Chapter 23
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Do You Want to Live?
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Goblins' sense of smell is roughly on par with humans', and their eyesight isn't all that great either.
They're weak, and while their intelligence is somewhat threatening, it's still just on the level of a child's.
If there's one advantage goblins have over humans in every respect, it has to be their hearing.
Goblins have long, wide ears.
And they're not just for show—they react to sounds more sensitively than humans do.
That's why goblins rely on sound for so much.
Like how dogs use smell more than sight.
Goblins use their hearing, and depend on it.
That's what makes this possible.
A goblin right in front of me, yet I strolled leisurely out of its field of vision.
As long as I'm not smack in the center of a goblin's vision, they won't notice me.
In these nameless deep mountains, just as expected, goblins swarmed everywhere.
I wrinkled my nose at their maggot-ridden corpses and stench, but I wasn't dumb enough to make a sound.
Roughly counting the ones I'd passed so far, there were easily over forty,
and in the village ahead—crudely mimicking a human settlement—there had to be several times that many shambling around.
This entire massive mountain had fallen into the goblins' clutches.
I judged there was no need to tangle with the small fry.
I could hide myself, but not the corpses.
If unnecessary fights left goblin bodies behind,
and those got discovered, nothing good would come of it. That much was obvious.
My target was the goblin leader.
Kill that one and get out immediately.
My traits helped me, and the Dice God helped me.
I have no talent for martial arts.
My body isn't suited for combat either.
But if I make good use of the game system, it's not some impossible feat worth whining about.
Should I credit Rie for giving me this?
Or is it that I'm using it well? Either way, without it, I'd have croaked long ago.
Anyway.
What to do about those bastards.
Two goblins guarding the village entrance.
I could probably take them out quietly, but charging in blindly would draw them by sight, noise aside, and they'd swarm me.
I'd have to lure them out and deal with them silently, or find another way in.
Starting a fight was the worst of the worst options, so I checked for alternatives first.
I circled the wooden palisade around the village.
The goblins' fence was shoddy and amateurish, but it stood three meters tall.
With my small frame and weak muscles, climbing it wouldn't be easy.
"But encircling the entire mountainside like this with a fence... That couldn't be done in just a few weeks or months."
Even conservatively, they'd been living here for at least a year.
So why hadn't there been any signs until now? That was the question.
I had no clue.
To survive in this world, I'd sold fake smiles and scraped together every bit of knowledge, info, and rumors out there, but my understanding of this place was still too shallow.
I shook my head to clear away useless thoughts and focused on the present.
"Three entrances."
Each guarded by two goblins, just the same.
I could probably break through any of them head-on, but what came right after was the problem, leaving me deep in thought.
About four hours passed like that.
I memorized their patrol patterns with my eyes.
For today, this reconnaissance would have to suffice. Time to pull back.
I hadn't planned to wrap it all up today anyway.
I headed back down to the village.
Some folks showed disappointment when I returned so soon, thinking I'd given up the request, but that was none of my concern.
More importantly, I needed to figure out how to infiltrate the village.
Once past the entrance, the rest would be easy.
Sneak in, kill the leader, sneak out.
The problem was that entrance.
"The entrances are too narrow, sized for goblin bodies."
Stealth was impossible.
Just because I was silent didn't make me invisible.
Squeezing through such a tight space would expose me to their sight no matter what.
"Should I just burn the whole thing down?"
I'd considered it, but I couldn't control the fire to limit it to just what I wanted.
If it spread to the village, that'd be turning the tables on myself.
If I could wield flames at will, I wouldn't be living like this.
So, no fire. Think of something I could control.
What about a trap, then?
I wasn't trying to take on every goblin here.
I just needed to get inside the village somehow.
No need for traps against the whole horde.
Just lure out those two guards at the entrance.
"But they've been trained decently—no sloppy trap would draw them out."
They reacted when I threw stones at rocks for that crack!, but they didn't budge from their posts.
So I kept throwing out of spite, and one guard goblin bellowed something in their unintelligible tongue. Then ten more came charging out from inside—I nearly shit myself.
I could handle two, maybe three at once.
Ten rushing me? I'd be torn limb from limb, turned into their plaything without lifting a finger.
"...Plaything?"
A word that stood out vividly in my horrific imaginings.
Goblins are intensely lustful.
That's why they mostly kidnap women.
Men for meat, women to sate their lust and turn into totems.
