CH 247

It wasn’t too far to the place where the scream came from. It would be natural to think of it as the distance from where the little girl’s voice could be heard.

“I see it ……!　Lars, that’s!”

“What is that!?”

Makina shouted anxiously at the sight when we arrived, and I groaned for a moment. Because it wasn’t a rampaging boar or a giant bee that was there–

“Goblins, huh ……”

“Wow, I’ve never seen one of those before.”

The cave was surrounded by five goblins, humanoid demons that had never existed in the Gast territory. They’re short and were about my chest.

By the way, why didn’t I see them in Gust territory? This is because, thanks to the efforts of Hauzen-san and the teachers at the academy, the goblins, orcs and other “wise” monsters around the town of Gust have been exterminated or driven off, and the reason there were not many people in the guild in the town of Gust was because they often traveled there to do this.

“Go away! Go away ……”

I was relieved to hear a weak voice coming from the cave and that they were still safe. At the same time, I notice that the goblins are stuck in front of the cave for some reason.

“What?”

“Look, in front of the cave!”

A tree the size of a goblin’s waist was waving what appeared to be its hands in the air, threatening the goblins. It was moving so violently that the goblins could not get close to it.

“I don’t think it was possible, but that’s probably a Treant.”

“What, such a small thing is?”

“I don’t know why, but maybe it’s because they don’t have enough nutrients. We can’t stay like this. Let’s go, Makina!”

“Yeah!”

The sound of footsteps was deliberately made to attract the attention of the goblins. 

Three of the five goblins that fell for it turned towards us, smiling wickedly at us, mainly at Makina, and grabbed their swords and clubs and came towards us. 

“Gagigagigah!”

“Gecchacha!”

“!”

I fired a fire arrow at the two that were ahead of me. Fireballs may cause unnecessary damage to the forest, so I used a spell that allows me to concentrate on the target. Five flaming arrows hit the arms and legs of the goblins, slowing them down.

But that’s the thing about humanoid demons, they don’t lose their will to fight, but rather they come at you with anger.

“It’s my first battle with goblins, but they’re not as intimidating as the ogre. There are a lot of them, but they tend to underestimate us, just like Tigre-sensei taught us.”

I decide to stop using magic and intercept the goblins with my Sarge blade.

“Ha!”

“Gecha!?”

The goblin with the club stepped forward, so I slashed at it first. I slip my sword over the goblin’s left shoulder, slashes it without any resistance, and the upper half of its body slips off. 

“Next!”

“!? Gagigah!!”

He looked hesitant about attacking when he saw that his companion had been killed, but he quickly thought better of it and raised his sword high above his head and moved his arm to swing it down. This is the difference between them and a human, there’s no way I’ll be hit with such a large uppercut!

“Dragon Fang!”

“Gah ……”

I immediately jumped into the goblin’s chest and sliced through it with my signature move as I passed it. At that moment, I glanced over at Makina.

“.”

“Guga!?”

“Then I finish it with [Kaiser Knuckle]!”

Without a moment’s hesitation, she blocked the goblin’s movement with her freshly learned Lightning and blew it away with her Kaiser Knuckle.  When she noticed my gaze, she smiled and headed for the cave where the rest of the goblins were. There, I see a Treant, still small, struggling against the goblins. Is she still protecting Chelle?

“Gugegeh!”

“!”

But because of the size difference, the goblin was forced to swing its axe, and the mini-treant was blown to the side.

“Ahhhh!? Tre-chan!”

“!”

Chelle shouted, and in response to her voice, he stretched out a branch and held out.

“He endured it! That kid has amazing guts!”

As soon as Makina shouts, I launch myself at the goblin distracted by the mini-treant. The other goblin turns to face me, club in hand, but it’s a step too late!

“!　…… There, Makina!”

“OK! Haaaaaaaahhhhhh!”

I threw it into the air with the water jail, and Makina waited for it to fall and raised her fist, and it fell to the ground with a crushing sound of bones. And then…

“Gugo!? Gugoh!”

“No!?”

“I won’t let you!”

The remaining one, realizing that they’re no match to us, turned back to the cave and reached into it to take Chelle hostage. I try to release the water jail again, but.

“!!”

“Gugogo!?”

The mini-treant slams his own branch like a spring and hits the goblin! I approached the unbalanced goblin and swung my Sargeblade sideways at it.

“This is not a sight for a girl to see …… !”

At a distance, but almost right in front of me, I kicked the goblin as hard as I could to get it out of my sight, and then I burned it with fire. 

“Wow …… you sure do something amazing, huh, Lars ……”

“It’s humanoid, but if you leave it alone, it’ll multiply and attack villages, so Tigre-sensei said it’s a good rule to defeat it when you find it, right? More importantly, Makina, please.”

As I brush the blood from my sword, I look at Chelle and ask Makina for a favor. Sensing my intentions, Makina quickly walked past me and nodded. 

“Okay, leave it to me. Er, Chelle-chan, right? I was looking for you. Do you remember this brother over here?”

“Ah! You’re the guy I met at the park the other day!”

I raised my hand a bit and smiled, and Chelle exhaled as if relieved.

I thought it would be better for the girls to talk to each other first, so I left it to Makina, but she seemed to remember me, which made the conversation go a little faster.

“You remembered me. Everyone is pretty worried about you, you know? Why did you go out of town?”

“Er …….”

“!”

I get down on one knee, look at Chelle and ask, and the mini-treant stands in front of me and Chelle.

“Ah, no, Tre-chan. It seems that these people are here to help me.”

“!”

When Chelle said that, the mini-treant, who was called Tre-chan, bent over. It seems to be bowing. When I was thinking about the trunk, the flower on the top of his head bloomed and started to dance.

“Tre-chan also said thank you!”

“Chelle-chan, can you talk to with him?”

“Yes! My skill is called “Plant Whisperer,” and it allows me to talk to trees and flowers! Well, I picked up Tre-chan in the park, but my mom told me to throw him back where he came from because moving trees are creepy. But I thought that if I went to the park, they might say that he was weird and burn him, so I came to the forest.”

I see. She thought he wouldn’t get caught in the forest.

“But he can move around on his own. Shouldn’t you have told him to get out of town?”

“Yeah, that might be a good idea ……”

“!”

Chelle looks down. Next, it’s like he said ‘that’s true!’ when the flower on the head wilts as the mini-treant brings the branch to what she thinks is the head. Does that mean he’s sad ……? It’s a very emotional Treant.

“At any rate, everyone is worried about you, so let’s go home.”

“Y-Yeah …… Take care, Tre-chan ……”

“!”

The mini-treant  bent over sadly and waved the branch to Chelle.

“Fufu, I wonder if he’s saying bye-bye? That’s so cute.”

“Yeah, Tre-chan protected me, you know.”

“But he’s still a monster, so I guess this is goodbye …… Let’s go, then.”

The moment Makina said that, we heard the sound of grass being stepped on behind us, and turned around.

“Grrrrrrr ……”

“Gegyegegyah!”

“G-Goblins!?”

“Friend of those guys from earlier, huh …… There’s a lot of them.”

— In the center of the cave, about ten meters away from us …… there was a group of more than twenty goblins watching us. If Chelle and the others are behind us, can we use magic to wipe them out?

A Mini-treant, this was a struggle I never thought I’d see!

Thank you for reading!

[Afterword Theater]

“Ah, It’s so cute.”

The flower on his head is the key. You can understand what he’s feeling with it.

“I think you can keep this, right ……?”