Chapter 6

The day after the aptitude test, Rune and I were in the first floor of the guild.

We immediately took on a request to earn money.

"These are all... Goblin extermination requests, huh?"

I muttered as I looked at the requests posted on the request board.

I had translated the first one using [Magic Language], but since they all seemed to be similar strings of text, I had a hunch.

However, I didn't expect that all the requests in every direction around Elphen would be for goblin extermination.

Still, if a woman called "Princess" was attacked near Elphen, it makes sense.

There must be a lot of goblins around here.

"Hey, you're the promising new recruit, right?"

I turned at the sound of a woman's voice.

There was a woman with long brown hair tied back.

She looked a bit younger than yesterday's Noll, probably around twenty.

She wore a brown hunter's outfit that seemed easy to move in. From the bow on her back, she was likely a hunter.

"Ah, yes. I'm Rudis from Elk Village."

"Hmm, you're the one. I was curious about what kind of guy would immediately become a mage."

The woman looked at me intently with her yellow eyes.

"You don't look very impressive."

"Hehe..."

I was glad I managed to hide my true strength, though I felt a bit disappointed.

"Ah, I'm Eris. As you can see, I'm a hunter."

"Eris, nice to meet you! This is my fellow townsman, Rune."

"Rune, nice to meet you!"

Rune and I greeted Eris enthusiastically.

"Yes, nice to meet you. By the way, you must have been surprised by these requests, right?"

"Yes. They're all about goblins... Is there a settlement nearby?"

"More like a forward base. The army is also involved, but they can't find it in the forest."

"I see. That's why there are so many goblin extermination requests."

"Well, if the lord paid more, everyone would work harder."

Eris glanced at the group drinking in the guild.

I see, the reward is too low, so no one is taking the requests.

I didn't know the going rate, but one del for each goblin.

From the guild cafeteria menu, one del buys a mug of ale.

That is indeed cheap.

Even if they're goblins, it should take some effort to take them down.

Eris continued:

"Ah, keep that to yourself. Though you don't seem to have any connections with the bigwigs."

"Of course. Still, we're new, so we'll start by diligently completing requests."

"Hmm, you're really earnest. It's good that new recruits are full of enthusiasm! If anything happens, come to me right away."

She seemed like a reliable older sister.

I could probably get more information from her in the future.

"Yes, I'll do that!"

Rune and I bowed together.

We decided to take on the goblin extermination request in the north of Elphen as our first job.

Rune, who was walking ahead of me on the northern road, seemed to be in high spirits.

In the form of Cecil, Rune's long blonde hair fluttered in the wind as she walked.

She wore iron armor and an iron sword, both second-hand and generic, but when Cecil wore them, she looked like a noble knight of a kingdom.

To be honest, I was in love with Cecil.

So every time Cecil... no, Rune turned around, I blushed like a boy.

Well, I am a boy right now...

"Lord Rudis! Does this armor suit me?"

"It's just iron armor. Don't put too much trust in it."

I replied sternly as usual, but I was grinning inside.

As the master of a familiar, let alone a former emperor, I shouldn't be grinning.

"Of course! But wearing armor reminds me of the knight captain."

"Fiora, you mean? Is she... still alive?"

The knights were the group of familiars I had when I was emperor.

The knight order was called the Mastima Knights, and the captain was the fallen angel Fiora.

Fallen angels are said to be immortal, but I don't know what happened to her.

"Maybe we'll meet again."

"Then, Lord Rudis, can I be the acting captain of the Mastima Knights until Fiora appears?"

"Sure, since you're the only one here."

"Yay! Now I'm a knight captain too!"

Rune had been this excited since we met.

I was happy that she was excited about our reunion.

"Come on, Lord Rudis!"

"Okay."

We held hands and stepped into the area where the goblins were reported.

In a small forest, Rune and I started looking for goblins.

"By the way, Rune. The goblins were speaking the Imperial language. Do you know anything about that?"

"Hmm. There were goblins in the Imperial territory too. They might be descendants."

"That makes sense. If they can understand, maybe we can tell them to leave Elphen."

