Episode 10: Humans!

After the battle with the Goblins, I walked toward the lake. Even if it was tentative, having a destination brought me joy. Just walking aimlessly only increased my anxiety.

Since you can’t walk straight in a pathless forest, you lose your sense of direction immediately. I climbed trees many times along the way to check my direction as I descended the forest slope. I felt impatient, but knowing that carelessness is the greatest enemy, I made sure never to neglect paying attention to my surroundings.

The destination is likely a Goblin settlement, so I must act without being noticed. That said, the lake is still far away. I prepared by maintaining my weapons and gathering suitable stones for throwing in case of a fight. I also trained with my weapons as I advanced.

While practicing the combination of stone throwing and Telekinesis, I discovered I could not only change the direction of the stone’s flight but also accelerate or decelerate it.

When I sent a will to accelerate the moment I threw the stone, by my estimate, the speed increased about 1.5 times, and the flight distance more than doubled. Naturally, the impact power increased too; I could snap the trunk of a tree about 20cm in diameter. Deceleration allowed me to increase the angle of curves, enabling me to fly stones like boomerangs.

Also, the effective range of Telekinesis expanded. The influence of Telekinesis was especially pronounced with “finger flicks” using light, small stones. Even over 30 meters away, I could make a stone flying horizontally turn at a right angle or fly in waves.

I think that alone is amazing enough, but as an application, adding acceleration when swinging or thrusting a spear allowed me to achieve nearly double the speed. It seems I can apply acceleration to the movement of my arm muscles rather than the spear itself to move faster. I could do the same with my legs; running speed increased about 1.5 times, and jumping power increased by about 30%.

However, I could only use it for a few tens of seconds. The recoil on my muscles was severe, and it caused terrible headaches, so I couldn’t use it for long periods. Above all, my amateur handmade shoes lacked the strength to withstand it.

I tried to move my whole body in the air, but I couldn’t do that yet. Anyway, I feel my abilities are blossoming—or rather, being remembered—at an astonishing speed.

Near evening, I finally arrived near the lake. Observing the lakeside from within the forest, I could see Goblins surrounding a fire and eating. Unfortunately, as suspected, it was a Goblin dwelling.

Honestly, I was disappointed, but since I had anticipated it, I pulled myself together and observed the Goblins. The Goblins don’t seem to have houses. There is a cave in a cliff in the recesses, and many Goblins are going in and out. They must be using that as their dwelling.

There is a large bonfire in the plaza by the lake, roasting a whole animal. The smoke I saw must have been from that. Surrounding the fire, the Goblins are eating meat and nuts and drinking something like alcohol as they please. I can confirm about 30 of them, but there isn’t much orderly movement.

It seems the Goblins’ living standard is no different from the human primitive age. They use fire, but they don’t seem to have pottery for storage, and there’s no sign of them creating anything. They seem to have simple interactions, but they don’t appear to have a language at the level of conversation. Their intelligence is likely quite low.

There is one Goblin clearly different from the others, possessing a robust body. His body size is two or three times larger than the others, and he is making several Goblins serve him with a haughty attitude. Apparently, he is the leader of this pack.

I recall something called a Hobgoblin, often the leader type of Goblins in games, set to be far stronger than other Goblins, and he certainly gives off that vibe.

Also, as far as I can see, there only seem to be males; no Goblins appear to be female, and no children are visible. Are the women and children inside the cave?

Normally, I’d think women would take care of meals like this, but is it different in the Goblin world? Or are they really a male-only race? I think that’s impossible for a species…

I sighed. Why do creatures like demons and monsters that fit fantasy games and anime exist here? Have I come to a game or anime world rather than a fantasy world? I think that’s unlikely no matter what, but it pisses me off that it’s hard to deny.

As a joke, I chanted “Status Open,” but naturally, no display board appeared, nor did a guide-like voice echo in my brain. I was relieved. As expected, just like last time, nothing like that appeared.

If game-like things happened, it wouldn’t be fantasy but an unreasonable world. There would be no laws of nature or anything. I absolutely refuse such a chuunibyou delusion world.

Anyway, staying here is dangerous, so I decided to leave. As shown by their behavior during the day, if the Goblins find me, they will attack without question.

But it was then. A woman’s scream, or rather a howling voice, was heard, and a woman ran out of the cave.

It was clearly a human woman!

Covered in mud and filthy, a stark naked young woman was running while screaming like she had gone mad. Five Goblins chased after her and caught her. The woman struggled, but the Goblins subdued her while punching and kicking her, then dragged her back toward the cave. Bruises, scrapes, and cuts were visible all over her body, making it painfully obvious she was routinely abused.

I couldn’t believe this sight was real.

