The Story of a Middle-Aged Knight Who Tried to Live a Relaxed Slow Life in the Countryside, Only for a Duke's Daughter Whose Engagement Was Broken Off to Move in With Him

Is Exterminating Goblins Included in a Slow Life?

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「This way.」

With Watta leading the way, four of us followed behind: myself, Cistilia, a young hunter, and a lumberjack.

Cistilia's beloved horse, Aisha, was staying behind this time. I had asked Granny to look after her.

Where in her small body did she hide so much stamina? Watta made her way lightly up the steep slope without breaking a sweat.

Cistilia was panting, of course, but so were the young hunter and I. Even the lumberjack, who ought to have been accustomed to mountain trekking, was huffing and puffing as he trailed after Watta.

The lumberjack spoke up.

「From here on out, it's the boundary between Ascot Village and dwarven territory. Neither side can carelessly set foot here, so it doesn't get properly maintained.」

「Which means monsters might be spawning around here.」

「Both sides try to avoid creating shaded areas where they can, but since we can't communicate with each other, there are bound to be oversights.」

As we were talking, Watta, who was ahead of us, came to a halt, crouched down low, and sent us a hand signal.

It was the signal we had agreed on beforehand: a monster had appeared.

Keeping my footsteps silent, I crept up to Watta.

I lay low beside her and peered into the clearing ahead.

Right at the bottom of a hollow, three reddish-black imps were loitering about.

They were roughly the same height as Watta. Horns protruded from their foreheads, and fangs peeked out from their mouths.

「Goblins...」

I'd heard they weren't common around these parts, though.

Watta looked at me, silently asking with her eyes.

(Should we bypass them, or eliminate them...?)

As far as monsters went, goblins weren't particularly strong.

They possessed monstrous strength ill-suited to their small frames, but with decent weapons, they were easy enough to handle.

I had strapped a sword to my waist today as well.

My style was self-taught without even a trace of proper swordsmanship, but I could certainly handle a goblin or two without issue.

Even on my own, I could take down up to two. Facing three at once, though, might leave me open to a surprise attack.

I stole a glance behind me.

Excluding Cistilia, the young hunter had naturally brought his bow. The lumberjack was also in a combat stance, holding his trusty axe.

Beside her butchering knife, Watta held a sling for hurling stones.

We could thin their numbers with attacks from the hunter and Watta, then the lumberjack and I could slash them down as they closed in.

Or perhaps there wouldn't even be a role for me, and the hunter would take down all three by himself.

(This could work.)

Thinking about our return trip, it would be better to crush them right here and now.

I gathered everyone with hand signals and conveyed the plan in a whisper.

The young hunter swallowed hard and nodded, while the experienced lumberjack gave an unperturbed nod.

Watta seemed to have no objections either, already gathering stones to throw with her sling.

「Cistilia, step back a little.」

I said to Cistilia as I drew my sword.

「Y-Yes. May fortune favor you in battle.」

「Pfft. Wishing fortune in battle over a few goblins is a bit much.」

「It is cruel of you to laugh!」

As Cistilia huffily turned her face away, everyone suppressed their presence and chuckled quietly.

I had Cistilia lie low behind a slight rise in the ground about ten meters back.

That way, the goblins wouldn't be able to see her.

Since we were downwind, there was no risk of them catching her scent either.

Positioned diagonally to the front left and right of the hollow where the goblins loitered were the hunter and Watta. A short distance further away on either flank, hidden in the bushes, were the lumberjack and myself.

3 Goblins

Hunter as vanguard, Watta by his side

Lumberjack and me following behind.

That was our formation.

The hunter and Watta would fall back while attacking with bow and sling.

Then, as the goblins blindly gave chase, the lumberjack and I lurking in the bushes would spring out and strike. That was the setup.

At my signal, the hunter drew his bow, and Watta readied her sling.

Almost simultaneously, the hunter's arrow and Watta's stone flew through the air.

「Gubu!?」

「Gobu!?」

The hunter's arrow grazed one goblin's cheek and stuck into the ground.

Watta's stone struck another goblin's horn.

(Talk about bad luck, jeez.)

The young hunter hurriedly nocked another arrow and shot at the approaching goblin.

But the goblin had just stepped into the shade of a tree.

The arrow thudded straight into the middle of the trunk.

It wasn't as if the goblin had intentionally used the tree as a shield.

It was pure coincidence.

Or perhaps the young hunter had been so focused on his target that he failed to notice the obstacle.

「Hmph!」

Meanwhile, Watta was loosing stone after stone with her sling.

「Gugyah! Gugyaaah!」

Most of the stones hit the goblins squarely in the head.

However, they lacked the lethal force of arrows. Bleeding and enraged, a goblin brandished its club and closed in on Watta.

Watta remained calm, backing away while continuing to pelt it with stones from her sling.

As the goblin chasing Watta came right in front of the bush where I was hiding—

「Raaaaah!」

Leaping out from the bush, I brought my sword down with all the momentum I could muster.

「Gugyaaah!」

The blade cleaved through the goblin from face to torso.

Shifting my grip on the sword to a reverse hold, I thrust it down into the fallen goblin's brainstem.

「Gobu...」

Unmistakably, the goblin breathed its last.

Meanwhile, the lumberjack sprang from his bush to strike at the goblin pursuing the flustered hunter.

「Ooooraaaah!」

Using the same technique he used to fell trees, the lumberjack swung his axe in a wide horizontal arc.

The axe nearly cleaved the goblin's body completely in two.

Quite a forceful old guy.

He's far more accustomed to battle than a subpar soldier.

That made two.

However—

「Hm!? Where's the last one—ah, over there!」

Seeing that it stood no chance, the last of the three goblins had turned tail and was fleeing.

The hunter shot an arrow but missed.

The goblin scrambled up the edge of the hollow and fled deeper beyond it.

The terrain seemed to slope downward on the other side, and the goblin vanished from sight.

「Won't... let... escape!」

Watta bolted forward with incredible speed.

I hesitated for a fraction of a second to stop her, but quickly gave chase behind her.

(If we don't finish it off here, it'll be troublesome if it meets up with its allies.)

There might be other goblins around, or there might not be.

But optimistic assumptions were dangerous.

Instead of descending into the hollow, Watta skirted around its outer edge to pursue the goblin.

I took the same route.

Watta was remarkably fast on her feet; clad in leather armor as I was, I couldn't catch up to her.

Ahead of me, Watta fired her sling.

「Got it!」

When I caught up, I found the goblin crouching on the ground, likely having taken a direct hit to the back of its head.

「Daaaaah!」

I rushed forward and brought my sword down.

Slicing clean through from its head to its back.

Then I lopped off the fallen goblin's head.

「Haah, haah...」

I wiped my forehead while catching my heavy breath.

It was finally over—or so I thought.

「—Kyaaaah!」

The scream echoed from an unexpected direction.

*****

Yea, all the villagers are not named. Granny this, hunter that, lumberjack those.

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