Alvinshire was a notable village in it was the first village Ratface had run into that didn’t have a wall around it. Well, she supposed there was the Redwood, but that place was surrounded by demon trees. Arguably better than a wall.

  The reason for it was that Alvinshire was located between two much larger towns. Those two towns were acting as its walls.

  It did make the two guards at the main entrance seem like a waste of time. They were diligently checking the few people coming into the place even though you could avoid them by just leaving the path. Ratface had been tempted to do that before Albert had pointed out that if she was caught without the guards knowing she was there, it’d be a problem.

  She was stuck in the wagon with Halmir and Abigail. The rest were a little ahead of them because they’d be let in easier.

  Tiffany and Albert were waved through without much fanfare. Adventurers were this villages main visitors, either because they were completing quests or using them as a pit stop. The Adventurers guild and the inn were the busiest places as a result.

  Krysa got let through with lots of fanfare. Most people had never seen an elf and they tripped over herself to accommodate her. Ratface was pretty sure the only reason she’d been let in the first time is because Krysa had been next to her. She was also pretty sure the glamour had yet to pay for a single thing in this town.

  They finally made it to the front of the line. Ratface had her helmet on with the visor pushed up. She’d been bad at remembering to wear it. Ironically it was easier to remember in town than in a battle.

  The guards stilled when they saw her and Halmir. A rat noble was only viewed slightly better than a goblin, which was to say he’d manage to get a full sentence out before someone attacked. Ratface was still wary after her time in Arnold village.

  “Hey, it’s the goblin and rat you sent out on a task remember?” said Ratface. Their eyes locked onto her. Worried but not hostile which was interesting. The name Alvinshire suggested they’d also had a champion here once, but they clearly didn’t have as much trauma from goblins as Arnold village.

  Abigail nudged her. No doubt the older woman thought she was intentionally antagonising them. Well, she was. Not for fun though, well not just for fun anyway. Worried she could live with. Worried could be mitigated. It did mean she’d have to stick next to Abigail or Krysa. The old adventurer gave people comfort and people assumed she was Krysa’s servant.

  “Adventurer Abigail with assistants,” said Abigail. The guards relaxed as they were reminded that there was a knight literally right next to the two children. They waved them through.

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  The village’s main road was busy, and its shops had been set up in such a way to facilitate that. The shops had stalls out on the main road with bigger shops behind for villagers or people searching for specific merchandise. The food stalls were doing the best. Ratface watched many and adventure scarf a kebab or burger down as they passed through.

  They eyed her with suspicion but by now she was a known problem. Albert village’s guild master had sent out a message to all the local guilds acknowledging Ratface’s existence. It almost made her death test worth it. Almost.

  That didn’t mean she was liked. They set their wagon in the inspection area of the guild and marched into the place. The moment they did eyes were on her and Halmir. Halmir was walking next to her with careful steps. He was so graceful in a fight but outside of it the humanoid form still gave him trouble. Usually, he’d just turn into a rat and ride on her shoulder but the first time he’d done that people had gotten paranoid. It hadn’t helped that he used his blink liberally. Ratface wasn’t sure if he was lazy or training. She’d give him the benefit of the doubt.

  “I’m going to go talk to the receptionist, you two go find a spot to wait,” said Abigail. Ratface shrugged and made her way to one of the empty tables. Halmir came a moment later with some food he’d managed to wrangle for the two of them. He was still a growing rat noble and had to eat a lot.

  While Halmir dug in, Ratface listened to the room. Abigail was going through the official trails, but goblins knew that adventurers were shameless gossips. If she just kept her ear out, she might hear something.

  Most of it was boring stuff. Extermination quest were at an all time high and as a result a lot of poisons prices had shot up. It wasn’t a problem for Ratface, she didn’t like using poisons on monsters. You still had to go get them and it spoiled the meat. She hadn’t formed an opinion on using it in other situations yet. It was sneaky and underhanded which suited her just fine. The poisons they were talking about were for coating your weapons though and she’d much rather chuck it in someone’s food, so she didn’t have to fight them at all. Oh well.

  Her poison musing was interrupted when she overheard someone complaining about her. Always good for a laugh.

  “You see they’re letting goblins in now? They’ll let just anyone in.” said a rough looking fellow. He was wearing a yellow jacket over his armour because of course was.

  “Careful. Ol’ Granny Greatsword punched the last adventurer out that said something like that,” said a smaller man. He was wearing a blue robe. Ratface just knew he’d be a water mage. Why colour code to your magic?

  He was also wrong. Abigail hadn’t punched someone for being mean to her. She’d done it because they’d tried to kidnap her. Ratface wasn’t about to correct him. She didn’t want to be insulted actually.

  “She’s probably the one that led all those other goblins into the area,” said yellow jacket. Ratface did her best not to react. There were goblins around?

  “Who cares? All that means is more quests for us,” said robes.

  “Yeah, but fighting goblins is always risky.”

  “So don’t join the raid you big baby. More money for me.”

  “I’m not going to miss out on it, apparently they’ve got some loot on them.”

  She kept listening to them, but they quickly moved into what they were going to do with all the loot on her fellow goblins. They didn’t give her a location though. Ratface frowned. The guild was probably keeping it secret from her. The fact the raid hadn’t happened yet at least meant she had some time to find out where it was.

  She eyed behind the counter where all the relevant quest information was kept. It looked like she was going to have to do some nighttime reading.