Puhak!
Gailson’s axe sank deep into the Goblin King’s thick neck.
Was it finally over?
For a Goblin King, it felt more anticlimactic than I’d expec—
“Gruwooooooo!”
—ted. The bastard was still very much alive.
The massive body, caked in mud and blood, staggered, then forced its upper body upright.
It opened its bloodstained mouth wide and let out a roar that seemed to be dragged up from somewhere deep inside.
“H-huh?”
Thud. Crash!
Gailson tried to pull out his axe, only to be struck by the Goblin King’s fist and sent flying backward.
Seeing as he collapsed and didn’t move, his condition was far from good.
“Gailson! Damn it!”
While Nick cried out in frustration, the Goblin King rose and regained its stance.
Breathing harshly, the creature grabbed the axe haft protruding from its neck.
When it twisted and yanked it out with its thick hand, sticky blood sprayed out.
Splaash!
“Kurrk—!”
The massive figure staggered as blood spurted, then glared at us with its blood-soaked face.
Bloodshot eyes.
It was a gaze that seemed to engrave our faces deeply, as if it would never forget them.
‘Damn it, I’m out of mana too.’
What do I do? Swing my staff or something?
What difference would swinging a staff make against a bastard an axe couldn’t even finish off?
My mind spun in the face of the hopeless situation.
Strangely enough, the creature didn’t charge at us right away.
“…”
The Goblin King glared at us for a moment…
Slosh. Slosh.
Then soon turned around and disappeared into the forest, splattering mud as it went.
‘Is it… running away?’
Just then, Jeminik and Charlie came running over belatedly.
“Lord Liv!”
Seeing their faces covered in small cuts, it seemed things had been fairly fierce down below as well.
Only after the Goblin King had completely vanished from sight, and even the mercenaries had arrived, did the tension slowly drain out of me.
“Haaah…”
I plopped down and waved a hand to say I was fine.
Come to think of it.
“Where’s Piren?”
I’d thought I hadn’t seen him for a while. Where had he gone?
“That bastard got into a one-on-one with a goblin…”
From what Charlie roughly told me,
he had fought a soul-burning duel all alone against a goblin, gotten thoroughly beaten, and Charlie had barely managed to drag him out.
For now, they’d only given him first aid and tossed him into some nearby bushes.
…Is this guy really okay to keep working as a mercenary?
“Gailson!!”
Jeminik shouted and ran toward the collapsed pile of stones.
Gailson was lying there.
“Kool—kgh!”
Blood was gushing from his mouth in thick bursts.
Whether his organs had been injured or not, the bleeding wouldn’t stop.
Even in the middle of that, he must have tried to defend himself, because both arms were bruised black and blue.
At a glance, they were clearly marks from blocking a fist.
…That thing broke through that and still damaged his insides?
It was definitely no ordinary monster.
“But…”
Nick opened his mouth.
“Why did the Goblin King… run away?”
That was something I’d been thinking about too.
Judging by momentum alone, it should have been able to push through us and finish us off.
“Who knows. It wasn’t in a normal state either…”
As I trailed off, Jeminik, who had been tending to Gailson, quietly said a word.
“Do you know why the Goblin King is called by that name?”
“…No.”
I shook my head.
Wasn’t it called that because it was the strongest individual among goblins?
Jeminik breathed quietly and opened his mouth.
“The Goblin King is strong. That much is true. But what’s truly frightening is—”
Jeminik stopped speaking and looked toward the distant forest.
“The fact that it has the power to ‘gather’ goblins.”
“Gather… them?”
“There was an actual case in the past. A higher species of goblin once built a kingdom centered around a vast jungle on the southern continent.”
A brief silence passed.
Jeminik slowly continued.
“For a full two hundred years, they say it endured, fending off attacks from surrounding nations.”
Two hundred years…
I couldn’t really grasp how impressive that was, but it was definitely incredible.
“Since then, those large, intelligent individuals like that one have come to be called ‘Goblin Kings.’”
“So that’s why…”
I’d thought it didn’t live up to the name, but was it a commander type after all?
“The reason it fled was probably because it judged there was no need to take an unnecessary risk. It had already been injured, and in that state, it likely would have been too much for it to wipe us all out.”
Rather than fight while wounded and die, it chose to leave things for next time.
It was an extremely realistic and very appropriate choice.
