In the distance, Matthew watched several wild dogs hopping about, their bodies like contorted dancers in a danse macabre. These dogs were relatively normal-looking, but it was the way they moved that made him wince.

As the adventurers were resting, Matthew heard them discussing.

"We should haul the machinery, but it would be difficult to have it passed under the sight of the guards. Do y'all think that it would be better off being hauled to the storage first?"

Matthew still didn't understand, and since the adventurers were more favorable toward him, he asked one of the adventurers who wasn't busy: "What are they talking about?"

"Golems," said the adventurer, whose name was Mike. "They haven't been able to get it out of the city because the authorities have been very strict with the movement of golems throughout the region. I heard that the authorities deemed it better to avoid another incident, so that's why they were talking about putting it in a separate storage instead in the meantime because we're being expected to move out by the end of the week."

"This week? Incident?"

"No, no, I mean two weeks from now... The incident is the one where the goblins died due to a misunderstanding of the golem, remember?"

"No, I didn't know. I wasn't living here until relatively recently."

"Ah, I see."

After listening for a while, Matthew reserved his energy for the mission.

Later, when they finally got up and made their way to the dungeon entrance, the adventurers began raising their weapons and moving cautiously.

A few steps into the dungeon, they noted the presence of goblin huts to the far left, a group of wild dogs to the right around a corner, and a loose group of giant humanoid deers eating vegetation all around the lush cave, among other minor threats.

Ten steps inside the dungeon, they noticed several goblins making their way up a slope toward an artificially created doorway that led to a corridor, several wild dogs glancing between the adventurers and each other, and humanoid deers climbing up the same slope the goblins climbed.

Fourteen steps into the dungeon, they triggered a series of events. Namely, the rest of the goblins in the huts went out and began snarling, and several dogs retreated to a darker area. Unrelated to this, humanoid deers unintentionally stood in the way of the doorway where the goblin had entered, blocking it.

Since the goblins already had the advantage of location, they immediately reached for their arrows and shot at the adventurers, using their uphill advantage to stunt the adventurers in their movements. However, the adventurers were already in shield formation. Moreover, they were the first to fire, having thrown magical bombardments that pushed the goblins immediately out of their perfect spot. Since the goblins had no way of dealing with artillery, they strategically retreated up the slope toward the doorway. Yet the humanoid deers were blocking it. To make up for this very unlucky situation, the goblins shot arrows at the adventurers; however, the adventurers were so close that blocking the arrows with their shields was straightforward. Because of this, they were able to kill the goblins swiftly and easily, chasing them around the platform preceding the doorway.

Mike, the adventurer whom Matthew spoke to earlier, burst into laughter some time after the fight ended. "This is just like what I was telling you, Matthew! The faunthorn did the same thing the golem did!" He paused for a moment, and his tone became solemn. "They were in the middle of a search and rescue operation, so the goblin was trying to save people who got caught in a fire. But the golem of the owner of the building blocked the way, so the goblin died with the people he was trying to save."

"Ugh." Matthew supposed that the "faunthorn" was the humanoid deer.

"Yeah, it was horrible."

"By the way... there was an owner? Was it? What was it? Was it an inn?"

"Yeah, it was."

"Which one?"

"Block & Bed Tavern."

"Oh, I thought it was the inn I went to for a second." Matthew rubbed his face, relieving some tension that the earlier fight gave him. After looking at the tired demeanors of the adventurers around him, he realized that he needed to rest.

He noticed the adventurers conversing again.

"By the way," said an adventurer named Ella, as she cleaned up some of the sticky remains of the goblins and put them in a basket to clean and prepare for selling later, "is Kairo attending today? I was supposed to give something. The... avocado he ordered from Echo."

"Ah, okay, sure," said another adventurer named Nova. "Ah... I should... say that he hasn't been talking a lot lately. So I'm not sure if he's going to come, but can you ask... the person who he usually talks to." He gave a knowing chuckle and gesture; though, his tone hinted at underlying discomfort. "Ada, Ella wanted to know if Kairo's gonna be the one handling the flowers today. I know it's not his responsibility, but you know... you did say he wanted to do it right?"

