Saki

  Tama tilted her head at me and her ears perked up as her tail wagged. "Tama is friends with this goblin tribe. They are from the Trelloark Forest, known as the Grub'tera Tribe. Their chief is a big softie. He talks all big, but Tama knows him well!"

  "Knows... him... well..." I was struggling to get the words out. Of course Tama knew a tribe of goblins and was friends with them! Why not! Hopefully her pet dragon can come save us next! And we can all fly to the Lich and have an epic battle where friendship wins!

  The thought actually caused Saki to pause. Did Tama know a dragon? "Tama, do you know any dragons?" The question felt stupid as soon as it left my lips and my cheeks flushed. But Tama's response floored me.

  "Only the ones to the north of Trelloark. They sometimes visited. Mantheria is very friendly. She doesn't like the goblins though!"

  I had no words. I just stared open-mouthed at Tama as she continued on about the Lich and the goblins. As she spoke, I slowly gathered my wits. This was Tama, I had to remember she was far from normal. Though to be fair, that was coming from me, whose true form was a nine-feet-tall white-haired kitsune fox with nine massive tails.

  Then it hit me and I almost frowned. Was I part of Tama's menagerie of mythical creatures?! Was all of this just her claiming me as part of her esoteric "mythical beast friendship" collection? The thought actually caused me to chuckle.

  "Saki! It's not funny! You have to help Tama convince Grok that fighting the Lich is suicide for him and his entire tribe!" Tama seemed urgent as she spoke, rolling on the balls of her feet, her ears perked up. She held her tail in her hands and was slowly rubbing it.

  I considered her words for a moment before asking, "I mean, the goblin army is massive, Tama. They might be able to overwhelm the Lich with just pure numbers."

  It was a falsehood. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt the amount of goblins was irrelevant. They would just add to that thing's armies. It seemed Tama understood that as well as she gave me a pleading look before saying, "The undead already killed Tama's sensei. Tama doesn't want them to kill Grok too!"

  I froze. Tama had given many revelations in the last two weeks since I met her. Many of them were insane and fantastical. But what she had just said made my veins run cold and a shiver run down my spine. "What..." was all I managed to get out before I felt my body going numb. I stumbled back, my breathing sped up as I began hyperventilating. Dead. He was dead. There had to be some error, some mistake. Perhaps Tama was mistaken, maybe she had heard someone say it and believed it.

  Even as I thought these things, I knew they weren't true. Tama would never make something up or just outright believe someone if they told her something like that. Still, I had to know. "Tama," I croaked out, my voice sounding distant. "What do you mean, your sensei is dead?" My voice sounded foreign to my own ears, like what I heard wasn't reality. There was no answer. Tama just stood there, tears in her eyes as she looked at me with sincerity.

  After a moment she spoke. "Please, Saki, Tama doesn't want Grok to die too. Tama is tired of her friends being hurt." Friends being hurt. A memory flooded me, My siblings died in front of me. I swallowed and forced myself to calm down. I wouldn't let them win. I would never let them win.

  "Of course, Tama. Let's go find Grok and talk to him. We can come up with a plan," I said, my voice neutral and distant. I didn't feel like making a plan. I didn't even feel like breathing. But I would sooner let the void consume me than let everything I have worked for go to waste.

  Grok would not suddenly change his mind, but he might allow a tactician to help lead their army in battle. Tama, forgive me, I would get my revenge for what that monster did to my family.

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  "We can't stop the goblin army, Tama," I said quietly. Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth to speak, but I held up a hand. "But we can stay and help them with everything we have."

  Tama looked into my eyes for a long moment before a look of determination crossed her face. "Nya! We will kill the Lich, Saki!" she said in a tone full of confidence I did not feel.

  "Indeed, Tama. Indeed," I said weakly. My head throbbed weakly as my headache came back to me. I sighed as I looked back at Tera. She was still passed out on the ground.

  Turning back to Tama, I asked, "By the way, where is David?" I tilted my head slightly in curiosity.

  Tama paused for a moment before looking sheepish. "Well, David said he wanted to see the arena." She put her hands behind her back as her cheeks flushed red. "Tama was watching him fight earlier." Her tail swished back and forth as her eyes grew distant, clearly recalling a memory. "The way his belly bounces when he swings." She giggled and began rubbing her legs together.

  The thought of a shirtless David fighting a bunch of goblins came to my mind and I instantly felt sick. Seriously, what was with Tama and her choice of men? Maybe Talia was right, she truly took after her sensei, that was for sure!

  I looked over right as a few goblins came up carrying bandages and wrapping along with healing salves. I stared, impressed at the goblins' ability to actually have healing items. Sure, they didn't have potions, but the mere fact they even had bandages amazed me.

  They were very skilled with them too. Then again, they probably had a lot of practice. So it didn't seem insane with all the fighting they did. Just to be snarky, I told them Tera needed to be naked to heal.

  The goblins didn't care either way and just undressed Tera. I was actually impressed she stayed asleep the whole time. I turned to Tama, only to see she was gone.

  I wondered where she went for a moment. Then the memory of David shirtless returned and I had a feeling I knew exactly where she went, as well as the sudden desire to empty my stomach.

  Once Tera was naked and bandaged, I told the goblins it was very important that when she woke up, no matter what she said, to NOT give her her clothes back and tell her I had them.

  With a mischievous grin, I asked the nearest goblin where the chieftain was and headed off in that direction. I found the large tent quickly and, to my surprise, the guard just let me in.

  Grok was a large goblin. He looked more like a green muscular midget than a goblin. He stood in the tent next to a poorly made table, a piece of paper on the table looked like a map drawn with crayons.

  I idly remembered the one traveler that brought crayons to the world. She was apparently so upset that we all used quills to write and invented pens, pencils, and crayons. I never understood why.

  But I had learned early on it was best not to question travelers. Especially the ones who said things like "Isekai" and "Yes, I can live my fantasy life now."

  The latter usually died early on as an adventurer repeatedly before giving up and becoming a farmer or something.

  The former usually wanted to do anything but adventuring, claiming they weren't that stupid. Only to end up stuck in a party of attractive men and women, many of whom they slept with!

  "Immortality truly is lost on the ignorant and stupid. Still, I'd rather be ignorant and immortal than smart and dead," I said under my breath before considering my words. "Actually, no. Dying more than once sounds like something I would never want."

  Grok looked up at me and called out, "Who is you!" He pointed a half-used crayon at my face.

  Great... I thought, another dumb goblin. I considered my words before responding. "I am Tama's friend, Saki. I believe she might have mentioned me?"

  Knowing Tama, she definitely would have mentioned me. So I went the obvious route.

  "Oiy! Yer the smartest person she knows! I remember ya. She said you the bestest smart lady who can do smart things with your mind." Grok smiled, showing multiple missing teeth, and waved for me to come closer.

  I really didn't want to, but it was better to play nice with this thing. I walked over and he wrapped me in a hug before pointing at the map. "Dis here our battle map! It tell us where enemies is so we can kills them!"

  I was still recovering from the smell coming off the goblin. He smelled like old sweat socks (another lovely Isekai invention).

  I made a point to smile at Grok before looking more closely at the map. Despite it being in crayon, it was actually quite impressive. They seemed to have the entire surrounding region mapped out. Though most of the areas were misspelled, such as "The Kingdom of Trissle." I inwardly rolled my eyes.