A Champion of Rats - Chapter 4

Tutorial (3)

When we returned with the two goblin corpses, the atmosphere became truly festive.

Everyone shouted my name. I felt like a hero.

“Falk! Falk! Falk! Falk! Falk!”

A hero with only two goblin kills. How cheap.

Although, thinking about it, it might not be that weird. Considering how hard a time I’d had killing a goblin, such treatment might’ve been natural.

Suddenly, an ominous feeling that rats might be the weakest creature in this world setting settled over me.

We were having a life-and-death match[1] here with a bunch of goblins, so was there any point in comparing with other races?

However, oblivious to my worries, First tore the goblin apart and showed me the best part.

“Falk! Here! Meat! Hunter! Ratman! Gets! Best! Part! Eat!”

The best parts of a goblin were the head, shoulders, and chest. In particular, eyeballs and brains were delicacies among delicacies.

“Brain. Soft! Eyeball. Pops! So sweet!”

Since everyone was looking at it with envious eyes, it seemed true.

As I was about to eat, I realized that everyone was looking at me.

I suddenly remembered that animals living in packs wait for the leader to eat first. Who said I wasn’t smart?

‘No way, are they treating me like the boss? Not bad, not bad.’

If nothing else, they were sincere. Cheering my name, giving me the best food, and watching me eat – all these actions made me happy.

Even though this was merely a game, I’d never been treated like this before, so I found it fresh and enjoyable.

Suddenly, I even thought that I wanted to savour this moment some more.

The moment I put the piece of goblin meat in my mouth, everyone started eating.

First ate the other goblin’s brains, eyeballs, and torso, while the other rats shared the rest.

But it wasn’t shared equally.

The best parts were eaten by those in their prime, and the remaining scraps were eaten by the rest, indicating again that rats treated the older and weaker the worst.

‘That’s just how animals survive in the wild, I guess… man, these are really delicious! Brains and eyeballs!’

After that round of dinner, we started a meeting. About what to do next.

Should we stay hidden or fight the goblins?

To be honest, the last fight had given me confidence, so I thought it was worth a try.

Although we lagged slightly behind in strength, we had the upper hand in speed and stealth, so as long as we used our brains a bit, defeating the goblins wasn’t an impossible task.

But the rats other than First didn’t think so.

Even when First insisted on attacking the goblins, the other rats were passive.

“Goblins. Attack. Kill many. Falk. Could. We can.”

“Goblins. Strong! Weapons. Hurt! Arrows. Shoot! We. Lost!”

“Goblins. Danger! Hide!”

Judging by the reaction, the goblins had left behind significant trauma. But First still kept trying to convince the others.

“Like this! Eat. Each other! We all! Die!! Anyway! So!! Have to! Eat! Goblins!”

For the rats, it always came down to food in the end[2], didn’t it? Although, First wasn’t wrong.

The stockpiled food was running out, and with how much the rats ate, they were heading for a miserable fate of extinction while preying on their own.

After watching quietly for a while, I decided to take First’s side in the end. There were points where I agreed with him, of course, but more than anything else, it was because running away from itty-bitty goblins would hurt my pride.

In other games, I’d killed and enslaved countless goblins, but in this game, I planned to make them into livestock and eat them forever.

“If I have to say one thing, these guys are beaten down right now. If you’re going to fight, you have to fight now!”

First shouted happily.

“Right! They! Lost and fled! Conversation! Heard! For sure. I heard!”

“That’s right. If you are going to fight, now is your only chance. Once they recover, then we won’t be able to fight them at all.”

First nodded quickly.

“Don’t you all want to eat goblin meat? Is it fun to starve? As long as we win, everyone can eat their fill of brains and eyeballs!”

I heard a quiet gulp, followed by a dry swallow. But still no one spoke up in favour.

They wanted good food, but didn’t want to put forth the effort.

What a disgusting attitude. I was feeling annoyed without even consciously realizing it.

“Good. If everyone’s scared, let’s not fight.”

Everyone’s attention was drawn to me at my unexpected remark.

“Even if we stay here, we can eat the kids and the old-timers first, right? But that won’t tide us over. So it’ll be the young guys’ turn after that! Since I’m the biggest here, I’ll be fine!”

At that moment, all the rats’ faces turned blue.

After a while, there was a unified decision to attack the goblins. Great. Splendid.

◆◆◆

The goblins numbered twenty-five in total. There’d been thirty-five of them originally, but ten had died while fighting the rats.

Honestly, I wanted to charge in from the front and kill them all, but I couldn’t because the rats’ combat power was weaker than expected. Or rather, I couldn’t believe those shits were my same kind.

‘I wish there was a system like the status window. There’s too little information.’

But what was the point of regretting it? So I decided to hide and observe my enemies.

The goblins’ nest was a space connected to two sewer passages, and thanks to the rats’ knowledge of the local geography, finding a spot to lie down and watch was a piece of cake.

There were cracks in the ceiling and gaps in the walls that made it possible to watch them from very close range.

“Any. Nearer. See through cover. Danger.”

First, who was in charge of showing me the way, said. He was more competent than I’d thought, and helped me reconnaissance without being noticed.

