Chapter 113 - 94: We Won
"Good things are only worth anything if you’re alive to get them." Emlyn sighed, furtively inching his way toward the tunnel exit.
He’d even heard a few Apprentice Members muttering, "Once this battle’s over, I should be promoted to a full member soon," and "This horde of goblins must have a nice stash of goodies—Beast Cores, Gold Coins, maybe even some Magic Equipment."
A bitter smile touched Emlyn’s lips. The battle had been so brutal, it made him deeply regret his decision to join the Brotherhood. ’If I die here, I’ll never be able to return to the Great Dome.’
RUSTLE, RUSTLE. The sound of footsteps echoed. Emlyn turned his head in confusion. ’What is that? More Adventurers?’
The next second, his eyes widened in shock. "Brain-Eating Monsters! Over twenty of them!"
He yelled as he scrambled to his feet, hurriedly backing away to draw his bow, but after just two steps, he stumbled over the corpse of a Shape-shifting Monster.
Emlyn quickly braced himself against the wall to steady his footing. He drew his bow and let an Arrow fly, but it only grazed the side of a Brain-Eating Monster before embedding itself in the ground.
"Dammit!" he cursed, dropping his Wooden Bow and drawing the Short Blade from his belt.
Suddenly, Emlyn felt something leap onto his back. He twisted his head to see a Brain-Eating Monster extending a needle-like proboscis from its underside.
’This thing is damn ugly.’ That was his final thought.
「...」
One-Eyed led a few goblins, who were carrying over a dozen Brain-Eating Monsters, and they steadily approached the roaring flames.
This close to the fire, many of the goblins’ legs were trembling with fear. Even the Brain-Eating Monsters they held were growing restless.
"Approach slowly, everyone. Don’t be afraid," One-Eyed told the goblins. "We just need to get to the side and toss the Brain-Eating Monsters across."
"Fire. Will hurt," a goblin said.
"It’s fine! The chief said we’ve won!" One-Eyed yelled at the goblins before him, though his own legs were also trembling slightly.
"We might get burned, and we might get hurt, but we’ll be healed. The chief won’t abandon us." He clutched the "little red ball" that resembled an animal’s brain and continued shouting, "Have you seen Nine-finger? Even after he lost an arm, the chief didn’t cast him out of the tribe! He didn’t eat him, either!"
"The chief said he would never abandon any of his loyal followers!"
One-Eyed finished his speech, but he felt conflicted.
He felt he was starting to understand that feeling—the one the chief had described, ’the feeling you’ll understand once you’ve personally defeated a powerful enemy.’ Yet his legs were still shaking. He forced a smile. ’It’s nothing to be scared of. We just have to get close and throw the Brain-Eating Monsters.’
"AHHH—!" A bloodcurdling scream echoed from the other side of the flames. One-Eyed immediately shouted, "Follow me! Don’t be afraid!"
Gritting his teeth, he charged toward the inferno. The searing air baked his entire body. Once he was close enough, he forcefully hurled the Brain-Eating Monster he was carrying. It soared through a gap at the side of the fire, tumbled a few times upon landing, and immediately scurried deeper into the tunnel.
’I’ll add another wooden plank when I get back,’ he thought, ’and carve the number of victories on it.’ He rushed toward the little goblins, patting out his smoldering hair as he ran.
「...」
Matel sat on the ground, leaning against the wall. He had just finished killing the last of the Brain-Eating Monsters.
But the constant fighting, the impact from the explosion, and the Crossbow Arrow wound in his left shoulder had drained him of nearly all his strength.
SCRABBLE, SCRABBLE. A horde of goblins poured through the gate, appearing in the tunnel.
A slightly smaller goblin walked at their head, stepping over the corpses of several Brain-Eating Monsters to stand before him.
Matel looked up, his eyes locking onto the figure.
"Goblin, you’ve won," he said, his voice laced with bitterness.
"I know," the goblin replied with a nod.
