Several hours of travelling later, I was still in the forest.

I walked down the path for as long as I could but I still did not find anybody. By the time the night fell, I managed only to find a campsite. The coals were still hot, so the campsite was abandoned at most a couple of hours ago.

The fire was extinguished. I am sure that there were only two people, and by the size of the camp I could tell that the travellers did not have too much on them.

[It would be better to rest here. Everything is prepared, and I only need to ignite the wood.]

It was a small clear space, so I would have at least an opportunity to notice a potential attack.

I used the foxfires to dry and ignite the wood. The small light of the campfire was strong enough to cover the entire opening.

Even though I was walking all the time, and it is already night, I was still fresh and didn't feel sleepy at all.

[It is for the best. I can sleep during the day, and stay on guard tonight, while I am in the forest.]

---

Some time later my fox ears picked up a rustle, which soon turned into a sound of steps.

[What could it be...? It surely doesn't sound like an animal... I better prepare.

If they are friendly, I can stand down. If not...]

I prepared the tiny rifle on my rigging, and the naginata. If I can't hit anything, then I will chop it.

The source of the steps didn't keep me waiting for long.

A couple of goblins walked out of the bushes, and charged at me.

They are just a couple of pieces of meat in rugs. But their clubs may be a problem.

Bang

The tiny rifle fired but it was so pathetic, that I would've mistaken it for a cracker. The shot missed, and I had to use the naginata.

I tried to thrust the blade but the goblins evaded, and seeing how pitiful I am with my skills, they considered me dead already.

Pum Pum

Their clubs hit me, however, the hits resulted in nothing.

[I guess I am at least a ship in regard that I am made of metal.]

It was my turn to grin at the pathetic enemies. They can't do anything to me, while I can cripple them with just a hit.

I, winged by my sudden advantage, charged at them. Instead of an easy kill I found myself trying to at least hit them.

After a couple of misses, I managed to hit one of the goblins with a sweep of the blade.

It was a flesh wound but the goblins immediately tried to run away.

[Oh no, you are not getting away. I don't want to fight an entire goblin settlement.]

The three of us went into the darkness.

Little do those idiots know: foxes are nocturnal.

Since they were running in a straight line, I successfully attacked one of them.

'Gaah!' A small ball of foxfire hit the second running goblin, making it fall.

Its comrade turned around when it heard the shriek, and after seeing me approach, it was paralized in terror.

[I must not let them get away from me. I always can find the way back but they must not.]

'Swoosh'

I cut off the burnt goblin's leg, and it had to slowly crawl towards its paralized friend.

'UUUGH!' I pierced the lying creature's back with the naginata.

[Its burns are so wonderful...! Maybe the fire resistance is low? It doesn't matter~! Just die~!]

I pushed the blade all the way in, up to the pole.

---

After seeing blood and terror, I suddenly felt a desire to play with the terrified prey.

I slowly pulled the naginata out of the corpse, and slowly approached the remaining goblin.

As the bloodied blade approached it, the goblin stopped standing motionless. When it saw how I come closer with apparent desire to murder, it peed itself, and was about to start running.

But I didn't wait.

'Pierce'

'Guah!'

Even though its chest was pierced, the goblin was still alive. I let it slip off the blade, and started 'researching' it.

'Chop'

'Cut'

[So, a gaping wound in the chest and cut off legs are not a problem for you~?]

The goblin's screams echoed across the forest. But soon my sadistic madness subsided, and I ended its misery.

'Cut'

I cut it in half, and watched how its insides fell out of the body.

'Ding'

'You received 4 copper coins'

'You received starter pack for carriers'

"Open it."

'Ding'

'You received 1 group of A1N fighters'

---

I immediately summoned the gear, and deployed a fighter.

It was just a small biplane with 2 machine guns and 60 kg of payload. I was not too excited about it, especially after I remembered my stats.

Still, I was happy enough. I finally had aircraft, making me a proper carrier.

I lined up the flight of 4 small biplanes. Their little engines started coughing, and the wooden propellers started spinning.

They are small and light, so I hoped that the flight deck will be enough by itself to operate them.

"Take off!"

After hearing my command, one of them started accelerating, and the rest followed it one by one.

'Brrrrrr'

When the biplane left the deck, it immediately started getting bigger, until it reached its actual size.

While I was on my way back to the campsite, I ordered the flight to recon the surroundings, and search for anything notable.

In the first minutes of their flight, the aircraft found me a way back to the campsite, and confirmed that the road indeed leads out of the forest. Would I wish to spend an hour walking, I would leave the forest.

On my way back I almost walked into a large group of goblins, who may've followed the ones I killed. Lucky me, they were distracted by the aircraft, and I sneaked by unnoticed.

After I successfully returned to the campsite, I ordered the aircraft to return.

Another lucky event was when the landing aircraft almost collided above the deck, and missed each other by few centimeters...

[I better pray for my luck to be this high all the time...!]

The rest of the night passed without accidents.

With the first rays of sunlight, I launched a fighter for recon, and headed out, out of the forest.