I’m not Goblin Slayer Chapter 056

Gauss’s gaze wandered around the Adventurers’ Hall during this time.

He could feel that the number of people in the Adventurers’ Hall had recently increased slightly, with many new faces.

And the changes among the lower-level adventurers were not the most obvious; the most direct difference was that the number of professional-level adventurers who could access the second floor had also increased.

Was it the surge in the number of tasks around Greyrock Town that attracted adventurers from other places?

After all, Greyrock Town was adjacent to the Emerald Forest, and it was no exaggeration to describe the interior of the Emerald Forest as a monster kingdom.

Gauss usually heard others in town talk about it; it was said that the Emerald Forest served as a barrier between the Carlos Kingdom and the non-human-controlled regions to the south.

And deep within the Emerald Forest lived a rich variety of monster species: green dragons, lizardmen, gargoyles, ogres, minotaurs, wyverns, multi-headed snakes, and so on, all of which were terrifying creatures.

Greyrock Town, as it was today, originally started as an outpost stationed at the edge of the Emerald Forest and slowly developed from there.

However, the Emerald Forest seemed to have been relatively stable for many years.

At least in Gauss’s memory, he hadn’t heard of any large-scale wars.

Withdrawing his gaze, his other teammates had already chosen a task.

“I think this one is good, what do you guys think?”

“Clear out the kobold tribe entrenched in the abandoned mine, with a population of about 20.”

Compared to Gauss’s old friends, the goblins, kobolds were even weaker in combat.

They were burrowing, reptilian humanoids, oviparous, naturally worshipped dragons, and considered it an honor to become a dragon’s minion.

At the same time, kobolds, covered in scales, often claimed to possess extremely diluted dragon bloodlines.

Besides serving as servants to the strong, kobolds were also naturally excellent excavators and builders, fond of lurking in various caves and transforming and expanding them into living environments suitable for kobolds.

Compared to their building and excavating talents, their combat was not outstanding; most kobolds rarely lived past ten years. They relied on numerical superiority to fight predators but often suffered heavy losses as a result.

Gauss had no objections to the task chosen by his teammates.

Most kobolds were about 1.2 meters tall, and their frontal combat ability was not very strong. The only thing to watch out for was the traps they set.

And in their team, there was not only Meva, who was skilled in traps and mechanisms, but also Gauss, who had been quietly learning from Meva in several tasks and possessed the divine skill of Mage Hand for reconnaissance.

As long as they were careful, the kobold’s traps would not cause too much trouble for the team.

Gauss could completely use the characteristics of Mage Hand to clear out points one by one, inspecting suspicious dangerous areas.

Other teammates probably chose the kobold’s commission for this reason.

After confirming the accepted commission, everyone went back to rest and gather their equipment.

Then, they quickly assembled at the town entrance.

Because the number of available tasks had increased, everyone could try to choose tasks with shorter travel distances, reducing the fatigue of the journey.

This task, too, was less than half a day’s journey.

The task location was an abandoned mine west of Greyrock Town; many years ago, the mineral resources had already been exhausted.

This task was issued by the Greyrock Town Adventurers’ Guild. The official guild would occasionally issue monster-clearing tasks, even in uninhabited areas.

“It’s a shame it’s an abandoned mine, otherwise, with kobolds’ habit of hoarding shiny objects, there might have been a big harvest.” Daphne sighed.

“If that were the case, this task wouldn’t be ours, would it? It would have been taken by others long ago.” Levin comforted her.

There were many shrewd adventurers who could think of this level; in the world of low-level adventurers, “high-yield” tasks were most likely to be snatched up.

Some larger teams would even specifically hire people to be stationed in the Adventurers’ Guild Hall to immediately accept high-yield tasks. What remained were often tasks with little profit, at least as indicated in the task details.

“That’s true.”

The group walked for several hours, arriving at their designated mission destination, an abandoned mine whose name had been forgotten.

It was just past noon.

Aside from the small team, the empty mine was eerily quiet.

Half-human-tall clumps of mugwort grew scattered along the roadside.

The wooden supports at the main mine shaft entrance had collapsed, and severely decayed wood fragments were scattered all over the ground.

Pale green wastewater continuously dripped from above the mine shaft.

The “drip-drip” sound could be heard from far away.

“This is the place.”

Gauss noticed that not far from the mine entrance, there were still some fresh soil and rocks piled up.

Considering that no one lived here, the only ones performing excavation work were the targets of this mission.

Excavation masters, kobolds.

Every time they came to a cave, they would transform it into a shape they liked.

After Levin and the others gathered some simple information, they did not act rashly.

Instead, they walked a distance, set up camp, rested, and ate to restore their physical strength.

Unlike all the previous tasks Gauss had performed, this time he needed to go deep into the cave to fight the kobolds.

Compared to the open wilderness, the deep and unknown mine was clearly riskier.

Thin oxygen, collapses, falling rocks, lack of light sources, easy to get lost, and so on, these were all hidden dangers lurking in the cave environment.

Therefore, even if the target’s combat power was not strong, the team members did not let their guard down.

Careless adventurers rarely stayed in this line of work safely for so many years.

After fully recovering their stamina.

Meva and Gauss set off first to investigate the cave.

Before officially entering the cave, Meva sprayed herself and Gauss with a deodorizing agent.

This could help them suppress their body odor to a certain extent, preventing premature exposure in a confined environment.

Gauss then cast an invisible Mage Armor on himself.

The reason he didn’t cast one on Meva as well was, firstly, because using Mage Armor twice in a row would leave him with little magic power.

Secondly, he wasn’t very skilled at “casting armor” on others yet.

Compared to self-casting, casting on others was much more difficult.

“Drip-drip.”

Entering the cave, the environment inside was very dark, but for some reason, only a little of the surroundings could barely be seen.

Fortunately, Gauss had a map in his mind, recording all the surrounding mine pit environments one by one.

He didn’t have to worry about getting lost in it, and with his 6 points of agility, he could keep up with Meva’s pace.

The two cautiously explored.

The mine pit was winding, and a strange, musky odor from the kobolds was clearly detectable in the cave. The smell was peculiar, like burnt rancid lanolin mixed with a faint sulfuric, rusty scent.

Meva activated her skill as soon as she entered the mine.

Therefore, she would occasionally stop along the way, holding her head, to alleviate the discomfort caused by the amplified unusual smell.

The two moved carefully in the cave, occasionally cooperating with Gauss to use Mage Hand to scout points.

Finally, after several tens of minutes of careful exploration, Gauss led a pale-faced Meva out of the cave.

“It is indeed kobolds. The number of adult individuals is about twenty, with a few young ones.”

“Their weapons are daggers, mining picks, and some other wooden weapons. There are no ranged weapons, but there are traps at several entrances.”

“The air in the mine is circulating, so there should be secret passages and ventilation shafts inside.”

“The path is very complex, be careful not to get lost when you go in.”

“You truly live up to your reputation, Meva!” Doyle did not stint on his praise for the intelligence officer.

“No, actually, it’s Gauss’s credit.” Meva shook her head and looked at Gauss.

Not to mention constantly using Mage Hand to gather information, even when leaving the cave in the end, it was Gauss who guided her out. Otherwise, in the complex and dark mine, she would have had to fumble around for a while longer.

Thinking of Gauss’s claim of having a natural sense of direction.

A strange feeling arose in her heart, even a hint of bitterness.

She felt as if he was more suited to be a rogue than she was.