Chapter 20 - To the Dark Mage's Nest
Chapter 20 - To the Dark Mage's Nest
020
The vast and boundless Adens Plain.
Goblins tightly packed across that fertile land marched toward the city.
Several hundred adventurers had gone out beforehand to stop the goblins' march, but overwhelmed by the sheer number, they were reportedly repelled in defeat.
Now, there wasn't much time left before the goblins reached the city.
"Shoot!"
-Pabababak!
Countless arrows flew up into the sky. They had been pulled back so fiercely that the bows bent into half-circles and whipped forward.
Soon, the sky grew dim. The archers loaded and fired arrows without a moment to rest, and arrows soared up almost once every five seconds.
Because there were so many enemies, aiming was unnecessary. The archers actually thanked that circumstance as they pulled their bows.
"Kieeeeek!"
"Kiiiik!"
The goblins standing in the very front row were pierced by arrows and collapsed.
Because their comrades were suddenly struck by arrows and tumbled down, the goblins behind them tripped right along with them. In the middle of a massive crowd charging forward, falling down meant instant death.
"Don't stop shooting! We need to thin out their numbers, even if it's just by one bastard!"
Arrows fell without a break.
It wasn't that every single one hit its mark, but most of the arrows landed on the goblins, and those goblins generally ended up dead.
Even though casualties that would have caused an ordinary army to disintegrate long ago were piling up, the goblins kept heading forward.
"We're going to collide soon!"
"Shut your trap and feed arrows to the string!"
Was it worth stepping over the corpses of their comrades?
The goblins managed to get very close to the archers who had been annoyingly shooting arrows from far away.
Yet why was that? The archers didn't move.
"Shoot!"
Now at a distance of barely 200 meters.
The archers continued to draw their bows toward the black, swarming horde.
A noticeably massive number were dying off. Yet for some reason, the distance was closing.
At least three to four hundred must have collapsed while running over. In truth, the arrows they had prepared amounted to that much, and judging by the fact that supplies had hit rock bottom, precisely that many had surely died.
"Fuck! There are fucking tons of them!"
The goblins finally arrived.
Despite having run from a far distance, they didn't look tired at all.
Flashing their sharp teeth and claws, they rushed forward to tear apart the humans who had slaughtered their kin using "cowardly weapons."
"Good! Now the distance has closed enough. Those bastards can't run away! Everyone, open up to the sides!"
The moment the command from the high-ranking officer directing the battle dropped, the archers rapidly dispersed to the sides.
Not going backward, but sideways? And with disciplined, orderly movements as if they had been trained for it.
"Kereuk?!"
"Kieek!"
From between the archers who had opened up like that, the sounds of clatter- clatter- rang out noisily.
It was an army armed with white horses boasting splendid white manes and long lances called 'sarisa' that easily exceeded 4 meters.
"Let's personally trample those fucking bastards who dared set foot on the plain without fear!"
"Let's go!"
The cavalry unit, composed of about 100 personnel, spurred their horses and rushed forward holding the long-range sarisas.
While the flustered goblins hesitated in place, the cavalry broke through the distance in an instant, and the sarisas thrust deep all at once.
"Kieeeeek!"
Screams of goblins and the clattering sound of horse hooves echoed from all around.
It was a cavalry of a mere 100 people. But the opponents were goblins weak in both strength and speed.
Even if an equal number of human infantrymen came, they would have been unilaterally slaughtered. Goblins possessing neither weapons nor physical advantages were slaughtered helplessly.
"That's absurd."
Watching goblins that looked to be easily numbering in the thousands being thoroughly hunted down by a mere 100-man cavalry, I couldn't hide my astonishment.
"If they had been deployed from the start, all those adventurers wouldn't have had to die in vain."
"Hmm, indeed so."
"This city seems crazy. No matter how much of a world it is that disregards human life, they said nothing is as precious as life itself..."
Karl, the barbarian warrior carrying an axe on his back, slowly nodded his head.
Too many people had died. The corpses filling the plain proved that.
Since people had died to this extent, the supply of adventure requests in surrounding cities would go wild from here on out.
"Then you'd have to pay too high a price."
"...Kn-Knight-nim!"
Fuck, just when did Anders come up behind me?!
I talked so much trash behind her back without even realizing she had come up right behind me!
