I Am Not Goblin Slayer

Chapter 385: Undercurrents

"It really has been a long time since I came back."Gauss stood on the street of Grayrock Town and tilted his head to sniff the air.

The town air seemed to carry a stone scent, the natural aroma from paving stones, city walls, and various stone buildings.

Every time he returned to Grayrock Town after an adventure, he felt something special.

Familiar, yet a little unfamiliar at the same time.

"Not THAT long..." Aria said with a smile.

Gauss glanced at her and blinked.

"What’s up?"

"Nothing."

"We should reserve an activity space for the Red Dragon Guild in advance, right?" Serlandul reminded him.

There would be dozens of people, and they needed to store tools and supplies brought from Falim, so an ordinary inn clearly wouldn’t suffice.

They needed an independent venue, like a sub-branch.

"That won’t be hard to arrange." Gauss’s gaze naturally turned toward the Grayrock Town Adventurers Guild.

They weren’t outsiders who were unfamiliar with the place. If anything was difficult, they could ask President Eberhard at the guild to sort it out for them.

...

"Eberhard, we leave it to you!"

"I hope this isn’t causing you trouble."

Standing before a floor-to-ceiling window with a view of nearly all of Grayrock Town, Gauss folded his hands and thanked him.

"There’s no helping it. Who asked you to be the heroes who saved Grayrock Town?"

"Even if it’s difficult, it must be done."

"I think if I offer you some privileges, the townsfolk won’t disagree."

Eberhard rubbed his temple and showed a helpless smile.

Gauss had come to request help in person.

What else could he do? Refuse? If he refused, word would spread and the town residents would talk badly behind their backs.

Besides, they were friends.

"But you guys sure did move fast."

"You were in Falim only two or three months, and you already set up the guild framework."

"I thought it might take longer. Truly impressive."

"I don’t know, maybe the Falim guild greased the wheels for us and approved things early?" Gauss shrugged.

Eberhard heard that and stroked his chin, his gaze sweeping over Gauss.

"That would explain it, otherwise it couldn’t have happened so quickly."

Now Gauss left a different impression on him than the last time they met.

If before, when he briefly tuned his swordsman instincts to sense Gauss up close, he’d felt a faint pressure from him, now he felt nothing at all.

He wouldn’t think Gauss had regressed.

The only possibility was that Gauss had grown so much that Eberhard could no longer accurately perceive him.

If he were a senior Falim official responsible for approving guild registrations, facing such a promising young star, he’d likely open the doors wide as well.

"You’re ridiculous, you’re as strong as a monster."

Eberhard rose and complained softly.

Every time he saw Gauss, he felt old, as if he would be swept away by a tremendous current of time.

Gauss listened to his half-formed complaint and scratched his head in puzzlement.

Being compared to a monster didn’t sound flattering, but it was still a kind of praise, right?

"Well, thanks."

Eberhard waved his hand. He wasn’t exactly giving a straight compliment.

He turned to look out the window.

"By the way, be careful in the Blackwater Town area. I’ve heard a lot of extremely powerful monsters have been pouring in there."

"Don’t worry. The three commissions I took are all Level 7. They shouldn’t be too hard to handle."

Gauss nodded.

He had no choice but to accept Level 7 commissions; his Professional Level was Level 7 after all.

Normally, the strongest member of an adventuring guild is the guild leader, and the team’s commission level cap is set according to the leader’s level. That’s the usual reasonable convention.

But that "reasonable" didn’t really apply to Gauss.

Forget Level 7 monsters—he could likely handle Level 8, 9, or 10 without much danger.

Yet the rules were rules.

The Adventurers Guild had followed this rule for so long, they wouldn’t make an exception for him.

Listening to Gauss, Eberhard felt as if Gauss were subtly boasting.

But he quickly dismissed the thought, because he knew Gauss wasn’t that sort of person.

"Sir Belock also led troops to the Blackwater Town area. Maybe you’ll run into him there."

Sir Belock had been the commander who led reinforcements from Anvil Fort to support Grayrock Town’s defense earlier in the year.

Gauss was a little surprised. He hadn’t expected someone of that age to be constantly deployed to support everywhere—truly spry for his years.

