A monster appeared instead of goblin when I went for a subjugation quest

In the evening, before the night bell rang, Marl and I headed to the west

gate, which was the meeting point.

The food was already packed and it was in perfect condition.

Some adventurers had already gathered at the meeting point, also knights in

uniformed armor at a distance.

The knights were at least level 10 or higher, and had at least level 2 on

sword mastery.

The person who seems to be the captain to lead the subjugation team this

time was level 22, with quite a high level of sword mastery at 3.

The adventurers were inferior to the knights.

For example, Ethan was level 4, and Marl was level 2.

Although, I'm also still level 5, so I can't say much about people.

I was expecting these knights to be able to use magic on their side…but it's

the same as our group; only one member seemed to be the mage of the

group.

She was a girl with long blonde hair who seemed to come from a well-off

family.

Because she was a mage, she was wearing a robe instead of armor.

Um, that volume I can see bulging even with the robe, that's what I call a

medium…fighting ability.

[She's beautiful.]

[True. She seems to be a mage. It would be nice if I could ask for some

lessons.]

Because mine was obtained through the use of skill points.

It may be useful to learn how a mage fights from a real mage.

I'm sure I'll at least find some helpful tips.

[Th, that's right!]

Marl smiled while seeming flustered at my reply.

Hmm, there goes her poker face.

Umu, those breasts seemed to have the size and texture that Marl didn't

have.

That said, I loved Marl's small but sensitive breasts.

=====

In the darkness of the night, we set out to march towards the location of the

Goblins' village.

Taking point were veteran adventurers who were level 10 and above, behind

them were the knights who would be the main force of the subjugation, and

behind them were us rookies.

As a mage I was in front of the rookies――that was, walking right behind

the knights.

Light magic was applied to the armor of the adventurers walking at the

front and the tip of my battle staff to illuminate the way.

The knights would be the shield for an ambush from the front, and the other

adventurers would be the shield in case of an ambush from the back.

It was a formation to protect me as a mage.

By the way, the Knights' mage was also nearby.

The march proceeded with almost no problems.

There were several monster attacks, but the adventurers and the knights

dealt with them.

[It's going well]

[That's right…]

I glanced at the corpse that was tossed aside so as not to get in the way of

the march.

It's a goblin.

It's hard to tell because it'd been torn to pieces, but it seemed that the

goblins had been sporadically attacking from earlier.

Isn't it strange?

When I came to the reconnaissance with Marl the other day, even though

the goblins were attacking en masse, now they were sporadically attacking

in units of several like animals.

It would be meaningless to sporadically attack this group with such few

numbers.

[A flock of goblins! Everyone, ready to intercept!]

Such a command flew from the front, which prompted me and Marl to raise

our weapons.

Was this the main unit?

Or just scouts?

[Don't misfire, okay?]

[N, no need to worry!]

"Light Crossbow" sounded like a weak name, but its power was guaranteed.

It could easily penetrate sheet metal armor. It wouldn't be good to be shot in

the back.

The sounds of battle could be heard in front――Huh? Shouldn't the front

line be finished dealing with it by now?

The sound of battle approached at a faster speed than expected.

[It's coming]

Goblins popped out from the darkness.

The knights solidified around Mage-chan, while she also lowered her waist

and readied her cane.

There didn't seem to be a problem over there.

Let's use the goblin as a training ground for magic strike.

First of all, let's try using 20% power.

[Marl, stay back.]

[Y-yes!]

I jumped out of the formation and swung my battle staff with about 20% of

my magical power at the goblins that were heading towards me.

Dogon! Rather than getting knocked back by the staff swing, the goblin

quite literally exploded into many tiny bits while flying horizontally

instead.

That's definitely an instant kill.

Though I felt like that was an overkill if it's for a goblin.

As it was, the mana cost could probably be cheaper.

Maybe down to only 10% or 10.5% from normal.

[Ora ora! Let's go!]

One after another, I hit, smashed, and blew away the goblins with my battle

staff.

When I fought in the past, there were many times when I couldn't kill with

one blow, but now it seems that I can definitely do just that.

Maybe afraid of accidentally shooting at me, Marl was just looking at me

with a pale face.

Umu, good decision.

It's too risky to jump into this melee.

However.

