Chapter 20 – It Was Big and Massive

It Was Big and Massive

—–

Rain Village. A village located not far from the mining city of Clepis.
“This village is nicer than I thought? I actually thought it would be rural. Have you been to this village before, sister?”
Airi exclaimed, looking around at the surroundings as if surprised.
“…I’ve been here a few times.”

I also have experience visiting a few times, as I occasionally stop by the grocery store in this village.
Neatly paved dirt roads, houses built of stone and wood, and flowers planted around them.
‘Smells like meat skewers.’

“Let’s play knights! I’m the knight! You’re the thief!”
“No! I want to be a knight too!”
From the delicious smell wafting from the alleys to the children playing in the streets.
It was a scene of a peaceful countryside village as if painted in a picture.

“To think a goblin settlement has formed near such a village. There was a reason for the short request deadline.”
“…They probably wanted it resolved quickly.”
Goblins are monsters with green skin and big noses. Although each individual is weak enough that an adult male could easily subdue them, they are quite cunning and live in groups, making them quite troublesome for the inhabitants of this world.

They usually build settlements near small villages and raid them, so it was a bit unusual for them to build a settlement near a village of this size.
“The client was.. the village chief of this village, right? The location is written on the request form.”
Airi led me, waving the request form.

As we walked for a while, looking at her back, we arrived in front of the house of Rain Village Chief who requested this job.
The chief’s house gave off a slightly different atmosphere from other houses. It was made of wood and stone like the others, but it felt a bit more authoritative.
“Shall I knock?”
“Go ahead.”

Knock knock.
Airi looked at me for a moment, then knocked on the door of the chief’s house.
After a while, footsteps could be heard from inside the house.
The footsteps gradually got closer, and soon the door of the house slowly began to open.

What appeared as the door opened was an old man with a long beard surrounding his face.
“What brings you here…? Ah. Adventurers, I see. Come inside.”
The old man, presumed to be the chief of Rain Village, quickly looked us over and then guided us into the house.
‘Ah, I don’t need to take off my shoes.’

I unconsciously fell back into my old habit. I was about to take off my shoes but put them back on and followed the chief again.
The place he guided us to was a room that looked like a reception room.
On the table in the center were a steaming teapot and small teacups prepared.

“Sit here.”
“…Thank you.”
Teacups placed in front of us two sitting at the table.
“I only have Bloom tea. You don’t have to drink it if it’s not to your taste.”

As I carefully took a sip of the steaming hot tea, a subtle fragrance and taste gently spread in my mouth.
If I had to compare, it felt like Earth’s black tea. The initial taste was a bit bitter, but the more I drank, the more a deep sweetness came through.
“…It’s delicious.”
“Oh. I’m glad it suits your taste. I was a bit worried since young people these days don’t drink Bloom tea much.”

The chief showed a kindly smile on his face after hearing my honest impression. Quite a warm impression.
“Ugh.. it’s bitter..”

Airi, sitting next to me, was having a staring contest with her teacup. Apparently, the bitter taste of the tea didn’t suit her taste.
“You are the adventurers who came for goblin subjugation, aren’t you?”
“Yes, that’s right. You’re the one who requested the goblin subjugation, right, Chief?”

Airi said this while handing the request form to the chief.
“As you can see here, the request content is goblin subjugation around the village, the reward is 20 silver… and the deadline is until tomorrow. Is that correct? You said the adventurer rank doesn’t matter.”

The chief nodded at Airi’s words. He began to explain the background of why he requested goblin subjugation.

“Yes. It’s exactly as I requested. Recently, there have been incidents of villagers heading to the mine being attacked by groups of goblins. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured, but….”
The chief wore a troubled expression. He must want to resolve the problem as quickly as possible.
“Do you roughly know the location of the settlement?”
“Yes, I do. In fact, if the number of goblins was small, we were going to try to resolve it among our villagers… but there were more than we expected.”

‘Sounds like it’s quite large in scale.’
“That’s why I ended up asking adventurers. I’m counting on you. I’ve marked the location of the settlement on this map.”
The map the chief handed over. The location of the goblin settlement was marked with red dye on it.
According to the map, it wasn’t very far from the village.

“The reward will be paid after confirming the annihilation of the settlement… Well then, I’m counting on you.”
We headed towards the goblin settlement marked on the map, leaving behind the chief’s send-off.

———–

We arrived at the location marked on the map.
We were currently observing the goblins from a nearby hill.
“Kieeek!”
A large number of goblins visible at a glance. Seeing this, Airi spoke to me as if it was disgusting.
“Ugh.. they’re swarming.”
“…I didn’t expect there to be this many.”

