Chapter 72 The Subjugation Of The Goblin King (6) A Person Missing

The next day of the subjugation, the elite group prepared for the early march, but at the minute when they were about to go.

"Oi, Crimson Talon members. Where is Jean?" Emilia's question made the Crimson Talon wander their gaze around, and realized that their leader is nowhere to be found.

"Eh? You're right... Where's the leader?"

"Oi, Maia. Aren't you together with the leader last night?"

The magician girl that Lyan saw doing it with Jean got flustered as she suddenly got asked.

"H-He disappeared from the tent when I woke up... I don't know where he went..."

"That idiot..." Alice clicked her tongue.

(Marching later than this might interfere with the plan. That frivolous guy is a womanizer, but he's not stupid. At least he has the appropriate strength and wisdom to lead. For the leader of the Crimson Talon to suddenly disappear, it's too much of a coincidence) (Lyan)

"What is happening?" The leader of the knights, Julius, asked as he approached the team together with the royal knights.

"Jean is missing. The girl he fucked to sleep yesterday said he suddenly gone from the tent," (Alice)

"Jean did?" Rodrigo, the knight that dueled with Jean asked in surprise.

"What should we do, Alice? Should we try to find him first?" (Emilia)

"Guh... That bastard... I will definitely cut his thing off when we're back..." (Alice)

(What's happening, master? It seems that there is a problem in the marching) (Arturia)

(A problem?) (Griselda)

Lyan connected his thoughts with the grimoire's space.

(Yeah. The leader of the Crimson Talon suddenly disappeared. Some of the members are going to search for him around. But if this goes on, the attack will be late) (Lyan)

(Oh. That frivolous guy) (Hestia)

(That indecent guy, I see) (Arturia)

(That perverted bastard, huh) (Griselda)

(The vulgar guy...) (Eira)

(V-Vulgar...) (Sylphia)

(That unholy guy, is it?) (Cynthia)

Hearing their harsh remarks, Lyan remembered the day of the goblin lair subjugation before when he was assigned to the watch duty.

(Ah... You guys saw it, huh...) (Lyan)

The spirits saw how Jean flirted with Lichia and how he openly do the deed at the entrance of the goblin lair's cave at the night, giving them a bad impression of him.

(By the way, where is Lilith? I didn't hear her voice, though?) (Lyan)

(Ah. Her) (Arturia)

Lyan's body shivered as he heard Arturia's cold voice.

(Do you want to know, master?) (Arturia)

(Ah... I think I don't really that curious) (Lyan)

Lyan immediately cut the connection of his thoughts and the grimoire's space. But of course, he didn't turn off the television in the grimoire's space.

"What do you think, Surena?" Alice asked Surena. There is a reason why Surena is the leader of the Valkyries. Even though Alice has a brilliant mind, she has the great intuition and talent for making good judgment.

"We should depart. The Crimson Talon members, could you catch up with us after you found Jean?" (Surena)

"We will catch up with you as soon as we found him, lady Dancing Gale. We'll catch up with you even if we have to sacrifice our horses," The vice-captain of the Valkyries replied to Surena with a bow.

"Good. Then we'll be departing ahead. Is there any objection?" (Surena)

No one raised their hand or their voice to object.

"Then we'll depart immediately. Ben, tell Jean to stop being an idiot and lead you properly. If you still didn't found him, send a messanger to the guild and lead the others to join us," (Surena)

"I will. Thank you for your kindness, lady Dancing Gale," The vice-captain bows even deeper.

"Then let's go!" (Surena)

With the Valkyries on the front leading the elite group, they advanced forward straight towards the goblin king's lair. Since the captain of the royal knights, Julius, didn't raise any objection or question concerning Surena's judgment, the other royal knights followed him and trust her judgment as well.

William and the other 'Staff' of the mercenary guild also followed them without uttering a single word while galloping with their horses. With their cloak still worn, they expressionlessly follow the group at the side with William on their front.

(Well, as suspicious as he is, I could feel that he holds no malice against any of us. Rather than him, the group of the royal knights is much more suspicious than him. While the other one is...) (Lyan)

Lyan's sight stopped at the leader of the Golden Thrill's leader. He's the only leader of the mercenary group that completely avoids making contact with him. But Lyan sensed him staring at him on several occasions.

