Over the past few days, Roland had extensively studied the map of the terrain near the Dragontail Valley, especially the two main exits that led to the region near Waterfall City.

The scouts of the royal family who had been sending reports back to the capital also joined up with the expedition army, reporting whatever they had found over the past few weeks.

There were not many updates, and the existence of a Goblin King remained nothing but a conjecture that the scouts had made from observing the movement of the goblin raiding parties.

The organised raiding parties hinted at such an existence, but there were opposing evidences too.

Of which, the fact that different raiding parties acted differently seemed to hint that the goblins might not truly be acting under one unified leader.

Some of the attacked villages had not a single person left in the villages after the raids, while others had their older villagers spared, likely due to the quality of their meat having deteriorated.

After much discussion with Alexander, Roland had come up with a temporary plan, which is to split their troops into two, guarding one of the two main exits each.

When the Royal Army finally marched out of Waterfall City, a trail of merchants followed along behind the soldiers, bringing along with them construction materials.

These materials were integral to Roland's plan, and were supposed to aid in the construction of outposts at the two main exits.

When Count Bastion saw this, he sneered in his heart.

It was obvious that King Roland had come to the conclusion that he should secure the two main exits in order to deter future goblin raids.

However, that was simply not feasible!

It would take a huge toll on resources in order to secure the two main exits, be it in terms of manpower or finances.

The exits were not near to Waterfall City at all, which meant that extensive logistical support had to be arranged for food and equipment.

All that and it was just to secure the Dragontail Valley, to prevent future goblin attacks.

But what about other threats?

There were more than the goblins that the Eastern border had to be wary of!

They were fortunate that these other threats had not acted in recent months, but there was no guarantee that they would not detect it if there was a reduction of guards who were watching over them.

What's more, the goblins were supposedly completely self-sufficient within Dragontail Valley, which meant that they could simply wait it out indefinitely if the two main exits were heavily guarded.

In this situation, the Aron Army's soldiers would be hard pressed to maintain their military presence on all fronts.

As for the Royal Army, that was even more unrealistic!

They were an expedition army sent from the capital, and there was no way that they could stake it out at the two main exits for long.

Otherwise, was the capital supposed to be guarded by a bare minimal amount of soldiers, exposing the main city of the kingdom to the greatest level of danger?

This was why the capability of the commander was important!

Leaving things to this young and inexperienced king meant that this expedition was doomed to be a failure from the start!

Even though he thought lowly of the king's plan, Count Bastion still sent two regiments along with the Royal Army under the pretence of rendering his aid.

However, the main mission for these two regiments was actually to periodically report any new updates back to him.

No matter what happened next, Count Bastion was still interested in knowing how the Royal Army would react when they finally realised that their plan was a nothing but a flop.

The marching Royal Army did not hurry under the onslaught of rain, taking almost a week before they got to the first main exit.

After receiving specific instructions from Roland, the soldiers got to work in setting up barricades and watch towers.

Seeing that the plan was set in motion, Roland split away from the group and marched on towards the second exit with half of the troops, repeating the same action when they arrived.

"Things are all set according to plan, Your Majesty. Now we just have to wait for the construction to complete!" Alexander reported to Roland in the king's tent. "Ah, how I recall the days when I rode in battle against the goblins! It seemed like so long ago now, but I still remember the scenes of the battlefields vividly in my mind. That year, I rode to battle leading my men.."

Roland sat there listening impatiently as the Royal Guard went on about his story of old.

If there was one thing that was bad about Alexander, it would be that he simply talked too much.

At this moment, Roland truly wished that he had brought Erin along. She was the one person who cared not about cutting off the Royal Guard in the middle of his speeches.

It took a while before Alexander was done, and Roland grasped the opportunity to quickly send him off to handle other tasks.

"Phew," Roland finally let out a sigh of relief as he lay down in his makeshift bed.

"The preparations are complete. We can set off anytime now," Rose reported.

"Let us wait a little more, I want to give the soldiers enough time to rest after they are done with the watchtowers and barricades. We will set off tomorrow at first light," Roland responded without lifting himself from the bed.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The soldiers of the Royal army put in all they had into the construction works, but doubt was starting to fester in their hearts.

They had been full of admiration for the king and his retainers at the start of the expedition, but the long march from the capital had significantly drained them of both their energy and their spirit.

After two days' rest in Waterfall City, they had started on another march to the outskirts of the treacherous Dragontail Valley, ordered to construct barricades and watchtowers.