"Yeah, he is kind of sick right now he said," Ada said, giving a wincing smile. "I... haven't really talked to him about it after that. So I should talk to him about it, yeah."

In the meantime, Matthew didn't understand the context behind what they were saying, but that was the same with most of what he had heard them say during his time with them.

Since he was feeling a little uncomfortable, he checked his [System] again.

Name: Matthew Cruz

Level: 71

Current experience: 433

Species: Human

Age: 25

Skills: None

Spells: None / None

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Vitality: 15

Quests: None

"Are the goblins really that weak?" Matthew said, getting used to the existence of goblins and seeing them more analytically.

"No, no, they're just not being used effectively," said an adventurer named "Prism" after he saw that the others were silent or in the middle of a conversation.

"Really?" said Matthew quickly with surprise.

"Yeah!" said Prism with sureness. "It's the problem with not really having strategy. If there's strategy, I'm telling you that the goblins... They actually have... Like, there's a lot of things that they can do."

"Really?" said Matthew slowly and with intrigue.

"Yeah! If you actually see the way they're actually moving, they're very smart in smaller-time movements, but they have no clue about how to orchestrate and... put together something that feels organized and large. They rely a lot on guerilla kind of tactics, so it's not as effective as human armies. And humans have magic of course. We have lots of magic, and goblins are usually on the lesser side of artillery and the way we fight using range. They don't have. They.... only have weapons that they make themselves, so they're very dependent on that and independent. It's... the way they organize in smaller groups that... really determines whether they instantly win a fight or they lose. So they could be compared to a special type of soldier that is very reliant on high-risk, high-reward. They're not very well-rounded, so they're only useful in a given set of situations, given their current level of skill. Of course, it would be a different story if they were given a lot more to work with like skills and other skills that... actually work."

"Oh, yeah, about, I actually saw the skill of one of the goblins. It was something like [Redbite] or something."

"Yeah, that's a common skill. It actually... Well, it's not so common, so you actually found a good one. Where did you... Was it here?"

"No, it was... back there in the steps. The dungeon steps thing."

"Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it, I get it. That's usually where they are a lot stronger. Well, depending on the time of day. So, if it's night, you'll find much more stronger monsters, and that's also when they fight. When it's daytime, they usually rely on monsters that can cope with the fire that... you know, where they burn. They don't really have anything else to work it... I make it sound like they're weak. If you've met goblin tamers, there... they will tell you that it's actually the most strongest thing in the world! It... depends, of course, on the way you handle... your strategy. If you don't have an effective strategy, you... will lose. But if you have an strategy that... accomodates that kind of fighting style, then you will be able to immediately just take over. It's important to, kind of, just get used to goblins. If you don't have a deep, strong understanding of the way they are, then you won't be able to tame or imitate... their strategies. But that's not the point. They don't really have the best strategies. But they do have... They do serve a purpose. It's complicated, I think, so if you find out, I think you're going to study the way... Like, war studies. Or I mean in this case, it would be... goblin studies. But that's really... It's dependent on you. What is the feeling that makes you feel this... makes sense and feels good in... terms of effectiveness. Anyway..."

As a result of their conversation, Matthew felt a bottle of experience enter his lungs, a rejuvenative effect yielding a whirl of pops and flashes inside his head. Moreover, the enjoyment of a good conversation made it easier for him to calm down like a mother's embrace. Lastly, having people who were willing to talk to him even if he was inexperienced brought him back to the present instead of wandering off in reflections too much, similar to a friendly tap on the shoulder. This was crucial for his sustained wellbeing and growth.

Furthermore, tears of relief began to pour down Matthew's face, but he was able to hide it well. As for the reason, the stress had been too much on him recently, and finding continued success made him feel gratefully surprised. Naturally, his crying action stabilized his emotions and stress levels, acting as an effective counterbalance to combat stress.

