The Magic Tower's Strange Investigation Quest #4
The Magic Tower's Strange Investigation Quest #4
"Well, it was impressive either way. You did manage to start a fire, after all."
Lili stuck her tongue out at me after watching me successfully start the fire by manual labor.
I pretended it was nothing, but as I stared at the burning plank, I was just as surprised inside.
Normally, starting a fire by rubbing sticks together is nearly impossible. The slightest bit of moisture seeping in during the friction would reset all your progress.
If a single drop of sweat accidentally fell onto the plank, that would be the end of it.
I made sure not to show my surprise.
It would make me look like a total chump.
"It's not magic, but it's amazing. I guess those burly arm muscles aren't just for show."
Luckily, Lili's reaction wasn't bad.
As long as the end result was achieved, she didn't care about the method—Lili stared at the blazing plank and didn't bother to nitpick.
Rebecca let out a sigh and stared at my blistered palm.
"Hey, was that magic?"
"Of course not. I just don't know fire magic, so I bullshitted my way through it with pure muscle."
"Ha... If it was just physical work, you should have left it to me. Manual labor seems like my role here."
"Manual labor is your role?"
Oh.
That came out sounding kind of lewd.
I almost let my mind run wild with perverted thoughts for a moment, but I decided against it.
Getting a hard-on here could end up disbanding the party.
There's a time and place for standing tall—gotta know when to raise it.
"You didn't just think something weird, did you?"
"Huh? Oh... No."
I glossed over it and brought the flaming plank to the red flower.
Was the flower called Big Rafflesia?
The moment the flame touched it, the Big Rafflesia burned away, releasing a horrendous stench.
"We have to burn it cleanly, leaving no trace behind. The Big Rafflesia has a strong regenerative ability. Let's watch until the flower completely burns away."
Following Lili's instructions, Rebecca and I waited for a long time in front of the burning flower.
The sight of a massive flower with an 8-meter diameter going up in flames was truly a spectacle.
It felt like watching a campfire during a school trip.
It would have been a magnificent view if not for the stench stabbing at my nostrils.
"Smells like shit."
"Yeah, it does."
Smoke plumed up and rose into the forest sky. With that much smoke billowing out, I thought maybe someone passing by might see this sight.
And then, a short while later, my prediction came true.
I heard footsteps from nearby.
When I turned around absentmindedly, I spotted something walking out from the bushes. Since it was walking on two legs, I briefly mistook it for a person.
But the moment I saw its green skin, I realized it was a monster.
"A, a goblin..."
"Where? A goblin?"
I was flustered by the sudden appearance of the goblin. I'd hunted goblins to the point of total boredom, but the goblin that appeared before me now was different from the ones I'd seen so far.
Rebecca, who also saw the goblin after I pointed it out, was just as shocked.
"It's huge! Its height has grown immensely. It's like a little kid turned into an adult?"
"Looks like the goblins have undergone the Giantification Phenomenon too."
Goblins were originally the size of young children. But this goblin that had undergone Giantification had transformed to the size of an adult human. Meeting the eyes of a goblin that had grown tall enough to reach my chest—roughly 1.5 meters—felt very strange.
Kshhhhhhh!!
"Shit, its voice got deeper too. Did it hit puberty or something?"
The Giant Goblin raised its sharp claws and threatened us.
Seeing the oversized goblin, I tensed up a bit.
Fighting short little brats was completely different from fighting a monster of my own size.
Maybe retreating here was the better option.
Goblins aren't the type of monster that throws the first punch unconditionally.
Unless they're looking for food, they sometimes just leave humans alone even if they see them.
I called out to our employer, Lili, to make a decision.
"What should we do? Should we run?"
"W-well... this is an investigation quest, first and foremost. I don't want to make you two fight unnecessarily."
Lili scratched her cheek before speaking up.
"We also need to secure monster samples. I heard from the professor that bringing back monster samples will get us higher marks. Please catch that Giant Goblin too."
"It could be dangerous."
"If we just get the monster samples, my evaluation will be generous. My grades for this semester are riding on this quest."
