I Am Not Goblin Slayer

Chapter 361: Monster Town

Team Gauss made some preparations in the city before heading out of Falim.The location where the dwarf Toga went missing was in the wilderness west of Falim, quite a distance from the city.

According to the information provided by Bruno, they had traveled south all the way from the Dwarf Kingdom. They had just arrived in Wineheart City not long ago, stayed for a period, then set off again on their journey, intending to explore the Emerald Forest to the south. That's when the accident occurred.

While sympathetic to their experience, the mention of Wineheart City by Bruno stirred some memories in Gauss.

Last year, he had briefly collaborated with a team. Initially, it was to explore ancient dwarf workshop ruins, where they later purified the corruption of the evil god Durag. Coincidentally, the leader of that team was also a dwarf named Thorin Mithril.

Before parting, Thorin told Gauss that his main area of activity was around Wineheart City and even gave him a specific residential address in the city, telling him to contact him if he ever went to Wineheart City.

Although Gauss never made it to Wineheart City, he had taken the time to learn a bit about that city.

Wineheart City is located northwest of Coldjade Province and is an extremely unique city within the entire province.

Because Wineheart City is a famously diverse, multi-racial city.

The city is filled with various non-pure human races: dwarves, halflings, half-orcs, half-elves, gnomes, tieflings. These intelligent beings, who are minority ethnicities in ordinary human cities, have taken root and live in Wineheart City. Many of them are ordinary residents, not adventurers constantly on the move.

It is said this ethnic gathering was also driven by historical factors. Initially, halflings settled in that relatively remote land, cultivating manors and building underground dwellings.

Subsequently, a major war broke out, and other ethnic groups provided support, either fighting as main forces on the front lines or providing logistical support. After the war ended, some of the foreign ethnic groups within Coldjade Province chose to settle down.

And this location is where Wineheart City now stands.

After many years of development, it eventually formed the current situation of diverse, mixed habitation.

Ordinary humans, out of subconscious worry, wouldn't choose to move and settle in Wineheart City unless for specific trade needs. Meanwhile, when other non-human races wanted to venture to Coldjade Province near the border to seek opportunities, they would also take Wineheart City as their first choice. This ebb and flow further intensified the trend of non-human cities being born.

In fact, looking across the entire kingdom, there are quite a few areas like Wineheart City.

"Do you know Thorin Mithril in Wineheart City?"

Gauss asked as they hurried out of the city.

Bruno shook his head.

"I know of the Mithril Clan, but I probably don't know this Thorin you speak of. There are too many dwarves in Wineheart City."

Gauss wasn't surprised either.

While these dwarves before him looked quite similar to Thorin in his eyes, like relatives, since they were traveling here, it was reasonable they wouldn't know Thorin, who resided long-term in Wineheart City.

Gauss rode his mount for a considerable distance outside Falim before dismounting.

"What's wrong?"

Bruno and the others also jumped off their sturdy dwarf ponies, looking at him with confusion.

"Aren't you in a hurry to find someone? Going like this is still too slow. We should change to new mounts."

Gauss asked them to step back a bit.

Then, under the puzzled gazes of the dwarves, he waved his hand and summoned a large creature.

The dwarves' eyes visibly widened rapidly after Hephaestus appeared.

"Is that... a dragon?"

Bruno swallowed hard, instinctively taking two steps back.

"Hephaestus is a drake."

Gauss explained matter-of-factly. He never exaggerated.

But this understated explanation still shocked the dwarves greatly.

Whether a dragon or a drake as a mount, both were extremely, extremely rare.

"That's truly remarkable."

Bruno showed an even more exaggerated expression than when he heard Gauss had saved a town.

For a moment, he didn't even know what to say.

Gauss was fitting the saddle onto Hephaestus.

The Red Drake took the opportunity to turn its head and look at the unfamiliar dwarves newly appearing in the group.

"Roar~"

It didn't have a particularly good first impression of these short, stocky dwarves.

The scorching hot breath it exhaled accidentally ignited the dwarves' thick beards, startling them into repeatedly patting to extinguish the sparks.

"You rude big lizard, we dwarves aren't afraid of you!"

Bruno glared with eyes like bronze bells, his hand resting on the battle axe at his waist, saying angrily.

"Roar?"

Hephaestus tilted its head, a hint of mockery flashing in its pale golden vertical pupils. A low growl rumbled in its throat, as if saying, "Is that all?"

