CHAPTER 103: Dungeon goblins subjugation
With reduced numbers of adventurers entering the dungeon due to the monster invasion of the Blister Oak Forest, the dungeon rabbits proliferated. Using a combination of my skills, we defeated them with little opposition. But at a point I noticed Hana itched at an opportunity to get at them too and soon I deferred to using my normal swordplay with Hana as support. With my buckler on my left arm, I parried the rabbit claws away from me, using it as a distraction while Hana dispatched the rabbits at her leisure.
One rabbit I decided to slash with my knife as it kicked with its feet, passing me from my left to right. When I leaned backwards to avoid its feet, Hana’s arrow whistled past between my face and my buckler, with that sniper shot she took out the second rabbit trying to surprise me from my lefthand side blind spot. The second rabbit didn’t even see the arrow coming because its trajectory hid behind my shield until I created the open space at the last moment, allowing it a passage through. I could sense more rabbits arriving. The lack of adventurers in the dungeon resulted in too many of the white critters. I laughed aloud at the thought that Alma’s kids were getting some sturdy fur coats that winter.
Afterwards, we took a break at a sheltered spot in the cave. Hana and I sat together gathering our strength when Karato said he wanted to scout ahead. We watched him disappear into the blueness until he dropped behind the turn. Hana suddenly seemed very distant and quiet.
“Shane, where’s that blue world you come from?”
Where did that come from, I wondered? I never mentioned earth to her that I could remember. Since she asked about it, there was no point in hiding it from her.
“I think you’re referring to my world, Earth.”
She didn’t say anything.
“Shane, did you do something with my bow?”
It was then I realised where the question came from.
“Yes, I added a natural attribute called memory.”
“Why did you do that?”
She looked me straight in the eyes without blinking.
“When I made that bow, I wanted to make something special for you, but also something special to me. At the time it was difficult to tell you how I felt about you, so I added all my good memories to your bow. To be honest, I forgot about what I did to your bow, I didn’t realise it would become a problem.”
Hana quietly continued looking at me as she explained further.
“Ever since you gave me the bow, every time I hold it, I can feel your heart.”
She held the bow tightly against her body and placed her hand on my heart.
“When I use it, it’s like I am a part of you, your family, your memories, plans, hopes, and dreams. I also see places of your blue earth.”
With this she looked down.
“I don’t understand it. For me it’s an alien world which is why I have not asked for attributes on any other items.”
I finally understood her behaviour of late. She really didn’t know how to handle the emotion emanating from the bow. I had no idea that I overdid it, overwhelming her.
“I’m sorry Hana, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I can remove those memories from the bow for you.”
She shook her head, she started crying.
“You misunderstand me. I am not asking for you to remove anything.”
“Huh?”
“I love this bow so much because nothing else could match it. I didn’t want anything else to compete with this feeling I have. The last few lunar cycles I’ve come to love everything about you.”
My mind became a kaleidoscope of happy emotions as she continued telling me her feelings.
“You’ve trusted me by showing me many amazing things. You made me this bow, with so many happy memories that whenever I’m sad, I just hold this bow and happiness floods my being.”
“Well…I…um. I am not sure what to say.”
She moved up to me so quickly and smoothly that I didn’t register what she wanted. She looked in my eyes briefly, kissing me passionately on the lips. Goodness that was nice. Everything in my body lit up at once. I wanted to grab her and…no. I had to restrain myself, it would only enflame things, besides I couldn’t misbehave in front of Karato.
“Hana?”
Hana looked at me quietly, she wasn’t the sort of person to apologize for her actions and she meant everything she said.
“Not that I’m really appreciating this moment, but have you noticed Karato has been away for quite a while now?”
Looking concerned, she suddenly stood up. Her ears trained forward along the darkened tunnel. I loved it when she did that, she unconsciously focused every muscle on her body. I could see the tension in her stance, one leg slightly back, as if unsure of herself. The bow in her left hand acted like an extension of her body. Her beautiful black choke necklace with its white daisy flower looked far better on her neck than that monstrosity of a slave collar.
