“Makoto, how…?” Yuuko is speechless at her friend’s sudden fluency in the strange language.

On the other hand, Johno and Brian do not think much about it. One thinks that the mage girl does not want to use this country’s language to speak with him, while the other one does not know anything about her.

Rather than paying attention to Yuuko’s strange expression, the boy immediately seizes this chance to urge Yuuko “A very wise decision, sis. I am sure that letting me traveling together with you is the best decision you make when exploring the world. I will teach you everything you need about common sense, and do my best job gathering intelligence for you. You will not be disappointed.” Johno advertises himself in front of Makoto.

“What a reliable kid. I hope that you can keep up with your words.” Makoto replies with a smile.

“Makoto, wa … what are you thinking? How can we bring together a small kid with us?” Yuuko almost uses Japanese to speak with her friends, before changing back to the local language.

“Didn’t he just explain the reason to you? I think that getting a guide for us is a good thing for this unknown journey.”

“I know that. However, we can’t take care of him. Who will protect him while we are fighting? And there is also “that”, too. “ Yuuko implies their secrets.

“Either you and me. And there is also Lexar. I am sure that we can at least have one person to protect him. Also, if thing is going to become difficult, we can at least make him hide or stay at a safe place, right?” Makoto directs to Johno.

“That’s right. I have said that I will not become a burden for you. I can make sure to at least stay safe by myself.”

“Look at who is talking. The sole survivor of the goblin attack. Wait, that makes his ability to hide away more credible. Haiz.” Yuuko holds a deep breath, signing that she gives up on rejecting the boy.

“Hahaha. I am really jealous of you, young brat.” Brian laughs in amusement, hitting the boy’s shoulder continuously “Traveling with two beautiful, strong girls on a journey around the world at such young age. If the other young guys learn of this, they will sure be envious of you. Looks like my offer is no match to the dream of young man, after all. Hahahaha.”

Although his shoulder hurts like hell, the young boy makes an embarrassed face, but his smile shows that he is definitely proud of it.

The girls do not mind Brian’s words and continue to exchange light conversation with the commander of the army cheerfully.

As the group finally arrives at the mansion, a group of maids and servants come out to greet them. Their clothing resembles the traditional uniform of servants in old Europe. As servants of a rich house, their cloth quality is quite good, but the design does not give an extravagant or cute feeling often seen in anime or Akihabara.

“Greetings, Milord and honorable guests.” A leading old man who is wearing a butler uniform comes forward.

“Hm, I’m back, Cebas. What do we have for lunch today?” Brian nods at his butler’s greeting.

“Your usual favorite, sir. It’s ready for you at any moment. And we have also prepared the portions for the guests, too.” Cebas replies.

“Hm, very good. Young ladies, I am sure you will be delighted with it. My house’s chefs are all trained from the most famous restaurant in this town.”

“We are looking forward to it.”

………...

As expected of the foods from the other world, their taste is very unique and different from the food in Japan. Makoto and Yuuko have tasted food from the other countries before, but the dishes here still give them an impression they have never had before, so they enjoy every dish with a curious manner. Lexar, who luckily has the chance to eat in the same room as them, is putting his face inside the bowl and gouging the food, completely acting like a normal cat. On the other hand, Johno is completely stiff, trying his best to eat with the most polite manner.

Except for the cat below the table, everyone is eating elegantly, without making a single sound. Johno is not so clueless that he can eat the delicious food without minding his manner. He carefully uses the spoon and fork so that it will not make a clank sound when hitting the plates. Sadly, as a rural kid, he has no experience in such action and occasionally makes a few sounds echoing the whole room. In the end, the plate in front of him only manages to have a few pieces of food on it. With a soft giggle, Makoto transfers some food on his dish in his stead, making the young boy’s embarrassment meter reach the highest point.

After lunch, everyone is finally full and has a satisfied face. It has been a while since they last had a proper meal after all.

“Cebas, can you please guide our guests to their rooms? They must have been tired after camping outside for long.” Brian turns to his butler.

“You go ahead, Johno. We still have something to say to sir Londo.” Yuuko urges the boy.

Johno nods, then obediently follows the butler outside the room. He understands that the conversation they are going to have next is the reason why the lord of this house is so hospitable to them, the outsiders.

“Well then, shall we get on the real topic? I suppose that you disciples on a secret training do not have a lot of leisure to just only escort a child from a raided village to the town. There must be something important you want to tell us.” Brian questions with a serious expression.

“Yes, it’s about the goblin army. The situation is actually worse than we thought. Do you have a map of this area here?” Makoto leads the conversation.

A map of Vahallad country’s provinces is spread on the table. From a skim through the map, Makoto can see the distribution of the cities, towns, and villages of this country. There are several regions with different colors on them. The Brendhill town is in the middle of a green region.

Even though Makoto can speak the language fluently, she cannot read the word. Yuuko supports her by pointing out the Brendhill town and the village they met Johno. And that’s enough for Makoto to understand and express her information.