Well, this wasn’t a game, after all.
There was no reason to keep charging in with only 1 HP left.
If you’re at a sliver of health… running is the right call.
“If that’s the case, we should’ve finished it off this time.”
When I muttered that, Jeminik answered while supporting Gailson.
“Mm, it’s unfortunate… but now we’ll have to wait for the guild to deal with it.”
Right, we didn’t have to take care of everything ourselves.
It wasn’t as if the whole world had been entrusted to us alone.
“Hihur, hunna ahne.”
Gailson said something, but his pronunciation was so slurred that I couldn’t make it out properly.
Judging by his intonation and the look in his eyes, though… it was definitely a curse.
Even after getting beaten up like that, his temper was still the same. Truly impressive.
We roughly collected a few subjugation tokens and went to find Piren, who was apparently lying in the bushes.
And the moment we saw him, everyone briefly lost their words.
“…Piren?”
Piren, who had been lying face down among the bushes, slowly lifted his head.
His face was covered in tears, and the bandages wrapped around him were stained red here and there.
“Sniff… hic…”
It did look like he’d gotten properly hurt.
The bandages covering his entire body, the tears streaming down his face—he looked exactly like some game character I’d seen somewhere.
“It’s over. Let’s go.”
When Charlie spoke quietly, Piren hesitated, then lowered his face and answered in a small voice.
“…Yes…”
It seemed he was embarrassed too.
Soon, he stopped crying and followed us.
It was truly fortunate that Piren could walk.
Phew, for a second there, I almost had to carry him on my back.
And so, with two injured people in tow, we slowly returned to the village.
***
By the time we arrived at the village, the sun was already setting.
A villager who saw us hurriedly called the village chief, and when the chief saw the state Gailson and Piren were in, his eyes widened.
“Goodness, what happened?”
“The subjugation was… successful, for now.”
When I trailed off, Jeminik stepped in for me.
“There was a Goblin King. The creature escaped, but we cleared out the settlement.”
“…A Goblin King?”
The village chief was at a loss for words for a while, then hurriedly summoned someone.
Soon, several of the village’s able-bodied men came running, and they carefully lifted Gailson and Piren and carried them away.
The two were moved to rooms at the inn, and fortunately, thanks to the herbalist stationed in the village, basic treatment was quickly completed.
Gailson, whom I’d been sure was in critical condition, was more intact than expected.
I couldn’t tell whether he was just naturally sturdy or whether the blow had been weaker than it looked.
“Fortunately, his life doesn’t seem to be in danger. He’ll have to lie down and eat only porridge for the time being.”
Hearing the herbalist’s words, Gailson looked horrified.
For a man who filled his stomach with beer day in and day out, that must have been a shocking thing to hear.
The herbalist glanced toward Piren and opened his mouth again.
“Compared to him, this one is quite fine. His side was cut deeply, but it missed the organs. He’ll be up and about in a week.”
Piren had only his face sticking out from the bandages and was curled up under the blanket.
It seemed he was still embarrassed that he’d been caught crying.
Honestly, even a goblin fleeing for its life wouldn’t have had such a miserable face.
At this point, he wasn’t even a coward anymore. I’d have to start calling him Crybaby Piren.
After hearing such a positive diagnosis, we left the room filled with the smell of herbs.
“…Um, Lord Liv.”
Nick carefully approached and spoke to me.
“That magic earlier, that was you, wasn’t it, Lord Liv?”
Magic? Ah, only then did a memory I’d forgotten come back to me.
Gerangi! Is this guy still in there?
When I opened the pouch, fortunately, he was curled up inside, asleep.
Phew, I thought I’d left him behind.
“Yes, well. That’s right.”
“I see. Truly… thank you.”
Nick lowered his head and quietly expressed his gratitude.
In truth, he ought to be thanking Gerangi, but there was no need to wake the sleeping guy.
After all, it’s the bear that does the tricks, but the owner who gets the money.
Thump! Bang! Thump! Thud!
Urgent footsteps sounded from the stairs.
A moment later, Barrett came running up the stairs, panting for breath.
“Hah… hah… Is everyone safe?”
“Yes, well. Their lives aren’t in danger, apparently.”
At my words, Barrett visibly relaxed.
He’d said the mercenary band had been cut in half a month ago, and now something similar had almost happened again. How terrifying must that have been?
