Inside An Ad*lt Game As A Former Hero - Chapter 7

“My name is Samuel. Take care of me.”

The giant in leather armor held out his hand. He grabbed my hand and shook it a few times. Seeing that he was holding a wooden shield, this guy must be the tank of this team.

“From this side on, Gemina, Tom, and Marilyn.”

“Hello. This is Gemina.”

A brunette woman with two daggers tucked into her waist.

“This is Tom. Take good care of me.”

A man with a lot of freckles with a big ax behind his back.

“Marilyn.”

A chic looking woman with a bow and quivers behind her back.

These were the party members the receptionist had spoken of.

“Mr. Cloud, we will be counting on you.”

“…why you are being so formal?”

Marilyn mumbled with a dissatisfied expression on her face.

“Yeah, you don’t have to be so formal. If you want to speak informally, please speak informally. In fact, that would be more comfortable.”

“Rea…”

“Hahaha, no no. How can we speak like that to a B-class adventurer?”

Samuel covered Gemina’s mouth and spoke with a big smile on his face.

“Really? Then I’ll speak informally.”

However Samuel couldn’t stop Marilyn, who spoke openly. Samuel’s face turned white when he saw that happen.

“Hey, Marilyn, you…!”

“Stop, you are just overeating too much. More than that, are we leaving today?”

“Yeah? Ah yes. Because the sooner you hurry, the better… Ah, Mr. Cloud, If you have any difficulties…”

“Do not exist. Let’s go right away.”

“All right! Let’s go, guys!”

* * *

“Our village was a very poor one. It was difficult to even procure three meals a day, even if we continued to work all the day except for resting during sleeping hours. So the four of us made a promise back when we were young. Let’s get out of village and make big. Then come back and save the village.”

A day had passed since I left the city.

If there’s one thing I had realized during this time, it’s that this guy named Samuel talks a lot.

He keeps telling stories of the past that I’m not even curious about, and even if I tried to stop him vaguely, man, he was too dumb to understand.

But, this guy is too kind to me to just directly dismiss him as being noisy.

So I just listened with one ear and let it flow out through the other.

“As for what happened then—”

“Samuel.”

“This guy, Tom…”

“Samuel. Gemina is calling.”

Marilyn slapped Samuel on the back.

Patak-!

Listening to crisp sound, the force applied was by no means small.

My lord… weren’t you guys close friends?

“…Marilyn even if hit me a little softer, I would have noticed.”

“Noisy.”

“Geeez… Gemina? Why did you call me?”

“Shh!”

Gemina, who was taking the lead, raised her index finger to her lips and pointed forward. I approached quietly and looked where she was pointing at—to see six goblins carrying a small boar.

“What should we do?”

“Mr. Cloud, what would you like to do?”

Samuel handed over Gemina’s question to me.

Gemina and Marilyn looked at him in dissatisfaction, but he didn’t budge, waiting for my answer.

“I will say, we should follow. If they are from the den we are looking for, we can kill them altogether. Or—”

“Or? There’s even more?”

“Marilyn, you…”

Marilyn interjected in a slightly irritated voice. Samuel tried to rebuke Marilyn, but I shrugged.

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“Or you can inform the guild for dealing with them if we find too many more later. Let’s stop arguing now and go after then. And, don’t make a single sound. It will be annoying to find another trail if we got caught.”

Samuel, who was about to rebuke Marilyn, closed his mouth shut. Marilyn also clicked her tongue and turned her head away.

We followed the goblins stealthily.

Fortunately, these guys didn’t make any unnecessary fuss while sneakingly trailing those critters.

After folowing them to a distance, we found what looked like to be a goblin’s lair…

‘…what?’

As I watched the goblins enter, I couldn’t help but tilt my head.

It didn’t make sense, the place they entered was a cave large enough to fit in a large wild bear.

“What’s wrong?”

“That cave, it’s was too big for some green αss goblins to live in. Why did they settle down in such a place?”

