Chapter 182: Chapter 7. Goblin Slayer
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"Bell, watch out for the Goblin archer."
"Got it, teacher!"
Bell spun around and flung his shield from his left arm. The rapidly spinning shield flew straight and decapitated the Goblin archer hiding in the distance.
Seeing Bell throw his shield, the surrounding Goblins immediately roared and charged at him.
"Three on the left, one on the right."
A fiery red glow lit up beneath the mask resembling iron bars.
"I can do it!"
Clang—
The shield, which had been thrown, hung in the air, with a thin cord extending from inside the shield to Bell's left wrist.
Bell grabbed the cord with his other hand and yanked it, causing the shield to spin back rapidly and attach to his left arm. Fresh blood splattered onto the cave walls as two of the Goblins charging from the left were cleaved in half mid-air.
"Done!"
Bell pulled his short sword from the mouth of the Goblin on the right and, seeing the ground littered with magic stones, let out a sigh of relief as he collapsed onto the ground.
"Not bad. You're starting to look like a hero," Cyd raised his hand and said, tapping Bell's helmeted head.
"Really?"
Seeing the glowing red lights under the iron-bar-like mask, Cyd nodded.
"That's great!"
Bell cheered and laid back on the ground.
He had been killing Goblins non-stop for days, and to increase the difficulty, he had even asked Cyd to gather dozens of Goblins at once to push his limits.
Just now, he had faced his maximum—fifty Goblins at once.
Even weak Goblins can be overwhelming when fifty of them gather, especially when they have different roles and cooperate; it's enough to wipe out a rookie party.
But he did it—just like the heroes in his grandfather's stories who turned the tide against impossible odds!
"Although you haven't killed two thousand yet, it's enough," Cyd said, tossing the magic stones into a sack and hoisting the full bag onto his shoulder. "It's about time."
"Are we finally going to challenge the Minotaur again?" Bell sat up, his voice filled with a mix of fear and excitement.
"No, it's time for a break," Cyd lifted Bell to his feet. "Some fatigue can't be cured by sleep alone. You should relax outside the dungeon for a bit."
"A... break?"
Ah, what a wonderful word!
Bell, whose life had seemingly shrunk to just slaying Goblins, being beaten by Cyd, and sleeping, nearly cried tears of joy at the mention of a break.
"That's great!"
Like an excited elementary schooler awaiting a field trip, Bell followed behind Cyd, his eyes shining and his whole body trembling with excitement, his hands tightly clasped to suppress his urge to jump for joy.
"Ahem, Bell, calm down a bit," Cyd coughed. "There are people around."
Bell, in his excitement, didn't realize how frightening he looked.
Hot white steam was seeping through the cracks of his helmet, accompanied by a crimson glow. The way he trembled looked more like he was suppressing a bloodthirsty urge.
At least, that's what the nearby rookie adventurers thought. They watched Bell with wary, fearful eyes.
"Huh?" Bell looked up, confused.
The crimson light traced a blinding streak through the air, and his raspy voice made the adventurers' hair stand on end.
"The Goblin Slayer is going to kill us!"
Someone shouted, and the adventurers, many of whom were new to the dungeon, panicked. With no desire to confront the infamous Goblin Slayer known for his brutal methods, they scattered almost instantly.
"Teacher?" Bell scratched his helmet. "Who's the Goblin Slayer?"
It's you, my dear student!
But if I said that, Bell would surely give me a confused, existential look.
"Instead of that, let's think about how we'll explain this to Eina," Cyd said, shaking the sack in his hand.
"Yeah… you're right…" Bell's expression fell.
Eina, responsible for guiding Bell, had been receiving complaints from the Guild about him bringing in large sacks of magic stones.
Bringing in a lot of magic stones isn't a problem in itself, but Bell's magic stones were all low-value ones from Goblins, which made counting them a tedious task. The Guild workers couldn't do much to Bell since he was following the rules, so they complained to Eina instead.
Eina, in turn, subtly reminded Bell:
"I always tell adventurers not to take unnecessary risks and to be cautious, but Bell, you can't just… only go after weak monsters, right? Why not have a bit more confidence in yourself?"
Go fight something stronger, for heaven's sake!
That was the gist of it.
But I can't just throw away all these magic stones...
Thinking about how his goddess, Hestia, was still working hard to support their Familia of just two members, Bell couldn't bring himself to discard the magic stones.
So... I'll just play dumb...
"Of course, it's like this again." Eina sighed, resting her hand on her forehead. Without even looking, she knew that the sack of magic stones in front of her was filled with low-level ones.
Because of Cyd's advice, Bell would always remove his gear before appearing in front of Eina, so she hadn't yet connected the dots between the grinning, slightly guilty Bell and the brutal Goblin Slayer.
More complaints incoming...
Eina sighed again, but thinking about how Bell had taken her advice to heart and was proceeding cautiously, she couldn't help but feel a bit happy.
"Don't worry, Bell is well-prepared. It's almost time to head deeper," Cyd said, patting Bell on the shoulder.
"Really, teacher?" Bell's eyes lit up.
Honestly, he was so sick of killing Goblins that he felt like his world had shrunk to just men, women, and Goblins.
"Teacher?" Eina tilted her head. Because she always focused on checking if Bell had overexerted himself, she hadn't paid much attention to Cyd, who often accompanied him.
Somehow, these two look a bit alike...
But compared to Bell's bright smile, Cyd's was more gentle.
One was a passionate youth looking forward, the other was an adult who had already reached his goal and was looking back at those following him.
But both gave Eina a sense of reliability.
Though, compared to Cyd, Bell was still a bit immature.
He… will one day become like that, won't he?
Eina smiled softly as she watched Bell and Cyd walk away.
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