by Yuu Tanaka
There were hobgoblins in there.
“Yeah.”
The four hobgoblins we had taken the skills from were about as strong as the Goblin King I killed once upon a time. So then, did they already have a Queen then? Had she already begun breeding?
How fast do goblins grow?
“They take about ten days to mature.”
My God, they’re like bugs. This may be bad.
There was a high likelihood the hobgoblins had begun breeding.
We should head back to the guild to report this. We can’t hunt them all by ourselves, and this might become a terrible disaster if left unchecked.
“Okay.”
Let’s just collect all the hobgoblin corpses for now—
That’s when I felt the presence of an outsider in the vicinity.
Fran!
“Got it.”
A floating sword would raise some eyebrows, so I wasted no time in floating back into Fran’s hands. She calmly gripped my handle.
Soon, we saw a group of adventurers come out of the forest; a dwarf was leading them. He was unimaginably fast given his short limbs. The team of newbie adventurers followed behind him.
“There!”
“Are these all goblins?”
“What the hell happened…?”
Cavalry’s here.
Crull and his crew had come with backup after letting the guild know about the goblin outbreak.
“Little lady, are you okay?!”
“Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine.”
“You… You killed all of them?”
“Yeah.” Fran nodded, shocking the ten adventurers who were present.
“You took down this many…alone? Really?”
“You must be an E-Rank… No, a D-Rank then. This wasn’t a small nest you took out—this was an entire army.”
“What?! D-Rank?!”
“Seriously?”
It looked like Fran was creating a stir among them. If I remembered correctly, an adventurer’s rank was determined by the threat level of the monsters they could handle on their own. Specifically, an adventurer would be able to solo monsters whose threat level were one lower than their current rank.
So, E-Rank adventurers banded together to take on E-Rank monsters. The same E-Rank adventurer could take on an F-Rank monster by himself.
Let’s see… One goblin is G-Rank, 10 goblins is F-Rank, 100 goblins is E-Rank. I think…
Which meant Fran was a D-Rank adventurer at the very least. But her rank estimate was increased since there were some high-rank variations thrown into the mix.
At least that’s what I could make out from the dwarf’s explanation. It felt nice that they were complimenting Fran. Feel free to lay it on thick, I thought to myself.
Fran herself was less interested in how people thought of her. She ignored the dwarf’s words and plopped the hobgoblin corpse in front of him.
“Here.”
“Is this a hobgoblin?”
“There’s some over there too.”
“Four of them in all?”
“The hobgoblins are already leaving their nest!”
It was too little too late for preventative measures. A Goblin Stampede was upon us in ten days.
“Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. The name’s Elevent. I’m a D-Rank adventurer from Alessa. What’s your name?”
“Fran.”
“You a drifter? Thanks for taking care of the goblins for us.”
“No? I’m an adventurer from Alessa too.”
“What? I don’t remember ever seeing you in all my ten years of adventuring in Alessa…”
He didn’t think it was possible for a small, cute girl like Fran to be such a powerhouse. The three men in Elevent’s group nodded in agreement. The other beastman seemed to feel the same way.
“I just signed up yesterday.”
“What?”
“No way! What’s your rank?”
“G.”
“G-Rank? Impossible!”
“Rank and actual strength have poor correlation with each other. You remember the elf who signed up to our guild? He’d been living off the forest a long time before he came to a human settlement. The guy was a G-Rank, but he was just as strong as a D-Rank.”
“I-I see.”
“I knew it.”
“Oh, you’re such a kidder, Fran.”
They had reached the conclusion that Fran belonged to a race with a long lifespan. It made more sense to believe that she was older, and therefore stronger, than her childish looks suggested.
They look satisfied with their explanation, but are you okay with this, Fran? They probably think you’re older than you look.
“I don’t mind.”
She didn’t seem to care what the others thought of her. It was too bad; I wanted to see the looks on their faces when she told them the truth.
Explaining ourselves would take up more time anyway.
“A-anyway, we won’t be able to raid the Queen’s cave on our own. Back to the guild!”
“He’s right. We’ll need you to come with us too, Fran.”
“All right.”
“Thanks. Let’s go, boys and girls. We don’t have a moment to lose!”
“Yeah!”
Name: Fran
Age: 12
Race: Beastman; Black Cat Tribe
Class: Spellsword
LV: 12
HP: 113; Magic: 66; Strength: 89; Agility: 91
Titles: Disassembly Expert; Healing Mage; Skill Collector; Fire Mage; Master Chef
[NEW] Veteran; Goblin Killer; Butcher
Fran had received so many extra points into her stats from all those level ups. She even got three extra titles!
Veteran: Defeat more than 100 enemies in a single battle. Effects: Life +40; Strength +20; unlocks the Determination skill.
Goblin Killer: Kill more than 100 goblins in a single battle. Effects: Unlocks the Goblin Killer skill.
Butcher: Kill more than 100 enemies in a single battle. Effects: Agility +10; unlocks the Calm Mind skill.
