Later in the afternoon, Minerva decided to take a nap. I decided to use this opportunity to search the forest for my shrubs. She would probably have been pissed if she woke up and I wasn’t back in the cave so I would make sure to come back very early. No more than an hour out. I had the agent acting as a timer for me.

So now, I was flying through the forest, testing how fast I could go and damn, was I fast. It was pretty cool zooming through the forest. So this was how fast I could go with 600 speed? Then how fast was Shiro? I think she had 200 plus speed. Was that average speed for humans? But that wasn’t as fast this. Ah well.

How fast was Minerva? Her agility stats were crazy high. I wondered just how fast she could go, and how long it would take for me to reach that level of capability.

I decided to take a break and land somewhere on the ground so I could try using my special fusion of my perception skills. I once again tried the use of [Mana Perception], [Auto Mapping], [Goggles] and [Heat Sense]. This time, I managed to keep it up for 5 seconds before puking.

It would seem my [Mental Damage Resistance] was slowly growing stronger.

[You have acquired the skill [Mental Pain Resistance]]

I also acquired a new skill. But that was practically a ward against headaches and other stuff. I decided to ignore it and focus on my current predicament.

‘Predicament? Hmm… can I call it that when I’m in literally no trouble at all?’

I avoided a stone that was thrown at my head easily.

‘Hmm, should I say situation? No, that still seems like I have an issue.’

I took a step back avoiding a slash at my neck from a little green man holding a stone dagger. Obviously it was a random goblin. Its stats too weren’t promising in the slightest. The goblin kept attacking me and I simply kept avoiding the stones being thrown at me.

‘Um, maybe I shouldn’t be thinking about this for now. It’s actually getting annoying dealing with these retards.’

I was referring to the four goblins surrounding me. Two of them were hiding in the bushes, throwing rocks at me. One was attacking me up front, probably acting as a diversion and then there was the idiot trying to run away.

Normally I should be thinking that he was trying to go get more goblins to come aid, but with my new unique skill [Hunter], I could tell the character traits of various monster species and come up with the best simulated strategies to hunt them down and kill them.

What this meant was that, I could easily figure out the motives of my enemies by merely seeing them. Although I doubted that it would always be useful. According to the agent, there would certainly be moments where my guessed outcomes would fail especially on humans, since they sometimes acted out of the norm.

Still, this was a good skill. That timber wolf king had quite the ability on him. I guess that was how he managed to become the leader of a pack of crazy powerful bloodthirsty timber wolves. Ah, that’s right. That damned black wolf! I would kill him.

In a rage, I cut down the annoying goblin in front of me by accident.

‘Oops… ah well. I guess you guys are next.’

I glared at them through the bushes. They must have noticed because they ran like hell. I flew at them, but I didn’t kill them. I simply kicked them to trees. They wouldn’t get up so quickly from that. I changed my attention to the other goblin who was running away at first. He had stopped and was walking this way.

‘Huh? What’s he planning?’

He came out of the bushes. My [Hunter] skill wasn’t working anymore, because this wasn’t normal in the slightest. His hands were raised as he came out with a nervous smile on his face.

“E-easy. Easy there. No need to get violent.”

He stammered.

I looked at the cheeky bastard. He was treating me like I was some kind of wild dangerous animal.

‘I was a human before, you know? I’m not some wild beast you dirty goblin!’

I wanted to say this so badly to it, but I simply couldn’t because I was a damned bird. I would fight the being that made me into a bird. I would kick his darn ass into oblivion.

“Hehe… C-Could you please help us?”

The goblin started pleading for help all of a sudden.

‘Help?’

“Y-You see. M-My people. We are starving. Y-You can help us, right?”

‘Huh? I’m supposed to help you? How and why? Wait, do you guys want to eat me?’

I drew in closer to the goblin. He shut his eyes and was shaking feverishly. It were almost like he was going to piss himself, but then

“Please! I beg you! Help my village! Or else we will starve to death! I beg of you O’ powerful chicken!”

‘Eh?’

***

So, the goblins were the most pathetic monster race I would probably ever see. They were so weak to the point of requesting for help from a chicken. Or what they assumed was a chicken. AKA me.

Yes, these disgusting green scum at the bottom of the food chain have deemed it fit to plead to me for help. My chance at becoming a proper Isekai protagonist had come along! I wasn’t going to miss this opportunity for the world.

The problem however was the lack of food for goblins. They were so weak they weren’t even able to hunt for their own food without losing several members in a single day. So, this little guy wanted me to help them by bringing them food. To be honest, I didn’t kill him because of his bravery. I was sort of interested.

At least that explained why they kept going to Minerva. And that was probably the reason why Minerva didn’t listen to them. They wouldn’t go for food for her. Instead they wanted her to get food for them. Lazy servants were truly useless to a leader who was already too lazy. The damned retards.

