My First Subjugation
I ran toward the goblins, pulling a sword from my storage. My first target: the hobgoblin. If I take out the boss, the underlings might shrink back—that's the plan, though I’m not sure if that logic works on goblins.
The hobgoblin noticed me and let out a screeching “GIGII!” while swinging the sword in its hand wildly. Maybe inspired by that, the goblins also screeched out in unison.
“Ugh, seriously? That thing’s actually carrying a sword. Maybe it stole it from someone.”
I sidestepped to dodge the hobgoblin’s slash and, while avoiding it, I slashed at its calf. The pain made it thrash around wildly, swinging its sword in every direction, making it hard to approach. At that moment, Pearl, now lion-sized, launched a flying kick to its back, sending it crashing into a nearby tree and knocking it out cold.
“Let’s leave that one for now and clean up the rest.”
The goblins froze in shock at the sight of the hobgoblin getting knocked out, but as we approached, they seemed to snap out of it and charged at us, seemingly out for revenge.
“One!” Gigii!
I slashed the one that came charging.
“‘Two!’” Gigee!
Pearl delivered a fierce punch with her neatly sharpened claws—a “Fenrir Punch,” not a cat punch.
“Here we go, ‘Three and four!’” Gagyaa! Gyakyaa!
As two came at once, I spun around and cut them down with a spinning slash.
“‘And... five!’” Gya? GIGYAA!
Pearl swatted away a club with a Fenrir Punch and sank her teeth into one’s throat.
“‘Here comes the last one!’”
Pearl bit into the last goblin’s arm and flung it high toward me.
“Okay, ‘Six!’” Gugyoo!
As it fell, I slashed upward with my sword, cleaving it from below.
“Alright! The small fry are done. The proof of subjugation is the ears. Now, just the hobgoblin left... wait, where’d it go!?”
When I turned around, the hobgoblin had vanished.
“Wha? It ran away? … No way it could get away like that.”
I climbed onto Pearl and chased after the hobgoblin. Maybe because it had hit its head, it was stumbling as it walked. In the direction it was heading, I could see a cave in the distance.
“That cave must be its den? Better finish it off before it makes it inside. Can we make it in time?”
“Plenty of time~! Here we go!” ZAAAAP!
Instead of chasing, Pearl struck the hobgoblin with a bolt of lightning.
“Whoa, you turned it into a crispy hob.”
“Ahaha, maybe I overdid it?”
“(Well, whatever.)”
Just in case, we headed to the cave entrance, which seemed to be the goblins’ hideout.
“What do you think? Anyone inside?”
“Hmm, I don’t smell goblins... but there are probably humans.”
“Seriously? Then let’s check it ou—”
“Jo! Where are you—Jo! There you are!”
Someone was calling out.
(It’s Gene.)
“Huh? Brother Gene?”
When I turned around, Gene and Martin were running toward me.
“Huh? What’s up?”
“Haa... haa... what’s up, you ask... haa... Mac came to tell us... but looks like you’re fine.”
“Haa... haa... Joan, you’re way too strong... haa... we weren’t even needed…”
“No, actually, you’re just in time. Looks like there are people inside the cave...”
““Seriously!?””
In the order of Pearl, Martin, me, and Gene, we entered the cave.
About ten meters in, the ceiling opened up into a high chamber like a hall. Looking around, we saw five passageways leading deeper. According to Pearl, there were people in the third and fifth passage from the left. We split into two teams and followed them. At the end of the passage was a wooden lattice, like the kind of jail you see in period dramas.
In the third one were two girls with dusky skin. One looked about five years old and was dressed neatly. The other, who stood protectively in front of her, appeared to be older than me.
“Are you okay? I’m Joan, an adventurer. I’m here to rescue you.”
““T-thank goodness~! Waaah…””
The two girls clung to each other and cried, seemingly relieved. While Pearl and I comforted them, we brought them back to the hall. Brother Gene and Martin, who had gone to the fifth passage, also returned after rescuing more people. They brought two boys who were bigger than me.
“Huh? … Wait, Lou? Dennis!?”
“Huh? Joan?”
“Joan? Why are you here?”
“Jo, you know them?”
The two boys who had been captured were my friends from the orphanage—Lou and Dennis.
According to them, the younger girl was the daughter of a merchant from the royal capital who had come to the Lampail territory to purchase goods. The older girl was her maid. Lou and Dennis had been hired as escorts and had entered the forest with them earlier that day, where they were captured by the goblins.
Both Lou and Dennis were Rank E adventurers and had managed to defeat a decent number of goblins, but once the hobgoblin showed up, the tide turned. And when the little girl was taken hostage, they had no choice but to surrender.
We brought all four of them with us to Mr. Mac’s house to report that the subjugation was complete. Mr. Mac and Ms. Samantha were relieved to see I had returned safely and were shocked to hear we had taken down all the goblins.
They also prepared hot milk for the girls and for Lou and Dennis. After drinking it, their stomachs seemed to awaken, and before long, I heard growling from all of them.
With Mr. Mac’s permission, I pulled out some food from storage. The four of them eagerly devoured it. The girls had French toast and pound cake, while Lou and Dennis went for fried chicken and sandwiches. And for some reason, Brother Gene and Mr. Martin were eating too. At our feet, Pearl munched happily on some jet boar jerky.
When I shared some with Mr. Mac and Ms. Samantha, they were hesitant at first… but in the end, Mr. Mac ate the fried chicken with great delight. Seeing that, Ms. Samantha asked me for the recipe.
What do you think about this chapter?
