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Translator: Nonon
The goblin subjugation was a good experience in various ways, but I feel like I myself wasn’t of much use.
The adults of the village were more used to it than I’d thought and they all moved safely.
I was thinking about using Shield to protect them if anybody was about to get attacked by goblins or setting a solidified air in the shape of a nail in the ground to stop them from moving, but I didn’t get the chance to do either of those even once.
I started to think that knowledge of the fantasy from my previous life means little in front of actions backed by the experience.
Another thing I was made keenly aware of was the difference in out physiques.
The adults of the village were able to calmly swing their spears at goblins that I barely escaped alive from and defeat them probably because of the great difference between their physiques.
The average height of the adults participating in the subjugation was 1.8 meters, while Goblins are around 1.2 meters.
Their reach and weight are different, and they were able to stop the charge of goblins with a single thrust of a spear.
If I used body strengthening magic, I’d also be able to stop the rush of goblins, but I probably wouldn’t have as much leeway as the adults had.
If I’m this troubled by mere goblins, defeating bigger monsters would be a dream within a dream.
“Hmm, a heavy attack… there’s a limit to using heavy weapons too…”
If I had a 1-hit sure kill offensive magic, I wouldn’t be having such a hard time, but lightness of the weapon made with sky-attribute is the root of the problem, so it can’t be solved with magic.
The only way to solve this problem with magic would be to get a magic gun, magic tool that uses engraving magic.
Magic gun, as its name suggests, is a gun that uses magic and I’ve heard that it’s only been around for 10 years.
There are two types of this gun: the one that uses your own magic as projectiles and one that uses magic stone bullets and you can shoot medium-level fire-attribute attack magic, regardless of your own attribute.
However, a single magic gun is so expensive that you could buy a house in the royal capital at the same price and a bullet made from magic stone costs several gold coins.
It’s not a price that a country kid like me could afford.
In the end, I have no choice but to do something with sky attribute magic and body strengthening magic.
The day after goblin subjugation, I headed out to pick medical herbs in the morning.
Yesterday, I noticed that medical herbs were growing on the way to the cave, but, as expected, I couldn’t afford to start picking them.
During the day I caught fish at the stream and ate it, but soon I won’t be able to catch anything because their numbers decrease after the spawning season and the fish that survive winter dive deeper into the depth.
In winter, the variety and the quantity of medical herbs will also decrease and the forest mice will start hibernating.
I have to start thinking how to earn money in winter now.
When I visited grandma Karisa’s pharmacy with a basket of medical herbs and fish I cough in the stream, I found Mr. Zeol there.
Apparently he was learning how to brew tea ever since he started teaching me the basics of body strengthening magic.
“Grandma Karisa, I bought medical herbs. Also, fish is a bonus.”
“Let me see, good job on collecting so much. You didn’t uproot them, right?”
“If I do that, I’ll lose my earnings next year.”
“That’s right, you have to leave the roots.”
Grandma Karisa hammered the way to gather medical herbs into my head when I first started frequenting this place.
At that time she told me over and over again to not remove roots and leave enough so that they grew next year too.
“Good work yesterday, Mr. Zeol.”
“I heard that you worked hard at dissecting, Nyango.”
“I can’t defeat goblins alone, so it was a good opportunity to learn dissecting.”
“We’re planning to go on subjugation campaign next week too, so be prepared.”
“Yes, I’ll try to be a little more useful next time.”
As I talked with Mr. Zeol while drinking the tea that grandma Karisa brewed, the Sun had completely set.
If I didn’t bring fish home, the dinner table at home would be poor.
“I’ll be going home too, Mrs. Karisa. Sorry for bothering you so long.”
“Not at all, you’re buying tea leaves so don’t worry about it.”
Mr. Zeol is a scary old man to ruffians and brats, but he treats young children and the elderly kindly.
The gap between the way he glares at Miguel and the way he sips tea at the pharmacy is interesting.
We were going in the same direction, so I asked him about subjugation on the way home.
“Are goblins and kobolds subjugated the same way?”
“That’s right. It’s just that kobolds are faster, so you have to be careful.”
“How long will the cave that was cleaned yesterday be safe?”
“I don’t know that, but, well, there probably won’t be any other monsters settling there during this winter.”
