Chapter 6
Enri Emmot rose before the sun came up to make breakfast. There was a lot of food to prepare and she wasn't as good a cook as her deceased mother.
She had to cook for the nineteen goblins loyal to her, plus herself, her younger sister and the new sisters. The adorable Kuuderika and Uleirika immediately hit it off with Nemu who happily played with them just as Enri gladly accepted Arche's help. At first she had been afraid the noblewomen would never find happiness in a rural village, but they loved it. The three last members of House Furt had left behind that name and entered the Emmott house.
Roberdycke, Imina and Hekkeran were given one of the many still empty houses of Carne village. After the initial shock of finding goblins peacefully coexisting with humans, the group of workers now enjoyed their company as they all wanted to protect the village.
And that brought Enri to make breakfast for twenty-seven people in total. Preparing so much food was a lot of work and could be considered a battle in its own right. Enri trembled while looking at the vast quantity of food in front of her and realised that it would all be gone in one meal.
"This is nearly seven times as much as before—"
"—Don't worry, Enri-san. I'm here to help!" Exclaimed Arche as she took a battle position right next to her.
Enri smiled back at her newfound sister. After taking a deep breath, she rolled up her sleeves and got to work.
They quietly sliced up the vegetables and the meat. The process had been engraved into Enri's brain by now. And while Arche was no chef, she had learned how to cook during the adventures with her friends.
Enri was not especially talented at cooking either, but the fact that she had learned to cope with such an enormous task in such a short time was a textbook example of how diamonds were made under pressure.
Nemu, Kuude and Ule woke from the sounds of their big sisters making breakfast and rubbed the sleep out of their eyes.
"Good Morning, big sisters. Let us help too!"
"Morning, girls. We're good over here, but there's still that thing I asked you to help me take care of yesterday…"
The three yawned and then replied "okay" as they followed the request. It appeared the twins had taught well Nemu how to speak at the same time with them and the three girls hopped out of the house.
Enri stopped halfway through the cutting. Her heart smiled.
At first Arche had been afraid to be a burden for Enri and Nemu, but she could not have been more wrong. The faces of her dying parents no longer appeared in Enri's nightmares. Thanks to the new family members who brought joy back into the house, the wounds from that incident were finally healing.
At that moment, the door beside her, which led to the living room, opened up. The person who entered was not human, but someone shorter, one of the green demihumans commonly known as goblins.
"Morning, Ane-san, Arche-san!"
And the goblin perfectly bowed to Enri.
She was a mere village girl, but the goblins served her without hesitation because she was their summoner. After that incident, when the villagers wondered if they needed to take shifts standing guard, Enri remembered the horn she had been given and used it to summon the goblins.
The villagers were initially surprised and afraid of the goblins since they had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, but they calmed down when Enri told them that she had summoned the goblins with an item from their savior, Ainz Ooal Gown. Needless to say, this was because of the gratitude and trust they felt towards Ainz. Thereafter, the work the goblins had done was enough for the villagers to put aside their suspicions and welcome them from the depths of their hearts.
The same happened again later with the workers. But now they learned the goblins were friends.
"Good morning, goblin-san," greeted Arche who once used to kill goblins by the dozen with her spells.
"Morning, Kaijali!" Enri was one of the few who managed to remember the name of the goblins and, most importantly, to tell them apart.
Kaijali spoke in an earnest, yet cheerful voice while he helped make the breakfast. He drew a smoldering wick from the pot he was holding, and with a practiced manoeuvre, lit the stove. The deft ease with which he turned a faint ember into a roaring blaze was evidence of his skill.
But they can't cook… Why is that? wondered Arche.
Indeed, these Goblins could not prepare even the simplest meals. Since they ate raw meat and vegetable without a complaint, she thought they might like raw food more, but it became clear that they preferred cooked meals, although they could still stomach raw food without trouble.
Maybe summoned beings don't know how to cook, she replied to herself. Though she wasn't sure of it, with that she threw herself into her work once more.
Eventually, breakfast was ready.
There were a wider variety of dishes on the table compared to the older days. For example, there was meat. Although the local hunters often shared their kills in the past, the amount they could bring back was nothing compared to now.
The reason why they had so much more meat now was because the villagers had expanded the area of activity, thanks to the goblins and the workers. The Great Forest of Tob provided its bounty to them in the form of firewood, vegetables and fruits to eat, animals for meat and fur, even medicinal herbs.
Although the forest was rightfully regarded as a treasure trove, it was also home to wild beasts and monsters, which could make their way back to the village. As a result, the forest was not a place where that the villagers could casually enter. Even the experts like professional hunters were forced to skulk like bandits on the edges of the Wise King of the Forest's territory. However, with the disappearance of the Wise King of the Forest and appearance of the goblin troop, the situation had changed radically.
