I Am Not Goblin Slayer

Chapter 326: The Tiefling of Flute Castle

"How is it? Is there anything abnormal with Ulfen's body?"Gauss looked at Serlandul, who was temporarily serving as a veterinarian, and asked.

"No abnormalities were detected."

Serlandul stood up and shook his head.

Upon hearing this, Ulfen immediately sprang up from the ground, becoming lively and energetic again.

"Maybe we should still perform surgery..."

Aria was still somewhat worried, scaring Ulfen into immediately hiding behind Gauss.

"Even if we wanted to operate, it's already too late." Serlandul shook his head.

The Gray Explosion inside Ulfen's body had already been absorbed and digested; it's just that its effects aren't visible yet.

Aria sighed and roughly rubbed Ulfen's wolf head.

"Forget it then. Ulfen, you must never eat strange things without our permission again next time, understand?"

"Wooo!"

Seeing that he finally didn't have to undergo surgery, Ulfen quickly threw back his head and let out a long howl as a promise, looking very spirited.

After tidying up the scene, collecting the spoils, and recording the commission proof, Gauss and the others rested briefly before leaving.

The group continued deeper along the road through Old Crow Pass.

Passing through Old Crow Pass, they entered a wilderness once again.

Gauss held the yellowed parchment map, comparing it with the wilderness before him.

"The next stop is Longdi Fort."

"Caw! Caw!"

In the sky above the small team, dusky, dusty ravens circled.

For this journey to Old Crow Pass, apart from Gauss who gained the most, the second biggest beneficiary was probably the raven Eck, who recruited a group of young and strong crow underlings.

He now had the bearing of a Raven Lord, flying everywhere with a flock.

"Ray of Frost."

A beam of cold energy shot out from inside the carriage, striking the ground by the roadside, instantly freezing a small patch of land.

"Teacher, I succeeded."

"Congratulations, congratulations."

Gauss, riding his mount nearby, also nodded in approval.

It could be said that after mastering this offensive cantrip, Abby had officially embarked on the path to becoming a mage.

All she needed was continuous practice to improve her control over the mana within her body. It wouldn't be long before the professional advancement stage beckoned to her.

Longdi Fort was a good place for a young female mage who needed time to develop.

Gauss planned to stay in Longdi Fort for a while.

On one hand, he had the idea of settling York and his daughter Abby there; on the other hand, and more importantly, Aria was about to have a breakthrough.

Moreover, Gauss had recently mastered many new abilities, talents, and skills, all of which required him to spend time adapting and practicing.

Longdi Fort was the first city their team encountered since setting out from Sena City. It was the perfect place to adjust for a while and purchase some supplies unavailable in small towns.

...

Three days later.

The autumn wind was bleak.

Golden waves of wheat undulated in the wind, rustling like the low breath of the earth.

A small team was slowly proceeding along a path between the field ridges.

The man at the lead reined in his horse and looked up ahead.

Directly in front of the team, on the horizon, the outline of a city gradually appeared.

"Gauss, we've finally reached Longdi Fort."

"Yes."

In the distant wilderness, a towering castle seemed to grow from the bedrock of the earth, standing firmly on the land.

It was not a magnificent castle, but a structure born for war and defense. Several slightly shorter but equally sturdy subsidiary towers guarded its surroundings.

Centered around this central castle, spreading outward like ripples, were densely packed town buildings constructed according to the terrain.

The entire city was like a giant sword deeply wedged into the border between this fertile plain and the wilderness behind, or like a cold, resolute nail firmly driven into the earth, exuding an imposing aura that brooked no violation.

Legend has it that hundreds of years ago, when the seafolk launched a massive invasion of the land and the Three Sons of the Gulf fell, this wilderness nail became an important fortress against the threat from the sea, the last solid bastion in the Gulf region.

To avoid being attacked from both front and rear, the seafolk attempted to concentrate their forces to capture this city. However, after besieging it for months and suffering countless soldier casualties, they faced this impregnable city and the subsequent legions sent as aid from other cities, ultimately having to retreat in defeat.

"Let's speed up."

Gauss commanded.

The team had been traveling in the wilderness for many days, accumulating quite a bit of fatigue. Seeing the city now, they were somewhat eager to reach it.

