Chereads / Goblin Tanker: Journeys Of The West / Chapter 2 - Chapter 2: Woods and Fists

Chapter 2 - Chapter 2: Woods and Fists

Quests can be issued by anyone or any organization, as long as the necessary manastones are paid. However, monster killing quests cannot be accepted by adventures of two stages of higher rank. Meaning as a diamond rank adventurer I cannot take the gathering or hunting quest since I'm too high of a rank; the Adventurer's Guild's way of helping newbies while also encouraging stronger adventurers to take harder quests. What a shame the goblin corpse quest was issued with such a low rank, or else I would of sold the corpses to this Rayier rather than the Scavenger Group. "Yo dude stop blocking my view!" An iron ranked adventurer shouts at a figure overshadowing his view. "Be quiet iron rank! Let your seniors finish first!" Another human shouts back. It's always first come first serve when it comes to quests, so there's always adventurers hanging around, waiting for an easy payout. After checking out the numerous quests upon the guild billboard, I finally selected one. 

A lot of the quests today are either not my rank or too low of a reward, so I had only a few options. I can never return a good enough corpse without ripping it to shreds, gathering was never my thing, and doing raids with other adventures lowers the amount of manastones I can get, so it seems I'm only left with this exploration quest. I ripped it off the quest board and handed it to the guild girl Anakinya, a dark-hair woman wearing her usual combo of white clothing inside her guild issued suit. "Morning adventurer 31,415,926." She said with a smile; but anyone can tell it's forced, as her voice contains nothing but boredom. She's never been one to chat with adventurers unless she's fond of them, but it's never been my worries since she usually gets the forms filled out quicker. "Alright, exploration quest… map of the Rat Eater Dungeon…65 mana stones…" I can hear her mumbling under her breath. "Your guild id please." She said as I handed mine to her, a small card listing my adventure profession. After a brief moment, she said:  "Alright so sign this here and you can get on with your quest." She said as she handed me the form. I quickly signed my name under the signature. "Good luck with your adventure." Anakinya said as I headed outside while the other adventurers were still looking at the quest board. 

When adventurers accept a quest, they gain additional information about it to help them with their progress, in my case, details of the rat humanoids living within the dungeon. From rumors alone, the Rat Eater dungeon contains quite a huge variety of rats within the medium-large size dungeon. Why is the name "Rat Eater"? Mainly due to the rumors that there's a giant monster at the end of the boss room that feasts exclusively on the rats within the dungeon. Anyways, the dungeon isn't far away, so it should only take an hour or so of walking to get there. I check the time with my portable clock: 07:13 PS (Prin Sun, also known as before noon). I should be able to get there by around 8:00 PS. The journey was rather easy, as I even managed to pick up a few mana flowers on my way, one of the most common ingredients used in alchemy. It was the later half of the hour where it started to get painful, as I had to travel through thick forests riddled with, you guessed it, goblins. Goblins always travel in hordes or groups, as it provides them the most benefits as goblin lives are nothing more than numbers. I see a small group of five, probably just got kicked out of their tribe from their equipment. With a heavy sigh, I pull out my greatsword again, ready to collect some manastones. 

Three goblins hold rusty swords covered in what seems like their fluids, and two regular goblins holding wooden clubs. "Get him!" two of the goblin swordsmen shout in union, leaving the other three standing to register Telonio's presence. They both jump in sync, ready to pounce on their "prey". When it comes to goblins, they become goblin swordsmen when they achieve a certain proficiency with swords or other similar weapons, making them as skilled as most bronze or even iron rank adventurers. But skills do not equal intelligence when it comes to skilled combat. With a single vertical slash, both goblin's bodies were cut like butter, bleeding before they knew it. "AHHHHHHHH!" Both screamed, unable to register the true danger of their "prey". As their former allies scream in pain, the last remaining goblin swordsman stood there, frozen in fear. "Run! Fuck this!" One of the regular goblins shouts, as he throws his club away and runs back to the forest, soon followed by the other. One goblin swordsman now remains, with both him and Telonio standing in silence. But that silence was soon broken by the sounds of a sword coming in contact with something solid. "Please! Let me live! I'll bring you to our leader!" The scared goblin shouts as he gets on his knees, not knowing Telonio is also a goblin. 

Even though this goblin doesn't know I know their language, I can definitely see why he was kicked out of the tribe. I thought to myself, just watching the small fool beg on his hands and knees. With a few coughs, I force myself to speak their awful language. "Bring me there…" The goblin was frozen, not expecting me to know their language. "Y-es… follow me!" He said, trying to prove himself useful. Even with his back turned, I can already read his mind. He's probably thinking along the lines of: "The tribe will definitely let me back in if I give them this human in expensive armor!" But it was not after a few steps forward before swish my arrow hit him directly on his spinal area. "Even though it's my job to kill you fellows, no one likes snitches." I said behind his back as he desperately tried crawling forward. He turns around, trying to beg again, but my patience has run out. He isn't even worth being cut by my greatsword, but my hands will be just fine.