I Am Not Goblin Slayer

Chapter 96: The Despicable Outsider

Gauss had never seen a Goblin tribe of such scale before.

Of course, he had to observe for a while longer and collect enough intelligence before he could proceed to formulate the next stage of the plan.

He climbed up a large tree and, using the thick trunk that resembled a wall as cover, cautiously stuck out his head to observe the Goblin Village in the distance below.

After his Perception had increased to 7 points, the “hardware-level” sensory organs seemed to have been upgraded.

Under normal circumstances, identifying a target dozens or even hundreds of meters away was no longer a difficult task.

He gazed into the distance.

The appearance of the Goblin Village finally revealed itself before his eyes.

Although he had roughly guessed that this group of Goblins had already formed a rudimentary social structure when he saw the short walls from below earlier,

seeing the internal structure clearly still surprised him.

What appeared before his eyes resembled a primitive early human village, in which the Goblins lived in an orderly manner.

At the center of the village’s open space was a large bonfire, and beside the fire stood a row of racks, from which hung dissected chunks of meat from small birds, wild chickens, and other animals—there were even several thighbones that appeared to be human.

Next to it, over a smaller bonfire, a large pot simmered with a dark green “special stew” that was likely lunch.

A large group of Goblins of various sizes stood with extremely crude wooden bowls in hand, waiting for food distribution.

And on a smooth stone sat a Goblin, similar in build to its kin, greedily devouring roasted meat. What drew attention was the reddish-brown hat on its head, as if soaked in fresh blood.

This was the “leader” of the Goblin Village. That even the typically lazy and disorganized Goblins had formed such a tribe likely owed its existence to this individual.

For these not-so-intelligent Goblins, it was difficult to spontaneously form a long-term, stable social structure. Usually, it required a powerful leader—one who possessed might far surpassing that of its short-sighted kin, allowing it to enforce authority and discipline.

This Redcap Goblin was such a being.

During the two days Gauss rested in town, he had not completely turned off his mind or stopped preparing.

In fact, by chatting with others in the Adventurer’s Guild hall, he had gathered quite a bit of intelligence about the Redcap Goblin.

Among the Goblin race, Redcap Goblins were a particularly unique type of individual.

Their bodies were not larger than their kin, nor did they possess any magical powers like the Goblin Shaman. However, their desire for violence and bloodlust was extremely intense, and beneath their unremarkable appearance was a compact and potent muscular strength.

Additionally, they would rely on commanding groups or setting traps to hunt other prey or humans, and they used the blood of their victims to dye their hats red.

Due to the natural drying of blood over time, the hat’s color would fade, so they had to frequently hunt new victims to maintain the brightness of their hat’s hue.

These habits made the “brave and cunning” Redcap one of the most dangerous individuals among the non-elite Goblins.

Gauss watched the Redcap from afar.

Aside from the hat on its head, it also wore a set of mottled armor—it was unclear whether it was Scale Leather Armor or Cloth Armor. A Dagger hung at its waist, and next to it lay a Longbow and a quiver.

So it could engage in both melee and ranged combat?

Gauss pondered silently.

As the saying goes, a lion uses all its strength even when hunting a rabbit.

The first strike of a Professional should cut down a Goblin. Facing this long-time adversary in great numbers, Gauss did not want to suffer a disgraceful failure.

Although the mission description didn’t indicate that this Redcap Goblin had ascended to elite status, Gauss did not underestimate it.

In his months of adventuring so far, other than the Mantis Hunter, this Redcap Goblin was likely the strongest individual he had encountered.

The Ghoul that devoured corpses didn’t count, since he hadn’t actually fought it.

Apart from the Redcap Goblin, the other regular Goblins couldn’t be taken lightly either.

Next to the Redcap Goblin, also sitting on stones and enjoying the “delicacies,” were four other Goblins. Their builds were quite “burly,” each standing at least 1.6 meters tall.

That size was already considered massive for ordinary Goblins.

It was likely that the Redcap Goblin, by taking advantage of its tribe’s numerical superiority and frequently hunting large prey, had managed to concentrate enough food to nurture a few strong “lieutenants.”

This realization gave Gauss a deeper understanding of the Redcap Goblin’s influence on the tribe.

First, its strength had to far surpass that of the other Goblins; otherwise, it wouldn’t be able to suppress over fifty adult Goblins and those four large brutes. Second, its intelligence couldn’t be too low either—it assigned tasks, commanded other Goblins in hunting, and distributed food. These weren’t things that mindless Goblins could manage.

This meant that once he launched a frontal assault on this village,

the Redcap could completely rely on the tribe’s ample hunting experience to counter him.

Before taking down the Redcap, he would have to deal with the onslaught of dozens of Goblins.

Though charging in and unleashing slaughter might not guarantee defeat, Gauss decided it was better to play it safe.

He observed the village closely again.

Aside from the central “open plaza,” the Goblin Village, encircled by short walls smeared with what seemed to be feces, could roughly be divided into residential areas, the leader’s large tent, storage area, and other facilities.

In the storage area was a natural pool, which appeared to be the village’s only water source.

