"Huh? Why are they so early?"

"Who cares about that!? At least they're here! Our troubles will be over!"

"Look at that! They even have a mage too!"

Such things were said by the villagers that excitedly came to see the new visitors of the village, with the obvious difference in our greetings when we first arrived here.

Well, they are the ones whom the village chief mentioned are sent to take care of the goblin problem.

And I too am thankful for their arrival. Now I could see more possibilities of saving Trish. And it all has to do with them.

I could very well convince them that my friend is taken in by the goblins yesterday and while they're subjugating the goblins, they'll also be able to save Trish and her mother. Though I wouldn't be doing anything directly myself which is somehow frustrating, they'll be saved nonetheless.

I'll put the fulfillment of my self-satisfaction aside for this matter.

Currently, from what I can see on top of Night's shoulders, the group is talking to the village chief. Probably about the current situation. And their grim faces tells me that they see this as an urgent matter as well.

Oh, and there's Chris and Leo too, they seem to be speaking in a desperate kind of tone towards the group. Because of the noise that these other humans are making, I can't very well hear what they're saying and the village chief as well but I did hear some words like 'Friend' and 'Save' so I more or less know what they had asked about.

Then, Night brought me down and asked me what they look like.

"They're wearing leather armor with some metal armors on top. The two has swords on their waist and the other two has bows and arrows. There was also a female wearing a large robe thing and a large hat and she's also holding on to a large branch-like stick and the last one is wearing a white dress with yellow designs and she's holding on a long metal stick."

I said to them their description, not even minding if what I said is organized enough for them to understand so I thought that I might have to repeat myself.

But while they did get a bit confused at first, they nodded their hands as if they understood.

"... Then two swordsman, two bowman, a mage and the last one is either a healing [mage] or a [priestess]. But considering what Snow had described it as, it might be a battle [priestess] then."

Since Night had said some strange words, I've decided to inquire Night about it.

"A priestess is a person working for the church while a mage is a person that knows magic. Lilia is technically a mage in the definition but there's a difference."

Strangely enough, I know of what the church is. It's a place where they worship gods. But for some reason, I don't know what a priestess is...

Leaving that aside, this priestess is a god worshiping person. I don't know why she would be here which doesn't involve god at all... or maybe it did, but nonetheless, I could infer from what Night said, this priestess knows healing magic somehow.

And as for the mage. The word itself is intelligent sounding. It sounds like describing a very knowledgeable person. And the mage that came looks to be knowledgeable as well so I might have hit the mark.

Sun lseems to be a mage too but Night said that there was a difference or some kind of exception.

And regarding the man with the foul-smelling blood, he's one of the bowmen but has a sword on his waist. And he's also the one with the different hair color than the rest of his groupmates. Well, they all have different hair colors to one another but his just stands out for me.

His hair is grey which made him look like the village chief in that specific way. The mage, I don't know since her hair is being covered by her needlessly large hat in my perspective and as for the priestess, her hair is blond and almost shiny looking. I'm a bit envious on looking at her hair too.

Then a few minutes later, their talk with the village chief has finished and now they're headed for the village chief's house, I presume.

"Chris, Leo."

I called out to the two small humans that, for some reason, didn't follow the village chief and just stayed here in the entrance while talking to each other in an enthusiastic way.

I also told Sun and Night that I would like to talk to them for a while to which they permitted after telling me to come back before dark.

"Snow!"

"Big sister!"

In contrast to how they were earlier, they're seemingly jumping in joy. And quite literally.

Leo, who was like a speeding arrow, sped and jumped at me with open arms. It was so unexpected that I wasn't able to ready myself properly so I wasn't able to catch him. As for Chris, well, he tried to stop him but he wasn't fast enough to do so.

"They've arrived! They're going to save the village and Trish!"

The little human that's rubbing his head on my torso announced.

I placed my hand on top of his head as if agreeing with his words.

•••

In the village chief's house, there came 6 individuals with whom has the occupation of a mercenary.

Their wear was, to put it simply, mismatched but what they do have in common is the fact that they all wear leather armor and some had metal platings in certain areas of their body.

But that only describes the four. As for the other two, they were females. One is draped in a plane dark robe while wearing a mage's hat that looked too big on her while the other wears clerical clothing reserved for priests with less intricate embroideries but was nonetheless recognizable as such.