The goblin race was a really annoying one filled with retarded hungry creatures.

So, to help them I decided to catch twenty rabbits for them. About fourteen horned and six fanged. I went up by two levels. I ate one of them to see if I would level up like before, but I didn’t. I most likely needed a lot of food for that or maybe powerful monsters.

Nine bunnies should be enough to feed an entire tribe according to the bastard. It was probably because of their size. Like, one goblin was at least half the size of a horned rabbit. They were really tiny. It almost made no sense how they evolved into such big creatures like hob-goblins.

Anyway, we grabbed the other two goblins and headed towards the goblin’s village. When we got there, there were a bunch of goblins standing out there, waiting for me. I looked at the little bastard next to me.

Had he tricked me so I could be killed? I was planning on using [Fire Breath] to burn the bastard to a crisp.

Sensing this, he walked forward and calmed down the other goblins. He explained the situation to them, but mentioned some bull about me being some sort of “Fire bird”? I had no idea what he was saying so I asked the agent. The agent said it was also unsure and that more investigation into the matter would be necessary for it to narrow down the possibilities and give me an accurate answer.

I simply shrugged it off, since it would be a headache to try to ask the goblin to tell me about the firebird or whatever nonsense that was. However, it would seem I wasn’t permitted to have an enjoyable stay, as today was one that would most likely stick in my mind for the rest of my second life.

-----------------------------------------

In the west of Larm, there was a disgusting race that roamed its bushes in secrecy. They mostly appeared during the day hiding in the shadows of trees and trying to stay out of sight, but failing at that badly. They were weak and despised by all races. They were relentless, violent, rapists that just pillaged and stole food they didn’t work for. They were more of an annoying pest than anything. They were little green menaces that were sometimes called devils. The only advantage they had against other races was not their brains (They were dumb as shit), not their strength (Weaker than shit), not the fastest (Slow as shit), but their number (Shit, they were a lot).

If you were to ask anyone the creatures with the most population, the first name to come to mind was goblins. However, there was an incident that took place six years ago that forever changed this. The goblins lost most of their number and their rate of reproduction went down. At the moment, there were not more than seven hundred goblins in the West of Larm.

They were weak, dumb, slow and few in number. Now they were easy pickings waiting to be wiped off the map. Back in a certain era, if you had said goblins were near extinction, anyone would have laughed at you, but now, they would simply shrug at the thought as if it were normal, which was not so.

Right now, in one tribe of goblins, there was an uproar. The goblin village was excited when three of their members returned from the forest with not one, but nineteen rabbits. That was enough to feed their entire village for a week. Two if they rationed it (They wouldn’t). Even better they had brought a chicken along with them. It was bliss for them.

This news was so amazing that the others completely ignored the fact that one of their members had died. Then again, it was a normal for members of their village to die every day. Still, that didn't change the fact that some of those who had very close relationships with the deceased would be affected. Yes, as absurd as it sounded, even the goblins could forge proper relations with each other. Them being on the verge of extinction was due to a lot of reasons and this was one of the reasons why they weren’t dead yet.

A young goblin had been sharpening a stone dagger very deep in the cave. He was surrounded by 3 other goblins that were like his brothers. Although they were all technically siblings, since most of them were birthed from one mother, goblins didn't think of it like that. They were just born from the same womb, that didn't mean they were related. That was their mentality. They simply didn’t believe in blood relations. Although there were the rare few exceptions.

Normally, they were a group of 5, but one of them went on a hunting trip with some other goblins on this day. Goblins took daily shifts, as to who was supposed to hunt. He had no choice but to go, because it was his turn and they normally went out in fours. The reason for this? Completely stupid and unnecessary. This young goblin was not a fan of the idea of his friend going out with a bunch of weaklings, but there was nothing that could be done about it.

"WOOOOHOOO!"

"YAAAY!"

As he was sharpening his tools, screams of his people could be heard coming from the entrance.

'What? Happening?'

He turned to look at behind him curiously, but he wouldn't be able to see. He would have to get closer.

"What is going on?"

"Did something happen?"

Things like this could be heard from his companions who also took notice of the screams. All of sudden,

"You guys! You guys! They have returned!"

A younger goblin was running towards him, waving its hand.

The goblin who had been sharpening his dagger perked up when he heard that ‘they’ had come back. He was thinking about the chief and his crew that had gone on an expedition 2 weeks ago. The chief was known as the strongest goblin in their history, second only to his predecessor. He even managed to evolve into a hobgoblin through rigorous training and had been protecting the village for nearly 7 years. He would sometimes go on expeditions to get supplies for the goblins or would stay back and protect the goblins from other threats such as timber wolves. He was nothing like that foolish outcast that had become a Tyrant. He was certain that she didn't deserve her title as the Tyrant of the West and that the chief should rather become the Tyrant. But it had been 2 weeks since they last heard from the chief and they were getting restless.

