by Ao Jyumonji
“I haven’t gone that far!” Ranta said, right before shouting “Exhaust...!” and rapidly falling back. Goblin B chased after Ranta as if it was being sucked in. Ranta immediately thrust his longsword out and forward. “Take this! Avoid!”
However, Goblin B, with its somewhat muscular build and heavy equipment, managed to narrowly avoid Ranta’s longsword. Actually, his longsword scraped the goblin’s armor halfway between its neck and shoulder, but that wasn’t going to be enough to deal any real damage. Goblin B undauntedly continued to close in.
Ranta slammed his longsword into Goblin B, shouting, “Reject!”
It was good that he managed to knock it away and make it pull back, but...
“Grin! You’re mine! Hatred!” Ranta shouted.
He stepped into it and swung down with all his might, and he did manage to hit Goblin B’s shoulder. However, that wasn’t enough. It was the armor. Ranta’s longsword only dented its armor, and was unable to cut through.
“You’re too aggressive!” Haruhiro called while parrying Goblin A’s sword.
“Oh, shut up!” Ranta shouted back angrily, showering Goblin B with a flurry of blows. “Take that, and that, and that, and that!”
Goblin B was recoiling, but it was also possible to view that as it successfully defending itself.
This is why just trying to push through with brute force is no good. Do you get that, Ranta?
“You’re not—”
—Moguzo, okay?
Haruhiro almost said it, but he stopped himself just in time. I can’t say that. I mean, Ranta’s doing what he can.
Ranta had charged right into the middle of the enemy, trying to tank for the party. However, Ranta was fundamentally different from Moguzo; he wasn’t the heavy type that stood there and traded blows with the enemy. The dread knight’s fighting style was all about using their mobility to toy with the enemy and mesmerize them. He had no choice but to move around. If he didn’t, Ranta couldn’t use his full power.
Ranta was different. He wasn’t a tank. The party needed to make fundamental changes to their tactics.
And? What are our new tactics going to be...?
“Oh!” Haruhiro tried to use Swat on Goblin A’s sword, but his hand slipped. Goblin A pressed in on him. Oh, sh—
“Hah...!” he heard someone shout.
Merry. Merry had jumped in. She thrust her short staff at Goblin A. The goblin blocked her staff with its shield, jumping back.
“Is now the time to be lost in thought?!” she shouted.
“S-Sorry, Merry!” Haruhiro called.
“Focus!”
Right, Haruhiro answered mentally as he attacked Goblin A. Well, he pretended to, to be more precise. If Goblin A counterattacks, I’ll immediately switch back to using Swat. If I can somehow chain Arrest with Swat to neutralize Goblin A, I want to do that, but I don’t think it’s likely. Goblins are a bit too small for that. I’ve never used Arrest on a goblin before. Dammit, what the hell is this? Even now that I’ve lost my orc-killing virginity, I’m still struggling to take on a goblin one-on-one in a straight-up fight? I’m way too weak. I mean, I knew that. I knew I was weak.
“Ohm, rel, ect, nemun, darsh!”
Shihoru cast a spell. It was Shadow Bond. A shadow element flew out, sticking to a spot on the ground. Goblin C, who was crossing swords with Yume, stepped on it with its right foot.
Nice one, Shihoru, Haruhiro thought.
Goblin C hurriedly stepped down with its left foot, trying to pull its right foot free, but the shadow elemental held it fast and it couldn’t get away.
“Funyaa!” yelled Yume.
Yume leapt at Goblin C, using a combination of Brush Clearer and Diagonal Cross. Goblin C carried a hatchet-like weapon and also wore chain mail, so it wasn’t a lethal blow. Still, Yume clobbered its shoulders, arms, and torso with her machete, so it had to be in a lot of pain. Goblin C flailed around wildly with its hatchet. It was clearly acting out of desperation, but Yume fell back. Yume only wore leather armor, so it would be dangerous for her to take a hit.
“Yume!” Haruhiro shouted.
Just by calling her name, Yume glanced in Haruhiro’s direction and seemed to understand what he wanted to do. Yume was running his way now.
Haruhiro used Swat on Goblin A’s sword, then immediately took off at a run. Goblin A tried to chase Haruhiro, but Yume took over the fight and stopped it.
