Chapter 3 : I knew that something like this would happen someday, but…

Deep in the forest, inside a certain cave.

“Ugh, it’s not here…”

The female mage, wearing a tattered robe and glasses with horn-rims, murmured with a small voice.

She had ventured all the way to the end of the dark, damp dungeon, but the chest inside was completely empty.

“If the map’s correct, the ‘Elixir of Wisdom’ should be in here…”

“It looks like some other adventurers got here first.”

The scruffy-haired male knight said indifferently.

“I had a feeling something was off when no monsters showed up. This dungeon’s already been cleared.”

“That can’t be… I only have this one map…”

“Enough whining. Let’s head back, Tinya.”

There was someone secretly watching their movements from behind a wall.

A low-level monster, a goblin.

He fiddled with the empty bottle in his hand, intrigued.

“Heh, so this is the ‘Elixir of Wisdom’…”

No wonder his head felt clearer after drinking it.

An ordinary goblin wouldn’t have come up with such brilliant ideas. Ideas were just flooding into his mind.

He silently moved to another room in the dungeon, where traps had been set, unseen by the humans.

Thud.

The heavy sound of something falling made the knight flinch and draw his sword.

“…Tinya, did you hear that?”

“It… It sounds like it’s coming from over there…”

“Let’s go check it out. I’ll go first.”

“Okay. Be careful, Kyle…!”

The female mage, Tinya, opened her book behind Kyle and began chanting a spell.

Light gathered in the air and formed a floating sphere.

The goblin quickly hid, avoiding the light.

His eyes, the first to experience magic, sparkled brighter than the light itself.

“Is that magic… heh.”

They cautiously passed beyond the cave’s outer edge.

Tinya, who found the chest first, had a bright smile that even lit up the cave.

“A chest, a chest! It’s the chest with the Elixir of Wisdom!”

“Wait! It’s dangerous, Tinya!”

Unable to suppress her impulse, she ran toward it, and Kyle quickly grabbed the sleeve of her robe.

In that instant, with an unpleasant screech of metal, rusted iron bars shot up from the floor.

Clink. Click!

“Ugh… Yikes!?”

They narrowly avoided being caught in the trap.

“I smelled iron from the floor… There was a trap guarding the treasure.”

Kyle muttered with a sigh, extending his hand.

“Are you okay? Please be more careful.”

“Mm, thanks for saving me, Kyle…”

Tinya, her face reddened, adjusted her glasses.

Kyle, embarrassed for no reason, cleared his throat and looked around again.

“Hmm… Looks like there aren’t any other traps. Let’s open the chest.”

Hehe. A distant goblin chuckled.

“Such sharp senses.”

The female one is magic. The male one is physical.

So this is what humans are like.

Are they really the dominant race of the continent, rivaling the demon race?

“I want it. Heh.”

That great power of the supernatural.

“And I want to eat it.”

The strong, well-formed flesh.

“I want it all. Hehe.”

The goblin’s greed dripped from his tongue.

Tinya was the first to touch the chest.

“Huh? What? It’s not opening…”

“Of course, it’s locked. Step aside.”

Kyle placed his sword on the section where the lock was tied.

Normally, the chest had no lock, but the goblin had bound it with vines to prevent it from “going wild.”

“Alright. It’s open.”

Huh?

A rotten smell, a black tongue, irregular teeth.

By the time Kyle had questions about the chest’s internal structure, it was already too late.

Crunch!

Driven mad by prolonged hunger, the mimic tore through Kyle’s upper body, crushing and swallowing him whole, bones and all.

“Eeek! K-Kyle!?”

Tinya, her face ashen, grabbed Kyle’s waist and tried to pull him, but his lower half slipped away easily, leaving her holding nothing but his empty torso.

The problem was with the lower half alone.

“Ugh… Aaah!!?”

The chest lid shifted a few times, seemingly chewing on its prey, before it slammed shut with a thud.

Blood and entrails poured out from the cracks of the chest.

At that moment, the goblin, who had been hiding, leapt out.

“A… a goblin!?”

Tinya, startled, lost strength in her legs and collapsed.

She hastily tried to open the book at her waist, but the fear blocking her throat made it impossible to utter any spell.

Meanwhile, the goblin swung a wooden club and knocked the floating book from her hands.

“AAAH!”

“Intruders must die. I’ll make sure you die, human.”

Crack.

Her glasses shattered and scattered across the floor.

With her means of resistance gone, Tinya was now defenseless against the violence.

Her body and mind locked in panic, she couldn’t even consider trying to fight back against the goblin, who was smaller than her.

“Aaaah… I-I’m sorry! Please, spare me…! H-hic!”

The goblin showed no mercy.

The sight of a human begging, an inferior species like itself, ignited a sadistic thrill within it.

The sound of terrible cracks echoed again and again.

Tinya, who had twitched a few times on the floor, suddenly stopped moving.

Finally, the clubbing ceased, and the cave was filled only with the goblin’s heavy breathing.

Hack… Haack…

The goblin immediately began collecting its spoils.

Strange tools, weapons, and books it had never seen before were spread across the cave floor like a market stall.

‘First, the sword the human male used.’