Goblins are small like children and have comparatively weaker muscle power. Their nails are a bit dangerous, but other than that, they are a race with nothing special.

A species—where it will not be even a little strange even if they go extinct from nature at any time.

Nevertheless, they persistently survived in the harsh ecosystem.

It was possible because they were clever and wicked.

They’re not natural hunters, but they know a hunter’s patience. If you set a trap and have the persistence to wait, no doubt that someday it will catch its prey.

They’re not natural fighters, but they know how to kill creatures. Pushing the advantage of numbers is the norm, and surprise sneak attacks their favorite.

It is a race that should never be neglected just because it looks weak.

The goblins in the world I was previously dragged into, digged and then used burrows that only they could go in and out of, just like ants.

Therefore, in order to clear the goblin den, the whole den had to be collapsed or smoked to cause suffocation to force them outside.

Who will take the risks and crawl in to fight? Of course for those who even crawled in, half of them came out injured. Because all kinds of strange traps were waiting their arrival.

So why are these shrewd critters living in a place where foreign wild enemies can attack so openly?

It was strange.

“Why are you so obsessed with their home? I guess they just took it because it looks good to live. Where could there be a plausible reason for a dumb goblin’s mind?”

Marilyn murmured gruntingly.

This time, Samuel didn’t say anything different, either.

Judging by their reaction, they seem to know what kind of stupid creature a goblin is…

Hmm… So the goblins here are different than the ones where I used to live in, aren’t they?

How did you survive being so stupid?

They should have been long gone extinct under the fangs of other monsters.

Maybe that?

The absurd setting I had only seen in mangas? The innate race gift of possessing a whopping monstrous fertility?

If they get pregnant just once, they will deliver five or six babies at same time, something like that?

“Hey… I want you to make a decision now…”

Gemina came to the side and urged.

I thought a little and said.

“Let’s go in.”

You can’t destroy such a large cave, and you can’t suffocate with smoke either, so there’s no choice but to go in and rampage in a straight way.

* * *

The inside of the cave was so dark that it was completely invisible without a torch, and it was also full of sticky moisture.

We walked through the cave in the order of Gemina, Samuel, Marilyn, Tom, and me, Cloud.

From a young age, Gemina was the most agile and brightest of the four. That’s why she took the lead in this situation.

Tuk. Tuk.

Marilyn tapped Samuel on the shoulder. When he turned around, she spoke in a low voice that only Samuel could hear.

“What are you thinking?”

“What?”

“Why are you being so courteous to that man?”

When she was young, Samuel was a village alley bully and a dependable older brother.

It was him who thought out the plan to revive the village by teamwork with the four of them. Marilyn held deep respect for him… It was only natural for her to feel offended when he acted like a humble side kick in front that man Cloud.

Samuel signed.

“I rather want to ask you. What the hell are you doing, acting like that in front of a B-class adventurer?”

“Huh?”

“Except for me, who is a D-class, all of the others are E-class. Just what were even thinking while being so rude to that B-class? Do you know how much my heart palpitated when I saw you like that?”

“Ah! What’s with that doofus look? Where did the alley bully I knew go? Did you go to the city a year earlier and became a coward?”

“I did came a year earlier, so I saw a lot and realized a lot, you idiot. And, how whackingly dangerous these high-ranking adventurers are!”

* * *

If there is one thing Samuel realized during his past year of adventurer life, it is that most of the high-ranking adventurers are not sane.

They are people who will beat the bar clerk for offending them.

They are person who can openly harasses a woman or a receptionist.

There are times when two drunks go out and only one returns—

—with the sword of the man who returns alone dripping with red blood.

All the talented and sane guys are recruited as guards and knights, so it was very natural if only these crazy guys were left in the Adventurer’s Guild.

In such a place, the title of a village alley bully from a rural area was useless in all means.

Try to say it and you will be laughed at and beaten like a donkey.

So, all he could do was to humble himself over and over again until he could protect himself.

