To Convince

"Are you dumb !? how could you go deep inside the forest ?!"

What awaits me when I tell my parents my finding is anger. Although it's no surprise, I forgot to consider this thing. The forest around the mountain near the town was known to be relatively safe. But even the hunter wouldn't go too deep if they don't have any business there.

To be honest, navigating the forest at night indeed gives chills down my spine. But what can I do? it's for the survival of this village too. Believe me, old man, when the time comes, you're gonna thank me too. As for how to convince the town lord, I'm gonna leave it to him.

"But a goblin huh..."

It doesn't take long before he realizes the real matter at hand here.

"How about consulting it to the other villager first?", Convince me.

He didn't answer me, but I guess that's the best I can do. I'll try to convince him tomorrow night if he is still hesitant about it.

The next afternoon, on rest time, my father bring me to the mansion not too far from the farm.

"I'm requesting the town lord's presence, there's something that I want to report to him directly", Says my old man to the guard outside the mansion

"Please wait here for a bit"

Then one of the guards went inside for a moment and went back again.

"He can grant you his presence, follow me"

Then we follow one of the guards inside. To be honest, I have my idea about whose farm I'm working on all this time, it's indeed the town lord. He must be a noble, but not a high-rank one as he rules over this place.

The inside of this mansion seems better than all the houses I've seen here. We're taken to the working room of the lord. There seems to be a man reading some documents without minding us here. He has to be the Lord from his attire and demeanour, there's no mistaking it.

"Sir, he's the one that requesting your audience"

After that, the lord put down his work and start inspecting us from top to bottom.

"You're a farmer right?", Ask him calmly.

"Yes my lord, I've been working here for years, and here's my son, Neil", Replied my father while trying to introduce me

"Good morning my lord"

I forgot the etiquette in this world from the novel, as most parts of the novel happen in the academy where the main character mainly interacts with his schoolmates. But this should be enough for a farmer's son without any formal education.

"What brings you here?"

"My son here happens to found a goblin deep inside the forest last night. I came here to report it to you, my lord"

"So your son here claims that he's seeing a goblin?"

"Yes, my lord"

The town lord sigh and closes his eyes while resting his back on the chair, he seems to be in deep thought. To be honest, if he doesn't believe me then all my effort until now would be in vain.

"Well, there's no harm in trying to check on it. I believe your son still remembers the location where he saw the goblin right?"

My father looks at me with an indication asking for me to answer.

"Yes, my lord"

To be honest I lied. Rather than spotting a goblin, all I see was a mountain cave. But I'm pretty sure it was filled with goblins. I wouldn't lie if I'm not sure about it either, as the consequences are dire. The old man believing me here is the proof that he's betting his life on me.

'Don't worry old man, I won't let your sacrifice go in vain', I thought.

"Good, if that's the case then can you bring a few of my men to check on the location? we'll handle it depending on how many the goblins are and how dangerous it is"

Does he believe me just like that? No, the main purpose of this is to check whether the information is true or false. I can't expect him to be a good person as he sends an underage kid to check on something dangerous, but at least he looks decent at least. My worst-case scenario is that some incompetent town lord rules here that just don't care about anything.

In the novel, there have been cases of nobles who lose the political battle with their siblings to be sent to some random rural areas or towns. It doesn't mean that they're incompetent, they're just bad at politics. I hope he's at least just like those cases.

Now I'm just walking into the forest with some soldier behind me. Our direction is simple, to the foot of the mountain. And when we reach there, we'll walk circling the mountain clock-wise direction, then we should be able to find the mountain cave.

I was expecting the soldier behind me to start bickering behind my back. As they shouldn't believe me, but such a cliche development didn't happen and we keep our communication to the bare minimum as we don't want any dangerous beast to notice our presence.

We didn't find any dangerous monsters. It's given, this part of the forest was known to be relatively safe at least, even though I didn't find any dangerous monsters at night, if they start appearing now, it might be because of our crowded presence.

I start following last night's direction, luckily I already mark a few trees just in case so I didn't get lost here. When I can see the mountain cave from afar, I start pointing at it.

"You see that cave over there? That's where I saw the goblin last night"

"Whew, I thought that we were lost already. But you sure venture deep into the forest kid", Said the knight that seems to be the leader or something, "So here's the place huh? It's indeed a dubious-looking cave right there. You wait here while we go check it just to make sure"

The knight then starts gesturing for the other knights to follow him and they all go to the cave while I just wait here. It's given, as I don't have any skill to defend myself. Not long after, I see a group of knights running from afar.

"Run kid, there are so many goblins there!", Shout one of the knights while being chased by many green monsters.

So I start to run in the other direction where we came from. I keep running without minding the knights behind me towards the town. Luckily all the stamina training that I did in the past didn't betray me as I still keep up my speed for most of the time until I reach the town.

"Damn, I thought I was a goner there", Said one of the knights fully tired after we reach the town.

"You saw the thing right? You should report to the lord as soon as possible", I hurry them.

"I know what to do kid, just give me some time to catch a break here"

Just how old are you bro?

.....

"So there's indeed goblins in the forest not too far from the town huh"

"Yes sir, we've seen it with our own eyes", Replied one of the knights while still in sweat.

I was brought to meet the town lord again. To be honest, after everything has been settled, I believe it's time for my reward right?

"Is there any sign of them attacking the town yet?"

"As for now, we believe they won't attack us soon sir, as their population is still not enough to do it"

Yes, in the novel, goblins are said to be quite smart in that aspect. If they believe they won't win, then they'll back down. Maybe they're still breeding right now to increase their population, as their only strength is when they fight in groups.

