Chapter 11
Chapter 11
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: Newbie Adventurer Bern (8) - Plans and Reality Are Different
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Bern looked around.
The goblin horde numbered roughly eighty strong.
Most of them wore crudely woven armor made from animal hides, and about one in ten sported custom-fitted gear that actually suited their bodies.
Their weapons were mostly wood or stone rather than metal, but even those gleamed ominously at the edges, smeared with poison or the like.
This was a force that could threaten not just any average village, but potentially even a small fiefdom if played right.
By normal standards, a single swordsman carrying a mage on his back wouldn't even stand a chance.
"Rest easy. Slaying you and taking your heads would be simple enough right now, but I'm giving you one last chance."
The goblin lord knew it too, acting all relaxed as if the fight were already won.
Or at least, that's how it appeared on the surface.
...He's stalling. Waiting for the hunting parties to return.
At first glance, the goblin lord seemed full of openings, trusting his minions. But Bern realized the truth: it was keeping its body primed, ready to move at any moment.
By normal thinking, this force was plenty sufficient. Yet 'what ifs' could happen. So it wanted to boost its odds even a little more.
Such calculations, such tactics—this goblin lord executed them with natural ease.
Good thing we found it quick.
Bern had to admit: this goblin was something special.
If he had to rate it, it was a heroic specimen of goblin kind.
Not just smart or physically strong, but gifted with caution, boldness, and ambition all around.
Give it a bit more time here, and if this horde devoured a fiefdom...
Learning proper metallurgy, tactics, and especially how to harness mana from its people? It would've turned into an outright disaster.
"Surrender, humans."
Now that he'd seen through the enemy's intent, there was no need to play along with the delay.
Even knowing that, Bern decided to keep talking.
He'd originally planned a swift end to it all, but the situation had shifted just a bit.
Judging by the cavern's size, the single entrance, and the enemies' positions, it might be possible to wipe them out in one clean sweep without chasing them down individually.
"Don't forget the signal."
"...!"
He murmured it so softly that only Blanca on his back could hear, then addressed the goblin lord.
"Surrender? Without even fighting, you're asking us to be your food?"
"We only eat the useless and worthless. Human or goblin, no exceptions."
"We're not?"
"Didn't you prove your worth by turning my territory upside down?"
"Then shouldn't you just kill us outright?"
"Killing you won't bring back my dead minions. But making you serve me? That strengthens my forces even more."
"Sounds nice, but living as cave slaves still doesn't appeal."
"We're stuck in a place like this for now, but it'll change soon enough. And I won't treat you like the worthless slaves, either."
"Hmm."
Bern let out a thoughtful hum.
To an outsider, it would've looked like he was genuinely tempted by the goblin lord's offer.
Even Blanca on his back might've suspected as much.
If not for Bern's prior whisper, she might've already bolted.
Sensing a real chance to recruit him, the goblin lord's golden eyes gleamed brightly.
"Think it over, human. It took me less than half a year to build this much power since I was born."
"Hooh."
A 'hooh' meaning 'A lord let this happen in his lands for a full half-year?'—but the goblin lord took it as pure admiration and lifted its chin proudly.
"Then what about one year, three, or ten from now? This force—no, this nation? What power, wealth, and glory would you gain?"
"Ugh... that's tempting, yeah."
"Refuse and death awaits. Accept, and glory. What's there to agonize over?"
It was then that commotion erupted behind Bern.
-Grick!
-Grrruk!
The scuttling rush of numerous creatures.
The hunting parties from the outskirts had heard of the disturbance at base and all returned.
Their gear was cruder than those who'd stayed with the lord, but their numbers surpassed the originals.
And every one seethed with rage, radiating murderous intent—they'd clearly had a miserable time forcing past the Green Hunter scent at the entrance.
Pushed back by the goblins, Bern gradually shifted deeper into the cavern, ending up surrounded smack in the middle of the horde.
"Tsk tsk, your hesitation was your downfall. Swear loyalty early, and you'd have been rewarded as a faithful vassal."
The goblin lord spoke with feigned pity, laced with mockery underneath.
Bern asked,
"Was stalling your goal from the start?"
"Does it matter now?"
"If I pledge loyalty even now, will you accept?"
"Yes. But the terms won't be as good as before. What can you do? This is your last question."
As if responding to the goblin lord, the three-digit horde leveled weapons at Bern from all sides.
