CH 48

After confirming that Ares has started fighting, Gray faces the General.

The general slowly stands up and draws the greatsword from his back and takes a stance. His face shows his anger at having his men killed and his joy at being able to fight a strong man.

(Hah… you look like a warrior)

He thought it was a strange goblin, but Gray readied his sword, thinking that he would kill him anyway.

There was a moment of silence in the tense air. The silence was broken by the sound of the general and Gray simultaneously kicking the ground.

The back of one of the goblins surrounding them was covered in lukewarm liquid, and he heard the voice of his companion screaming, so he turned around. There were the corpses of his comrades, and the figure of Ares, who wielded an expressionless sword while his beautiful blond hair waved.

(Amazing, this is Gray-san’s physical enhancement magic…)

Ares thought so while mercilessly slashing the goblins from behind.

He then unilaterally attacked the opponent from behind as his back was turned. Ares was a little surprised at himself for not feeling anything when he was dealing with monsters, even though he would have hesitated to do so with a human opponent.

(If I had fought like this against the knights, I’m sure they wouldn’t have complained about my cowardice.)

Ares was taught by the knights of Storia that the only way to fight is to slash head-on…that’s all.

However, the knights, who always claim to be fair and honest, tried to kidnap the girl on orders of their superiors, and even tried to kill her family to keep them quiet.

Ares swung his sword to shake off the uneasiness that welled up in him as he thought of his friends in Kodar.

Immediately thereafter, the sound of something falling to the ground echoes around the area. With his back to the fallen general, Gray brushes off the blood on his sword. The battle has been settled, with Gray’s victory.

(It didn’t seem to give up at all, even after losing an arm.)

Even though he cut off his left arm in the process, he did not seem to give up at all. On the contrary, he looked happy and was wielding the greatsword with his remaining right arm.

After all, it was a strange goblin… I looked at Ares, and he was slashing the back of a goblin that was trying to escape because the leader, General, was defeated.

(I was going to do some of the hobgoblins myself, but it doesn’t seem necessary. There is no hesitation at all, even though he should have little or no practical experience. If it’s just a few days…)

After cutting down a few goblins that attacked him on the way, Ares seems to have finished and is breathing on his shoulder.

The area is stained with the blood of the goblins.

“All right, scrape and collect the ears from the goblin corpses.”

“… uh… yes”

Gray and Ares split up to collect the goblin ears and stuff them into a bag, and finally Gray lifted the general’s head and put it straight into the magic bag.

“Eh… What in the world are you doing, Gray-san?”

“Kukuku… this is a souvenir.”

Gray says so with a worse look than usual. To whom? Ares thought, but he was too scared to ask.

―――――

As we were returning to the Adventurers’ Guild after defeating the goblin horde, it occurred to me…if I had Ares submit all of these ears, I might get in trouble, right?

I don’t want to be called like a heretic who threw a rookie adventurer into a horde of goblins on his first try, right?

It might be bad. What is bad……it’s bad that it’s not a misunderstanding.

As I silently pondered, Ares was looking at me with a puzzled look on his face.

“Ares…I’ll tell you one thing.”

“? …yes”

I hand Ares two silver coins.

“I’m probably going to get in trouble with Sasha, so go to one of the bars in the guild and kill some time with a glass of milk or something.””

“eh”

Afterwards, Sasha gave me a dumbfounded look, although she was not angry.

“…If he takes credit for this, Ares-kun, he’ll be able to raise his adventurer rank on the same day, won’t he?”

“You seem to be doubting me…I did support him, but it’s definitely Ares who defeated them.”

As I say this, Sasha pulls two large, pointed ears out of the bag.

“And the Goblin Warrior too?”

“…”

“Yes, then, I’ll put this in Gray-san’s appraisal…well, Ares-kun will still get a rank up. Okay, I’ll take care of it so please let Ares-kun know.”

I don’t know what they would say if I submitted proof of defeat of the pterodactyl wyvern.…

Besides…

“It wouldn’t make any sense for me to do my appraisal.”

“I guess so. So you’ll take it this time?”

“…I don’t want it”

I walked to the bar with a sigh.

Ares is talking to two female adventurers sitting on either side of him. And they are very close…is this…solicited?

“Hey, hey boya, you’re so cute. Why don’t you try teaming up with us?”

While saying that, the dark-skinned dancer-like woman presses her body close to Ares.

“That’s right. You’re a newcomer, aren’t you? We sisters are D rank, so we’ll take you to various requests.”

This time, a witch-like woman wearing a black robe approaches Ares.

Ares, on the other hand, shrinks down.

Hmmm …… should I help just in case?

As I crossed my arms and worried, Ares noticed me and looked at me for help.

It can’t be helped…he was so strong against goblins.

“I made you wait, Ares. Let’s go home then.”

“Oh, yes!”

“Geh…that’s Gray…”

“What?! Was this child Gray’s companion?”

Ares suddenly brightened up. On the other hand, the two female adventurers, their faces turning pale, quickly left….You’re too scared, damn it.

“I…shouldn’t have helped you with anything.”

“Eh.”