3rd POV:
With a gentle breeze pushing through the forest, the brush around the ground swayed back and forth as small animals maneuvered around the forest as everything seemed untouched by human hands but unknown to these creatures was the fact that Izuku was in the tree above them. Looking up to around the middle of one of the trees, we could find Izuku Midoriya sleeping on a tarp looking material that was attached to two different branches which created a hammock of sorts for him to sleep in. The hammock was a soft brown and green colored piece of fur material that was made from the hides of a Grade 1 Three-Eyed Goat. These creatures were actual monsters that had been more or less domesticated over time as they had no real ability to threaten humans outside of their size. A fully grown Three-eyed Goat would stand about shoulder length to a normal sized adult so they weren't really dangerous unless one was able to sit on you.
Anyway, the creatures hide was perfect for weather resistance clothing and goods so it was one of the most used farm animals in world. Izuku was able to get some of the hide turned into a hammock and used some other materials he bought from a tailor to dye the hide into brown and light green color spots to help it blend in with a forest. As such, Izuku would be hidden away in the forest and allowed to sleep far easier than risking being out in the open on long trips or tasks. It was also good for a quick way of hiding from dumber creatures as well if the need ever arose. Now back to Izuku himself as we can see that he was now waking up since the sun was now shining more into his eyes as it has risen enough from the horizon to peak through the forest. Rubbing his eyes, Izuku maneuvered himself into a seating position and peaked over the edge of the branch to see if there was any monster below him that would cause an issue but he saw none so he started to move himself out of the hammock as he kept an eye out in all directions.
Packing the hammock up in his travel bag, Izuku grabbed his sword and tied it back to his waist as he started to jump between the branches as he headed down to the forest floor as it was now day two of his trip. 'Hopefully I can find some better tracks of the goblins...' Izuku thought as he finally landed on the ground and started to move forward with a piece of beef jerky in his mouth. During the entire first day of his trip, Izuku was unable to locate any fresh tracks that would have indicated of recent activity of goblins in the area. Instead, he found old tracks that were about a month or so old which looked as if there had been a fight between two opposing groups due to how erratic the footprints were. Izuku wondered if the recent sightings closer to the road and town were due to another creature pushing random goblins out of its territory since fights between creatures wasn't uncommon in this world. However, that was a thought he pushed to the side for now as Izuku made his way through the forest and kept a track of where he was going the best he could with the low level detailed map and compass he had. Izuku wasn't even surprised that this world had such a thing like a compass since even in his world they were made far back in the 12th century. Even a temporary one could be made with a piece of metal like a nail, fur, and some sitting water if you were good enough at it.
Moving forward, Izuku spent the next few hours going deeper into the forest as he kept searching for any signs of the goblin's lair that should be around the areas he was in but so far nothing was turning up. However, that was until he heard a wailing screech from what Izuku believed to be some wild deer that normally moved through these parts based on the tracks he has seen and studied in the library. Moving towards the sound, Izuku was hoping it was some goblins that attacked the animal which would allow him to just follow them back to their lair or a general area of where the monsters were lingering at but he was quite shocked when he came over a small hill in the forest. About 100 yards away from him was not only a goblin but a hobgoblin as well which was ordering the normal goblins around. Izuku knew that if there was a hobgoblin around than the goblin's lair was no longer just a normal threat but a much larger one due to the fact that hobgoblins didn't typically get birthed unless there was a need for it in the goblins community.
From what Izuku remembered in his research of monsters of the world, a Hobgoblin was born for several different reasons but the main was one due to a lack of organization in a large goblin's lair. Another reason was due to shrinking food supplies in their territory so a hobgoblin would be born to help lead them in taking other territory over. Lastly and the worst possibility even though it was the lowest one was that a Goblin King was alive so all of the goblins lairs around would start joining together which resulted in higher evolved goblins being born. The complete understanding of why more hobgoblins are born is still debated but many people believe that it's due to the magical energy that everyone possess from birth that even creatures or monsters have. As such, it's believed that due to such high concentration of magic in the monsters gathering, their species adapts to produce higher level monsters as a result.
