Chapter 90
Borderton was still on lockdown, so we couldn't just waltz out the eastern gate and go greeting goblins as we desired, so instead Lily took Soot and hid within my shadow while Tiara and I fused to scale the wall.
Lily’s voice whispered out from below as I carefully crept through the foliage, cautious of any elves lurking nearby.
“Seriously, let's just go back. We absolutely need a goblin in our group!”
“Goblins make every group better.”
I responded with a smirk on my feline face.
“Who are you even looking for? Gotrut? Clink?”
“Gotrut needs to stay in charge here, and Clink has his own enterprise within the tribe. Neither would join on willingly. In fact, I imagine none of the goblins will. They'll all be too excited to kill elves once I catch them up on recent events.”
“Great! Let's go then!”
“Hold your horses. The Blood Thunderer tribe is huge now, and they have all kinds of fun creatures we could enlist. Kobolds, hobgoblins, ogres, trolls… the list goes on.”
“Please stop, I'm feeling nauseous.”
Lily popped out of my shadow as we reached a reasonable distance from town. She was riding atop a bewildered Soot who was sniffing my shadow cautiously.
“Cheer up, this will be fun!”
I stopped as my ears picked up the sound of many legs skittering in the distance.
“Follow me, we're near a hunting group.”
I grabbed Lily by the shoulders as she tried to turn and walk away while I wasn't looking, and dragged her forward. I reverted to my usual human form to prevent any potential misunderstandings before breaching the clearing. I didn't need the goblins trying to wear my fur after all.
“Who dat?”
A high-pitched, growling voice called out seconds after a shoddily made handaxe collided with the tree next to me.
“Oi!”
I shouted and threw the axe back at the diminutive green figure that sat atop a large spider.
“Gah! Attack! Humie invader!”
He screeched as he ducked under my attack.
“Idiot! This is great warrior, fire pig! And his pet.”
A second goblin pointed at Soot and me.
“Dunno who that is on fire pig… we kill?”
They looked to me for permission, and I shook my head. They sadly put their knives away. Lily lived to see another day.
“Where's your boss? I'm here to speak to him.”
“Which boss? Big boss? Goblin boss? Kobold boss? Me boss of these two.”
The central goblin proudly puffed out his chest.
“Big boss. Chieftain Gotrut, where is he?”
“Bah!”
He sank down, disappointed that he wasn't the one I was looking for.
“Big boss doing shiny sky boom tonight. That way.”
He pointed south-east. I would have questioned the accuracy, but the other two had pointed in the same direction simultaneously.
“Okay.”
Pleasantries were pointless among goblins, so I merely acknowledged them and began heading in the indicated direction.
“Why do you even know their language anyway?”
Lily stuck closely to my side, eager not to be left alone with the creatures she once fought against.
“Master prefers their language over others. Goblin tends to be very direct, just how he likes it. He made me learn early on.”
“I see. So, how far away are we?”
“No idea. Goblins don’t tend to measure distance, and if they did, you could never trust them to give you the right measurement.”
“What? That’s insane! How long will we be wandering?”
“No need to be worried. The fact that they remember the direction means it has to be nearby. Goblins get bored and wander off if they travel too far without someone cracking the whip on them. Gotrut can’t be any more than an hour away.”
“I guess we just walk then?”
“Yep, we just walk.”
It would be a lie to say our travel was silent. Lily seemed to have issues keeping her mouth shut for longer than a minute.
“If we’re going to recruit a savage, can it at least be something that practices hygiene? Kobolds don’t sweat, right? They wouldn’t stink the dorm out at least.”
“I’m not against hiring a kobold, but I was thinking something bigger.”
“Like an orc?”
“They wouldn’t obey me unless I beat them in unarmed combat, plus they live in the wastes, not in the forest. I’m hoping for a lycan or a minotaur.”
“...Well, if you really could control one of them, either would be a good choice.”
“You sound unconvinced. Is it because you doubt me, or you doubt such creatures would join a gaggle of goblins?”
“Both.”
“Hahaha! Fair enough. I have been keeping up with the activities within the Blood Thunderer tribe, though. I already confirmed they have a small pack of lycans. The minotaur, on the other hand, came up from an old dungeon last month, but I never found out whether Gotrut was successful in recruiting it.”