After crying, Matthew smiled confidently, having addressed his stress smoothly. Moreover, he quickly returned to accompanying the adventurers as they walked home and ate at a cafe in the city, loosening the initial tension between him and them.

The next day, Matthew and the adventurers were asked to take on a quest that involved goblins again. But this time, they would be helping goblin workers bring rabbits into their enclosures. This would occur three days per week for 8 weeks, so the quest contractors decided to hire adventurers who could deal with the elements instead of hiring others who were specialized for this job. This came as a consequence of a trending notion that adventurers were the best labor pool because they spent most of their time fighting and traveling, making them more "physically fit" to do menial work than people who spent decades doing only that. Indeed, if the quest involved a slight risk to monster attacks, then the contractors could be considered valid in hiring adventurers instead of specialized individuals. However, they could have hired guards instead.

When they arrived at the location, it was much easier to catch the rabbits with a skill called [Taunt], which forced them to attack the skill user. However, the rabbits were still fast, and [Taunt] had limited range. Moreover, the rabbits were smart enough to keep their distance after seeing their fellow rabbits get caught.

However, it would still take a long time before they caught all the rabbits, so at the end of the day, they headed home. Matthew was not given too much responsibility, but he was learning the various paths and places since he was forced to walk everywhere.

However, Matthew was asked to clean the dirt off a common essential magical farming tool called a "harvesting scepter", removing parts off them in order to clean the dirt inside. Removing and reattaching them was a lengthy process.

Having idle time to think from time to time, he wanted to know more about jobs. So even if the goblins looked a little tired and cold, he gave them the benefit of the doubt and asked, "Excuse me, do you think... being a farmer is... easier when you think about other jobs like building, adventuring—like an adventurer—and other professions like... being a trader?"

"It's not necessarily a job. More so, it's a life decision, and you need to be prepared. So I think you should consider just choosing whatever you want."

Matthew was disappointed to hear a safe answer, so he probed more. "Really? I heard farmers earned more than adventurers." He didn't really think about the Cunningham's Law, but he was applying it out of experience and intuition anyway.

"No, no. Adventurers are lucky in many aspects, but you know... it's the effort that counts, and adventurers are really not the type to put in that kind of... quality."

This response was more nuanced than a correct answer. It was defensive and likely biased, so Matthew's application of Cunningham's Law failed here.

However, Matthew was willing to agree with him: "Yeah, adventurers do rely on some luck, and it can be much more unpredictable than being a farmer. That's the challenge, though."

"Not really. I've seen farmers handle elements far worse and sudden than what adventurers do. And I'm not saying adventurers don't fight big, strong monsters. I can't handle that. I really can't. It's just that there's an element of luck that comes into play more when you're an adventurer than when you're a farmer. So basically, the adventurers who've been on the job for a long have been blessed to have that kind of "things working well" kind of situation."

"I'd say that adventurers do risk their life though."

"No, no, they don't because they win."

"W-what do you mean?" Matthew felt that showing a little annoyance was apt.

"They 'win' because things work out for them. I'm talking adventurers. True ones. Those who do make it. I'm not saying that new adventurers are not trying or not true adventurers. I'm saying that they win. They win because they... that's just who they are."

"I don't understand."

"That's the thing. Farmers understand this kind of stuff a lot, and seeing that you're an adventurer, I can see why you might struggle to see what I see. I'm not saying you're dumb. I'm just saying you have limitations."

Matthew felt that the goblin's argument was lopsided already, so he concluded the argument with a simple, polite "Okay."

The goblin nodded, glancing away.

As soon as the adventurers finished, Matthew left with them.

Many days later, he remembered his stats, and since it had been his third week in this world, he was given a random quest by the [System].

Quest: Goblin Slaying Spree

Objective: Eliminate 5 goblins within the next 50 minutes.

Reward:

- Experience Points (XP) Boost

- Rare Loot Drop Chance Increase

- Gold Coins

- Exclusive Goblin Slayer Title

Matthew responded with a brilliant smile.