[It's weird]

The goblins' movements were still strange.

Rather than attacking, it seemed that they're trying to break through.

In the event that a fight was unavoidable, they would attack without

hesitation, but otherwise they would pass by.

They didn't attack people who focused on defense like Marl, Mage-chan,

and the knights who protected them.

As a test, I returned to the ranks and tried to focus on defending. They

didn't attack me.

I called out to the group at the tail end of the main unit of the Knights.

[Isn't the goblin's movement strange?]

[Indeed… Looks like they're running away from something.]

It was Mage-chan who answered my words.

The voice was somewhat calm compared to Marl's cute voice.

[T-Taichi-san, this is, this is bad. I have a bad feeling about this.]

[What?]

Looking back at the feeling of pulling the hem, I saw Marl, pale faced and

shaking.

I recalled that Marl had the danger detection skill.

Was this how the danger detection skills work?

At that time, I heard a roaring sound and a scream coming from the front.

Something fell beside us.

[Hiiii!?]

Marl who looked directly at what had fallen screamed briefly.

It was a bloodied human corpse whose limbs and bones were distorted

heavily.

As far as the equipment was concerned, it can be inferred that he was an

adventurer from the front line.

This was definitely an instant death.

[The one who was chasing the goblin must have done this.]

I could feel the cold sweat coming out.

I don't know what happened, but there was no doubt that a real monster had

appeared.

It's something that can't be compared to animals or goblins that I've fought

so far.

[Ta, Taichi-san!]

[Calm down, take a deep breath. Listen Marl, I'm relying on your

knowledge. Tell me, what do you think? Something with superhuman

strength that attacks goblins and could kill humans with a single blow.]

A roaring sound and people's screams could be heard over and over as if a

battle had begun in front of them.

There won't be much time left until it got to us.

[If you're talking about beings with superhuman strength who eat bad food

like goblins…]

It's a troll.

Marle replied with a pale face.

=====

[Don't stand in the front, attack from the sides and back! It's powerful, but

it's slow, watch its movements carefully and dodge! Don't get caught!]

When I arrived at the front line, there was a group of knights surrounding

the trolls and launching a coordinated attack.

It seems that about half of the adventurers in the vanguard were either killed

or injured by the trolls, and they were retreating with the injured.

[Oh no, what is this?]

When I heard the word troll, I thought it would be like a slow-moving giant,

but it turned out to be more than I imagined.

It's probably over 3 meters tall.

Eyes that shone bright red and drool dripped from sharp teeth.

Its whole body was muscular and its arms were long.

Its skin color was whitish gray, and it did not carry a weapon nor wear

anything at all.

The heinous thing was also bouncing between his groins. I wonder why

you're so enthusiastic, that's all.

[Are you an adventurer!? It's dangerous here, leave it to us and retreat!]

The knight who was in command saw me and warned me to step back, but I

held the battle staff up high regardless.

Then, magic was immediately activated.

Kukuku, I heard about your weaknesses from Professor Marle.

[Burn!]

The projectile was magnified dozens of times, and magic power converged.

A series of flaming arrows were fired from the tip of the battle staff,

piercing the troll's body one after another and bursting into flames.

The flaming arrow that landed spread, enveloping the troll's entire body.

According to Marle, trolls had a high regenerative ability, so it's pretty

much almost invulnerable to wounds as it could quickly heal back.

However, if it was burned by fire, the story changes.

A troll that has been burned by fire had its ability to regenerate severely

limited.

The troll, whose whole body was engulfed in flames, was in agony,

swinging his arms around.

[So he's a user of fire magic? Alright, the troll's regenerative ability is

gone! Kill it all at once! ]

As soon as the commanding knight drew his sword, the knights attacked the

rampaging troll all at once.

The trolls, attacked from all directions, swung its arms, which boasted

superhuman strength, and rampaged, but the knights successfully dodged its

attacks or defended with their shields.

[Pierce through!]

I also fired continuous magic bolts from behind to target the troll's upper

body and head, which were hard to reach.

The magic bolts never missed, as it's a 100% lock-on attack.

Without missing the point, it pierced the troll's chest, shoulder, throat, and

face.

In front of the troll, who had lost his balance due to my magic, the knight

captain jumped up using the shield held by the other knights as a stepping

stone.

