She cleared her throat with a loud cough while trying to gain attention on the noisy students chatting with each other, "Ehm!"
The students in the room went silent right after they heard the teacher cleared her throat, "Its finally quiet here… Okay, let me explain briefly, its summer and the summer holiday is coming, I wouldn't really say it's a holiday though. What you all are going to do in this summer is to help villages assigned each of you"
The classroom stayed silent, and the teacher continued, "Anyway, the list of the villages is in the bulletin board near the gate of this castle. Check them there. And right after that, don't waste time, gather your stuff and make your way to the village you are assigned to with your assistant. We won't be giving you any money or horse, to begin with, so… good luck"
She smiled before grabbing some books from on top of the teacher's desk and made her way and exited the classroom. The students immediately talked and chatted to each other, but Frigs whispered to Louis, "So this is the summer break event you were talking 6 months ago? Well, let's see the bulletin board now, it will get crowded later"
…
Frigs and Louis have their head raised and their eyes moving, they were searching for their name on the bulletin board. Frigs pointed at the bulletin board and said to Louis, "Hey, look here… it seems that we got assigned to the village of Janvale"
Louis nodded, "Let's pack our things now, the sooner we depart, the better it is"
Stomp stomp stomp
A manly voice could be heard right after the stomp, "Oy! Are you all going to depart now? Why don't you play a little game with us?"
They both looked at the direction of the voice and saw the group of 5 boys, slowly walking toward them. Knowing it's the bullies, Frigs said to Louis, "Let's go and not waste any time. We don't need to waste time on some people that don't hold any significance in them"
Louis nodded and as the both of them were about to take their steps, the boy extended his arm, blocking the way, "Who said you can go? Did I give you my permission?"
Frigs looked at his eyes and asked, "Do we need your permission?"
The boy was silent for a few seconds, "Well… no, you don't…"
He slowly lowered his arm and frigs and Louis made their way to their room, started packing, and made their way to the gate of the castle, "it looks like the others are still looking for their names on the bulletin board…"
Louis looked to the direction of the board and nodded, agreeing to what Frigs just said, "Yea, we are a step ahead of them."
…
…
Shortly said, the two goblins disguised as human, made their way to the first town between the village and the school. It took them exactly 2 hours on foot. But now, the two of them are having some lunch in the nearby pub.
All of a sudden, Frigs asked Louis while they were munching on their food, "Louis, approximately, how many days will it take use before reaching the village"
Louis dropped his spoon and fork, then grabbed a map from his bag and placed it on the small space they have left on the table, "So, we are here, the town of Orwell, a bit to the west is this forest that is actually our school location and…"
He dragged his finger across the map to the east and then stopping it, "Here, here is the location of the village, there are about 5 other towns on the road before we reached the village and approximately, it will take us about 5 days. The summer 'holiday' supposed to end like 2 months from now"
…
Just as Louis said, it took them exactly 5 days before reaching the village where the two boys currently stood. Upon entering the village, the eyes of the locals were directed at them. One of the local, an old-looking man, suddenly approached them, "Are you the students from the imperial military school?"
Frigs nodded, "Yes, we are. May we talk with the person in charge of this village currently?"
There's a grim look from the old man's face. He suddenly grabbed the hands of the two boys and led them to a house and sat them down, "He's dead, the village elder is dead, the bandits killed him"
Frigs and Louis looked at each other and the old man continued, "I beg you, please help our village, defeat the bandits or something!"
Frigs asked the old man, "Stay calm and answer my question"
The old man nodded and Frigs began asking multiple questions, "What are their numbers?"
"There are about 80 bandits"
"What is the number of men able to fight in this village?"
"Around 30 men, if we include the boys over 15-year-old, it's around 40 men"
"Is there any blacksmith or any tools?"
"There's one family which has the ancestor of a legendary blacksmith"
"Great, we could win if we were to fight. Can you gather all the men and boys over 15?"
The old man nodded and left the house, he shortly returned to the house after a few minutes and took the two boys out of the house. They were then greeted by the sight of around 40 men and some women in the crowd which were talking to each other.
The boy cleared his throat and tried to gain the attention of the villagers before talking, "Ehm!"
When they heard this, almost all of them went silent and waited for what the boy has to say, "I am aware of the dire situation we are in and I have devised a plan. But I need all of you to cooperate!"
They chatted with each other once again and the boy continued, "Now, raise your hands if you are amongst the category!"