The Goblin Warehouse(3)

“Whoa…”

Seo-hyun’s gasp echoes in the cavern.

No, this time it wasn’t just Seo-hyun, but Arashi and Esi also had the same reaction.

The unremarkable entrance that existed at the end of the cliff they had barely climbed.

While they might have known information about the goblin clan itself, there was absolutely no information about the goblin warehouse, so honestly speaking, the three didn’t have high expectations seeing such an entrance.

They had given up expectations about the goblin warehouse, thinking it would be at best a small warehouse dug into a cave inside the cliff.

However.

“What on earth is this…”

“…It’s sparkling.”

The three who entered the warehouse through the opened cliff entrance couldn’t help but open their mouths wide and let out exclamations at the same time.

After walking along a narrow straight path barely wide enough for two people to stand side by side, the cavern finally opened up.

The inside of the cavern, which they thought would be dark and gloomy, was brightly lit like broad daylight by luminous stones that were slightly different from mana stones.

And the cavern that everyone had entered was an enormous space beyond imagination.

“…How on earth can such a space exist inside that cliff? It seems dozens of times wider than the width behind the cliff we just entered…”

Esi’s words echo and resound inside the cavern.

And as Esi said, this cavern was not a size that could exist within the interior of the cliff mountain seen from the outside.

The cavern of the goblin warehouse boasting an enormous size as if the internal space had been expanded.

As Esi was unable to comprehend this and doubting her own eyes, Shin-yeon, who had been conversing with Hwa-gon up front, gave an answer to Esi.

“I don’t know exactly since this is my first time here too… but it seems to be the magic of the First Generation. Of course, this is the first time I’ve seen magic that expands space like this too.”

“First Generation?”

“Yeah, our goblin clan has quite a long lineage. For reference, I’m the 12th Great Chief.”

No matter what race, the First Generation who were the beginnings were not ordinary beings.

Even Esi’s own mermaid clan had all sorts of legends and oral traditions about their First Generation.

If it was the First Generation of the goblin clan, it was somewhat understandable even if they had performed such space expansion magic.

But no sooner had Esi’s question been resolved than Arashi and Seo-hyun’s voices echoed loudly inside the cavern.

“Of course, this abnormally wide space was also a question… but isn’t that not the most important thing right now?”

“Yes… it seems natural that these mountains of gold and silver treasures are more concerning…”

At their words, Esi’s gaze turned to her surroundings.

Then the scenery around her that she hadn’t seen because her attention had been focused only on what was in front of her came into Esi’s view.

“…It’s truly incredible.”

And at the sight of the warehouse interior that came into view, Esi unknowingly muttered.

Clink—

Treasures piled up to such an extent that even calling them mountains felt insufficient.

The inside of the warehouse was filled with gold and silver treasures piled up almost to the ceiling, to the point where one wondered how they could have missed seeing this even for a moment.

“That… could it all be pure gold?”

“Gold bars… gold coins… gold crowns… all sorts of things made entirely of gold. To think they’re using these beautiful things that look like they were made by master craftsmen as mere cushioning material.”

“Moreover, the items placed on top of them don’t look ordinary either. I can feel an ominous energy from all of them.”

Gold and silver treasures scattered haphazardly on the floor and special items that could be felt to have power thrown on top of them.

At first glance, it looked no different from a warehouse of bandits with no organization, but from each of the piled items to the cushioning materials spread on the floor, everything was so incredible that it would be a shame to compare them to such things.

And Arashi, who had been dumbfounded at this scenery, carefully squatted down and reached out to the gold coins spread on the floor.

Jingle—

Gold coins that filled Arashi’s hand, lifted up and then fell again with a clear sound.

At that, Arashi looked back at Seo-hyun with eyes that had become somewhat detached and asked:

“Seo-hyun, excluding the items here, if we only consider the gold and valuables, roughly how much value do these have?”

“It’s difficult for me to give you a definite answer… but if we could sell all the valuables here at their full price, wouldn’t it make the entire assets of the defense city look trivial? It’s truly an endless amount of valuables.”

Of course, it wasn’t a realistic scenario since if all the gold here were released, the value of gold would drop terrifyingly, but if considered hypothetically, selling all these valuables would make the assets of the defense city’s national treasury look trivial.

And at those words, Arashi let out another exclamation of admiration.

However, Shin-yeon, who had been listening to this conversation between the two, tilted her head as if wondering what was so great about this and asked:

“Is this impressive?”

“Isn’t it obvious?!”

“Is it? I don’t really feel it. To begin with, our goblin clan can freely create gold and silver… I think this much would be possible if a hundred of our kin put in a few hours of effort? It looks impressive on the surface, but in reality, it’s not much.”

That might be true only for you goblins!

At Shin-yeon’s absurd words, Arashi, Seo-hyun, and Esi felt the urge to shout so, but they couldn’t bring themselves to actually do it.

Shin-yeon looked towards the inner part of the warehouse with indifferent eyes, as if she really had no interest in gold and silver treasures.

What was the point of saying such things to Shin-yeon who was like this?

So as the three closed their mouths, Shin-yeon pointed ahead and urged the three who had been looking at her to walk.

“There’s not much to see here, so let’s hurry inside. That’s where the more important things are stored.”

“Hmm… this place is quite beautiful too, couldn’t we look around a bit more before…”

“What’s pretty about these lumps of gold? Let’s hurry.”

Shin-yeon, who couldn’t empathize with the hearts of ordinary people at all, strongly urged them to hasten their steps.

At her insistence, the three had no choice but to walk on, leaving behind the mountains of gold.

