“Pfft! Wah ha ha ha ha!”
I buried my face in my hands and tried to block out the sound of that man’s laughter. I never should’ve opened up to them. What was I thinking? It must’ve been a moment of weakness. Would anyone really blame me if I fired off a magic blast at them right now?
“Excellent. A delightful side dish for drinking.”
Sheya was already on her third drink, but her face hadn’t flushed in the slightest. Just how twisted did your personality have to be to knock back drinks so happily while using someone else’s failure as entertainment?
“I admit it,” I said through gritted teeth. “We let our guard down. That’s why they caught us by surprise. That’s why we ended up in a life-and-death situation against goblins.”
“No, that’s not it,” the warrior said, waving a hand dismissively. “That’s not the funny part, and you’re wrong about that anyway. You two would’ve been in danger even without the ambush.”
I frowned, offended by his tone. But what he said after that left me with no choice but to bite my lower lip in frustration.
“Man, I needed that laugh. Seriously, it’s a miracle you two made it back alive. Getting killed by goblins isn’t that unusual, you know. Someone from this guild died fighting goblins just recently. You screwed up the moment you headed straight into a likely ambush. You underestimated everything.”
“If you get cut by a sword, you die,” Sheya added flatly.
The warrior nodded. “Unless you’re decked out in full plate armor. Even then, I wouldn’t walk right into something like that head-on.”
The two adventurers’ message was clear: Never underestimate your enemy. Who or what that enemy was didn’t matter, as long as they were capable of hurting or killing you. That was a lesson I couldn’t argue against.
Even these two, with all their strength and experience, would’ve approached that situation with caution. And yet I had charged right in, thinking goblins were weak monsters barely worth considering. In other words, I had been wrong from the start.
“That’s why Kiri didn’t come with us at first,” I muttered. “He understood that no matter how strong you are, charging into a disadvantageous situation is a mistake. I get that now.”
Under different circumstances, I was sure he could’ve taken down the goblins easily. But because he had been trying to save the two of us, he had taken a hit that might’ve killed him.
“That’s wrong too,” Sheya said calmly, taking a sip from her drink as she refuted my words. “He’s not that strong.”
Okay, I mean, he doesn’t look strong. But the truth is, I saw him take down three goblins with my own eyes.
Sure, there were probably a lot of adventurers who could handle three goblins. Maybe he wasn’t considered strong compared to others in the guild. These two could probably wipe out goblins without breaking a sweat.
“Maybe he’s about even with one goblin?” I offered.
“Nah, nah.” The warrior shook his head. “To be fair, the kid’s got the edge. He’s got reach with that spear, wears armor, and hey, I’ve been training him lately. Still, at best he’s the kind of guy who’d win maybe three outta five times.”
“Huh?” Yune let out a surprised little noise.
I felt the same way.
“B-But Kiri-o did save us,” Yune protested, clearly confused. “He took down three goblins all on his own. Doesn’t that kind of result count for something?”
“Oh, sure. But he only did that...” The warrior paused to take a deep gulp of his drink. Without putting his mug down, he stuck a finger out to point at me and Yune in turn. “Because you two were there.”
Because we were there?
“Don’t get me wrong,” he added. “I’m not saying something cheesy like ‘he awakened his hidden potential to save the damsels in distress.’ It’s not some stage-play nonsense like that.” In the rowdy adventurer’s guild, filled with the usual clamor, the warrior—with that stupid-looking grin of his—spread his arms wide in an exaggerated, theatrical gesture.
“The first one he took down was the goblin going after you, the mage girl, right? Stabbed it from behind. The second one smacked itself in the face with its own weapon when it turned its back on you, cleric girl. It was out cold for a while. He killed the third one even after his spear broke. And then, when the second one got back up, he finished it off with the broken spear.” He recounted our whole story from beginning to end, counting each goblin off with his thick fingers, then tapped his temple and grinned. “Seriously, use your head. The kid only fought one of them head-on.”
The man still looked like an idiot. That grin was absolutely moronic. But what he had just said was true.
Sheya sipped her drink. “The two of you were positioned as the vanguard. You drew the enemies’ attention and acted as a shield to protect your ally. In other words, you served a vital role as a tank in that fight,” she said calmly. Her tone was surprisingly serious. And then, she added, “That’s too generous. Decoy is more accurate.”
You didn’t have to correct yourself.
“Or, better yet, bait.”
Our value’s dropping with every word. Doesn’t bait exist to get killed?
The warrior picked up where he had left off. “The kid’s weak, but he’s smart. He’s fully aware of how weak he is, and he knows taking on three goblins at once will get him killed. I didn’t even have to beat that fact into his skull. He already gets all of that. Actually, from your story just now, it sounds like that clever little brat even understands exactly how and why he managed to win—because you two split the goblins up and distracted them.”