During our travels, Rus did 'that' many times. Saying that the way to the goblin village is through here and there while hinting that I'm the one who said it.

And the others didn't seem to find it suspicious as well. Except for the priestess.

But he stopped doing that when we passed a certain point along the way and because of that, he seemed a little frustrated. Or maybe that's just my imagination.

Also, along the way, we encountered strange things like rotting animal heads pierced my a long sticks stuck in the ground and trees with strange carvings on them.

Rodan and Morgan mentioned these to be proof that a goblin village really is near and that this village, in particular, is above average in terms of strength.

"Are we there yet?"

The question was asked by a certain yellow-haired person. His movements have slowed slightly compared to how he was at the beginning. And that doesn't just apply to him.

We've been walking for three and a half hours now and we only had one break in those three and a half hours. These humans would surely be tired because of this continued walking.

"Almost there."

When I said that, Sam let out a sigh in relief. Celidonia and Morgan also slackened their shoulders. As for the two, Rodan and Rus, they kept walking as usual. I guess they aren't as tired then.

After walking for a bit, I noticed the presence of another goblin group that tries to intercept us. I pointed towards their direction.

They immediately turned their heads there and shortly after, noticed where the goblins are and took care of them in a timely manner.

We've been doing this for a while now so it had already become routine. No words were needed, only gestures. However, it does raise the suspicions in their hearts towards me. Even now, I still haven't thought up of a great way to lie out of this.

Even Celidonia, who seems to have the most trust in me, find it odd that I'm able to detect the goblins, even without looking.

... I'll deal with it when the time comes. Maybe then, some great idea will somehow appear, but until then I'll focus on the task at hand.

Eventually, we arrived at where the goblin village is.

Apparently, we're in a higher place compared to it so we could more easily survey the area.

Appearance wise, it resembles the village a little bit. The difference being is the fact that the houses are made off a mess of twigs and large leaves. Some are even made with animal skins. And in the middle of it, there's a large 'house' made up of entirely in animal skin supported by beams of wood.

I believe that's where their chief is. Or maybe the shaman is in there.

And as expected, the place is filled with goblins. And some of them larger than the average with darker colored skin as well. It also has that strange smell. The same one I smelled back in Trish's house.

"Unbelievable..."

"... Wow."

"They look like ants somehow..."

"Oh dear..."

"Wait, this girl actually knows...?"

Rodan, Morgan, Sam, and Celidonia made their own amazed and slightly terrified remarks regarding the goblin village respectively.

Rus also muttered that last bit in a low voice that it's barely audible. Except for me.

Then is he saying those things before because he doubts that I know where it is? Even if I know the reason to why he did that, it's making me feel a little annoyed.

"Isn't this strange...? It's a lot more developed than what the signs say it is."

Morgan asked no one in particular as she continued to stare at the village as if it was an impossibility.

"Maybe they still haven't updated them but that's not the problem here. The problem is that we genuinely have a goblin village in our hands. And this'll need more than just us if we are to take it on. Since our mission here is just to find the place, we'll retreat fo—"

"W-wait! Isn't that a hobgoblin...!? Holy crap, this is bad!"

Before Rodan finished speaking, Sam suddenly interrupted in a voice that sounded like a shouting whisper and pointed towards a certain large goblin walking in the village.

So only now did they notice that?

As soon as Sam said that, the others immediately turned their heads. Their expressions tell me that it's something truly unbelievable. Even Rus who always has a nonchalant expression is scrunching a bit.

Since I don't know what this implies, I asked the person next to me. Celidonia.

"What does it mean...? Um... When hobgoblins are spotted in a goblin village, it usually means that that village is reaching its peak."

Huh?

"What that means it's in the path of being the most dangerous that it can be. Eventually, every goblin in the village would become a hobgoblin. That's when it reaches its peak."

"How dangerous are hobgoblins?"

"They're three times more powerful than a regular goblin and they're much more intelligent and is capable of thinking about more rational things like planning and strategies."

From Celidonia's description of the hobgoblin, it's becoming more evident that they're the ones that took Trish and her mother...

Now the question is, where are they keeping them? Since this place is filled with smelly goblins, I can't even confirm if they're in here or not, let alone finding their location with scent alone.

