<<<---Conan POV--->>>
"Wow... signing up for the guild takes too long."
"Longer than expected. Conan, did it take you long too?"
"No. It was different in my case, Miss Hyeol had them sign me up."
Right now we were in the guild hall, sitting at a table away from the others while we talked. The physical and mental tests that all new members had to take took too long, so Anna and Ghislaine were only free in the late afternoon.
"You're so lucky..."
I could only nod at Anna's words. I was really very lucky; I didn't have to go through so many problems. I even remember doing some minor monster-cleaning missions, and with that I was accepted.
"You know, the tests they made me do reminded me of when we infiltrated the goblin lair,"
I said, holding my chin thoughtfully.
"Is that so?"
Ghislaine asked. She tilted her head back, seeming to remember the events in the forest.
I had been so focused on the conversation that it was only later that I noticed the entire guild hall had fallen silent. There weren't that many people there to begin with, but after my words, the few people who were there fell silent. Among them were Goon-woo, Cedric, and Adhel.
"...Hey, why did the whole place get so tense?"
Even I, who had spent more time than them in the guild and thought I knew a lot about this place, was surprised by the suspense that had surrounded us. It was as if a bucket of cold water had been thrown over us all. This was reinforced by their stunned looks.
"Did you say... goblin?"
The question, asked by Adhel, surprised me. Being one of the first creatures we encountered and the information in the book where I discovered them, I thought they were easy to find.
"That's right, why?"
As I confirmed Adhel's question, the entrance door burst open, revealing Hyeol. At the same time, the different people in the place surrounded us.
"Where did you see them, Conan?"
"Was it in a nearby dungeon?"
"Or in some ruins?"
Questions began to rain down from all sides, completely overwhelming us. Especially me.
"Which one of you encountered goblins?"
Hyeol asked, approaching us.
"It was them, leader."
The other people pointed at us, fixing us as the focus of the conversation.
"H-hey, what's going on?"
The guild leader's hand slammed down hard on the table we were leaning on, startling us with the sudden movement. Anna, who had asked the question, unconsciously stepped back, putting distance between us.
"Where did they find you?"
"...In a distant forest."
I replied, puzzled.
"A distant forest... It was Alaric and Victor who found you, right? Then they know the location of the forest. I will quickly contact the guilds and the Fallen Sun Sect to let them know."
Along with Hyeol's words, most of the people around us moved away to follow his orders and go where Hyeol himself commanded them. The place, previously silent except for a few voices, was now flooded with heated discussions. After a few minutes, the whole place was completely empty, except for us. Of course, except for Rin-hwa...
"AHH! Damn it, Rin-hwa! I told you several times to make some kind of noise!"
"I'm sorry, you looked lost."
Rin-hwa was a woman of the Dwarf race who worked in the guild as a dungeon scout. Therefore, her job required her to be as quiet as possible. I know I'm a little ignorant to ask her to be louder, but this isn't the first time this has happened.
"Hey... Rin-hwa, right? Can you tell us why everyone got so alarmed? These three are still in shock."
By "these three," Anna was referring to Goon-woo, Adhel, and Cedric. None of the three had reacted since the word "goblin" was uttered.
"Yes, you see. This goes back about 100 years—"
"Is it that old?"
"...Yes, it's old."
After answering Anna's question, with an annoyed look after being interrupted, Rin-hwa began to enlighten us with a bit of history.
A hundred years ago, the whole world was affected by a huge calamity, in which the protagonists were goblins. These creatures have the characteristic of being able to reproduce with any race or creature, which was also benefited by their short gestation period. This sounds dangerous in itself, but the next generations inherited characteristics, strength, and even intelligence from their parents.
This led to carelessness and an organization that allied itself with the most intelligent goblin leaders, advancing so much that they dominated entire continents. More specifically, two of the three existing continents.
They, together with this organization, wiped out several races and brought several others to the brink of extinction. They overthrew kingdoms and destroyed any kind of technology that the Sects and Dynasties had worked so hard to achieve, burning any tomes they found and killing those who knew about them. The funny thing about all this, if there is anything funny about it, is that the one who led the resistance or the charge against the goblins was another goblin.
According to Rin-hwa, after the war, this "hero" committed suicide of his own accord in order to avoid the fear of him and his enormous power. He did all this in exchange for the more conscious goblins treating them as equals.
"Rape of women by goblins was commonplace, so there were always women giving birth to their offspring. But goblin blood is very strong, so it was only after the third or second generation that they became more 'conscious.'"
The story Rin-hwa had told us was too much to process. Even though she tried to summarize it as much as possible, it was still a big deal that put everyone at risk.
"If that's the case... We did a good job eliminating that lair."
At my words, Rin-hwa nodded.
"Exactly. Even if you do your best to eliminate them completely, they're worse than cockroaches. You always have to kill them to prevent another 'Green Calamity' from happening, although the younger ones started calling it 'the great massacre.'"
Great massacre... I guess it's a little less aggressive than something called a 'calamity.' That aside... I hope we haven't forgotten any other goblins... Bah, if one of those things tries to explore something, they'll encounter a magical creature... like the turtle, the bats, or the snake...
Now that I think about it, what happened to them? We never went back to that place, so we didn't find them again.
"Hey, wait a second, what do you mean by new generations? How old are you?"
Adhel asked, approaching and examining Rin-hwa closely.
"...I'm over 55."
"...Wow, you're one of the oldest people I've ever met."
"Dwarves tend to live a little longer than you guys."