The Monster Hiding in the Building (6)

I gave the hobgoblin a chance to settle things with words. “Come on, you little shit. Tell me where you got that staff from.”

But the hobgoblin didn’t understand the question and just screamed back at me.

Haah. Why is our friend so slow on the uptake? I already asked in his own language earlier. Did he forget already? Is this guy a complete idiot? It wouldn’t kill him to just read the room and answer properly. Now I have to repeat myself like this.

I asked again, irritation rising in my voice. “Stafp CosaKuto. (Where did you get the staff?)”

“……Fodro Pnua? (If I tell you, will you spare me?)”

The hobgoblin still refused to answer and spouted that kind of nonsense instead. Did this bastard really think he still had the right to sit at the negotiating table?

“Hey. Looks like you still don’t understand the situation.”

─Slice!

“GyaaaaaaaaaaaAAAcC!!!”

I sawed through the collarbone beneath his neck like I was cutting wood. The hobgoblin thrashed wildly, but with his solar plexus pinned down, he couldn’t escape. That’s how overwhelming the difference in our strength was.

‘Fucking hell, this guy’s got some lungs on him.’

I almost grimaced at the disgusting scream but held it in. Then I spoke to Franc, who was watching from behind.

“Franc? I think I’m going to need to have a very heart-to-heart conversation with our friend here. Could you cover your ears for a bit?”

I didn’t want to do anything too cruel in front of my girlfriend. There’s a difference between slaughter in the heat of battle and torturing a subdued opponent. I would’ve preferred to send her outside, but leaving her alone out there could be dangerous, so I dropped the idea.

“Don’t worry about me. I won’t be shocked by something like this.”

Franc spoke as if it were nothing. And when I thought about it, she was right. Maybe as a native of this world, Franc actually had a higher tolerance for this kind of violence than I did.

“Besides, if you’re going to work as an adventurer, things like this will happen often. It’d be silly to cover my ears every single time.”

“Ugh. You’re right about that.”

I had to agree with her. Maybe I’d been acting too much like a stereotypical male chauvinist lately and it had actually started to influence the way I thought. The idea that women must be unconditionally protected was the mindset of a pathetic male supremacist. Our Franc might be cute and lovable, but she was undeniably an adventurer. My desire to only show her the good side of things was nothing but misguided, selfish overprotection.

“Alright. But don’t force yourself to listen. If you don’t want to watch, you don’t have to.”

“Hehe. I’ll just take the thought to heart.”

With Franc’s permission, my motivation surged. I resumed the interrogation of the hobgoblin bastard.

“Stafp CosaKu. Iol Weques C. (Where did you get the staff? This is the third time I’m asking.)”

─Flash.

The blood-soaked blade glinted. The hobgoblin, who had been half-mad from the pain, immediately became a good little boy at the sight of that shining edge and answered.

“UThu Yope? Cosa? (A human cave? Where?)”

While bleeding profusely, the hobgoblin explained the location. But fuck, it was all in that crude, garbage language only goblins could understand. It was the emotional expression of otherworldly brats who lived in a completely different world from humans like us.

‘I have no fucking clue what he’s saying.’

From what I could gather, it was a cave that appeared if you went right from this temple. But it seemed even this guy didn’t remember the exact spot. He’d memorized the cave’s location by instinct rather than actual knowledge. He’d know where to go if he got close, but he had no idea how to explain it to someone else. Typical goblin. I hadn’t expected much anyway.

I slowly drew the bloodstained sword across the hobgoblin’s throat. “Stafp Xue Eeid? (What does the staff do?)”

Magic amplification, huh. That was a common effect on mages’ wands. But he said he made it. So did this guy only pick up the materials for the staff? No wonder the thing looked like a dried-out horse dick.

“AroD PThu Zepor Asiqe? (Where is the other goblins’ nest?)”

“Oh, I see.”

Then I had no more use for this bastard. I’d seen everything I needed to see.

─Slice!

I severed the hobgoblin’s neck completely. There was no way I was going to spare a dangerous racist piece of shit just because he answered my questions. A good goblin is a dead goblin.

I wiped the blood off my sword. It was so annoying to clean that I’d probably start favoring the mana claws from Beast ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Regression whenever I fought trash mobs from now on.

That was when Franc asked me, sounding genuinely curious.

