Arcane splendor begins with the throne

Chapter 32 Hobgoblins

"Good job!"

The burly figure of the village master appeared from the darkness. He was a strong brown-haired man, with white in his neat short hair. Under the light of the torch, it glowed faintly red.

His only right arm was covered with lush body hair, which looked strong and powerful, and the beard on his face was also extremely thick, making his expression extremely fierce.

However, when he looked in the direction of Brian and the others, he rarely revealed a rough smile.

Followed by more than a dozen guards holding torches, these people are all wearing forest-colored cloaks, black fur-collared leather armor and leggings, longbows hanging on their shoulders, quivering bags behind their backs, and sharp swords or scimitars Hanging at the waist, it looks like a standard ranger dress.

The village master first glanced at the corpse of the goblin bear on the ground, then looked at Brian beside him, hammered his chest with one hand, and expressed his gratitude sincerely: "Thank you for your help, and pay tribute to the half-elf who puts equal emphasis on swordsmanship and magic."

The group of people who just rushed over hadn't figured out the situation yet. After hearing the strong voice of the village master, they all looked up in surprise at the half-elf in a black cloak in front of him.

When most people hear magic, they express their disbelief to the other identity of Brian, who is dressed as an adventurer, as a wizard.

After all, in this low-magic world, the profession of a wizard, a spellcaster, is very precious. In the impression of the world, it also gives people a feeling of being mysterious, powerful, and withdrawn.

As for the young half-elf wizard in front of him, apart from his face that was so cold and indifferent to a stranger, it made people involuntarily feel like they were afraid to look directly at him.

In other places, it is not much different from ordinary adventurers.

Feeling that many eyes were focused on him, Brian turned around and looked at the group of people and the village owner in front of him expressionlessly with black eyes.

"Now is not the time for compliments." He first put the long sword in his hand into the scabbard slowly, and then said in a calm tone: "Look at what this is, Captain Renat, I found it from the goblin bear. "

After finishing speaking, Brian casually threw the flint stone to the One-Armed Village Master in front of him. Then he pressed the hilt of the sword with one hand and put the other behind his back, looking thoughtfully at several stone houses not far away that store grain.

In the middle of the night, two goblin bears with excellent stealth abilities appeared inside the village. From their course of action, it could be seen that they were obviously heading for the warehouse.

And Brian found the stone used to set fire on the bear goblin.

Obviously, the purpose of these two bear spirits is to set off a fire in the village that is enough to make everyone panic.

As for the true intention of setting the fire, it was certainly not for fun or for the enjoyment of killing.

Brian believed that even if he didn't point it out, the people in the village could easily guess the reason for this problem.

"Crack!"

The flint the size of an egg was crushed by the village owner Renate, and faint sparks flickered in the crisp friction sound, and his rough face was also dark and scary under the red light of the fire.

"All gather and prepare to fight!" Renate threw away the gravel in his hand, drew out the long sword with his only arm, and greeted everyone who gradually gathered.

Hearing this, everyone did not panic at all. They clenched their weapons and responded to the call of the village leader, and then rushed towards the gate of the village in an orderly manner with solemn expressions.

Obviously, as mountain people in the wilderness, they have encountered this kind of thing more than once.

"Don't get excited." Brian walked to Renate and calmly stopped his actions. When the other party's suspicious eyes fell on him, he raised his head and asked in a calm manner:

"Before the battle, I would like to ask if there is a hobgoblin settlement nearby."

The goblin bears are vicious creatures born to fight and riot, often mingling with their cousin races, the hobgoblins and goblins, and rewarding them with gold and food for their scouting and raiding parties.

Therefore, in the Griffin Mountains, hobgoblins and goblins are usually willing to spend a lot of tribal resources for the powerful support of these creatures.

Bryan asked about hobgoblins mainly because, as members of the goblinoid family, hobgoblins are more terrifying than smaller goblins and ferocious bear goblins.

This is a population that is good at militarized management, and their social organization is basically similar to the regular army of the human kingdom.

It is precisely because of this high degree of organization and discipline that it helps them overcome the chaotic characteristics unique to goblin-like creatures and become lawful evil.

Greed, another characteristic of goblin-like creatures, has been transformed into a desire for conquest in hobgoblins. They are keen on planning and thinking about war strategies, and pursue victory, glory, fame and dominance.

The hobgoblins' insatiable appetite for conquest and penchant for capturing slaves for basic productive work made them a real threat to cities and villages.

