Gowen Ranid was in his manor when he received the report.
He has been in his office since coming back from training to ensure that all the plans tomorrow were good to go. It was then that some soldiers appeared before him, panicked.
“The signal fire from the colonial city has been lit! It’s red! The monsters are attacking!”
Gowen was in the middle of his lunch when they entered. He cut the bread on his plate, dipped it in his soup, and then he took a bite out of it.
“Details?” Gowen asked as he pushed away the thoughts of panic from the monsters coming too early.
“W-We don’t have any information as of the moment! But…” One of the soldiers said.
“Then send some scouts and prepare to send a messenger to the capital,” Gowen said. “The north and the south too.”
“Yes, sir!” The soldier said.
“Oh, and the guild too. We’ll be paying handsomely, so tell them to send their best,” Gowen said.
“The Adventurers Guild, sir?” The soldier confirmed.
“Yes. Anything else?” Gowen asked.
Seeing the soldier dumbfounded, Gowen said. “Don’t worry. Even if a horde of monster attacks, the colonial city won’t fall so easily. We have more than enough time to have our lunch.”
“Yes, sir!”
Satisfied that the soldier had finally calmed down, Gowen finished the bread in his hands and hurriedly concluded his lunch, then he gathered the soldiers of the west.
“To think on top of the southern heretic revolt we would have to deal with the monsters. I don’t think they intentionally aimed for this timing, but…”
The reinforcements from the south will be lessened.
The south was too unstable for the capital to easily send reinforcements. He would ask Gulland for help, but the barbarians have started moving in the north again.
“So the time of tribulation has come, has it?” Gowen muttered.
Currently, his forces had 800 footmen, 200 cavalry, and 100 archers. On top of that, he also had the new weapons, the chariots, from the east beyond the Eastern Holy Shushunu Kingdom.
The engineers mentioned they had to test the chariots in live combat. The chariot unit’s training hasn’t been completed yet, however, so Gowen wasn’t sure how effective they would be, but as far as mobility went, they were unequaled.
They had less cavalry as a result, but since Corseo’s passing, no one has really managed to win the cavalry over anyway.
Gowen lifted his head and pushed away the needless worries.
“We have to win,” Gowen said.
Since they’re coming out to the flatlands, they have some advantages. This time they’ll be the ones to trample them as they try to surround the colonial city.
As Gowen resolved himself, he began his preparations.
◆◆◇
As Gilmi led the detached force under his command to surround the colonial city, the main force led by the Goblin King took a large detour through the north before going to the flatlands.
As the sun set, the harpyurea, who traversed the skies, and Gi Ji Arsil’s unit, who traveled on ground, moved to scout the enemy.
In the position of the vanguard was the Goblin King’s subordinate with the biggest army, Gi Gu Verbena.
His duty was to gather information on the surrounding area, search a safe route, and move his army accordingly.
One of the harpyurea flying in the sky cried a high-pitched sound as she descended to where Gi Gu was. As a duke class goblin, Gi Gu’s muscular body was a size bigger than everyone else’s.
“Reporting,” the harpy said.
As Gi Gu raised his head, the harpy flying at a low altitude behind him casually reported.
“There is a human village northwest half a day’s distance away. Size: slightly big,” the harpy reported.
“Slightly? That’s not very specific. Enemy number?” Gi Gu asked.
“Don’t know~” The harpy laughed, then she flew back to the sky.
Nuu, Gi Gu groaned, then he turned to his subordinates and gave an order.
“Contact Gi Ji and have him confirm the harpyurea’ intel,” Gi Gu said.
After ordering one rare class goblin, he sent another rare class goblin.
“Inform the king that we’ve spotted a human village. We’re currently investigating it. Direction: Northwest. Distance: Half a day. Go!” Gi Gu said.
The rare class goblin mumbled to himself Gi Gu’s orders, then he bolted off for the king.
Gi Gu had a lot of goblins under him, so he could afford to use the precious rare goblins as messengers.
