The Hunter, the Goblins, and… (6)
The Hunter, the Goblins, and… (6)
#
-□□□□□□□□!!!!
The tearing shriek rang out once more.
Even as we fled, the screaming continued behind us.
But the crackling static made it impossible to make out what was being said. It was strange. I had no trouble understanding the language of this other world.
Even before my Status Window appeared, I'd had no trouble conversing or reading. The summoning process had probably applied some kind of automatic correction.
So why couldn't I understand what that thing was saying? And why could these two understand it?
Come to think of it, something similar had happened in Riverbridge. That bald bone-fucker's voice had carried the same static, as though some kind of filter had been applied...
A filter for what? To protect me from them? Or to protect them from me?
"Yoo-jin. Stop here. This spot's good."
"Yeah."
Yuri brought us to a stop. Before I knew it, we'd reached a ridge, a position that gave us a good view of the dungeon entrance while keeping us concealed.
"Alright. We'll observe from here. If nothing happens, we'll just..."
"Yoo-jin. Look over there."
"What..." "Ah."
-Grrrrrk.
Goblins were streaming out of the cave in a column. Their numbers... five... ten... thirty. No, thirty-five.
On top of that, they were armed with things like clubs made from wood and stone. Crude, sure, but swung with force, they were deadly weapons capable of inflicting fatal wounds.
"Yoo-jin?! We have to run—!"
"Quiet! Stay still!"
We hadn't been spotted yet. The creatures were merely pouring out of the dungeon; they didn't seem to be searching for anything.
-Grrrrrrk! Kergk!
One particularly tall one was waving something around and shouting. Was that... a whip? And that appearance...
"Why's that one's face white?"
"Its face isn't white, Yoo-jin. There's a white mark stamped on it—a handprint."
A handprint stamped onto its face? As the creature kept shouting, the goblins shuffled about and got into formation. Was that one the commander?
-Grrrrrrk!
What the hell was it doing?
The goblins formed a column two abreast, while the white handprint stood to one side as though overseeing them and cracked its whip, like an overseer driving slaves.
A column two abreast... I'd seen that formation plenty of times before...
...Was that a marching column? Once the formation was set, the goblins began moving somewhere.
Where were they trying to go?
"...Yuri. That's the direction of the village, isn't it?"
"Huh, huh... what?"
Yuri stared blankly at the direction the goblins were heading... and soon turned deathly pale, fidgeting in distress.
"U-uh, what are we gonna do? Is this my fault? 'Cause I said let's go check out the dungeon for no good reason..."
...No. That probably wasn't it. I had a guess as to why those things had mobilized. The reason the dungeon had been empty of even bugs, let alone small animals...
But that wasn't what mattered right now.
"Are there people in the village who can fight? Soldiers to stop the monsters, anything like that?"
"N-no. Our village is small... we don't even have guards. Everyone's out working, so it's just kids in the village..."
Of course. A village so small it didn't even have an inn wouldn't have guards. And since everyone knew monsters didn't come out of dungeons, it was only natural no one had given it a second thought. Damn it!
Yuri broke off mid-sentence and lowered her head, hiding her face.
...So that was it.
Right. I finally felt like I understood. Yuri's past, which the novel had never explained. The future that would have come to pass if she'd never met me.
The future Yuri—no, Fogswaithe—hated goblins, loathed the state and the guilds, and despised heroes.
Her hatred for goblins? Simple.
Those half-goblins that had just surged out of the dungeon.
Those goblins had been ready to attack the village from the beginning. Our discovery of them had moved the schedule forward slightly, but the ambush itself had clearly been planned all along.
If we hadn't been here.
It would've happened a little later than now, but Yuri and the villagers would have been caught completely defenseless under the goblins' attack. She would have lost her eyes and her family because of it. That was probably why she hated goblins so venomously.
I could also understand now why she loathed the guilds and the state. She'd requested support from West Keep in advance, and they'd ignored her. The villagers had essentially been killed by those people. Because they'd ignored Yuri and neglected the dungeon, the goblins had been able to ambush the village.
Then, why did she despise heroes?
A hero's bloodline? Then Yuri had probably learned from her grandfather that what the heroes were doing in the east in the name of war was, objectively speaking, pointless squabbling.
They wasted time on such pointless things, and only showed up to clean up the mess after several villages in the mountain range had already been wiped out.
What was more, those people hadn't even put much effort into killing the monsters, which must have made Yuri despise them all the more. Those with great power should bear responsibility in proportion to it, yet they hadn't.
What about why she didn't use her first name?
Yuri never gave her given name; she used only the surname Fogswaithe.