(Rather than staring, it's more like sizing me up. Why, I wonder...) (Lyan)

(That girl sure makes a good call) (Griselda)

Griselda's voice of praising for Surena sounded inside his mind.

"Did she?" (Lyan)

(Yeah. Every time you waste here, there will be casualties on the main army's side. The goblins will surely send most of their numbers to intercept them as well. With the goblin king still alive, all of the goblins surely will fight to the death just like you saw before) (Griselda)

Lyan recalled how the goblins he fought before all didn't run even when more than half of their number had already got killed. Normally, the weak and cowardly goblins will run away when they don't have the confidence to win.

(She's right) (Lyan)

(The goblins seem to regard the goblin king's command to be much more important that their lives. It seems that the girl realized that as well) (Hestia)

"You're right. It's a right call," (Lyan)

(If our opponent is only the goblins that are) (Lyan)

The elite group encountered a group of 100 red goblins along the way. They seem to be aiming to circle around the main group and attacked them from behind. But they are nothing in face of the main group. They got trampled by the horses and got killed by the blades and got annihilated without taking even 5 minutes.

After galloping for several hours, it's time to let their horses break before continuing the journey. Pushing the horses too much will make them die of exhaustion, so they'll be letting the horses rest for an hour first.

(The war horses in this world are very strong, huh... Especially this guy) (Lyan)

The black horse neighs as if saying 'Why are we walking? I want to continue to run!' as his head keeps on turning around to look at Lyan with questioning eyes.

(What with this unnecessarily strong and aggressive, horse...) (Lyan)

(That's quite an impressive steed you have there, huh) (Griselda)

(He seems to be a very fine horse, master) (Arturia)

(Yeah. He's cute...) (Sylphia)

(Huh? Which part of this guy is cute?) (Lyan)

!?!?!?

Suddenly the Valkyries on the front drew their swords.

"Goblins. Another group of a hundred. Let's finish them before they make a commotion," (Surena)

With Surena's lead, once again, the goblins got easily killed by the elite group. Since they are letting the horse rest, the elite group fight without riding on their horses. But even without the horses, the goblins still couldn't give a single casualty to the elite group.

"Remain alert," (Surena)

"Is there danger ahead?" (Julius)

"I don't know. But my intuition is telling me to be extra careful, right now. We're already halfway to the goblin king's lair. Let's proceed with caution," Surena replied grimly.

"Indeed. You're right. Men, don't lower your guards," Julius warned his men. Heeding his warning, the royal knights replied with a salute and a 'Yes sir!' to their captain.

(Her eyes look like she's very disgusted when she replied to him, though) (Lyan)

Lyan saw how Surena's eyes showed how reluctant she was to talk to the Astellia Kingdom's royal knight.

(Julius...?) (Griselda)

Griselda's voice which is filled with surprise sounded inside his mind, but at that moment.

!?

"Lyan?" (Ravia)

"Is there an enemy?" (Raine)

Ravia and Raine that noticed Lyan suddenly stopped in his tracks, asked him, but Lyan didn't utter a single word and closed his eyes as he apply his magic to sharply increase his senses.

(At the tree on the right, master!) (Arturia)

Together with Arturia's call, Lyan summon the decent one-handed sword that he stored in the grimoire's space, and infuse some of Arturia's mana into it before throwing it in a certain direction.

*Whoosh!* *Stab!*

"Argh!"

The sound of the sword stabbing the target sound. But the voice that appeared is not a shriek of a goblin, but rather, it's a voice of someone's groan.

*Thud!*

Two figures fell from the trees.

Lyan, Ravia, and Raine immediately approached them.

"This is..." (Ravia)

The three of them stare at the sight before them. Lyan's sword supposedly only stabs one target, but there are currently two corpses lying before them.

"A human... And a hobgoblin assassin...?" (Raine)

___________________________________________________________________________

Name: Lyan Arkanium Evocatore

Occupation: Gold-ranked Mercenary

Money: 49,722,400 Elnes

Weapon: None

Equipment: Black leather cloak, Leather Armor, 1 (Decent) One-handed Sword, 2 (Good-Quality) One-handed swords, 2 Health Potions, 2 Poison Vials

Grimoire's Companions: 8 High Spirits, Shadow Hobgoblin, Papilio Slime, Galewing Butterfly, Rock Golem, Deadlight, Moonlight Butterfly, Ice Golem