The battle with the killer ants made Gi Gu realize just how difficult it was to communicate during wartime. Normal class goblins can’t deal with unexpected situations and are too dumb to memorize long messages, so the minimum class for messengers had to be rare class. The lack of a more satisfactory solution made Gi Gu groan.
Using the rare class for such tasks meant that their battle prowess would dwindle.
“I know it’s the king’s orders, but this is really going to be difficult,” Gi Gu complained to himself.
The king had ordered them to capture the human villages without killing any humans. That was a tall order for the goblins who knew nothing but war.
Gi Gu had to ensure that his subordinates understood their mission.
The Goblin King gave that order after considering the post-war issues, but Gi Gu did not understand that. As far as he was concerned, the king asked them to occupy the villages to execute surprise attacks.
“It would be faster if we just killed them all,” Gi Gu muttered.
In that case, wiping out all the humans to seal their lips would be ideal. But despite worrying endlessly, Gi Gu convinced himself that he had to obey the king’s orders. Gi Gu hurried on with his army.
His objective was the western city. He would take the humans by surprise and take the head of their boss.
Until then he had to move carefully.
“Hurry!”
Gi Gu ran to the village with 40 rare goblins, while the main force ran to the east. Even as the twin moons, Ervi and Navi, dyed the flatlands in their light, the demon children of chaos (goblins) army showed no signs of stopping.
◆◆◇
Gi Gu’s messenger arrived at the rear guard the Goblin King led. It was already night by the time he arrived.
“A village, huh. We should drop by,” the king said.
The Goblin King immediately made up his mind and left the task to Gi Ga Rax, who then bolted off with his black tiger.
The Goblin King had borrowed 10 iron legs from the Paradua reserve forces, so he decided to have Shumea and Fei ride with them.
“Shumea, Fei, you’re coming with us,” the king said.
The spearwoman blessed by the god of flames and the elven officer and warrior looked at each other, puzzled.
“I’m going to declare an edict in the occupied village. You are to ensure that the villagers fully understand what I’ve said,” the Goblin King said.
“W-Wait a moment, Boss! That’s impossible for me!” Shumea complained.
“I’m not taking no for an answer. You’ve rested plenty, and now, I’m going to work you sick,” the Goblin King said.
“But Boss…” Shumea complained.
She looked pitiful, almost like she was about to cry at any moment, but the king ignored her and asked the messenger the directions of the village.
“Hurry,” the king implored with a cool face.
Fei immediately got up one of the black tigers and sat behind a Paradua goblin.
“Uu~, damn it! If a girl has guts! She can do anything!” Shumea said as she thrust her spear into the innocent land before jumping onto one of the black tigers.
“Ready? Let’s go!” The Goblin King said.
The Goblin King ran alongside the 10 black tigers. It was a pity but there weren’t many beasts who could carry someone of a king class’s stature.
Of the black tigers, the only one who could would be the old chief, Aluhaliha’s, jirouou. But even if jirouou could, he wouldn’t live long if he had to carry the king for a long time.
Fortunately, with the king’s superior body, he could move quickly even without a mount.
After a while, the human village came to view. There were several goblins outside. They were probably Gi Gu’s people.
The king was relieved to see that they were able to safely occupy the village. He heaved a sigh of relief as he entered the village.
Gi Gu’s subordinate goblins were from the south. They had long arms and specialized in climbing trees. When they saw the king, they prostrated themselves before him almost as if they were facing a god.
A rare class goblin platoon commander greeted the king.
“Your Majesty, to think you would come here personally,” he said.
The Goblin King nodded and had the village chief summoned.
There was a plaza at the center of the village, where a stump just big enough for the king to seat on was. The king sat himself comfly on that stump and struck zweihander into the ground.
The pressure emanating from him was heavy enough to make even the stern officials of the capital run away barefooted, so it was only natural that Shumea would feel pity for the chief.