"But a group of goblins is still dangerous for a town of this population", Says the town lord while emitting worry, "Maybe we can ask the adventurer guild to help us subjugate it"

"Yes, it's indeed a wise decision to make sir"

This town lord is indeed capable, but is he capable enough to reward me handsomely? I'll wait patiently here.

"Okay, that settles it then. I'll write the letter to the adventurer guild soon. As for you..."

The town lord starts looking at me. This time he looks at me with a bit of interest as he inspects me longer than in our first meeting.

"You did a great job informing me about the goblins. As you can see, they can be a dangerous creature if we leave them be, especially when they can reach this town in hours"

"It's given to me to inform it as it concerns the future of this town, my lord"

And of course for the reward too, please don't forget it.

"You sound like you're fairly educated for a farmer's son", Says the town lord while still looking at me, "I believe that I should reward you handsomely young man. Is monetary reward okay for you?"

"Is it enough for me to go to the knight academy in the capital city?"

"hoo... so you want to attend the knight academy? for what reason if I could know?"

"No, to be precise, I want to help my friend to attend the knight academy, as I have my own way to attend it myself"

"So you want to help your friend? not you?", Said the town lord while frowning his brows, "How noble indeed. Such youthful friendship is indeed hard to come by. How about this, I could write a recommendation for your friend to attend the knight academy. That at least will guarantee him to get into the academy. As for whether he can survive there, it's all up to him"

"Can you really do that, my lord?"

"Do not underestimate me, young boy, even though I rule this place, I'm still a son of a count"

"If that's the case then I'll be very thankful for you, my lord", I said while bowing my head.

What an unexpected offer. At first, I don't expect much. Even if he don't want to give me any reward, even I couldn't complain straight in his face as it would be an offence. I feel so anti-climatic here.

"Here's the recommendation letter", he said after finishing the letter, "and here's a bit of reward for yourself", As he handed me a pouch that I believe was filled with money.

"Is it alright for me to receive this too?"

"Yes, I believe that you're worthy of it", He said while smiling this time.

Wow, I can't believe this.

As the knight escorts me outside the mansion, I notice that the sun is starting to set. I want to go right home before I notice someone sitting in a small house in the middle of paddy fields. It's Jed, sitting alone while watching the distance.

"A beautiful sight isn't it?", I say while walking towards him.

"Indeed", He says while still looking in the same direction, "I think I've picked up the same habit as yours haha"

We both laugh together. The mood just seems different from the last time we both sit and talk right here.

"Do you still remember the dream and aspiration that you tell me about last time?", I asked.

"Yes", He said while having a smile on his face. But I could see a trace of sadness on his smile, "But I've learned to make peace with myself. It's like what you said, being just a farmer is not that bad, isn't it? We can enjoy this scenery every day and that's already enough for me"

I'm looking at his face without knowing what to say.

'So you want to make all my effort be in vain? no way. I'll make sure you'll attend the knight academy'

"What if I said that you can attend the knight academy in the capital?"

"What do you mean?", He turns his head and look at me confusedly.

"Well, look what I have here", I said while presenting him the recommendation letter from the town lord.

he read the letter with a confused face. After reading it for a while, he returns it back to me.

'I didn't see a happy expression on his face', I thought.

"I can't read the letter at all"

And silence befell us.

'So he's illiterate? Wait I can't read the letter too, I guess we're the same huh'

Since coming to this world, I've never found myself in a situation where I have to read something. So I guess it's given that I just found out that I'm illiterate like most of the commoners in this world I guess.

"It's a recommendation letter", I tried explaining to him.

"What do you mean by recommendation letter Neil?"

"Well, it's for you to be able to attend the knight academy"

"What do you mean by me attending a knight academy Neil?"

I started to explain to him about all I'm doing for the past few weeks.

"And that concludes why you have this recommendation letter"

He was clearly dumbfounded right now. It's normal. As long as he's convinced to attend the knight academy, it's all good for me.

"I can't accept it, Neil"

"What?! Why?"

"You did this all for me, and I don't even have a way to repay you"

"If you want to repay me, you will get the chance in the academy. As I have a task for you there"

"A task? what task?"

"You'll get to know it when you get there"

"Then how about you Neil? I can't bring myself to attend the academy if you're just stuck here"

"Of course, I've my own plan after all. I also plan to attend the academy too, you know"

Hearing that, I could see that he was feeling relieved. Just one last push.

"Promise me, Jed. Next year, when the academy opens for enrollment, you'll go there"

"You sound like I'm going there alone?"

"Yes, you're going alone"

"What? But you said that you'll also attend the academy. Are you lying here?"

"Yes, I intend to join the academy but using another way. And before that, I also have another thing to do in different places so I'll go there first before going to the academy. Do you get what I mean? Now promise me that you'll attend the academy next year"

"Sure, but you also have to promise me that you'll attend it too"

"Yes yes. Now, here's the recommendation letter. Keep it good and keep it a secret from your parents for now. You'll only tell them about it when you're ready to go next year, got it? As for when the enrollment opens, you can ask the travelling merchant for that, as I don't know the exact date each year"

"I don't understand why, but I'll just do as you say"

"Good, that's the spirit. Now let's go home, it's chilly here at night"

The sun has long been set. We walk towards our home and before we part ways I could feel like he want to tell me something but as I didn't hear anything I just keep walking home.

I did speak the truth back then, but even I was still uncertain of it. I already gamble back then about the goblins, but I think I have to make a bigger gamble this time, with my life on the line here.