Seriously, goblins? Is that really something to be that excited over? Really, I've only had one encounter with goblins, or, one goblin. You know, back in the dungeon I was born in! Wasn't it like, the first monster I ever killed? No, wait, the lizard was my first... ah, memories of the past, if only life now was as easy as that... wait, what am I thinking? I was super weak then! I almost died to Ice Wolf too. Life is much easier now! I'm like, at least ten times stronger than I was then... yeah.
Damn it, I'm getting distracted again!
"Goblins...?" Theca mumbled.
"Yeah! Goblins! There's been reports of a small group of them in Vernin Woods! And get this, the reward is three gold coins! That's like... fifty silver coins for all of us!"
Oh! That's actually... a decent reward! I mean, I'm not dying for money or anything due to the bounty rewards I received, but even so, fifty silver is enough to buy a medium-sized mana core!
... Why's everybody so quiet? Theca, Quenilla, and even Ai are just staring at Ashin, seemingly... what's a good word, perplexed?
Theca finally spoke up, "It's sixty silver coins each, not fifty."
Huh? What, me? I knew that! Haha! Aha...
"And, also..." Quenilla built off of Theca's statement, "doesn't it take two days to get to the Vernin area? And then another day to get to the inner parts of the forest?"
Two... two days? No, three?! You can't be serious! Where even is this 'Vernin,' huh? Wait, I could just ask! Why didn't I think of that before?
"Well, yeah, it'll take three days to get there... but the reward's still great!"
"Uh... where exactly is that?" I asked, semi-interrupting, just as cool as I usually am! I'm... I'm not making up for anything, I swear.
"Eh? You really don't know? It's down south, close to the border with Kawilis!" Ashin, despite how he sounds and looks, might be more intelligent than I thought... in where things are, I mean. But... Kawilis? Is that some other nation I've never heard about?
"Oh, yes, Kawilis... I remember now." To keep up my fantastic reputation, I casually lied about my knowledge of where and what places are.
"Great... but, Ashin, why didn't the request be issued in the town near there? Seems pretty inconvenient to issue it all the way here." Quenilla spoke, questioning Ashin on something he probably didn't even know.
"Huh? Oh, pretty sure they did issue it over there first." To my surprise, he did know.
"Then why--" Quenilla was interrupted by Ashin
"The request has been up for three weeks and nobody has chosen it."
... huh?
"W-what?!" She stuttered obviously surprised, "If it's been that long, couldn't that small group of goblins expand like, tenfold?"
"Pshh! Of course not! It's only three weeks."
"Ashin," Theca finally spoke again... they seem to be pretty quiet, huh? Not that I'm one to speak when I've spoken a total of three times so far, "you're underestimating the reproductive ability of goblins. They're such a menace for a reason."
"Huh? If they can populate that fast, how long do they even live?!" Huh, surprisingly enough, I was wondering the same thing... weird.
"On the high end, three to five years. However, to mature into adulthood, they only require two weeks." Oh, That's actually some really good information to know! Although, I'm not sure I'll ever use it... Wait, how does that even work? Only two weeks, that's like no time at all compared to three or five years! They did say on the high end, though.
"Really? So there could be a whole bunch of them now?"
"Yes... but really, that's only true if there's both a lot of them and females among their group."
"On that note, did the request paper say anything about how many goblins there were?" Quenilla asked.
"Hm... well, it said that a group of merchants were attacked by a group of five goblins. Although, it was pretty stupid of them not to hire any adventurers to defend them, don't you think?"
"I have to agree, but that's not the point here, Ashin..." Quenilla half mumbled, seemingly slightly disappointed in the poor fool.
"Five...?" Theca seemed to think for a moment or two. Of what? I have no idea, "It was most likely a hunting party that attacked the merchants, so it can be assumed that there are at least forty goblins there, not including children. By the time we got there, there could be even more, however."
Geez, forty? That's a lot... the most monsters I've fought at the same time were four, but goblins are probably a lot weaker, right? I mean, pretty much the day I was born I killed one! They must be super weak, totally.
"Seriously?! That's a lot!" Ashin displayed his opinion on the matter in the most predictable way imaginable.
"Wouldn't that classify as a D-Rank threat? Maybe even C-Rank if there are a couple evolved goblins with them..." Quenilla spoke.
"Whoa! You think some of them could be evolved?"
"It's possible with a group as large as that, yes..." Theca answered Ashin's question, a hint of concern in their voice.
Evolved goblins, huh... what would those be? Look, I'm not some goblinologist, I don't know the next thing about them! Hm, but using my former knowledge of fantasy games and stuff, I can maybe assume... they'd be called hobgoblins? Eh, I don't know.
"Even so, we can't just not do the request now! Even if that's a possibility!" Ashin once again spouted nonsense... wait, what did he say? Is this guy insane or something?
Seriously, That Theca person said there could be like, forty goblins! The most monsters I've fought at the same time is like, five! Then again, the reward is really good, and there will be five of us.
"Come on, Ashin! Even for you, that's stupid!" Oh geez, Quenilla seems pretty irritated this time.
Either way, while the three, or really, two of them are arguing, let's discuss the pros and cons of going on this mission! Hah... it's at times like this I wish I had paper. Guess I'll have to be fine with... my imagination.
Anyway, Pros! Number one, Money! And lot's of it too! Wealth is the underlying greed that drives all people. And, even though I'm technically not a person anymore, I'm no exception! Plus, I split the reward halfway with Ai since she's doing half the world, but in this case, I get sixty silver!
Number two, Power, strength! Every enemy I defeat feeds my ever-growing strength! Hah-hah-hah! Ahem... Megalomanic tangent away with, as you probably know, killing things makes me stronger! And with there being a whole forty goblins, I'll totally level up! At least once, I hope. As well, if I use Gluttony, I'll also be getting new forms and extra stats and skills!
Now, Cons. First off... um, dying. Death, you know. We could die. Pretty grim thought, huh? Yeah... let's just move on.
Number two of the cons: The fact it'll take three days to complete the request. I mean, three days is quite a lot of time, isn't it? I could complete at least three requests with Ai in that timespan! Even more if we did multiple in one day. Hey... wait a minute! They said it would take three days to get there, right? That means it'll take another three to get back, coming to a total of six days! Maybe another since taking out an entire tribe of goblins will take a bit!
Alright, let's think about this. Usually, I get five to ten silver coins per request, maybe more if I get lucky. For convenience's sake, let's just go with ten silver coins per request. I'll split half with Ai leading to five silver. Five times seven is thirty-five, meaning I would get thirty-five silver in those supposed seven days.
Huh, no matter how you look at it, the positives outway the negatives here, and I'm pretty confident in my strength at this stage! Especially when it comes to my skills, since I can make up for my weaker stats with those.
That, and this is a good way to see how strong these three are, and as well how they fight. I mean, I can make some assumptions based on their weapons, but that can only go so far.
Wait, what are they even talking about now? I haven't exactly been paying attention. Let's see here...
"Alright, we're all in agreement then! Shiro, Ai! Are you two in?"
Huh? They already came to a consensus? That was pretty fast. Or not, I'm not really good at keeping track of the time. Guess I really can't say no, so...
"Sure."
[Chapter 32, end.]