After arriving, I silently watched the three of them have a short discussion to decide on their next course of action. They decided to talk to the client first, so we headed to the village chief’s house, with me following a bit behind.

As expected, his house was the largest in the village. Harold-kun lightly knocked on the door and then introduced himself to the chief’s son, that answered it and brought us inside immediately after.

I’m not sure I agree with Harold-kun being the party’s leader though, he is determined, but seems bad at negotiating… On the other hand, people tend to not take women adventurers very seriously, so Ethel-chan wouldn’t work either, but Alf-kun would probably do better. It would be nice if they had given some more thought to who fit what role in their team…

While Harold-kun talked with the chief, the latter looked at me with a confused stare, but I won’t interfere since I’m just an escort, so I just gave him a knowing look and he seemed to understand before going back to the conversation.

The resume of the chief’s story was that seven days ago a villager saw 3 goblins hunting in the nearby area, at about the same time yet another villager saw another group of 3 goblins in a different location. The chief panicked when he heard of it and immediately sent a request towards the guild… Which is about the same as what Airi-san told me, seems like either the goblins had a nest here for quite some time and hid well, or they moved in very recently, either way, it seems like a large group of goblins is in the region.

It’s unlikely they would be able to hide a large nest for so long, so them moving is more likely, though it’s hard to know why, it’s easy to theorize about it… The exact reason of their moving doesn’t matter too much though, what matters is getting rid of the goblin threat.

Once the conversation was finished, the group refused the invitation to stay over at the chief’s house and left… Why did they refuse it though? They shouldn’t have much money to spare and it’s better than spending it on an inn. Well, it’s not my place to say anything.

As I was thinking that they were going to an inn to book a room, they instead moved North, in the path that would leave the village… They can’t be serious, I decided to ask just to make sure they aren’t this stupid. “Where are you going before finding a place to stay the night?”

They stopped after hearing my voice and turned around. “Isn’t it obvious? We’re going to kill the goblins.” Idiots! I thought I was wrong, but you are all complete idiots!

“Are you stupid? Didn’t you listen to the chief? If you go now, it will be night by the time you reach the goblins, how will you fight like that!?” I angrily yelled at them, do they have any idea how dark forests get in the night? And it would be suicide to light up a torch at that circumstance.

“So what? The goblins will also need to deal with the dark, so the situation will be even. Besides, they’re just goblins, there is no way we’ll lose.” Harold-kun said that… I was fuming with anger at his pathetic excuse of an explanation.

“And that’s why I’m saying you’re stupid. Did you do no research on your target before coming? Goblins can see well in the dark, what kind of even situation is that? And did you pay no attention to the chief’s story at all either?” The three of them opened their eyes wide as if it was the first time they ever heard of it… If I wasn’t here they would disappear within goblins’ bellies tonight. I’m astounded.

I decided I needed to give them a lesson in their own job, so I continued, “Before heading out in any task, you should always research on your prey at the very least, that’s basic. Goblins are classified as E-rank monsters usually, but groups of around 10 goblins are D-ranked, and it raises even further if the group is larger.

“3 E-ranked adventurers should have no problem in dealing with an E-rank threat, or rather, even if there were 20 goblins it would still be barely alright. So you tell me, what in the chief’s story back then made the guild decide to send me with you?” The three of them didn’t seem to know how to reply, so I sighed before continuing. “The chief said they found several goblins in different locations, right?”

“Oh yes, what about it?” Harold-kun asked.

“When goblins are making their nest, most of them tend to be focused on tasks within the nest itself, and only 1 in every 10 goblins usually goes out to hunt. Well, they saw two groups of 3 goblins in different areas, what do you take from that?” Their face lost all color when they realized what I meant.

“No way… 60 monsters?” One of them muttered.

“Yeah, maybe even more actually, since just because two groups were sighted, it doesn’t mean there weren’t more out there. That’s why it’s so important to look up information about the task you are taking before heading out to do it, the guild sent me here as a backup exactly because they feared this kind of danger. It was possible that they were looking for a place to build a nest, but this possibility disappeared once we got information they were hunting for food with such numbers.” I explained.

“What do we do then? There is no way we can beat 60 goblins… Will the quest fail?” Harold-kun wondered with a terrible complexion. Understandable though, they already spent some money coming here by carriage and they probably don’t have many reserves, so a failure would really hurt their pockets.

