Chapter 46 – Hunting Goblins.

“Guild Master Husson, do you have a minute?”

“Lorenda? Sure, come in, what is it now?”

A woman was seen entering what appeared to be an office. A brawny man with an eyepatch over his left eye was sitting there. His size and musculature bulged out of his clothes, which seemed too formal for a man of his stature. On the desk, there were various papers that the man was going through and stamping with his approval. The woman who walked in was wearing a uniform with the guild’s insignia embroidered on her chest, indicating her position as one of the guild administrators.

“It’s about the latest dungeon report. There seems to be an irregularity.”

The guild master raised an eyebrow, setting down the document he had been reading.

“Irregularity? Fine, let me see this…”

The man seemed rather annoyed by the situation but waved Lorenda over. She handed him the report from the dungeon case and waited patiently for him to read through it. Husson’s brow furrowed as he scanned the report, his eyes moving rapidly over the text, absorbing the details about a strange monster sighting.

“…No one died, only one person injured? This doesn’t seem that urgent.”

Husson raised an eyebrow at his secretary, wondering why she had brought this up as if it were an important problem. The report stated that a strange monster had appeared and chased a few new adventurers out of the dungeon. One man was reported injured but was later found and escorted out.

“The monster had behaved strangely and was using demonic magic sir.”

“So? It looks like they triggered some type of trap that set off this monster. If not, then it’s some type of roaming variant. Just write up a commission; it’s just an E rank too.”

This man was well-versed in monster types, and even though the report stated that the monster was acting strange, it wasn’t anything unprecedented. It mentioned that the monster ignored other adventurers to chase after one of the alchemical apprentices and suggested they triggered a trap that targeted a specific person – nothing too out of the ordinary.

“But…”

“Stop wasting my time with things like this. I’m busy enough with all this damn paperwork! I don’t have time. Now leave!”

“I… yes, sir…”

The woman was taken aback by the man’s reaction and watched him crumble up the mission report he had presented. She soon found herself outside of his office after being quickly dismissed. Lorenda felt frustration as she had read between the lines of that report, sensing that something bigger was afoot. This was not the first time an irregularity had taken place and ignoring this threat was dangerous. Nevertheless, she was not someone who could make the decision, and going against the orders of the guild master would just get her fired.

“Something wrong, you don’t look too happy?”

Lorenda walked through the door and was greeted by a similarly dressed woman with large glasses. She seemed concerned about her colleague, who appeared annoyed and perhaps frustrated.

“It’s nothing, the Guild Master just doesn’t think it’s a big deal.”

“Again?”

The woman with glasses sighed, adjusting her frames.

“This isn’t the first time he’s dismissed something important.”

“No, it isn’t, I hope no one gets injured…”

Both of the women shook their heads around as they knew their guild master well. He had been a high-ranking adventurer before taking up the administrative role, and while his combat skills were respected, his patience for paperwork was limited. Even if a problem arose, he expected the adventurers to be able to clear it up. In his mind, to build them up, they needed to be challenged and not coddled by the guild.

“I guess we’ll have to stick with an E-rank commission. I wanted to make it a D-rank, I just hope no one gets injured…”

Both women worked as receptionists and had noticed that a larger number of new adventurers were falling victim to the dungeon. It wasn’t a new phenomenon; the place was teeming with monsters, and each floor was deadlier than the last. Every aspiring adventurer needed to be keenly aware of the dangers, and typically, the highest mortality rates occurred among the lower ranks of adventurers who struggled to assess threats accurately.

“It’s a shame, really. But without solid evidence of a larger threat, there’s not much we can do.”

The woman with glasses remarked while Lorenda nodded in agreement, her expression reflecting her concern.

“I just hope they can handle whatever’s down there. Some of those newbies barely know which end of the sword to hold.”

“Well, we’ll have to keep an eye on the situation, if any new strange monsters appear, lets quickly bring it up with the Guild Master, eventually he will have to give in.”
With that, the two returned to their respective desks. Lorenda quickly prepared a commission notice destined for the guild mission board. At most, she could designate it as an E-plus rank commission, reserved for a full party of adventurers of the same rank. She could only hope that she was simply overthinking things and that the monster posed a lesser threat, just as their guild master had assured.

*****

Meanwhile, deep within the dungeon, the monster in question continued his relentless hunt for experience and new items. His current target was a group of goblins that used crude iron weaponry. The tunnels were crawling with them, which allowed him to gain quite a lot of raw iron.

“Should I really be wasting my time on them…”

Rusty glanced at the crude iron dagger he had just acquired, along with the goblin corpse that had wielded it moments before. These short creatures weren’t particularly resilient; their only real advantage lay in their sheer numbers. This meant that Rusty wasn’t gaining much experience, as they were nothing more than lowly F-rank adversaries, far below the challenge of even a bronze living armor. Time was slipping away, and this cycle wasn’t getting him closer to reaching a new evolution or causing chaos inside this dungeon.

“There seemed to be something up ahead…”

He resolved to see this through for the time being. These green monsters were a novelty, and it seemed better to conduct a thorough examination of them. Rusty had already observed that the deeper he ventured into the dungeon, the greater the likelihood of encountering evolved variations of each creature. While these small goblins posed only minor threats here, they could potentially evolve into major menaces deeper within. It was wise to study their combat tactics now in preparation for the inevitable future battles ahead.

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“Is this their lair?”

As he traversed the tunnels, he stumbled upon a larger chamber teeming with even more goblins. Unlike other areas with destroyed structures, this one appeared unusually organized. It was unlike anything he had encountered before; the goblins here exhibited a level of coordination not seen among other dungeon monsters. Within the chamber stood smaller structures crafted from wood and straw. Though their exact purpose eluded him, it was evident that some of the goblins occupied these makeshift dwellings.