Rion and I entered the narrow path leading into the Canyon beside the forest instead of entering the forest itself. The ‘Land of the Greenskins’ was divided into two parts. There was the forest inhabited by goblins split among several tribes, and the Canyon region roamed by a Field Boss nicknamed the ‘Tyrant.’
I had Rion’s Wind Spirit scout the surroundings as we moved deeper inside. We were heading toward the outskirts where the forest met the Canyon.
‘What’s that?’
I held a jar in my left hand and gripped the machete in my right in case something happened. Yet strangely, we didn’t encounter any monsters. We only came across common herbivores such as water deer. They fled the moment they saw us, so we couldn’t hunt them.
Then we found that.
An artificial structure had been built atop a tree that had to be several hundred years old. It stood roughly twelve meters high, about the height of a three- or four-story apartment building. A kind of treehouse had been built on top.
The difference was that rather than a place where children might play, it resembled a military observation post.
“Can you check up there?”
“All right. Give me a moment.”
When Rion concentrated, the spirit that had vanished to search the surroundings reappeared. It flew up the tree, quickly circled the structure, then returned to Rion.
“…It says no one’s there.”
“Really? Then I should take a look.”
I asked Rion to keep watch and examined the area around the tree holding the observation post. I couldn’t see any traps or unusual markings nearby. However, dried droppings lay around it, so it had clearly been used at some point.
‘Come to think of it, there aren’t any particularly dangerous flying monsters here.’
Proper flying monsters didn’t appear until around the middle of the game. At most, this area probably had hawks or eagles.
When I examined the tree, I found a ladder leading straight to the post.
‘It’s smaller than I expected.’
The ladder was narrow for an ordinary man, and its rungs were packed closely together. Still, it looked possible to climb with some effort.
“Who the hell built something like this?”
Had the natives of this fantasy world made it? Was it a place hunters had built so they could sleep safely inside the dungeon? Or was it a military facility constructed by the territorial army?
But the territorial army had no reason to enter a dungeon.
In the game, it was extremely rare for the territorial army to enter one. I had sometimes formed a party with a few people, such as knight NPCs from the territory, for dungeon subjugation quests, but soldiers never accompanied us.
The dungeons were spaces meant for the player and explorers.
“Heave-ho.”
The observation post atop the tree was neither particularly spacious nor cramped. Two or three adults could lie down inside together and fit perfectly.
I hadn’t been able to see them properly from below, but wooden planks had also been fixed like footholds along the outside of the tree beside the post.
The footholds circled the tree in every direction. They had been reinforced with rope as well as nails and were remarkably sturdy. Even when a large adult man like me stepped on them, they didn’t so much as creak.
From this height, I could see far into the distance.
The grassland where the monsters had gathered was now completely empty. The goblins’ forest was obscured by dense trees, but I could make out part of the path connecting it to the Canyon.
‘Is that it?’
I saw a large wooden fortress that appeared to belong to the goblin army. With a cliff at its back, a U-shaped palisade had been erected like a wall.
It was roughly twenty or thirty kilometers away.
I followed the footholds around the tree and examined the Canyon region next.
There were many trees in the Canyon as well, though not enough to obscure the view as badly as the forest.
The first thing I saw was a farm.
Goblin soldiers had fenced in non-aggressive monsters and herbivores and were feeding them grass.
Elsewhere, they were even farming.
This was absurd.
While thinking that, I found a rope tied to the tree. It was long enough that if I threw it down, it would probably reach the ground.
You could even practice rappelling with it.
That was when I realized why the observation post had been abandoned.
“Rion! I think you should come up here!”
I called Rion up to the post. She was frightened of climbing the ladder at first, but she quickly grew accustomed to it and made her way up.
She still couldn’t bring herself to step onto the wooden footholds outside the post, though.
“Ugh, it’s high.”
Rion gripped the railing with trembling hands. Fortunately, she didn’t seem to have a fear of heights.
“Look over there.”
I pointed toward the edge of the forest, where the trees began thinning out.
A settlement stood there.
It consisted of simple shelters made from wood and cloth. Emerging from them were huge figures with green skin, massive pectorals, and developed tusks.
“Orcs?”
Roughly twenty Orcs had gathered into a settlement.
The problem was—
‘Why are there so many?’
There were around ten such settlements clustered together.
A goblin base stood about one kilometer away on the opposite side of the settlements. Not a single tree remained within a circular area centered around the goblin base.
It looked as though they had used those trees to build the base.
“I’ve never heard even the elders speak of anything like this.”
The structure wasn’t as impressive as the palisade fortress I had seen, but a square palisade roughly three meters tall enclosed it. Several buildings stood inside. They differed only in size and were otherwise identical, without a trace of individuality.
Outside the palisade, in what appeared to be a training ground, fifty goblins?
No.
Roughly one hundred goblins had split into teams and were conducting mock battles against one another.
Even from a distance, I could tell how fiercely they were training.
“Kain! Enemies.”
Rion called out while I watched the goblins. The spirit had returned at some point. Its form had become distinctly clearer, now resembling a tiny fairy.
Perhaps Rion’s proficiency in spirit arts had risen because she kept using it.
“Kekruk!”
“Chapai-!”