A woman of my own kind, a human, was being ravaged by Goblins! She wasn’t just a slave; she was treated worse than livestock!

I received a massive shock, but simultaneously, a tremendous rage I had never experienced before welled up. Killing intent toward the Goblins swelled, and I stood up to charge, forgetting myself.

But it was at that moment.

“Gaaaaaaahhhh!!!!”

The Hobgoblin suddenly stood up, faced my direction, and roared. At the same time, a tremendous Pressure assaulted me. Standing up, my body was pinned down by an unknown pressure, unable to move.

Immediately after, something like a stone axe thrown by the Hobgoblin flew toward me. I couldn’t move to dodge, and even though I sent a will to divert the stone axe’s trajectory, it ignored it and flew straight at me.

I’m going to die!

I thought so, but perhaps the desire not to die won out by a hair’s breadth; my neck moved at the very last second, allowing me to tilt my head. The stone axe flew past, slicing my cheek and ear. Furthermore, the stone axe sliced through several tree branches growing behind me. If it had hit directly, my head would have shattered, and everything above my neck would be gone.

The Hobgoblin possesses the ability to freely manipulate Telekinesis, and it is clearly far more powerful than mine. I shriveled up, forgetting the rage that had welled up. Seized by terror and panicked, the paralysis barely broke, and I fled the spot.

I ran blindly, thinking only of getting even a little farther away from that place. I must have unconsciously used Telekinesis to accelerate my legs because the back of my neck throbbed with pain and nausea assaulted me. But I ignored them and just ran. Blood was gushing from my sliced cheek and ear, but that didn’t matter. The Pressure and attack I received from that Hobgoblin were that intense and terrifying.

I don’t know how long I ran, but when I came to, I was vomiting while hiding at the base of a large tree. My stomach cramped in pain as I ran out of things to vomit, but the nausea wouldn’t subside, and I continued to heave stomach acid while dripping tears and snot. Every time I vomited, intense pain shot through my sliced cheek as stomach acid burned it.

Fortunately, the Hobgoblin didn’t seem to chase me. Looking around and straining my ears, there was no sign of anything approaching. I exhaled deeply and took a breath. But my heart continued to pound like an alarm bell.

I told myself to calm down and tended to my wounds. Taking out my canteen, I rinsed my mouth, washed the blood from my torn cheek and ear, and pressed them with my hand to close the wounds. There were other cuts and bruises all over my arms and legs from running blindly, but all I could do was wash off the blood.

Anyway, it was terrifying. Even knowing the Hobgoblin wasn’t chasing me, I couldn’t stop shaking, overwhelmed by fear. Never in my life had I been subjected to such intense killing intent.

Since coming to this world, beasts attacked trying to kill me, but while I felt bloodlust, I never felt killing intent. I can’t express it well, but while beasts try to kill following instinct, the Hobgoblin clearly tried to kill me by loading his will onto his emotions.

In other words, he tried to kill me not for predation, but as a method to eliminate an adversary. It was a leader’s mission to protect the pack and territory. That’s why the Pressure of killing intent he radiated was incomparable to other beasts. I could only shake uncontrollably.

Night fell completely, wrapping the surroundings in darkness. The nausea finally subsided, and the bleeding from my cheek and ear stopped as the wounds began to close. Still, I couldn’t break free from the fear.

However, beasts attack mercilessly regardless of my state. My ears caught the sound of heavy, booming footsteps approaching with momentum. Turning around in a panic, a gigantic beast charged in. I jumped sideways while scattering stomach acid, dodging by a hair. As we passed, I saw giant tusks growing from its lower jaw. It was a beast resembling a boar.

The boar-pseudo looked like it would crash into a large tree, but it decelerated while Air Walking, deftly evaded, and ran past. But it immediately turned around and came at me. Whether the boar-pseudo had night vision or sensed obstacles by other means, despite its massive body nearly 4 meters long, it moved nimbly without hitting the dense trees.

Come to think of it, when I went to see a waterfall in Shizuoka before, I was surprised to run into a boar that had come to drink water. The boar was surprised too, and after a staring contest, it climbed a vertical cliff and ran away. It was a 5-6 meter cliff, but the way it hopped and zigzagged up using protruding rocks as footholds was as agile as a deer, which surprised me.

Vaguely recalling such things, I dodged the boar-pseudo’s attack. I have some degree of night vision too, so combined with hearing, I can accurately grasp the boar-pseudo’s movements. After dodging a few times, my body finally loosened up, and the will to fight welled up.

Fight!!! If you don’t fight, you’ll be killed! I scolded and encouraged myself to lift my spirits.

However, I realized I didn’t have my spear. It seems I forgot it when I ran away. I looked around and picked up a stone the size of a bowling ball. It was quite heavy.

