well, isn’t that strange?”

Anyway, since it’s a fruit, it might contain a lot of vitamins and such nutritional value, so I ate it all on the spot. If the body lacks vitamin C, it will eventually fall behind due to scurvy. Nutrient supplementation was necessary for survival.

Still, there are fruits, so it’s dozens of times better than just eating dry amounts. If there is a chance in the future, I will continue to eat and live.

“Well, it tastes good.”

Come to think of it, it’s a shield.

That shield that Meria leaned against the tree. Aside from the downside of being cumbersome to carry around, the shield was an excellent defensive tool with only advantages. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to buy a shield, so I decided to ask Meria.

“Hey, that Meria. That shield.”
“Huh? A shield?”
“It looks pretty good, can I touch it?”
“Yes. Touch it.”

This round shield was just the right size to defend the body.

“Oh… It’s not heavy.”

When I listened to it, it wasn’t that heavy, so I thought it would be okay to carry it on my back. When I got up and got into my posture, my upper body was clearly covered. Being behind the shield, it feels like safety is guaranteed.

When safety is guaranteed, confidence naturally rises, and the increased confidence soon has a positive effect on combat power. Just covering the body with a shield seemed to increase the attack power.

After all, attack is the best defense.

“It’s okay. Did you learn something like a shield skill separately?”

I asked Maria. A shield, like a sword, must be learned from someone to use it well.

“Ah, there was a veteran soldier in my hometown. Since there were monsters raiding, he taught the villagers how to use weapons and shields. He was a kind of instructor, so all the villagers learned how to handle shields from him.”
“There are veterans in your hometown? That kind of opportunity is rare. Isn’t it a good environment?”
“Isn’t that right? Adventurers are also making a living with what I learned then.”

For some reason, there was a reason why she was an E-class adventurer even though she was a woman. If he had learned combat skills from a soldier who lived on professional warfare, he would definitely possessed differentiated skills. Thinking about the feeling of holding the shield, I set it up next to the tree again.

“I ate them all.”

After about 30 minutes of eating and resting, it was over. As I looked at Sant standing up, saying, ‘Then, wake up’, a thought flashed through my mind.

As soon as Sant woke up, he got back into form for another damn climb. He seemed to firmly believe that climbing the mountain was the only way to find the goblins.

I grabbed him as he was about to take a strong step.

“Wait.”
“Hmm?”
“Now that I think about it, I don’t think there is a need to go deeper into it.”
“What does that mean?”

I put a little food in the mouth, and then I said, feeling like my head was spinning a little.

“Assuming that the goblins are plundering, I think the base would be near the village. If the den is too far away, it will take them a year to move the stolen crops. From my point of view, it is better to explore the lowlands near the village than to go higher. I think that would be better.”

It was a little plausible reasoning, I think. In the morning, my head was blank, I was hungry, and it was hard to climb the mountain, so I didn’t think about this. Rather than blindly climbing a mountain, you should search based on logical judgment.

After all, people had to use their heads. I was persuaded by my words.

“I think so too.”

Gibson chimed in. If you think it’s right when you think with that young head, the credibility goes up.

“…Shouldn’t you have said that a little sooner?”

Meria also said that she seemed to be right, as if she had gained a great realization.

“Isn’t it a problem that nobody thought of this more than that? It came up high for no reason.”
“Then you’d better go down.”
“It counts as exercise.”

As the opinions of the party members gathered, Sant said with a solemn expression.

“You’re right. Let’s go down.”

We descended immediately.
Unlike going up, going down was quicker.

I thought from the goblin point of view as much as possible. It knows how to use the intelligence it lacks, is small, and has weaker physical strength than humans. Given that these guys plunder the crops of humans, where would it be appropriate to dig a burrow?

The looting took place at night, and considering that their eyesight is no better than that of humans, they’re probably somewhere where you can see the village with the naked eye…

…

Fuck I never know

How do I know that

If I knew that, it would be Kim Goblin, not Kim Katt.

With little nutritious reflection we searched the mountain again. The current location was so close that the farmland could be seen with the naked eye. However, it was overgrown with bushes and the terrain was rugged, so it was a place that might not be known from the other side.

It might just be in a place like this…

That was the time.

“Huh? Hey. That oyster. Isn’t that a bit suspicious?”

Meria patted my back with her hand and said.

“Look over there.”
“Where are you talking?”
“No, over there. Over there.”

When I couldn’t find it, Meria grabbed my head with both hands and pointed me in the direction. There is no resistance to skinship more than I thought… No, this is not it. When I looked in the direction where Meria moved my head, there was a cave-like cave that I wanted to see here.

“Oh, you have good eyesight. Just looking at it, it looks like that.”
“Isn’t that right? Just looking at it, isn’t that it?”
“It is as you say.”

I called Sant and Gibson.

“Mr. Sandt, Mr. Gibson, it seems Meria has found her target her.”

They too looked at the den Meria had found and nodded to her. However, just looking at the entrance, it seemed that it would be a little difficult to explore the inside of a proper cave.

“Could it be a kobold den?”

Gibson said cautiously. That makes sense, but it’s a short-lived idea.
I told him

“It may be, but if there is a kobold den where the goblins are, there’s no way the village didn’t know about it because they were fighting each other.”
“Is it possible that it’s an Owlbear’s nest?”
“Yes? Owl bear? What is it? Is there anything like that? I’ve never heard of it.”

Owl Bear? What else is it? Just looking at the word ‘bear’ in the name overflowed with foreboding that it would be a brutal and scary monster. If so, it must be a monster that E-class adventurers like us can’t deal with.

If there is such a thing, shouldn’t we run away now?

“No, they said they were from nomads, so why are there so many things they don’t know? Do you not know Owl Bears?”
“What is an Owl Bear?”
“The entrance to the cave is too small for an Owlbear’s nest. That’s probably not it.”
“Is that so?”

Gibson seemed to agree with Meria’s explanation. No, more than that, what is an owl bear! I need to fill up my monster encyclopedia quickly! Sandt kindly explained to me who he was restless.

“Owlbears are large, powerful, feathered, bipedal monsters. They have a bird-like head, big eyes and good eyesight. They are even very bright at night. They are scary predators. No. If there were, there would have been many deaths, so there is no way the village wouldn’t know about it.”
“That’s right? Thanks for the explanation.”

Find out a few tips today.

We cautiously made our way to the front of the cave. The perimeter of the cave was covered with vegetation and bushes, so it looked good for hiding. And several bustling footprints were stamped around the entrance.

“These are…”
“It’s a footprint. The size and shape make it look like a goblin.”

Meria examined the footprints and asserted that she was the footprints of goblins.

If you say it’s right, then you’re right.
I guess I’m right too.

I clung to the wall and peeked into the cave. The cave looked a bit deep. The size of the entrance was a little less than 2m, so it seemed difficult to wield a knife from the inside. Blindly going in… To be honest, I don’t recommend it very much.

In narrow and dark places like caves and dungeons, the human weight class is bound to act as a disadvantage. Rather, the smaller goblins would be more advantageous. Even inside their nawabari, there was nothing to say. Dogs eat half of their house and go in.

I asked Sant, who seemed the most seasoned of the group.

“Sant. What do you think is the best thing to do? To be honest, it’s a bit risky to forcefully explore the inside.”
“You can set fire to it.”
“Yes?”