We’re taken to the village chief’s house, and we’re told that hunters saw goblins to the north of the village.
As I hear them, I check Map, and see reactions to the north, but also west. Although there are more gathered in the north.
I ask them if there’s anything in the area around the village.
“There’s a small pond to the north where animals gather. It was when villagers went there that they found goblins.”
“And is there anything to the west?”
“There’s a lot of vegetation to the north. And deeper in that area, there are a lot of medicinal herbs. Adventurers go there to pick them sometimes, but I haven’t seen them in two or three months.”
He says that adventurers sometimes stop by the village on their way there or back, but that hasn’t happened recently.
But people who are more used to it go there and back directly.
“And to the north?”
“There’s a valley, but we don’t get close to it. There’s really nothing there, and it’s far from the village.”
The hunters are looking at me like they’re wondering why I’m asking.
“Has there been no damage to the village?”
“Yes, they haven’t come here yet. And we try not to mess with them when we do see them.”
The village chief says in response to Chris’ question, and the hunters nod.
I think they made that decision because they’re thinking they might attack the village if they provoke them. I assume they would attack the goblins if they got too close to the village, so I assume that hasn’t happened.
After that, we spend the night in the village, and I share with the others what I see on Map.
I see reactions in the west I think are goblins, and they’re going towards the valley.
“Hn, that would mean their base is to the north. Should we go there?”
“What about the ones moving?”
“From what I saw of the village, I think they can handle goblins if there are few of them. I think we can just tell the village chief and have them be careful, right?”
I think we should do what Rurika said. We want to avoid hunting them in one area and have them change their course of action. Although we could be a little more forceful if the village had adventurers to defend it.
I infuse more magic energy into Map to enlarge it, and see the valley pretty far away.
There are a lot of reactions. Fifty… More? I count a hundred and one.
“That’s a lot.”
“Yes. There might be a superior species among them.”
Chris says to Sera, who has a serious look on her face.
It’s a real swarm. Should we tell the village chief to contact the guild? But if we do, he’ll ask how we know that, and I’ll have to talk about my skill…
They didn’t offer much for the quest, and I assume that’s because they don’t know how many monsters there are.
This many goblins would warrant quite a big reward.
From what I’ve seen while walking around in the village, it doesn’t seem like they’re struggling in their day to day lives, but they don’t look rich either. But it’s not like I looked into them deeply or anything, so they could be hiding riches.
“Well, we just have to do what we can. How far away is this group of goblins?”
“From what I can see on Map, two, maybe three days away? If they advance through the shortest paths.”
“That’s pretty far.”
“That’s why they haven’t attacked the village yet. Maybe…”
“Maybe?”
“There’s a superior species, and it’s mustering up their forces.”
Says Rurika in response to Chris.
“Well, that’s just speculation on my part, but I think we should take them seriously, even if they’re goblins.”
Says Rurika, and we all nod.
◇ ◇ ◇
The next morning, we leave the village to go hunt goblins.
“Are you going there?”
Asks a hunter while pointing to the north with a surprised expression.
I checked Map for reactions, but there aren’t any goblins to the north of here, so we’re going towards the valley while they’re sleeping. I don’t see any to the west either.
We walk in a straight line towards the valley, but I stop two hours later.
“What are you doing, Sora?”
“I want to try something.”
I put my hand on the ground and use magic.
This is a small open area, with not much in the way of vegetation.
I use Earth Magic to open a hole, and reinforce the walls around it by controlling magic energy. And in the end, make a basement.
“What are you planning to do with this, Sora?”
“Leave a Transfer magic item so we can come back after hunting the goblins.”
It’s not like I have a problem with walking, but if possible, I want to be back in time for the dungeon’s change.
There’s one in the house we’re renting, but we can’t go back without reporting that we hunted the goblins.
With the basement complete, we have a somewhat early lunch, and head to the valley where the goblins are gathered.
Thanks for the treat.