Poor Noble Nord’s Adventure

9. Final Day Of Gathering

The sight of Geniuses returning all battered shocked the other adventurers.

One after another, they asked what happened with concern. When they told them they had encountered a horde of goblins, the adventurers’ faces briefly relaxed, only to be surprised again when they learned how large the horde was.

Before leaving the forest, they counted the goblin corpses in the area. To their amazement, there were over 40 goblin bodies.

According to Geniuses, they fought goblins multiple times, both in the clearing and in the forest.

Though they tried to escape from the seemingly endless wave of goblins, they were caught up and decided to make their stand at a spot where they could coordinate better.

From their testimony, it seems they fought more than 50 goblins.

Having survived such a fierce battle, Geniuses was praised by other adventurers and the Alchemy Guild, though they seemed a bit embarrassed by the compliments. Nord too was praised for rushing to help and for his combat skills.

Once again, Nord prepared a meal that was even more luxurious, thanks to the fish he had caught.

Geniuses, in gratitude, generously shared their food supplies. That said, it was the injured and bloodied ones who truly needed the food (magic could heal wounds, but it couldn’t restore stamina), so Nord provided more fish than usual.

The result was a lavish meal (mostly preserved food). The best part was that one of the Geniuses, Shino, was quite skilled in cooking. She’d learned from her upbringing, as her family ran an inn back in her hometown, and she fully displayed her culinary skills, even in such limited conditions.

As they enjoyed the food, other adventurers joined, and the atmosphere turned into a full-blown feast.

By this time, Geniuses had already told their heroic tale for the umpteenth time, and one of the listening adventurers remarked:

“If there were that many goblins, then their nest must be pretty big. They might not have gold or silver, but they could be hoarding something valuable.”

Hearing this, Geniuses exchanged glances, their faces glowing red in the firelight.

They had been so focused on surviving that they hadn’t even thought about that.

Then the party leader, Geniuses, made an offer: “How about we explore the goblins’ nest tomorrow on the final day?”

Nord hesitated upon hearing those words.

Because of the battle with the goblin horde, they had gathered fewer herbs than expected today—about 60% of what they usually did.

Even though they had already gathered a decent amount, should they really spend more time tomorrow on something else?

In the battle with the goblins, Nord had also achieved significant results, but no matter how many he killed, it wouldn’t earn him money for the herb-gathering commission.

He’d heard that goblins tend to hoard treasure in their nests, but since they were only goblins, there might not be anything significant.

However, if they did find money, what would he do?

In the end, after much deliberation, Nord decided to go for the adventure. He had succumbed to the temptation.

When he told Geniuses he’d join them, the rest of the group was delighted.

It seemed his timely assistance in their crisis had greatly boosted their opinion of him.

The next day, Geniuses suggested they start the exploration as soon as the sun rose.

Nord agreed—if it turned out to be a dead end, he could always gather herbs with the remaining time.

As Nord prepared for the next day and lay down, sleep quickly overtook him. He fell into a deep slumber…

§

The next day, Nord woke up and immediately prepared.

Geniuses did the same, and they set off once again toward the mountains where they had fought their life-or-death battle.

The goblin corpses, after a day, had already begun to emit a foul stench.

There were also goblin bodies scattered in the forest where Geniuses had fought while fleeing.

In the area where they were attacked, the herbs were growing quite abundantly.

To Nord, they looked like scattered copper coins, and he often felt the urge to leave the exploration and return to herb gathering, but he managed to suppress it.

“…! Stop.”

While exploring the forest with Geniuses, one of the party members, Almina, suddenly whispered to them.

Almina was born the daughter of a hunter in her homeland and had the ranger skills of an archer.

In yesterday’s battle, she had run out of arrows and had fought goblins in close combat with a dagger.

In the dense forest full of obstacles, her bow was at a disadvantage, so she now carried it on her back.

Almina moved carefully, without making a sound.

Though they were in the forest, her movements were completely silent, making Nord painfully aware of how amateurish his own forest-walking skills were compared to a true ranger.

After a while, Almina returned.

It seemed she had found what appeared to be the goblins’ nest.

Following Almina’s lead, they moved cautiously to the indicated spot.

Sure enough, they spotted a goblin. It seemed to be a lookout, and only one was visible.

Nord and Geniuses whispered among themselves, careful not to be noticed by the goblin.

“There might be more survivors. Do we go?”

When Nord asked Geniuses, he nodded. Geniuses then instructed Almina to take out the lookout goblin.

Almina stepped a few paces away from the group, nocked an arrow, and quietly drew her bow.

As she focused her aim on the goblin and steadied herself, she released the arrow.

The bowstring, drawn to its limit, let out a faint twang as the arrow shot out with incredible speed.

The sound was barely audible amidst the morning birdsong and rustling leaves, and no one but the party members heard it.

The arrow struck the lookout goblin’s head, and it died without even realizing what had happened.

Nord and the others cautiously approached the goblins’ nest.

