Chapter 68: Gary

Chapter 68: Chapter 68: Gary

Because of the goblin’s extremely light weight, Lightning Traction failed to pull Lorin very far.

With a single strike of his sword, he decapitated the goblin that had been electrocuted into unconsciousness. Then, he dodged an incoming Arrow and dashed into the middle of the goblin pack.

"Hah!"

Lorin kicked down a howling goblin that charged at him. He drove Rusted Throat hard into its chest and immediately unleashed his newly learned Magic.

[Lorin’s Thunderous Wave]

A Frenzy of invisible force rapidly expanded outward with his body at the center. It swept up the dust in the air, forming a visible shockwave.

Aside from the goblins holding the two humans by the wooden cart, the shockwave engulfed all six of the remaining ones surrounding him.

In a mere instant, the invisible force reversed its flow, sweeping up everything around it and rushing back toward Lorin.

Just as these goblins and debris neared his body, tiny arcs of electricity leaped from his skin, followed closely by a deafening roar.

"BOOM!"

The six goblins flew wildly through the air in twisted postures, as if struck by lightning. Along with the debris that had caught fire from the electrical strikes, they crashed heavily onto the ground.

The camp fell silent in an instant.

Lorin pulled Rusted Throat out, feeling somewhat at a loss. The goblin beneath his feet had been mangled beyond recognition by the Thunderous Wave.

He hadn’t expected the power of this Magic to be so immense. He had been preparing to block incoming attacks with the Shield on his back, but he ended up instantly killing them all in one fell swoop.

"SQUEAK!"

The two goblins by the cart had never seen such a terrifying scene. After freezing in shock for two seconds, they scrambled madly toward the forest.

"Bala Astra!"

Three silver darts of light accurately struck them in quick succession. The faster one was "lucky" enough to take two hits, dying on the spot in a dazzling explosion.

"You killed them all by yourself?"

The short guy ran out excitedly, only to stare at the corpses on the ground in disappointment. He hadn’t even gotten the chance to swing his hammer.

Lorin puckered his lips toward Erin behind him. "Didn’t she kill two of them?"

Erin rolled her eyes. She walked up to him and looked down at the mess on the ground.

"Thunderous Wave?"

"...Probably."

"Heh... Sorcerer."

Erin pursed her lips.

To instantly finish casting a One-Ring Magic without a Magical Artifact, and in the middle of a battle no less... just what was this guy’s background?

Lorin gave an awkward smile. He stood up, walked over to the two men, and examined them closely.

One looked to be in his thirties, and the other seemed barely in his early twenties. The material of their clothes looked quite good; they likely weren’t poor.

"What do you do? How did you get caught by these goblins?" Lorin swung his sword to cut the ropes binding their hands.

"My name is Gary. We... we’re from a merchant caravan... heading west to collect supplies."

The older man was the first to react. His legs gave way, and he fell to his knees. Tears mixed with the bloodstains on his face as he spoke in a trembling voice.

"We ran into these beasts on the road. Those spineless guards in our caravan abandoned us and ran away as soon as they realized they couldn’t win.

"Our leader and two other assistants were killed by the goblins. We thought we were dead for sure this time... Thank you... Thank you so much!"

"Don’t mention it. We just happened to pass by."

Lorin nodded kindly and turned to look at the cart fully loaded with goods.

Gary keenly caught his gaze and reminded him almost without hesitation, "Sir, these are all spoils of war you captured from the goblins. They have nothing to do with us anymore."

Lorin raised an eyebrow at the caravan assistant, somewhat surprised by his attitude. But when he thought about it from a hired worker’s perspective, it suddenly made perfect sense.

The goods belonged to the merchant guild’s boss anyway. If they were lost, so be it; at worst, he could just pack up and jump ship. In this era, people going missing on trading runs was a common occurrence, and no one would care about one more casualty.

However, his life was his own. If the people standing before him turned out to be cutthroats who found the two of them to be a nuisance, they would be in serious trouble.

As someone who had been ambushed by Adventurers before, Lorin knew this mentality all too well and despised such behavior with a passion.

He nodded to Gary in acknowledgment, stepped onto the cart, and inspected the cargo.

Several sacks were filled entirely with rolled-up pelts, most of which were species not found in the Mist Forest.

Such goods were highly sought after in the winter. As long as they could be transported here, it was no different from picking up free money.

Lorin then drew his dagger from his waist and forcefully pried open the three wooden crates, instantly freezing in his tracks.

"Erin, Erin! Come look at this!"

The Red-haired Mage walked over in confusion, wondering what crazy idea he had now. She leaned close to the crates and looked down.

"What!?" Erin exclaimed.

Neatly stacked inside two of the crates were over twenty Oilcloth Bags. When opened, they revealed precious spices like pepper and cinnamon. At a rough glance, they were worth around 30 to 50 Gold Coins.

Even so, these were merely items that frequently appeared on her dining table. They were nowhere near enough to elicit such astonishment from a noble Mage lady of her high status.

What surprised her the most was the final crate.

This crate was filled with various bottles and jars, securely fastened in small compartments separated by dry grass and wooden slats.

Erin took out a glass bottle, gently swirled the liquid inside, and slightly parted her lips.

"Silver Moon Ink?"

"This is something used for copying Magic. Isn’t Herman a Warrior?"

She carefully placed the glass bottle back. Just as she was about to check the other materials, the young assistant suddenly jumped out.

"Do you know whose property this is!? Take your filthy hands off, woman!" He pointed proudly at Erin, as if he himself were the owner of the goods. "These are all Viscount Herman’s belongings! If he finds out you touched them—"

Before he could finish his sentence, he took a heavy punch to the face.

"Idiot! If you want to die, don’t drag me down with you!"

Gary had thrown the punch with all his might, knocking him to the ground.

He had no idea what kind of madness had possessed this assistant to say such a thing at a time like this. Was he afraid they wouldn’t get into enough trouble?

"Cough, cough..." The young assistant coughed in a daze. Suddenly, he sat up straight and threw a punch back at Gary, cursing furiously. "You idiot! How dare you let others defile Viscount Herman’s belongings! How am I supposed to report back now? I’ll kill you! I’ll kill all of you!"

As if one punch wasn’t enough to satisfy him, he mounted Gary and followed up with a flurry of strikes, nearly knocking him unconscious.

"What are you doing!?"

Seeing this, Lorin kicked the young assistant, sending him flying to the side.

Watching the young assistant’s entirely unreasonable actions, Lorin felt more than just bewildered; he found it completely incomprehensible.

"What’s wrong with this guy?"

Lorin glanced back at Erin and Pip. Both of them wore identical looks of bewilderment, clearly unable to understand the man’s behavior either.

"Kill you all... Kill you..."

Lorin knocked down the charging young assistant once again and scanned him using [Fur Perception].

[Human hair, male, aged approximately 25 to 30 years, abnormally hyperactive]

Abnormally hyperactive? Was something wrong with his brain?

Lorin frowned and retracted his gaze from the young assistant’s hair.

He felt that something was very off, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was. He could only conclude that this guy’s head really was messed up.

Or perhaps he was so accustomed to serving his master that he belonged to a particularly servile breed of people?

He genuinely couldn’t understand it.

While Lorin was lost in thought, the young assistant glanced around, suddenly grabbed a weapon from a dead goblin’s hand, and charged madly at him.

"Lorin!!" Erin cried out.

"CLANG!"

Lorin raised his Longsword to block the strike. His eyes instantly turned cold as he delivered a backhand thrust with his sword.

"You have a death wish."