“Wait a minute!”
As we were leaving the cathedral, the nun who had argued fiercely with the bishop earlier called us and hurriedly followed us out.
She had been lingering around when we were receiving blessings in front of the statue of the Goddess, so it seemed like this was her purpose all along.
“Hmm? What is it?”
When we faced each other, I noticed she was slightly shorter than me.
Unlike the gentle image you’d expect from a clergyman, her eyes were a little sharp, and her sky-blue hair was long enough to peek out from under the veil on her head.
She didn’t look like the ‘model’ nun you’d expect.
She was using honorifics, though.
She was probably my age or even younger.
There wasn’t much need to use formal speech.
“Are you two adventurers?”
I exchanged a glance with Siwoo.
The lord and the soldiers guarding the entrance to the lord’s castle knew I was coming, but it seemed like the whole castle hadn’t heard the news yet.
“Well, we are.”
When I answered on behalf of both of us, the nun’s eyes widened in surprise.
“It seems you’re very famous. It’s rare for the church to give out holy relics…”
She must have been referring to the relics we had requested earlier.
It wasn’t something that the church would give out easily, so perhaps she thought we were trying to get them in an impudent manner.
Still, she was eyeing us with a look that seemed to expect something from us.
“…Did you say the goblins attacked the village?”
“Yes, that’s right!”
When I asked that, the nun’s face brightened immediately.
It wouldn’t hurt to listen to her story.
After all, it was related to the mission we had received.
Adventurers often liken goblins to “seven-year-old kids” when explaining them.
They’re extremely ugly and aggressive, but other than that, they fit the description pretty well.
Their size, weight, and strength are all similar to a seven-year-old child.
If a goblin were alone and unarmed, an adult male could easily overpower it without any training.
However, the tricky part is that goblins are rarely alone and without weapons.
They’re small, weak, and not very intelligent, but when they group together in a dozen or so and carry stolen knives or farming tools, they swarm and attack their targets with surprising brutality.
It’s hard to say whether it’s lucky or not, but these goblins in this world don’t engage in sexual acts with human women like those in Japanese adult games.
They don’t have sexual organs to begin with, as they’re born from demons.
If they’re captured alive, they’ll probably be tortured for a while before being slaughtered and turned into goblin food.
They know that their lives are precious, so they tend to target livestock first.
However, once the livestock is gone, humans become their next target.
The village where this nun lived was exactly at that “livestock theft” stage.
“Why is no one paying attention to this…?”
The nun said in a defeated voice after finishing her story.
Now, we were at the first-floor restaurant of the inn we were staying at.
It looked like an extremely expensive place just by appearance, but since the lord was footing the bill for whatever we ate, I didn’t mind.
In fact, if we went to another restaurant or tavern, we might end up paying for our own food, so this was probably the most economical choice.
“Because it’s a hassle,” I replied, and the nun looked at me with a surprised expression.
“A hassle?”
“Goblins aren’t strong individually, but they tend to group up. Catching them one by one would only earn you a pittance, but if there are a lot of them, we’d have to risk our lives.”
In the adventurer’s guild, there are two main ways for adventurers to make money.
One is by completing quests issued by the guild.
The money you earn here depends on the amount set by the person who issued the quest.
The guild takes a 20% fee, and the adventurer keeps the remaining amount.
Because those issuing quests are usually in urgent need, the quests are often detailed, and the guild verifies whether the details are true, grading the difficulty so the adventurer knows if they can handle it.
That’s why, despite the fee, such quests are quite popular.
Adventurer parties typically prefer this type of work.
However, quests are not always available.
Even if a quest comes in, some are so difficult that they can’t be given to just anyone.
The second method adventurers use is to directly hunt monsters and collect the rewards.
When you bring parts of a monster’s body to the guild, they offer a bounty for it.
Adventurers hunt monsters in hopes of earning that reward.
The guild also buys other useful parts, but at a slightly lower price than the market value.
