Chapter 8: Goblin

On a night with no moon, the three nobles and their respective units have set up camp adjacent to each other. An open area that can house one thousand men does not exist or rather, haven't been discovered by the army's scouts and therefore they have settled near each other.

The center led by Riagas' unit composed of 500 men.

The left wing led by Gerbog's unit composed of 400 men.

The right wing led by Baz's unit composed of 400 men.

The atmosphere of the three camps is gloomy. The faces of the soldiers show signs of exhaustion and their morale is low as well. One might think that three units that add up to one thousand can easily eliminate the threat of 200 goblins led by a Goblin Chief. The reality is that...

"Damn! Just what is happening here?! You fools can't even lead your squads and always end up losing over half your men every time we engage! Is it you?! Is it?!"

The one who spoke so angrily is Baz and the one being spoken to is the squad commanders who lost today's skirmishes as well.

An adjutant spoke hesitantly with a pale face.

"S-sir, I think it may be best for us to join up with Sir Mane and Sir Barg and to help each other defeat the common enemy."

A vein popped in the forehead of Baz, his whole face is red by the thought of joining up with them. He finally snapped and slammed his hands on the table.

"What did you say?! You incompetent fool!"

"B-but, we as a unit can no longer fight as a whole. We already have over 150 casualties and many are wounded as well. If we keep this up- HYIHH"

Baz threw his cup on the adjutant's face. He wanted to punch his face for saying such words if he could but he kept his cool.

"You! Get out!"

"Y-yes sir!"

Before the adjutant could get out of the tent, a man came in and said in a loud voice.

"M-monsters! Monsters attacked again!"

All the people inside the tent looked at the man and asked with their eyes, "again"?

"What kind of monster!"

The vice commander of the camp and the captain of the knights sent to protect Baz Leigh, Mayne, spoke up.

The man swallowed his saliva and wiped his forehead before answering.

"The monsters are Rhino and a pack of Ape man! We believe that the Rhino is rank 3 as well as the leader of the Ape man!"

The expression of Mayne instantly went dark. Of course, the squad commanders and even Baz himself looked troubled. No one among the common soldiers can fight against rank 3 monsters. Knights who have undergone extreme training as well as mages can kill such monsters, maybe if soldiers swarmed the monster they can kill it but many people will die. The people who could fight such monsters here are few.

"Mayne! You go out with the Knight's Order and kill the Rhino! The squad commanders will lead with me at the frontline to engage the pack of Ape man! Go!"

Baz said with a voice full of power.

"Yes sir!"

All of them got out and went to their units to launch the counterattack. In an instant, the camp that was full of people became empty with Baz remaining inside.

"Damn it! Do these monsters not tire..."

The reason why Baz's unit is in such a bad shape and already has over 100 casualties is because monsters attack day and night. Even in their own camp, monsters attack them. With no sleep available, they can only be as lifeless as possible when battling against them. Of course, the other units are facing similar situations as well. How can they not? When they went inside of the territories of these monsters and did not even clear them before setting up their own camps.

Incidentally, the center led by Riagas' unit is facing the two hundred goblins and is currently having a difficult battle with his men being reduced to 300.

Baz picked up his beloved sword and proceeds to walk towards the exit. He murmured with a dark expression.

"At this rate, forget about killing the goblin and gaining fame we'll be wiped out and be forced to retreat with the shame of losing to these fuckers!"

They can only fight back and will never be able to initiate an attack. The units led by the three noble is composed of common soldiers that do not know how to fight monsters, basically amateurs. With evolved monsters joining in as well, it is only natural to be on the losing side.

****

"Wan!"

What is this?

It tickles? And its slippery as well... is something licking me?!

I woke up and stood up immediately after realizing that something is on me. When I looked around, I saw nothing but the corpse of the dead wolf. It looks like no wandering monster came in during the time I was knocked out.

"Wof! Wof!"

---Hmm?

I felt something pushing itself against my skin on my feet. I looked down to see a cub. It looks familiar...

"Ah! Are you the child of this wolf?"

"Wof!"

My forehead creases by itself. This seems like trouble... I picked up the wolf and looked at its eyes. There's no fear or hostility against me? Does he not hate me for killing its parent?

As if to answer my question, the wolf licks my face. I don't know how to respond to this kind of answer though. I sigh.

"I have no grudge against you and I won against the wolf so I won't kill you so go away now." I threw the wolf and shooed him away with my hand. The wolf however runs up to me and rubs its head against my skin.

---Hmmm, what does he want? Does he want me to raise him?

I sigh again. I don't want to kill if it does not pose a threat to my life. Furthermore, he was a victim of my killing its parent.

Giving up, I walked to the corpse of the wolf. Looking at it from close up, it's really huge. I went up its head to see if I can pull out its horn and my horn that's embedded to its forehead. I wrapped my palm around it and began to pull with all my strength just to fall off...

---Huh? Wh-what? It went off so easily!

Shocked by this, I tried to pull off the other horn to find that it also got pulled with no resistance at all. I wonder why? While I was contemplating about that, my stomach growled. I'm hungry.

"Wof!"

"Hm? What is it?"

"Wof! Wof!"

The wolf points its mouth towards the dead wolf and saliva flows out of his mouth... Does he not realize that it's his parent? Thinking none of this, I tried to see if I can cut the meat of the wolf with horn. Shocked but not surprised, I can cut its meat easily as well. I threw a part of it to the wolf while I sat down and began to eat as well.

---Come to think of it, did I evolve? I don't remember something that said that I evolve.

Looking at my body, nothing seems to have changed? My height is still the same but my color seems to have been lighter too. Now it really looks like light green instead of dark green. Am I becoming weaker?

"Huuu"

I sigh again. This morning has been nothing but trouble. There's nothing I can do about it if I didn't evolve. This is a problem. There's no strong monster around the area of my cave. I found that out when I was hunting and preparing for my fight so I probably won't be able to get stronger if I stay around here.

I looked at the wolf to see that it is eating the meat greedily.

"Are you coming with me?"

The wolf stops and barks at me. I really don't understand it... I guess you'll follow me on your own if you want to. After finishing up my portion of the meat, I grabbed its leg and walked towards my cave to save its meat. The cub also follows me.

There was no monster who came near when I walking towards the cave. It was pretty safe if you consider that it's a forest infested with orcs, wolves and jaguar killing each other. I put the corpse of the wolf towards the deeper part of the cave and I walked off towards the lake to drink. The cub seems to follow me wherever I go.

"Wof!"

"I hope you grow up to be stronger than your parent so you can protect yourself better."

We got to the lake, again with no monsters blocking our path. I pushed my face towards the water and drank it greedily. This sensation of water going inside of my body is just exhilarating! It freshens up the insides. How wonderful!

"Puha!"

I pulled my face after drinking my fill. I looked to see the wolf rubbing its head against my knees.

"I guess I can't always call you a cub. It can't be helped, I'll think of a name for you."

"Wof!"

That kind of answer again... I hope that's a yes. Putting a finger on my forehead, I appear to be in a state of thinking. What should I name him? Is it even a boy? or a girl? This is hard. I couldn't put up with it anymore so I decided to name him after what he says.

"Alright! I'll name you Wanwan!"

"Wan!"

"Pretty good, no?"

I laughed. Seeing it like this, this kind of life seems good to me too. I feel at peace, enlightened and most importantly satisfied. Fight to the death and battles are good too but times like these are not bad. I guess?

I feel bad for Wanwan for killing its parent but it was the result of a battle. There will always be victims and consequences to the actions of a man. I'll take responsibility for the taking of its life by raising its cub.

For me, that is the privilege and the burden of a victor.