This is the second episode of the day.
"Tenma, that village at the base of the mountain ahead is our destination for today. There's still plenty of time before sundown, but once we pass it, we'll be sleeping outdoors from here on out."
As he spoke, Branca pointed toward the village. Since I'd left all the travel rest stops up to him from the start, I simply nodded and steered Raiden onward.
It had taken us over two weeks to get this far, and I'd been looking forward to a nice, leisurely rest in a safe area. For the record, we had already entered the Southern Autonomous Region, and this village sat roughly two-thirds of the way between Seigen and our final destination.
The village itself wasn't particularly large, but the mountain right next to it was supposedly a treasure trove of resources, and—unusually for a village—there was an Adventurers' Guild branch. Most of the adventurers who came here were newcomers or low-ranked, though, so despite being called a guild, the building itself was apparently rather small. On the flip side, since almost everyone arrived by carriage, the grounds were quite spacious.
"That over there must be the entrance to the village... Hey, Branca. There's a bunch of guys standing guard at the entrance in full heavy gear... You didn't do anything, did you?"
"That's got nothing to do with me!... Seriously, that's some intimidating security. I'm gonna go have a word with them, so park us somewhere away from the entrance."
They might have been on edge about Raiden, so I brought him to a stop about a hundred meters from the entrance.
The moment Raiden stopped, Branca jumped off the carriage and ran toward the entrance. The people at the entrance initially raised their weapons in alarm at Branca charging toward them, but they quickly lowered them and bowed their heads.
Branca had them lift their heads and spoke to them while occasionally pointing in our direction. Before long, several of the people at the entrance ran off into the village, and Branca returned to the carriage.
"What happened?"
"Yeah, apparently this village has gotten wrapped up in some trouble. That's why security's been tightened up. And then on top of that, a carriage pulled by a horse that looked like a Monster comes rolling in—they were on full alert."
The trouble was certainly concerning, but Branca had decided to rest at this village as planned. The fact that he'd made that call with Amour present meant he must have judged the situation wasn't all that dangerous.
"So can I just keep going and head into the village with Raiden as-is?"
"Yeah. Once you're inside, head straight and look for the building with the red roof."
"Got it."
Following Branca's instructions, I guided Raiden forward, and the red-roofed building soon came into view. It was a log cabin–style structure with a sign reading "Adventurers' Guild" mounted above the entrance.
"Park the carriage over there where the posts are driven in. The village chief and the guild master want to have a word with us."
"In other words, they want us to help deal with whatever trouble this village is dealing with."
"……I'm sorry."
"Well, it's fine. It's Branca we're talking about — she figured we could handle it, right?"
"Our Branca is truly sorry. She's a troublesome child, so please forgive her—guh!"
"I really do feel sorry for Tenma and the others, but I don't feel sorry about you, so don't get cocky."
While Amule was goofing around next to Branca, who was bowing deeply to apologize to Grandpa and me, sure enough, Branca's fist came down on Amule's head. It was a familiar sight, but Amule truly never learned his lesson on this matter.
After watching the duo's comedy routine, we all headed into the guild together. Two men were sitting at the largest table. The moment they noticed us, they immediately stood up and bowed.
"This is the village chief, and the one beside him is the guild master."
The man introduced as the village chief was already quite thin on top, but in contrast he had a solid, sturdy build. The guild master beside him was a slender man who gave off a somewhat unreliable impression. If Branca hadn't briefed us beforehand, we probably would have mixed up their titles.
"Sorry to jump right into it, but let me hear the details. I only heard at the entrance that Monsters are swarming in the mountains."
Branca said that and tried to listen to the story, but even that was news to us. Well, there was no point pressing the matter now, so we said nothing — but when Branca noticed the looks Grandpa and me were exchanging, she bowed her head again. And Amule was about to say something once more, but Branca shut him up.
"My apologies. The whole village has been in a state of panic, after all. What's swarming is goblins."
"Goblins?"
There was a note of surprise in Branca's voice. She was probably less shocked about the goblins multiplying and more wondering why everyone was so panicked over goblins.
If goblins swarmed in large numbers, it would certainly be difficult for ordinary villagers to handle. But with a few adventurers of around C-rank strength and villagers who could put up a decent fight, a hundred or two hundred goblins should be manageable.
Perhaps noticing the confusion on our faces, the guild master spoke up in place of the village chief this time.
"You're probably thinking it's just goblins, but this flock is anything but ordinary. The confirmed count alone is over five hundred. And the biggest problem is that the flock is being led by a 'Goblin King.' On top of that, other higher-tier species have also been spotted. Once that happens, even goblins become significantly more dangerous — we'd need multiple parties of at least B-rank or higher."
