The group of fifteen people, with Nate bringing up the front, walked forward on the barren soil slowly and on high alert.

At least, for the first thirty minutes, they did.

"Hey, there's nothing here..." One of the men behind Nate murmured, and the others inwardly agreed. As they walked on, they'd gradually lost tension. Humans couldn't maintain a constant state of focus for too long, after all. They had all gradually let their guards down.

Except for Nate.

Nate was used to long times of staying alert, especially when he was waiting for the people who would pick up his deliveries. Besides, his superpower even restored his focus, so he was able to perpetually remain on guard. It wasn't pleasant to remain that way constantly, so he would naturally loosen up when he could, but this time wasn't one of those times.

'Crap, this isn't good.' Nate thought grimly. 'It's like this valley is lulling us into a false sense of security... Something is probably going to show up soon.'

Swoosh

Just as Nate had that thought, he heard something cutting through the mist. He stepped backward in time, and the object that was about to hit his head struck his chest plate instead. Nate looked down and saw a crude arrow. There was something black attached to the stone arrowhead that had a crack on it from the impact with his metal armor.

"Enemies!" Nate called out in a loud voice, those who were walking in a relaxed manner stiffened but then quickly prepared their weapons. "They have archers! Be careful--"

Swish

He didn't get to complete what he said when an arrow flew out from behind him.

"Grah!" A dry raspy voice exclaimed from behind the veil of fog. The arrow had pierced something. Something alive.

"Holy..." Nate glanced shortly behind him and saw Ayumi take out another arrow from her quiver. "Nice shot!"

"Haha. Thanks!" Ayumi gleefully replied, but then nocked her arrow and looked wearily in front of them. Nate also turned back to the front, tossed the spear he was holding to the sword user in the front group, then took out his slingshot and a lead pellet.

"Grrrr!"

"Grrb Grag!"

Words in an unknown language, if you could call it that, sounded out from somewhere in the front and their group's flanks.

"We're fucking surrounded! Get ready!" Nate called out. He squinted his eyes, hoping to see deeper in the mist, where dark figures that reached up to his waist started making their appearance. Nate couldn't help but be shocked by the creatures. He knew what those were. "Are those... goblins...?"

Dark green skin and a childlike figure. Ugly wrinkles and a hooked nose were a common feature among them, along with glowing yellow orbs for eyes. They were holding a variety of crude weapons made out of sharpened stone and wood with dirty-looking rags for loincloths. They stared hungrily at Nate and the others, drool oozing from their mouths.

A rough count told him that there were forty of them. The ones that they could see, at least.

"Maintain formation! Don't mind me!" Nate called out then charged towards the front. The goblins seemed surprised by this, but then they snickered evilly as they all charged forward. "Got you, you lil' motherfuckers."

They didn't expect Nate to stop suddenly and then start pelting them with lead pellets when they entered his slingshot's range. Each shot would hit them squarely in the nose, crushing it and successfully making them even more hideous. Three goblins knelt down and writhed on the ground in pain.

'Damnit, I thought I could take out more of them...' Nate cursed inwardly. He stowed away his slingshot and pulled out his falchion while backing away slowly, leading the little green monsters towards his group. He didn't want to take on six of them by himself after all.

"Leave some for us!" Ming called out, he ran forward and stabbed, his spear making its mark on the goblin's chest. Two other people in the group charged forward with their spears as well, quickly felling a goblin each. Ming nodded towards Nate and asked, "Hey, you think there are more archers in the front?"

"Hup!" Nate grunted as he smashed his sword vertically onto a goblin's head. Two left. "Who knows. Stay alert thou--"

Swoosh Swoosh Swoosh

Nate didn't even get to finish before hearing the familiar sound of something cutting through the air. He turned his head to the front again, to see three arrows coming at him. He brought his left hand up to protect his head with his bracer then used his falchion's thick blade to block off his throat.

Ting! Ting! Pook!

Two arrows made a sound as they struck him on his metal-covered chest while the last one struck the ground beside him, missing him completely.

'Yeesh, I didn't need to try to cover my face... But I guess I should still do it like that since those are my vitals.' Nate thought as he glared in the direction where he thought the arrows were fired from. 'Still. This chest plate is really paying for itself. I should save up for some more metal armor. Maybe chainmail for my stomach and an iron helmet.'

Swish!

Another arrow was fired from somewhere behind him.

"Grog!" A goblin from behind the veil of fog groaned as he was struck by an arrow to the chest.

