MEMORIES AND ABU HORMUZ

Volume 2 Chapter 3 - The Law of Inertia Without Humidity

“Wah! Whoa-wah-wah!

What the fuck?!” Marco grumbled behind his helmet, his back pressing hard against a fragile wall.

Marco is not alone. Haruhiro and the others also kept themselves parallel to the wall, in order to try to hide themselves.

“Anyone knows what happened here?” Haruhiro looked to the side, staring at Lusi.

Luci gives a little slug. “I also don't know.”

“There are a lot of gobbi,” whispered Vina.

Barto snorted which signified that he understood. His entire body trembled as he tried to curl his body as small as possible.

Alice closed her eyes and seemed to be praying, her wand held tightly to her chest.

“...We can't, we can't. there's no way we can..”.

Alice's right. If there is one sentence that can describe the current state, is “We cannot.”

They were in the same Old City of Damroww as usual, but this time it was not the scattered goblins they had met, but the neatly arranged crowd of Goblins in groups. Something felt different the moment they arrived here, no, even before they came, everything felt different.

This place is full of goblins. They were very numerous, and they seemed to have been arranged in a group. They may also be on patrol as usual.

“Patroli..” whispered Haruhiro, gritting his teeth.

Is this possible? Is this really happening? The goblins were now in a group and this was very different from the one Haruhiro and the others hunted every day. For beginners, they have good equipment. And if goblins usually look lazy and bored, this one looks active and alert.

Haruhiro thought they might be from Damroww Town Center. Goblins in the City Center sometimes come to the Old City, but the goblins are always livid. Also, morose. Even hobgoblins and their masters who were in disharmony were terrified before them.

But the goblins gathered here were very excited and passionate. They seem to be here for a reason. Haruhiro was not surprised if they were here because of an order.

“Hmm,” complained Marco. That's it, trying to look cool or something. But he's not cool at all. “It looks like we're a glut. We make ourselves the center of attention here.”.

No one wanted to give him a pleasant response, including Haruhiro. He had no energy to spend on such a trivial matter. But now it's too dangerous to hunt here. Although they have come all the way here, they are now faced with the disappointing prospect of returning to Atalante without a penny.

There is no other hope. With the circumstances they were in at the moment, there was no choice but to return. Except. as he thought about it, Haruhiro realized that he saw the current situation as an opportunity to change their course. Maybe Haruhiro was forced to make this decision, or maybe he was carried away by the flow of his mind, but this is still a good opportunity.

“Hi everyone,” Haruhiro opens the conversation. “How about we try checking the Siren Mine? It might have slightly deviated from the path, but the place was still one way. We just walk around Damroww and keep walking to the Southwest.”

Marco gleeful. Vina, Alice, Barto, and Lusi did not reject his decision, so they immediately left. Siren Mine... It was about two and a half miles away to Southwest of Damroww, but because Haruhiro and the others had never been there, the journey takes almost two hours even though they take the fastest path.

It looks like an ordinary mountain. A long time ago, when the Aravakian Kingdom of humans still controlled the front area, they spent a lot of money to build this mine. After that, as the Wright King and his allies repelled the humans from the area, the Kobold Boshuu faction took over and settled there. Today, the Siren Mine is completely controlled by the kobolds.

The Haruhiro Party could see the road leading to the mine from the foot of the mountain. The entrance is square and hallway-like, and on each side is built with wooden chunks. Haruhiro and his friends walked along a small river flowing from the mountain and found a bear walking leisurely.

Haruhiro hesitated that the bear would attack them, the wild beasts were usually cautious as sometimes they were quite cowardly. After all, no one wanted to try their luck, so they kept a considerable distance with the bear.

They continued to climb up the mountain, following the animal trail to a forest area. Slightly entering slightly, they saw two hairy, humanoid creatures with dog-like heads. Each was lightly dressed, wearing armor, and armed with a rusty sword.

[Humanoids are creatures that have the appearance or features of resembling humans, but not humans.]

No one wants to have trouble. Of course not the two creatures, who emerged from the shadows of the trees looked calm. It was clear they had not expected to meet someone here. The creature and Party Haruhiro stared at each other, both silent for a few seconds.

“Kobold!” exclaims Lusi.

Surprised, Haruhiro involuntarily let out a shout and instinctively crawled backwards.

“Barto, come!” marco said, swinging his sword towards the kobold on the right.

“I-iya!” Barto, whose reaction was slightly behind Marco's, approached the kobold to his left.

Haruhiro patted his chest, kholem! No. gabe. Wait for. Not kholem, kalem! Be calm! Shucks. He's not at all calm.

