「…There was a road…?」
Heading west, we ended up on a road wide enough for a wagon to pass.
Somehow, a feeling I could not quite accept welled up inside me, but this was march training, meant to build stamina. It was not like we had walked here by following a road. Yeah. Let’s go with that excuse.
「Looks like it’s used a lot」
The ground was packed hard, probably from hauling heavy loads, and there were no weeds growing in the ruts. They must come through so often that nothing has time to sprout.
「Maybe there’s a logging village?」
Bisha said. Apparently, villages like that exist.
「Now that you mention it, the buildings in the capital were wooden」
So they might be hauling timber from such a village. And in this era, firewood seems to be the main fuel. They could be transporting that as well.
「Are we going to the village?」
「Yeah. Might as well gather some goblin information」
In forests and mountains there should be plenty of things goblins can feed on. If people are cutting trees, they might have seen them. No harm in asking.
So we followed the road and soon reached a fairly large village, surrounded by a wooden fence and filled with sizable houses.
A middle-aged man, armed, was standing at the gate.
「Adventurers?」
「Yes. We’re adventurers from Margrave Koraus Territory. We heard from the Adventurers’ Guild that there’s a lake around here, so we came to check it out」
I showed him my silver badge just in case.
「A Silver-seal adventurer!」
「Well, yes. But we mainly take goblin extermination jobs from the guild. We stopped by to see if you had any goblin information」
「That’s a relief. Lately, a group of goblins has taken up residence in the Marda Cave, and it’s been a real problem」
Run into goblin trouble wherever you go. Send in more exterminators, useless goddess!
「Please tell me the details」
With that, we were led to the head of this village, Roz Village.
The village chief was an old woman. It seemed her eyesight was poor, and a young woman stood beside her to assist.
「I’m Takato. I’m one of the goblin extermination guild members staying with the Adventurers’ Guild in Margrave Koraus Territory. This here is my companion, Bisha. We were heading for the lake, but found the road and thought we might be able to get some goblin information, so we came here」
I explained this to the village chief and the villagers who had gathered.
「A straightforward question, then. Can you really make money hunting goblins?」
That came from a man around forty standing next to the chief.
「If you can hunt them, you make money. If you can’t, you might not even have food for the day. It’s the same for us as it is for you」
Not much of an answer, but it boils down to this: work, and you eat.
「Well, it’s a guild founded by a great mage who bears a grudge against goblins, and the rewards come from that great mage. You can probably tell the answer to that question just by looking at what we’re wearing」
I don’t often get pressed on it, but plenty of people do look at the clothes we’re wearing. Even without any real knowledge, you can tell at a glance how high-quality they are. The difference is that obvious.
「M-my apologies」
「No need to worry about it. So, are the goblin damages serious?」
「Yes. A large number seems to have settled in, and they’ve been ruining our fields」
Fields, huh. So they can’t survive on logging alone. This is a harsh place to live.
There hasn’t been any harm to people yet, but once their numbers increase, they sometimes start attacking humans. Apparently, something like that happened long ago, and the village nearly fell.
「Is this Marda Cave close by?」
「Yes. It’s in the mountain you can see from the village. Even children can walk there」
Then Marda Cave is probably about five hundred meters away, where the goblins are concentrated. That really is close.
「Can people enter Marda Cave?」
「There are parts you can enter and parts you can’t. There are holes everywhere」
That’s troublesome. If there are holes all over, the dry ice method won’t work…
「I see. I won’t know until I take a look, but I’ll attempt an extermination. If conditions are good, there will likely be a large number of corpses. When that happens, can I ask you to handle the cleanup?」
Training is canceled. We’re switching to goblin extermination.
「T-that’s fine, but… can it really be done so easily?」
「It’s not easy. And if there are a lot of goblins, it can draw in goblins from the surrounding area. In the worst case, it can go over a thousand. Honestly, it’s safer to exterminate them little by little every day. But goblins gather quickly. They’re truly a nuisance」
There’s the presence of over a hundred goblins in Marda Cave, and quite a few are wandering around near Roz Village. If they all gather, that’s three hundred. If things go badly, it could be five hundred.
「Ah, besides goblins, what other monsters are around here?」
「There are many red-furred bears in this area, but they move at night, so as long as you don’t go out at night, there’s no problem. They mostly eat yams and nuts」
Bears, huh. Another scary one. Really, I’m glad I wasn’t transported here.
「Understood. I’ll check Marda Cave before it gets dark. It might get noisy during the night, but that’ll be us, so please don’t be alarmed」
We only have about two days left. If we take it easy, this will turn into a long job. Let’s finish it quickly.
「Bisha. Let’s do this」
「Yeah! Let’s make lots of money!」
She’s always fired up and dependable.
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