About a week later.
"Agnes."
As soon as Thomas called her name, barrages of magic spells came running down on the goblins.
Alas! These goblins had no intention of fighting the soldiers head-on. They kept their distance while throwing wooden spears, rocks, and dirt at the soldiers.
The moment the goblins realized another magic attack was coming, they spread wide, making it harder to take care of all in one swipe of attack.
*Khhhhaaaaaa*
The kobold, who was riding the giant hyena at a distance, screamed out the orders. With its yell, the goblins didn't look back and fled the field.
"Don't follow them."
With the order, the soldiers leaned against the tree and slumped on the ground. The sun just peeked out from the back of the small hill. The warmth of the sunlight just tainted their skin. From their expression, they didn't sleep for a week.
Just as the sun was about to rise and they were about to rotate the guard duty, they were awakened by the horn blown from one of the watchtowers.
The cavalry was ready and chased the wolf pack that was trying to attack. Before they could return, the horn was blown from the other side.
Goblins are coming. They came and left. Neither could they kill a single goblin, nor could the goblins hunt a single soldier. Yet, they are tired.
"Damn it! Every single day." The dark circles under her eyes were prominent. She slammed her magic staff on the ground, complaining, "I just want to find where those things are hiding and skin them alive."
"That is the problem." Guntur was still wearing his nightwear.
"How is that even possible? This desolate land did not have many places to hide. The only place they could hide is underground."
Guntur was about to say something, but Thomas raised his hand to stop him. "Something isn't right."
Even if they didn't voice it out loud, Agnes and Guntur agreed with Thomas. The problem was they couldn't pinpoint the situation and decipher what was wrong with it.
"How many beasts did we kill till now?" Thomas asked.
"About 30."
"Only thirty?"
"Most of them are either goblins or kobolds. We even caught four wolves."
"And how many soldiers have we lost?"
"None." Guntur gave an awkward pause that attracted their attention.
"And?"
"Some of the soldiers are missing."
"Missing?" The more Thomas heard about it, the darker his face became. "What do you mean by missing? Did the beasts take them?"
"We don't know. We are looking for a reason to…"
Thomas raised his hand to stop him again. "How many soldiers are we talking about?"
Guntur hesitated, adding, "Fifty."
"Fifty!" Agnes grasped.
Thomas was as calm as he could be. "And the reason why the commander of the army, which is me, wasn't informed about such a situation?"
"We are looking for the culprit. We are going to inform you after we…"
"I thought you had participated in the war with the creature of fallen light…"
"Sorry!"
"Can't you understand how serious the situation is?" Thomas sighed, adding, "We have lost fifty people over the last seven days. We don't know the reason behind it. And you don't understand how serious the situation is."
"Could there be something wrong with this place?" Agnes inquired.
"Weren't you the one who said nothing is wrong with this place?" Guntur glared at her. "Didn't your mage unit confirm that the holy light blessed these trees?"
"That is…"
"Stop. This is not the time for petty squabbles. We have to find the culprit first." Thomas turned to Guntur, asking, "Is there anything peculiar about the disappearance of the soldiers?"
"There was nothing wrong about it. Although those who were missing had gone missing during sleep. Their tentmates returned after night guard duty and found their tents empty."
"Your majesty, your majesty…" The soldier came running at Thomas before he could ask any more questions.
"What is it?"
"There are survivors!"
"Survivors?"
"The cavalry followed the wolf pack and tracked them back to the caves."
"They found where those bastards were hiding."
"Yes, General Guntur. There were seven goblins, one goblin warrior, and four kobolds. The cavalry had killed them all. They even killed four wolves."
"Take me to them."
As Thomas and others followed the soldier, Agnes voiced her doubts, "Isn't this odd?"
"What?" Guntur didn't hide his discontentment.
"Think about it. The cavalry had followed the goblins and gnolls before, but they couldn't find any trace of them. Yet, they could find their hiding spot when they followed the wolves, which was supposed to be faster! It doesn't make any sense."
"What is abnormal about them? They were carrying kobolds. Of course, they would be slow."
Thomas also felt that something was wrong but didn't voice his doubts. The cavalry had brought back the wolves' bodies. Although they don't eat the humanoid creatures, the wolf's meat still counts as food.
The workers had already started to skin the wolves. Thomas ignored them all and moved to the tent that the soldiers surrounded.
"What are you doing?" Guntur's roar startled the soldiers who were peeking into the tent. "Make way for your majesty."
A road opened up for Thomas and others to enter the tent.
"What is this?" All three of them wanted to ask the same question.
There were four women in the tent. Two of them had lifeless eyes; one of them was crying, while the last one glared at them like a cornered beast.
The only thing they had in common was that they did not have a single string of fabric on their bodies. Their lack of clothes also highlighted the fact that they had a noticeable bulge on their lower abdomen.
"What are you doing? Bring some clothes for them." Agnes was the first one to cry out loud. The soldiers outside the tent scrambled before returning with some long robes.
"What happened?"
Thomas waited outside as Agnes put some decency on their bodies. "What happened?"
The cavalry commander answered. "It was a ruin of the settlement. I don't think any human has lived there for a long time. There were many bones and skulls…"
"You have found them there?"
