「What are they even eating out here in the fields?」
That was the only thing I could think, because so many goblins were hiding in the vineyard. I had already taken down a hundred by noon. How do they even manage to harvest grapes every year? With this many around, the damage must be huge.
「I think they’re eating these」
Ladarion held up a grasshopper about five centimeters long.
「The goblins smell the same as this bug」
Ladarion’s sense of smell is that sharp? How many times stronger is it than a human’s?
「I knew they were omnivores, but they eat insects too?」
No wonder their numbers explode. And now that I looked carefully, there were a lot of grasshoppers around. Wouldn’t these be an even bigger problem than the goblins?
Thinking about the food chain here is pointless. All I need to do is exterminate goblins.
At noon I returned to the Sefuti Home, ate properly, rested properly, and went back out for the afternoon.
「Trying not to hit the vines while shooting is annoying」
And despite all the loud noise, they never run. If they are alert enough to be cautious, they might as well flee.
They never do, though, so I run out of ammo fast.
I blew the whistle to signal Ladarion. While he kept watch, I reached into the apport pouch, pulled out more shells, and moved them into the dump pouch.
Once I restocked, Ladarion loaded my KSG as well.
「Takato. I want to use the same one as you. There are too many goblins and loading this is a pain」
True. With this many targets, the KSG really is a hassle. I was getting sick of it too.
「Alright, let’s buy a new one」
The Benelli M4 I used had fired over a thousand rounds already and taken out more than five hundred goblins. I had more than made back its cost, so buying a new one wouldn’t hurt.
We returned to the Sefuti Home for a moment and bought two Benelli M4s. I replaced the slings as well.
We tested them by taking out around twenty goblins, then ended the day. I cleaned them and sprayed on multi-purpose lubricant 556.
The extermination continued the next day. Around two in the afternoon, the presence of goblins began to fade. Maybe they finally sensed danger and ran.
Still, I followed the faint traces and kept exterminating them, but by four in the afternoon the presence had completely disappeared.
「We probably took down around four hundred」
Even after subtracting expenses roughly, we must have earned about one million five hundred thousand yen. For three days of work, that was decent.
「Ladarion. Let’s call it for today. I am going to report to the village, so you can head back first」
「Alright. I will load the ammo」
「Thanks. If you get hungry, go ahead and eat first」
Ladarion had recently gotten hooked on furikake. I had bought three five-cup rice cookers, always kept them going, and she would eat whenever she felt a little hungry.
After seeing her off, I walked toward the village.
The summer sun was still blazing, and stepping out from the shade felt scorching. Goblin extermination was tough, but the villagers working their fields had it just as hard.
When I worked construction, the air conditioning meant the summer heat and winter cold never mattered. I had never realized how hard outdoor labor was until I came to this world.
「Oh, so they do cut the grass」
As I approached the village, I saw villagers swinging large sickles to clear the overgrown weeds.
「Good work out there」
「Hm? Oh, it’s you. Finished the goblin hunt?」
「Yes. They are gone from the fields, so I came to report to the village chief. Please handle the cleanup of the corpses」
「Leave it to us. Compared to driving them off before autumn every year, dealing with the corpses is easy」
So, they had been doing that every year. And it was more trouble than cleaning up the bodies.
I thanked him for his work and headed toward the village.
「So, they raise goats too」
If that was the case, why not let the goats eat the grass? Probably because the goblins made that impossible. Living in a world with goblins and monsters must be harsh.
I climbed the path that led into the village.
This side must have been the back of the village, since there were storage sheds and warehouses lined up.
…If you looked only at this, it felt like a rural countryside in some foreign country.
Step outside and goblins and monsters swarmed everywhere. A brutal world of the strong devouring the weak.
「Hm? A goblin presence?」
I had been taking the chance to walk around and observe the village when I sensed goblins. Had they sneaked in?
There were four of them. They were on the opposite side of the village.
Using a gun inside the village was out of the question, so I took out the slingshot. I was glad I had kept it on me just in case.
I ran toward the presence and saw a goblin carrying a child who looked four or five.
With the whistle in my mouth, I loaded a steel ball into the slingshot. The moment I took aim, I blew the whistle hard.
The goblin flinched at the sound and looked my way. In that instant, I released the steel ball.
Thanks to training with Muggle, it struck the goblin right between the eyes. Nice shot, me.
I loaded the next round and fired at the goblin reaching for the fallen child, then tossed the slingshot aside and drew my Glock.
I picked up the limp child and finished off the goblin that was still breathing.
「Goblin! Two more! Get the child inside!」
I shouted to the villagers who had gathered after hearing the whistle.
The men were still out working the fields, so the ones who came running were the women. No matter the era or region, the wives were strong. They gathered with sickles and clubs. Scary.
「That’s Liz from Misary’s house!」
Someone shouted that, so I carried Liz to Misary’s home.
The village’s healer-like old man was immediately called, and he began treating her. But it seemed she had been hit hard by the goblin, and he could not do much for her.
「Liz! Liz! Please, open your eyes!」
The woman holding her limp daughter’s hand and crying was probably her mother. Ah, this kind of thing was really not my strong point. I was the type who cried at ‘Dog of Flanders’.
I hated how soft-hearted I was, but being tormented by guilt after walking away would be worse. Better to regret doing something foolish than suffer from doing nothing.
I took out two of the healing pills I had gotten from the lottery.
「Have her take these with warm water. She should at least get a little better」
I handed the healing medicine to the healer-like old man.
I offered a hand. Whether they took it or not was their choice. If the child died, it would not be my fault…telling myself that, I left the house.
Sigh. I would probably put myself in danger again for something like this. Moments like this reminded me just how hard goblin extermination really was.
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