The sudden commotion came from goblins chasing another goblin and a single Orc blocking their path.
***
Ten armed goblins were chasing a goblin riding a wild dog. The goblin on the wild dog was smaller and covered in wounds compared to the goblins riding wolves.
By contrast, the wild dog it rode looked plump and healthy.
It looked somewhat dim-witted.
“A deserter? An escapee?”
“I don’t know. But it definitely looks dangerous.”
Rion agreed with my muttering.
The goblin riding the wild dog appeared to be deserting or escaping. The reason was that only the pursued goblin looked different.
Its skin was red.
It was a Burrow Goblin.
Rather than living in caves, these creatures dug tunnels and lived underground. They were monsters that mainly dug traps throughout forests.
In the game, every time I explored a forest, the characters would fall into the traps those bastards had dug, sending their stress soaring.
They were truly infuriating creatures.
Meanwhile, every armed goblin had green skin.
“Is someone playing a tycoon game with a goblin tribe?”
It seemed the Golden Goblin was the leader, while the Green Goblins used the other goblin tribes as slaves or low-ranking soldiers. The creature being pursued had probably been unable to endure it and fled.
‘Do they ride wolves and dogs instead of horses?’
I had never ridden a horse in real life, but their speed seemed similar.
The fugitive was running toward the Orc settlement.
Was it planning to defect?
An Orc stood waiting for the Burrow Goblin.
It carried a halberd.
Beside it stood a banner hung with the skull of an unidentified beast.
The armed goblins seemed to grow desperate when they spotted the Orc—or, more precisely, when they saw the banner planted beside it.
The goblins cracked their reins and spread out. Some urged their mounts to run faster, while others fired arrows.
However, the Burrow Goblin crossed the banner first.
Once past it, the goblin hid behind the Orc.
The Orc swung its halberd and blocked the arrows fired at the Burrow Goblin. When the Orc shouted something, a helmeted goblin glared as though lasers might shoot from its eyes.
It rode the largest wolf, so it was probably their captain.
How could I describe the scene in such detail?
Because it was happening only fifty meters away.
The armed goblins were the first to back down. Judging by their behavior, they probably hurled a final curse before returning to their base.
The Orc lifted the Burrow Goblin into its arms and began walking toward the settlement.
Only the wild dog followed behind, wagging its tail.
It seemed the observation post we occupied stood in a buffer zone between the goblin and Orc forces.
After watching the chase, I looked at the position of the post with fresh understanding.
Several huts that appeared to have been abandoned stood around it.
Ridiculous as it seemed, the goblins and Orcs were apparently at war.
***
After Rion and I searched a one-hundred-meter radius and discussed the situation, we decided to endure two days in the observation post atop the tree.
There were several reasons for staying here.
First, the sun had already set. At this point, there was no guarantee we could find another campsite where we could safely spend the night.
Second, we judged that few places would be as useful for surveillance and defense as this one. There was only one entrance and a single ladder leading up.
We could defend it simply by striking anything that climbed through the entrance like a game of whack-a-mole.
Moreover, living trees didn’t burn easily, so we had less reason to worry about a fire attack(火攻).
Rion had told me that. She said it would only smoke rather than catch fire.
That said, we had no way of knowing whether the Field Boss known as the ‘Tyrant’ might appear here.
“The Tyrant wouldn’t be called a tyrant for nothing. It does whatever it wants.”
The creature could bring down a goblin base like the one in sight with a single stomp. I doubted it would be frightened merely because hundreds—perhaps thousands—of small fry had gathered here.
In addition, our search of the surroundings revealed traces of battle everywhere.
They appeared to be signs of a relatively recent large-scale battle. The goblins had probably withdrawn after that fight.
And if my memory was correct, the Canyon’s Field Boss was only around five or six meters tall.
The greatest reason for staying here was that we didn’t need to worry about encountering it.
Even if I died and came back to life, there was no way I could defeat it in my current state.
Avoiding it was the best option.
‘No, I’d be grateful if we could even run away from it.’
Given what was happening inside the dungeon, I had no idea how much of my knowledge would remain valid. Still, I had no desire to take a risk that could clearly be avoided.
‘Two days. No, we only have to endure one more day now.’
Rion took a piece of dried fruit from inside her clothes and began eating it. I took several pieces of hardtack from my own clothes and tossed them into my mouth.
All that remained in the pouch were five pieces of hardtack and one strip of jerky.
When the Signal Flare startled us into packing in a hurry, we had lost most of our food.
Even so, I hadn’t neglected to collect the spoils from the Hunters.
Maybe I should’ve taken more food and daily necessities instead.
But this stuff was worth more money.
Chew, chew.
I chewed the strip of jerky. Perhaps because it was the last one, it seemed to disappear from my mouth even faster.
We didn’t light a fire. We decided to use the stars overhead as our lamp while standing watch.
Rion was asleep inside the sleeping bag.
“Snore.”
She gave a quiet snore.
“…She’s pretty.”
The sight of Rion sleeping peacefully made me say it aloud without realizing it.
Fortunately, she appeared to be deeply asleep and hadn’t heard me.
“…….”
“…….”
Had she suddenly stopped snoring?
It was probably my imagination.