But what for?

Did the king intend for them to fortify the area?

Or did the king intend for them to march into the valley?

Either way did not seem like a good idea!

Regardless, all they could do was to believe in their superiors and do as they were instructed to the best of their abilities.

The construction project was simple and straightforward, designed in a way that the structures could be set up quickly on the battlefield.

Of course, nothing came without costs.

The ease of construction naturally resulted in the structure not being made to withstand the test of time, but that was no concern of the Royal Army.

After all, they did not intend to stake out in the region for long.

Thus, it took a mere three days for the soldiers to be done with their orders and completely fortify the two main exits of the Dragontail Valley.

But by then, Roland had long left the encampment.

The terrain within Dragontail Valley was extremely uneven and filled with trees and other greeneries, with the addition of a stream running through the bottom of the valley.

It was but a small stream during other times of the year, but the rainy season had caused the water level to rise significantly, reducing the area of foothold within the valley.

The uneven ground and dense vegetation that obstructed the way were also the main reasons why marching an army through the valley was nigh impossible.

At this time, three figures cautiously made their way through the winding Dragontail Valley, wary of every step they took and every turn they made.

Their steps were quick and light, barely leaving any tracks behind as they moved along, testament to the training that had been infused into their subconscious habits.

Despite the speed at which they were travelling at, it still took quite some time before the group finally found signs of what they were looking for.

"Goblin tracks," Alexander bent down to examine a trail of flattened vegetation.

Thankfully for Roland, Alexander knew better than to talk excessively during such infiltration operations.

Otherwise, he would never have brought the Royal Guard along, both for the sake of the operation and for the sake of his ears.

"Good, let us hope that it brings us to their settlement," Roland nodded before the group began to trace the trail.

They did not travel on the trail of flattened vegetation even though it would be much easier to move around, but chose to remain cautious and travel through the dense vegetation a ways off of the trail.

After having an exact trail to follow, it did not take long for the group to reach the end of the path.

From a distance, they halted their advance and climbed into the thick canopy of trees, choosing to first observe the situation from the outside.

Before their eyes stood an enormous goblin settlement, where mud houses were neatly aligned in rows and completed with spiked wooden fences.

It was cleverly located far away from the stream, and the rainy season resulted in the water level rising to being just short of flooding the entire settlement. Otherwise, the horde of goblins would have nowhere to go.

Lots of goblins could be seen moving around within the fences, going about their own thing.

The number of goblins was staggering!

Even with the high vantage point, Roland was unable to cover the entire settlement at one glance, which suggested at the sheer size of the facility.

"This is a goblin settlement?" Alexander was the first to exclaim in shock.

He had seen other goblin settlements before, but goblins were supposed to be beings with low intelligence.

It was practically unheard of for there to be such a settlement where the construction was done in such an organised manner!

Roland frowned deeply upon seeing this as well.

He might not have personally encountered any goblins before, but he had heard enough of them. Reading up on their habits during this expedition also reinforced his idea that this expedition would be not much different from hunting a group of beasts.

From what he was seeing at the moment, they were completely wrong!

"We might have to alter the plan a little," Roland transmitted his voice to the other two.

"Thankfully, we have already secured the two main exits. So we have that part covered," Alexander answered in a similar fashion.

"So all we have to worry about is how to take down these goblins," Roland's eyes continued to scan through the settlement in search of any weakness that could be exploited. "Any ideas?"

"Using fire would have been a good option if not for the rainy season," Alexander answered.

"Indeed.." Roland nodded in regret.

It was a pity that the weather was not on their side.

They could wait for the rainy season to be over. But even then, the wood would be soaked all the way through, making them fire resistant to a certain degree.

If they truly wanted to use fire effectively, it would have to be months later when all the wood had dried, but waiting that long would be an incredible waste of resources.

Just then, the sound of drumming reverberated from the settlement, echoing through the valleys.

The three halted their conversations and returned their focus to the mass of goblins that seemed to be splitting into three different groups within the huge settlement.

The drumming was done in three different rhythms, meaning that there were at least three different drums being struck in different ways at the same time.

As the drumming sound got louder and louder, three huge figures appeared from their respective mud houses, gathering in the centre of a huge courtyard within the settlement.

The other goblins that had obediently split into three groups gathered behind each of these three huge figures, as though they were soldiers standing behind their respective commanders.

"This..!" Alexander's eyes grew wide in horror as he took in this sight. "How could such a thing be possible?!"