Chapter 103: 103
The Goblin Nest
Grulf was tired and needed to rest for a while before continuing on .
But in spite of being tired, he returned to his usual energy as soon as he drank some water .
Children tend to recover very quickly .
Shia said that she would let Nia follow the footprints .
Nia’s expression was very serious as she followed the goblin tracks .
“Mister Locke . I’m very sorry that this is taking a long time . ”
“Don’t worry about it . ”
Obviously, the speed at which Nia could track the goblins was much slower than Shia .
There was no point in apologizing for that .
Besides, we weren’t trying to beat a record here .
And the mission was hardly urgent . We could go at a leisurely pace .
Grulf was also calm now as he walked .
“Shouldn’t you practice tracking the enemy too, Serulis?”
“Do you think so? Even if I’m a Warrior?”
“If you’re in a party, then you could leave it to someone more skilled . But there will be times when you have to work alone . ”
“I guess that’s true . ”
And so Serulis followed Nia and started to look for footprints .
Serulis was serious and a hard worker .
Shia, Grulf and I watched those two from behind .
We were prepared to give them advice if they missed anything .
After advancing for a while, Nia said in a hushed voice,
“I found the nest . ”
“Very good, Nia . ”
“You did well too, Serulis . ”
“Mister Locke, thank you . ”
Both Nia and Serulis had succeeded in tracing the footprints .
While it wasn’t exactly difficult, it was good for their first time .
The goblin nest was very large .
The entrance alone was wider and taller than 10 adult men .
We stopped at a short distance from it and observed .
“What do you think this is…? It is clearly not a natural cave…”
“It’s so big, and it is unlikely the work of goblins . ”
“It must be an abandoned ruin of some kind . But I am not sure . ”
It was not a rare thing for goblins to take abandoned ruins and turn it into their lair .
The only thing that goblins required was a roof and walls to protect them from the rain and the wind .
“Who would have thought that such a large ruin would exist near the capital…”
“I wonder if anyone else knows about it?”
Shia and Serulis said excitedly .
The guild was aware of all discovered ruins .
If there was a ruin near the location where the goblins appeared, they would have told us when we accepted the quest .
And they would have given us a map of the place .
“We don’t know if it is an old ruin yet . ”
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“That’s true . But it doesn’t look like the work of nature . ”
“That’s true . In any case, we’ll investigate it after defeating the goblins . ”
“Yes . ”
Shia patted Nia on the head .
“You have good luck . You might be able to explore an ancient ruin on your first mission . ”
“Yes, sister . I will do my best!”
And so we entered the nest in order to kill the goblins .
Nia and Shia walked in the front . Serulis was in the middle . And Grulf and I took the rear .
Nia’s skills were quite wonderful for her age .
Goblins were no match for her .
But she was still a child . And so she clearly did not have enough strength .
So it was better that she did not go on missions alone .
We continued through the ruins and ultimately killed five goblins .
I asked Grulf in a hushed voice .
“Grulf, are there any more?”
“Grrr . ”
Grulf growled once and wagged his tail . He was probably saying that there were no more .
And so I patted him on the head .
A short distance from us, Shia was talking to Nia .
“Do you think that there are any more?”
“I don’t think there are any, sister!”
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“And why do you think that?”
Shia was constantly teaching Nia .
I was sure that Nia would become a great Adventurer under Shia’s guidance .
As I thought this and watched Shia and Nia, Serulis walked over to me .
“What is it?”
“Uhhh…”
Serulis fidgeted . I figured it out .
She wanted me to question her, just like Shia was doing to Nia .
“So, Serulis . Do you think there are more goblins here?”
“No! I do not think there is . ”
“And why is that?”
“Because of the number of footprints near the entrance . And also…”
Serulis explained as well as she could .
“Hmm . Correct . ”
“Yes!”
Serulis raised a triumphant fist in the air .
After that, we all gathered the magic stones from the goblins .
Shia carefully taught Nia how to remove them .
It was one of the necessary skills when becoming an Adventurer .
After taking out the stones, we decided to burn the carcasses later, and explore the ruins .
“There doesn’t seem to be anything here . ”
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It was just very wide with a very high ceiling .
We didn’t find anything interesting, and Nia was visibly disappointed .
“Nia . Most ruins don’t really have anything to discover, you know . ”
“Yes . ”
“But even if they are empty, you can learn things about the past from the structure . ”
“Yes, sister . I will keep that in mind!”
As the sisters talked like this, Serulis said,
“Maybe there is something magical here?”
“There is definitely no magic cast on this place . ”
“No hidden doors with concealment spells…?”
“Not at all . ”
I said, and Serulis too looked disappointed .
She looked just like Nia now . It was a little funny .
“I see . That’s too bad . ”
“But I do feel magic energy . ”
“Magic energy? What do you mean?”
“It means that at some time in the past, the cave was under a spell . Maybe a Sorcerer has been here before . ”
“Hmm?”
Serulis tilted her head to the side .
Just then, a violent burst of fire blew in from the entrance of the cave .