After this interaction, it leaned forward again, its nostrils exhaling an even hotter stream of air.

"Alright, Hephaestus, calm down."

Gauss gently patted the dragon's neck.

He had vaguely heard before that dragons and dwarves were naturally at odds. It seemed now that wasn't unfounded.

He had just gotten distracted, and Hephaestus and the dwarves seemed to have already sparked some tension.

"Dwarf friends, Hephaestus is a bit mischievous, but its nature isn't bad. We need it to reach the location you mentioned as quickly as possible."

"Are we going to ride a dragon?"

Behind Bruno, a slightly younger-looking dwarf with his beard braided into a single plait stammered, a hint of excitement mixed in his tone.

The other dwarves seemed to have thought of this too, their faces showing eager expressions.

Even though they hated dragons, being able to ride one briefly was something to boast about.

"ROAR!!!"

The increasingly intelligent Hephaestus probably guessed the dwarves' meaning and expressions from their faces, immediately showing a human-like expression of resistance.

It turned its head to the side, its dragon claws scratching the ground impatiently.

It adopted a posture that clearly said, "Them getting on my back? Don't even think about it."

...

Gauss hadn't expected the first difficulty before officially setting off to come this quickly.

After mastering the [Master] talent, his rapport with Hephaestus had been subtly and continuously improving.

He could empathize with Hephaestus's resistance.

Although he could use his "head of the family" authority to order it to obey his commands, that wouldn't be ideal in the long run.

Ultimately, he needed the dwarves' mithril reward, but they were just strangers he'd met for the first time. Hephaestus was now an undisputed formal member of his team. There was a clear distinction in closeness between the two for him.

"If it's not possible, we'll have to continue by land."

Gauss said, looking at the dwarves.

Hearing this, the dwarves were also conflicted.

They were anxious to rescue their companion. If they didn't know a drake could speed up their arrival, they could accept riding land mounts. But now, there was clearly a better option.

Just as Bruno was about to step forward to apologize to the drake Hephaestus and break the ice to ease relations,

Hephaestus actively made a grasping motion with its claws towards the dwarves.

"Roar~"

Gauss understood its meaning.

Hephaestus was unwilling to let these dwarves it found annoying ride on its back, but it could accept carrying them by grasping them in its claws during flight.

The dwarves gradually understood its meaning too, showing hesitant expressions.

However, Bruno, as their leader, took the initiative to agree.

"Fine, let it carry us in its claws while flying."

Compared to finding their companion faster, he felt he could accept this mode of travel.

Dwarf bodies were strong enough.

He had heard before that dragons were very proud by nature. Even dragon knights who had established contracts couldn't force them to do things they didn't want to do. So he didn't want to put Gauss in a difficult position.

"Then it'll have to be this way." Gauss nodded.

"If you're worried, I'll cast Feather Fall on all of you later. Even if an accident occurs, it shouldn't cause fall damage."

"That would be a great help."

After both sides reached an agreement,

Hephaestus soon flapped its wings and took off.

Its two claws each grasped two dwarves on either side, just like a hawk seizing lambs.

Apart from not letting the dwarves climb onto its back, it didn't deliberately make things difficult for them either.

The entire flight was very smooth.

With Bruno below occasionally calling out directions, after two hours, Gauss arrived at the location he indicated.

Hephaestus slowly descended.

Upon touching the ground again, the dwarves let out a long sigh of relief.

Although there were no accidents during the process, and Gauss had cast Feather Fall on them, experiencing flight for the first time still made them subconsciously nervous. Fortunately, it was all just a scare without real danger.

"This is the place, no mistake!"

Bruno observed the surroundings again and stated firmly.

They had come to a riverside.

On the ground, faint marks of large blade slashes that Bruno mentioned could still be seen.

As for the monster's blood, it had completely dried up.

Gauss gently twitched his nostrils.

He looked around the area.

Although the battle should have happened two days ago, out of intuition, he felt the "protagonist" of the crime was familiar.

"Goblins again?"

Gauss raised an eyebrow.

Bruno said his fiancée Toga was a Level 6 warrior.

Capturing a Level 6 dwarf warrior alive in a frontal confrontation wouldn't be easy.

If Team Gauss took action, they could definitely do it, but the vast majority of goblin tribes shouldn't possess that capability.

Moreover, there were too few battle traces.

Gauss observed the surroundings and found a few pieces of firewood that hadn't completely burned.

There were also some fish bones on the ground.

