Yuusha-sama no Oshishou-sama

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The party kept watch by the fountain in the avian village for the entire night.

"I hope they arrive soon," said Oort with a sigh, "so that we can enjoy another night of Laura"s hospitality."

Having decided to start exploring the area once the sun rose the next day, they rested throughout the night with two people on guard. Once the goblins found out that they had returned to the avian village, they could attack at any moment. Despite that threat, they were happy to find that they hadn"t been attacked at all. When the sun rose, they quickly ate breakfast, and then immediately started to explore the village"s surroundings. They easily found several narrow pathways that appeared to have been used by the goblins. Formed into a single file, they started to explore them carefully. Oort and Paul were in the front, Louis and Eliza in the back, and Wynn and Leti in the middle. It didn"t seem like avians ever made their own paths All they found were traces of animals or goblins. Nothing they discovered appeared to be man-made. By the time they found what they had been looking for since dawn, the sun was already high in the sky.

"Oh, there they are."

Oort, who was leading the line, suddenly stopped walking. He had spotted the goblin den in the caves on the cliffside.

"Goblins? Where?"

While Eliza shushed Wynn, who had tried to get to the front to see, Paul drew his sword, and Louis tightened his grip on his spear.

"They haven"t noticed us yet. But I can"t see their leader anywhere."

They could only see three goblins standing guard in front of the cave. One of them held an axe-like weapon while the other two wielded clubs.

"Eliza, attack the axe goblin first with magic. Louis and I will take the other two. Paul will watch out for any goblins coming out of the cave."

"Got it."

"Wynn, Leti," continued Oort having turned to the two children. "For now, you two will hide here and watch us fight. You should study the way we work together."

The two of them nodded.

"Good. Let"s go!"

As soon as Oort, Louis, and Paul charged out from the bushes, Eliza started to chant a spell concentrating deeply.

"O Fire, bend to my will and create a fireball!" (TL note: I changed the template for chants. Used to be something like "I, who understands the way of fire…")

A small flame the size of a candle fire appeared in the middle of Eliza"s palm. It soon grew to the size of a pumpkin, formed into a sphere, and then slowly rose from her hand until it stopped above her head.

"Strike true, Fireball!"

Eliza pointed her hand at the axe-wielding goblin, and the fireball flew at it with amazing speed. Feeling the approaching heat, the goblin turned towards the incoming spell. It hit him squarely on the chest and exploded.

"GYAAAAA!"

The goblin let out a hair-raising shriek and was sent flying by the blast. It then rolled on the ground to put out the flames burning its body. The other two flinched from the heat and the explosion. Oort and Louis took that opportunity to close the distance. Oort"s axe cleaved into one goblin"s head while Louis" spear stabbed the other through the chest.

"Whoa…"

Paul was amazed by the way the party of experienced adventurers fought. He had no chance to do anything after Oort and Louis dashed out of the thickets.

"Don"t let your guard down! More are coming!"

Oort"s shout brought Paul to his senses. Ten more goblins came running out of the cave. Only two of them held metal weapons the rest wielded the familiar thick wooden clubs. Despite their numbers, they weren"t a match for the battle-ready adventurers. Soon, Oort took care of four of them, Louis killed three, and Paul defeated two. Not wanting to get her comrades caught in friendly fire, Eliza watched them fight with the two kids. But when one of the goblins tried to flee, she slew it with a fireball.

"Hey, was there a Lord there?"

"No, didn"t see one."

"How strange. There shouldn"t be only this much… "

Oort let the blade of his axe fall to the ground, and rubbed his chin in thought. There was less opposition than he had expected. Unlike Paul, who was winded from defeating two goblins, Oort and Louis quickly regained their breath. To them, the number of goblins that had appeared was nothing special. But Oort could feel the presence of stronger monsters. There was no way the avian village could have been ruined by just twelve goblins.

"Sheesh, are they hiding in the cave? How "bout we bury them in the cave with Eliza"s magic?" asked Louis.

"It"s no use if there are other exits," responded Oort.

"Do we enter the cave then? It stinks in there. I don"t wanna go inside."

"Don"t complain. It"s our job."

"They are so relaxed," sighed Eliza, witnessing Oort and Louis"s banter.

They probably didn"t want to look bad in front of the fledgling adventurers. Eliza looked towards Wynn and Leti, who should have been watching the battle. She noticed something strange.

"What"s wrong, Leti?"

Leti had stiffened, clinging to Wynn"s left arm.

Could watching her first battle have been too much for her? wondered Eliza, It did seem to be a bit soon for her to become an adventurer.

"It"s fine, Paul and my party members are strong. They"ll take care the goblins in the blink of an eye."

Eliza crouched down to meet the frightened Leti"s eyes and spoke in a kind voice

"Onii-chan…"

Leti"s voice was shaky. Eliza looked at Wynn. He was looking at Leti"s face with a worry in his eyes.

"What"s wrong?"

Eliza frowned, perplexed by Leti"s strange behavior. Leti suddenly turned her gaze from Wynn towards the cave. At that moment, Eliza finally realized that a faint trace of magic power could be felt around them. And just as she started looking for the source—

"Oort, above us!"

"s.h.i.t—!"

Hearing Eliza"s warning, Oort immediately raised his metal shield. Just in the nick of time, he was able to move it into position to block the bludgeon wielded by a shadow falling down from above. He stumbled back a few steps. The enemy, with its dog head, looked exactly like a kobold. However, it wasn"t the size of a normal kobold, which tended to be no bigger than a human. The kobold in front of them was about three meters tall. It wielded a club bigger than a grown man, one probably better described as a log. The bulging muscles that allowed it to wield such a weapon were clearly visible under its dark brown fur. Nothing about this kobold was normal.

