Soon, everything was taken care of.

"I thought a group of Bear Goblins or Hobgoblins would come charging out at the end. I can’t believe it’s actually over," Colin said, peering into the cave.

Orelia said, "It’s probably not that dramatic."

"Better safe than sorry. Let’s go see what’s inside," Colin said, pointing to the opening deeper in the cave.

The group moved closer to take a look.

The space inside the opening was small. There were only a few chairs draped with Beast Hide, a small table with dice made of animal bone, and an unlocked, head-sized chest in the corner.

Colin walked over and kicked the chest open. Inside was a pile of blackened coins.

"Do goblins need to use money?" Orelia asked curiously.

"Not exactly," Colin said, recalling the description from the monster manual. "Among humans, it’s the wealthy merchants and powerful individuals who have lots of coins. So, in the eyes of goblins, an individual with a lot of money is someone who has killed a lot of humans. Money is probably a symbol of honor to them."

"Whatever the reason, let’s just split the money."

As he spoke, Kase picked up the chest and started pulling out the coins. To his surprise, he also pulled out two grimy glass bottles.

The two glass bottles were surprisingly exquisite, with delicate metal decorations around their mouths. Inside was a thick, golden-yellow liquid that looked quite beautiful.

"Isn’t this Sacred Oil? To think it would end up in the hands of goblins..." Orelia said, surprised.

Kase asked, "What’s that used for?"

"Applying the Sacred Oil to a weapon helps suppress Evil Demons and Undead Creatures. Some temples sell it," Orelia explained.

"Then let’s take it with us. We might run into Undead or something later," Colin said.

A count of the money in the chest revealed thirty-eight Silver Coins and fifteen Copper Coins.

After counting the coins, the group stripped all the valuable equipment off the goblins’ bodies.

They were quite close to the Halfling camp this time, so they would definitely take the gear back to sell.

After setting aside the damaged equipment, they were left with one suit of Leather Armor, five small cleavers, and two hunting bows.

The goblins hadn’t maintained their equipment, so everything was filthy and had a strange smell. Still, it was all usable. If they bundled it all together and haggled a bit, they could definitely get at least a dozen Gold Coins for it.

After tying up the equipment with Hemp Rope, the group began to collect the quest items.

A few minutes later.

Colin stood up, rubbing his lower back. He tossed the last goblin’s left ear into the goblin Herb Bag he’d taken earlier, ready to be handed over to the Halflings to complete the job.

The bag had gotten filthy last time from carrying the Earthworm Insect Egg Sacs. Even after being washed many times, it still had a weirdly earthy, fishy smell, and he had no idea why.

"This wooden chest is just full of picked plant vines and stuff," Kase, who was searching the chest, called out. "These goblins were probably planning to weave some Capture Nets, but they haven’t made a single one yet."

"Maybe these guys are an outpost for a larger tribe. We should remind them when we get back," Colin said. "Also, are there any strange bones among this junk? I’d rather not run into something like a Jackal Wolfman."

"If this was just an outpost, the goblins wouldn’t have brought money with them."

After saying that, Kase turned back to rummage through the corner of the cave. "But now that you mention it... let’s take a closer look."

"Why do you two think that? Generally speaking, shouldn’t goblin nests only have this kind of stuff? That’s what all the Adventurers in the tavern say," Orelia said, raising her hand meekly.

"Not necessarily."

Kase and Colin said in unison.

Colin spoke again, this time to Kase. "It’s like with those Cultists last time. These goblins didn’t just crawl out of the ground. We should still clean up our tracks on the way back to avoid being followed."

Kase nodded seriously.

Seeing the two of them acting so serious, Orelia started to get nervous, too.

The three of them packed up their loot and headed back the way they came, cautious and moving as if walking on thin ice.

Along the way, Colin took a moment to look at his quest Panel.

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

[Quest: Exterminate the Goblins]

[Rating: 2 (Mortal)]

[Reward: 100 Skill Level points]

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

’That’s not surprising,’ Colin thought. ’This quest was about what I expected.’ 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

In the end, even the [Enhance Resistance] he’d cast on Kase hadn’t been needed. It was a complete waste of effort.

By the time the group reached the caravan, it was already afternoon.

When a group of Halflings saw them return, they immediately dropped what they were doing and gathered around.

"So fast!" "They finished off that group of goblins!"

A wave of astonished gasps spread through the crowd.

Seeing them make such a big deal out of it, Colin felt like he was dreaming. It made that easy cakewalk of a fight feel like he’d just slain a Giant Dragon or something.

Surrounded by the Halflings, he carried his things and knocked on the door of Uncle Pants Hole’s wagon.

"Coming, coming."

The Halfling answered before opening the wagon door.

"Here are the goblin ears you wanted. By the way, do you buy their equipment?" Colin placed the items at the wagon’s entrance.

"You took care of it just like that? You don’t look like you have a single scratch on you."

Kase crossed his arms. "Why would we get hurt fighting goblins?"

Uncle Pants Hole glanced at the items on the ground. "Fifteen Gold Coins, then."

"How about eighteen? On account of us risking our lives and all."

"I’m sure the goblins wouldn’t agree with the ’risking our lives’ part."

Uncle Pants Hole continued, "Fifteen Gold Coins is about what you’d get from a secondhand market. You’d get the same amount if you hauled it all the way back to Thousand Masts City. We’re already taking a loss here, Master Adventurer."

’This guy’s appraisal is pretty spot on...’

Colin nodded. "Alright, then. We also have some loose change we found in the goblin camp. It’s all in good condition. Could we exchange it for some Gold Coins with you?"

"Sure thing."

Uncle Pants Hole agreed, then turned and rummaged around in his wagon, finally producing a stuffed leather coin pouch.

He took a couple of puffs from his pipe. PUFF, PUFF. "We’ve slaughtered a few sheep. If you don’t mind, you can stay another night. Consider it part of the payment."

Kase quickly accepted. "We haven’t had fresh meat in ages."

"Alright," Colin agreed, adding a final warning. "By the way, those goblins might have been sent by a larger tribe to set up an outpost. You should be careful from now on."

"Alright. I’ll tell the lads in a bit."

The Halfling woman from the other day started yelling from nearby again. "You old fool! Wasting money again! When will it ever end!"

"Now is the time to be using our resources, so shut your mouth!" Uncle Pants Hole shouted back.

The group didn’t want to get involved in their argument, so they simply went off to split the money.

After splitting the money in the pouch, not counting the loose change like Silver Coins and Copper Coins, they each ended up with twelve Gold Coins.

Even as the money settled into his pocket, Colin still felt it was a little strange.

’Come to think of it, he and Kase had barely done any nest-clearing quests until now. The few times they’d run into humanoid creatures, they were all dirt-poor bastards with nothing on them. And they had given the more valuable monster materials to the Dwarf... Could it be that these kinds of quests are actually pretty profitable?’

Of course, that was just one way of looking at it.

The rewards from their previous quests hadn’t been small, either. Everything they earned had been converted directly into combat strength.

If they sold the Potions, weapons, Armor, and the Ice Short Spear Kase was holding, they could probably get a few hundred Gold Coins. After all, the spear was a genuine Magic Weapon.

Thinking about it that way, Colin was suddenly struck by just how much his little party was worth.

’I’m actually pretty rich!’

Afterward, the group returned to their little corner to pack their things, waiting for dinner while watching the Halflings go back to their work.