The Goblin Dungeon (Part 1)
Ah, I'll grab my sword from the room.
Ah, yeah.
Lahan passed Estella and headed up the stairs, speaking first with his usual blunt casualness.
Hello! Good morning!
Yeah, good morning.
From behind came the cheerful morning greetings between Estella and Eri, who was still cleaning, their voices friendly and relaxed.
It seemed they had already begun to call each other by name naturally.
Lahan listened to their conversation with a faint smile, then quietly turned back toward his room to fetch his sword.
***
Once the time came, the two of them stepped out of the inn and walked side by side toward the Adventurer Guild.
They walked in silence, each of them keeping their gaze fixed on the opposite side of the other, refusing to meet eyes, the awkward tension lingering between them the entire way.
The atmosphere lasted all the way until they reached the Guild.
Soon they arrived at the Adventurer Guild, and both Lahan and Estella stepped inside.
Ah, hello there, Lahan-nim.
As soon as they entered, the receptionist Rona, who had been carrying a stack of quest forms, passed by them. They accidentally crossed paths.
Lahan nodded briefly to her in greeting.
Then he turned his steps toward the quest board.
Since they had arrived early, the inside was much quieter than yesterday. The board had just received new quests pinned up.
Probably Rona, who had been carrying the paper bundle earlier, had just replaced the old ones.
Lahan murmured to himself as he approached the board, 'It's lucky that there seem to be quite a few quests I can do today.'
He stood in front of the board and carefully examined each new quest form one by one.
'The rank limit means I, an F-rank, have very few options. Most are just sewer cleaning, retrieving lost items, or looking for missing cats—nothing that pays much.'
Lahan rested his chin on his hand, studying the board intently.
Then his gaze stopped at a particular spot.
At the end of his gaze, an E-rank Goblin Extermination quest was pinned to the board with a tack. It was a dungeon quest.
Shick.
Lahan spoke without hesitation. "Let's do this one, Estella."
"What kind of quest is it?"
"It's an E-rank quest. There aren't many I can handle, so this seems like the safest choice. The pay looks decent too. The content is extermination of goblins that have appeared in a dungeon. The location isn't far from here."
"Sounds good. Let's do it."
"Alright."
After agreeing, Lahan and Estella headed to the reception window.
"I'll take this one."
He showed the form to Rona on the desk.
Rona glanced at the Goblin Extermination quest on the desk and nodded.
"An E-rank quest. It might be a little dangerous for a brand-new F-rank like you, but… since you two already took down 100 Rabbit Horns yesterday, it should be fine. Understood. I'll process it, but I need you to show me the adventurer card you were given yesterday."
"Here."
"Yes, I have received it properly. Please wait just a moment."
Rona had initially looked a little concerned about their party, but given their success with the Rabbit Horns yesterday, she decided to go ahead with the processing without further fuss.
The receptionist at the Adventurer Guild was a national civil servant, so to prevent unnecessary casualties, she had the authority to refuse quests on her own judgment.
After writing one form on the desk, Rona handed back the adventurer card and the quest to Lahan.
"Processing complete. The success reward is calculated per head as listed on the quest form, but for this dungeon, it will be paid upon complete extermination of all goblins here. Upon successful completion, the Guild will confirm the extermination and immediately pay one gold as the reward. I wish you both a safe journey today as well."
Lahan nodded in agreement.
He received the adventurer card that Rona offered.
Then he gave Estella a signal to depart.
Estella, who had been watching Lahan, nodded and started walking together with him.
Soon the two left the Adventurer Guild and headed toward the dungeon where the goblins were.
***
Is this the place?
Yeah, it matches. The map on the quest clearly says it's near here. This area had only this dungeon.
"I'm glad I sharpened the sword properly last night."
"But why two swords? Are you a double-wielder or something?"
Estella, whose usual playful tone had returned as the awkwardness faded, asked Lahan.
Lahan shook his head slightly.
"No. They are the swords my two masters left me before passing. One for each of us. So two in total."
"…Ah, I see. Sorry for asking."
"It's fine. I knew you weren't asking out of strange intent. It's a pretty old story now."
Years had passed, so from Lahan's perspective, it was already quite old.
The pain and sadness he had felt back then had mostly settled.
"Then shall we enter the dungeon?"
"Yeah…!"
After pulling out his sword, Lahan proposed the idea, and Estella nodded eagerly. The two of them entered the Goblin Dungeon, with Lahan in the lead.
Clang!
At the same moment, an arrow shot out from the darkness at the entrance as if it had been waiting.
Then more arrows followed.
Whish-whish-whish!
Lahan, who had already noticed them in advance, flicked all the arrowheads away with the sword he had prepared without a hint of surprise.
"As expected, the guy is pretty cautious. I felt like there were several pairs of eyes watching us from outside before we even entered."
"…If you knew, why didn't you say anything earlier?!"
"Sorry. I wasn't completely sure. Maybe it was just a misunderstanding of nearby monsters or wild animals?"
"…Haa, next time tell me anything like that right away. I'll use detection magic to check if the guys behind us are approaching."
