I Am Not Goblin Slayer

Chapter 274: Sif Albena

The female blacksmith pursed her lips, her cheeks already reddened from long-term exposure to furnace flames becoming even more flushed. Her previously angry expression instantly vanished.In that brief moment, she felt as if an eternity had passed. She even forgot to breathe.

"Phew..."

That was close... Almost embarrassed myself.

Snapping back to reality, the female blacksmith quickly composed her expression.

Gauss made eye contact with her. He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but he even seemed to see wisps of smoke rising from her head.

"You... hello, my name is Sif Albena."

Seeing her staring at him continuously, Gauss felt slightly strange. Why? Because the woman's strong physique and her current shy demeanor created a strong sense of contradiction.

Jon, standing nearby, twitched the corner of his mouth, revealing an "as expected" expression. He had anticipated this scene.

Anyone even slightly familiar with blacksmith Albena knew her personality. Beneath her tough exterior beat the heart of someone obsessed with good looks.

In Jon's view, based purely on appearance, Gauss was almost the best-looking man he had ever seen. For Albena, this undoubtedly held astonishing charm and special appeal.

"Hello, I'm Gauss. These are my companions - Aria, Serlan..."

Gauss instinctively took half a step back and introduced his teammates to her.

He previously thought President Rachel from the East Branch of Sena City was the strongest woman he had ever seen, but now, that "title" was undoubtedly changing hands.

Of course, this didn't mean the current Albena was stronger than Rachel in terms of ability, just that her physique was superior.

Gauss even speculated that Albena must have some special bloodline - her physique had reached a level ordinary people couldn't achieve through sweat alone.

A pure physical talent monster.

Gauss rarely felt a sense of pressure around her. Staying slightly farther away felt more comfortable to his body's instincts.

He knew this was his body telling him that this "creature" before him could harm him at close range.

"Hehe, hello, Lord Gauss. Hello to all of you too." Albena nodded to everyone, speaking in a gentle voice.

If not for the earlier incident with Jon, Aria and the others might have thought she was just a gentle giant. But now, with their preconceived first impression, it felt incredibly awkward.

"Just call me Gauss." Seeing her straining to maintain the voice, Gauss hesitated for a moment before suggesting, "How about you use your real voice instead?"

The forced voice wasn't unpleasant - it was a mature woman's soft, charming tone.

"Lord Gauss, you jest. This is my original voice." Sif Albena said with a smile.

Her peripheral vision caught Jon standing nearby secretly snickering, and her eyes instantly turned sharp again.

It was all this middle-aged uncle's fault for giving Lord Gauss a bad impression of her.

The moment she saw Gauss, she knew he was the man she wanted to follow for life.

Since she insisted, Gauss didn't press further.

From a pure team perspective, Albena seemed like an excellent teammate. The simplest proof was that she could make him feel threatened - that itself was outstanding proof.

Just look - he couldn't feel similar danger from the local Adventurers Guild leader standing nearby. The difference was clear.

Moreover, from a role perspective, Albena could fill the gap currently missing in Gauss's team - that of a pure frontline "tank."

Her physique felt incredibly secure. Gauss even felt that with her holding the front line, he could comfortably play as a pure backline mage with his teammates' support.

But did she have time to participate in this commission? Although she wasn't wearing an adventurer badge symbolizing her strength, her adventurer level was at least level 6, and her pure combat ability might even exceed level 6.

Plus, she seemed very busy. Although she seemed to show strong favor toward him, when Jon earlier asked if she was interested in temporarily joining a team, she immediately refused.

Gauss's gaze turned to her blacksmith shop behind her.

"Albena, I'll get straight to the point."

"Please speak, Lord Gauss."

"..."

"We currently have a commission involving thousands of monsters and are looking for suitable teammates. But it seems your blacksmith shop is quite busy? If you can't spare the time, we won't disturb your work."

