Chapter 67: Cleaning Up the Battlefield

Chapter 67: Chapter 67: Cleaning Up the Battlefield

"I picked them up. I found all of them."

Lorin casually spouted some nonsense. He couldn’t exactly say he had drawn them from the system, could he?

But at least that Necklace was genuinely found. Thinking of this, he asked curiously, "Do you know Eldrick Brandon?"

Erin didn’t believe him in the slightest—who could possibly just stumble upon so many Magic Accessories?—but Lorin successfully diverted her attention.

"Brandon... this surname seems to belong to a minor noble family in the south, but I’m not too familiar with it," she said after some thought.

"I see." Lorin nodded and didn’t press the matter further. He glanced over the messy camp and said, "There are only seven goblins here in total. A lot of them probably went out. Should we move the bodies into the cave first and wait for the rest to return?"

The other two had no objections.

Erin took out a length of Silver Thread from the cloth pouch at her waist, pointed to the entrance of the camp’s fence, and said, "I’ll go set up an Alarm Skill."

"Alright, we’ll check the cave first."

Lorin was worried there might be other monsters inside. Although it was unlikely, it would be more reassuring to confirm. He first returned to the woods to retrieve his backpack, then called for Pip. The two picked a smoking branch from the campfire to use as a makeshift torch.

"What is all this stuff in here?" Pip looked at the large pot with a face full of disgust.

The pot contained a messy mixture of various things. He saw a snake, a few curled-up spiders, some random plants and tree roots, bones of unknown animals, and even some actual garbage. It was truly an insult to the snake to be lumped in with this trash.

Lorin frowned at the pot of stew, clearly unable to appreciate the goblins’ culinary arts. "Let’s go."

The cave entrance looked small, but upon walking inside, they discovered it opened up significantly. After passing through a short tunnel, a natural stone chamber appeared before them. The chamber was about the size of two or three houses. The floor and walls were uneven and pitted, and the air carried a foul stench mixed with the smell of sweat and raw blood.

However, for the two of them who had experienced the Kobold incubation room, this smell was child’s play. Lorin didn’t even bat an eye.

At the very back against the wall was a pile of hay covered with a few unrecognizable, torn pelts. This was clearly the Bear Goblin’s bed. Beside the bed was a scattered mess of sundries, seemingly including some weapons and other items. Since the goblins could return at any moment, the two merely took a rough glance and didn’t inspect them closely.

"Let’s move everything in first. We can look at the loot later." Lorin set his backpack down by the entrance.

"Alright."

The two looked at the massive corpse of the Bear Goblin, calmly exchanged a glance, and then struggled to drag it into the cave.

"Pip feels like this thing is heavier dead than alive."

"You never tried carrying it while it was alive, either."

"True."

They dumped the Bear Goblin’s corpse next to the entrance of the stone chamber. Erin had also finished setting up the Alarm Skill and helped them clean up the scene. The three of them spent a great deal of effort dragging the goblin corpses lying outside in, one by one, stacking them next to the Bear Goblin.

"I’m starting to think this was a mistake." Erin wiped the sweat from her face; her wool skirt was covered in bloodstains.

The other two nodded in deep agreement. Killing these goblins hadn’t required nearly as much effort.

"We still have to cut off their ears," Lorin said.

At the thought of the Gold Coins they were about to get, boundless energy welled up in him once more. He immediately stepped forward, pinning their heads under his boot to slice off their ears one by one, searching their bodies while he was at it.

"Oh, no—" the little shorty complained, but he took Lorin’s Medicinal Herb Gathering Knife and stepped forward to help.

Erin massaged her temples and helplessly helped them organize the items they looted, piling them up together. The three of them busied themselves for quite a while before finally finishing sorting out this batch of spoils.

In winter, there was no need to specially preserve the ears and heads, so they simply stuffed them into cloth sacks and wedged them into a crevice in the stone chamber with some rocks. There was also a pile of scrap metal looted from the goblins and the Bear Goblin, which they tossed together with the items by the Bear Goblin’s bed.

Lorin carefully sifted through the pile, tossing aside anything valueless or inconvenient to carry, and said, "The only things we can sell for money are two rusted One-Handed Swords. There’s also a small pouch of Gemstones here—probably leftovers from robbing some merchant caravan."

"Let me see." Erin took the pouch of Gemstones from his hands, pulled one out, and examined it carefully against the light from the cave entrance. "The quality is mediocre. It’s not worth much. There are about a dozen more inside—thirty Gold Coins at most for the lot."

She casually tossed the pouch back to him.

"Hey, be careful!" Lorin caught it carefully and stored it in his backpack. Even split among them, his share would be eight or nine Gold Coins, which was almost enough to pay for two of Glen’s lessons.

She truly had no idea how hard it was to make ends meet!

Erin pursed her lips, looking at him with a face full of disdain. "Alright, alright, let’s rest here for a bit. Those goblins already started cooking their food, so they should be back soon."

Lorin clapped his hands to dust them off and found a relatively clean spot to sit down.

The three didn’t have to wait long. Erin had paced back and forth to replenish the Alarm Skill twice. She was currently resting against the stone wall when her half-closed eyes suddenly snapped open.

"They’re here," she said.

The other two quickly got up and pressed themselves close to the cave entrance. High-pitched, noisy goblin chatter drifted in from the fence. They were squawking away, their words mixed with slurred curses.

Lorin could vaguely make out a few words.

"...lazy bums... poor wretches..."

Using the shadows of the stone wall as cover, he peered outside. By the camp’s fence, eight goblins were walking in, cursing loudly. They were carrying bulging cloth sacks on their backs, and trailing behind them were two handcarts.

The front cart was piled with several gunny sacks, three square wooden crates, and the corpses of three humans. The second cart held several dead draft horses and mules, and Lorin even vaguely spotted the corpses of some goblins mixed in among them. It seemed these creatures really would eat anything, not even sparing their own kind.

Walking alongside the carts were two severely bruised men. They looked incredibly wretched, their hands bound and tied to a rope held by the goblin leading them in front.

The goblins obviously hadn’t realized that their camp had already been wiped out. The leading pointy-eared greenskin swaggered over to the large pot, occasionally spitting out a curse or two, seemingly annoyed that the camp’s goblins had abandoned their posts. It turned around and waved its arm. The goblins by the carts hollered as they unloaded the human corpses and headed toward the pot.

Lorin frowned as he watched them. He originally intended to wait for these goblins to get closer to the cave before making a move, but that clearly wouldn’t work now. He couldn’t just sit back and watch what was about to happen.

"Charge."

Lorin shouted in a low voice, taking a large stride and dashing out of the cave. He raised his left hand, pointed his fingertips at the goblin right in the middle, and directly cast his Magic.

[Lorin’s Lightning Traction]

Flickering arcs of electricity instantly coiled around its body. It twisted in terror, but it couldn’t stop itself from being hoisted into midair.