A Day in the Life of Hobgoblin Tartara
Tartara is a busy creature.
Since she was weak as a child, she could never become a warrior, but she was born with a surprisingly diligent personality for a goblin.
After overcoming various challenges starting from odd jobs, she finally succeeded in reaching a position where she is responsible for the meals of the entire tribe.
Today is her monumental first workday. She squinted her wrinkled green skin and smiled.
“Gobbuububut!”
So excited, she clapped her hands as she arrived in the kitchen. Today is the day the chief finally slaughters the last meat he has been saving.
She had told her subordinates to first apply the red berries that eliminate stench onto the meat, but she wondered if they did a good job. Tartara opened the door, lost in thought.
What she saw was the butchered forms of her long-time comrades.
“G-Gob…?”
The kitchen was bathed in bright red blood. Just yesterday, the goblins were laughing and chatting, but now they lay skinned and dismembered.
The most peculiar thing was that everyone had their wrists chopped off.
Oh my! How could such a brutal thing happen!
Aren’t we goblins, not some lowly meat, treated like this? Even inferior creatures wandering the outskirts of the forest wouldn’t do such a thing!
Terrified, she clamped her hand over her mouth and slowly began to back away.
I have to tell the warriors about the current horror. I must let everyone know that a terrible murderer has infiltrated the village…!
In that moment of burning mission, a thick rope was wrapped around Tartara’s neck.
“Gohuh?!”
The rope tightened around her neck. Whoever it was, it must be that crazy killer who butchered her comrades!
The force from the rope wasn’t very strong, but already panicked, she found it impossible to notice and escape the restraint.
Eventually, while struggling and choking, Tartara grew weak. The owner of the rope dragged her back to the kitchen.
Bam!
The moment the door closed, isolating her from the outside world, Tartara sensed her imminent death. But she wanted to at least know who would be killing her.
Focusing despite her fading consciousness, Tartara opened her eyes wide. Her desperate effort was not in vain; the murderer revealed themselves before her.
A figure similar in size to her own or even smaller. A pink-haired human, holding a pure white dagger, tilted their head.
“Wow, this one’s holding on well.”
With those words, they slashed the dagger lightly, and Tartara’s vision spun before hitting the floor.
In the brief moment before Tartara’s head was chopped off, the thoughts that filled her mind were not about revenge, rage, or fear.
It was an admiration for a beauty she had never seen in her lifetime. And the fragrant scent that invaded her nostrils.
That was the moment of Tartara’s death.
*
Just when they thought they were done, one more showed up late, causing quite a scare.
“Hah… I thought I’d missed one. There wouldn’t be any more latecomers, right?”
Sighing deeply, as the pantry door opened, Lydia emerged. This time she utilized the stealth technique she learned from me, completely suppressing her presence.
“I don’t know. That’s why I told you to be careful. Sneakily assassinating a few is one thing, but it’s hard when there are this many.”
“Well, we’ve already taken care of nearly half, right? That’s pretty impressive. Praise me quickly!”
“Sure, sure. Jonah is amazing.”
Lydia chuckled and patted my head. As I received her touch, I quickly began to process the goblin I captured a moment ago.
Hobgoblins, unlike the wandering goblin on the outskirts, had quite a bit of useful parts.
First, their leather can be used for scroll materials, always bought at the Mage Tower; the bones are alchemical ingredients as usual, females don’t apply, but the males’ testicles can be used as aphrodisiacs, and the magic stones are also larger.
However, there wasn’t enough time to gather them all. Just a moment ago, I sensed a presence while I was organizing, so I had to hide.
First, I chopped off the wrists and skillfully removed the other parts cleanly instead of struggling.
I cut the leather from the large back and belly into rectangular shapes, and finally extracted the magic stones.
Saaaaah—
Then the bodies that hadn’t been taken started to turn to dust.
This is why I thought it would be easier to assassinate them all. If I extract the magic stones, the body disposal is quite simple.
Once I removed the magic stones from the other hobgoblin corpses sprawled in the kitchen, it gave way to a normal kitchen scene, though it was a bit messy, not covered in blood.
Well, it’s still a kitchen that’s at a really primitive level.
A flat stone for butchering and material preparation. And a large campfire with a wide open roof is all there is.
