Chapter 38
As I sat there, dumbfounded, Arines quietly approached me and said,
“Try to find its weak points and attack them. Poke around here and there. The Tower Master said your power should work against it.”
“Ha… how did I end up becoming a so-called hero…?”
I clutched my throbbing head and let out a deep sigh.
“To think I’d have to come all the way to a foreign land just to exorcise goblins. I’m a hero, not some kind of shaman!”
“What can you do? If your power works on them, it’s your job to handle it.”
Arines sighed in relief, pressing a hand to her chest as if a weight had been lifted.
I was glaring at her when a strange thought suddenly struck me, and I asked on impulse,
“By the way… why ‘goblins,’ of all things?”
Arines looked slightly pale.
“What do you mean?”
“Think about it. The word goblin—it’s not exactly common. Especially in a romance-fantasy world like this one. Wouldn’t something like ‘sea monster’ or ‘beast’ make more sense?”
I rubbed my chin, muttering to myself.
“But the city guards definitely called them that. They said ‘strange goblins’ appeared.”
“Y-yeah, they did…”
“Even His Majesty referred to them as ‘those goblins’… hmm.”
I got up and began pacing around the room. As I glanced at Arines, I could see the color draining from her face.
“Hmmm… no matter how I think about it, the culprit behind this mess is…”
“Kyaaah! I’m sorry, Ji-Ahna!”
“So it was you!”
Almost at the same moment Arines screamed and apologized, I lunged forward, grabbed her by both shoulders, and shook her back and forth.
“What the hell did you do to the setting book, Choi Da-hye?!”
“I didn’t mean to! I just wrote that a small, cute creature appeared, that’s all!”
“Small and cute? Those things are over two meters tall and their eyes glow red! That’s your idea of cute?”
“Uwaaaah—stop, I’m getting dizzy!”
I shook Arines by the shoulders until my anger subsided.
After who knows how long, I finally let go and slumped into a chair.
“Alright. Let’s hear your explanation.”
Arines, her hair a mess, glanced nervously at me before perching on the edge of another chair.
“Well… before we got transported into this world, I was the one holding onto the setting book.”
“I knew I shouldn’t have left it with you.”
“Anyway, one night I couldn’t sleep, so I started flipping through it. And then I thought—wouldn’t it be nice if there were small, adorable creatures in the world?”
“I already have my little dragon for that. So?”
“So I designed something like a ‘MeXmon’ from Pocket Monsters, drew it in, and named it ‘Goblin.’ But I swear, Ji-Ahna, I never meant for it to turn into those hideous monsters!”
“You should’ve told me!”
“I didn’t get the chance! I was going to tell you the next day, but then we got isekai’d into this world out of nowhere!”
She looked at me with tearful eyes.
“You know how chaotic it was when we first got here. I completely forgot about the goblin thing!”
“Haah…”
What a troublesome girl.
“Why does it feel like I’ve been cleaning up your messes ever since we came here, Arines?”
“B-because… that’s kind of true?”
“Be honest. Aside from the goblins, is there anything else in the setting book that I don’t know about?”
“Probably… not?”
“Probably?”
“I’m not too confident in my memory, okay? But if I remember anything later, I’ll tell you right away!”
I sighed as she leaned back warily, trying to gauge my mood. Then something came to mind.
“By the way, you didn’t happen to write anything in the setting book about the ‘Contract Quill,’ did you?”
“The Contract Quill?” Arines blinked in surprise. “Why do you ask? No, nothing at all.”
“I heard from Duke Ruphéllen recently that the Contract Quill draws on the user’s life force.”
“What? Seriously? That’s the first I’ve heard of it!”
Arines shook her head vigorously, looking completely innocent.
“I definitely didn’t add any setting like that! Wait—didn’t you use it to make a contract with the Duke?”
“I did. In fact, we even renewed it a few days ago.”
“Then that means your life force was used for the contract too. That sounds dangerous!”