The greatest change was that villagers could now easily enter the forest and harvest its resources. Goblins and workers were a key factor in this; meat, which had previously been so hard to obtain, could now be easily acquired, and their tables were decked with fresh fruits and vegetables. As a result, the food situation in the village had dramatically improved.
Since the goblins were Enri's direct subordinates, they delivered the lion's share of their kills to her home. In addition, Imina was an excellent ranger: thanks to her skills with the bow, she took down even the biggest game with a few arrows. It was partly because of her efforts that the distribution of meat in the village had enhanced.
The improved standard of living brought changes which were reflected in the villagers' bodies. Enri curled her biceps, flexing her muscles while Arche wasn't watching. Her gains were quite impressive.
Ah, I feel so pumped, they're getting even bigger…
The goblins praised Enri at every opportunity with phrases like "Ane-san's totally ripped!", "Yeah, pump it up again!", "She's too swole to control!", "The goal is six-pack!", "Nice cut!" etc.
They most likely meant well, but as a girl, it was difficult to accept such compliments.
Besides, if I really ended up like how the goblins described, it wouldn't be good…
Enri swept the goblin's idealized, hyper-muscular final form of herself from her mind as she helped Arche who had began serving breakfast.
That too was a tedious task. While the goblins wouldn't quibble over a small difference in portion size, the amount of meat in their soup was a huge issue. Enri ensured that everyone's dishes and bowls had a similar amount meat before moving onto the next task.
Sweat was dripping from their foreheads by the time all bowls were full.
"Then, let's go call everyone and Nfirea over."
"Got it—"
"—I'll go! Let me do it! I want to do it!"
As Enri turned around, she saw Nemu standing behind her with eyes alight.
"Have you done your chores?" Her sister nodded by way of reply and so did Ule and Kuude. "Really? Then go get Nfi―"
"—No! We want to call the goblins!"
They had no idea how to answer her little sisters' sudden outburst. Kaijali nodded gently to the little ones, presumably indicating that he would entrust them with that task.
Thinking about how she would have reacted to such thing a mere week ago, Arche smiled. "Ok, I'll go get those three sleepyheads."
"I'll leave that to you, then, I'll go get Nfirea."
"That's more like it! A capital idea! Ane-san, let me go with you!" Exclaimed Kaijali.
Although this would leave the house empty, they all weren't bothered by that. After all, there had never been any issues with thieves breaking in before.
Together with Kaijali, Enri left the house just like the others did.
The wind blew in Enri's face, carrying with it the scent of the grass and warmed by the gentle light of the morning sun. Enri took a deep breath, and when she turned to look at Kaijali, he was busy breathing in the scent as well. She couldn't resist laughing at the sight and he scowled, trying to regain his lost dignity with a fierce expression. Maybe the Enri of the past would have been afraid, but Enri was used to life with the goblins now and she knew this was just how he smiled.
On this refreshing, cool and clear day, Enri proceeded to a house not too far from hers.
It had been left ownerless from the tragedy that had befallen their village and it had become the home of the alchemists from E-Rantel.
The house was occupied by two people, Lizzie Bareare, a wizened old woman, and her grandson, Enri's very good friend Nfirea Bareare. The two of them spent their days cooped up in the house, processing herbs to make potions and other medicines.
Not working closely with other villagers was a good reason to be isolated, and in the worst case scenario, to be kicked out. But it was different for those two: people who could prepare medicines in case of disease or injury were indispensable. They could be said to be important enough that the villagers would plead, "you don't need to do anything except make medicine for us".
This went double for a place like Carne Village, which had no access to priests who could use healing magic. For larger villages, priests would double as the village apothecary. Priests would charge an appropriate fee for their healing magic. Or rather, it might be better to say that they would need to charge the fee. If the villagers could not afford to pay, then they would offer up their labour instead. For those who lacked the ability to even do that, the priests would use medicines compounded from herbs, since herbal cures were less expensive than magical healing.
Roberdycke happily cured people for free and one of the goblins in the village was a cleric. They could heal wounds with ease, but the villagers had come together with the opinion that those two should save up their powers for an emergency.
Even so, despite the vital job normally only the alchemists performed, the villagers didn't dare to go near them. The reason was abundantly clear as one approached the Bareares' residence.
Enri scrunched up her nose, as did Kaijali. The house they were approaching was wreathed in an acrid odor. All things considered, it wasn't actually that bad, but it still felt too much. The smell released from crushing up herbs might be off-putting, but ultimately it was only the scent of plants, and was not dangerous in itself.
Breathing through her mouth, Enri knocked on the door.
She knocked quite a few times, but nobody answered the door. Just when she thought nobody was home, the sound of someone approaching came from the other side, and after a lock was hastily fumbled with, the door opened.
"ー!?"
She did not want to react with her expression or words, but the smell coming from inside the house was truly horrific.
It was painful.
