The Goblin Warehouse

“I see. Does the entire greatsword contain silver?”

“To be precise, it’s a fusion of mana alloy and silver. Silver imbued with mana is very effective against most Western-type heteromorphic races, including vampires.”

“Then what about ghouls?”

“Ah, the ghoul clan is one of the few exceptions where silver doesn’t work. The only thing that really works well is fire.”

On the flight to Mount Seorak.

During the spare time, I was approaching Seo-hyun, who had seated the corpse, and asking various questions.

And the current question and answer came from Evelyn’s corpse, which had been instantly killed with her upper body cleanly severed.

According to Seo-hyun, a considerable number of Western heteromorphic races would die instantly if their hearts were attacked with ‘weapons made of silver’ or ‘mana alloy weapons mixed with silver’.

Of course, the heart is a vital organ and most living beings die when their hearts are attacked, but there are races like vampires that can recover even if their hearts are stabbed or cut.

‘So silver works well against them…’

And silver is what works directly against such races.

I nodded my head while letting out a nasal sound at this newly acquired knowledge.

‘If it’s silver, we can make plenty of it…’

『It would be good to try it out next time we meet Western yokai.』

For goblins who can freely create gold and silver with their abilities, silver is more common than water.

Now that we’ve learned this new knowledge, it wouldn’t be bad to try it out if there’s an opportunity next time.

And as I turned my head while conversing with Hwa-gon, what caught my eye this time was the full-body suit Seo-hyun was wearing.

‘It was quite an interesting item, wasn’t it?’

If I hadn’t seen wrong, Seo-hyun was certainly naked when she first regenerated her body from her left arm.

However, what appeared to bloom over it was this full-body suit.

For a country bumpkin from the past like me, it was an item that couldn’t help but be fascinating, so I pointed at the full-body suit Seo-hyun was wearing and looked up at her.

“What exactly is that thing? It suddenly covers your body, allows you to stand in mid-air… it was interesting in many ways.”

“Ah, you noticed. This is a combat suit implanted and mixed into my skin. Since I only received the physical abilities among the ghoul clan’s abilities, this helps me to fight in the air.”

“Aha, then those mana footholds from earlier?”

“The foot part of this suit concentrates external mana to create footholds.”

I was wondering how the suit appeared even though she created a new body, but Seo-hyun simply provided the answer.

Seo-hyun’s explanation was that it was a combat suit directly mixed into her skin because she couldn’t use the ghoul clan’s magic.

Thanks to that, even though the body that sprouted from the left arm was completely new, the suit seemed to have appeared.

Seo-hyun demonstrated this by removing the suit parts on each arm and recreating them.

I let out an exclamation of admiration at that sight which was still fascinating even when seen again, but soon tilted my head at one question that suddenly arose.

“Wait, then if we consider it, since the suit is also skin… doesn’t that mean you’re naked?”

“…I’d prefer if you didn’t mention that part. I’ve already heard it hundreds of times from the Ancestor.”

“Then answer just one thing. Is it really naked or not?”

“…N-no comment.”

Seo-hyun avoided answering by deliberately turning her gaze away at my pressing question.

But I persistently looked at Seo-hyun and asked about this extremely curious question, and Seo-hyun kept turning her head away and closing her mouth to the end.

Seo-hyun, who seemed determined not to open her mouth, and me trying to find out.

However, the answer to this question, which could have been found out if there was enough time, was unfortunately cut off by Esi’s shout that filled the aircraft carrier.

“It’s starting to show now! It’s Mount Seorak!”

“Are we already there?”

Esi shouted so while looking at the mountain that was now clearly visible to the naked eye.

At that shout, Arashi also approached the window to see Mount Seorak, and I had no choice but to head to the window as well, putting aside the question I was asking Seo-hyun.

From the window of the aircraft carrier that was lowering its altitude, the vast green mountains visible below.

And more than anything else, I quietly muttered to myself as I looked down at a village that caught my eye.

“We’ve finally arrived…”

The stage of nightmares that I didn’t particularly want to see welcomes me as if saying ‘come quickly’.

At that, I involuntarily frowned and walked towards the aircraft carrier’s bulkhead that was about to open.

“Phew… shall we go?”

The village of the goblin clan, returned to after 73 years.

It’s time to set foot in that place.

---

Whirr—

The aircraft carrier that lowered its altitude slowly comes to a stop in the air, and opens its bulkhead to make a path.

Since there was no place to land on Mount Seorak given the size of the aircraft carrier, we had no choice but to jump down to the goblin village from the air.

A height of about 70m.

For an ordinary human, their legs would be shattered, but for everyone on the aircraft carrier including myself, jumping down from this height was as simple as breathing, so there was no problem.

“Hup!”

For me, I just had to fall trusting my sturdy body, and in Esi’s case, she came down gently by flying on the water droplet she was riding.

