“… Isn’t it about time?”

“Gauon…” [You’re right.]

In response to Stia who was hiding next to me, I looked at the fallen hive and saw that most of the Golden Bees that were flying over it had already flown somewhere.

Because the ants crawling on the ground have already started to make their way into the beehive and honey when the bees left, we had to retrieve it right away.

“Wauh, guaou.” [Your turn, Dagger.]

“Waon~, kuruaann, kyuh.” (Oka~y, I’ll be right back, big brother.)

“Kuruaruoaan worukuouuh.” (Be careful not to get stung by the bees.)

As everyone watched, my sister crawled out from the bushes, approached the Golden Bees’ hive which had fallen near her hiding place, and came back cradling it in both hands.

“Vaa~♪” (Honey~♪)

“Vaa… juruh” (Honey… slurp)

Ax drooled at the sight of the Golden Bee’s Hive as it dripped honey onto my sister’s hands when she happily presented it to us while wagging her furry tail.

I feel like he’ll be able to eat both the honey and the beeswax at this point… However, the goal is to make Porcelain mead, so I’m reserving the honey from this first beehive for that purpose for now.

(… we got the beehive, but we made a lot of smoke.)

I thought it was alright, but if there were other humanoid races around, it was possible that they would check out the unnatural smoke, so it would be better for us to move to another location to refine the honey.

While Goblin hordes could be found in every forest, we could also get in trouble with other Kobolds who belong to a different pack, so it was better if we could move ahead, but…

“Kuruua, gaouguruoa? Vuuh…” [Stia, do they appear around here? The G’s…]

Fortunately, we were moving downwind so I was able to catch the scent of those guys from the wind, but this… was mixed with other scents.

“I heard that recently, a Goblin horde came from the northern forest where you were from and settled in the ancient forest, but… What’s wrong? Why are you asking so suddenly…”

At that moment, her bamboo leaf-shaped ears twitched as she caught the sound of rustling leaves, her expression became alert, and she reached for the borrowed dagger on her waist. Seeing that she picked up the sound at almost the same time, it seems that the Elves’ hearing is just as sensitive as the Kobolds’.

I placed my index finger in front of my mouth to tell her to keep quiet and grabbed her by the arm to hide behind the nearby trees. Similarly, the rest of our companions also hides among the trees, avoiding the direction in which the intruders are heading towards.

Buster, who was hiding while anticipating a battle, quietly lowered a large, unglazed platter which was tied with hemp rope from his back. The piece of pottery was made by the pack’s artisans, the floppy-eared Kobolds, by kneading clay from the Steele river and firing it in the furnace that the Werecat blacksmith Barrack passed down to them.

Additionally, the reverse side of the plate was imprinted with Smith’s pawprint, which identified it as his work.

When Smith and the other floppy-eared Kobolds were trying their hands at pottery, I told them that “Master craftsmen would secretly engrave their signatures in their creations”. Since then, they would inscribe their paw-shaped “signatures” on the bottoms of plates or other inconspicuous parts of their pottery products.

My sister carefully placed the beehive she was holding on top of the large plate, and happily licked her hands which were covered with honey.

(I know it’s delicious, but this isn’t the time to be doing that!)

After pulling herself together, Dagger imbues her legs with magic, and, with her leaping-enhanced ability, dexterously leaps up and disappears among the trees…

A while later, 2 Goblins riding on the back of boar-type monsters emerged from the trees, followed by 4 more Goblins who rode on earth-colored monitor lizard-type monsters.

The monster mounts were even fitted with saddles on their backs and bit mouthpieces in their mouths.

Upon observation, one of the Goblins who was missing a part of his right ear looked like the leader and carried a Lance normally used for horseback while riding a monitor lizard.

They were probably an evolved variant of the Goblin race, namely the Goblin Page and the Goblin Cavalier. This species usually takes young monsters and raises them as mounts…

(So there are 6 members of the Goblin Hunting Cavalry. It would be nice if they just passed through, though…)

But that might be impossible… After all, a boar-type monster’s sense of smell is pretty good.

I could say that it even rivals ours.

In the place not far from our hiding place, the boar-type monster who walked ahead with a Goblin on its back began to paw the ground and twitched its snout.

(… The fact that only the Cavalry came poses the possibility that there are other units behind them, and if we happen to engage in battle with them, then we should at least take the boars out.)

I sent a hand sign to Buster and Ax who lurked nearby.

Get ready to fight.

Got it, Chief.

I’m ready to go anytime.

During our exchange, the boar-type monster faced our direction and the Goblin riding it pulled out his Longsword and shouted,

“Giu, gyauah, varigia!” (There, they’re over there, Lord Vali!)

“Garugisuh, gadia!!” (Let’s go and hunt some dogs!!)

Following the command of the muscular Goblin riding the monitor lizard, the Goblin group simultaneously rushes towards us without delay. Anticipating the move, I plunged my right palm into the earth and fired a convergent earth-type spell!

“Gau, wuoooon, garuaaah!” [Tsk, devour everything, Fangs of Greed!!]

“BUOOOOOOOH!?”

“Guguu!!” (Uwah!!)

When I invoked the earth-attribute, non-human magic spell, “Binding Fang Chains”, countless earthen fangs protruded from underneath the boar monster which pierced its body and limbs and kept it in place!