I measured the distance at a glance, then charged straight at the boar.
Closing in quickly, I wrapped both arms around its neck and clung on.
"Squeeeal! Squeeeal!"
"Not a chance! Haaaaah!"
The strength and grit I'd built up while training with Elder Aaron finally showed their worth.
And with enhancement of the holy arts added on top, my physical ability rose another level.
"Squeeeal!"
The boar thrashed its neck from side to side, but I held on through sheer stubbornness.
Like a leech, I stuck to it and kept getting on its nerves.
"Come on! Try harder!"
"Snort! Snort!"
Surprisingly, the matchup was almost evenly balanced.
Of course, that didn't mean we were equal in a pure contest of strength.
Naturally, I was at a disadvantage in that department.
Instead, I kept disrupting the boar's flow by twisting its balance off-center.
The irregularity characteristic of the Mercenary King's Secret Techniques.
For techniques used by the Mercenary King, a man famed as the strongest when it came to muscle, they were rooted in underhandedness.
That was exactly what made them so fascinating.
For example, while clinging to the boar, I focused entirely on attacking its right foreleg.
That alone was enough to break its balance.
THUD!
"Squeal, squeal, squeeeal."
The boar looked bewildered as it toppled sideways onto the ground.
I didn't miss the opportunity.
I kept clinging to specific parts of its body and catching it off guard.
Unable to move flexibly, the boar could do little more than thrash around.
'Elder Aaron, I think I understand now.'
The Mercenary King's Secret Techniques.
At their core, they were irregular methods for allowing the weak to defeat the strong.
A survival method developed by someone who had never learned formal combat techniques.
"Squeal...... Squeeaaal......"
After struggling for quite a while, the boar finally let the strength drain from its body.
By repeatedly throwing off its balance, I had managed to claim victory.
My whole body was covered in minor scratches, but I was immensely satisfied.
Elder Aaron laughed heartily.
"Kwahahaha! As expected, you're quite something. Though when I was your age, I took down a rhinoceros."
"Haa...... What kind of story is that now......?"
"Scars are a man's medals. Today, we're celebrating your growth with a boar-meat feast!"
"Mm...... Elder, we did have a proper match, so eating it feels a little......"
"Oh? If that's what you want, then so be it."
"Thank you."
I helped the boar stand back up.
It seemed to have accepted the result of our match, because its attitude toward me had become friendly.
"Hold still. I'll heal you."
"Squeak?"
"Huuu......"
I concentrated holy power into both hands and used restorative holy arts.
The boar's injuries slowly healed.
"Squeeeak."
"Ah, it's fine. I get it."
I stopped the boar from licking me and watched until it disappeared back into the forest.
***
"I'm bored."
I had spent the entire morning alternating between the Mercenary King's Secret Techniques and physical conditioning, and I wanted a break from the repetition.
Even after eating a lunch of rice with wild greens, the boredom remained.
'I need something different.'
There had once been a time when simply living as Howell in a healthy body had been enough to make me happy.
If I had remained exactly as I was then, I probably wouldn't have felt this boredom now.
But I suppose I was human after all.
The more accustomed I became to things, the more I began wanting something different.
Even as I wandered through the forest, I yearned for something new.
Was it the blessing of a god answering that wish?
'It's certainly a change...... but can I really call this a good one?'
Two presences.
I was certain neither of them was Elder Aaron, the Mercenary King.
The sound of their footsteps and the atmosphere they gave off were completely different.
'In a mountain this deserted...... bandits?'
I strengthened my physical abilities with enhancement holy arts.
Then, to lower their guard, I wrapped myself in a blanket and pretended to be asleep.
Before long, the two presences reached the campfire.
"Gob?"
"Gobgob."
'That's not human speech. Gobgob...... Don't tell me they're goblins.'
I secretly peeked at them without letting them notice.
The goblins looked exactly like the illustrations I'd seen in bestiaries and the image I'd always had in mind.
They were slightly shorter than me.
"Gobgob."
"Gob."
The goblins tore into the rabbit roasting over the fire.
They thought I was asleep, so they relaxed completely.
Only after filling their stomachs with roasted rabbit did they finally turn their attention toward me.
"Gob."
"Gobgob."
One goblin approached and inspected me, then stabbed downward with a dagger.
Whoosh— THUNK.
As though I'd been waiting for it, I twisted aside and drove a kick into the goblin's jaw.
CRACK!
"Gobugh?!"
"I'm not done yet."
The follow-up blows kept coming.
THUD. THUD. THUD.
"Gobugh......"
The goblin collapsed onto the ground before it could properly respond.