In just this short period of observation, one well-fed Goblin had already staggered to the pool to drink.

With this crucial clue in hand, Gauss felt even more confident.

Before arriving, he had already outlined several tactical plans in his head—fire attack, feint and diversion to lure away part of the Goblins,

decapitation strike, poisoning...

After careful filtering, he concluded that the best way to annihilate this Goblin tribe was poisoning.

Other methods were either too difficult to execute or could cause the Goblins to panic and scatter early, ruining everything.

Poisoning might not sound honorable, but as an Adventurer, Gauss didn’t care for such formalities. He simply went with what worked.

Thinking this, he flipped down the tree trunk and climbed back down.

“Pa! Pa!”

Clapping his hands, he returned to where he had stored his pack.

Opening the backpack, it was filled with all kinds of tools and small weapons.

The poison he had purchased was a specially crafted toxin pouch. Once placed in the water source and used with a scent masker, the Goblins’ dull sense of taste would not detect the change. After drinking it, symptoms of diarrhea and dehydration would occur in about 1–3 hours.

Considering Goblins might have higher toxin resistance, Gauss had deliberately prepared several times the normal dosage.

As for why he didn’t opt for a more potent poison, such as a violent neurotoxin that could kill within seconds…

There was reason behind it—on one hand, a small place like Graystone Town didn’t sell such poisons, or he simply hadn’t found any; on the other hand, using something too toxic wasn’t necessarily a good thing either.

If a Goblin died by the water source shortly after drinking, and this happened a few more times, not to mention the Redcap Goblin with possibly higher intelligence than ordinary Goblins— even regular Goblins would realize something was wrong.

So, a longer-lasting laxative was the better choice. He only needed the Goblins to lose most of their combat strength.

The dim-witted Goblins might not even connect the diarrhea with any lurking threat.

Once afflicted, even if they scattered and fled, their speed would be slower than normal.

Gauss carefully tucked the toxin pouch into his bag and patiently waited for the Goblins to finish their meal.

He knew, in such hot weather, the Goblins couldn’t possibly remain in the open space for long.

Sure enough, after lunch, the Goblins returned to the residential area and crawled into their makeshift shacks built from branches and leaves.

Not long after, they began their afternoon rest one by one.

However, by the short wall, that Redcap waved its hand to summon several Goblins, babbling commands at them as it led them to the wall’s edge to keep watch—likely as a precaution against sudden outside intrusions.

After assigning tasks, the Redcap returned to its leader’s large tent.

Soon after it left, the once-alert Goblin sentries by the wall slumped lazily, heads drooping, occasionally casting glances into the village.

Seeing this, Gauss let out a sigh of relief.

Although he planned to use poison, if several pairs of eyes were constantly watching every move inside the village, it would have made action difficult.

Fortunately, Goblins had a sense of duty—but not much of it.

He applied odor concealer to himself, bent down, lowered his steps, and slowly moved toward the Goblin Village.

The open field between the forest and the Goblin Village was the most likely place to be spotted.

Luckily, thanks to his well-timed approach, he didn’t alarm a single Goblin sentry and quietly reached the short wall.

As he got closer, sniffing the strange stench from the sun-heated stone wall, Gauss’s expression changed slightly.

The wall was indeed smeared with feces—some even quite fresh, with visible traces of undried matter.

With 7 points in Perception, the stench of feces and urine was magnified, flooding into his nostrils in waves.

So smelly!

I can endure it!

Gauss steadied his breathing.

Now he understood how Meiva the Rogue Apprentice must have felt when she activated her skill.

After calming down, he began crawling forward using the stone wall as cover.

He needed to get as close to the water pool as possible.

After advancing to become a Spellcaster, the Tier 0 Cantrip Mage Hand he had mastered did not gain much in power or speed, but its range had increased from 10 meters to 20 meters.

Even so, the current distance was still not enough.

Carefully and enduring the stench, he finally reached the section of wall nearest to the water pool.

After a quick glance around, he saw that the nearby Goblin sentry was nearly asleep, its head bobbing like a pecking chick.

Seeing this, Gauss quietly cast Mage Hand.

In the air before him, an invisible hand slowly formed.

He placed the toxin pouch in Mage Hand’s palm.

Then, he began guiding Mage Hand forward.

Though Mage Hand was invisible, the toxin pouch it carried was still visible.

So Gauss chose to have Mage Hand move along the ground.

When Mage Hand had moved a few meters—

Suddenly, that dozing Goblin sniffed the air, seemingly sensing something. Its sleepy eyes opened as it raised its head and looked around.

It scanned its surroundings for a few seconds, a confused expression spreading across its face.

After confirming that nothing had changed, it couldn’t resist the drowsiness and shut its eyes again.

“Good thing I was cautious.”

At the moment the Goblin reacted, Gauss had Mage Hand stop moving. The toxin pouch was just an unremarkable piece of junk on the ground—it truly didn’t draw the Goblin’s attention.

Clearly, one should never underestimate any creature capable of surviving in this primitive Jungle. Even these little green-skinned fiends could sometimes possess a sharp instinct.