"Holy shit, Ayumi! Do that again!" Nate called out excitedly without looking back.

"Roger!" Ayumi replied, firing another arrow. This time, however, it didn't result in the painful howl of a goblin.

'Sons of bitches must have moved. Why are they so needlessly smart?' Nate cursed. "Don't mind! Watch out for more and support the flanks!"

"Okay!" Ayumi called back, she turned her sights to the flanks who were still fending off a group of goblins.

"I'm going in! Ming, don't leave this spot, we don't want the girls to get attacked." Nate called out to Ming who had just finished off the last goblin that came from the front, then charged into the fog.

"Wait, you're going alone!?" Ming called out in surprise but still chose to stay in place and guard the front. It would be troublesome if their archers were attacked by a sudden goblin attack from the front, even though one of the girls seemed to have a melee weapon.

Within the fog, Nate was jogging forward with his falchion resting on his right shoulder, so it would cover the right side of his neck and his face partially. He drew the knife on his back hip and raised his arm to protect his forehead from sudden attacks using his bracer.

Soon, he found what he was looking for. Two goblins with crude wooden bows were running away from him with their backs turned. It seemed that they couldn't escape Nate even when he was just jogging. Nate sped up and cut open one goblin's back with a vertical slash, which was quickly becoming his go-to move, with how easy it was to do. The other goblin didn't even look back and continued running, but was struck by a knife's pommel in the back of the head and stumbled forward, falling face-first to the ground. He then went over to the goblin and finished it off.

'Yikes. I suck at throwing knives. It actually stuck the goblin with the pommel instead of the bladed part. Good thing it still stopped the little shit.' Nate thought, embarrassed and relieved. He had tried throwing the knife in his left hand in an attempt to copy ninjas or rogues in novels, but failed spectacularly. It was a good thing that he had thrown it hard enough that it probably would've given an ordinary child a concussion.

"Whew." Nate sighed. He jogged back to the group while finishing off any goblins that didn't seem to be dead yet. He even found the time to pick up some of the pellets he'd used to knock them down in the first place. He eventually made it back to the group to find that they'd finished fighting already.

'Well, that went great aside from the knife thing. I didn't even get wounded or anything. There might be a few scratches on my armor, but aside from that, nothing.' Nate walked over and confirmed that none of the others were wounded either. He inwardly sighed in relief. This was one of the best-case scenarios he thought of. 'The bestesest-case scenario was that there wasn't anything to fight.'

"Yo!" Ming waved at Nate while smiling. "Got 'em?"

"Yep," Nate answered. "Hopefully that's all of them..."

"Hey, you're gonna raise a flag." Ming good-naturedly chided. He was quite elated over their successful first battle. "When people say that in movies, usually, something else shows up."

"Fuck, you're right." Nate chuckled. He looked towards the other groups, who were panting hard from excitement but generally unharmed. "It's great that nobody got hurt. We'll stop moving forward and go home now."

Everybody sighed in relief at Nate's statement. The battle was short, but it was likely the first violent episode in their life for most of these people. They all visibly wanted to rest and get back to a safe place.

"Uhm." Miyu raised her hand and spoke out. "I think we should investigate the area first..."

"Investigating...?" Ayumi voiced out. Her head was tilted cutely, expressing her confusion.

"Yes. Before us, six other people came here to investigate." Miyu explained. "They might've left their weapons lying around..."

At the thought of additional weapons, the eyes of the people who'd looked as if they were ready to run home lit up. They all wanted to feel more secure by having more weapons. Their eyes turned towards Nate, waiting for his decision.

"Oh." Nate nodded in understanding. More weapons equals good. "Alright. Let's look around for a few minutes. Stay in groups. Call out when you find something or when a battle starts. Be careful, there might still be some gobs here."

"Gobs?" Ming asked in bewilderment. "What are those?"

"It's short for goblin. That's what those are called. At least, that's what I think." Nate explained. "They show up in anime and manga, from time to time."

"Hm. I see..." Ming nodded as he put his hand on his chin, thinking about something. Three men in the back didn't seem to be familiar with goblins either. They, too, nodded in understanding at Nate's explanation.

'Guess goblins aren't famous enough yet.' Nate inwardly remarked. Some of these people likely hadn't even read a single web novel or manga. Which made sense since not everyone was interested in those kinds of things. 'But surprisingly, the majority of people here are familiar with them.'

"Alright, we split up. I'll group up with Miyu and Ayumi." Nate said casually, but he couldn't help but feel that the some of men's gazes towards him got instantly colder. He could hear them murmuring resentfully.