[Haaa!]

With a flash of determination, he slashed the troll's thick neck.

The troll fell on its back with a thud.

Amazing, as expected of a knight.

Although there were some injuries among the other knights, none were so

injured that they couldn't move.

And the cooperation that used that shield as a stepping stone was amazing.

It's a move that can't be done unless you train on the premise of subjugating

such monsters on a regular basis.

[Injured people, come over here! I can use recovery magic too!]

Luckily, I still have plenty of mana to spare.

[No, we have a lot of people with relatively mild injuries. Give priority to

the adventurers who have fallen back and heal them.]

The knight commander who swung his sword and wiped off the blood said

so and approached me.

Then he tapped me on the shoulder and smiled.

He's a bit old, but he's a handsome man with blond hair and blue eyes.

He's probably a little over 30 years old.

[It was a good support. Thanks to that, we suffered less casualties, thank

you.]

[No, you guys were amazing――]

The moment I said that and was about to leave, I saw it.

[Oi oi…]

Three new trolls appeared from the depths of the forest.

I immediately jumped back and held up my battle staff.

I increased the number of simultaneous shots, increased magical power…

and then.

[Fireball!]

The three fireballs that appeared above me flew into the chests of the three

trolls, exploding and burning upon impact.

The anguished cries of the three trolls echoed.

[We'll kill them one by one! If you're injured, step back! The personnel

behind you should take over!]

The knight captain charged, and other knight members also began to move.

I also started running towards the trolls with the knights. Since it had come

to this, it's not the time to pull my punches anymore.

I put magical power into the battle staff.

The first hit would be in full power. This would determine the magic power

I need to put into the second and subsequent shots.

[Hey! What's a mage doing charging in forward !?]

One of the knights called out to me, but my attention was focused on the

leftmost troll.

I should be able to kill it if I aim at a vital point with a magic strike.

Even if it is big, if it is a humanoid, the vital parts should not change so

much.

[Ohhhhhhh!]

I jumped up with all my strength and slammed the battle staff on the top of

the troll, which was still ablaze in fire.

At the moment of impact, I infused magic power into the battle staff.

Dopan! With an explosive sound, the troll's head――or rather, its chest

popped.

Hahaha! Isn't it overwhelming? My magic strike!

When I thought about it, two more trolls appeared.

Just how many of these guys are there?

I decided the next prey would be a newly appearing troll, and started

running while preparing for another magic strike.

It would be dangerous to deal with two of them at the same time, so I went

around to the side.

The troll that noticed me threw a large swinging fist at me.

[Whoah!]

The battle staff was slammed against the fist that was approaching and

repelled.

The troll's fist exploded into bloody chunks.

[Raaa!]

Rotating the battle staff that slammed into the fist, I switched my target to

the troll's foot and launched another magic strike.

The troll's legs were bent in an unnatural direction with a dull noise.

The troll fell on his back with a rumbling sound.

[Now die!]

Then, I thrusted the battle staff into its head.

The troll convulsed and stopped moving.

And then, towards the approaching one…

[Heee!?]

I couldn't get the battle staff out because it penetrated the troll's head and

got stuck inside.

It can't be helped, so I threw away the battle staff on the spot and

immediately rolled away.

The other troll's gigantic fist landed heavily on the place where I was

standing just a moment ago.

A troll with a battle staff on its head was hit and convulsed. Oi oi battle

staff isn't broken right?

I pulled out the short sword from my waist and filled it with magic power.

[Hmm, this is bad]

I tried to use magical power, but it dispersed quickly.

It seemed better to stab this and let it flow.

I managed to avoid the troll's swinging arm and looked for an opening.

[Oh! Oh, oh! Close one!]

The troll launched a series of angry attacks, perhaps because it was angry

since its companion was killed.

Will I die if I got hit directly? I didn't feel like testing that.

I dodged the fist that was swinging down by backstepping, or rolled around

and avoided it.

I felt that my stamina would eventually run out if nothing was done.

Well, when I was wondering what happened, an arrow flew from behind

and pierced the troll's face.

The troll pressed its face and screamed in agony, as if something just stung

it in the eye.

[Ta, ta, Taichi-san! Please run away!]

[No, you should run away, you fool!]

It was Marl who shot the arrow.