Gauss always spoke directly. Although he felt she was being overly enthusiastic toward him, business was business.

"Not busy, not busy at all. Lord Gauss, I've been wanting to stretch my limbs recently. If you don't mind, I'd be happy to contribute to your commission."

Albena quickly shook her head, flatly denying it. As if the absolute refusal she gave Jon just a minute ago didn't come from her mouth.

Aria and the others exchanged glances. Wasn't this agreement too quick?

"Then, shall we find a place to talk?"

"Sure, please wait a moment." Albena turned and walked into the blacksmith shop. Soon, sizzling sounds of extinguishing flames and crisp clanging noises came from inside.

Not long after, Albena emerged from the blacksmith shop again. She now wore a set of cold, hard steel armor with blue mana patterns flowing across its surface.

In her left hand, she carried a metal greatshield almost as tall as Gauss, thick and heavy with a golden-glowing magic crystal embedded in the center.

In her right hand, she held a wildly designed giant double-edged axe with a broad crescent-moon blade and a thick handle wrapped in black anti-slip leather.

After donning her armor and weapons, transitioning from blacksmith to warrior, Albena's intimidating presence became even stronger. Standing there, she truly resembled a mountain - and one that would actively attack with an axe at that.

"Albena, you guys talk first. Come find me when you confirm departure." Guild Master Jon slipped away guiltily. He was genuinely afraid Albena might swing her axe at him.

Gauss didn't expect her to move so quickly, but since Albena was already prepared, they might as well observe her combat style.

"Is there any open space nearby?"

"Yes, Lord Gauss. Please follow me." Albena led the way.

Her blacksmith shop was already on the outskirts of Gold-Silver Town. After just a few steps, they reached a small gate beside the city wall.

Several soldiers were leaning against the wall, holding their weapons and chatting cheerfully.

Suddenly, one of them stood up straight as if seeing some dangerous creature, his hair standing on end.

"Thump!"

Shadows fell over the group.

"Hello, could you please open the gate for us?" Albena spoke.

"Of course, we'll open it immediately, Lady Albena." It seemed these soldiers were quite familiar with her identity and didn't dare delay at all, quickly turning to open the gate for her.

She walked ahead while Gauss and the others followed closely behind.

The soldiers cast curious glances at them. What identities did these people have to make the famous Giant's Daughter Albena pick up her weapons again?

After exiting the city gate, the environment outside became much more desolate.

"Aren't you tired?" Gauss couldn't help asking. "I have a storage bag that can carry your equipment for now."

That set of equipment weighed at least several hundred kilograms, possibly even over a ton.

Albena shook her head. Seemingly to demonstrate her strength, she deftly swung her great axe twice in front of her, creating whooshing sounds. The phrase "making the difficult look easy" became tangible at this moment.

"It's fine, not very heavy."

Gauss could only attribute it to her exceptionally outstanding talent.

After leading them for a while longer, Albena brought the group to an abandoned small courtyard.

"Thump!"

She casually pressed her shield down, embedding it into the soil where it stood firmly.

"Lord Gauss, is your current commission in the nearby mine?" Gauss hadn't provided any specific information about the commission yet, but Albena had already guessed it.

"Yes. Beneath a place called Brennan Large Mine."

"I thought so. In this remote corner like Gold-Silver Town, only those abandoned mines can breed decent monsters."

"But Lord Gauss, you're truly impressive." Albena said sincerely, her mind clear now. "No offense intended, but ordinary people at your level wouldn't dare participate in such a dangerous commission."

Her peripheral gaze fell on the badges everyone wore. Dealing with at least a thousand monsters wasn't as simple as completing ten commissions of a hundred monsters each.

Fighting against overwhelming numbers while preparing for the possibility of high-combat-power individuals among the enemies - a monster nest of over a thousand in scale was no longer something ordinary elite professionals could handle.

Even teams consisting entirely of master-level professionals would need to carefully consider whether it was worth the risk.