It seems that the breeding season of goblins and kobolds is in the spring and when that time comes, they form new groups and a lot of times, they choose the cave that was subjugated in autumn as their habitat.
“How many more subjugations will you do this year?”
“That depends on the movements of the monsters, but it would be good to do it 3 more times at least.”
“Would it be every week, after all?”
“Well, people that participate in the subjugation also have their own life matters to look after. We can’t really do it every day.”
The people who participated in subjugation yesterday were all old men from the village.
Mountain villages like Attuca can’t afford to make requests to the adventurers in the town, so the village men participate in the subjugation in between their work.
Therefore, the subjugation is carried out once a week to not neglect the main work.
In other word, there’s a week until the next subjugation, and I have enough time to come up with something.
“Hm, don’t think about becoming active in such a hurry.”
“Eh… no, that’s not what I…”
“Don’t try to lie, it’s written on your face. ‘I want to do something’, something like that…”
“Well, that’s because I could only help with dissecting yesterday…”
“Nobody would think about relying on a hatchling who has just finished the rite of independence.”
Not really, Dulles’ father was fully prepared to leave dissecting to me… other adults were certainly making sure that I didn’t get injured though.
“So I can’t become an adult suddenly.”
“Well, yeah. Besides, you’re going to leave the village eventually, right? It’s not good to depend on people who are going to go away.”
I’ve never told Mr. Zeol that I wanted to go to the city and live as an adventurer, but maybe it’s something that you can just feel.
My home and the village will be fine, it’s grandma Karisa from the pharmacy I’m worried about.
“Think about this year’s subjugation campaign as a lesson, watch and learn. Also, if you want go out in the city and become an adventurer, you have to become able to hunt down goblins alone at least.”
“I still have a lot to learn.”
“Fufu, if you get cocky after just only becoming able to use the body strengthening magic, you’ll end up dead in a heartbeat.”
“I’ll keep it in mind…”
We arrived at the village chief’s house so I was thinking about separating from Mr. Zeol and heading home, but the adults of the village seem to have gathered up for some reason.
“Oh, it’s Mr. Zeol. Mr.Zeol is back!”
“What is it, what’s the fuss about?”
“Miguel hasn’t come back.”
“My son too!”
The one whose color had drained from his face was Dulles’ father and I can also Kimble’s parents.
“Seems like he took a sword from village chief’s storehouse.”
“We searched inside the village but we couldn’t find them.”
“Don’t tell me they entered the mountain? Just kids alone?”
That’s when the village chief appeared with a weary expression.
“Mr. Zeol, what should we…”
“Sun has already set and moon will eventually too. It would be hard to find them until dawn.”
“Can’t we do something about it?”
“Monsters see well at night. We have to rely on light to even walk inside the forest. Besides, if we walk around with torches, there’s a risk that we might cause forest fire.”
Those who live in the village don’t need to be told how reckless it is to enter the mountain at night, but after hearing the same thing from Mr. Zeol’s mouth, a sense of despair spread through the gathered adults.
“Nyango, which mountain did you enter today?”
“Today I was in the northern mountain along the stream but I didn’t see Miguel and the others.”
Whenever I enter the mountain, I pay attention to my surroundings so I’m not attacked by monsters or beasts.
That hasn’t changed even after I started moving around with Steps.
Since I started walking in a higher position, I can see further than before and I’d definitely have noticed if Miguel and the others were in northern mountains.
“I see. Which mountain did they enter?…”
“Hey! Somebody said that they saw them head towards the western mountain!”
It must be the person who was searching for them inside the forest, he notified us with a loud voice while running towards us.
“Western mountain… did they…”
“Hey, Nyango, where are you going?!”
“The charcoal making hut. They might be saved even if they’re attacked by goblins in Western Mountain if they escape to the charcoal making hut.”
“Hey, wait, Nyango!”
Shaking off Mr. Zeol, I started running towards the charcoal making hut in the western mountain.
Miguel and his goons piss me off, but I don’t wish for them… to be eaten by goblins.
I used body strengthening magic and ran with about 20% of my strength.
With this, I’ll be able to run for a long time at the same speed as my full power sprint without strengthening.
Besides, when I use body strengthening magic, my eyesight also gets strengthened and I start seeing in dark better.
I ran on a village road that looked the same as it did in the daytime, partly because of the bright moon, toward the west mountain.
