"Hmm, do you have any ballistae here?"
"Let me think... There seems to be one gathering dust in the warehouse. Follow me."
As he spoke, he warmly led Gauss and the others into the gathering place.
Although he was puzzled that the leader of this squad was a three-star adventurer, while the four-star and five-star adventurers at the back followed contentedly, the smile on his face did not diminish by half, but became even brighter.
His many years of guarding experience told him that encountering unusual situations requires more careful attention, and this is the wisdom of a middle-aged man.
There were many adventurer squads in the camp.
They sat in groups outside their tents on wooden stumps, either maintaining their weapons or conversing quietly while smoking tobacco.
Compared to many adventurers in the town, the people here had equipment with obvious signs of wear, but most of their eyes were sharp, cautiously observing the newcomers, Gauss and his crew.
Especially when they saw the half-snake man Serdur and the intimidating presence of Ying, there was a hint of apprehension in their eyes, which quickly shifted away.
In addition to adventurers, there were also many medicine gatherers and miners in the camp.
"Your camp is quite lively," Gauss nodded.
"We live off the mountains, you always need a place to rest," Miller said lightly, leading Gauss through the not-so-spacious but relatively tidy camp road.
"The mountains have been unsettled lately, with more demon attack incidents, so fewer people are coming than before. Many laborers staying in the camp haven’t gone out for some days."
His words carried a subtle hint of worry.
The prosperity of the camp heavily relies on passing adventurers and caravans; if the threat can’t be resolved soon, it will be a heavy blow to this gathering place.
Gauss said nothing, quietly listening while observing the miners and medicine gatherers.
Most had weathered faces, rough fingers, wore tattered clothes, silently eating simple food, their eyes showing fatigue and concern.
Evidently, the rampant goblins also affected their livelihood.
Those cunning goblins might be continuously attacking other intelligent life around the forest following such an assault last night.
What they need to do is find their lair and eliminate them entirely.
The armory was located at a relatively inner part of the camp, in what looked like an exceptionally solid stone cellar, with guards posted at the entrance.
Miller took out a key and opened the heavy lock.
As the door was pushed open, a gust of rust-preventive oil, wood, and dusty smell accompanied by sudden cool air rushed forward.
Miller picked up a lantern and walked inside.
There weren’t many things in the storeroom, but it was very orderly. Several sturdy leather shields hung on the walls, and racks in the corner held spears, axes, longswords, and other weapons.
But the most eye-catching was the ballista, securely mounted at the back on a stand.
It was more formidable than Gauss imagined, the stout arms crafted from some kind of dark hardwood, the taut bowstring as thick as a finger.
Though Miller said it was gathering dust in the warehouse, the dark metal mechanism was thickly coated with grease, indicating it had been well maintained.
"This is it."
Gauss stepped forward to inspect it and then sought Miller’s advice on how to use it.
After learning the dismantling and installation steps, making sure everything was correct.
He packed the ballista, broken down into its major components like the body, arms, base, and heavy winch, into the storage pouch.
If not disassembled, it wouldn’t fit easily.
Gauss temporarily obtained the ballista.
Just as he was about to turn and leave.
Miller suddenly retrieved some packages from a corner and handed them to Gauss.
"You might find these useful as well."
Gauss looked at the packages handed over by Miller, which were long and wrapped in thick oilcloth. They felt quite heavy, and he could faintly sense they were several hard, cylindrical objects inside.
He carefully unwrapped a corner of the oilcloth, revealing three dark metallic creations inside.
They were roughly cylindrical, with simple reinforcement runes and a trigger groove engraved on the surface. The top had a handle convenient for throwing, exuding a faint smell of sulfur and magic power.
These are...
Alchemical bombs?
"They are too precious."
Miller waved his hand dismissively.
"Hold onto them. Things are dead, people are alive. We hope you can successfully wipe out those pests’ lair, so we can have some peace around here."
Hearing this, Gauss no longer refused and carefully stored the package away.
Leaving the cellar storeroom, the night was already dark.
Without refusing Miller’s offer to stay, the squad spent the night at the camp.
Early the next morning, they left their mounts at the camp and set off once again.
Under the complex gazes of many in the camp, they departed from Lawrence Camp, heading towards the deeper and treacherous mountain wilderness.
...
Somewhere in the Hern Mountains.
A concealed crevice was transformed into a stronghold easy to defend but hard to attack.
The stronghold was filled with the figures of some kind of green-skinned creatures, in various forms of height, weight, and size.
Numerous crude animal hide tents were crowded together.
Outside the tents hung strips of dried meat and various simple bone ornaments.
Crude fire pits piled with stones and dirt were scattered everywhere, the flickering flames illuminating many ugly faces.
The vast majority of goblins idly squatted, baring their teeth as they fought over a few scraps of food or used crude tools to grind rough weapons, making teeth-gritting scraping sounds.