Goblin C was still caught in the Shadow Bond spell. It noticed Haruhiro and tried to turn to face him, but it was too slow. Actually, with its leg trapped, not only could it not move, it couldn’t change the way it faced, either. With his opponent like that, it went without saying that Haruhiro could easily get behind it.
Haruhiro circled around behind Goblin C and then jumped on it. He pinned its arms behind its back, quickly slitting its throat. When he jumped away, Goblin C fell to its knees. Because its right foot was still stuck to the ground, it couldn’t quite fall over.
“—Yes! Finally, one down!” Haruhiro shouted.
Yume was fighting Goblin A, and Ranta was fighting Goblin B. Haruhiro could try to get a clear shot at either of their backs.
Should it be A or B? he wondered. Goblin B’s wearing what looks like decent armor, so it’ll probably cause more trouble. Guess I’ll finish off Goblin A first.
When he was about to start running, he felt the dull impact of something striking his left flank. Like maybe he’d been kicked.
“Huh... Wha...?”
When he looked down, there was an arrow sticking out of his left side.
What is this?
“Why— Where did it come from?!”
He was more shocked than hurt. At least, for the moment.
Haruhiro looked around the area.
Judging from the direction—over there, he thought. To the left and a little to the rear. There’s a wall that’s about 80% collapsed. It’d be hard for a human to hide behind it, but a goblin could.
“They’ve got backup!” Haruhiro shouted.
“Haru, let me heal that!” Merry tried to rush over to him.
“No!” Haruhiro shook his head, turning towards the wall. “Merry, you watch Shihoru!”
While Merry was healing Haruhiro with light magic, the enemy might snipe Shihoru. Or perhaps it might even take a shot at Merry herself. That would be bad.
“Urkh!” Haruhiro groaned as he ran.
When I run, my side does hurt pretty badly. Still, it’s not enough to keep me from moving. I can take it.
Though, that said, Haruhiro didn’t know what he was going to be able to do there by himself. That was questionable. However, right now, he felt like it wouldn’t be a good idea to have Merry treat him. That was because if Haruhiro were the goblin, he would take advantage of that opening. Goblins might be smaller than humans, but they weren’t stupid.
Haruhiro ran at full speed to get to the other side of the wall. He was shocked by what he saw.
“It’s not here?!”
Then an arrow flew at him from the right. He reacted in time to get down and avoid it, but it was a close call. The fat little Goblin D with its bow was poking out halfway from behind a pile of rubble seven to eight meters away. Goblin D had predicted Haruhiro would come after it, so it had moved from here to there.
Honestly, you’re no idiot, Haruhiro thought.
“But I won’t let you get away now!” he shouted.
Goblin D was trying to nock an arrow. However, at this range, it would be easy to tell not only when it would fire, but where it was aiming, too. Even if it got a shot off, he could dodge it. At least, that was how it should have been.
Haruhiro started to feel woozy.
His heart was acting weird. He could hear his pulse, and it sounded like someone violently stamping their feet. It was beating crazily fast.
Goblin D fired. Of course, Haruhiro tried to dodge. But, well, you know. He couldn’t move quite the way he intended to.
The arrow stabbed into the left side of
his chest, just below the shoulder, and Haruhiro fell on his butt.
Whoa, I’ve taken two hits now.
“Poisoned arrows!” Haruhiro shouted as loudly as he could.
Goblin D threw its bow aside, pulling out a short sword and jumping at him.
What now? Use Swat? I can’t. Not a chance.
Goblin D pushed Haruhiro to the ground and mounted him. It was trying to stab him in the face with its short sword. Maybe he had dropped it, he wasn’t sure, but Haruhiro didn’t have his dagger. He could only try to cover his face with his arms.
Goblin D’s short sword sliced into his arms and hands. Haruhiro was desperate.
He shouldn’t have had time for thinking, but he thought, Damn, I messed this up. Maybe I shouldn’t have come here myself. Maybe it would’ve been better to leave it to Yume. But that didn’t occur to me. Maybe I only think that now because I’ve seen the result. The result. This is the result. It was all too quick. When you make a mistake, this is how it goes. Still, to think I’d be taken out by a goblin. No, no, no. That’s not a sure thing just yet. Yeah, that’s right. It’s not. It’s really not.
