In a certain village, somewhere in the west part of the continent.
"Dad, are we gonna be alright?" A little girl asks her father, as she and her entire family lock themselves in their home.
"Of course we are. We finally got a hero to come to our village. We just need to wait for him, and you can finally play again with your friends after he kills all those goblins." Her father answered, patting her head to ease her worries.
A month ago, the village kids were attacked by a group of goblins. At first the adults tried to take care of this matter on their own.
When they tried to kill those goblins, one of the five men was killed while the others were badly hurt.
Compared to the number the children saw, the numbers the adults faced were twice that of the said number.
Being a village that lives off every year on what they grow in the farmlands and gather in the forest, they didn't have enough money to properly make requests at the adventurer's guild.
Forcing themselves to make a goblin subjugation quest with a party of only five, saying three were armed while two were unarmed, when there were more than ten of them.
This wasn't the only thing that worried the father of the little girl. He expected a low rank group of adventurers to take on the quest they made, but never a hero.
Although the man who came was a hero, he was only an F-Rank one with no combat type abilities at all.
And when this hero appeared this morning, the goblins sounded a war horn, indicating they were going to attack the village.
Since then, all the houses had locked their doors and windows and had been staying inside, keeping themselves in the dark and silencing even the tiniest noise they could make.
'Please kill just half of those goblins, even if it meant dying together with them.' The father thought, holding his wife and daughter.
***
Outside the village, a man stood before the dead corpses of green-figured beings that had been cut and sliced.
Blood spilling on the ground, organs leaving their bodies, and dilated pupils with no sign of life.
In his hand, a tiny chopping knife and dagger set, having taken them from the goblins.
"Fuck!" The hero cursed, having had to fight against fifteen enemies in the last couple of hours. And a moment ago, seven of them at the same time.
"The quest paper said there were only three armored goblins." He said, taking something from the tiny bag at his waist. Popping out the cork, he drank the pinkish red liquid inside.
Even though he was angry about this matter, he knew getting mad wouldn't do anything at all. In the end, the only thing he could do was bend down and slice the goblins' ears as proof for the guild.
"Please have one." He said, slowly cutting open the chest area of the armored goblins among them. Moving his hand inside the goblin's body, he felt something.
"Lucky!" He yelled out, a small green shard in his hand. Wiping off the blood and cleaning his hand, he took the weapons that could be sold and the three armors, then finally set out.
"Except for these, nothing else can be sold." He said, gathering the goblins in one place and activating a scroll with magic on it, which created a pit hole with a depth of six meters.
"Just need to light these up and I can go back." He said, taking out a piece of paper and lighting it with his fingers.
The sun was already about to set after he killed the last seven goblins.
And having to run far to kill the goblins in their cave, it would be nighttime the moment he returned to the village.
Back in the village.
The village chief, seeing smoke far from their position, realized the hero had managed to win and was about to come back.
Seeing this, he left his house and called out to the others to prepare to greet him.
…..
Hours into the night, the village celebrated the victory of the hero, now having no worry about being attacked randomly at night.
Bringing out the liquor they had been saving, the meat stock they had planned to use in the winter, music, dancing, and singing rang out into the sky as the villagers finally let loose.
Outside the gate of the village, the father of the little girl and the chief waited for the hero to arrive.
Although they hadn't expected anything from him when he came this morning, they knew welcoming him with open arms was the best thing they could do at this moment.
After a bit more waiting, a figure approached the lights coming from the fire.
Seeing this, the two moved closer, smiles on their faces.
Having had a war horn suddenly sound when he came this morning, the two hadn't properly seen him entirely, and only now they could.
Looking at him, they found a man standing around 5'9 to 5'10, with red eyes showing he had been summoned in the church of fire, wearing a simple leather armor that covered his chest, legs, and arms.
His skin color was brown, with a slender body. He wore simple dark green pants, leather boots, and a white shirt, and was carrying the armor pieces the goblins had along with the other bladed weapons they used.
"Hero!" The village chief said with open arms.
"Welcome—" but before he could even complete his sentence, the hero stretched out his hand, palm open, toward his face.
"Give it." The hero said.
"What?" The chief said, confused.
"The additional reward money. Give it." The hero said, his eyes wide, as if he was not joking.
"Yes, yes, I'll give." The chief said. "But for now, please come inside and enjoy the feast we prepared for you."
"No!" The hero yelled, gathering the attention of the other villagers inside the village.
"Give the money now!" He yelled once again.
Seeing his voice getting louder and him not taking any words, the chief told the man beside him to grab the money from his home.
"What's happening?"
"I think they're arguing."
Two young women said in the back, as other murmurs began.
After a moment, the father came back bringing a bag of money. Giving it to the hero, he began counting it.
"Please, that's perfectly the amount promised in the paper." The chief said, gesturing to the father to wave away the other villagers' attention from them.
"Where's the rest?" The hero asked.
"Mmm? The rest? That's the full amount, hero." The chief said, confused by his words.