A harsh, stinging pain seared her eyes, nose and mouth. Worse still, the vile stench from inside the house suggested that the miasma around the house was nothing more than what had leaked out from inside.
"Good morning, Enri!"
Nfirea's eyes, visible from between the gaps in his long hair, were wide open and blood-shot.
He must have stayed up all night for alchemical experiments again.
She did not want to open her mouth to speak when she was enveloped by the eye-watering gas, but it would be rude not to return a greeting.
"G-good morning, Enfi."
She felt her throat dry out as she said that.
"Morning, Ani-san."
"Ah, good morning, Kai… Kaijali-san… Huh, it's morning already? I was working so hard I didn't notice. Seeing the sun makes me realize how the time just flew by… ahh, I've been doing so many experiments recently, I need to get out of the house."
Nfirea stretched like a cat and yawned.
"Looks like you've been burning the midnight oil, huh―"
Enri was about to add "breakfast's ready, come over with your Obaa-chan", but Nfirea interrupted. Or rather, instead of saying he interrupted her, it might be better to say that she was overwhelmed by his boyish enthusiasm.
"—It's amazing, Enri!"
Nfirea rushed up to her. His work clothes reeked of that same stinging odor which filled the rest of the house. Although Enri wanted very much to back away from him, she forced herself to endure it, because Nfirea was her dear friend.
"What, what happened, Enfi?"
"You've got to hear this! We finally managed to perfect the procedure for brewing a new type of potion. This is going to change the world! Even though all we did was to mix the herbs that we gathered into the solution, we managed to produce a purple potion!"
The only reply he received was a "Hah?"
Enri had no idea how this was amazing. Is the potion purple because they infused purple cabbage into it?
"And it can cure wounds! The healing speed's on par with alchemically-refined potions!"
Enri raised his hands, showing off his delicate, slender arms unmarred by injury. Enri thought, "I have bigger biceps than he does", but Nfirea didn't stop there.
"Which is to say—!"
"—Yes, yes, that's wonderful, tell us about it later."
Kaijali spoke as he took a step forward.
"Ani-san here looks like he's been sleeping too little and partying too hard. Maybe he's high or something? Ane-san, let me take care of this. Why don't you go back first?"
"Will it be all right?"
"Sure it will. I'll splash some cold water on his face and when he calms down, I'll bring him over. If you take too long, others will get worried. Say, what about Obaa-chan?"
"Obaa-chan's still got her head buried in her research… I don't think she'll be coming for breakfast. I'm sorry, you went through all this trouble to prepare breakfast for us…"
"Ah, don't worry about it. I was thinking that Lizzie-sama would probably be doing that."
Situations like these had come up quite a few times already, so that wasn't a surprise.
"Then, Ane-san, you should head back first."
With that said, there was nothing to do but go away from the powerful smell.
"Then, I'll leave him to you."
As he watched Enri leave, Kaijali turned a cold stare on Nfirea.
"Do you know what you just did? The only time a girl listens to a man talking about what he likes is if she likes the person. If she doesn't like that person, then that blabbering's only going to turn her off!"
"… I'm sorry, I just thought that since we made that amazing discovery… but it was really amazing! Revolutionary, even—!"
Kaijali interrupted the motor-mouthed rant with a chopping motion. Clearly, Nfirea had not gotten the message he was trying to convey.
"—Look, Ani-san. Are you alright with this? You're in love with Ane-san, aren't you?"
Nfirea replied with an "Mm," and nodded his head vigorously.
"Then you have to make her the most important person in your heart. More important than your potions."
"…I get it. I'll try."
"Do, or do not. There is no try. You need to win her heart. Me and the rest of the lads will do our best to support you. Plus, it's not just us, even imouto-san agreed to help you out. I hope you get yourself together and do your part, Ani-san."
"Mmm…"
"If you're just waiting for her to say "I love you" first, then more likely than not, someone else is going to snatch her away! You've got to work up the courage to tell her how you really feel."
That line pierced Nfirea's heart like a dagger between the ribs.
"Still, despite everything I said, looks like you've been doing pretty well on that front yourself, Ani-san. It used to be you couldn't even say a word in front of her... Now you can carry on a normal conversation, right?"
"That was because I didn't have much chance to talk with Enri unless I came around to gather herbs… Now that I've moved into the village, I'm around her a lot more."
"That's it, that's the spirit. All that's left is to gather your courage and step up to the plate. Maybe you should show off your strength first."
"… I'm not too confident in my arm strength. Maybe I should do more farm work or something?"
"Nah, what you should be using is this, Ani-san," Kaijali spoke while gently knocking on his head.
"Settle things with this. And then work your magic. If me or one of the lads think it's the right time, we'll pose like this. That's when you're going to say or do something that'll make her fall for you instantly."
Kaijali posed to show off his shoulder muscles. They bulged mightily under his skin.
