I decided to hang back which should have been suspicious yet those arrogant fools only laughed at me with condescension.
"Imagine doing a goblin extermination in a forest in full plate armour." One smugly commented with the others snickered with their agreement all but clear. Despite that they felt the express need to continue reiterating that very same point many times over as if it were not already obvious what they truly meant.
Obviously they were making fun of me for being the "dumb rich girl who thought armour made her a big bad adventurer" or something along the lines. I also wasn't about to correct their assumptions. Them believing I was slow due to my armour was actually quite beneficial for my plans.
Not to mention the irony it represented.
My armour was actually enhancing my capabilities to at least somewhat come close to that of my true forms all around massive boost.
Maybe I'll even get to try out that new special technique my master taught me?
She said I shouldn't need to worry about people stealing it as anyone who was strong enough to threaten me would realise it was a dumb idea. Can't say I quite understand what that meant… But she also hasn't been wrong so far so I am promptly deciding to put it in the "lets not worry about it" pile.
The same pile as I have placed the magic train conductor, how her sister was so weirdly strong, that freak called Trunch merely existing, my masters totally not suspicious past and the dommy mommy. There were a lot of weird things in my life now that I think about it. Good thing I'm not worrying about any of them.
Maybe I should put that bi-coloured mass murder which nobody seems to notice, the wolf in with a sheep mask as well as wool cloak and the previous starting city in that list?
Urgh I feel a headache forming when I think of that stuff…
Wait, doesn't that make the wolf literally a wolf in sheep's clothing?
What kind of bastard would-
*VRRR*
A subtle indicator that my boys were in position and had finished mapping out the area for me so that I wouldn't be caught out by any surprises. My tolerance for "surprises" had very quickly been whittled away since I started playing this not so god-forsaken game. I'd call it shitty…
If it wasn't scared of incurring the wrath of whatever being could get that dapper train conductor to allow free reign to do their little game. Didn't take a genius to recognise they'd need to at least be somewhere near the level of that guy. One also didn't need to be smart to understand they were strong.
Anyway, those idiots had already rushed ahead and weren't paying attention to me, so I decided to take advantage to quickly tap away at my wrist computer. Within moments I got the information they collected to be projected in front of me in the form of a 3D hologram. Taking my time to study it as I walked.
As a shooter I of course understood the importance of the high ground which was actually in our favour as those goblins chose to make their caves in a lower altitude.
Hardly surprising as they wanted to avoid the attention of everything.
One random flying beast who felt peckish or peeved could crush them - let alone wandering adventurers who often ventured through these areas. Which goblin didn't know that mortals like humans believed the only good gob was a dead one. Of course I'm sure things weren't so simple within their caverns.
Though I highly doubt I would be required to go into said caverns myself; as the leader of a battalion I obviously had people for that.
Or rather…
I had androids for that in my case.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Like any somewhat decent set of adventurers - they at least one person who knew the basics of tracking down beasts within a forest. Fortunately they didn't need an expert to track down a bunch of unevolved goblins back to their den. Hobgoblins or goblin hunters could be an issue but not these guys.
As such they weren't too worried so had all the time in the world to talk; something they took advantage of as they planned something else. "So we gonna do this?"
"Why wouldn't we do it?" Another of the three asked with a nervous expression on his face, clearly not quite convinced that their plan was a good idea, it was easy for his comrade to notice him repeatedly looking back over his shoulder. Making sure that their "comrade" didn't sneak up on them speaking.
The one who was guiding them to the goblins (also the only one who had a bow over his shoulder along with a shorter sword than his comrade) looked back at the unsure one. Snorting in derision who he caught glancing behind as if they wouldn't hear her coming. "You think someone like that can fight in a cave?"
One may not realise it if they were inexperienced but the terrain affected fights more than simply having high ground or low ground. Caves and tunnels were a prime example of this. Not only would fire magic need to be avoided creating a cave in but also to not suffocate.
Then certain weapons became literally unusable due to colliding with walls or getting stuck in them.
Plus one had to worry about their teammates' locations far more; friendly fire being a huge issue for inexperienced adventurers who weren't used to the chaos in burrows.
There were also possible secret side routes that goblins of any rank liked to abuse - making ambushes all but common for those hoping to wipe them out. Sometimes during combat. So they obviously wore light armour unlike a certain princess who they thought those goblins would hear from a mile away.
Especially in those echoey tunnels.
Of course they most certainly wouldn't hear her coming yet they never picked up on how unusually quiet her "full plate" armour was.
"Hell it'll be a miracle if she can fight - she didn't even bring a weapon!" At that the two began to laugh out once more. Although that did little to settle the mind of their last member. If anything it made him extra visibly uncomfortable with the situation.
Not that it was for anything as silly as morals, he quickly proved he had no remorse, instead his reasoning was sheer worry for his own safety. As such he looked around hurriedly before speaking again. "It is not her that I'm worried about but those who'll ask questions; we've never done this to a prissy noble before!"
Those two looked at each other as he continued.
"If some rich family's daughter goes missing there is no way the guild won't be forced to open up an investigation on us or even worse… Maybe some PI or even the city's investigators will be corralled into trying to find out what happened." His breathing got more uneven as he continued on.
Clearly more worried about getting caught than going through with the shady plan they had in place between the three of them.
His words even got the other frontliner to look a little worried as he looked at the archer with a clear furrow marring his already wrinkled brow. The archer, however, just tried to wave it off with a couple words along with a literal wave of his hand. "We just need to make sure there is no evidence which means no body."
"We do have plenty of ways to get rid of the body as the only real evidence that we killed her would be the wounds on the body as well as blood on our own…" That seemed to be enough to convince the less cautious "swordsman" who quickly helped rationalise it. Archer nodded along like a hen.
Nevertheless that did nothing to help sooth the one who brought up their concerns. "You guys don't seem to understand that we've got a track record which will cause issues when brought into the light."
Finally both his comrades turned to him with a little worry on both their faces.
"So far we've gotten away with all this as we've only been doing it with some missions that low level adventurers would take when dipping their toes into something harder. Situations where it isn't surprising if you come back with one less yet only if they don't look deeper." He continued on with both understanding.
It isn't strange if inexperienced adventurers don't come back from quests like these as they are like a litmus test to separate the adventurers from the slightly strong civilians. What was strange for a group to not move on from these missions. Repeatedly doing them with a temporary member dying every time?
That was a huge red flag that they simply weren't ready to explain away - especially if those investigating them looked into places they frequently visited.
They had to sell off their "comrades" gear somewhere.
"... For now we'll just test the water once we're in there; worst case scenario we can use this as an opportunity to jump ship and restart our lives in a new city. We have enough money saved up so we can lay low and do some more honest work now." Archer told his comrades as he began to walk again.
This time having far more caution with every step even if he were unaware of it.
His comrades didn't look convinced howbeit they couldn't exactly drop the job for no real reason as that would just get the guild to question them. Something they realised they didn't want. "Looks like we're getting closer so keep your eyes open and we'll slow down to let her catch up before we enter."
They did that as they soon came across an area that they would have walked past if not for them specifically tracking down those goblins.
It was essentially a small cave entrance within a gravel pit.
Surrounded by trees on all sides.
Looking around revealed that no goblins were actively watching over the entrance which was a little weird but they were still worried about their future so didn't pay much attention to that. Distracted about all the things that could go wrong now that it was pointed out to them. Not in the present as much as usual.
Little did they know that they didn't have much in the way of a future.