Chapter 7 "Suspicious"

 　The remaining bones were forcefully digested by wrapping the roots around them.

　The memories were taken in without any problems.

　It seems that she was living peacefully in a village in the Great Forest when goblins attacked her at night and abducted her.

　Her family consists of a husband and a son.

　The son was dismembered and eaten in front of her eyes by a goblin captain-like fellow.

The husband was captured in the same way, and is said to be in a miserable predicament, either digging in a coal mine or being dug up by goblins.

　The reason I know this is because I saw them do it right in front of me.

　The master of the memory doesn't understand what was said because he doesn't know subhuman language, but I understand it myself, so I translated it when I remembered.

　He said that he was excited while he was digging up his husband in front of his wife, saying something like, "Now your husband is mine," and licking his cheeks.

What a profound story.

　Pronunciation of the Elvish language was not so difficult as long as one could understand it.

　I tried to speak it out loud, but there seemed to be no problem, perhaps because they look like humans.

　Is it still a matter of vocal cords?

But it is strange.

　It was a pretty unreasonable scene, but I didn't feel anything in particular.

　What was the difference from the other day when I saw the lynching of the goblin?

　At that time, I felt emotions that I couldn't even control....

　Is it because it doesn't cover my experience?

I can't tell for sure.

I returned to the previous path and went straight down.

Proceeding down a gentle slope, I head down to the lower level.

　It looks no different from the top, a cave-like passageway with side paths.

　From the back, I hear something like faint moans and screams.

　It's that kind of compartment again.

　I head toward the area where I hear the screams.

　From the sound of the voices, it's probably a section where male elves are being held.

　If there are a number of them, I have something to do.

　Relying on the screams, I proceeded to the back.

The place I was looking for was quite a bit further in.

　Unlike the brothel above, this one was a complete prison.

I peeked in after silencing my presence and found five or six people locked up in each of several large rooms.

　All of them were men. The men inside had dead eyes just like the women above.

　There were two guards? The room in the back is probably the guard's room, judging from the sounds of conversation coming from the room in the back.

　Next to the room is a staircase. They are probably still down there.

　The screams were coming from there.

　I was going to let them go and cause a commotion, but... that's impossible.

　Leave the place.

　After all, let's go alone and escape undetected.

　It seems that most of this level is a prison.

　There are many prisoners locked up here and there.

　There are at least three guards in every prison, including the one who is taking a rest.

　I could manage with two guards, but with three guards, I would make a mistake and cause a commotion.

　If possible, I'd like to suck out the memories of anyone inside...

Descending further down.

Finally, the destination is getting closer.

　This level has a different atmosphere compared to the others. It is wider in width, and is probably 1.5 times larger than the upper level.

　There are no side streets and the path is completely straight.

As I continued on, I came to a wide space. There is another wide space ahead, and beyond that is the treasure room.

When I was almost at the destination, a question came to my mind.

　Isn't it working too well?

　"Stop."

　The voice came from behind me.

　I turned around and saw a goblin.

　He was quite large, even among the goblins I had seen so far. He had a thick sword drawn and pointed at me.

　His gaze is sharp, and his posture is seamless. He also wears a bracelet...is he a grade A man?

"I have been watching you since entering the castle. You've been acting very suspiciously, haven't you?"

Apparently, I was being watched. I hide my presence and look here and there, but I was watched the whole time....

　How dumb is that.... It's too embarrassing.

　I want to die. Ah, I guess I've already did it.... Ha-ha-ha.

　"It's not funny..."

　I unintentionally muttered in Japanese.

　"What are you saying?"

　I move my eyes to check my surroundings. There seems to be no one else.

　Then all I had to do was kill this guy and go to the back.

　I reached for the sword at my waist.

　At that moment, the goblin closed the gap and slashed at me.

I backed up and received it with the sword I was about to draw.

　"You're going to resist? It's more convenient for me."

He was going to interrogate me, but I resisted, so he's going to report that he killed me.

I drew my sword and held it ready.

　I was really careless, I'll be careful next time if there's a next time. What went wrong?

　For the time being, I'm going to take care of this guy. Well, I can handle at least one of them.

As usual, the conclusion that I had to get rid of the other guy and the feeling of hesitation about it did not come to me at all.

　I asked myself that question to the point of disgust, but it was getting tedious to even think about it.

　I'm done with it. I can do a lot of things with ease.

　I can just kill anyone who gets in my way. Kill, kill, kill.

With my right hand, I ready my sword and slash at him. In parallel, with my left hand, I take out a relatively heavy ball from the pouch at my waist and hold it.

The opponent was in no particular rush and deflected my slash to the side. It is annoying that it was so easily handled, but it is to be expected.

I flick the cal in my left hand with my finger at the same time my attack was parried. The target is the eye.

　The opponent's eyes widened a little as if he was a little surprised, but he dodged it by turning his head back.

Next, stepping back a little, I tried to blind him with sand, but he closed the gap at once.

I thrust out my sword as my opponent stepped forward...but before I could do so, he kicked me in the stomach and I was blown away.

Not liking the idea of being blown away without a fight, I threw a dagger at him in return.

My opponent flicked the flying dagger with his sword. The dagger spun around and hit the ground behind the opponent.

　This is not good. I'm being pushed around a lot.

