I Am Not A Goblin Slayer

It was very close to the border here, and those searching flying Demons could no longer be seen.

Just as Hephaestus had guessed, these minions of the Green Dragon Queen were finding it tricky to deal with the prospect of possibly invading another Demon Lord’s territory.

After all, the Green Dragon Queen was not in the forest now, but had taken part of the Green Dragon Army to conquer human lands, and for a while she shouldn’t be able to pull away.

If they also provoked a war with another Demon Lord, their superior might well want to swallow their hearts.

They understood how important it was to capture the destroyer of the Dragon’s Nest, but should they really risk angering another Lord?

Approaching the border, or even crossing into the other side’s lands to search, would undoubtedly be an open provocation.

No Extraordinary commander could afford to shoulder that responsibility.

In the end, after holding a meeting, they decided to slow down the search for now.

They would strictly guard the stretch along the forest’s edge; if that fugitive tried to return, they could block him at any moment.

At the same time, they sent messengers to the Lord of that Red Earth Land, pleading for help in hunting down the criminal and promising to offer sufficient Treasure.

At such a critical juncture, they simply could not afford to make mistakes.

The Lord of Red Earth had received orders from the Demon King’s palace not to take advantage of those Borderland Lords who were launching the first wave of war against the humans; but if the Green Dragon Army voluntarily handed them a pretext, they wouldn’t mind biting a big chunk out of the resource-rich Jade Forest.

Everyone among the nearby Demon powers was well aware that the rulers of Red Earth and the Jade Forest didn’t get along.

The Green Dragon Queen coveted Red Earth’s favorable conditions for grain cultivation and its Magic Power-rich mines, while Red Earth envied the relatively habitable, species-rich forest.

Thus, with the Green Dragon Army abandoning further pursuit, Hephaestus rather narrowly managed to cross the border and slip into the Red Earth Land just before he would have been captured.

Crossing the natural barrier adjoining the Jade Forest—the endless Red Earth highlands like giant tree stumps—Hephaestus saw spread out before him a relatively desolate red wasteland.

”Hoo—hoo—”

The scorching wind over the Red Earth drove tumbleweeds racing madly across the land.

It was precisely the barrier of those border highlands that kept the desertification from encroaching further into the Jade Forest.

”Woo~~”

Whether it was the dry heat making Hephaestus feel comfortable, or the fact that he had temporarily shaken off his relentless pursuers and relaxed, in any case Hephaestus was in a very good mood now.

This land even turned his scales into natural camouflage.

Still, before he had properly scouted out the surroundings, he didn’t dare act recklessly.

Where did the Demons here live? How many Extraordinary Demons were nearby? These were all things he needed to investigate.

As for Demons below the Extraordinary level, he wasn’t particularly concerned about them anymore.

He only needed to be wary of a few super-level beings.

His most urgent task now was to get away from the border and then find an unclaimed patch of land to hide in.

As for food, he could still hold out for now and didn’t need to go out in search of food or water.

Whenever he was hungry or thirsty, he could simply use Magic Power to open Gauss’s Storage Pouch.

Before setting out, Gauss had prepared enough supplies, meant mainly for him in the first place.

Another day passed.

Hephaestus had already managed to find an abandoned mine pit large enough to contain his body.

Across this solid Red Earth, abandoned pits of all sizes could be found everywhere.

There might be a few creatures living in some of them, such as Kobolds, Jackal-Wolf People, goblins, or perhaps...

Humans, right before his eyes.

Hephaestus clutched Gauss with one claw, and scratched his body with the other.

In front of him stood a group of terrified humans holding torches and Stone Spears.

They were wrapped in animal hides and stiff leather, heads raised, using the firelight to stare at the giant beast that had invaded their home, swallowing nervously.

This... was a dragon?

Though they had Stone Spears leveled at the giant beast, at this moment all their minds had gone blank.

Facing such a creature, it went without saying that they were no match at all.

How could they be so unlucky today?

They had just been preparing to go out hunting when they ran straight into this enormous beast breaking into their mine.

It made them wonder if they were still dreaming.

Little did they know that Hephaestus was even more dumbfounded than they were.

He was starting to think his eyes were deceiving him.

How could there be humans here?

This wasn’t the Jade Forest border; this was the Red Earth Land further south, beyond the long stretch of forest.

Even if they had gotten lost, they shouldn’t have strayed this far, right?

In the past, he would have said nothing and simply wiped out this swarm of ants occupying the cave and daring to point weapons at him.

But after spending time with Gauss, Aaliyah, and the others, some of his ways of thinking had begun to shift quietly.

For example, right now he had little desire to strike.

They were too weak.

Even if they pointed weapons at him, they couldn’t hurt him in the slightest.

He could see their true emotions written on their faces—fear, retreat, unease...

It was the instinctive dread felt by the weak in the face of a stronger being.

Forget it...

Hephaestus shook his head.

He had scouted dozens of miles around.

There was simply no medium or large Demon force nearby; in other words, this was wasteland, where even drinkable water on the surface was pitifully scarce.

That had led to a sparse population of living creatures in the area.