You Looked Strong, So…

He ran. He ran, and swung his axe at the hobgoblin.

What the hobgoblin carried was a fairly impressive longsword.

It also wore what looked like leather armor, so halfhearted attacks were pointless.

So he went all-out from the first move.

The hobgoblin blocked my sweeping strike with its sword.

A shrill giiin rang out, and Kikori’s axe was knocked aside.

This thing was used to fighting with a sword. Kikori realized it in an instant.

Just now it had stopped Kikori’s axe with the flat of the blade. It didn’t want to chip the edge.

Then it yanked back the arm holding the sword and slashed at Kikori.

It was already too late to dodge. So Kikori kicked the hobgoblin in the groin.

Whether it had something there or not, there were leg guards.

And that was exactly why… Kikori’s leg-guarded foot struck the one spot with nothing protecting it.

Gosha. A dull sound echoed, and the hobgoblin’s slash stopped halfway.

“Gihfah…!?”

The hobgoblin dropped its sword and rolled its eyes. At its utterly unguarded arm, Kikori brought his axe down from straight on.

“GIAAAAAAAAAA!”

As the hobgoblin sank to its knees in pain, Kikori looked down at it and raised his axe.

The hobgoblin glared up at him, and Kikori brought the axe down without hesitation.

Maybe it wanted to say, You coward.

Yeah, sure—it was cowardly. No matter how famous Kikori became, no bard would ever want to sing about a scene like this.

But even so, Kikori did it.

“Were you trying to call me a coward? Can’t be helped. You looked strong, so…”

Having a bigger build and actual sword training was the worst possible matchup.

Kikori didn’t want to fight something like that head-on to the death.

Yeah. That was normal. That was what living creatures did.

And that was why, while Kikori was collecting the magic stone from the hobgoblin… he didn’t notice the vicious kick from behind until the moment it hit.

He was sent flying, his left shoulder smashing into a tree… and Kikori turned back, staggering.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me…”

There were three hobgoblins.

One wore gauntlets—built like a straight-up martial artist.

And then there was a hammer-wielding hobgoblin, and an axe-wielding hobgoblin.

The worst possible lineup… one where he was completely outmatched.

“H-ha ha…”

Still clutching the magic stone, Kikori stuffed it into his pocket and gripped his axe.

How was he supposed to win? No—how was he supposed to fight?

By the time he killed one, the other two would kill him, no matter how he looked at it.

If he messed up, he’d get beaten to death by all three without even killing one.

“They’re not going to… let me run, are they?”