So the guild master had requested reinforcements from the town where Baron Robo resided. But reinforcements would take at least a few more days to arrive, and they wanted us to stay in the village and help until then.
"Well, I get the situation... but wouldn't it be faster and more reliable if we went out and took them down ourselves?"
Even if there were over five hundred goblins, they were still just goblins. Even the higher-tier King was only rated around B-minus, so the four of us here should have no trouble taking it down — or rather, we could probably wipe out the entire flock. Even if some managed to escape, I could track them down using my "Search."
"That's true, but the problem is how to protect the village while we're gone. Even if we wiped them out, if stragglers charged into the village, there would definitely be casualties, right?"
"Should be fine, I'd say. Tenma has dozens of Golems, and we've got Slarin, Shiromaru, and the others too. As a precaution, we'll have the villagers evacuate to a central spot and station Golems around them — that should make the defense airtight."
"On top of that, if we leave Slarin as the Golems' commander in the village and Raiden for roaming support, we should be able to buy at least enough time for one of us to make it back."
"Then it should be fine. Village Chief, Guild Master — is there somewhere in this village that could hold all the villagers?"
The Village Chief and the Guild Master had been listening to our conversation with blank stares, but when Branca suddenly directed the question to them, they were momentarily at a loss for words. After a beat, they said that the Adventurers' Guild and the meeting hall nearby could accommodate everyone in the village.
"Then please begin the evacuation right away. We'll finish our preparations by the time it's done, and head straight out for the subjugation."
With that, we left the Adventurers' Guild and headed for our carriage. Once we stepped outside, we spotted several villagers who hadn't been around earlier. It looked like they'd come out to catch a glimpse of Raiden and Shiromaru.
"Southern Autonomous Region, sure enough — the villagers are all beastfolk, huh."
"Yeah, makes sense. If you go to a bigger village or town, you'll see other races too, but in a small village like this, it's been the same people living here for ages."
When the villagers noticed us, they gave a slight nod of acknowledgment. Branca seemed to recognize some familiar faces among them. She explained the situation and told them to begin evacuating, and asked them to spread the word to the other villagers.
"Alright, let's get this meeting started. My thinking is to leave Slarin and Raiden in the village, with Gor and Jiru on standby at the carriage, and send everyone else on the subjugation. What does everyone think?"
"No objections."
"That works."
"Sure thing."
It went exactly as we'd originally planned. For the Golems, we deployed eight large, sixteen medium, and forty small units to guard the evacuation shelter. That alone should have been more than enough, but we also stationed ten medium units each inside and outside the village for roaming patrol. I registered command authority level one as myself and level two as Slarin on every Golem. Slarin was technically level two, but since I'd be leaving the village for the subjugation, she was effectively in command. I'd considered just giving her level one authority, but keeping myself at the top makes it easier when adding new units or making adjustments — that's always how I handle it when granting someone command rights.
Slarin accepted her briefing, climbed to the top of the Adventurers' Guild, and began surveying the surrounding area. The Adventurers' Guild building was the tallest structure in this part of the village, so it was the perfect vantage point.
"The evacuation looks like it's just about done. Alright — we'll deploy the Golems, say our farewells to the Village Chief and the others, and then head for the forest. Everyone's ready, I take it?"
"Of course."
"Yup!"
"Ready whenever you are!"
Grandpa was dressed in his usual outfit with his favorite staff equipped. He carried the heaviest weapon of anyone in the group, but physically he could swing it as many times as he wanted without issue — though when you considered his age, it was a bit odd. Since we'd be flying over with aerial magic anyway, he wouldn't fall behind the rest of the group.
Branca was also in his usual light gear, though for easier handling in the forest he carried a shorter backup spear than usual, with the short sword I'd given him tucked at his waist. Incidentally, the short sword bore a carving of the Ōtori family crest (the version without Namitaro), so anyone looking would know he was affiliated with me. Furthermore, unauthorized use of this crest, or obtaining the sword through means other than me handing it over and then misusing it, could result in rather severe penalties depending on the severity.
Amur planned to go dual-wielding with the short sword and machete I'd given him, on top of his usual tiger gear. His beloved spear was difficult to maneuver in the forest, and the several backup spears he had were also long, so he wouldn't be using any of them this time.
As for me, instead of my usual armor, I wore a vest-like top over my clothes that Seigen had made. This vest might look like it had poor durability at first glance, but it was made entirely from bicorne leather, with thin mithril plates lining the inside of the chest and back areas, so it was actually sturdier than regular armor. This vest had numerous pockets both inside and out, and I'd stowed shuriken in them. I also wore a belt pouch and a waist pouch, loaded with more shuriken and kunai. Since this time the frontline was fully covered, I planned to fight primarily with ranged weapons and magic so I could adapt to any situation. Though honestly, the real reason was that I wanted to test out the shuriken and kunai in actual combat.