“Okay, now I plan to go to where the warrior classes live… but first, we have one problem to resolve, right?”
“Yeah.”
Nodding, Lydia headed towards the pantry.
There hung unidentified fruits and various smoked meats…
On the floor lay a naked woman who had almost been butchered.
As soon as our eyes met, she immediately bowed her head and trembled. Her skin was smeared with red powder from something washed in water, so her original complexion was unrecognizable.
She must have been seasoned in advance. Oh dear, those cruel goblins.
Tsking my tongue, I squatted down before her.
“Excuse me. What’s your name?”
“S-Save me….”
“I’m Jonah. An adventurer here to exterminate the hobgoblin village. You’re an adventurer too, right?”
“I’m not delicious. Please don’t eat me, angel…”
“…Lady Lydia, this lady seems completely broken. What should we do?”
“Well, just so you know, her panic is your fault, Jonah.”
“Hey, what did I do? I just saved her from lying on a stone slab seasoned all over, and she was begging for her life, so I rescued her.”
“Suddenly showing up, killing all the goblins that held her life in their hands, and licking her lips saying she smells good would terrify anyone, especially if they’re already weakened physically and mentally.”
“That’s just a joke! I was trying to lighten the mood! I’m not a cannibal, why would I eat people? …Unless it’s in a lewd way!”
“…Jonah doesn’t understand people’s hearts.”
What to do with this one. Lydia shook her head with that expression.
Putting aside Lydia’s subtle impoliteness, we couldn’t just leave someone we captured like this.
We could either hide her and take her later, or stop the assassination for a moment and take her with us…
I grabbed the dazed adventurer’s face and made her look at me straight in the eyes.
“Ah, uuh…”
I whispered in a slightly lowered voice toward the now completely speechless trembling adventurer.
“Do you want to live?”
“Yes, yes…”
“But I’m hungry.”
“Eek!”
Smiling at the adventurer whose breath was catching, I continued.
“So please tell me who I can eat instead.”
“…Huh?”
“If a hobgoblin could catch you, you’re not that strong of an adventurer. But you’re not alone. You came with a party, right? Just tell me where your companions are. Then, I’ll spare you.”
“Well, about that….”
After a while of pondering, the woman finally squeezed her eyes shut and continued speaking.
“Mil-Mila died while fighting. She was eaten on the first day.”
“Hmm. So that one’s out.”
“Dolores was eaten yesterday. She was roasted right before my eyes… Huuu!”
“Oh dear. That’s unfortunate. But don’t cry, go on and finish speaking. If you’re saying this much, it means there’s someone else, right?”
“Han-Hans.”
“Oh. That’s a man’s name, huh?”
“Yeah… Hans was offered to the chief because he’s a man. He might be their plaything, but he probably hasn’t died.”
“True. Goblins are quite obsessed with men. Unless he committed suicide, he probably didn’t die easily.”
“…He couldn’t have committed suicide. Hans is a coward. I promised to protect him… S-Sorry… I’m sorry, Hans…”
As she said that, tears rolled down her cheeks. Looks like they were quite close.
Anyway, I’m getting the gist of it. A four-person party came in, one died, and one got eaten, leaving two behind.
No, maybe the man might have been trapped still.
The woman might have been eaten appropriately and left out, but the man would be cycled through for a long time.
When capturing the chief or other higher-ranking goblins, I’ll have to search the houses thoroughly.
“Oh, I have one last question. Answer this and you might just be able to live.”
“What, what is it? I’ll answer anything!”
“Your name. What’s your name?”
“……!”
After contemplating for a long time, the adventurer spoke in a serious tone, as if selling her soul to the devil.
“Selly. It’s Selly.”
“Alright, Selly. I’ll go get Hans. Until then, you have to wait here quietly, okay? The outside is dangerous for someone with those limbs. Understood?”
“……Yes.”
I nodded at the weakly conceding Selly and then looked at Lydia.
“Lady Lydia.”
“Yeah.”
“Shall we head to capture the chief first?”
“Good thinking.”
Nodding, Lydia pulled out her large greatsword.
We had already stealthily assassinated half; now it was time to do it openly.
As long as there are no witnesses, right?
…Honestly, I was a bit angry too.
