Chapter 80 - To the Forbidden Area
It's still too early for the full autumn colors, but the leaves have turned yellow. In some places, there are branches that have changed to a surprisingly vivid yellow or red.
Leaves are also starting to fall at my feet, making a rustling sound as I walk.
It might not be a sound very suitable for hunting, but I felt like walking and making noise on purpose, despite that.
It's the autumn of harvest.
Mushrooms grow at the base of trees, and nuts are ripening on the branches.
Let's gather a lot to take back and have the Mountain Bounty Tavern take them off our hands.
Since we're climbing high, the view is good. I can see the transition of the colors of the trees growing on the shore of the lake at a glance.
Sometimes a light rain falls, but when I'm under the branches of a cedar tree, I hardly get wet. It doesn't bother me.
It's probably better not to look at my feet too much. I'm not that good with heights.
Since I'm in a place with such a good view, I should just calm my heart and enjoy the beautiful scenery.
"Hey, how long do we have to stay here?"
The boorish mage next to me calls out while looking at the ground at her feet.
"You shouldn't look at your feet too much."
Seven wolves have gathered at our feet. You mustn't make eye contact with them.
How did it come to this?
The cause is Paul-san.
It's because Paul-san is trying to teach us how to hunt and how to deal with being attacked by wolves or goblins.
"I never thought we could deal with wolves using a method similar to rat extermination."
"According to Paul-san, magical beasts are all more or less the same."
"Does that mean we can lure a Fenrir with bait too?"
"Whether we can defeat it even if we lure it is a different story."
Well, we'd probably just end up being killed.
As Lyudmila shook the tree branches to taunt the wolves, a particularly lively bird call was heard.
The three of us exchanged glances.
It's the signal.
A rustle came from a nearby thicket. Bonnie must have launched a stone with her sling.
The wolves retreated in a graceful backstep, away from the sound.
That's when we unleashed our magic with all our might.
Beatrix fires the lightning magic she had finished chanting, and Lyudmila fires fire magic. I also used Holy to continuously attack the one I had already aimed at.
Numerous arrows fly toward the area around the wolves at our feet.
All of them have holy water arrowheads.
The wolves retreated, leaving behind three corpses.
It's a great success.
We defeated three in our first wolf hunt.
Goblins led by Paul-san gathered under the tree. Bonnie is with them too.
There are five goblins.
The goblins are wearing the Black-Purple gear designed by Beatrix, which has no sleeves and exposes the shoulders, and they have quivers for holy water arrows hanging from their waists.
On their backs and chests, 'Marcelo Company' is embroidered in brown thread.
It's the new Goblin Scout Unit led by Robinson-san.
While we were fighting in the Eastern Plains, Robinson-san and his group were acting as scouts, penetrating into places where hunters normally don't go to search for monster movements.
As a reward for that, five quivers for holy water arrows were recently presented to them.
"So holy water is effective even when used by goblins."
It's no wonder Beatrix had doubts.
Goblins do not have faith.
"Spirits are like a part of the Goddess. They must have a connection with the Goddess."
Paul-san probably doesn't understand it well either, but it's fine as long as it's effective. It's important that goblins have gained a means to oppose powerful monsters.
Emily-sensei has agreed to come once a month to replenish the holy water. The Marcelo Company will bear the cost. The cost is two gold coins per month.
Everyone helps butcher the wolves. This also serves as instruction for the goblins.
We drain the blood, discard the internal organs, and divide them into portions to some extent. After Beatrix freezes them with Freeze, we put them in hemp bags and temporarily store them in a hole Paul-san dug. That's because we'll stop by and everyone will carry them on the way back. We have a boat too.
"How are we going to distribute them?"
Beatrix asked Paul-san. The allocation between humans and goblins is difficult.
"The meat and bones all belong to the goblins. We plan to carry them into the icehouse Angelica made on the third basement floor of the nest. We'll split the fur and fangs, which can be sold at high prices, between the Marcelo Company and Robinson. We'll just sell them off in town and give Robinson the cash. How about it, Robinson?"
"I don't mind. It's more convenient for me to have the cash handed over in town."
"Are you going to buy something?"
"Mainly alcohol and fabric. I want to have the goblins wear clothes."
The goblins also seem to be happy; when we stopped by as we were leaving, they were wearing colorful clothes. It's just a single piece of cloth with a hole for the head to go through, secured at the waist with a string, but it seems better to have something that's easy to put on and take off.
As for the colors, when Beatrix showed them various drawings, we found out they prefer calm colors like brown and green over flashy colors like red or yellow. Being spirits, they might prefer colors that blend into nature. Patterned items were popular among some of the mothers. When it comes to fashion, I guess both human and goblin women are more sensitive.
"To be honest, I want to get some furnishings. We don't have any right now, so I intend to gather them gradually."
"What kind would be good?"
Goblins using furnishings, huh.
I couldn't help but imagine the sight of mothers worrying about what to wear in front of a chest, or the goblin scout unit sitting on chairs around a table drinking beer.
"First, I want beds. Right now, they sleep with fur spread on the ground. They were pleased even with just a single board placed down. I think simple ones will be fine."
The goblins are becoming more and more cultured now that they have a leader like Robinson-san. In a few years, there might even be a tavern like the Bird's Head Tavern.
After finishing the wolf extermination, we advance further.
What we're aiming for is a bear.
Unlike wolves, bears aren't easily lured by animal carcasses, so we exclusively look for traces like footprints. Since they seem to be catching fish in the riverbeds of mountain streams, our goal today is to advance to the first river north of the goblin nest.