The goblin stood the sword upright.

Its twig-like arms and legs couldn’t handle the weight of the sword and wobbled under it.

‘With my weak strength, I can’t wield it properly. Heh.’

It sheathed the sword and moved on to examine the next item.

‘Next, the book the female had.’

With eager eyes, the goblin opened the book.

At that moment, the faint emerald glow of the Elixir of Wisdom spread across its irises.

The first human writing it had ever seen, the contents of magic, were easily understood by the goblin.

“Magic… so this is magic…”

The goblin murmured, intoxicated by the revelation.

It carefully read the first page, where the basics of elemental magic were written.

“Fire.”

The beginning of elemental magic was written there.

As soon as it absorbed this new knowledge, a ringing sound echoed in the goblin’s mind.

“Heh?!”

The conditions to use the skill were clearly drawn through its brain’s circuits.

Without hesitation, the goblin set the coordinates with the tip of its finger and focused its magic.

“Fireblast, heh.”

With the incantation, the mimic was engulfed in flames.

KEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

A scream that could tear through eardrums echoed through the cave.

The goblin, refusing to cover its ears, watched intently as it observed its vanquished foe.

It didn’t take long for the mimic to turn to ash.

“Such impressive power…!”

According to the knowledge gained, a C-rank spell is considered to be one of the lowest-tier spells in magic.

And yet, this goblin had managed to unleash enough firepower to reduce the mimic to dust in an instant.

“Perhaps it’s thanks to the Elixir of Wisdom, but it seems I have some talent for magic now, heh.”

The goblin’s eyes sparkled with ambition as they shifted toward the cave entrance.

Perhaps, it was his destiny to become a great ruler, surpassing even the Demon King.

“What would it feel like to crush the Demon King, to make him my slave? What would it be like, heh heh.”

The goblin’s eerie laughter reverberated through the cave, echoing off the walls.

“Master, where did you find these goblins?”

I whispered, making sure the goblins couldn’t hear.

It had already been a month, but the three goblins still hadn’t even mastered basic swordplay.

Even the lowest-tier monsters should have been more competent than this. It would have been better to train hunting dogs.

“I can’t use them as fighters.”

“Well… you see, they’re poor things… I hope you can bear with them, even if you’re frustrated, General…”

“The Demon King’s army is not a charity. How about saving 30 gold right now?”

I was suggesting we cut our losses.

Rupia flinched, her small shoulders trembling, as she waved her hands in protest.

“Th-they were even kicked out of their goblin group for being weak! If we cast them out here…!”

As she spoke, Rupia’s voice wavered, almost as if she might burst into tears.

“And… I can’t help but feel that my situation is similar, being rejected and ignored by other Demon Kings…”

“…I misspoke. I’m sorry.”

It was a short-sighted remark.

If there are weak subordinates, it’s the duty of a commander to make them useful.

I immediately apologized not only to Rupia but also to the goblins, who were still fumbling with their swords.

The goblins, who didn’t understand what was going on, stood there confused, shaking in fear as if they had seen a demon.

‘The Demon King is too soft.’

The lord I served in my human days had been a tyrant, walking the fine line between cruelty and righteousness.

Of course, I had contributed greatly as his aide.

But even Rupia, despite being young, seemed to lack something when it came to royal qualities.

…I can’t help but think it’s odd that, as a demon, her magical stats are so low…

Just as I was sorting out these complicated thoughts, an alarm went off, signaling a dungeon alert.

Wooong. Wooong.

“Ugh! In-intruder…!”

Rupia, stumbling around like a colt with a lit tail, darted in front of me.

“Don’t worry, I’m here.”

“G-General…!”

It was probably just a wolf again.

I strapped my magic sword to my waist and headed toward the dungeon entrance.

But this time, it wasn’t a wolf.

“Hmm?”

A group of goblins, numbering in the dozens—or possibly hundreds—had surrounded the dungeon, encircling it.

“…What’s going on here?”

Had they staged a protest from some goblin rights group after I beat them during training?

The more ridiculous thing, however, was the leader in the center of the group—a goblin wearing a golden crown, arrogantly looking down at me from a litter.

This goblin, unlike the others, carried a magical tome at his side.

And his gaze was far from ordinary.

“Heh, not a typical skeleton… A Death Knight, perhaps?”

He stared at me, the overwhelming superior monster, without a hint of fear.

The hundreds of goblin underlings around him shared the same cold demeanor.

The pressure from the group grew, tightening like a noose.

I instinctively reached for the hilt of my sword.

Just then,

“W-what is this…? Ugh, a goblin army…?!”

Rupia appeared from behind, gasping and staring in disbelief.

Her eyes suddenly sparkled as she exclaimed, innocently,

“C-could it be, they’re here to join our Demon King’s army?!”

“Oh?”

The crowned goblin carefully examined Rupia, then flashed a cruel smile.

I hurriedly tried to pull Rupia back to safety when—

“HEH! Kill them all, except for the horned one!”

KEHAA!!

The goblin army let out a collective battle cry, charging toward us like a wild horde of monkeys.

The sheer force of their charge shook the entire cave.

I inwardly muttered one thing.

‘We’re screwed.’