I Am Not Goblin Slayer

Chapter 367: Perpetual Motion Machine

"Daddy, are you going out to work?""Yes, Tessa. Be good at home, don't cause trouble for your mother."

"Will there be fruit candy today?"

"If you behave."

In front of an old, worn apartment building stained with rainwater marks, Martin was saying goodbye to his six-year-old daughter, Tessa.

Seeing the look of hopeful joy on his daughter's face, a pang of parental guilt welled up in his heart.

Before, the family's income was barely enough to cover food and rent in the slums of Falim. Candy was naturally a luxury under those circumstances.

It could be said that from the time his daughter was born until now, apart from holidays and festivals, she had hardly ever eaten candy on ordinary days.

She's right at the age where she craves sweet things...

Handing his daughter over to his wife, he waved and walked along the alleyway street toward the main road.

Spring in Falim, the temperature hadn't fully warmed up yet.

He hunched his shoulders and blew warm air onto his hands.

"Everything will get better..."

Martin had only recently changed jobs, and he was very satisfied with it.

Compared to his previous job which paid about 25 copper coins a day, his current income had increased to 35 copper coins. If he worked overtime late into the day, it could even reach 40 copper coins, or more.

This salary would even be considered high-paying in remote towns.

Unfortunately, the cost of living in Falim was too high; this income still placed him at the bottom.

But for Martin, he was already very content.

At least now, with this income, after paying for rent, food, coal, and other necessary expenses, he could slowly start saving a bit. The pressure wasn't as great as before either.

That's why last night, on his way home from work, he bought some candy for his daughter from a street shop.

Passing by Quill Avenue, he saw the shop where he had worked before. There was a young man inside, who seemed to be the one who replaced him.

That young man was unloading goods from a carriage and placing them on shelves according to category.

Martin averted his gaze and continued striding forward.

He couldn't help but hum a light little tune, his steps becoming much lighter, feeling increasingly satisfied with his current job.

Although the work there was more tiring, had more requirements, strict management, and not much rest time, the income was much higher.

The difference wasn't just the salary itself; the daily meals provided by the canteen also saved him a lot of money on food, eliminating the need to spend extra on bread and other food.

Turning a street corner, Martin arrived in front of a cluster of brand-new manor-style buildings.

It had taken him an hour to walk here from his home.

Looking at the two fierce red dragon statues on the arch of the grand gate, he subconsciously straightened his back, adjusted his old, faded coat, trying to appear as spirited as possible.

"Morning, Martin." Glenn, the short, stocky man from his work group, had already arrived and was rubbing his hands as he greeted him.

"Morning, Glenn. It's cold enough today."

Before entering the Red Dragon Manor, they had to go through an inspection procedure to confirm they weren't carrying any prohibited items.

Martin proactively spread his arms, cooperating with the guard's check.

During the process, his peripheral vision couldn't help but glance at the pitch-black crow perched on a silver-leaf plane tree branch nearby, staring at them intently with bright eyes.

It was said that these ubiquitous little birds throughout the manor were the eyes of the manor's owner.

Thinking of this, he repeatedly reminded himself in his heart not to entertain any crooked ideas.

He didn't want to lose this job like those few greedy coworkers.

Passing the inspection, he stepped onto the internal road of the manor. Walking on the clean, almost glowing water-washed path, he took a deep breath.

He didn't know if it was his imagination, but he felt the air inside the manor seemed much fresher than outside, and it wasn't as cold either.

He took off his coat and hung it over his arm.

Crossing the main avenue, he walked toward the work area at the end.

Passing by a certain spot, a thunderous snoring sound came from his right.

His peripheral vision glanced toward that grove of plane trees. Although he couldn't see it, he knew a hill-sized monster was sleeping there, which was also the origin of this manor's name.

Despite the considerable distance and the dense plane tree grove blocking the view, Martin still subconsciously felt a pang of fear. Not daring to look more, he quickly shifted his gaze away.

Before entering the workshop, the workers underwent another, more detailed inspection before going indoors.

It seemed some important personage had arrived today.

He glanced toward a corner of the workshop. The big shot who managed them, Ivan, was accompanying an extremely handsome young man dressed in white robes that seemed to glow.

Almost everyone entering the workshop would notice him immediately.

"..."

"Who is that?"

"Shh... put your hand down."

"That important person is our boss's boss, the owner of this manor, the Guild Leader of the Red Dragon Guild, Lord Gauss."

