The 1 to 2km area around the Goblin’s village serves as their survey area and several groups patrol the area regularly. Of course, instead of just walking around aimlessly, they also have the minimum role of acting as scouts, and even now, the two Goblins were extra vigilant as they moved in the shadows of the trees of their assigned area. 

The basic rule in becoming a scout is to “remain undetected”. In the case of a small scouting party, being discovered is directly linked to death.

And if they can avoid detection, their next step is to “spot the enemy first,” but… Unfortunately for them, the Kobolds, who are their natural rivals in the race for survival, were better scouts.

Aside from having battle experience, these Kobolds were also expert hunters.

The Goblins were somehow smart enough to hide their scent by rubbing concoctions of boiled grass and soil on their bodies, but they cannot fool a Kobold’s sense of smell.

However, the Goblins’ noses were not just unnecessarily large. They also had a reasonable sense of smell, so they are also able to detect the enemy through their scent even though they are a bit behind. 

In fact, if they cannot even do that, then they would have been eradicated by the Kobolds who share the same territory a long time ago… They are also a species that has survived so long that if fate had not played a cruel joke on them, they could have replaced the Human race and become extremely prosperous.

The fledgling adventurers who don’t understand this are mercilessly killed, and if they are a woman, they are captured and are met with a cruel fate…

(Alright, this is a do-or-die situation from here on out.)

Yesterday, I took several members of the commando unit and led them to a point that was about 2 km from the G’s village where I had completed my preliminary inspection. While I was sharpening my senses, Oswald, the head hunter of Silva’s pack, whispered to me,

“Woaon, woaru gaukuuo guuou.” (It would be difficult for us to do a covert operation from this point on.) 

“Guu, van uooou, garuguo vuruoau…” (Yeah, the head hunter’s right, their noses aren’t just for show…)

The archer with a battle scar on his forehead and the Kobold Fighters accompanying us stopped in their tracks, so I also stopped and finished what I set out to do.

“Garuu, waoon… wofu garuoh.” (Yes, I know what you mean… O wind, follow my command.)

I manipulated the wind with my magic so that it blew in a 20m radius away from us. This was the same intermediate magic called “Severed Winds” that the silver-haired mage Ernesta used last time when they surrounded my pack’s settlement undetected. 

While she was able to stop the wind in the entire forest around the village, I could also do it if the area isn’t too big.

“Wofuaou… ruauo woruaan.” (The wind has died down… So that’s why you’re an Elder even though you’re so young.)

With this, the Goblins’ sense of smell will be deceived, so the next step is to mess with their sense of hearing…

Earlier, I was bothered by the sloshing sound that my leather canteen made, so I ended up holding it. It would be bad if it made too much noise as all living beings instinctively seek the sound of water.

I can just discard the contents of the water bottle, but we could also just fill our canteens to the brim so it doesn’t produce any sound.

Additionally, as a last resort for keeping my quiver from producing any sound, I left two arrows on the container and tied the rest in a way that it could be easily released when needed, and returned it to the quiver. 

After all the archers had done the same, we put down our quivers and jumped up and down along with the mages.

clink, clank

“Au… “ (Ah..)

“Uu, kuauu.” (Err, I’m sorry.)

Sure enough, the flint, fire strikers, and other materials that were inside the waist bags of the two young Kobold mages that were added to our group clashed and made noise. The accessories Noa was wearing also made noise, and with an awkward look on her face, took them off and kept them in her waist bag.  

(It doesn’t make sense to wear accessories on the battlefield after all..)

It was just like my mercenary days when I used to look at the appearance of the nobles on the battlefield and wonder if they really wanted to fight…

Meanwhile, perhaps due to Oswald’s guidance, the archers seemed to be highly skilled and were not wearing any useless things. I also liked the fact that they didn’t make any unnecessary noises that bothered me.  

Anyway, as a precaution, we all squeezed our waist bags tightly and tied some hemp string around it from the base to keep it from making any noise.

After taking all the possible precautions, the commando unit, who made sure that they were conspicuous with their unnatural up and down movements, took a roundabout route that was in the opposite direction from the main unit as they approached the Goblin’s village…

……………

………

…

“Giu, giauh!!” (Se, haah!!)

The tall, thin, and pale-skinned Goblin Sword Master known as Sword, silently wielded his twin swords in the Goblins’ Village Square. As he holds his left iron sword diagonally as a guard, he uses his right sword to slash against the imaginary enemy while assessing its body as he goes to the side and pierces their flank with a thrust of his right iron sword.

“Gaah!” (Gaah!)

And while he switches his hold on the left sword to an underhand grip, his hair whips around in the air as he turns to get around his imaginary enemy and hits him in the back with an axial thrust!

“Giuruh!!” (Pierce!)

At the end of his performance, purple electricity burst from the sword he had thrust into his imaginary enemy and the air smelled of ozone.

“Zeu, gidirugia garuzeosu, giidogio.” (You’ve got some moves, Lord Sword.)

“Giu, regusuaru berugileusu gudoru.” (Well, it doesn’t work like this in real battles, though…)

While sitting on a stump in the village square, Sword sheathed his twin swords and fiddled with his hair that had grown out as he responded to the horde leader Vali.

(How long is this going to grow? I hope it doesn’t make me look like one of those human females…)

Now that I remember it, that human female we took from those annoying adventurers who attacked us yesterday just killed herself this morning.

Hmm, we also need to go hunting soon...just as Sword released a sigh, a commotion came in from the southwest side of the village and the two Goblin scouts who had been out on surveillance came running in and knelt in front of Vali, the horde leader.

According to them, they had been patrolling the forest as usual when they detected the scent of different Kobold breeds. After hiding among the brush and going downwind, they had discovered the Kobolds and came running back in a mad rush.

“V-varigia, garugia giuruh! Gigu gideru regudih!!” (L-Lord Vali, the dog people are coming and there are about a hundred of them!!)