Chapter 7

Jack’s gang, who had left the inn by carriage, soon stopped at the village entrance.

“Halt!”

A guard blocking the village palisade was the reason.

Harrington Village, though not large, had a sturdy palisade, and the village militia took turns standing guard.

Thanks to this, despite being located in the forest, the village had survived so far. Otherwise, it would have been devastated by monster attacks long ago.

Jack had anticipated being stopped by the guard. He calmly stopped the carriage and greeted the guard.

“Uncle Nelson. You’re working hard.”

“What is it, Jack? Where are you going at this hour? With the village’s shared carriage, no less.”

“A task from the village chief. There’s something to fetch from the neighboring village.”

“Is that so?”

Nelson, the guard, looked suspicious.

Even so, sending someone on an errand at this late hour? And of all people, Jack, the village’s biggest troublemaker? And Jack just went along with it?

But upon reconsideration, it might not have been so strange.

Today was the day of the village festival.

It was understandable if things were a bit different than usual.

Moreover, the palisade was meant to defend against external intrusions, not to guard against those inside.

“Alright, be careful on your way.”

Nelson opened the palisade. Jack nodded and drove the carriage through.

Nelson might get scolded by the village chief for this, but that wasn’t Jack’s concern.

Once they entered the forest, Jack began driving the carriage faster.

The immediate danger was over, but it was too early to relax.

If Kanna, locked in the inn’s kitchen storage, escaped, the villagers would soon come after Jack.

They needed to put as much distance as possible before that.

“Are we going to be okay…?”

Tom muttered, crouching his large frame.

Tom was still carefully holding Ariel, worried she might get hurt from the carriage’s shaking.

“This girl saved Daisy… Selling her as a slave is just too much…”

“Shut up, Tom.”

Susan glared at Tom.

“Coming this far and saying that won’t change anything.”

Susan didn’t care about Ariel at all. She was only imagining becoming a noblewoman with the money from selling Ariel, bossing around servants, and having a romance with a handsome nobleman.

It had been a while since they left the village. Just as Tom, who had been anxious, started dozing off from exhaustion, the carriage came to a screeching halt.

Tom slowly opened his eyes, and Susan, who had also been dozing, groggily raised her head.

“Jack, what’s going on…?”

Susan asked, looking outside the carriage. They had entered deep into the forest.

“Nothing much. Tom, hand me that sword.”

Jack got down from the driver’s seat and spoke. At the mention of a sword, Tom’s face turned pale.

“Wh-why the sword…?”

“Just hand it over quickly.”

Susan was the one who moved. She handed Jack the crude iron sword lying in the corner of the carriage.

“What’s going on?”

Only then did Susan look ahead of the carriage. A figure was blocking their path.

“It’s a goblin.”

Jack replied nonchalantly. At that moment, the clouds parted, and moonlight illuminated the figure blocking the carriage.

Green skin and an ugly appearance.

It was a goblin.

“A m-monster…!”

Tom was terrified, but Susan, like Jack, remained calm.

A single goblin was really nothing. Goblins were among the weakest monsters.

If she wanted, Susan could probably beat one to death with a stick.

“Kekeke.”

The goblin made an unpleasant noise as it approached.

Jack, with the iron sword resting on his shoulder, strode confidently toward the goblin.

Jack wasn’t nervous at all. Once close enough, he planned to swing the sword and crush the goblin’s head.

“Kekekeke.”

The goblin made another noise. At first, it was unclear, but upon hearing it again, it sounded like laughter.

Jack’s expression twisted.

“This bastard, daring to laugh at me?”

Just as Jack, enraged, was about to swing the sword, a shadow quickly approached from the side.

“Huh?!”

Jack flinched and stiffened. At that moment, a sharp pain shot through his thigh.

“Ugh!”

Another goblin had come from the side.

While Jack was focused on the goblin in front, another had rushed from the side and stabbed a dagger into his thigh.

Seeing his thigh stained red, Jack gritted his teeth. He never expected to be injured by mere goblins.

