Chapter 3

A Goblin colony.

In that place where the castle town of the Demon King’s Castle once existed, the Goblins carried on an unfettered lifestyle.

Crude wooden fences, houses assembled together with randomly picked up tree branches and dry wood.

It was a primitive society where the ones that possessed stronger tree branches were the strong ones and where the Goblin Shamans that did doubtful chants would advise the leader of the colony.

The activities of Goblins that could be found anywhere were certainly there.

The center of such a colony.

With the forest fruits that were today’s results before his eyes, the Chief rebuked the villager’s worthlessness.

Because they did not have the ability to kill even a single beast, the Goblins’ staple food was mainly fruits.

It would be easy to hunt animals if they came up with a bit better choice of weapons, but Goblins didn’t have the intelligence to come up with that.

「Chief, something coming.」

「Is Human?」

「It Human?」

The young Goblins had never seen real Humans.

They had only heard of the 「wicked Human」 called the Hero from the stories passed down in their colony.

However, the same went for the Village Chief.

Because of that, he didn’t possess any confidence when he saw “them” as they approached.

Being a party of two, that group had heights that were about twice their own size.

The man wore extravagant clothes that had black as its basic theme.

He had black hair and red eyes.

As for the woman, she wore durable-looking clothes that had black and white as its basic theme.

She had strong looking armor and shield, as well as a splendid sword.

She also had black hair and red eyes.

Even if he didn’t know whether they were Humans or not, the Village Chief thought that that weapon looked strong.

That there was no mistake that those clothes were also magnificent things.

That surely, they would suit him better.

Thinking such foolish things, the Village Chief envisioned a strong and cool-looking version of himself.

And then, turning towards the Human-like duo that was approaching, the Village Chief raised his voice.

「Humans! Leave belongings!」

When the Village Chief struck the tree branch that he used in place of a staff on the ground to make a clang, the surrounding Goblins took a fighting stance with their own tree branches.

As intimidation, they emitted growls and blood lust.

However, as if completely not giving a damn about that, the woman talked to the man about something, and then approached the Village Chief with a relaxed walk.

They were being looked down on.

When he just barely understood only that, the Village Chief raised his voice to give an order to the Goblins.

「Kill!」

At the moment that he declared that──

The atmosphere went *gishiri* and a warped sound was made.

It was cold.

His back teeth chattered and trembled.

He couldn’t move.

Wrong.

This was fear.

The village head recognized it by instinct.

The red eyed woman that was before his eyes.

That woman’s eyes, sparkled.

Those eyes, were tremendously terrifying.

A fear that felt as if his heart was being tightly gripped.

The source of that fear, didn’t stop walking.

Slowly, she walked up……And looking down on the Village Chief, she opened her mouth.

「Who were you going to kill?」

The Village Chief was frightened and shook his head sideways.

To say that wasn’t it.

To say that he didn’t mean it.

To say that he didn’t think they were such scary opponents.

The foolish excuses that came to his mind vanished.

What came out from the Village Chief’s mouth was, only a single word.

「H, help……」

That was, a word that requested for his own life to be spared.

The woman kicked that Village Chief flying with eyes that seemed as if she was looking at filth.

「Gobuh!」

With only a motion that seemed as if she were kicking a stone at her feet flying, the Village Chief was blown away while bouncing on the ground.

There was not a single Goblin that tried to save the Village Chief.

If they made any careless movements, they themselves would be next.

With only instinct, the Goblins understood that.

For this reason, they rubbed their heads on the ground. In order to demonstrate that they had no will to resist, they threw their hands out before them.

They didn’t know that these were movements that signified submission.

「……An announcement to you Goblins.」

When she stood in front of the Goblins that prostrated themselves before her, Ichika shouted with a clear voice.

「From here on, the honour of being given Demon King Vermudol-sama’s words will be bestowed upon you all. Carve every single word into your body, and obey Demon King-sama’s will without a shred of doubt.」

The Goblins’ pygmy hearts reacted to the word “honour”.

And then, the Goblins’ souls reacted to the words “Demon King”.

Demon King.

Their souls understood that that word was something special.

「……O Goblins.」

The Goblins listened to the youthful man’s voice while still falling prostrate.

「This colony, will be directly under the Demon King from now on.」

The Goblins didn’t understand the detailed meaning of that.

But not long ago, the most distinguished and strong Village Chief was defeated.

The Goblins thought that in that case, they had no choice but to obey them.

「For you all as well, I will have you all become ones suitable for such a role. Are there any objections?」

There should be none.

No, even if there were some──they might be killed by the woman, is what the Goblins feared.

Surveying the silent Goblins, Demon King Vermudol nodded.

「Yosh, in that case……A single representative is to come before us.」

Representative, that meant the Village Chief.

However, the Village Chief was still unconscious.

Going “in that case”, a Goblin boasting his strength raised his head.

「Th, then it Agur. Agur, strong.」

「Yosh, then who is that Agur?」

Due to Vermudol’s words, the strength boaster desperately pointed at himself.

「A, Agur is Agur. Because Agur is Agur.」

「Demon King-sama, it would seem that Goblin is Agur.」

「……Ahh, so it was like that.」

From Ichika’s words, Vermudol realized that the Goblins didn’t have words like 『ore』 or 『watashi』 that designated themselves. And then, he beckoned Agur over.

「In that case, we are going to the castle, Agur.」

Agur flusteredly stood up, and held his own wooden stick in his hand.

That was an important weapon that signified Agur’s strength.

He feared that if he were to leave it and it were to be stolen, his rank might change.

「Demon King-sama, what are you planning on doing by bringing this thing to the castle?」

In response to Ichika’s question which could be called reasonable, Vermudol smiled with a face that looked like a young boy that came up with a prank.

「It’s a simple story. Ichika……If I’m not mistaken, there is still a lot of building stones left, right?」

Chapter 04