Her face was pale and her legs were shaking.

But, why did you even try to stand in front of me!

The troll glared at Marl, who shot an arrow, with a hateful expression and

roared.

The troll started running toward Marl without looking at me.

[Here goes nothing!]

I jumped and kicked on the flank of the troll that was trying to rush towards

Marl.

It was knocked off to the side with that blow.

I ran after the troll.

My body felt lighter than usual. Almost like the ground under me was

unpleasantly soft.

[Look!]

I ran over the troll that was blown away by my kick and rolled on its back,

and stabbed its forehead with the short sword.

I slammed it over and over again while pouring magic into it, but perhaps

because it couldn't stand it anymore, the short sword shattered into pieces.

[Die, die, die, die, die, die, dieeeeeeee!]

Since there was nothing I could do about it, I put magic into my fist instead

and punched at the troll's face.

I put my entire weight on the troll as I mounted it on its neck.

The trolls tried to resist me several times, but I nullified any of its attempts

with my fists imbued with magic.

How many times did I punch at it?

Before I knew it, the troll's head had turned into minced meat.

[Haa, haa…damn it.]

My whole body was covered in blood from the return blood and pieces of

meat.

Ugh, it smelled fishy. Disgusting.

[Ta-Taichi-saaaaaaan!]

Marl who ran down dragged me down from the top of the troll and touched

me as if the whole body was sticky.

Because it was something that would be done to me who was full of blood,

Marl was also bloody in the same way.

Maybe it was so scary for her, but teary eyed and runny nosed Marl was

still cute.

[I'm covered in blood! This idiot! Barging into such a dangerous place!]

While hugging Marl who was crying, I kept my eyes on the area.

The battle was still going on.

First of all, I retrieved my battle staff and stored the corpse in my inventory.

[Well, is it over?]

I let out a sigh as I didn't get to treat the wounded.

Three adventurers died, and five of the seven injured were in serious

condition.

Six knights were injured, all with minor injuries.

One could see the strength of the Knights just by looking at the breakdown

of the injured.

Just to be sure, the knights dispatched several scouts after dawn and

confirmed that the goblin settlement had been destroyed.

It seems that the group of trolls earlier was the culprit behind the

destruction.

The first goblins that we came across were actually fleeing from the troll

attack.

A total of 6 trolls attacked this time, and I slayed half of them by myself.

At the moment, we were treating the wounded and resting.

I was lucky that the three barrels of clean water I brought were useful for

the treatment.

The seriously wounded had recovered enough to walk thanks to my and the

Mage-chan's recovery magic, and they should be able to march back home

without any problems.

As for me, I'm currently in the middle of putting the troll's corpse into my

inventory.

A total of six troll corpses… I can't help but look forward to how much

money I'll get, including the subjugation reward.

I killed almost half of them by myself, so I should be able to expect a fair

share.

I remember the last troll I killed. According to eyewitness testimony from

Marl and other knights, I seem to have beaten a troll to death with my bare

hands.

It seems that I was subconsciously using magic strike by infusing my magic

power to my own body instead of my weapon.

When I tried it, a tree with the same girth as my waist was toppled with just

one punch.

When I checked my skills, I found that my martial arts skill had reached

level 2. I did it!

[Thank you for your hard work, Taichi-san.]

Marl handed me a towel wet with water.

I wiped my face and arms with the towel to refresh myself.

Not only the blood of the troll, my body was also drenched with human

blood from my treating the injured.

In addition to that, I also wiped the battle staff clean.

Although it was used so harshly, there was no nick or anything.

I guess it really was worth the price.

[Thanks, it helps.]

After wondering what to do with the bloody towel, I simply plunged it into

the inventory.

It was okay to clean it with the purification of life magic, but now I want to

preserve my MP.

I should take it out later and wash it.

While doing so, the knight captain walked over with his subordinates.

Mage-chan was also there, it's good fortune.

[Thank you for your hard work. We somehow managed it.]

Marl made a strange face when I spoke in a polite tone.

The knight captain made a similar face, so I cleared my throat.

[For the time being, even I can use polite words. Regardless of when you're

in combat, when you're not, I feel like I need to.]

[Ha ha ha! No, don't worry about that, it's just weird for an adventurer as

talented as you to speak so politely.]