I nodded to indicate I understood.
Lili had the kind of determination that made her seem ready to sell her soul for a high grade.
Anyway, the pay was 1 Silver, so doing a little monster killing on the side as a free service was doable.
Shhhing!
I spoke quietly to Rebecca, who had already drawn her blade.
"Hey, don't push yourself too hard. If it gets dangerous, pull back immediately. We don't know how that goblin might have gotten stronger."
"The client gave an order, didn't she? Shouldn't we work hard even if it means pushing ourselves?"
"Are you gonna go die just because the client asks you to? We gotta work for what we're paid, but your life is worth more than money. Don't rush in from the start. Let's take time to observe first."
"I get what you're saying."
Rebecca nodded and walked toward the Giant Goblin.
She must have taken my advice to heart, because she moved by circling around the goblin.
I wove hand seals behind her while preparing a spell.
The Giant Goblin glared at Rebecca and let out a ferocious cry. It was extremely agitated, immediately preparing for battle. It swung its claws at Rebecca, who was circling around it.
The goblin's curved claws raked through the air.
Kshhhhhhhh!!
Rebecca pulled back to dodge the goblin's attack. She seemed focused entirely on evasion without counterattacking. Just like when she'd encountered the Kelpie at Mersil Lakeside, Rebecca was a woman with nimble footwork. The goblin's claws missed Rebecca and cut through empty space.
"Hm...?"
After observing for a moment, I realized the goblin's movements were clumsy. The Giant Goblin was swinging its arms with all its might, but nothing was connecting.
Or rather, its movements just looked awkward?
Its elongated limbs were completely out of sync with its body.
Kshhhhiiii!!
Thud! It even tripped over its own legs while chasing Rebecca. The goblin smashed its head into the ground and snorted angrily.
"It's surprisingly not a big deal?"
Rebecca tilted her head as she looked at the fallen Giant Goblin.
In that moment, I finished casting Magic Missile.
Smack! A mana sphere shot from my palm and struck the Giant Goblin squarely in the back.
The Giant Goblin, hit in the back, trembled for a moment before its breathing ceased.
Unbelievably, it died in a single blow.
"Easy. I got scared for nothing."
For all the tension, it was an incredibly unsatisfying opponent.
The small, regular goblins were actually more annoying.
Those bastards were small and nimble, so if you fight them head-on, you get hurt.
"Both of you did a great job! We secured a monster sample!"
"It was ridiculously weak, this Giant Goblin."
"Just because a Giantification Phenomenon occurs, it doesn't mean a creature automatically gets strong. Its body volume increased, but its muscle mass didn't keep up with it. Since the arm and leg muscles can't support its weight, its movements are bound to be slow and clumsy."
It felt strange.
In the cartoons I watched as a kid, giant monsters were all insanely powerful. It seems this Otherworld had no such laws of the kaiju genre. It was a world without a single shred of romanticized fantasy.
After the fact that Giant Goblins were weaklings was revealed—
Lili, having extracted a sample, spoke to Rebecca and me with an apologetic expression.
"I'm sorry, but please hunt a few more Giant Goblins. What kind of effects the Giantification Phenomenon has on monsters is a hot research topic at the Magic Tower, you see. There will definitely be differences from one individual to another. I'd like to get as many samples as possible."
"Wasn't this just supposed to be an investigation quest? Continued monster hunting is a bit of a burden."
"If that's the case, I'll provide additional pay. I'll add 50 Copper per person."
"Understood. You're all dead, you little goblin shits!"
Bo!
nus!
Pay!
With an extra 50 Copper on the table, what could I possibly refuse?
If Lili was a slave to her grades, then I was a slave to money.
The moment I heard the sound of coins jingling in Lili's pocket, my body felt much lighter. Rebecca next to me also seemed energized by the sound of bonus pay.
"Awesome! Let's go catch goblins right now, Luke!"
"I know a goblin den nearby. Let's head that way."
Having frequented Morris Forest back in my solo days, I knew there was a goblin den near the stream.
