The 163,417,413th Soulslike Hero 22

Chapter 22 – The Owner of the Sewer(3)

That’s how I’ve come to be where I am now. 

I was dragged along by Leila and began cleaning up the monsters.

“First, let’s try a simple test, junior. What did I tell you about dealing with goblins earlier?”

“Uh… First, accurately determine the number of opponents. Then kill the one holding the bow first?”

“Yes. You weren’t listening carelessly. To be more precise, if a scout exists, prioritize the scout, and if not, prioritize the archer….”

Leila explained various things while walking until just before meeting the monsters. Most of it was a revival of what I had heard before, and occasionally new information came up. However, there was one decisively different point.

This explanation included a ‘demonstration by a skilled instructor’.

“Look, they’re coming over there. Watch carefully. Like this….”

Leila muttered while glancing beyond the sewer darkness. At the moment I focused my eyes and barely made out the silhouette of the goblin group across from me.

Leila disappeared like a ghost from beside me.

“First, kill the archer.”

Both I and the goblins were startled and looked towards where the voice came from. It was behind the goblins.

There, Leila had suddenly appeared. The raised broom blade was piercing the neck of the goblin archer walking at the very back.

“Gu… Gak.”

With a soft sound, Leila quickly pulled out the blade, and the archer fell limply like a sack. Convulsing and spewing blood, it soon died.

“Gyaaah!”

“W-woman! She killed him!”

“S-scary woman!”

The goblins shouted various things and hastily drew their swords. The shield-bearing goblin at the front of the group tried to rush towards Leila. But it was already too late.

Leila leaped up from her spot. Her body, suspended in the air, was rotating at an incredible speed.

“Next is the shield-bearer.”

At the moment the lightning-like flash of her blade flickered, she had already landed on the ground and was stepping towards the next goblin. A beat later, the shield-bearer goblin’s body was precisely split in half.

“After handling them all, you deal with the sword-bearers.”

With two of them taken down instantly, the sword-bearer goblins stared blankly ahead. Having lost their fighting spirit, their thin legs trembled, and some had already dropped their swords.

Leila swept her cold, murderous gaze across the three of them, just as she did when she was about to dismember me. Then she extended the broom horizontally.

“Flash Step.”

And suddenly, she swung the blade like a windmill. A silver flash seemed to linger like an afterimage along its trajectory. I was mesmerized and couldn’t take my eyes off the path of the blade.

I could barely realize it was a ‘skill’ effect thanks to the muttered skill name.

“Gya… Uu, uak.”

A goblin let out its last cry. All the goblins had bewildered expressions. No wonder. Even I watching was dumbfounded.

The three goblins were simultaneously bisected, blankly staring at their still-standing lower halves.

“The last part isn’t necessarily something you need to imitate. Killing three at once would be overwhelming for a beginner. I just did it because I was annoyed.”

In an instant, five dismembered goblins were strewn across the middle of the sewer. Leila, brushing off her blood-stained maid outfit, muttered these words. Her tone carried no emotion. It felt like just another mundane incident.

She gazed at me with her usual, unblinking green eyes, tilting her head ever so slightly.

“You can do it, right?”

I stared blankly for a while before finally nodding. And I suddenly thought:

How could I have thought about running away from such a monster?

I was foolish beyond measure.

* * *

“Yaaaah!”

I swung my sword with a shout. Slash. The sword penetrated the goblin’s thin leather armor. A flesh-tearing sound rang out.

But at that moment, a sharp pain shot through my left shoulder where an arrow was embedded. Without realizing it, strength faded from my sword-holding hand.

“Gu… Gyaaah…!”

The goblin writhed. I quickly regained strength in my hand. And with all my might, I began to twist and dig my sword around. The goblin screamed like it was having a seizure.

“Gyaaah! Gaaah!”

An unpleasant sensation ran down my spine. I frowned but simultaneously let out a triumphant smile.

This unpleasant sensation was precisely what assured me of my victory.

As expected, the goblin soon died, spewing a lot of blood from its mouth. I had won.

“Whew.”

Only then did my tension release. I exhaled the breath I had been holding. As adrenaline circulated, my narrowed vision widened. I swept my gaze around.

Nearly ten goblin corpses were scattered around me. I reflected on the precarious situation from just moments ago.

“I can’t believe the goblins would form a temporary alliance….”

While hunting one goblin group, another goblin group happened to pass by and joined in. Even though I had already killed the archer, shield-bearer, and one sword-bearer, defeating seven goblins without the advantage of an ambush was extremely difficult.

―When an ambush fails, unconditionally reduce the number of sword-bearers first. Once a melee battle begins, the more close combat warriors there are, the more survival rate drops exponentially.

At that moment, remembering Leila’s advice, I first focused on taking down the swordsmen with all my might, and then dealt with the goblins using a direct approach.

I killed the shield bearers, swordsmen, and finally the archers in that order. Thanks to this, I got an arrow in my shoulder and was scratched lightly by the swordsmen, but I managed to avoid dying.

