I’m not Goblin Slayer Chapter 016

The sun rose, and the mist had just dispersed.

Gauss arrived in front of the signpost at the village entrance.

He was there to see off Hailier and the others.

Inside the village’s only carriage, Bell and Mia lay, with Hailier also inside, placing fever-reducing towels on their burning foreheads.

Hailier didn’t plan to return to Grayrock Town with her two companions.

Although Grayrock Town was a large town frequented by adventurers, its medical conditions were far inferior to those of larger cities.

Moreover, returning to Grayrock Town from Birch Village was not close. It would be better to head in the other direction to the nearest forest city, Barri City, which was also the trio’s hometown.

Back in Barri, they could receive better treatment.

“Adventurer, it’s almost time to depart,” the villager acting as the coachman called from the front.

“Don’t you need me to go with you?” Gauss glanced at the carriage.

“Don’t worry, once we reach the main road to Barri, there will be many people along the way, so there won’t be any danger,” Hailier no longer had her earlier excitement, her face full of exhaustion.

However, hearing Gauss’s words of concern, she still forced a strained smile.

“Besides, you also need to handle the finishing touches of the commission here, don’t you? Everything is up to you!” Hailier blinked, a hint of curiosity in her gaze towards Gauss.

Her impression of Gauss had greatly changed now. If it weren’t for her companions, who had grown up with her since childhood, urgently needing treatment, she actually had many questions she wanted to ask Gauss.

When they first met, she only regarded Gauss as a poor, low-level adventurer, and instinctively wanted to refuse when he proactively approached to form a team.

After a brief interaction, Gauss’s image in her mind changed to that of a low-level provisional mage who had serendipitously learned magic but lacked family support. Perhaps he had mastered magic, but without sufficient financial and resource support, it would be difficult for him to embark on a true professional path.

But now, she completely couldn’t understand Gauss. Even with her limited experience, Gauss was very extraordinary…

“Gauss, if you come to Barri in the future, come find me at the Golden Beak Merchant Guild in the west of the city. Then Bell, Mia, and I will fulfill our duties as hosts and treat you well.”

“If there’s a chance, I’ll go,” Gauss nodded.

However, in the near future, he would probably still be active around Grayrock Town.

“Then I’m leaving.”

“Next time we meet, you might already be a very powerful person.”

Hailier looked at Gauss and waved her hand.

“Have a safe journey!”

Gauss waved back, standing still, quietly watching the carriage disappear into the distance, the girl with chestnut curly hair vanishing at the end of the dirt road.

In less than three days, the team disbanded.

No one knew if they would ever meet again.

This era was unlike his previous life with mobile phones and the internet. The connections between ordinary people were not so close; a separation could be a permanent farewell.

The morning breeze brushed Gauss’s soft hair as he turned and walked towards the village.

He didn’t have a deep friendship with the few, only feeling that they were all friends worth associating with. But after all, they had only known each other for a few days and hadn’t had time to deepen their understanding.

He just couldn’t help but feel a surge of emotion.

Gauss decided to stay in the village for another day, a decision that was warmly welcomed by the villagers.

Ordinary commoners in this world generally held a simple reverence for mages. Perhaps compared to the skills of other professions, a mage’s methods were more mysterious and splendid. Ordinary people could see the destruction of sword slashes but could not see the invisible flow of magic.

And humans always harbored fear of the unknown. Magic was such a mysterious power that inspired awe in ordinary people.

However, Gauss didn’t specifically stay in the village to enjoy the villagers’ worshipful gazes and the food they offered.

He stayed for a day, partly to allow his body to fully recover.

The other reason was to collect spoils of war.

Cutting off goblin left ears as quest submission items, obtaining the village chief’s stamped signature on the quest commission document, and various weapons scattered on the battlefield.

He returned alone to the area where the battle had taken place last night.

The blood had completely dried, and after a night of fermentation, the pervasive stench here was even more pungent.

Resisting the nauseating urge to vomit, he searched the open ground in front of the cave.