“Good, good. Anyway, this is enough.”

I observed the goblins from the ceiling.

Five bulging females. The rest were male, but it didn’t seem like there was any setting of kidnapping and impregnating human women… Honestly, it was a bit disappointing.

‘Although… if the settings are too dark, the game might run into problems while selling.’

I immediately shook off my thoughts and observed the goblins again.

Most were armed, but they weren’t living the high life or anything.

All they had for weapons were rusty kitchen knives and clubs, and they had no fixed place to eat or sleep. Except for two of them.

The two were none other than ‘chief’ and the ‘shaman’. The chief was a big one clad in bone armour, and the shaman was an old guy with a goatskin headdress.

They slept in proper tents, albeit crude ones, and ate better – like beef jerky and apples.

Must’ve looted them from somewhere. The sweet smell of apples stabbed inro my nostrils, overriding the stench of the sewers.

In the past, I wouldn’t have eaten them even if they’d been to hand, but now they looked so delicious! To the point where I was ready to kill to have some.

‘Now there’s another reason to kill them.’

But leaving that aside, I couldn’t see a way to beat the goblin chief or the goblin shaman.

I couldn’t see their levels or abilities, but the tingling on my whiskers at their sight spoke of how formidable they had to be.

‘We’re lagging behind in numbers and weapons, and there’s a chiefs and a shaman who’re both stronger than me. A frontal attack is absolutely forbidden.’

Then I had a question.

Even twenty-five was not a small number, so what the hell did they eat?

The beef jerky, apples, and bread they’d brought with them seemed to belong to the chieftain and the shaman. So what did the other twenty-three goblins eat?

The answer came from First.

“Around. Here. Feeding ground. Food! Lots! Salamander. Frog. Lizard. Snake. Snail. Lots! We! Lost! So! Starve!”

“Where is it?”

First was only too happy to guide me there. There was a complicated maze of sewer passageways that we needed to cross before we arrived.

The feeding ground was a cylindrical space connected to numerous water pipes, with water and moss pooling on the floor, and sewage pouring out regularly.

And frogs and lizards were falling through the sewage.

This was the largest feeding ground in the area. The ratlings used to procure most of their food from here, but now it was occupied by the goblins.

I crouched down to observe my prey.

The goblins visited this feeding ground in groups of three to five.

Eavesdropping on their conversations, I could see that life here was not very satisfactory.

“Ugh. Smells! Doesn’t taste good either. How long do I have to stay here?”

“As I thought, young humans are the most delicious!”

“I think it has to be a pig or a cow! Both are delicious!”

“We have to wait! Chief said. Once the females give birth to offspring, we’ll raise our heads and return. Then you can eat as much as you want! After our bloody vengeance on Rumble!”

‘Who the hell is Rumble? Anyway, so if I wait, they’ll leave on their own.’

For a moment, I fell into thought.

Why bother fighting against a group of goblins who were stronger than us?

The thought flashed through my head that it might be safer to simply wait them out.

Maybe that would be the wiser course. If lack of food was the problem, I could find some without alarming the goblins.

But at that moment, I startled and thought to myself – what was I doing? Since when did I become so passive?!

This was a game. It wasn’t just for fun, it was work!

I got this job because she liked me.

But if I made things so boring, I might get the boot.

I’d gotten cautious because everything felt too realistic. But being a fool in real life was enough. I was at work now, wasn’t I? This had to stop.

I calmed down and told First that we could go back. First, I needed a plan.

◆◆◆

When I returned along with First, the rats swarmed us all at once.

It was obvious at a glance that they were becoming increasingly sensitive about the food issue. This was a good sign.

The hungrier you are, the harder you’ll fight.

“The goblins outnumber us and are stronger.”

The rats let out a sigh in unison.

“But don’t be discouraged! After all, I am an experienced warrior.”

It wasn’t a lie. I’d been a sergeant in the Republic of Korea Army before my discharge.

Even leaving that aside, they were NPCs anyway. Plus, all of us here were rat monsters, so what was the problem with telling a fib or two?

“I am an outstanding fighter who’s won even in the worst of situations! So all of you, follow me, and you’ll be able to eat your fill of goblin meat! We might even be able to catch a pregnant female or two and raise goblins to eat for later!”

“Goblins. Raise?”

“Right! Humans raise pigs and cows to eat, don’t they? There’s no law saying we can’t do the same! If we succeed, we’ll be able to stuff ourselves with goblin meat whenever we want! One per head!”

It was true, although of course I couldn’t guarantee it.

But so what? Bolstering the morale of this bunch of cowards was the top priority right now.

Fortunately, my prediction was correct, and the morale of the rats surged at once.

It was false courage, like a bubble that might disappear in an instant. But they still needed it to take the plunge.

“Then let’s start hunting the goblins!”

“Falk! Falk! Falk! Falk! Falk!”

Editor’s Notes:

[1] 용호상박 (lit. dragon and tiger gourd), a fight between dragons and tigers, a match between strong people.

[2] 기승전먹 (giseungjeon + meog), where the preceding part 기승전 (giseungjeon) means that no matter what happens, it all comes down to 먹 in the end, i.e., eating.