Skills
Determination: Grants immunity to Fear; greatly increases Recovery Rate.
Goblin Killer: Increases damage dealt toward goblins.
Calm Mind: Grants a calm mind by lowering psychological inhibitions to killing.
I wished I could get titles. They looked so cool. I guessed swords couldn’t get titles for themselves.
The Veteran title was particularly great. It was difficult to unlock, so it gave appropriately strong buffs. So strong that I thought it’d make the rest of our travels a cakewalk.
And there was something else I noticed…
The skills Fran had gained for herself weren’t counted toward my equipped skills. This meant she didn’t have to equip the skills I already had, allowing us to mix and match easier.
“Veteran? That’s super rare!”
Yeah?
“Only war heroes get that!”
It was nice seeing Fran get excited for her new titles.
“So, where’s the rest of your party?”
“I don’t have one.”
“You don’t? In that case, do you wanna team up with me?” Elevent extended his invitation. He sounded serious about it too.
“Hold on a minute, we were going to ask her to join our party.”
“Of course you were. Everyone wants a skilled adventurer on their team. But you’re much too inexperienced for her. She’ll throw off your team balance.”
The other parties began offering their invitations. They were finally taking Fran seriously now.
What do you think?
“You’re the only one I need on my team, Teacher.”
You could still join another party. Just don’t tell them about me.
“No thanks. You’re enough.”
All right then.
Working with a party would be difficult, since she wouldn’t be able to use me to my fullest extent. We’d give up on joining
one, at least for now.
We hurried back to Alessa after the goblin skirmish.
We had wanted to go to the blacksmith to get Fran’s armor repaired, but we had to report to the guild first. I cast Cleansing Magic on her as a matter of etiquette, but it didn’t quite help with the bloodstains and battered armor. Fortunately, the other adventurers didn’t seem to mind.
“How can I help you, Elevent?”
“I’d like to make a report to the GM.”
“Of course.”
Nell hurried to the back of the room. She understood how grave the situation was by the look on Elevent’s face. She came back a few minutes later to call us in.
“The Guildmaster will see you now. Right this way.”
We entered the Guildmaster’s office to find the GM and Donadrond waiting for us.
“Report.”
“Sir. We went to the site of the goblin sightings with Crull’s party. Fran was already on location when we got there.”
“And the battle was already over.”
“I see… Fran, I would like to ask for further details but…” The GM sighed. He knew how quiet Fran tended to be. He scrunched his face, trying to figure out a way to make her talk. I should throw him a bone here; the situation was looking dire. “Is there anything you’d like to share with us?”
Fran, show him the horns.
“Yeah. Here.”
Fran took the hobgoblin horns out of the Pocket Dimension.
“Are these…hobgoblin horns?”
The GM picked up the horns and cast Identify on them. A grim look of realization dawned on his face when he affirmed their authenticity.
“You mean you fought goblins and hobgoblins?! How many of them were there?” Donadrond shouted after looking at the horns.
“Lots.”
“Could you be more specific?”
About a hundred and thirty.
“About a hundred and thirty.”
Four hobgoblins. About twenty high-rank goblins.
“Four hobgoblins. About twenty high-rank goblins.”
“What?!” Donadrond sat up. “We’ve got the beginnings of a Goblin Stampede on our hands!”
“Calm down, Donadrond.”
“E-excuse me, sir…”
“Another question then, Fran. What happened to the goblins? Did they retreat?”
“I killed them all.”
“I see. So you killed them as they came.”
“Every last one.”
“That’s no good.”
How was that bad?
The GM proceeded to explain that the goblins Fran had fought were sent out of the goblin cave due to overpopulation. The goblins were breeding swimmingly, and the low-rank goblins were simply pushed out of house and home because of it. It accounted for their desperate ferocity in facing Fran. The fact that hobgoblins and high-ranks were mixed in their exiled horde meant the cave was already brimming with hobgoblins.
“Looks like we’re in for one hell of a Goblin Stampede this year.”
“Put out an emergency call to all our adventurers.”
“We’ll make preparations today and tomorrow. We’ll attempt to destroy the cave the day after that. Sound good?”
“Yes. We’ll get the Thief Class adventurers to scout ahead to locate the cave. We’ll put it up in the Special Requests board.”
“All right, I’ll get to rationing potions.”
It got busy all of a sudden. Even Nell called out to the other receptionists and began giving them orders.
“Elevent, we have another favor to ask of you, if you don’t mind.”
“You want me to take you to the location of the sighting?”
“Yes, and take some Thieves with you.”
“Got it. The very fate of Alessa hangs in the balance. I’ll pitch in what I can.”
The other adventurers nodded in agreement.
Fran looked like she wanted to go too, but I wasn’t going to allow it. We were going to get her armor fixed, and then, to bed. And that was that.
“Fran…please take the rest of the day off. I doubt that armor of yours could take any more punishment.”