"Alright, let's move out. Everyone, you remember where the pack is, right? Shiromaru, you and I will circle around behind the pack. Grandpa and Solomon, you'll dive in from above. Branca and Amur, I'm counting on you from the front. Grandpa and the others go in after Branca's group breaks through. At that point, the higher-tier ones will either charge at everyone or try to flee. If they come at us, Shiromaru and I will focus on cutting down the fodder, but if they flee our way, we'll go after the higher-tier ones. While we're dealing with the higher-tier ones, keep reducing the fodder. Once we've wiped out every higher-tier one, the pack should start to break and scatter. Some will get away and that's unavoidable, but absolutely do not let a single higher-tier one escape. Also, Grandpa and Solomon — whatever you do, don't use wide-range magic. If we end up destroying this whole area instead of the goblins, there'd be no point."
"Understood, then…"
"Kuii…"
Maybe they had been hoping for a more dramatic entrance, but Grandpa and Solomon both replied in deflated voices.
Ignoring the two of them, I did a final check of the plan, and then Shiromaru and I stepped into the forest a head of the rest. The pack of goblins the guild had confirmed was supposedly about five kilometers from the village, but when I checked with my Search, they had moved over a kilometer closer to the village than the guild's last reported position. On top of that, they had cut down trees to create a clearing where the whole group could rest. Perhaps they had been using that as a base camp, intending to launch an attack on the village today or tomorrow.
"Shiromaru, we're going to take a slight detour and approach by circling around the mountain. If we stick to the original route, we might run into goblin scouts."
"Wonk."
Taking a longer path to get behind the pack, we hid ourselves in a spot with good visibility over the surrounding area. From there, I decided to keep my Search deployed continuously. According to the information I gathered, the ones that appeared to be the king and other higher-tier goblins were positioned at the center of the pack, with weaker goblins becoming more numerous the farther out you went.
"They're here!"
The moment I murmured those words, Grandpa and Solomon descended from the sky. Since they were fighting in a forest, Grandpa had sealed his fire magic and was rapid-firing wind magic instead. Solomon targeted goblins that fell outside Grandpa's magical range, repeatedly diving from overhead to pick them off.
Once the goblins' attention had turned toward Grandpa and the others, Branca and Amur charged in from the front. The goblins found themselves attacked from behind and, unable to react properly, dozens of them were torn to pieces and sent flying through the air.
The moment I thought we might be able to finish this with just Grandpa and the others, Branca and Amur's movements froze, and Grandpa had started getting surrounded by goblins.
"The higher-tier ones have made their move. Though I still think it's only a buying-time tactic… So that's how it is. Shiromaru, looks like it's our turn."
"Huh?"
Shiromaru, who had been so bored he was dozing off, stood up with a dopey sound. Lightly patting his back, I pointed toward the spot where the goblin pack was gathered.
"Looks like the king is trying to escape from this location with only a small escort. He's got enough cunning to use the entire pack as a decoy."
The instant I said that, several higher-tier goblins and one goblin with a notably massive body pushed through the undergrowth and revealed themselves.
"Shiromaru, go give them my regards. But whatever you do, don't—"
"Grooo... GROOOOOOAAAAARRRR!!!"
Shiromaru's greeting was so thunderous it could have echoed all the way back to the village, and the Goblin Kings looked like they'd been paralyzed with fear. Still unable to stand, the Kings scrambled to flee, colliding with one another and getting tangled in the very vines they'd been pushing through.
But the one who suffered most from Shiromaru's roar was undoubtedly me, stuck right next to him. On top of the ringing in my ears, my head was spinning so badly I could barely stay on my feet.
"Guh... my legs are giving out... Shiromaru, I said roar right in front of them, not right next to my ear — and you jumped the gun before I even finished..."
"Ku... ku-n, ku-n..."
Having jumped the gun before I even finished giving orders, Shiromaru was now on his back, whimpering in a way that looked like he was baring his belly and begging for forgiveness.
"Shiromaru, you're getting punished when we get home. However, if I lose to you in goblin kill count, the punishment is off!"
"Gah... gau!"
Once my sense of balance returned, I tossed out the condition to Shiromaru and then charged straight at the Goblin Kings.
But because Shiromaru had been lying on his back, he got a much later start than me and took off with an almost panicked whine.
"That's one! There's the second!"
