Isekai Losers!

Chapter 22: Not Yet Over

It was a slow morning in Lyugo. The early rush of adventurers going out into the wild in search of work has passed, leaving behind the locals and adventurers who decided to take the day off and relax in town.

"I still can't believe Ovro is dead." Itten sighed, slouching over the table at Kyla's inn. "That's messed up, man."

"He sacrificed himself to protect his comrades. It is unfortunate but also a very honourable way to go." Sekou nodded to himself.

"Urgh! Why did you guys go without telling us, anyway?? I thought we were a team!" Itten spat out, at Ivan specifically.

"Hey, don't blame me! It was the doctor's idea!" Ivan claimed defensively.

"I think the doctor did the correct thing." Gabriel spoke up. "Considering how their expedition unfolded, We could've had a lot more casualties with a larger, slower group."

Everyone remained silent.

"I agree." said Sekou. "Another four people would have made escaping more difficult."

"Speaking of hundreds of goblins. Is it really fine leaving such a large nest alone? Perhaps the mayor could've organized a group to go exterminate them?" Rishia suggested.

"The mayor did in fact want to do so." Lynn clarified. "Doctor Hope told him that it would be a pointless errand. The nest is conventionally unsustainable without a matriarch. Her death created a power vacuum, so the goblin kings will fight among themselves for the vacant throne as their twisted society falls into a civil war."

"I see..." Rishia nodded along.

"So, essentially the goblin overpopulation is solved now. Where's the doctor, though?" Itten asked.

"Probably still holed up in his room. I don't blame him though, I imagine Ovro and him were quite close." Ivan noted.

"Why'd he push all of us away like that, though? He doesn't have to go through this by himself." Rishia added.

"He has every right to do so." Lynn spoke. "To him, all of us are simply strangers who ended up working with him under these circumstances; he has no obligation towards us,. If he approaches us again we'll continue like nothing happened and send him off as a valued comrade. If he leaves without telling anyone---that's fine, too."

"Harsh but true..." Sekou crossed his arms, nodding in agreement.

At that moment, the entrance of the inn swung open with a loud thud.

"S-skyborn!" stuttered the panicked soldier. "We have big trouble!"

***

"Several groups of adventurers who went west have reported seeing army-like formations of goblins moving towards Lyugo. Most of them guess the numbers of goblins to be above a thousand at least. The details provided include armoured goblins, goblins with spears, swords and arrows. Goblins riding wolves and armoured bison have also been sighted."

"That's horrible!" shrieked Rishia.

"West, you say..?" Ivan hummed.

"It is the direction where the queen's nest lies." Lynn added.

"Have the goblin kings consolidated and decided to launch a full-scale attack?" Ivan asked.

"That is hard to believe. Goblin kings simply do not work together, there has to be a central leading figure above all." Gabriel clarified.

"Is there a chance that the goblin queen survived?" Sekou asked.

"Well I didn't quite see the life draining from her big ugly eyes but you know I cut her stomach open and all the gooey bits came out like, you can't just put those back in." Ivan argued.