However, goblins despise humans and only see them as food.

Negotiating with them would be extremely difficult.

I had made some of them my familiars, but they were special cases.

While thinking about this, I used [Detection] to search for magical reactions.

With the [Magic Supply] from Rune, my detection range was twice as wide as before.

"Yep... there are three of them. This amount of magic is definitely from goblins."

"Then I'll take the front line!"

"Sure, I'll leave it to you."

Still, ordinary goblins wouldn't be a match for us.

We appeared confidently in front of the goblins with minimal caution.

"H-Humans?!"

"Two of them! And they both look weak!"

"Let's make them our dinner!"

As expected, the goblins pointed their spears at us.

I was almost unarmed, just with a dagger.

Rune also didn't look heavily armored.

"Wait, goblins. Do you have a leader? If so, I want to negotiate."

"Shut up! Negotiating with humans is out of the question!"

One of the goblins ignored my warning in the Imperial language and charged with a spear.

Negotiation was indeed difficult.

If I showed overwhelming power, I might have been able to make them submit out of fear.

Appearance is important in tactics. They saw us as inferior.

Moreover, my current magic power was average.

"You, in front of Lord Rudis!"

Rune quickly drew her sword and cut off the tip of the goblin's spear.

Then she swung her sword at its head.

"A woman?!"

Another goblin, who was already charging at Rune, raised its spear.

I cast [Lightning Spear] at it before Rune could turn around.

"Ah!"

The goblin hit by the [Lightning Spear] fell and convulsed.

After a while, it foamed at the mouth.

I didn't mean to kill it, but it seems I did.

"What will you do now?!"

I prepared another [Lightning Spear] in my hand and asked the goblin.

"H-Human scum!"

The goblin bravely charged at us.

"In front of Lord Rudis! Be quiet!"

Rune quickly cut the head of the last goblin.

"Good job, Rune."

"Thank you! To receive praise from Lord Rudis again!"

Rune turned to me with a blood-stained sword and smiled.

A bit scary...

She's a slime, after all. Fundamentally, she doesn't care about the life or death of others.

Similarly, goblins are still goblins, even in this era.

They only see humans as food.

Negotiation would only work with the more intelligent ones.

Anyway, I'll take their ears.

Hmm? One of them is still breathing.

I looked at the goblin muttering something softly.

"Don't lose to humans... Please forgive me, Lord Beitz."

The goblin said this and then died.

Rune and I exchanged glances.

"Beitz?"

We both knew that name well.

Beitz was one of my former familiars.

A goblin wizard with a talent for magic.

Beitz became my familiar because he wanted to master magic, even though he was originally an enemy.

However, a goblin's lifespan is the same as or slightly shorter than a human's.

It's impossible for him to have lived for a thousand years.

But these goblins were speaking the Imperial language.

So it's possible that Beitz found a way to live longer.

Is Beitz the leader of these goblins?

No, Beitz wasn't the type to enjoy unnecessary killing.

"Is Beitz... still alive?"

"Beitz was indeed studying magic after parting ways with Your Majesty. But immortality magic..."

"Yeah. That's impossible."

I hope it's a misunderstanding.

On the other hand, the thought of meeting Beitz again was mixed with hope.

Anyway, I'll try to gather information from the other goblins.

If negotiation fails, I'll use force.

Still, I don't want to be cruel.

"...Rune, let's check other places."

"Yes, Lord Rudis."

We continued to hunt goblins.

However, no matter how much we threatened them, the goblins wouldn't reveal anything about Beitz.

There's a spell called [Insight] to distinguish lies, but I can't use it with my current magic power.

In the end, we only learned that there was a goblin leader named Beitz.

We returned to Elphen with about fifty goblin ears.

The sun was already setting.

"Heavy..."

"I'll carry them, Lord Rudis!"

"No, it's fine."

Let a girl carry them while I walk leisurely?

I don't know what people would say.

I was used to heavy labor from farm work, but it was still heavy.

We should take on fewer requests and think of other ways to earn money.

Still, this kind of hard work as an adventurer is somehow rewarding.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead and headed to the guild.