Thomas POV:
As my eyes adjusted to the intense light, I could feel a familiar crunch underfoot. I immediately wished I had a puffer jacket, but alas goblins weren’t very familiar with things like polyester, so that wish died immediately.
Turning I looked at the gaggle of goblins, realising I hadn’t spoken a word this entire time. Wait, can I even speak their language? Aren’t they babies, will they be able to speak? Throwing aside these thoughts, I cleared my throat.
“Uh, hi, do any of you know where to go from here?” I was astonished when out of my mouth came a language that was foreign to me, and the fearful goblins all vehemently shook their heads at me. It seems the system translated my thoughts into the goblin language. I wonder if it worked for other languages.
“Thomas, I think that goblin that Anthony just killed was the guide to the place where the goblins reside. You see, this is why violence isn’t always the answer, you brutish morons.”
“If you don’t like what we do so much, how about you find a way to the goblin camp yourself, huh?”
“Alright, I will.”
“Fine.”
“FINE!”
With that particularly childish self-talk, Thomas retreated back to the comfort of his mind and Veronica got to control the body for the first time since Earth.
Veronica POV:
Thomas really can be such an idiot sometimes, I just hope we don’t die from frostbite out here. I don’t blame Anthony, he did what he did best and we survived. Thomas though gets on my nerves.
With a sigh, I turned to Chad, telling him to wait with the others inside while I looked for any clues to get to the settlement. First thing to look at is the dead goblin's body, looking for anything on him.
Still getting acclimated to this new body, I made my way back to the corpse, the blue blood making me gag as it squelched underfoot. Searching the corpse, I found very little of interest. A few bronze coins, a name tag hung around his neck and bones all stored in a pouch hung around his waist.
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Wrapping the pouch around my own waist, I was very aware of my own nakedness, so I wore what this dead goblin wore, which was only leather shorts. They were a few sizes too large.
I then went outside, my thought process being if goblins are so stupid, surely they would have clear landmarks to use to follow a path. Looking around outside in the snow covered mountainous terrain, I found what I was looking for.
There it was, a huge red arrow pointing towards the higher peaks of the mountains, and faintly in the distance I could see another red arrow. What is this, looney tunes? I tried my best not to laugh, but a snort escaped my nose. Faintly in the background of my mind I could hear an uncomfortable shifting, and I knew it was Thomas.
Now that the path was laid out in big red arrows, most likely made up of blood, I went back to the brood of newborn goblins that Thomas I guess had decided to adopt. Wondering if brainwashing more goblins would be advantageous, Chad, slowly raising his face to meet my eyes fearfully, spoke.
“ER, M-M-MASTER, ME ARE YOURS NOW, FOR-EVER. ME SPEAK FOR ALL GOBLINS.” Spittle flew as Chad practically roared this, his fierce loyalty overriding the fear. Surprised, I turned to the group of goblins and, even more surprised, saw all of them kneeling in front of me.
“Omg Veronica, you just witnessed a pledge! Quick, look at your status. This is like really common in video games and stuff, I bet you there will be a title or something.”
As Felix said this nonsense about the stupid games he used to waste away playing, sure enough, a familiar sound popped into my head.
Ding!
[A title has been earned:
(Legion Commander: Gaining the respect, fear and undying loyalty of ten or more beings of lower level than your own.
Gives a 50% boost in stamina, mana and health recovery to your subordinates while carrying out orders. Gives an extra 5 charisma points per evolution. Affects evolution choices.)
You may only have 10 titles in use at any one time.]
The advantages of this title were immense, not only did it give a boost to my new subordinates' strength while doing what I ordered, it gave free charisma points. Nice work Anthony, maybe brute force does work out sometimes.
My loyal subordinates were still kneeling, so I guess it was my time to speak?
“My loyal subordinates, I shall be a great and mighty leader for you all! I promise glory in battle, as we will take over the world!” They all cheered, or at least I thought they did, their guttural growls I guessed meant a cheer. I could faintly decipher two goblins talking about how “leader’s” voice changed. God, I hate having to pretend sometimes.
With that, we started our ascent up the mountain, unknowing of the potential dangers we may face in this new world- wait why am I narrating like I’m about to be in another life threatening situation?
shuddering, I trudged upwards.