Chapter 8: Night Study

The law of the jungle.

This is the basic principle of survival for beasts in the wild, but it is also a theory that can be easily applied to demons and the devil.

Survival of the fittest.

It is common sense that the strong survive, and the weak are eliminated or subordinated to the strong.

The goblin race is the race that best fits the terms survival of the jungle and the fittest.

Although they form groups, if the group is stronger than the other group, they will bite and eat the other group.

Naturally, if they are weak, they avoid them and bow their heads low.

That is how the goblin race survived on the continent.

Although they are weak, they are a little more intelligent than other demons, so they found ways and means to survive by brainstorming with each other, even if their brains are shallow.

“Krm.”

The goblins gathered in one place.

The elder goblins, as well as the strong warrior class goblins among the goblins, gathered in the elder goblin’s hut.

There was only one reason they gathered.

“This delicious smell, I can’t stand it. Kerr.”

The delicious smell that made their mouths water.

The smell that drifted through the air from afar was something that could not be ignored no matter how hard one tried to ignore it.

“It’s the smell of a demon. Kreung.”

“A weakened demon.”

“It must have been a strong being summoned to the Middle-earth and possessed a human body for some reason, and all of its magic power was lost. Keruk.”

“That’s not it.”

The goblins were in agony at the smell of this ‘weakened strongman’.

No matter how strong the beast was, if it was bleeding and lying down on the verge of death, if the goblins could approach and carefully stab its neck, there was no way the goblins could not hunt it.

Goblins were weak, but that was why they only fought opponents they could defeat.

“Can we beat him?”

“We can win if we fight him now.”

“In reality, the demon is not a force to be reckoned with. Kreung.”

The weakened demon was not the problem.

The real problem was the human village where the demon was presumed to be hiding.

“The warrior’s village, can we really attack it?”

“Isn’t this a village without heroes anyway? Today is our chance. Let’s go down and attack right now.”

“How?”

“We can sneak up on the village with the holy sword and set it on fire at night so no one can escape, then hunt down and eat the well- cooked humans. Kroek”

***

Don’t talk nonsense.

Kroek.

“The risk was too great for the goblins. Even though it was called the village of heroes that no one would pay attention to, there were humans living together in the village of heroes. A mere few dozen goblins, a single tribe, was not enough to attack the village. “What should we do?” “I can’t stand prey. We can just catch and kidnap those demons.”

“I can’t stand it either. Why don’t we just kill all the humans, find the demons, and split the food among ourselves? Kroek.”

“No, we can sneak up on them in the middle of the night when the humans are deeply asleep, set fire to a circle so they can’t come out, and then just throw rocks inward?”

“Let’s attack right away.”

Growl.

****

The goblins couldn’t hold it in any longer.

Whether the opponent was human or not, they couldn’t stand the smell of delicious food.

“If we eat the demon, our status will rise. Growl.”

Even if they rot, they’re still teeth.

No matter how much the demon’s magic power has run out and they’re on the verge of extinction, if a goblin consumes its ‘core’, the goblins can evolve into a stronger species.

Yes, just like the legendary Goblin Chieftain in the demon world, a single goblin can transform into a muscular and powerful species that rivals orcs.

“Elder, what should we do?”

“Let’s all gather together and attack at night. That’s it.”

“Wow! That’s a perfect tactic, growl.”

The goblins clapped their hands and prepared for battle.

They were only after one thing.

The demon’s heart.

Concentrating on the irritating smell, the goblins began to move stealthily in the darkness, one by one.

***

Something is approaching.

There are many signs, not just one or two.

“……”

Lucius is sleeping now.

He, who had given up his bed, was currently lying on the floor on a leather mat, and those outside began to come in quickly as if it were nothing more than a given.

The door to the house…. creaked.

It wasn’t locked.

There was no lock in the first place.

I thought that if it was a friendly countryside, we could all live comfortably together, but the feeling that came from these people coming in like thieves made my nerves tense.

They were after me.

They were after my body.

“What should I do?”

Should I scream to wake Lucius?

No, even if I do that, there are still many of them.

The rustling sound must mean they brought some kind of tool.

There is only one way to deal with this situation.

“I have to use the magic stone. Lucius has to use the magic stone he obtained from hunting the demon beasts. I have already absorbed all of their mana, so I have to use the magic stone to drive them away.

“Should I kill them?”

Killing them is also an option.

