The pig challenged me to a duel. No idea why.
"Doesn't have to be me right."
"No, it has to be you. The only one that can evenly match my Goblin Elite is that dragon."
Well yeah but…
"You don't have to fight me specifically, right. You can just find one of the other guys."
"Other guys? Those 'other guys' only tamed their monsters a few days ago, there's no way they'd be able to fight evenly."
"… Well, it would be better if you dueled him, for everyone's sakes."
"Do I have to?"
"Personally, I would prefer you to duel him."
"…Haa, fine I get it. I just have to do it, right."
In an area slightly apart from everyone, we confront the pig & Goblin Elite. Lime is with everyone else, who have surrounded us in a circle to watch the battle. The referee is Sasha-sensei.
"Now then, we will start the duel. The height limit is…about that tree."
She points to a tree nearby. Roughly, 5-6m huh. Those're some pretty tough conditions. One of Ruu's best techniques, a nose dive drop attack, can't be used huh.
"Hey, isn't it boring with just a duel?"
"What?"
"Let's bet something on it. For example…like our monsters."
"Something like that, no way hell I would. What bullshit."
"Well, I thought you'd say that. Come to think of it, that dwarf friend of yours. Now, I wonder what she's doing…"
"…Keep Triss out of this."
"That's up to you."
"…Fine. But, it's not a bet unless there are two parties, y'know."
"I bet my Goblin Elite. If you win, boil it or grill it I don't care."
His attitude of treating the Goblin Elite as an object gets on my nerves. Seriously, he's so good at pissing people off…
"Now, beat down that dragon!"
"Ga…"
The Goblin Elite swayingly steps forward. That guy, there's something weird about his look…There's no light in his eyes, or should I say…it feels like his soul is dead…No way, did that pig break his soul and forcefully tame him!? No wonder there's a strength imbalance.
"Go, Goblin Elite! Show us the swordsmanship that brutalized droves of goblins!"
"Gyau …"
Goblin Elite looks at us with lifeless eyes. In his eyes I feel as though I see him saying, "Please, kill me!!!"…. No, he's actually telling me to kill him. He's mourning, 'I don't want to kill my own kin anymore'.
"…One thing, can I ask one thing? The one that made this guy kill goblins, was it you?"
"Who else is there but me? Huh huh huh, even when I remember that I get the chills. A goblin, single-mindedly killing its own kind as they run away. Don't you think it's hilarious?"
"I see, I'm relieved to hear that."
I jump on Ruu's back, and pat her head. She immediately stands up, and scowls at not the goblin but at the pig.
"Now, come at me goblin. You and your master, I'll read both of your last rites!"
"Gua A Aaaaa !!!"
And with that, the duel for both monsters began.
The first one to make a move, was Goblin Elite. Running low to the ground, it pulls out its sword and thrusts at us. Putting mana into Ruu's wings, we escape into the air.
Goblin Elite jumps into the air and tries to cut us down. While dodging the downward slash, Ruu turns around. She whips the goblin away with her tail.
"Guu…"
Before being slammed to the ground, Goblin Elite fixes its posture in midair, and slams its sword into the ground to use as a brake. Seems like he guarded against the attack, and hasn't taken a lot of damage.
Now it's our turn. After I collect mana into Ruu's wings, she rushes in. Just like that we try to assault the goblin, but he shifts to stand perpendicular to Ruu, and repeatedly thrusts with skillful timing. We stop attacking, and retreat into the air.
Goblin Elite makes another jump attack. We dodge, and make a nosedive claw attack the moment he touches the ground.
Goblin Elite dodges Ruu's claws by jumping aside. It scratches him slightly, but doesn't look like it was very effective. The goblin then kicks off the ground, and brings his sword down from above. We can't avoid this, so we concentrate mana into one wing, and deflect the sword.
'Gagaga!' The large sword slips along Ruu's scales. After its blow is deflected Goblin Elite's stance is left wide open, so we swipe Ruu's tail into his stomach. The goblin takes it head-on and is blown away by the attack.