After reporting that fact to Lili, I took the lead at the front of our group.
"This way!"
On the path to the goblin den, my party and I hunted down several more Giant Goblins. Once again, the Giant Goblins failed to pose any real threat to us.
Rather, their flesh and bones felt so soft that it was satisfying to shoot them dead with mana spheres every time they appeared.
Kshhhiiiiii...!!!
Kshhhhhiiiiiii-!!!!
Rebecca and I literally turned into slaughter chariots, butchering the Giant Goblins. Tearing apart, slicing up, and blasting away the charging enemies—I felt like the protagonist of a hack-and-slash game.
This is fun!
We're gonna kill them all!
"We've arrived."
By the time I came to my senses, my party and I had already arrived at the entrance of the goblin den.
A hilly area dotted with several crude shacks.
Giant Goblins came rushing out of those shacks in a frenzy to greet us.
There were roughly ten of them.
Goblins the size of adults surrounded us, screeching loudly.
At any other time, I might've been terrified, but right now, the adrenaline surging from smashing so many of them had me and Rebecca fully pumped.
"Fuck 'em all up!"
Rebecca grabbed her blade and slashed through the Giant Goblins. I maintained my distance while continuously firing mana spheres. The Giant Goblins toppled over one by one every time a sphere found its mark.
If I'd been solo, I wouldn't have been able to form hand seals so freely.
Thanks to Rebecca drawing the aggro in front of me, I could relax a bit.
This is exactly why parties are great.
It was when we had almost cleared out all the Giant Goblins in the den.
While searching through the shacks to root out any remaining survivors, a scream suddenly erupted from behind me.
"Kyaaaaaak—!"
I bolted out of the shack in a flash.
Scanning the surroundings, I realized whose scream it was.
"P-please, save me!"
It was Lili.
Lili, who had been standing blankly at the entrance of the goblin den, had unfortunately been captured by a Giant Goblin that had been hiding.
A single Giant Goblin was aiming a weapon at Lili's body.
'What's a goblin doing holding a knife?'
A knife.
The Giant Goblin held a rusted, worn-out dagger in its hand. Among goblins, some individuals with exceptional intelligence sometimes used tools, and at precisely this moment, a smart goblin had shown up.
The Giant Goblin clutching the dagger let out a sharp cry.
Kshhhhhh!! Kshhhhhhh!!!
Why it didn't stab her right away was unclear.
Could it be that a mere goblin was trying to threaten a person?
Was it saying, "Surrender immediately if you value this woman's life"?
But I didn't really care what it was trying to convey.
The important thing right now was the fact that our client, Lili, was being threatened.
If that female student got hurt, my pay could be docked.
To me, that was a truly horrifying future.
"That little green monster...!"
I wove hand seals with nimble fingers. I aimed at the Giant Goblin through the gaps between my fingers and fired without hesitation. It was a moment where all the shooting practice I'd polished finally shone.
Smack—!!
The Giant Goblin holding the dagger had its head blown clean off on the spot. The moment the dagger dropped to the ground, Lili let out a shriek and curled up.
"Kyaaaaaak—!!"
Lili collapsed onto the ground, trembling.
I swiftly approached Lili and extended my hand.
"Are you okay? Glad I handled it before it was too late."
"Th-thank you..."
Though she was part of the Alchemy department at the Magic Tower, Lili was still a young student. She was a girl who had lived a peaceful life, with no cause to ever fight monsters. She had every reason to be scared in this situation.
I pulled Lili to her feet and stayed by her side for a moment until she calmed down.
"Phew... I finally feel like my heart has calmed down. If it weren't for you, Mr. Luke, I don't know what terrible things might have happened to me... Thank you, truly."
"It's nothing. I only did what was expected. Protecting the client is basic common sense for an adventurer."
"R-really? Anyway, you're actually much more reliable than you look, Mr. Luke. You feel really different from the male students studying alongside me at the Magic Tower... The guys there don't have an ounce of consideration whatsoever."
Was it just my mood?
It felt like Lili's attitude toward me had become a lot kinder.