Yuda drew the martial knight Ea’s longsword, replacing his broken bastard sword.
“Hm.”
He’d felt it when retrieving the longsword before, but its grip and balance were superior to the sword the lord had given him. Using a dead person’s weapon, one that even killed him once felt unsettling, but it was too valuable to discard for such reasons.
There were no goblins standing guard outside, so Yuda and Jeanne approached the entrance cautiously. Surprisingly, the walls surrounding the mansion were intact. Only some upper decorations had crumbled, but they still served as sturdy barriers.
Near the entrance, Yuda activated his Shadow Sorcery Spread. His shadow, cast by the fading sunlight, spread across the area. Perhaps due to the dimness, the goblins didn’t notice the shadow covering the ground, and no commotion arose. The number and positions of goblins beyond the wall appeared on his〈Map〉.
‘That’s quite a lot.’
He wasn’t sure if more were inside, but there were twenty in the courtyard alone. He could probably take out five to seven at once. The rest… he would have to handle physically, but with Jeanne in heavy armor, there wasn’t much to worry about.
“I’ll go in first.”
Yuda nodded. Jeanne, from behind, stepped forward gallantly. Following her, he checked goblin positions on the〈Map〉and activated a skill with his left hand. A dagger formed from the shadow in his palm, carrying a solid weight.
Clank. As Jeanne appeared at the entrance with her armor’s sound unhidden, it drew all eyes. Goblins, who were dismembering their kin’s limbs by a fire in the courtyard, shrieked in surprise. As they grabbed their crude weapons, Yuda, following behind, hurled the dagger in his left hand with force.
Kyeeek!
The thrown dagger lodged into a rising goblin’s head. The goblin, just standing, staggered from the dagger in its skull and collapsed. Yuda consumed more mana to create and throw additional daggers. Each dagger drained a noticeable portion of his mana, but thanks to the 〈Mercenary Left-Hand Dagger Technique〉buff, every throw hit a vital spot. The falling goblins rushed forward, but to reach Yuda, they had to get past Jeanne.
One goblin, clutching a crudely made spear, charged and leaped at Jeanne. Seeing it aim past her shield, Yuda smirked. Charging a blue lance knight head-on? It was not like it had the martial knight’s agility or threatening skill. Jeanne stepped forward with her left foot, pulling her shield close.
“I never permitted your approach.”
Boom!
Her left-hand shield smashed the airborne goblin, sending it rolling across the ground with a tremendous crash for a shield strike. The charging goblins flinched, but they had no choice. Standing still made them prey for Yuda’s thrown daggers. Believing they had to defeat the knight to survive, they screeched and rushed forward.
Having taken down seven goblins with sorcery-crafted daggers, Yuda drew a dagger from his belt with his left hand and darted to the side. At the front, Jeanne, shield forward, swung her shoddy lance like a club, dispatching goblins.
Kieee!
Goblins, living their usual peaceful day, stared in fear at the intruders. Each flash of a hand saw a dagger pierce a kin’s head or heart. Charging with their crude blades was daunting against the iron-clad monster standing like a rock at the front.
Yet, driven by their goblin nature, they charged only to meet a gruesome end. The human throwing daggers from behind wasn’t someone they could handle up close. His swinging blade felled them with screams, while those charging the knight were pulverized, groaning on the ground.
Jeanne approached the writhing goblins, crushing their heads with her lance’s tip, ensuring their deaths.
“Yuda! I don’t see the martial knight’s corpse. It’s probably inside.”
Surveying the campfire area, Jeanne shouted to Yuda. Ea’s corpse, likely taken by the goblins, wasn’t in the courtyard. It must be inside the mansion. That no goblins emerged despite the commotion suggested something was up. Goblins were cunning and would use the terrain to their advantage. Jeanne took the lead again, striding to the tightly shut front door and smashing it with her shield.
Crash!
The door which stayed intact for ages shattered like it was struck by an axe, tumbling inward.
“It’s dark.”
Hiding behind her shield, Jeanne stepped into the dark mansion, and something began flying toward her.
