The Academy’s FFF-Class Summons are SSS-class Hunters - Chapter 5

“Shoot your stress away! Welcome to the Bang Bang Goblin Battlegrounds!”

 

As soon as we entered, the young staff greeted us with a smile. Jinhyuk greeted back.

 

“Are you new to a goblin battleground?”

 

“Yes, this is my first time.”

 

“Then let me give you a brief explanation. Only one goblin per person per day, and since there are two at the moment you can only catch one goblin no matter how much you pay today.”

 

The purpose of a goblin battleground is to relieve stress. Businesses focus more on that, rather than to make a lot of money. Jinhyuk understood, but found it a shame.

 

“How much is it?”

 

“It will be 200,000 derats.”

 

“That’s very cheap, is there any left for you to take from that?”

 

“Haha, no need to worry! Catching goblins is very simple, isn’t it? Rather, our Bang Bang Goblin Battlegrounds operates without a factory, so the price is on the high side. The labor cost is cheap since the only employees are the boss and me.”

 

“Factory?”

 

What a goblin battleground have to do with a factory? Asked out of confusion, the staff kindly explained.

 

“Yes, the goblin mass production plant. Unlike us, who manually catch goblins, many battlegrounds breed goblins instead. It’s cheaper that way.”

 

“Then why don’t you use factories?”

 

“Because it’s unethical.”

 

The employee’s face darkened slightly. Jinhyuk couldn’t understand.

 

“Unethical?”

 

The word “goblin factory” reminded me of dog factories back on Earth. They breed dogs endlessly, mass-produce them, and sell them to pet shops. Is it okay to do that to dogs, a man’s best friend? There were always debates about the ethicality of it.

 

But goblins are different, aren’t they?

 

Goblins are monsters that harm humans. There shouldn’t be anything wrong ethically with catching goblins and breeding them. If you care about ethicality, they shouldn’t be hunted in the first place.

 

However, the question was immediately answered by the employee’s subsequent remark.

 

“Don’t you know? There are no female Goblins.”

 

That immediately made everything make sense. It was disgusting that he could understand. To say that goblins, who are mammals, are only men, meant that they have to catch other mammals to breed them.

 

“The goblin factories are ran by slaves who are not even treated as human beings. Although slavery is legal, many think it is ethically wrong to use them that way. Besides, there are cases where they are kidnapped and imprisoned even though they are not slaves.”

 

“Hi-hiiik…”

 

Lilil shook her body in fear as she listened. This isn’t the best thing to hear for the mental health of a child. Jinhyuk hurriedly changed the topic.

 

“This is a really clean place. I like it. Please let me capture one goblin.”

 

“Sure, we will prepare right now.”

 

The employee left. With the story of goblin factories gone, Lilil cautiously brought it up.

 

“I imagined it.”

 

“What?”

 

“Slaves so broken… that they turn into evil spirits.”

 

Lilil explained that slaves can’t admit to an academy and develop their talents even if they had one. If you are a slave since birth, it is a destiny you can’t escape no matter how hard you try.

 

They may be weak, but if they become evil spirits, it’s enough to cause problems. Although we do not know the intentions of the Cruel One, but we are lucky that they have yet to become evil spirits. Lilil thinks it’s a matter of time before they do.

 

“That’s possible. You are thoughtful.”

 

“Oh, no, I mean… I usually connect anything with evil spirits. It’s a bad habit, don’t you think?”

 

Lilil laughed awkwardly. Obviously, it can be a bad habit to associate anything with negative things. It’d be tiring.

 

But it’s not all bad. Jinhyuk was always a hunter, so he always assumed the worst case scenario in his fights with monsters. It was a normal thing, and that’s probably no different in this world.

 

Jinhyuk patted Lilil’s hair and smiled.

 

“It’s not a bad habit. It means that you are always ready to fight. If your mind is consumed by that anxiety, there may be gaps, right? Let’s just be careful about that.”

 

“Y-yes, you are right.”

 

Lilil let go of the awkwardness and smiled more naturally.

 

“It’s ready. Come this way.”

 

They were guided into a room by the staff. There was grass growing on the floor, with a suitable amount of space. Enough for fights to not cause any issues

 

In front of them was a goblin imprisoned in iron bars. It had a gloomy look on its face, as if it knew what’s coming. Not a belligerent atmosphere.

 

“With the goblins lacking energy, we don’t have many people visiting our battlegrounds. Factory-born goblins go wild, blinded by lack of real life experience. Not only are they cheaper, they are also more popular.”

 

“You are running the business purely by ethicality. Might fail you as a business person.”

 

“But the boss and I are happy. When you are ready for the battle, press the button. I hope you have a good time.”

 

The staff smiled and walked out. It was designed so that when the button is pressed, the iron grate would open. Seeing it so depressed didn’t make Jinhyuk want to fight, but he still had to feed Lilil with its meat.

 

“Well, I guess we fight…”

 

“W-wait, hold on.”

 

As he was about to press the button, Lilil hurriedly grabbed his hand.

 

“Hm?”

 

“Um, when you burned a book earlier. I felt my mana drain.”

 

Perhaps Lilil’s magic power would be consumed if he tried to fight. If that was the case, it was necessary to find out the amount of mana consumed according to the action.

 

“Then let’s test it.”

 

Jinhyuk drew a sword from his inventory. It wasn’t a special sword. It was just to see how much mana the act of swinging the sword itself would consume.

 

“How much mana do you think it will consume to swing this?”

