Esdras returned empty handed to the attack area and found Celine and David putting out the fire and helping out the wagon driver.

His arm was broken and he had some minor burn marks, but he was otherwise fine.

Esdras pondered on something and searched through the contents of the remaining merchandise of the wagon and realized a very striking fact.

The goblins only targeted the most valuable things, like wheat and silk while abandoning cotton and fur. This could not be a coincidence.

They already prepared an escape route and traps, one of which slowed him down. It was so methodical, so well planned.

The first batch was distraction to allow the second group to loot the goods while those who could fight were busy chasing them.

Goblins were cunning but they were not smart, that was a known fact. However, these goblins were clearly something else. That display was not as simple as it looked.

He expected that the chase of the prince wouldn’t bear any good results.

As expected, when they returned the group came back battered and worn out, most of them were injured.

“How did this happen?” Esdras asked.

“I wanted to ask you the same thing,” Daylen and Calvin were carrying the prince who had a bear trap on his left leg.

The others had similar injuries.

“The goblins you chased were bait and a second group immediately looted the wagon and… our carriage…”

Hearing his words the faces of the prince and Daylen turned extremely ugly, they were the only ones beside him who knew just how bad this was.

“What did… they take?” The prince asked, despite already knowing. He probably hopped that it didn’t come to that, but life… was like that sometimes, the more you didn’t want something to happen the more like it was to happen.

“They took the box.” Esdras sighed.

“What?! How can you let them get away with it? You were right here.” The prince exploded in anger.

“I tried, they were already running away by the time I made it back and they had traps and potholes to escape. Now, if someone else had been here with me the situation might have been different.”

Esdras kept his words polite but he was essentially telling the prince that it wasn’t his fault and also reminding him that he fell for the bait while Esdras didn’t.

“That is true… we’ll, it’s bad luck. We can’t blame each other for this, instead we should focus on retrieving it.” Daylen pointed out the crux of the matter.

“That’s true,” the prince looked down and then he looked like he regained his composure, “I apologize for that just now, it’s my fault. But we don’t have to rush, the box is not something that can be opened easily.”

“Because it’s locked? What if they break it with brut force?” Esdras asked.

“It’s not impossible but, I would say it’s not an easy thing to do. Even a monster would find it unbreakable. I would imagine that only a Great mage that put his mind to it for a few days could break it.” The prince seem very confident of his words.

So, the box was more than it let on, the item inside must be very valuable for it to be taken care of so much. But.. even with that assurance Esdras was still not certain.

These goblins were too weird.

“Even so, we must hurry, the goblins could lose it or something. We must move quickly.”

Since their direction was clear they immediately questioned the four guards.

Turns out, these goblins were known as the Redpeal tribe and they troubled the travelers in these parts for some time now.

But since a year ago, something changed and their tactics and methods changed, they became notoriously difficult to stop. So, the merchants resorted to hiring mercenaries.

They chose the Tigerclaw band and although the situation improved a fair bit, they still had a hard time dealing with the goblins.

Worse still, what they saw was only a small and weak bunch, the leadership in the Redpleal tribe consisted of over a dozen Hobgoblins. The real leader was unknown.

They didn’t know much more than this but the guards invited them to Yellomane where they had more information and perhaps they could find out some clues as to where their hideout is.

More than a dozen Hobgoblins? That was unbelievable, that was a rare breed among the goblins, even in that forest Esdras only saw three.

Moreover this meant that their numbers could be as high as three hundred.

Esdras settled the injured in the inn and then he and Daylen met with the mayor and a tall man called Dash, he was the leader of the Tigerclaw mercenaries.

The mayor had a humble smile while Dash revealed a contemptuous frown.

“Mercenaries from afar, I afraid that you happened on an ugly first impression of our town.” The mayor shook their hands and lamented.

“But, believe me, things weren’t like this before the war. It’s like that was the start of the whole world going crazy.”

‘Well, that might not be wrong…’ Esdras thought that this man might be onto something.

“We have it under control Mr mayor, it was unfortunate that you encountered something so tragic but fortunately there were no casualties.”

Dash added with a tone clearly telling them to leve town and be on their way already. Of course Esdras would also like to do just that but they must retrieve the box containing the royal relic at any cost.

“We will be on our way soon I assure you, but the goblins stole an important item from us and we must have it back. I hope you will cooperate, we want information.”

Daylen interjected, he too was able to read between the lines.

“Their hideout, having worked here for so long you must have figured out that much at least right?” Esdras rolled his eyes.

“If we knew that much we would have already taken care of the goblins long ago. All I can tell you about is a recent ambush, check it out, you might find some clues.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep