I Became a Veteran Who Has to Stir Up Trouble to Survive - Chapter 15

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

[015] Goblins and Omens
Crackle, crackle.
The acrid stench of blood drifted on the wind, mingling with the sound of burning logs.
I crouched behind the thicket, holding my breath as I surveyed the clearing ahead.
In the center of the clearing, creatures with verdant skin cackled around a campfire.
‘Goblins.’
The quintessential monsters of fantasy worlds.
In typical games, they’re treated as mere fodder—cut down in a single slash—but in Belheim, with its notoriously brutal difficulty, the story differs entirely.
Their exceptional intellect and capacity for coordination meant they’d creep up behind you the moment you grew careless, driving their blades into your back.
Whenever I cleared a Goblin den, arrows and traps rained down from all directions—such a nuisance.
I’d lost enough characters to them that I could’ve opened a monument business.
Ordinarily, avoidance would be the wisest course, but circumstances have shifted.
‘This works out perfectly.’
I licked my lips quietly.
Now that I’d arrived in Verastin, I needed to join the Adventurer’s Guild to hunt monsters efficiently and earn coin.
But there was no chance the Guild would welcome some unknown provincial with no credentials or track record.
In such cases, guilds typically demand that applicants prove their worth.
And the most straightforward and reliable proof is monster loot.
‘Hunting these creatures would be perfect. I’d gain experience in the bargain.’
The problem lay in my combat strength.
Malton, who’d steadied me with his presence, was absent now.
No one else was nearby—this would be my first real battle against monsters, entirely alone.
But engaging a goblin pack as a novice would be foolish.
Moreover, I wasn’t even properly equipped in cloth armor.
A direct assault would leave me torn to shreds, my corpse simmering in a goblin stew by morning.
That left only one option.
‘I’ll have to borrow Antagon’s power once more.’
Since learning of [Disguise]’s side effects, I’d hesitated to transform into undead immediately, but there was a creature perfectly suited for this moment.
One of the monsters I’d hunted while crossing the grasslands these past days.
“How did a Kobold think again?”
Drawing on my vast gaming knowledge, I recalled the Kobold’s defining traits.
Its preference for dark, cramped spaces; its fierce possessiveness over its belongings.
Yet before stronger beings, it would cower and flee—the characteristic cowardice of the ecosystem’s lowest monster.
From this sprang paranoia and victimhood.
I instinctively spoke the words that surfaced in my mind.
“Candles! Candles!! I hate pain! Don’t take it! It’s mine!”
As I chanted, my bones twisted with a sickening crunch.
My back hunched, my limbs shortened, and coarse fur bristled across my skin.
My vision lowered, and the hood I’d worn slipped away.
｢You have disguised yourself as [Kobold], one of the lowest-tier monsters!｣
“A monster that lurks and dwells in dark, cramped places! Though natural enemies with Goblins, they occasionally lash out when cornered!”
—Ugh… Mmgh…
After rummaging through my backpack to make final preparations, I shouldered my bundle and deliberately limped toward the campfire, feigning injury.
The moment I spotted the Goblin, instinctive dread seized me—a Kobold’s primal fear—but I forced my trembling limbs forward, one agonizing step at a time.
‘They’re merely lesser monsters…’
Sensing my presence, the Goblins sprang to their feet and leveled their clubs at me.
—Who dares approach, goblin!!
—Kekeke? What, just a cowardly Kobold? Kyahahaha!
Upon confirming that only a pathetic Kobold had emerged from the thicket, their expressions twisted into contemptuous sneers in an instant.
One of the Goblins approached and tapped my skull with his club.
—You there! Hand over everything you’ve got!
I collapsed flat against the ground, trembling violently.
—Don’t hit me! Don’t hit me! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Please don’t kill me, Goblin!
My abject demeanor sent the Goblins into fits of cackling laughter.
The largest among them—evidently their leader—spat and issued his threat.
—How dare you set foot in the domain of the great Goblins and expect to live… Hand over everything! Then I’ll let you live.
—Y-yes! This is everything I have!! Please, not my life!
With a face drained of all color, I hurled my bundle to the ground.
The Goblins began rummaging through it with gleeful snickers.
—This is… a worn human blade, metal scraps, a fork…? Quite decent finds. Did you perhaps catch some sickly adventurer? Oh! There’s meat too!!
Skewered Lesser Rat—leftovers from what Malton and I had shared.
