Four-Digit Math Was Kind Of Hard

Bangagonga, who had come closer, stopped a short distance away from us and—for some reason—just stared at me in silence.

“……”

“……What is it, Bangagonga? There aren’t any frenzied monsters around anymore, right?”

“……Yeah. Thanks to you, we didn’t have to suffer any losses.”

“That was good to hear. I’m glad we handled it quickly.”

“……Yeah.”

Despite there being no casualties, Bangagonga’s expression looked stiff… I thought. Probably.

The conversation died, and Bangagonga kept staring at me, making things painfully awkward… Should I be the one to start talking?

Ideally, I wanted to be invited inside the village…

Maybe my wish got through, because Bangagonga finally opened the mouth he’d kept tightly shut.

“About what we were talking about earlier… If it’s not a bother, how about we continue at my house?”

“I don’t mind… but is that okay?”

“You’re the village’s benefactors. And you showed sincerity from the start—refusing would be more of a problem. And above all…”

“Hm?”

I tilted my head because Bangagonga trailed off at the end, and he shook his head.

“No, it’s nothing. I’ll lead the way. Follow me.”

Bangagonga started walking toward the village at an unhurried pace.

A goblin village, huh… Legions never had anything like this… and I couldn’t even talk to goblins. They’d just been weak trash mobs.

Goblins who could build such a sturdy wall… Bangagonga’s clothes looked like leather, but was that clothing—or armor?

I remembered leather armor existing in Legions too. Same as an iron sword: trash-tier gear.

Thinking about that, I followed Bangagonga, and we stepped into the goblin settlement.

“Once again, Fels—let me thank you. Because you helped, we avoided losses. I truly appreciate it.”

“You don’t need to worry about it. We just happened to be there.”

“A human who just ‘happened to be there’ has no reason to help us. And, Fels—the large bear monster you defeated was extremely dangerous. If it had reached the village, we would have suffered significant losses. So please allow me to offer you my deepest gratitude.”

“…I see. Then I’ll accept it honestly.”

Which ‘large bear’ was it? The first one I slashed? The one I took out with the thug-kick at the end? They were all huge. I can’t tell the difference.

Still… being thanked was a good thing!

…Right. Before that, I needed to accomplish my actual goal.

“However… I need to tell you something that isn’t very pleasant.”

“…Yeah. Let me hear it.”

Bangagonga looked like he’d steeled himself… Well, I was basically about to tell him to abandon his village and move. After seeing our strength, it probably felt like a warning from an enemy he couldn’t resist.

“From the story of the adventurer you drove off earlier, the people living outside the forest learned there’s a goblin settlement in the woods—meaning this place. The people outside the forest… the villagers… are afraid, and they’ve requested that the nation dispatch knights.”

“Knights… Aren’t you people the knights of that nation?”

“We’re just passersby. The villagers were terrified, and they couldn’t endure waiting until the knights arrived—so they asked us to investigate, and deal with it if possible.”

“I see… Then what the villagers want… is our removal, isn’t it?”

“That’s what they want, yes. But what I promised was to ‘deal with it,’ not a slaughter. Shouldn’t we look for a reasonable middle ground?”

At my words, Bangagonga’s eyes went wide and his mouth hung open… That was surprise, right?

“…M-middle ground, you say…”

“But now that you’ve been discovered, sooner or later a knight order will come, and it’ll become a fight. Winning outright against an entire nation would be difficult, wouldn’t it? From my perspective, the options are: relocate the village, or negotiate with the outsiders.”

“…Negotiation is impossible. Humans won’t seriously listen to us—”

Bangagonga stopped there and looked at me with an expression I couldn’t describe.

I got what he meant… But it sounded like there was deep friction between goblins and humans. He seemed like someone I could talk to, though.

“And even if we relocate… we’ve lived here for many years…”

“But… you can’t deny the possibility you’ll be attacked before long. Rather than living in fear of a battle that could come at any time, wouldn’t it be better to seek new land?”

“……”

Bangagonga folded his arms, wearing a troubled expression.

I knew I was saying something cruel… but after letting the adventurer go with nothing but a warning, this was inevitable.

It was a complete case of good repaid with evil… but that was how the world worked—survival of the fittest.

Personally, I found the goblins’ decency—were they even “people”?—well, I liked them. And since we could talk like this, I didn’t want them to suffer unnecessarily. But the one who decided was Bangagonga, the village chief.

