"Gugi, gu."
"Waa!"
"Waa, waa."
"...…!"
From deep within the jungle, faint sounds drifted over.
Aaron's eyes flashed as he stopped and pricked up his ears. The muffled noise gradually became clearer.
Something was coming this way, and there were quite a few of them.
He narrowed his eyes, scanned the surroundings, quickly picked out a relatively thick tree, and moved softly behind it, pressing his back to the trunk to wait in silence.
Time crawled by.
From time to time, the familiar "waa waa" cries rang out, and Aaron's eyes lit up.
He had dealt with plenty of goblins; that was definitely goblin chatter.
So it was true.
He was already close to the troll's territory.
Still leaning against the trunk, he tilted his head slightly and peered toward the source of the sound.
Soon,
a group of thirteen goblins came into view.
They wore ragged, ill-fitting clothes. Some even had a piece of cut-off pant leg pulled over their heads as a kind of hat.
They looked like refugees.
But Aaron's gaze sharpened, because they were the only group of goblins he had ever seen where every single one wore clothing, no matter how tattered.
The goblins he had encountered so far were practically naked.
What surprised him most, though, was that the two goblins in the lead actually carried iron weapons in their hands—just pitchforks, but iron nonetheless.
Following the leading goblins with his eyes, he looked further back.
For the first time, his expression visibly changed.
The goblins at the rear were laboring under the weight of several mangled corpses, trudging along behind the others.
Humans.
His face went still.
There were five bodies in all. From their shapes and clothing, three appeared to be men and two women. The dark, rough arms dragging along the ground
told Aaron these people were probably farmers from some nearby village.
He might be inside the Great Forest of Tob, but he was still in its outermost belt. North led further into the forest, but heading south would take you out of it into open countryside.
Farther south still lay a dirt road extending out from E-Rantel.
And scattered across this area were quite a few villages.
Compared to Carne Village in Hamsuke's territory, the villages near the troll's lands—and those near the serpent Naga's—were far less safe.
That was why the Adventurer Guild in E-Rantel always had ongoing quests to exterminate monsters, goblins, and the like.
"Waa, waa!"
The lead goblin seemed to think the group was moving too slowly and let out several impatient cries at those behind, its jutting fangs twisted in a snarl.
The goblins carrying the corpses paled at the sound, then strained forward with renewed effort.
Throughout it all, none of them noticed Aaron hidden behind the tree.
Expressionless, he watched the goblin party pass in front of him.
He shifted his grip lightly on the sword hilt, then lifted his foot and followed at a quiet pace, hanging back behind the troop.
There were a lot of goblins, but they were nothing to worry about.
Ordinary peasant farmers in this world tended to be around level 1. With some training, they might reach level 2.
Common goblins were in that same range—being demi-humans, they had some racial edge.
So taking them out would not be difficult.
However,
judging by their behavior, Aaron suspected they were heading back to their own tribe.
Once he realized that,
he naturally was in no rush to cut them down.
As he followed the goblins deeper into the forest, Aaron could clearly feel the trees and undergrowth growing thicker.
The atmosphere shifted as well; most strikingly, the light dimmed sharply, and a vague sense of pressure seemed to permeate the woods.
He flipped his palm and pulled a pocket watch from his Item Box. It was only around three in the afternoon, but the light around him felt closer to dusk.
"They shouldn't be going too deep."
He glanced at the goblins carrying the corpses at the rear, his eyes flickering. Then he lifted his iron sword and lightly carved two marks into a nearby tree trunk.
In such a vast primeval forest, losing your bearings was both troublesome and dangerous.
Naturally, he had prepared for that.
Along with marking trees, he had also stocked a large bag of lime powder in his Item Box specifically for this purpose.
For now he was still in the outer forest and could see the general direction clearly, so he did not need the lime yet.
After that,
he trailed the goblins for another ten minutes or so, and by then he was sure they were almost back at their tribe.
He could smell the stench on the air now—a mix of rot, dirty socks, and rotten eggs that defied description.
Soon,
a small clearing suddenly opened up amid the towering trunks and dense foliage.
It was not large, only about the size of a basketball court and a half. The area had clearly been cleared; no big trees remained.
The goblins immediately grew more animated upon entering, especially the ones carrying the bodies, who looked suddenly invigorated.
Aaron's gaze swept the scene.
He saw plenty of animal bones, and mixed among them, a few human legs and arms tossed aside at random.
Near the center, several thick animal hides—of unknown origin—were spread out on the ground.
On one, laid over a mat of dead yellow weeds, lay heaps of rotting meat, swarming with insects.
The reek hanging in the air was clearly coming from there.
What drew his eye most, however, was a crude hut in the center of the clearing, built from grass and branches.
He studied it carefully, a hint of puzzlement in his eyes.
Compared to the small bodies of the goblins, the hut was much too large. More importantly, it was the only structure of its kind in the whole area, which made it seem oddly out of place.
Beyond that,
the goblin numbers themselves were strange.
Not because there were many of them—but because there were too few.
This was clearly a small goblin tribe. Aside from the thirteen that had just returned, Aaron could see only five goblins left behind to guard the camp.
He could not be sure whether there were any others inside the hut.
But the number of goblins staying behind was extremely low. Even if he could not quite tell goblin ages by sight, it was obvious these sentries were all in their prime.
In other words,
this small goblin tribe had no elders or children at all.
______
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