Chapter 20

After leaving the Association of Demon Swordsmen, we took a moment to look at the three request letters.

"Goblins, Ogres, and Chimera... I know the basics from rumors and encyclopedias, but I've never seen them in person..."

At this, the two of them exchanged a surprised glance.

"Really? I've heard that the number of monsters has increased recently... I thought you'd see them often..."

"Yeah, I've heard that too..."

Whether it's good luck or bad, I've never encountered any of them.

Then Rose tilted her head and asked,

"By any chance, are you from a noble family, Allen?"

Probably because I said I've never seen a monster, she thought that.

Unfortunately, I wasn't raised in a greenhouse but in the open air.

"No, no, I'm from a very rural area—Gozan Village."

"Gozan Village...? Sorry, I don't know it."

"Haha, I thought so."

I chuckled.

Gozan Village has a population of less than a hundred, a very small village.

Probably only the villagers, merchants who trade with the village, and local officials would know about it.

It's that small and economically insignificant.

It's no wonder Rose didn't know about it.

I cleared my throat and brought the conversation back on track.

"Alright, what do we do? Among these three, we should probably start with the Goblins, right?"

The request to slay five Goblins.

Among the three requests, it has the highest number of required kills, but the combat power of each individual is not very high.

This is probably the easiest request among them.

"That's right... We should warm up with the weakest Goblins first, then move on to the Ogres."

"I agree. The Chimera should be last."

Our opinions were perfectly aligned.

"All three appear in the Zohl Forest... Maybe they considered our convenience."

"Mr. Bonzo... He's a kind person, isn't he?"

"Yeah. His big, round eyes say it all."

"He looks scary, but he's probably a good person. He seemed to be an old acquaintance of Ms. Lea."

In any case, it's helpful that all three requests are in the same location.

We don't have to go through the trouble of moving around.

"Let's go then."

"Ooh!"

And so, we headed towards the Zohl Forest, a bit away from Orest.

■

After about an hour of brisk walking, we arrived at the Zohl Forest and started looking for our first target, the Goblins.

Of course, there are other dangerous monsters in the forest.

Therefore, we moved quietly to avoid making unnecessary noise.

Then,

"Look, Allen..."

Lea whispered and pointed to the hoof prints on the ground.

"Are these... Goblin footprints?"

"Yes, no doubt."

"They're still fresh. ...They're close."

"Alright, let's be even more careful from here on."

Lea and Rose nodded, and we continued our search for the Goblins, trying to remain undetected.

Two minutes later.

"...There they are."

We found seven Goblins in front of us.

Green skin.

About a hundred centimeters tall, bipedal.

Muscular build.

Holding wooden clubs at their waists.

(Seeing them for the first time... They're just as I heard.)

Fortunately, the Goblins haven't noticed us yet.

The seven of them were gathered in one spot, greedily eating tree fruits.

"I'd like to take them all out at once, but... that's a bit too much, right?"

"Yes, our goal is training."

"Right, let's fight them head-on."

Our goal is not just to hunt Goblins.

The experience gained from fighting Goblins—real combat experience—is the purpose of this training.

If we ambush and kill them all, it won't serve the purpose of training at all.

"Lea, Rose, are you ready?"

"Yes."

"Of course."

After confirming their nods, I intentionally shook a nearby bush with my sword.

The rustling sound made the Goblins turn towards us.

"Geek!"

"Gyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyugyug