Vol 2 Chapter 3 (1/2)
LEVEL 2: Everything is Precious, Nothing is Replaceable
Chapter 3: The Law of Resisting Your Inertia
“Whoa! Whoa-hoa! What the hell?!” Ranta gruainst a cru wall
Ranta wasn’t alone Haruhiro and the rest were all keeping the to keep their presences hidden
“Any idea what’s going on here?” Haruhiro turned to his side, looking at Mary
Mary gave a tiny shake of her head “Even I have no idea”
“There’s an awful lot of gobbies,” Yume whispered
Mogzo grunted his agree all over as he did his best to make himself as small as possible
shi+horu had her eyes closed and appeared to be praying, her staff held close to her chest “…We can’t, we can’t… there’s no e can…”
shi+horu was right If there was one phrase that could sum this situation up, it e can’t”
They were in the same Old Town area of Damro as usual, but today it wasn’t just scattered, sporadically distributed groups of goblins Soot here—no, even before they ca had felt off
The place was chock-full of goblins It was a anized theular patrols
“Patrols…” Haruhirohis teeth
Could it be possible? Could his hunch be right? The goblins gathered here now looked different from the usual ones Haruhiro and the others hunted every day They had better equipoblins always looked lazy and bored, these ones seemed alert and active
Haruhiro guessed that they must have been from Damro’s Upper City Goblins exiled frooblins always looked… sullen Morose, even Even the hobgoblin and its plate-arloominess about them
But the goblins gathered here noere lively and high-spirited They seemed like they were here with a purpose Haruhiro wouldn’t be surprised if they were here under some kind of orders
“H to act cool or so He wasn’t cool in the least “Looks like we overdid it We drew a bit too much attention to ourselves around here…”
No one bothered to give him the satisfaction of a response, Haruhiro included He didn’t have the energy to waste on silly things like that But it was too dangerous to continue working here Even though they had co prospect of returning to Altana with nothing
There wasn’t really any other option With things the way they were, there seeht about it, Haruhiro realized that he should see this turn of events as an opportunity for a change of pace Maybe Haruhiro was being forced into this decision, or being swept along with the tide, but it could still be a good chance anyway
“Hey guys,” Haruhiro began “What do you think of going to check out the Siren Mines? It’s a bit out of the way, but it’s in the same direction We can just take a detour around the rest of Da northwest”
Ranta was thrilled Yuainst it, so they headed off The Siren Mines… They were around two and a half miles northwest of Damro, but since Haruhiro and the others had never been there before, it took the the most direct route
It looked the sao, when the hudoood a theand his confederation forced the humans from the area, the Boshuu kobold faction took over and moved in Currently, the Siren Mines were completely occupied by kobolds
Haruhiro’s party could see the way into the mines from the foot of the mountain The entrance itself was square and tunnel-like, and had sides reinforced by wooden bea a s parallel to theabout
Haruhiro doubted that it would attack; wild animals were supposed to be cautious to the point of cowardice However, no one wanted to test their luck, so they gave it a wide berth
They continued up thean aniht sight of two furry, hu-like heads Each was outfitted patchily, in worn chainmail armor, and armed with rusted swords
No one had been expecting to run into any trouble Certainly not the two creatures, who had appeared from the shadowed tree line very relaxed Clearly they hadn’t been expecting to meet anyone here either The creatures and Haruhiro’s party stared at each other, both sides frozen for a good two or three seconds
“Kobolds!” shouted Mary
Haruhiro unconsciously let out a surprised yelp and instinctively scrambled backwards
“Mogzo, let’s go!” Ranta said, swinging his sword at the kobold on the right
“R-right!” Mogzo, whose reaction lagged a bit behind Ranta’s, closed in on the kobold on his left
Haruhiro thumped his own chest—Column! No Wait Not column, calm! Calm down! damn it He wasn’t calm at all
“shi+horu, Mary, stay back for now!” Haruhiro ordered “Yuzo!”
Yu that Haruhiro couldn’t really ot into position at the front In theat a kobold, accentuating each swing of his sith a shout
Mogzo grunted in effort as he lifted and whirled his bastard sword overhead, but he wasn’t even close to landing a hit on his target kobold
“Yuzo!” said Haruhiro
“Got it!”
Haruhiro focused on the back of the kobold Ranta had engaged His plan was to finish off one of the kobolds quickly, and then all jump on the second and kill it deader than dead
“What the—?” Haruhiro muttered
What was going on? Were kobolds supposed to be tough eneet into position at its back His eyes weren’t able to keep track of it,it difficult for him to anticipate its movements
“fuck!” Ranta cried “Haruhiro, what’re you doing?!”
Ranta was fully occupied by the kobold, but he wasn’t on the offensive If anything, he was steadily being pushed back The kobold was doingwhile Ranta defended, unable to counter
What about Mogzo and Yume? damn, he couldn’t check Haruhiro didn’t have the luxury of looking away He needed to focus on the kobold in front of hiure out what to do
“Ranta! Quitaround so much!” Haruhiro shouted
“Shut up! I’ve got my own problems to deal with!”
“But if it keepsaround like that, I can’t…!”
“Like I care! Whoa!”
The kobold suddenly took a big step forward and locked blades with Ranta Both of the It was now or never
“[BACKSTAB!]”
Haruhiro’s dagger seemed as if it was about to slide neatly into to kobold’s back, but it didn’t It had been swatted aside How? What happened? It was the kobold, it had sprung sideways and used its tail to slap the dagger away That was just downright sneaky
“You’re frickin’ useless, Haruhiro!” Ranta shouted
Ranta chased after the kobold It ht, and then darting in ni to deal with And Haruhiro, positioned directly behind it, found its tail to be theand forced Haruhiro to keep a wary eye on it
“Why is it this hard…” he wondered
It probably had nothing to do with how strong or weak they were The proble about kobolds How did kobolds prefer to attack? How did they defend? How should he react if the kobold did this or that? Hoould the kobold react if he pressed the attack? No one had the slightest idea
“If it were goblins, we’d—!” someone cried