Come on, at least try to hide yourselves.

Rory couldn’t help sighing. The plunderers he remembered were a menace. But right now, they were nothing more than inexperienced fools.

They had stolen a bunch of arcanas, and thought they were big shots. But Rory, who practically had a second set of eyes, knew about their every move.

Gobrina was hunting goblins only in name. Her attention was entirely on her master. Whenever she sensed something, she turned towards Rory. The subtle changes in her expression let Rory know if someone was around him.

That’s how Rory knew the plunderers had taken the bait.

I should tame another goblin before they get to me.

As inexperienced as the plunderers might be, they were still strong. Gobrina could take them down by surprise, but not in a head-on fight. Besides, she had her own share of problems.

Those two are headed her way.

Divide and conquer.

The plunderers were aware of Gobrina’s strength and instead of fighting them together; they were separating the threat from the reward. Once Gobrina was busy, they’d kill Rory.

Gobrina noticed them as well and looked at Rory for instruction. She was ready to kill, but Rory shook his head.

The plunderers weren’t universally hated at the moment. Besides, if Gobrina killed any human, the rest wouldn’t hesitate to target her. After all, the only thing that separated her from her kind was the fact that she was hunting other goblins and not the humans.

The moment Gobrina turned her dagger towards the humans, she’d be seen as a wild goblin, not a tamed one. Rory wanted to avoid that. Goblin or not, she was his first pet, and he didn’t want to lose out on his investment.

I have to deal with them myself.

But before that, he needed another goblin. Thankfully, there was no shortage of goblins to tame.

***

Li Wei and Liu Tan, who were observing Rory, were surprised when he ran towards the goblins.

“He noticed us!?” Li Wei exclaimed, rushing behind Rory.

“He isn’t a complete idiot like we thought,” Liu Tan shrugged.

The two of them ran, but since they had used most arcana to increase their strength and not agility, Rory eventually disappeared from their sight.

“He disappeared.”

Liu Tan turned and saw the rest were keeping Gobrina busy. They still had time.

“Did he jump into the horde?” Li Wei mumbled.

“No. He wants us to believe he did,” Liu Tan quickly dismissed the thought. “So we’d blindly follow him and get hacked into pieces.”

“He’s cunning. He noticed us and planned the whole thing out in minutes.” Li Wei nodded. “Maybe we should get him on the team.”

“Too late for that. Who would want to team up with people who wanted to kill them? It’s best to kill—Argh!”

Liu Tan screamed as something sharp stabbed him in the back. Li Wei quickly turned and saw a goblin hanging onto Liu Tan’s back with its dagger plunged into his back.

“You damned insect!”

Li Wei lunged at the goblin. But the beast was a step ahead. Using Liu Tan’s back as a platform, the goblin jumped towards Li Wei’s face. He tried backhanding the goblin, but it flipped mid-air, landing on his shoulder.

Before he could do anything, the goblin stabbed him in the neck. Still, it wasn’t enough to end him. But then Rory appeared from the corner and kicked Li Wei on the back of his knees.

Rory might be weak, but the laws of physics didn’t care about that. Li Wei’s leg buckled, and he fell, giving the goblin ample time to perform an open heart surgery.

[Greedy Human slain!]

[You gained 30 EXP.]

[Gobrina gained 15 EXP.]

[Gozan gained 15 EXP.]

“No!”

Liu Tan, who had fallen to the ground from the goblin’s backstab, yelled as he looked around. But there was no one nearby to notice. That’s when he finally understood Rory’s plan.

Rory hadn’t wanted to lead them toward the goblins, he wanted to get them away from where people could see.

“You dog shit bastard—!” Liu Tan yelled, but Rory stepped on his head.

“Woah... what did I ever do to deserve such words?”

Rory laughed, but as he did, he lost his balance and slipped off Liu Tan’s bald head. Seeing his chance, Liu Tan stood up, kicked the goblin aside, and ran toward the crowd.

It didn’t matter if they wanted to harm Rory. No one else knew about it. As long as Liu Tan twisted the story in his favor, Rory and his minions would become public enemies.