But even after taking it down, I wasn't exactly calm.
"......"
I'd simply reacted instinctively and unleashed the techniques Elder Aaron had taught me.
This was the first time I'd ever beaten down a humanoid creature like this until it collapsed.
Of course, in my previous life I'd spent nearly all my time confined to a bed......
I had never been remotely close to an experience like this.
'It feels unpleasant...... but I can't say it feels wrong either.'
"Gob......"
"......Haaa. Fine. Now it's one-on-one."
I faced the remaining goblin.
Now that I stood directly across from it......
Its face was something else.
It really was ugly.
"I'm not exactly handsome myself, but I'm still doing better than you."
"Gob?"
"I'm saying you're ugly."
"......"
The goblin's expression twisted.
Even without understanding my words, it had grasped my intent.
"You look even worse when you scowl."
"Gobgob......!"
Provocation successful.
The goblin charged at me with its dagger.
'I can see the attack trajectory perfectly.'
The Mercenary King's Secret Techniques Elder Aaron had taught me were not merely a collection of dirty tricks.
Basic hand-to-hand combat.
Practice sparring with the Mercenary King.
I avoided the goblin's dagger and threw a punch at the same time.
CRACK!
"Gobugh."
THUD. CRACK. THUD.
"Gobuu......"
The goblin's body went limp.
I laid the unconscious goblins side by side and took their daggers.
'According to the combat manuals I read in my previous life, I should finish them off...... Mm......'
I still felt a strong resistance toward killing a living being.
'Elder Aaron will handle it somehow.'
I tied the goblins' arms and legs, then waited for Elder Aaron to return.
***
"Well, I'll be damned. No matter how many times I look at this, it's hard to believe."
Aaron scratched his cheek while staring at the two goblin corpses.
He had been the one to end their lives, but Howell had been the one who subdued and tied them up.
The fact that Howell had done all of that alone was astonishing.
Recently, the boy had subdued a not-yet-fully-grown boar.
Now he had even taken down armed goblins.
And there were hardly any marks on Howell's clothes.
It was proof that he had won overwhelmingly.
'His growth is no joke.'
Aaron thought about goblins.
Ordinarily, goblins were smaller than most adult humans.
There were occasionally hobgoblins roughly the size of adults, but they weren't common.
Most goblins were around Howell's size......
So perhaps the fact that they had fought Howell made things match up better?
But a group of armed goblins could gang up on and bring down even a full-grown boar.
They were more than enough of a threat to humans.
That was why goblins frequently attacked merchants in pursuit of their valuables.
Could a ten-year-old boy really fight two of them barehanded?
Aaron eventually sighed, realizing he was thinking far more than usual.
"Howell, are you hurt anywhere?"
"No. I wasn't hit. I dodged their attacks and subdued them."
"Kwahaha! You can answer honestly at times like this."
"I'm serious. You can see I don't have any wounds."
Just as Howell said, there didn't appear to be any injuries.
Of course, there was also the possibility that he had healed himself with restorative holy arts.
"Mm."
Aaron rested his chin on one hand.
He didn't like overthinking things, yet another question rose in his mind.
Even if Howell had trained under him, did this really make sense?
The boy was only ten.
Even if he was a little bigger than others his age.
Aaron didn't remember teaching him any proper combat techniques beyond the Mercenary King's Secret Techniques and basic hand-to-hand combat.
'Impressive.'
What if an ordinary adult man fought a goblin barehanded?
Against one goblin, he would probably win in most cases.
Against two, he would likely scrape out a victory only after a messy brawl and taking hits to vital points.
Against three, an ordinary man would lose.
And what if the goblin was armed while the adult man was barehanded?
Even one-on-one, victory could no longer be guaranteed.
Yet Howell was a ten-year-old boy, far removed from adulthood.
Of course, he was larger than an ordinary ten-year-old and had undergone the Mercenary King's training as well as instruction in holy arts.
'Maybe my training really is that incredible.'
Self-praise.
Still, it wasn't an empty boast.
Aaron's training was brutally difficult, but also remarkably systematic.
More precisely, Aaron hadn't designed it through deliberate calculation.
After training himself throughout his entire life, he had simply discovered optimal efficiency naturally.
And he had poured that distilled experience directly into Howell.
It was completely different from ordinary training.
Even so, considering Howell's age, neither willpower nor talent alone should have made this possible.
But Howell possessed both.
And on top of that, his comprehension was nowhere near that of an ordinary ten-year-old.
That made it all the more astonishing.
"Kwahahaha!"
Aaron burst into hearty laughter.
