Rosy clearly showed how much it had affected her. Her eyes remained fixed on the cave floor, staring at the empty space where the bags she and Steh had made together once rested.
Akile was irritated as well.
Some of the spears had been stolen, and the ones that remained were damaged.
But Noah seemed worried about something else.
His gaze stayed fixed on the footprints scattered across the cave floor.
Small.
Human-like… but wrong.
His greatest fear was not just the theft.
It was the possibility of those creatures returning.
"They waited for us to leave…" Noah muttered while observing the tracks leading out of the cave.
In reality, that was not true.
The goblins had not even known the humans existed until they found the cave.
But at that moment, Noah could not think any differently.
He pointed toward the ground.
"Look at these footprints."
The others approached in silence.
The tracks clearly led out of the cave, crossing the damp soil near the entrance.
"We should follow them," Noah said.
Rosy immediately became nervous.
"I-I don't think that's a good idea…"
She still remembered perfectly the overwhelming feeling she experienced when Kon had first appeared before them.
That suffocating sense of danger was still vivid in her memory.
Akile, however, immediately agreed with Noah.
"We need to at least figure out what we're dealing with."
Steh said nothing.
But her eyes showed curiosity.
In the end, the group decided to follow the tracks.
Akile quickly repaired the remaining spears as best as he could, and then they departed.
Broken branches.
Half-eaten fruits.
Small footprints scattered across the dirt.
The trail led toward the forest near the mountain.
The farther they advanced, the quieter the group became.
Then…
Grunts.
Noah immediately raised his hand.
"Quiet."
Everyone stopped.
The group slowly moved forward through the bushes, careful not to make any noise.
And then they finally saw them.
Small creatures.
Green.
Human-like… but different.
"They look like us…" Steh murmured in shock.
The goblins fought among themselves while holding the stolen spears.
Some awkwardly swung the weapons around as if trying to understand how they worked.
Others held the spears completely backward.
One of them simply started smashing the weapon against the ground until the stone tip came loose.
"Kekeke…"
Strange laughter echoed through the forest.
While observing the creatures, Steh felt something strange again.
That same sensation.
As if tiny invisible currents were moving through the air around her.
Her head began aching slightly.
Steh placed a hand on the ground to steady herself.
High above the skies, Ariana silently watched everything.
And for the first time, she realized something extremely important.
The humans were facing a territorial conflict.
Ding!
[Civilization Event Detected]
[Concept Developed: Territorial Awareness]
The humans continued observing the goblins from behind the bushes.
Then…
One of the goblins stopped.
Its eyes slowly shifted toward the exact place where Noah and the others were hiding.
Silence.
It had noticed them.
Noah's heart immediately began racing.
An instinctive sense of danger spread throughout his body.
"We should retreat," he said quietly, clearly nervous.
Akile immediately grabbed his arm.
"Retreat? They stole our stuff!"
He pointed toward the goblins.
"Our food. Our tools. Everything there took days to gather."
Rosy watched the tension between the two while the goblins slowly began looking in their direction.
Her nervousness grew stronger and stronger.
Steh could still feel that strange energy around her body.
But beyond the fear…
She was curious.
One of the goblins slowly began approaching.
Soon the others noticed the humans as well.
Some bared their teeth.
Others raised the stolen spears completely wrong.
The tension instantly intensified.
Steh tried to speak.
But no sound came out.
Then the mana reacted.
The wind began blowing harder through the trees.
Leaves shook violently.
Small blue particles appeared around her body for brief moments.
Ariana noticed immediately.
"Her mana is reacting to her emotions…"
At that exact moment, one of the goblins picked up a rock from the ground and threw it toward the humans.
Thunk!
The rock struck Akile's arm.
"Son of—!"
Akile immediately charged forward in fury.
But Noah grabbed his arm tightly.
"WE'RE FALLING BACK!"
The goblins began releasing loud, aggressive grunts.
"Kekekeke!"
The humans ran back through the forest.
Akile radiated pure frustration.
Rosy was terrified.
And Noah…
Noah was in shock.
Until that moment, he believed they were the only intelligent beings in that world.
But now he knew.
There were other intelligent creatures.
Creatures capable of using tools.
Capable of stealing.
Capable of learning.
And perhaps…
Capable of killing.
While the humans retreated through the forest…
Steh looked back one last time.
And she saw the same goblin silently staring at her from between the trees.
The walk back was silent.
None of them spoke for most of the journey.
The sounds of the forest felt different now.
More dangerous.
Every snapping branch made Rosy nervously glance around, while Akile gripped his spear tightly, still irritated that they had retreated.
When they finally reached the cave, Noah stopped before entering.
His gaze slowly swept across the surrounding forest.
As if expecting those small creatures to appear again at any moment.
"We need to seal the entrance better," he said.
Akile let out an irritated sound.
"There's no point sealing it. They'll come back."
Steh remained silent.
But her mind was still trapped in that moment inside the forest.
The strange sensation that moved through her body.
The blue energy appearing around her.
And most of all…
That goblin's gaze.
It looked intelligent.
That bothered her.
A lot.
The group slowly entered the cave.
The mess was still there.
Crushed fruits.
Torn bags.
Small marks scattered across the floor.
Rosy silently began picking things up, clearly disheartened.
Akile grabbed one of the broken spears and slammed it against the wall.
"Next time, I'm killing them."
Noah did not respond immediately.
He simply kept staring at the footprints near the entrance.
Then he said something that made the atmosphere even heavier.
"They know where we live now."
Silence.
Even Akile stopped moving.
Because all of them realized it.
This had not been just a theft.
Another intelligent group had found their shelter.
High above the skies, Ariana observed everything attentively.
The humans had just discovered something extremely important about Arcadia.
They were no longer alone at the top.