The closer they got to the city, the more pedestrians and caravans there were on the road.

"That is..."

Gauss's gaze fell on the "human" who was having a verbal dispute with the guards at the city gate.

It was a particularly striking-looking "human" with dark red skin, sharp facial features, and high cheekbones.

The most eye-catching feature was the "horns" on his head, curving backward like a ram's.

Behind him, a flexible, slender, and powerful long tail swung violently as he argued loudly.

"It's a tiefling."

Serlandul spoke up.

Tiefling?

As Serlandul revealed the identity, memories about this race flashed through Gauss's mind.

Tieflings, children of devils, a hybrid race of humanoid creatures with devil or demon bloodlines.

They are derived from human bloodlines, looking somewhat human but bearing some physical traits of their infernal heritage.

Features like horns, skin tone, slender demon-like tails, and fangs made them stand out easily in a crowd.

Compared to other humans, they often endured more stares, doubts, gossip, and even insults, discrimination, and violence.

But like ordinary humans, there were good and bad people among tieflings. In fact, one could say they themselves were victims, as the devilish features on their bodies were less a bloodline and more like an eternal curse.

It is said that during the First Age and early Second Age, when demon lords and powerful devils had not yet vanished from this land, humans were an extremely insignificant race.

Some humans made pacts with these lords from the underworld, willingly becoming their servants.

Even after those evil yet mighty beings were banished from the Prime Material Plane, the bodies of these human servants could not be restored to their original state. Demons and devils had left irreversible marks on them, and their descendants would forever bear this curse.

Even if they intermarried with other races—humans, dwarves, elves, halflings...—the offspring might appear normal, but in subsequent generations, tieflings could still be born.

Therefore, a tiefling who looks vastly different from an ordinary human might have parents who are both "ordinary humans" in the eyes of common folk.

Of course, the probability of tieflings giving birth to tieflings was greater.

Gauss gathered his thoughts and shifted his gaze away from the tiefling.

Soon, it was their group's turn to be inspected.

Overall, they passed through the checkpoint relatively smoothly.

Although registering Abby and York took a bit more effort, because Gauss and the others were present, the soldiers only asked a few questions about where the two came from before letting the team pass.

The strong enjoyed some privileges wherever they went; their strength was their best calling card.

"Hmm!"

Upon entering the town, they were met with the long-unfamiliar hustle and bustle of crowds and conversation.

Tieflings again?

Gauss's gaze lingered a little longer on some particularly distinctive figures.

"It's probably because this great wilderness was once the landing ground for demons in the past?"

He quickly realized this point as well.

Books recorded that tieflings were not that rare, but they usually gathered in less developed areas within inland human towns. They also mingled with other minority groups. Most humans would instinctively be wary of tieflings.

However, in fact, the tiefling bloodline only affected their external appearance and usually didn't overly influence their personality. But due to environmental distrust and living in relatively harsh urban districts, many of them ended up on the path of becoming swindlers or thieves.

"Catch that little demon brat!"

On the street, a fat man wearing an apron was trying to chase a horned boy ahead.

Gauss glanced over.

The boy wore dirty clothes and carried a bag of bread in his hand, nimbly squeezing through the crowd.

"Captain?"

"Forget it..."

Gauss silently watched the child slip past him.

The uncle, unable to catch up, stopped beside Gauss, hands on his knees, panting heavily.

He looked at the little brat who had already put distance between them and was making faces from a stone step in the distance, and started cursing loudly.

"Truly an inherently evil little demon brat."

"A thing born without a mother to raise it."

"Why hasn't some merciful great person driven these damned devils out of the city?"

"..."

The uncle kept muttering, as if it could relieve the frustration in his heart.

"How much are the breads that little brat stole worth?" A pleasant male voice suddenly sounded beside him.

"45 copper coins." The cook uncle hadn't fully regained his composure but answered instinctively.

As he answered, he looked at the owner of the voice.

It was a man draped in a pristine white robe. The degree of his handsome features was the greatest he had ever seen in his life.

"Take this."

"It should be enough."

Gauss casually took out a small money pouch from his Storage Bag; it contained 50 copper coins in small change.