'I suppose living in a nursing home full of monsters has warped my sense of normal too.'
Aaron himself was an unparalleled powerhouse.
Wasn't he still the monster known as the Mercenary King?
The other elders were also extraordinary talents who had reached the peak of their respective fields.
'Then what about this brat? What caliber could he reach?'
Aaron found himself curious.
"Howell, you brat. You've gotten pretty used to living in the forest by now, haven't you?"
"Mm...... I guess."
"Then try living alone for two days. If you can take down goblins two-on-one, there should be almost nothing in this forest capable of beating you."
"......"
"Why? Got something to say?"
"......Elder Aaron, can I be honest?"
"Go ahead."
"I'm only ten years old. It was already dangerous when you disappeared for half a day at a time......"
Aaron did not get angry at Howell's lack of confidence.
Instead, he accepted the boy's opinion positively.
After all, Howell was as precious to Aaron as a grandson.
"Fine. If you think you need my help, fire this into the sky."
Aaron handed Howell a small signal flare.
"Exactly two days. Starting now, stay alone for exactly two days. Just surviving on your own in the forest will bring you tremendous growth."
This was Sparta taken to an entirely different level.
Still, Aaron sincerely wanted to make Howell strong enough to overcome any danger.
Howell understood that feeling, so he raised no further objections and accepted it.
'Besides, arguing any further with this muscle-bound old man won't get through to him anyway.'
"Oh, and if anyone at the nursing home asks about this later, tell them you've never stayed here alone."
"......"
Howell silently thought, Then maybe don't create a situation where I'd have to lie about it in the first place.
"I'll be back in two days."
"Okay. Take care."
WHOOOOSH—
Aaron's massive figure vanished into the distance in an instant.
Left alone, Howell spent some time thinking about what he should do next.
***
'Two days...... Short if you think of it one way, long if you think of it another.'
I went over it in my head, but no particular answer came to mind.
'Nothing clears a complicated head like moving your body.'
I began training according to the routine Elder Aaron had given me.
I also practiced combinations while swinging one of the goblin daggers.
On the second day alone, a goblin wandered near the area, so I subdued it.
This time too, I only gagged and tied it up.
That evening, more goblins came looking for their missing companion.
After a chaotic brawl, I barely managed to defeat them.
'At this rate, whether I kill them or tie them up amounts to the same thing. If more goblins keep coming because they're wondering why their companions aren't returning, it'll never end.'
And what if their numbers kept increasing?
'I can probably beat two or three goblins, but what about a larger group? Honestly, I wouldn't know who would win.'
Reluctantly, I decided to abandon the campsite.
I packed only the necessities and left.
I walked for quite some time.
But no suitable place to camp came into view.
If darkness fell like this, I'd be in trouble.
To make matters worse, every forest trail was beginning to look the same.
'Ah...... Maybe I should've just stayed where I was......'
For a moment, I considered firing the signal flare and asking for help.
But if I called Elder Aaron over something like this......
I was worried about what would happen afterward.
'Mm...... He'll probably make a huge fuss about how I'm panicking over nothing. It definitely won't end with one or two knuckle raps......'
In the end, even if I couldn't find a proper place to rest, I kept wandering through the forest prepared to stay awake all night.
When an animal runs into trouble and loses its way, it gradually begins following its instincts.
In my case, my feet were drawn toward a faint artificial smell and a dim light that became more visible as the surroundings darkened.
'Whew. Looks like luck is with me. There have to be other people there. I only need their help for one night.'
I followed the growing light.
Eventually, I arrived at a place where the glow and the scent blended together.
Just as I was about to call out to the people there with rising hope—
"......"
I immediately dropped into the bushes.
'Damn.'
So that was why the smell had felt familiar yet different from a human's.
The place I'd reached belonged to the very creatures I'd wanted to avoid most.
Goblins......
It was their base.
'At least they haven't noticed me yet......'
But that was only a matter of time.
Just as I had followed their scent here, there was every possibility the goblins might notice the distinct smell of a human.
'Stay calm.'
For now, the best option was to hide in the bushes and keep quiet.
I'd been lucky enough not to encounter any goblins on the way here, but if I moved carelessly now and made a sound, I'd be in serious trouble.
I peered through the bushes and examined the goblin base.
'......There aren't as many as I expected.'
Six in total.
'If I lure them out and fight them one at a time, maybe I can manage.'
I began thinking about how I could create one-on-one situations and deal with them individually.
Before long, I formed a rough plan and was just about to move.
"......"
I swallowed dryly.
Once again, I was reminded that the world was never easy.
A variable had appeared.
One that forced me to change my plan.