Stone and wooden weapons were worthless and took up space, so there was no need to collect them.

Iron weapons, however, had to be collected without fail. Even severely damaged iron items could be sold to a blacksmith for some money.

Besides 2 short swords and 4 short daggers, the most valuable item should be the large machete used by the large goblin.

The only thing that made Gauss regretful was that its leather armor was severely damaged, in pieces here and there, otherwise it would have been worth some money.

Fortunately, while carefully collecting, he had another pleasant surprise.

Around the large goblin’s neck hung a rough stone emitting a faint green light. The stone was only about the size of a peanut, but a comfortable aura surged within it.

Even though Gauss didn’t know what it was for now, he knew it was probably a treasure.

Moreover, that goblin was abnormally large, perhaps due to the effect of this green stone.

After tidying up the spoils from outside, his gaze turned to the cave.

Lighting a torch, he stepped inside.

Despite it being daytime, the cave lacked natural light, and visibility was still very poor.

“Cough, cough.”

Both sides of the cave were covered with sticky green moss. Ever since he entered, the cave had been filled with the pungent smell of feces and urine.

These primitive green-skinned monsters seemed to have no habit of maintaining the cleanliness of their living environment.

“Squeak, squeak, squeak—”

Occasionally, a mouse scurried past his feet.

This natural cave had been transformed by the goblins into a foul-smelling, filthy passage. The murky air contained who knew how many bacteria and viruses.

If it weren’t for the spoils of war, he would never have entered voluntarily.

Carefully stepping over a puddle of feces, he finally reached the space at the end of the cave.

This was an enlarged cave space, where large and small animal bones were casually piled up. Flies, rats, and maggots were active among them.

A stone pot was set up in the center of the cave.

The firewood had extinguished, and the pot contained a viscous, turbid, unknown solid-liquid mixture that had been roasted.

It seemed that when they arrived last night, this group of goblins was holding a “dinner party,” perhaps celebrating the capture of two human females by their tribe.

Unfortunately, it seemed their celebration ultimately became a funeral.

Besides the various sundries casually piled on the ground, he also found a goblin corpse hanging on the wall.

The corpse was slightly stronger than an ordinary goblin, but far inferior to the large goblin.

It looked like it had only died a few days ago, and the number of maggots growing on it was not too many.

“What’s going on here?” Gauss observed, holding up his torch.

According to the memories in his mind, while goblins were evil creatures, they generally did not commit infighting, especially after a strong individual became a leader overseeing a group of goblins.

However, conflicts and disputes could occur between different groups.

Gauss pondered thoughtfully.

Suddenly, as if he had understood something, he slapped his head.

He vaguely guessed why the mission intelligence count was wrong.

If he wasn’t mistaken, a conflict between goblins had very likely already broken out here.

The large goblin, as an outsider, easily killed the previous goblin leader who had controlled 7 or 8 subordinates, and merged the tribes, expanding their power to 20 goblins in one go.

This also explained why this group of goblins had only caused minor disturbances to human villages before, but suddenly launched an attack last night.

Understanding this, a look of sudden realization appeared on his face, then he couldn’t help but grit his teeth and let out a long sigh.

This was just too unlucky.

If this unexpected situation hadn’t occurred, 8 ordinary goblins would have been no match for their small team.

Last night’s battle would not have been so tragic.

He only hoped that Bell and Mia would recover smoothly.

Gauss shook his head.

Although if his guess was correct, this matter couldn’t be blamed on the Adventurers’ Guild, he had learned his lesson.

He made up his mind.

In the future, besides his own reconnaissance information, he would be more careful with other mission intelligence.

He returned to the village with a full haul of spoils, not knowing how much money they would sell for.

After a night’s rest.

He once again embarked on his journey back to Grayrock Town.

This time, he would sell the spoils and see if he could exchange them for suitable equipment to arm himself.

As a mage, he didn’t even have a magic staff yet, which was simply inexcusable.

And he also wanted to gather information to understand how professionals differed from them and how one could become a professional.