A sight reminiscent of a green ant colony. As the chief said, it was beyond the scope that villagers alone could handle.
“Sister. Their eyes… look a bit strange, don’t they?”
“They do…”
Certainly, some of them looked a bit different from other goblins.

First, they were a bit bigger. Compared to normal goblins that reach about half the height of an adult male, these were a head taller.
And their eyes looked completely crazed.
‘Moreover, this power I’m feeling now….’

Very faint, but clearly perceptible magical energy. That’s dangerous.
“…Airi. Step back a bit. I’ll restrain them first.”
Hearing my words, Airi nodded and stepped back behind me.
Monsters possessed by magical energy are on a different level from ordinary monsters.

‘Those Adventurer’s Guild guys. How is this a request that copper rank adventurers can accept?’
They probably just set the rank after hearing “goblin subjugation”. A product of armchair administration, you could say.
I’ll have to confront them about it later.

I prepared to cast magic towards the goblins and then aimed at them.
I had already finished the incantation long ago, but it’s a bit ironic that I spent twice as much time adjusting the output of the magic.
It would be a big problem if it spread to the village.
‘I’d rather not be called a witch again…’

“[Fire Rain]”
Whoosh─!
Simultaneously with my voice flowing out of my mouth, numerous fireballs created in the air rained down on the goblins’ heads like rain.
“Kieeeeeeek!!!!!!!”
The goblins’ huts burning and the goblins roasting.
…The characteristic smell of burning meat is carried by the wind to here.

When the rain of fire stopped, what remained were the ashes of the settlement and the charred corpses of goblins.
“Ugh.. the smell. Sister, are you perhaps from a magic tower?”

Airi, who was wrinkling her nose at the smell of burning meat, looked at me and asked if I was from a magic tower.

“…Ma…Magic tower?”
I stuttered my words, flustered by the sudden mention of a magic tower.
‘Well, it’s true but…..’

To be precise, it’s not. Airi’s intention in asking if I’m from a magic tower probably means literally if I learned magic at a magic tower.
As I gave a bitter smile recalling the magic tower, Airi, seeing my reaction, spoke as if she finally understood.
“I knew it. You are from a magic tower… I thought you weren’t ordinary when you turned that bir… man to stone last time! And this magic too. If you’re from a magic tower, it makes sense!”

“Haha…”
It seems like she was about to say ‘bastard’ just now…. Must be my imagination?
“To think I boasted about being a silver rank adventurer in front of you, sister…. I’m embarrassed..”
“Haha… Shall we go down for now? There might be remaining goblins.”

I pointed to the goblin settlement that had turned into a wasteland from the rain of fire, trying to change the subject.
When we looked from the hill, no moving goblins were visible, but it would be troublesome if any remaining goblins went down to the village. We need to check thoroughly.

“Okay….”

Airi still seemed a bit dejected, probably embarrassed that she had confidently told me she was a silver rank adventurer.
“Really?! Awesome! I’m actually a silver rank adventurer, you know? You can count on me!”

‘…It was cute.’
A smile naturally formed on my face as I recalled Airi’s appearance at that time.
“Gasp… Is that smile perhaps mockery…? I want to die…..”

But thinking I was mocking her, she was not just dejected but about to melt away.
To prevent Airi from melting away, I explained about the smile I just had.
“No, it’s not. You were completely cute back then. I smiled unconsciously recalling that image. I wasn’t mocking you.”

Hearing my words, Airi had a blank expression for a moment, then immediately clung to me.
“Wow. I just got completely thrilled. Will you marry me?”
“Co-could you move away a bit…?”

…It was only after some time had passed that I was able to escape from Airi’s embrace.
Afterwards, we arrived in front of the goblin settlement that had turned to ashes.
“Hmm…. Do you think there are any goblins left? It seems like everything has been completely burned.”
“Still, let’s look around just in case.”

I answered Airi like that, but only ashes and remains of huts were left in the surroundings.
Not to mention the corpses of goblins that had turned black like charcoal.
“Hm? Sister! That looks like a goblin!”

Airi told me as if she had discovered something.
Where Airi’s finger pointed, there was indeed an individual that looked like a goblin standing.
A goblin guy that was still moving, although its whole body was charred.
“I’ll go take care of it. You rest, sister!”

Airi said that and started running towards the goblin.
Apparently, she seemed to mind that she hadn’t done much herself.
‘…One dying goblin should be fine.’

I watched Airi’s back as she ran for a while, then turned my head again to look for any remaining goblins.
At that moment, an intense surge of magical energy felt near Airi. Detecting the magical energy, I hurriedly turned my head towards her.
“Wh-what… is this….”

What I saw when I turned my head was Airi, seemingly flustered and unable to continue speaking, and…
“Kieeeeeeeeeeek!!!!!!”
…A goblin that seemed to be dozens of times larger than a normal goblin.