Drawing his dagger, Gauss began cutting off all the goblins' left ears while simultaneously delivering finishing blows to ensure none remained alive. Due to frequent use of Magic Missile, some goblin ears had been completely blown apart.
Fortunately, this was a fixed-commission mission where simply submitting the required items as a formality would suffice. The scorching sun baked the earth, filling the entire goblin village with an unbearable stench. The smell of excrement, blood, intestinal secretions, bile, and scattered organs blended together under the heat, creating a nauseating miasma that hung over the camp, turning anyone's face green from the odor.
Even Gauss found it hard to endure. But he still had to complete the mission's cleanup.
Walking through the village, he searched every corner—not just collecting trophies, but also checking for any hidden goblins or perhaps one or two surviving human captives. Unfortunately, after a thorough search, he found nothing extra. Aside from some limbs on the racks, there wasn't a single survivor left.
How brutal—captured and immediately killed for food. Judging from the thigh proportions, the victims appeared to be several males. Whether they were hunters making a living near the Emerald Forest, clueless novice adventurers, or simply humans captured during the goblins' hunting expeditions remained unknown.
For human males, goblins treated them no differently from ordinary game—merely food to satisfy hunger. For females, the process might be slightly more complicated. This was precisely why Gauss had adhered to the philosophy of complete extermination regarding goblins since his first commission.
After taking down the human remains from the racks, Gauss gave them a simple burial—letting them "rest in peace" at least. As for the jerky made from other goblins, Gauss had no intention of taking any samples. Who knew about the hygiene standards of goblin food? From what he'd observed earlier, they probably didn't process it properly anyway—no need to risk stomach problems for petty gains.
The other loot, however, was plentiful. This was, after all, a goblin village of over fifty members that had existed for several years. While most accumulated items were worthless junk, some useful things could still be found.
Regarding weapons: most were crude, with a small portion being iron or partially iron-made. After scavenging, Gauss found over a dozen daggers, short swords, several buckets of metal-tipped arrows, sickles, and other weapons. He estimated these iron weapons alone could fetch over fifty silver coins.
"No onions. Bandages... still look new—take them. Broken clay bowls—no." Using a stick, Gauss kept picking through the camp's items, soon finding several pleasant surprises.
Inside the red-capped leader's small tent, Gauss examined two scrolls in his hands, his eyes flashing with excitement. These scrolls clearly looked special. After some thought, he decided against opening them recklessly. Who knew what they contained? If they were informational documents, fine—but if they were magic scrolls that activated upon opening or served other functions, that'd be a pointless waste.
"Better take them back for Andni to examine. Perfect timing too—she was out last time I visited. This way I can thank her properly. Without her introducing me to Absinthe Town, my professional advancement might have been delayed further."
"Should bring some fruits too."
Besides the two scrolls, the main tent also contained several books recording herbal and mineral knowledge. The red-capped goblin probably couldn't read the text, but that didn't stop it from recognizing their value—hence their neat placement in the tent corner.
After more searching, new discoveries kept appearing: several bolts of fabric, two or three copper bowls and utensils, some strange ceramic sculptures likely looted from somewhere. Once everything was gathered, Gauss used tent fabric to bundle it all up for transport.
Looking at the now-ruined goblin village and his fully loaded backpack and large bundle, Gauss felt immense satisfaction. This trip's total profits would easily exceed 2 gold coins. Such earning speed from commissions was unimaginable in his past. The dungeon incident had been an exception.
His earliest missions had only yielded a few or dozen-odd silver coins—and that was already considered outstanding for his skill level. Ordinary low-level adventurers often only received one or two silver coins per mission—sometimes even less.
Noticing dusk approaching, Gauss decided to camp nearby overnight. Leaving now would mean trekking through the Emerald Forest well into night—an extremely dangerous prospect given how moonlight barely penetrated the dense canopy, making nighttime travel far riskier than daytime.
Moreover, since goblins had chosen this location for their village, it suggested no powerful creatures threatening them existed within a dozen or so kilometers—even goblins possessed survival instincts to avoid danger.
To prevent goblin corpses attracting wild beasts, Gauss set up camp a short distance away on flat ground. After lighting a fire and spreading insect/beast-repelling powder around the perimeter with warning devices, he finally ate dinner.
After a full day's work—despite replenishing during battles—he felt ravenous. Even the usual tough, dry jerky and hard bread that had grown tiresome suddenly tasted delicious. Hunger truly was the best seasoning.
As food entered his stomach, Gauss showed surprise. Had Rapid Digestion's effects strengthened? Checking his Adventurer's Manual's panel:
"Racial Talent: Rapid Digestion (Initial Level)"
It still showed Initial Level—no upgrade yet. But the intensified warm flow in his body post-digestion wasn't imaginary. Was this due to his numerous goblin kills?
By the flickering firelight, Gauss's dirt-streaked face showed little concern for appearances, fully absorbed in contemplating his body's strengthening.
"How many goblins have I killed?"
A glance at the illustrated guide's bottom-right corner provided the exact count. His total monster kills numbered 240—goblins comprising just over half.
"Wait, I didn't have Rapid Digestion initially. After gaining this talent... my goblin kills should be around 100?" So after reaching the hundred-kill milestone, had his Rapid Digestion talent strengthened further? Gauss now understood.
After eating, the day's exhaustion caught up with him. Extinguishing the fire and concealing his belongings, he took his sleeping bag and rope to climb a carefully selected tree branch—a main fork nearly a dozen centimeters thick—where he secured the sleeping bag with ropes.
Yawning, Gauss finally crawled inside the sleeping bag. Closing his eyes, he quickly fell asleep.