"The chief is back?"

He grabbed the younger goblin by its shoulder and asked, not waiting patiently for it to catch its breath.

"No… The… hahaha… Other… Guys… Who… Went… Hunting… At… Noon."

He panted after each word.

"Tch!"

He clicked his tongue. He was excited for a moment because he thought that the chief had returned.

"So why is everyone excited?"

The little one had finally caught his breath and he excitedly explained the situation,

"They brought nineteen rabbits and a chicken."

"Nineteen rabbits?"

"Im-Impossible! They would have been killed by the rabbits."

The word escaped his mouth. There was no way a squad of just four goblins managed to kill nineteen rabbits. That made no sense whatsoever. And where would they get a chicken from in a damned forest?

"You better not be lying young one, or else..."

He threatened the child, but the little one responded with a smile.

"I swear on the Wicked Witch's name. They actually did."

"Yo kid! You know what you are saying?"

One of the goblins questioned.

"You can't swear on the Wicked Witch's name and lie, you know. That will curse you!"

"Oi kid! If I find out that you're lying!"

He nodded his head quickly.

"Go see."

He pointed towards the entrance and the goblins directed their gaze there. They wasted no time as they ran towards the entrance. They were met with a large gathering of their brethren but managed to push through, being some of the strongest around.

When they got to the front, they were surprised by the sight. There were actually nineteen dead rabbits and there was an actual chicken. It was bigger than what he had been told by the chief. But much like the stories, it had yellow feathers and looked weaker than the average bird in Larm. What was alarming though was the antenna like structure on its head and the dark violet tips it possessed, as well as black beak and talons.

This was an amazing development. He was certain his brother was the cause of their victory. He was interested in the story of how his brother managed to gather this much food. He wanted to hear all about it then boast to the chief once he returned.

He looked around for his brother but couldn't find him, so he went to the leader of that hunting expedition. That goblin was considered the smartest of them all, right after the chief and the sorceress, but he was also one of the physically weakest goblins in the cave. And seeing as the goblins were simple minded creatures that only cared about food, they didn't pay much attention to this detail and as such, never treated him correctly. So it was only natural that the goblin would be so distracted by the attention he was receiving.

"Where is he?"

The young goblin grabbed him by the shoulders as he questioned the leader. The leader's face went slack when he listened to the young goblin. He had completely ignored the goblin that had been killed by Hinotori a while ago. So now, all he could do was shake his head solemnly and hope the young goblin would understand. After all, the goblins that went out on hunting trips knew that death was an occupational hazard.

"He died."

"Ah… what killed him?"

The young goblin was dumbfounded by the quick and heartless response.

“The chicken.” The goblin responded by pointing his thumb at Hinotori without a second thought, then changing his attention to the other goblins who were coming to praise him.

“What?” The younger goblin, shocked, shook his head several times. Maybe he hadn’t heard right so he would ask again.

“What killed him?”

“Ah. I just told you that the chicken did. Can you not hear properly?”

The goblin asked him with a slightly annoyed tone.

"Surely he must have been taken down by a strong monster!"

“Exactly. The chicken.”

"Ah! No way! He wouldn’t lose to a mere chicken. It would be more believable if you said the Fire bird killed him."

“No. No. No. That is just a regular chicken.”

“No regular chicken could kill a goblin so easily.”

“Yes they can.”

“How many chickens have you seen do that?”

“One. This one.”

“Huh? Are you stupid?”

“How many chickens have you seen?”

The older goblin glanced at Hinotori with a thought in mind after arguing with the young stupid goblin.

'Fire bird? Really. That creature… it couldn't be.... is it?'

The younger goblin’s gaze fell down to the ground. Certainly, it was true that he had never seen an actual chicken before so he wouldn’t know their abilities first hand. Still, the chief had told him that they were harmless creatures. And he trusted the village chief with his life. He wasn’t going to let some oaf fool him.

"Y-you aren't trying to tell me that this weak creature killed him, are you?"

He pointed at Hinotori who had been looking around the place as if it were searching for something.

The older goblin looked at the younger goblin with eyes that said, "I don't know what to tell you at this point."

"It was that chicken that hunted down all these rabbits for the village! Do you still believe it to be weak?"

The goblin yelled for all the others to hear. They all then fixed their gazes on Hinotori. The creature looked majestic and radiated a weird aura of trust around it. The goblins felt like they were staring at an object of reverence.

"When we tried to fight the chicken, your brother attacked it and was killed!"

Suddenly, an unexpected voice came from the crowd.