"Don't worry. It's fine. I saw yesterday. These kinds of guys aren't a big deal for me. Do whatever you want based on your judgment. We're always in the position where I'm in front and you're behind."
"Got it."
After the conversation, Lahan raised his sword and walked slowly forward.
The creatures began to slowly emerge from the darkness, one after another.
Green-skinned goblin warriors armed with various weapons.
'While Estella checks behind us, I need to take these guys out quickly.'
Actually, his senses had already perfectly located the ones approaching from behind, but Lahan deliberately chose not to tell Estella directly. He wanted her to do what she originally had to do.
This was the first time fighting together, so he wanted to get used to each other as a party from the start rather than finishing everything by himself.
After thinking it over, Lahan spoke to the goblins in a low voice.
"Hunt begins. You damn goblins."
Back then, as a Hunter from his previous life, he had said exactly that.
Soon Lahan kicked off the ground and charged toward the group of goblins in front of him.
***
Swipe!
Kek!
Kyaaak!
As a Hunter, Lahan showed no hesitation in killing them. In fact, he dealt with them with even more ruthless precision.
Fwoosh! Thwack!
The thrust that cut through the air pierced straight through the center of one goblin's skull.
Immediately, blood sprayed from its forehead and it collapsed with a thud on the floor.
Lahan did not stop there. He kept moving, slicing through enemies at blinding speed, darting between them like a phantom, beheading goblins one after another.
One goblin's head flew off with a snap and tumbled across the ground with a click-clack.
Lahan casually moved to the goblin who had been waiting for an opening, then thrust his sword into its neck in a single strike.
Thwack!
When he pulled out the sword, blood spurted from the pierced neck in a wet, sticky rush.
Lahan showed no mercy to the goblins whatsoever. He simply cut them down again and again with mechanical, emotionless precision.
Crunch!
"Kyieeeek-!"
The last goblin, whose chest had been stabbed, grabbed Lahan's sword with both hands and screamed in agony until the end.
But Lahan, completely unfeeling, twisted his hand and crushed the heart with a crunch! before finishing it off.
Thwack!
After pulling out the sword from the stabbed chest, Lahan wiped the goblin's blood off the blade onto the floor carelessly. Then he turned toward Estella, who had just appeared behind him.
"Did you finish yours too?"
"…I took care of the ones behind me. But seriously, how incredibly strong you are. I don't see any hesitation at all in your handling of the goblins. You don't look like you've just become an adventurer at all. Were you from a mercenary company or a bastard of some noble family when you were young?"
Estella, who had been irritated by Lahan's overwhelmingly overwhelming strength, asked in a dissatisfied tone.
'What kind of F-rank is this?'
Even though Estella had asked, Lahan simply shrugged as his answer.
Seeing Lahan's casual attitude, Estella let out a small sigh and decided not to ask any more questions.
Then, with a serious expression, Estella told him something important.
"Earlier, I found two branches deep in this dungeon. The left path has a large number of people moving, estimated at least as many as the ones we just fought. The right path probably has the elite soldiers. The auras detected were quite strong."
"Really?"
"And this is just my guess, but I think the goblins have noticed our presence. Their movements have become a bit strange."
"Probably one of the goblins here told their comrades that intruders had entered before we came. Goblins are surprisingly intelligent creatures, even as kids. That's why we can't afford to be careless."
"Have you fought goblins before?"
"Yeah, a long time ago for just a short time."
"Hmm. Anyway, it doesn't seem like the elites are just gathered in one cave for no reason. Behind them, there seems to be someone even more dangerous guarding them."
"Do you think this is the dungeon's boss?"
"Yeah. Judging by the aura, it probably is."
"It's still just goblins."
Lahan said it lightly, as if it was no big deal.
That thought had become even firmer after fighting the goblins earlier.
But from Estella's perspective, safety was the most important thing.
Carelessness was a forbidden sin.
Estella looked at Lahan with worried eyes and spoke cautiously.
"But we shouldn't be careless. Goblins are ruthless and cunning enough that they could set traps anywhere at any moment."
"I know."
"Are you really sure…? They also have…"
"Estella."
"…?"
Lahan suddenly interrupted her as she was about to give more advice and turned toward her.
Then, throwing off the light atmosphere from before, he spoke to her with firm resolve.
"Even so, they're just ordinary goblins."
"That's why you shouldn't underestimate them…"
"That's enough."
Lahan raised his hand to stop her in the middle of the sentence.
Then he looked at her more firmly and spoke.
"This is not because I'm arrogant or conceited and looking down on them. I already know…"
Lahan turned his back and looked toward the two branches ahead in the distance.
"…better than anyone how crafty goblins can be."
"So you don't have to worry too much, Estella."
His tone had become light again, as if he had experienced this before.
And it was not just a mood.
Lahan's gaze toward the darkness beyond the distant branches had become unnaturally calm.
'In my previous life, when I was still a Hunter, the ones who invaded our world at the front were these goblin bastards.'
The light in Lahan's eyes, recalling that old memory, carried a sharpness unlike before.
At the end of that gaze lay the ugly, hideous goblins hiding in the darkness, their eyes glowing a muddy yellow.