I Am Not Goblin Slayer

Chapter 265: Farewell and Fireworks

The Rhine family's home was no different from the other households in the village.Thatched roof, log walls, overall presenting a rectangular warehouse-style layout.

Outside the house, there was an open space enclosed by a low courtyard wall, so when Gauss walked in.

He easily stepped over the courtyard wall and saw Rhine inside the yard.

The night was very dark, but for him, it was no different from daytime.

He quickly saw what Rhine was doing.

She was standing in the open space, raising her right hand in front of her, pressing her left hand against her right wrist, looking very serious.

Still practicing "Fire Bolt"?

Gauss was somewhat surprised.

He walked to the door and gently knocked on the slightly loose gate.

"Who is it!?"

Rhine in the yard pricked up her ears and asked with slight vigilance.

Both to confirm the identity of the person outside and to alert her parents inside the house.

"It's me, Gauss."

Hearing Gauss's clear voice, Rhine quickly scurried over on her short legs, came to the door, and opened the gate.

"Teacher, why have you come so late?"

Rhine opened the door, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

Gauss had actually visited her home once before.

But she still hadn't gotten used to it.

Or rather, she subconsciously felt that letting Gauss see what her home looked like was something that made her feel shy.

Gauss had invited her into the Fold House several times.

The exquisite, tidy environment inside, with magically controlled furniture, formed a stark contrast with her own simple, primitive house, which made her feel an indescribable inferiority in front of Gauss.

Even though she actually had no dissatisfaction with her own home.

But she really didn't want Gauss to come over either.

Gauss didn't know about Rhine's complicated thoughts. Seeing her clutching her clothes with a bashful expression, he thought she was feeling sad about him leaving tomorrow.

"Came to see you." Gauss smiled gently and stepped into the yard.

His gaze naturally swept over the spot where Rhine had just been standing, as if casually asking: "So late? Still practicing?"

Rhine's small face blushed slightly under the moonlight, and she nodded somewhat embarrassed.

She had been discovered.

She had actually been secretly practicing extra every night and had never told Gauss.

Because she didn't want her teacher to know about her "stupidity." She wanted to give him a surprise after silently practicing and succeeding.

She wanted to master Fire Bolt before Gauss and the others left on this final night.

"I... I wanted to succeed at least once before Teacher leaves."

Looking at her stubborn eyes, Gauss's heart softened slightly.

"It's fine, you can demonstrate for me next time I visit too."

After saying this, Gauss handed over what he had prepared in his hand.

It was an exquisite small leather case with a metal clasp mechanism at the opening.

"This is..." Rhine looked puzzled.

"A little farewell gift." Gauss said softly, handing it to Rhine without further discussion. "Open it and see."

"Teacher..."

"Accept it."

"Mm, thank you, Teacher."

Rhine ultimately accepted it. The gift was somewhat heavy, so she walked to a nearby wooden stool and set it down.

She carefully opened the clasp.

As she opened the case, there were three items inside.

A thick handwritten notebook with a cover made of some durable leather.

Several neatly bound books.

And an exquisitely crafted leaf-shaped accessory strung on a fine chain.

This is... for me??

Why is there jewelry?

"The notebook contains some of my insights about magic, as well as understanding of Fire Bolt and other basic cantrips. It should be more suited to your situation."

Gauss pointed at the notebook and said, then pointed at those books.

'These are books on basic magic theory, practical applications, monster illustrations, and other related topics. After I leave, you can find time to read them when you're free to broaden your knowledge."

His gaze finally fell on the amulet, his expression becoming somewhat more serious.

"As for this amulet, wear it close to your body, don't lose it. And don't show it to others easily." Gauss took out the amulet and solemnly placed it in her small hand.

"If... I mean if, you encounter life danger in the future, crush this leaf."

"It can protect you for an instant and quickly teleport you hundreds of meters, even thousands of meters away. Then you can escape according to the situation, run to a safe place."

"Teacher, you should keep it yourself."

Hearing the amulet's effect, Rhine instinctively wanted to return it to Gauss.

This was a magic artifact, giving it to her was such a waste.

"It's fine, I have plenty more." Gauss told a white lie.

But currently, he really didn't have much use for it.

Especially after he mastered the Fly spell.

If he faced enemies so powerful that he needed to escape, teleporting a few hundred or thousand meters wouldn't be very useful then either.

Seeing her eyes starting to redden again, Gauss reached out and ruffled her head.

"Don't cry. The gift isn't free either." He deliberately made his tone a bit more serious. "After I leave, don't slack off either. Read the notebook carefully, study the books seriously. Next time we meet, I'll check your progress. Can you do that?"

Rhine sniffled hard, forcing back the tears that were about to well up.

"Yes, Teacher, I will definitely do it."

Seeing her stubborn expression, Gauss smiled with satisfaction.

