Chapter 20

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Lhorne guided us into the woods, and before we knew it, we were brought into the borderland of humans and elves. The dense trees and the sparse forest clearly separate the border.

"We didn't fight a single monster, and it barely took two hours," Mattheus muttered while looking disappointed. When we came inside the borders, we were surrounded by spiders and nearly got killed. But with a guide, we could travel faster, and the monsters didn't attack us.

"There are three dungeons here. As long as you avoid them, you will not be attacked." Lhorne replied. "So, where are your friends?"

"Right. Come this way." Mattheus said.

The scenery is sure nostalgic. The river where we bathed with Nora was seen as we strolled alongside it. Some Moss Boar has also been seen grazing on weeds and tree trunks. I wanted to eat them again. But going at this pace, I think we would be able to go back by sundown. What a shame that we will not be able to camp here again.

"It sure is nice being here again…." Lily muttered. Everyone looked at her in shock.

"Why?" Lhorne asked. "This is a dangerous place where humans visit, right? And there are also a lot of dangerous animals."

"Yeah. You are weird, Lily." Nora and Mattheus nodded. They shared the same view as Lhorne. I wonder why I liked this forest. Ahh, it must be because this place is the first time I felt freedom.

"Well, this place is the first time I was no longer a slave. and you also treat me like a friend…." Lily said abashedly. Her cheeks turned red at her stupid comments about praising a random forest with lots of dangerous animals or monsters and humans that treat them like trash. They smiled at once when they heard me.

"Okay, this is the place where we left them. It seems like they are still here!" Matthes said

"Hello, guys!" Mattheus waved at them.

"Oh, Finally, you guys came back. It has been almost a week. Where did you go? Did you manage to strike a deal with the lord?" Rudy, the acting commander, replied.

"The truth is…." Mattheus said while looking down.

"What? Joining these long ears!? No way. They will treat us like slaves!"

"Yeah! Judging by your word, if we just go appealing to the lord that we have a blessed demihuman, they will treat us more favorably than those pointed ears!"

They surprisingly refused us. They shouted at Mattheus to change his mind while complaining to no end. Mattheus explained that nobles can't be trusted since they betrayed the original pact about the village, but they didn't seem to listen. I see. They hadn't seen those soldiers pointing their swords and killing us like chickens. They still believed those nobles compared to elves. The prejudice against demihuman is so strong even peasants like them mocked us. Mattheus was extraordinary that he valued even Nora as a friend and comrade in banditry.

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Now that I see the scene of them actually turning against us makes me want to help them even less. How will Mattheus resolve this?

"Listen! The land that was granted to Lily, our lord, is vast. We can build our homes! We can farm or even raise animals! Lily even has an official job and nobility title granted by the elves! She could support us for a while until we get our village up and running. She has a position as a royal magician with her blessings! "Mattheus screamed that Lily was far better than any other noble that would rule over them should they founded their village. The location doesn't matter as Lily is a nobility.

"Fuck! I am outta here! I would rather be a slave to fellow humans than these beasts and treemens!" several of the group left. They didn't have any criminal jobs, so they could technically be employed as a low-level labor force. Maybe they saw it as a better option than going to a land full of enemies.

"Don't worry, Lily. We don't need them. They will come and beg to be our villagers in the future." Nora said while snuggling Lily and patting her head. I slapped her rude tail with all my might as she tried to entwine our tails together.

"I apologize, Lily, Lhorne. It seems we only managed to secure five more villagers for Lily's village." Mattheus said, bowing his head. Most of them left us and preferred their old way. I thought these bandits' bonds were more robust than that. I am reading too much fiction that I assumed they valued friendship and journeys to distant lands.

"Nevermind. I will never understand these apes. Let's go back to the frontier." Lhorne spat in disgust.

"But the sun has set. Should we camp here?"

"I don't want to camp in human lands. Let's camp at the border, at least. I can traverse these kinds of forests even on a moonless night." Lhorne spat his distaste at the mention of staying and camping in human lands.

"We need to pack up these tools, too," Mattheus said as he pointed to tents and cooking utensils.

"Be quick. Ironwares are especially valuable in elven lands," Lhorne grumbled as he scoured our tents.

"Goblins!" Lhorne said while readying his arrow. Several packs of goblins came at us. About half of them were adequately equipped with a sword. Lhorne fired three arrows, killing three instantly, while Mattheus swung his sword and smashed another goblin. Nora sped up and racked another kill.

"Nora, formations! Don't go too far!" Mattheus screamed. Unfortunately, Lily nor I knew what he was talking about, and we were surrounded in the blink of an eye. Lily was unfazed, though, as she continued to step away gracefully and delivered a fatal counterattack at them.

Then I sense mana in the distance and instinctively cast a flame wall to shield Lily from her blind spot. An ice spear was launched from a tree shadow by goblin mages. Luckily I managed to find him by detecting mana and my appraisals. Now that their ambush had failed, they were quick to flee. I was stunned at this goblin's coordination.

"Lily! Are you okay?" Nora asked after the goblins went away.

"Yes. I am fine!" she said while receiving hugs from Nora.

"Good. Your magic was better than Madam Edelweiss predicted. I didn't expect that you could parry that magic." Lhorne said

"Damn it. Now those packs are going to tail us over the night. We need to rest around here and assign some sentry." Mattheus spat out. Lhorne and Nora also had grim expressions. They knew about goblins and what a random ice spear meant. Lily and I can only tilt our heads in confusion.

"It means a goblin mage is around us. You see, the goblin has a hierarchy. It was Goblins, goblin swordsmen, goblin soldiers, goblin mages, hobgoblins, and goblin lords. Depending on which is leading them, the difficulty increases by several folds.

"Let's find a place that's easy to scout. Nora and I will be the sentry while the rest of you can sleep." Lhorne said while sighing.

The group quickly packed up and found a spot with good visibility, so they didn't get ambushed again.