A village?

Peering through the trees ahead, he could faintly make out a half-finished wooden wall.

But the wall was ridiculously short.

Based on the nearby trees, it was probably only about three meters high at most.

"Goblins?" Orelia asked, nervously gripping her hammer.

"I don’t remember goblin dens being this clean. Unless there are some neat-freak goblins down south."

"But the map I have doesn’t mark any village here." Colin put away his map and drew his Hand Half Sword. "Anyway, let’s go check it out. It’s so close to the main road, it makes no sense for monsters to be out in the open like this."

The others drew their weapons and cautiously approached the wooden wall.

The wall clearly had several gaps, and freshly cut logs were scattered all around. It looked like whoever was building it had only recently started.

From within the walls came the continuous murmur of scattered conversations and the faint glow of firelight.

The group crept to one of the gaps and peered inside.

Inside the wall was a small hollow by a dirt slope. About twenty small, covered wagons were parked around several campfires. The area around the wagons was cluttered with overflowing toolboxes.

A group of short figures, about a meter tall, were bustling about the campfires. Even Orelia, at one-and-a-half meters, would be a small Giant among them.

They looked like...

Halflings?

"Halt! Who goes there!"

A high-pitched shout suddenly came from behind them.

Turning around, they saw two Halflings in Cloaks, drawing their Short Bows.

"We’re Adventurers passing through. I didn’t remember a village being here, so we thought we’d sneak up and have a look." Colin sheathed his weapon.

Kase waved a hand in annoyance. "Stop pointing those little toothpicks at me."

"You don’t mean any harm, right? Promise!" the other Halfling shouted.

"I promise we mean no harm," Colin said with a shrug.

"Alright then, you can come in."

The two Halflings exchanged a glance, put away their Short Bows without another word, and walked toward the inside of the wall.

Colin clapped a skeptical Kase on the shoulder and was the first to step inside the walls.

As soon as they entered, the Halflings, who were about the size of human children, all stood up and eyed them curiously.

They all wore brightly colored clothes and held the tools they had just been working with. The men were processing freshly cut logs, while the women were busy sewing clothes or doing other odd jobs.

After reading many books, Colin had learned a bit more about Halflings.

To date, the race had never had its own kingdom or large-scale settlement; even villages composed entirely of Halflings were rare. Most of them lived in the cities or villages of other races. There were many Halfling cooks and gardeners in Thousand Masts City’s Trade District.

A Dwarf scholar’s note on Halflings was quite harsh: "They are indeed likable, but this race has no heroes or empires, not even ancestral treasures. Simply put, they are worthless."

To travelers, Halflings were known to be very warm and hospitable. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

At least meeting Halflings in the wild was a lot better than running into Dwarves.

They were probably one of the few races in the world that didn’t judge good or evil based on race—if Colin hadn’t known this, he would have suspected they’d been influenced by Cultists, which would explain why they weren’t afraid of Kase and Orelia.

"Uncle Pants Hole! We have guests! They’re Adventurers who are passing through!"

The Halfling leading the group walked up to one of the wagons and knocked hard on the door.

After the sound of footsteps, an elderly Halfling came out. He wore an orange plaid shirt and was holding a pipe.

Though an old Halfling, he really just looked like a short old man. He had no beard, only very long sideburns, and a large belly.

From a human perspective, it was a somewhat jarring sight.

"Adventurers, are you?" Uncle Pants Hole sat on the steps of the wagon and tapped the ash from his pipe on the stairs. "Unfortunate. You’ve missed evening tea time. But you’re welcome to find a spot to sleep for the night."

"That’s fine, we have our own rations," Colin said.

"By the way, are you looking for work?"

"Are you in some kind of trouble?" "That depends on how much you’re paying."

Orelia and Kase spoke at the same time.

"As you can see, we’re Halflings trying to build our own village. Used to be cooks, we did. You see, the world’s not so peaceful these days. I heard there was some trouble with Cultists in Pig Badger Village not long ago. Seems an eight-person team of Adventurers took care of it."

’I can’t believe our story is already spreading,’ Colin thought. ’He must be counting the Harvey Family as part of our group.’

"So we bought a plot of land from the local lord and plan to settle down here. It’s more reassuring when we’re all Halflings, you know? But there’s a goblin camp nearby."

Uncle Pants Hole filled his pipe with some tobacco, tamped it down, lit a wooden splint from an oil lamp, and then used it to light his pipe, taking a few puffs. PUFF. PUFF.

"How many goblins are in the camp?" Colin asked.

"Hard to say, but the camp isn’t very large. A standard team of Adventurers should be able to handle it." Uncle Pants Hole took a drag from his pipe, his eyes narrowed. "Twenty Gold Coins plus a hot dinner. How about it?"

It was a reasonable offer for wiping out a small goblin camp.

After all, it guaranteed a monster encounter, so the reward for such a commission was usually much higher than for escorting a carriage or delivering a letter.

"There are three of us. Twenty Gold Coins is hard to split," Colin said.

"Make it twenty-one, then. We have to eat too."

Kase remarked, "I thought you were going to say thirty Gold Coins."

Uncle Pants Hole chuckled. "Well, you can just pretend we’re paying you two hundred and ten Silver Coins. That sounds a bit better, doesn’t it?"

Just as the two were talking, a female Halfling in a long dress, who looked like a matron, came over. She shrieked, "Pants Hole! You old fool, spending our money recklessly again! Where are we going to find that many Gold Coins?"

"Pay her no mind." Uncle Pants Hole waved his pipe at her in annoyance, then lowered his voice to speak to Colin. "She just pinches every penny. Let’s see where she goes crying when the goblins drag someone away!"

"Fine then, we’ll take the job," Kase announced.

Uncle Pants Hole added, "Just bring back the goblins’ left ears as proof."

-----------------

[Commission: Exterminate Goblins]

[Rating: 0]

[Reward: Uncalculated]

-----------------

Seeing that they had reached an agreement, the female Halfling from before stomped off, grumbling loudly.

Colin and the others paid her no mind. They found a campfire inside the wooden walls and began to set up camp, planning to eat dinner and then sleep.

"Those little guys are pretty good at hiding. I didn’t even see them earlier." Kase complained while organizing his gear, clearly still miffed about being caught by the two small figures.

Orelia whispered urgently, "Mister Kase, Mister Kase..."

"What is it?"

Kase turned his head and saw that a circle of Halflings had gathered around them. He had no idea if they had overheard what he just said.

"Is there something we can help you with?" Colin asked, stepping forward.