“And when exactly did you come across this information? I've never seen you making contact with anyone out here.”
“Do you think I just stop doing things when you're not looking? It takes all of five minutes to read over a goblin report, you really think I can't dip out, get an update, then be back before missing anything?”
That was a lie. In reality, it was Arach who kept me updated on the events within the Verdant Divide.
“Fine, whatever…”
Again, Lily only kept quiet for a few seconds before asking about something else.
“You and Rose seem to be doing well. It's almost like you never needed to lie to her in the first place, right?”
“Do all subordinates like to poke at their boss’s sore spots?”
After reflecting on myself, I began to understand my motivations for past actions better. This topic in particular had been nagging at me all morning, perhaps because Rose had been right by my side.
“...I think you have it backwards.”
I stopped to face Lily. This presented a good opportunity to put my thoughts into words and use Lily as a sounding board.
“Hm? How do you mean?”
“It's not that I shouldn't have lied. I shouldn't have lying. I could have come up with a convincing story to earn her forgiveness without confessing anything, then I wouldn't have someone walking around who could leak everything about me. In fact, you and Merk wouldn't know either if I had just kept my mouth shut.”
Lily smirked and stepped closer, as if she could smell a vulnerability to exploit and wanted to drink it in.
“Are you saying you regret letting her in? That you would manipulate or ignore her entirely if you could go back and redo it all?”
She stood on the tips of her toes and gave me a toothy, unblinking grin.
But I just stared back.
“No. I'm saying that I can finally admit that I am not as logical as I previously liked to believe.”
She fell back on her heels with a pout, waiting for me to finish, but otherwise uninterested.
“I didn't tell her because I had to. It was entirely self-serving. It made me feel good, it made me feel less guilty, and most importantly, it was a choice that I made myself. I chose to keep my family in my life simply because I wanted to. There is no deeper justification for my actions.”
My self-satisfied smile must have been the final straw, as Lily turned from me with an audible “ew” and continued walking.
“Why'd you have to go and get all introspective on me? I don't want to hear this.”
She muttered.
“Hahaha, unfortunately for you, you're the only person I have easy access to that I can speak with freely.”
“What? I'll tell everybody about this the moment we—”
“
She looked at me with a deadpan expression as the seal took effect.
“Asshole.”
She said.
But she let me go way too easily, and I recalled how she had somehow relayed info to Merk despite my command in the past.
“
She froze, then looked back and chuckled.
“Damn, you're learning.”
I joined her side and matched my pace with hers.
“Wanna tell me how you planned to get around the command?”
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“If someone so happens to overhear me talking to about something, well, that's just beyond my control. Or maybe I feel like writing my thoughts down, and a sneaky pickpocket steals my journal one day, how can I control such a thing?”
She shrugged at me and feigned total innocence.
“Wow. Command seals aren't as good as you made them out to be if such weaselly methods can get around them.”
“Nyahaha! The same is true for spells that compel you to tell the truth. If you ever get hit by one of those, just imagine you're a childish lawyer, and you can avoid answering anything while still technically telling the truth.”
“Oh? Should we roleplay that? I'll be the interrogator…”
We continued to kill time until we reached our destination.
***
[Guy’s POV]
Thanks to Laura and Lynette, we were able to slip out unnoticed and cover a lot of ground by following the main road. I had to trust that Imperial patrols wouldn't be travelling far from Borderton for the time being, which meant we were practically home free.
The only hangup was that our travel time was being extended thanks to the fourth person we had with us.
“Ugh, why did we bring this along with us?”
Lynette made no attempt to hide her disdain for the last-minute tag-along.
“Hey! Both Lloyd and I are a part of the common class, too, you know?”
Laura yelled back.
I didn't spend much time with these two, but I was already sick of the bickering. It also felt like they had some kind of compulsion to bring Lloyd of Redwater up at every opportunity, which grew old fast.
“Lloyd is the exception of all exceptions. He is a diamond in the rough simply in need of some tender polishing.”
The obnoxious noble lady threw her blonde curls over her shoulder. I'll give this to her: she was moving faster than any of us despite the impractical dress and delicate appearance.
“Ha! You still think you can make a Windsor out of him? He's a warrior for life! You’ll never get him in a powdered wig, wasting away in a gilded cage.”
