The shortsword in my hand dripped with blood as I gripped it backwards, my eyes locked onto the second adventurer. He raised his sword towards me, and rushed in angrily. I understand completely, it hurts to see your friends killed in front of you, doesn’t it.

“It hurts for us, too!” I shouted, and he stopped charging, confused. “Why… Why did you have to kill them! We did nothing to you!”

I don’t know if he could understand me like I understood him, but I screamed those words anyways, teams flowing freely down my face.

[Roulette Slash: Active Skill]

[A spinning slash with the sword held in reverse grip, combined with a jump. Juggles target. Deals: 15 damage. Cost: 5 SP]

I leapt forward, activating the skill I had just been given, like a whirlwind, I crashed into the warrior before me, knocking his shield back and slashing against his chest, which was covered in armor as expected.

But he was still carried up by the attack, and he was stuck four more times in the torso as I spun around. The two of us seemed to linger in the air for a moment, as if gravity had paused, or perhaps time had. But in that split second, I slashed him in the face with a normal attack, dealing an additional 5 damage.

For a moment, I thought I saw a red bar above him that said 0/20, and he hit the ground before I did.

Floating at the corner of my vision was a number, 6, as well as the word ‘hits’ in the common language. Was that how many times in a row I had hit him? Right below it was a word… disappointing. The hell? Was this god judging my performance?

I must have waited too long thinking about the numbers, as they faded and disappeared along with the words. I think I get it, if I keep attacking that number will go up, right? So I’m being told what to do, if I want to be good at fighting.

“Y-You monster, how could you kill Loran and Sils like that??” the adventurer was angry, but his body was shaking in fear. “You… you’re just a level one mob!”

“Fiffil.” I said, and he looked at me with a puzzled expression. “My name is Fiffil! Not ‘monster’, not ‘mob’, not ‘dirty goblin’!”

“Hyaaah!” he let out a high pitched squeal, dropped his spear, and ran off before I had a chance to attack him. That’s fine, I’m not going to senselessly slaughter someone who surrenders, unlike those scum who call themselves heroes.

-

“Whaaaat?! You must have cheated, that’s not fair!” Vi whined, watching as a piece on the board in her color tipped over and shattered.

“Perhaps I have, but would that be the first time either of us has, Vi?” he responded, drawing a card from his deck and placing it on the table: the two of swords. “I’ve turned a blind eye to so many of your underhanded moves in the interest of an exciting game, but it was getting far too one sided, don’t you think?”

“Mmmmmph!” The aristocratic lady pouted, crossing her arms in front of her ample chest. “At least refill my drink if you’re planning to screw me this hard, Beelzy~”

The man snapped his fingers, and a figure that had remained out of sight until then appeared, dressed in the garb of a butler, the insect-like creature poured more of the sanguine liquid into her goblet from an unmarked bottle.

At the same moment, a spider-like creature wearing an ornate maid uniform appeared at the man’s side, a trey held by two of her hands. With two additional hands, she picked up a teapot and poured a cup, then handed it to him.

“Thank you, Akki.” he addressed the servant, then took the cup from her, before blowing on the hot tea. He drank a bit of it, then placed it down on the trey in the spider-girl’s hands. She bowed her head, her multiple eyes staring intently at the woman seated across from her master. “Now now, place nicely, she’s our guest.”

The two servants faded back into the darkness, as if they had never been there to begin with.

-

[Race: Goblin] [Class: Joker] [Level: 2]

[Mind:10] [Body:10] [Soul: 8]

[HP:12][MP:3][SP:30]

[Skills:

Wildcard

Roulette Slash]

My ability scores hadn’t increased, but my health, magic, and stamina had increased. I seemed to regen one stamina point every 2 seconds, which was a bit slow. Looking deeper into my sheet, I see that I’ve reached 876 of 1000 XP needed to reach the next level. Likely that if I had defeated the third guy, I would have reached level 3 already, was it meant to be this fast? Or maybe my first Skill did that, maybe?

I looked down at the symbol burned into my hand, and wondered why I had been picked, and what I was chosen for, exactly?

“If you are a god, or even a devil… please, just tell me what you want me to do?” I asked the heavens, hoping for an answer.

Nothing. Fantastic.

I take the scabbard for this shortsword from the dead adventurer, trying not to think about how I just killed two people. Sure it was self defense, but I still don’t like it… and rummaging around the pockets of dead people, no thanks, I’ll pass.

What am I meant to do now, I don’t know how to get back to the village, which probably isn’t even standing anymore… no way anybody made it out of there alive…

“Mom...” my heart sank, well, figuratively, since I can’t feel my heart or pulse at all anymore. Seriously, how am I alive if my heart’s stopped?

Despite not wanting to, I needed to disguise myself, and one of these adventurers has a plain brown hooded cloak on him. I somehow managed to get it off him after a struggle against his own body weight, and then I put it on. It was a bit too big, but it did hide that I was a goblin.

At least, I hoped it would.