episode_0006

Goblins are women for a while! After shouting “Mate!”, they left the village. I memorized the direction they were heading in and overheard the conversation between the village chief and the villagers.

“Chief, what are those guys?”

“3 days. They told me to prepare meat and alcohol within 3 days.”

“Three, three days?! No, how could that be done in three days… The situation in the village these days is already incredible…”

“I have to rob the grain warehouse… With that, I can buy cows from the city.”

“Chief! Isn’t that the tax that will be raised when the manager comes this time?! If you use it to buy a cow…”

“Yekki, you man! I look like I’m going to die right now, but taxes are the problem!”

The conversation continued after that, but the woman the goblins requested was not mentioned.

I overheard the conversation a little more and then walked towards the mountain where the goblins were heading.

* * *

-Klick! it’s bothering! Why do we have to do this!

-This is what the chieftain told me to do. If you don’t do it, you’ll be scolded.

-Squeak…

Three goblins walked through the forest. These are the guys who came to town earlier. I followed three goblins.

Originally, I was planning on following them around for a bit, but they were more dull than I thought. So I changed my mind to follow him for as long as possible.

-Klik?

The three goblins wandering through the mountains encountered other goblins. The number of goblins encountered was also three.

-Klik? Are you here too?

-You too?

-Klick! Still, we don’t have much left. In a little while, I’ll be switching to the next guys!

The goblins were talking among themselves and giggling. I frowned as I overheard their conversation.

‘rotation?’

Wasn’t this the way back to their nest? For some reason, I felt like I was going round and round the mountain. Are they going back to their nest or are they just patrolling?

The goblins here seem to be more organized than I thought.

-Klick! We still have a lot left. So I have to go.

-cheer up.

-Klick!

The goblin patrol is torn apart. I followed the guys I was originally chasing.

A little more carefully.

* * *

After following several hours, I was able to find the goblins’ den.

Their lair was surrounded by a fence, and at first glance it was not large enough for hundreds of people to live in.

That means there are several more goblin dens like this.

I was thinking about following the next goblin patrol, but gave up. This is because I almost got caught several times just to get here.

After coming down the mountain to avoid the eyes of the goblins, I headed straight to the village.

The tree didn’t do it. Because I used up too much mental energy chasing him.

“Huh?”

When I returned to the bar, I tilted my head.

“Seris, what are you doing when you’re not inside?”

“Ah, Yoosung.”

Seris, who was standing quietly outside the store, turned to me.

“Well, the store door is locked…”

“The store door is locked? That can’t be possible.”

I grabbed the doorknob and applied force. However, the door only rattled and did not open.

“Huh? It’s true. Why did you leave the store?”

“Probably because of the village meeting.”

“Town meeting?”

“Yes. I heard goblins came and went during the day today? It’s probably like that because every time that happens, the adults gather at the village chief’s house and have a meeting.”

“Really?”

I thought for a moment and then turned away.

“Yuseong? Where are you going?”

“To the village chief’s house.”

“The village chief’s house? Why is Yoosung there?”

“Why, it’s almost evening. It’s almost time to close the business… Wait, since when have you been waiting here?”

“Me? I came right away after helping Uncle Ron with the field work.”

“What? It’s long past time for Uncle Ron to finish working in the fields. You waited from then until now?”

“Haha…”

Cerise laughed awkwardly.

Yes, I guess it was because if I didn’t get my afternoon wages, I would have to skip a meal.

I sighed.

“Wait a moment. I’ll bring you home soon.”

“Ah! I’m going with you too!”

Uh, that’s a bit tricky.

I was about to refuse, but then a thought occurred to me and I nodded.

I headed to the village chief’s house with Seris.

“These days, Kara is upset and says it’s been a while since she’s seen Yoosung and asks why he’s not coming. Please come over for dinner sometime.”

“I was sad because I saw it the other day. You’re just saying that because it’s salty for me to pay for food.”

“Well, it’s not like that!”

Cerise shook her head.

“No. If I saw the look on your face when you took the money, I wouldn’t be able to say that.”

“What’s my expression?!”

“When I saw the coins, the corners of my mouth went up, I thought your mouth was going to be torn apart..”

“Ah! We’ve already arrived at the village chief’s house!”

Cerys, whose ears were red, interrupted me with another topic. She tried to knock on the village chief’s door. He grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

“Mr. Yoosung?”

“Shh.”

I put my index finger to my mouth. After confirming that Seris nodded, I went back to the back of the village chief’s house. I grinned when I found what I was looking for.

“Of course there is.”

There was a wooden window at the back of the village chief’s house. This is exactly why I came to the village chief’s house.

I’ve only been to the village chief’s house twice. First, to obtain permission to settle in the village. The second is to say thank you.

The first time I was so nervous that I couldn’t look around properly, but the second time wasn’t.

The village chief’s house is big. But not all rooms are big.

‘There was only one room large enough for the village adults to fit in.’

And the room had wooden windows.

I put my ear close to the wooden window. The voices of the village adults could be heard softly through the gap.

“Yuseong, what are you doing?! If you get caught, you’ll be scolded!”

Cerys could not bear to speak loudly, so she whispered softly.

“The fence is surrounded and the windows are closed, so if you just keep quiet, you won’t be found out.”

“No matter what…”

“You’re not going to tell me, are you? I also tolerated Rian being rude.”

“Ugh… Is that so?”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“And aren’t you curious too? What are adults talking about?”