“Alice, Lusi, stay behind for now!” Haruhiro. “Vina, let's help Marco and Barto!”

Vina replied with something Haruhiro could not understand, but she kept following behind him, thus placing themselves in the front position. Until now, Marco attacked blindly at the kobold, launching each attack with a shout.

Barto grumbled in distress as he raised and swung a giant sword overhead, but he could not hit his target at all.

“Vina, help Barto!” Haruhiro.

“Ready!”

Haruhiro focused on the back of the kobold Marco was facing. The plan was to end one of the kobolds' lives quickly, and jump on the other and kill him to death.

“What the heck?” Haruhiro grumbling.

What the hell's going on? Is the kobold a formidable enemy? Strong and fast? For some reason, Haruhiro could not be behind him. His eyes could not keep up with his movements, making it difficult to anticipate the opponent's movements.

“Sial!” scream Marco. “Haruhiro, what are you doing?”

Marco was completely distressed by the kobold, but he was not in an attacking position. If he did, he would have been hit back. The Kobold continued to attack while Marco held it, unable to counterattack.

“Marco! Don't move much!” haruhiro.

“Shut! I have business for me to finish myself!”

“But if he keeps moving like that, I can't..!”

“Emang I care! Wah!”

The Kobold suddenly took a step forward and clashed with Marco. Both have stopped moving. This is the time or not at all.

“[BACKSTAB!]”

Haruhiro's dagger looked like it was about to hit the kobold's back, but it wasn't. His knife bounced to the side.  How could? What the hell's going on? It was his kobold, he jumped to the side and used his tail to pull over the dagger. How disappointing.

“You are really useless, Haruhiro!” exclaim Marco.

It probably has nothing to do with how strong or weak they are. The problem was that Haruhiro and the others knew nothing about the kobolds. How did the kobolds attack? How do they survive? How are they supposed to react if the kobold is like this or like that? What would the kobolds react if they suppressed their attacks? No one knows.

“If they were goblins, we would have .. !” someone screamed.

We must have gotten used to goblins, nothing else.

“[SMASH!]” unexpectedly, Lusi stepped forward into the fight.

He throws a hard punch with his baton at the kobold faced by Barto and Vina. The Kobold was in pain and jumped back in a single powerful leap. They half roared, half barked towards Haruhiro and his Party.

“They are small kobolds! They should not be tough opponents!” lusi said, knocking the lower end of his stick to the ground with a loud knock. “If you guys stay calm, then we can definitely win!”

Gee. Luci. Really cool... But now was not the time to sit around admiring him!

Haruhiro exchanged a glance with Marco. This disturbed him somewhat, thinking that Marco and himself could understand each other without a word, but they were still comrades in arms. When fighting side by side, it looked like they could understand what the others were thinking.

Look carefully, he said to himself. Focus up!

The enemy is a kobold, not a goblin. An unknown creature, but just because they are uninformed, doesn't mean Haruhiro and his friends can't face them. As Lusi said they are not tough opponents.

“Oom rel ecktveldash!” Alice casts the spell [SHADOW ECHO], and wush! A wave, a black elemental shadow shot towards the kobold that was approaching towards Barto and Vina.

The Kobold knelt down, its entire body trembling uncontrollably.

“Barto, now!” exclaim Vina.

Barto runs towards the bewitched kobold. Haruhiro felt he could hand over the kobold, and focus on his opponent. Marco was in an attacking position, shouting every attack. Unlike before, he no longer swung his long sword in disarray anymore, now he was watching closely the movements of his enemy.

As the kobold jumped to the right, Marco followed. As he left, so did Marco. He couldn't keep up with his movements, but he didn't let the kobold dominate him anymore. Nor is he stuck in a defensive position, now he can launch several attacks and so on.

Therefore, the attention of the kobold was now really on Marco. Now Haruhiro can perfectly position himself behind that kobold. Don't get distracted by the tail! He said to himself. It's just a tail, come on!

The body of a goblin looks like a human, but the body of a kobold looks more like an animal. They have muscular legs, and they can jump, with those feet like a spring. Haruhiro also felt that they were faster than goblins. However, when Haruhiro moved, their reflex speed was still on par with goblins, it was because they were too used to dealing with those short monsters.

The body of a kobold also does not flex the body of a goblin. As he watched closely, Haruhiro noticed that when a kobold looked up, its upper body remained upright and rigid. The kobolds also held their swords in different ways. Goblins use their entire body when swinging their swords, but kobolds only use their arms. They depended on the flexibility of the arm, it seemed like the joints on their shoulders could only span a certain distance.