Although, I don't think it's necessary to find the answer to that. They're definitely in this goblin village and if not, then this world must be crazy.

Since these guys are here, I'm sure that they'll be able to kill all these goblins here, at least when the reinforcements arrived. From then, they'll be able to save Trish. I will help them until then. At least only to the point that my appearance tells me that I can.

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But while I was having that thought, I noticed something moving through the bushes behind us. Judging from the noise, there's many of them. I looked at the others, none of them seems to have noticed except for Rus. His face turned pale.

Since when did they arrive...? I couldn't even smell them coming... No, because of how close we are to the village, their scent was masked that it's barely noticeable. And what's worse is the fact that they smell like hobgoblins.

"Crap! They've surrounded us!"

Before I could warn the others, Rus beat me to it.

Well, the one who said it doesn't matter. What matters right now is our current situation.

I could tell that at least 6 of them are there. There might be more but that's all that I can tell. The smell from the village isn't really helping here.

Upon hearing Rus's shout, everybody immediately readied themselves.

"There's 6. Or more."

I told Rodan who naturally came forward to which then followed by Sam behind him.

The priestess moved me behind her while Rus positioned himself in front of me, Celidonia and Morgan.

A few seconds later, the 6 that I've detected came out. Behind them, 4 more. And those 4 are carrying something called a 'quiver' where they store their arrows. It's something that I've seen before as well. And paired with that quiver is a bow of course. It looked to be made of flexible kind of wood or branch with animal sinew used as the bowstring.

And speaking of quivers, the little mage is visibly quivering contrary to her serious look.

Now for the 6 hobgoblins, they're armed with a really large wood thing with a larger mass at the other end of it. It seems to be called a 'club' and is meant for smashing skulls or other similar bodily parts apparently. It looks heavy but they seem to be able to carry it comfortably.

"This isn't just 6! There's 10 of them!"

Sam explained the obvious as he pulled out his swords whilst eyeing the one who is closest and biggest.

Rodan's looks to be doing the same while Rus looked at our surroundings to see if any more came out.

The biggest hobgoblin snorted with a condescending look in his eyes. It surely thinks that we don't have a chance. And from the looks of it, he might be right.

Might be that is. No matter how strong these hobgoblins are, these humans are stronger than they look. I mean, they've displayed some amazing speeds before. Surely they can do that again to these hobgoblins.

Sure, they might get tired after but if they killed all of them fast enough, it wouldn't matter anyway.

So I'm not worried at all. And there's also this mage girl. I'm excited about what kind of strange things she can do with this magic of hers.

But when the fight started, I was slightly disappointed. They didn't start off with that very fast attack and movement like they did before to those normal goblins.

They simply went and attacked normally. And since those clubs are quite large, they dodged them by moving to the side or using their swords to block them if they didn't. Rodan and Sam took on one hobgoblin while Rus used his bow to distract the others.

Wouldn't this be a great time to use that strange powers of theirs? Since they're hobgoblins, it wouldn't be such an overkill then.

I then inquired about this with the mage girl.

"Body adjustment magic is incredibly exhausting and is often used to finish fights quickly. We also have look out for other goblins or hobgoblins that might arrive and by then, if they used it, they'll be too tired to properly swing a sword."

Morgan calmly explained contrary to her body shaking. She then raised her really large wooden branch thing which seems to be called a staff and then began to mutter words.

And these words doesn't seem to belong in the human language but I could understand it.

[The fae of the wind, I beseech you! For this lowly being is in need of your powers! Bring forth destruction! "Wind cutter!"]

As she was saying such words, her wooden staff's tip began to glow in a pale green light that became brighter and brighter as each second pass. Then upon the mention of the phrase "Wind cutter!" in human language, a powerful blast of wind seemed to have appeared from thin air around the tip of the stuff and this invisible force hit the hobgoblin that Sam is taking on right on its neck, effectively decapitating it.

Needless to say, I was at loss for words. That was simply incredible! I didn't know that magic could be like this! That felt really powerful as well. So much so that I fell down on my butt.

It's also amazing how Celidonia and the caster, Morgan, was able to keep their balance from that. I guess they're used to it but still.

