Anyway, now that they had managed to get the chainmail, Lin Yun and the others could finally set out. The Goddess Priestess changed into it in what was basically a fitting room inside the blacksmith's shop. Since Lin Yun had worked as both a weaver and a leatherworker, his eye for a good fit was sharp, and the chainmail fit her perfectly... Ahem, ahem. Never mind the details.
"Ah, how could this happen?" The young warrior had brought Lin Yun and the others to the village that had been attacked by goblins. They found an old man who seemed to be the one who had posted the quest, and just as they were about to ask where the goblins were, he told them that another group of Adventurers had arrived moments ago. They'd said they were going to wipe out the goblins, and the old man had believed them, so he'd sent one of the village's young men to lead them to the goblins.
After all, there was competition at the Adventurer's Guild. Some employers were in a hurry, and if an Adventurer took a quest and then kept putting it off, wouldn't that be a disaster? So the Adventurer's Guild usually prepared backup quest slips. Even if someone else had already taken a quest, you could still accept it. As for who got to turn it in, well, that depended on the situation.
Anyway, the situation now was that they'd gone to buy equipment and someone else had beaten them to it.
"Damn it, it had to be those guys from earlier." The Thief looked annoyed. Everyone knew who he meant: the Adventurers who were players in another group.
They'd formed a separate party. And since they'd already spent all their money, there was probably nothing left for them to prepare, so they'd decided they might as well charge straight in.
The people who remembered to buy equipment were generally veterans, the sort who thought things through. Of course, there were also some more impulsive types. So after the Thief turned them down, they'd simply exchanged glances, picked out the right people, and headed off.
They'd gone off on their own as a party. In a way, they were the ones playing Dungeons & Dragons in the truest sense.
After all, Dungeons & Dragons was originally a game played by a group of players working together.
"So, are we still going?" the young warrior asked the others, looking troubled.
"Of course we are. Who knows if those guys can handle it?" the Thief said, unconcerned. From the way they'd hurried off, it was obvious they'd never watched the Goblin Slayer anime. Otherwise, they wouldn't have charged off in such a rush. There were more than twenty goblins, along with a giant goblin and a Goblin Priest. And that was only what happened in the normal story. To the Thief, it was a lot like some kind of infinite-loop story, where events could easily change. With so many people involved, they might even end up facing a whole horde of goblins—or even more bizarre kinds of goblins.
Big Goblins, Bear Goblins, that sort of thing. Then they'd really be screwed. But... truth be told, the Thief was nervous too. If monsters like that showed up, he'd probably have to run for his life and hope for the best. He was only a first-level Adventurer, while the young warrior, Female Fighter, Female Mage, and even the Goddess Priestess seemed like they might not even be first level. Just look at the original story: the Female Mage could only cast two Flame Arrows. Flame Arrow was only a Cantrip, and even first-level Wizards could usually cast it three times.
Though Lin Yun couldn't cast Flame Arrow at all.
Anyway, that was that, and Lin Yun and the others started moving toward the forest.
The young warrior was indeed young, but perhaps because he'd often walked through the forest before—maybe he'd hunted there with adults since he was a child—he moved through the woods with a surprising agility.
Of course, the only reason that seemed surprising was that the original story had shown him in only a few scenes before he was killed off, making him seem useless.
In fact, if you looked closely, you'd see that the young warrior had fought fiercely in the original story. He'd simply lacked experience. In the cave, he'd tried to use a longsword, lost his footing, and been attacked by the goblins, which was why he'd been killed so quickly. In terms of combat ability, he was actually decent.
Of all of them, Lin Yun was unexpectedly having the hardest time... He was wearing scale armor, which counted as medium armor, and it made it somewhat difficult to move along the uneven path, slowing the party down. That wasn't all. As he walked, he kept scanning the surroundings and gathering herbs from the ground. Earlier, on the way to the small village, they'd been following what was basically a straight road, so there'd been no use for it. Now that they were in the forest, Lin Yun started pulling off some tricks. He recalled that feeling from before and began silently searching for herbs that could heal wounds or counter poison.
"D20+2=22, Critical Success." It was rather curious. Incidentally, in D20 rolls, there was a special rule: in combat, rolling a 1 meant an automatic failure, commonly called a critical failure. No matter how strong you were, you simply couldn't hit your opponent. On the other hand, rolling a 20 meant an automatic success, also known as a critical success. According to the special rules Lin Yun had read, critical successes and failures also had special effects. In combat, the first natural 20 meant you automatically hit, no matter how high your opponent's Armor Class was; the only question was how much damage you did. Then you needed to make a second D20 check. If the second roll, plus your attack bonus, exceeded the opponent's Armor Class, you scored a critical hit. Under normal circumstances, the second D20 roll was called a critical confirmation. Supposedly, if you rolled a natural 20 twice in a row, there was a chance you could behead your target outright, though the odds weren't very high.