Laura retorted. Unlike Lynette, I found this girl a lot more likable. She was beautiful, with long, dark brown hair tied into a ponytail and a pair of bountiful
Not that that mattered… I admired her noble spirit and talent with the sword, I swear.
It was a shame we didn't face each other in the tournament. I felt I could learn a lot from her particular style of swordsmanship.
“What do you think, Vespertille?”
Lynette suddenly called my name while I was spaced out of the conversation.
“Huh? What?”
“Is it not the duty of us noble folk to ensure our glorious bloodline not only persists, but also to welcome new talent where appropriate?”
“Oh, uh, yeah. That makes sense to me.”
“Hmph. You see, sword-oaf?”
Lynette smugly smirked at Laura, who threw me an unpleasant look.
“Whatever. At the end of the day, Lloyd still won’t join your family willingly.”
“Whoever said I needed him to join willingly?”
“Wha—”
Laura began to yell, but a steady, yet subdued voice from behind cut them both off.
“We should move down to the shoreline from here. Goblins camp along the edge of the forest near this point.”
The two girls glared at one another, then both turned away with a “hmph” and moved down to the beach as suggested.
After they left, I addressed the fourth member of the party.
“Are you really sure about this? You would be safer back in Borderton…”
“I don’t want to stay there. That place is a den of monsters.”
He muttered.
The boy gingerly began climbing down after the girls. His movements were clumsy and slow, as he had to measure each step and foothold on his way down.
I stood above as I awkwardly watched him go.
“...It’s unfair, isn’t it, Olly?”
I spoke softly, but my hooded classmate did not respond, likely unable to hear me over the crashing waves. It really was unfair that all of this conflict had been thrust on us without any warning. And for us Soleans, there was no authority figure to look to for guidance, so we had to flee to join our peers in Farrowgate.
Oliver certainly had reason to flee, just as we did, but I never would have expected to stumble across him already outside of the town walls. He hadn’t explained his escape to us, but with his enchantments, it wasn’t hard to picture him using a combination of spells to slip past the guard, especially while manpower was low.
Still, was this really the best for him? I shouldn’t be doubting my own people, but as it stood, things really didn’t look good for us. From the myriad of scents clinging to the soldier in Borderton, I could tell that the only blood spilt by Imperial hands was that of the attacking Soleans and elves. They also did not cause us any harm after the fighting ended, suggesting nothing would happen to Oliver if he remained.
Unless, of course, he had committed some kind of crime during the chaos, but this was Oliver we were talking about. I couldn’t see him doing anything crazy enough to warrant punishment.
On the flip side, by running to Farrowgate with us, he was practically placing himself in the Imperial warpath.
Lynette and I both had family roots deeply ingrained in Soleo, and we both intended to hear from our patriarchs and follow whatever they decided was for the best. Laura had seen Lloyd and Zachariah fleeing, and wanted to hear their story herself before picking a side.
But what about Oliver? What drove him to join with us?
“Ah… everything’s all messed up.”
I muttered, giving up on the heavy contemplation. I just had to follow my gut and trust in my nation and my friends.
“Wait up, guys, the crabs around here are huge.”
I called out as I nimbly slid down to join the group.
***
[Rex’s POV]
Finding Gotrut was extraordinarily easy. After all, the loud cheering and explosions could be tracked by anyone with a functioning set of ears.
The forest canopy lit up with a deep red light, and several small green figures came hurtling through the air, followed by a trail of smoke and crackling magical energy. Soon after, all three figures made landfall.
One flying goblin tumbled across the ground and knocked himself out as he collided with a tree. One was clotheslined by a branch and died instantly. The last did a triple front flip and landed before me in a triumphant pose.
“Gahaha! I am shiny sky boom master! Gotrut is da best!”
Gotrut still wore his same spiky armor, but he seemed a little different than I remembered. The main things were the glowing marks on his body and the shining red eyes that indicated a body flooded with mana.
“Gotrut.”
I nodded to him, and he stared back, breathing heavily behind his visor.
“Tribesman. Whatchu want?”
He didn’t wait for a response. Instead, running back in the direction he flew out from with the expectation that I would follow.
And we did. I had to explain my purpose while we jogged behind the hyperactive goblin. Seeing as I knew he would lose interest if I went over everything, I just kept it as simple as possible.
