The Ruin Raiding Goblins
After flying for a while, Kathe said,
“I can see it now.”
“It’s very quick when you fly.”
“Of course it is!”
It really felt like we had barely been flying at all.
But it would have been over an hour on foot.
Dragons were very fast.
Kathe landed lightly on the ground.
And so we got off of the dragon’s back and onto the ground as well.
“It is over there.”
“Where?”
Kathe stood behind me but our faces were now aligned.
They were aligned, but the dragon’s head was about as tall as I was.
So Kathe’s jaw was touching the ground.
I suppose it was so our eyes would be level.
“Can you see it, Locke? There is a cave over there.”
“Hmm. I can see it. So that’s the ruin that is overrun by goblins?”
“That is right. These goblins are so bold!”
Kathe was breathing hoarsely.
And since we were very close, it was very loud.
When I inspected the entrance to the ruins, I could see that there were two goblins.
“Yes, there are goblins.”
“See? I thought they were goblins as well. But I wanted to make sure that they weren’t actually humans.”
Kathe was not confident on this issue of telling us apart.
After all, Kathe had mistaken us for goblins the last time.
“So that’s why you called me?”
“Yes, that is why.”
Kathe said smugly.
“I came here because the intruder detection spell was triggered. And then I saw these goblin-like creatures and was about to burn them away…”
“But then you remembered our promise?”
“Exactly! Exactly right.”
“Thank you for keeping it.”
“Gahahahaha! I happen to have a strong sense of duty!”
I called over Nia and Grulf.
Grulf had calmed down considerably. But he was still shaking.
“Grulf, are you alright?”
“Grr.”
Still, there was little cheerfulness in his voice.
But he was still a pup, after all.
“Nia. Can you see it?”
“Yes. I can see. There are two goblins.”
Nia was calm now.
She wasn’t shaking or clamping her tail between her legs.
Perhaps riding the dragon had helped her become accustomed to it.
It was only a moment ago that she had been on top of the gigantic Kathe while also being up high and moving at a great speed.
So being on the ground again was nothing.
“Nia. How many goblins do you think are in that ruin?”
“Let me see…”
Nia began to think hard.
I decided to quietly wait until she was finished.
Kathe looked on as if this was most amusing.
“It’s too far to say for sure…but I can see two watchers.”
“And?”
“The fact that there are watchers suggests there might be a leader, such as a hob goblin or goblin magician…”
“Hmmm.”
I told her to continue.
“I think there might be ten or twenty inside.”
“Wonderful.”
“Th-thank you.”
Nia’s tail wagged slowly.
“Of course, it’s possible that there are less than five in all or that the two guards are the only ones.”
“Yes.”
“However, that is just an optimistic guess. As an Adventurer, its best to expect the worst.”
I said admiringly and patted her on the head.
Kathe watched this exchange with a curious expression.
“You humans do think about a lot of things.”
“Humans are much weaker than dragons. We have to think or we will die easily.”
“Gahahahaha! But you are stronger than me, Locke.”
Kathe was in a good mood. A sharp contrast to Grulf, who was still hiding behind me.
“Well, now that we know they are goblins, let us burn them out.”
“Wait a second.”
“Hm? Is there something else?”
“There is still a possibility of humans being inside.”
“Hm? You mean humans who are in league with the goblins?”
“No, I mean humans that were captured by the goblins.”
“I did not know that such things happened.”
Goblins ate people.
And so the chance of there being living captives was quite low.
“I’ll go and explore the ruins with Nia and Grulf…”
“Huh?”
Nia looked surprised.
“Oh? If you don’t want to, you could stay outside with Kathe?”
“No, I was just surprised. I will definitely go with you.”
“I see.”
“I would like to go too.”
“Hmm. You’re too big, Kathe.”
“But it is a dragon ruin, so it is big inside, you know?”
“That’s true… But I want you to wait by the entrance and kill any goblins that try to escape.”
“I see. That is an important job, yes.”
Kathe was satisfied by this.
“What about you, Grulf? Do you want to wait outside?”
“Grr-grrr.”
Grulf growled weakly. Then he lifted both paws towards my hand.
He would rather hunt goblins then stay with Kathe.
“Alright. Let’s go then.”
And so I told Nia and Grulf what we would do.
We wouldn’t be able to talk once we got close, so we needed to prepare in advance.
After that, we approached the ruins. Nia and I would kill a goblin each.
It was important that we did not let them scream while we did it.
When that was finished, we would go inside of the ruins, and Nia and Grulf would follow after me.
This would be good stealth training for Nia.
Even for a Warrior, stealth training was important in becoming a first-rate Adventurer.
It would be completely ridiculous if you couldn’t even hide from mere goblins.
I had told her that before we began.
And so she quietly approached and jumped at the goblin at the perfect distance. And then she thrust her sword into its neck.
I killed my own goblin at the same time.
I nodded approvingly to her and then we stepped foot into the ruins.