“Impressive. I was about to step in if needed. It seems like from tomorrow, you can definitely go around alone, junior.”

Clap, clap, clap. A faint applause sounded from behind. I raised my tired eyes and looked that way to see Leila. She was approaching me, continuously clapping as if to say I was praiseworthy.

She stood in front of me and stared at me intently. Then she started to rub my head gently. A satisfactory smile spread across Leila’s lips.

“You really did well. I’ll praise you.”

Am I a dog?

For a moment, I was irritated by Leila’s treatment, but I didn’t have the energy to talk back. I sat down right there and sincerely thanked her.

“Well, it was all thanks to your advice. I just did exactly as I heard.”

“Oh my. Advice is just advice. Being able to apply it immediately in practice is definitely an incredible talent…”

Leila, now familiar with conversing with me, smoothly praised me. To be precise, she was about to praise me but stopped. Her gaze was directed at the arrow stuck in my shoulder.

Seeing Leila’s face hardening, I scratched my cheek and explained.

“When dealing with the swordsmen first, I couldn’t help but get hit by a few arrows. It’s fortunate that only one is stuck.”

Originally, I would have been hit by two or three more, but the rest bounced off my leather armor. Maybe because they were low-quality arrows, but anyway, long live leather armor.

Despite my casual explanation, Leila’s face remained stiff and showed no sign of softening.

“Leila?”

“It might sting a bit.”

“Huh?”

I understood the meaning of Leila’s sudden mumbling right after.

With a swift motion, she pulled out the arrow stuck in my shoulder. A pain like my muscles were being torn away rushed over me in an instant. I opened my mouth wide to scream.

From my opened mouth, instead of a scream, only a suffocating groan escaped.

“Ugh, uh… Leila. What are you doing…”

“Stay still for a moment.”

Leila had placed her lips on the wound on my shoulder and was sucking the blood.

My mind wasn’t working well due to the sudden situation. I could feel the warm energy flowing from her lips and cheek. Suddenly, Leila glanced up at me while almost obsessively licking the wound. I was staring with wide eyes and quickly avoided her gaze.

Only then did Leila, who had spat out the sucked blood, speak.

“Goblin arrows are coated with a weak paralytic poison.”

“… Oh.”

“It’s not fatal, but if you don’t suck it out immediately, your body will be paralyzed for about a day and you won’t be able to move. This is emergency treatment. Don’t misunderstand.”

“Y-yeah.”

That’s what she said. 

I was completely misunderstanding. Next time, please give a signal before doing something like this. Damn it.

I scratched the back of my head, feeling awkward. Leila roughly tore off the front apron and frills of her maid outfit. She wrapped my shoulder with it, creating a makeshift bandage.

‘Hmm.’

I was surprised in another sense by her appearance.

Her movements were incredibly familiar. She was as skillful as a professional in treating someone else.

“This way… should be a temporary measure.”

Leila then wove the frills into a triangular bandage and hung it around my neck to support my arm. When hanging the triangular bandage, her body momentarily pressed against mine, and I held my breath.

In contrast, Leila, who didn’t seem to care about this, quickly stood up. She glanced at the small wounds on my body and then nodded as if she had made a decision.

“Let’s go back for today. Follow me.”

Leila walked ahead without waiting for my response. I was touching my treated wound when I quickly chased after her.

“Uh, are you going back because of me?”

“Yes.”

Resolute. I thought she was a resolute radish.

Anyway, it’s a bit troublesome now. I haven’t even thought about what excuse to give to that guy Halcenberg when we go up, and I’m not mentally prepared.

I deliberately brightened my expression and rotated my arm.

“I’m still fine. It’s just an arrow wound that can be restored with a potion.”

It was a casual statement from me, but Leila looked more surprised than I expected and turned to look at me.

She asked in a bewildered tone, “… Potion? Are you talking about a healing potion?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“Junior. Do you have a potion?”

“Erm…”

I was about to shout “Of course!” but barely stopped myself.

I decided to calm down first. And I furiously started thinking. Come to think of it, Leila had a similar reaction in my previous life.

‘She was quite surprised when she saw me absorb or recover by using ether.’

Perhaps. In this world view, potions might be in an extremely expensive category. No. I’m not sure if they’re expensive, but it’s certain that they’re not something an ordinary person can easily obtain.

‘In that case, this is dangerous.’

The fact that I have a potion could already raise suspicions about my identity. Can someone who has rolled into such a barren place due to lack of money actually possess such a rare item?

It took me about 10 seconds to think through all this. Eventually, I awkwardly laughed and scratched the back of my head.

“M-my point is, I just meant it was a relatively light wound. Right.”

“… Hmm.”

Leila let out a small nasal sound and approached me slightly. Then she poked her finger into my shoulder where the arrow had been embedded. I jumped involuntarily.

“Ouch!”

“For something ‘light’, you seem to be in quite a bit of pain, junior.”

“…….”

“Stop putting on a brave act and go rest today. Got it?”

Leila chuckled and then turned her back and walked away.

I had no particular excuse. I could only follow her silently, helplessly.