Night passed with Chum keeping a close eye on Tiria. It didn't appear to be necessary as she was back to normal only a few minutes after Orchid's fall. Well, her new normal. Somehow both despondent and fervent in equal measure.

Leaning against the wall of the inn, she'd chewed on their situation for the rest of the night and had eventually decided that they'd go head out that day and start to trek around the cliff where the forest sat, looking for a safer entrance into the forest.

The next morning just as they were filling their [Expanded Pocket]s with supplies from the inn, Nori entered with a dozen goblins at her back. Chum wasn't surprised by her appearance. Glom had continued to spy on them after their altercation and had surely told Nori their plans.

The goblin leader smiled wide. "Convenient evolution that." Tiria grunted noncommittally and Nori continued. "A rat tells me you're headed north to find an entrance to the forest. I'm coming along and bringing some muscle to help with the journey."

Tiria looked at her for a long minute and then appeared to give up. Previously, the Subgenitor would have pushed for more information and tried to understand Nori's motives, but instead she just shrugged.

"Excellent."

So it was that Chum found himself traveling in a band of goblins as they trekked north with the sun slowly rising to their right. The grass pricked his feet, but it was much cooler than Igna's ground had been so the sensation wasn't entirely unpleasant. A dirt path that he'd missed yesterday ended directly into the cliff, confirming that the forest hadn't been present in the human world originally.

He kept close to Tiria in case she needed him, but they mostly traveled in silence with Tiria sending occasional glances toward the forest. They skirted around it on the east side and continued north. The further away they got from the village, more brush and trees started to dot across the landscape.

After almost six hours of travel, Nori held up her hand in a fist. The goblins all around her immediately stopped, drawing weapons and looking about quickly. She sniffed the air and then closed her eyes. Chum's Soul could feel the barest hints of Aether use so he suspected there was some Skill at play here. A moment later, Nori opened her eyes and pointed almost directly east.

"Monsters. Nine of them. Not Demons. Maybe half a mile."

Chum blinked. Did this goblin just smell other monsters a half mile away? And then use a Skill to sense them enough to their exact numbers? If she had even half as much fighting ability as scouting, losing his temper on Glom might have been a very bad idea.

Nori took the lead and started them towards the unknown monsters. To Chum's surprise, Tiria followed without arguing though she did look back towards the forest a few times as they journeyed away from it.

He desperately wanted to know what she was thinking, but he didn't want to question her in front of the goblins. Glom, in particular, continued to keep one smarmy eye on them.

After a few minutes, they ascended a small hill to where a tree grew out of its top and looked down on the other side to a large crack in the ground along with nine overlarge goats. Each of them had curved horns and shaggy gray fur. The unknown monsters watched their group warily, but the largest stepped up and stamped its hoof at them.

A warning.

"Boss," Glom said, his voice extra syrupy, "As your second, I'd-"

"You're not my second."

"-be happy to deal with these for you." Glom finished his statement as though he hadn't been interrupted. Nori didn't seem to care.

"I'll deal with them myself." While larger than the average goblin, Nori was still smaller than any Classer Otter so watching her approach these goats that were the same size as her seemed... unwise. "I'm your boss, now."

Weeee... refuse. The goat's leader didn't have a voice so was dependent on ambient telepathy, but it still bleated while it spoke into their minds forming a very odd accent.

Nori crossed her arms. "Good. You can talk. I refuse your refusal."

Noooo.... you! The goat pawed its hoof against the ground and lowered its curved horns. Chum detected the barest hint of Aether as the goat leader went from standing still to flying towards Nori. Wind barely even seemed to flutter the goat's coat with how fast it moved as it sought barrel over the goblin leader.

With a snap, the goat stopped in mid air. Before he could strike her, Nori's hands had wrapped around the goat's horns and completely halted its advance.

"What...?" Chum muttered to himself as he realized that it was Nori keeping the goat in the air and not the continued use of the goat's Skill. It matched her height and was three times as long as her and she didn't even appear to be struggling with its weight. Her strength was easily a match or perhaps greater than any Classer Templar.

The goat wriggled mightily in the air, but nothing he did caused the slightest flinch in the goblin leader. With a grunt, she hefted the goat until lay on her shoulder like a warrior resting their sword.

"So my new minion, did you just spawn?"

I'll kiiiiiiiii-

"Wrong answer." Hopping into the air, Nori slammed the goat down into the ground with enough force that the other nearby goats actually stumbled from the impact. If they'd been on Igna's tough ground, the goat would have been far more wounded or even dead from the blow. A very concussed sounding bleat escaped its lips.

"I don't like asking twice, but you're new here. So... did you just spawn?"

Weeeee did. More bleats came from the injured goat, but it wasn't accompanied by anything understandable in their minds. With the confrontation over, Chum made his way down the hill and turned his Domain onto the goat.

Light washed over him.

With Chum's healing, the goat's brain slowly unscrambled and whatever damage had been done by the intense blow was slowly undone. The goat hobbled to its feet and looked fearfully at Nori who was studying Chum thoughtfully.

"That's a very nice Skill." For a moment, Chum thought she was about to engage in another forceful recruitment, but instead, she turned to her goblins. "If these monsters just spawned that means there must be others, I need you five to run back to the village and get some groups together to round up any new monsters. Oh and take these back with you. They'll play nice now, won't you?"

Yeeeesssss? The goat leader bleated and the other goats shuffled nervously. Expecting her orders to be followed, she turned her attention back to the north. The spot the goats had been on were the start of a series of small hills that continued to the north and Nori gazed across them.

"Let's use these as cover as we continue." The goats and goblins tasked with returning to the village left and Tiria didn't argue so Chum didn't say anything either.

The hills they crossed as they continued north rose and fell quickly, but each time they ascended the next, they could see just a little bit further than they could before. They made good time despite the detour, but the cliffside of the forest never seemed to get any smaller. It had to go on for miles and miles.

Night eventually fell and their group slept nestled between a couple hills. Chum settled down next to Tiria who stared up at the stars that twinkled in the sky. Small beams of light in the monster world had been present through the sky-ocean at night and Chum preferred the gentle movement of the light at night to this, but he had to admit that the stars were beautiful with thousands upon thousands of them spread across the night.

Tiria's slow question pulled him out of his remembrance.

"Do you think Gi's with Danna?" Chum wasn't sure how to respond. Was she asking if the afterlife existed? Or whether their Progenitor went to heaven or somewhere else?

"I don't know," he settled on.

"I've wondered if he died due to a crisis of faith or... if Danna's touch is the only reason any of us lived at all. What do you think she would say to him to make him believe again?"

"If you were talking directly to your Goddess, it would be hard not to believe."

"...I suppose you're right." Chum's answer must have been the wrong one as she stopped looking up to the sky and turned on her side away from him. "Good night, Chum."

"Good night."

After a spending a long time wishing he had the right words, Chum eventually fell asleep. Once morning hit, the continued pushing north.

For two days, their group pressed ever forward. Only a small copse of trees to the east broke out of the monotony of hills then plains then cliff. Otherwise, their days consisted only of one foot in front of the other as they constantly walked up and down the small hills.

On the morning of their fourth day, Nori stopped them all, again sniffing the air.

"There's a battle ahead."