第１８７５堀：地道に働く冒険者たち (Part1)
Chapter 1875: Adventurers Working Diligently
Side: Nina
"Gugya!?"
With that final cry, the last goblin collapsed to the ground.
I remained on guard, watching for any sign of mimicry—the classic "playing dead" tactic.
*Thud.*
I threw my knife, pinning its arm firmly to the earth.
"Seriously, isn't that overkill?"
Kishua remarked at my actions, but I didn't waver.
"Goblins are not to be underestimated. Steve and his lot are a prime example of that."
"No, those are something else entirely that just happen to look like goblins. Besides, if you don't pull that knife out soon, it’s going to reek of blood."
"Ah, right."
Prompted by her, I quickly retrieved the blade and flicked off the gore, but it seemed I was a fraction of a second too late. The goblin’s blood had already clung to the steel. It wasn't just the stench; it could lead to corrosion. While I doubted anything crafted by Narjia-san would succumb so easily, I had no desire to carry that foul odor around with me. I moved immediately.
"Sia, wash this off."
"Am I your personal cleaning service now?"
"You’re the one who excels at water magic, aren't you?"
"That has nothing to do with—"
"Um, I can provide the water," Vilia offered, sensing Sia’s reluctance.
"Oh, thank you. A far cry from the inflexible Sia."
"I'll do it!"
Before Vilia could move, Sia instantly unleashed a torrent of water magic directly at me. It was a bit excessive in both volume and force, but I dodged the brunt of it, ensuring only the knife was submerged in the stream.
"Tch."
"That’s my line. If you were going to do it, you could have just done it without the attitude."
I inspected the now-pristine knife, shook off the excess water, and returned it to its sheath.
"You two never get tired of that comedy routine, do you?"
"I think it shows how close they are," Kishua and Vilia chimed in, looking warmed by our bickering.
"It’s not a routine. Honestly, how did we end up with this dynamic..."
"Heh. It’s all thanks to Sia."
"Please, stop. Anyway, putting that aside, this marks our fourth successful goblin subjugation."
The banter ended there as Sia surveyed the goblins sprawled around us. These weren't the cunning, monstrously strong creatures like Steve’s group; these were genuine, run-of-the-mill goblins capable of little more than forming small packs and setting rudimentary traps. They were a nuisance in large numbers, certainly, but that was the extent of it. Against us, the gap in ability was so vast they couldn't even land a scratch.
"We’ve been taking jobs around the capital of Giadana, but the caliber of monsters here is quite limited."
"Well, yeah. If there were powerful monsters lurking right near the capital, that would be a problem in itself, wouldn't it?"
"Kishua is right. Sia, you’re not thinking."
"That’s not what I meant. Once this job is wrapped up, the next one should be coming soon."
At those words, everyone’s expression turned serious. It went without saying why.
"Well, we’ve finished nearly ten jobs in just three days. With the scouts—or rather, the monitors—watching us, it wouldn't be strange for them to make a move soon."
"The receptionist was suspicious at first, too."
"Naturally. It’s not every day that a group of seemingly fragile, beautiful girls shows up with piles of monster materials and magic stones."
Thinking about it normally, it was a reasonable reaction. Vilia and Kishua—while I wouldn't call them small children, they still carried a youthful air—shouldn't be capable of such feats. I understood it because I knew them, but to an outsider, it was suspicious. After all, they didn't look like they could defeat anything.
However, we had already smoothed that over through the connections of Archbishop Dodona and Chancellor Daeda. Once the receptionist was briefed by her superiors, she became our dedicated point of contact. And, as Kishua noted, we were being watched. There was no way they would keep us at this rank for long.
"The Guild Master mentioned it too; he said he’d be raising our rank as adventurers soon, so some other kind of task is bound to come our way."
"It’s only logical. It’s a waste of our talents to keep us on herb-gathering and goblin-slaying duty."
"Plus, we have the recommendations from Dodona-san and Daeda-san."
Exactly. They should have realized how useful we were over these last three days. The Clearstream Church was likely maneuvering in the shadows, and they would be hungry for information. As Sia said, it was only a matter of time before they entrusted us with a real mission.
"There is also a non-zero chance that they are trying to trap us."
Sia’s words carried a sharp edge.
"That’s true. But from what I’ve heard at the Adventurer’s Guild, many of the adventurers there are actually quite happy with the Clearstream Church handling the monster extermination."
Kishua agreed, sharing what she had gathered over the last three days. It was true; the Adventurer’s Guild held the Clearstream Church in surprisingly high regard. Perhaps because they didn't interact much with demi-humans, there was a clear division of labor: the Church’s soldiers handled the powerful monsters, while the adventurers took care of the—well, calling them 'weak' might be a stretch, but the smaller-scale monster problems.
Or rather, was it that the elite adventurers were essentially graduating to become knights of the Clearstream Church? Like a game where you promote to a higher class? Of course, there were adventurers who resented that fact, feeling that adventurers were being treated as second-class citizens. That kind of friction was inevitable whenever people gathered. Even on the Rogali continent, there were those who looked down on adventurers who did odd jobs for commoners as mere penny-pinchers.
In Weed, however, people had stopped saying that out loud recently. Because the number of adventurers focused on helping commoners had increased so much that if you mocked them, you’d find yourself barred from using the city’s facilities.
"Sia, are you suggesting the Adventurer’s Guild is connected to the Clearstream Church? I mean, they are connected, but..."
"You know what I mean. They probably don't want to eliminate us right now, but if they find out that Archbishop Dodona and Chancellor Daeda are backing us, that could change."
If those two were behind us, it would be natural for the Church to assume we were either opposed to them or plotting something nefarious. The possibility of them taking action against us wasn't zero.
"For now, there haven't been any attempts to assassinate us, right? Right, Nina?"
"Yeah. Nothing like that, at least. Though, there are plenty of small-time adventurers who don't like seeing us succeed."
We had been active lately, trying to make a name for ourselves, and that had drawn both genuine praise and suspicion from our peers. It was a common occurrence. I had no intention of getting dragged into their petty squabbles, but it was undoubtedly a nuisance.
Still, the biggest reason for the current status quo was simple:
"Besides, it’s only been three days since we started. No matter how much skill we have, our track record is limited to hunting small-fry monsters like goblins. There’s no way to properly evaluate us yet, and almost no reason to eliminate us."