As I sat next to the Werecat woman with her semi-long, black hair who we had just rescued from being attacked by the Goblins, I decided to assess the situation and gather intel by asking her through the common language of humans by writing letters on the ground with my slate pencil.

“It seems pretty noisy in the forest, is something going on?”

“Yes, Lucua village was attacked by Goblins…”

(The neighboring village, huh…)

I took out the bandits’ map from the leather pouch on my waist and spread it out on the ground as I studied it carefully and found that Lucua village was located near a river that branched off from the upstream water source, the same one from where we replenish our own water supply. Judging from the scale of the map, I pointed to a place roughly about three kilometers from where we were just to make sure.

“Yes, it’s that village.”

There was no doubt that this was the village that was likely attacked by the Goblins, but…

“How many Goblins attacked?”

“Umm, from what I saw, there were more or less 60 of them who attacked, I guess?”

“Is that accurate? If you don’t know, then say so, because depending on the situation, any wrong information could be fatal.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know.”

“Then I’m going to assume that there will be at least 60 of them.”

“Okay.”

“Also, I think the group of attackers that assaulted you around here were an ambush group. They can’t run ahead of the fleeing Werecats with just their short legs after all.”

If that was the case, then I cannot make any guesses about the actual number of their ambush troops, and thus I cannot accurately estimate the total number of their current troops, huh…

But this is a tricky and troublesome situation… Two days north of here is our settlement, and given the area where we usually hunt and gather food, there’s an extremely high risk that our packmates would encounter the Goblins if they headed there…

Furthermore, if they carried off all the Werecat women of this village and gave birth to their offspring, then their numbers will increase even more…

“Guruaa, gaugaofu wofuru wooaaouu, garuguruooon?” (Buster, it seems like there’s Goblin territory around here, what do you think we should do?)

“… Guruaauf, vofuru guorugaooh, gurua.” (…We can’t just ignore it, those guys are a deadly threat, Chief.)

Just as the huge, black-armed Kobold had said, if left unchecked, then the number of Goblins would increase dramatically and it would become a threat to both our settlement and Viel village.

Although the town of Wyald located nearby is the most vulnerable location on the map, the probability of them targeting small, defenseless villages around the nearby towns first is pretty high, and our settlement was no stranger to this either. 

(Looks like we need to nip the problem in the bud…)

I write on the ground with my stencil again to get a few more detailed information.

“Miss cat, when was the attack?”

“It hasn’t been too long since they attacked…also, my name is Liz.”

If it was indeed so, then they had planned to drive the Werecats away from the village and lead them straight to the ambush point…If we played our cards right, then we can get ahead of the Goblins.

“…Those guys are very harmful to us too, so we’ll lend you our power.”

“Y-you’ll help us!?”

“It depends on the situation, but we are not doing this for free.”

“Urgh, if it’s something I can do, then I don’t mind…”

Well, I just tried to mention a reward. Anyway, if we do not find and exterminate those G’s right away, then they would multiply fast and become a pain in the ass…

After wrapping up our conversation, we waited for Liz to get her clothes in order and headed south taking more or less the long way around.  Judging from what she told me about the situation during the attack, it seems the Goblins herded the Werecats to the northern side of the village where an ambush unit was deployed.

If that was the case, then we had to keep them from playing a “game of chase” with the Werecats by eliminating the group of Goblins who are holding down and securing Lucua village. This would relieve the pressure off the Werecats and help the defeated Werecat warriors to retreat safely and regroup. With Liz leading the way, we quickly and carefully infiltrated the village…

“Lucua village is just up ahead, Archer.”

I braced myself at those words. As we walked on, we could see the open space in the middle of the forest and the houses standing in the distance. To get a clearer look at the situation inside, we hid in the bushes a little way away from the fence surrounding the village, but a building was in the way, so it was difficult to gauge the situation from where we were hiding. With that being the case, I turned to my sister and sent her a hand sign.