“...fuck! Go after him!” Rory yelled at the goblin.

The goblin got up and chased after Liu Tan, but he was out of reach.

“You’ll never catch me—!”

Those words left his mouth as he collapsed on the ground. As he fell and turned over, Rory saw a familiar notification pop up before him.

[Greedy Human slain!]

[You gained 30 EXP.]

[Gobrina gained 15 EXP.]

[Gozan gained 15 EXP.]

Gobrina stepped over Liu Tan’s corpse and pulled out her dagger from between his eyes. All the while, she kept looking at Rory as if saying, What will you do without me?

“I love you!” Rory announced, opening his arms.

[Gobrina doesn’t feel the same.]

“Even goblins reject me.”

Gozan sighed, patting his master’s back. Things such as consent didn’t matter for him as a male goblin. If they set their eyes on someone, no one could stop them from having them. Still, he felt sad for Rory since he was rejected so bluntly.

“If you’ve got time to pity me, then go hunt something.”

Gozan slammed a fist on his chest and walked away. But a golden glow from Liu Tan’s and Li Wei’s body stopped him. The goblins inherently loved three things: procreation, violence, and treasures.

Gobrina was the same. Both goblins had their eyes fixed on the corpses, and their master was no different. But unlike them, Rory wasn’t attracted to the golden glow, but to what happened afterwards.

“How many arcana did they steal for these to appear?” he mumbled.

Arcana could be divided into three types. The first type was the stone-like stat arcana, which increased a person’s stats. The second was the crimson ability arcana, which could give someone a new ability or enhance existing ones.

Finally, there was the gold arcana, one of the rarest kinds, which gave resistance to certain elements.

Of course, Alana didn’t tell them about those because she’d never thought the goblins would drop anything other than stat arcana. She couldn’t have predicted two gold arcana would appear during the trials.

In my last life, a single gold arcana sold for 5 obsidian shards. That’s like a million dollars!

Right now, Rory had two such arcana before him, but it also placed him in a dilemma. If he sold them, he could live a good life in the Otherworld. However, if he took them, his life as an adventurer would become easier.

As enticing as it was to leave everything behind and live a normal life, Rory didn’t want that. The only thing he wanted was revenge.

Rory looked back at the crowd on the far end. Mira and Gray were having the time of their lives killing those goblins. He couldn’t let them be at peace.

Besides... having two gold arcana will catch their attention.

They weren’t summoned to fight against some demon army or any of that isekai stuff. They were there for two reasons. Entertainment and combating the population crisis of the Otherworld.

As strange as it might sound, those were the reasons that were given to them in Rory’s past life. As such, the people watching them at that very moment would select those who survived the trial.

These people would then cultivate them and have them fight each other every 4 years, like the Olympics, but with their lives on the line.

In his last life, the same person took Rory, Mira, and Gray in. The damned minister who put a hit on him. Rory clenched his fists at the thought of those bastards.

This time... I’ll be the one to end you.

[The system recommends the user to pick the damn arcana first.]

“...right, almost forgot about that.”

[Item: Rare Charm Resistance Arcana. Provides modest resistance to <charm> status effect.]

[Item: Common Exhaustion Resistance Arcana. Provides mediocre stamina recovery when exhausted.]

Charm resistance would work well against Alana. Exhaustion resistance would help in case charm resistance failed...

Rory thought, subconsciously touching the [Widow’s mark]. Alana had already chosen him, so she’d likely take him in. Just the thought made him shiver, but if he wanted revenge, then there were some things he would have to do. Things not limited to selling himself.

I’ll think about crossing that bridge when the time comes.

Rory ignored the pleading looks of his pet and took both arcana for himself.

[Charm resistance unlocked!]

[Remark: For someone who got turned down by a goblin, the user’s surprisingly hopeful about getting charmed.]

[Exhaustion resistance unlocked!]

[Remark: Might help in running away from beasts the user would charm.]

“...screw you.”

[You wish.]

“...”