But just because they're so different doesn't mean kobolds are superior opponents. The current Haruhiro Party could defeat five goblins at once. Two kobolds is nothing.

We can do it. There's no reason we can't win it.

And that's not a sentence that only contains confidence. It is a conclusion through previous observations and experiences.

Just seeing Marco and the Kobold fighting had caught all his attention. But now, he could see everything and had a general knowledge of how they moved and what they were doing. As if, he had widened his range of sight.

This is amazing, Haruhiro thought. It's amazing to see what happens when you can calm down and believe that you can win it.

“MA... LOVE!” Barto unleashed all his power behind his diagonal swing [RAGE CLEAVE] and immediately split the kobold.

There was no way that any more kobolds still survived it hesitatingly after seeing his comrade defeated like that... Haruhiro.

He's correct. For a moment, the remaining kobolds no longer paid attention behind him. Haruhiro took a deep breath, held it, and launched himself onto the kobold's back. But he didn't hit that kobold right away. [BACKSTAB]. He slid his dagger through the gap in the row of armor, piercing deeply into the kobold's body.

The Kobold let off a slight scream, a slight scream. Haruhiro immediately jumped away from him.

“Alright!” Marco stepped up, his long sword ready. “[ANGER THRUST!]”

Marco launched his long sword into the kobold's throat. He's succeeding. The Kobold died and after that, it completely fell to the ground.

Haruhiro let go of the breath he had been holding. “...We won.”

“AND ALL THAT BECAUSE OF ME!” And Marco lifted up, then turned his sword, boasting.

“Not not you,” said Vina, disgusted. “That's all because of Lusi. When he tells us we need to stay calm, if there's no reason we can't win... That's just amazing! My hair is goosebumps and something like smoldering inside me.”

“He-Stop,” Lusi said as she lowered her head down, her face flushed in embarrassment. “I'm sorry, I said too much. Shouldn't have been me..”

“Do not say like that!” Alice spoke in an unusual tone. “It wasn't.. I guess you shouldn't apologize.”

“Se-agreed,” Barto nodded slowly. “I feel bolder after hearing it.”

“You are so pathetic!” taunted Marco.

How could Marco still be so arrogant and pretentious? Haruhiro really doesn't understand, maybe because Marco is an idiot.

Marco did not give up, “You all just said that if no one revealed the magic words, Barto remained a coward and Vina could not move his butt? *** are you all!”

Haruhiro ignored him, instead walking towards the kobold's corpse earlier. He knelt on one knee. “His weapons and armor look useless, but they look like they have something on their nose.It looks like it's made of animal fangs or something.”.

“It was a talisman,” he explained. “All kobolds, at least have one.”

“Really?” reply Haruhiro. “It doesn't seem to make much money.”

“Kobold who lives in the first level of this mine is the weakest on the set of kobolds. They were dressed in makeshift clothes and barely got enough food. We, Red MooN members used to call it ‘kobold small’.”

“What about the non-little kobolds? Their talismans are more valuable?”

“Yes. Their talismans were made of precious stones and metal. But sometimes small kobolds also take human money, such as bronze and silver, and they also use it to make amulets.”

“I understand. So it's like a treasure. Sometimes we might find a small kobold carrying silver or something.”.

Lucia has said quite a lot. Not just his information.The actual facts he told him made Haruhiro a little happy.

“Terlarah. Just take it, keep let's go,” complained Marco. He ripped the amulet from the nose of the kobold corpse, thus earning him an ominous look from Haruhiro. “What? You got a problem?”

“...No.”

Even if they get the reward they deserve, they get it from the body of the enemy they have defeated, Haruhiro hopes Marco can be more... Then Haruhiro realized something in the eyes of the Kobold, Haruhiro and his comrades were the invaders. What they were doing right now was nothing but a massacre. No good value is taken from what they have done.

No matter they looted the items from the corpse slowly, or plucked them out directly, the end result was the same. It doesn't change what they did. But seeing Marco at this moment made Haruhiro realize how different they were morally. His understanding is difficult to maintain.

Marco may not have thought of these kinds of things, but Haruhiro had no intention of acting the same as he did, even at the risk of being considered a hypocrite. So Haruhiro plucked the amulet of an earring made of animal horn polish or something like that gently, Haruhiro did it as gently as possible to avoid making any additional injuries on the body of the kobold.

He has no intention of changing his mindset. It didn't matter if it was an enemy or even an animal. A dead creature, should have earned the honor.

Haruhiro stood up. “Come. The Siren Mine.”