Ch 21 – The village near the forest

"Father! Father!"

A young man ran through the forest back to the village. He'd run non-stop for an hour now. His screams resounded through the clearing where the village was, scaring all others.

That youngster was the best hunter in the village, He'd go out every day in the morning and return by noon with a deer or another large animal... However, something had changed those last few days, animals had apparently vanished from the forest... And a few minutes ago, a large tremor shook the village, a cloud of birds emerged from the trees, flying away...

"Lazie, where's my father?"

The young man asked the first person he could find.

Lazie was a plain middle-aged woman, encharged of most of the leatherwork for the village. She was a tough woman, but something about his visage set her off... Something huge was happening, she could see it in his eyes. She had always thought that after the loss of both her husband and sons, she would never feel afraid of losing anyone... But the despair in Hans eyes made her heart falter.

"He's... In the Hall... There's some people here from the city, you may want to wait..."

"There's no time for that. Thank you, Laz-san."

Lazie nodded and watched as he ran towards the Hall...

'I've never seen Hans like this... I hope I'm wrong...'

---

"So, if we increase the money for the merchant company, we may be able to have them come twice a month instead and-"

"FATHER!"

The door to the Village Hall opened with a kick.

All the people present stood up in shock.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Hans? This is an important meeting."

"It's an emergency. I need to talk to you and the council!"

"Then say it already!"

"I think it would be better if you were to sit down father... This is a huge deal."

'What the hell happened... It's been years since he last spoke to me like that..."

"Ok, have a seat."

The 5 men around the table sat back down. Meanwhile Hans was going in circles inside his head about what he had just seen, pulling a chair for him to sit down.

"Say it already, we don't have time for jokes kid." One of the men spoke first, annoyed by Hans' presence.

"Cut it Hoen. Let the boy speak." A second one interjected.

"Ha... How do I say this..." Hans exhaled, gathering his resolve to inform such ominous news. "There's a Goblin King in the forest."

""WHAT!"" Three man jumped up from their chairs, slamming the round table. Those were Johnathan, Hans' father, the Village Chief; Hoen, the financial advisor; and Jacob, the workforce officer. Their Village was known as one of the most dangerous places in the whole of Warmor. Despite the huge amount of monsters and beasts around, they still managed to life comfortably with a population of around 300... However, that peaceful situation could be easily changed by a single monster stampede, let alone a national emergency.

"Don't joke around like that kid! There's never been a case of a Goblin King in the whole of Warmor's history! That's a Calamity Class monster!"

"Are you stupid Hoen? You think my son would barge in here to joke around about suck a matter?! Hans! Explain this!"

"You guys felt the tremor just before, right? I was very close to it..."

"Wasn't that just an earthquake? Those are not that uncommon around here... We have all the mountains and stuff..." Asked Luzien. He was known to be a rather incredulous person. He was the villager who would travel around with the merchants and ensure there was enough influx of goods to fix the food supply issues. The forest was too dangerous to have large fields, those would just be trampled by the beasts. So instead, they bought that from the capital and specialized in selling smoked and preserved meat. Luzien was the one responsible for ensuring everything would be shipped and sold and that the village would receive the funds and the food they needed...

"I thought so too..." One of the men sitting said, worriedly. This was Gram, the head of the Hunter's guild in this village. As a small village, there wouldn't normally be such a guild. However, more than a third of the people here were hunters and most of the economy moved because of it. The guild saw massive profits by centralizing all the results of the hunt in their hands. Doing so added an intermediary who helped both hunters and those who sought the produce from them. The guild however had already pointed the biggest flaw. There was no Adventurer's Guild here.

"Me too, but once I realized it had come from somewhere close by and went to take a look... When I got there, there were hundreds of goblins taking stones out of a crater in the ground... I think the quake was caused by the collapse of it... It was huge! And right by the corner of it... There was a muscular goblin at least the size of a human being..."

"Wasn't it just a Hobgoblin?" Sneered Hoen.

"Impossible..." Started Gram. "Hobgoblins are known to only command a couple handfuls of them... not a hundred... But there was something else right? For you to say it so confidently..."

"Yes... The goblins... they were all using tools."

""WHAT?""

"Are fucking... Nevermind... That's to be expected if it's actually a Goblin King... But you said nothing about Hobgoblins or Goblin Mages... Why?"

"Ah?! I didn't actually see any of those... only normal goblins with stone tools and stuff cleaning up the rubble..."

"That's... Very bad..." Said Gram.

"Why would that be, Gram? Ain't it better if there's none?" Asked Johnathan.

"Nah, it's impossible to have a Goblin King without having those..."

"Do you mean..."

"Yes... They are hidden somewhere... We need to get in touch with the Adventurer's Guild and the Army now, before it's too late."

"Since I've told you everything, I know... I'll take my leave now. I need to grab a drink, now if you excuse me..."

"Of course, son, you are free to go. We'll discuss this matter now."

"Then I'll take my leave."

Hans left the room, leaving only the five thoughtful men behind...

"How do we even start to deal with this mess..."

"The problems we already had just got far worse..."

"Nobody is gonna come sell stuff here after they know about the Goblin King..."

"What are we even gonna do... The people will starve..."

The four advisors started talking, only Johnathan remained silent, thinking about how to deal with the emergency at hand.

The advisors soon realized his silence and became silent as well, waiting for his words.

"This is... an unprecedented crisis. We need to deal with everything fast..."

"Hoen, how much do we still have in the reserves?"

"Hah, around 1 gold coin John"

"Better than nothing I guess..."

"We'll divide that for two things. Gram, you'll have 4 large silver coins, make a list with everything you want bought with that money, favor already treated materials to make Lazie's work easier and quicker when it comes to armor... And buy lots of arrows and swords. Start assembling all Hunters tonight and explain to them the situation, make sure it does not leak."

"Yes."

"Luzien, you will be heading to the capital on the horses with 2 men. Get the list from Gram and return with everything you can get your hands on. You have the remaining 6 Large Silver Coins for that... Get all the food you can, preferably grains that don't rot. You're also in charge of notifying the Adventurer's Guild. I'll pay 1 gold coin from my personal reserves for the request. Make it S-Rank. Also request help from the Princess' Army. We'll need everything we can get. But only after buying everything and sending the merchants back with the men you take. You should only be a couple hours behind.

"But Chief! That's your whole life's savings!"

"If I don't use them now, there won't even be a life in which I can start using them."

The faces of all advisors soured... They understood the meaning of those words very deeply... all of them lived here their whole lives and had their own families.

"And last... Jacob... Ask your most trusted wood craftsmen to covertly make hardened tipped stakes the size of lances and some wooden daggers for the women and children..."

"You intend to have them fight?!" Asked a bewildered Jacob.

"I'm not that heartless... I don't... But if it comes to that... they need to at least be able to protect themselves... Or kill each other before being taken by them..."

A gloomy atmosphere poised over the 5 men... Everyone knew what the Goblins did to captured humans... Death was a better choice... Nonetheless, nobody had dared to voice what Johnathan just had. The worst-case scenario... In which their whole village would be wiped out.