Though the price is lower, adventurers don’t need to bother haggling with merchants, and the guild isn’t undercutting the price too much, so it’s generally a good deal for adventurers who want to offload materials along with the bounty.
The problem with goblins, however, is that they’re not difficult to defeat individually, but there aren’t any expensive parts on their bodies.
The guild isn’t running a charity.
For them to buy the monster parts, they need to have some margin for profit, but with goblins, there’s nothing of real value.
“The bounty is low, and they don’t give you more money just because you take down a group. Plus, there’s nothing expensive to be found on their bodies. Sure, the stolen goods might turn up, but even if we find them, it doesn’t matter. They’re stolen goods, and adventurers can’t keep them.”
At my explanation, the nun’s face suddenly darkened.
“So then…”
“The best solution is to put in a request at the adventurer’s guild.”
If we offer a reward larger than the bounty for killing a goblin, adventurers will naturally gather.
It’d be manageable if we surrounded them in numbers.
But—
“Our village doesn’t have that kind of money,” the nun said.
There’s no way a poor settlement like this would have that kind of money.
So, usually, these things are neglected until something happens, and then the lord’s soldiers handle it much later.
I silently looked at the nun, who had lowered her head, and then glanced at Siwoo.
Siwoo, still carefully watching the nun, gave me a slight nod.
It seemed like he was sure about something.
I nodded back, then spoke.
“Well, don’t worry too much. The request we received is to wipe out the goblin nest.”
In my words, the nun’s face brightened.
She opened her eyes wide, looking surprised.
“A request? From whom?”
Was she thinking that the request came from the village without her knowledge?
“The lord.”
“The lord? Personally?”
“Yeah.”
Of course, it’s not the usual way a request would be made.
Normally, adventurers take quests through the guild.
In principle, registered adventurers shouldn’t take requests outside the guild.
However, the adventurer’s guild isn’t more powerful than the lord of the land.
Moreover, if someone is willing to handle a ‘moneyless’ task like this, there’s no reason to refuse.
“So don’t worry too much. We’ll prepare and leave soon.”
“Thank you!”
There’s no need for all the gratitude.
We were going to do this anyway, even without being asked.
The blessing from the church lasts for about a day, so it’s best to take care of it today.
The journey to the academy isn’t that urgent.
We’ve got plenty of time since we left with some flexibility.
However, we can’t waste too much time here either.
“So…”
I checked my gear one last time and asked Siwoo,“What was her character’s name again?”
“Nun Chloe. She’s a 1-star character, and for a priest, her stats are focused on agility.”
“So, she’s the type of character who isn’t really used much, huh.”
If this were an MMORPG, a hybrid class might be useful, but in gacha games, where the balance often breaks with each new limited banner, characters with stats focused in one area tend to be more useful.
Just because her stats are focused on agility doesn’t mean she’s as good as a full agility character.
Her skill is a healing area, but even that isn’t particularly impressive compared to a healing-specialized character.
It’s said that she becomes useful if you raise her to 5 stars by collecting pieces, but there aren’t many characters in that game who don’t follow that trend.
It’s often less of a burden to pick a strong 3-star character and level them up instead of focusing on a more niche character.
“In Brave Knights, Chloe, who got tired of waiting, ended up stealing the holy relic and wiped out the goblin horde. And because of that, she was selected as a ‘Saint Candidate’ and entered the academy a bit late.”
Siwoo recited the character’s backstory again.
In the game, I—Lila—was selected as a hero candidate a bit later, so I ended up rushing through without staying here.
Obviously, there wasn’t anyone around here like us to deal with the goblin horde, so Chloe had to take care of it herself.
“Could it be that her high agility stat is a reflection of that whole stealing the holy relic thing…?”
I muttered to myself, and Siwoo silently nodded in agreement.
“And because we changed our plans, she couldn’t even become a saint candidate, and she won’t go to the academy either?”
“Yeah.”
Siwoo nodded seriously, and I sighed deeply, rubbing my forehead.