Rescue and Reward: The Goblin Shaman
The Goblin Shaman had been in a far better mood these past few days. A massive warrior trailed him, along with dozens of goblins. Luck was on his side—they'd even stumbled upon ruins to claim as their nest. If it had been his dimwitted kin, they'd have charged the nearby village without a second thought. But the shaman was among the smartest of goblins. Raiding a village meant taking huge risks. Straying far from their nest in the ruins wasn't smart either. So he waited. For some decent prey to wander close by.
The idiot goblins' whining grew louder by the day. They wanted to storm the village, loot delicious food, and snatch women. Oh, how could they be that stupid...! Launching the first attack was as good as begging to die. But after patiently holding out, fortune finally smiled on him. They spotted a group of humans hauling a cart loaded with goods. He immediately sent his minions to strip them bare. The pathetic humans barely put up a fight before losing everything. His underlings sang his praises. It was such a simple plan if you just used your brain—goblins really were hopeless idiots. Except for him, of course!
Some humans seeking revenge had attacked the nest, but they'd fallen into traps and been slaughtered by his minions. A fair number of underlings died too, but who cared? They'd gotten their hands on the female they'd desperately needed.
“Kehek! How dare you lay a hand on her! This female is a precious sacrifice!”
He gave the morons trying to use her a thorough scolding. This was a valuable prize, meant to be offered up for even greater power. She was too noisy with her whining, so he stripped off her clothes and whipped her. The screaming female went quiet soon enough, bound tight.
“Heh heh! A nicely ripened female, good enough to eat.”
The shaman chuckled as he groped the breast of the female tied to the altar. Still young, but with a well-developed, plump body. The god would surely be delighted. It would grant him immense power for sure. Now preparations were perfect. He'd build his strength here in the nest, invade the nearby village, seize vast stores of food and females. From there, grow the horde and conquer the territory. That was when his kingdom would be born!
“Kikikiki!”
While he cackled, lost in fantasies of himself as king surrounded by such females, a sharp whoosh cut the air.
“Guk!?”
“Wh-what is this?!”
“I can’t see!”
Suddenly, smoke from who-knows-where filled the chamber.
“Sm-smoke!”
“Fire! It’s on fire!”
“Shut up, you idiots! If it was fire, the smoke wouldn’t be like this!”
No acrid burn, no harm from breathing it. They'd have smelled real fire coming. But the brainless goblins panicked, flailing in chaos.
Grinding his teeth, he gripped his staff. Whatever was happening, he needed to check...
“Huh?”
Then he spotted movement in the smoke. Something darted through it, swift and erratic. Not just moving—wherever it passed, his minions...
Slash!
His eyes bulged.
“F-fight! Intruder!”
He bellowed in desperation, but his dimwitted minions couldn't even grasp the situation. One tilting its head lost its neck to the air.
“What the...! The smoke too?!”
The intruder didn't charge straight on. It zigzagged through the crumbled pillars of the ruins. A few who spotted it loosed crude arrows into the gloom. But it read their paths, dodging with minimal motion while closing in.
Puk!Fwoosh!
Two goblins' necks severed in a single horizontal slash. A thrown dagger felled the blind archer in one. Minions dropped dead before his eyes in seconds.
“Cr-kuhk! Dengchi! Protect me!”
“Umm! Leave it to me.”
He commanded the hobgoblin.
Slash!
Its body split clean vertically at the same instant.
“Ah...?”
The massive frame—several times larger than a normal goblin—bisected. Sticky blood and entrails spilled from the halves.
His eyes rolled back in horror.
“Uh, uhe. Uheee...”
The hobgoblin had been his most trusted minion. The strongest warrior, always guarding his side faithfully! For it to be cleaved in one stroke!
His legs shook, knees buckling.
“Th-this can't... This can't be.”
Trembling uncontrollably, he backed away without realizing.
The overwhelming might had long erased his greed and arrogance, leaving pure terror.
A glint flashed in the thick smoke.
“Eek!”
A human drenched in goblin blood, sword in hand. Murderous intent poured from him like a demon's aura.
“Mo-monster...!”
That was the only thought left. He desperately swung his staff, but his shaking hand dropped it. He scrambled to grab it, only to spot the intruder and collapse.
“Uwaaa!”
The intruder was already at his nose.
He reached desperately for the staff, but the monster's blade sliced precisely through his wrist joint.
Srek!
“Kyaaaaak!”
His right arm shot into the air toward the staff. White bone and muscle gleamed at the stump; blood soon jetted from the wound.
As he thrashed in agony, something seized his nape and slammed him into the floor.
Kwang!
Nasal bones crunched under the impact. Teeth shattered and rained down. Thick, bloody saliva drooled from his mouth.
“Kk... kueuk...”
The surroundings fell eerily silent. As the smoke cleared, it revealed his minions—every one headless or gutted, rolling corpses.
barely a minute? In that blink, this human had massacred them all.