And continuing the talk about the magic, after it was released or casted, it left a lingering smell that I couldn't very much describe. I could also smell this from Morgan and as well as Rodan and Sam, although it was faint so I ignored it initially. I guess this must be the smell of magic then? I didn't smell anything like this from Sun though...? Or maybe I did and it just isn't very noticeable.

Actually, I shouldn't say 'smell', huh? It's more like I can detect this since I'm not too sure about it.

"Damn mage! Tell me if you're going to fire magic!"

"Don't worry, I don't miss. Plus you can dodge that much anyway."

"That doesn't excuse you, dammit!"

After his furious complaint, Sam turned his attention toward the next hobgoblin. While Rodan in the meantime was now taking on 3 hobgoblins and it looks like he could handle it. He even killed 2 of them.

Rus also went ahead and took on the other 2 hobgoblins all on his own and Morgan 'chanted' once again using the same magic from the sound of it.

"Are you okay?"

Celidonia gave me a hand to stand up which I took while saying "Thank you".

We simply stood there, watching the whole thing. Celidonia kept gazing between Rodan, Sam and Rus as if checking for something and when she spotted that something, the tip of the metallic staff that she's holding on to began to glow in yellow and as well as the person that she's aiming that at.

It looks like magic but it feels like it isn't one. It's also different from the healing magic that Sun can use.

But that's a question for later. Right now, I'd like to take this all in.

In particular, the fight between Rodan and 2 hobgoblins.

Why only 2? Well, Morgan had already decapitated the 3rd one.

Anyways, Rodan's movement, to put it simply, is very efficient. He dodged the hobgoblin's attacks with minimal movement while keeping an appropriate distance away from them and attacking with heavy blows.

Also, when there's an attack that he couldn't quite avoid, Sam suddenly appears and uses one of his swords to tilt the attack just enough that Rodan can narrowly avoid it.

As for Rus, he's using a type of fighting style that involves in him hitting them and distancing himself immediately. It's not as elegant looking but it does help him cope with having two enemies at once.

Though, Morgan soon took care of the other one that he's having trouble with so that made it a lot easier for him.

The fight continued until the last hobgoblin was slain. And it doesn't seem like they can dodge forever as well. The three took a few hits of their own which from the looks of it, was quite heavy. But thanks to their leather armor, it softened the blow so it didn't do much damage to them, at least in my observation.

And every time that happens, Celidonia would use her strange magic onto the one who got hit. From what I can infer that this magic of hers is healing magic. At least a kind of healing magic.

I already had a feeling that it is but I'm just not sure that it actually is. It feels different somehow from when Sun does it. Or rather, I could feel something from it whereas, from Sun's magic, I don't. It either could be a different kind of healing magic or a stronger version that Sun uses.

"Let's quickly leave before anymore comes after us. I'm sure they heard all that fighting."

Then Rodan suddenly announced that soon after the fight so I never got the opportunity to ask about the healing magic with Celidonia.

And as he said, there's more of them coming. They're still a distance away but I think they'll arrive here in a few minutes if we don't leave.

Rodan looked at me as if to confirm and I nodded at him.

With that, he waved at the entire group to move immediately.

As such, we walked quickly as to get out of here quicker. And along the way, Celidonia is holding my hand.

As we moved, I could see some glimpses of those hobgoblins but they didn't seem to know where we are or the fact that we're moving so it would be alright. Maybe.

"Hot damn that was... Ha..."

After brisk walking for a while, when they think that we're in a safe distance to the goblins and the village, everyone stopped for a moment and relaxed their legs.

Sam seems awfully tired as his breathing is heavy.

As for me, I don't feel tired at all. Compared to pulling the carriage, this is far less taxing on my body.

But Celidonia didn't know this so she asked if I'm alright when I should be the one to ask that to her. Even though she didn't fight, she became tired from all that brisk walking. Morgan as well became haggard from that. At least, more haggard than usual.

Maybe magic is somehow exhausting if used too frequently? That or they just don't have much stamina in their bodies.

I'm in favor of the latter.

While they're resting, I sniffed the air to see if I could detect if there's anyone close. I wasn't expecting much when I did this. At most, I'm expecting to smell regular goblins instead but...

I only detected one and its scent is different from goblins and hobgoblins.

I could detect a faint 'scent' of magic from it.