The morning after the cat fiasco, Haruto was still nursing scratches on his arm when a guild runner burst into the inn.
"Hero Aurelian! The Guildmaster requests your presence immediately!"
Haruto groaned, rubbing his temples.
Please don't tell me they found another cat…
Inside the Adventurers' Guild, the atmosphere was tense. Maps spread across the table showed the nearby forest, marked with black ink stains that looked disturbingly like claw marks.
The Guildmaster's face was grim.
"Scouts report goblins raiding farms near the western woods. Farmers are dead, livestock taken. This is no ordinary band of monsters—their nest is growing too fast. We fear it's connected to the Corruption."
He looked directly at Haruto.
"We beg of you, Hero. Lead a party and eliminate this threat."
Haruto nearly choked.
"M-me? Lead a… what? No, no, surely you've got, like… goblin exterminators, right? Professionals? GoblinBusters™? Anyone?"
But the Guildmaster only bowed deeper.
"None can match the Hero's divine strength."
The entire guild nodded reverently. Even hardened adventurers twice Haruto's size.
I'm so screwed.
---
Princess Lyria insisted on accompanying him, her silver armor gleaming.
"It is my duty to guide you, Hero. Fear not—we face this together."
The guild also assigned a team:
Garrick, a veteran swordsman with a booming laugh.
Selene, a calm healer priestess who seemed to radiate faith in Haruto.
Finn, a cocky young archer who looked at Haruto like he'd just seen his favorite idol.
Finn whispered in awe, "To fight beside the Hero… it's a dream come true."
Haruto whispered back, panicked:
"Dream's about to be a nightmare, kid."
---
The forest was thick and damp, shadows stretching between gnarled oaks. Birds fell silent as they entered deeper, replaced by faint, guttural laughter.
Goblins.
Haruto's palms sweated around his borrowed sword. Every twig snap felt like a gunshot.
This is it. The part in every anime where the noob dies in episode six.
Lyria noticed his tension and smiled softly.
"Steady yourself. You carry the hopes of many, Aurelian."
Her words didn't calm him. If anything, they made him want to vomit.
---
They found it: a clearing littered with bones, crude weapons, and the stench of blood. Dozens of goblins snarled, yellow eyes glowing. At the center towered a Goblin Brute, nearly twice the size of the rest.
"By the Goddess…" Selene whispered.
"That's… way more than the reports said," Garrick muttered.
The goblins charged.
"Hero! Lead us!" the party shouted.
"LEAD?! I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO—WAAAH!"
---The Accidental Strategy
Panicked, Haruto tripped over a tree root and flailed forward, sword swinging wildly.
His stumble sliced a rope holding up a rotten log trap the goblins had set for intruders.
CRASH!
The log swung down like divine judgment, smashing through half the goblin ranks instantly.
The others gaped.
"Such foresight!"
"He sensed their trap and used it against them!"
"The Hero's mind is sharper than steel itself!"
Haruto, face in the dirt: I literally just tripped.
---
The Goblin Brute roared, charging straight at Haruto. Its jagged club raised high.
Haruto screamed, swung blindly—
—and hit a loose crystal embedded in the ground.
The crystal shattered, releasing stored mana in a blinding burst of light. The explosion engulfed the Brute, vaporizing it in one stroke.
Silence.
Then thunderous cheers.
"The Hero has unleashed a holy technique!"
"Even the land itself bends to his command!"
"ALL HAIL THE HERO!"
Haruto just stood there, sword trembling in his hand, singed eyebrows smoking.
I am going to die of stress before any monster kills me.
---
Dragging goblin ears as proof, the party returned triumphant. The guild erupted in celebration, adventurers slapping Haruto's back, townsfolk weeping with joy.
The mayor personally knelt before him.
"Elmsworth shall forever remember this day, Hero Aurelian! You have saved us all!"
Haruto forced a shaky smile, waving awkwardly.
"Haha… yeah. Totally part of the plan."
But that night, lying in bed, he stared at the ceiling.
The image of the burning goblin nest haunted him.
The fear in their eyes before the light consumed them.
"…This isn't a game," he whispered to himself.
"No matter what they think I am… if I keep going, people—monsters—are going to die."
His hand clenched over his chest.
And somehow… they expect me to be okay with that.