He usually kept some small-denomination copper coins on hand.

"This..."

The uncle took the money pouch, his face both confused and bewildered.

"Consider it my payment on their behalf."

"There should be 50 copper coins inside. You can count them if you're not sure."

"No need, no need to count." The uncle shook his head repeatedly.

He certainly didn't think this group of adventurers, who clearly looked extraordinary, could be accomplices of those little demon brats from earlier.

Especially the man before him; his bearing was even more noble than those noble lords, exuding a powerful aura from within.

It made him subconsciously feel timid, and even the money pouch in his hand felt like a hot potato.

"Sir, perhaps... you should take this money back?"

"It's really not much money. I'm just angry that those brats spend all day idle and stealing."

"Keep it."

Gauss waved his hand.

Not waiting for the uncle to continue, he led the rest of his team away.

Gauss wasn't overflowing with kindness.

If those brats had stolen something else, he would have definitely helped stop them on the spot.

But he had seen through a tear in the bag earlier—it was just a bag of black bread for sustenance, enough to fill that little brat's stomach for a long time.

So-called concepts of good, evil, and shame only have meaning after people have eaten their fill.

Not dwelling on this small incident, Gauss turned to his teammates and said.

"Let's find an inn to rest first. Tomorrow, we'll go to the Adventurers Guild to inquire about the Golden Eagle Family's office."

The group made their way through the district until they entered an area with relatively better public security, where they found an inn to stay.

...

Shantytown area.

"Phyll, Hope, Lucius... hurry up and eat."

A group of horned tiefling brats gathered inside a tent. The leading boy poured out the black bread from the bag.

"This bread is enough for us to eat for many days."

"Today's haul is this big?"

A girl with small purple ram horns showed a surprised expression.

"Ahem." The boy puffed out his chest proudly.

"I took advantage when that uncle was talking to a customer, acted quickly, and snatched it right out of his back kitchen, haha."

"Delai, isn't stealing not good?" the little girl asked timidly.

"Steal? This is borrowing. No, wait... a kind-hearted... fool paid for this for us." The boy, Delai, couldn't help but recall the afternoon scene where he stood on the step above and made eye contact with that man. As he spoke, he fell silent again.

With just one glance, he felt as if he had been stripped naked, with every part of him seen through by the other.

If possible, who wouldn't want to become a respected great person walking in the sunlight like that?

But they were born as evil tieflings.

Precisely because of this, even their own parents had abandoned them.

"Maybe... we should still go find work?" the little girl looked at the bruises on the boy's face that hadn't fully faded and timidly suggested.

Not every food theft went smoothly. When they failed, petty thieves like them often had to endure beatings from strong adults. The only fortunate thing was that most of the time, because the amount was small, even if they were handed over to the patrol, they would be released quickly.

The patrol's detention cells didn't have many rooms to lock up these brats who would be all too happy to eat at the public's expense.

"Find work? What clueless boss would want tiefling brats like us with no one to vouch for us?" The boy shook his head. "Phyll, don't be fooled. Those middlemen who say they can provide us with job opportunities are all lying, rotten-ass bastards. They'd capture us and sell us as slaves."

The ram-horned girl opened her mouth but then hung her head along with the other tiefling companions.

Tiefling, orphan without a family—these two most unwelcome labels stacked upon them, making every step difficult.

They boiled some water, softened the black bread into a kind of murky soup, and soon the group of tiefling children began to enjoy their dinner.

Only the boy Delai, who had gone out to "work" today, still held the wooden bowl containing the food, staring blankly at the firelight, his mind pondering something unknown.

Even though he had been out scouting all day and was a bit hungry, he still didn't have the usual ravenous appetite.

"Delai? Aren't you eating?"

A companion noticed his unusual behavior and asked.

"...."

"Eat, I'll eat now."

Delai snapped out of it, nodded, and poured the thick food into his mouth.

Although today's haul of food was enough to last many days, it would eventually run out. When that time came, he would need to go to other districts to find shops that hadn't been hit yet.

This kind of life would continue until their bodies developed enough to be robust. By then, some shops requiring manual labor for moving goods would be willing to provide some temporary work.