"They were kept inside the hut where the goblin warrior was staying. I think they have abducted them from a human settlement. Also…" The commander hesitated, adding, "I think they are carrying the children of the goblins."
"Your majesty." After putting some clothes on the women, Agnes called Thomas into the tent again.
"Where do you come from?"
Expectedly, the one with fierce eyes glared back at Thomas and asked, "Who are you?"
"How dare…"
"Stop it, Guntur." Thomas raised his hand, adding, "We are from the empire. We are here to hunt down these creatures of fallen light."
"What are you going to do with us?" Thomas didn't expect the woman to ask the question so directly. Neither had he expected her to continue, "You are not going to sell us to the church, are you?"
"We are not from the church. We are from the empire. We are…"
"That doesn't make you guys any better. It is not like you guys will welcome us with open arms.
"We are…"
"Don't lie to me. There is no way other people would welcome the woman the dark beast has tainted. Even if they did, the only way we would be able to earn our meal would be by becoming a slave or a prostitute. Looking at you guys, you might not even hesitate to use us as army whores even before we reach… Slap."
If the slap wasn't enough to tear off the edge of her lips and make her bleed, the next thing she felt against the skin on her neck was the coldness of the sword.
She snorted as she wiped the blood from her lips, asking, "What are you waiting for? Do it."
"Stand down, Guntur."
"But, Your Majesty."
"Put that sword back." Guntur looked at him with hesitation before glaring at the woman. In the end, he did put it back into the sheath.
"Go outside."
"But…"
"It's an order."
Although Guntur wasn't willing, he took a deep breath and left the tent.
"You are a noble!?" The woman wasn't sure about Thomas's identity.
"He is the fifth prince of the empire," Agnes added.
"A Prince!?"
"That is not important right now."
"It is." Thomas felt that the rage in the eyes of the woman had reduced a little. She asked, "Can you confirm that nothing bad would happen to us?"
"I can't." Thomas shook his head. "Even if I am a prince, it is not like I can ensure that everyone in the empire won't discriminate against you. After all, what you have said till now is true. It is bitter, but it is the truth."
Waahhhh
The crying woman, hoping to see a glimmer of hope, started to cry loudly.
"Shut up. Do you think crying would help?" The fierce woman looked at Thomas, adding, "If you can make sure that you will take us back to the empire safely, I will give you some information that might help you."
"Information?" Thomas and Agnes meet each other's eyes before turning towards the woman.
"The number of goblins and kobolds that the cavalry had killed was nothing compared to the number of those bastards."
"Real number?"
"They had hundreds of goblins and kobolds. Also, a few stronger goblins and kobolds are there. There are also wolves and a few dire wolves. There are a few kobold beasts and a mountain troll."
"Tell us something we don't know."
"It's a gnoll." They looked at her for an explanation, and she provided, "All of them listen to the gnoll. Even the mountain trolls listen to the gnoll. It was doing everything."
"A mountain troll listening to a gnoll! Does it even make sense?"
"I don't know why, but it listened to him. Maybe it was because of all the wounds. It must not be strong enough to defeat the gnoll."
Thomas had seen the mountain troll with his own eyes. He was aware of the fact the mountain troll was heavily injured and couldn't recover.
Seeing Thomas deep in thought, the woman was quick to add, "It wasn't just the troll; even the wolves and the gnoll beasts would follow every order it would give."
"[Tame]." Agnes was the one to point it out. "Could the gnoll have a skill stronger than [Tame]?"
"[Tame]?"
"Every tribe has one or two gnolls who usually control the beasts of the tribe. It was not uncommon for the gnoll to have a stronger version of a common skill."
"Then why is it not with its tribes?"
"It might have challenged the tribe chief and been driven away after it lost."
Both Agnes and Thomas turned to the woman for an answer.
"Why are you looking at me? I can't understand what they were talking about. But…"
"But?"
"I think it has some kind of plan."
"Plan?"
"Most beasts were at the palace where the soldiers had found us. But they left us behind yesterday. As if they knew you were going to come."
"Or it was a trap," Agnes added. "They led us there. But the question is, Why?"
Thomas thought for a moment before turning towards the woman. "How many beasts are there?"
"I don't know." She shook her head. "At least 200. Maybe more. I don't know."
"The number is not much. However, it might become problematic if they have such an intelligent leader to plan to such a degree."
"What should we do?"
Thomas took a deep breath, adding, "I really want to gain some recognition from this expedition. But I think it would be better to meet with other people first. Even with an intelligent leader, they would be nothing with the absolute number advantage. Before that, we need to find a better place where we won't be vulnerable to their surprise attacks."
"I think this is a good place."
They looked at the woman in surprise, not understanding what she was saying.
"Other than the Gnoll, all the beasts avoid coming to this small forest."
"How do you know?"
"After they captured us, we passed through this place. Even the mountain troll is afraid of coming here."
"The light mana!" Agnes wasn't sure about it, but that was the only reason she could think of. "What should we do now?"
"Let me think about it." Thomas was about to leave the tent but stopped. He looked at the woman, asking, "Do you have a name?"
"Of course. It's Wani."