Listening to the hushed, low-voiced discussion of his coworkers nearby, Martin, who had just arrived at the workshop, also understood the other's identity.

As he was secretly observing, that Guild Leader happened to look over just then.

Martin instantly felt his whole body tense up, his breath stopping for half a second.

Fortunately, the next moment, the other person shifted his gaze away.

He even felt like the other person smiled at him.

For some reason, his nervous mood instantly calmed.

It felt... this esteemed Guild Leader was quite approachable.

Regarding the identity of the Guild Leader, the owner of this manor, there was much discussion among the employees.

Some said he was a direct descendant of Falim nobility. Others said that since he had killed so many monsters these days, he must be a hot-tempered, decisive master of slaughter.

But regardless of the speculation, one thing was agreed upon: his status was extremely noble. Ordinary employees absolutely had to be extra careful and attentive; offending him could cost them their lives.

But now, seeing that gentle smile just now, Martin instantly realized that most of those earlier rumors were untrue.

He arrived at his own work area and began handling his tasks, suddenly feeling full of drive.

On the other side, Gauss listened to Steward Ivan's report while observing the entire busy workshop.

"You handle it as you see fit; I trust you."

Apart from secretly observing during the recruitment phase, he hadn't interfered much with management at other times.

On one hand, he didn't have that much time. On the other hand, it was also out of trust for Steward Ivan before him.

At least so far, his work had been done very well, with nothing to criticize.

After all, different professions require different expertise.

What he needed to do was just kill monsters.

Over the past two days out, he had completed dozens of small commissions.

Overall, the estimated profit could reach two hundred gold coins.

This trip of his, apart from filling the Vault's deficit, also had the intention of getting the entire Red Dragon Guild operational.

The guild's hired workers had work to do, and he could also earn some money to continue building the Red Dragon Guild headquarters.

"Thank you for your trust, Guild Leader. Regarding the shop opening plan you mentioned yesterday, I've already had people looking into it."

"You've worked hard."

Gauss didn't expect his efficiency to be this fast.

Something only decided yesterday evening was already in motion this morning.

After walking around the manor, Gauss was very satisfied with the current state of the Red Dragon Guild headquarters.

"Then I won't disturb you all anymore."

Gauss realized that as long as he was here, others would more or less pay attention to him, either getting distracted or acting reserved.

Looking at the employees working diligently, he whispered something else to Ivan.

"The Guild Leader, seeing everyone has worked hard, specifically instructed that there will be a big roast meat feast in the canteen tonight, and everyone can take two portions of food home for their families," Ivan announced to the crowd.

The crowd fell silent for a moment, then cheers erupted the next moment.

"Long live the Guild Leader!"

Ivan glanced at the middle-aged man in the distance who was the first to lead the chant, then turned his head and noticed the faint smile on Gauss's face. He couldn't help but nod inwardly.

This guy's good.

It just so happened he couldn't keep an eye on things here all day either. Perhaps it was time to promote a minor manager.

"Alright, get back to work."

Gauss smiled and waved his hand.

After coming out of the workshop, he was just about to go to the blacksmith shop to see what Albenia was busy with,

when he suddenly saw Aria crouching on the ground in the distance.

"What are you doing?"

Gauss approached and crouched down too.

"I'm cultivating a new variety of magical plant."

"The kind you plan to transplant into the dream?"

"No, no."

Aria shook her head, indicating his guess was wrong.

"I want to cultivate a type of magical plant for alertness and guarding the courtyard."

When the time comes, they could be planted around the fence. If any petty thieves came, they'd be caught immediately.

"That's not easy, is it?"

Gauss knew the difficulty of artificially cultivating magical plants, especially a variety capable of guarding a home, possessing some offensive power and spiritual energy.

That first magical olive tree Aria transplanted into the dream was also cultivated by her through a fortunate coincidence, but there was only that one.

Not every plant containing a hint of magical properties is called a magical plant; its mana concentration needs to be sufficiently high and stable.

The vast majority of herbs used for brewing potions don't meet this standard.

"I want to try."

"I already have some inspiration."

Aria reached out, sensing the moonlight in her hand.

"Then do your best."

Gauss couldn't provide much help with this; he could only offer encouragement.

This kind of research wasn't a waste of time; it also helped with Aria's leveling up.

