While Helena was inside the Forest of Echoes, the town's people continued with their daily activities.
Blanc himself was having a peaceful time inside his office.
His subordinates were handling mostly everything so he had some spare time. Of course, his spare time was used to read books.
He currently has plenty of unread books that Adelaine purchased from the Petaldream Chamber of Commerce.
Almost all of the books were new to him so he was very happy even when he was working. Just the idea of having books to read later makes him quite happy.
If only Helena was in the training grounds as usual, then it would be perfect.
"Mayor! Haaaaah…Haaaahh.."
His peaceful break was cut short by one of his employees rushing to his office.
"What's wrong? Take a moment to breathe first then speak."
Based on the tone of his employee, it seems that the news was quite urgent.
"Phew…Mayor! The gatherers were attacked by goblins! Th…"
"What? Speak! What happened?!"
"Th-There were casualties, sir…"
Blanc felt that all of his strength left his body.
Casualties!
This was the first time that somebody died under his watch. Although he understands that it is bound to happen sooner or later, he still feels depressed when it actually happens.
Everyone has their loved ones and losing those loved ones hurts a lot. They experienced it first hand after all when the Laurelei fiefdom fell.
Blanc took a few deep breaths before continuing
"I see, sorry you had to see that. How many casualties do we have? Are they from the warriors or from the gatherers?"
Blanc asked
"T-The casualties were from the warriors sir! Apparently, they guarded the rear as the gatherers escaped. Fortunately, although there were some light injuries among the gatherers, no one died."
"Unfortunately, all three veteran warriors perished. The suspected number of goblins that attacked were around 25."
After hearing the report, Blanc frowned and rubbed his head.
"Thanks, you may go. I will talk about the squad leaders regarding this issue."
After the employee left, Blanc smashed his hands on the table. He had a fierce angry look in his eyes as he muttered
"You little green pipsqueaks. It seems that I've let you run around for far too long. I believe it's about time to wipe out your whole fucking tribe."
Blanc rested for a few minutes inside his office to calm down.
He then headed towards the training grounds to discuss the matter with Alex since Helena wasn't around.
Alex saw Blanc from afar and knew that he was here to discuss the matter regarding the goblin attack.
"Alex, how's the situation?"
"Reporting to the mayor! Three of our men acted as rear guards to buy time for the gatherers to escape. Unfortunately, there were too many goblins. The men were surrounded and killed before they could escape."
Alex looked sad as he relayed what happened to Blanc.
"I see. They died a glorious death. Unwavering in the face of danger to protect the citizens. We shall give the three of them a funeral fit for heroes."
"I will also give monetary reimbursements to their families to honor their sacrifices for our town."
Alex was consoled after hearing Blanc's arrangements for their fallen brothers.
He thought that the matter would end there but he was surprised by the mayor's next words.
"Alex, after the ceremony, scout out the area where the goblins attacked. Find out where those little green pipsqueaks are living. Let's wipe out the entire population of their tribe.
The mayor seems to be truly infuriated this time. This mayor of theirs is usually very kind, patient, and reasonable.
These goblins seem to have touched the mayor's reverse scale by killing his men.
Nevertheless, this is good news for Alex. He has long been annoyed by those ugly goblins who don't know their place. Time to teach them a lesson.
Blanc gathered all the citizens on a nearby hill.
After a while, it seemed that all of the citizens were present.
Blanc started the funeral ceremony by giving a speech to honor the brave warriors who fought for the safety of the town's citizens.
A few people started sobbing as Blanc went on with his speech. They seem to be the dead warriors' family members.
Blanc was even more heartbroken upon seeing a little boy crying for his dad.
They can't do anything about it though, no one can bring people back from the dead.
The family members were allowed to look at the dead for a little while and drop some flowers on their corpses.
A little while later, intense weeping can be heard from the family members as Blanc starts to burn the corpses to honor the dead one last time.
This ceremony served as a lesson and reminder to Blanc that they were not invincible.
True, they've never encountered a major setback since they migrated to the gloomy plains. Due to this, Blanc started to get overconfident.
Once the ceremony was over, everyone went back to work with a heavy heart.
The family members who were members of the workforce were given three days off to mourn for the dead and they were given ample compensations in the form of silver coins.
Blanc himself went back to his office with a heavy heart.
For the first time in his life, Blanc didn't have the urge to read books.
He focused all his energy on how he would wipe out the goblins for the time being.
A few days later, Blanc was starting to get annoyed.
There were still no results about the whereabouts of the goblin settlement.
Suddenly, there was a knock on his door.
*Knock* *Knock*
"You may come in."
Blanc was surprised since the one who knocked on his door was Alex who was supposed to be looking for the goblin settlement.
"Mayor, we finally found the whereabouts of the goblins. They were living underground and there were a few different entrances to their lair. We've also found each of the entrances so there should be no escape for the goblins."
Alex was a bit creeped out as Blanc showed him a devilish smile and said
"Shall we go? Time to teach the little miscreants a lesson they will never forget."