Three weeks later, Clara had prepared the requested limestone. The villagers were impoverished, so despite their initial fears of the goblins, they quickly jumped on the opportunity to make some money. They had found a local limestone deposit in a nearby cave, from which they sourced the stone. The villagers who had valuable knowledge relating to agriculture, carpentry and blacksmithing taught the goblins through live demonstrations. I stood alongside them, to translate any keywords that couldn’t be understood.

Earlier the goblins had managed to produce some results with blacksmithing, a few wonky arrowheads. But after this information exchange, I was cackling maniacally when the goblins produced a clean bar of iron. With this, my Amber Skin goblins would be entering the iron age!

Of course, I held my end of the bargain. Using the iron, we had constructed iron pickaxes and large saws to cut through stone. The large stone bricks were dragged by the goats through the snow, and with a mixture of magic, mortar and manpower, we constructed a 1.8 metre stone wall around the hamlet, alongside a simple wooden palisade. But naturally, I would not provide defences to a potential enemy so easily, so I added "structural imperfections" to the stone bricks using my magic. The stones appeared normal to the naked eye, but on the inside, they had cracks and holes.

Clara remained on guard against us, but the residents of Woodwick were really emotional about the sudden improvements. From hungry and exposed, they now had some protection and enough money to feed themselves with. The baron had done nothing for them, if not worsened their lives. And yet these goblins, creatures that are often referred to as vermin, offered them lucrative trades. It was truly confusing to the villagers, but one thing was clear, their loyalty to the baron was now practically gone.

It would have been foolish of us to pay them solely with money. More often than not, we paid them with raw materials, crafts and labour. Clara would then take these items to the city and exchange them for a sufficient price and food for her village. The change and the excess food would be given to us. This allowed both parties to not starve during the winter.

Thanks to the acquisition of the lime mortar recipe, we had started building proper defences. The dinky little stone wall we had was knocked down to make way for a soon to be 6-metre tall wall. With all the extra time spent around our base, more attention was given to our mushroom farms. Our harvest slowly increased, to a point where Supple Springers were a constant in our daily diets.

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One of the long time projects that was essential for completion was the construction of a bridge. The river was wide, deep and fast-flowing. It would prove dangerous for a normal human and lethal for us. But to walk around it took several days, the villagers had to walk around the river to trade with us and other cities. If we created a bridge, we would have direct control of local trading. It was another way of ensuring that the villagers were dependent on us.

At first, a crude wooden bridge was constructed out of unprocessed logs, this was so one could travel back and forth during the construction. Stone rubble was dumped into each side of the bank to create a solid foundation for the bridge.

To start creating the bridge, logs were placed vertically into the river, and then beams were connected to the wooden pillars, forming an arch frame upon which stone bricks could be placed upon. On the arch, a stone floor and walls were erected, and the interior was filled with a mixture of rubble and mortar. After weeks of continuous labour in cold weather, the final brick was placed. As the final support log was removed, everyone waited in bated breath, after a few minutes of waiting… The bridge stood!

Yet it was too early to celebrate, I stepped upon the bridge and slowly walked across it. Upon reaching the other side of the bank, I waved towards my tribe. The camp erupted in cheers. The goblins danced and sang upon our creation, and the bridge held strong. The bridge was not crude, not primitive, not savage. It was good and it would last for a long time. With something as complex as this completed, our prospects were limitless.

The smiths also produced some shears, meaning wool from the goats could be harvested. This caused Olma and the artisans to go into a frenzy of shearing the goats, spinning the wool into thread, and then making cloth.

"You messed up the fleece! Look at how poorly you cut it!" I heard a muffled scream come from outside. Usually, I let social disputes resolve themselves, but this had something to do with the goats, so I reluctantly rose from my throne and walked outside.

"If you hadn't broken my shears, I wouldn't have a problem!" Another voice cried out. As I walked outside, I saw Olma arguing with some other girl, and between them stood a goat whose fur was poorly cut.

"How dare you accuse me of doing that!" Olma raised her hand ready to strike.

"Hey!" I yelled. "What is going on?" I strode towards them. The other goblin girl quickly bowed, and Olma tried to arrange herself quickly before bowing.

"My Holy Chief, I was about to discipline this little brat for messing up the goat!" Olma's eyes shot daggers at the other goblin.

"That's not true!" She squealed. "Olma broke my shears on purpose!"

"Enough!" I growled. "I will not tolerate such savage behaviour!"

Olma's face relaxed, and she gave a cocky smirk to the other girl, who shut her eyes in fear. To me, it was clear who was in the wrong here, and I was not such a foolish man to show favouritism to a girl just because she accompanied me.

I stared at them with an intense gaze. "I do not care who was at fault for what. But you have no authority to punish others! That responsibility is solely mine! We are not savage animals who will snap at each other senselessly."

Olma's face paled at my words and the other girl looked like she was about to cry. "But-," Olma mumbled out.

"No buts!" I barked. "From now on, if anyone has a dispute, they will come to me to mediate it. I will not tolerate mindless violence among ourselves." I would bring civility to these goblins, even if it took one goblin at a time. I waved my cloak and returned around back to the mine.