The Goblin Leader snatched the meat with suspicious eyes, sniffed it, then took a bite and gasped in admiration.
—Mmm… Smack smack. What an extraordinary flavor! You all must taste this!
He lowered his guard and turned his back, gesturing to his companions.
Unaware of the fate that awaited them, the Goblins indulged in what would be their final feast.
—Two eat and one dies—such is the taste, goblin!
—This skewer tastes like death itself! What meat is this?
I shifted my demeanor in an instant, my voice turning glacial.
—You don’t need to know.
Squelch—!
The monster-dissection dagger I’d hidden at my back plunged into his neck, and I felt the blade sink true.
His carotid artery severed, crimson blood erupted like a fountain.
The Goblin Leader collapsed without even a scream, the skewer still clenched between his teeth.
“You have defeated the Goblin Leader-Shaman!”
“[Goblin] has been added to your Disguise list!”
“The Goblin group has fallen into chaos! Due to the passive skill [Chaos], your Agility temporarily increases by 2!”
—W-what?!
—The Kobold killed the commander! Rebellion!
The remaining Goblins cried out in alarm and seized their weapons.
I swiftly recovered my dagger and thrust it toward the nearest one.
But.
‘Damn it, my arms are too short!’
The short sword I swung grazed past the Goblin’s chest and missed entirely.
The Kobold’s physical abilities were far more pathetic than I’d anticipated.
Weak strength, and above all, short limbs that put me at a crushing disadvantage in reach combat.
In that moment, I viscerally understood why Kobolds get thrashed by Goblins so easily.
Moreover, this body transformed through Antagon’s Rune couldn’t fully harness its original power without sufficient proficiency.
─Keeeek!!
As the Goblin’s club struck my shoulder, I tumbled ungracefully across the Grassland.
A pain as if my bones would shatter!
They pressed their advantage and swarmed over me.
I scrambled to my feet and bolted.
‘Overcoming monster matchups is impossible after all…!’
There was no winning this state.
Still, I’d achieved my initial objective.
Making them think I was a weakling Kobold and let their guard down.
And taking out the Leader while they were careless.
So then.
─Disguise released!
Shuuuuk─!
In an instant, black smoke erupted as the Kobold’s hide peeled away, revealing my true form.
When a human suddenly doubled in size burst forth, the charging Goblins shrieked and froze in shock.
｢You have deactivated the [Disguise] skill!｣
｢The enemies are greatly flustered by the sudden transformation! The [Confusion] skill activates!｣
｢Your strength has temporarily increased by 3!｣
─Naked%$^ human@&*!
─Hairless&*# monkey human#$ thing!!
“Get lost!!”
Boom─!
I drove my heel into the bewildered Goblin’s solar plexus with all my might.
Thanks to the strength amplified by [Confusion], he became a ball and crashed into the Campfire.
─Kyaaaak!! H-hot*%$!!
While they hesitated, I seized the moment and rushed to grab the cutlass lying on the ground.
The familiar sensation of it settling in my grip.
Now this is what I call a real fight.
─Kill the human*#$ !!
─Surround%^! Right side!!
The Goblins’ screeching pierced my ears.
Strangely enough, perhaps from having been transformed into a monster moments ago, I could intermittently understand the Goblins’ language.
‘Right side!’
Understanding their strategy, I twisted my body preemptively to evade the incoming stone projectile.
Then I pressed forward and swung my blade.
Squelch!
Blood erupted from the severed Goblin’s torso, drenching my face.
The metallic stench of blood assaulted my nostrils, but there was no time to hesitate.
“Die, you vermin!!”
The remaining creatures lunged at me simultaneously from both sides.
I kicked a burning log from the Campfire with my foot.
Whoosh—crack!
As the flaming projectile flew toward them, one creature shrieked and shielded its face.
Seizing that opening, I drove my blade down through its skull, while blocking the club swing from the other with my raised arm.
Thud!
“Ugh…!”
The club struck bare flesh, and a bone-deep pain resonated through me, but adrenaline kept me standing.
I gritted my teeth, seized the creature by the collar, and slammed it into the ground.
Then I finished it.
Squelch!
Immediately, I sensed something creeping toward me from behind, but I had long since mastered Goblin behavior patterns.
“Ambush won’t work on me!”
Without hesitation, I spun and severed the approaching Goblin’s neck.
The severed head rolled away, leaving only ragged breathing echoing through the Forest.