"Nice, and the response?"
"Guru"
"A square hit, huh. Don't let your guard down, after all a cornered beast is at its most dangerous."
Goblin Elite stands up while spitting blood. It should've been a lot of damage, but he looks perfectly fine…As expected of monsters, I suppose.
"What're you doing! Stop fuddling around, get going!"
Pig sends mana to the goblin. At first it's repelled, but he forcefully jams it into the goblin's body. The Goblin Elite's power grows, but at the same time wounds are quickly appearing all over his body. Damnit, forcing your way around like that!
"We're going, Ruu! Let's finish this!"
"Guru!"
We soar into the sky, and accelerate at once towards the Goblin Elite. Despite being wounded, he hurriedly takes a stance and lets loose a flurry of sharp thrusts.
"Ruu!"
"Guru~u!"
While folding her wings, Ruu makes a full spin sideways. We can hear a nasty 'gyari gyari' grating sound as the sword scratches Ruu's scales, but we continue into a frontal charge. Ruu bites the goblin in the torso, and pushes him to the ground.
"Stop the duel."
"W-W-W-What did you say!!!???"
Nn, why're you so surprised by that? There's nothing to be surprised about.
"Why did my goblin lose! It beat over one hundred goblins!?"
"Goblins don't have that much mana. Just because you beat however many, doesn't mean you'll get that much stronger."
"Wha!?"
"Also, dragons and goblins are different grades as monsters. It'd be a different story if you properly raised it, but with forcefully taming it, there's no way you could win."
"W-w-w-wh-wh-wha!!!???"
Ooh, his face is getting redder and redder. Probably full of rage and shame. Serves you right.
"Mkay then, I'm gonna help myself to this goblin then."
"…The hell I'll let you, like hell I'll let you!"
Suddenly, the pig sends mana to the Goblin Elite. The Goblin Elite lying prone on the ground jumps up, faces towards me, and comes at me with his sword.
"Uwah!"
"What're you doing! Stop him!"
"Hahahahaha!!! Who the hell would just hand it over to you, I'll give him to you in exchange for your life!!!"
Doing things like going berserk in desperation, what a complete asshole! It'd be a pain to harassed by him later, so I should crush him here.
Hiding behind Ruu, I place my hand on her back and move her mana. I gather the mana in her vocal cords and say,
"Ruu, release all of the mana at once, and roar at that pig!"
"Guru! Suuu… 'GAAAAAAAA! ! ! ! !' "
Shockwaves are generated from Ruu's mouth, and I give it direction so it flies straight at the pig. It's easy to give directivity, and all I have to do is direct it in the same direction with Magic Hands.
The sound cannon hits the pig, and sends him flying in a spiral. Because the mana flow was interrupted, the Goblin Elite's movements also stopped.
How is he?
"…He's only fainted. It appears to have hit in a good spot. Good grief…this is why spoiled noble brats are…"
Having confirmed the pig's pulse, Sasha-sensei lends him a shoulder.
"Today's lesson is now complete, please continue training individually. Also, you."
She points a finger at me,
"This time I will not question your actions due to the life-threatening situation, however that was clearly overkill. Once more, and you will be expelled."
"Roger, I just put a little too much power into it."
"Please do not answer questions you have not been asked, unless you want me to cut off your tongue? One more thing, please do something about that goblin. It's already your monster, isn't it?"
After saying her piece, Sasha-sensei takes the pig somewhere. Alright then, shall we go over to Goblin Elite.
Goblin Elite's body is worn-out, and is full of wounds. Even though it has been released from the pig's control, it sits on the ground and doesn't move. What does it want to do, does it have any thoughts?
"…Gu"
Goblin Elite looked at me, and murmurs only one word. With only that, I understood what he wanted to do. No, I was made to understand.
"…Are you sure? You won't regret it?"
