Chapter 12: Exploration, discovery, forest of monsters

“Stop. This is a numb mushroom. They can be used for pain relief!”

“Oh! I’ll collect it right away!”

The knights immediately collect mushrooms according to my instructions. If you have painkillers, they can laugh their way to the field hospital in the rear if they are injured. Of course, they also help with headaches and menstrual cramps.

“As expected of you, Julius-sama. You know your stuff.”

“No, look, I can appraise…”

“I see, that was it.”

I sneak up and talk to Lionel. Only the Knights Order knows that I can appraise. I feel bad, but Gyre and Christopher don’t know either.

They are both seven-year-olds like me. They are still children. There’s a chance they’ll say something out loud.

“Julius-sama, what about that unfamiliar grass?”

“That’s just weed.”

“Isn’t this grass a medicinal herb?”

Gyre seems to be getting more comfortable and together they start looking for material. Christopher, on the other hand, is impatiently checking left and right.

“Yeah, you’re right. I could take it home with me, but I don’t have any magical equipment to preserve it. Yes, let’s say, at this point, I’ll make a preserving container grimoire.”

“Can you make magic tools, Julius-sama?”

“Of course, Lionel-kun. I’ll need a magic stone for that.”

“We need magic stones! Someone go hunt some monsters!”

To Lionel’s instructions, there was a wild reply, “Hah!” The clattering sound of armor clashing fades away. Is it fine? It’s all right, isn’t it? Our knights are strong.

As proof of that, for a long time, there had been no deaths from subjugating monsters. Even if there was an advanced recovery potion made by Grandma, it wouldn’t be effective if they died.

We then proceeded to collect medicinal herbs, poison-eliminating herbs, numb mushrooms and dust mushrooms. And I finally found it.

“It’s magic grass! I was finally able to find it. I didn’t think it would be this hard to find.”

“Magic grass can be sold at a high price even at the adventurer’s guild. Adventurers are probably the top priority for collecting it.”

“I see. It seems that the cultivation method is not established.”

“On the contrary, we haven’t even established a method for growing medicinal herbs.”

“Oh dear. By any chance, I’m pretty amazing as a cultivator, aren’t I?”

“… Could it be that you didn’t notice?”

“……yes”

Lionel is looking at me like he’s looking at someone unfortunate, but it doesn’t matter. I retrieved the seedlings of the magic grass without paying any heed to such stares. Thanks to my ‘transplant’ skill, I was able to successfully retrieve the seedlings. I’d like to get a few more plants if possible.

After that, I went around the forest and managed to get a total of three seedlings of magic grass. I wanted about ten plants if possible, but it can’t be helped.

“Commander! Another goblin.”

“Again? Intercept!”

“Roger that!”

Since entering the Demon Forest, we seem to encounter goblins on a regular basis. Lionel nods his head and says, “Not again”. Well, goblins are weak monsters when they are alone, so they are no match for the Knights.

“As expected of a monster forest, there are a lot of goblins.”

Christopher, who has finally gotten used to the monster forest, said while being wary of his surroundings.

“Goblins are small fry among small fry. Maybe Christopher should take one down and see what the response is?”

Gyre, who had just defeated a goblin, said in a good mood. I guess he thought he could win. I had weakened it a lot, though. Otherwise, even if it was a goblin, there was no way a seven-year-old could defeat it unscathed.

But it’s strange.

“Lionel, isn’t this area where you subjugated the monsters the other day? And why are there so many goblins?”

“…Certainly, something is strange. Normally, not only goblins but also other monsters should not appear for a while. Otherwise, we would have to take down the monsters more often.”

“I have a bad feeling. A group of goblins is trying to migrate to this forest from somewhere, or maybe they’ve already migrated.”

Lionel folded his arms and closed his eyes. The members of the knight order are looking at the situation with anxiety. Apparently, it seems to be a habit when Lionel thinks.

“We will subjugate the monsters, and the goblins will migrate to the place where there are no foreign enemies. It’s a possible story. Let’s call the scouts back immediately and have them investigate.”

“Yes. Please do so.”

There was a reaction to my ‘Search’ skill. This density of goblins must be building a village. Where did they come from?

Goblins have a strong reproductive power, so it’s better to crush them as soon as possible. However, if I guessed the place, there would be a fuss about “How did you know?”

For the knights, the ‘exploration’ skill is a skill that they would like to have at their disposal. Because the security and the amount of information are different. If they find out about it, they might say, ‘By all means, join the Knight Order!’ But I’m not sure I’d be able to do that.

I have to become a magic pharmacist, not a knight.

There was a rustling sound and the rustling of grass and trees, and a scout brought back information. His face showed signs of impatience.

“What happened?”

“Captain, the goblins are building a settlement.”

“As expected. Julius-sama, what do you think?”

“It depends on the number of goblins. If we can deal with it, we’ll crush them.”

Lionel looked at us and nodded. Gyre and Christopher’s faces turned pale.

“How many?”

“About thirty.”

“Good. We will destroy the goblin settlement. All hands begin preparations.”

“Hah!”

Lionel’s order was quickly followed by an equipment check and a strategy was decided upon. It was decided to hit them head-on, with a few omissions being unavoidable. It would have been better if we could have gone around them, but we didn’t have enough time.

The sun is already starting to set. It was time to go back or the sun would set on us. And the monsters are goblins after all. The number of people here is the same. We couldn’t lose.

“Then let the operation begin!”

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