Lastly, Arashi coming down held in Seo-hyun’s arms as she stepped on mana footholds.

Thud—

“We’ve arrived, Ancestor.”

“Thank you, Seo-hyun.”

As soon as Seo-hyun landed on the ground, she put down Arashi whom she had been holding in her arms, and the four of us were able to arrive on the ground without any particular problems.

And the scenery that unfolded before us who had arrived on the ground was…

A goblin village full of antique fragrance, still standing intact in the middle of the green mountains.

“Is this… the goblin village?”

“It has an exotic feel… it’s very beautiful.”

“So this is that village where the goblin clan lived. To think such a place really existed in Mount Seorak…”

“Well… to be precise, we only lived here building this village for about a year, so it’s ambiguous to call it the goblin clan’s village… but anyway, we did live here.”

Esi and Seo-hyun let out exclamations of admiration as they looked around the village full of thatched houses, jars on jar stands, wooden fences, and so on.

For me, it was a familiar yet nightmare-inducing unpleasant village, but it seemed to have a special meaning for the three of them.

I didn’t want to admit it, but after all, it was said that my past kinsmen had saved humans and other heteromorphic races.

For those living in modern times, the goblin clan was truly the stuff of legend itself, so I could understand why they were feeling moved by this place said to be the past village of the goblin clan.

“…Tch.”

However, apart from the emotion they were feeling, I couldn’t help but click my tongue at the village scenery that made me feel bad just by looking at it.

A feeling of getting dirty almost as much as when wearing the stone mask.

Since it was built exactly like the village from the previous world, vivid memories of being bullied there swirled in my mind every time I looked around various parts of the village.

“Lady Shin-yeon…? Are you alright?”

“Hm? Ah, I’m fine. Just feeling a bit dirty, don’t worry about it.”

And Arashi, who turned to look this way at the sound of me clicking my tongue, made a worried expression.

I waved my hand at her and shrugged as if it was nothing.

It’s an emotion I’ve already experienced once when wearing the stone mask last time with Lavina.

As I said, although I wasn’t okay, it was an emotion I had become somewhat accustomed to, so I quickly relaxed my stiffened expression and made my usual face.

However, Arashi still had a worried expression, so for me who was really just feeling a bit dirty, it was troublesome.

So as I was letting out a meaningless laugh, fortunately, Esi opened her mouth and led the conversation.

“But it’s quite unexpected.”

“What is?”

“No, I thought that after more than 70 years had passed, the villages outside would have definitely been destroyed by monsters or decayed due to aging. In fact, that’s what happened to past human cities. But the goblin village is so intact with just a little dust accumulated.”

Esi said so as if surprised while looking over the goblin village once.

Certainly, what Esi said wasn’t wrong.

If they were ordinary villages, they would have already been destroyed by monsters or eroded in many places by the mana-filled wind.

However, there was a reason why the goblin village maintained such an intact appearance with just a little dust accumulated.

“That’s thanks to the jangseungs. You see those things that look like wooden pillars over there?”

“Are you talking about those?”

“They look quite ferocious.”

“Jangseung… I think I’ve seen them in ancient documents.”

The three look at the jangseungs erected throughout the village following my finger.

Esi looked at the jangseungs with interested eyes, Arashi swallowed at the ferocious faces of the jangseungs, and lastly, Seo-hyun let out a small contemplative sound as if she had seen them somewhere before.

And looking at them, I continued the explanation I had cut off.

“Jangseungs made by goblins actually move and live. So those guys probably protected and cleaned the village over the past years.”

“Those jangseungs? They look like they’d break if hit lightly…”

“Despite their appearance, they’d easily be S-rank if measured by monster rank. It’s better not to think they’re weak?”

“S… S-rank, you say?”

Seo-hyun opened her eyes wide in disbelief at my words.

But I’m sorry to the surprised Seo-hyun, I was just stating facts based on my experiences so far.

If she doesn’t believe it, I could have her spar with a jangseung… but unfortunately, I didn’t have time for that.

『Shin-yeon, shouldn’t we be going soon?』

“Ah, certainly.”

I nodded at Hwa-gon’s voice echoing in my head.

The reason we came here wasn’t to sightsee the village, but to go to the goblin warehouse.

Since we came to Mount Seorak to go there, I stopped looking around the village and called the three whose attention was still caught by the surroundings.

“Sorry, but let’s go now. Going to the goblin warehouse is the priority.”

“That’s true. I almost forgot about the treasure, being distracted by the village for a moment.”

Esi was the first to approach, letting out a short sound at my call.

Watching Arashi and Seo-hyun following behind her, I took out Hwa-gon that I had been carrying on my back and stepped forward.

“Well then, shall we go?”

Now that we’ve finally arrived here, at the goblin village in Mount Seorak.

The goal, the goblin warehouse, was not far.