"Kinda like that. And if you need a more impressive demonstration…"
Next, Kaijali flexed his pectorals. Although he was quite short, his athletic, ", muscular body attested to the fact that he was a born warrior.
Nfirea wondered Why these kind of poses? But he couldn't actually say that, because he'd already accepted Kaijali's goodwill. Still, there was one question he wanted to ask.
"I… I'm curious, why are you guys doing this? I mean, I know you're Enri's subordinates and you're loyal to her, but I don't understand why you're helping me."
"Well, that's simple…" Kaijali replied with a tone better suited to coaxing little kids to behave.
"… That's because we all want Ane-san to be happy. And from where we're looking, you fit the bill. So the faster you two get married, the better."
"N-no need for such a rush! T-the two of us can slowly reduce the distance between us, right?"
"…Wrong, actually. I mean, don't humans take a long time between getting pregnant and having kids?"
Nfirea's eyes went wide and his face turned bright red as the conversation suddenly jumped to the ultimate expression of male-female relationships in the form of pregnancy.
"T-that would be about nine months?"
"Hm, then it would take a really long time for about ten pups… I mean, ten kids, right?"
"Ten?! Isn't that a bit much?!"
Five children were the average for a farming village family. In the tough times when it was hard to survive to adulthood, this number would go up. In the city, this number was usually less, with the help of priests to cure diseases… or the use of contraceptives.
"What're you on about? Ten's pretty normal for us goblins."
"We're not goblins!"
"Alright, point taken, our races have our differences… but still, you gotta have lots of kids to make Ane-san happy."
"… All right, I can't deny that she might be happy with a house full of children… but it still seems kind of wrong…"
"Really?"
Nfirea was at a loss for words as he saw Kaijali looking at him with his head tilted at an angle. But on the whole, he was still grateful for their assistance.
"Then, let's head out, Ani-san. I hope you make a move soon. Although keeping her waiting for too long might cause problems… well, I think a steady, tactical advance on the main objective is a strategy worth pursuing."
"Where did you learn all of this?" Nfirea said shaking his head
Then he turned to the house.
"Oi, Obaa-chan, I'm going to Enri's for breakfast, what about you?"
The reply that came from within was a refusal to Nfirea's question.
Most likely, she was in the middle of repeating an experiment, and had no time to bother with trivial things such as eating.
Nfirea could relate to that feeling. The alchemical tools and other paraphernalia in the house were of an extremely high grade, and they didn't know how to use most of them. The redhead maid in the service of the great magic caster Ainz Ooal Gown had brought them over. The two of them had been ordered to use these materials to produce new potions and alchemical items. Oh, and the maid had even brought some sort of cure-all herbs.
When he asked about the solvents and the proper usage of the instruments, all he got in return was a "figure it out yourself-su", which didn't help things.
So, the two alchemists had foregone food and sleep in their ceaseless quest to learn how to use these devices for experiments. It was a slow process, but they had finally made some progress. Of course, they had made mistakes as well and Nfirea had been guilty of lots of those, but these past two months had been some of the busiest moments in Lizzie's long life. The fruits of their labor stood on the table, bottles of purple potion which Lizzie examined endlessly and filled Nfirea with excited joy.
"I'll take care of the food, then."
Nfirea spoke up as he closed the door behind him. Then, turning to Kaijali, he said: "Let's go."
Although everyone was supposed to eat together, Enri's house wasn't anywhere near big enough to accommodate them all. As such, they usually ate outside when the weather was good.
Because they were outdoors, a certain amount of rowdiness was expected and tolerated. Had they been inside, it might have been unbearable, but even under the present circumstances, the situation had quickly turned aggravating.
"That's why I'm saying, Enri-nee-san is going to be my wife!"
"Hey, are you forgetting the agreement we all made not to touch Ane-san?!"
"That's right, if you try and pull a fast one on us then I'll make my move too!"
You what, mate? I was first!"
Several goblins kicked over their chairs as they suddenly stood up and some even jumped onto the table.
Suppressing her anger with sheer force of will, Enri spoke in a gentle tone.
"Everyone, please settle down."
That had about as much effect as a snowball on the sun. The rancor in the goblins' eyes had not abated in the slightest.
"Just give up, lads. The victor has already been decided. Behold, this hunk of marvelous, radiant meat!"
One of the goblins, Kuunel, raised up his spoon to prove his point, displaying a piece of chicken meat that onlookers might well have mistaken for a pea. It was nothing more than a tiny bit extra that Enri added while portioning out the food to everyone.
"I finished my meat, yet there was more at the bottom of the soup! Do you have anything like that? I didn't think so! This is nothing less than the proof of love!"
"You gotta be kidding me! That's nothing more than a piece of meat Ane-san mistook for a chunk of vegetable!"
