Shulim slowed her breathing to the absolute minimum, standing quietly by the path where the goblin patrol was heading.
These green-skinned goblins, clutching crude wooden clubs and wearing grass-skirt loincloths, walked right past her just inches away without noticing her presence...
Watching the patrol march away, Shulim chose not to attack them to weaken the goblins' numbers.
Their alert mechanism was still unknown, and acting rashly would only put the entire tribe on guard.
“But since they didn't even notice me from this close...”
Shulim turned her gaze toward the goblin tribe and began her next move.
...
Clatter!
“Galu? (What happened?)”
A green-skinned goblin turned around to look at a wooden rack that had collapsed for no apparent reason, a look of confusion on its face.
“Ga—?! (Slacking off again?!)”
Just then, a hobgoblin marched over and roared at the green-skinned goblin.
“Galu, galu, galulu! (No, I wasn't! The rack just fell over on its own, so I was checking it!)”
The green-skinned goblin frantically gesticulated, pointing repeatedly at the fallen wooden rack.
“Ga? (Fell on its own?)”
The hobgoblin looked puzzled.
“Galulu! (Yes, yes!)”
The green-skinned goblin nodded rapidly.
“Gaji—! (Do you think I'm stupid!)”
Thud!
The hobgoblin suddenly flew into a rage and punched the green-skinned goblin on the head, knocking it flat on the ground before roaring at it again.
“Gaji! Gaji! Ga! Ga—! (A rack isn't alive, how could it move on its own?! You're just trying to slack off! If this happens again, I'll break your legs!)”
The green-skinned goblin knelt on the ground trembling, clutching its head, not daring to resist.
Only after the hobgoblin had vented its anger and walked away did the green-skinned goblin slowly crawl to its feet. It rubbed its sore head and glared angrily at the fallen wooden rack, grabbing its club and smashing it furiously.
“Ga! Ga! Ga! (It's you! It's you! I'll teach you to move!)”
The wooden rack splintered, sending wood chips flying everywhere.
Suddenly, a splinter flew toward the shadow in the corner. Just as it was about to hit the wall, it bumped into something unseen and rebounded in midair.
“Ga?”
The green-skinned goblin happened to catch this scene.
It stared blankly at the corner, then raised its club and cautiously crept closer.
Reaching the spot where the splinter had bounced back, the goblin thrust its club forward to poke around.
But the club swung through empty air, hitting nothing.
“Ga?”
The green-skinned goblin scratched its head in utter confusion, waved its hand through the empty air as if to dispel some bad luck, and turned around to head back to its sentry post.
However, as soon as it turned around, it saw a tall figure standing right in front of it...
The green-skinned goblin's gaze slowly traveled upward, meeting a pair of cold eyes looking down at it.
Green-skinned goblin: “Ga...”
The hobgoblin grabbed it by the neck, lifting it off the ground.
“Ga—!!”
...
On the other side, Shulim, who had already left the scene, breathed a sigh of relief.
“Fortunately, I wasn't exposed.”
Concealment-type magic had a fatal weakness: once someone started paying close attention to you, it became very difficult to maintain.
After all, Conceal was not true invisibility, but a blurring of one's form, typically suited for dim environments. Although she had the aid of two Nature Magic spells that made her present concealment feel as though she were constantly shrouded in pitch darkness, if she drew enough attention, even a goblin wouldn't be stupid enough to think a moving black shadow was normal.
“Time to keep scouting...”
Shulim carefully scanned her surroundings and soon fixed her eyes on a certain building.
...
Creak~!
The picket gate made of thick tree branches suddenly swung open, then closed on its own.
“Ga?”
The goblin outside poked its head in curiously. Finding nothing, it scratched its head in bewilderment and calmly went back to its post, completely unaware that a very dangerous intruder had slipped into the most important area of the tribe.
“This is...”
Shulim sized up the largest building in the tribe.
Many air-dried animal carcasses hung inside the room, and piles of wild fruits were stacked on the floor.
Slinking all the way in, she had already gathered a clear layout of the goblins' sentry distribution and combat strength. It was worse than expected. Not only did these goblins have a large number of armed archers and more than one goblin mage, but most importantly, the ratio of hobgoblins was exceptionally high. Out of the hundred and thirty-odd goblins, the number of hobgoblins exceeded thirty!
Generally, in a goblin tribe like this, the ratio of hobgoblins to ordinary green-skinned goblins should be around 1:10. Such an anomaly was bound to be the doing of a lord.
It was highly probable that the goblin lord of this tribe had already undergone an evolution, reaching the C+-Class level...
If that were indeed the case, a tribe like this would normally require the Adventurers' Guild to assemble four, five, or even more C-Class parties to eradicate it.
“A potentially evolved goblin lord, huh...”
Currently, Shulim was only missing information on the most crucial target—the goblin lord.
She had originally assumed the lord would reside in this largest building, but now it appeared to be merely a food storage room.
“...No, actually, this place might be of great use.”
Looking at the stockpile of food the goblins had amassed, an idea popped into Shulim's mind.
...
More than an hour passed.
The sounding of a horn echoed through the goblin tribe.
“Ga, ga!”
“Galu!”
“Gaji!”
A group of goblins walked into the food storage room.
Under the supervision of two hobgoblins, the lowest-ranking green-skinned goblins began hauling the food outside.
“Ga!”
A hobgoblin by the door kicked a green-skinned goblin that was moving too slowly, causing half of an air-dried horned rabbit to drop from the smaller goblin's arms.
The green-skinned goblin reached down to pick it up.
“Ga—!”
Terrified by a sudden roar, it scrambled away immediately, not daring to retrieve the dropped food.
...
The hobgoblin stole a quick glance around. Seeing that the other hobgoblin's attention was focused inside the room, it shuffled closer to the fallen food.
Once it reached the spot, it swiftly bent down, grabbed the food, and tucked it away.
Looking back inside with a guilty conscience to ensure it hadn't been spotted, it quickly opened its massive mouth and took a bite out of the air-dried horned rabbit.
“Ga?”
However, as it chewed, the hobgoblin felt that something was off. It stared in confusion at the food in its hand, unable to comprehend why.
Just then, the other hobgoblin sensed something and turned around.
This hobgoblin quickly hid the half-bitten horned rabbit behind its back, barely avoiding being caught.
Because of the close call, its doubts about the food were cast to the back of its mind.
The group of goblins brought the food to the clearing in the center of the tribe, where a bonfire had been lit and a cauldron set up.
The food was tossed into the cauldron and placed on the grills.
“Ga!”
“Ga!”
“Ga!”
...
Led by a few goblin mages, more than a hundred goblins gathered around the food and began to chant in unison.
“Gao—!”
Accompanied by a heavy, resounding roar, a massive goblin emerged from one of the buildings.
It wore heavy armor and held a massive stone axe in its hand.
The goblin lord had finally appeared.
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