There was no one opposing Marie's suggestion to return to the village for now.
Because they were in a forest Rex had lost his track of time. If they were to keep searching the sun would set upon them which would be dangerous according to Marie as Goblins were nocturnal.
Animals and Monsters were all nocturnal which was astonishing new information to Rex. However, Marie asserted this to be common knowledge.
"Nevertheless I will act during the daytime."
said Marie while searching the luggage left in the rented house which was used as operational base.
The luggage of the six mercenaries who were left behind in the forest contained an considerable amount of items but to me it was all garbage.
Returning to the village, the villagers were surprised to see the number of adventurers to have dropped by six people. Marie told them that after they got separated on the way their whereabouts were lost.
"We can't really tell them that they died in the forest after having attacked us, now can we?" Marie Asked.
"Will you report this to the guild in the same fashion?"
When I asked this, Marie immediately denied this.
"I cannot lie to the guild. I will report the truth to them."
"Wow, you're honest but won't I be treated as a criminal then though?"
I asked worriedly regarding treatment of murder in this world because I don't want to be hunted down just yet. I want to enjoy myself first before I do something stupid like taking over the world, which is possible.
My concern was not so much about being a criminal though but more regarding the troublesome restrictions being treated as one.
However, Marie simply rejected my worries.
"No problem. Because Jean and I will act as witnesses. The testimony of those accompanying when the incident took place while acting on the request is regarded as the strongest evidence."
"Because these kind of people usually conduct themselves badly, one gets acquitted immediately if the circumstances are explained properly." Jean explained.
Jean interjects while still rummaging through the contents of the luggage. Judging by the way she is talking, this seems to be restricted to a certain degree, causing Rex increasingly to look dejected.
I took a single copper ,silver and gold coins, this is for my greedy wallet my wallet copies the currency of this world and make infinite amounts of it. As long it is a form of currency I can have endless amount of it.
Now that I think about it where was this wallet when I was addicted to gacha? Those SSR's! Damnit why did this wallet appear just now in my life!?
While I was stuck in my little world, Marie complained.
"At any rate, these fellows …has the worst weapons possible." Marie.
"It is impossible to use anything from this. Since the changes of cloth are useless at this point too, let's just burn everything."
The fireplace was lit up and the two threw the unnecessary luggage into the burning fire.
"Are you looking for something?" I asked.
I asked while watching the luggage burning down to ash mercilessly.
"Proper money and goods. I thought we need this and Rex should have a proper weapon." Marie told me.
Although this is completely the way a thief talks, Marie drew a blade lightly. Rex pointed to his greatsword.
"I forgot about that sword of yours it's ridiculously big." Marie complained.
"It's like you are compensating for something." Jean looks at me in a flirting manner.
"What the hell.....?" I stared at Jean.
"Ok, stop it you two we still need to finish all of this." Marie interjected
"Your sword is too big, that doesn't feel so comfortable to use." (Marie)
"But with his kind of movement I don't think he will have any problems." (Jean)
responds Jean towards Marie's argument. However Marie denied this right away.
"Your fighting style is sloppy and it feels like you are a complete beginner when it comes to using a sword." (Marie)
"It's my swordstyle, walking to my enemies so fast, that my enemies think I'm slow." I boasted confidently.
"That swordstyle is weird…." Marie gave her honest opinion.
"But I admit you managed to kill them with that swordstyle of yours which is great." Jean praised me.
"But oh well, such a way of thinking is possible too." (Jean)
Jean somehow judged after taking a moment to decide. Marie didn't seem to mind it either as she took out a few items from her bag and passed it to Rex.
"Here a longsword you'll probably like it." Marie throw the longsword at me.
I caught it, and hated the sword….its quality is so low, that I want to cry. I returned the sword to Marie.
I was very dissatisfied with the quality of this longsword.
The blade was crude without any decorations trimmed only towards its practical use. The iron used for the blade was of inferior quality and the blade has no special energy within it.