That was... right. Given how those heroes looked, a name that so strongly evoked the hero bloodline would have been hateful.
"..."
But what was I supposed to do?
If the bastards had stayed inside the cave, I could have handled them somehow, ambushing them one at a time like before.
But confronting them all at once in open ground, the best I could manage would be protecting myself. I was used to exploiting tricks, but my abilities weren't specialized for combat.
If I got surrounded, I couldn't guarantee my own survival. Those things, stupid as they were, could still keep moving even with an arrow lodged in their throats.
But...
Even so, I had to stop those goblins. That was probably the real mission the Goddess had given me.
#
The signs had already been there.
First, the timing of my awakening.
The Goddess had deliberately made me awaken at the moment I was kicked out of the castle, in order to guide me westward.
I'd said it myself, but that had only been a lie to dodge Kate's interrogation, a way to escape the situation. But now, having come this far, I had the feeling it really was the Goddess's intention.
The Goddess had given me a Ticket when I killed the lich in Riverbridge, and another when Reni awakened. It was all part of the same pattern.
The Goddess was asking me to prevent the unknown events that would unfold in the mountain range before they happened.
...I didn't think she was trying to use me like a puppet. The Goddess had reacted every time I swore, but she'd also turned a blind eye to my schemes to dodge penalties and had so generously approved my skill proposals.
No, seeing how instantly she responded when I used the system... it actually felt more like she was making a request of me. Asking me to save her children.
Well, the Goddess's mission aside, more than anything, I myself wanted to save Yuri.
If I hadn't wanted to, I wouldn't have worried about whether she'd gotten hurt somewhere, and I wouldn't have gone out of my way to stay with her.
But those goblins...
...To take down those goblins, Reni and I alone weren't enough.
The remaining option...
"Y-Yoo-jin."
Reni's voice, trembling a little.
"...Yeah."
"Ba-back then, earlier..."
Reni stopped speaking and lowered her head. Her lips moved as if she were choosing her words. I couldn't see her expression. It felt as though she were trying to hide it from me.
"Yoo-jin."
When she lifted her head again, Reni's face held a slightly bitter but resolute expression.
"Do you remember what I said at the Church before?"
"..."
"You are the Goddess's Apostle. A-a little... ngh... hhk..."
"..."
Reni steadied her voice after it had cracked slightly.
"...Hoo... You're the Goddess's Apostle, so you need to use your abilities a bit more proactively. Especially at a time like this."
...Right. I had been thinking the same thing. How could I avoid it? Reni reached the conclusion first and offered to help me, even though she probably didn't want to.
"Right. Got it."
"Yes."
Alright. One deep breath.
"Yuri."
Yuri's head snapped up. She wore the same sharp expression she'd had when I first met her.
"Yoo-jin—no, Mr. Do."
Her way of addressing me had reverted to what it had been when we first met. No, her tone was even stiffer than it had been then. What had changed her mind? She was speaking formally, as if putting distance between us.
"...I didn't know it would come to this. I'm sorry. I thought it'd be over after just a little investigation..."
"..."
"You can get to the village faster than those goblins, right? Please go ahead and get people to evacuate. If you find my aunt, things'll work out somehow."
She wasn't having a conversation; she was simply talking at me, as though she'd already made up her mind.
"And I'm being shameless, but... if you can... p-please help so people don't get hurt..."
"...What about you?"
"I'm going to buy some time."
"..."
The set of her face showed that she knew exactly what she was saying. Reni's hand tightened around my elbow.
"Don't worry. You saw me shoot, right? Thirty of 'em is, uh, something I can so-somehow handle."
She wore the look of a young wolf facing its prey, complete with a confident smile. But did she really expect me to let her do that?
"..."
No, this girl... she was all bravado while her legs were trembling. She was smiling, but the corners of her lips quivered too. That expression was probably a desperate act.
"..."
This girl had spent the whole time spouting nonsense and putting on airs, but right then, I liked that bravado of hers.
Yeah. I liked you.
I felt Reni tug on my elbow. I turned to her and nodded, then looked back at Yuri.
"No. It's fine. I can manage somehow."
"...What?"
"I can handle it. Thirty or so goblins."
"H-how?"
A ray of hope dawned on Yuri's face. I had to answer it.
"You just have to have sex with me."
"...What?"
Her tone snapped back to normal. That was how absurd she found it. Fine. Objectively, I understood that it sounded like horseshit! I did! Damn it!
I jazzed up my delivery a little to lift the mood.
I spread both arms wide and spoke as though I were performing in a musical!
"Now! Let's have sex! Sex!"
Come to me, sweet paradise of wine and flesh!