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TL: Yuki

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{Side: Youmu}

Now then… What should I do?

I muttered to myself in a room of a building that seemed to be the Goblin barracks.

I was the weakest member of the team that had invaded the Goblin’s nest this time. As a result, the other side didn’t think much of me. The fact that I was able to elude my pursuers like this is proof of that.

However, there’s another side to this.

Kon, kokokokokon, kokokokon. The door of the entrance was knocked with such a peculiar rhythm. It seems that my partner has arrived. To be honest, I don’t know how it’s going to turn out, but they’re fighting as hard as they can. I’ll do what I can to help.

With a clunk, I unlocked the door from the inside.

“Come in.”

I draw my sword, just in case, and brace myself to respond at any moment.

“Gee… Gii-”

The first thing that came in was a plain Goblin. If I had to pick a difference, it would be the slight glint of intelligence and reason in his eyes. It is not uncommon for a monster that has gained a stronger soul connection through naming to understand its master’s intelligence and thoughts, and to gain wisdom.

Gobsuke, the Goblin that Aya had tamed.

And then… A Goblin woman walks in after him.

She’s wearing a robe over her underwear, a ridiculous outfit. However, despite this, I feel that her ability is comparable to that of the Black Knight. No, maybe she’s more troublesome than the Black Knight, who fights honestly, but… Whatever the case, the fact remains that she is far superior to me at this point.

I turned to Liz, one of the Goblin leaders who had summoned me, and stared her in the face.

“Wow, you really came. I was wondering if I’d be declined.”

Liz began to talk about it playfully, not paying attention to my gaze. I felt somewhat uncomfortable, but I didn’t take any part in the conversation and cut it off.

“Enough with the talk, why did you call me?”

This woman had gone to the trouble of picking me up through Gobsuke and summoning me to this place. The fact that I was able to disappear without incident can be attributed to her manipulations.

Of course, there was a great possibility that it was a trap.

But if it was a trap, there was one thing that puzzled me. There wasn’t much merit in choosing me out of all those members to trap. In fact, if they were going to use such a trick, they should have targeted Leticia or Chibi, who were expected to cause more damage in terms of strength.

If they want to capture me and take me as a hostage, it would be much more reliable to go to the front.

For these reasons, I decided to try to meet this woman.

Liz quickly removes the mask of her sly, smiling face.

Her eyes are cold, as if she is looking down on the world. I’m uncertain why I felt so uncomfortable.

I understand why I felt it was somewhat uncomfortable. This woman resembles Luka in some way.

Concerning Luka, her true intentions, pretense, and acting are so mixed up that she has become a monster.

And Liz, without hesitation, just starts talking plainly.

“The reason I called you here is simple. You’re here to defeat the Lord, aren’t you? Let me help you out.”

“…Huh?”

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{Side: Garum}

“Yahーーyou’re doing it in a flashy way, oi.”

While loosening my mouth at the big job I’ve done in a while, I blend in with the smokescreen that Leticia’s girl has rolled up, and cut off a Goblin’s head. Heavy Knight, you deserve praise for wearing heavy armor and maintaining a certain level of mobility, but…

No matter how heavily armored, in the end, humanoid creatures, be they races or monsters, are never free from the curse of joints.

Seams are essential for bending joints, and no matter how much they have evolved and acquired the appropriate shape and skills, the gaps in armor forged by a Goblin who has only been making armor for a short time is like announcing to himself that this is a weak point.

After hunting down a few Goblins that were heading towards Youmu, I hid before they could see me.

The little girl… Well, she’s not a problem.

She may be a childish thing to say and do, but she seems to be able to think much more cleverly than Youmu.

And then there’s Youmu… The Goblins probably don’t like Youmu. Now that Leticia Jou has shown the power to turn an elite squad into a lump of meat instantly, she became a low priority.

“So that would mean… Well, I suppose that’s what happens.”

Sighing, I looked at Leticia’s back as she ran down the aisle.

The Black Knight would surely follow her. This is the one who will have the toughest battle in terms of strength.

To be honest, it’s a bit too much for me to handle, but…

In addition to being able to read their actions, honest people, for better or worse, are often easy to trap. If that’s the case, then it’s up to me from here on out. At the very least, as a senior, I’ll give her some cover fire.

Once I had made that decision, all I had to do was to act. Before the smoke screen wears off, I hide in the smoke and quietly follow Leticia.

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(Side: Daz)

Finally, the effect of the smoke screen wore off, and the wounded soldiers completed their evacuation.

Then, after the little vampire girl ran away, she stepped into a section where livestock live.

Livestock.

The sound of that indescribable word made my face contort in my armor.

Is it the superiority of owning a race, or is it Goblin’s… I didn’t know if it was a self-deprecation of my own inexplicable contradiction.

The feelings that Goblins have for people are hard to describe.

It’s hatred… But at the same time, it’s also a longing.

It is a natural feeling to hate those who have oppressed us.

But at the same time, we subconsciously wish to take their place. We want to avoid destroying them, we want to usurp them.

We domesticate people only because we find the females of their race more beautiful than the females of the Goblin race.

And we… With few exceptions, the Goblins we call executives are those who have evolved to look more like humans.

Sometimes I wonder. Do we want to replace humans? Or do we want to become human?

When I get to that point in my thinking, I discard my thoughts as trivial nonsense.

To get rid of this trivial thought, let’s focus on that little vampire girl for now. We are the ones who are right. The superior creature will dominate the other creatures. That truth does not change whether it is a race or a Goblin.

I tightened my grip on the hilt of the large sword in my hand.

I noticed that the landscape had changed to a residential area where livestock trainers lived. The area is quite complicated due to the repeated expansions, but it is not so complicated that we who live here would get lost. The advantage of the land lies with us.

That’s when I thought so.

As I was crossing the passage, I felt something like a thread tearing around my face. At the same time, the explosives planted on the walls on either side of me went off, enveloping me in flames.

“What?

I braced myself for the unexpected attack, but the damage was minimal.

I’m convinced if it was a magic tool, it would be difficult to deal with an unexpected attack where you can’t feel the magic power rising, but this level is no problem. I was about to reap the smoke with a swing of my big sword, when I felt a cold iron in my throat.

It quickly turned to heat, and with the pain, I understood.

I was just about to have my head sliced off.

The explosion was not meant to harm me, but to distract me.

“Hiya, that was really cool… but, are going to take responsibility if my sword breaks, and I still have three years left on my mortgage?”

The next thing I knew, there was a human man in a torn robe standing in front of me. Is he one of the vampire girls allies? I’m uncertain if it’s a vampire or not, but he’s got a different vibe to him.

“You… What do you think you’re doing?”

I ask. From the looks of it, you don’t have enough status to compete with us. I’m sure the other side knows that. It’s as if they’ve come all this way to die. Is there something else they’re after?

But the man’s answer was incomprehensible.

“What, I’m just an old man who takes care of people that don’t need it, right?”

“I don’t understand.”

I don’t know what he meant, but if he’s a madman, I’ll beat him to death, and if he’s got a plan, I’ll screw it all up.

We’re not falling for that again.