The sun was shining brightly in the clear blue sky, birds were chirping, flying from tree to tree and about two hundred goblins walked unopposed on the only road in sight in these grasslands.

Yuusha yawned as he walked at the front of the goblin column, alongside hobgoblin Sizarbob. He got no sleep last night. Part of the reason Yuusha could not sleep walked right next to him in the form of hobgoblin Sizarbob. The rust-colored brute two heads taller than our hero had talked Yuusha’s ear off for the better part of the night and almost never left Yuusha alone for more than a minute. Sizarbob was the leader of this goblin raid party.

Yuusha was learning the goblin language at frightening speeds. Once he figured out that each time the goblins said “usjū” they were referring to him, each new goblin word came to Yuusha easier than the previous one. Hardly a day had passed, but he could already roughly understand what the goblins were talking about. Though, since Yuusha was still missing a lot of words and all the nuances of goblin language were alien to him, he understood their speech in only the most primitive form. For now.

And since Yuusha was learning as he was listening, that made yesterday’s one-sided conversation with Sizarbob all the more painful. The hobgoblin talked passionately, in a less than pleasant voice, without stopping. And for the first three to four hours of the monologue, Yuusha understood one or two words at a time, with no idea how they related to each other. Thus, Yuusha also spent a good part of the night learning how many different ways there were to silently say: “yes”, “hm”, “you’re right”, “continue”, "is that so?", and “maybe”.

Up ahead by the road a single goblin ran out of the trees and swiftly moved in their direction. He was skipping more so than running. Sizarbob often sent scouts ahead, so far they had nothing new to report. This one, however, apparently did have some news and screeched, “Human house that direction, not long.”

“Scout say human house distance off road,” Sizarbob said to Yuusha, repeating the same thing in different words. Yuusha slightly nodded in response. Oh, and Yuusha understood some time ago that Sizarbob’s name was actually Sidzarboz, but at this point, he had gotten used to thinking of it that way, and since Yuusha would never have to actually say Sizarbob’s proper name, he saw no reason to correct his thoughts.

“Stop!” Sizarbob commanded. “Sorzak, take five, follow.”

Yuusha, Sizarbob, his brother Sorzak and five regular, small, green goblins separated from the party and went off the road.

Yuusha got a small orange crystal out of his pocket and checked it’s stats for about the ninth time since he got it. By this point, Yuusha did not need to consciously issue some mental command like “stats!”. Ordering the crystal’s stats to appear with his mind took about as much mental effort as stepping over a rock beneath his feet.

[Name: Orange Crystal of Potential]

[Level: 3]

[Status: Not Ready

Loading... 3%]

What am I doing? Yuusha sighed and put away the orange crystal back into his pocket. He knew the percentage wouldn't change compared to an hour ago. It was slowly turning into a habit for him.

The other reason Yuusha got no sleep last night was that he tried to figure out how to get out of this mess. In theory, so far this is going about as well as I could hope, given the circumstances, Yuusha thought. I mean sure, I unwittingly agreed to accompany Sizarbob and his crew as they pillage and plunder through the countryside, but what was I supposed to do? I’m the only hero who can save this world, so my survival is a top priority! Right?

But the main problem is that learning Goblin language is so far my only accomplishment in this world. A glorified companion to a slightly confused hobgoblin, starving and weak. What kind of hero am I? This is supposed to be an adventure where I kick evil’s ass and hit it off with beautiful exotic girls. Otherwise, what’s the point? If I wanted to suffer I could do that back in my world just fine.

And whether Sizarbob is around me all the time because of his strange fascination with me or simply because I’m the only one that lets him talk for as long as he does, he keeps me from running away without even realizing it. Not that his presence is the deciding factor – scouting and patrol seem to be a speciality for these little goblins. And it explains how they’ve managed to be so successful so far in avoiding slaughter.

Yuusha saw smoke in the distance. They were no more than a kilometer from their target. The goblins made no effort to conceal themselves and considering how few of them came meant that whatever their target was, they did not expect it to be any threat.

“Be sure none escape,” Sizarbob said to his brother. Sorzak repeated the command to the goblins.

Either way, I can’t keep this up for long. Even it the goblins unwittingly protect me from the dangers of this world, for now, being surrounded by strong allies is only good up to the point they don’t point their blades in my direction. And right now there are too many ways in which this situation can and will lead to my death.

Sooner or later these guys will run into opposition that will be able to stop them or at least put up a decent fight. And if I have to fight in my current condition – I’m dead. Or they might want me to demonstrate my strength, of which I have none. Or we might run into someone that knows I’m not their ally. Not to mention I can’t just let them kill people left and right and still call myself a hero!

Yuusha’s stomach growled. When they set up camp yesterday one goblin did bring him a flask of water and a piece of meat, but Yuusha did not dare to imagine the source of that meat and had no way to ask, so he declined the offer.

If any good will come out of this, it’s that I’ll eat something edible, Yuusha thought. He kept an eye out for some berries or other fruits, but deep inside he knew that it’s a waste of effort. How was I supposed to know botany will come handy? At the grocery store, everything is labeled anyway. I was never interested in being a doctor or some sort of scientist in a white coat! And they said that writing cheat sheets helps memorize the text! What a load of bull!

Not to mention this is a fantasy world so who knows what is edible and what isn’t. On average these types of generic fantasy worlds keep the same kind of food as in our regular world to not confuse the reader or just out of laziness or lack of creativity, but still, there is a risk.

There it was in plain sight - a one-story house with a straw roof and clay walls, and a couple of sheds, surrounded by a short wooden fence.

“Surround!” Sizarbob commanded his party and the goblins did just that. They split up to come at the fenced-off house from all sides. Sizarbob and Yuusha came from the front.