“Uwah, Nemu’s been working really hard!”
Enri opened her arms to praise Nemu, and a smug expression blossomed on Nemu’s face. Whether she had been praised by Nfirea, or simply because she wanted to help her sister out, Nemu had diligently and quickly accomplished her tasks.
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 considered for a moment. The herbs from Carne 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 the goblins and Nfirea's broad experience as a herbalist. If only she could get their help, they should be able to make a great deal of money.
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, butchering animals, and that sort of work.
Similarly to how they handled cooking, even if one handed goblins a sample of a herb, they would not be able to match it up with 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 learn it, as if someone had removed the capacity to do so from them.
Therefore, if they were 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.
“Even the cautious ones would want to expand their territory. If that’s the case, then for a while, their territory is going to overlap with the others, and that’s going to cause all sorts of havoc. Simply put, 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.
“There was also that big movement earlier. What happened there?”
“I don’t know. Originally, we should have sent someone familiar with the Great Forest’s conditions to investigate. …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.
“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. There also existed the possibility that it might not even be possible to sell it off, so she decided not to do so. Even now they were still benefiting from the generosity of the maid who had brought the golems to the village. She would never commit such an ungrateful deed.
“But 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 Nemu, who had a worried expression on her face. She didn’t want to hurt the last surviving member of her family, nor did she want to 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 that it wouldn’t be a small sum. At this moment, 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. 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.
“Mm, sorry. Then, wash your hands after we pack up. I’ll go get things ready.”
“Kay~”
Nemu’s response was full of energy. After taking apart the millstone, she scraped the accumulated green paste into a small urn. Enri returned to the house, wondering what she should make for lunch.
Enri stood before the Great Forest of Tob. Of course, she was not alone. Beside her were the assembled members of the Goblin Troop.
The goblins were equipped with chain shirts, round shields and sturdy machetes, which hung from their belts. They wore brown-colored tunics under their armor and furred leather boots on their feet.
On their belts were bags for small items. One could not say they were under-geared.
The fully-armed goblins made their final checks of their personal equipment. They topped up their waterskins and made sure their machetes were sharpened.