Day-21
...
Today, like usual, we started our morning routine by hunting goblins in the old city of Damroww.
The past few days had gone well for us. No—more than well. Better than I had expected.
And now, we had decided to fight a group of four goblins.
So—
"Sirus, another one is heading toward you!" Manato shouted, warning me.
"Yeah." I answered, looking at the other goblin approaching me.
Whoa, whoa... isn't this a bit too much? Fighting one goblin was still manageable, but two?
Huh. At the very least, I'll try.
The strategy was simple. Me, Manato, and Mogzo would stay on the front line. Haruhiro and Ranta would support whenever needed. As for the rest, Yume and Shihoru would provide long-range support.
The first goblin attacked me as soon as it realized another goblin was coming to help it.
It swung its sword at me.
I watched the trajectory of the blade, then blocked it with my own sword.
Then I followed up with a shield bash, striking its head and forcing it a few steps backward.
I shifted my attention to the second goblin. It had already reached us.
Could I really hold off both of them? Who knows.
But then I remembered something. I had never fought alone before.
In fact, as the party's second tanker, it was my job to hold the enemy back.
"Haruhiro, Ranta, back me up!" I shouted, asking for their support.
"I knew it. In the end, you'd come begging for my help too," Ranta replied immediately. Honestly, hearing that from him was irritating.
"Yeah," came Haruhiro's normal response.
Standing side by side, the three of us faced the two goblins ahead of us.
"Alright, here's the plan. I'll hold one goblin off. You two focus on the other one and kill it quickly, then come help me afterward."
I explained the plan that had formed in my head. If I could hold one goblin back, the two of them should be able to finish the other quickly.
"Yeah, yeah. So all I have to do is kill it, right? Sounds easy enough. Leave it to me," Ranta said with his usual smug expression.
Smiling toward me, Haruhiro said, "You don't need to pay attention to him, Sirus. It'll only give you a headache."
I nodded at him before turning my attention back to the goblins.
Tightening my grip on my sword, I said, "Let's go!"
I charged first, with Ranta and Haruhiro following behind me.
I rushed one of the goblins and swung my sword vertically at it.
And of course, it dodged.
It seemed the same thing happened to Ranta too.
"ANGER THRUST!" Ranta shouted the name of his skill as he thrust his sword toward the goblin. Naturally, it dodged that too.
"I missed? Maybe this isn't an ordinary goblin," he said.
"Of course it's just a normal goblin!" Haruhiro snapped back.
I shook my head at their antics before returning my focus to the goblin I was fighting.
It rushed forward and swung its sword at me violently.
I raised my shield to block it. It wasn't just one strike either—it kept attacking relentlessly, over and over, making it pretty difficult for me to keep up.
'Damn, my arm hurts,' I thought while shaking my left hand.
It seemed I still wasn't very good at handling strong or continuous impacts like this.
After the goblin stopped attacking, it immediately jumped a few steps backward.
Then I noticed it looking toward its companion, who was being overwhelmed by two people.
Suddenly, it ran toward Haruhiro and Ranta, probably trying to help its ally.
"Like hell I'll let that happen," I muttered before running toward the goblin.
I cut off its path, forcing it to stop, then followed up with a thrust toward it.
Naturally, it dodged. But right after that, I kicked the goblin in the stomach.
The impact pushed it backward. At that same moment, I launched another attack, swinging my sword toward it.
It tried to dodge but wasn't fast enough, and my blade cut across its chest.
My sword had never been particularly sharp, so all it did was leave a long shallow wound across its chest.
Still, it should've affected it somewhat.
Just then, the other two had already finished off the first goblin and were about to help me.
"Move, Sirus! I'm killing it!" Ranta shouted as he leapt at the goblin.
He attacked recklessly, and eventually managed to stab his sword into the goblin.
"YESS!! I got my Vice!" he shouted excitedly right after killing it.
With Ranta finishing the goblin off, the battle finally seemed to be over. Victory was ours.
"You look really happy, Ranta," I said to him.
"Heh! Of course I am! I got two Vice this time! That makes eleven in total! Now my demon's power can evolve! I can feel it! Soon I'll be able to summon it and make it whisper into the enemy's ear so it distracts them! Cool, right?!"
"What do you mean, 'I can feel it'? So you can only feel it? Seems like dark knight demons are actually useless in reality," Haruhiro said. Wow, that was genuinely cruel.
"Hey! I heard that, Haruhiro! Don't insult my Zodiak! I'll have him curse you!"
Zodiak was the name of Ranta's demon. I had no idea whether he named it himself or if that was its actual name.
"But I'm right. You can't even summon it during the daytime," Haruhiro said.
"Idiot! After collecting eleven Vice, the demon levels up! Now I can summon him during sunrise and sunset!"
I looked at him like he was the dumbest person alive.
"Isn't that basically the same thing? We don't even leave that early, and by sunset we're already heading home," I said.
"True, but... since the owner's an idiot, maybe it's better that way," Yume suddenly chimed in. She sounded genuinely annoyed with Ranta.
"I'm not its owner! Demons aren't pets! It's more like... I'm the one being controlled by the demon! It's a demon, after all!"
"So that means..." Shihoru said with a small laugh. "Before you use it to curse Haruhiro... you're the one who got cursed first."
"Yeah, I think that's true. Wait a second... WHAT?! Seriously?! Zodiak, is that true?! Answer me, Zodiak! Oh right, it's still daytime, so he can't hear me."
Listening to their conversation, a smile spread across my face.
Yeah... I had to admit, having people around you was always fun. Even if you couldn't always keep up with their conversations.
"Good work, everyone. Is anyone hurt?" Manato asked, smiling. "Doesn't seem like it. If everyone's alright, let's check what's inside the goblins' pouches this time."
Then we started looting the belongings of the four goblins. We got around ten silver coins, along with a few items that seemed sellable.
An unexpected profit. Maybe, finally... ever since arriving in this world, I could begin to truly feel happy.
But—maybe I should save that thought for another day. Maybe, just maybe, something unexpected would happen, and those feelings would disappear someday.
In the end, nobody really knows.
I looked up at the bright midday sky.
Letting out a breath, I turned around and walked back toward my party.
Yeah, even so... I think I can finally say that—I already have a place where I belong.
...
Sorry, since last week I couldn't upload chapters.