"I’ll keep an eye out."

Gauss noticed Eberhard’s mage advisor knocking and entering, so he guessed the advisor had business with Eberhard and didn’t linger in the office.

He said his goodbyes and left.

On the way back to his residence, Gauss accepted friendly greetings from townsfolk.

If he hadn’t been walking quickly, the fruits, pastries, and daily goods in his hands would have piled up into a small mountain by now.

"You’re back. Did you settle the lodging?"

"It went smoothly."

Gauss nodded.

While he had been at the guild, the squad had completely sorted the house inside and out.

He returned just in time for midday meal.

"Let’s eat."

"Are they here?"

Gauss and the others reached the city gate; Aria stood on tiptoe to look into the distance.

"I see Toga and the others."

On the horizon, a caravan wearing uniform colors was slowly coming.

Seeing that familiar black-and-red, Gauss and the others knew their awaited Red Dragon Guild members had arrived.

Traveling by boat along waterways was faster than by land, but it still couldn’t match Hephaestus flying in the sky, so their arrival to Grayrock Town was later.

After a while, the caravan drew closer.

"Guild Leader, I safely delivered the people, mission accomplished." Ivan breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Gauss.

"No trouble on the road?"

"A few days ago we met a group of petty thieves, but I handled them." Toga waved her hand.

Gauss glanced at the caravan members. Though they had come through rough terrain, their spirits looked fine.

"Please come inside." Soldiers nearby, seeing the caravan prepare to queue at the gate, quickly pointed to a side entrance to guide them.

"No check?" the dwarf Toga asked, looking up.

"Everyone here is Lord Gauss’s companions, so there’s no need for inspection."

Toga turned to look at Gauss, whose expression was calm.

As expected from the guild leader’s "hometown" privileges.

Before even entering the town, they were already enjoying special treatment.

The caravan bearing the Red Dragon banner smoothly entered through the side gate.

Eberhard had already arranged a temporary base for the group.

It was an unused wealthy merchant’s mansion, a property the guild had purchased as a backup training ground when the owner sold it years ago.

The manor came with a courtyard, warehouse, main building and accessory structures—perfect for living, working, training, and storage.

It could easily hold dozens of people.

The mansion had been cleaned ahead of time. When Gauss pushed open the door, the courtyard was very tidy and the plants had been pruned.

Although it couldn’t compare to the luxurious manor the Red Dragon Guild had built in Falim, compared to the inns and taverns most adventurers rented, this place was very comfortable.

Especially in a small place like Grayrock Town, independent buildings like this were scarce; without special connections, even with money you couldn’t easily secure one.

Many owners didn’t live in Grayrock Town year-round and wouldn’t rent them out.

"Not bad." Toga and the others looked around with satisfied expressions.

Most of them didn’t demand much for living conditions, but better lodging never hurt.

"Ivan, get things arranged."

"Remind everyone to be careful while staying here; it’s not our own place, it’s the local guild’s backup training ground."

Gauss thought that given his standing, as long as his subordinates didn’t tear the mansion apart, Eberhard wouldn’t mind. Of course... even if they did tear it apart, he might not complain, but since they were borrowing a guild venue, it was better not to cause trouble.

"Understood." Ivan nodded, signaling he got it.

Before arriving, he had already asked around about Gauss’s relationship with Grayrock Town.

He knew this place was the start of Gauss’s career, a kind of half-hometown, and that a few months ago Gauss had risked everything to hold this stone town against waves of monsters.

He guessed the town held significance for Gauss.

So even if Gauss didn’t mention it, Ivan would restrain the others. He’d already told them on the way over.

He didn’t want anyone from Falim to look down on this rural town and make the guild leader embarrassed.

Gauss casually said nothing more.

Ivan was reliable; Gauss trusted him.

"Rest today."

"Tomorrow, the field team will prepare to head with me to the Blackwater Town area."

...

Gauss’s squad didn’t stay in the manor a long time; after settling the guild members, they left.

Walking the streets of Grayrock Town, there were many more adventurers than before.

That was inevitable.

Nearby towns had been attacked in the past months: Lincrest Town held out after casualties and losses, while unlucky places like Blackwater Town had been completely overrun.