“I kind of feel bad for them,” Shumea remarked.
“We’re not killing them, though. If anything I’d say we’re being kind?” Fei said, causing Shumea’s face to turn bitter.
“Your Majesty, I present to you the village chief,” the rare class goblin said as he presented the pale and shivering old chief to the king.
“Thank you,” the king said.
The Goblin King stared at the old village chief.
He wondered to himself how he could convince these people he meant no harm. After all, even old adventurers would want to run away upon seeing him. The pressure he emanated was simply that great.
True enough the old village chief couldn’t stop shivering just standing before him.
To the old village chief, the Goblin King looked like the sort who could speak only two words: ‘kill everyone’.
The old village chief desperately held on to his flickering consciousness. If he let his guard down for even a moment, he knew he would faint. He had little grandchildren left in the village. At the very least, he had to find a way to save them.
It was only a moment, but it felt like an eternity before the king finally opened his mouth.
He went straight to the point as usual.
“We will be taking control of this village,” the Goblin King said.
When Shumea heard the king’s low-pitched voice, she looked up to the sky.
“That had the opposite effect, Boss,” she quietly remarked.
Only Fei reacted to her. He raised up one of his brows as he quietly watched the Goblin King and the human converse.
“Y-Yes…” The chief weakly said.
The Goblin King continued. “So long as you don’t rebel against us, we won’t hurt you, so just shut up and live.”
As far as the Goblin King was concerned, there was no problem so long as this village had no ways of communicating with the west.
Though he would have to wait until the true leader of this place, the enemy commander Gowen Ranid, was gone before he could assume full control.
“W-We won’t s-say any-anything! I-I swear!” The village chief said.
“You keep that promise, it’s the one thing keeping lives. I’ll leave you some people to ensure things go smoothly. Dismissed,” the king said.
As the Goblin King stood, he took zweihander back from the ground and sheathed it by his waist.
The village chief fell on his buttocks when the Goblin King did that, but he ignored him and passed by Shumea and Fei.
“There’s no reason for needless battles. If anyone gets in the way, remove them. We can demand taxes later,” the Goblin King said.
“As you command,” Fei said.
“Well, we’ll manage somehow,” Shumea said.
“I’ll be going ahead. Make sure the villagers understand my policies perfectly, then 2 days later come after me,” the Goblin King said.
Fei quietly nodded and Shumea heaved a sigh of relief. Before the king left he asked the rare class goblin platoon commander to work with Shumea and Fei.
“What will we be doing?” The goblin asked.
Shumea heaved a sigh of relief as she looked at the chief, who was still sitting on his buttocks, dazed.
“I think we can start by bringing an old man’s soul back,” she said.
This is going to be a long 2 days, she thought.
Author’s Note:
From here on out, the story is going to feel much like an historical battle story, so I’ve decided to shift to a third-person perspective. I’ve also decided to stop showing the status unless necessary. They’ll be shown again when we switch back to a 1st person perspective.
Tl’s Note:This will be the last chapter of the week as I need to post TMPG tomorrow. We will resume our usual schedule next week. There is also an extra chapter in queue, so do look forward to that next week.
Also, before I forget, I’ve added the patron donations to the queue. I added it before New Years actually, I just didn’t mention it. I was kind of in a hurry.
Oh, and one more thing, I’ve added the map below. That’s the map provided at the end of Volume 2. I have difficulty reading handwritten kanji and the image is really blurry, so just let me know if you find anything amiss.
Legend:
(Note: If you see anything amiss, please let me know. I couldn’t read some kanji because of the image quality and the handwriting.)
1. Unexplored Forest of Darkness land.
2. Sylph HQ
3. Unexplored Forest of Darkness Land
4. Demihuman HQ
5. Gi Zu’s Territory
6. Fortress of the Abyss
7. Gi Gu Verbena’s Territory
8. Gi Gi’s Territory
9. Orc HQ
10. New Orc HQ
Red text. Gi Go’s Travel Route
