Volume 1 Chapter 9 Goblin Subjugation
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
It’s been 2 summers since Ms. Akari and I came to Tokura Village.
I can speak the language well now, and life is pretty stable, but I still have no idea when I can go back to my old world. Every day feels a bit stressful because of that.
There’s no school in this village, but a few times a month, the village head invites the kids to his house to learn things like reading, writing, math, self-defense, and how to identify herbs. The village elders take turns teaching, and Ms. Akari and I have been joining in for the last 6 months.
Honestly, it feels a bit embarrassing to be learning elementary school stuff with the little kids, but it’s actually useful, so I try not to think about it too much.
Ms. Akari and I are really popular with the beastkin kids.
I think part of it is because humans are rare here, but I also do well in hunting and have become somewhat famous for my sword skills. Ms. Akari teaches the kids games from our world, like origami and string games, which they really enjoy.
Today, after the writing class, I was in the village head’s yard practicing sword fighting with a few boys, while Ms. Akari was playing hopscotch with Melon and the girls in the nearby square.
Since that surprise on our first anniversary of being reborn, Ms. Akari has been much calmer. She hardly has nightmares anymore, and we’ve been able to relax.
”Coming through!”
A messenger on a fast horse shouted as he rode toward the village head’s house, making Ms. Akari and the girls quickly step aside. The messenger went straight into the chief’s house.
”Wow, a fast horse! I wonder what’s going on.”
Puruun said, looking worriedly at me.
Lately, Puruun and I have become really close, and people often say we look like siblings. But I feel like she’s starting to act more like Tomori, for better or worse.
Soon, the village head came out of the door and called out.
”Hey, Puruun! Tell Imenji there’s an emergency meeting!”
Imenji means father, so the head was calling for Barua. I felt a bit uneasy about it, so we hurried back home and told Barua that the chief wanted to see him.
That night, Barua didn’t come back until late, and Puruun and Melon went to bed with Ms. Akari. I was thinking about going to sleep too when Barua finally returned, looking worn out.
”Hey, you’re still up? Thanks for waiting for me,” he said.
”Not really. Melon took my spot in bed,” I replied.
”Ha, I’m always sorry about that. So, Yuuta, it seems we’re in a bad situation.”
”Is it about the fast horse? What happened?”
”The beastfolk village over the mountain was attacked by a group of goblins and got wiped out. They’ll probably stay there for a while, but once they eat up all the food around, they’ll move on to the next target. If we’re unlucky, this village could be next.”
”Do goblins really move around like locusts?”
”Locusts? What’s that? Well, they move around randomly based on their instincts, but if there’s not much rain in spring like this year, they can multiply quickly.”
That sounds even more like locusts.
”So, what’s the plan?”
”For now, a border patrol is heading out, but it’ll take over a month for the main force to arrive. We have to defend the village ourselves until they get here. So, we need to organize the strong fighters. I want you to help too.”
”Of course! But I’ve never seen a goblin. What are they like?”
”They’re small, about the size of a child, and each one is weak. Puruun could probably take one down easily. But there are just so many of them. It’ll be more about surviving than defeating them.”
I see, so holding our ground is important too. We’ll need to strengthen the village’s defenses. Starting the next day, everyone in the village worked together to prepare for the goblins.
A few days later, the villagers who went to scout the mountains returned. They reported that there were about 5 thousand goblins, and they would eat up all the food in the area in a few days before moving on. If they headed this way, they could arrive in as little as ten days.
The whole village worked hard to set up fences and ditches, but when it came to the fields, it seemed like we had to give up.
The women and kids were supposed to look for the direction the goblins were coming from and carry as much food as they could to escape into the mountains.
It was around the same area where Ms. Akari and I first camped in a mountain cabin.
Twenty men from the village, including me, Barua, and Okia, were chosen for the fighting group. Puruun wanted to join the fighting group too, but Barua turned him down. He seemed okay with it after Barua said he would need him if any goblins got lost in the mountains.
Haha, each of us has to take down 250 goblins. Well, we have to do it.
Okia lent me 2 swords that looked really good. I couldn’t use both at the same time, so I tied one to my back as a backup.
As we got information from scouts, it turned out the goblins were indeed heading toward our village. The group that went to the mountains started gathering as many crops as they could before escaping.
Ms. Akari, Puruun, and Melon went with them.
The fighting group set up a fort in the center of the village to wait for the goblins.
By the way, I asked Barua if it would be okay for everyone to evacuate together, but he said if we got attacked where we were hiding, it would be a disaster. It seems like there’s an unspoken rule in this world that the people directly involved should try to reduce the number of goblins as much as possible.