“I can’t hear anything.”
Bugger, I thought. It was time to go.
“Let’s go.”
We followed Karato’s footprints for nearly fifteen minutes. We found a spot on the ground where a struggle took place in the area quite recently. Karato’s footprints clearly ended in the mess of disturbed ground and from there his footprints simply disappeared. There was no sign of blood, so whatever took place here didn’t result in injury. It was all very strange.
“Please don’t tell me Karato managed to get ambushed again?”
I said with a sigh. I really wasn’t up to another saga like the last time with Berelli’s so-called bandits. Both Hana and I had our weapons ready as we continued down the tunnel. My air scan made me aware of the presence of a lot of goblins ahead, at least a hundred of them. They didn’t move, standing there motionlessly as if waiting for us to arrive. Hana’s ears revolved like radar dishes. Good on you Hana, she kept an ear out for ambushes. Nothing about the situation made me comfortable because it wasn’t normal goblin behaviour. We were close enough to see their ghostly eyes staring at us. I was wrong, now that I was closer, I could see there were closer to one hundred and fifty of them.
Somewhere in the middle of the group of goblins I picked up Karato’s presence. Thankfully he was still alive. My earlier hunch seemed correct. I assumed he was a hostage of sorts, which meant they were not looking for direct conflict at that moment, a situation I could at least manage. But what they wanted in return remained an unresolved mystery. When we stopped a few meters in front of them, a line opened between the goblins exposing the tied-up form of Karato all bound up and gagged. He didn’t look particularly concerned but was no doubt cursing every goblin for making him a hostage once again. A strange thought pervaded my mind as I softly whispered to Hana.
“I wondered what he would say if I suddenly asked him for instructions.”
She started snickering as I tried hard not to laugh at my internal private joke. Judging by the look in his eyes, he fully understood what I said, not looking impressed for some reason. Thankfully, a goblin not dressed like the others approached us, creating a welcome distraction. Well adorned with all sorts of paraphernalia he fulfilled the atypical leader slash medicine man look. He was conspicuously a head’s length taller than the others. I assumed from his approach that he was going to be the spokesperson for them.
As he reached the front of the group of goblins, he quickly pulled out an axe from his belt and unceremoniously threw the axe back over his shoulder. One of the goblins standing behind him did an emergency manoeuvre to miss the axe that nearly chopped off the toes on his foot. It would have been comical if it wasn’t for the potential threat on Karato’s life. Hana started snickering all over again making it worse for me not to start laughing.
The leader figure stepped forward a few steps until he stood midway between us and the goblin group. Plonking himself down in a small cloud of dust where he sat cross legged waiting for something. There was no doubt of the goblin’s intentions, so I reciprocated by taking out my sword, stabbing it vertically into the dirt next to Hana.
“Wait here. If there are any problems throw me my sword.”
Hana understood and nodded.
I prepared my skills in case I needed them at short notice.
I appraised the goblin in front of me,
Name: Feld
Race: Goblin
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Occupation: Chieftain
HP: 25/25
SP: 20/20
EE: 0/300
Attributes: Natural Leader
Skills: Negotiation, Fighter
He also had no EE. The lack of EE affected both monsters and humans it seemed. All I could assume was that the loss of EE related to a reason I had not discovered yet. But I couldn’t worry about that, I needed to focus on the task at hand. I sat down far enough in front of the goblin chieftain so that if he had any murderous traits, I could respond in time. Next, I wanted to see if the goblin translation worked.
“My name is Shane Karosaki, what do you want to say to me?”
I clearly understood the goblin chieftain’s words.
“I am Feld, Chieftain, and spokesman of the dungeon goblin tribe. I have come to beg for the lives of my people.”
Okay, I did not expect anything like that. It was less of a demand and more like an unconditional surrender. I didn’t know how to approach a situation where violence wasn’t on the agenda. Yet the situation worked to my advantage. Seeing they already capitulated, if I could somehow convince them to cooperate with me, I sensed that more than a few doors could open for us. We could even gain a new understanding of the dungeon. But before getting ahead of myself and committing to anything, I needed to test their resolve.