A human can die with just one ice pick to the heart, and the villagers here are just peasants who are no better than low-level soldiers at best.

“However, A witch who has set out to seal the Demon King shouldn’t kill humans recklessly, right?”

I think I got the setting wrong.

Before going to bed, I should have threatened that I, a witch, could eliminate anything that interferes with the Demon King’s seal, but Lucius is too gullible, so I missed the timing.

If I wake up now and kill them, what will Lucius think of me when he sees the corpses of the villagers?

How can you kill someone?!

You might get angry and say, ‘Let’s hold on.’

This is a special fool who has finally acquired his hand.

In poker, this is a situation where you have three As and two Ks, which is like an A full house.

In this situation, you change the K to make a four of a kind?

I don’t have many chips to take such a risk.

“So let’s hold on for now.”

Those people must have just secretly given me a gift at night.

Thinking so, I just quietly made noises and paid attention.

“Hey, you’re sleeping, right?”

“Yeah. Tie this kid up.”

“Where’s the woman?”

“I bet he told you to sleep in bed, trying to be nice.”

What a pity.

They were robbers.

As I had originally thought, they were exactly the ones who came with malicious intent.

“What should I do?”

After checking by spreading the word, there were two people inside the house.

And two people outside.

Judging from the fact that one of them was a familiar magician, it must be the village chief

‘This old man is definitely here!”

It must be that they are going to do something dirty after seeing this body.

Somehow, despite being human, they looked at me with the exact same face as Zephyr, and they were going to do something so shameful to me!

“Should I switch bodies?”

If I were to inhabit an animal like a dog or a cat, I wouldn’t be subjected to such humiliation.

I felt a pang in my stomach for no reason, but I pulled myself together and cast my magic at them

“Hey, watch out, if this kid does something-”

Ppa Ack!!

A clean blow.

Lucius kicked the person who was shoving the rope toward him, and Lucius’s instep blew the young man’s chin off accurately.

Bam!!

The furniture fell, and I thought this was the moment to get up. I carefully pulled back the blanket and shouted with my eyes as wide as possible.

“What, what the hell?!”

“The hell!!”

One of the robbers swung something at Lucius.

Saesek!

I swung the dagger sharp enough to reflect moonlight, but it did not reach Lucius.

‘Oh.’

As expected, the magic stone I had brought was not one I had picked up from the ground. Lucius dodged the dagger swung by the young man and took a position as if protecting me, and soon grabbed a wooden staff on the wall like a wooden sword.

“What are you doing!”

“Ugh…!”

“What on earth are you doing at this hour of the night! Between people from the same village!”

This man’s angry voice was like that.

Hearing Lucius angry voice for the first time reminded me of the time when the gentle Cerberus in front of me growled at the demon lords.

“Calm down, Arthur. We’re not trying to fight.”

“Then what?!”

“To catch that woman!”

“Why?”

Lucius took a stance again as if protecting me.

The person who had been hit in the jaw got up, spitting blood on the floor.

“Of course, because she’s an outsider! I don’t know where she came from, “I can’t just leave you alone!”

“That’s why you came here with a knife? Talk sense!!”

“If I talk sense, will you back down easily?”

Squeak.

The door opened and the village chief came into the house. Lucius froze at the village chief’s appearance, and the village chief smiled and pointed at me.

“Beware of the Red-Hunting Witch who comes to the Hero’s Village. The Red-Hunting Witch will bring about the end of this village”

“What is that?”

“It’s one of the legends that has been handed down in this village for a long time. I would have forgotten it if I hadn’t looked through old books.”

“This is the first time I’ve heard of such a story!!”

“Of course it’s the first time I’ve heard of it. It’s a secret that has been passed down through the village chief’s family for generations.

What’s the point of telling them about the disaster that will befall the village?”

“That’s just a made-up story.”

I sat up from my bed.

“Don’t be fooled, Lucius. Those guys are just making up legends that don’t exist right now to confuse us.”

“Shut up, Red-Hunting Witch! The woman who will bring disaster to our village! You’re just a disaster!”

“This old man….”

If things go wrong, we might have to fight. In that case…

“Surrender obediently!!”

The village chief took something out of his bosom.

The object, which seemed to be made of metal, looked like a giant finger, and the hole inside was aimed at me.

“You, you coward!!”

Lucius covered me with his body, lost in thought.

“You cowardly man, pulling out a gun!!”

“____?”

Agun?