“Kekekeke.”

The two goblins laughed at Jack.

“Damn these bastards!”

Jack’s eyes flared with anger.

Even if there was one more goblin, it didn’t change much.

After all, goblins were small monsters, not even reaching Jack’s waist.

He could take care of both.

Jack charged at the goblins and swung his sword.

With a sickening crunch, one goblin’s head caved in.

“Hah, stupid thing, acting all tough.”

The goblin with the crushed head convulsed and collapsed.

The other goblin just stood there with a dumbfounded look.

Jack raised his sword again. At that moment, a chill ran down his spine.

“Wh-what the…?”

Countless red lights appeared around them.

There were at least several dozen.

They were all the eyes of goblins. Not one or two.

There were dozens of goblins.

Jack shouldn’t have stopped the carriage. He had let his guard down, thinking only one goblin was blocking their path.

The moment they stopped, being surrounded by dozens of goblins was inevitable.

“Kekeke!”

Dozens of goblins charged at Jack. Jack couldn’t even swing his sword before he was overwhelmed by the goblins.

“Argh!”

Goblins stabbed him relentlessly with daggers. Others clawed and bit at him.

Jack’s body was torn apart in an instant. In his fleeting vision, he saw goblins swarming toward the carriage.

Tom, Susan, the elf, and the fairy wouldn’t be spared either.

*

“Ugh, my head…”

Roo woke up with a hangover. She must have passed out after drinking fruit wine to her limit.

It was a common occurrence for a fairy who loved alcohol.

Roo fluttered her wings, creating healing powder, and applied it to herself.

The fairy’s healing powder worked on herself, so the hangover quickly disappeared.

“Phew, I feel alive now.”

Roo sat on the floor and looked around.

“But where am I?”

The floor and walls were all made of glass. It seemed she was trapped in a glass bottle.

Roo couldn’t tell if she had entered the bottle herself or if someone had put her there.

Pressing against the glass, she looked outside, but saw nothing but darkness.

Unbeknownst to her, when the goblins attacked Jack’s gang, Susan had dropped the glass bottle containing Roo.

The goblins took Jack’s gang and Ariel but didn’t notice Roo trapped in the glass bottle.

They had no reason to care about a dropped glass bottle.

And so, Roo was left behind.

Roo decided to escape the glass bottle first. As long as it wasn’t a magic cage, escaping wouldn’t be difficult.

She sprinkled flying powder to lift the bottle high, then let it fall to the ground, shattering it.

*Crash!*

Using this method, Roo escaped the glass bottle. The stifling air cleared, and her vision widened.

“Hmm…”

Roo wasn’t in Harrington Village. She was deep in the forest.

How did this happen?

Perhaps the shattered remains of a nearby carriage, bloodstains on the ground, and footprints could be clues.

Roo flew around, carefully observing her surroundings.

It seemed a battle had taken place here. Though no bodies were visible, the abundance of blood suggested someone had been severely injured.

The footprints on the ground belonged to both humans and monsters.

There were far more monster footprints than human ones.

A large number of monsters had attacked humans. That seemed the most reasonable conclusion.

The monsters were likely goblins. The footprints were small. In the forest, only goblins left such small footprints.

“Hmm…”

Roo’s expression darkened. Though usually carefree, Roo was a fairy capable of rational thought.

From her perspective, this situation was quite serious.

Normally, goblins weren’t very threatening monsters.

They were physically weak and lacked special abilities.

But when they formed a group, it was a different story.

If a group of goblins relentlessly attacked, even a troll would eventually fall.

It was a battle of quantity over quality.

However, goblins, being stupid and nasty, rarely formed large groups.

They usually traveled alone or in pairs. At most, a few would hunt weak animals for food.

Attacking humans would only result in a beating and being driven away.

But judging by the footprints, dozens of goblins had attacked the humans.

They had formed a proper group, almost like an army.

In that case, there was only one possible cause.

The Goblin King had appeared.