“Back!”
Jeanne shifted to a position to protect Yuda, raising her shield to deflect the incoming objects. The items rolling on the floor were rocks. Yuda opened his 〈Inventory〉, pulled out a glass vial of fluorescent liquid he gave to Jeanne, and threw it. The fragile vial flew to his intended spot, shattering and emitting light, illuminating the surroundings.
The goblins inside were startled by the sudden light and scrambled in confusion. Yuda slipped out from behind Jeanne, checking their positions.
‘Four on the first floor, three on the second.’
Yuda headed to the second floor. A goblin who was panicked from Yuda’s approach threw rocks from a pile but could not hit a single one. Closing in, Yuda swung the longsword. There was no need for sorcery or swordsmanship or skills, The darkness was merely annoying, and these goblins were as weak as those outside.
The goblins on the first floor had already been slaughtered by Jeanne. Thinking there were no more, Yuda heard a door creak open stealthily behind him. As he turned to swing his longsword, Jeanne, on the first floor, reacted faster.
He didn’t know how she saw it first, but as she turned, her lance shot up through the floor, striking the goblin emerging from the door. It felt like a baseball whizzing past his face. A thud suggested the lance had pierced the goblin and lodged into the wall.
“…”
Looking down slowly, he saw her, covered in green bodily fluids, giving a thumbs-up.
“Don’t worry, Yuda. My role is to protect you.
No, you didn’t have to go that far. Yuda bowed his head in lieu of a reply. Thanking Jeanne, he searched the mansion for Ea’s corpse. No system message appeared, making him think there was no treasure chest, but he found a wooden chest covered with a fairly clean cloth. Opening it revealed two gold coins and a gem, likely a sapphire.
‘I thought there was an accessory too… Oh well, it’s not a game, so it might not be here.’
Not thinking much of it, Yuda took the coins and gave the sapphire to Jeanne. They also recovered Ea’s corpse. There were signs of attempted undressing, but otherwise, it was intact.
Wondering what to do with Ea’s corpse, he decided to burn it with the mansion. The mansion was far enough from other buildings to avoid spreading the fire. With nothing else to take, he used the goblins’ campfire in the courtyard to set it ablaze.
Watching the mansion burn fiercely, Jeanne and Yuda soon left.
The mansion burned through the night, subsiding by morning when there was nothing left to consume. Jeanne and Yuda emerged from the building where they had spent the night, stretching their bodies.
“Shall we head back to the castle now?”
“…Yes, let’s do that.”
Jeanne seemed to still linger on the fragment but perhaps thinking it wasn’t meant for her, nodded heavily and walked with Yuda.
“What’s your plan moving forward?”
Perhaps bored, she struck up a conversation while walking. Yuda rolled his eyes at her words.
“Well, I’ll start by registering as an adventurer.”
“Oh, you haven’t done that yet?”
Yuda chuckled and nodded.
“I didn’t have time to register.”
To find Jeanne, he had left the castle right after his coming-of-age ceremony, with no time to register.
“But I’m still a bit torn. Whether to choose mercenary or adventurer.”
Registering as an adventurer or mercenary wasn’t much different. Both involved taking guild missions. The main differences were team size and whether you stayed in one area long-term. The rank system for evaluating skill was the same.
“I think adventurer suits you better.”
“Hm, true. I do plan to travel a lot. Anyway, I’ll leave Serenia Castle within three days after registering. Do you need time to prepare?”
“No, three days is enough.”
“Good. Then, once we reach the castle, rest freely and come to my place after three days. I’ll have everything ready by then.”
Jeanne nodded. Leaving the ruins, they checked the map and headed to Serenia Castle. On the second day, they finally returned. After reaffirming their agreement verbally, Yuda headed home. Standing at the door, he took a deep breath and knocked. A loud crash came from inside, and the door flung open.
“Yuda!”
There she was, with a startled expression. Yuda smiled brightly at her.
“I’m back, Tia.”
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***Author’s Note***
Hm. While thinking about what to write for the note, 18 minutes flew by. Good grief.
So, I erased the note.
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