Because Gauss’s squad had been present, Grayrock Town had suffered the least damage compared to neighboring towns.

So it looked most secure and naturally drew adventurers from other places.

While returning home, a voice came from behind.

"Guild Leader Gauss, I didn’t expect to run into you here."

Gauss stopped and turned.

Behind him were a man and a woman. The speaker was male, about 1.9 meters tall, wearing a wolf-head style mask. Beside him was a short human woman with pink hair.

Strangers, clearly from out of town, and fairly powerful.

Gauss instinctively became cautious, but since he was in his hometown and in the city, he didn’t overreact. He was simply curious who they were and why they had called him out.

"You are—"

Although the man had correctly called his name in public, Gauss really didn’t recognize him. He had never met him before.

"Forgive my abruptness."

"Let me introduce myself. I am Wolf, guild leader of Falim’s Fang of the Pale Wolf Adventuring Guild."

"This is my deputy leader, Luna."

"Leader Wolf, Deputy Luna, greetings." Gauss greeted them calmly.

So they were another adventuring party from Falim.

He remembered seeing a wolf-standard at the gate a few days ago—this must be them.

After clarifying that, Gauss eased his guard a little.

"This is my hometown."

Strictly speaking, calling Grayrock Town his hometown wasn’t wrong.

The original owner of this body was from Shixi Village, not the town itself, but Shixi Village fell under Grayrock Town’s administration. Many surrounding villagers originally came from Grayrock Town, so he could be considered half from Grayrock Town.

"What a coincidence."

Obviously Wolf only knew of Gauss by name and didn’t know much about his background.

His gaze lingered on Gauss’s teammates.

After a quick assessment, he didn’t think Gauss and his group had come home just for a visit—they seemed to have commissions to handle.

Nearby, only the Blackwater Town area warranted an adventuring guild-scale deployment.

"Leader Gauss, your and your guild’s reputation in Falim precedes you. Seeing you today, you truly live up to it. Coincidentally, Fang of the Pale Wolf is also heading to the Blackwater Town area. If your destination is the same, perhaps we could cooperate."

Wolf smiled and extended his hand.

"You flatter me. Blackwater Town is dangerous now. It’d be good to watch each other’s backs." Gauss clasped the hand briefly.

"Then, see you at Blackwater Town."

After a short exchange, the two groups turned onto different streets.

After they’d gone, the quiet pink-haired woman Luna spoke.

"This is the Gauss everyone’s been talking about? He looks clean and handsome, but I don’t see anything special." She didn’t understand why Leader Wolf had approached Gauss in the street.

"No, he’s very strong." Wolf’s expression turned serious as he corrected her.

"Very strong? Stronger than you?" Luna asked, puzzled.

"Hard to say." Wolf shook his head.

Close-range instincts are often excellent for warriors.

During the brief conversation, although he hadn’t outwardly detected a threat from Gauss—the exchange had been as pleasant as a breeze—deep inside his body he’d been taut.

He trusted that subconscious feeling.

So that contact suggested Gauss’s strength was terrifying.

And he might be the type Wolf least liked to meet: mysterious and dangerous.

Fortunately they were fellow travelers, not enemies.

"Maybe we’ll fight side by side in Blackwater Town," Wolf mused.

Relations among adventurers are complicated: rivals at times, reliable allies at others.

Especially in a place like Blackwater Town, now occupied by monsters, humans would need to cooperate.

...

Walking farther away, Gauss’s group discussed Wolf as well.

Albenia was curious about his actual strength, but Gauss couldn’t fully gauge it either.

If the opponent were a spellcaster, Gauss could detect something with special senses. But facing a reserved warrior, unless they actually fought, he couldn’t accurately judge their power.

He only had a vague sense that the man was a formidable fighter.

One thing was sure: the man’s Professional Level was definitely higher than Gauss’s. It was rare for a Falim guild leader’s level to be lower than Gauss’s.

If it were, Gauss would suspect favoritism.

The group turned into another street, chatted briefly with innkeeper Sophia at a corner, and then headed deeper into an alley.

Back at his own gate wall, Gauss saw a familiar bulky silhouette.

When he saw the man's face clearly, a hint of surprise appeared on his expression.