The edge of the sword was sharpened only to a certain degree. Making one doubt whether cutting anything with it was possible at all.
Rex remembered that weapons were used for crushing rather than slicing when paired up against full plate armour in the medieval times on earth.
It is very likely that the crafting skill advanced only this far resembling this motion and thus there was no other way than using the sword similarly.
In contrast to the poor blade, the quality of the hilt was good, Because useless decoration on the hilt only leads to inconvenient handling, only thin tanned leather stripes were wrapped around the hilt.
The sword guard displayed two intertwined dragons using respectively gold and silver to depict them, having them face each other in the centre of the guard serving as crest.
"Part of the hilt looks to me remarkably expensive."
I still think that this sword is useless.
"Though the blade was broken several times, the hilt portion was handed down as legacy. I am no match for your discerning eye."
Marie admits wearing a slightly mortified expression.
Even though I was still somehow dissatisfied with the sword I eventually accepted Marie's sacrifice to lent me something precious. Not using the sword would be rude thus I stored my sword in my stash.
"Oh, how enviable to possess Inventory." (Jean)
"Inventory….huh."
"That's true. It is a skill which causes requests to carry payload to flood in with only that." (Marie)
The two women raised their voices in admiration seeing the greatsword disappearing into the void.
As Rex didn't comprehend their excitement he looked at them with a questioning look. Marie then explained.
"Just now that weapon was put away in empty space, right? It is a skill called Inventory. There are very few possessing this skill."
"Rumors say the amount of items that can be stored away is limited. Still it an enviable skill as it totally disregards weight restrictions." (Jean)
I looked down on the luggage spread on the floor.
At first it was planned to finish investigating before the next regular carriage arrives in two days, thus the amount of luggage for two people was reasonable making it possible to simply shoulder it.
Small tools for maintenance, food, water, ointments and equipment were particularly visible. Most likely the rest of space not visible was used up by changes of clothes and similar.
Considering that these two were moving around a lot to different places it was easily understandable that possessing a skill which allowed them to not carry the luggage all the time was indeed enviable.
"To return by foot, do you two want me to carry your luggage using my stash I mean inventory."
"That would be very helpful as it would save us some of the faring expenses." (Jean)
The fare expenses for using the carriage seem to be decided by the weight including the luggage rather than the number of people boarding. Jean might say that but it is not like everything is measured exactly.
The carriage driver decides the price by the equipment worn and the additional baggage included.
"That is an easy task. But before that we have to finish investigating safely." (Jean)
"That's true. Our opponents may be goblins, nonetheless one has to be careful." (Marie)
"Since the terrain is unfamiliar to you two." (Rex)
"So you can fight in any terrain Rex?" (Marie)
"Yeah, quite easy really." (Rex)
Although it was vaguely called an investigation, but as there are no maps available for the area, it is mostly wandering aimlessly through the forest until the goblin settlement was found by a stroke of luck. Marie explains the basic outline. Alternatively one could follow goblins who were hunting for food, using them to calculate the position of the goblin settlement, it seems. Without a map of the forest deriving the location from accumulated information might be quite difficult though.
To confirm the situation once more Rex started to open his mouth but suddenly he felt a chill down his neck making him stiffen his back. Rubbing his neck with right hand, Rex approached the window.
It seems the technology of this world is can be the same as the medieval ages. Although its quality was not comparable to earth, rather the glass here was murky and uneven. Nevertheless one could still see the outside with this degree of transparency. Through the window you could see that it would be very soon night as the red glow of the sunset had faded already and it got dusky.
The rented house was facing towards the outskirts of the village. The defensive wall which was set up had approximately the same height as the trees. Not too far away from the wall the black silhouette of the forest was slightly visible. Even though Rex strained his eyes, he couldn't see anything within that dark mass. But if Rex was to trust his intuition there was something definitely there.
"What's wrong, Rex?" (Marie)
Marie inquired, noticing his grim face as he was watching intently at the forest.
