“Fine. When there are fewer enemies…”
“Damn it. I am being underestimated now.”
Komos, who was a little short for a hobgoblin, shrugged his shoulders, and then placed his hand gently on the angry goblin’s chest.
“If you want to look down and ridicule those who use strategy, you are free to do so.”
“W-what are you…”
Crack.
“Ah…AAHHHHHHHH!!”
“But if you can only see things from that perspective, then you lot will never be anything more than stupid, savage monsters.”
Komos’s fingers were crushing the goblin’s chest as it was a soft fruit.
“AH! AHHH!!”
“Watch, all of you. And understand. In the Demon General’s army…”
Without using much strength, he had crushed the goblin’s ribs.
“There is no need for those without intelligence.”
“A-ahhh!!”
In a flash, the monsters scattered in terror. Komos wiped his hand on the cape of the dead goblin.
“To think that I have to repeat this every time we have new recruits… It makes my heart heavy.”
“Still, I think that you don’t hate discipling such savage monsters once in a while.”
Berganda was standing behind him with a grin.
“Please don’t joke about such things. Besides, if you were here, you could have intervened.”
“If you did not show your power there, then it would have resulted in bigger trouble later. It was important for them to see the true might of my trusted confidant.”
Sheto could not help but feel a chill as he listened to them talk light-heartedly.
Berganda had crushed armored knights with his hands. But he had thought that Komos was just a magician. So this was unexpected.
“Were you surprised, eh?”
The minotaur turned to Sheto as if reading his thoughts.
“Judging by your expression, you were probably thinking about escaping this fortress while using Komos as a hostage.”
“Though, I wish we could have lowered his guard more first.”
“Yo-you all…are liars!”
The minotaur patted Sheto on the shoulder happily.
“Yes, liars. However, this is how you negotiate. Hide your true ability and make the others lower their guard. And then attack their weapon point. Isn’t that what you have been doing too?”
“That’s…”
“In your case, you were probably able to do it without thinking about it. After all, kobolds are underestimated by nature.”
They talked about such things as they entered the building.
Sheto now had no choice but to follow them.
‘Sheto. It appears that you are now at a point where you have to think differently.’
“…About what?”
“Your mindset that monsters are barbarians.’
The words pierced him. He didn’t want to talk about it, but the dragon continued to prod him.
‘I am sure you have your reasons as well. Still, what do you think after seeing these two? There are monsters who strategize and think deeply as well.’
“But, still. When Komos was defied. Monster with strength won. Nothing changed.”
‘He made it look that way. While he says that he is against violence, he was just waiting for the best timing. In order to show the others who are dissatisfied with his ability.’
The kobold’s ears twitched.
“Including me?”
‘Why do you think he was talking so calmly when you left the tower? It was a good opportunity to bind your movements.’
Indeed, he was annoyed with Komos’s order.
And when Komos said he would kill him, it was natural for Sheto to think this. Komos was weaker than him.
‘He said that he would give his own life to help his master. But he did not say it would be difficult to kill you. In other words…’
“Not hard, to kill me. Now, I should be ready, to be killed then.”
“I don’t think it would be easy.”
Before he knew it, Sheto was standing in front of a simple wooden door. Komos held the door open for his master with a smile.
“There was no other meaning in those words. That is what it means to kill an enemy.”
“You, can hear god’s words?”
“I just heard your mutterings. And judging by what happened, it wasn’t hard to imagine what this was about.”
“Sheto, you cannot hide anything from Komos.”
The minotaur said with a laugh as he ducked and went through the door.