“Before we rescued Johno, this is the place where we first met the goblin army. It was only a horde of more than 50 wild goblins. At that time, we did not think about it much, but the gathering of that many goblins was unnatural after all. Later, a group of goblin riders came and led those goblins away. Curious by their strange behavior, we stealthily followed behind and discovered their lair. That was when we discovered how abnormal the goblin has become.” Makoto reports while pointing to a position on the map.

Brian nods in response.

“The goblins amassed together with the number over 5000. There were many evolved goblins and those advanced with classes such as the goblin riders. Furthermore, they even constructed a special fortress on their own. Their layout was designed like this…” Makoto then lists out the information about the goblin army obtained from extracting the memory of the dead goblin.

Brian still remains silent, not interrupting Makoto. However, as more information is said, his expression turns grimmer and grimmer. The hands joining together on the table are clenching strongly while covered in sweat.

After Makoto finishes her presentation on the enemy army and stronghold, Brian finally opens his mouth to ask.

“This is definitely too unbelievable. There is no way the goblins can perform such feast in the green region. How did you learn all of this?”

“We have our own method to investigate. We may be clueless about society, but that does not mean we are clueless about fighting. You said you don’t believe it, but somewhere in your mind, you should already know the reason behind everything, right?”

“The goblin king.” Brian mutters “And furthermore, it probably possesses the most troublesome thing out of all things, the legacy of the ancient time, the cultivator inheritance.”

Cultivator’s inheritance. It is the remainder of what existed a thousand year ago, during the golden era of human. At that time, the hero and her cultivators were the main contributors to the development of the countries in the alliance, be it education, economy, military strength, well being of a person. It was such an age filled with so much growth that some scholars have said that the humans at that time managed to build Heaven.

However, after the betrayal of the alliance at that time, the hero destroyed most of the countries benefited by her knowledge and inventions, including the buildings, artifacts, records, and humans possessing the related knowledge. Such throughout destruction left the human with nothing but the knowledge of the old era before the hero arrived. The blooming golden era was regressed to the stage of stagnancy and underdevelopment.

However, all hopes were not lost. Not all the things related to the golden era were destroyed. They were hidden away or buried under the vestige of the old empires. There are many possible theories about the reason why they still existed, but the most widely accepted reason is that some cultivators were dissatisfied with the hero’s action. They deliberately hid away some achievements from the golden era in many places around the world, hoping to give the chance for the humans to gain back the glory they had before. Thus, these hidden achievements are all called the cultivator inheritances.

The cultivator inheritance exists in all kinds of form: books, records, artifacts, weapons and even creatures. Each of them can either give the possessor the strength enough to rival the current saints or contain the knowledge that is enough for a revolution, changing everyone’s life. Their value, without a doubt, is extremely valuable and actively sought out by everyone in this world, including the demon and monster.

Because of their values, it is very difficult to find them. They are commonly hidden in dangerous or hideous places. For example, a dungeon under the fallen city filled with undead or an extremely poisonous swamp. Not only that, the treasures are also guarded by many trials and traps prepared by the cultivators. In the past, there was this treasure that required the challengers to defeat 3 different S class monsters and harvest their parts to get access to it. There was also one that required the challenger to face against an army of monsters.

However, such difficulty does not apply to all the cultivator inheritances. There are cases of the inheritance having only mild difficulty or without any difficulty to obtain at all. What does without any difficulty mean? It means it’s just as simple as picking up a rock on a road. A young boy happened to fall inside a hole in a forest. In that hole, it led to an altar with the holy sword on it and the boy picked it up then became an adventurer. That is the story of one champion in Vahallad kingdom. It is a story of exceptional luck, but such story does not limit to only one person. The same thing happened several times before in the past, with any possible person. Of course, it also means demon and monster are included.

This is the reason why there are so many people becoming adventurers despite the lack of benefit. Because the treasure can be found in the most unexpected location and excavated by the demon or monster, the human has adopted the policy to let the adventurer get a massive reward when giving the treasure to the country or possess it for himself. Due to the difficulty of finding the inheritance, it is impossible for the country’s military to focus solely on excavating them as it demands a lot of resources and manpower. With the case of lucky finding, there existed a country that declared a rule to forbid possession of the treasure. If it was found, it needed to be given to the government as soon as possible, and a heavy penalty would be given if one dared to hide it. As a result of such law, the number of people actively searching for the inheritance in that country was few, leaving many potential treasures undiscovered. The chances were obviously then given to the non-human species, the demons. With the treasure obtained, a full army of demons suddenly appeared and descended on that country, wiping it out of the map after a month. The land where that country was used to be is now the territory for the demons. Thus, a lesson for the other countries: it is better for any human to have the treasure than to hand over the chance to the demon or monster.

Back to the main story, a goblin king possessing a cultivator inheritance is an extremely serious problem that poses a threat to the survival of the country.