Their journey is filled with silence, neither party speaks. This makes sense, as Ian only talks to Kell, mostly in previous and current life.
For the girls, they are likely still shocked by the close encounters, especially with how they were almost turned into a goblin breeding machine.
Finally, Kell decided to end the silence. "What are your girls' names?" he asked.
"My name is Lisa," the brown-haired archer told them.
"Mine is Ana," the red-haired swordswoman said to them.
"My name is Fiona," the blonde magician said.
Ian almost signed in relief, 'Finally, I have a name for the magician,' he thought to himself.
"What about yours?" Ana asked, looking at them, especially Kell, in interest.
"Mine is Kell," "My name is Ian," the two introduced themselves before focusing on the road. However, Ian's curiosity made him ask a question at the all-female party.
"How did you get ambushed by the goblins?" he asked.
Lisa snorted, "We are not even supposed to see goblins. We are asked to hunt some Horned Rabbits but there are almost none in the forest's periphery.
So, we head deeper but we never go to the place where there are sightings of goblins. After all, we are newbie, just came to the town 6 days ago,"
"You get the lecture on how dangerous goblins can be too?" Kell asked.
"If you mean by warning, as well as reasons why newbies are not allowed to take goblin hunting quests so soon after becoming adventurers, then yes.
But, in a place where it is not even the inner region of the forest, as well as far from any goblin's sightings before, we have to deal with a goblin's ambush, and the attack of more than 100 goblins and 4 hobgoblins," Lisa exclaimed angrily.
He could understand why, after all, if they did not arrive, their fate would be worse than death.
-x-
They entered the building at dusk. With no other words, they walked towards the receptionist before putting the materials they gathered plus the Horned Rabbits they hunted, along with the slime's magic cores.
"You finish your commissions. Wonderful. In 4 more days, you will be allowed to take the goblin's commissions," the receptionist exclaimed happily.
"Well-" Ian put the pouch filled with goblin's and hobgoblin's magic cores on the counter. Surprised by the action, the receptionist opened it, only to have his eyes wide open at the number of magic cores.
"This is so many," he exclaimed in shock before his eyes narrowed, "W-wait, this is not slime's magic cores, this is goblin's," he gave the two a deathly glare.
"Explained yourself," Ian and Kell had just beaten monsters that could turn the receptionist into a pretzel, easily. They jointly killed four as well.
Facing the receptionist, they knew the best option,
"We surrender," truly, the safest of all options.
-x-
"So, let me get this straight," the receptionist pressed his palms together, trying to make sense of the story he just heard.
"You three are hunting Horned Rabbits until you are ambushed by goblins," the girls nodded.
"And you heard the scream. And like some kind of knights you come to their aid," he asked Ian and Kell, who nodded.
"And you see them surrounded by tens of goblins. And instead of running away like any sane person, you charged into the fray and promptly slaughtered more than 100 goblins.
Then 4 hobgoblins came," the receptionist touched the hobgoblin's magic cores, caressing it.
"And instead of escaping, like any sane person, or at least carrying the girls to safety, hobgoblins are not that fast, you fight against monsters that need a D-rank adventurers to dispatch it safely, or 2 to 4 E-rankers.
And instead of dying like any regular person against a hobgoblin, you two killed all four, and you both have 2 hobgoblin kills. Did I get it all correct?" the receptionist asked.
When he saw them nod, the man groaned. "And I can't even say you are lying. You take out more than one hundred goblin's magic cores and 4 hobgoblin's magic cores.
So, you are definitely not lying. But now, we have to deal with this mess,"
"Why?" Kell asked.
Before the receptionist could explain, Ian told them all, "It is because there are a powerful goblin or monsters that command goblins in the depths of Thrine Forest.
Usually, hobgoblins live alone or lead a medium-sized goblin's pack. They will fight each other for territories and the right to lead a goblin's pack.
But, we just saw 4 hobgoblins working together, walking like a group. I refuse to believe they just cast aside their differences like that. The only logical option left is something else to lead a larger pack of goblins, as I believe the 4 hobgoblins lead one pack each and only in the area together because of their leader's orders. Am I right?"
"Y-yes, you are right," the receptionist said before subtly writing everything Ian just said, preparing to tell his superiors about it.
"And also, the other reason is we don't want the newbie to take the loophole you told us about," the receptionist shivered. If the newbie knew of the loopholes, they would have been hunting goblins the moment they received their adventurers' badge.
"Oh, that. As long as no one spreads it, I don't see any reason we need to do anything about it," Ian told him.
The receptionist nodded, "True, but also, I would like to talk about both of your promotions," the bombshell made the five people pause before the girls yelled,
"What?!"
-x-
"In hindsight, it makes sense. They each killed more goblins than the three of us combined. Not to mention that they kill 2 hobgoblins, each," after calming down, Lisa spoke of the reasons for the two promotions.
"But still, our junior got promoted so quickly," Ana pouted, though there was no heat in her voice. They only learned how recently the two became adventurers when the receptionist told them the two people broke the record for the fastest rise in ranks.
"Don't worry, if you work hard, you will likely get promoted quickly too," Kell encouraged the girls.
Ian nodded. Though, he was not sure how true it was. After all, the girls might have ordinary talents and would like to be like half of the adventurers' population, stuck as E-rank for the rest of their lives.
Soon, the receptionist arrived with a middle-aged man, who gave Ian and Kell a smile.
"To think, two prodigies will appear in my branch of the Adventure Guild," the man exclaimed.
"Uhhmm..." Ian let out, something the receptionist noticed.
"This is Mr Grul, the head of the branch of Adventure Guilf of Thrine City.