Lord: Starting from a Goblin Nest

”Surely it’s not because Carolina is interfering, is it?”

”Their reach doesn’t extend that far,” one of Wilson’s companions sneered. ”But who would dare to offend them? And even if you wanted to cross them, what good would a few Adventurer Squads do?”

”Actually, there are some,” the Sorcerer, Luo Wei, said suddenly. ”I specifically look for those kinds of quests, but they’re usually gone in a flash. They’re basically accepted the moment they’re posted.”

”What kind of quests are they, usually?”

”Rescue missions. It’s almost always rescues,” Luo Wei said after a moment’s thought. ”Things like, ’So-and-so’s family member was abducted by Carolina.’”

”You know, the fee for our line of work is usually much lower than what loan sharks charge. Meanwhile, Carolina doesn’t care about losing one or two ordinary people. They can always just grab more.”

”So, families with a bit of money—but not a lot—often resort to this method: they turn themselves over to Carolina to clear a debt, then hire someone to rescue them.”

”The success rate just isn’t very high. When you go to the guild in Rose City tomorrow, you’ll see that many of the failed quests are exactly this type,” Aive said, glancing at the Sorcerer.

Wilson rubbed his eyes and leaned back in his seat. ”Those are just incompetent hacks who can’t even handle a simple job like that. If it were us, we’d complete the mission flawlessly!”

”Say, pal, you’re asking all these questions... Don’t tell me you’re planning on pulling someone out of there too?”

Ron drained his beer. ”Well, when you have a moment, you can check the guild in Rose City. We want to get quite a few people out.”

”How many is ’quite a few’?”

”One Gold Coin per person. Regardless of race, age, gender, or physical condition. Bring them out alive, and it’s one Gold Coin a head.”

Wilson sucked in a sharp breath. ”Pal, this isn’t just about rescuing people anymore. You’re trying to pick a fight with Carolina!”

”Aren’t you afraid they’ll send assassins after you?”

”Thirteen assassins are buried in my front yard,” Ron said, giving him a look. ”What, you’re not thinking of tipping them off, are you?”

”As if!” Wilson shot to his feet. ”I have a blood feud with them! Why would I ever do something like that?!”

”I just wanted to make a proposition, pal. What if we bypassed the guild and dealt with you directly?”

The so-called Adventurer’s Guild was merely a loose organization. It provided a platform for Adventurers who lacked connections to find work, and for employers who lacked connections to hire help. They had no say in private deals struck between employers and Adventurers.

The advantage of going through the guild was that it protected the employer’s identity. The advantage of a private deal, on the other hand, was that there was no middleman taking a cut.

”That’d be perfect.” Ron had been waiting to hear just that. ’It would be a real shame not to recruit an Adventurer with a grudge against Carolina.’ ”Let’s discuss the details...”

Neither party consisted of the ”clever” sort who nitpicked over wording or looked for contractual loopholes, so the agreement was quickly signed. Carrying this contract, which bore a special Magic Mark, Wilson and his team could take the freed slaves to the trading post in Delusional Land. After Seymour and the others confirmed the delivery, they could collect their reward.

Wilson could even recruit his own acquaintances and comrades to join the effort, but he personally had to escort the freed slaves to Delusional Land. Otherwise, they wouldn’t get paid.

”So you’re the one who’s been opening up Delusional Land!” The realization sobered Wilson up by half. ”Don’t you know? The news has spread all over the city-states in the West! We were even thinking of heading over to join!”

”It was my suggestion,” Luo Wei said, annoyed. ”Boss, you shot me down. You said you didn’t know how long those people would last and that we couldn’t afford to get involved in that mess!”

”That was then, this is now!” Wilson scratched his head in embarrassment. ”After all...”

”Delusional Land has a bad reputation, so there’s nothing wrong with being cautious,” Ron said with a wave of his hand. ”But aren’t we partners now? I guess you could call it fate.”

”Exactly! Fate!”

Both groups had a great time that night. But no matter how eager Wilson was to earn this sudden windfall, he still decided to first accompany Ron and his party to Rose City.

The Adventurer Squad had just completed a mission and was in dire need of rest. There was no sense in being hasty; the overly greedy and reckless never lasted long in this line of work.

”Ha! Smell that! Just smell that!” Back in her hometown, not even heavy armor and a tower shield could stop Aive from bounding about like a joyful fawn. She darted back and forth around the group. ”The whole city has this amazing, rich scent, doesn’t it? Right?”

”You’re right!” Andre took a deep breath in admiration. ”It really lives up to its name. Rose City’s very air smells of roses!”

This was no mere compliment or exaggeration. With the city’s profusion of spice shops and ubiquitous gardens, it would have been difficult *not* to smell the fragrance.

”It stings!” The least happy member of the group was probably Delaford. For a goblin, the aroma had crossed the line from ’pleasant’ into olfactory torture.

”You definitely don’t have any good Hunters around here. Stay in this city too long, and your nose would probably stop working altogether...”

”It’s not that bad, Delaford,” Ron said with a laugh, drawing closer to a spice shop. ”The scent is strong, but it varies from place to place. I’d actually wager the people here have even more sensitive noses because of it.”

Of course, it might have been due to goblin physiology. What was merely a rich scent to Ron and the others was likely unbearable for a goblin.

No matter how Aive tried to coax him, Delaford stubbornly plugged his nostrils with strips of cloth, only then letting out a long sigh of relief.

”Your loss,” Aive shrugged. ”Come on, let me show you my home! The Night Wind Tavern! I guarantee our food is so good you’ll never want to leave!”

”The spices don’t seem very cheap here,” Ron said, following behind Aive. ”I thought this was where many of them are produced?”

”That’s because they can tell you’re not a local from your accent,” Aive said with a sly grin. ”What were you trying to buy? And how much did they ask for?”

Ron pointed to the shop he’d just been at. ”I asked about their rose oil. They wanted fifteen Gold Coins for one small bottle!”

He knew a little something about the subject. After all, studying pharmacology didn’t just lead to producing medicine; health supplements, cosmetics, and perfumes were all viable career paths, so he had at least a passing familiarity with them.

”Watch this!” Aive strode over to the shopkeeper. She switched to a version of the Common Language thick with local accent and dialect, a complete departure from her normal speech. After a brief chat, she turned back to Ron. ”Do you want it? He said he can give you a discount.”

”What did you get the price down to?”

”I didn’t haggle. He said just give him two or three Silver Coins, whatever you think is fair.”