"He's misusing his authority..."

"Just because he's a little handsome..."

"I'm so fucking jealous. Fuck that guy."

'Woah. Okay.' Nate shook his head wryly. He and the girls weren't in any particular group since the three of them had special roles, so it was only natural to him to group up with them for now. He wasn't particularly thinking of making a move on either of the two ladies on the team. 'Did I mess up? Is there going to be a mutiny now?'

As Nate was jokingly musing, the two girls had walked up beside him. Both of them didn't particularly mind grouping with him, since they both thought that it made the most sense.

"Hey, nice shots." Nate amiably complimented Ayumi. She had taken out two goblin archers, and a whole bunch of melee goblins with her arrows. She had made the engagement easier by multiple times.

"Hehe..." Ayumi scratched the back of her head shyly. She then grabbed her friend's shoulders and brought her forward. "Miyu did a good job too, y'know? Praise her too."

"A-Ayumi...!" Miyu scolded, failing to hide her embarrassment. Although she fired fewer arrows than Ayumi due to the gap in experience and confidence, all of her shots had connected as well. She softly pinched Ayumi's waist, making Ayumi squeal strangely.

"That's true." Nate agreed. A quick glance to the left flank revealed that five goblins had arrows lodged in their bodies. Since the left flank was Miyu's responsibility, it was likely her sharpshooting work. He smiled and offered his praise to her. "You're a great help. Let's keep at it until we reach the Altar."

"Mm." Miyu nodded, her cheeks flushed.

"Also, the loan on the bow is extended until further notice." Nate jokingly added.

"Pft. Yeah, yeah. I thank you for your generosity, oh great leader." Miyu giggled as she bowed in feigned gratitude.

"Haha. The hell's that?" Nate chuckled. He hadn't had the opportunity to horse around for such a long time, because he was forced into a situation where he had to work. He remembered the times when he would just fool around and do stupid things with his friends at school. He'd been a person who always smiled and laughed at every little thing. Now? He'd developed a bitchy resting-face, which took extra effort to keep from looking like he was out to murder someone. He really couldn't understand why, but he felt a certain familiarity with Miyu. Even though he's never been to Japan. 'Wait... do I have the hots for her...? That can't be right. We barely spent any time with each other... and I'm not the type to fall for just looks... What the hell is going on...?'

"Anyways, let's start looking around so we can get out of here." Nate turned around to hide his embarrassment, then started walking off in a direction where the others hadn't gone too yet.

"Hey, hey." Ayumi nudged Miyu from the side and whispered. "Why does it feel like you have a good mood going on? Did something happen?"

"W-What are you talking about...?" Miyu whispered back. "Nothing happened. I just went over to meet up with him to talk about something before we met up in the plaza..."

"Oh, so that's why you came together and even have his bow?" Ayumi grinned mischievously. "I didn't think you had it in you. Did you seduce him in that short amount of time? Not bad!"

"S-S-S-Seduce!?" Miyu exclaimed, barely keeping her voice to a volume that Nate wouldn't be able to hear. "I'm not you!"

"Aw. And here I thought my Miyu, finally lost her V-card." Ayumi smirked. She looked toward Nate and licked her lips a little. "Actually, I was thinking of trying something, but I'll let you have him if you want. I can't steal my best friend's first love can I?"

"It's not like that...!" Miyu protested quietly.

"Oh sure..." Ayumi rolled her eyes. Then she nudged Miyu again. "If that's really true, is it okay if I make a move?"

"Wha--" Miyu's mouth gaped open in surprise. She knew what type of person Ayumi was. She looked innocent and cute, but she actually fooled countless guys. She's drop them the moment they got boring or too clingy. Miyu, as her best friend, just thought of this as her being somewhat free-spirited. But frankly, at the back of her mind, at the very back of her mind, she thought Ayumi was a massive slut. Would she be okay if this slutty friend of hers made a move on Nate? Miyu thought quietly. "..."

"Oh, geez. Loot at you..." Ayumi hugged Miyu lovingly. "Alright. Sorry about asking something stupid, I'll be hands-off on him, okay? I guess I'll try for that guy called Ming, instead."

"L-Like I said, it's n-not like that..."

"So I can go after him then?"

"..."

"You're so freaking cute, Miyu. I should just eat you up instead!" Ayumi hugged Miyu even tighter, then let go and walked towards where Nate went. "Let's go. We don't want to keep your Prince waiting."

"Stop that..." Miyu complained, but still went over to follow after her friend.