I hurled shuriken at the goblins still paralyzed with fear, cutting down the higher-tier ones one after another. Shiromaru, only slightly behind, swiped with his front paws and tore through one, then two more.
"Alright, one more to — oh, watch it!"
After checking Shiromaru's kill count, I was about to finish off one more when I leaped backward in a huge bound. Where I'd been standing just a moment ago, a massive club had slammed into the ground, carving out a crater.
The culprit was the Goblin King. True to its title, it was clearly a cut above the other higher-tier ones — it had already recovered its footing.
"So being called 'King' wasn't just for show after all... but even so!"
The King wrenched its club free with brute force and was winding up for another swing, but I quickly drew my blade, stepped in to close the distance, severed the arm wielding the club, and brought the sword back around to decapitate it in one fluid motion.
"Good. That wraps it up."
With the main target — the King — and all of its surrounding higher-tier guards eliminated, this pack was finished. Even if a few stragglers escaped, there was no way the surviving goblins alone could regroup into a pack threatening enough to be a problem.
"Shiromaru's kills... three, huh?"
"Woof!"
"So it's a tie... Too bad, Shiromaru"
"Woof?"
Shiromaru had that look on his face like "Why?" — but the deal was that if I lost, he'd get out of his punishment. The condition set for Shiromaru was to "hunt more goblins than me." A tie meant I hadn't lost, which meant Shiromaru had failed to avoid his punishment.
"Woooof"
Shiromaru's expression shifted as he finally realized what that meant, and he went charging into the forest. He was probably heading off to take down the goblins that had been swarming Grandpa and the others.
After collecting the King's corpse and the rest, I hurried over to join everyone. There, I was greeted by a dejected-looking Shiromaru, three people plus Solomon wearing satisfied grins after letting loose, and goblin corpses carpeting nearly every inch of the ground.
"Tenma, Shiromaru's all down — did something happen?"
Amule trotted up to me upon noticing my arrival, pointing at Shiromaru as she asked. When I explained the condition I'd set for Shiromaru, Grandpa and Branca both looked sympathetic, but Amule and Solomon were laughing.
"Grrr... Gruff?"
Shiromaru glared at the two of them with half-lidded eyes, then suddenly seemed to notice something and took off running.
When he returned a short while later, he was dragging a goblin corpse with vines wrapped around it. It was a single goblin — enough to put his count ahead of mine. Even so, the fact that he'd gone out of his way to drag the body back with vines rather than carrying it in his mouth suggested that even Shiromaru had his limits when it came to biting into filthy goblins.
"That voice really was Shiromaru after all. For a moment, I thought some other Monster had appeared. Though honestly, the goblins were even more startled and terrified than we were."
Branca started talking about the time he'd gleefully slaughtered the goblins.
"I'd like to hear Tenma's side too, but wouldn't it be better to gather up the goblin corpses first? Leaving them here might attract other Monsters."
"You two, get to work already!"
At Grandpa's words, Amule — who had been about to join in our conversation — was the first to start collecting goblin corpses. We shared a wry smile at her and joined in the recovery effort, but there were far too many bodies, so I summoned a few Golems to help out.
That said, even when we talked about collecting goblin corpses, the goblins themselves had a pretty high chance of being blown to pieces, and gathering up every last bit was quite a hassle. So we focused on collecting just the torsos — which held the magic cores, the only real material goblins offered — and the ears, which served as proof of the kill. Everything else we just casually tossed into dug-up holes. That alone made things far easier and sped the work along considerably.
"We'll burn them soon."
"Anytime is fine."
All the sorting and recovery was done, so we used magic to burn and dispose of the goblins that had been thrown into the holes. Once everything had turned to ash, we carefully covered them with dirt—making sure nothing scattered—and finally dampened the surrounding area with water magic. This was a precaution against the possibility of the fire smoldering underground and turning into a wildfire.
With nothing left to do here, we decided to head back to the village. And on the way back, something completely unexpected happened—something none of us could have predicted at that moment.
"So there were survivors."
That's right—we ran into a surviving group of goblins. I was the first to spot them, and I wiped them out in an instant with my kunai, but the group I destroyed totaled exactly ten. In other words, I had overtaken Shiromaru with a dramatic reversal, surpassing his count. For Shiromaru to get ahead of me again, he'd have to find at least ten more goblins.
Shiromaru was shaken by that fact and desperately sniffed around the area, but my "Detection" showed not a single trace of goblins anywhere nearby—meaning the group we'd just encountered was the last of the goblins that had gathered in this area.
No matter what I said, Shiromaru refused to stop searching for goblins, so in the end I declared that the last group counted as an after-hours bonus and would be a no-count. Only then did Shiromaru finally stop looking for more goblins.