Having gotten ahead of the cage cart, Haru silently attacked the slave soldier that was walking beside it. Manato was watching from some bushes that were off to the side behind the cart, but when Haru’s stretching dagger swung out, the slave soldier ducked under it. Up until right before that, and actually, even at the exact moment it happened, Manato hadn’t had any idea where Haru was.
Haru was good at vanishing. He wasn’t actually invisible, but he made it feel like he was. How could a person disappear like that? Manato wanted to ask him later.
But even though, to Manato’s perception, it had seemed like Haru had vanished and then suddenly reappeared, the slave soldier had been able to react to his attack. And it hadn’t just gotten out of the way of the stretching dagger. It had immediately counterattacked, throwing something at Haru—the half-eaten goblin arm.
“Urkh!”
Haru swatted the goblin arm aside. The slave soldier tried to use that opening to get in close to Haru, but he managed to jump back and gain a little distance. The thrall gave chase, trying to catch him.
The cage cart stopped. The orcs pulling it had noticed something was amiss and had slowed to a halt.
Yori and Riyo, who had been with Manato just a moment ago, were rushing toward the cage cart from the side. Or rather, from an angle a little ahead of the cart. They were going after the cart pullers.
Haru had given them a quick rundown of slave soldiers and thralls before. Slave soldiers sounded dangerous, but ordinary thralls not so much. Even if they were up against orcish thralls, which looked impressively strong, Yori and Riyo would be able to take them down in no time. Once that was done, the sisters would go and assist Haru.
Manato jumped out of the bushes. He was curious about how the battle would go, sure, but he had a job of his own to do. He had to deal with the cage cart. But he wasn’t heading toward the front of the cart, where Yori and Riyo were going. He was doing the opposite, running full tilt toward the rear.
The goblins inside of the cage had been quiet since the cart had exited the farm, but now they were starting to look around anxiously and grunting as they tried to figure out what was going on. There was a door in the back of the cage, and it wasn’t locked. There was a latch on the outside, and all he had to do to open the cage was unlatch it, which he promptly did.
“C’mon, get out! Run!”
The goblins looked at Manato, but made no attempt to escape. Were they too surprised? Maybe they had no idea what was going on and didn’t know where to go.
“Uhhh... I said get out! Out! If you stay in here, uh, right, they’ll take you away and eat you, okay?! Oh, wait. I see. You don’t speak my language.” Manato then mimed biting his own left arm. “Eat! You understand? One of you just got eaten earlier!”
The goblins were staring at Manato. Some were trembling, while others simply stared at him in a daze. They probably didn’t get what he was trying to tell them.
“Well, uh, I guess I can’t blame you.”
It wasn’t their fault they didn’t speak Manato’s language. But the goblins had been shut in this cage. Now they were able to get out. That should have been plain for them to see. So why? Why weren’t the goblins trying to get out?
Sure, as far as the goblins were concerned, Manato was a stranger. They must have been suspicious of him. But even so, if they let themselves be taken away, they’d get eaten. No matter who Manato was, and no matter what he was saying, running away should have been the only choice they could make. It was absolutely what Manato would have done if he were one of them.
Since trying to convince them with words wouldn’t work, Manato seized the nearest goblin by the arm and tried to drag him out. The goblin just bit him.
“Ow?!”
Once he let go, the goblin stopped biting. The little guy had some pretty sharp teeth, but they hadn’t drawn blood. It had hurt a little, but it was no big deal.
“Fine... But you’ve gotta get out... Gotta run... You’re...not gonna? Huh? Why not? C’mon, let’s go. Okay? Hey, get out... Well, darn, what now? Hmm...”
Manato backed away from the cage temporarily. It hadn’t occurred to him that the goblins might not run when they were given the opportunity.
“Ihah!”
Suddenly, there was a loud voice. Someone had shouted. But who? A goblin. It was a goblin. One of the goblins inside of the cage had pushed through the others and stuck its head out, looking at Manato.
“Nihah!”
No, not at Manato. Behind Manato. He turned around.
“Oh, damn,” he murmured without meaning to as he pulled out his sword.
It was black. Not pitch-black but tinged slightly blue. It was a human covered in deep-blue scales. A slave soldier. Was it one of the guards from the farm? It must’ve been. It was a fairly long distance from the farm to here. They’d made a point of waiting until the cage cart was well away from the farm before attacking, but even with that precaution, they had been detected.
The deep blue slave soldier was racing toward Manato. He got the feeling that if he backed away, it was going to take him out, so he advanced instead. After one step, the slave soldier was almost in range of his sword. That was awfully close. It had already closed in on him that much?
Manato swung his sword hard, and the swing went all the way to the end of its arc. It didn’t connect, or rather, he didn’t think it did. He was right. He’d lost sight of the slave soldier. A moment later, Manato was rolling across the ground.
“Urgh!”
Had he been kicked? Something had impacted him on his right flank and knocked him over. Then, once he was on his back, his stomach had been stomped on.