Matel was stunned. He was shocked that a goblin could actually speak Common Speech, but his expression quickly shifted into a bitter laugh. "I knew it. Qige was right. You truly are an intelligent goblin."
"Matel Fuer, leader of the Storm Brotherhood," Matel took a deep breath, using the wall to struggle to his feet. His left arm hung limp and useless. He shakily raised his Longsword with his right hand and pointed it at the goblin. "I will be your final opponent. Come."
The goblin sighed. "Wouldn’t you rather live?"
"When I was a boy, I was kicked into a mud pit. That’s when I learned that if you want to live, you have to claw your way up," Matel said, leaning against the wall and gazing at the fluorescent Mushrooms on the tunnel ceiling. "I knelt on the street, begging for a few Copper Coins. I slept in filthy sewers. I was thrown into a mining pit just for stealing a few loaves of bread."
"I was beaten and cursed there, but at least I could finally eat my fill. Someone told me I could become an Adventurer, that it was a way to survive. That’s when I changed my surname. All I wanted was to have a full stomach and not be bullied anymore."
"I took the cheapest quests, had my face slashed by a goblin, and endured countless sneers. But still, step by step, I fought my way to where I am today." He shook his head. "I thought this was finally my chance to change my fate, but it seems destiny has played a cruel joke on me."
"You’ve resisted this long for the same reason, haven’t you? To survive," Matel said, looking at the goblin with a wide, grim smile.
The goblin nodded. "Yes. I’m just trying to live."
"To have a place to live, food to eat, to no longer starve or freeze, to not be hunted down and have our ears cut off..." The goblin paused for a moment before continuing, "That’s all the Goblin Race wants. You humans want a better life. We just want a life that isn’t worse."
Matel fell silent. He saw the hatred in the eyes of the goblins behind their leader. But he also saw something else, something he knew intimately, something he used to see in his own reflection in the water: resilience.
He had seen this Relic as a "promotion" and a "reward." But to the creatures before him, it was the "home" they relied on to survive.
"It seems we’re all just trying to hold onto something in this damned world," he said, struggling to keep his Longsword raised. "Come on. A battle, once started, cannot be easily stopped. For my fallen comrades, I must fight to the very end."
The goblin nodded. He picked up a Longsword from the ground and executed a graceful flourish, finally holding the blade at the ready before his chest.
"Before you stands the chief of the goblin tribe, master of this Fortress, heir to the Merlot Clan, a soul from the Mysterious World, and the future King of the Forest." SWISH. He swung the Longsword down decisively. "Shire Merlot."
「...」
Shire watched as the man’s eyes widened in utter shock, his grip on the Longsword faltering.
"You’re the traitor we’ve been searching for all this time," the veteran Adventurer said.
"That’s right. It’s me," Shire nodded.
"How could you be..." Matel couldn’t believe it.
"Surprising, isn’t it? Perhaps this is another one of fate’s little jokes on me," Shire said, standing firm with his sword. "Come."
He assumed a swordsman’s stance. The techniques for wielding a Longsword were still fresh in his memory. As a nobleman’s son, he had received a fair amount of combat training in his youth.
Matel suppressed his shocked expression and tried to raise his Longsword, but its trembling tip betrayed his exhaustion.
Shire charged forward. CLANG! He knocked the man’s Longsword from his grasp.
Then, with a soft THUD, his blade plunged into the man’s neck.
"Well done," Matel sputtered, blood foaming at his lips. "This Relic... is yours now. Use it well... and live."
THUD. He collapsed to the ground, dead.
Shire looked down at the Longsword in his hand, then swept his gaze over the corpses on the ground. He turned to stand before his followers.
"We have won!" he roared, raising the Longsword high.
"We have won!"
"WE HAVE WON!"
The goblins raised their weapons, roaring in a cathartic release of emotion.
Shire watched his subordinates with a smile. The battle for the Fortress against the Storm Brotherhood was finally over.
But more challenges awaited him. A vast forest awaited him. And more powerful enemies awaited him.