"Maybe that's just wishful thinking on your part? Maybe the "meat" you ate was just potatoes or something, and the actual meat you got was that miniature thing. You'd better watch out, it's proof that Ane-san doesn't like you. Plus, my god clearly told me, "You must make Enri happy."
"Isn't the god you believe in an evil one, Cona?!"
Half the goblins were standing, and the other half were seated and squabbling, fanning the flames of conflict. Even Nemu, Kuude and Ule had somehow joined the squabbling party. Only a few did not participate in this battle royale. Those had their heads lowered to the table, and the heaviest head seemed to be Nfirea's.
"…Powdered ruby… arcane feathers… ashwood pestle… mor… mortar… tar… tatas?"
Nfirea was muttering to himself as he spooned the food into his mouth, but the food in the spoon hadn't even reached his mouth before it went back to the bowl. His eyes weren't visible due to his long hair, but in all likelihood he was walking on the thin line between dreams and reality.
"Enfi, are you alright?"
The goblins were still arguing, and although it probably wasn't safe to leave them alone for too long lest the conflict spiral out of control, Nfirea was really out of it, and she couldn't ignore him. He was most likely suffering from sleep deprivation, judging by the way he'd begun wobbling the moment he sat down, as though he'd fall over to his side at any moment. When he actually started on breakfast, he looked like a zombie, completely bereft of life or animation.
"Ah… don't… worry… about… me… Enri…hu…"
"Hey, Enfi, get it together!"
"Weren't you the one who said 'Nemu was my wife' and all that earlier?"
"That was then, this is now. I only just realised it recently. I used to think since Nemu-san was ten and was about the same height as us, that she was of a marriageable age. But humans… they only consider them adults at fifteen!"
"Eh? Is that true….? Ane-san isn't a species like hob-human?"
The goblins leapt from topic to topic with incomparable speed. Enri wanted to ask them what a 'hob-human' was, but before she could open her mouth, the goblins had already gotten tired of the discussion and started a whole new argument for everyone to participate in.
"Ah! You stole my bread!"
"My wolf's still hungry, don't be such a tightwad!"
"Don't wolves eat meat? Just because you're higher level than me, don't go thinking I can't whup you fist to fist!"
"Fist to fist, you say? Since you're so hungry, how about a knuckle sandwich?"
"Everyone!"
Although Enri was shouting at this point, her voice still couldn't carry over the racket the goblins were generating. Spoons and plates were flying, while shouts and angry roars rose and fell like waves in a storm-tossed bay. Of course, everything being thrown was empty, because none of the goblins would even dream of wasting the food Enri made for them. Still, it was utterly inexcusable.
Steeling herself, Enri furrowed her brows and took a deep breath.
And just as Enri stood up, everyone immediately returned to their seats and calmly resumed their meal as though nothing was wrong.
"ALL OF YOU, QUIT MAKING A RACKET!"
Enri's furious bellow echoed across the silent air above the breakfast table.
Surprised, Enri looked all around, but the only thing she could see were the goblins looking at her with expressions on their faces which said, "We were all quietly having breakfast, what's wrong?", or "being suddenly shouted at for no reason at is really vexing". After standing silently for a while, she plopped back into her seat, red-faced.
"Pfhahahahaha!"
The first to break the silence was Nemu, immediately followed by Kuude and Ule. Then, unable to contain herself , Enri followed suit, clutching her stomach as she laughed and then everyone else joined in.
The goblins' flawless coordination and timing could not have taken place without preparation and careful coordination. It was quite amazing how seriously they prepared for prank like this. Even if she was tearing up because she was laughing too hard, Enri made a show of being angry and asked: "Ah, that was just weird. Were you all planning to make fun of me from the start?"
"Of course, Ane-san. We wouldn't argue about things like this for real."
"That's right, Ane-san."
"Yup, yup!"
"Well, that was fun… right, Enfi?"
Enri turned her head to her childhood friend sitting beside her, but finding that there was nobody there. She had a bad feeling about this, but still shifted her line of sight down just a little bit… and found that Nfirea's head was resting face down in his bowl of soup.
"Enfi!"
Enri immediately scooped up the toppled, drowning Nfirea, and cried out.
Roberdycke quickly rushed over and peeled Nfirea's eyes open with his fingers.
"… He's just asleep. If you leave him like this until noon, he should be all right."
"Enfi… what am I going to do with you?"
Enri was thinking that she should return Nfirea to his own bed. So she hefted him onto her back, and began heading out, leaving behind such conversational gems as "Shouldn't it be the other way around?" and chuckles.
Enri straightened to let her stiff muscles loosen, and to let her tightly-wound body relax. The wind felt refreshingly cool on her sticky skin, overheated from long hours of field work. The breeze also brought the sound of a commotion from the village to her ears.
There was some loud banging, and shouts for getting people to combine their strength as one. These were sounds that had never been heard before in the village. At this moment, Carne was working to turn all manner of plans and ideas into reality.