“......”
The intruder stared down with chillingly cold eyes. A monster? No, closer to a devil.
Ah, yes. He'd just been unlucky enough to cross one.
“Pl-please... spare me... loyalty...”
Meek pleas leaked from his mangled lips.
He groveled at the human's feet and caught sight of his own terrified reflection in the blood-smeared blade.
He wanted to live. By any means, anything to survive. Even as this devil's slave, swearing eternal loyalty!
But a devil was a devil for a reason.
“If you kill others, accept it and die, you bastard.”
The blade whistled toward his throat. His head tumbled, the world flipping. In his rolling vision, he saw the devil's face.
If he'd known the devil was this close, he should've fled. Never even thought of sacrificing the female.
No point regretting now.
Why else call it a devil? It appeared out of nowhere and stole lives.
His head rolled pathetically under the altar where he'd dreamed of his kingdom.
“Things went well.”
I scanned the area—no stragglers or young ones left. The woman bound to the altar had injuries, but she was relatively intact. The shaman's presence had ironically been a stroke of luck. If they hadn't planned to use her as treasure, she'd have become the goblins' plaything ages ago.
“Are you okay?”
“Uh, uuh...”
She cracked her eyes open bit by bit but couldn't quite come around. For now, I stripped off my outer layer to cover her.
If there's an injured person, get them out fast—that's rule one in the hunter world.
“Wh-who are you...?”
“Your father sent me.”
“Father... is he safe?”
“Perfectly fine. Probably the other caravan staff too.”
“Good... that's a relief.”
Her gaze drifted to the goblin corpses below. Heads severed, bellies split, immobile.
“I... survived, right? This isn't some delusion or dream I made up?”
“It's reality. So relax.”
“Eup! Kkheup...!”
She burst into tears. Captured young by monsters and put through hell—it had to be traumatic on every level.
“Thank you! Really, thank you! I thought it was really over...!”
“Calm down. It's not over till we're out.”
Reassuring herself before escaping the den was dangerous.
“I'll carry you. You look like walking's tough.”
“Ah... but what if some goblin attacks...?”
“Nothing left. Worst case, I ditch the hostage without hesitation and fight. Don't worry.”
I hoisted her onto my back and headed out. Near the guards' bodies, I covered her eyes. They'd died protecting her. She'd learn eventually, but no need to see it herself.
...Even for someone like me, that kind of guilt weighing on a kid was brutally heavy.
“...You sure he's really okay?”
Caravan leader Delros trembled with anxiety while waiting. He was too worked up to sit, pacing the road instead.
“The lord charging into a goblin horde alone with just a sword? That's the stuff of novels.”
Could they both really make it out safe? If even the lord got hurt here...
“You can rest easy with our lord.”
His secretary seemed almost bored, like this was routine.
“He fights monsters solo to protect the territory and wipes out crime syndicates single-handed.”
Her face soured a bit, like she wasn't thrilled about it.
“Whew! Even that gate incident—he handled it alone.”
“Gate? Sorry, what's that...?”
“Ah, we call those holes monsters pour out of 'gates' around here.”
“...Sounds like you handled it well. Already got a name for it.”
I hadn't heard much about Armeyna's lord. Was he some battle-hardened general like the northern duke?
“Did the lord really take down all those monsters alone?”
“...Strictly speaking, not entirely alone. He brought one adventurer.”
The secretary's mood soured even more.
Merchant instincts rang alarm bells, so Delros changed tack.
“Maybe send one of our guys to Armeyna now, fetch some knights...?”
“He's fine. Our lord doesn't pick fights he can lose.”
“Is that something you control...?”
“If he says he can do it, he can. No need to doubt.”
Delros eyed Tavi curiously. What kind of trust let her back him so absolutely?
“Ch-chairman!”
One employee came sprinting up.
“He did it! The lord rescued the young miss!”
“Ah, aa...!”
By the time he snapped to, Delros was already running. There was his daughter, tended by the staff.
“Rana...!”
She was really rescued. Safe and unscathed!
“Th-thank you! Thank you so much, my lord!”
Storming a monster den alone to save someone. A hero. A true hero of this age!
“How can I ever repay this grace...!”
“Whew~ Come on. Plenty of ways to repay.”
“...Pardon?”
The lord grinned slyly while sipping water.
“What good are empty words? Real gratitude comes with this, right?”
He pinched his thumb and forefinger together.
“Saved your only daughter, risked my neck! Oh, and avenged your dead employees to boot! How much you figure that's worth? I'd call a thousand gold cheap.”
“A man with a conscience wouldn't just wipe his mouth and walk, right? I've got plenty to sell you. Take good care of me from now on, yeah? Maybe rewrite that contract first?”
Even before her daughter's savior, it was a smile that made you flinch—pure, ruthless capitalism.