The Goblin Warehouse(5)

I arrived at the inner part of the warehouse after hearing Esi’s shout.

Having run from far away, I arrived late to find Arashi and Seo-hyun already there.

“Ah, you’ve arrived now, Shin-yeon?”

“Sorry for being late.”

“Judging by your voice earlier, you seemed quite far away… Where exactly were you?”

“Hm? Ah… I was looking at some items near the outer area.”

Arashi’s question pierced right to the point as soon as I arrived.

Feeling a bit stung by that question hitting a sore spot, I gave an ambiguous smile and deflected the answer.

Arashi made a meaningful expression at my vague reply about looking around items in the outer area.

But perhaps thinking it would be impolite to probe further, Arashi simply nodded and accepted my words.

“I see. Well, now that you’re here, take a look at this quickly. It’s an extremely unique mana seal.”

“Ah, right. We should do that.”

I let out a sigh of relief at the situation passing over without me having to mention the book still tucked in the back of my shorts.

If Arashi hadn’t given up here and kept questioning me in various ways, it would have been quite troublesome.

So, relieved that it passed quietly, I approached Esi, the one who had called me, as Arashi suggested.

Or more precisely, I approached the object in front of her.

I walked towards what was supposedly the mermaid clan’s treasure – the sole purpose for Esi coming here.

Step– Step–

“Is this the mermaid clan’s treasure?”

“Yes, this is our mermaid clan’s treasure called the ‘Tears of the Beginning’. It’s a pearl created by our ancestors shedding tears over several generations.”

As I stood right next to Esi and looked at the treasure with keen interest, Esi began explaining about the treasure with a proud expression.

And as she said, the mermaid clan’s treasure before my eyes was a single large pearl.

This pearl, which seemed to be at least 50cm in diameter, was emitting a mysterious light and wrapped in an opaque membrane.

“This pearl is connected to our entire mermaid clan. And although I can tell at a glance that it contains strong energy, as your goblin clan’s previous Great Chief kept his promise…”

“You can’t take it out because of this seal, right?”

“That’s exactly right.”

Clang—!

As Esi tapped the mana seal with a troubled expression, an empty metallic sound rang out.

Then Esi nodded towards Arashi standing behind and continued speaking.

“Arashi’s magic would be enough to easily break a seal of this strength… but our treasure isn’t of very high hardness either.”

“We’re in a state where we can’t carelessly act for fear that using too strong magic might break it.”

“Ah… I see. I understand.”

A situation where Arashi’s power would be more than enough to break the seal that wasn’t particularly strong, but they couldn’t act for fear that Arashi’s magic might damage the treasure.

A situation where too much power could be harmful – I nodded with an understanding expression, feeling quite sympathetic myself.

Then, after Esi’s explanation of the situation, I lightly stretched my hands and took another step closer to the treasure.

“Then step back a little. I’ll remove the seal for you.”

“How do you plan to remove it?”

“Well… if magic is hard to control and can’t be used, we can just tear it off by force, right?”

“…You mean?”

Esi’s complexion stiffened and she broke out in a cold sweat, seeming to have guessed something from my words.

Probably her sharp mind had correctly guessed what I meant.

To begin with, I didn’t enjoy speaking in metaphors or giving cryptic answers, so the meaning of what I just said was exactly as Esi thought.

It meant literally tearing it off by force.

“Hup…!”

Crackle—!!!

As soon as I thrust both hands into the seal, the mana array of the seal became disturbed and started to repel.

However, I forcibly pushed through that repelling force and shoved my hands in further. At my crude solution method, Esi now openly showed a disgusted expression.

Only Arashi and Seo-hyun of the ghoul clan, who didn’t care about their bodies from the start, couldn’t hide their admiration seeing my actions.

And amidst such contrasting reactions from the three, I finally grasped the seal from the inside with my hands that I had managed to push in.

“Now I just need to tear it off like this…!”

As I applied the final force to my arms that I had moderately tensed, the seal split in half along with a fierce wind.

Bang—!!!

The seal disappeared cleanly without any impact on the treasure inside.

And at that perfect result, I turned to Esi with a grin, while only Hwa-gon’s quiet voice flowed by.

『That’s very crude and unrefined, befitting your personality.』

“…”

Hwa-gon’s single remark that made me want to raise my fist flowed through my mind.

---

Bang—!!!

The seal disappeared, leaving only the Tears of the Beginning lying alone on the cloth.

“Fi-Finally…”

Looking at it, Esi slowly raised her trembling hand with an unbelieving voice.

Then Esi reached out towards her clan’s treasure that she could finally touch.

“The treasure I thought I would never see again is finally in our hands…”

Esi’s eyes were uncharacteristically moist, apparently deeply moved that this situation had become reality. Seeing Esi like this, Arashi carefully approached my side.