“I know, right? But no one seems to care. Hmph… I guess I’ll have to ask Director Jang about it directly.”
As long as the director of Pen-Sing Factory was in the Empire of Astria, there was nothing else I could do for now.
I made Arines promise firmly.
“If you remember anything else you added to the setting book—no matter how small—tell me immediately, got it?”
“Yes, ma’am! Don’t worry, Hero!”
She even raised her hand in a salute, her face all serious.
“And one more thing.”
I looked her straight in the eyes and added,
“When you finish developing the fan, call me. There’s something I want to do.”
That night.
“Is everyone ready?”
I asked the men in front of me with a grave expression.
“Don’t worry, Ji-Ahna. I’ve sharpened my sword until it glows blue—I’m ready to strike at any time.”
“If things get dangerous, I’ll grab you and run faster than anyone.”
“Creator! Don’t trust that man—if danger comes, ride on my back instead!”
I had gathered Duke Ruphéllen the Sword Master, mercenary captain Victor, and my companion dragon Gari.
A small but determined team.
We were the Four-Member Goblin Squad.
“Alright, keep that spirit up! Let’s move out!”
“Let’s go!”
With the full moon shining behind us, we set out proudly toward the coast.
Because of the goblins, the townsfolk had all retreated into their homes long before sunset.
The beach was eerily silent, not even an ant in sight—only the sound of waves breaking on the shore.
“Goblin spotted ahead!”
Gari, circling in the air, quickly gave the signal, and both men rushed forward to block my way.
“Uh, excuse me, gentlemen? If you stand right in front of me like that, I can’t attack, you know?”
Their rivalry was getting worse by the day, and honestly, it was giving me a headache before the fight even began.
I grabbed both of them by the collars and yanked them back behind me.
“You sure you want to stand in front?” asked Duke Ruphéllen, his tone worried.
Victor looked at me the same way—eyes full of concern.
‘Good grief, what am I going to do with these two?’
I sighed quietly and said, as if to calm them down,
“There’s an old book from my world called The Thirty-Six Stratagems. It describes thirty-six different strategies for fighting one’s enemies.”
“The Thirty-what? I’ve been a mercenary for years and never heard of that.”
“I’m the Empire’s only Sword Master, and even I’ve never heard of it.”
“Well, if you had, that would raise a whole different set of problems… Anyway, do you know what the very last strategy in that book is?”
“What is it?”
“Run for your life. If all else fails—retreat.”
I smiled brightly at them.
“If our attacks don’t work, we can always run! That’s a valid strategy too!”
The tense atmosphere before battle melted away in an instant.
“Alright, then—shall we take care of that goblin?”
Before we left, Da-hye had confessed something else to me.
‘Actually, goblins do have one weak spot—their heart.’
‘Their heart?’
‘If you hit it precisely, they’ll disappear. I wrote that into the setting book myself.’
‘I see…’
The Tower Master had said “magic doesn’t work on them,” which worried me a bit—but my power wasn’t magic, so it should be fine.
I carefully summoned a streak of light at my fingertip and shot it straight at the goblin’s chest.
The creature, which had been glaring at us with glowing eyes, suddenly staggered.
“Yes!”
“Nice one, Ji-Ahna!”
I focused and summoned a pillar of light as thick as my arm.
“Let’s see if you can withstand this!”
As the goblin strode toward me, I aimed the beam squarely at its chest.
The pillar of light tore through the dark night air—and hit the goblin dead-on.
Then—
“Kyaaaaargh!”
With a deafening scream, the goblin exploded and vanished completely.
The spot where it had stood was a total mess, as if a water bomb had gone off.
“That’s what I’m talking about!”
“As expected of our Hero!”
We clapped our hands together in triumph.
Now that we knew their weak point, there was nothing left to fear.
We swept along the coast, blasting any goblin we saw with beams of light one after another.
After several fights, though, I found myself muttering,
“…This is kind of unfair.”
It was supposed to be a four-member Goblin Squad—
but somehow, I was the only one actually attacking.
