DanMachi: Cheat? What's a Cheat?

Chapter 28 – Unexpected Partnership

Three days.

Three absolutely exhausting days since I started this "cooperation" with that senior goblin.

It's been ten days since I came to Orario.

I yawned for the umpteenth time while walking casually after clearing floor 1. Now I'm heading to floor 2.

My left eye's twitching from sleepiness, and the dark circles under my eyes are already as wide as a 100 valis coin.

"Why does life have to be this hard?" I muttered while peeking toward the corridor.

"I used to think my biggest problem was not having money. Now the problem is not having time to sleep."

I kept walking toward where Gob was.

That goblin – who I now call "Gob" because it's too much of a hassle to keep saying "senior goblin" all the time.

Without realizing it, time flew by so fast.

What started as just a simple communication plan with the senior goblin has now developed into... a weird partnership.

Yeah, partnership.

I don't know what else to call it.

After successfully understanding that the goblin wanted to be friends and teach me how to fight, we both started developing a daily routine that's... unique.

Early in the morning, I'd come to floor 1 to clear monsters as usual.

That goblin never bothered this activity. Seems like he gets that floor 1 is my "territory."

This kind of thing's been happening for three days now.

Thinking like that, I unconsciously walked closer to floor 2.

As soon as I reached floor 2, he'd immediately appear from god knows where with an expression that screamed "Let's start today!"

"Morning, Gob," I greeted while raising my hand.

The goblin nodded and immediately made movements I was starting to understand.

He pointed toward the inside of floor 2, then made hunting-like gestures.

"You wanna hunt monsters together again today?" I asked.

He nodded enthusiastically.

Speaking of hunting together.

I was hesitant at first.

What if other adventurers saw us? How would I explain that I was cooperating with a monster?

But then I realized something.

That goblin was super skilled at avoiding other adventurers.

He always knew when to hide and when it was safe to come out.

"Alright," I decided.

"But we gotta be careful. Can't let anyone see us."

The goblin nodded enthusiastically, then made gestures showing "follow me."

And so began our weird hunting in floor 2.

Before this, I thought hunting together wouldn't be efficient.

Turns out hunting monsters with that goblin was super efficient.

Too efficient, actually.

He was like he had an internal radar to detect the presence of monsters and adventurers.

I have that kind of talent too. But still, I felt like the goblin's abilities were better than mine.

Right now we're moving smoothly without being detected by anyone.

Suddenly.

"Psst," I whispered when I saw a group of adventurers at the end of the corridor.

"There's people."

Seeing those adventurers, I was surprised. They came this early?

The goblin immediately pulled me behind the cave wall with super quick movements.

We both pressed against the wall while waiting for those adventurers to pass.

When the situation was safe, the goblin peeked out and made a "safe" gesture with his hand.

"You're like a ninja turtle," I muttered admiringly.

Plus this goblin's green so it fits calling him a ninja turtle.

"Where'd you learn stealth and all that?"

The goblin looked at me with a proud expression, then made gestures showing "experience."

"Experience, huh..." I muttered while scratching my head.

While continuing to walk looking for monsters.

In hunting monsters, we developed a pretty effective strategy.

The goblin served as scout and distraction, while I served as the main damage dealer.

When facing a kobold, for example, the goblin would draw that monster's attention with provocative movements.

The offended kobold would chase the goblin, giving me a chance to attack from behind.

"Nice!" I shouted after successfully defeating the kobold with a clean hit.

The goblin nodded with satisfaction, then made gestures showing "good work."

But then he did something that had become his habit since we first started working together.

This reminded me of the first day we hunted together. Back then, after we successfully killed a kobold, he approached where the kobold turned to ash and started doing something weird with the magic stone I had just picked up.

"Hey, what're you doing?" I asked confusedly.

The goblin pointed toward the magic stone, then toward himself, then made gestures like... eating?

"You wanna eat the magic stone?" I asked horrified.

He shook his head quickly, then made more complex gestures. He pointed toward the magic stone, then toward his body, then made gestures showing "becoming strong."

"Oh! You absorb magic stones to become strong?" I asked with sparkling eyes.

The goblin nodded enthusiastically.

"So you're like... an evolving monster? No wonder you keep getting stronger."

He nodded again, then made gestures showing "let's split it."

"Split it?" I tilted my head. "You mean we split the magic stone?"

He nodded.

"But if you absorb magic stones, that means you don't need money. Why should we split it?"

The goblin made gestures showing "fair trade" or "fair cooperation."

I was quiet for a moment.

This goblin... has a really high sense of fairness. Even though he doesn't need money, he still wants to share the hunting results fairly.

"Alright," I said finally. "We'll split it."

The goblin smiled widely - the first expression that actually looked happy since we met.

Since that day, I started understanding that goblin's "language" more and more.

Though sometimes there were still miscommunications that ended in... light violence.

"So you mean, we attack that monster from the right?" I asked while pointing to the right.

The goblin shook his head hard and made gestures showing "left."

"Oh, left. Sorry, misunderstood."

He nodded, but then lightly hit my head.

"Ow! Why'd you hit me?"

The goblin made gestures showing "punishment for not listening carefully."

"You really love hitting people!" I protested while rubbing my head.

During these three days, I've started understanding that goblin's behavioral patterns. He does like hitting me, but that's his way of teaching.

I don't know what he's doing, but I'm used to it now.

He made gestures showing "it's part of the learning process" while smiling innocently.

"Sadistic teacher," I grumbled.