Their leader, a red-headed man with a scraggly beard and a rather intimidating look on his eyes, was quite perplexed in regards to what the village chief had told them.

He thought that they just came here in order to subjugate a group of goblins that decided to loiter around the shallow parts of the forest that seemed to trouble the people in the village.

They've even arrived early to just get the job over as quickly as possible as he has somewhere else to be in a week's time.

But from how they were greeted, to the report of the village chief, this was apparently something even bigger than he thought. And that it might take even longer than he expected.

He and the others heard from the village chief that just a few days ago, the goblins have begun to raid their village.

They were few at first but as days gone by, their numbers increased until just last night, they've numbered about 50 to 60 goblins.

This was very alarming for many reasons.

In the first place, it would be unthinkable for a goblin to even raid a village for they know instinctively that humans are far more powerful than them so they will likely stay away unless they outnumber them in a large scale.

Though considering how much and how frequent their attacks were, it could be assumed that somehow, there are many of them in the deep parts of the forest. Maybe even a goblin village had been established.

There's also another alarming fact.

The very fact that the goblins seem to be attacking the village every night with more number than the last. It was strange as to why they would do that, and so deliberately at that. Though that did answer something.

That there might be a goblin chief in their settlements.

In a very rare occurrence, A goblin chief may be born in a very large community. And with its birth brings a whole lot of trouble as not only are they smart, but they can also flawlessly lead the goblins in its tribe.

The regular dumb goblins are not capable of thinking up of something like deliberately increasing their numbers in every raid to the village.

But the question is, why?

Why would the chief of the goblins make such a command?

And there's also the matter about the kidnapped family. A boy with black hair and grey eyes, with a younger boy with similar characteristics told them about.

It was a family the only consists of a mother and child. They told them that they were kidnapped by goblins.

The village chief also confirmed this issue but regarding the goblins, they weren't really credible.

And the red-headed man believed it so. A goblin can't possibly have the discipline to be able to accomplish such a covert deed. And the village chief thinks so as well as they have many guards at night that night so a goblin couldn't have possibly been able to do such a deed without being noticed as they're really loud and would scream in every action they do.

Even if the goblin thing is but a simple child imagination, he still agreed that they would keep a lookout in their search in the forest.

The boys were pretty happy about that so he just unnaturally smiled at them.

Now on with the current situation.

They're inside the village chief's house, having a meeting regarding what to do from now on as they can't just go in and crush those puny goblins without a plan.

Sure, their party may be rated above average due to their capabilities in solving subjugation requests such as this and with even tougher enemies at that but considering that just last night, there were 50 or so goblins that raided the village, even they will have their reservations.

And there would surely be many more goblins in wherever they are in the forest. With just the 6 of them, it was practically suicide to go in even if they're prepared combat wise.

But before thinking about all of that, there's something that needs to be known.

"Do you know where they are?"

"I'm afraid not, mister Rodan With all the anxiety regarding the nightly attacks, not many would be willing to go in the forest and search for them."

The redheaded man named Rodan expected this answer but even if he did, he still couldn't help but sigh.

They're most likely dealing with a goblin village here. It's not something they expected to take on when they took the request.

And with a goblin village, it's incredibly risky to just go in and find them. What the village chief did was right.

But since the location is still unknown, they have to find it themselves which would be a great pain in the ass, or rather, the whole body in general.

But thankfully, somehow or the other, they found someone who claimed to be good at scouting so it would make this a lot less of a pain.

At first, though, Rodan thought that he was unnecessary but the man had somehow convinced him to. As if something just hit him with a message, saying that he should trust him.

And now, his usual 5 man team now turned into a 6 man team. And it looks like this strange man is using both the bow and a sword. He was quite impressed but not too much. This grey-haired man still haven't proved himself after all.

"We'll go and look for it in a few hours from now. For the meantime, go and request for reinforcements using that device in the first option. There might potentially be a goblin village being established or had already been established in the forest."

"I-is that really true...?"

"It merely my speculation but it's highly likely that that's the thing we're dealing with."

The village chief seemed to shudder upon hearing the mention of a goblin village.