“To think you would tear off that unique seal with sheer force like that… I’m not sure if I should say the power of goblins is amazing or Shin-yeon’s way of thinking is amazing…”

“Ugh… please stop with that. I just heard the same thing from Hwa-gon too.”

“Oh my, so Mr. Goblin Bat had the same thought as me?”

“It’s not good to be happy about having the same thoughts as this guy. He’s quite a twisted fellow.”

When I replied like that to Arashi who said the same thing as Hwa-gon, Arashi brightened up instead.

But since being the same as Hwa-gon wasn’t something to be happy about, I admonished the brightening Arashi, and this time complaints erupted from Hwa-gon.

『What nonsense are you spouting, Shin-yeon! There is no being as profound as me in this world! And it’s an undeniable fact that you are crude and unrefined!』

Hwa-gon’s cry added that I should learn from Arashi and show some respect for him.

However, Hwa-gon’s words no longer reached my ears as his evaluation within me had already severely declined over time.

Of course, Hwa-gon’s grumbling and complaining increased even more because of that, but fortunately, Hwa-gon’s words had to stop at the next moment due to the mana that burst out from Esi.

Tap—

Suddenly, a small sound was heard amidst the banter between me, Arashi, and Hwa-gon.

More precisely, the soft but clear sound of Esi picking up the treasure was heard during our conversation.

And the moment we turned our heads towards Esi at that sound.

Suddenly, a fierce storm of mana erupted from her and swept through the warehouse.

Rumble—!!!

“Ugh! This is quite surprising…?”

“What tremendous mana…!”

“Ancestor! Shin-yeon! Are you alright?!”

Fortunately, all the other objects around were protected by seals, so only the dirt on the floor was swirling.

Therefore, while securing only our vision, I and Arashi marveled at the tremendous mana emanating from Esi, and Seo-hyun who was behind us rushed over urgently.

And Seo-hyun blocked the dirt by spinning her greatsword in front of us.

Behind her protection, I and Arashi looked at Esi who was still emitting mana, and Esi continued to emit mana like that for about ten seconds.

Whooosh…

“Phew… this is truly amazing. It feels like I’ve been reborn.”

After about ten seconds had passed, the mana bursting out from Esi subsided and her voice was heard through the hazy dust.

Esi’s voice sounded refreshed like an enlightened sage after long years of training.

And when the dust surrounding her completely cleared, I could understand the reason.

“It was a promise fulfilled after 73 years, but your goblin clan has truly magnificently kept the promise. I sincerely thank you.”

Esi was floating in a water droplet, looking at us.

Her outward appearance visible to the eye wasn’t much different from before.

No, her external appearance hadn’t changed at all and was completely the same.

The only thing that had changed was the aura emanating from her.

“I’m not sure what magic was used, but something to make one stronger was certainly put into that treasure.”

“Yes… probably not just me, but all of our mermaid clan have gained strength like me.”

Esi’s aura, speaking with a face that seemed even leisurely, had increased several dozen times compared to earlier.

To compare more simply, if Esi’s power before grabbing the treasure was the size of a pond, her power now after grabbing the treasure could be called a lake without exaggeration.

Of course, she was still weak compared to me and Arashi who specialized in combat, but considering Esi whose power relied more on strategy than brute force, it was truly a dramatic change.

Moreover, if not just Esi herself but her entire clan had their innate power increased as much as Esi, this could be called an incredible situation.

“The actions of the goblin clan always surprise us.”

“I understand yet don’t understand how all of this can be explained by simply saying ‘because it’s the goblin clan’.”

At such a situation, Arashi and Seo-hyun poured out praise bordering on fawning without anyone taking the lead, and I could only swallow a strange scream at that.

‘Urgh…’

It was an odd feeling in many ways to hear such words directly to my face.

So I turned my body to hide from the two still showering praises and calmed my face, when suddenly Esi slowly approached me.

Bubble—

Esi approached me, bubbling in the water drop she was riding.

She was looking down at me with a face that was solemn yet clearly showing emotion.

“…”

The situation was already predictable just from that – what she was going to say.

However, it wasn’t something I should cut off, so I faced her, and after a moment of silence.

Esi conveyed her feelings to me clearly and distinctly.

“Truly… I am truly grateful, Shin-yeon. For listening to my request, for bringing me here, and for removing the seal as well… I am nothing but grateful.”

“It’s nothing, really. I already said I came here for my own curiosity too, didn’t I?”

“Still, I must express my gratitude to you.”

Esi conveyed her thanks with tears in her eyes that were now truly moist, not just glistening.

It was a somewhat exaggerated sight to see each tear she shed turn into a pearl as it fell, but I deliberately refrained from pointing that out.

At least for now, this was the moment for Esi to convey her overflowing feelings of gratitude to me.

So I listened to each and every word of hers.

And Esi’s thanks and tears only stopped after several more minutes had passed.