Chapter 42: The Boot, Part Two: Electric Boogaloo

I was in full-blown panic mode. My fingers flew across the console, trying to access the newly created world to perform an emergency race-change.

[ACCESS DENIED. SOUL HAS ALREADY BEEN INTEGRATED. MANUAL CORRECTION REQUIRES CLASS-7 PARADOX OVERRIDE.]

"No, no, no!" I muttered, frantically searching for a loophole. A Class-7 Override could unravel the entire timeline of the planet! All to fix one little goblin!

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Isao said cheerfully, having composed himself. "Think of the opportunities! He'll have to climb the social ladder from the absolute bottom. He'll face prejudice, systemic oppression… it's a fantastic underdog story!"

"He's not an underdog! He's a monster with an encyclopedic knowledge of RPG tropes and a god-tier appraisal skill!" I shrieked, pulling up the live feed of Kenji's arrival.

He had materialized in a damp, smelly cave, surrounded by other goblins who were currently fighting over a half-eaten fungus. He was small, green, and shaking with a rage so profound it was practically visible. He looked at his own spindly green hands and let out a scream of pure fury.

"This is a disaster!" I wailed. "He'll use his knowledge to unite the goblin tribes! He'll design technologically superior pointy sticks! He'll become a real, actual Demon King!"

"And you'll have to send a hero to stop him," Isao finished, a gleam in his eye. "You've created your own content, Aka-chan. It's wonderfully efficient."

I was hyperventilating. On the screen, Kenji had stopped screaming. He had activated his Appraisal skill. I could see the flood of information hitting his new, highly intelligent goblin brain. He was seeing the stats of the other goblins, the weakness in the cave's rock structure, the faint magical signature of a rare ore deposit deep underground. He was already calculating. He was already planning.

Isao patted my shoulder. "Don't worry. I'm sure it will be fine. And if it's not, it will be hilarious."

That did it. The sheer, unhelpful smugness. The joy he was taking in my complete and utter failure. I stopped panicking. A cold, serene calm washed over me.

"Isao," I said, my voice dangerously even.

"Yes, Aka-chan?" he asked, still smiling.

I didn't say another word. I simply raised my hand. The giant, glowing, ethereal boot materialized in the air behind him. It seemed to shine with an even more righteous fury this time.

Isao's smile vanished. His eyes widened as he saw it. "Ah," he said. "Right. I seem to have overstayed my—"

THWUMP.

The boot connected with a deeply satisfying metaphysical impact. He sailed through my office in a perfect arc, letting out a familiar high-pitched scream, and vanished through a freshly-made, Isao-shaped hole in reality.

The silence that followed was blissful. But the problem of the goblin genius remained.