Women are meat too, but treating them that way proves goblins prioritize lust over hunger.
"What if I use myself as bait to lure those two out?"
They're well-trained, sure.
But if I poke at their innate, uncontrollable lust, maybe it'd work.
Even humans, who pride themselves on rationality above all animals,
mostly live driven by instinct over reason.
For goblins, it's obvious whether training or instinct comes first.
If it flops, I can retreat and brainstorm something else.
Time to give it a shot.
The next day, late, I climbed the mountain again and stripped.
A woman with a small, goblin-like build.
Too dark to make out my face, but my body had every element to rile up goblins.
Slowly, slowly, I approached and stepped into the torchlight they'd lit.
Humiliating and fucking awful, but if this worked, nothing could be easier.
The guard goblins didn't notice me at first without any sound, but soon spotted me sharpening into view. They flinched in surprise,
then confirmed my nakedness and scanned me over.
Their growing arousal and lust-clouded gazes felt like bugs crawling on my skin, disgusting, but I endured it.
Couldn't let emotions take over here.
I knew that well.
I was a proper adventurer now.
The goblins hesitated in silence for a moment, then left their post and approached me.
As expected.
Trained or not, beasts can't beat their instincts.
I bolted down the mountain path, evading the goblins.
They fully abandoned their post, chasing after me in lustful frenzy.
I dove behind the rock ahead.
Grabbed the sword I'd hidden beneath it and swung.
I jammed Grandpa's sword into the first goblin's maw as it charged heedlessly in heat, then yanked it free and slashed the second one.
"Disgusting..."
I put my clothes back on.
I'd cover the bodies with leaves, but if it took too long, they'd be found for sure. Time limit started now.
I headed into the goblin village.
The entrance guards were gone.
I hunched low and slipped through.
The village was wider than I'd imagined, with at least twenty totems like the ones from that small village before.
Totems with women's heads impaled—still fresh, half-melted in decay—made for an even more repulsive sight.
Faint screams and moans echoed from all directions, inaudible from outside.
Human sounds.
The village raid must've been recent.
Maybe there were survivors.
But I couldn't do anything about it.
All I could do was hunt the leader and deliver vengeance.
I knew my place.
I walked silently, minimizing my presence.
Under the cover of night sky darkness, I moved slowly, avoiding torches.
The screams tormented my ears and pricked at the faint remnants of my conscience.
But no matter how I thought about it, they were beyond my help.
Midnight goblins were either sating lust, sleeping, or standing guard by torchlight.
I watched those guards, wondering if they'd overcome their lust, and saw one emerge from a fishy-smelling hut—relieved by another going in—realizing no such thing.
The village center.
Reaching the largest wooden hut was anticlimactically easy, aside from enduring a bit of shame.
Just as the dice said, the difficulty was laughably low.
I opened the door.
No fancy lock or anything.
A somewhat larger-than-average goblin lay sleeping on a bed of bones.
And beside it, a small child huddled with a rope around its neck.
It curled up tight at the door's creak—did it think I was a goblin?
"...You."
Rustle—
No.
That's not it.
Curious as I was, priorities shifted.
I raised my sword and brought it down on the goblin.
It rustled awake.
But with the blade in its throat, it died without a scream, eyes bulging.
Pathetically easy, fitting the low difficulty.
Ignoring the blaring system voice,
I turned to the huddled child.
"What are you?"
The child looked up.
It tried desperately to avert its gaze,
but then realized it didn't need to.
This child...
Its eyes had been gouged out.
Empty sockets stared blankly toward the sound.
"...Augh..."
Drooling, unable to speak properly.
All its teeth yanked out.
Revulsion and nausea crawled up my spine.
I sliced the rope with my sword.
Could I save it?
I didn't know.
I'd ignored all those screams as "unavoidable," so why did I suddenly want to save this one child?
Probably because it was right in front of me.
Pain that's just a voice can be ignored by shutting your ears.
But turning away from this suffering child's pain, right here before my eyes, wasn't so simple.
"...Do you want to live?"
I spoke, and it lifted its head toward the sound.
That meant it could understand words, even if it couldn't speak.
"...If you want to live, nod."
I couldn't promise I'd definitely save it if it did,
but I'd try.
Did my intent get through?
The child pondered a moment, then smiled faintly.
"Alright, I'll..."
Before I could say I'd help—
the child shook its head.
"Lo... Lord, pleeeease..."
Despite my offer to save it,
it begged to be killed.