I'm not a goblin Frankenstein's monster.

The head chef scratched his head, seemingly bewildered by the absurd answer, but he was clearly too lazy to delve into it further.

"Alright, big guy, come over here and get to work! Learn from me! It's your honor!"

He brandished a makeshift spatula made of wooden sticks and scrap iron, pointed at the bubbling pot, and proudly announced:

"See that? This is my signature dish—offal soup!"

Its essence lies in adding ingredients when there is too much water, and adding water when there is too much ingredients!

...Uh, and also the control of the heat!

He suddenly became excited, banging the broken iron bucket loudly: "I used to be the chief food god of a great tribe!"

That hateful goblin cook from out of town, who took my place with his flashy but impractical "pissing meatball" trick!

They drove me out of the tribe!

Its little eyes blazed with fury. "I refuse to accept this! I will climb to the top, step by step, step by step!"

"I am the God of Cookery!"

The goblin chef was engrossed in his ambitions, spitting as he spoke.

Completely unaware, the eight-year-old of the same clan beside him, who was "overdeveloped," had silently drawn his longsword after confirming that he was close enough to the "ingredients" in the pot.

"The God of Cookery, is it?" Xia Lin asked in her normal tone.

The head chef was taken aback. Before he could react to what was wrong with the voice, he felt a chill on the back of his neck.

"Why is it dark?"

This was its last thought before it died.

The remaining goblins by the pot were startled awake and screamed as they grabbed their weapons.

But their reactions seemed too slow to Charlin.

The sword flashed a few times, accompanied by short screams and the sound of heavy objects falling to the ground. Only the large iron pot remained on the open ground, along with two dumbfounded "ingredients" inside.

Xia Lin cut the ropes and fished the dwarf and gnome, who smelled of "bone broth," out of the pot.

"Xia...Xia Lin?!" The dwarf Gondor wiped the oil off his face, both surprised and delighted. "What are you doing here?!"

"I've taken on a cleanup quest." Xia Lin sheathed his sword, glanced at the still coughing dwarf, and then at the disheveled dwarf.

"Looks like I arrived just in time. Any later and you two would have been served at the goblin's table."

The dwarf Tyr coughed a few times and spat out a mouthful of spiced broth:

"This, this soup... ugh... they used that stinky swamp moss from the forest as a spice, didn't they? No wonder it smells a bit strange... ugh!"

The dwarf Gondor, looking utterly exhausted from surviving the ordeal, slumped to the ground.

"Thank the gods... Next time, next time I'd rather honestly dig up goblin burrows than ever take on any quests with 'goblin' in the name again! I swear!"

Xia Lin shook her head: "Alright, hurry up and get ready."

There should still be a few goblins in the nest. We need to wipe out their hideout before they realize their 'lunch' has gone wrong.

He glanced at his two soaking wet former teammates and added, "Of course, this time there are three of us."

Then the three of them worked together to clear out the remaining goblins in the low-lying woodland and also raided their nests.

The harvest was meager, consisting of only a few grime-covered copper coins and a rusty, nearly broken dagger, which Xia Lin gave to the two even poorer men.

When we returned to Oak Village, the setting sun had already turned the oak piles at the village entrance into a golden-red hue.

The village chief was squatting at the village entrance, smoking a pipe and looking worried. When he looked up and saw Xia Lin, he immediately stood up excitedly, his face full of a grateful smile.

But when he saw two figures, soaking wet and emitting a strange smell, emerge from behind Xia Lin, the old village chief's smile froze instantly, and his pipe fell to the ground with a "thud".

"The two adventurers from before?" He rubbed his eyes, his voice trembling. "You...you weren't captured by those goblins, were you?"

"Almost, thanks to some well-meaning dwarf." Tyr glared at the dwarf beside him who was trying to explain.

"Thanks to Brother Xia Lin, we were rescued from the goblin's iron pot... uh, its lair."

The village chief was stunned for several seconds before he could process the two pieces of information: "the dead have been resurrected" and "the goblins have been wiped out."

"That's wonderful! That's wonderful! The three adventurers are all safe and sound, and they even got rid of the goblins that were ravaging the village! Everyone in Oak Village is extremely grateful!"

"I'll go get the payment right now, plus two oak hams smoked in our village!"

It was already evening when we returned to the town of Erwin.

The Adventurers' Guild is closed; you'll have to wait until tomorrow to turn in the quest.

The three stood on the increasingly deserted street, their strange smells attracting the attention of passersby who kept their distance.

Woody: "They probably think you're shovelers."

Everyone was speechless.

"Shalin," the dwarf Gondor patted his chest, a few drops of oil still clinging to his beard.

"Thanks to you this time, no doubt about it! Let's go to Moonlight Tavern, it's on me! All-you-can-eat beer and grilled meat!"

Although Tyr's face was still a little pale, he surprisingly didn't disagree: "Yes! You must! I need a drink to calm my nerves... no,

Suppress that smell of marsh moss and some other stuff that's been stewed together!

Xia Lin looked at his two former teammates, who were disheveled but had sincere eyes, smiled, and didn't refuse:

"Okay. But let me state first, I have a psychological aversion to goblin cooking. Normal grilled meat and ale will do."

"Absolutely! Hahaha!"

.......

We arranged a time to have dinner together with the two of them.

Xia Lin arrived at the "Anvil and Fire" dwarven blacksmith shop.

Now his clothes are all tattered and worn, making him look no different from a beggar, which makes him feel that he no longer has the sense of security he used to have.

The clanging and hammering continued in the shop, sparks flying in the air with each rise and fall of the hammer.

The dwarf Sindar, shirtless, was clamping a red-hot iron bar onto an anvil when he caught sight of Xia Lin entering out of the corner of his eye. He greeted her gruffly:

"Oh, you're here?"

His hands moved swiftly, the hammer falling precisely, while his mouth kept moving as well.

"Your outfit...where did you go rolling around in that goblin den? Your armor is practically a fishing net."

After striking the last blow, he immersed the iron bar into the water tank, and with a hiss, white steam rose up.

Sinda wiped her sweat, walked over, and carefully examined Xia Lin's armor, which was torn in several places and stained with dried black and red dirt. Her brows furrowed.

"It's completely destroyed! And what about the standard round shield I repaired before?"

Don't tell me it broke down after only a few days of use! That's solid, high-quality iron; I don't produce cheap, flimsy work!

Xia Lin smiled sheepishly and gently placed a twisted, deformed metal disc wrapped in rags on his back in front of the dwarf:

"Of course I trust your skills."

His armor was destroyed during his fight with the gnolls. As for this shield…”

He pointed to the three terrifying claw marks on the shield's surface that had almost completely cleaved it in two.

"The gnoll's claws are harder than steel; they completely destroyed me."

I came here today to get some new gear, otherwise I won't feel confident for the next mission.

"A gnoll?"