"…Gu"
"Got it.Lime, c'mere."
I place Lime in front of Goblin Elite. 'What should I do', Lime asks me.
"…Kill him, and devour him."
"…?" purupuru?
"Ahh, it's fine. I told him I'd read him his last rites, after all."
'If that's the case', Lime responds by jumping onto him. Without any resistance, Goblin Elite is letting things be.
Looks like Lime decided to kill him by breaking his neck, as it is wraps around his neck. Just before Lime wrings, Goblin Elite looks at me,
"Gobu… Gu…"
"…Don't thank me, I haven't done anything to deserve it…"
A light snapping sound occurs, and the light from Goblin Elite's eyes disappears. Like that Lime wraps the whole body, and begins to digest it.
"Guru …"
"Mm, I'm fine Ruu. Thanks for asking."
Just like that, Lime digests Goblin Elite. When it finishing eating everything down to the bones, Lime begins to tremble.
"Li, Lime!? What happened!?"
Lime's body starts to change. What was a mandarin orange shaped body, sprouts up to my waist height. It splits to the left and right, while the bottom splits into two limbs. There, stood a human-shaped Lime.
It tries to walk towards me, but midway falls flat on its face. I hurry over and stand it up.
Are you okay? Um…Lime?"
"nod nod"
Ooh, Lime is nodding. Looks like it got a little smarter, as its thoughts are clear.
"Why did your form change? Because you at Goblin Elite?"
"nod"
Of course it's that…Must've had a ton of mana.
"Other your body changing, have you become able to do anything?"
"nod nod!"
Lime steps away from me, and lets out short punches and kicks. Rather than a punch, it's probably better to call it a scratch though.
"So you can use melee combat now huh, can you use a sword?"
"nod"
Lime shows me its arm. Its shape is like a sword, but only the surface is hard, while the inside is soft.
"It needs to be harder, or it can't be used. Can't I just hand you a sword?"
"shake shake"
Can't hold one eh. Well, not with those hands I guess.
"Alright then, let's increase the amount of metal being eaten. Ah, can I increase the solvent ratio too?"
"nod"
"I see, then let's go back and have lunch. Ruu, what'll you do? Going hunting after this?"
"Guru!"
"I see, be careful. I won't forgive you if you come back injured."
"Guru!"
Saying that, Ruu flies off. Now, shall we head back too. There isn't much metal left over too, so let's go get some more later.
"Wow, so that's Lime-chan.. It transformed~."
"It's become like a person-dearimasu. Can it speak-dearimasu?"
"No, it can't speak yet. Rather than that Triss, you weren't harassed by any strange people were you?"
"There was no such thing-dearimasu. Did something happen-dearimasu?"
"Nah, it's fine if nothing happened. So, were you able to get unneeded swords?"
"Yes, I got the failed goods-dearimasu, but…These things, what will you use them for-dearimasu?"
I receive the unusable swords, which were made in smithing class, from Triss. From ones with warps here and there, to ones that were not sharpened well, I took a large amount of swords.
"I'll feed them to Lime, look."
When I toss a sword to Lime, it catches it in both arms and plunges it in its body. Ooh, the dissolving speed is increasing. All thanks to eating that Goblin Elite.
"You can't just eat only metal, mkay. Here, eat some plants too."
I feed it poisonous plants too, and mix solvent into water. Umm, make it a little stronger…about this much?
"Is this much okay?"
"nod nod"
It drinks water with large gulps, and in the blink of an eye 1L of water has been finished. It's slapping the tub, so I guess it wants more.
"Wait a moment, I'll put in some more. Here, I'll leave the plants here."
When I come back after drawing water, Lime was starting to eat the next sword. It's gotten a lot faster at dissolving items…
"Even if you don't eat so fast, the swords aren't going anywhere. Eat slowly."
After that Lime continued to eat swords, and finished a total of 4. Apparently, its appetite also seems to have increased. We've run out of plants too, so I'll need to get more huh.