I Became a Goblin Ancestor

“Kuhaak!!!”

Just before the sword could split my head, I see the woman flying far away from my preemptive counterattack.

The woman rolls on the ground several times before finally crashing into the wall of a building.

At this, I slightly furrowed my brow and looked around at the surrounding humans.

Murmur murmur—s whispering while filming me or pointing fingers, with bewildered expressions.

“It seems that judging by the atmosphere, I’ve done something wrong again…”

『It certainly appears so.』

“But even so, I couldn’t just take an attack meant to kill me.”

『That’s also true. It’s absurd for the leader of the goblin race to die at the hands of humans in the first place.』

Seeing the surrounding gazes that seemed to blame me with incomprehensible faces, it seemed that even this counterattack I had carried out was something I had done wrong.

However, no matter how much I should follow human laws in a human city, I couldn’t just quietly accept my own death, could I?

Rather, I wanted to praise myself for gently pushing her away with wind, instead of using flames or thought manifestation to aim for instant death, despite having my life threatened.

I had thought about killing her outright when she swung her sword at my head, but since I don’t know much about this world yet, I counterattacked so gently, trying to be as mild as possible.

“I don’t want to cause a big conflict unnecessarily…”

Now that I’ve subdued her, I’ll listen to her reason, and if it was truly a reason worth threatening my life, I’ll sincerely apologize again and give her ten or a hundred bundles of gold or silver coins.

However, if it wasn’t a valid reason, I’ll show the mercy I can bestow and only take the life of that red greatsword woman who attacked me.

“Mercy for human mistakes is the magnanimity of the Great Chief, right?”

『Hmm, that’s right.』

“Haah… Alright.”

As I organized my thoughts through the conversation with Hwa-gon and made up my mind, my head, which had momentarily heated up with anger, cooled down and my vision cleared again.

And with that cleared vision, I lightly waved my left hand towards the woman far away, embedded in the building.

Whoosh—

“Come here.”
“Kugh?!”

As I manipulated the wind again to restrain the woman and drag her over, she swallowed a bewildered groan.

“To make me show such an unseemly display in front of the ancestor…!”
“Stay still for a moment.”
“Kuhk…!!”

As soon as I dragged her in front of me, I forced the woman who was trying to counterattack by twisting her body to kneel on the ground.

Kuguugung—

A groan flows from the woman’s mouth at the pressure of the air pressing on her shoulders and the earth pulling at her feet.

But surely, given the strength the woman had shown, she should have enough energy left to answer, so I sat down on one knee crookedly and met her gaze.

“Kuuugh…!”
“Huh, your eyes are still the same…”

Despite the crushing pressure applied vertically that would undoubtedly be exhausting, the woman still glared at me with eyes full of killing intent.

I clicked my tongue at the woman’s appearance and swallowed a hollow breath, but soon I asked her the one question that was more necessary than anything else in the current situation.

“I don’t know why you took my earlier apology as an insult, but let me ask you one thing. What exactly did I do wrong that made you try to take my life?”
“Damn bitch… Are you pretending not to know what even the poor from the slums know, and insulting our Punishment Team again…!”
“No… I really don’t know.”
“Stop with any more outrageous talk!!! If you’re a human born in the defense city, there’s no way you wouldn’t know?!”
“Hmm…”

Judging by how she’s shouting so vehemently, it seemed I had indeed violated something that humans in this city take for granted.

In short, it was a problem arising from racial differences.

But is it really a matter of losing one’s life for briefly flying in the sky, trying to touch that blue hole, and making mistakes out of ignorance of the truth?

Moreover, seeing how she immediately tried to cut my body even after I sincerely apologized, it seemed the humans’ rules were quite strict.

Therefore, feeling frustrated, I scratched my head and looked down at Hwa-gon in my right hand.

“Hwa-gon… Did I really do something wrong?”

『…Even I can’t be sure about that, but surely defending your own life isn’t wrong, is it?』

“But it seems even that is wrong here.”

『That’s… Although humans weren’t without cruel aspects, they weren’t this closed-minded…』

“It’s troublesome since all the surrounding humans seem to take it for granted too…”

If only there were a few people among the surrounding crowd who looked like they found it strange, but the atmosphere was one of complete agreement with this woman’s words.

Being in such an atmosphere made me feel like I was the only criminal without any room for doubt, so I let out a sigh and looked back and forth between the woman and the surrounding people.

And after observing the surroundings for a while.

In the end, the choice I made was perhaps the obvious one, the only one that existed.

“In times like these, after all…”

There was no point in asking that woman who was glaring at me like that any further.

Even if I asked what I had done wrong, she only expressed her anger with irrelevant answers, so I had no choice.

Therefore, the place I turned my steps towards was just one place.

“It’s best to bow my head to the leader of these humans.”