Was Toga roasting fish here at the time?

His gaze turned to the river surface not far away. The fish were probably caught from the river.

"Was she drugged? Or cursed?"

Being ambushed by drugging or cursing and then kidnapped is a completely different matter from being defeated and captured in a frontal assault.

The former suggests it might be a monster squad with relatively strict organization and discipline. The latter suggests a monster far stronger than Toga made the move.

Based on the monster blood residue scattered around the ground, Gauss leaned towards the former.

"Goblins?"

Bruno's originally ruddy complexion instantly turned pale.

Goblins are not only notorious in human society; their reputation among dwarves is no better.

The thought of his fiancée being kidnapped by goblins made his eyes turn red.

"Don't worry, it's not that bad."

Gauss tried to reassure him.

Goblins are indeed creatures with explosive reproductive desires, but that's for the vast majority of low-level, bottom-tier goblins. He often dealt with goblins.

He knew that starting from the elite level, their intelligence gradually increases. At the very least, they can suppress primitive urges based on need.

A goblin chieftain capable of devising a strategy to ambush and capture a dwarf warrior would definitely be able to restrain its subordinate goblins.

If they needed Toga to forge weapons for them, they would have to keep her as healthy as possible. Compared to reproduction, as a blacksmith, she is high-level talent. She might not necessarily suffer the treatment ordinary female captives receive.

Bruno gradually regained his composure.

However, from his still heavily heaving chest, one could tell his hatred for goblins was steadily rising.

"I'm counting on you, Mr. Gauss."

"Please help me find Toga as soon as possible."

"Alright."

"Locate Creature · Goblin."

With one cast of detection, a few scattered red dots appeared on the "radar."

He narrowed his eyes slightly.

Knowing those were most likely local wild goblins, unrelated to this incident.

"They probably went in this direction."

Shadow spoke up.

Her shadow had wandered around the area and quickly discovered the direction the monsters had left.

There were faint traces of blood remaining in the soil on the ground.

It was fortunate they arrived in time. If they had been one or two days later, and a light rain had fallen, the difficulty of discovery would have increased significantly.

"Let's go."

Without delay, Gauss and the others immediately set off following the clues.

They traveled with stops and starts along the way.

Gauss, coordinating with Locate Creature, was also constantly making adjustments.

The surrounding scenery gradually became more desolate.

And starting at a certain point, some stone bricks began to appear in the overgrown fields.

"Man-made traces."

Gauss narrowed his eyes.

At the end of his line of sight was not a wild goblin lair, but a dilapidated ruin.

Half-collapsed stone walls were everywhere, toppled archways, flagstone paths eroded by vines and moss, faintly discernible as once having been a town of considerable scale.

This place should have been a human settlement in the past, but it was likely destroyed one or two hundred years ago.

Upon arriving at the suspected target location, Gauss on the contrary stopped using Locate Creature.

He liked using it to find and lock onto small fry, but using it now was clearly not appropriate. He couldn't completely guarantee the other side's camp lacked counter-reconnaissance measures.

"I'll go take a look first."

Shadow took the initiative to speak up.

"Be careful."

Gauss instructed.

Although Bruno and the other dwarves were anxious about their companion, they also knew there was no need to rush. They could only suppress their restless mood and wait on the spot.

Taking advantage of this time, Gauss observed the distant town ruins from afar.

Upon observation, he did indeed spot a few green fellows at several high points.

He just didn't know the exact internal scale.

They occupied a human town ruin, and now it seemed they were trying to establish a goblin town on this foundation.

No wonder he had hardly scanned any goblins along the way. They should have all been gathered into this remote, godforsaken ruin far from any town.

Everyone waited quietly for a while.

A dark shadow swiftly wandered over, eventually coalescing into Shadow's body.

"There are many goblins inside. They've excavated a small underground city within the town."

"But I didn't see your dwarf companion for the moment. She might be imprisoned."

Shadow said concisely.

She hadn't conducted excessive investigation inside. Although wandering shadows were stealthy, there was still a risk of being discovered.

"This should be the place."

Bruno took a deep breath.

The monster force capable of capturing Toga must be not simple.

The monster tribe fitting the target nearby should only be this one.

"Then let's have a combat meeting and prepare to take action." Gauss made the decision.

Based on the clues along the way, it was most likely this monster tribe.

Furthermore, they were already here.

With such a group of goblins secretly developing in a town ruin, could he discover them and just leave them alone?