Jake woke up to a loud thud as a bespectacled goblin hurled himself at the door, breaking the hatch.
With ears perked up and a wide grin, Nerdy approached the bed, resting a hand on it as he spoke with confidence and pride, "Master, I've decoded the slayer's book."
He pounded his chest, opened the book again, and began flipping through its pages.
Jake, still groggy, looked around with a dazed expression. In a sleepy voice, he asked, "What is it then?"
As he rubbed his eyes and let out a yawn, Nerdy stood proudly, waiting for praise. When none came, he gritted his teeth and continued, "He came here to hunt the witch himself."
He ran his fingers over the pages. "The witch is said to dwell at the heart of the marshland, connected to the swamp we crossed in the forest. Her hut glows at night with fireflies and smoke, surrounded by perched lotuses. The absence of frogs and alligators near her hut is a sign we're close."
He glanced at Jake, adjusting his spectacles as they gleamed. "Master, we can summon the gloomy."
"And since Dummy died from the pain, the mana is gone. Maybe the witch can brew a potion to bring him back."
Jake, already indifferent to Dummy's death, didn't care at all.
He stood from his bed, raised his hand, and focused. "Heed my call, my Shadow."
The room's light dimmed, the colors desaturated, and within seconds, the light returned, this time revealing a dark, ominous figure clad in fearsome armor, shadows clinging to its surface.
It groaned, "There are enemies, Master!"
Jake jerked back, his body stiffening. He quickly tried to collect himself, clearing his throat. "Explain."
Gloomy bowed and spoke in his rugged, hoarse voice, "Master... there are swamp men roaming around the swamp. They have long tails, bodies covered in scales, and they were moving, moving away from the swamp. I followed them on their journey, and they stopped at the heart of the forest near a hut. They set up camp near the swamp, just opposite the hut."
Nerdy interjected, raising his voice, "Master! This is a fight between the witch and the lizardmen of the swamp! They're going to kill her."
Jake asked, "Doesn't she brew immortality potions?" His curiosity was genuine.
For a witch capable of granting immortality must surely have ways to defend against an attack on her hut.
Nerdy wanted to correct Jake but ultimately held back. Instead, he replied, "Master, in the end, she is a potion master. She might have an immortal chimera, but what can it do against a group? It will ultimately be defeated by sheer numbers."
He turned to Gloomy. "How big was the group?"
Gloomy, with his hoarse and rugged voice, answered, "It was a whole... tribe."
Nerdy gasped in astonishment, "That's bad, Master."
Jake was still unable to grasp the seriousness of the situation, remaining nonchalant about it. Perhaps if this were an elf, he might have shown some enthusiasm. For now, he stayed quiet, asked no further questions, and waited for Nerdy to plan ahead.
Gloomy was eerily silent as he slowly moved toward the window, gazing out with weary eyes.
'He looks so cool!' Jake thought to himself.
Meanwhile, Nerdy was pulling his hair out, trying to figure out a solution. Jake needed to grow stronger, but after watching his master soil his pants moments ago, there was no way Nerdy could trust him to put up a good fight. Jake was a coward, but he was still Nerdy's master, so abandoning him wasn't an option. Nerdy felt stuck with this idiot.
He paced back and forth across the room, his steps growing quicker and more frantic with every passing moment.
"A distraction! That's it, we need a distraction! We don't have to fight—we just need her!"
He turned to Master Jake. "I've got it!"
"Master, we just have to escape with the witch. There are enough materials in the forest for her to make a potion for us. Her hut can be left behind…"
Jake interrupted, "Why don't we just steal the potion instead?"
He wasn't keen on saving an old witch, having already pictured her as the wrinkled, unpleasant figure from the fairy tales he read back in his world. 'A wrinkled old hag. Bleh,' he thought.
Nerdy, still holding onto his patience, spoke respectfully, though he really wanted to smack his master. With a forced polite smile, he replied, "I'm not a potion master, and neither is Master or Gloomy. We wouldn't know what to steal."
Jake, still against the idea, told Gloomy to come up with another plan, as going into the forest to save someone, especially someone who wasn't a beautiful woman, seemed too risky for him.
Assigning the task of finding a solution to Nerdy. He summoned his status screen again, scrolling through it to find any skill that might help in their current predicament. He sighed as he glanced at the list. Aside from goblin summoning, his other skills were basic-level Shadow and Water manipulation. Abilities like Author's Grace and Supernatural Luck were as vague as they sounded.
"I wish I had some mind-bending superpower like those isekai protagonists get—and a woman by my side when I wake up," he muttered, looking toward Nerdy, who was still tugging at his hair, trying to figure something out.
A wave of disgust swept over him as his face twisted. He quickly shifted his gaze back to his status screen.
"Hmm… What's this? Plagued?" he muttered aloud.
He addressed Nerdy. "Hey, what's this 'Plagued' status I have?"
Nerdy paused, momentarily stopping his hair-pulling, and looked at his master in confusion. "Plagued? Where, Master?"
"It's in my status," Jake replied.
"Never heard of it, Master."
"What normally takes the place of Plague, then?" Jake pressed further.
"It's an indicator of the physical body's condition, like health or sickness. I've heard of effects like Poisoned or Paralyzed."
Jake glanced at the plague status, sensing something ominous about it. Shifting his focus, he asked again, "Why my race is a demi-human?"
Nerdy paused, glancing at Gloomy, who also turned his gaze to their master. "Master, there might be something wrong with your status," he said.