Under such circumstances, the younger adventurers who have just come to the city are showing their fangs in front of a B-class…

For Samuel, his heart thumped nervously every single time.

“I’ll explain it you later, so for now listen to me. Don’t intercept on whatever that person says. Just don’t bother him.”

“There dude. It’s too noisy.”

“Oh, yes, yes. I’m sorry.”

Samuel bowed his head toward Cloud. Marilyn frowned, but as Samuel gripped her wrist tightly, she bit her lip and loosened her expression.

So, the group returned to silence again.

By the time they felt they had entered the cave quite deep, the party encountered nine goblins.

– Kiiie?

The goblins counted the number of Cloud’s party. They soon realized that they had more numbers and smiled cruely.

The goblins drew out crude weapons such as wooden clubs and rusted daggers.

– Squeak! Chiiik!

‘Did they really think that having a lot of numbers is advantageous?’

The goblins rushed towards Cloud and his party.

-Siuuu!

An arrow fired by Marilyn pierced the leading goblin’s forehead. The goblin hit by the arrow fell down, but the other goblins did not stop and rushed.

Samuel and Gemina faced the goblins while Marilyn nocked a new arrow.

-Chiick! Squeak!

The three goblins hollered excitedly and swinged their clubs. However, there was a huge difference in size between a Goblin and Samuel. Samuel also had a shield, so he didn’t take any significant damage from the goblin’s club.

Rather, Samuel swung his sword and smashed the goblin’s shoulder.

Meanwhile, Gemina, who had only two daggers, was having a hard time. Because all five of them were running towards her.

Fortunately, Tom wasn’t late.

He swung his large ax crosswards. The goblins tried to block it with clubs and daggers, but the difference in weight and force was huge. The clubs and daggers were broken, and the bones of the goblins were also harpooned.

– Kiiie… Kiie…?

In an instant, four of them were taken out.

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There was no more advantage in numbers. The goblins quickly began to run away into the cave.

“Where, huh?! Do you think I’ll let you go?!”

Marilyn, with her hasty personality, drew a sword from her waist and chased after the goblins. Gemina, Tom, and even Samuel ran after her.

The enthusiasm of victory fanned them.

“You’re going too deep.”

Of these, only Cloud remained calm. He slowly made his way into the cave.

* * *

Marilyn, she is a confident women. Since she was young, whatever she did, she was savvy and good at it.

So this time too.

It’s the first request I’ve received a quest, but it’s going good, isn’t it?

– Kik! Cheiik!!

Seeing the goblins scream and run away, she ran after.

‘Anyway, Samuel oppa has become too soft.’

It’s not even an S-grade or an A-grade, just a B-grade, what’s so terrifying?

If it’s a B grade, she can get it anytime she wants.

Just like here too.

When fighting the goblins, that B-class human did nothing.

No different from the village idiots who can only increase pressure on their shoulders.

‘I have to show him properly this time.’

That, what a great warrior she herself is.

It was when she was chasing the goblins with such thoughts. Suddenly, she felt something strange on the sole of her foot. She lost her balance and fell on the floor.

“Ugh… what…”

What did she trip over? Uh, wait a minute, why her legs can’t move?

Marilyn looked down at her immovable legs.

A pointed spear blade protruded through the back of her foot.

‘uh…? Why is this here…?’

She had ignored goblins as stupid creatures. Of course, she thought there would be no traps, so she stepped on the spear blades the goblins had tinkered on the floor.

And pain always comes after recognizing the wound.

“Aaaaaah!”

For the first time in her life, she felt the pain of raw tearing of flesh.

Marilyn could not withstand and screamed.

– Kihehehehehe!!!

The goblins, who had been running wildly before, giggled when they saw Marilyn’s appearance. And slowly approached her.

“Fuck off! Oh, don’t come! Don’t come!”

Marilyn drew out her bow and tried to nock an arrow. But there’s no way she could target an arrow with those trembling hands.

The goblins kept getting closer.

