Scouts return (3)

After much persuasion, the scouts gave up and divulged a summary of their chaotic discoveries to Ragnar and Noah.

The information was burdensome to the two of them, especially Ragnar who was concerned about the condition of the Hamlet over everyone else.

"We really need to discuss these with Old Man James," Noah suggested with a frown on his face.

Five of them strolled down to the house of the retired knight. The old man was already in his backyard, awaiting the arrival of his two apprentices, when he saw new faces arriving with them.

"Kendrick, Milan, Roger... You three," he stood up with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

The three scouts stepped closer and gave their greetings but Old Man James skipped their greeting and gave them a hug instead. Apparently, he had missed the three of them a lot.

"I thought you guys were dead, it made me sick for weeks, but here you guys are, looking healthy and strong," Old Man James rejoiced.

The scouts smiled at the behavior of the old man and told him why they were late on their mission this time.

They also went right into the serious part, "We have something important to discuss with you," Kendrick said.

"Can't that important discussion wait till you guys have a drink from this old man?"

Kendrick scratched his head and replied, "Well, it can."

"Hehe, come inside, I have some alcohol I have been saving for a long time for a special occasion like today," Old Man James invited them in. He turned to Ragnar and Noah, "Our training session would be shifted today, to make up for the lost time, we would end it towards midnight, is that okay with you?"

Ragnar and Noah had no issues with that as they also wanted to learn everything the scouts had to discuss about. What they heard was only a brief summary of the entire situation.

****

The morning sun bathed the men drinking alcohol and discussing matters together in the retired knight's spacious backyard.

Jokes were made, and laughter rang out loudly as the adults discussed among themselves while sipping from their wooden mugs of alcohol.

Ragnar and Noah, on the other hand, sat quietly among them, eyes dizzy from the small sips of alcohol they had just drunk.

'My alcohol tolerance is really weak,' Ragnar thought to himself, as he found it increasingly difficult to focus.

Noah had it far worse: not only was he dizzy, but his hands had grown so weak he could not hold the wooden mug, and the alcohol inside it spilled over the ground.

Old man James noticed this and made a joke about it, causing the scouts to laugh even harder.

'I have to hold back this dizziness as hard as I can, if not I'll really miss everything,' Ragnar made up his mind.

Old man James and the scouts continued cracking jokes and sharing sweet stories with one another for another thirty minutes.

Ragnar hadn't had more alcohol so his dizziness had grown weaker. Noah, on the other hand, was still currently lying on the ground in an embarrassing pose, fast asleep.

'Who would have thought this nonchalant dude is so weak to alcohol?' Ragnar chuckled inwardly.

At the moment, Ragnar was resting his head on his lap to fake a sleeping position. He was aware that the scouts would not share the information they had if they knew he was fully awake, hence his pretense.

And just as he predicted, the serious discussion did not begin until they had confirmed the two of them were intoxicated and asleep.

"What important discussion were you guys talking about earlier?" asked Old man James.

Although he had drunk a lot of alcohol, his eyes were still clear and his body showed no sign of drunkenness. It was the same for the three scouts.

Kendrick took a sip and kept his mug as well.

His expression turned serious as he turned to the old man and prepared to share the devastating tales.

"We have two important matters actually," he began, "The first one involves goblins, on our way back to the hamlet, we spotted several goblin hideouts close to the exit of the forest, we feel that the goblins are planning a horde attack like the devastating attack two years ago."

"Oh, goblins," Old man James didn't seem that surprised about the news, "Goblins are really weak, I'm sure my two apprentices would be able to take care of them." he said proudly, pointing at his drunken apprentice.

"Well, the goblins this time are not the same as the ones we took care of two years ago," Milan corrected the old man.

"What? Have they grown taller or something?"

Milan shook his head and replied calmly, "These goblins have developed in their combat abilities, two years ago, they only fought with crude weapons. Now, not only have their weapons upgraded but a few of them are capable of casting magic."

Old man James' eyes widened but Milan wasn't even done yet as he would soon drop the bomb.

"We also discovered two hobgoblins in their hideout. The hobgoblins are the leaders of the horde and we fear they can cast magic as well," Milan concluded.

At the mention of the monster that was difficult to kill even in his active knight days, old man James could not help but frown.

Roger and Kendrick built up on the information of their colleague — they shared most of the important discoveries about the goblin hideout, especially their population which numbers almost a hundred or even more.

Ragnar listened to their conversation and became really concerned.

'The goblins are not that strong judging from old man James' reaction but the hobgoblin are a serious issue,' Ragnar noted, 'Now we have two serious issues to deal with — a goblin horde and the monsterborn heist.'

Ragnar was already figuring out ways to deal with these two issues when Kendrick began narrating the second matter.

Just the first sentence made Ragnar eyes widen in surprise.