Lawrence's camp was far more enthusiastic than Gauss had imagined. The workers, in particular, praised and thanked his group again and again.
Gauss and the others felt a little embarrassed by it.
After all, from their perspective, they had only done what the commission required.
He returned the ballista to Miller.
"You were a huge help, Miller. The ballista and Alchemy Bombs you lent us were a great help this time."
Gauss thanked him sincerely.
The Goblin Chieftain had died from the Alchemy Bomb and the fire that followed.
"As long as they were useful." Miller smiled.
The same tools could serve very different purposes in different hands.
Even a seemingly precious Alchemy Bomb had no value if it just gathered dust in a storeroom. It only mattered when someone put it to use.
Gauss couldn't disclose the details because the commission was confidential, but as a local, Miller could guess that the goblins had been no ordinary threat. If they had been allowed to keep growing, the consequences would have been unthinkable.
Gauss asked Miller about the camp's recent situation and spent a little while there. Then, citing the urgency of reporting their intelligence, he politely declined Miller and the others' invitation to stay and hurried off.
What he didn't know was that, not long after he left, an ordinary Bard happily finished his latest creation.
The party traveled across the boundless wilderness.
"Where are we going to claim the commission reward?" Alya turned to look at Gauss.
Gauss was holding a map scroll, carefully studying its contents.
"We'll have to go to a big city."
Even if an Adventurer's Guild in a small town accepted commission reports, could it really provide the resources they wanted to exchange for in a short time?
"The nearest big city is Sena