In a forbidden area, there are no roads.
It's just a primeval forest that normally only Robinson's group enters. For us in the Class of 175, it's unknown territory. Therefore, the four of us are each drawing a map.
The vanguard is the goblin scout unit led by Robinson-san. The middle is the Class of 175, and the rearguard is Paul-san and Bonnie.
Bonnie is originally the child of hunters. It seems her parents used the forest on the border with Engrio in southern Nakanohara as their hunting ground. They were active as scouts during the war, but both of them died in battle. Because of that background, Paul-san and Angus-san also knew her parents well and were happy that Bonnie was trying to become a hunter.
After walking for quite a long time, the sound of flowing water can be heard.
It seems we've reached the target mountain stream.
According to the three goblins who were ahead, they haven't found anything in particular. In that case, we decided to eat lunch on the riverbed.
"Lyudmila. Shall we prepare the pot?"
"Yeah. Got it."
Lyudmila makes a place to put the pot she carried on her back. She digs a hole, surrounds it with stones, and places the pot. Perhaps because the greening project in front of the camp in the Eastern Plains bore fruit, Lyudmila learned the long-awaited Water. Having become able to use both earth and water attributes, she began to put even more effort into her field work.
"[Water]!"
Just the right amount of water accumulated in the pot. Since she looked proud, I patted her head.
Next, Beatrix.
"[Fire Ball]!"
With this, the fire to heat the pot with water was lit.
"Then I'll put in the dried meat. Bonnie, put in the wild vegetables and mushrooms we gathered today."
I cut off pieces for the number of people from the block of dried meat Owen-san sold me and put them in. By the time the water boils, a soft meat soup is ready.
Since edible grass is also included, it's a sufficient meal if we have bread.
It suits the goblins' tastes too, so it's just right.
"It's easy when there are this many people, isn't it?"
Beatrix is also impressed.
"Truly. Meals can be made easily if there's a mage, can't they?"
Bonnie usually uses a flint. She also draws water from the river.
While we were all surrounding the pot with bowls in our hands, the goblins suddenly looked upstream.
"Has it come?"
Even as he said it, Paul-san didn't stop eating.
"They're sharp as expected, aren't they?"
Bonnie is shading her eyes with her right hand to look, but she's tilting her head.
She can't see anything, but something must be there.
"A goblin's senses are incomparably sharper than a human's. Oh, right, when you use Light, could you please give a word of warning beforehand? If a goblin looks directly at a full-power Light, they'll faint again."
I was cautioned by Robinson-san.
A bear appeared.
The wind is blowing gently from downstream. It might have been attracted by the smell of the pot.
The goblins stood up and held their bows, but Robinson-san restrained them.
While watching the situation, we hurriedly gulped down the rest of the pot.
While Lyudmila was washing the pot, the bear became visible to us as well.
"Isn't it huge?"
"It's three times the size of a wild boar. It's truly worth two gold coins."
Beatrix and I both raised our voices.
If it stood up, wouldn't it be able to look down into a room from a second-story window?
It comes running while making 'gof-gof' sounds.
Just as I thought it had reached us in an instant, it stopped.
Robinson-san stood up and was thrusting both hands forward.
Subordination has already been activated.
The goblins approached with bows and arrows and fired holy water arrows into the brow of the bear, which remained stopped and was letting out growls.
The bear collapsed on the spot, and the hunt ended easily.
"It ended kind of easily, didn't it?"
As Beatrix said, it felt a bit anticlimactic.
Moreover, I didn't think a bear would come to eat from the pot.
"Don't worry, it'll be your turn next."
Paul-san is smirking. Does he have no intention of helping?
"It'll be fine. We have an excellent decoy. While the decoy is being attacked, Bonnie can just land a shot in the brow."
Wait a minute. The decoy isn't me, is it?
"I'm not confident in a single shot. I'd like at least five chances."
No way, that's not okay. The decoy would die.
"I want to be the decoy too."
Lyudmila, if you do it, you'll really die, so it's no good.
"You learned new magic, didn't you? Why don't you try it out?"
At Paul-san's words, we looked at each other.
Setting aside Will, who was born on the continent, even Beowulf learned it.
It's the same magic I learned, [Defend].
Unlike intermediate magic like [Increase Defense], it doesn't have the effect of raising physical abilities. It's a magic that simply makes the target hard, and because of that, it can be applied to anything. For example, if you apply it to a shield, you can temporarily strengthen it.
Beowulf was unusually excited and treated me to dinner.
As a result of applying it to herself and having Will punch her with all her might, Will ended up with a broken finger, and I had to use a full-power [Heal].
It's quite a troublesome magic, but its effectiveness was confirmed.
I want to think of it as a reward from the Goddess for us who worked hard in the base defense battle.
Beatrix has the status-changing magic [Magic Defend], which is the magic defense version of [Defend].
She's moving further and further down the path of being a jack-of-all-trades.
"If we're going to test it here, it's [Defend]. While someone acts as a decoy and endures, let's all defeat it."
The ill-natured mage is smirking.
I see, I see. Then I'll cast it on you.
"Then the person with [Defend] cast on them is the decoy!"
While I was chasing the fleeing Beatrix while chanting, Lyudmila said, "I've got it!"
"What did you get?"
"Bears can be defeated with [Water]!"
I exchanged glances with Beatrix.
Is she planning to suffocate it?