“Hey, Nord? The magic you use… does it let you talk to goblins too?”

Oh shit, she’s right.

I was caught off guard by a question I hadn’t considered. I’d been so focused on the fight that I hadn’t paid attention to anything else. Did the real Animal Conversation magic actually work on monsters? If it didn’t, the mages who heard about this would probably swarm me begging to learn it. There were monster linguists too, so maybe it did work? It had better fucking work.

‘Fuuuuck.’

I could reveal my translation ability to Franc. But getting caught by those crazy mad-mage bastards would be dangerous. With that in mind, I spoke to her seriously.

“Ahem. Franc. Can you keep this a secret too? If we’re unlucky, it could cause a really big problem.”

“This too? Okay. I’ll be careful.”

If things went wrong, it wouldn’t just put me in danger. Franc looked puzzled for a moment, then smiled as if she found it amusing.

“Our Nord really has ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a lot of secrets, doesn’t he? No, since it’s Kitai magic, is this one of ‘Kang Buk-ho’s’ secrets?”

Franc awkwardly pronounced the real name I had told her. I’d asked her to just call me Nord, so she kept using that name, but I never expected her to bring up my real name at a moment like this. My conscience stung and I felt so guilty that my shoulders slumped.

“I’m sorry. I’m always giving you things to apologize for, Franc.”

“It’s fiiine~”

Franc turned around with her hands behind her back. It was a gesture I’d never seen before. Was she angry because I kept hiding things? Was she sulking?

“Hehe. I was just teasing.”

I’d been worried enough to consider revealing all my secrets tonight, but Franc spun back around with a smile and wrapped her arms around my waist.

“When I read fairy tales, the part I look forward to most is when there are still pages left, you know? Right now, just thinking that Nord still has stories to tell me makes me incredibly happy.”

Franc, nestled in my arms, looked up at me with eyes full of genuine love and affection.

“So── I’ll wait until the day Nord decides to tell me.”

This pathetic otherworldly male chauvinist completely sank under that vast sea of consideration and love. Ughhh. Everyone in the world, our Franc is such an angel.

“Thank you. I’ll tell you everything later, I promise.”

I hugged Franc tightly with the hand that wasn’t holding the sword.

“But you’d better brace yourself so you don’t faint, okay? My secrets are seriously unbelievable.”

“And Nord, don’t get lonely if I don’t get surprised at all? I’d still love you even if you were the prince of a rat kingdom who transformed into a human.”

“Whoa, we’re in trouble. My secrets aren’t that amazing.”

We were exchanging words like that, tension completely gone, when it happened.

─Ziiiing!

Suddenly, I sensed a surge of mana from the hobgoblin’s corpse. I quickly let go of Franc and pointed my sword at the body.

─Shing!

Franc didn’t even flinch at my sudden reaction. She calmly armed herself with throwing knives and a hammer. Who would look at us and think we were candidates for Silver rank? That instant reaction. We looked like veteran adventurers no matter how you sliced it.

─Shwaaaaaah.

That was when it happened. Mana rose from the hobgoblin’s corpse, which should have been thoroughly dead! The blood-red mana flew straight at me!!

“Fuck!! International—!!”

I shouted like a ninja and hoisted Franc onto my back, diving into evasion. Shwoooo—! But that mana was far faster. Shit! Even Quicksilver couldn’t dodge this!!

I hurriedly set Franc down and tried to counter with my sword. Whoosh—! But the mana passed right through my blade like smoke. Goddammit?! Was it not an attack spell but a curse?!

‘Wait a second.’

This felt exactly like something that had happened recently.

─Thud!

The crimson mana that had slipped through my sword struck me in the chest. I braced myself for pain, but I didn’t feel any agony at all. Shwoooo…! The mana that touched my body was sucked inside me like dry ice releasing smoke in reverse. This was exactly the same as last time too.

“Nord? Did the hobgoblin do something?”

Franc, holding her knife, asked. She seemed completely unable to see the mana being absorbed into my body and was instead warily watching the hobgoblin’s corpse.

Mana invisible to others, and my body that willingly accepted it into my mana vessel! Experiencing the exact same phenomenon as when I took down Tabula, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I felt a strong sense of déjà vu and finally realized what had happened.

‘This is… Succession, isn’t it?’

A rare, special phenomenon had occurred in my body twice in a row.