　That's not right. Did I misjudge my opponent's strength?

　According to my estimation, he should be about the same or a little stronger than me...

　What is this guy?

　Zaghi, a guard of Shudras Castle, thinks to himself as he faces the intruder in front of him.

The gatekeeper reported that there was a suspicious orc, so he was monitoring him.

After talking to his companions, they decided to catch him if he acted suspiciously and take credit for it.

　As it turned out, the orc was completely suspicious.

In the first place, it was strange when he possessed a pass even though he did not have his employer, a goblin, with him.

　Basically, the orcs and trolls who enter Shudras Castle are hired by the goblins as specialized laborers for hard labor.

　They are not very smart, but they have plenty of physical strength and brawn, which makes them very useful for transporting supplies and the like.

On the other hand, they are not suited for tasks that require the use of their brains, so they can only be used for carrying goods in the company of others in business-related work.

　For this reason, an orc who tries to enter the castle alone is too suspicious.

　In addition, the pass is a valuable item. It would be unthinkable to entrust it to an orc.

In fact, after a short time of surveillance, he began to act suspiciously.

It was not suspicious to see him in the slave whorehouse section, but it was obviously strange that he went down to the prison section and the treasure accumulation section.

　Perhaps he has other friends and his job is to create a diversion or something.

Just to be safe, he has reported the matter to his friends and told them to increase security, but since his purpose is unknown, it is necessary to interrogate him.

Although it would be nice to catch him unscathed, it seems that he is trying to resist, so it is best to just hurt him and get his story out of him.

He catches the slash of the orc with his sword bringing the two into a fierce clash.

　The sword is pushed in.

　The other side has the upper hand in arm strength. It is natural that there is a difference in arm strength due to their race, so this point is not a concern.

　However, the sharpness of the attack clearly exceeded that of the orcs.

　Attacks on sight using sand and props, as well as throwing attacks, were not the orc's way.

Since it seemed to be speaking normal language, it was assumed that it was an orc, but could this guy be an elf...or even a human...?

When considering this, some things become clear. His physique is small for an orc, the way he fights, etc. 

If he is a human, how did he learn the language fluently?

　The opponent is strong. Though he is strong, he doesn't feel like he can lose.

He swings his sword. The opponent flies backwards to escape from the attack range.

When his sword is fully swung, the opponent steps in at once.

As the opponent rushes forward, he hits him in the shoulder with his body.

　Breath escapes from the opponent's mouth. He is in close contact with the opponent, so he cannot use his sword.

　The fist without the sword is slammed into the opponent's face. The opponent is blown away.

　The opponent stops after rolling on the ground a couple of times. When he rolls, he kicks away his opponent's sword with his foot.

　He is strong. He must be strong. If it were only by skill, he would be higher than himself.

　But he was slow. He is slow.

　For some reason, before entering an attack position, he turns his gaze for a moment and stops moving.

　And because he did it right before he launched his attack, it was obvious what he was going to do.

　It was as if he was moving while remembering something.

　At first I thought he was up to something, but it seemed he was unaware of it.

　The other party was also tilting his head as he got up.

For unknown reasons, the opponent seems to be in a slump.

This is a convenient, so let's catch him before he regains his strength.

　That's strange.

What does that mean?

Rothfeldt's skill should be higher than the goblin in front of me.

　It is obvious from the multiple goblin's memories.

The damage is minor because I can read their attacks to a certain extent.

　The goblin in front of me is a second-class warrior.

　You can tell by the number of thin bracelets they have on their arms.

　The 3rd class has one bracelet, the 2nd class has two, and the 1st class has three.

　They are commonly known as "grade bearers".

　The one in front of me has two.

　In terms of human adventurers, the second class is probably lower-middle to middle class.

　Above this class, intelligence is comparatively high, and many of them behave rationally.

　The first class and above, depending on the individual, are smarter than most people and seem to be able to handle combat at a high level.

　The higher ranks are said to be able to control multiple languages and magic....

This information is not beyond the realm of rumor, but....

　I digressed a bit, but to be so far behind an opponent who could have won with Rothfeldt's skills....

　Was the cause me?

　That's all I could think of.

　"Knowing" and "being able to do" are two different things, aren't they? I heard something about that before I died.

　It's not so different from someone who thinks they can play a game just by watching someone else play it.

　They can use it. But they don't own it.

　I'm the one who thought I knew the world by something indirect without even going outside.

　This is why suicidal shut-ins have such narrow-mindedness.

　I was beyond sad and depressed.

　Anyway, the cause was clear. In addition, I'm done with self-abuse.

　It's time to think about something positive.

　It is difficult to win in close combat.

I can't show my ability because of the ridiculous situation where I can't use my skills even though I'm superior in skill.

　So, I'm going to do what has become a regular practice at .......

　It's a bite. Most people will die if their throats are cut to pieces.

　In fact, the deciding factor for those I've killed so far has been the throat.

It's difficult to get the throat after blocking his vision. Since it was prevented earlier, he is probably on his guard.

If so, I'll take advantage of my strong body and use a throwaway technique.

If he is caught off guard by an attack that would normally be fatal, the throat is the best way to get him.

　This would work.

　I'm going to kill you, you second class goblin. You will be my food after this.