Family-Like Guild (5)
Meanwhile, Hans and Sophia were facing the goblin army alone, just as Isaac had ordered. To be precise, Las was sticking close by their side, but he wasn’t contributing much. That was because Hans and Sophia were annihilating every last goblin that should have been Las’s share. Thanks to that, Las was forced to confront his own limits.
Goblins weren’t exactly difficult opponents. Yet he had never imagined he would be so utterly overwhelmed by the pair that he couldn’t even swing his sword once. So these were the fallen kingdom’s knights the master had spoken of. Their strength was beyond anything he could have pictured.
The goblin army lived up to its name, numbering at least a hundred, but now only about ten remained alive. Hans noticed something strange.
They’re not running?
Goblins were nothing but a disorderly mob. When the battle turned against them, they usually fled without hesitation. Yet even after losing over ninety percent of their forces, they still refused to run?
“Hans! Their leader’s shown up!”
“As expected. They had something to fall back on.”
“A boss? Do goblins even have those?”
“Of course not.”
Goblins were the lowest-grade monsters. Variants simply didn’t exist. Their fate was to be used as disposable tools beneath stronger beings for their entire lives. And what commanded a goblin army was always a superior monster.
Soon it revealed itself before them all. Green skin slick with sticky mucus, it boasted a colossal frame four times the size of a human.
“A troll leading goblins. Textbook encounter.”
“We’ve handled plenty of them before.”
“A t-troll?! That’s an intermediate monster!!”
Las couldn’t hide his shock. He had come to subjugate goblins, not face a troll. But unlike the flustered rookie, Hans calmly raised his greatsword and spoke.
“Consider it fortunate that it’s only a troll, newbie.”
“Pardon?”
“I know of one party that had a lich appear and lost everyone except a single survivor.”
“A l-lich as well…?!”
“Exactly. A troll is practically easy mode by comparison.”
“This will make the perfect hands-on training session.”
A troll was never an opponent to take lightly. Its thick hide could repel ordinary metal weapons, and even if wounded, its mucus could heal the damage almost instantly. It earned its rank as an intermediate monster for good reason. Yet the two veterans stood before it with complete composure. They were even planning to use the creature as a living textbook.
That is, if the slash flying in from behind hadn’t interrupted them.
The blade of wind tore through the ground and formed a single lethal line that pierced the troll’s neck with perfect precision. Struck in a vital spot, the troll’s regeneration proved useless. Its life was snuffed out in an instant.
“The troll died in one hit?”
“Is everyone all right?”
The owner of that slash was, of course, Isaac. Las could only stare in utter astonishment. In his experience, heroes capable of ending a troll’s life with a single strike were few and far between.
“Master! What are you doing?!”
“Hm?”
“I was going to use that for the newbie’s practical lesson.”
“My apologies. I didn’t consider that.”
They had an incredible feat right before their eyes, yet instead of praise, they were scolding him for killing it too quickly. Was this the strength of a brand-new guild? Even most established mid-tier guilds couldn’t compare.
“Master, the goblins are fleeing. What should we do?”
“Kill every last one. That was the request.”
“Gladly.”
Only then did the goblins realize the situation and attempt to escape, but they didn’t get far. Sophia cut them all down. The goblin army was completely wiped out.
“The request isn’t finished yet.”
Even so, Isaac refused to lower his guard. Although every goblin that had attacked the village was dead, some might still remain inside their lair.
“Let’s return to the village first.”
“A sound decision.”
“Ugh~ Can we finally rest now?”
…These people are absolute monsters.
Las once again felt the true weight of Iron Shield’s power. Ironically, he had remained a rookie in Gideon for five full years. That was how difficult it was to adapt to most guilds. New recruits were usually subjected to excessive military discipline, strange rules they couldn’t endure, or the guild itself would be annihilated during a monster subjugation due to some fatal mistake.
Having witnessed all of that, Las saw that even though Iron Shield was a newly established guild, its members possessed such overwhelming strength that their future looked brilliantly promising.
I was a little worried at first. Thank goodness.
