I started carrying a club around when I went for walks.
It had a good weight for practice.
If I was going to fight someday, I wanted to be able to use at least a club.
It seemed like I wouldn’t be allowed to carry a dagger or anything until I got a lot stronger.
”Swing it with a whack, poke it with a stab, and if you get the head, go clang!”
”Whack, stab, clang on the head. I dun get it at all.”
”You don’t get sex either!”
Choro is bad at teaching, and I don’t have any plans to teach him about sex in the first place.
It felt like our conversations were going in circles.
Maybe that’s just how goblin talk is.
In the end, a club can only really swing or poke.
If you can hit the head with a clang, it probably works great.
I guess I just have to get used to it by doing it.
Just swing and swing, poke and poke, practice until I get used to it. That’s all.
Maybe because I’ve built up stamina and strength, the club has gotten easier to swing.
Even so, Choro is still way better at handling a club than me.
For a while, I spent my days doing nothing but club practice.
Then one cloudy day.
While I was walking around gathering stuff, I found a rat again, “Oh, a rat.”
”A rat. You wanna hunt it?”
”Wait… I’ll go.”
When I found the rat and told him, Choro moved like he always did.
He seemed used to getting hit by the Hobgoblin by now.
But I stopped him, and I went first, copying Choro’s usual moves.
”H-hey… wait.”
”Watch me…!”
”I’m tellin’ you no… hey!”
Choro seemed worried, but I didn’t care.
I closed in on the rat from its blind spot and cut the distance.
I got close without making noise and tightened my grip on the club.
”Skreee!!”
When I dashed in to close the gap all at once, the rat noticed me faster than it did with Choro.
”Damn it!”
I raised the club and tried to slam it with everything I had, but the rat dodged and my aim went wide.
”Skreee!”
”Shit!”
But the rat was slow too, and it stumbled.
I landed a follow-up hit on the rat as it tried to run.
”Skiii…!”
This time, with a dull thud, I managed to do some damage to its body.
”What are you doin’?!”
”Ah, Choro!”
”Skreee!”
Just as I was thinking about finishing it off, Choro came over and finished the wounded rat with his dagger.
In the end, Choro stole the credit.
”I was so close!”
”You can’t. If you fight, I’ll get killed.”
”I’ve practiced this much. I can fight a rat at least now. And rats aren’t dangerous, right?”
”Hm? Is that so? Rats ain’t dangerous?”
”Right? I want to test what I’ve practiced, so a rat should be fine. You can say you hunted it, Choro.”
”If that’s the case, then fine.”
Yeah, Choro’s a good guy.
But a rat can only bite or scratch back, and it’s not that strong.
I have Heal1 too, so I should be able to handle it no matter what.
”Next time I find a rat, I’m doing it. You watch, Choro. Help me if it gets dangerous.”
”Isn’t it bad if it gets dangerous?”
”You’re here, so it’s fine!”
”I see, because I’m here!”
”That’s right. So next time I go. Okay?”
”Got it.”
Good, good. I tamed Choro.
Now next time I can fight without holding back.
”So Choro, what should I do? What was wrong?”
”Move real quiet. Your moves are big too, so make ’em small. Whack, thud.”
”Quiet, small. Okay.”
”Okay?”
So there’s still wasted movement. I guess.
Next time I can do a little better.
Then the next chance came, and I found another rat.
”Found one. I’m going, okay.”
”Got it.”
He remembered properly, it seemed.
He didn’t complain about me going.
I quietly approached the rat.
Maybe it’s bad that I try to move like Choro. Let me be more careful.
I approached slowly, and when I was close enough, I raised the club ahead of time to get ready.
Watch closely, aim, then burst out and whack it small!
”Sk-skreee!”
Looks like it worked.
Just as I aimed, even if I didn’t hit the head, I hit the rat’s body with the club.
The rat made a sound and looked like it was suffering, and its movements got dull.
”Right here!”
I aimed again and dropped the club on the rat’s head with a thud, making sure not to swing too big.
”Sk-iii…”
I still wasn’t sure.
Just to be safe, I gave it a few more hits.
”It’s already dead.”
”Eh, really?”
Choro called out to me, and I checked that the rat was dead.
Looks like I’d gone and overkilled it without meaning to.
Maybe I’m the type who wants to knock on a stone bridge and then smash it.
”Well, whatever! I beat it properly.”
”Yeah.”
”You saw that I can fight too, right Choro?”
”Yeah.”
”Next time the rat is mine too, right?”
”Next time is me. The one after that can be you.”
Recently, Choro has apparently started being called Choro the Rat Catcher.
Choro’s skill is real, but I also feel like maybe I’m just good at finding rats.
Even so, Choro gets recognized, and I get to train, so it’s a win-win for both of us.
From now on, let’s take turns fighting rats.
By the way, for other animals or monsters, if there’s even a little danger, Choro’s alert mode picks up on it and we avoid them.
Maybe Choro is actually really good at managing danger.
That might be why he’s survived this long and gotten strong.
Anyway, my first hunt (or second?) was a success.
”What a waste of game!!”
”Gugyaa!!”
By the way, because I hit it too much, the rat was pretty smashed up, and Choro got hit by the Hobgoblin.
I healed him properly, and he was happy, so I guess this is fine.
Trivia:
- The healer’s habit of hitting the rat far past death hints at a nervous, overcorrecting nature that shows up whenever he finally gets to act on his own.
- Choro’s instinct to check for danger before every fight is quietly the reason the pair has survived, not the healer’s healing.
- The playful mention of the healer’s “first hunt (or second?)” hints that his memories of his goblin life and his past life are blending at the edges.
Translation Notes:
1 ↩ A game-like skill from the setting. It is capitalized because it is a named ability, not the ordinary English verb, so the reader should treat it as a specific power the character has.