Chapter 7

After another night, we finally arrived on our first village.

The village was small, and it only has about 20 houses at most. Nonetheless, it has more farming lots than it necessarily should have. It even has a small ranch that keeps a few livestocks. Although small, it was striving decently.

At the entrance of the fences that surrounds the village, we were welcomed by a middle-aged man. He introduced himself as the village chief and led us to a small empty house. Villages like this always keep an empty house or two to welcome guests like us. It's not really necessary, but it became normal for them after they experienced a lot of harassment from visitors who always demands a place to stay at. Of course, it's supposed to be free of charge, but we're paying them anyway for the trouble.

The house we got was small, but it was clean and well-maintained. I'm satisfied with it, but Fin seemed like he wanted to say something. He most likely wanted to complain, but seeing the apologizing look on the chief's face, he remained quiet and thanked him instead. He probably understood that this is the best they could get us, seeing how it was a bit better than the other houses the villagers live in. It was unexpected, but my assessment of him goes up a little.

"I can't believe I'll get to stay with Eria-sama in a single room..."

I ignored Fin's silent mutterings and entered the room. There were two beds, two chairs, and a single table inside. It looks like it was made to only accumulate two people.

After I left our things there, I went outside again, only to see Fin and the chief still talking. At first, the old chief was terrified when he saw the emblem on Fin's shirt pocket, but as soon as he interacted with him in a friendly manner, he relaxed and became more approachable.

"You say that goblins were terrorizing your crops?"

As they continue to talk, the topic went to the direction of food, and soon, they were talking about goblins.

"Yes, they have been stealing some of our food, crops or livestock. Sometimes they don't even steal, they just destroy things."

"I see..."

"Please don't worry, mister noble. We've already found their nest, and we're now preparing to take care of those bloody bastards," the chief confidently said.

The way he said it, it seems as if he wanted to prove to a noble like Fin that even villagers like them can do things like dispatching a nest of goblins on their own. I don't doubt they could actually do it, but if they get unlucky, some of them could get injured, or worse...

"Then, how about we help you?" I butted in.

"Eria-sama...? Surely, you can't be bothered to deal with mere goblins. They can handle it themselves," Fin protested.

"T-That's right, miss elf, we can't bother you with this!"

"No, I'm just worried about you. You can't let your guard down with goblins..." I warned. "If it turns out there's too many of them, your men could be wiped out."

"I have four men coming, with me, we total of five. I'm certain we can deal with them on our own."

"Have you dealt with a group of goblins before? If one of them got just one of you, you all might lose composure and let your guards down. It's a small possibility, but if you indeed get wiped out, surely the remaining goblins will go for whatever's left in this village..."

The chief's face turned pale as I tickled his anxiety.

"That's why it's the adventurers' job to hunt down goblin nests."

They should prioritize hiring adventurers, and then they could wait and defend until they arrive. That's the most common thing villages do when faced with a threat like goblins. Sure, they can go and take care of it themselves, but the risk was simply too high.

"But such a thing like hunting down lowly goblins does not suit you, Eria-sama..."

To my surprise, Fin still refuses to let me do it. I thought for sure he would get excited for something like this. I guess his ideal targets were stronger monster.

Is me hunting down mere goblins ruins his image of me being a legendary hero?

"It's fine, just think of it as additional payment for them allowing us to stay here—Besides, we will only watch after them, if they can do it themselves, then we won't do anything else," I tried to convince Fin.

"I supposed so... It might also be interesting to see how normal people deal with monsters like goblins..." he mutters.

"I'm sorry, but you might get disappointed if you come. As the lady elf said earlier, we're not trained in any fancy way of dealing with monsters," the village chief nervously comments.

"It's fine, it's fine..." I reassured him in place of Fin. "Then, let's go there now, this is the best time to deal with them. Goblins usually rest and guard at daytime, so we'll get them all at once."

"R-Right now?"

"Umu! You said you guys were ready, right?"

"Of course...!"