"You've got the eyes of a startled rabbit. Is this your first time seeing something like this?"
"...Yes."
"The world is a harsh place. There are many people who'll tear your throat out over a single fairy tale."
My eyes went wide at those words. But realizing that doing so was rude to the knight, I lowered my gaze again.
"As you said, if the cavalry had been operated from the beginning, it wouldn't have caused casualties."
Anders, the one-eyed knight, continued speaking while chewing on bread with one hand in a sloppy manner.
"However, the fact that goblins use tactics was an unknown situation to us. Therefore, the standing army needed bait."
"That's the adventurers."
Karl spoke, staring intently at the knight as if it were nothing.
Normally, someone would fly into a rage at a barbarian glaring at them. But this knight just shrugged her shoulders once.
"Cavalrymen are expensive. They require grueling training, so it takes a long period of time to produce them. Besides, what about the cost of raising horses? Every single one lost will bring a fatal financial blow."
That statement is a hundred times right.
A cavalryman is like a medieval tank.
Every single one lost brings a bone-aching blow. It's because this city is rich that they can pull off this many numbers. Other cities couldn't even imagine it.
"I merely made a rational choice. Of course, I'll gain infamy in the world because of this. But I don't care."
"Thaaat..."
"You seem to have a question. Fine, I grant it to you."
I don't know if I should say this.
But if I don't say it, it feels like I won't feel refreshed. It's like I'd live with it aching for the rest of my life.
Fidgeting awkwardly, I soon gained the courage to speak up.
"Do you perhaps hate adventurers?"
That kind of thought crossed my mind.
If they wanted to use bait, there wouldn't have been any need to buy up adventurers specifically.
They could have just issued a levy to drag women in, or failing that, unlocked their funds to buy professional mercenary groups.
Yet why did they specifically have to buy adventurers?
"Well."
Anders bit into the bread with her back molars and spoke boastfully.
"There must be complex reasons. Well, to be precise, I don't hate adventurers. Because resentment and hatred are far apart."
"Far apart?"
"Resentment appears when the other party does something wrong, whereas hatred appears even if there's no proper reason."
She chuckled slyly. It was an expression only someone who had lost something could make.
"It's probably a big deal that I resent goblins. If you can make the targets of your resentment fight each other, there's nothing better than that."
Anders stroked the ring worn on her index finger. Was she a married person?
"More importantly, there's something I want to commission the two of you for."
"Didn't you just say you resent adventurers?"
You're telling me. Could this woman possibly be thinking of throwing us out as bait?
"I don't resent people with competence."
"Is that so."
Karl nodded slightly, as if convinced. With that, the conversation ended.
Besides, they've wiped out all the goblins, so what kind of commission could there be?
After the 100-plus cavalrymen rampaged to their hearts' content.
The plain was drenched in blood.
It was completely filled with flesh and bloodstains, along with flocks of crows and swarms of flies coming to pick at them.
"We won't really need to secure fertilizer to use this year."
Over that chaotic mess, Anders walked around slowly while casually chewing on bread.
It was full of corpses and swarms of flies without even a single spot to place a foot. She sure eats well.
"You're not hiring us to dispose of corpses, are you?"
"No way? That's what engineering corps are for—to handle stuff like this."
"Is that so."
And even Karl, who was standing right next to her so calmly!
Ah, fuck, I feel like throwing up and dying, and they're talking right over there? I won't go even if I die. If I open my mouth, flies look like they'll fly right in.
"We're going to organize only the elite of the elite and raid the goblin lair. I've figured out where those bastards are."
"A lair...?"
"We need to nip them in the bud before those bastards increase their numbers again. Right now is the prime time."
It means the goblin's nest.
But to be able to breed a number like this, wouldn't it be an immense size?
Perhaps there might be even more bastards overflowing than the goblins that attacked the plain.
"What about the bastards in the nest?"
"Ah, you don't need to worry about that. There aren't that many of them."
"If there aren't many, can't you just take soldiers? Then why did you hire us?"
Throwing bread stuck with flies down to the ground, Anders grinned broadly, revealing her teeth.
"There's a black magician there. Barbarians are good at catching stuff like that, aren't they?"
"That's my specialty."
...To be honest, I almost flinched just now.