Knights, Let’s Smash Them

24 – Goblin subdued after 15 days (4)

A person holding a pickaxe.

A person looking somewhere with his arms crossed.

A person who moves gold ore on a cart.

And a chariot made of gold.

There were a lot of things like that in the plaza.

“This is not a statue!”

Heinz, who witnessed the terrible scene as it is, squealed. It’s not to tell you something you don’t know.

Even though I knew that everyone was thinking the same thing, it was a mixture of fear and dread.

I quickly scanned my surroundings.

Falling into a panic here only makes things worse.

‘Looking at the filth piled up, it looks like the goblins lived here and gathered gold.’

However, the reason why the Golden Goblin, who had been living a fine life until now, suddenly jumped out in fear was unknown.

They must have thought of this golden statue as an ornament in a mine or a stalactite in a cave.

It doesn’t make much sense to stab someone in the back of the head after making them careless.

They were definitely scared now.

Even though we were with the heavily armed knights, they couldn’t take their eyes off the passage leading to the other side of the plaza, let alone be wary of us.

“…… All ready for battle.”

I wasn’t the only one who was coldly judging the situation. Cianne and Emain Lua are already ready for battle, letting go of their lives.

Xian Ne glanced behind her and made eye contact with me.

Let’s answer with a silent nod, and the snow leopard knights keep their ranks and go down.

The deeper you went into the mine, the more gold you got. There was now more gold than stones commonly found in mines.

‘How much is all this?’

In the meantime, I suddenly thought of that, but I couldn’t relax my nerves at the expression of the statues that started to get more and more bizarre as I went downstairs.

So let’s finally reach the end of the mine.

“Gold! It’s gold! My men!”

The golden goblin that was following behind jumped up.

As they said, in the depths of the mine, like other golden statues, there were hardened goblins.

“What the hell happened?”

How talented are goblins to turn people into gold? At first, I thought it was a curse, but curses that affect monsters are not that common.

In the first place, a curse is the main use of ‘magic’, which is the opposite of magic.

It is generally ineffective against monsters, which are creatures born from demons.

“Hey, you are the captain here.”

I turned my head and glared at the trembling golden goblin.

Among goblins with intelligence between the ages of 7 and 10, this golden goblin is considered highly intelligent.

It’s probably about the intelligence of a 12-year-old.

You should be able to communicate without difficulty.

Then he shook his head vigorously.

“Right. I am the captain.”

“Tell me what happened.”

They have let their guard down considerably thanks to the food and tools people have with them.

Even if they killed their own people at the entrance, they won’t attack first unless we change and swing our swords now.

The theme of living in a group did not have a tribalistic personality to my surprise.

“I got the gold. Try hard. Then, all of a sudden, it became goblin gold… ….”

The golden goblin waved his hand and explained. The other goblins grouped behind them also nodded and agreed as if the words were correct.

“Did you touch anything strange?”

“No!”

“Did the ground suddenly shake?”

“No!!”

“Hmm… ….”

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t think of anything that could turn a sane person or goblin into gold itself.

It would have been easier to infer if it was petrification, but it is even more difficult if it is metal, and even more so if it is gold.

‘I don’t think there was anything like this in the records of the great and the small of the empire… ….’

It’s scary to think of it.

A possibility flashes through my head.

“Wait a minute, Captain Xianne!!”

“Why is that?”

“Please check to see if there are any small holes around here.”

“A hole?”

Two possibilities came to mind.

The first is a kind of unknown phenomenon called ‘disaster’. Literally a disaster. It refers to certain inexplicable phenomena of which neither the cause nor the cause is known.

For example, it snows in midsummer.

Large forest fires occur during the rainy season when heavy rain pours.

Something like the disappearance of a perfectly fine city.

Events that cannot be explained magically or logically. People called it a literal ‘catastrophe’.

Of course, when it was revealed later, most of the cases were the work of demonic runaways or powerful monsters.

Anyway, this was also a scale that could be called a ‘disaster’.

And the second one was on a scale similar to that of a disaster, but one cause could be clearly identified.

“There’s a hole over there!”

As befits a reconnaissance knight proficient in searching, Heinz quickly grasped the terrain even now, when the flickering torch was the only source of light.

“Wait a minute.”

After biting off the knights for a while, I slowly approached the hole.

A small hole that a child, that is to say, a goblin, could crawl through.

‘The whole area is surrounded by gold, but only here is a normal rock…… It’s 100%.’

The conjecture, which was just a hypothesis, was gradually turning into a fact.

If this is really true, Count Min Rupel…… No, it was an incident that had to be reported up to the level of the emperor.

“Captain Xianne, I think we need to get out of the mine first… ….”

“Admin!! Danger!!”

The moment I was about to stand up.

Sianne jumped in and pushed me hard. At the same time, her sword glowed white.

“Daffodil!!”

Flash!

A six-pronged wall of mana that spreads out like a flower bud. As soon as there was a blindingly bright flash, a tremendous amount of energy erupted from the hole.

“Knight Commander!!”

“Keuuugh…… !”

In an instant, the shield Cianne had spread cracked. Its power was so great that even a shield covered with an aura by an excellent knight could be cracked with a single blow.

The energy that was spouting out with the momentum to devour the entire space only calmed down after breaking through the four layers of the defense.

“Ha ha ha ha…… !!”

If Cianne hadn’t reacted in time, it was a moment that could have been a big deal.

Wobbling.

She spun around as if her legs had loosened because she had so many auras in an instant.

“Captain Xianne!”

Let’s run quickly and support her body, the captain of the knights asks in a trembling voice.

“Just…… What happened?”

“I am more certain now.”

