Tiris

Awoken by the sunlight rays piercing through the opening of the grids, Alex turn around. It was the following shrieks that roosted him completely. Snapping his eye open, he immediately opens the thin layer of stone he left.

Carefully raising his head out, he could see a horde slowly emerge from the cave. His eyes widen at the sight of the group, rapidly counting thirty-eight goblins with an additional seven variant, and still, monsters were exiting the cave.

When the procession stopped, the horde had tripled in size, with at least a hundred goblins and thirteen variants. Other than their numbers, it was the fact that all variant had a sword, and a good twenty of goblins had hatchets that frightened him. Thankfully, none were sporting bows, the only saving grace.

-I may don't know much about goblins, but I know a horde this size is a death sentence. Without archers and trained soldier, for any small village or settlement, it would be a slaughter. What are you going to do?- CS asked grimly, knowing full well that Alex would never allow any sacking under his watch if he were able to prevent it.

'I don't know the area, nor if they have a particular target in mind, but if they do, it isn't animals, but humans.' Responded him, biting his lips in worry. 'Reason would dictate that there is human leaving near, and with the destruction of the outpost, they will never hear words of the attack before they strike.'

When he sees the horde move, he didn't waste a second. Storing the blanket in his storage, he put on the shield and secured the quiver on his back. He didn't bother to take the backpacks; they would be nothing more than hindrance at the time.

Jumping out of the hole he passed the night in, he immediately starts to track the horde. Keeping as much as possible in the foliage, he rapidly passed the slow-progressing horde, keeping with the leading thirteen.

Sniffing ahead, he was partially relieved to smell the trail of the horde.

-Seems the attack was planned for some time already, for them to leave a wide-open trail and a lingering path to follow.- Alex didn't respond, but CS feel he agree, focusing on the road.

~~~

Alex would never have been more than two hundred metres ahead for the following hour, not willing to risk it to change there path. When it became clear that they were effectively following the cleared path, he shoots ahead, on the ground. Making sure to keep a parallel path to one the horde a few metres on the side, he didn't stop.

While his racial trait left him needing larger apport than human, he could easily pass a few days without eating a single thing, at the drawback of severe hunger and a short weakening period. Until then, he had never had the utility of such trait, but today, Alex was thankful that he had it.

Bolting through the forest at higher speed, he exits the woods after two hours finally. The sudden change of field, passing from a thick forest to open land in one go, was momently distracting, making stop abruptly.

Looking around, he could see nothing than grassland bordering the forest who span on kilometres, forming an irregular pattern. As he thought, the only unnatural sight was a settlement slightly on his right.

Say settlement was separated in two by the stream, or it would be more exact to say that the settlement had been build and both rive. The settlement was nearly surrounded by wood, enclosed in a bubble, who may be human-made. Only a small strip of land, no larger than twenty metres, separate the two side of the wood, and Alex had just exited from one point.

-Shit! If the goblins and the variant had half the other's brain, they would close the gap. The villager would have none other choices than flee in the forest...- Stated CS, worryingly.

'And it will be game over, I know. How much time do we have?' Cut Alex, feeling dread settle.

-The path is nearly open straight, with only around fifty or so metre left unclear. While it not visible from this side, this won't slow the goblins more than a few minutes. Their speed was around half your; you have around two hours to warn them before they came knocking.- urgently respond CS.

~~~

Two hours was awfully not enough to move any population. To this fact, those people had indeed passed their lives and had at least their house here. None would be allowed to bring anything bar the strict minimum when warned.

If any panic were too broke, they would lose precious time.

The only saving grace in Alex's eyes was the fact that the settlement wasn't without defence. It may be febrile, but a wooden wall surrounded the village. Made of tree truck gathered when they created the clearing, and six-metre tall, the wall would shield it for any wild beast, leaving they the time to snipe them for a distance.

Regretfully, this would only offer a small reprieve to the settlement against nearly one hundred and a half horde of goblins. Even after running for kilometres in the forest to reach the village, they would swallow the flimsy two metres distance ridiculously fast. No wasting his time on the structure of the area, Alex tirelessly bold to the settlement.

~~~

Alex appearance was already spotted by one of the twenty guards posted in the settlement on the wall. Those guards were a part of a group of forty, their mission, to guard the colony.

The entire force was divide into two groups of twenty, the first, posted at the settlement itself, with a dynamic shift of five on the wall. Every four hour, another team would take over. The remaining fifteen are to either rest or train in standard time but need to stay immediately available for any threat to the settlement.

The other twenty, into five teams of four, each posted in one of the four outposts around the forest' settlement, the last in the grassland. Those teams were the first line of defence, all native of the settlement.

The reason for this was simple, with them directly native of the place they were guarding, they would put more emphasis on defending the land, rather than a stranger, as their family live there. Should anything happen, the team posted to the grassland would be the relay between the settlement and the external world, charged to bring the new of any overwhelming force attempting to take over.

More time than most, those team' messenger would be the only surviving member, as the time help arrives, monsters would have raided the settlement. The system wasn't perfect, but when a horse was the fastest travelling method, people had to do with what they had.

Tiris rarely see strangers behind a backwards place, as only the guild would travel to the settlement, with some infrequent travellers. The reason was simple; the colony had no economic, cultural or meaningful attraction. It was just a small settlement made by a group of people who wanted to live a simple life, far from the bustling Orario and less than a savoury adventurer, forming the largest representant of say occupation.

The only thing that could be worth mention was a large cluster of, incredibly dense wood. Say wood was named ironwood, and like it's namesake, was as sturdy as iron. This particular wood could be found a little everywhere, and this particular one was so deep in the forest that few are brave enough to go.

Not only it was far, but incredibly hard to bring down, impossible to regular folk, thus the reason no one travels to Tiris other than stepover.

