I reset my mindset and begin a new goblin extermination.
「Kainzel-san, Bisha, and Mebi will cover the area around the town of Rihar. Ladarion will take Marg and the forest. I, Miriel, and Mishinie will circle the town of Misrim and move along the main roads to check the goblin situation」
After finishing the morning meeting, we split into three teams and head out to exterminate goblins.
「Miriel. I will leave the driving of Pioneer Number One to you. Go at your own pace」
「Y-yes. Understood!」
Miriel takes the driver’s seat. I sit in the passenger seat. Mishinie climbs into the back, where the rear seats have been folded down to make a cargo space.
Leaving the home base empty makes me a little uneasy, but Kainzel-san has the Aport Pouch. Ladarion has turned into a giant. We also have Mishinie with us. As long as the Goblin King or the Demon King’s army does not attack, this team arrangement should be able to handle things.
The Pioneer starts moving. In terms of speed, we advance at about ten kilometers per hour.
「Isn’t this slow?」
「It’s better than having her personality change. Sometimes, when someone grabs the steering wheel, a completely different personality comes out」
The time a quiet junior grabbed the wheel and suddenly turned into a dangerous person who cursed at everyone around him almost made me wet myself.
We leave Lasagna Village at ten kilometers per hour and head toward the town of Misrim.
「Are there any goblins?」
「There are. Two over there. They’re about fifty paces away」
As soon as she says that, Mishinie jumps down from the cargo bed and exterminates the two goblins. In the not too distant future, the title of Goblin Slayer might belong to Mishinie.
By the time we reach the bridge, she has exterminated fifteen goblins, and another fifteen before we reach the town of Misrim. And she is not even breathing hard. Is she some kind of monster?
「Is Mishinie also dual-type?」
「No. I’m a mage who can use magic evenly across the board」
So she’s an all-rounder. I’m jealous.
We do not enter the town of Misrim and instead continue along the main road, with Mishinie exterminating goblins under my instructions.
「Forty-six by ten o’clock, huh. Not bad」
「It’s easy when Takato gives directions」
「You could find them even without my instructions, right?」
You said you could smell goblins when we first met.
「Do you actually want to go around smelling goblins?」
「…No, I really don’t want to…」
「That’s the point」
Roger. Message received.
「Mishinie. Can you use water magic?」
「I can use it fairly well」
As she says that, she creates a water sphere about the size of a volleyball at her fingertips. It takes less than a second.
「Are you creating that water with magic? Or are you gathering it from the surroundings?」
That useless goddess described it as producing it.
「Hmm. I’ve never really thought about it, but it’s closer to gathering it, I guess?」
「Is magic something you use by feel?」
That don’t think, feel kind of thing?
「That’s right. Elves use it by instinct. If we think too much, it doesn’t work well」
So it’s a racial trait. That means she’s not suited to being a teacher.
As a test, I try imagining water gathering together and manage to create about a golf ball’s worth.
Without coating it in magic power, it just sprays out of my fingertips in a thin stream.
I can easily coat it in magic power, keep it at my fingertip, and then make the magic power explode to launch it, but it has no killing power at all. Wouldn’t a water gun hit harder than this?
「It might work as party entertainment」
She’s just like some useless goddess I know. I won’t say which one, though!
In a shonen manga, this is where the training arc would begin, but adults have to work if they want to eat. Work comes first. If you want to learn, make time for it. That’s reality.
After the break ends, we head toward the town of Korel.
「Even after exterminating that many, they’re back to normal in less than a month. Is there something cursed buried around here or something?」
Could it be that the Demon Flute Misaro is still in Koraus? No, ever since that incident, I haven’t heard the sound of the flute. She should have left.
「Miriel. Go back to the home base and rest. We’ll handle the extermination around here」
The driving must have worn her out. I could already see the fatigue even before the lunch break.
「…Yes. I’m sorry」
「More haste, less speed. Even if you rush, you won’t improve. The shortest path is to steadily build your skills and stamina」
Getting by on sheer guts only worked up to the Showa era. Heisei was about efficiency. Reiwa? I have no idea.
I have her return to the home base with the Pioneer and mark the ground with spray paint. Exterminators can’t sense each other’s presence. If we don’t leave marks, we’ll get lost.
「Mishinie. Let’s regroup at fifteen hundred」
By the way, Mishinie says she’s going to greet the Korel Adventurers’ Guild branch. She also needs to explain that she joined the Sefuti Bullet.
「Got it. Don’t push yourself」
「I’m always safety first. Protect your life, no matter what」
And yet I still end up in life-threatening situations. It really makes me want to cry.
After parting ways with Mishinie, I start exterminating goblins.
Since it’s almost harvest season and there are people around, I use the Scorpion. The one with a suppressor attached.
I keep up the extermination until fifteen hundred while calling out to the farmers at work, and manage to take down twenty-eight goblins.
「That’s three hundred thousand yen earned」
The other teams seem to be doing well too. Just my share of the rewards goes over a million yen.
「Takato. How did it go?」
When I return to the rendezvous point, Mishinie is already waiting.
「A great haul. We’ll get good food and good alcohol again today」
「Fufu. Good alcohol and good food. I’m having so much fun hunting goblins. I can’t go back to the days of eating such terrible food anymore」
That is the driving force behind goblin extermination. To avoid eating bad food, we’ll push ourselves until seventeen hundred.
I keep at it for a little over another hour, telling Mishinie the locations of goblins as we go.
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