And something like what had just happened to Lin Yun was another example of the effect: he'd found a patch where herbs grew in abundance and, without losing much time, gathered a whole lot of them.
The herbs were Ningshen Flower, Heather, and... mimosa. Yes, mimosa actually worked quite well as an antidote.
And since these herbs could be used to make healing medicine and even antidotes, the others were even less willing to complain. They'd already realized that if they offended this big shot, nobody might save them if they got hurt.
After all, a Priest had only so many healing spells. Enough herbs and antidotes were practically like having an extra life.
Normally, they should have taken the herbs back, dried them, ground them into powder, and then made them into medicine. But in theory—or to put it more simply and crudely—you could chew them up and apply them to a wound for a decent effect.
Before long, the young warrior led Lin Yun and the others to a moss-covered cave. In front of it stood a beast's skull mounted on a wooden pole, decorated with several ornaments, with two strips of hide hanging down.
It was a sign that there was a Goblin Priest inside. Under normal circumstances, the young warrior would probably have asked what it was. But the shouts from inside made it clear that the creatures within were already fighting. The only question was whether the people inside had been driven into a desperate struggle.
The impulsive warrior was, after all, a kind-hearted young man. Hearing the sounds of battle from within, he still wanted to rush in, even though he was unhappy that the other group had taken their quest.
Just then, the Thief suddenly reached out to stop the young warrior. But... the Thief might have passed his Dexterity check and been quick enough, yet he wasn't as strong as the young warrior, who didn't even look particularly muscular. He lost his balance, and the young warrior dragged him straight to the ground.
Still, the young warrior couldn't drag the Thief along with him, so he turned around and asked, puzzled, "What are you doing?" There was clear irritation in his voice.
"Don't rush. We'll go in slowly and ambush the goblins. And see this? It means there's a Goblin Priest inside. Goblin Priests are smarter than ordinary goblins. They know how to make clever use of traps and things like that." The Thief spoke as if it were nothing unusual. Well, that was very much in character.
"B-but we can't do that. Are we just going to let the Adventurers inside die?" The Goddess Priestess, who'd said very little since joining the party, sounded uneasy.
"That's right. Adventurers should stand together and help each other. Otherwise, we'll get a bad reputation, and no one will hire us or help us." The Female Fighter spoke earnestly.
"Then let's fight our way in," Lin Yun said in a low voice. Now wasn't the time to worry about the consequences. They were already here, and the others were in the middle of a fight, so joining the battle was undoubtedly the best thing to do. The players who'd made it this far were basically all veterans. Lin Yun felt they should help them out if they could—but not as a player, as an NPC.
"Yeah, let's fight our way in." Hearing Lin Yun's words seemed to give the young warrior courage. He broke free of the Thief's grip and, holding a short sword in each hand, was about to charge inside.
"Wait, I'll go first. Keep an eye on our rear." Lin Yun held the Lantern Staff and used a Cantrip to light its lamp. He lifted the heavy wooden shield in his other hand, braced it against the left side of his body, and used the staff as a torch as he entered first.
"Y-yes." Apparently cowed by Lin Yun's presence, the young warrior hurriedly answered and followed behind him.
"Wait, I..." The Thief's expression shifted uneasily. In truth, he didn't want to go in at all. He'd chosen to be a Thief and said he'd scout ahead, but really, he'd only been looking for an excuse to join the party. Scouting was out of the question. Absolutely not. He was only a first-level Thief, and this wasn't a game in the real sense. If he got killed, he'd really be dead. He didn't want to die just like that. He still wanted to... Without thinking, he looked toward the Goddess Priestess beside him.
"Is something wrong, Mr. Gran?" The Goddess Priestess looked at the Thief in confusion.
"By the way, didn't you say earlier that you'd scout ahead? Why don't you check things out first?" At that moment, the Female Mage beside them adjusted her glasses and looked at the Thief curiously.
The Thief's expression grew even more troubled. The main reason he'd revealed so much earlier was that he wanted to make these NPCs stronger, then finish off the enemies himself at the end. That was what he'd been thinking. And if he could establish enough authority among them, he'd have an excuse to say he needed to look after the rookies, so they should take things slowly and carefully.
Just then, he instinctively looked toward Lin Yun again. If it weren't for that inexplicable tin can earlier, he wouldn't be in this predicament. Lin Yun hadn't actually done anything, but his calm tone always made people want to trust him without thinking.
"All right, there's no time. We don't need to scout; just keep an eye on the rear. We need to get in quickly. The sounds inside are getting quieter." Lin Yun couldn't read minds, but he could guess some of the Thief's little schemes. And the cries from inside had already begun to fade, so there was no more time. "I'll lead. Fighter, follow me. Priestess, stay in the middle. Mage, stay near the rear. Thief, watch our backs. We might run into trouble in a moment." Then Lin Yun raised his shield and led the way inside.
Before you continue