The whole hour working on the construction site was a bit uncomfortable—almost no one spoke to me. I tried chatting with a few people, and while no one avoided me, everyone was careful with their words and didn’t act naturally.
When I finished, I said goodbye to them all, cracked a couple of jokes with Edd, and now I’m walking toward the same place where I met Randy yesterday. I hope they treat me as friendly again—it’s fun when social status doesn’t weigh on everything.
“Good afternoon, young master Maki.” I was just about to open the door when Randy greeted me first. His voice reminds me a lot of someone from my past life—trying to sound deeper when it’s actually quite high-pitched.
“Good afternoon, Randy. Ready for today?” Looking at him, I see he’s covered his black hair with a military cap. His full uniform makes him look a bit older. I wouldn’t call him skinny; he maintains a solid physique without being slim.
“I’m afraid I won’t be able to accompany you today, young master Maki. We’re currently preparing to welcome our neighbor, Baron Camux, along with his son and daughter next week.” My grandmother didn’t say anything about that this morning… I’ll have to ask her tomorrow during training.
“Today my younger brother Rendo will accompany you. Though he’s only an Emerald Rank, there’s no problem—this morning we carefully cleared the nearby area. The only things close to our village are Grade One monsters.”
When he points out the person in question, it takes my brain a few seconds to recognize him—his outfit is completely different. It’s the teenager I didn’t ask for a name yesterday.
“At your service, young master Maki. I’m ready to go at any time.” He has the same hair color as Randy, and their facial features are quite similar too—both have a serious gaze, defined noses, and thin lips.
“Nice to meet you, Rendo. Let’s head out. Lead the way.” Rendo bows. Randy gives a formal farewell, and we head out for today’s hunt.
“Hey Rendo, how old are you?” I’m a bit curious about this teenager.
“Fifteen, young master Maki.” Hmm? No follow-up question?
“How long have you lived in Mancor?”
“Four years, young master Maki.” All his answers are clear and precise. He never asks anything back, just responds immediately, no small talk.
I managed to get some info out of him: he lives only with his older brother Randy, never met their parents, and they lived in an orphanage until they were seven.
I didn’t really want to know so much about his life—I just wanted to test how far he’d go with my questions. I’m still surprised by his honesty. I feel bad for prying and fall silent.
When we return, I’ll buy him something to eat as an apology… wait—I have no money. I’ll probably have to ask for credit and pay it tomorrow after asking my grandmother for some money.
We arrive at a different area than yesterday. I can see a small lake ahead and some imposing mountains in the distance. We keep moving through the trees until we spot a group of three wolves.
Rendo stays back, and I slowly approach. I can see him on guard, holding a double-edged sword, alert to any situation. Today, I’m not planning on using magic against such a small group—I can handle this with just swordsmanship.
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Once they’re within my pseudo-domain range, I begin my preparations. I coat my swords with Imra, using more than usual this time—I sharpen and harden the blades. I can feel my control waver a bit, so I’m forced to activate my Cold Mind skill.
My trusty Lightning Step skill activates, and I appear beside the last wolf. Their reactions are quick—it almost dodges my dual slash with a side leap.
I can feel the cut go deeper and deal more damage. The poor wolf howls in pain and tries to back away, while its companions leap at me to buy it time.
“TIME TO DANCE!”
I start moving, dodging their attacks and blocking when necessary. I notice the other wolf limping on its back left leg due to the pain.
I decide to take a risk—I stop jumping back and try blocking with one sword while attacking with the other. It works beautifully—I’m able to move and only take one wolf’s attack at a time.
After a few minutes, the other two wolves are bleeding from several wounds. My hands and arms ache a bit from constantly blocking with my weapons, but I’ve already won.
Their agility drops, and their reactions slow. I use my movement skill to finish off the most injured wolf and quickly attack the others. After another minute, all three are dead.
I sit on the ground to rest while Rendo walks over to collect their monster cores, probably.
While he works, I analyze the fight. I’m strong enough to kill three wolves with no major problem. They can’t withstand slashes with my Imra-enhanced blades. Fighting recklessly has caused pain in my arms from blocking their blows directly.
Taking hits causes fatigue—it’ll shorten how long I can fight. Worst case, I could get seriously hurt if I’m careless.
“I need some kind of body protection skill.” Maybe an ice armor… I’d look awesome in that.
Right then, I try covering my hand with a layer of ice. I can’t shape it fully. I switch to just coating my fingers—I manage two before feeling a pressure in my brain… this is hard. I need to practice more at home.
I sense that Rendo has finished and is waiting behind me. “I want to keep training—let’s find more monsters.”
We spend about ten minutes searching and find a large group of foxes—seven in total.
Rendo looks worried about me—I can see it on his face. The problem is, he doesn’t say anything.
“Don’t worry, Rendo. I’m strong for an Amethyst Rank. If I can’t handle them, you can help—just wait for my signal.” His expression softens a bit. He’s still clearly concerned, but now he has a mission.
It crossed my mind to use a compressed ice sphere—but that would make it too easy. I’ll just use two regular ice spheres and coat my sword in sharp Imra. That gives me a slight headache, which is quickly eased by Cold Mind.
This time, I don’t use my movement skill—I run straight at them.
After a few minutes of fighting, I’ve killed two of them. I use the spheres to keep some at bay while I deal with others. My body’s taken a few scratches—not important since they’re minor wounds.
My mind’s struggling to maintain the ice spheres. I spot an opportunity and throw them at two more injured foxes—they’re blasted back and fall to the ground. If they’re not dead, they’re at least near death.
Only three remain. I attack, not thinking much about my injuries. I don’t want to get hurt, but I have to risk it. Thanks to my reactions and pseudo-domain, I avoid further injury. The three foxes die, and I finish off the two that survived the ice blast.
I lie on the grass while Rendo collects the cores. Now I remember—I can use those cores as payment. Rendo’s earned himself a good dinner with dessert.
I rest for about fifteen minutes, and we continue searching for more monsters.
We hear some howls and head toward the sound.
When we arrive, we see three nearly-dead wolves fighting humanoid creatures. There are six in total, all green, hideous in both face and body. Four are about 140 cm tall, and two around 180 cm.
The two larger ones aren’t just taller—they have way more muscle mass, look more intimidating, and wield wooden clubs shaped like swords.
I hear Rendo murmur beside me. “Goblins and Hobgoblins?”
Seriously? Those are the goblins I read about in stories and games from my past life? The grotesque descriptions fit them perfectly.
“Rendo, what should we do? These monsters aren’t supposed to be nearby.” I whisper quietly.
Rendo thinks for a moment, and for the first time, gives me a suggestion—though it came from my question. “We must return to the village. I’ve memorized the location—I’ll tell my brother about this sighting, and the defenses can deal with it swiftly.”
His plan sounds perfect. I’m sure I could kill the five goblins alone—the problem is the two big ones. They seem like Grade Two monsters.
Before we can turn and leave, I notice one of the Hobgoblins staring right at us. Fuck!
