The Goblin Nest
Grulf was tired and needed to rest for a while before continuing on.
But in spite of being tired, he returned to his usual energy as soon as he drank some water.
Children tend to recover very quickly.
Shia said that she would let Nia follow the footprints.
Nia’s expression was very serious as she followed the goblin tracks.
“Mister Locke. I’m very sorry that this is taking a long time.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Obviously, the speed at which Nia could track the goblins was much slower than Shia.
There was no point in apologizing for that.
Besides, we weren’t trying to beat a record here.
And the mission was hardly urgent. We could go at a leisurely pace.
Grulf was also calm now as he walked.
“Shouldn’t you practice tracking the enemy too, Serulis?”
“Do you think so? Even if I’m a Warrior?”
“If you’re in a party, then you could leave it to someone more skilled. But there will be times when you have to work alone.”
“I guess that’s true.”
And so Serulis followed Nia and started to look for footprints.
Serulis was serious and a hard worker.
Shia, Grulf and I watched those two from behind.
We were prepared to give them advice if they missed anything.
After advancing for a while, Nia said in a hushed voice,
“I found the nest.”
“Very good, Nia.”
“You did well too, Serulis.”
“Mister Locke, thank you.”
Both Nia and Serulis had succeeded in tracing the footprints.
While it wasn’t exactly difficult, it was good for their first time.
The goblin nest was very large.
The entrance alone was wider and taller than 10 adult men.
We stopped at a short distance from it and observed.
“What do you think this is…? It is clearly not a natural cave…”
“It’s so big, and it is unlikely the work of goblins.”
“It must be an abandoned ruin of some kind. But I am not sure.”
It was not a rare thing for goblins to take abandoned ruins and turn it into their lair.
The only thing that goblins required was a roof and walls to protect them from the rain and the wind.
“Who would have thought that such a large ruin would exist near the capital…”
“I wonder if anyone else knows about it?”
Shia and Serulis said excitedly.
The guild was aware of all discovered ruins.
If there was a ruin near the location where the goblins appeared, they would have told us when we accepted the quest.
And they would have given us a map of the place.
“We don’t know if it is an old ruin yet.”
“That’s true. But it doesn’t look like the work of nature.”
“That’s true. In any case, we’ll investigate it after defeating the goblins.”
“Yes.”
Shia patted Nia on the head.
“You have good luck. You might be able to explore an ancient ruin on your first mission.”
“Yes, sister. I will do my best!”
And so we entered the nest in order to kill the goblins.
Nia and Shia walked in the front. Serulis was in the middle. And Grulf and I took the rear.
Nia’s skills were quite wonderful for her age.
Goblins were no match for her.
But she was still a child. And so she clearly did not have enough strength.
So it was better that she did not go on missions alone.
We continued through the ruins and ultimately killed five goblins.
I asked Grulf in a hushed voice.
“Grulf, are there any more?”
“Grrr.”
Grulf growled once and wagged his tail. He was probably saying that there were no more.
And so I patted him on the head.
A short distance from us, Shia was talking to Nia.
“Do you think that there are any more?”
“I don’t think there are any, sister!”
“And why do you think that?”
Shia was constantly teaching Nia.
I was sure that Nia would become a great Adventurer under Shia’s guidance.
As I thought this and watched Shia and Nia, Serulis walked over to me.
“What is it?”
“Uhhh…”
Serulis fidgeted. I figured it out.
She wanted me to question her, just like Shia was doing to Nia.
“So, Serulis. Do you think there are more goblins here?”
“No! I do not think there is.”
“And why is that?”
“Because of the number of footprints near the entrance. And also…”
Serulis explained as well as she could.
“Hmm. Correct.”
“Yes!”
Serulis raised a triumphant fist in the air.
After that, we all gathered the magic stones from the goblins.
Shia carefully taught Nia how to remove them.
It was one of the necessary skills when becoming an Adventurer.
After taking out the stones, we decided to burn the carcasses later, and explore the ruins.
“There doesn’t seem to be anything here.”
It was just very wide with a very high ceiling.
We didn’t find anything interesting, and Nia was visibly disappointed.
“Nia. Most ruins don’t really have anything to discover, you know.”
“Yes.”
“But even if they are empty, you can learn things about the past from the structure.”
“Yes, sister. I will keep that in mind!”
As the sisters talked like this, Serulis said,
“Maybe there is something magical here?”
“There is definitely no magic cast on this place.”
“No hidden doors with concealment spells…?”
“Not at all.”
I said, and Serulis too looked disappointed.
She looked just like Nia now. It was a little funny.
“I see. That’s too bad.”
“But I do feel magic energy.”
“Magic energy? What do you mean?”
“It means that at some time in the past, the cave was under a spell. Maybe a Sorcerer has been here before.”
“Hmm?”
Serulis tilted her head to the side.
Just then, a violent burst of fire blew in from the entrance of the cave.