Though one thing that Izuku did learn from his research that would be helpful right now was the fact that he learned that Hobgoblins are far superior in strength when compared to their lower grade relatives the goblins. A hobgoblin by themselves is ranked at a grade of 4 while a group of 10 or more hobgoblins are ranked at a grade of 7 due to the difficulty of killing them. Hobgoblins are more advanced in fighting styles and are better in the strength department so they pose a far bigger threat than the goblin which is just ranked at grade 2 even if there are more than just a few goblins. It takes 30 goblins for them to be ranked up one grade to grade 3 so there is a clear difference in power and threat. Another thing about the hobgoblins is their equipment as they tended to wear better weapons and even armor which they got off dead bodies of adventures that they have killed.
As such, Izuku was being very careful as he watched the monsters in the distance as he pulled his map out and marked his located to the best of his ability of where he was at so others would be able to make their way back here when a suppression team was sent out. After a tense few minutes, the goblins started to drag the body of the deer away which the Hobgoblin followed along as well before breaking off into another direction. Izuku came up to where the two creatures separated and debated on who to follow as either could lead him to the lair or might not lead him to the lair if he choose wrong. After a few more seconds of debate, Izuku decided to follow after the hobgoblin since it would be better to see if there was any more hobgoblins in the event he got lucky and it led him to more so that he would have a better number to give the suppression team since the more hobgoblins there are means the more adventures they would need or better skilled ones. After closing the distance between him and the hobgoblin, Izuku was careful of where he stepped on the ground so to avoid stepping on a branch or something else that would create a noise that would attract attention.
Following the creature for roughly 10 minutes, Izuku was sure he was just being led around on a patrol route or something since no other goblins or Hobgoblins had shown up but then it all changed. In front of him was a clearing with the ground torn up next to the hill but the thing that caught Izuku eyes the most was the fact that there was a handful of normal goblins standing around the hole with large tree trunks pushed up next to the hole. It looked as if they were building fortifications around the hole as there was even trees in the distance that looked as if they were torn down. 'A new lair it seems or the hobgoblin is only a recent addition so they are just now making the lair more defendable. The question is if there is a king or not.' Izuku thought to himself as he debated with himself on what to do now. Dose he return to the town and report the location of the suspected lair and that there is a hobgoblin or does he attempt to enter the lair by himself to see if there is a goblin king which is risky. Izuku was confident he could win in a fight against one hobgoblin but add a lot of goblins or other hobgoblins than he was screwed.
After debating with himself for a bit longer, Izuku made the decision. Standing up from his kneeling positing on the ground, Izuku turned around as he started to head away from the Goblin's lair as he would report what he has found so far to the towns adventure guild instead of risking it. There was many reasons for this and nearly every single one of them was selfish reasons which he didn't blame himself or even feel guilty about them. His end goal was to go home one day even if he didn't know how he was going to do that yet. As such, he wasn't going to take risker actions than needed like exploring that lair which would have likely been the death of him. Also, he was acting in line with the task guidelines itself which was to track and locate the goblin's lair which didn't include fighting at all. As such, he had no real need to get into a deadly fight even though he knew he could likely win against the hobgoblin but the unknown factors were far to great for him to risk it.
Pulling out his map, he doubled checked that the area was roughly marked on where he suspected he was at. Instead of taking the path he had used to arrive at the location, Izuku headed straight from the lair's location towards the road which was almost west of his current location. 'The lair is far more west than they originally thought it would be instead of north-west since the goblins were likely finding more sources of food for the hobgoblin or worse.... The goblin king.' Izuku thought. However, fate was not fully with Izuku on this mission as about a forty minutes away from the lair he ran into another hobgoblin! 'THIS CONFIRMS THAT THERE IS MORE THAN ONE!' Izuku thought as he pulled his weapon out since the hobgoblin had spotted him right away as it had come out of some bushes to close to where Izuku was for him to hide in time. "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" Screamed out the hobgoblin with its roar as it attacked with the club in its hand. 'Not an actual weapon but just as deadly even though it's part of a tree rounded off due to usage.' Izuku thought as he jumped out of the way of the attack.