"Ah! Is that not the chicken the Tyrant said is her slave?"

"Ah! Yes! She said she would kill anyone who touches it."

"You fools! You will bring the Tyrant's wrath upon us. Send it back!"

The group of goblins that had been sent to beg Minerva for help this time complained.

"Ah but...."

Suddenly it turned into an argument between the two groups. The goblins in the cave were frightened as soon as they heard the word "Tyrant". This word was one that carried a very powerful meaning for the residents of the forest. However, for the younger goblin, it just made him feel rage.

He despised the cowardly Tyrant who wouldn't even help her own home village. Anything of hers, he wanted to destroy it. So in a rage, he drew his dagger and charged at the chicken.

"RRRRAAAGGGHHHH!!! DIE YOU STUPID CHICKEN!"

He was too close to the chicken and the others would not be fast enough to stop this attack. They could only watch in shock and pray that he missed. For if this chicken died, there would be hell to pay.

Just as the younger goblin was about to stab the chicken, his learned skill [Truthseeker Eyes] accidentally activated and he could sense something off. Even with his eyes, all he could get was a mere feeling. Something was not right with this bird.

Why was he suddenly feeling hot? It was like he would be burnt to a cinch if he got any closer. But it was too late. He had jumped and was merely inches away from the bird. The creature’s beak was open and there were sparks coming from it.

***

So after a while, the cave had descended into a state of pandemonium. It was like wherever I went, there had to be chaos. The 4 goblins from earlier who had seen me with Minerva were scared silly. They were pleading for me to be safely returned to Minerva, as if I were some sort of pet.

The goblins who I hunted with on the other hand were saying that I was not dangerous and that as long as no harm befell me, nothing dangerous would happen. Personally I would prefer that they all just shut up for me to find out about their situation. I was tempted to use [Timber Wolf King’s Howl] to silence them, but decided against it.

Suddenly, a goblin charged at me with a stone dagger. For a second I could have sworn his eyes glowed purple. He had a look of pure disgust and rage on his face. I understood perfectly well if it were because I killed his younger brother, which apparently, I accidentally did. But I knew it wasn't because of that. In fact, he didn't believe that I had killed his younger brother. There must have been another reason for that. And the only reason I could think of was Minerva. He must have had a grudge with her or something, so he wanted to take it out on me.

He had already pissed me off by calling me weak. If anything happened to me and Minerva got angry, he would surely die so I doubted anybody would care if I ended up killing him. I would simply use [Fire Breath] to burn him to a crisp.

When his dagger was a few inches away from me, I was about to dodge but something interesting happened. My mana sense alerted me to a swarm of mana forming and God's agent even warned me.

<<Alert! Sensing Mana components being gathering. Most likely a magic being created>>

‘Magic?’

To my left was an individual wearing a cloak and holding a staff. No, it was a Hob-goblin?

‘Ah… isn’t that the hob-goblin who almost killed me the last time?’

I could see weird blue droppings in the air. They kept on gathering at one point and rotating violently, forming a spherical shape. A ball of water formed in front of the individual.

[Magic: Water Magic

[Type: Attack

[Effect: A simple water ball spell. Summon a ball of water and fire it at high velocity to cause damage. Damaged cause varies with the amount of mana, control and precision in which it is used]

[Magic Perception] activated like that, forming a little screen at the corner of my eye.

‘Water Ball? A very common and generic spell? Wait, is she firing it at me?’

I noticed its trajectory and was instantly reminded of the incident before my original death. I froze up, confused as to what to do. I mean, what could I do? I wasn’t fast enough to dodge a bullet.

SPLASH!

The ball of water hit the goblin before me, splashing all around me and sending the little creature flying away. I stopped my attack and just looked at the one who shot off the spell.

I was so stunned by it, I almost didn't notice the other individuals that were standing next to the Hob-goblin. No, there was another Hob-goblin dressed in a shirt and brown pants, with rusty armor and a sword strapped to its back. It had short messy black hair and a goatee. He was at least three inches taller than Minerva and definitely more bulky. He let out a sigh as if he had done something, then approached me.

All the goblins went down on one knee and bowed to him.

"Welcome back, chief!"

"The chief is back!"

"How was your trip!?"

I heard them murmur things about a chief. Was he the chief of the village?

The Hob-goblin that was easily some inches taller than Minerva looked at me with its leafy green eyes, then went on one knee. He exuded a very oppressive aura and I felt like he could kill me anytime. When I used [Analyst] on him, I knew I wouldn't want to mess with him. His stats weren’t much higher than mine, but there was something about him. Was this what they called a warrior’s aura?

"Excuse my tribesman for his rude behavior. I am Gorm! Chief of the village of Ooo."

Pfft... Fufufu...Ooo.