Seris is an adult over 20 years old. However, they cannot attend village meetings, because the average age of adults attending the meetings is in their 40s.

So Seris was always curious about the goings on in the village. That’s why I stimulated her curiosity.

“It’s okay as long as you’re not curious. Just don’t disturb me.”

“…You won’t know even if you get caught.”

As Cerise said that, she put her ear to the window like me. When I looked at him with a puzzled look, he turned his head slightly and avoided eye contact.

“I was curious…”

“Who says what?”

“…”

I ignored Cerise’s gaze. I focused on the sounds coming through the cracks.

* * *

The village chief’s house, inside the village meeting room.

There, village adults who were quite old were gathering and having a meeting.

The topic was about the demands of goblins.

“Chief, are you sure you’ll be okay? What if an official holds you accountable?”

The mill owner asked the village chief. The village chief responded with annoyance.

“You already sent Rick to the city, so why are you saying that? Does this mean that I am responsible if something goes wrong?”

“No, I’m not saying that..”

“Or just shut up!”

“Yes…”

The mill owner couldn’t even utter a word due to the village chief’s shouting. Although the mill owner was quite influential in the village, he was nowhere near the level of the village chief.

“That’s not the problem now. The goblins demanded a sacrifice!”

The sacrifice refers to the woman the goblins requested.

The noisy conference hall immediately froze as the village chief spoke.

“Sacrifice… It’s not our village’s turn yet.”

“No. But it looks like the villagers below hired an adventurer and failed. They say they killed them all. These idiots…”

“Such…”

The adults in the conference room turned their eyes and looked at each other. Then a middle-aged man cautiously opened his mouth.

“He said Den’s family’s second daughter hasn’t found a marriage partner yet..?”

Den stood up and made a fuss.

“Shut up! Why are you tripping over my house all of a sudden? My daughter has high standards, so there will be no problem with marriage! Isn’t your third daughter more of a problem than my daughter?”

“What?”

“I heard that no man approached you until you were twenty-three? I was curious so I took a look at his face the other day and he was completely crushed.”

“What, what are you, you idiot?!”

The conference room was in an uproar as everyone tried to protect their daughters. The village chief sighed. In cases like this, the village chief should have intervened, but he just watched. If he intervened here, his granddaughter could have been mentioned.

As voices grew louder and the room heated up, someone spoke.

“No, but why do we have to fight among ourselves over something like this?”

“What? Then do you want to send your daughter?”

“That’s not what I’m saying. You’re okay in the village, right? A child without a family.”

“Hmm? Ah… Kara!”

“Yes, that kid! The girl said she was going to go on an adventure on a bad day. Wouldn’t it be better to send her away?”

“That’s… not bad. But will Ceris stay still?”

“Send Seris to the Baron right now. Hasn’t that child been an adult for a long time?”

He then looked at Gedric’s eyes. Gedric was a man sent by a baron. I had no choice but to pay attention to matters related to Seris.

Gedric nodded.

“It’ll be okay. I heard that the writer Baron’s commotion is almost over.”

“Oh, really? thank god. Things will work out easily…”

bang!

Suddenly Gedric stood up. He walked to the window and threw it open. Everyone in the conference room became nervous at his sudden actions.

“Crab, Gedric, why but..?”

The village chief asked cautiously. Gedric stared out the window for a moment and then shook his head.

“No, I’m mistaken.”

Gedric closed the window.

* * *

“No, I’m mistaken.”

I heard Uncle Gedric’s voice and the sound of the window closing. I didn’t do anything like sigh with relief.

I just moved my feet slowly and walked away from the village chief’s house.

It wasn’t until I couldn’t see the village chief’s house that I sighed.

The reason I took Seris with me was because I was worried that if she overheard the adults’ affairs, she might have some animosity towards the village.

However, the content of the meeting was not at the level of adults’ circumstances.

At the idea of offering Kara as a sacrifice, Seris was shocked and made a sound like she was holding her breath.

I would have been caught if I hadn’t been so foolish because I jumped over the fence with her.

‘Still, the results are better than I expected.’

Seris now has a reason to leave the village. The quest is as good as successful.

But there’s just one problem…

I slowly turned my head and looked at Seris. She trembled with a sense of betrayal, her complexion turning pale.

“…Are you okay?”

asked Seris in a worried tone.

“Yoo, Yoosung. Ji, Ji, I have to go home. We have to go quickly, quickly!”

Cerise held my sleeve and spoke in an earnest voice. I could feel her hands shaking through her sleeves.

“I understand. Let’s go home.”

Cerise and I hurriedly ran to her house. However, Seris could not run properly, perhaps because her legs were shaking. I had no choice but to squat down under her pressure.

“Mr. Yoosung…?”

“Post on your back.”

“Oh, no. are you okay. I can go alone.”

“He said he wanted to go home quickly.”

“ugh…”

She thought for a moment and put her arms around my neck.

I ran with her on my back. People around me looked at me with puzzled eyes, especially Lian, who had a fire in his eyes, but I ignored it and ran.

“Hey! Han Yu-seong, you fucking idiot!!!”

Of course, I ignored the swearing.

When Seris arrived home, she opened the door and went in.

“Kara!”

“Sister? Why are you doing this all of a sudden?!”

As Seris hugged her, Kara said in confusion. Seris gave strength to the hand holding Kara.

“Kara, it’s okay. Sister… Sister will protect you.”

“Sister, I’m suffocating… Huh? brother? When did you come… Or rather, why are you like this?!”

I answered by scratching my ears.

“Well…”