Afterward, once Barrett heard the full story from Jeminik, he bowed his head toward me.
“Thank you very much. Because you went with them, Lord Liv, everyone was able to return safely.”
“Ah, yes… I didn’t do much, though.”
I meant it.
In truth, Jeminik had handled most of the goblins, and when facing the Goblin King, the decisive blows had been dealt by Gailson and Nick.
It wasn’t that I’d done absolutely nothing, but it felt like I’d contributed about as much as everyone else.
“No. If you had not been there, Lord Liv… someone would surely have died.”
“…”
If he put it like that, it was awkward to keep denying it.
If I dragged it out for no reason, I’d probably only hear something like, “There’s such a thing as being too modest.”
I simply nodded quietly, and only then did Barrett raise his head.
“Words alone are not enough. I will prepare a separate reward for you.”
“That sounds good…”
Yes, this was much better.
His sincerity was immediately conveyed, wasn’t it?
“Would you like to rest? Or perhaps have a meal?”
Grrrowl.
Just hearing the word meal made my stomach react first.
All I’d eaten in the morning was a few pieces of hardtack.
“…Let’s go eat.”
***
【 You have reached a threshold. Please choose a perk. 】
‘It’s been a while.’
After eating dinner until I was full and falling asleep, I found myself in a space filled with darkness.
Mm… right, for convenience’s sake, let’s call it the “level-up stage.”
Things had been quiet for a while without any killing or dying, so had it been almost a month?
Paang—
A familiar sound, somehow sacred.
This time, there didn’t seem to be any special trigger, and three cards slowly floated up as usual.
___________________________
[Increase Maximum Health]
[Increase Maximum Strength]
[Increase Maximum Mana]
___________________________
The cards that appeared were also the same ones I’d always seen.
Health, strength… and mana.
‘I have to choose mana.’
Because my mana had been nearly halved, I could hardly go around calling myself a mage anymore.
But finally, options had appeared that let me choose mana without any hesitation.
On top of that, the mana increase card—actually, the strength increase card too—was glowing green.
It would have been better if it were blue, but still, this was something.
Without even needing to think, I chose Increase Maximum Mana.
Watching the card be absorbed, I waited for a moment, just in case.
【 You have reached a threshold. Please choose a perk. 】
The voice rang in my ear once more.
“Yes!”
That’s right. After going through that much trouble, this was only fair.
Honestly, I would’ve been disappointed if it had only been once.
There weren’t that many goblins I’d personally killed this time.
With this, the existence of party hunting had been clearly proven.
‘Then what level am I now?’
Unfortunately, there was no status window, so I had to calculate it myself.
Kobolds, bandits, goblins. Mm, maybe around level 7?
No, should I include the demon I killed too? Let’s leave that out for now.
Should I count the enhancement as a level-up too? Back then, it wasn’t like I really did anything.
If I think about the number of times including that, the enhancement had happened exactly at level 5.
‘Could enhancements appear every 5 levels?’
If another enhancement appeared on the tenth time, that hypothesis might be correct.
Paang—
While I was thinking for a moment, three new cards floated up.
___________________________
[Increase Maximum Mana]
[Increase Maximum Agility]
[Blue Magic: Sea Fog]
___________________________
For a moment, my eyes were drawn to the fact that there was another Increase Maximum Mana, but thanks to the magic card beside it, I came back to my senses.
‘Sea Fog?’
I read the description of the unfamiliar term.
[Consumes mana to generate fog within a certain range centered on the user.]
Simply put, it was just a smoke bomb.
It seemed decent, but something about it didn’t sit right.
When choosing other spells, I had picked them without hesitation, but with this one, it felt awkward to choose right away.
‘If I can’t see either, isn’t this basically troll magic?’
In games, smoke bombs are usually thrown to block the enemy’s vision.
But this one said “centered on the user.”
In other words, it was closer to magic for escaping or evading.
…Would it get better if I enhanced it?
For example, if an option were added so allies could see, or if the center point didn’t have to be me?
Hmm, thinking of it that way, maybe it wasn’t bad.
My hesitation grew longer.
Slide.
In the end, the one I reached out to was [Blue Magic: Sea Fog].
There was no special reason.
‘It’ll be useful someday.’
I chose it with that thought.
I might regret it later, but I’d think about that when the time came.
Feeling the card being absorbed, I quietly closed my eyes.
May something better appear next time.