~~~

This was this particular reason that alerted the guard who spotted Alex. No one came here, never from the forest. The fact that the stranger was coming running toward them was giving him an awful feeling. Not wanting to lost time, he immediately quit his post, and exit the settlement running at the stranger's encounter.

~~~

-Thankfully, people here seem to have a brain.- Remarked CS when seeing what seems a guard camping at their encounter.

Not losing time in needless presentations, Alex immediately states the reason for his appearance.

"Goblins, at least one hundred and fifty, they destroyed an outpost near from here, they will be here in at around two hours," Said him, barely panting after the long run.

The guard immediately turns white but nodded seriously.

"Thank you for the warning stranger. I know I have no right to do, but I would ask you to assist us in defending the settlement."

The guard was relieved when Alex nod. Before leaving him near the wall, he immediately takes him to camp, needing to the right the message and send it to the outpost, to send a messenger. Returning ten minutes later, he was accompanied by ten other men, all looking between seventeen and thirty.

"Once again, I want to thank you for the warning..." Say the guard, a young man in his first half twenty.

"Alex, it's alexander, but you can call me Alex."

"Thank you, Alex, I'm Josh. Behind are Henri, Patrick, Maurice, Steven, Mark, Alfred, Albert, Finn, Cormak and Bob." Say, Josh, each men nodding at him when presented. "The rest of the guards were sends to warn the outposts, while the rest still guard the wall, just in case." Alex nodded at the caution. "Can you tell us more about them, we need all the information we can about gather."

"Sure, the group is formed around a hundred plus of goblins either barehand or with stones. Another group of around twenty, armed with hatchets taken from the outpost. But the most worrying are the last group. There is thirteen larger and taller goblin, around a metre and half, all with swords. None had shield or bow, but they led the rest, so they seem to have some basic intelligence. They have cleared a straight path from the cave to here, leaving around fifty or so meter uncleared before exiting the wood from were I appears." As he spoke, Alex could see that something was wrong with the situation, seeing the men behind mutters hurriedly and throwing for fearful gazes.

"Hob-goblin." Whispered Josh, making all the other men slightly tremble.

"Hob-goblin?" Asked him, curious but also apprehensive 'The had never been mention of them before!'

-I think it would be better to stop looking at the show for reference, or we'll be put in a tight spot, who could turn deadly.- Commented CS, making Alex realise that he wasn't wrong.

"Hobgoblin." Nodded Josh. "Not much know how they came to be, but most think them off-spring of goblin variant, of birth through pre-set rules, anyway, hobgoblins are dangerous. They are as tall as men, around a meter and seventy, or taller, but under two metre. They possess strength on part with a newly blessed level 1 adventurer, and enough intelligence to lead goblin, forming veritable horde to raid villages." Say him grimly. " The problem is that the group is too small to form a horde; they are generally around five hundred goblins and thirty variant." Added him when he saw Alex lost face, thinking rightfully that he must be ignorant of most pieces of information. This wasn't surprising him, as they know only thank the short education provided by the guild in Orario during their formation.

"Does it means that.."

"That the rest of the outposts are in danger, yes. The hobgoblin most likely split the horde to encircle us, a known tactic of goblins. I'm sorry I asked you to stay here, this settlement had a population of less than a hundred, with a third made of elder and a fifth of children, the rest are mainly women, as men work a little further south. This may be our end; we are unable to face a horde on our own. Even with the four other outposts, we would be less than forty able bodies to fight, and while we can deal with goblins with bow and arrow, variants are still doable, but not hobgoblin." Sadly said Josh, but Alex could see a fierce gleam burn in the man eye, ready to die to defend his birthplace.

"What about reinforcement?" Asked Alex, only to receive pained chuckles from Josh.

"They won't come, even if they do, we would be dead before they arrive."

"What?! Why?" Shot Alex outraged that their race would abandon them.

Josh again chuckle in a hollow voice. "It simply not worth it. Goblin core could sell around ten Valis to the guild, variant, goes as far as thirty and a hob-goblin one around a hundred. A horde had an average income of six thousand Valis, not even enough to pass a night in the worst inn of Orario. Add to this, that it would be at least a group of five adventurer send, and that they would share the bounty with all that participate? It simply not worth it for them to make the travel." Shooked him his head, all the other having closed face. "Only a hobgoblin is worth skinning, but with the price for tanning the skin into leather, an adventurer would only gain around another hundred or so Valis, the rest of the horde is worthless.

~~~

The news shook Alex to the core. Knowing that a horde wasn't worth monetary speaking was a thing, learning that people would condemn hundreds of their kins to die to spare money, expense, and they're living? He couldn't make his head around.

As Evans, his mate and kins were is the very life, and he couldn't make his mind that he would willingly abandon them to same his own hide.

Valis seems an entire cion system, without cents, with ten Valis equal to ten cents for what he is telling.- It wasn't that CS was unbothered with the fate of the settlement, he was, but he also knows that Alex would fight, so he uses his analytical prowess to try to decipher a little more of this word system.

"Do you have a weapon? I only have with me what I could retrieve from the outpost." Asked Alex, surprising all those around.

"You aren't fleeing?" Asked Josh, taken aback that the therianthrope would still stay.

"I already give my words, plus I don't think I would be able to flee far before they spot me, so why not?"