I handed Xianne over to the knights who came running as well and said.

“At the end of the mine, there seems to be a rare gold dragon.”

***

Dragon.

That noble, arrogant, and powerful race was bound to be praised in any fantasy.

It was the same in this damn world I fell into.

In the first place, even goblins and orcs roam freely, but it’s a little strange that there are no dragons.

It’s because I forgot because I was assimilated for almost 5 years, because this was a world in a novel.

Anyway, I couldn’t openly be in a space emitting energy that turned people into gold.

We had to get out of the mine that way.

I never thought the clear, cool air would feel so sweet. Even though I was only in for a few minutes, the feeling of refreshment in my lungs was different.

After catching my breath for a while.

“But a dragon?”

Sianne asked with a bewildered expression.

She was the leader of the knights who had been cool a moment ago, but she had returned to the usual cool knight leader.

“Yes, that is a gold dragon.”

“Nonsense… …. I believe the last gold dragon disappeared 200 years ago.”

The person who responded was vice-captain Emain.

She was the eldest and most experienced of the Snow Leopard Knights, so she excelled in these fields.

“It is said so, but it is not true.”

How do you know?

I was a reader of this novel, so of course I know.

It was a novel I read quite a while ago, so it was sparsely remembered, but I do remember a few certain events.

Right now, the great expedition itself from 3 years ago was no different than what the original protagonist had to carry, and I dragged it on my own.

It was questionable where the main character of the original, who was supposed to be fine, had disappeared.

Even after defeating the great army of monsters, the main character did not even show his nose.

In the first place, the reason why I took the position of administrator of the Black Lion Knights was that if I was in the most famous and strongest knight order in the empire, I would be able to hear the news.

After all, even now, two years after that, instead of contacting the main character and returning to the original world, he was captured by a black company and worked like cattle.

But that’s why I knew a lot of things that Xianne and the other knights didn’t know.

Gold dragons never went extinct.

I was just asleep.

One of the achievements of the Black Lion Knights right now is the gold dragon, which helped decisively in the eradication of the evil dragon of the southern sea, ‘Lyric’.

“And everyone must have felt it earlier. I mean the dragon roar.”

“As expected.”

Lonz muttered as he caressed my thick forearm. Goosebumps were sprouting up on his muscular warrior’s arm, which seemed like there was nothing to be afraid of.

“An entity that randomly spits lore in this way is neither adult nor hatchling. At least they know what their breath means.”

“Then… ….”

“Yes, a golden dragon egg. It is still alive and breathing.”

The Rupel Territory is also bordered by the Ardaros Mountains, the second highest mountain range in the Empire.

And usually these mountain ranges are sheltered by mysterious beings who have little contact with humans.

As the Ardaros Mountains are quite wide, there is a possibility that the dragon’s nest extending from there coincidentally came into contact with the gold mine near Tiffin Village.

“Geuk… ….”

At the mention of a gold dragon, the goblins who were sitting quietly at the entrance listening to our conversation trembled.

Because dragons are feared by both humans and monsters. As a goblin belonging to the lowest class among monsters, it is only natural to feel fear.

“But what are they going to do?”

That’s right.

What to do with them now?

I was thinking of killing them all and stealing them anyway…….

If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have known that a rare gold dragon existed in the mine.

“The only good goblin is a dead goblin!”

As expected, like a man close to a Berserker, Lonz threw out his dirty words even though the goblins were watching.

“Kreurreuk!? No, no!”

“Okay!”

Lonz rises from her seat and aims her halberd at the golden goblin.

With the momentum to wield it at any moment, the goblins realized who they were with.

“Geruk, Gerreuk!!”

As the golden goblin collapsed on the ground once more, dozens of goblins also slammed their heads into the ground.

“I feel sorry… ….”

“Looking at it like this, it’s like that again… ….”

Looking at Barbara and Heinz’s desperate look, he said.

“What do you think of Captain Xianne?”

“Honestly, since it’s a monster, it’s right to deal with it, but looking at what it’s doing right now, it’s not very hostile… ….”

“Captain!!”

“How can we make a promise?”

Make a pact with a monster.

This is a novel idea.

I also didn’t have any special hostility toward monsters.

Well, in the back alleys of the Empire, there is even a red light district where succubuses openly sell.

Because I abandoned the perception that I had to kill all monsters long ago.

“Then let’s do this. Does anyone have a servant here?”

“Ah…… Well, I have a record notebook that I use when reconnaissance.”

“Your sense is amazing, Heinz.”

After accepting the notebook and pen that Heinz handed over, I quickly scribbled on the white paper.

“What are you doing?”

“It’s a bit like that if you just do it verbally. Oh, okay.”

I showed the notebook with several lines of text to the golden goblin, and pulled out a dagger from my bosom.

At the flashing day, the guy freaks out and backs away.

“Hey Goblin. I will rob people from now on, I won’t!!”

“I won’t! I won’t do Mr. Dot!!”

The Golden Goblin vigorously waved his hand and expressed his will to live somehow.

“Really? Then get in trouble here.”

“Is it difficult?”

“It will sting a little.”

I set the notebook down and pricked the golden goblin’s finger with the tip of my dagger. Green blood oozes out.

“Keck!! No, I will!! Really!”

“Don’t worry, I’m not trying to kill you. You can see it here in the notebook, dip your fingers in it.”

The golden goblin obediently obeyed my words and put a finger on the notebook.

[Rupel Territory Goblin Standard Labor Contract]

The shape of the goblin’s fingerprint is clearly visible on the paper, I said while drying the signature written in blood using drying magic.

“Okay. From now on, your name is Chunshik.”