“We’re fighting the elves and the guys in blue. I want to take one of your men back to fight with me.”
“Eh? We can kill elves now?”
His pace doubled, and he slashed through a wall of vines to reveal hundred upon hundred of creatures, all cheering and shouting in the ruins of a long forgotten town. I knew of these ruins, naturally, but even after checking the library, I could find no record about the civilisation it belonged to.
“Blood Thunderers! Elf meat not forbidden anymore!”
Goblins, kobolds, and a sprinkling of other, more intimidating creatures all roared out in feral delight.
“What the hell…”
Lily stepped closer to my side as she took in the sight before her.
“You didn’t believe me when I told you how much they multiplied, did you?”
I chuckled.
“With numbers like these… couldn’t we take Farrowgate right now?”
“Not a chance. They still have a long way to go when it comes to proper organisation. Think of them as a barely cooperative horde.”
Besides, I intentionally lied in all my reports regarding their numbers and strength. These guys were more of a secret army for personal emergencies, for example, to act as a meat shield in case I had to flee the empire for some reason.
“Fire pig!”
“Imp slayer!”
Disregarding their chieftain, a small flock of goblins and kobolds ran over to greet Soot and me. Lily was quickly elbowed and shoved away, and the sea of green rapidly swallowed her up.
I spotted some of them holding small sharpened sticks behind their backs and quickly began kicking at them to prevent a traditional “goblin greeting.”
“Kehehehe! He smelly humie, but he just like gobbo!”
One of the goblins who had just had their nose broken cackled and slid his shiv into his boot.
“Rex see boss fly? He win?”
A goblin with a broken pair of spectacles spoke above the rest. I addressed him first.
“The others are either unconscious or dead, so yeah, he won.”
“Heh? Who cares if dead? Who go furthest?”
“Cut-Stick! Me win! Why you ask humie!?”
“Boss Gotrut always lie! Me judge, no trust you!”
Gotrut and Cut-Stick both began shoving each other and pulling on my arms.
“Tell him me win, and me get you best fighter!”
Gotrut eloquently pleaded his case.
“Tell truth, I give you gold piece.”
Cut-Stick held out a silver piece painted brown.
They both made very good arguments, but only one was likely to sic an endless tide of goblins on me if I rubbed him the wrong way.
“Gotrut went the furthest.”
I responded, still unaware of what this game of theirs was or how they had flown to begin with.
Cut-Stick grumbled and wrote something in an obviously stolen ledger, then placed two fingers to his throat and called out with a voice so loud I had to shield my ears.
“Chief Gotrut wins!”
The crowd went wild, some goblins grew so excited they started violently attacking each other, and a heavily armoured wolf charged in to separate them.
I recognised it as a worg. An intelligent, malicious beast capable of speech and prone to scheming. Apparently, a pack of them had been outfitted as peacekeepers to prevent too much infighting.
The worg tore out one of the goblin's throats and flung its limp corpse into the crowd, cackling as the blood dripped from its jaws.
In their defence, the scene did stop the other fights in their tracks, so in a way, the brutality prevented further bloodshed.
“Kehehe! Good work, tribesman!”
Gotrut jumped up and pulled me down to his level.
“Follow, follow! Me show you my best fighters.”
With my collar being tugged by my diminutive friend, I was forced to walk with an awkward bend to my back.
The crowd parted for us, but it took a while for me to notice that it wasn’t because of Gotrut, but rather Soot. Some goblins with dark red skin and white warpaint were even dropping to their knees and screeching some kind of war cry in honour of my porcine pal.
“Guldyr, Skrake, Bubblin, Flick-Flame, Pearl, line up!”
Gotrut bellowed. Unlike Cut-Stick’s magical voice amplification, this was raw lung power and authority that drove his followers into place.
Five distinct-looking people lined up with varying degrees of enthusiasm.
“This Guldyr. Bull-man. Big axe.”
Gotrut pointed at a minotaur that stood at least nine feet tall and exuded such primal aggression that I felt an instinctual sense of kinship with the creature. It had pitch-black fur, crimson eyes, and an axe that looked impossible for even ten men to lift, such was its size and thickness.
The minotaur and I stared each other down for a long while before it finally spoke.
“This one was designated Guldyr. This one greets you with interest.”
It nodded its head slowly, and Gotrut continued to the next candidate.