He felt that ever since Aria changed her profession from Druid to Moon Phase Walker, her leveling speed had increased considerably.

She was about to level up from 4 to 5 soon.

So, this is the benefit of having a deity's protection, huh?

Of course, there was also the experience bonus from being in his party.

But he wasn't doing badly either.

He felt the mana core within his body, condensed into a cup-like vessel. Its activity level was about to reach another peak.

This meant that leveling up from 6 to 7 was already in sight.

Even though it hadn't been long since he broke through to level 6, probably just two or three months.

For other adventurers with decent talent, it would take at least two years or more.

But the experience provided by the Grayrock Town defense battle some time ago was too much. Plus, he had killed thousands of monsters in a short period recently, and after his divine essence broke through 1%, his leveling speed accelerated somewhat. Combined, this allowed his progress to advance by leaps and bounds.

Still need to stabilize and develop steadily.

Gauss took a deep breath.

Actually, if he went south, crossed the human kingdom's borders, and delved deep into monster territory, his speed of killing monsters to gain experience could be even faster. But he hadn't done that.

Delving into enemy territory was a completely different, dangerous situation.

During the Grayrock Town defense battle, even if the city fell, he could retreat with his family and teammates unscathed, relying on his own mobility and the Red Drake. But if he were in monster territory, he'd be surrounded by enemies on all sides, with no retreat and no reinforcements.

Moreover, if he caught the attention of some powerful monsters, he'd immediately be in a life-or-death crisis.

He didn't need to challenge his limits. Every single, most ordinary small monster he killed could become an aid to his leveling up.

Compared to other adventurers, he was already very fortunate.

He continued patrolling the manor.

His several teammates all had their own things to do. Albenia was busy continuing to forge his set of light armor while also mentoring apprentices.

Serlandul was exchanging some potion-brewing techniques with Ivan.

Shadow's whereabouts were unknown, but Gauss knew she had probably gone into the city to "champion justice" again.

When she wasn't out on commissions, she was usually doing this.

The areas where she was active often saw a noticeable improvement in public order.

"Rest for two days, then start the next commission."

Gauss planned in his heart.

Even though the spoils from this trip were enough for the Red Dragon Guild to process for a while, to keep the operation running continuously, they needed to acquire more spoils.

For the next commission, he didn't plan to take on this kind of large volume of low-level commissions.

He wanted to filter and see if there were any suitable, larger-scale monster lairs nearby.

If it were the same number of monsters, the profit from dozens of small lairs would often be considerably less than that from one large lair.

Preferably, the monster leader shouldn't be too strong; a Commander-level would be fine. The total number of monsters should be around one to two thousand.

For him now, a monster lair of this scale was very safe, with almost no risk, and the profit was sufficiently high. He could also obtain precious Commander Points.

He silently thought.

He was only two or three hundred kills away from the twenty-thousand kill target. To advance the Sturdy Scale Bloodline to purple quality, he needed more Commander Points.

However, within human territory, even in uninhabited wilderness, monster lairs of this scale weren't common.

Most likely, it would just be a goblin lair, like the recent one during the rescue of Toga.

For no other reason.

Goblins were the monsters that infiltrated human territory in the largest numbers and reproduced more easily.

Only when the monster population base in the wilderness was sufficiently large could such large lairs be born.

So, on human territory, nine out of ten large lairs might be goblin lairs. This wasn't an exaggeration.

Of course, Gauss gladly accepted this.

This was also the reason he chose goblins as his main target for extermination.

The profit from killing goblins was the highest, and they were easy to kill.

He had a premonition that after the title upgraded from [Goblin Slayer] to [Goblin Expert], the improvements to those title effects would be quite significant.

Not to mention anything else, the damage increase rose from 30% to 40%.

The probability of Bloodthirsty restoring stamina increased from 3% to 5%.

This meant he could kill goblins at a smaller cost while restoring more stamina.

With one increasing and the other decreasing, when facing large numbers of goblins, he could completely achieve zero-consumption killing.

Kill more, recover more; recover more, kill even more. It's practically a perpetual motion machine for killing goblins.

Even in his current state, he could absolutely be called the absolute bane of goblins.

And he was still constantly evolving.

If only goblins existed as monsters in this world, he didn't dare imagine how terrifying his future strength would be.

Perhaps, this was also part of the natural cycle?

He looked up at the sky.

For this world, did the rampant goblins need an executioner to deal with them?