“Why did you attack us?”
I referred to the attack on Hana and myself the night before, clearly a provocation from them.
“We admit we made a mistake. We humbly ask that the lives you took from those who opposed you as payment for our wrong.”
What Feld asked me in a roundabout way, was to view the bodies of the fifty goblin raiders as some form of compensation. Feld must have realised who I was, and when his scouts warned him of my arrival in the dungeon, panic mode set in. Thinking that I came to get revenge, he decided that there was no way they could win against me and threw himself, and his people, at my mercy. That was noble of him, but far too easy to weasel his way out of the sticky situation. I wasn’t going to allow them to walk out of the emergency exit quite yet. Even though he professed regret at their actions, I still sensed a slight hesitation as if he wanted to supplicate me while suing for terms that suited them. In sudden understanding, I realised that the goblins would never change their thinking about me without some conviction. I needed to correct that thinking before they convinced themselves that they were right. The only way for me to achieve that, was to make sure they would never forget it.
“Not only have you attacked me and my wife, but you also kidnapped my friend as well. You say you made a mistake and yet you make another to amplify your stupidity.”
As a shocked Feld watched me, I created a blue flame around my hands and introduced small nodules of water to the flames that fizzled, crackled, and spluttered like water dancing on a hot metal plate. It sounded like electricity bouncing on my hands. Adding to the display I created a wind vortex to spin around me that didn’t do much except make a lot of dust. But the effect on the goblins was visible, they looked horrified having never seen wind blowing inside the tunnels like that. Using my air skill, I created a booming voice that echoed down the tunnel despite the roaring of the vortex around me.
“Before I think of saving your people you have not yet taken the correct posture of a people who wish to stay alive.”
There were 175 goblins in my skill’s sphere of influence. I activated the gravity effect, but I didn’t apply as much as I did with those thirty goblins. to hurt them, just to introduce them to a little discomfort and move them out of their sphere of control. Within seconds of me affecting the chieftain, the tribe did a kowtow like a Mexican wave at a football match. It looked spectacular. Most of them were lying with their faces in the dirt moaning in discomfort.
The Chieftain who had been sitting at the time was still in a sitting position but with his body draped over his knees. It should have been a grave issue, but for a quirk of fate it turned out looking very funny. I tried hard to stifle my laughter. Hana was not so good at hiding hers, she had her hand over her face and was bouncing up and down in little hiccup motions. I think the chieftain thought we were laughing in an evil sort of way, as if we were taking joy at their misery,
“Mas…ter…. for…give… fool…ish…ness…”
“Forgive you? And what will you give me for my unselfish forgiveness?”
I lengthened the pronunciation on each word, emphasizing each one. The goblins found my way of speaking very intimidating thanks to Ara’s excellent vocabulary skill.
“…loyalty…forever…”
“Are my ears blocked? Did you say that you and your people will be loyal to me forever?”
“…yes…master…”
That seemed much better, however, I felt I still needed a way to tie them down in a nice way where they willingly wanted to. That way it wouldn’t be necessary for me to use force to coerce them. I released them from the gravity effect and they slowly started sitting up like old people on an uncomfortable bed. Karato was immediately released but he didn’t say anything other than rubbing his wrists. When he walked past me, he suddenly punched me on the shoulder with a blow that rattled my teeth.
“What was that for?”
I complained.
“That was for the gravity I had to endure.”
Did I forget to mention that I had included him when I applied the gravity effect to the goblins? My bad. I guess he knew of better, but it was worth it though. Karato made us swear to never repeat what happened to him. Ever. That a group of goblins were able to best him embarrassed him no ends. They ambushed him en masse, that’s how desperate they were to talk with me. I wouldn’t blame them for kidnapping Karato because I would have done the same. We headed home, but this time I simply used skills to sort the rabbits out. Nothing seemed as exciting as the proceeding events and we just wanted to end the day.