Of these plans, the one with the highest priority was fortifying the village with watchtowers and, most importantly, a wall. Due to Carne's position at the edge of the Great Forest of Tob, home to many wild beasts, it would be impossible to live in peace without the protection of sturdy walls.
Without anything like a wall in place, anyone could easily enter the village.
Until recently, the village had been peaceful and the wild beasts did not enter, even though it was right next to the forest. That was because the mighty creature known as the Wise King of the Forest had continually expanded its sphere of influence, and as such, no beast dared move around in the forest near the village. So the village defenses were comparable to a wall of steel.
And then, all this changed due to human intervention.
The knights of the Empire attacked the village and killed her parents. As a result, nobody in the village held on to the hope that things would go back to the way they used to be.
The goblin troop leader, Jugem, had proposed the fortification of the village as a countermeasure against such a scenario. Once he mentioned that, the motion immediately received an unanimous approval from all parties concerned.
Now, a sturdy wall now defended the village. The cause for it was mostly the labor wrought by the stone golems that had been brought to the village by the beautiful maid that served the village's savior, Ainz Ooal Gown.
Golems were inexhaustible constructs; when given an order they would silently execute it and their strength far outstripped that of a human being. Although their lack of dexterity meant that they could not perform certain tasks which required precision, their participation in the work had enabled it to proceed with an unbelievable speed. With the effort of the unsleeping and untiring stone golems, the construction of the wall practically flew along.
They could accomplish the tasks which the villagers and goblins could not, such as felling down huge trees and transporting them in large quantities, digging pits, or laying the foundations for the walls. What would have taken years to accomplish had instead been finished in a matter of days and the constructed wall was even bigger and sturdier than expected.
It wasn't just the walls either; even the construction of the watchtowers had been sped up. Their current task was to complete the watchtowers on the eastern and western flanks of the village.
Carne is starting to look like a fortress…
"Ane-san, I'm done here."
Enri's thoughts were interrupted by Paipo, the goblin assisting her in the weeding.
"Ah, thank you."
"No, no, it's nothing Ane-san should thank me for."
Although Paipo waved his dirt and grass-stained hands to ward off Enri's thanks, Enri still felt that she owed the goblins a debt that could never be repaid.
After losing her parents, Enri was in a dire situation, where tending her family's plot by herself would be impossible. She wanted to ask the other villagers for help, but given the overall lack of manpower in the village, it was already hard enough for every household to take care of their own crops. With the help of the goblins, that problem was easily resolved. In addition, she was hardly the only one the goblins had helped.
Turning to the direction from which her name was called, Enri saw a busty woman standing by a field. Beside her was a goblin.
"Thank you so much, Enri-chan. Because of Goblin-san's help, the field work's almost done."
"Really? That's wonderful. It was their idea to help out with the village chores, so if you want to thank someone, you should thank them."
"Ah, I've already thanked Goblin-san. He said that he was only your subordinate, so he hoped that I would thank Ane-san as well."
Hearing Ane-san made Enri furrow her brows, which was quickly followed by faked laughter to drive it off.
The goblins themselves had suggested that they should help the households who had lost farmhands in the attack and the woman before her was one of those people.
There was no way the villagers would shun the contributions of the goblins. In Carne Village, the opinion of the goblins was so good that statements like "goblins are even better neighbors than humans" were commonly heard.
"Speaking of which, are there any other goblins around? I wanted to treat everyone to a meal as thanks."
"The others should be patrolling the village or helping the people who just moved into the village. But since obaa-san asked, then I'll make sure to tell them."
"Then I'll leave that to you, Enri-chan. When the time comes, I'll make sure everyone gets to enjoy a feast made with all my skill. In the meantime, I think I'll make lunch for Goblin-san first."
"Really? Then, since I've been invited, it would be rude to refuse. Ane-san, though I'm sorry that I can't join you, I'll be having lunch at Morga-san's place."
Enri nodded, and the woman headed back to the village with the goblin in tow.
"If the newly-arrived people realised that you guys are not bad people, that would be great."
"Well, a lot of them didn't look happy to see us. After all, in their hearts we should be the enemy."
"Apart from our village, treating demihumans as the enemy is the norm, right…"
"That's why we're sending so many people to help the villagers with their work. It's not easy."
"But we've cleared up a fair bit of their suspicions. I just saw how they can greet you normally."
"About that, well, quite a few of these people are like the villagers and have memories of family members who were attacked and died. Or rather, the memories they bear might be even heavier than that."
Although Carne Village had been devastated by the attack, about half of the villagers managed to survive. On the other hand, a lot of the other villages which had been attacked by knights had lost a large portion of their people. When Carne Village began taking in immigrants, many of the ones who came were survivors of those villages.
The two of them fell into silence.
Enri stretched her waist once more and looked to the sky. Although the lunch bell hadn't rung yet, it seemed like it was about time. They had worked enough of the field to take a break as well.