In his game career in his previous life, Brian even saw hobgoblins establish temples for priests, military and engineering academies in their ruled areas to train the next generation.

If it was a group of hobgoblins who attacked the village, he would not hesitate to take advantage of the darkness to leave this dangerous village as soon as possible.

This is why he wants to take the lead in finding out the enemy's situation.

However, in Brian's impression, the hobgoblins in the Griffon Mountains had already been severely damaged in the ancient times when the orcs ruled the entire continent.

In the era when dwarves, elves, and humans appeared one after another, these war madmen were almost wiped out.

So even now, he has never heard of a complete group of hobgoblins. On the contrary, he often hears that many small tribes ruled by a few hobgoblins are often active in the Griffin Mountains.

The reason for this is actually not difficult to understand, after all, the evil races in the Griffin Mountains are not limited to the goblin family.

In addition to the orcs who were driven to the extreme north by humans and elves, there are still a large number of ogres, gnolls, trolls and other ferocious races in the mountains.

Although the chances of a group of hobgoblins appearing tonight are slim, Brian, who is cautious, still wants to make sure first.

The village master Renate looked at the soldiers running towards the gate. He thought about it seriously, and replied to Brian in an affirmative tone: "I can assure you, absolutely not."

When Brian heard the words, he didn't doubt what the other party said, but nodded slightly to show that he knew.

These people have taken root here for an unknown number of years, so they naturally know the surrounding terrain, terrain and distribution of monsters clearly.

Since the other party said no with such certainty, as a foreigner, he has no reason to refute.

"Then do you think that the premeditated raid tonight was really done by those little goblins?" Brian pondered for a moment before asking again.

Hearing Brian's questioning again, although Renate couldn't figure out what the other party's words meant, but saw that he calmly helped him analyze the situation, so he replied after thinking:
"The goblins aren't smart enough to order the bear goblins to set fire. It would be nice if these little black-hearted creatures could keep from fighting among themselves. I guess the leader of this goblin tribe is probably a big goblin."

"In that case, let's wait until your pet comes back before we make a decision." Brian looked towards the gate, where many people had already gathered here, and the bright torches reflected the surroundings like daylight.

Almost two-thirds of the entire village's population gathered there. It could be said that except for women, children, old and young, everyone went into battle. It was obvious that they had long been accustomed to such emergencies.

Brian even saw several adventurers and Artus who were traveling with him during the day also mixed in with the defensive team.

But now, the so-called enemies did not appear within the range covered by the torches. From this, it can be judged that these evil creatures hidden in the dark are waiting for the village to burst into flames, or are on their way.

If Brian chooses to sneak attack on this village, he will take the lead in launching a general attack, and then when everyone's eyes are on the gate, he will send people to quietly set fire to important buildings in the village while taking advantage of the chaos.

The reason why the enemy didn't do this, Brian believed, was that their rulers didn't have the strength to completely control the bear goblins.

As the goblin bears of the chaotic evil camp, although they will be employed by their cousins ​​goblins and hobgoblins, if their strength is similar, it means that these grumpy guys will not follow the leader's orders meticulously.

What happened tonight was most likely the result of the two goblin bears in charge of the sneak attack not obeying the command and acting without authorization.

However, all this will not be clear until Renate's animal companion returns.

When Renate heard Brian mentioning his pet, he looked at him in surprise, and finally suppressed the doubts in his heart.

Because the first time he heard that an enemy had sneaked into the camp, he quickly released his animal companions to scout out the enemy's situation.

Apparently, he didn't understand how Brian knew about it.

"Cuckoo..."

Soon, a gray owl with fluttering wings cut through the thick night, flew over, and landed on Renate's shoulder obediently.

Renate stroked the owl's feathers, stared at the owl's two agile big eyeballs, muttered softly, and stretched out his fingers to make gestures.

The owl flapped its wings slightly and cooed non-stop.

Brian stood aside and waited patiently. Seeing the other party's animal companion reminded him that he was a wizard, and he could also get a magic pet.

In the previous game, his magic pet was a little devil from Bator Hell.

This kind of high-intelligence familiar from the evil camp can almost perfectly serve as a waiter, consultant, spy, etc. The only thing you need to be wary of is the backlash of the little devil, such as guiding and hinting the owner to commit evil acts.

Thinking that he could control an evil and cunning existence like the little devil to death.

Brian thought that if he had time in the future, he might try to set up a summoning circle to lure out a little devil, sign a contract with him, and act as his magic pet.

(End of this chapter)