“We’re going pretty far from the town. And far from where the kids play too.”
“We’re going to the river up ahead, Tora. Apparently they fish and swim there.”
The next day, just past noon, Tora and I walk to a river outside of town.
I went to the boy’s house alone to hear what he had to say. Tora stayed in the inn, because I didn’t want to provoke the family by bringing the culprit along.
He said that there’s a river outside of town to the west, and he saw a pack of goblins there.
He was fishing with his friends, but they got scared and ran away.
Thankfully, the goblins didn’t find them, but they lost a playground they really like. And it’s up to me to do something about it.
There’s only one river near Mannaka, so it’s hard to miss.
He said the goblins were spotted near three rocks they call dango rocks, so that’s going to be our priority.
I was going to ask Dal to come along, since this is all about searching for enemies, but her face turned red and she ran away when she saw me, so I gave up.
It’s not a hard job anyway, so Tora and I will deal with it.
A beast person like Tora has a sharper nose than a human like me, so Tora can look for enemies instead.
“Over there.”
Thirty minutes after we left the town, we reach the river.
And those rocks are…
“Kyle, there they are.”
Looks like we found the monsters before the rocks.
Tora sounds serious, but when I turn that way with my hand on Durandal, all I see are a few black spots.
“Tora, how many are there?”
“One high goblin and ten goblins.”
“So a regular goblin pack. Are there any goblin shamans?”
“No, I can’t see any holding a staff. The only problem is the high goblin.”
A high goblin and ten to twenty goblins is a regular goblin pack.
It becomes a problem when there are multiple high goblins. They’re stronger than regular goblins, but not much. The threat comes from their numbers.
Goblins are weak, so they form packs to go hunt. They have a high goblin as their commander, so if there are multiple ones, that means even more goblins are gathered.
We saw ten high goblins in a request we did. Along with almost two hundred goblins.
Goblins are weak, but they become a threat when there are that many. We slowly whittled them down, and Sasha mopped them up with magic.
Another thing to watch out for when dealing with goblins is goblin shamans.
It’s fine if there aren’t any, but if there is, we better deal with it first, or risk a painful counterattack.
Goblins are sometimes called dark fairies, and the magic goblin shamans use, of course, darkness magic.
Unlike demons, they have low intelligence, so its power is lower, but darkness magic has a lot of killing potential to begin with. And that doesn’t change when it’s a goblin shaman using it.
But this pack only has a high goblin. It’s a very normal pack.
“What do we do?”
“Let’s get close enough for my attacks to hit. I’ll attack first. Take care of the ones I miss.”
“Kuhahaha, I could handle that alone.”
“I don’t want to waste time. Let’s end this smoothly. Don’t you want to be back before sundown?”
“I guess.”
With a plan formed, it’s time to end it.
We slowly get close without letting the goblins see us, and once we’re about a hundred meters from them, we can see the whole pack.
Like Tora said, there are eleven of them. There are ones that are small like kids, and only one that’s as big as an adult. That’s their commander, the high goblin.
They’re all looking the same way, and they don’t notice us.
Their eyes are on the river. But why?
Looking at it more closely, I see a fishing pole I assume the boys left behind.
The high goblin is swinging it around, and the others are watching.
The way they’re all in one place is convenient for us. If it goes well, Tora might not even need to attack them.
I unsheathe Durandal, and feed her magic energy.
“Flying Swallow.”
I say quietly, and swing Durandal.
A slash in the shape of a two meter tall swallow is unleashed from the swing, and flies straight to the goblins like it has a mind of its own.
This is one of the reasons why I can’t let go of Durandal. Flying Swallow is one of my few long range attacks.
It’s very simple, the magic energy I fed it was ejected in the form of an attack, but its power increases with the sharpness of my swing.
That attack should be able to cut a rock like butter.
I do this instead of magic because I can’t use it, and it’s a technique I can’t use without Durandal.
The goblins don’t notice it. It’s going to hit. But then I notice Tora isn’t next to me anymore.
Tora’s silently following the Flying Swallow towards the goblins.
The Flying Swallow hits the first goblin, that’s cut in two before it can even scream. But it keeps going towards the others that are clumped together, without losing any of its power.
“Three got away. Well, for now.”
Eight goblins were cut in half, leaving three, including the high goblin, who try to dodge once they see something’s not right.
But it’s too late.
Tora approaches the confused goblins, and starts punching. I can see a goblin head flying from here.
Tora’s arms are like logs, but just how hard do you have to hit them to eject their heads like that? As I think that, another one goes.
The high goblin looks at Tora, whose kick is so strong that it sends half of the high goblin flying.
“If Tora hit me, I’d be dead.”
“Don’t upset Tora, master.”
“Let’s just have a drink with Tora tonight.”
The goblin fight ended in a second. They’re not a match for us at this point.
In the end, this was penance for Tora. Let’s go over there.
I put Durandal back in the scabbard, and run towards Tora, who is checking if the goblins are dead.
◇ ◇ ◇
“How did this happen?”
I hear the chirping of birds. It’s morning.
And Tora is in my bed.
After the request was over, we came to the inn and had a drink. My cheats make it so I can’t get drunk, so while I could drink all I wanted, Tora did get drunk.
And then Tora drunkenly attacked me. The difference in strength means Tora got me.
That is also when I finally realized that Tora is a woman.
She’s one of those carnivorous females, in more ways than one.
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MC is an unvoluntary furry