“I suppose I should also tell you that considering their numbers, it’s possible that this was already a large group of goblins that just moved to this location recently. In that case there may be some evolved goblins, which are too much for you to handle.” The highest level of goblins are Goblin Lords, which are considered C-rank threats by themselves and are generally only found in large groups of goblins. Nobody knows for sure how they’re born, some believe they simply evolve naturally… Either way, you’re in a lot of trouble if you expect to deal with them the same way you’d handle a normal goblin.

“But then… What are we supposed to do?” Harold-kun already looked a bit depressed.

“Well, since the contents are far above the rank of the quest, it wouldn’t be considered a failure… Though you’d get no reward either way.” I replied.

“There is no point if we get no rewards! It wasn’t free to come here!” He screamed bitterly, Alf-kun bit his lips while Ethel-chan just kept exchanging her stare between them both.

I suppose this is enough. “So, the guild dispatched me, a B-ranked adventurer, with you. Taking that into account, what do you think is the best course of action?” Well, even if there are over 100 goblins and some Lords there, I should be able to handle it with ease, but if I say that they’ll stop thinking, and I’m still just an escort after all, it’s better to let them think of a solution than painting a clear path for them.

“Then is it possible with Onee-sama?” Ethel-chan asked… Well, that question is no good though.

“That’s not up to me to answer, you’re the ones that have to think on it and decide what to do. You won’t always have someone out there helping you out, so you have to consider your options by yourselves. I think I gave you enough tips by now, so you now have 2 choices, either try thinking of plan that involves me in it or give up on the quest and go back.” I know I’m not helping them much with just that, but while just me alone can kill the goblins, it would be hard to also protect very inexperienced people while doing that, it might even be their first battle after all.

If I was the one coming up with the strategy, I’d just charge by myself and let them take the leftovers, but that’s not exactly a ‘plan’.

Regardless, I decided to give them some time to think about it. “In any case, we’ll need to stay overnight regardless of what you decide, so let’s find a place to stay.” Now they’re probably regretting not accepting the offer to stay at the chief’s house, but well, I was planning on staying an inn from the start, so that’s a problem for me.

There was only one inn in the village, but it had a bath, which made me very happy, even if the other three were looking a bit gloomy.

After putting my luggage in the inn’s room, I decided to take a bath while the three of them worried over how things would go… Well, I have nothing to worry about, so this is a perfect time to relax.

I wanted to just enter the bath already, but before that I started washing myself with hot water, manners are important after all. Especially because I haven’t taken a bath in the last few days while traveling, the dirt accumulated quite quickly.

And now that I think about it, the goblins distracted me so much that I forgot about Ethel-chan’s case, how do I make her look to Harold-kun? She is kind towards him, but how to go from that to romantic affection…?

What if I was her? What would make me interested in Harold-kun…? Nothing. I don’t know anything about him, so it’s hard to be interested. In that case I should substitute him for a man I already know…

Why did the prince’s image come to mind!? Please don’t enter my head without permission!

Though he is the man I am most used to, so I guess there is no helping it, it’s not like I have any second intentions or anything… Just who am I explaining myself to…?

Well, there is some contrast in him that makes him attractive I suppose? His dignified appearance was certainly very cool when you consider he is a good for nothing… Or at least a bit cool.

And I also got somewhat annoyed when he was happily talking with other women… I-I saw it just by accident! It was a coincidence! I was definitely not spying on him!

Ah, and I always get so happy when he eats everything I make, he eats twice as much as normal people, so I always need to make a lot… His astonished look when he takes the first bite of a new dish and then how he silently devours it afterwards is very fulfilling.

He also has a childish side that is very cute, even though he knows how to behave like an adult when need be.

I wonder if he is eating properly, I told him I would be busy for a while, but I hope he doesn’t overdo it… When I get back I suppose I could make something that will replenish his energy, maybe some kind of meat he didn’t taste yet?

“Eh? Onee-sama?” Ethel-chan’s voice suddenly interrupted me, I made a loud yelp in reply… That surprised me. “Are you still there? Can we go together?” I wonder if I took too long here…

“Ah, there is no need, I already warmed up enough by now, so I’m going out.” My heart is beating loudly, perhaps because I stayed here for too long… This annoys me somewhat.

“How regretful…” I heard her murmur, right now I’m scared of what look she has on her face, so let’s evacuate to the dressing room immediately! “I’m entering now, alright?” Didn’t you hear what I just said!?