Chapter 8

The village chief introduced us to the four other villager men that will coming along with us. Perhaps seeing an elf for the first time, all of them were eyeing me from face down. Well, mostly, their eyes settled on my breasts. It felt normal to me so I didn't get angry, but Fin was staring daggers at them so they kept their composure.

Two of the men have rusted iron swords, the chief and another one have small wooden clubs, while the last one holds a tall pitchfork with two hands. None of them were wearing any kind of armour, but they appear to be confident. All of them also seem excited to show off to me. I didn't mind them talking at my face how they would impress me to each other, but I'm seriously worried about how things will turn out.

"Don't you want to compete along?" I jokingly said to Fin who was guarding me on the side.

"Compete?" he repeated.

"I know I said we won't butt in, but..." I leaned over to him and whispered to his ears, "I'll give you a reward if you manage to come out with the most kills."

"A-a reward...!?" he hurriedly exclaimed, trying to maintain his voice in a whisper.

"I won't tell you what the reward is, but I assure you, you will not be disappointed," I said to him with a wink.

"Gulp..."

He did not answer my initial question, but the sudden tightening of his hold on his staff revealed to me his intentions.

"That's more like it!"

With new motivations, we went to our target location. It did not even take us half of an hour to arrive, the distance was pretty short. Excited smiles appeared on the men's faces as they saw the goblins guarding and resting in their nest. Like when Fin and I hunted, we hid behind a bush as we observe the goblins. I expected their cave to be small, but it was actually pretty big. The open entrance where most of the goblins were resting was as wide and spacious as the entire interior of the house we'll be borrowing in the village. There were only eight visible goblins in total, three were guarding the cave, while five were inside, sleeping. I'm estimating there would only be three or more hiding deeper inside that we can't see.

The goblins had humanoid features, albeit as deteriorated as they could get. They have green parched skin, rough and riddled of warts. Their noises were long and their ears pointed out like mine. They were about as tall as human children, but if they could get their hunched backs straightened up, they could be taller.

"Since there are guards, we can't sneak and take out the sleeping ones... we have no other choice, we'll just have to charge in with all we have at once," the chief relayed his plans to Fin and the others.

It seems he didn't want me in, and only included Fin in his plans, if it can even be considered as one. Although I was the one who offered help, I was left out and they asked Fin instead, even though he was a noble, someone who has a much high position than them to ask around. I was pissed, but I got along with it anyway, since I know this would be over in an instant if I joined them. I didn't want to rain on their parade, so I let them be.

"How about we lure in the guards first instead, kill them, and kill the ones resting later?" one suggested.

"I'm sure that if the guards notice us, they would wake up the others," the chief shook his head and turned down the suggestion. "How about you, noble-sama? Do you have a suggestion too?"

"I can open up with a spell and hit them while their guards are down... after that, you guys will come in and defeat the rest. How about that?"

"Oowoow..."

"As epected of noble-sama...!"

"I'm impressed...!"

All the villagers praised Fin with quiet voices. In the end, they all went with his plan and got ready.

"We'll deal with this, Eria-sama...!"

Fin gave me an assurance I didn't need. After saying those words, he breathed in and casted his spell, "Fire magic: Fire arrows!" with that spell, he showered the three guards with flaming arrows. They all didn't die immediately. Screaming in agony, they woke up their comrades and they immediately glared at Fin and the others as soon as they saw them. However, before they could pick up their weapons, the chief and the remaining four villagers were already surrounding them, killing them as soon as they got the opportunity to. Soon, the goblins Fin hit with his spell also died, scorched as the flames spread on their bodies.

Hearing the commotion outside, three more goblins came from the deeper interior of the cave, but all of them were also easily defeated by the difference in number. In the end, I didn't get to do anything at all...

Fin really did a great job taking care of the first three guards, which lead to the easy defeat of the remaining ones. I wanted to praise him, but he was already getting the praises he needs from the villagers. "As expected, that was too easy for someone like myself," he told them in his usual tone.

Some of the villager men also came to me, asking me what I think of their skills, obviously trying to win me over. I humored them a little, and they all got a little ahead of themselves that they actually tried to flirt after. To their dissapointments, I did not respond to their advancements.

After Fin volunteered to burn the remaining corpses, we went back to the village. More than I expected, everything went perfectly in the end. At the village, the village chief said he would prepare a feast, so all the villagers were excited. The night later, Fin got all the compliments and thanks, while I watch him look unimpressed the entire time. Some girls also fawn over him and tried to flirt, but he ignored them completely. "It must be the face, right?" they complained as they stare at me, "No, must be those giant breasts..." for a time, they debated over themselves.

All the while, I ponder over what reward I should give Fin. Regretting not thinking of one firsthand, I spent a while on it. I do keep my promises, and this one, I will not run away from.