Soon enough, noontime came.
After everyone had had their lunch, the girls returned to the workshop and resumed their soap-making. Since there were already a few batches that were in the drying stage, the first batch of soap to be sold should be done in two more days.
"Alright, time to set off!"
And just like that, he rode the Humvee, planning to scout out the nearby monsters along the way to the river, but...
"You girls... really plan on tagging along?"
"Yes! It’d be dangerous to go alone, so I’ll accompany you, Sir Axel!""Of course! Wherever husband goes, I’ll go too~!"
Inside the Humvee, not only was Axel at the driver’s seat, but even Teruria and Arianne, sitting side-by-side in the passenger seat, planned to tag along.
Although bringing more members along would indeed make the excursion safer, he still wasn’t sure if they’d need to fight. The purpose this time wasn’t to hunt monsters, but rather, to scout them out, after all.
’Well, it shouldn’t matter if we’re going with the Humvee anyway.’
Axel shrugged, deciding to simply let them come. It’s not like there’s any danger lurking nearby, anyway, so leaving the girls in the workshop with the bandits guarding the walls would be more than good enough.
As insurance, he even asked Eve and the girls to use their "secret weapon" if ever an enemy came while Axel was away.
’With all the safeguards we have, it should be safe to leave for a couple of hours at least,’ he thought.
Deciding that dissuading the two would be futile, Axel decided to simply head out with them.
He drove to the wall, opened a section, went past it, and returned the wall section before rushing toward the west—the direction of the river.
The ground was dry, but even. However, there were still obstacles along the road that tested the Humvee’s suspension system. Every bump they crossed, four airbags jumped up and down, distracting Axel and causing him to hit even more bumps.
Although the two girls in question did notice his gaze, they didn’t seem to care in particular either. And to add, they didn’t mind the shaking either. Compared to riding a normal carriage, they were not only moving faster, but the shaking was much more controlled, too.
Just then, they passed by what seemed to be the remains of a town wall. Buildings, albeit turned to rubble, could be seen inside it, though one couldn’t tell how long it had been in this state from a glance.
"This is the former Heater Territory’s Capital City, though as you can see, nothing of it remains now..."
"Heater...? Is this place part of your kingdom, too?"
"Yes, although it’s near the borders already."
Whenever they passed by ruins, Arianne would inform them of the name of the city or village before continuing further ahead. It was not only informative, but also helped the Map in Axel’s panel to have labels too. But most of all, it was a good change of pace since driving could get boring for too long.
Exactly an hour later, Axel slowly drove to a stop.
Checking his map, he stopped at a location that was roughly 500 meters away from both monster groups on the map. Since they had no information about the enemy, staying far away and vigilant was their best course of action.
"Let’s see..."
Axel exited the Humvee and, through the ladder by the side, stood on the thick roof of the vehicle. Arianne and Teruria followed suit, standing on Axel’s either side.
"That’s..."
And as soon as they gained some vantage, the three could faintly see a group of beings some distance away. Though with half a kilometer separating them, it was hard to even see the other side’s features. Thus, Axel took out a tool he bought from the shop—binoculars!
He adjusted the focus of the lens before staring ahead, adjusting the focus slowly until the image shown was clear enough.
"What... are those?"
But Axel couldn’t even figure out what the monster was despite seeing its full figure. "Arianne, do you know?" he asked, passing the binoculars to her.
Copying how he used the tool, Arianne placed it before her eyes and stared ahead. With the image clear and enlarged, Arianne saw the monsters’ figures—and gasped. "Those are... Goblins!"
"Goblins?!"
Axel and Teruria’s voices overlapped, one with shock, the other with excitement.
What shocked Axel was that the Goblins didn’t look like what he expected. He was expecting green-skinned monsters the size of a small child, wielding crude weapons. But what was ahead of them was far from that.
They had a sickly blue skin color, with eyes the color of blood. Their height couldn’t be estimated accurately from the distance, but Axel could tell they were at least as tall as he was, if not taller!
Although he couldn’t see them wielding weapons, their long arms, resembling an orangutan’s, with sharp obsidian claws like a falcon’s, were definitely deadly enough.
"I wanna see too! Let me see...!"
While Axel was distracted by the unexpected difference in appearance, Teruria grabbed the binoculars and checked the goblins out.
"Whoa! It’s real goblins! This is the first time I’ve seen them~! They look cute~!"
"That’s cute...?"
Just listening to her words, you wouldn’t think she came here to scout the enemy, but rather, to sightsee. The two watched her look around, before turning to the side and going quiet...
"No... No way..."
And all of a sudden, her face turned pale.
"Huh? What? What did you see?" Axel asked, curious, and grabbed the binoculars she dropped.
Staring in the last direction she looked at, toward the second monster signal on the map, Axel found what she was scared of.
"That’s... goats?"
"Goats...?" Arianne placed a hand to her chin. "Wait, goats?!" she shouted, stealing the binoculars and confirming her thoughts.
"N-No..."
And just as she expected, but hoped she was wrong...the enemy looked like a bipedal goat. A goat standing on its two hind legs, with curled horns on its head. Axel, however, wasn’t sure what sort of fantasy monster it was until Teruria recovered from her shock and spoke.
"Those... are Goatmen!"
"...?"
Axel could somewhat recall the name. A sort of cryptid creature that’s a mix between a human and a goat. However, just with that information, he couldn’t figure out why the two girls suddenly looked pale.
"Sir Axel," realizing this, Arianne—despite her fear—explained, "a Goatman is the devil’s subordinate... And if there’s a herd of them, that means..."
"...Oh."
Axel finally understood why they looked pale. After all, a herd would definitely have a herdsman. In short, hidden within the swarm of Goatmen is a devil!
Who would’ve thought that their enemy would turn out to be the devil himself?!