397 - Big Mama and the Soup Gang 2


    TL/Editor: raei


    Status: 5/Week Mon-fri


    Illustrations: Posted in discord.


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    Beyond the vast prairie''s open horizon, where swaying grass blades blurred into the distant figures, Grace gazed intently.


    "People?"


    "Yes, people."


    Normally, she would have provided more details. The number of goblins, the mix of orc javelineers judging by the different footsteps, adventurers resting or mercenaries sorting through loot - that kind of specific information.


    But this time was different.


    Puzzledly, she kept repeating "people" over and over. As she spoke, her delicate brow furrowed slightly, creating wrinkles as if she herself wasn''t sure. Then her eyes sharpened, focusing her senses to perceive beyond the horizon.


    ''...What''s going on? Could the fake safe zone be randomly bringing people here?''


    "The people are fighting a goblin unit."


    People? What kind of situation could this be? As I pondered this, Grace''s footsteps naturally quickened. For a moment, I was mesmerized by the sight of her back as she ran forward, trampling the prairie grass.


    Seeing her rush off without explanation after mentioning a fight meant we needed to help. Realizing this, I pressed down my helmet once more.


    "Shit, a battle? It''s a battle then?!"


    The scout drew her bowstring and rushed off without explanation, while I immediately entered a combat stance by pressing down my helmet. As Manaashi, accustomed to tribal warfare, began following right behind me at full speed, the rest of the party hurriedly moved their feet as well.


    "Hueek, hieek... H-How far are we running?"


    "Hnngh, Hanna, you okay?"


    "You three go ahead! I''ll stay with these two!"


    As a result, when Han Se-ah and Irene fell behind due to lack of stamina, Katie naturally slowed her pace to escort the two, sending the three temporary companions ahead.


    ...I''d need to scold Grace sharply for this, if nothing else.


    I didn''t know how urgent the situation was, but she''d split the party in half. Of course, we shouldn''t have much trouble even without Han Se-ah and Irene''s support, and if push came to shove, we could hold out until the three who fell behind caught up. But it was certainly something an adventurer shouldn''t do.


    "What the hell is going on...?"


    "I''m not sure either, but we have to help! Look over there!"


    "What the fuck?!"


    But one thing was even more certain - we needed to help right away, just as Grace said.


    Running so fast that the prairie breeze felt like a storm, smashing the ground beneath our feet, I finally saw what Grace had detected.


    People were fighting against about fifty goblins. There were about a hundred people, twice the number of goblins, swarming like they were in a brawl, swinging weapons wildly at the goblins in a frenzy.


    And I could see why Grace hadn''t mentioned adventurers or mercenaries.


    "Don''t chicken out, k-kill them!"


    "They''re just gob-goblins after all! Kill them calmly!"


    "No, not at all. Everyone here came voluntarily, risking their lives."


    2★ ''Doctrine Spreader'' Louis, 2★ ''Stubborn'' Paul, 2★ ''Hot-Tempered'' Luca - three 2★s, a dozen or so 1★s, and the rest were ordinary people without even a single star. This meant that over a hundred low to intermediate-level adventurers, who should be seen below the 20th floor, not even the 30th, were wandering on the 54th floor.


    A group of scrubs who would become cold corpses if surrounded by not just berserk ogres or centaur cavalry, but even a goblin infantry unit. They barely managed to hold out with their numbers of a hundred, but if they stayed on the 54th floor like this, they''d be wiped out within two days, let alone a week.


    Why on earth were people of such pathetic levels gathered here? As I pondered this, Han Se-ah, who had been busily moving her camera, muttered towards the viewers.


    "Why the hell are they gathered here? They weren''t really transferred? From what I can see, it''s a human variety pack - farmers, woodcutters, adventurers, mercenaries, back-alley alchemists, and even street thugs who couldn''t form a guild."


    -Wtf lol Is this a job center? You could drive a van here and pick up workers


    -But seriously, what is this? Earlier I saw an uncle with a pickaxe turning a fallen goblin''s head into a quarry


    -It''s not a group of adventurers, just job center uncles


    -But there''s a good mix from kids to geezers, what the hell is going on


    -The quest window''s quiet, so it''s not main, just an event?


    If Manaashi and I had detected the weakness of this motley crew, Han Se-ah had noticed something strange while pretending to support with magic while filming her stream.


    A lumberjack somehow dodging a spear thrust and bringing his axe down on a shield, a mason smashing his pickaxe into a fallen goblin''s helmet. Anyone could see they weren''t fighting with proper weapons.


    That''s why, despite outnumbering them two to one, they were slowly being pushed back by a small goblin infantry unit without even orc javelineers. If there hadn''t been a mix of 2★s and 1★s, more than half would have died before we arrived.


    Well, plenty of people were skewered by spear tips even before Manaashi and I pounced. Though no one died instantly from getting their stomach or neck pierced by the slowly approaching spears, thanks to some combat experience, that was the best they could manage.


    "We know. That we''re woefully inadequate to be here, that it''s bordering on reckless courage risking our lives."


    As I looked around thinking this, the bespectacled pretty boy, 2★ ''Doctrine Spreader'' Louis, opened his mouth.


    "But everyone gathered because we couldn''t just sit still. Even if it''s reckless, even if we lose our lives, we believe there are times we must move forward."


    "Move forward? Where to?"


    "Aunt Marianne and Aunt Johanna have disappeared."


    "Johanna... the baker lady?"


    For a moment I couldn''t recall who those two were, but thanks to Grace''s quiet murmur, I remembered.


    Aunt Marianne, the starless innkeeper. Someone who treated hungry adventurers like her own sons with cheap, filling meals. Aunt Johanna, 1★ ''Kind Baker''. A member of the baker''s guild that supplied bread to the temple, a devout believer who, like Marianne, helped the city''s poor.


    Only then could I find the one commonality in this ragtag group with nothing else in common. Farmers, lumberjacks, masons, street thugs, merchant guild workers or mercenary band porters... In other words, people living as the city''s lower class, blocked by the walls of talent and reality.


    Low to intermediate-level adventurers who, not chosen by the stars, had to risk their lives just to hunt orcs on the 20th floor.


    They were all people who would - and had to - give their lives for a meal.


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