 

“You won’t be able to swing more than two times.”

 

“Then what about this?”

 

He took out a bow and tried to pull the bowstring. Lilil shook her head in fear.

 

“One would be enough.”

 

He pulled out various weapons. Whether it was a spear, an axe, or a gauntlet, Lilil shook her head.

 

Just how much mana did she have? Although Jinhyuk himself did not have concepts such as mana, he pitied Lilil, who lacked so much even as a person born from this world.

 

“Okay, then what about this?”

 

He pulled out a K-2 rifle. The king of the gate blessed the monsters that appeared on Earth, so modern weapons did not work. This made them cheaper, so he had it bought.

 

It barely requires any power. Handling a gun requires skill, not some strength. Of course, there are guns that convert energy used by hunters into bullets and fire them, but Jinhyuk didn’t take them out because he was sure they’d consume mana.

 

“Huh… that doesn’t use magic.”

 

“Then I’ll have to use this.”

 

Jinhyuk put his rifle on his shoulder and aimed. It would be easier to hit if he used his energy to improve his eyesight, but that might consume Lilil’s magical power, so he held on to that for now.

 

“It’s bad to use all of your magic power, right?”

 

“I-I heard you could die if you do.”

 

“Then I’ll try to not use any mana.”

 

Jinhyuk took out a 30 round magazine from his inventory. They had bullets in it, and having bought a lot of bullets, there was a lot left in his inventory. Since it didn’t consume any mana, he thought it could be a shooting practice.

 

‘It’s a goblin for relieving stress, but that’s not why I’m here.’

 

I put the magazine in and pulled the loading handle. Lilil looked at him blankly and asked.

 

“What weapon is that? It’s my first time seeing it.”

 

“Oh, this? It is the weapon from the world I lived in.”

 

He closed his left eye and aimed at the head of the goblin. Not used to shooting, the muzzle kept shaking. Jinhyuk dropped on the floor and stabilised by rooting the magazine into the floor.

 

“Okay, this should be good.”

 

Preparation was over. Jinhyuk took out earplugs from his inventory and handed them to Lilil.

 

“ear plugs? Why are you giving this to me?”

 

“This weapon is a bit loud. If you don’t want to hurt your ears, put them on.”

 

Lilil plugged the earplugs into her ears with a puzzled look.

 

Jinhyeok also put the earplugs in and then set it to semi. Single rounds are perfect for shooting practice.

 

“Here it goes…”

 

Inhale and exhale, then pause – holding it. Pull the trigger slowly until it fires.

 

bang!

 

“Oh my!”

 

Lilil was startled by her unexpected sound and sat down. She  didn’t expect it to be this loud. To be this loud with the earplugs plugged in, that weapon was quite scary. Lilil calmed her chest and looked at the iron bars.

 

The goblin was fine, but he was trembling.

 

“I missed.”

 

There were traces of bullets passing through the iron bars. Jinhyuk felt ashamed to miss from such a short distance. But once you make a mistake, you can’t miss the next one.

 

The goblin started panicking.

 

“Keeek! Please, please spare me! I was wrong! I will never torment humans again, so please spare my life!”

 

The roar of the rifle and the power to pierce the iron bars were perfect to create a sense of fear. Goblins move frantically, terrified by a strange power they’ve never seen before.

Jinhyuk started to feel worse as it became difficult to aim.

 

‘Besides, I feel more awful seeing it crying for its life.’

 

The goblins slaughtered on Earth were ruthless. They were mind-controlled by the king of the gates, but not here. Jinhyuk wondered if it was okay to kill an innocent goblin.

 

“I won’t eat human babies anymore! I won’t kidnap a passing human woman to reproduce with them! So please!”

 

He is a sinful goblin. Let’s kill him.

 

It was difficult to hit with it constantly moving, so he stood up again. He switched from semi to auto. He wasn’t confident enough to hit a moving target in semi.

 

“I’ll turn you in to a tasty meal, so hold still.”

 

Bang bang bang bang bang!

 

The goblin howled loudly as Jinhyuk kept the trigger pulled. The sound of the bullets hitting the iron bars was brutal, and the goblin ran around the prison with even more panic.

 

When his bullets ran out, he naturally put the empty magazine into his inventory, then reloaded with a new one. He wasn’t good at aiming, but he was at least confident in swapping magazines.

 

Jinhyuk gradually got used to aiming and shooting. With one change of magazine, he was successful in killing the goblin. The goblin lay limp covered in blood.

 

“Phew, that took some effort.”

 

Jinhyeok unplugged the earplugs and put the rifle back in his inventory. Lilil looked at him with twinkling eyes.

 

“Wow, isn’t that overpowered? You are using magic without even using mana!”

 

“Hmm, but this weapon has no boundaries, though?”

 

She’s not in the academy yet, but there’s probably a rule saying you can’t kill students in battle. In other words, a rifle can shine in monster hunting, but not in battles.

 

Having said that, Lilil nodded her head in disappointment.

 

“Y-you’re right. Even summons are restricted to weapons provided by the academy.”

 

“Don’t worry. Your magical strength might increase by eating that goblin, right?”

 

“Can you really eat that goblin?”

 

Lilil looked at the goblin in doubt. It’s basic common sense in this world that goblin meat is not edible, she said.

 

However, the same was said back on Earth. Until great chefs broke that idea.

 

‘I’m confident enough in cooking monsters.’

 

Jinhyuk smiled and pressed the button to open the prison.

 

“Trust me.”