My memories of the grapes from my original world were vague at best, so I could not tell how different they were from the grapes of this world. But here there were two kinds: one that grew like blueberries and another that grew on single trees.
The vineyard near the ruins had the type that grew on trees about three meters tall. The sunlight was blocked just enough to make the temperature pleasant, and whenever the wind blew, it felt refreshing.
「If only there were no goblins, it would feel like spending a quiet holiday in the French countryside.」
※Just an product of imagination.
In the weeds grown thick from the summer sun, goblins were lying face-down and hiding.
「No wonder this gives people trouble.」
I could sense them so their positions were clear to me, but visually I could not see them at all. They blended into the grass completely, even though they were not wearing ghillie suits.
「Ladarion, can you tell where the goblins are?」
「Not that strong of a smell, but I can tell roughly.」
The faithful Ladarion was reliable here as well.
「We do not need to force ourselves to exterminate them all. Just try not to hit the vines and drive them out.」
「Got it.」
With a clack, I loaded a round and pulled the trigger toward the source of the presence.
It had been a while since I fired without a suppressor, and it hurt my ears. I reached into the Apport Pouch and retrieved my earmuffs.
I thought this Apport Pouch would be convenient, but since it was the useless goddess who prepared it, it turned out not to be that convenient after all.
I could retrieve things from the Sefuti Home, but I could not send things back.
Even if I pulled out a loaded magazine, the empty one had to be thrown away or put in another bag. I could return the magazines to the Sefuti Home by going back there quickly, but then what was the advantage of the Apport Pouch supposed to be?
If magazines cost around a thousand yen I could treat them as disposable, but they were two thousand five hundred to three thousand yen each. Sometimes I could kill thirty goblins with thirty rounds, but there were times when it took all thirty just to bring down one.
There was no way I could afford to throw them away. The Apport Pouch was only good for retrieving things meant to be disposable.
Well, it could still work as a regular dump pouch. Once I used up the magazines I had on hand, I could retrieve loaded ones and toss the empty ones into the dump pouch. For normal extermination, that was good enough.
I’m using the KSG shotgun right now, so I can just pull in a full load from the apport pouch and replenish it again when it runs out. By evening I’d taken out more than fifty. Ladarion managed to take down almost forty.
We returned to the Sefuti Home, took turns showering, then cleaned our guns.
「Takato, I want to use shotgun too. I can’t hit well with a rifle.」
Well, even if she can smell them, she still can’t see them. Shot dispersal works better than rifle rounds.
「Then use the KSG. I’ll use the Benelli M4」
Racking the action over and over is annoying and loading it is awkward. The Benelli M4 is much easier to handle.
「Next, Ladarion, you use the apport pouch」
「Is that alright?」
「It’s better for you to get used to the apport pouch, and I want to stay familiar with my regular gear」
For goblin extermination, we have to switch equipment depending on the situation. If we get too used to only one setup, we’ll be thrown off when switching to another. It’s better to stay flexible than to master just one style.
Once we finished the maintenance, we had dinner, then prepared for tomorrow and loaded our magazines.
After a deep sleep, we put on our gear the next morning and stepped outside when we heard voices nearby. What was that?
We stepped out from under the grapevines and saw a group of men who looked like they were from Buzz Village.
「Good morning」
I called out and the men jumped in surprise and turned toward us.
「We’ve been exterminating goblins since yesterday. Are you from Buzz Village?」
After a brief pause, a man who seemed to be their leader, around forty years old, stepped forward.
「Ah, are you Takato-san?」
「Yes, that’s right. This here is my partner Ladarion. We’re about to resume the extermination, so please take care of the goblin cleanup from yesterday」
It’ll probably be hard to find the bodies since we didn’t mark them, but we’d appreciate it if you could handle it along with your farm work.
「……So it really was you two. I can’t believe you managed to hunt that many……」
「Well, it’s our line of work」
That said, it isn’t something I can brag about. Goblin extermination is all I can do right now.
「How in the world do you manage it? We heard those incredible noises dozens of times yesterday」
「With this weapon. It uses an explosion to fire iron pellets and that’s how we hunt goblins」
「Are you some kind of mage?」
「No. I’m just an ordinary person. If we got into a fight, you’d probably beat me」
Seriously though, does farm work make you that muscular? His bare arms were twice the size of mine. He looked like a pro wrestler.
「……You’re strangely modest……」
「I’m not strong enough to act tough. I can only do this because I have this weapon」
If I had tried doing everything with a single sword, I would have been setting record times every day.
「Just so you know, this weapon costs twenty gold coins. Each iron pellet costs two copper coins. Even if I hunt a hundred goblins, I only earn three silver coins. If I don’t hunt a lot, I lose money. I recommend using a regular bow」
He looked like he wanted one, so I shut that down quickly.
「So, it would help us if you leave the goblins around here to us. If we don’t take down around two thousand, we won’t make it through this winter」
「T-two thousand!? You’re going to hunt that many!?」
「Yes. This weapon costs a lot to use, so if we can’t hunt a hundred a day, the business collapses」
I let out a sigh.
「……I-I see. Well, that’s a great help to us. Keep hunting as many as you can until the harvest. The chief said we’re in charge of cleaning up the corpses. You focus on the extermination」
「Thank you. Also, could you tell us which fields won’t have anyone working in them? We can’t risk injuring villagers」
「Then hunt in that direction. No one will be going there today or tomorrow」
I took out my compass, checked the direction, then parted ways with the villagers and began exterminating goblins again.
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