Chapter 40 : Goblin Slayer

On one side of the plaza was a temporarily set-up commercial street.

Leisurely strolling through the street, El kept introducing Nia to various good things she should buy—jewelry, strange flowers from the forest, glass jars for storing food, weird snacks, and intricately crafted alchemical items…

All sorts of novel things appeared before her eyes, leaving Nia dazzled.

“Did you find anything you like?”

El said generously, “Just tell me if you want anything, I’ll buy it for you!”

“You’re rich?”

After walking around in the human city for a while, Nia had gained some basic human knowledge.

For example, in the human world, you need money to buy things, and generally, the richer a person is, the higher their status.

Based on her observations, Nia didn’t think El was a wealthy person.

“Not exactly rich, just somewhat well-off. Buying small things is no problem,” El said modestly, waving his hand.

“Where did you get the money? If I remember correctly, humans have to work to earn money, right?” Nia looked at El curiously. “I’ve never seen you work.”

In this regard, humans were similar to elves—only through labor could one earn food or other rewards.

“This is my path to wealth. I usually don’t tell people, but lean in, I’ll whisper it to you,” El glanced around before lowering his voice.

“These past few years, I’ve been clearing out a lot of goblin nests in the mountains and scavenging treasures left by adventurers.

Food and clothes aren’t a problem.

When I met Meira that day, it was because I got a tip-off to go deal with a new goblin nest.”

El proudly patted his chest. “I’m the best goblin handler in ten miles around. Everyone calls me the ‘Goblin Slayer’.”

Nia nodded thoughtfully. But this brought up another question.

“But how exactly do you deal with those guys?”

Nia only knew that El had rescued her from the cave but didn’t know what had happened exactly.

She had forgotten to ask before, so now she took the chance to voice her doubts.

“Goblins live in complex mountainous caves and use the terrain to ambush intruders. Usually, adventurer teams easily fail when dealing with goblin dens. Your strength and weapons probably don’t work well in such an environment, right?”

“I don’t actually use a bow,” El said. “You know, goblins’ eyes have adapted to dim light from living in darkness for so long, and their hearing is more sensitive than ordinary monsters. So I use strong light and loud blasts—one use clears out an entire goblin nest.”

“You can use that kind of magic?” Nia asked, puzzled. “Light attribute magic is only used by the human church, right?”

“It’s not magic… um…” El thought for a moment, then chose an explanation Nia could understand. “I have one-time-use items similar to magic scrolls.”

“Oh.”

Recalling what El said, Nia remembered many details—before she passed out that day, she had indeed seen a burst of blinding light.

That must have been the item El mentioned.

Just how many strange gadgets does he have?

“So, have you found anything you want?” El ended the goblin topic and steered the conversation back to the beginning.

“No.”

“Really nothing?” El pressed, “I just told you, I’m pretty well off. Don’t worry about money.”

“Really nothing,” Nia added, worried he wouldn’t believe her. “I don’t need any of these things.”

She was interested in plenty of things, but need was a different matter.

“Then if you don’t want anything, I’ll buy something for you.”

“Hm?”

Before Nia could react, El led her a few steps forward and stopped at a stall selling jewelry.

“Isn’t this El? Why are you here?”

Seeing the man and woman stop in front of her stall, an older woman let out a hoarse laugh.

“Reina Granny. Do you have those… um, matching pairs of jewelry? Like ones for couples.”

Wait, El just said couples, right?

Snapping back to attention, Nia ignored El’s struggling and pulled him aside.

“What are you trying to do now?”

“Buy couple rings,” El said matter-of-factly, without any sign of realizing he might be wrong.

Nia frowned tightly. “That’s not something friends buy.”

“Hey, who said only couples can buy these?” El looked at her sincerely.

“Think about it, we’ll definitely pass through a lot of human cities later and have to go through all kinds of checks—like the guy we met that day. If we have rings, it’ll add credibility. It’ll make dealing with inspections a lot easier.”

He did have a point.

It made sense and was hard to argue against.

Nia’s frown relaxed. “I didn’t expect you to be so thoughtful.”

“Of course, don’t you know who I am?”

After saying that, El pulled Nia back to Reina Granny’s jewelry stall.

“You two buying something?”

Seeing them come back, Reina Granny teased.

“Of course.” El was serious. “Reina Granny, give us your best.”

“You’re quite bold, kid.”

Saying that, Reina Granny took out two rings from her jewelry box.

The outer bands of both rings were carved with delicate vine patterns, with tiny transparent crystals embedded between the vines.

Hidden within the patterns were fine runic inscriptions.

“How about this?” Reina Granny handed the rings to them. “These are my treasured items I’ve kept for years. I only took them out because of you, kid.”

“They look nice. What do you think, Nia?”

“Not bad.”

Nia’s reply was somewhat perfunctory.

After all, these were just props for passing inspections—no need to be too serious.

“Then we’ll take these. Reina Granny, how much?”

“Two gold coins.”

“Wow, are these rings made of gold or gems? That’s expensive!” El was shocked as he prepared to pay.

Two gold coins was no small sum.

Reina Granny looked at El slowly. “El, don’t be stingy in front of your girlfriend.”

“She’s not my girlfriend, she’s my wife.”

“Oh? When did you get married? Why didn’t you tell me?” Reina Granny was surprised.

“Just recently, it was a bit rushed.”