‘What should I do… What should I do…’

She was full of confidence until the chase begin, but now she was afraid than anything of only these five goblins.

‘Who, someone…”

“Marilyn!”

Samuel, Tom and Gemina arrived at just the right time. Marilyn’s expression brightened.

“Y, You okay… your feet…?!”

“I… I’m fine, those goblins! Kill the goblins first!”

Marilyn pointed at the goblins with a bloody finger. Samuel nodded his head and clenched his shield and sword strongly.

“Dare you buggers…”

Samuel trudged towards the goblins.

The five goblins did not run away. They smiled more creepily than before.

Gemina felt something strange about it.

“Oppa! Stop there’s…!”

It got late.

Thum!

Samuel was hit from the side by something heavy and rolled on the floor.

“”Oppa!””

“Samuel hyung!”

“I’m okay!”

Samuel grabbed his aching side and barely got up. And he looked in the direction from where he was hit.

A goblin appeared from the dark shadow.

Although he was still short, his body was much larger than that of ordinary goblins, and the club he was holding was thicker than the others.

Samuel knew the identity of that goblin.

“Hobgoblin!”

Hobgoblins, a type of mutated goblins.

Hobgoblins are known for their strength and stamina that surpasses way more than those of ordinary goblins.

Samuel held out his shield forward and took a stance.

It’s unreasonable for his younger siblings who started working as adventurers for the first time today to handle this situation. Today, he was determined to fight this Hobgoblin with his real skills…

“Behind you!”

“What?”

Samuel quickly turned back.

A large club was coming down towards his head, he hastily managed to block it with his shield. But rolling down the floor unsightly was unavoidable.

“Ugh… two Hobgoblins… what is this…”

It’s usually hard to find even one.

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Without some badsh!t luck, it wouldn’t be like this.

Since this is the case, Tom and Gemina would be in charge of one, and in the meantime, I…

“O, Oppa… these two are n-not the end…”

Gemina’s trembling voice sounded.

“What?”

Samuel immediately swung his torch and looked around. Red eyes visible from behind the pitch black darkness. The goblins had crowded them.

‘Damn… it’s impossible to play against this number. We now have no choice but to carry Marilyn… and run away…’

Samuel turned his back.

He couldn’t help but get throat-stuck at the scenery in front of me.

Two new Hobgoblins had appeared and blocked their paths.

– Hee hee hee hee hee!!!

– Hee hee hee hee!

– Chihi chiiie hee hee hee hee hee hee hee!!!

Goblins laughed at the stupid humans.

How can they not laugh at the pigs who have entered the slaughterhouse on their will?

How could they not laugh at the foolish prey that mistook itself for being a hunter?

The crescent-shaped red eyes that were clearly visible even in the dark, and the laughter of goblins echoing through the cave.

The four pitiful adventurers trembled in fear.

They believed that one day they would grow into outstanding adventurers. So, from childhood, they listened only to the stories of successful adventurers, and so the stories of adventurers who were killed by monsters were left out.

Because they thought it had nothing to do with their life.

But death always comes suddenly.

Now it was their turn to become the protagonist of the pitiful story of four people who looked down on the goblins and were killed and eaten instead.

…if only there wasn’t one more person here.

-Sliik!

The blade pierced the Hobgoblin’s chest that was blocking the entrance.

-Kihee… Heh…?

A hobgoblin who was laughing, stilled and died.

As Cloud drew back his sword, the Hobgoblin slumped down forward.

-Kiie..? Kii Kii?

The Hobgoblin next to him jumped and smashed the club hard. Cloud turned his body dodgingly to his side to avoid it, then extended his sword forward.

As before, his sword pierced the Hobgoblin’s heart.

He kicked the Hobgoblin away with his feet and violently drew out his sword. He said as he swung his sword violently, splashing the blood from the rupture.

“Look at this. I told you guys, they are not stupid.”

Cloud moved his gaze without hesitation into the darkness full of red eyes.

* * *

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