Ch.36Goblin Village (1)

On a gloomy day, approaching noon.

Despite the overcast sky that threatened rain at any moment, the northeastern forest of the ‘settlement’ presented a beautiful scene with birds chirping and flowers blooming….

A man wrapped in metal from head to toe was striding through this beautiful, lush forest teeming with vitality and life.

Breastplate and helmet crafted from artistically curved metal plates, abdominal armor, shoulder guards, gauntlets, elbow protectors, greaves, boots, and a skirt-like armor for thigh protection. All this topped with a surcoat lined with scale-shaped iron plates.

Wearing these layers of equipment—the essence of Frankish full plate armor—over a chain shirt and special material gambeson, he looked like a man of steel and carried various weapons.

Multiple weapons were attached to the belt securing his skirt-like armor that protected his thighs and groin.

Not quite his favorite sword, but a longsword serving as a replacement for the one being repaired after getting damaged in a previous fight with an ogre. An arming sword suitable for wielding with one hand.

A warrior equipped with throwing knives—some meticulously carved from ogre bones, others mass-produced metal ones—along with a small kite shield the size of a buckler.

Of course, this man’s identity was none other than myself, ‘Sir Camille de Alzar,’ searching for the ‘Cultist Goblin Tribe Village’ existing in this forest.

The ‘Cultist Goblin Tribe (provisional name)’ whose existence was confirmed through a heavily armed cultist goblin discovered in the southwestern plains of the frontier.

The method I chose to find this goblin group after temporarily leaving the settlement to subjugate them was… nothing more than my pure intuition derived from the ‘Factor.’

A power that not only extends existing senses but also functions as a kind of pseudo-future prediction ability, commonly called a ‘sixth sense.’

Those who don’t understand might easily dismiss it as foolish wandering based on mere hunches, but considering that I was actually sensing something and following it in a specific direction, it was by no means the act of a fool.

Of course, the reality is that I cannot be certain whether these intuitive responses can be applied actively rather than just passively….

But while absolute certainty is impossible, this strange pull I began to feel the moment I decided to locate their position—

After following this intuitive pull for several dozen minutes, I finally proved to myself that this method was absolutely correct.

“…Oh.”

-THUD!!

About 30 minutes after entering the northwestern forest.

While forging ahead through the forest, I sensed something off and stopped in my tracks. When I tossed a stone onto the ground, the surface immediately collapsed, revealing a hidden pit trap.

This booby trap, cleverly concealed with fallen leaves, remaining autumn foliage, and soil, appeared to be of uncommon quality and lethality at first glance.

At the bottom of the pit, which was slightly over 2 meters deep, wooden spears were planted with their tips coated in a glistening purple liquid that anyone would recognize as poison.

-CRACK!

Of course, I completely destroyed the trap and filled in the pit to prevent its reuse, but the key point was the strangely familiar craftsmanship used to make this trap.

To be specific, it resembled the structure of traps made with the ‘Goblin Craftsmanship’ skill obtained from subjugating goblins.

It was clearly the work of goblins—and not just any goblins, but a group powerful enough to dig pits over 2 meters deep to create traps. After confirming this tangible evidence that had finally emerged…

‘…That direction.’

As my intuition finally evolved beyond the vague directional guidance to give me clear intent, I drew an arming sword in one hand and a knife in the other, then calmly moved forward.

And at the end of that path, what I encountered was…

‘…What am I looking at?’

The sight of the cultist goblin tribe’s headquarters, so well-constructed that I momentarily doubted what I was seeing.

※ ※ ※

The goblin cultist village that came into my view appeared, on the surface, to be a settlement more organized and better constructed than most human frontier villages.

A palisade made of wooden planks easily exceeding 3 meters in height surrounded the goblin village, with watchtowers integrated into the structure at various points, presumably for raining down arrows.

Additionally, a moat about 1 meter in width and depth encircled the outside of the palisade, with sharp wooden stakes densely packed at the bottom that would turn anyone who fell in into a pincushion.

But beyond these solid defensive installations, something else drew my attention—the grim decorations of the settlement, partially visible despite being obscured by the palisade.

First, pointed poles (at least 4-5 meters tall) were installed throughout the palisade like pillars, adorned with what appeared to be decaying heads or corpses, being devoured by maggots like decorative ornaments.

While a large proportion of these various corpses were human, an even greater percentage—in fact, the highest proportion—belonged to goblins, their own kind.

In other words, these village cultists were using their fellow goblins as sacrificial offerings.

Additionally, they had drawn symbols of ‘Beelzebub’ on the palisade walls using someone’s bile, and hung rotting entrails filled with fly eggs and maggots from the palisade and watchtowers.

Faced with this horrific scene that seemed to have crawled straight out of the depths of hell, I felt the urge to look away, but…

‘…Huff, let’s go.’

‘Knight’ Camille de Alzar, following his vow to never forgive cultists, drew his sword and advanced.

“—Shoot-shoora!”

And naturally, what greeted such a knight was a firing order given in someone’s ‘evil language.’

-WHOOSH-WHOOSH-WHOOSH!!!

While I momentarily lost my composure upon realizing I understood that ‘evil language,’ arrows came flying at me, exploiting that brief opening.

‘Heavily armed goblins’ who had somehow appeared in the watchtowers pulled their crude bowstrings to launch wooden splinters tipped with metal fragments.

…Of course, if such pathetic ranged attacks could defeat me, could I even be called a proper knight?

Such ordinary archery, without any special properties, wouldn’t even scratch the master-crafted plate armor reinforced with aura.

‘…Hmm.’

But even as I easily blocked their suppressive fire, an ominous sensation continued to dominate me. Just as I was contemplating whether to charge straight in and swing my sword—

“Maggot Prince…sir?”

“…What?”

Right after one of the cultist goblins, dressed in particularly flowing robes like a religious figure, addressed me with that ominous title.

Feeling genuinely disgusted, I was about to throw my dagger to kill it—at that very moment.

“Ooooooh…!!! He has come, he has come!!! The one has arrived!!!”

“The one who will save us lowly creatures from worldly sins! The proxy of the great Fly King’s authority!! The Maggot Grand Duke!”

“”””””””—WAAAAAAAAAH!!!””””””””

“…Ah.”

As such mind-bending words suddenly erupted from inside that grim village, I stared at those frenzied goblins in astonishment, but…

‘…Kill them. Those things, all, all, all of them—kill them and—’

Simultaneously, I could feel something sharp and pointed that could only be called disgust and revulsion boiling up from within me, threatening to overflow.

But even so, becoming engulfed in these emotions and losing my composure must never happen.

Calm, I need to think calmly. I must remain composed somehow. Obsessed with the thought that I must not lose myself and rampage like a monster as I had before. In that situation…

“Become offerings for the Maggot Prince! Offer up our bodies!”

“””””””””Become food! Become food!”””””””””

Starting with the chant from what appeared to be their leader, these ‘heavily armed goblins’ shouted frenzied slogans and cheered. Finally, unable to bear it any longer, I…

“…Die!!”

-SLASH!

In one leap, I jumped onto one of the watchtowers. Then, swinging my sword with genuine killing intent, I began slaughtering these disgusting creatures.