Carrying a spear that I made myself, I loitered around the forest. Even for a inhabitant like me, being deep inside this forest filled with trees is really eerie. Inside the forest, there are lots of monsters that prey on goblins. I, while searching for game, may suddenly find myself inside the stomach of some monster. While trying to hold back that fear, I reminded myself that I needed to bring some prey back. Just a few days ago, Raiza died.After giving birth to children, she was infected by some kind of illness. She got a fever, and before long, she pa.s.sed. So, it seems like humans don’t have the goblins’ gluttonous drive for survival. (E/N: humans aren’t as tenacious as goblins)
After death, everyone deliciously ate her…………….d.a.m.n IT!!!!!!!!!!
Raiza and I had had a good relationship, enough to call us friends. She did not have much of a last moment, but she was a woman who touched one’s heart. It was fun spending time with her, I think…. And also, she is my G.o.dparent. She named me Rusty. ｢It’s annoying to have no name, you know.｣ That was her simple reason, but she never told me the meaning of the name. If it was the name of her lover, then it will be quite the burden, you know……
Because of her death, I was in a reasonably sorrowful mental state, but that is not the most important problem at hand right now.
The goblins of the village have started to show indications of avoiding me. If you think about it, it’s probably natural that they would. Completely exceeding those foolish samples of ma.s.s-produced children, and not even at 1 year old, I was able to talk in human language, and able to speak it more fluently than the senior Goblin leader.
The sign was ominous, and I didn’t know the nature of the avoiding, since I believed it to be a natural occurrence. If this goes on, it might develop to bullying, and then oppression. That so called “standard route” would definitely happen.
Bullying scary, bullying scary, bullying scary, bullying scary (ZeRenMi: my comrade senses are tingling)
Even though I plan to leave the village someday, for me who still isn’t even 1 year old, abandoning the protection of the village means death. Comparing myself to human children, I’m about as big as a 4-5 year old. You only need to get bitten by a wolf once before saying goodbye world.
Because of that, I need to please the seniors by hunting game. If you just let them eat some of your catch, any difficulties will just quickly disappear since goblins are just a bunch of simple-minded creatures. (ZeRenMi: I think I amount to about the same XD. give me video games and LNs and you’ll be in my good books)
With my zero defense, I walked around helplessly, looking behind me all the while. For now, let’s look for horned rabbits: searching inside the thickets…….peering at something trembling inside the tree hollows………I can’t find any. Once in a while, my whole body jumps, over-reacting to the faintest of sounds.
………No good. I might’ve been too hasty.
Thinking about it properly, bullying is scary, but can’t I just endure it until my body gets bigger? Betting my one and only life toward the gamble known as hunting is unnecessary. Just when I calmed down and was able to make a rational decision….
*Rustle*
Hearing the faint sound of gra.s.s being stepped on, I instantly dived into the bushes. Pa.s.sing the the dense bushes, several silhouettes came into my field of sight.
The ones who appeared were humans.
A swordsman with a large build and carrying a great sword. An archer holding a bow in one hand and a quiver of arrows on his back. A person wearing a robe and wielding a staff on one hand….most likely a magician. No matter how you look at them, they are young, but old enough to be called young men. But, for human adventurers to come this deep into the forest, their intention is….. I was trembling a bit, and while I was trying to get rid of my nervousness as they pa.s.sed by, the warrior with the large build opened his mouth.
「Hey, you sure that there is a goblin nest up ahead?」
「Yeah, when I was hunting earlier, I got lost in the forest, and then I stumbled upon it. The nest had signs that it was a village some time ago. Their numbers are large, but there aren’t many high rankers. They aren’t very vigilant either.」
「Fufufu…..it looks like it’s not enough for us to level up. We should first surround them with fire, and then let’s have some fun hunting them bit by bit.」
Even though I was surprised by the shocking contents of their talk, I earnestly tried to hide my trembling presence.
Even after I was not able to sense the presence of the adventurers and had crawled out of the bushes, my trembling won’t stop.
What should I do? Should I go and report the danger to the village in this state? It’s no good. Even though the archer has a vague recollection, the direction is basically correct. Besides, even if I get ahead of them, I don’t think that they will be able to set up any decent preparations. First of all, those guys gave Raiza a cruel experience. I don’t have any duty or desire to report the danger to them. Then, should I just run away by myself? But…….if possible, I would like to avoid that. It’s doubtful that I can live in this forest alone at the moment. At the present state of the forest ecology, it’s obvious that goblins are prey. At least until my body is a bit bigger and my hand-made weapons are a bit more dependable….
At this time in my hard mode goblin life, I really felt like crying. Snorting my nose, I suddenly sensed the smell of my natural enemy: the dark red incarnation of superhuman strength, it was a large demon, an ogre. It is still a distance away, and it is also downwind, so the threat is not urgent, but the forest re~ally does like to make it hard for me. Things like adventurers and ogres, as goblins’ natural enemies, are both like extreme existences. A goblin’s life is lighter than a feather……those guys seriously think that way.
「Geez…consider the lives of those whom you are going to kill for your own amus.e.m.e.nt. Since you are going to kill, why don’t you guys kick each others….a.s.ses…」
Within the anger I held towards the irrational, at the moment when I exceeded my threshold for withholding grief…..there was a flash of light.
「…..A-re (Huh?)? A-re, a-re? If I do something li~ke this, then……..even considering the risk, this plan is not too bad…..right?」
After straining my bad brain for a short while…. (9: wanted to write “goblin brain”)
「………Perhaps I can do this………」