“…’Kay.” Fran gave a disappointed nod. Thanks, GM!
They sorted out all the loose ends with Elevent’s team before they headed out.
“See you, I guess.”
“Oh, hold on. Please go to reception before you leave. You are now eligible for a promotion to F-Rank.”
“But I haven’t cleared five quests yet.”
“It’s silly to think an adventurer who could take on an entire army of goblins would still be in G-Rank. Also, G-Ranks won’t be able to participate in the Goblin Stampede raid. It’s much more convenient for us if we just give you a promotion.”
“Heh, yeah, we’ll need all the able-bodied adventurers we can get.”
“It’s an emergency request after all. We don’t know how many adventurers can join us. The more people who can contribute to our firepower the better.”
“We’ll put up the raid request tomorrow. Make sure to sign up for it.”
“I will.”
“Thank you.”
“Bye.”
We stopped by reception to get our Rank Up, per the GM’s instructions. The process was simple, and it only took a few minutes to complete. By the time we were done, Fran had an “F” on her Guild Card.
“It went up!” Fran exclaimed. She didn’t care what others thought of her, but was very particular about her own level and rank. It was a convenient way to measure her strength.
Okay. Now that that’s settled, let’s get your armor fixed. Do we have enough money for repairs?
“We’ll sell our weapons.”
Can we sell them to the guild?
The answer to that question was “no.” The guild only bought materials and produce from adventurers.
I guess we’ll take them to Garrus. What a blacksmith of Garrus’s caliber would do with such shoddy weapons, I had no idea.
Wait a second… We have another merchant friend we can go to!
“Who?”
Come on, I know he didn’t make much of an impression, but you remember Randell, right?
“Oh.”
I felt bad for Randell that Fran had almost forgotten about him, but I was guilty of the same thing.
He said his shop was along the west avenue.
“On it.”
I was worried how we were going to find his shop in the big city of Alessa, but we got there after a bit of searching. Randell’s store was near the entrance of the street, and he stood outside.
“Why hello, Fran! Fancy meeting you here. Decided to drop in?”
“Yeah. There’s some stuff I wanna sell.”
“Wonderful! Come in, please.” Randell opened the door to let us in.
The place is more of a mess than I expected. Goods were scattered about the cramped interior. There was an entire assortment of goods from honey and antidotes, to necessities and weapons.
“What a mess.”
Come on, I was trying to be nice!
Randell smiled wryly. “Haha. We get that a lot. I try to display whatever merchandise people might want to buy.”
Fair enough, but wasn’t there too much variety in the catalog? I wasn’t one to complain, but it’d be difficult for a guy off the streets to take an interest in most of these items.
“Buy these off me.”
“Why, you have an item bag now!”
“Kinda.”
With every item she pulled out of her bag, Randell became more and more nervous.
“That’s…a lot of stuff you have there.”
“There’s more.”
“What? Okay, hold on. Could you put those on the floor?”
“Okay.”
“That is a fine item bag you have there. I didn’t think it could fit so many items. Mine’s on the smaller side, so I’m quite jealous.” Randell talked to us while examining each and every weapon with a keen eye. It was the mark of a
true merchant.
“Hmm, these aren’t in very good condition…”
“I got them off goblins.”
“Aah, that explains it. Some of these are made of steel, so it’s not as bad as it could be… How does 13,000G sound?”
“Well?”
That’s about 200G per weapon… I think it’s pretty good considering how beat up the weapons are.
“Okay, deal.”
“Right this way.”
“Hm.”
We stowed all the money away in the Pocket Dimension. Withdrawing items was a cinch, making it the ideal wallet.
“Pleasure doing business with you. Thank you, and come again!”
I was sure we’d be visiting Randell soon enough. He had many interesting items on display; we’d certainly buy something from him next time.
Now that we had our money, we were off to Garrus’s.
We hurried to the marketplace where his shop was located.
“There’re a lot of merchants around.”
The bustling bazaar was filled with merchants, many of them with sour looks on their faces. I wondered if they had ever lodged complaints against the old blacksmith.
We entered his shop through the back door.
Hello.
“Aah, you two! What’s up? Your scabbard’s not done yet, if that’s what you’re here for.”
“That’s not why we’re here.”
We want you to fix her armor…
Garrus turned around, got one look at Fran and boomed, “WHAT HAPPENED?! It’s only been a day! What have you been up to?!”
“We fought some goblins.”
“Goblins?”
A goblin horde, to be precise. There were at least a hundred of them.
“Hobgoblins too.”
“What?! That’s terrible news! We’re about to have a Goblin Stampede on our hands!”
The Adventurer’s Guild has been informed.
“That’s good. Still, I’m impressed you made it out in one piece.”
“It’s all thanks to Teacher.”
“Teacher?”
That’s my name.
It occurred to me that I had never introduced myself to him. I had a bad feeling at the pit of my hilt.
“What kinda stupid na—”