Goblin D swung its short sword down again. Haruhiro used the bones in his right arm to sweep it aside.
There was a proverb, “Let your flesh be cut in order to break an opponent’s bones,” but he had used his own bones to defend himself instead.
“Ohm, rel, ect, vel, darsh!”
Huh? Magic? Shihoru? It’s Shihoru.
Shihoru stuck her staff practically in Goblin D’s face, unleashing her Shadow Beat spell at point blank range. Haruhiro heard its characteristic vwong sound, and immediately Goblin D’s head was thrown backwards. The shadow elemental, which looked like a black ball of seaweed, had struck the side of Goblin D’s face.
Shihoru wasn’t the only one who’d come to save Haruhiro.
“Ha!” Merry bludgeoned Goblin D with her short staff.
Goblin D was knocked flying, but it soon got back up. It ran. It even managing to pick up its bow as it did. Shihoru pointed her staff at Goblin D’s back.
“Ohm, rel, ect, vel, darsh!”
Another Shadow Beat. Goblin D, however, suddenly jumped behind cover and avoided the shadow elemental. It depended on where you were, but the ruins of buildings and walls were all over the place in Damuro’s Old City. There were a lot of them in this area.
Why did we choose this place as our hunting grounds? Haruhiro wondered. Had we failed from the moment we made that decision?
“Whew... Huff... Whew... Whew...”
That’s some terrible breathing. Whose is it? Oh, mine, huh.
It was Haruhiro himself. Haruhiro lay on his back. He could see the sky. That and Merry’s face. She pulled the arrow out.
Ow... That hurts.
“I’ll dispel the poison first!” Merry said.
Haruhiro nodded.
Is she going to make it in time? he wondered vaguely, as if it were someone else’s problem. Hopefully I won’t die.
“O Light, may Lumiaris’s divine protection be upon you... Purify.”
“Dispel the poison,” he thought. That means she’s erasing the poison now. Has it disappeared with that spell now? The poison. I don’t really know. I wonder if Ranta and Yume are okay. And what about the goblin that ran off?
“Haru! Keep a firm hold of your senses! O Light, may Lumiaris’s divine protection be upon you... Cure!”
Senses. My senses. I have to keep ahold of them. Firmly. Yeah. I get it. I get it, Merry. That’s right. This is pitiful. I look ridiculously lame. But I can’t let myself die. I can’t die. If I die, it’s all over. Not just for me. For my comrades, too. All of us.
I’m gradually starting to feel better, he realized. Magic’s amazing.
“How about over there?!” Ranta called out from somewhere.
“No sign of it!” Yume responded from far away.
What’re those two doing?
Shihoru was next to Merry as she treated him. Their eyes met.
“...Shihoru, what happened to the enemies?” Haruhiro managed.
“There’s just the one that ran off...” she answered.
“I see.”
They mopped up the rest of them, then, he thought. Ranta, Yume, and Shihoru did their best without me.
Haruhiro closed his eyes, then laughed. “What am I even doing?”
Once the words left his mouth, he realized he shouldn’t have said them. Neither Shihoru or Merry had any response, which only made it more embarrassing.
It looked like his healing was done, so Haruhiro opened his eyes and sat up. He was about to thank Merry when Ranta came running over.
“You damn idiot! What’re you nearly getting yourself killed for?! Don’t you dare get killed by some measly goblin! Just how much of a moron are you?! You’re more worthless than a ball of snot!”
“...I don’t really have a comeback for that,” said Haruhiro.
But you don’t need to lay into me quite so hard. No, I know, I deserve it this time, so I can’t complain if you want to insult me.
I messed up. That’s what it feels like.
Not only that, but I had to do it here, on today of all days.
This was supposed to be the day the party set out anew. It was an important day. They absolutely couldn’t afford to fail. That’s why they had chosen this place. Damuro’s Old City. The place where they once earned their nickname, the “Goblin Slayers.”
It may have been half teasing, or, rather, nine parts mocking and one part astonishment, but Haruhiro and the party had frequented Damuro’s Old City long enough that people had started to call them that. Maybe this had happened because Haruhiro and the others had killed too many goblins. They had shifted their hunting grounds to the Cyrene Mines because the goblins had wound up on high alert, but they knew this place like the back of their hands. Even without Moguzo, a pillar—no, the central pillar—of the party, they should have been able to handle it somehow.
