After Rubelt taught me a bunch of things, I finally ended up going on my first monster subjugation in this life.

Now then, when people talked about the very first monster an isekai protagonist fought, what popped into your head first?

That was right. Goblins.

Huh?

“Slimes exist too, damn it”?

Anyone saying that had clearly spent way too much time playing Dra〇uest. Go read Goblin Sl〇yer instead.

Anyway, the first monster I was about to kill was a goblin.

Honestly, that thing looked scary as hell.

A realistic goblin that completely forgot to switch on its goofy mascot filter was pure nightmare fuel. With that ugly face, those jagged fangs, and those filthy eyes, it looked exactly like the kind of creature people meant when they said “monster.”

Part of me had hoped that since it was small, walked upright, and had vaguely humanoid features, it might at least resemble a person a little.

Yeah. Not even remotely close.

It was nothing more than a revolting green-skinned creature, ugly enough to burn itself into your memory.

“Something wrong, Gray? Did a single goblin scare you?”

Maybe my face looked stiff, because Rubelt watched me with a smug grin.

He was a rotten adult who treated a kid scared of monsters like free entertainment. Drop straight into hell, you bastard.

I kept my stance ready in case the terrifying goblin holding a club in its right hand attacked at any moment, but I still forced a smile onto my face for Rubelt. Honestly, I was scared out of my damn mind, but even so, I could not back down here.

“Don’t look down on me. I’m not enough of a brat to freak out over this much.”

“Oh? Glad to hear it. If you pissed yourself here and spread the smell of ammonia everywhere, people might accuse me of being the one who leaked. Even I, a man called the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, couldn’t endure that kind of humiliation.”

“Rubelt, go apologize to Christ once in your life. Then grab a dictionary and look up Jesus Christ again.”

Maybe Rubelt was trying to loosen my nerves, because he suddenly said something completely insane.

What the hell would he have done if I had been a Christian?

After being reincarnated, I had decided to believe that gods existed, but that did not mean I worshipped any god. Lucky for him. If I were a believer, I would probably be fighting him to the death right now and ignoring the goblin completely. I would probably lose, though.

Even while we had that ridiculous exchange, the goblin only stood there quietly and watched us. It did not attack or do anything in particular.

Nice. I did not hate a goblin that could read the room. This guy was probably the type who would wait politely during a magical girl transformation scene.

“Do you have any advice for a rookie facing a monster for the first time, senpai?”

“None. If you get killed by a mere goblin, you’re better off dead. If there were several of them, that’d be one thing, but there’s only one. Even more reason.”

What a terrible veteran hunter. This was the part where he should say something, even if it was half-assed.

I felt slightly exasperated, but I activated my ability anyway. A tiny amount of magic drained from my body, then the magic began forming a shape.

“Toy Box.”

What I created was a metal bat. I had used one as a kid during the neighborhood softball tournament.

Could a metal bat be considered a toy? Some people might wonder that, but the definition of a toy depended on the person, so it was fine.

Maybe because it was a child-sized metal bat, it was a little small, but that made it easier to handle and swing around. For a complete amateur at fighting like me, it was probably just right as a weapon.

When Rubelt saw the metal bat I had materialized, he let out a small impressed sound.

“Oh? A conjuration-type ability user, huh? And your conjuring speed is insanely fast.”

“Thanks. By the way, can I beat that goblin to death with this bat?”

“That depends on you, Gray. Can you use body enhancement?”

“Probably.”

“If you can use it, then there’s no problem. After that, kill it however you want.”

If the worst happened and the goblin was about to kill me, Rubelt would probably save me.

He had looked after me this far, so I wanted to believe he would not suddenly abandon me the moment I was about to get killed by a monster.……He wouldn’t, right? If he did, I might end up unable to trust people ever again.

I gripped the metal bat in both hands and faced the goblin in front of me.

I felt bad for the polite little goblin-kun who had quietly waited this whole time, but I would be launching a massive home run worthy of O〇tani Shohei here. Of course, you were the ball, goblin!!

“Gugyakya!!”

The room-reading goblin seemed to understand that it was allowed to attack now, so it raised the club in its right hand high and charged at me.

Its bloodlust and vicious face almost made my body freeze on instinct, but if I stopped here, surviving from now on would be difficult.

I circulated magic through my body, used body enhancement, and raised my physical ability one level higher.

I stepped sideways to dodge the club swinging down vertically, then swung the metal bat with everything I had at the back of the goblin’s wide-open head.

Thonk. Crunch.

The sound of the metal bat smashing into its head rang out, and at the same time, the goblin’s skull caved in.

Brain matter and blood scattered everywhere, dyeing the grass on the plain red. The stink of guts and blood hit my nose.

Ugh. Gross.

I thought I had built up a decent resistance to gore from playing games where you killed biological weapons made by a certain umbrella-themed fictional company, but when the smell was included, it hit pretty hard.

“How was it?”

While feeling like I wanted to throw up, I spoke to Rubelt, who stood behind me with his arms crossed as he watched.

Rubelt, who had probably seen more goblin corpses than he could count, looked perfectly calm as he nodded a few times and approached the corpse.

“Not bad. Looks like you can use body enhancement too, so for a rookie, you’re fine. The fact that your face barely changed after seeing the corpse of a humanoid monster like a goblin is also worth points.”

“Oh? My face doesn’t look bad? Because I feel like I’m about to puke any second.”

“Then puke. A first kill is rough even for tough adults. Once people grow up, they learn the value of life. People say innocent brats who know nothing can be crueler, and they’re not exactly wrong. That, or someone’s a murderer with a screw loose. Be happy. You know what a life is worth.”

“……Was it rough for you too, Rubelt?”