It seemed there was only one lookout, and no reinforcements arrived.

The nest was a cave that stretched further inside. From the entrance, they couldn’t see what lay within.

Without speaking, they exchanged glances, silently conveying their intentions.

──Let’s go.

They lit the torches they had prepared the night before and stepped into the goblin’s cave.

§

The cave was dark, and it was deep.

Inside, the visibility was worse than outside, so Nord and the others proceeded cautiously. Geniuses in particular, still fresh from the terror of being surrounded yesterday, was especially wary, constantly watching their rear, as if determined to avoid being flanked again.

The cave was intricate, with narrow passages continuing on. It seemed the goblins had dug it out, as they often emerged into larger spaces.

They encountered a few goblins there, but they were few in number, and quickly subdued without much delay.

The wide spaces—rooms—appeared to be living quarters for the goblins or places where they stored food, used for various purposes. But the primitive items they found had little value, only a few copper coins.

Nord, who had held some expectation before entering the cave, felt his hope slowly withering—this might end up being a bust.

As they passed through a room filled with goblin corpses and approached the next passage, Almina, walking at the front, once again signaled the party to halt.

The reason became clear immediately. Voices of goblins could be heard from deeper in the passage.

It seemed like there were quite a few of them.

After quietly deciding on a plan, Nord and the others advanced deeper into the passage.

At the end of the passage was an exceptionally large space.

The goblin voices grew louder and louder, echoing off the cave walls.

Amid that noise, Almina began her preemptive attack, firing arrows.

The goblins in the room, after staring dumbfounded at the arrows sticking out of their comrades’ heads, finally seemed to realize they were under attack.

They frantically turned toward the entrance, but by then, the assault had already begun.

Before the arrows even hit, Nord and Geniuses burst into the room, cutting down the goblins with their swords, killing them instantly.

Shino followed closely behind, throwing a knife in hand. The knife embedded itself into a goblin, which screamed in pain, only to be finished off by Geniuses moments later.

Lagging behind, Gegos rushed in, thrusting his spear and skewering goblins. While his spear wasn’t easy to wield in the narrow cave, it was more than enough in this open space.

Lysis, who was prepared to cast healing magic if any of their allies were injured by the goblins, found no need to use it.

There had been more than a dozen goblins in the room, but caught off guard by the surprise attack, their numbers were reduced, and they were slaughtered without ever regaining control of the situation.

All that remained were their corpses.

“Is that it?”

Shino said lightly.

“…Looks like it.”

“Seems so.”

Almina and Lysis had been watching cautiously for reinforcements coming from the path they’d taken, but there were no signs of any.

“There’s no other passage.” Gegos, holding his spear ready at his side, scanned the room and confirmed there were no exits. It seemed this was the last room.

“Well then, let’s loot the place.”

At Geniuses’ suggestion, they began searching the room.

Two of them, Gegos and Almina, volunteered to stand watch at the entrance, while the others rummaged through the room.

The final room—this great hall—was much larger than the previous ones and filled with many items, so the search took some time.

“What the heck is this?”

Shino muttered, fiddling with some junk whose use was unclear.

So far, they hadn’t found anything valuable.

“Oh!”

At that moment, Geniuses shouted excitedly.

Nord looked over, curious, and saw that Geniuses had pulled out a box.

It was an old box, not one made by the goblins. It was likely something they had stolen from humans during a raid.

The wooden box was decorated with carvings and had a keyhole.

When Geniuses shook it, they heard a jingling sound.

“Is it money?”

Shino asked hopefully.

“Maybe… let’s see…”

The box was about the size of a small child.

Geniuses jammed a goblin’s sword into the box and pried it open. Since no one in the group, including Nord, had lockpicking skills, it was the only option.

“Whoa!”

Sure enough, the contents of the box were just as Shino had predicted.

It seemed this was the goblins’ treasure chest, and inside were various items.

There were shiny peridots and obsidian, though they weren’t worth much, but there was also a decent amount of coins stashed away.

“Hmmm… mostly copper coins.”

Geniuses rummaged through the contents, the sound of coins jingling.

The others, curious, gathered around. Almina even left her post to take a peek, leaving Gegos to do the guarding for both of them.

In the end, after counting the contents of the chest, they found a large number of copper coins and, to their delight, a few silver coins.

Unfortunately, there was nothing else of great value, so the money would be their reward for this adventure.

By the time they left the goblin cave, the sun had fully risen.

The next morning, they would board a wagon from the Alchemist Guild and begin their journey back to the royal capital.

Before sunset, Nord and Geniuses gathered herbs, completing the last of the herb-gathering work for this request.

That night, just like the day before, they held a feast.

While everyone had been hopeful about their haul from the adventure, in the end, there hadn’t been much, so they sighed in disappointment, saying, “Well, they were just goblins, after all.”

Incidentally, when the goblin cave’s treasure, including the silver coins, was split among Nord, Geniuses, and the rest of the six-person group, it came out to about the same amount they would have earned by gathering herbs for a full day.