I Am Not Goblin Slayer

Chapter 100: Exploding Trophies Storage

Gauss drew out his dagger and sliced off all the Goblins’ left ears, casually delivering finishing blows to any Goblin that might not have died completely.

Due to the frequent use of Magic Missile, some of the Goblins’ ears had already been blown to pieces.

Fortunately, this mission had a fixed commission amount—only a formal submission of items was needed.

The sun continued to scorch the land, and the entire Goblin Village became unbearably foul-smelling.

Excreted feces, the stench of blood, various intestinal fluids, bile, and organs scattered across the ground—after being baked under the heat, all these putrid smells mixed and lingered around the camp, making anyone who smelled them turn pale.

Even Gauss found the stench unbearable.

But he still had to finish the closing task of the commission.

He began to walk around, searching throughout the village.

Not only was he collecting trophies, but also checking for any hidden Goblins or possibly one or two captured human survivors.

Unfortunately, after a full search, nothing else was found.

Aside from a few human limbs hanging on the racks, not a single survivor could be seen.

Brutal indeed. Were they all killed and treated as food?

Judging by the thickness of the thighs, the victims seemed to have been several men.

It was unclear whether they had been hunters making a living off the Emerald Forest, naive new Adventurers, or simply prey captured by Goblins venturing out to hunt.

To Goblins, male humans were treated no differently than regular hunted animals—merely food. If they were female, the process could be much more complicated.

This was exactly why Gauss had always adhered to the principle of total extermination of Goblins from his very first commission.

He removed the few human remains from the racks and gave them a simple burial, a token gesture of “rest in peace.”

As for the dried meat made by the Goblins, Gauss had no intention of tasting it.

Who could say what the Goblins’ hygiene standards were? Judging from what he had just observed, most likely it wasn’t processed properly. It wouldn’t be worth getting sick over something so petty.

As for other trophies, there was quite a lot.

This was, after all, a Goblin Village with over fifty members that had existed for at least several years. Even though most of their stockpiled supplies were worthless junk, some useful items could still be found.

For example, in terms of weapons, most were wooden, but a few were iron or partially iron.

After rummaging through, Gauss found over a dozen daggers and short blades, several barrels of arrows with metal arrowheads, sickles, and other weapons. He estimated that just the iron weapons alone could sell for over fifty silver coins.

Adding the commission reward for this mission—ninety silver coins.

Just these two earnings combined approached one and a half gold coins. Once a Professional could begin taking Entry-level Missions, the rate of earning money really was far faster than that of a Low-level Adventurer.

“Not taking the onions. Bandages—hmm—looks pretty new. Let’s take it. Broken clay bowl, no need...”

With a tree branch in hand, Gauss picked and sorted through the camp. Soon, he had gained quite a few surprisingly valuable finds.

“What’s this?”

Inside the leader’s large tent of the Redcap Goblins, Gauss looked at the two scrolls in his hands.

A hint of delight flashed through his eyes.

These two scrolls clearly weren’t ordinary.

After a moment of thought, Gauss didn’t open them recklessly.

Who knew what might be inside a scroll like this? If it contained information or texts, that was fine—but if it was a magic scroll that activated upon opening, or some other functional scroll, that would be a complete waste.

“Better bring it back and let Andini take a look. I just happened to miss her last time I visited. This could be a chance to thank her. If she hadn’t introduced me to Wormwood, my promotion to Professional might’ve been delayed even further.”

“Gotta bring some fruit, too.”

Besides the two scrolls, there were also a few books inside the large tent containing knowledge about herbs and minerals.

Though the Redcap Goblins might not understand the writing, that didn’t stop them from recognizing these were valuable, so they were neatly placed in the corner of the tent.

After rummaging for a while longer, more items turned up.

Several pieces of cloth, two or three bronze bowls and vessels, and some strange ceramic figurines—likely looted from somewhere. After packing everything, Gauss wrapped it all in tent cloth and took it with him.

Looking at the Goblin Village, now reduced to ruins, and the fully packed backpack and large bundle beside him—

Gauss felt a strong sense of accomplishment.

The total earnings from this trip amounted to at least over 2 gold coins.

The speed of earning money from this kind of commission mission was something Gauss couldn’t even imagine in the past.

That dungeon experience was merely an exception.

His earliest missions only brought in a few silver coins, sometimes a dozen at best—and that was already due to his superior capability. For a typical Low-level Adventurer, it was common to receive only one or two silver coins, or even less, per mission.

He glanced at the sky. It was already near dusk.

Gauss thought for a moment and decided to find a suitable place nearby to set up camp and spend the night.

If he tried leaving now, he wouldn’t make it out of the Emerald Forest even by midnight.

Besides, inside the forest, moonlight struggled to penetrate the tree canopy. Walking in pitch-dark conditions was far more dangerous than moving during the day.

And around here, since it had been chosen by this group of Goblins as the site for their village, it indicated that within a radius of ten to twenty kilometers, there likely weren’t any powerful creatures that could directly threaten them. After all, even Goblins possessed the instinct to seek benefit and avoid danger.

To prevent the Goblin corpses from attracting wild beasts, he still moved some distance away, found a flat area, set up a temporary camp, lit a bonfire, and sprinkled repellant powder to drive away insects and beasts, while also setting up alarm devices.

Only then did he begin dinner.

After a day of activity, even though he had frequently replenished during battle, he still felt ravenous.

The previously unappetizing, bland dried meat and hard bread suddenly tasted much better.

Hunger really did make everything taste good.

“Hmm?”

As food settled in his stomach, an expression of surprise appeared on Gauss’ face.

Had the effect of Rapid Digestion become stronger?

He looked at the information panel in the Adventurer’s Handbook.

“Racial Talent: Rapid Digestion (Initial Rank)”

The information still indicated Initial Rank, no upgrade yet.

But the stronger, blazing stream of warmth flowing through his body after digestion wasn’t an illusion.

Was it the result of killing large numbers of Goblins?

With the bonfire flickering, Gauss’ face was covered in grime, but he paid it little mind, immersed in thoughts of his own strengthening body.

“How many Goblins have I killed?”

“One hundred and twenty-three.”

He glanced at the bottom-right corner of the Monster Encyclopedia and got the exact count.

The total number of monsters killed was 240, with Goblins making up just over half.

“No, I didn’t have Rapid Digestion from the start. After acquiring this talent… the number of Goblins I killed should be around 100?”

So after accumulating kills into the triple digits, the effects of Rapid Digestion had further strengthened?

Gauss now had a clear idea.

After eating his fill, Gauss, who had been busy all day, felt somewhat fatigued.

After extinguishing the bonfire and hiding his backpack and trophies, he took his sleeping bag and rope, then climbed up a branch of a tree he had carefully selected earlier.

This branch was one of the main forks and was several dozen centimeters wide, just enough to barely secure a sleeping bag using rope.

Once everything was set up, Gauss, unable to hold back a yawn, slipped into the sleeping bag.

Closing his eyes, he quickly drifted into slumber.