Step, step.

The sound of four people’s footsteps echoed through the seemingly endless cavern.

---

Step– Step–

When my footsteps echo once, the footsteps of the three following me echo alternately after.

Of course, dissatisfaction was clearly evident on the faces of the three following me, but there was nothing I could do about it.

The mermaid clan’s treasure, which was the original purpose of coming to the warehouse, was clearly inside, and all the various interesting items I wanted to see also seemed to be inside the warehouse.

‘There wasn’t much at the entrance area…’

『That place is where treasures received from humans are piled up. How much mystery could there be in things made by humans?』

As Hwa-gon said, there might be some interesting things among those made by humans, but they were only toy-level items at best.

That’s why such insignificant things were piled up at the entrance area, and I had no intention of paying much attention to them.

‘Those guys weren’t very interested in the items either. Instead, they were very interested in the gold and silver treasures.’

『Well… originally, other yokai or humans couldn’t resist gold and silver lumps, right?』

‘True, it’s been like that since ancient times.’

Certainly, it’s because I’m a goblin who can directly create gold and silver that I have no interest in these things, but since ancient times, other beings have been crazy about such gold and silver treasures.

That’s why on the day I first woke up, I tried to apologize to the exclusive hunters of the Punishment Team by giving them gold and silver treasures.

Of course, I couldn’t understand what was so good about these heavy, just shiny things.

‘Should I tell them to take some later since we’re not using it anyway?’

『Certainly… if we’re not using them, they’ll just rot here forever, so it seems fine to let them take as much as they want.』

‘Hmm… that’s true. Then I should call Yeon-ah later and come again.’

As I conversed with Hwa-gon, I muttered to myself while inwardly making up my mind.

I’m not particularly short on money, so I don’t need these gold and silver treasures.

So first, I’ll tell those three to take as much as they want, then call Yeon-ah to take care of the rest. Wouldn’t Yeon-ah use them well?

Of course, she might make a fuss about using them only for me since they’re from me… but I hoped that was just a misguided fantasy.

Step—

And how long had we walked like that, we had come deep into the warehouse where the surroundings that had been bright gradually darkened.

『Ah, we’ve arrived now.』

I had carefully entered to a place where I couldn’t even see the surroundings anymore when I abruptly stopped at Hwa-gon’s words echoing in my head.

Naturally, the three who had been following me by listening to my footsteps also stopped at the same time.

Perhaps because it was dark unlike near the entrance, the three came close to me who had stopped and looked around.

“It’s hard to see because it’s dark… is our clan’s treasure here?”

“Yeah, it’s supposed to be here…”

The first to speak was Esi.

I answered her question like that, but I also couldn’t see the surroundings properly.

So as I was blinking my eyes to get accustomed to the darkness, suddenly a small sound was heard.

Click–

That sound of something operating was clearly heard in our ears, and at that moment as we tensed up and stiffened our bodies.

Flash—!

“Ugh…!”

“It’s blinding…!”

“Kyah?!”

We screamed and closed our eyes at the luminous stones that turned on without any time to prepare.

But the light from the luminous stones was strong enough to seep through even tightly closed eyes.

It took considerable time until we could get used to the light and open our eyes.

“Ugh… my eyes…”

And as we slowly opened our eyes that had finally gotten used to the light, the surroundings began to come into view.

The appearance of the space that had been invisible due to darkness until just now was now clearly visible in our eyes, illuminated by the light.

“This is…!”

“It’s truly an amazing sight…”

“…Beautiful.”

“This is certainly… impressive.”

And as soon as we confirmed the appearance of the space that came into view, cheers burst from our mouths.

Earlier, it was said that only the three let out exclamations, but this time, even I couldn’t help but exclaim.

Unlike the gold and silver treasures that were piled up disorderly like mountains, all sorts of items and weapons were neatly arranged in an orderly manner.

Each one was welcoming us while emitting an aura incomparably more powerful than the items near the entrance.

“Is our clan’s treasure here…”

“Let’s take a look around this amazing place, Seo-hyun.”

“Yes, Ancestor.”

And at such a sight, Esi rushed out to find her treasure, while Arashi and Seo-hyun set out to sightsee for pure enjoyment.

“Well then, shall I take a look around too.”

Lastly, I also stepped between the rows of arranged items with a heart no less expectant than theirs.

“This is certainly worth coming all the way here for.”

Although I came here purely out of curiosity and to satisfy my desires, seeing this scenery of arranged items, it seemed like I could overfill either purpose.

Because of that, I found myself unknowingly looking around as I walked.

Not a single item was worth passing over carelessly, so I didn’t stop walking while looking around with excited eyes.

Step–

“…What’s that?”

If it weren’t for the mural that came into view the moment I turned my gaze upwards, that would have been the case.

The ceiling that I unknowingly looked up at while looking at a high-placed item.

And I stopped in my tracks at the huge mural that came into view when I looked up at the ceiling.

“Is that… a goblin…?”

『…』

If what I’m seeing is correct, the picture drawn on the ceiling is a goblin.

However, strangely, the goblin in the mural was wearing a shattered mask and riding on a cloud while holding a goblin bat.

And lightning striking down from the cloud that the goblin was riding.

I slowly lowered my gaze following the lightning falling in the picture, intrigued by that mural in many ways, and what came into my view as my gaze lowered was finally a single streak of lightning reaching the floor of the warehouse…

“…A door?”

And there was a hidden door existing there.

No matter how you look at it, it was emitting a suspicious aura.

Lightning was striking a small, old door.