The Peerless Kobold - Chapter 40
As I sat next to the cat woman with semi-long black hair whom 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 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 cat people 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 I cannot accurately estimate the total number of their current troops either…
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 cat women of this village and they gave birth to their offspring, then their numbers will increase even more…
“Guruaa, gaugaofu wofuru wooaaouu, garuguruooon?” (Buster, it seems like there’ s a 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 Buster said, the number of goblins would increase dramatically and it would become a threat to both our settlement and Viel village if they are left unchecked.
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 cat people 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 about receiving 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 a*s…
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 cat people 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 cat kin by eliminating the group of goblins who are holding down and securing Lucua village. This would relieve the pressure off the cat people and help the defeated cat kin warriors to retreat safely and regroup. With Liz leading the way, we quickly and carefully infiltrated the village…