Had they gotten careless? They might have. They might not have. Honestly, Haruhiro didn’t know. He couldn’t look at it with a clear head.
“What do you wanna do about the gobbie that got away?!” Yume shouted off in the distance, to which Ranta angrily replied, “Just leave it! It’s run off somewhere! I’m sure it won’t be back!”
“Don’t you think that’s taking things too easy?” Shihoru asked.
“Huh?! Did you say something, Shihoru?!” Ranta shouted.
“I said, I think that’s taking things too easy... Did you not hear me?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ranta demanded. “You trying to say I’m being too shortsighted or something?”
“...If you want to sum it up, that might be it,” Shihoru said.
“You’re being awfully confrontational,” Ranta snapped. “If you want to pick a fight with me, I hope you’re ready for the consequences, right?”
“Don’t talk like you’re trying to threaten me,” Shihoru said.
“I’m not threatening you. You were getting saucy with me, so I’m just a little pissed.”
“...I don’t think that’s any excuse.”
“Why should I have to make excuses?” Ranta demanded. “Don’t give me that. I may be a tolerant guy, but even I have limits. If you don’t cut it out—”
“Heeeeey!” Yume rushed over and bonked Ranta on the head.
“Ow! Dammit, Yume! Whaddaya think you’re doing?!” he shouted.
“What’s a woddaya?! Don’t go talkin’ nonsense!” Yume shot back.
“You’re the one who’s nonsensical! There’s no way I make less sense than you!” Ranta hollered.
“Oh, be quiet, you dolt!” Yume shouted, hugging Shihoru tight. “You were bullyin’ Shihoru just now! Where do you get off doin’ that, huh, Ranta?! Yume’ll murderize you, you idiot!”
“I’m not bullying her! We were just having an exchange of opinions, clearly!” Ranta shouted.
“...How?” Shihoru muttered.
; Ranta glared at Shihoru, then clicked his tongue. “If you’ve got something to complain about, come out and say it to me straight! It pisses me off when you act like that!”
Merry looked like she was about to say something, but then she looked down, glancing at her left wrist. There was a shining hexagram there. It showed that her Protection spell was still in effect.
Come to think of it, Merry’s been checking that shining hexagram every chance she gets. And, wait, her weapon’s a short staff now. What happened to the priest’s staff with the rings that she had before? Haruhiro wondered. —No, no. Do I have time to be thinking about this? Wait, what am I supposed to be doing, again? My head’s all fuzzy. Even though I can’t imagine there’s any poison left, and Merry healed my wounds, too.
“...Uh,” Haruhiro shook his head and blinked. “What was I going to say? Anyway... I’m sorry for messing up. For now, let’s just... Right. I know. That goblin from before. Now, I’m not saying this just because it got me, but I don’t think it’s a normal one. We’ve probably never encountered one that moves like it did. What am I trying to say is—ah... I know, yeah, that’s right, it’s dangerous to stay here. It might try sniping us with its bow and arrow again. It might bring some friends here, too. I could see that happening.”
Ranta had a sour look on his face as he nodded towards Haruhiro. “Then get on your feet already.”
“Are you okay?” Merry asked, offering him a hand.
“...Yeah.”
Haruhiro stood up. It wasn’t like he couldn’t stay on his feet, but he still felt weird somehow. He felt weak and incredibly sluggish.
“Hmm...?” Yume crouched down, and when she took a peek at Haruhiro’s face her eyes went wide. “Whuh?! Haru-kun, you’re lookin’ awfully pale!”
Shihoru looked at Haruhiro too and furrowed her brow. “She’s right.”
“It’s because he lost a lot of blood,” Merry said, supporting Haruhiro. “I’ve closed his wounds with magic, but that doesn’t bring back the blood he lost. For today, we should...”
“Hey, hey, hey, hey, heeeey,” Ranta shouted, looking up from checking the dead goblins’ bodies. A vein throbbed on his temple, and his face distorted with anger. “You’re not going to say we should go back to Alterna, are you? We haven’t earned anything yet, you know? If we go back like this, we’ll be in the red! The red, you hear me?!”
