Chapter 42: The Goblin Mission

Igor probably never imagined that the person he was holding was actually a man over forty years old inside.

Right now, Qiu Nuoya had the appearance of a cute child.

If that could help ease Igor’s heart even a little, then Qiu Nuoya would let him indulge in that comfort as much as he needed.

After all, Igor had always taken care of him.

"Haha. If you were another ten years older, I might have fallen for you."

"You’re married. What are you saying? Cheating is absolutely not allowed."

Besides, no matter how cute his current appearance was, Qiu Nuoya did not want Igor to forget that he was still a man.

Igor laughed again.

"You’re really serious, aren’t you?"

Then his expression became more solemn.

"There is something I want you to remember, Nuoya."

Igor looked directly into Qiu Nuoya’s eyes. ℯℯ𝑙.

"Viktor said that if I ever lose control, he will always sink me into water. Since I lose my sense of reason at that point, I don’t know exactly how he does it, but I think it is probably some kind of water magic."

Igor’s expression was extremely serious.

"If I ever become too much for you to handle, don’t hesitate. Attack me with the intention of killing me."

Qiu Nuoya could only nod.

Igor was completely serious.

But if that attack actually killed Igor... Could Qiu Nuoya really do it?

He was not sure.

"Good boy."

Whether Igor noticed Qiu Nuoya’s hesitation or not, he simply smiled and said that before roughly messing up Qiu Nuoya’s hair.

After that, they continued talking about meaningless little things without any particular purpose.

Eventually, Igor used Qiu Nuoya as a body pillow and fell asleep.

Back when he was still in the royal capital, perhaps this was how he had held his daughter while sleeping.

[ Nuoya, Nuoya. Aren’t you sleeping over here today? ]

Mochi the slime bounced up and down on Qiu Nuoya’s bed.

Using someone as a body pillow might be a little strange, but a person’s warmth really was comforting.

"Mochi, come here too."

With Qiu Nuoya held inside Igor’s arms and Mochi held inside Qiu Nuoya’s arms, Qiu Nuoya fell asleep that night.

Starting the next day, Qiu Nuoya, Warren, and Igor began training in basic hand to hand combat while completing missions on the grasslands outside the city.

During their training, Mochi would sometimes merge with the other slimes living in the grasslands while eating the grass around them.

Every now and then, Qiu Nuoya would suddenly notice that Mochi had grown enormous, which always surprised him.

However, after some time passed, Mochi would return to its original size.

Because of that, Qiu Nuoya could only tilt his head and wonder just how strange slime biology really was.

This continued for several days.

Then, one day, Warren suddenly said, "Nuoya, did you know the number of slimes living in this grassland has dropped a lot recently?"

"Huh? Really?"

"Yeah. Because of that, there haven’t been any slime extermination mission lately. This is definitely because of your slime, isn’t it?"

Warren looked at Mochi and let out a deep sigh.

Mochi, on the other hand, did not seem concerned at all.

As usual, it was absorbing grass into its body while merging with its companions, growing slightly larger than before.

Because of that, Qiu Nuoya could not even deny Warren’s accusation.

"Recently, goblin extermination missions have been appearing instead of slime missions. But Rank G adventurers aren’t allowed to take those alone, so I’m stuck. Do something about this!"

"Is that so?"

Since Qiu Nuoya had not really been accepting extermination missions, he had not noticed the change.

Seeing Qiu Nuoya’s indifferent reaction, Warren let out another heavy sigh.

"You know that extermination mission pay better than gathering mission, right? And completing more extermination mission is the fastest way to increase your rank. So figure something out!"

"Even if you tell me to do something about it... The mission existed because there were too many slimes causing problems. If their numbers have decreased, isn’t that actually a good thing?"

"No, it isn’t!"

"Then why don’t you two just accept a goblin extermination mission?"

Igor offered the suggestion to the furious Warren.

However, Warren turned his gloomy eyes toward Qiu Nuoya and started criticizing him as usual.

"Do you really think Nuoya can even accept an extermination mission?"

"Just because he couldn’t bring himself to defeat slimes and made one his familiar doesn’t exactly make me confident he can defeat goblins!"

"Nuoya, is that really why you made Mochi your familiar?"

"Um... That is not completely wrong, but slimes are basically harmless as long as we don’t bother them first. So I felt sorry for them..."

"Even slimes become dangerous monsters if their numbers increase too much and they start damaging crops."

Qiu Nuoya understood that.

He really did.

But still...

"But goblins are far more harmful than slimes because they attack people. You can’t keep saying something is pitiful when it comes to goblins, Nuoya."

Igor’s expression became serious.

"Individual goblins are not particularly strong monsters, but they become troublesome when they gather in groups. If their numbers grow too large, people can die. Goblin extermination is one of the important duties of adventurers."

That was true.

Goblins attacked humans.

They had a high reproduction rate and Qiu Nuoya had heard that they were cruel monsters that attacked young women and killed men in horrible ways.

If they formed a large group, even a small village could be destroyed in no time.

Even if a single goblin was weak, they were still monsters that could never be underestimated.

"Can the two of us defeat goblins by ourselves?"

"I think you should be fine as long as they haven’t formed a large settlement." Igor smiled. "You two are talented, after all."

At Igor’s words, Warren’s face lit up with a smug grin.

After all, the two of them had just been praised as "talented" by the very person Warren admired.