Alan looked at Rose. "Do you want to know how the other abilities work too?" he questioned. It's not like me to waste time talking with just anyone, but it's not like I have something better to do… and her reactions are rather nice, Alan thought to himself, wanting to talk more about his sword.

  I would lov... Rose said, but her words were interrupted midway by Ais as the carriage came to a sudden halt.

  "Let's skip the discussion for now," Ais spoke in a stern voice as she opened the carriage door, stepping outside first, followed by the others.

  Alan glanced around himself as he stepped out of the carriage, noticing the seven carriages lined up behind the one he had just stepped out of. The adventurers were climbing down from their respective carriages, gathering on the road in a disorganized mass. Looking around and seeing the empty village of Arcek didn’t sit right with Alan. He noticed how the lamps weren’t glowing, there was no sound of cattle or dogs, and though he wasn’t particularly a fan of the sound of a crying child at night, the complete silence still felt slightly off to him.

  "Guess I'll tell them about the formation then," Ais said as she moved towards the group of adventurers standing next to Blake and Bella. As she walked towards the group, the other adventurers who were flocking around joined the group, aware that the battle planning was about to begin.

  Alan momentarily looked at the group before turning his gaze toward the Forest of Daedalus. The landscape he observed was uneven and slightly hilly. It wasn’t the kind of terrain one would use to grow crops under ideal conditions, though with some modifications, it was possible. That was how most of the villagers of Arcek had been able to earn their living.

  "And the Viscount considers the villagers unskilled labor? Alisa was damn right about him being an idiot," Alan said to himself as he kept his gaze fixed on the direction of the Forest of Daedalus. A horde of ten thousand goblins... Would we have any trouble dealing with them? Probably not. Hell, with our team, we might even be able to take on a medium-sized dragon. But why would more than one Goblin King be in the horde? The last time this happened… he added before being interrupted.

  "What are you thinking about?”

  Alan looked beside him, Adrian Weeble was standing next to him. He glanced back at the group, noticing how Rose and Ais were still among them. "Nothing much… I was just thinking… why?" Alan spoke with doubt in his voice. "Why would all of the goblins from the Forest of Daedalus suddenly decide to attack Alcia?"

  "Isn't it normal goblin behavior though? Don't they enjoy hurting us?" Adrian questioned.

  "The scale is the issue here. Multiple goblin kings forming a group despite their pride... it’s rather rare or even unheard of!" Alan said as his right hand went to his sword.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  "It’s uncommon, yes. But what are you trying to say? You think someone is controlling the goblin army?" Adrian questioned, his eyes widened with concern.

  Alan shook his head in response. "Controlling ten thousand goblins is not possible, and I doubt that’s the case.”

  "So, what do you think?" Adrian questioned, looking straight into Alan's eyes.

  "What do I think? I think I've started believing in Alisa's hypothesis. There's some kind of development in the Forest of Daedalus that's driving the goblins to march straight to their deaths," Alan remarked in a serious tone.

  Adrian parted his lips as if he wanted to say something, though no words came out. Closing his mouth, he looked in the forest's direction. "Do you think we have time to be concerned about what’s happening in the forest right now?" he finally questioned, his gaze fixed on the field.

  "I don’t think we do," Alan replied with a nod, his gaze shifting to the left as he noticed approaching footsteps.

  "Miss Ais told us to get positioned on the left flank, right there," Rose spoke, pointing toward the exterior area of the village as she approached her brother and Alan.

  "Sorry for not joining in the battle planning," Alan added in a slightly apologetic tone, giving a reluctant smile.

  "You should be sorry," Rose said, folding her arms while glaring at Alan. She then turned her gaze toward Adrian. "And you too, mister," she added, narrowing her eyes.

  "Sorry," Adrian said. "I saw Sir Solo Knight glaring at the grass field as if he was thinking about something, so I decided to lend him my ears in case he wanted to talk." Adrian added with a small smile.

  "Yeah, that sure was helpful," Alan admitted. I should not let my mind drift from the battle. He mentally scolded himself as he turned toward the position Rose had previously pointed to and began walking.

  What exactly were they talking about? Rose questioned herself as she looked at Adrian. "What were you two talking about?" she asked in a low voice, keeping it low enough that Alan wouldn’t hear. "It wasn’t anything serious, just casual talk about how goblins don’t usually form such big packs," Adrian replied nonchalantly, as he started walking behind Alan.

  "Goblins don’t form large packs?" Rose repeated in her mind, her brows drawing together in a slight frown, as she noticed something didn’t add up.

  "Weren't monsters known to fight in groups during the human-demon conflict?" Rose questioned, her tone laced with curiosity and doubt.

  Adrian looked slightly taken aback by Roses’ question. "I didn’t think about it… and that’s ancient history," Adrian replied.

  Rose gave Adrian a disapproving look. "It’s documented in that 500 year old human-demon conflict battle record—not exactly ancient. And besides, aren’t most of the sages and the saintess still alive?" she questioned, her voice laced with sarcasm.

  "You aren’t exactly wrong, but the thing you’re talking about doesn’t make sense. The daemon who possessed the ability of absolute obedience was killed by Saintess Vanessa, was he not?" Adrian questioned with visible frustration.

  "That could be tru—" Rose started before placing a finger on her lips, shushing Adrian as she noticed Alan looking toward them. It’s never nice to pry into others' conversations, and even if you do, you shouldn’t let them know you did, she mentally added, not wanting Alan to know what she was talking about.