This was also why she wanted to join this adventure. She simply couldn't allow such a man who perfectly matched her aesthetic to die inexplicably in an ordinary commission. That would be such a waste.

With her joining, she was confident that even if they couldn't defeat those monsters, she could protect these young faces and help them escape.

"We're quite experienced in monster killing." Gauss smiled.

"Albena, may I ask about your professional level?"

"It's considered level 6, Lord Gauss." Albena blinked.

"Albena, you can actually just call me Gauss. No need to be so formal." After confirming her level, Gauss couldn't help sweating.

Moreover, from observation and Albena's response, she didn't seem to be just an ordinary level 6. Plus, she also mastered blacksmithing skills. Such a capable person would undoubtedly be a valued guest of many factions in any town.

As a mere level 4 professional, how could he deserve being constantly addressed as "Lord" by her?

"Okay, Lord Gauss."

Well, that was pointless. It seemed she had her own strange persistence in this regard.

Gauss decided to let it be. It didn't cost him anything - just a form of address, like how Serlandul always called him captain.

"Miss Albena, hello. I'm Aria." Aria stepped out from behind Gauss to greet her.

Looking up at the tall Albena, she was completely enveloped in her shadow.

"Hello, little Aria."

"Huh?"

Aria blinked. She thought Albena had some strange habit of using honorifics with everyone, so she wanted to experience what it felt like to be called "Lady Aria" by a powerful master professional. After all, everyone has a little vanity, and she was no exception.

But she didn't expect Albena to automatically drop the honorific when addressing her. So... only Gauss received this treatment?

She turned to look at Gauss again. Wasn't this too real, Sister Albena? And why add "little" before her name? Although she had to admit that in terms of physique, standing before the other woman made her feel like a small child, but...

Shadow and Serlandul remained silent, perhaps thinking there would be opportunities to communicate later.

"Lord Gauss, would you like to learn about my abilities?"

"If it's convenient, that would be best." Gauss nodded.

...

About ten minutes later.

Accompanied by a rumbling collapse sound.

Albena looked innocently at the courtyard that had turned into ruins. She hadn't expected the buildings here to be so fragile, or perhaps she hadn't exercised for too long and got too excited, failing to control her strength?

In any case, after a shield slam, the hardened ground had shattered completely. Along with the surrounding courtyard walls and buildings, everything had collapsed into ruins.

Gauss stood on a protruding stone slab, wiping sweat from his forehead.

Albena was no paper tiger - beneath her strong physique lay even more violent strength.

"Lord Gauss, that move just now was called Mountain Tremor." Sif Albena somewhat apologetically put away her shield, looking at the messy ruins. "I accidentally didn't hold back my strength."

"The specific effect is that when I use this Mountain Fortress to strike the ground, I can directionally transmit the force to shake down enemies across a wide area in front."

Gauss nodded.

"Quite impressive control ability."

Mountain Fortress was the name of Albena's greatshield, while her great axe was called Earth-Splitter. Along with her magic armor [Azure Oath] that helped its owner recover some stamina during battle, all three main pieces of equipment were exceptional-quality purple gear suitable for master-level professionals.

That meant while Gauss and the others all used blue-quality or even white-quality equipment, the wealthy Albena alone carried three exceptional-quality purple items!

Even considering her identity as a blacksmith, her equipment in this area seemed excessively luxurious.

Gauss even began to think he probably couldn't defeat her. At least in close combat, he couldn't contend with an Albena like this.

This situation was a first for him. After all, whether it was Serlandul or Shadow who joined the team at higher levels than him, due to their professional orientations, their combat abilities were inferior to his.

Suddenly having such a powerful member join the team, even if only temporarily, truly made Gauss feel immense pressure.

"Lord Gauss..."

"Do you think I'm qualified?"

Seeing Gauss give a brief comment before falling silent for a long time without speaking, Albena asked nervously in a small voice.