"I am not sure but there is something in the forest." (Rex)
"Is this another of your skills?" (Marie)
Marie walked next to Rex taking a look outside towards the forest. Tilting her head looking doubtfully she asked Rex.
After a short while of pondering over the matter Rex shook his head.
"It is not a skill but I can sense their presence." (Rex)
"Like intuition, huh?" (Marie)
"But I'm pretty sure about it though." (Rex)
His training in the abyss was intense so sensing multiple enemies from great distances is quite simple for him. Rex believe in his sensing abilities.
"I don't sense nor see anything but if Rex says so, it may be worth to check it out. Jean, can I entrust it to you?" (Marie)
"Yes, no problem." (Jean)
Marie asked Jean turning around to her. Jean nodded and folded both hands in front of her chest.
This pose caused her bountiful chest to be pushed up emphasizing it furthermore. Realising this, Rex shook his head lightly as now was not the time to think about that.
Rex carefully watched Jean as she fluently recited the spell words.
"Light so bright, In our time of fright, Please grant us sight!" (Jean)
Rex perceived a powerful wave spreading from Jean's folded hands. Like a sonar it quickly spread over a wide area and converged just as fast back into Jean's clasped hands.
As the wave converged Jean looked up to Rex.
"There is something hostile within the forest for sure. Even more so there is quite a number of them. Probably 100 or more though I am not quite sure. It seems there are quite a few outside the perception range too." (Jean)
"This would be fun.....I can finally have some decent exercise." (Rex)
Even though it was clearly visible, Rex immediately understand what happened.
"It is the magic practised by priests who serve a god. If there is someone with malicious intent in range of the spell the caster will be able to tell. Still … 100 or more? What the hell is going on …" (Marie)
"There is miasma gathering in the forest which causes this many of them to crowd together." (Jean)
I think....I'm the cause of that miasma.....But I can't tell them that.....
"… This is bad. There is a commander leading the goblins, huh?" (Marie)
Upon Marie's words Rex remembered the information he had seen in the help before returning to the village, It said that sometimes there are rare cases of monsters born with high individual ability who would gather a large group.
"For now, Jean, please hurry to the village chief. Those able to fight have to prepare while the women and children have to be evacuated." (Marie)
"Right away." (Jean)
Jean answered while starting to run, seeing Jean off Marie turned around to Rex.
"Our bad luck seems to continue. Will you help out too?" (Marie)
You could feel from the questioning tone that there was no room for refusal, Rex could pretty much tell that the situation was quite bad.
"No problem those monsters will be easy." (Rex)
"Are you sure? with a number of 100 or more gathered, the possibility of a scouting party is non-existent. If they are working under a commander even more so." (Marie)
"Don't you worry, I have my ways and also I don't want a beautiful flower as you getting harmed." (Rex)
"Stop flirting! This is serious! The current population of this village is slightly over 50 people. From those only 10 young man would be able to fight. This leaves us at pretty disadvantageous odds of 13 against 100 including us.
Moreover the men of the village have not received any combat training if the situation becomes one versus many in contrast to one versus one fights." (Marie)
"And if we loose?" (Rex)
"I don't want to imagine it." (Maire)
Marie replies making a bitter face.
"Once the village is taken over, those guys will consider humans as fodder. The young women if not dead by then will wish they were considering the things they will experience." (Marie)
"Somehow … the tension has become weird, hasn't it? If you …" (Marie)
Marie raises her voice lightly being astonished while taking a long hard look on Rex face.
"Why … Are you laughing?" (Marie)
Unconsciously Rex corners of the mouth were raised which he covered with his hands after it being pointed out. Certainly, it seems I am aware of myself smiling, Even so, you can't say it was a good smiling face.
"Why? … You ask. How to put it …" (Rex)
After thinking for a moment what to say, Rex continued.
"After all, the fight is interesting because it is disadvantageous, isn't it? and I can finally go all out!" (Rex)