"Remember, if there's danger, you must crush the leaf."

"Rest early, tomorrow, no need to specially come see us off."

After greeting Rhine's parents who had just come to the doorway, under the gaze of Rhine's family, he turned and left the yard.

....

"Pant—pant—"

Rhine ran swiftly on the solid dirt road of Goat Village.

Large beads of sweat continuously slid down her cheeks.

She ran until drenched in sweat, gasping for breath incessantly, her chest burning as if on fire.

Finally, the village entrance gradually appeared before her eyes.

Many villagers crowded at the entrance, looking toward the direction outside the village.

"Make way!"

She desperately squeezed through the crowd.

Her heart filled with regret.

How could she have overslept on such an important day?

Last night she had practiced magic until late, and finally, under her own incredulous gaze, a beautiful red light appeared in her hand.

She had successfully used the sporadic mana within her body to trigger the magical effect of "Fire Bolt."

Although it wasn't a complete use of Fire Bolt, that spark and red light proved that she had indeed mastered this cantrip. She just needed to continuously increase her mana until it was sufficient to fully release Fire Bolt.

However, after successfully producing the spark, she became very, very sleepy.

So much so that as soon as she lay in bed, she fell into a deep sleep.

When she woke up again, it was the bright morning of the next day.

After a brief moment of daze, sitting on the hard bed board, she quickly realized that this morning was when Gauss and the others were leaving, breaking out in a cold sweat.

But when she ran out of the house, the surrounding village was already empty.

The more she ran, the more her mood sank.

When she finally squeezed through the crowd and reached the front.

She saw in the distance on the main road, the retreating backs of Gauss and the others riding their Ostriches. They had already gone far, about to disappear over the hill at the end of sight.

She was too late...

Rhine became extremely dejected.

In her dreams last night, she had been thinking about showing her teacher her magical achievement before he left this morning.

He would definitely be proud of her.

Never expected she didn't even make it in time to say goodbye.

Suddenly, Gauss sitting on the Ostrich's back seemed to sense something.

He turned around.

His gaze traveled across the distance.

Seeing at the front of the crowd, that figure supporting herself on her knees, face flushed red.

It was Rhine.

The corner of his mouth lifted slightly.

Although he had told her last night not to come, he had deliberately lingered at the village entrance for a while before departing.

Never thought she still managed to make it in the end.

Thinking of this.

He slowly raised his right arm, red light blooming on his arm.

"Fire Bolt!"

One, two, three...

Fire Bolts were continuously released from his hand like fireworks, then exploded in the sky.

"Rhine, your teacher is greeting you."

Rhine's parents shook her body.

After the reminder, she also saw the commotion of Gauss releasing magic in the distance.

The distance wasn't close, but the continuous Fire Bolts were clearly eye-catching enough.

Plus connecting it with Gauss turning around to release magic right after she arrived, clearly the teacher had still noticed her.

Rhine quickly frantically waved her arms, her face flushed red with excitement.

In the end, she hadn't missed this farewell either.

Her originally low mood instantly swept away the gloom, blooming like a flower.

Although she still hadn't been able to show her teacher her magic, but...

This was enough.

The ten-year-old Rhine suddenly felt somewhat relieved.

The wind at the village entrance blew past, tangling her hair.

Her teacher's journey still lay ahead.

And she, carrying this beautiful memory, would walk forward firmly.

......

"Why are you using Fire Bolt like fireworks?"

Aria and the others also stopped and waited for him for a moment.

Only when he urged his Ostrich to catch up did she ask with a smile.

Fireworks also existed in this world.

But they were generally only set off during special festivals in large cities.

"Then should I use Fireball instead?" Gauss responded with a laugh.

Aria couldn't help but recall yesterday's super powerful explosion spell and shook her head.

"Then forget it, using Fireball would be a fright."

The group's figures gradually faded into the distance on the dirt road.

The scenery in the wilderness soon became monotonous.

Time had already entered midsummer.

The air began to show distorted heat waves under the scorching sun's baking.

The earth was roasted dry and cracked.

"This year's summer is hotter than last year's."

Aria looked up at the sky.

The sun was like a dazzling large fireball, continuously releasing vast amounts of light and heat.

Although with everyone's physical condition, none would suffer heatstroke under such heat, it still made people feel restless.

Moreover, after running for a while, their mount Ostriches needed to cool down and recover stamina.

Otherwise they would die from the heat.

Summer was too hot, winter was too cold.

This gradually extreme weather was not a good thing.

"There's a pond over there, let's rest there for a while, and let the mounts rest too."

Gauss spotted from afar the pond reflecting water light in the shade of trees.

The team slowly approached.

By the pond, the native inhabitants saw their arrival and immediately tried to run away.

But faster than their escape speed was Gauss's Fire Bolt.

