「Yes, that’s it for today. Have a safe trip back home, everyone.」
Lately, the church had been ending a little earlier than usual. That’s because the number of goblins in the mountains behind the church was still increasing.
Mom and the other hunters had been searching for it, but they haven’t been able to find the nest yet.
When the nest grows to a certain extent, a goblin magician is said to be born and hides the nest, but less than a year has passed since the nest was supposed to be born, so it was unlikely to grow that large under normal circumstances.
Moreover, many of the hunters in this village were excellent and if it were an ordinary goblin’s nest, then it would have certainly been discovered within a month!.
It is also impossible to keep it hidden for three months without a goblin magician!
So even if it was a rapid nest growth or a nest that was undetected by the hunters of this village, without a goblin magician, it would still be an anomaly!
There has even been some talk about the need to hunt out all the warring parties in the village to hunt in the mountains soon.
Goblins rarely come down to the villages, and since they are active at night, they are not as dangerous as they could be, but just in case, we were leaving school with a group of upperclassmen.
The upperclassmen were loaned magic sensing equipment from the church, and they are supposed to guide the underclassmen to escape if something happens.
「Church time has been so short and boring lately……. They say we can’t even play outside, it was just so boring, man.」
Luke buzzes around with a tree branch and whines about it.
「Lately, our Mokoko and Myrl have been frightened. They’re very sensitive to danger and they’re scared shitless. It’s better to lay low for a while.」
「Logan’s right. Anything can happen right now, right? If you get attacked by a goblin, they’ll eat you up in a heartbeat.」
「That’s right. They’re really greedy. They’re often treated like minnows[1] in the stories, but they’re actually a real pain in the ass.」
Logan and senior students Annette and James rebuked Luke’s statement.
「Sirius, I’m scared…….」
「Yeah, it’s really dangerous, you should be careful, Lara.」
「……I think Sirius could get away with it in plenty of time.」
Grace-san is looking at me with her zit eyes.
For some reason, the suspicious look from Grace from the after-school workout hurts.
As we were walking down the side street in the woods while talking about such things, I suddenly detected a large presence with my 『Magic Power Sensing』.
The magic item in the hands of my upperclassmen suddenly began to glow strongly.
Why couldn’t I detect it until they got so close!
「Kyaaa!??」
Sirius heard Lara’s scream and looked over to see Lara with arrows aimed at her and fear in her eyes.
At that moment, I paid attention to the blackboard I had in my hand and blocked the arrow with it.
「Lara, it’s okay.」
「Sirius-Kun ……?Thank you…….」
Sirius smiled at a teary-eyed Lara and reassured her.
A quick look around the perimeter revealed that they were surrounded by fifteen ordinary goblins, four goblins with bows, and one armor-clad goblin, a total of twenty goblins!
The bow was poorly made……
It’s hard enough to avoid arrows, let alone a sword.
……He couldn’t help it.
「『Lightning spear』was unleashed on the goblins who were aiming for the second arrow. Four flashes of lightning pierced the goblins, scorching them.」
「Huh?」
I could hear the astonishment from the surroundings, but I ignored it for now. I checked the enemy forces with 『Insight』.
The goblin in the armor seemed to be a goblin leader.
Its physical abilities were overwhelmingly superior to those ordinary goblins, and it even has skills.
A formidable opponent.
The fact that the goblins are systematically spreading out to prevent them from being swept away by ranged AoE magic after seeing my magic seemed to be due to the command of the goblin leader who was watching the whole thing from a distance.
If possible, I would like to defeat it from the goblin leader, but with goblins guarding the perimeter acting as a shield and the distance between them, it was tough.
「Everyone gather around!! It’s hard to protect everyone when you’re all scattered around!」
Logan and James-San gave commands to everyone while launching the Ice Arrow into the body of the goblin they were confronting.
「No matter how much muscle you have, you can’t take on a goblin with your bare hands.」
「Sirius, you …… Sorry, thank you.」
「Ice and snow, gather them together in my hand and shoot them through “Ice Arrow”.」
Chloe, who was next to him, fired the Ice Arrow to his rear side.
As expected of an aspiring sorcerer, She didn’t miss her target and hits the goblin and stops it from moving.
「Ku, I still can’t take them down with a single shot …」
「I’ll take care of it! O’Heavens, gather in my hand and make a figure of strength! 『Fireball』!」
Senior student Jeanne put a stop to the goblin that Chloe had stopped with moving the 『’Fireball』.
However, the goblins attack from multiple directions without fear of their friends being killed.
I immediately fired the Lightning Spear at the five goblins in my line of fire, killing them immediately. Behind me were Lara, Chloe, and Jeanne, with Grace, Logan, Luke, Annette, and James standing in front of him to protect them.
The goblin’s『magical power』told me that the goblin was getting closer, so I went around to the group and kicked the goblin in the side with all my might.
A kick with all the energy I could muster cracked the goblin’s bones and sent the other goblin reeling, blowing it thirty meters in the air!
Then he fired the Windball at the goblins approaching the senior class, and then used the Ice Arrow to stop the goblins from being blown away!
Now, that left only the goblin leader and his three cronies.
「Sirius, you’re still a hell of a lot better than I thought……」
「Sirius, you’re so cool……」
「Parallel development of intermediate magic without chanting……? impossible…..」
「Could it is that you have more muscle than me ……?」
「Nah, if you came close enough, I’d cut you down with a tree branch, Excalibur[2]! But just so you know, I’d like to thank you!」
「Isn’t it impossible for a kid like that to have that magic skill ……?」
「That’s not possible!」
「You look like a knight in shining armor……!」
Perhaps because the goblins that had surrounded them were eradicated and an escape route was secured, everyone seemed to be able to relax.
Editor notes:
[1]Minnow: Any of a large group of small freshwater fishes of the family Cyprinidae, widely used as live bait.
[2]Excalibur: The legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes also attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain.