I Became a Goblin Ancestor

Whoosh—!!!

In the blink of an eye, the pillar of fire rises, burning the entire body before it can even feel pain.

“…!”

Consciousness fades away in an instant, and sensation in the whole body becomes distant.

Experiencing the sensation of being burned to death after a long time, the ‘Punishment Team’s ancestor’, whose body had half turned into charcoal, smiled nostalgically.

Although the iron palanquin she had been riding in had blocked the direct hit of the fire pillar considerably, the Punishment Team ancestor’s body was already in a state that could be considered dead.

However, as she had experienced such deaths hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of times in her life so far, the Punishment Team’s ancestor, Arashi, slowly stood up, leading her body that had begun to regenerate, breaking through the charred skin.

“This… Once again, I’m very grateful for our race’s power.”

Arashi couldn’t help but mutter so, unknowingly, as it would have been an attack that would have killed her without a doubt if her race had been different from now.

The race of the Punishment Team’s ancestor, Arashi, is the ghoul.

However, unlike the ghouls commonly known to humans on this planet Earth, Arashi and her kin were beings with outstanding beauty, enormous vitality and strength, and regenerative power.

Unless the entire body is completely turned to ash, they can regenerate even from just a single finger.

Therefore, regenerating from being burned to death, which had only killed half of her body, was a very easy task for Arashi, and she carefully leaned against the melted window of the palanquin to look outside.

“From the attitude towards me to this kind of power… You really were an interesting person.”

What Arashi was looking at was the back of the girl leaving in the distance.

Judging by the fact that Lee Yeon-ah, the team leader of the General Management Team, had come to escort her, Arashi was just staring at the back of the girl who was presumably the sleeping ancestor of the General Management Team.

Unlike others who had been crawling on the ground when dealing with her, the girl had approached with an obvious pretense of bowing.

And when it became unbearable, the girl carried out the murder of the Punishment Team, which no one but a fool of the world could dream of, and left leisurely.

“It’s absurd… but that makes it more exciting.”

If the one who had done this was a nouveau riche who didn’t know their place or a madman with delusions, she would have ordered punishment immediately without any interest.

However, surprisingly, the one who had done this was the ancestor of the General Management Team, whom even Arashi herself couldn’t touch carelessly, and a figure from the past who had been said to be sleeping until now.

Because she was truly an exception among exceptions in the current defense city, Arashi felt her heart, which had been steeped in boredom for a long time, pounding.

Thump—

“Of course, being a ghoul, my heart doesn’t actually beat… but that’s how much I’m looking forward to it.”

Although she didn’t know what kind of relationship she could form with her, it was clear that she would give Arashi the first stimulation in decades, so Arashi quietly stole a deep smile.

However, that smile didn’t last long.

“Ancestor!!! Are you alright?!”
“…The annoying chatterbox is here already.”

The smile was cleanly erased by a woman who had suddenly run from afar and approached the palanquin, the team leader of the Punishment Team.

“Hmm… I should probably put on clothes first.”

After all, the antique dress she had been wearing had long since burned away due to being half burned to death.

Therefore, Arashi created cloth with simple magic and wrapped it around her body while waiting for the Punishment Team’s team leader, who would soon burst into the palanquin.

After all, before the start of an enjoyable story, there was always a need for boring preparation first.

Thud– Thud–

In the silence that has fallen over the street, my footsteps and those of someone else alternate in echoing.

And I stared at the back of the woman who was the owner of the footsteps on the road as I returned the same way I had come.

‘Hmm…’

The human who introduced herself as Lee Yeon-ah and began guiding me.

The reason I followed her without any particular words, walking behind her who was leading the way in front of me, was simple.

First, because I saw that she was trying to clean up the accident I had caused immediately, and from her manner of speaking, she was trying to devote herself to me.

Second, because the scent of my kin, who had undoubtedly been proven to be extinct by Hwa-gon, also emanated from Yeon-ah.

And lastly, because if I didn’t follow Yeon-ah in this situation after what had happened, there would be nothing but disadvantages for me in the future.

