I’m not Goblin Slayer Chapter 069

Gauss received the signed mission request form from the village chief.

The village chief originally thought that he would leave the village soon, just like other adventurers.

However, he did not expect to hear him say that he planned to stay in the village for a while longer to clear out more goblins in the surrounding area.

A warm smile immediately bloomed on the village chief’s face.

After hearing Gauss ask if there was an inn in the village where he could stay for a while, he waved his hands repeatedly.

He enthusiastically led Gauss to his own guest room, specially tidying it up for him to rest.

Of course, he welcomed Gauss’s initiative to stay and clear out the goblins with open arms.

Even if other goblins might not be as close to their village, or even in other villages, as long as there were goblins in the surrounding area, it would always be a potential threat. Goblins were not inanimate objects; once rooted in a place, they would not migrate.

And people like Gauss, who, after completing a commission, were still willing to spend time doing such thankless tasks, were rare.

Gauss couldn’t refuse the village chief, so he had to temporarily stay at the village chief’s house.

Besides his son and daughter-in-law, there was also a ten-year-old boy with short, dark brown hair at the village chief’s house.

After hearing that he was an adventurer, the boy excitedly pestered him with questions.

Questions such as, “Do goblins bathe? Do they poop?” “Who is stronger, ordinary humans or goblins?” “How do I become an adventurer?” and so on.

Gauss responded while casually recounting his experiences, and at the same time, under the oil lamp, he preserved the goblin’s left ear, which was a mission item.

After all, if left untreated, by the time he returned to Grayrock Town to submit the mission, the bag of ears would probably have rotted beyond recognition.

After dealing with the item, he washed his hands and began to maintain his personal armor and weapons.

Pinching the chamois leather soaked in maintenance oil, he gently stroked the blade. The moonlight spilling in through the window shone on the polished sword, reflecting a beautiful pale blue arc.

Fortunately, although the village chief’s grandson was very curious, his personality was not mischievous. He just lay there the whole time, eyes gleaming, but without any intention of reaching out.

So Gauss let him observe.

“Genos, it’s time for bed!”

It wasn’t until late at night that the child’s mother, a stout woman with a kind smile, came to call him.

He reluctantly jumped off the stool.

“Go back.”

“Can I come find you tomorrow?” The boy’s gaze towards Gauss was full of yearning.

“Uh…” Gauss paused. “Then you’ll have to get up early. I’ll probably be out tomorrow morning.”

“Can I come with you?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

Watching the child’s mother nod at him with a smile, then pull the boy away, the child’s stubborn gaze at the door filled with reluctance.

Gauss shook his head. He knew he had probably influenced a rural boy’s life.

Perhaps in a few years, a young man would also leave his hometown and embark on the path of an adventurer.

Was this a good thing or a bad thing? He didn’t know.

After the boy left, Gauss continued to immerse himself in equipment maintenance.

This was also part of an adventurer’s daily routine; one had to personally maintain their equipment at all times to ensure it wouldn’t malfunction.

The next day.

Under the village chief’s warm hospitality, Gauss had breakfast.

Unfortunately, he neither got used to the food nor felt full.

He could only secretly grab a few pieces of jerky from his bag, originally for emergency hunger relief, and chew on them.

“I’m leaving now.” Gauss bid farewell to the village chief and Genos. “Village chief, you just said someone in the next village saw traces of goblins, right?”

“Yes, a few days ago, I heard the leader of the merchant caravan mention it. After you leave the village, turn left and follow the small path straight ahead. The first village you encounter is it.”

After confirming the information, Gauss left contentedly.

Although it was a speculative rumor, it was better than aimlessly searching without any information.

Leaving the village, Gauss continued his journey in the direction the village chief had indicated.

…

Twilight dyed the forest, and the dense leaves were coated with a warm hue.

Beside the gnarled roots of an old oak tree exposed in the soil, the hunter Randall’s heart grew colder and colder.

He gritted his teeth, cold sweat dripping down his deeply furrowed temples. The sweat dripped onto the damned, hideous wound, making him gasp again.

A hunter wounded by his own trap—how ironic.

Sweat soaked his coarse cloth clothes. He uneasily looked at the shrubbery that grew darker with the setting sun.

Twenty paces away, in the shadows of the bushes, several pairs of greedy, drooling, murky eyes stared intently at him. It was these few goblins that had driven him into despair!

Green-skinned imps like these, gaunt and with skin so dirty it was almost moldy, were relatively small individuals even among goblins. Normally, he might have been able to maneuver and repel them.

But now, the wound, which had only been roughly bandaged, was constantly intensifying the pain, making his vision and consciousness gradually blur.

He lowered his head and looked at the bow and arrow in his hand. If it weren’t for the weapon’s deterrence, this group of goblins would probably have swarmed him by now.

Unfortunately, he knew that the bow and arrow wouldn’t deter them for long; night was about to fall.

By then, let alone possibly losing the strength to draw the bow, even if he had it, it would be difficult to hit a goblin in the pitch black.

Hunter Randall’s heart sank further.

He knew he probably wouldn’t survive the night.

Time passed bit by bit.

The stinging pain in his leg slowly dulled and blurred his consciousness, making him feel drowsy, as if he had been drugged.

Just as he was about to fall completely asleep, his daughter Taylor’s lovely face suddenly appeared before his eyes. His child’s mother had died of a serious illness a few years ago, and now he himself was not long for this world. What would happen to his several-year-old child?

He was an outsider, with no relatives in the village. Even if others kindly raised his daughter, would they treat her well?

All sorts of chaotic thoughts surged in his mind, and a strong will to survive overcame his drowsiness.

And as he was about to lose consciousness, the green-skinned imps approached him like flies drawn to a wound.

Regaining his clarity, he let out an unwilling roar, like a trapped beast!

“Get lost! Scum!”

At the same time, he raised his hand, attempting to draw his bow again to repel the approaching goblins.

Unfortunately, the moment he raised his hand to draw the bow, he suddenly realized that his strength had severely drained. His arm, never before so heavy, had just lifted and pulled the bowstring into a slight arc before suddenly going limp.

A weak, powerless wooden arrow shot out, flying two or three meters before sticking into the dirt.

Damn it!

Hunter Randall’s heart skipped a beat.

Sure enough, after he revealed his weak and powerless state, those cunning and greedy goblins understood his feigned strength.

They all accelerated their approach towards him, no longer probing, like a pack of hyenas that had smelled blood.

As they walked, they made a chilling cackle and gurgle, their ugly little eyes full of greed and ferocity.

In the deep night, they were like demons from hell.