Drenched in blood, I gazed down at the scattered Goblin corpses.
Standing naked in the wind-swept Forest, painted in gore, the sensation was peculiar.
A victory that was savage and primal—far removed from civilization.
But I had survived.
“Phew… First, let me get dressed.”
I wiped the blood away roughly with leaves, retrieved my clothes from the Thicket where I’d hidden them, dressed, and approached the corpses again.
‘The proof of Goblin subjugation was the right ear, wasn’t it?’
My stomach churned, but I suppressed it and severed the ears with my dagger.
However, as I was removing the Leader Goblin’s ear, I paused.
“The ear shape is much more pointed… Could this creature have been a Goblin Shaman?”
A rather formidable specimen among Goblins. Now that I thought about it, it did seem stronger than the others.
I hadn’t noticed because it lacked body paint or feather decorations.
It seemed this one had only recently advanced to that class.
Had I failed to kill it instantly through carelessness, I might have been the one in grave danger.
“In any case, this settles the Guild membership requirement….”
But as I was rummaging through the Goblins’ belongings, a peculiar powder clung to my fingertips.
“What is this…?”
Inside the bundle, within a crudely stitched pouch, lay a green powder.
I carefully inhaled its scent and furrowed my brow.
“Green Moss scales?”
A powder extracted from the wings of massive moth-type monsters.
Though typically used as alchemical material or medicinal ingredient, its mild hallucinogenic and toxic properties made it a drug or luxury item among monsters.
It wasn’t particularly strange for a monster to possess such a thing.
Goblins possessed high intelligence, engaging in barter among themselves and even maintaining crude monetary economies.
Another adventurer would have dismissed it with a casual thought—’So these creatures were using drugs too’—but I couldn’t deceive my own eyes.
‘Something’s off.’
I rubbed the powder between my fingers.
Judging by its fine particles and lack of moisture, it hadn’t been harvested more than a few days ago.
Yet to my knowledge, Green Moss didn’t inhabit the Nearby Forest.
Coming to the past might have altered the regional distribution of monsters, but Green Moss could only thrive where magical energy pooled densely.
And there was only one location in this vicinity that met such conditions.
A Dungeon.
The puzzle pieces clicked into place in my mind.
“These goblins… they crawled out from the Dungeon.”
The Dungeon had seemed like a blessing at first.
A land of opportunity where I could hunt monsters to raise my level and earn money from byproducts.
But as time passed, it became the source of calamity.
Belheim’s past history recorded the “Great Flood”—when monsters poured from the Dungeon, laid waste to nearby cities, and seized entire regions.
‘Yet I haven’t heard any rumors about the Dungeon from the Town or Inn.’
Now that I thought about it, the Dungeon’s discovery in this area occurred roughly two to three years before the game’s start—which aligned almost perfectly with the present moment.
‘Could this be a sign that the Dungeon entrance is about to open?’
It might be a harbinger that the great catastrophes etched into Belheim’s blood-stained history were slowly awakening.
Finally, I unfolded the crude map the Goblin had carried.
In one corner of the crudely drawn map, there was a red X mark.
The exact location matched the Dungeon’s position in my memory.
“…At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before the Dungeon awakens and is discovered by people.”
The Dungeon’s opening would be an enormous threat to this world’s inhabitants, but honestly, it wasn’t my concern.
As a mere individual, I couldn’t possibly prevent catastrophe, nor did I feel compelled to sacrifice my life for these people.
I’d already resolved this from the start—to abandon altruism in this life and live solely for myself.
Yet this was both a crisis and an immense opportunity.
Hunting diverse monsters in the Dungeon would allow me to grow faster than any other method.
If I escaped quickly before the monster wave flooded out and fled far away, I could reap the benefits alone.
“Then… I should level up in advance to prepare for a Dungeon challenge. To maximize my specs, I’ll need to awaken the greaves I stole from the Ghost Ship as well….”
After cleaning up, I grabbed the sack containing the Goblin ears and stood.
But seeing the cloth pouch dripping blood, a detail from my early days suddenly surfaced in my memory.
‘The Goblin Shaman is quite a tough monster for beginners… I wonder what the Guild will say?’
Ah, it should be fine. It’s not like there aren’t new recruits who bring down monsters of this caliber on their first subjugation.
In my past life, I’d even hunted an Ogre as my initiation rite.
I turned my steps toward the Adventurer’s Guild.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————