Still… Bangagonga stayed silent for several minutes. The atmosphere was uncomfortable… What should I do?

Just then, as if my thoughts had reached somewhere, a commotion rose outside the house. The next moment, the door burst open and a frantic goblin rushed in.

“Chief! Sorry to barge in while you’ve got guests! Frenzy’s broken out!”

“—!? I’m going now! Fels, sorry, but I need to step out! I’ll explain later!”

Bangagonga sprang up, just as panicked as the messenger goblin, and bolted out of the room.

“It’s hectic, but… it sounds like an emergency. They said ‘frenzy,’ but there shouldn’t have been any frenzied monsters nearby.”

When I asked, Ururu appeared from nowhere as usual and answered.

“Yeah… not an outside monster… Something happened… inside the village.”

“Hmm… Then we’ll go too.”

““Ha!””

I hurried outside, but Bangagonga was already gone. I was wondering what to do when Ururu spoke to me.

“…I’ll guide you…”

As expected of our Minister of Foreign Affairs—far too reliable.

Following Ururu and breaking into a jog at a speed that would shock a scooter, we reached the village square in seconds. There, Bangagonga was on one knee, surrounded by many goblins.

A single goblin lay sprawled in front of him.

“C-Chief… s-sorry…!”

“It isn’t your fault.”

The goblin on the ground was apologizing in obvious agony… Was that frenzy?

Unlike the monsters that attacked earlier, only one eye looked red…

“A-and! M-my… my family…!”

“Don’t worry. I’ll take responsibility and look after them. I promise I won’t let them go hungry.”

At Bangagonga’s words, the goblin lying there managed a smile through the pain.

“Th-thank… you… It’s… getting… hard… Ugh… Ch-chief… please…!”

“Yeah. Farewell.”

Bangagonga drew a large cleaver-like sword from his waist and beheaded the goblin on the ground.

I could hear sobbing from the goblins in the square, and I turned my back on them, heading toward Bangagonga’s house.

There was no point in outsiders like us staying there. They’d have funeral-like matters to handle, too.

As I walked with that in mind, I spotted Otonoha coming toward me—she’d been investigating the village.

“Boss? What’s wrong? You’ve got a serious face.”

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it. How did the investigation go?”

“Yeah… I found something interesting. It looks like each goblin can produce about five times as much ‘magic stone’ output compared to a normal human.”

“Five times? Is that even possible?”

“I was shocked too, but I’m sure. It’s not that they can absorb more mana than humans—seems more like it’s the quality of their mana.”

“…Hmm. Ururu—how many goblins are in this settlement?”

“About three hundred fifty… yes.”

Ururu answered instantly.

Okay, three hundred fifty… times five… so fifteen hundred… plus two hundred fifty… ten times would be… seventeen thousand five hundred! Brilliant!

“I’d really like to place a mana collection device here, but…”

I was in the middle of telling them to relocate, after all.

We could just place it at their destination… but if what that village chief said was true—that goblins multiply explosively—then it’d be a gold mine… Still, Bangagonga said they’d been here over ten years, and they were only three hundred fifty. So that village chief had been talking out of his ass.

“Should I just bring the goblins back to the castle?”

“Bring goblins?”

Otonoha reacted to the idea that slipped out of my mouth.

“Yeah. The castle—well, the town below it. Letting the goblins live there and placing a mana collection device doesn’t sound like a bad plan.”

“You mean taking goblins in as citizens? That’s… pretty… out of nowhere.”

Otonoha’s eyes were wide… But cultural differences aside, we could communicate, and they weren’t acting barbaric. I didn’t see the problem.

And since they were overwhelmingly weaker than us, even if they rebelled, we could handle it.

“…Otonoha. As the development lead, flexible thinking matters.”

“M-my apologies!”

Otonoha went pale and dropped to her knees to apologize.

No, it wasn’t that serious.

“Otonoha, you don’t need to apologize. Stay curious, learn many things, and build many things with free imagination. That’s the work I expect from you.”

“Yes! I will strive to meet your expectations!”

“Then stand up. I like the casual, easygoing you better.”

“Huh!? Ah—um—yeah! No—wait! Okay! I got it!”

Otonoha stood up in a fluster, stammering as she answered.

Her face was bright red… Would that count as harassment too?

Thinking about that, I reached the house and decided to wait quietly until Bangagonga returned.