The knight captain laughed as he said that and held out his hand.

I took his hand and gave him a firm handshake.

[Crossroad Knights, First Division Commander Waltz. Thanks to you, we

were able to wipe out the trolls with minimal damage. Thank you.]

[It's Taichi Mitsuba.]

[You're an adventurer, right? With that kind of ability, is it a B rank? I think

it's not strange to be an A rank.]

[No, it's E rank. It's only been about 10 days since I became an adventurer,

this is my second quest.]

[Eh!?]

The knights made such a voice and were stunned.

Oh, this was interesting.

[Umm, there's no way you're an E-rank when you can use that much magic

and beat the troll with your bare hands? You're kidding, right?]

Mage-chan asked questions as if I was kidding.

However, the reality is cruel…! It's true…!

[I can't believe it… Did you get some combat training before you became

an adventurer?]

[Ah , probably because my teacher taught me magic and how to fight

while we both lived in the countryside, yeah.]

I'm from another world! I got power from a strange voice! It can't be

helped if I have to lie a bit.

Captain Waltz, who heard my story, was thinking about something.

[Your achievements this time are great. The Knights are very grateful, so

we'd like to reward you. Can you give me your contact information?]

[Oh, that's okay, though.]

I told Waltz that I was staying at the Scorching Anvil Pavilion before

leaving.

The seriously injured adventurer had not completely healed yet, so I wanted

to keep up with him.

The magical power used for recovery was gradually recovering.

[Taichi-san… Maybe you've been noticed by the Knights.]

[Ah? What do you mean?]

While walking in the direction of the adventurers, I leaned toward Marl.

I shouldn't have done anything wrong.

[No, I think Taichi-san shouldn't get along with such people too much.]

Unusually, Marl spoke with a serious face.

[Isn't it fine? If it's a Knights Order, I'm sure we'll be paid, and it's not bad

to have power and connections. I don't plan on joining the Knights Order

anyway.]

[Hmm…]

Marl wasn't convinced by my words and had a difficult face.

Even though I came to another world and was freed from various ties, I

absolutely refused to serve the palace anyway.

I'm a Japanese man who could say no.

While we were talking about such things, we arrived at the place where the

adventurers were gathered.

Most of the rookie group in the rear only skirmished with the goblins. They

were relatively fine compared to the severely wounded vanguard group.

That said, it seemed that some came to see the aftermath of the battle with

the trolls.

[Well, as expected of Taichi-san, charging headfirst into that thing. Ah, I'll

rub your shoulders.]

[Stop it!]

I kept examining the wounds of the seriously injured while dismissing

Ethan's teasing.

For the time being, the person was healed to the extent that there was no

danger to his life, but he was still in pain and his expression was distorted.

I kneeled beside the spearman who was the most severely injured and

examined his wounds.

This old man had a severely broken arm, and the broken bone had

protruded through his arm.

I used healing magic many times and managed to heal his arm, but it seems

that the wound still hurts.

[I'm so sorry. You saved my life.]

[Don't worry about it, if you accept the same request, adventurers help each

other, right?]

When I cast heal on again, the pain seemed to subside, and the broken arm

creaked into motion to fix itself several times.

The wound has healed, but it seemed that his grip strength had decreased

considerably.

Recovery magic was not omnipotent.

[Thanks, I may not be able to hold the spear for a while, but this seems to

work. It's a pity that I can't get treatment from the cute knight now though.]

[Haha, that's certainly unfortunate.]

Saying that, I patted the old man on the shoulder and went to check on the

next injured person.

There were dead people, but it wasn't me or Marl.

I'm sorry, but I won this time.

Because we survived.

=====

~ Magical martial arts ~

A technique to fight by making full use of Magic Strike that improves the

power of attacks by putting magical power on weapons or one's body, and

strengthening one's own body by magical power.

This technique can be learned by a swordsman with a magical background

or an experienced warrior.

However, there was a big difference in the learning process between the

former and the latter.

The magic swordsman learns magical martial arts as a "technique" by

carefully manipulating magical power, but experienced warriors

unknowingly do this through "experience".

It was due to the presence or absence of this technique that a skilled warrior

can use the same sword to smash an iron castle gate, while an amateur has

to use a Mithril silver sword.