In contrast, Sophia felt secretly relieved. She had begun to think Isaac had changed after becoming guild master, but this confirmed he was still the same person she remembered.
We can’t let the protagonist’s village get wiped out, after all.
Isaac, however, was thinking something else entirely.
The next day, they set out at dawn to the sound of Dig’s whining. Thanks to Sophia’s relentless tracking, they located the goblins’ lair without difficulty. What followed was entirely predictable. The few surviving goblins had no chance against Iron Shield’s strength, and the lair was cleared in under an hour.
The villagers were overjoyed. They had suffered terribly at the goblins’ hands. Only now could they finally collect the corpses rotting outside the village. Soon a funeral began in the once-cheerful settlement.
Surprisingly, Isaac’s party attended as well. To pay their respects to those who had sacrificed their lives for family and neighbors, every guild member, led by Isaac, participated in the ceremony.
“You helped recover the bodies and even attended the funeral… I don’t know how to repay such kindness.”
“Think nothing of it. This is simply what heroes do.”
“Heroes… If only every hero were like you…”
A bitter smile born of long experience hovered on the village chief’s lips. The heroes of Gideon were thorough pragmatists. What they sought was gold and the kind of legends that would be remembered for generations. To put it bluntly, if helping someone offered no benefit or wouldn’t become part of their myth, heroes would not hesitate to turn away. That was the true nature of those called heroes.
Until Isaac accepted it, no one had been willing to take this request. The reason was painfully obvious: there was no money in it. Of course one couldn’t blame people who risked their lives for a living, but if they wished to be called heroes, surely they shouldn’t behave that way. That was what the chief and the villagers believed.
“I’m ashamed we can only offer this much.”
In a poor rural village, even scraping together every coin wouldn’t amount to much. Nevertheless, Isaac accepted the meager reward they had painstakingly gathered and spoke.
“Will you manage?”
“It will be difficult, but we will overcome it.”
“You’re resilient.”
“You’re too kind.”
They had lost many neighbors and family members. Yet the eyes of the people held not despair, but the hope of living on. Though the village now lay in ashes, Isaac believed in them. He was certain they would rise again one day.
It was a shame, but it was time to leave. Every goblin had been eliminated and the request completed. There was no longer any reason to remain.
But just as they turned to go—
“Please wait!!”
All the villagers had gathered to see them off. None of them could have imagined a child would suddenly dash forward.
It was a peculiar boy with black hair and sparkling golden eyes. The moment he rushed out, the adults panicked and tried to pull him back.
“Hold on. Let’s hear what he has to say.”
“But…”
“I want to become a hero too! Please take me with you!!”
The boy’s voice rang clearly across the village. Reactions varied. Some cursed at the sight of him, while others simply sighed. It likely had something to do with the fact that he was an orphan who received unusually cold treatment in the village.
Yet there was one person looking directly at the child. Isaac.
“Being a hero is not a glamorous occupation. It is a name only those who have swallowed countless despair and tears may bear.”
“……”
“Even so, do you still wish to become one?”
“Yes!”
There was no hesitation in the boy’s answer. Isaac nodded.
Sophia, completely unable to follow the sudden development, shouted.
“Wait a second. You’re seriously going to take this kid?”
“I don’t think that’s a very good idea.”
It was only natural for Hans and Sophia to object. If they took in every pitiful case they encountered, how could they possibly run a guild? The boy clearly had his own circumstances. The villagers’ cold attitude made that obvious whether one wanted to see it or not. But deciding on a whim of sympathy would only lead to regret later. No one knew that better than Hans and Sophia. That was why they opposed the idea.
At least until they saw Isaac’s eyes. For the first time, his gaze had grown heavy and deep.
“Trust me. This isn’t a decision made out of momentary pity.”
“Then what exactly did you see in him?”
“The way he shielded his family while prepared to die.”
Isaac summed up their complaint in a single sentence.
“I saw a hero in that moment.”
In truth, he was only taking the boy because he was the protagonist. But there was no way he could say that out loud.