Subjugation Quest

"Would you mind recommending some quests?" Thap asked Via proudly, now that he had his equipment. 

"Sure! I see you're already geared up. Maybe you could try this quest. Moreover, there have been a lot of monsters roaming around the city and the forest lately. Make sure you always stay cautious!" Via replied, handing him a quest's paper.

 "Goblin subjugation?!" Thap exclaimed when he read the quest. 

"Yes, there have been a lot of requests about them lately—" Via stopped halfway as she sensed someone was looking at her. To her surprise, it was Isabelle, who was three counters away, staring intently at the two of them, her eyes especially locked on Thap. 

"... Oh, I see... Erm..." she muttered and cleared her throat. 

"Are you alright, Ms. Via?" Thap asked her with a bewildered expression.

"Oh, my apologies. Right, I know it was sudden, but would you consider having a supervisor?" Via asked him with a bright smile. 

"Supervisor?" Thap muttered, having no idea what that was. 

After a short explanation from Via, Thap got a grasp of what a supervisor is. He thought to himself it would be great to have someone from the guild to support and advise him, as he knew nothing about how things work in this world.

"It would be a great help if I have a supervisor then!" Thap exclaimed with excitement.

"Yes, but first I want to see how capable you are. If you are able to complete this quest, I will recommend you to one of the receptionists here! How about that?" Via informed him with a reasonable bargain as she wanted to know how competent he is. 

"All right!! I won't fail you!! I will get going then," Thap shouted and left the guild.

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"Hmmm... a horde of goblins. I wonder how strong they are," Thap thought to himself as he made his way to his destination. 

The quest required him to destroy a horde of goblins that had recently made a base near the Silvershade Forest, next to a small farming village. It took him four and a half hours on foot to get there from the city. 

"I guess I'm almost there. Based on the map, their base should be somewhere around here. I should be alert and prepared," he thought to himself as he put the map back into his backpack and unsheathed his sword. 

[Growled] 

[Giggled]

As he got closer and closer, he began to hear high-pitched giggles and low-pitched growls. The sounds were unfamiliar to him, and he initially thought they might be from some strange animal. However, it turned out to be a group of short green creatures with deformed faces and bodies.

"Are they goblins?!" he muttered as he hid in a bush and observed them. 

To his surprise, the goblins he saw were nothing like the ones from movies and folktales back on Earth. These green creatures were short but fit, with long arms, noses, and ears. They had disfigured faces with sharp, wolf-like teeth. They wore nothing but pieces of cloth to cover their private parts and were all equipped with handmade weapons such as axes, spears, bats, knives, and more, depending on the horde they were in. 

"Shit, why is the one that sitting over there was big? It's also not green but dark red in color and large fangs visible from its mouth," Thap continued his observation, shocked to see a big goblin chilling on a wooden throne. 

The dark-red goblin he saw was the leader of the horde. It was the strongest and the one that led these goblins. Unlike the normal ones, which were around 1 meter in height, the leader was about 1.5 to 1.7 meters tall. The leader was smart and as capable as a normal human. It had learned to wear clothes and was equipped with armor from the adventurer they had killed. 

"Damn, will I be able to kill all of them? There are about 15 of them, plus that big guy too. The quest didn't even mention the number.... [Creak]" As Thap thought to himself and slowly distanced himself from the bush, he accidentally stepped on a broken bone, which made a crack sound. 

"Fuck!" Thap realized that he had messed up as the goblins began to look intensely at the source of the sound.

"Ah shit! Bring it on then!!" Thap held his sword tightly and confronted the goblins, standing his ground confidently.

Thap knew that he couldn't outrun them as he already found himself surrounded by them. 

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"Graawww!" 

The goblins became frightened as they saw each of their friends being cut into pieces like a cake. Their realization came too late after engaging with Thap; they thought he was just a normal adventurer. 

"Wow, this was easier than I expected?! I could easily take down these goblins really fast!" Thap couldn't help but enjoy fighting these goblins with the knowledge of swordsmanship he had acquired this morning. 

With his current knowledge and skill in swordsmanship, these goblins were nothing but small fries to him. Thap moved incredibly fast, cutting down the goblins with his sword as if he had done it a thousand times. 

"Oi, are you the boss? Sorry, but I killed all of your underlings! Now I just need to finish you off!" Thap confronted the leader of the horde, his sword pointing at it. 

[Roared] 

The dark-red goblin began to roar, pulled out its large axe, and charged at him. Thap could feel its enormous strength and rage from it's footsteps, which shook the ground as it got closer to him.

When it got closer, it quickly swung its axe directly at Thap, but he quickly dodged it. However, the dark-red goblin suddenly threw a sneaky punch at him as soon as he dodged that attack.

He received the punch and got blown away.

"Shit…. Hssh ! He's fast." Thap growled in pain as he tried to get up and distanced himself from the dark-red goblin.

He didn't expect the punch to be so painful and powerful, which made him think about his current physique. "I should start training this body" He muttered to himself. 

As he was talking to himself, the dark-red goblin pulled out its axe from the ground and charged at him again. This time, instead of striking, it tightened its grip on the axe and began slashing at him with a rapid pace. 

With that sudden attack, Thap couldn't react fast enough, but he managed to protect himself with his sword and strike back. The fight was intense as they kept on striking at each other. 

"There is no end to this !" He muttered to himself before starting to observe the goblin's fighting style. 

He then realized that this goblin was able to maintain its standing because of its leg, which allowed it to position itself steadily and attack him like a beast. He tried to move closer and strike its leg, but he missed as the dark-red goblin realized his attack and dodged it. 

"I see," Thap muttered to himself, confirming his assumption.

He quickly ran closer to the goblin, grabbed some dry dirt, and threw it into its eyes. The goblin couldn't see and tried to wipe it off while slashing its axe randomly into the air. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Thap dashed in and pierced the back of its heel, cutting off the tendon and nerves of the foot. With that wound, the dark-red goblin began to lose its balance and fell to the ground. Thap jumped on top of it and struck his sword directly into its heart. 

"Hah... it finally ends," Thap said, sitting down on the monster he had just killed, relieved.

"Wait, when I think about this, Ms. Via wasn't informed about the number of goblins, and the quest didn't mention it either. Is there something wrong with the scouting?" Thap thought to himself after a short break. 

"Anyway, I should inform Ms. Via about it," he continued.

Thap then cut off all the goblins' ears and looted some valuable materials from them before returning to the guild as proof of completing the quest.