He felt Blanca gripping his clothes tightly from his back.
Bern answered.
Not with words, but action.
Shwoooosh!
The volleyball-sized cotton ball in his right hand shot toward the goblin lord, producing a vicious whoosh unlike its fluffy appearance.
Sensing danger instinctively, the goblin lord rolled aside nimbly.
And it was the right call—the moment it touched his throne chair, the thing crumbled to dust.
As if it'd been smashed by a massive iron ball.
The goblin lord rolled across the floor, bellowing,
"Kill them!!"
-Grrryeek!
The goblin soldiers charged at Bern en masse.
Blanca, who'd stayed silent till now, finally hit her limit and yelled,
"What now?!"
"This!"
Bern's body launched forward.
A dense wall of armed goblins blocked the way ahead, but he ignored it.
Thud!
-Ggeek!?
Bern leaped into the air, stomping a goblin's face with his boot as it shrieked.
Using their heads as footholds, he dashed straight up the wall.
Blanca, now somewhat accustomed to being carried, still found the scene absurd.
One graze from those weapons and his legs would've been sliced clean off.
Even without that, losing balance for a split second on those shaky perches would've buried him in the enemy ranks.
Bern charged on undaunted, utterly confident, as if such risks didn't exist.
And at last, his foot landed somewhere other than a goblin head.
At the same instant, Blanca's view whipped around.
It had to.
Bern had stepped not on the ground, but onto the wall of this massive cavern.
The goblin lord had chosen a spot like a natural audience chamber, so the cave wasn't just wide—it stretched high up too.
Racing diagonally up the jagged, uneven wall, Bern shouted to Blanca,
"Center! Blast it! Maximum firepower!"
"Are you insane!?"
"This is adventurer stuff!"
No adventurers do crap like this!!
Blanca wanted to scream it, but her hands extended toward the floor without hesitation.
Most of her remaining mana drained in a flash, transforming into a massive blaze.
Frustratingly, all that frantic running and spell-slinging earlier made aiming surprisingly easy.
Rock Burning Magic
Rooaaarrrrr!
The scorching heat from above made the goblin lord's eyes tremble wide.
But he wasn't some average goblin.
That size flame...! It won't wipe us out!
Maybe ten—no, dozens if packed tight like this—but most of the troops would survive.
Vowing revenge after, the goblin lord grabbed two nearby goblins and used them as shields.
His calculations were spot-on.
If not for the massive oil-soaked cotton ball—equivalent to a giant oaken barrel—now embedded in his throne.
No matter its genius intellect and talent, this was the limit of a goblin lord who'd only known a narrow world.
Blanca's fire hit the chair, swiftly igniting the cotton's surface.
The compressed oil erupted on contact with the flames.
KABOOOOOM!
Light. Heat. Shockwave.
Even the two near the ceiling felt the dizzying firepower.
Blanca barely pried her eyes open, gaping at the scene below.
The green army, well-equipped and disciplined beyond typical goblins.
Gone. Swept away entirely.
Those near the center charred black and dead on the spot; farther ones writhed in silent agony, flames clinging to their bodies.
And among the few survivors was the goblin lord.
"Gack... grhk... gaaaah!!"
Thanks to his innately tougher body and ruthless quick-thinking with shields, his state was the best among the burned.
But that only amplified his agony, dragging it out longer.
Writhing from oil-fueled flames that wouldn't die on his skin, he crawled like a worm.
He couldn't comprehend this.
Or rather, he refused to.
He was born for greatness.
Destined to transcend goblin limits and elevate his kind.
For it to end like this—so pathetically, with nothing achieved?
As Bern approached with a stoic face, the goblin lord spat curses.
"Don't... get cocky...! If I'd had just a little... a tiny bit more time! Then scum like you...!!"
Bern frowned briefly at the goblin lord, then spoke in utter disbelief.
"...You're the one who cut that time short, aren't you?"
"What?"
"If you needed time, you should've stayed hidden. Built power slowly, solidifying your base instead of expanding rashly. The surroundings wouldn't have noticed for much longer."
Bern pronounced judgment calmly, but cruelly.
"You didn't run out of luck. You just screwed up yourself."
The goblin lord's eyes twitched.
Bern lopped off its limp head without mercy and claimed the trophy.
Then he said to Blanca,
"Not bad for a first commission."
Blanca stared at him in silence.
Like a cat beholding the cosmos.