Eight Goblin Yunwei sat around Reis’s table, loudly joking with and jostling one another as they waited for him to bring out their meal. It was a view that even a day ago he never would have imagined, but after he had been welcomed and shown such kindness and hospitality by their tribe, inviting them in for lunch had seemed like the right thing to do, especially when considering they had sacrificed their whole morning by taking the time to guide him back to his home.

Trekuta had seemed hesitant to accept the offer, but after much japing from his men he had decided they could eat before they left. Goblins, he had told Reis, were generally not ones to turn down food. When he’d told Trekuta that he and his men were always welcome to dine in his home, Trekuta had laughed and told him ‘Be careful what you promise, Grass Viper, you do not know how many men I command, and if they hear there is an offer of food without fight, you might find more Goblins than can fit at your table waiting at your ladle,”

Trekuta had taken to calling him Grass Viper after his fight, saying that the deadly snakes hide in grass, lying in wait for something not alert of the danger to wander near enough for them to make a meal out of. Trekuta had seemed so proud when talking to the other Goblins of Reis’s battle that you would have thought that Reis was his own son, and that he had fought an actual warrior rather than a formidable child with a stick.

They were all tearing happily into the meal, doing much of their speaking in broken common for his benefit, when they all heard a knock at the door. Reis frowned and all of the Goblins immediately fell silent. A couple of the Goblins shot him suspicious looks, and Trekuta spoke quietly,

“Expecting company?”

“No,”

He was unsure who could be at his door. He knew several people in the nearby settlement, but was not friendly enough with any of them for pop-ins. Most of his interactions with them to now had been transactional, trading parts of his harvest for necessities. He made his way out of the kitchen and to the door, and when he opened it his heart dropped.

The man standing at his door was doubtless one of the martials from the sect that moved to the settlement. The sword that hung at his side was of fine make, and he could see the suggestion of leather armor underneath the loose-fitting blue guild shirt that announced his affiliation.

“Excuse me sir, I was hoping that I could have a moment of your time,” Reis stared blankly at the man who stood at his door, mind racing. Had somebody seen the Goblins coming to his farm? He was two miles away from the nearest person as far as he knew, almost three to the settlement. Maybe the guilders had set-

“Sir?” Reis stammered a moment before getting his mind back on course

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“Of course, how can I help you?” He smoothly stepped outside, making sure to close the door behind him.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, mister?”

“I’m Reis, and you?”

“Mathias, at your service,” Mathias reached out and shook Reis’s hand before continuing. “I was out to scout out the forest, and I saw that you’d begun growing cuttings of Moongrass and Heartvine,” He’d picked them up on his way home. When they’d come upon them while making their way back to his farm, he decided he might as well take some cuttings, which was exactly the sort of thing he’d gone into the wild hoping to find in the first place, though the discovery of the Goblin tribe had ended up being the more exciting find of his excursion. The warrior continued, “I was hoping that the Avalanche sect could make a deal with you on purchasing the berries and grass when you work around to a harvest,” Reis grimaced

“I’m sorry, I’ve actually made a deal for the berries already,” He’d promised the Goblins to provide them with the berries, they had powerful healing properties, and when they’d discovered he had experience growing magical plants they had been quick to ask to trade for a portion of the harvest. “By next year I should be growing enough to have extra, I might be able to make a deal on the remainder then,” Mathias sighed deeply

“The clippings looked so freshly planted, I was hopeful that I’d gotten to you before any of the adventurers had made an offer,” The Martial from the Avalanche sect was frowning, and Reis laughed nervously.

“You know how adventurer types are, never one to miss an opportunity. The moongrass isn’t claimed, but it will be a while before I’m harvesting more than a patch,”

“Well, that’s some consolation, should make it easier to enchant anything we’re able to make.” He looked back at Reis’s home, “What’s the occasion?”

“Occasion?” Reis gave Mathias a puzzled look.

“It sounded like there was a party inside when I arrived,”

“Oh that! Some of the villagers helped me on the farm, so I made everyone dinner as thanks,” Reis lied

“Mhhh” Mathias sounded skeptical, and glanced back at the house but didn’t press him further. “I came out to look into the forest, do you know what manner of monsters I might run into out there? You must’ve gotten the heartvine from the wilds, yes?”

“The only thing I encountered was a giant wolf,”

“A mundane beast?”

“I didn’t see it do anything extraordinary, but it had the look of a magical beast to me,” Mathias hummed as response and Reis gave him a few more details about the beast.

“Are you a warrior then? Maybe an ex-soldier?”

“No, no, I just got lucky. I suspect there was something stronger than it was nearby, that spooked the beast away,” It wasn’t a complete lie.

“That’s daunting indeed. Thank you Reis, I’ll get in touch with you later to flesh out the details on the moongrass,”

When Mathias was finally out of sight, Reis sighed heavily, and went back inside to tell his guests who had visited, and informed them that Mathis might also find himself visiting them, very soon and very accidentally.