If we just let them go, it would cause trouble for the next village. It seems like the goblins started in the tens of thousands, but they were down to 5 thousand after the last village.
A few days later, just as the scouts reported, the goblins attacked the village.
At first, they went for the crops on the outskirts of the village, eating everything in sight. I suggested we could charge in and take them out one by one, but I was told to wait until we had a better idea of their numbers.
”Looks like all 5 thousand have shown up.”
Okia reported to Barua.
”Alright, let’s hit them from the closest spot. Yuta and Sodon, you two stay back and guard our escape route. Let’s go!”
After Barua’s command, the fighting group rushed out of the fort.
To make sure the people who ran out could come back safely, I, along with a young guy named Sodon, stayed behind to guard the escape route. Luckily, the goblins were too busy munching on the crops in front of them to think about cutting off our retreat.
About 30 minutes later, the fighting group returned, and everyone made it back safely to the fort.
”Wow, that was tough. We probably haven’t even taken down a thousand yet… but let’s take a break. After a short rest, we’ll go with the same plan!”
While we were resting, the goblins kept eating the crops, and the circle around the fort was getting smaller.
I realized the fields were actually a trap.
If all 5 thousand came charging at the fort, we probably wouldn’t be able to handle it.
”Alright, let’s go for round 2!”
Saying that, Barua and the others rushed out of the fort again. Sodon and I secured our escape route.
This time, some goblins were pretty close, and a few noticed us and charged at us. But they were definitely slow and not very strong, so I could take them down easily with a swing of my sword.
It felt a bit like bullying the weak, but I reminded myself to stay alert! Just then, Sodon got grabbed by a few goblins at once.
Oh no! I quickly rushed to help him. I understood now what it meant to be outnumbered. If you let your guard down, you could end up in their stomachs in an instant. Thankfully, Sodon didn’t seem to be hurt badly, so that was a relief.
After a while, the fighting group came back again, but they looked even more worn out than before.
”Barua, should I go out too?”
”No, Yuuta. In this fight, securing our escape route is the most important thing. So you need to save your strength and focus on that.”
I got it now. I just had to do my job.
While I was thinking that, Okia suddenly shouted, “Something’s off!”
Everyone turned to look at Okia.
”What do you mean?”
”Well, there were definitely around 5 thousand at first. We went out twice and took down about 15 hundred. So why are there only that many left outside?”
Barua rushes to check outside.
”Indeed, it seems there are only around 1,500 of them. But what about the other 2,000…could it be!?”
”Ah, I have a bad feeling about this. We should split into two groups, and one should go check out the situation in the mountains!”
”Alright, we’ll divide the team in half! Those who stay here, give it your all to exterminate the ones in front of us. And once you’ve taken care of them, please head towards the mountains immediately. I and Okia will head towards the mountain camp first!”
Thus, the combat group split into two, with Barua, Okia, and the others cutting through the goblin horde and leaving the village towards the mountain camp. Everyone was a veteran, but they were already quite exhausted, and it seemed the correct decision to clear the area around the village quickly and go help on the mountain side.
Those who remained at the village fortress, under the command of Holma, the village accountant, targeted areas where the numbers seemed thin and charged in, cutting down the goblins relentlessly. They were in a state of mindless frenzy, and they had no idea how many they had cut down. After about two hours, when the sun began to tilt westward from directly overhead, they had mostly finished the job. Ten of them had cut down 1,500 goblins.
I was eager to go help on the mountain side immediately, but Holma stopped me.
”Yuuta. First, rest! You can barely stand as it is. Don’t worry. Barua and the others are veteran heroes of the village. They won’t go down easily.”
Hearing those words, I regained a bit of my composure, drank water at the fortress, and focused on recovering my strength. After resting for about an hour, I managed to recover enough to be able to run normally.
”Yuta. You’re still young. But there are still those who can’t stand or walk. Go ahead with those who can!
Thus, Holma instructed me, and I left the fortress with Sodan and a few other young people who could move, and we followed Barua into the mountains.
We tried to move as quickly as possible, but everyone seemed tired, and we weren’t moving as fast as we had hoped.
As the sun began to tilt significantly towards the west, I felt anxious.
As we entered the mountains, we began to see scattered goblin corpses on the side of the road.
They must have been killed by Barua and the others. I wondered how far they had progressed. The path was correct, as we saw goblins lying on the road ahead.
”We should see a riverbed after crossing this ridge, but there were less than a thousand goblins along the way, right? So that means more than a thousand must have charged into the camp?”
Sodan raised his voice in despair.
”Let’s hurry. Barua and the others are holding them off at the water’s edge.”
”Yes, you’re right.”
We encouraged each other as we climbed the ridge.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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