One, two, three...

Several crimson energy arrows were released in succession, then mercilessly blasted through the green skins' chests.

Instantly leaving behind charred holes.

The team didn't care about these few Goblins.

Even the mounts didn't care, calmly stepping over the corpses to drink water by the pond.

Gauss and the others took out a map under the shade of a tree.

"The next village is not far ahead."

Their group didn't have mandatory arrangements, but the Adventurers Guild had given them a route continuously heading north, with many villages along the way.

As for how long to stay, that was up to them to decide.

They stayed relatively long at the first Goat Village because, after all, it was the first one, and one tends to be more careful at the beginning of things.

And with the experience from Goat Village, subsequent guidance would proceed faster.

Plus, he didn't need to spend a lot of time learning Fireball anymore.

"It's a newly established village."

Aria noticed the content in the intelligence.

After a brief rest, the team continued on their way.

Soon, under the scorching sun, a fledgling village appeared in sight.

Seeing the incomplete protective fences around the village, Gauss and the others knew they would be busy for some time.

"Looks like we'll have to make the clay constructs suffer a bit."

As laborers, clay constructs could perfectly handle logging and transportation work.

But clay constructs wouldn't feel fatigue or the hardship of labor.

So in the end, it was still him who suffered, continuously releasing mana.

The village at midday in midsummer was empty.

Most villagers were hiding in their thatched huts. Seeing a group of clearly important people riding mounts arriving at the village center, their eyes became wary.

A middle-aged man poked his head out from behind a low wall next to the open space.

"Who are you people?"

He was still tightly gripping a farming tool.

Recently, the village had been in a tense state.

Because the defense facilities weren't completely built yet, besides dealing with attacking monsters, there was also a group of bandits targeting them.

Fortunately, when they came visiting a few days ago, the other side was clearly short-handed and just wandered around the village before leaving.

Just as he was nervously watching, a companion beside him patted his shoulder, pointing at the metal badges hanging on Gauss and the others' chests, reflecting dazzling light under the scorching sun.

"Looks like adventurers have come..."

But even then he didn't relax his vigilance, only after Gauss's commission document slowly floated to him and he inspected it did he sigh in relief.

Actually, the moment that handsome man in black robes used magic, his tension had already eased by seventy to eighty percent.

A mage lord wouldn't bother attacking poor commoners like them.

Of course, this was just his view.

Whether this was actually the case, no one knew.

Looking at the sallow, thin peasants with numb eyes around him, and those children timidly poking their heads out from the doorways of dilapidated thatched huts, Gauss sighed.

Compared to the already established, relatively stable Goat Village, this temporary settlement before him that hadn't even formally established a name was truly struggling.

He reasonably suspected that if their group didn't come.

This fragile small village would likely be destroyed in one monster attack.

It seemed these people hadn't been in this area for too long?

Where did they originally come from?

Why did they come to this desolate, uninhabited place to establish a village?

Did they obtain a "charter"?

In this era, to encourage people to go cultivate the barren borderlands and prevent monsters from recklessly reproducing and living in the wastelands, some lords would issue charters, encouraging some immigrants to go pioneer.

Of course, this land still belonged to the nobility, and they still had to pay taxes and land rent.

If he remembered correctly, this area should be the land of the Vives family.

Several villagers jogged toward Gauss and the others.

"Honorable Adventurers Guild sirs, the weather is hot, please come this way."

Seemingly knowing that Gauss and the others had come specifically to help them, the villagers became very enthusiastic.

Just as Gauss and the others prepared to speak and inquire about the village's situation.

At the village entrance, several short, sharp whistles sounded in succession.

Hearing these whistles, the villagers' faces instantly stiffened. But just as they were about to panic instinctively, the black-robed man beside them suddenly spoke.

"What does the whistle blowing represent?"

Seeing the man's figure, the villagers realized they now had someone to rely on.

Their hearts settled considerably, and they quickly answered Gauss's inquiry.

"Sir, it's the bandits from nearby coming."

"A few days ago they told us to prepare food supplies, or they would burn our houses..."

The villagers, as if finding their backbone, spoke one after another.

Gauss quickly learned the specific situation, then also had a moment of realization.

No wonder, when their group entered the village, they clearly felt the village was so vigilant.

And even when resting leaning against the simple thatched huts, each kept their farming tools and implements within hand's reach.

There was a group of bandits in the nearby mountains, making a living by plundering several small villages around. According to what these bandits proclaimed during their last visit, almost all surrounding villages had to pay tribute to them.

Soon, a chaotic sound of horse hooves and footsteps arose behind Gauss.

A brawny man riding a skinny pack horse, with a fierce scar on his face, led twenty-some bandits holding rusty weapons with fierce expressions, swaggering as they barged into the open space at the village center.