‘It seems true that she found me in the cave where I performed the ceremony 60 years ago and kept and protected me… From her way of speaking and her demeanor, she doesn’t seem to have any malice, right?’

『I have to agree with that. No matter how I look at it, she doesn’t seem to harbor any malice. Of course, it’s suspicious that the energy of the goblin race, which is already extinct except for you, Shin-yeon, emanates from her…』

‘If she was trying to deceive me, I could solve it by killing her in return.’

Finishing the conversation with Hwa-gon, I slightly narrowed my eyes as I looked at Yeon-ah’s back.

In fact, Yeon-ah was the last opportunity I could rely on in this city after causing the accident, so I hoped this premonition would be wrong, but if the premonition was really right, I was prepared to burn Yeon-ah to death like the humans earlier and run away.

Then I would probably have to flee outside the city and seek a way to survive alone.

Of course, no matter how I looked at it, Yeon-ah’s appearance seemed like nothing but a puppy trying hard to suppress its desire to wag its tail.

‘Come to think of it, I’m curious about that too. Those humans from earlier didn’t seem to have died properly.’

『That’s true, they were certainly regenerating anew despite their entire bodies being burned…』

There’s already a mountain of questions to ask right now, but the recent events also need to be added to the list of questions.

Those who tried to come back to life despite clearly having died from my attack.

If all humans in this world had such regenerative power, it seemed I needed to revise my mindset of looking down on humans a bit, so this was a question I had to get an answer to.

“We have arrived, ancestor. Please come inside.”
“Ah, we’ve arrived. I see… Is this the building where I was?”

Of course, these thoughts were something I should have only after arriving.

Yeon-ah’s voice wakes me up from my thoughts.

I stopped in front of the entrance of the huge tower we had arrived at without realizing it, and looked at her as she turned her body.

“Yes, this is the headquarters of our General Management Team. Of course, as you are the ancestor, you can go anywhere you wish.”
“That’s quite welcome news, but shall we talk first? I have a lot of questions.”
“Yes, then let’s go straight to my office.”

At my words, Yeon-ah entered through the entrance and approached what Hwa-gon had called an ‘elevator’ when I first woke up.

And indeed, befitting a human living in this era, unlike me, Yeon-ah operated the elevator normally.

Swish—

“Please enter comfortably.”

Following her as she entered the elevator first, I also stepped in, and soon the elevator doors closed and it began to ascend at a high speed.

Perhaps they were using quite good equipment befitting such a huge tower, as the elevator arrived at the top floor in less than 20 seconds.

However, in contrast to that short time, I, who had come up to a height with clouds above my head in an instant, looked down at the human city that came into view at a glance.

‘…Humans really have developed endlessly.’

『To the point where it’s dazzling to look at…』

‘The humans in our world were just creatures busy running away at the sight of a ghost’s face.’

Looking at the scenery through the window of the elevator attached to the tower’s glass wall, such exclamations naturally burst out.

The humans in my memory were undoubtedly still in that state of those times, but the humans of this world had developed this much.

I didn’t realize it when walking down the street and looking at things one by one, but seeing it all at once like this made it so real that I couldn’t help but shiver with a subtle thrill.

But that was only for a moment.

Soon, I had to come to my senses at the voice calling me once again, pulling me out of my contemplation.

“Ancestor, I would be grateful if you could come this way and sit down.”
“…Right, I should go.”

Opposite to the scenery I had been looking at, Yeon-ah’s office that she had entered welcomed me as a pleasant space.

And Yeon-ah, pointing to the main sofa in the office, offering me a seat.

At that sight, I tried to put aside my desire to look at the human city and stepped towards her office.

‘Looking at the city panorama… I’ll probably be able to do it anytime from now on.’

So what I need to focus on now is unraveling these questions that are still piled up inside me.

Therefore, I walked to the seat she had offered with a confident gait that wouldn’t be looked down upon by anyone, and sat down boldly.

From now on, a conversation that might get a bit long was about to begin.