The Villainous Noble Tried His Hardest to Break the Original Storyline, and Now the Heroines Are Acting Weird - 13

Chapter 13

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Just as the goblin drew a little closer, the ground around it rose up, and several more goblins emerged.

I see.

In the game, after bumping into a symbol monster on the field, the screen would transition to a battle scene, and multiple monsters would appear. I had thought that was just the natural flow of things, but perhaps this was how they actually spawned.

As the knights raised their swords, the goblins also lifted the clubs they held. Then, after a few seconds of staring each other down…

The goblins made the first move, kicking off the ground. The knights raised their swords and shields, moving to intercept. They deflected the goblins’ reckless charge with their shields and slashed at them with their swords. They struck at the goblins’ legs to rob them of mobility and dealt damage through coordinated attacks.

Just as I expected, the knights had no trouble dealing with goblins. They steadily wore them down, and when they saw a big opening, they brought their swords down to finish them off. It was probably thanks to their daily training.

Their fighting style was efficient and left no room for waste, but from a spectator’s point of view, it was a bit boring since no flashy skills or magic were used. Well, the dungeon was pretty long after all. In games, the player was always running nonstop, but in real life, that wasn’t feasible.

Naturally, conserving stamina and MP while advancing was essential. That was one of the differences between games and reality. In games, you only needed to think about combat, while in reality, you had plenty of factors you needed to be wary of. 

The defeated goblins vanished like mist, without spilling any blood. All that remained were the dropped magic stones. My father, who had been watching the battle, glanced over at me.

“The dungeon monsters don’t leave behind corpses. If you need monster materials, you’ll have to hunt the wild ones outside the dungeon.”

“Yes. Understood.”

I had already learned that beforehand, but my father explained it again anyway. Maybe he was doing it so I could know how to teach someone else. I would inherit the Fortas family and pass this knowledge to the next generation after all. 

“Dungeon monsters only drop magic stones. Since they’re used in many different ways, always be sure to collect them.”

“Understood.”

“Well, the collected magic stones have to be properly handed over to the guild and delivered to the Demon Lord.”

“If someone tried to hide them, would it be found out?”

“Magic stones can’t be used as-is… So when they’re processed, a trail would be left behind.”

So, if I gathered them by myself and processed them by myself, it wouldn’t be a problem, huh. I happened to recall that there was a type of weapon that could be crafted using only magic stones with blacksmithing magic. I decided to try it out later.

Since materials wouldn’t drop from dungeon monsters, collecting materials was going to be a hassle since I had to hunt field monsters.  As I was idly thinking about that, I spotted another monster. Another goblin. It hadn’t noticed us yet, and my father turned his gaze toward me.

“Rubest. Could you use magic to launch a preemptive strike?”

Certainly, at this distance, a magic attack would be the most effective. I eagerly nodded, but Edic shook his head.

“…Kai-sama. Magic has a range, so hitting a target from this far would be quite difficult. Even if it hits, the power would be significantly reduced, so it might be better to get a bit closer.”

When Edic said that to my father, he hesitated a little.

“I-If something happened to Rubest the moment he gets closer… What would we do then…?”

“…Y-You don’t need to worry that much.”

…This father of mine might be incredibly overprotective. That must be the reason why he gave such a generous allowance to Rubest-kun. Unfortunately, Rubest-kun used that money to buy a human slave. 

One of the advantages of magic was that it allowed long-range attacks, so there was no need to waste that potential. So I decided to make a suggestion.

“May I try casting magic from here just once? I’d like to get a sense of its range.”

When I asked my father, he glanced at Edic. Seeming to accept my reasoning, he slowly nodded.

“…That’s true. Learning how far you can accurately hit a target is important for a mage. Go ahead and try.”

“Understood.”

Even with a range, I wanted to train my accuracy and power to be able to hit the target. I stared hard at the goblin. There was still distance between us. Maybe it hadn’t noticed us yet, or maybe monsters didn’t detect people until they were within a certain range.

Well, even if that’s the rule of this world, I exist outside of this world’s laws.

I consumed MP and cast Thunder. The crackling sound of lightning echoed through the relatively narrow dungeon. I aimed the bolt of lightning gathered in my right hand directly at the goblin and released it.

The magic shot straight from my hand toward the goblin. A flash lit up the surroundings for a moment, pierced the goblin’s body, and sent it flying. The thunder created a loud noise when it hit the ground and…

The goblin was defeated. As the goblin disappeared, silence returned to the area, with only the glow of the magic stone left behind. The subjugation was a success.

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