Chapter 291

“Inside the house. There are two in the first room to the right. And then there is one hiding in the house next to it.”

“Understood.”

Answered Marcel. She seemed the more energetic of the two, and immediately moved towards the house with the goblins. Silket had a more somber air as she followed after her. I followed in order to make sure they wouldn’t have any trouble.

The goblins were waiting on both sides of the room’s entrance. However, Marcel did not slowly poke her head into the room, as they must have anticipated. Instead, she rolled through and caught them by surprise. Then she spun around and aimed for the neck of the first goblin. She held her short sword with the blade pointing down and swung. The first goblin’s head flew in the air as the other looked at her with rage and fell upon her. However, Silket was quick to act. And her one-handed sword pierced into the goblin’s exposed back.

“Hmm. Good.”

I nodded. They were synchronized and seemed to see each other perfectly. It was probably because they were in the same party.

As I watched them, I used Presence Detection to check on the other goblin. It had heard the noise and was moving restlessly…I think. That’s when I saw it poke its head out of the window to look…

“Wrong move.”

I planted an ice arrow in its forehead.

“Alright, let’s go then.”

“Yes… Uh, you’re quite intimidating to watch, Mister Asagi.”

“Though…we are in the higher ranks of Jades in the imperial city…”

“I’m just more used to it, that’s all. You should have seen me running from forest wolves in the beginning.”

I thought back on that day in Fhiraldo. I really thought that I was going to die…

“Surely not! But you have an alias! And a unique skill!”

“It is certainly hard to believe!”

“No, it’s true. Though, there were about fifteen wolves chasing after me. Still, I was screaming and shouting for help as I ran.”

They didn’t seem entirely convinced. Well, I was just an ordinary civilian back then. Compared to how I was now, it was no wonder they didn’t believe it.

“…Anyway, let’s continue on!”

“Y-yes!”

“Yes!”

This was no time for reminiscing. We had to hurry up and wipe out the goblins from the village.

And so I frantically ran out of the house and searched the area with Presence Detection. Hmm…there were a lot of goblins near a group of Jades. The ones around Daniela were in a manageable number. In that case, we should visit the group of Jades and kill any goblins we met on the way.

The other two nodded in agreement. And we acted quickly, running towards the group while killing anything in our path. They were close to the center of the village. While the village was not particularly large, it wasn’t a poor one either. These were proper houses, not shacks, and there was something like a watchtower in the center. Maybe there had been a festival.

When we reached the tower, the situation became quite clear. They had taken a stand in the center of the village while the goblins had swarmed around them. But there was no changing the fact that these were goblins fighting Jades. They prevented the circle from tightening around them as they cut the goblins down and decreased their numbers. It seemed like they had things under control.

However, they were still walking on a tightrope. If a mutant appeared now, their strategy would crumble. Thankfully, I had yet to sense the presence of one.

“Alright, let’s join them!”

“Yes!”

Of course, just because there wasn’t a mutant, didn’t mean they couldn’t use our help. This fight should be finished as quickly as possible. Besides, watching Marcel and Silket fight so bravely had strengthened my resolve to ensure that everyone return to the imperial city safely.

“Haah!!”

Velnoir cut a goblin’s spear in half before viciously cutting it down. A goblin raised its sword at my back. I spun around and kicked it into the air, then created an ice sword in my left hand, which I used to split its head open. By now they seemed to have realized that it would take more than one goblin to take me down, and so multiple goblins rushed towards me at once. With Legs of the God Wolf, I escaped to the air and landed behind them with a deadly slash.

“Wow…”

I could hear someone saying, but I was too busy to care. While the enemy were going down easily, I was still frantic. The reason for it was that I had started to sense an odd presence. Something like that poison goblin. It smelled unique.

I continued to search and looked with my eyes, but could not find it. Its presence was so vague, that I wondered if it might be using some sort of magic tool to hide. It was as if it were melting into the air and into the earth…

“Asagi! Below you!”

Suddenly, Daniela’s voice rang in my ears. And my reflexes launched me into the air. And then the presence that had been barely perceptible a second ago, became clear. And at the same time, the ground caved in.

I could feel magical energy emanating from the disturbed ground. It was earth magic. Then the thing that I felt…

“There’s a goblin magician!”

One of the Jades shouted. Goblins were supposed to be stupid and incapable of using magic. But there were rare goblins that were different. I had learned about it in the guild library.

So, there was one such goblin here. It was no wonder I hadn’t been able to sense it. It had hidden its energy until the last moment and then activated it all at once when we didn’t expect it. It was quite the strategy. Had I not been here, it might have worked.

However, it had failed, and the goblin magician tried to run. If it was able to hide, it would have another chance to attack.

Of course, no one here was about to allow that to happen.

“Gaaarrrgh!”

The arrow that Daniela unleashed caught it right in the back. As if following her lead, numerous other arrows followed. And so the goblin magician fell to the ground like a hedgehog, having ultimately not done anything impressive at all.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

“It was nothing. …Hmm. It seems they killed all of the ones in the village.”

We scanned the area. Indeed, it did seem like the battle here was over. Thanks to the brave contributions of everyone here, the swarm of goblins had all been killed. I couldn’t sense any others within the village. It was just us and the Adventurers.

“Good. Someone, go and make a report to Adlus. The rest of you, inspect your equipment. Then we will go and kill the goblins outside of the village!”

I shouted. Daniela was busy checking her bow. Two Jades ran off in the direction of the river. The others checked to see if their equipment was damaged or if anyone was injured. But from what I could see, they all seemed fine.

As for me, I took out the demon armor sword from the hollow bag and held if in my right hand, opposite the Velnoir. There would be even more enemies outside. And I intended on leaving Marcel and Silket with the other Jades and going out alone.

“What about you, Daniela?”

“I will look for Rindo and help the other Jades outside. Are you going to act as a lone wolf?”

“I wouldn’t call it that… I’m just going to scratch an itch you guys can’t reach.”

“Hehe. How amusing. Very well.”

“Leave it to me.”

Daniela extended her fist and I bumped mine against it. At the same time, Adlus deactivated his water magic, and the wall returned to the river. Now, Namila Village had been liberated. It was time to deal with the remnants of the goblin force.

“Alright. Everyone, follow me!”

Daniela took the lead. Now that the Jades had finished their inspections, they followed after her.

So… I activated Legs of the God Wolf and was about to take off, when I heard someone call to me.

“What are you going to do, Mister Asagi?”

“Hmm? Ah, I’ll be all over the place. You two should go and join Daniela.”

“You’re going alone!?”

“I’ll be fine. And if not…I can always run.”

“Really…?”

Marcel had a look that was close enough to disgust. I laughed and insisted that I was joking.

“Anyway, Daniela and Adlus and Mana-…Rindo are here too. If it’s still dangerous, I think we all better run.”

“I understand. But please be careful, Mister Asagi!”

“Remember, the goal is for all of us to return safely!”

“Understood!”

I felt invigorated after hearing their encouraging words. And with that, I flew up and above Namila Village. As the two looked through the raging wind in surprise, I headed for the outside of the village.