“Unfortunately, I killed someone back when I was still a brat who didn’t know the value of life.”

Rubelt casually dropped something outrageous, and my eyes widened a little.

Even though he probably had not looked at my face, Rubelt continued as if he had seen my expression.

“Surprised? A lot happened in the past. Though really, it’s just a story about my father being trash. A tale you can find anywhere. Back then, I was desperate to protect my mother and little sister.”

I could not say anything.

Maybe Rubelt did not expect an answer from me, because he kept talking on his own.

“Remember this. There are plenty of bastards in this world who are better off dead. Whether you know the value of life or not, when it’s time to kill, kill. Don’t show mercy. Don’t sympathize. Even if the other person is a brat, if they need to be killed, you kill them. Mess it up even once, and next time, you’re the one who gets eaten.”

“……I’ll remember that. It’s advice from a great veteran hunter, after all.”

I could not say anything more than that.

***

After that slightly dark topic, Rubelt went back to normal and taught me all sorts of things.

He explained which parts of a goblin could be sold, what points to watch out for regarding goblins in this dungeon, and plenty of other useful things, so for me, it was a pretty big harvest.

What especially surprised me was that goblin types and traits differed depending on the dungeon.

“Well then, time to head back. I need to buy cigarettes from the old hag’s place on the way too.”

“You helped me a lot. If I’d come alone, I’d definitely have been in trouble.”

“Fuhaha. I had nothing but trouble when I came to the capital alone too. You’re lucky. You had a veteran watching over your first dungeon.”

While talking with Rubelt like that, we left the dungeon.

Even though a plain had stretched out around us until just a moment ago, the sensation of my vision switching the instant we passed through the dungeon gate still felt strange. I would probably get used to it after experiencing it enough times.

Rubelt and I went to the state-run purchase counter beside the dungeon, then lined up at an open window. Of course, since no one else was there, the waiting time was zero.

“Hm? Isn’t that you, Rubelt?”

“Yo. Can I sell these?”

Rubelt said that and tossed the magic stones and fangs from the goblins we hunted today onto the counter.

I thought it was a pretty rough way to do things, but the man at the reception desk did not complain. He picked up the magic stones and fangs and looked at them from various angles, probably checking their quality.

“This one’s clean, but this one’s clumsy. Did the kid beside you do it?”

“Yeah. First monster dismantling. Add a little bonus for him, will you?”

“His first, huh? Then I’ve got to add a little something. I don’t want to dry up a young seed that just entered a dangerous profession like hunting.”

After saying that, the receptionist counted the money and tossed it onto the counter.

How should I put it? Everything had been rough since a while ago. Was this normal in this world?

“Two sets of magic stones and fangs, three hundred gold. The kid’s was so bad it’d normally be one hundred gold, but I’ll add a bonus this time. Peel them off better next time.”

“Maybe the veteran’s teaching was bad.”

“Whoa, now it’s my fault? This kind of thing comes down to practice, you know?”

Rubelt took the money, then handed all of it to me.

“Do it yourself starting tomorrow, got it? You’re not a brat young enough to suck on your mama’s chest.”

“Rubelt as my mother? That’s disgusting. I feel like puking harder than when I killed my first goblin.”

After a simple exchange of insults, we left the window. Rubelt then gave me a warning with a slightly serious face.

“Be careful. Even if the purchase counter is run by the state, fraud happens like it’s normal. This time, I was here, so it was fine, but rookies are easy to trick and easy to rob. Plenty of bastards secretly pocket your share, so make sure you know the fair prices.”

“That’s scary. So corruption exists everywhere, huh? By the way, how do I learn the fair prices?”

“I’ll teach you. It changes a bit depending on the country and region, but it almost never changes by much. I’m not saying it over and over, so memorize it with pure grit.”

“Can we do it after we get home? I want to write notes.”

“……You’re serious, huh.”

No, if someone only told me once and it sounded like something I might forget, then of course I would write it down. That was normal.

Especially if it directly affected my own livelihood.

My memory was not exactly great. Taking proper notes was important.

“Ah, right. Also, even if someone gets injured, don’t rush into the treatment room beside the dungeon gate. Carry them to a hospital yourselves.”

“Why? One second could decide whether someone lives or dies, you know?”

“Even then. That place is basically full of quack doctors who got in through connections, and more importantly, they’ve caused trouble several times.”

I tilted my head.

What did he mean by caused trouble?

Maybe Rubelt read the question in my heart, because he told me what kind of trouble it was.

“Would you want to leave a comrade in a facility where they assault women they treated? Besides that, they overcharge rookies, claim first aid anyone could do is proper treatment, and all sorts of other awful crap.”

“Huh? And they’re still operating as a public institution?”

Even if it was run by the state, there was no way that kind of savagery should be allowed.

No, actually, if it was state-run, that made it even worse.

“I told you, didn’t I? Trash who only have connections get in there. The president of this country is a good president who values hunters, but that doesn’t mean everyone below him thinks the same way. If anything, most of them treat hunters as disposable labor. That’s why they shove their garbage onto us.”

“Even so, that’s way too awful. Don’t the police drag them away?”

“If they’ve got connections, that means someone with decent status is behind them. Usually their parents. Most things get covered up and buried in the dark. Bite too hard, and an un-for-tu-nate ac-ci-dent might happen.”

That meant getting killed, didn’t it?

Public safety was worse than I had imagined. If even FR, which was said to be safe, was like this, then other countries were probably far worse.

This was not funny at all.

I put on a stiff smile and squeezed out my voice.

“This is rotten. Completely rotten.”

“Damn right. Even a bar where drunks pass out and puke all over the place smells better than this.”

This world might be a harder mode than I had imagined.

Chapter 5: This Might Be Hard Mode