Albert immediately escaped from the area as he made his way toward the town. On the way, he thought, 'Should I participate in this while potentially being chased by Alisa? Still, the goblins are easily aroused. They can become my source of Bonk Bites and EXP.
'This will increase my chance of surviving in the wilderness.' He pondered for a moment and decided to help the town. 'This is the last thing I can do for the town who have helped me. Also, no pain no gain. I'm going to use those goblins for farming Bonk Bites.'
With that thought in mind, Albert soon reached the town.
Those who watched over the town during the night were different, so they were surprised to see someone returning during the dark.
"Who are you?" One of them stopped him and asked for his identity.
"I am a new guy. People know me as Albert. I have an emergency." Albert immediately presented them his identity and pointed at the forest. "I noticed the movement from the forest and went to check it. There, I saw hundreds of goblins."
"What hundreds of goblins?" The guard took a step back in disbelief. He couldn't trust Albert's story immediately, but the other guard hurriedly stepped in. "He's the new guy. I have heard about him from the guild. I will take this guy to the guild and handle the preparation in case his words are true."
Since his comrade planned to go to the guild to confirm Albert's identity, he finally let Albert in.
"You guard the gate and prepare to ring the alarm." The second guard said while turning around. "Follow me."
Albert nodded as the two ran together to the guild.
As soon as they reached their destination, the people were staring at Albert in disbelief.
"Aren't you supposed to be with Alisa?" One of them asked aloud, confirming that Albert was indeed the new guy.
In that instant, the guard stopped him and shouted, "He spotted hundreds of goblins in the forest near our town. We need to prepare right now."
"!!!" The people in the guild were shocked as their eyes widened. Albert was like an innocent boy, so they didn't believe him lying, especially with a matter this big.
That was why they immediately rose from their seats while whispering to each other as if they prepared to fight.
Meanwhile, the guard ran to the receptionist and said, "I need scouts to check the credibility of this problem. Also, we need all people who can fight right now."
"I will be sending scouts right now to confirm this matter before ringing the bell." The receptionist, who replaced Fila, nodded and answered him.
"Alright." The guy nodded and returned to his post.
"Are you sure it's true?" One of the guys asked Albert.
"I saw them myself. I couldn't tell how many goblins were around, but I certainly saw a large group of goblins." Albert nodded with a serious expression.
"We really need to take the battle outside this town or it will be hard to deal with the aftermath." Another guy scratched the back of his head.
"Anyway, thank you for the information. If we can prepare against them, we will be able to fight them."
"Still, that doesn't solve the question. How could they reach our town without us noticing?"
"It's not important right now. We should set up some defense first."
The guys continued talking as they left the building, planning to inform their own friends to join together.
The last guy leaving the guild stopped for a moment and said to Albert. "Don't worry. We're going to defend the town. This is our precious town after all."
Albert felt moved when he saw such loyalty to the town. However, he had learned the truth about Lustville Town from Alisa, so he didn't know what to say regarding that remark.
After seeing the last guy off, Albert turned around and walked to the receptionist. "Where can I buy a map? I don't care if it's small or big."
The receptionist frowned, not understanding Albert's words. She thought Albert wanted to run away from this place, but her relationship with Albert wasn't as close as Fila's.
Hence, she remained silent and just took out two scrolls.
"This is the map around the town, including the forest. And this one is the map of the kingdom." She pointed at the two scrolls.
"How much?"
"The small one is 50 copper coins. The larger one is two silvers."
"So expensive?" Albert raised his eyebrows.
"The paper and the ink are expensive. And if we include the map itself, the price is already quite low." The receptionist shook her head.
"Can I take a look at the small map first?"
"Sure thing." The receptionist nodded and opened it for him. "Don't break it, alright?"
"Okay." Albert agreed and frowned when he first saw the map.
He could clearly see the forest symbols along with various details like Wolf Den, Snake Lord, and Ancient Waterfall."
The moment he saw the Lustville Town's name and the symbol along with the entrance of the forest, he pointed at a certain area. "I believe I saw the goblins around this area."
"Ehm? Can you read the map?" She was surprised as even other adventurers needed to learn for a while to understand the map. However, she remembered Albert's background and realized his parents might have taught him. So, she took Albert's words seriously. "Understood. I'm going to forward the information to the scouts."
"Alright. Is there any mission for this subjugation?" Albert asked.
"Normally, we will divide the reward among us. It's going to take a long time to count them though…"
"Hmm… Whatever." Albert sighed. "I'm going to where the others are. Please take care of the maps first. I want to buy them as soon as I get the reward for my wolf's subjugation."
"Understood." She nodded.
After that, Albert left the guild and ran to the city's plaza, finding numerous people standing by.
They indeed believed his words and prepared to defend the town.
Even Aran had arrived and noticed Albert. "Oh, Albert."
Albert nodded to Aran, but before he could say anything, they were alerted by the loud ring of the bell.
Ding!
Ding!
Ding!