Sadly that screaming that the monster had done made the small goblins in the area come to it due to being alerted of potential pray to kill. So while dodging the club of the hobgoblin, Izuku was also blocking the attacks of the goblins who just ran straight at him in a charge. 'Annoying little shits.' Izuku thought as he kicked one goblin in the stomach which sent it backwards into the Hobgoblin which it caught in its hand but what was shocking and disturbing to Izuku was the fact that the creature just used its powerful hands as it crushed the skull of the goblin that Izuku had launched towards it. 'Killing its own men...' Izuku thought as he sliced off the head of another goblin. As the fight continued there was only a few goblins left and then the main problem of his current situation which was the hobgoblin. The said Hobgoblin had also resorted to throwing boulders at Izuku instead of swinging its club since Izuku just kept dodging all of its melee attacks. As such, it was hoping to nail Izuku with flying rocks instead of getting him with the large club but Izuku still wasn't easily taken out since apart of his training he had done for the months before was agility training as well as stamina so he could keep the dodging and fighting up for a good bit of time.
As the battle continued onwards, Izuku finally finished off the remaining goblins before shifting his entire focus upon the sole remaining enemy which was the Hobgoblin. Raising his sword into positon on his right side, Izuku waited for the Hobgoblin to make the first move since he no longer had to worry about other enemies currently attacking him so he wanted to analyze the monsters movements for a bit and gain experience in taking out such a creature since he hardly dealt with monsters that were this size since a hobgoblin was about double the height of a normal goblin.
(Imagine a club and no shield)
Without having to wait much longer, the hobgoblin rushed towards Izuku as it threw some gravel/rocks out of one of its hands and then swung with its club in the other. "Pretty good at fighting dirty but then again you are a monster after all." Izuku said as he jumped backwards out of the path of the gravel. Once the Hobgoblin was much closer, Izuku went under the swing to his left and ran his blade through the side of the monster as the club came down behind him. Roaring in pain, the monster swung recklessly which forced Izuku to back away a bit. 'It will be foolish to try and get close currently.' Izuku thought as he pulled out a few throwing knifes out of his weapon satchel. Izuku knew that he would likely need some of these one day and it seems it would come into play right now as he sheathed his sword and held a throwing knife in his dominate hand. Dodging he random swings, Izuku calmed his breathing down for a few seconds as he threw the blades out with one landing in the monsters neck and the other in the shoulder that held the club. The monster ended up letting go of the club due to the knife in its shoulder cutting into the muscles that helped it raise its arm but also due to the pain it was inform the neck wound as blood was pouring down its neck. 'Seems like I hit an artery in its neck.' Izuku thought as some of the blood sprayed out between the fingers.
Unsheathing his sword, Izuku took the chance while the monster was distracted and disarmed and went for the killing blow. As he came close to the Hobgoblin, Izuku twisted his body and did a swing upwards from below his waist and upwards to the left side of his body as he stepped behind the hobgoblin. A few seconds later blood sprayed out as the monster arm and neck were separated from its body. Izuku was silent for a few seconds before he turned around and looked at the dead bodies across the forest floor. 'I've become numb to killing in this world... luckily I haven't had to kill another human yet outside of All For One.' Izuku thought as he would rather not become numb to the death of other humans if he could help it but knew he could not regret anything when killing monsters in this world since they would have no issues with killing him. Izuku moved over to the bodies and made sure to collect the ear of each goblin and then the ear of the hobgoblin as well which was much larger than a goblin ear which would prove he had killed it. "Thanks for the food money." Izuku said with a clap of his hands as he said it as his parting words for the dead creatures before regaining his bearings as he headed off back towards the town once again.
Sadly for Izuku he didn't make it all the way out of the forest before night started to settle in. Even though he was only an hour or so away from the town it would still be dangerous to travel in the forest at night and by himself as well. 'That fight with the monsters took too much time otherwise I could have made it to the edge of the forest before the sun started to set.' Izuku thought as he finished setting up the hammock for the night. 'At least this mission will be a good payday from the task itself and the dead creatures on top of it.' Izuku thought as he went to sleep and wished for the night to go quickly since it would be the third day now that he would be away from the town and didn't want the old man to be worried about him.