Another World Chased After Me.
Another World Chased After Me.
"Excuse me... I dropped my wooden chopsticks, so can I take one more?"
To be precise, I didn't drop them—I embedded them in a goblin's forehead. But in the end, that's pretty much the same as throwing them on the ground. They're unusable now.
Fortunately, the part-timer handed me another wooden chopstick or two like it was no big deal.
Lucky me. I can't eat cup ramyun with my bare hands. Unless it's a triangular kimbap.
After scarfing down the cup ramyun and triangular kimbap on the outdoor terrace, I felt a bit parched, so I bought a carbonated drink from the convenience store to wet my throat.
Hmm. Back when I was a man, I would've gone for zero-calorie soda... But now I need to replenish as many calories as possible. Sadly, I won't be drinking zero for a while.
The Vitality Conversion Method requires me to keep using it until I accumulate a certain amount of mana. I really did love that lime-flavored zero drink...
I'll just have to treat myself as someone who can eat anything and never gain weight.
After neatly disposing of the leftover scraps in the convenience store's trash can, I sat down on the terrace and thought about the goblin that had just appeared.
Goblin.
Commonly called "Greenskins," these green-skinned demi-human monsters are among the weakest of their kind.
They have the build and strength of a small child, and a level of intelligence that allows them to use simple tools—a small-statured monster.
However, their reproduction rate is alarmingly fast, and they have a habit of building nests with primitive traps in narrow, dark caves, making them a headache for adventurers trying to eradicate them.
But individually, they are so frail that novice adventurers just starting out on their path fight them to gain experience.
That was what goblins were.
And back when I first fell into the otherworld with nothing to my name, I too had spent my early adventurer days hunting them tirelessly to make a living.
So why did such a goblin appear on Earth? And right in front of me, after I returned from the otherworld...
It feels almost as if it followed me here, but that's utterly absurd.
If it were my disciple, the dragon Asha, maybe. But a goblin—following me all the way to Earth? How? A goblin, which can't even handle a proper magic system and only uses primitive shamanism?
And to do so with a grand spell requiring massive mana and complex arcane reagents? A monkey at a typewriter would have a better chance of writing Shakespeare.
I've faced countless monsters and demons when I saved the otherworld, but I've never heard of a goblin capable of such high-level magic.
Unless someone else sent the goblin for some purpose... But even that doesn't make sense.
The barrier between worlds isn't exactly thin. And you'd break through that barrier just to send a goblin? Using rare, expensive reagents and enormous mana just to send a goblin?
That's like trying to create a five-star Michelin meal with cheap ingredients.
So... hmm... There must be a reason why that goblin appeared in front of me, but I can't figure it out. Hmm.
I let out a small sigh and walked over to where the goblin had appeared.
The dark, oval-shaped Gate had vanished along with the goblin, and there was no trace left of the creature.
But maybe there's something that could serve as a clue...? I checked for a moment.
"This is..."
Just like the goblin, a very familiar object was lying on the ground where it had appeared.
A small stone with a faint blue glow.
No, it feels more like a crystal. Slightly transparent inside. Though the shape is a bit irregular.
If you were to cut a piece of blue-tinted glass however you like and make it glow from within, you might get something like this—a small stone.
A resource that doesn't exist on Earth but is commonly used in the otherworld. It was a Magic Stone. Given its small pebble size, it seemed to be a goblin's Magic Stone...
"Why is this lying here...?"
If you ask whether it's strange for a Magic Stone to be here since the goblin appeared from the Gate, I'd say it absolutely is—it makes no sense at all.
That's because Magic Stones are found inside monsters; you have to carve up the monster's corpse to extract them.
One of the tasks that novice adventurers find most difficult and despise the most is none other than Magic Stone extraction.
Anyway, a Magic Stone that can only be obtained through that process lying on the ground... honestly doesn't match my knowledge of the otherworld.
Maybe... they only look like the goblins I know, but are actually artificial lifeforms from a completely different world?
Otherwise, there's no way such a clean Magic Stone could remain without a bloody dismantling process. And the fact that it evaporated into black ash was beyond bizarre.
I pocketed the Magic Stone, which appeared to have come from the goblin, and glanced around.
Still no sign of people. Maybe because it's still winter break, but also because the convenience store I used had two doors—one connected to the building's exterior and one to the interior. That might be why.
Most people just use the interior and leave without stepping outside.
Fingering the Magic Stone in my pocket and feeling the faint mana emanating from it, I slowly began to walk.
Let's go home for now. I've seen enough of the university campus.
And if the goblin's appearance is just a one-time incident, fine. But if it keeps happening, I won't have the luxury of enrolling in university.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
On my way home, I started searching for information on my smartphone.
Goblin. Gate. Hunter novels. Web novels. Goblin Sla... Ahem. Not that.
I checked the news and various community sites, but there was no information about a goblin appearing from a Gate.
Had no other goblins appeared besides the one I encountered? Or had they shown up elsewhere but were kept top secret?
No, in this day and age, even if you classify something as top secret, you can't keep it completely hidden. This is an era where everyone can take photos and videos with their smartphones.
Almost everyone carries a device that can access the internet at all times. There's no way the appearance of a strange creature like a goblin could be kept secret.
So... it's safe to assume no one else has encountered a goblin yet.
Well, not that a goblin appearing would be a huge problem. Goblins individually aren't that strong, and even ordinary people can handle them.
As long as you don't go into a goblin's nest—the place where they're most dangerous—there's no real issue.
So for now... should I just wait calmly for things to change? If this goblin was a one-off, nothing else will happen. If it's the beginning of something, then more trouble will follow.
If nothing happens, I'll just go back to my normal daily life... but my gut tells me that goblin was just the start.
Thinking that, I walked into the terminal to buy a ticket for the intercity bus home.
Just then—
"What the hell is that...?"
"Is there some kind of filming going on?"
"It's floating in the air? A hologram?"
"Idiot. There's no way a hologram could float like that without any equipment."
Inside the busy terminal, a Gate—similar to the one where the goblin had appeared but larger—was emanating a dark aura.
Hmm... Sadly, my gut feelings never miss. Well, these instincts were honed through a rough life... I guess even after all this time, they haven't dulled.
Amid the panicked crowd, I glanced around. If what comes out of that Gate is just a goblin, there'll be some commotion, but it's no big deal—I could kill one with a solid kick.
The problem is if something other than a goblin comes out.
Unlike goblins, which are only a major threat in their trap-filled nests, many other monsters can easily take one or two human lives.
So, preparing for the worst, I pushed through the crowd and approached the Gate.
If something comes out, I can respond immediately from here.
Even if it draws attention from others, that's better than letting someone get killed or injured.
But contrary to my expectations, no monster emerged from the Gate.
Only a dark, creeping mist spread outward.