"Hey, hey, is a kobold supposed to be this big?"

Oort"s left arm was numb from the force of the blow, amplified by the force from the kobold jumping off the cliff. He glared at the giant monster.

"It"s as big as an ogre, innit? I"ve never heard of anything like this, but would this be a Kobold Lord?"

"Paul, circle around to its back. We"ll surround it."

Oort stood in front of the giant kobold, Louis to its right, and Paul circled around behind it.

"Well, let"s go…"

He licked his dry lips, and held his shield up in front of him. He gripped his axe in his right hand. The kobold, didn"t wait, it leapt at him with a growl. Oort moved his gaze from Louis and Paul, making sure he knew where they were. All three had cold sweat dripping down their cheeks. The kobold"s weapon was, to put it simply, a club. It could only be swung around. But that swing alone could crush them. It was a simple weapon, but also a terrifyingly intimidating one.

Wynn, Leti, and Eliza were about ten meters away from Oort, watching the fight. The boy gripped his wooden sword tightly, staring intently at the scene before him.

"Will they be alright?"

"It"ll be fine, the three of them are strong," Eliza replied, closing her eyes in preparation for a spell.

She inhaled, then exhaled. Relaxing her whole body, she mustered her concentration. She blocked out all of the noise from around her, as if she were in the middle of a deep, deep abyss. That"s why she never noticed. From the moment they fought the goblins, to the moment the giant kobold appeared, Leti, the girl clinging to the boy named Wynn, had her eyes trained on Eliza. She observed Eliza"s every single action, not letting a single movement go unnoticed.

"Haaaaaaaaaa!!"

Oort let out a war cry as he took a step forward in order to focus the kobold"s attention on himself. He braced his legs as he stepped. A fierce glint shone in the kobold"s eyes as its gigantic club swept across the ground. He heard a thunderous roar from the kobold, and the impact soon followed.

"Gu-guh"

Despite bracing himself and using a shield, Oort"s whole body felt the blow.

"Oh shi—"

"—Louis!"

Oort heard Louis swear while he was recovering from the impact. From behind his shield, he saw that Louis had stepped into the path of the kobold"s swing, only to be sent flying as the club drove into his side. The enemy"s attack was sharper, faster, and fiercer than Louis had expected. It felt more like an impact of a howling gale than a normal blow. Sensing that the club would reach him before his spear reached the kobold"s heart, Louis immediately drew the weapon back to block, but the club easily broke through the shaft and smashed into his ribs. He was sent flying as if his attempt at defense was a bad joke and hit the ground ten meters away.

"Gah… cough…"

He rolled on the ground several times. Thanks to the blow being softened by both Oort"s shield and Louis" spear, Louis seemed to still be conscious. Through his groans, his eyes still followed the kobold. If he had taken the full brunt of the blow, he would definitely have been crushed to death. But judging by how things looked, his ribs were definitely broken.

"Friggin Monster!"

With another shout, Oort moved towards the kobold"s left side. The kobold, which was recovering from its swing, turned towards Oort.

"Strike true, Fireball!"

At that moment, a fireball launched into the monster"s chest exploded. The kobold stumbled from the impact. But despite its agonized cries, it didn"t fall. Oort could feel the heat and, keeping his shield up, barked out a command.

"Paul, now!"

"Haaaaaaaa!"

Paul stabbed his sword into the Kobold"s bulky chest.

"We- we did it…"

Paul let go of the sword as the kobold fell forward with a thud.

"Alright, finally. Good job, Paul."

"Y-yes?"

It was Paul"s first time killing such a big monster. He looked down at his hands. They were still shaking. He had acted brave in front of the children, but he was still only eighteen. He had just become a full-fledged adventurer.

"Louis!"

Eliza rushed over to where Louis had fallen.

"Owowowowow… I messed up pretty bad."

"Please! Just shut up for a bit…"

She knelt beside him and placed both hands on his side.

"O Power, bend to my will, grant this one healing!"

"Thanks."

Faint light surrounded Eliza"s hands. She was casting healing magic.

"Remember, since you"ve broken some ribs, I can"t heal you completely, okay?."

"…As long as I can walk."

He"s st.u.r.dier than I thought, thought Oort and sighed with relief as he watched Eliza heal Louis.

He thought about the close call they had, while looking at his shield. It was badly dented as a result of the blow it had taken. Louis was lucky not to suffer worse injuries. They might have been careless in a.s.suming it was just a kobold. He looked back at the fallen monster. It had taken a lot of effort for Paul to make the hole in its back. The young man had put a lot of force into the thrust, and the blade must have gotten stuck in the bone. Then he looked to see if the children were alright.

"Hm?"

Leti was still clinging to Wynn, but she was looking towards him, trembling.

Was it too much for her? She"s trembling so hard… he thought as he began to walk towards the children with a smile on his face.

"Heey! It"s alright now. What"s wrong? Were you scared by the fight? Louis and Paul took care of it, so it"s fine. How was it? Did you learn a lot?"

"Mr. Oort…"

"What is it, Wynn?"

"Leti says… Leti says that it"s not dead yet!"

"Whoa…Huh!?"

Just as he heard Wynn"s words, he heard Paul scream.

"…What!?"

Oort whirled around, and saw the kobold, still with the sword in its back, standing back up.

AN: This is Wynn and Leti"s time to shine!

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