chapter 46

I remembered the man who was leading the flocks of goblins towards us. We’d passed by each other when Pomera and I were leaving the guild building.

「Hihihi… curse your own stupidity for picking a fight with Octavio-san. You wouldn’t have died a tragic death like this if you’d given us your magic pouch back then.」

The small man hid his lips that were twisted into a sinister grin behind his hand as he laughed at us.

This guy… was Octavio’s henchman.

It seems like the goblin horde was baited by that pipsqueak.

Upon seeing that the goblin horse was strangely more excited than usual, I realized that their abnormal condition might be because of the effects of the strange horn in that pipsqueak’s hand.

Nevertheless, his plan was too perfect.

He might’ve been waiting all this time while we were making our preparations. In short, he had personal connections with the guild’s personnel that told him about our whereabouts and preparations.

In fact, his actions were indicating that he was used to doing this kind of thing.

「This is the best method to deal with future troublemakers. The idiots were killed while taking a simple commission. Even if there’s suspicion placed on me, I just have to play dumb. On top of that, you choose to go with that half-Elf girl. Even though everything could’ve been okay as long as a small fry like you acted like a good child and just gave us your magic pouch. But you dared to talk back to us, your seniors. Octavio-san hates cocky small fry like you the most, you know.」

The small man put the horn back in his bag and pulled out a dumpling-like yellow ball and launched it towards Pomera.

「That’s my handmade 《Stench Dumpling》made from rotten meat and fermented fruit. Quite useful, right?」

The goblins started gathering around us due to the smell of the stench ball.

Maybe it was an item used to distract the monsters and pull away their attention.

Maybe that dumpling could also be used to switch the target for the monsters to us while he could take the time to escape to a safe place.

「KYAAA!」

「Pomera-san, get down!」

I leaped in front of Pomera and caught the dumpling that was tossed towards us by that pipsqueak.

The pipsqueak turned around to the goblin’s horde after reaching quite close to us and was about to pass by our side.

「Tch… you caught it, huh. Doesn’t matter, it’s just safety insurance anyway. This great me is way faster than some small fry like you! This is a lesson from your senior, noob. The most striking difference between our levels are our physical strength and magical power. That’s why I’m faster! Those goblins will e–」

I moved to the side of that pipsqueak, chasing him down and sweeping his foot, knocking him to the ground.

「No way, that’s too fa—AARGH!」

When he fell, his face basically planted on the ground beneath him with a thud.

「Sure enough… the most striking difference between us is our speed, right?」

The pipsqueak raised his face and his eyes met mine. Color drained from his face as he looked at me with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

「J-Just how much higher is your level?」

… From my experience so far, I can only tell him that my level is below 100. Though I’ve yet to get used to the common sense in this world, I’d begun to realize that Lunaire might’ve overtrained me way past the “normal” level of this world. Perhaps her common sense had become distorted after living inside of Cocytus for a thousand years.

There were still twenty goblins following after the pipsqueak. Before the Pomera and the pipsqueak could see, I blasted them away with 《Hero Sword; Gilgamesh》 before swiftly returning my sword back into its sheath.

「I-It’s still too early to give up, Kanata-san! Pomera will do her best… I mean, we’ve no choice but to cooperate seeing that things have turned out for the worst. Let’s do our best with the thre–」

Before she could finish her sentence, I stepped forward and caught the Goblin Leader’s club with my bare hand and kicked it in its chest.

My kick alone broke its bones, blasted its flesh, and sent the red goblin’s upper half flying till it vanished into the horizon.

「… Eh?」

I saw the color drain from that pipsqueak’s face.

Adjusting the power of my kick was… difficult.

Using my sword hand, I pierced the abdomen of the goblin coming up from behind and pulled my hand back immediately.

”

”

I see, this kind of attack won’t blow them away into the horizon.

Yup, both the power and killing force of my sword hand just now should be enough to exterminate these goblins. Plus, their blood won’t get on my robes as long as I pull my hand back quickly before it splatters.

Before I knew it, I’d created a mountain of goblin corpses by the end of the short-lived battle.

It didn’t even take a minute for me to massacre those goblins.

These kinds of goblins weren’t that scary even if I was surrounded by hundreds of them.

How should I say it… I could insta-kill all of them at once with my magic.

「K-Kanata-san, what in the world is….」

Pomera barely managed to squeeze out some words at the current sight before her.

It was natural. I’d tricked her after all.

Though, she won’t know the extent of it as long as I don’t tell her about my four-digit level.

「P-P-PLEASE SPARE MY LIFE!!! YOU MISUNDERSTAND IT… I-I WAS FORCED BY OCTAVIO-SAN!」

The pipsqueak was sweating bullets as he begged for mercy.

”

”

I stopped over him and took the horn from where it was kept in his pouch. Tossing it up, I struck it with one swift motion, causing the horn to shatter into small pieces.

I then glared at the pipsqueak. His eyes opened wide while being at a complete loss for words.

「I-I-I’ll LEAVE THIS CITY AT ONCE AND NEVER INVOLVE MYSELF WITH YOU GUYS ANYMORE! T-THAT’S WHY… THAT’S WHY!」

I shut my eyes, silently pondering over this matter for a bit.

This pipsqueak had come to kill me… and Pomera.

From the way he’d talked, this was clearly not the first time he’d done something like this. But, nonetheless, I had no intention of killing someone begging for their life.

「… Tell Octavio. There’s no next time for him.」

「Y-Y-YESH SIR! I-I’LL LET OCTAVIO-SAN HEAR YOUR MESSAGE!」

The pipsqueak scrambled up from his spot on the ground, heaving as if short on breath, and returned towards the city while dragging along his feet.

… With this, Octavio won’t dare to mess with us.

Though Octavio’s strength was nothing compared to mine, he had the advantage of being on home ground. Though, he was hated in his home ground.

I just really hope that he stops meddling with us after he hears about this from that pipsqueak… yes, I hope he will.