"Then, shall we have lunch?"
Despite his scary looks, Paipo managed what was instantly recognizable as a smile.
"That would be great, Ane-san's meals are always delicious."
"Oh, they're not that great," Enri replied, slightly embarrassed.
"No, no, I'm serious. Helping Ane-san in the fields is one of the most hotly contested positions among us. That's because we get to eat your delicious lunches."
"Ahaha, then should I make lunch for everyone as well? Like breakfast?"
There were quite a few reasons why it would be hard to. That said, in comparison to the amount of hard work the goblins had put in and the praise they had received in turn, it was nothing at all.
"Oh, no, we couldn't impose on you for that! Plus, Ane-san's handmade lunch is something like a special privilege for the one who wins the right to help you."
Enri could only smile back in response to the diminutive demihuman. Although she knew the goblins decided who would take the job via rock-scissors-paper, Enri didn't know if she was cooking something that actually deserved all the praise.
"Then, shall we go?"
"Ah, wonderful—"
Paipo's words were interrupted halfway as he looked to the distance with his keen eyes. With a deep breath, the formerly relaxed and cheerful little demihuman became a veteran warrior in an instant. Enri followed Paipo's eyesight into the distance.
What they were looking at was a goblin riding a black wolf. They seemed to glide across the plain as they approached the village at high speed.
"It's Kiumei…"
Of the goblin troop that Enri had summoned, twelve were level 9 goblins, two were level 10 goblin archers, two were level 10 goblin wolf riders, one was a level 10 goblin mage, one was a level 10 goblin priest, and one was a level 12 goblin leader. In total, there were 19 goblins. Kaijali from this morning and Paipo who had helped with the chores were level 9, while Kiumei, who was wearing leather armor and carrying a lance, was a level 10 goblin wolf rider.
The goblin riders' job was to patrol the plains and act as scouts. The swift wolf riders periodically returning to the village to deliver reports was a common sight.
However, Paipo's tone was very somber. It made her think that something bad had happened.
"What's wrong?"
"… He's back a little early. He should have been prowling the forest today… did something happen?"
After hearing Paipo's explanation, a surge of unease rose in Enri's heart, and she feared that some bloody disaster awaited them.
While the two of them waited in silence, the large wolf Kiumei rode on arrived in front of Enri. From its rapid breathing, she could guess how much of a hurry he had been to get back here.
"What's the matter?"
Hearing Paipo's question, Kiumei bowed to Enri from on top of his wolf while replying, "Something's happened in the forest."
"… what?"
"I'm not too sure, but I think it's like before. A whole bunch of unknown guys are moving towards the north."
"Are they knights?"
Enri unwittingly interrupted the two of them. Even though she was powerless to change anything, she still could not ignore the conversation. She still could not forget her fear when the village had been attacked.
The 'whole lot of unknown guys heading north' they talked about was referring to the tracks they previously found of thousands of people on the march to the north. Although the footprints were similar in size to those of humans, they were not made by boots, so they had concluded those people were not humans.
"I don't have any conclusive evidence, but I think it's different from that time. If you ask me, I'd say something's happening deep inside the forest."
"Is that so."
Hearing that, Enri couldn't help but sigh in relief.
"…Then, I'd better go report to the boss."
"All right. Thanks for your hard work."
"It's a pleasure to serve."
After waving to the two of them, Kiumei spurred his wolf on and departed. Enri and Paipo watched him enter the slowly-opening village doors.
"Then, shall we go back, too?"
"Yes, let's."
After washing their hands beside the well, Enri and Paipo had just reached home when they heard a few young girls' voices.
"Welcome back, onee-chan!"
Along with the voices came the sound of rock grinding against rock. Following the sound to its source, Enri saw Nemu, Kuude and Ule turning a millstone behind the house.
A pungent smell came from there. Although it was similar to the weeds' smell that had clung to Enri's hands just before, it was several times more intense, enough that one could smell it from some distance away.
The little ones had become used to the smell, which was all well and good, but Enri's eyes almost teared up as the odor assaulted her. Paipo, standing behind her, seemed unaffected in comparison. It remained to be seen whether that was because the smell only had an effect on certain species, or because it would be terribly rude to make a face like that to his mistress' little sisters.
"I'm home. How's things? Did you grind it up like I told you?"
"Mm, we did. Have a look."
Following the direction pointed by three little fingers, she saw that the herbs that she had piled up before she had left the house had been reduced to a small handful.
"Aren't we great?"
Before leaving the house, Enri had asked them grind those herbs into a paste. It was necessary because while most herbs only had to be dried to be preserved, this needed to be shredded to be preserved.
"Uwah, you've all been working really hard!"
Enri opened her arms to praise the trio, and a smug expression blossomed on their little faces as they heard that.