“This Skrake. She freak me out. Makes us kill real good though.”
If not for Father Bernhard’s gift, I would not have known what I was looking at, or perhaps I would have thought it was just an avian therian with more pronounced bestial features.
“Greetings. Master Gotrut has told me much of you, and I understand you are related to the Imperial woman who came to visit last month. Ada, was that her name?”
Skrake spoke with deceptive eloquence and moved like a noble. Again, I would have been fooled had I not had experience around the noble crowd already, but as it was, I could see through the mimicry. The being was merely copying what she had observed and interpreted to be polite behaviour. But the raspy voice, hooked talons, and the way she salivated as she looked upon me all told me this was a wild animal.
“You’re a strigae, aren’t you?”
I asked directly. The strigae were an offshoot of the harpy race, similar to vultures. The theory was that they were born when a harpy fed on vampiric flesh and produced a cursed child. This explained their bloodlust and violent methods.
Her feathers ruffled, and she revealed a wide grin of jagged teeth, her elongated tongue coiling over them and licking clean the remnants of last night’s victim.
“What an educated man we have in our midst. You are correct. So? I sense you are thinking of bringing some of us into the civilised world with you. Do I make the cut?”
The stench of blood drifted down as she spread her wings and loomed over me.
“I will decide after assessing each of you, but you certainly do interest me.”
She gave a bow in response to my praise, and Gotrut gave a derisive snort before moving on.
“Bubblin. Annoying. Preachy. But immortal.”
Gotrut introduced a goblin in shining silver armour. It was clearly not made to fit his frame and was haphazardly pieced together from various sets, but it was also well taken care of.
He saluted me and spoke confidently.
“I am Bubblin, knight aspir… aspire… I wish to be a knight! Please forgive me, but me—I am not immortal, merely very durable.”
The funny little goblin was no taller than three feet, but he was well-built for his race. He seemed to be making a conscious effort not to slip into the usual goblin speech patterns, and his common was clumsy, but he seemed genuine.
“Why would a goblin want to be a knight?”
I asked.
“Me had old friend. He saved Bubbl—he saved me. Great knight he was, I learnt much from him. Try to be like him, but is hard. Goblins think me too soft, humies think me too violent. Want chance to prove meself—Myself.”
His eyes kept drifting to Soot, but for the most part, he was focusing on maintaining eye contact with me. For a goblin, he showed remarkable focus.
“This one Flick-Flame.”
Gotrut moved on to the next candidate, clearly more bored with Bubblin compared to the rest.
“He number one gobbo fire shaman.”
“Burn!”
The red-skinned goblin pointed his finger in the air and shot a flurry of exploding fire missiles. He was like a living fireworks display, and all the surrounding goblins began cheering him on as he did his thing.
It didn’t stop there, though. He conjured a pair of flaming whips and began twirling around and showing off his incredible ability to handle them without harming himself.
But once done, he apparently forgot about us and ran off into the crowd, shooting flames up as he went.
“Last one. She join last week. Big shiny kobold!”
“I am not a kobold.”
The woman responded calmly. Before Gotrut could say any more, she approached to shake my hand.
“Pearl. Varanidae therian. Is Skrake right? Are you looking for people to join you? If so, I would be open to it in the future, but I am currently reconnecting with my roots. I hope you understand.”
I took her hand, noting the tough scales and strong muscles beneath.
“I understand how it is for your people. Good luck.”
Reptilian therians were always hard to read, but a slight twitch in her tail suggested she was surprised that I understood her reason for being there.
As Felicia once explained to me, therians need to allow themselves to revel in their animal instincts from time to time to avoid losing themselves. Likely, Pearl was an independent fighter who joined the tribe out of convenience. There's nothing more wild than a goblin army after all.
“Was this all of them?”
I looked to Gotrut for confirmation.
“There are others, but tribe is split. The rest are hunting and recruiting. These are still better though. But not as good as me.”
“Alright… I'll take one and go. Let me chat with them a little more first, though.”
“Kay.”
Gotrut immediately left to start another round of “shiny sky boom”, and I took my time understanding the capabilities of Guldyr, Bubblin, and Skrake.
After just ten minutes, I knew enough to make a decision.
I pointed to the newest squire of the Black Crown Empire.
“You. You'll be working under me from now on.”