It was the palanquin ridden by the one the armored humans called ‘ancestor’.

“Yes, this is certainly the surest method.”

Seeing how the person in the palanquin was being revered as the ancestor of the humans gathered here, they must be someone of quite high status.

If so, by offering a massive amount of gold and silver treasures and apologizing for my ignorance of common sense, I should be able to receive forgiveness somehow.

In fact, taking such a submissive stance was quite a blow to my pride, but I had no choice but to do this because I didn’t want to turn this place into a sea of blood if possible.

“I can do this because I’ve only recently become the Great Chief, really…”

『Hmm… It doesn’t seem right to bow your head this much to mere humans… How about exterminating all the humans here and finding a new settlement?』

“I’d like to do that too… But this is the easiest path for now. The humans seem to have developed greatly, and all my kinsmen have already disappeared, so it might be better to live quietly in hiding for a while. Besides, even if we wanted to leave for somewhere, we don’t know anything right now, do we?”

It was a very tempting suggestion from Hwa-gon, reciting my thoughts exactly, but I barely shook my head at it.

For me, who doesn’t even know where this place is right now, what I primarily need is information.

I needed information to build the foundation necessary before finding a new life goal, and the only way for me to obtain information in the current situation was to quietly hide among the humans.

So, although it comes with tremendous irritation and anger, apologizing like this and escaping unnecessary scrutiny would be the best method.

Therefore, I stopped at a distance appropriately far from the armored humans who were wary of me and looked up at the palanquin.

“Hey, you human riding inside that palanquin. You’re the leader of these guys, right?”

[Excuse me…? Are you perhaps talking to me?]

“Yes, I heard these guys calling you ancestor and treating you with respect.”

[Ah… Well, you’re quite an interesting person.]

“Well… I’ve heard that a lot since the old days…”

Of course, it was usually meant in a bad way. I pushed away the unpleasant memories that came to mind and trailed off my response.

I hesitated for a moment as the past of being discriminated against as a mutant came to mind unbidden, but what I originally intended to do was apologize to the leader.

So, only after confirming that the human in the palanquin was undoubtedly the leader of these people, including the woman behind me, did I lightly raise Hwa-gon in my right hand over my shoulder.

“Alright, then…”

If I truly wanted to offer an apology to humans, nothing was better than gold and silver treasures, so before apologizing, what I intended to create was an amount of gold and silver treasures that would make their eyes pop out.

If there were piles of gold and silver nuggets so large that ten people would struggle to carry them in their arms, even a human with little greed for wealth would be somewhat swayed.

Therefore, I finished preparations to swing down Hwa-gon, which I had raised, infusing it with mysterious power.

“Come forth, gold, chu…”
“…I apologize, ancestor. Please forgive me for showing such an unsightly appearance!!”

It seemed that the people here, including the woman, were not pleased even with the apology I was about to make, bending my last bit of pride.

Creak—!!!

The woman who broke through my restraint, which had weakened slightly as I took my eyes off her for a moment, by sacrificing her leg muscles.

And simultaneously with the woman’s movement, the armored humans guarding the palanquin also rushed at me.

“We cannot tolerate any threat to the ancestor even if our lives disappear!!!”
“Swing in sync with the captain!!!”
“Die!!!”

They swung their weapons at me, shouting in a very easy-to-understand manner, having misunderstood something about the current situation.

From behind, a greatsword, and from the front, swords and spears flew sharply, aiming for my vital points.

But the attacks were so clearly visible that I let out a small sigh in the midst of it.

“Really…”

In fact, the current situation was no different from before.

Once again, I was facing a life-threatening situation due to an action I committed unknowingly, but it was just a matter of gently deflecting them with wind as I did before.

In other words, it was something that could be resolved if I took a conciliatory stance one more time.

However, of course, needless to say.

For me, who had suppressed my emotions several times already, there was no more pride left to bend.

As the Great Chief of the goblin race, to have my life threatened by mere humans, and to have even my attempt at an apology after enduring so much cruelly trampled… how could I bend any further?

“…Fire.”

Therefore, before the weapons could even touch the hem of my clothes, sparks rose from near my body at my quiet recitation.

Sparks so small and feeble that they looked more pitiful than a candle flame.

And I lightly grasped those risen sparks with one hand.

Whoosh—!!!

Then, as if exploding from my hand, the flames began to spread with a maddening momentum.

The next moment, I saw the pupils of the woman and soldiers who caught sight of it contract sharply, but it was already far too late for them to handle the situation.

The flames that had already spread from my surroundings to the lower half of the palanquin, excluding the distant spectators, condensed within the range, preparing to erupt.

Then, along with it, the immense heat that rose made the air sweltering.

“Ev-everyone, defend…!”
“Explode.”

A pillar of flame that would turn skin to ashes in an instant, beyond mere heat, soared high into the sky.