Herbs made up a major portion of Carne Village's income. It could be said to be the one specialty export that didn't require much manpower for a frontier village. Given that it was a crucial method for them to obtain valuable currency, all of Carne Village's residents knew at least a little about herbs and where they grew.
Enri silently pondered for a moment. The herbs from around the village were incredibly profitable. However, they could only be gathered within an extremely short window of time before the flowers bloomed, and could only be treated as a temporary income at best. Although all the places they knew had been fully harvested, if they just delved a little bit into the forest, they might be able to find clumps of herbs which had not yet been touched.
Of course, those woods were where the wild things were and they were hardly a place where people like Enri could just stroll into for a picnic. However, now they had Nfirea's experience as a herbalist plus the safety granted by the goblins and the workers. If only she could get their help, it could make a great deal of money for the village. After some hesitation, Enri spoke of her plan to Paipo.
"I want to go to a new place to pick herbs, could you come with me?"
Logically speaking, there was no need for Enri to go herself. All she needed to do was to ask the goblins, who could take care of themselves, to go into the Great Forest on her behalf. However, the goblins she had summoned had a strange weakness.
That was to say, they had no aptitude at all for herb-picking. Similarly to how they could not cook, even if one handed them a sample of a herb, they would not be able to match it with an identical herb in front of them. The surprising thing was, it was as though they were born unable to do that sort of thing, or even to learn it, as if someone had removed the capacity to do so from them.
Therefore, if assigned to pick herbs, the goblins needed to have someone else with them.
"It should be all right, but it might be a little difficult for Ane-san to come with us."
"Hm? Why's that?"
"Well, like Kiumei said, there's some kind of change in the depths of the forest. If that's the case, the inside of the forest would be in a state of chaos now."
Seeing the surprised expression on Enri's face, Paipo patiently explained himself.
"Whatever is going on, for a while the chances of meeting a monster's going to increase, and so will the danger. And if you're unlucky, you might even run into something outside the forest. Ane-san's fearless and cool, but there's no need for you to personally walk into danger."
"Is that so…"
Although she wasn't quite sure about the fearless and cool part, that was probably the goblins way of talking her up among themselves, Enri thought.
"… Shouldn't someone check on what's going on in the forest anyway? There was also that big movement earlier. What happened there?"
"… but if we go, the village's defenses will be weakened... ah, got it! Why not hire adventurers to check it out?"
"That could be difficult," Enri said, knitting her eyebrows. "According to Enfi, the cost of hiring an adventuring party is very high. Although the lords of E-Rantel will subsidize some of those costs, it'll be very hard for a village like us to pay for adventurers out of our own pocket."
"I see…"
"Collecting lots of herbs and selling them afterwards should help with one part of that problem… otherwise, all we can do is sell off the items we got from Gown-sama."
She had received two horns from Ainz Ooal Gown. Although one of them had disappeared after she used it, the other was safely hidden in Enri's home. According to Arche, that was an extremely
rare and expensive magic item.
"Forget about that, Ane-san. We'd rather you just blow the horn instead."
"Of course, there's no way I'd sell it."
Enri didn't want to become the sort of despicable person who would sell off a gift given out of goodwill. Even now they were still benefiting from the generosity of the maid who had brought the golems and the to the village. She would never commit such an ungrateful deed.
"That's going to be problematic. The herbs can only be gathered in this season, so although it's a bit dangerous, I still have to…"
Enri smiled to Ule, Kuude and Nemu who had a worried expression on her face. She didn't want to hurt the last surviving member of her family, nor the new ones. But she would not pass up this chance to make lots of money. Although, when she considered her priorities, that was clearly a mistake. Rather, she should bet her life for the good of the entire village and repay the goblins who considered her their mistress.
I need to earn more money and see what kind of gear I can buy for the goblins. Full body armor looks like it could protect very well. Speaking of full body armor, there's that gentleman in the black-colored armor… what was his name again?
Although she didn't know how much armor and weapons cost, she was fairly certain it wouldn't be a small sum.
Paipo held out his hand in front of Enri, indicating that she should hold on a little.
"Erm… although this is just my personal opinion, maybe you should talk it over with the boss? Ane-san doesn't need to make the decision so early. Also, I don't want to be scolded by the boss because I opened my mouth without thinking. Plus, I think Ani-san would like to get his hands on herbal ingredients too."
Just as Enri's troubles were filling her head, an adorable gurgling sound came from beside her. Turning to look, she saw Nemu looking at her with a frown on her face.
"Onee-chan, I'm hungry, let's go eat."
The twins hurriedly nodded at that.
"Mm, sorry. Then, wash your hands after we pack up. I'll go get things ready."
"Kay!"
The response was full of energy. After taking apart the millstone, they scraped the accumulated green paste into a small urn. Arche arrived just then, looking famished, and entered the house with Enri who wondered what to make for lunch.