Climb the trees and assess the condition.

Leave it to me, Big brother.

【Activated: Leap Enhancement】

Dagger leaped to the tree on her right and kicked the trunk to propel herself to a branch of the tree on the left. From there, she leaped onto the higher branches one after another and lightly moved onto one of the treetops.

After waiting for a while, we saw Dagger descend from the upper branches and she sent us another hand sign.

They are in the village square.

How many are there?

As if to say “Hmmm,” my sister bent and thrust out her left thumb, and, starting from the thumb on her right hand, bent another three fingers.

After we close our hand by bending all five fingers, we repeat the action of unbending them to represent numbers. Bending a finger on the left-hand represents 10 while bending one finger on the right means one. And since my sister opened up one finger from the left hand and three from the right that meant thirteen.

In other words, there are thirteen Goblins currently occupying Lucua village.

Comparing the Goblins’ and our one-on-one combat capabilities, we could handle them by charging from the front, but I thought of another way to fight them more efficiently and safely, so I wrote it on the ground with my slate pencil.

“Liz, we need you to be our decoy.”

“Eh!?”

We started to move despite Liz’s openly distrusting expression. First, we infiltrated the village from the west side, hiding in the shadows of the houses as we spied on the Goblins guarding the square.

Hmm? I’ve never seen a fat one before…and it’s huge. It was not as big as Buster, but was it not bigger than me? And it was even better equipped than the others.

(Guess I’ll just have to be careful…)

Now then, the original plan was to let Liz be captured again and round up all the Goblins neatly as they swarmed around her, but she strongly refused and said “No, definitely not!”

So, left with no other choice, we did the next best option.

*clatter*

“Gii?”

A noise from the side of a house near the square caused the Goblins to turn around to see a limping female Werecat.

“Uwah!”

“Gigiah, gugyaoooh!!” (What a fool, going back to the village!!)

“Giggii, gyau gigiguga!!” (Haha, and she’s hurt too!)

“Ggrigia.” (Lord Heavy.)

“Gia, giigiruh.” (Alright, let’s surround her.)

Under the direction of the huge armed Goblin, three of the Goblins called out and approached the cat girl Liz, but as soon as they came closer, she suddenly jumped into the house and disappeared!

“Gia?” (Eh?)

“Gii!” (Wha–!?)

Suddenly, in her place was a colossal, black-armed Kobold!

“Guruaaooooh!!” (I’m gonna kick your ass!!)

Buster stepped forward with his right foot and unleashed a full-forced slash!

“Gugeyah!”

The vanguard Goblin was slashed diagonally from the right shoulder and sprayed blood everywhere as it fell.

While it died, Buster who had raised the tip of his sword a bit after the first attack, and lightly pulled his arm back, stepped forward with his left foot and delivered another stab at the next Goblin.

The blow went through its flank and skewered the second Goblin in the abdomen.

“Gh… gguha…” (Gh…gguha…)

“Gyaaoou!!” (You bastaaard!!)

The third Goblin used his momentum to slash at Buster with his Long Sword, but Buster pulled his left foot backward as he stepped back and held his Greatsword up while backing away, effectively blocking the Goblin’s slash attack.

“Gau, guruuuh!” (Hah, too slow!)

While flinging off his opponent’s blade, Buster took half a step forward, made a fist with his right hand, and punched the Goblin in the face.

“Gahah!?”

And, immediately following up on the Goblin who went off-balance, he raised his Great Sword with both hands and swung down!

“Guuruaaah!!” (Slash!!)

“Giiiaaaaah!!”

The third Goblin raised an agonized cry of pain and also breathed his last.

“A-amazing, in an instant, he…”

Liz, who watched the scene in amazement, was not injured in her right foot, but it was actually an effect of Dagger’s primary illusion magic that made it so.

【Illusion (Primary): Disguise as weak】

【Effect: To deceive the enemy by pretending that there is a deficiency in one or more body parts and catching them off guard.】