“This is incredible! You exterminated them in less than half a day?!”

When Franc and I returned with the goblins’ ears, the village chief asked in shock. I nodded with a slightly uncomfortable feeling.

“We’re pretty good at tracking in the forest. If you find it hard to believe because we finished too quickly, we can tell you the location of their nest as well.”

“Would you? Ah, it’s not that I doubt the adventurers. This old body trusts what it sees.”

The chief pointed at the goblin ears, which were still dripping with blood. In this world, verifying an adventurer’s work was also part of the village chief’s job. Having done these inspections for a long time, he could tell that the ears we brought were freshly cut.

“We don’t take it as an insult, so it’s fine. More importantly, do you have a map?”

“I’ll have one brought.”

A middle-aged woman who seemed to be the housekeeper brought a map and some paper. I marked the location on it.

“It was a temple inside the forest. Does that ring any bells?”

“A temple, you say? Hmm. There is indeed an old temple near the village that’s been there since before I was born.”

“That’s probably the one. The goblins had made their nest in that temple. It would be best if you took some measures.”

After finishing my explanation on the paper, I continued. “Of course, most monsters rarely use human structures as nests. But since goblins like being close to villages, they’ll probably keep using that temple. I suggest you have someone properly seal it off later.”

“Thank you for the advice. While I’m sending the village youths to clean up the corpses, I’ll have them destroy it as well.”

“……Well, I’ll leave the method to the villagers.”

As an archaeologist, I should probably stop this ISIS-style approach to problem-solving, but I let it slide. That temple was already an abandoned ruin. Since the age of ancient civilizations, the gods had stopped handing out divine punishment anyway, so these people could deal with it however they wanted.

The chief, who had the housekeeper clear away the map, stroked his beard.

“Anyway, I’m truly impressed by your skills. The hiring fee feels completely worth it.”

“Thank you for the compliment. If you could include the story about the hobgoblin in the request confirmation and write a favorable review, I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Our Silver-rank candidate duo had even taken down a hobgoblin. I really hoped he’d include that in the confirmation form.

The chief nodded at my words. “I’ll be sure to do so. By the way, why does the adventurer look so unhappy? Is there some problem?”

I rubbed my mouth at that. The reason my expression was bad was because of that mysterious Succession phenomenon earlier. Even though I’d tried to keep a poker face, it seemed completely pointless.

“It’s nothing. Fighting goblins tends to leave a bad taste in your mouth, that’s all. But it won’t cause any harm to you villagers, so please don’t worry.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. I’ve always felt deep respect for those who endure such hardships to continue their work as adventurers. When I was young, I dreamed of becoming a great adventurer like you.”

“It’s an honor.”

I roughly dodged the village-chief-style flattery and we left the chief’s residence. Since he had given us the request confirmation form on the spot, all that remained was to head back.

The problem was that the sun was setting right now. No matter how fast my bicycle’s legs were, we wouldn’t make it back to Sargadis before the gates closed. Even if we could, it would mean completely wasting the inn fee we’d paid in this village.

“Nord. Let’s stay here for the night.”

Franc, who seemed to be thinking the same thing, spoke up. Her cute little fingers were interlaced with mine.

“Yeah. Let’s get a good rest and head back tomorrow. Even if the inn looks like it’ll be full of bugs.”

“Hehe. It won’t be any different from sleeping in the forest.”

“At least we won’t get wet if it rains.”

Chatting like that, we returned to the inn. Since it was such a tiny village, it didn’t take long at all. The owner was nowhere to be seen, so we just went up to our room, took off our armor, and sat on the bed.

Still, today hadn’t had any major trouble, had it?

‘Wait. Actually, there was some, wasn’t there?’

It was supposed to be a normal goblin extermination request, but we’d run into a hobgoblin shaman carrying a strange staff. That was definitely trouble. A hobgoblin could be handled by four Silver candidates, but that staff was a variable that raised the difficulty. If I hadn’t gotten stronger, I’d probably be lying in bed groaning right now.

─Twinkle.

With that thought, I took out the black stone I’d removed from the hobgoblin’s staff. It was a power stone—an object that had the effect of amplifying magic.

‘But the shape is really ominous.’

A rough, hard black stone. It had exactly the evil aesthetic that people who liked getting their backsides violated by dung beetles and maggots would love! At a glance, it was clearly an item related to dark mages.