The boar-pseudo gained momentum and closed in on me. I felt Pressure simultaneously, but compared to the Hobgoblin, it was trivial. I shouted at my heavy body to force it to move and glared at the boar-pseudo.

I have to settle this in one blow.

I drew the boar-pseudo in until the last second, accelerated my arm muscles with will, and threw the stone with all my might. From the release point to the boar-pseudo was less than a meter. Even with Telekinesis, dodging a stone at this distance would be impossible. The stone hit the boar-pseudo’s forehead squarely as a counter, making a loud popping sound.

The stone cracked the boar-pseudo’s forehead and gouged into its head. The brain must be crushed to mush; instant death. However, although the momentum of the charge weakened somewhat, the boar-pseudo crashed into me.

My instinctive move to put my left arm forward to break the fall paid off; the bracelet deflected the sharp tusks. I was blown backward while absorbing the impact without taking a wound. I slammed my back hard against a tree trunk but managed not to lose consciousness, only coughing while enduring the pain. The wound on my cheek opened up, but I’m grateful for this sturdy body.

But really, I thought this bracelet might not be a curse but a blessing from the “Spirit of the Spring.” Even after taking the impact of those tusks, there isn’t a single scratch on the bracelet. What material could make something like this? Don’t tell me it’s a fantasy metal like Mythril or Orichalcum…

I felt a bit depressed, feeling like I was gradually accepting the fantasy worldview.

Fighting and defeating the boar-pseudo significantly weakened the fear gripping me. It was rough treatment, but the result might have been good. Junior, who had shriveled up, regained his vigor.

That said, remembering the Hobgoblin certainly brings back the fear. The Goblins are weak, but because of the Hobgoblin’s intense presence and combat power, they can live in a pack in this extremely dangerous forest.

But what should I do?

Should I not save that human woman? She is the first human other than me I’ve seen in this world. I thought there would be humans, but I never imagined finding one in such a form. If I can rescue her, I should be able to get various information.

But can I do it?

That Hobgoblin is strong! He is certainly stronger than me. I was boiling with rage, but I was easily swallowed by his Pressure.

Lately, getting used to fighting and defeating attacking beasts one after another, I thought I was strong. But it turns out I was just getting cocky after beating beasts that weren’t that strong.

Back in Japan, I was small and cowardly, and I had hardly ever been in a fight. So I lived avoiding dangerous things as much as possible. I encountered danger a few times, but I maneuvered well to get through it. Well, you could say I groveled and ran away. That’s the kind of human I am.

But this time, I can’t rescue the woman unless I enter the cave the Hobgoblins use as a dwelling. Going into enemy territory voluntarily is just suicide. Just thinking about it makes my body shake and seized with fear.

I remember the woman fleeing desperately and being dragged away while kicked and punched by the Goblins. Her screams won’t leave my ears. She is probably being ravaged by the Goblins right now. And there might be other humans besides her.

I am conflicted.

How easy it would be if I could forget her and run away. But can I do that? If I abandon her and run away now, I will regret this for the rest of my life. That scene and her screams will probably torment me forever.

Suddenly, I remembered my ex-wife’s sneering face.

“You really are unreliable!”

Her mocking words revived. Unable to get promoted and earning poorly, I was always berated and made to feel small. In the end, she cheated on me, leading to divorce.

I would have been fine living modestly but peacefully, but my wife always worried about appearances and wanted to mount others. Home was not a place of rest for me.

I joined a decent company in response to my parents’ recommendation, but the work chasing only numbers was boring, and I never felt it was worthwhile. Moreover, it was a company where you couldn’t get promoted unless you executed the boss’s orders even if you knew they were wrong, bordering on power harassment, so I gave up on promotion. I couldn’t understand what was proud about living by pushing others down to get ahead. But I couldn’t quit the company either.

In the end, compromising halfway and living lethargically became my way of life. My wife must have hated that way of living too. My life was a continuous series of emptiness and regret. There wasn’t a day I didn’t think, If only I had done that then, if only I had done this then.

I exhaled deeply and took several deep breaths.

I stand alone in the pitch-black forest. No one knows me. I know no one. Absolute solitude.

I lift my face and steel my resolve.

I cut open the dead boar-pseudo and carve out the meat. To fight that Hobgoblin, I must fill myself with energy and stamina. I will hold a strong will not to be swallowed by that Pressure and ensure I can put out all my strength. To avoid clouding my future life with regret, this battle cannot be avoided.

I think it’s out of character for me, but by chance, I obtained a young and new body. Since my body has been reborn, I want my spirit to be reborn too. To enrich my new life, I will take action I won’t regret. I decided so.

I started a fire and began preparing a meal. First, I’ll eat well, and then I’ll begin preparations for battle.