If that were true then, if help wasn't sent quickly, their whole village would be destroyed. And due to the fact that there were so many goblins that attacked the village last night, the thought of it being true, that he truly wish wasn't the case at all, might be possible.

With his fears seemingly becoming a reality, he quickly went to a small room where it's only contents where a small table and on top of that, a diamond-shaped crystal.

This crystal is a magical device that utilizes light magic in order to send messages instantaneously back to the capital. Although, this device could only be used once every 3 months and the message that it could send is just 2 set messages.

The first one being a signal that tells the receiver there's a big problem but the cause/location of the cause/true hazardous potential of the cause is still unknown and there is a need to send help to the area.

The second one is that there's a huge problem and that the cause had been properly evaluated and that it would cause the imminent destruction of the place if help wasn't sent soon.

The options were seperated in regards to how certain they are with the threat. It was something that even villages in such a remote place like this, would be granted with as Ronoa is just that kind of country.

Rodan then turned his gaze from where the village chief was towards his comrades and told them the plans for now.

"For now, we should rest up for an hour or so then we'll check the parameters of the forest to see if there's anything unusual that we may find."

Some signs of a goblin village being established are wooden poles with the animal head placed on its end, strange carvings on the trunk of trees, and carcasses positioned in a standing up position.

The objective of finding them is to confirm if there really is a goblin village in the forest and it also serves as a way to estimate how powerful this goblin village is. More extravagant signs indicate a more powerful goblin village.

All of them nodded at this.

But of course, they wouldn't just simply stumble upon a sign upon just by peering into the forest outside. They have to at least get in the forest and survey the surroundings there.

And since they'll be slightly deep inside the forest, they'll end their search before nightfall.

That was the plan that Rodan told the group.

"We will also set up some traps in the direction that the goblins came from. From what the village chief had told us, it should be at the front of the entrance. This should lessen their numbers significantly when they attack at night."

"Wait, do we even have traps?"

The one who asked the question was the swordsman other than Rodan.

The man has unkempt murky yellow hair and a face that one could call a lady killer's face, completely contrary to his personality and two slim swords on his waist.

He's one with the quickest reaction speed in the whole group and is able to always adapt to any situation that they come across and due to this, he could give assistance to the others quickly. Only if his mind is as fast and sharp as his reflexes...

"Ha... What do you think you were carrying the whole time, Sam?"

The one who refuted was the mage. Though her height is like that of a teenager, she's genuinely a 23 year old.

Her short brown hair is always filled with split ends and her eyes always seem to look tired even after a good night's sleep. Most likely because of the accumulated sleepless nights that she had all these years.

"Uh... Luggage?"

"Idiot. They're traps."

"They are?"

"Yes."

"Woah. I didn't even notice. You know, if you think about traps, you would think they're menacing but those things, they literally look like doormats."

"You know what, I don't care anymore."

"Don't go pouting now, Morgan~."

"Shut up."

The mage, Morgan, sighed as she turned his head away from the swordsman named Sam who's making stupid faces. Rodan ignored all of this as if it's natural and continued the talk.

"After returning before nightfall, we should go ahead and set up the barricades for the attack at night. And that being the case, we should also get some appropriate sleep. We should expect 80 or so goblins attacking tonight."

Rodan looked at everyone and since no one reacted, he continued.

"Now for the assignment of teams for the search. We'll be splitting into two teams. The first being Sam, Celidonia and... Tristan. Would that be fine with you?"

The man named Tristan nodded with a glint on his eyes.

Celidonia, the battle priestess, nodded as well with an uneasy expression.

As for Sam, he raised a thumbs up.

"And the next team would be me, Morgan and the new guy, Rus. Will that be fine?

"As long as I can get away from that idiot over there..."

"H-hey!"

In Rodan's question for confirmation, Rus didn't reply. Instead, he continued to peer through the window, staring at something outside.

"Oi Rus. Is that okay with you?"

"Hm? Oh yeah. Totally fine."

Rodan simply sighed at the man's behavior. When they first saw him, he could already tell that he has some peculiarities about him. It's also the one thing that made him hesitate on recruiting them as a temporary member.

But if what he boasted about is true, then he'll be a great help in the request this time.

Rodan hopes so in the bottom of his heart.