The next morning, after getting our rabbit subjugation reward, Hana wanted to buy some casual clothes for herself at Obon’s clothing store and I was roped in to offer my comments. I was pleased to see Alma’s clothing making an appearance at the store. Hana picked two of Alma’s dresses as she found them cheerful and beautifully worked off. I was pleased to see the material I purchased for Alma in Shimmerstal going to good use.
It seemed Hana fitted the dress perfectly. Unbeknownst to me, Hana recognised both those dresses because Alma asked her in Endeavour to model the fittings for those dresses and some others. It might have seemed she liked Hana’s profile, but reality proved to be far more practical. Alma apparently loved the way Hana stood perfectly still when fitting the patterns. Hana’s martial arts training made her capable of standing like a mannequin while the others in Alma’s classes couldn’t sit still for a few minutes.
In pure coincidence, Hanna found those two dresses for sale bought them without a second thought, after all how often did one find a tailormade dress perfectly fitted for her? With those purchases I suggested we go stop over at the adventurer’s supplies shop on the way because there was an item I wanted to buy.
Something about the supply shop with all its looks and smells always fascinated me. But I wasn’t there to potter around. I tracked down the attendant, a lady called Sue whom I later discovered was the owner, and I pointed out the green broach on the cabinet shelf and paid the twenty-three silvers for it. That broach was the same one I turned down when Elle tried to purchase it for me. Hana thought it strange that I purchased something like that although she didn’t say anything about it. She did mention to me how she felt it suited me, which was eerily the same thing Elle said to me at the time.
When I asked Sue about its history, she simply shrugged her shoulders because she didn’t know. I noticed Sue kept looking at Hana’s choker necklace as I was putting the pendant away. Eventually she couldn’t hold her curiosity any longer and asked.
“Where did you buy that necklace?”
She asked Hana.
“I didn’t buy it, Shane made it for me.”
I suddenly went up a few notches on Sue’s list.
“Would you be interested in making another one of those for me?”
“Mm, I wouldn’t make it exactly the same, because I made that one for Hana. Would you be interested in something similar though?”
The attendant nodded her head in agreement. Judging by the smile on her face I felt the moment was ripe for a sales pitch.
“Would the adventurer’s supply shop be interested in selling other jewellery items for me?”
We came to a quick agreement. I would show them a collection of jewellery items. Those they felt worthy of their store they would select for sale. Their markup had nothing to do with me.
“Shane, why don’t we spend a bit of time in the glade?”
In the Dryad, we found the old man and Antonetta snoozing on the counter again. I couldn’t believe they were not related. The old man looked pleased to see us again. I asked Grenfell if I could use the materials gathered in the store so that I could sell jewellery or weapon items locally in the adventurer’s shop. The Dryad’s expensive weapons or armour gear normally cost too dear to grace the adventurer store shelves, although I had seen the odd, cheaper item before.
“Well, I don’t have a problem with it. If you want to sell jewellery or weaponry locally that’s your call. I think Schneider could give you far better prices and access to a larger market. To keep things tidy, I would suggest that you sell the local stuff under your own standard. Any weapon or armour you sell to Karato, you continue to make under the Dryad standard and since you are technically still employed by the Dryad. Just remember that anything you sell with the Dryad standard automatically gives me a fifty percent cut.”
The old man smiled. Yeah, right. The Royal Bank of Grenfell struck again. I swear fifty percent felt like overkill. However, after thinking about it, I decided to make enough money to put the old man into early retirement. I wanted to keep my lion standard item prices as low as possible. As for the Dryad’s pricing, the old man could set the price for me. In case you were wondering, no conflict of interest in selling local gear existed from my part, since most of the Dryad’s gear typically sold in the capital and the brand was better known there.
When I asked the old man if I could take materials from stuff in the store, he agreed. He said that in future I no longer needed to ask him, I should just take as needed. Besides most of the junk in the store was just gathering dust. One of the advantages of being an apprentice in the Dryad was I had a near endless supply of basic metal and materials, and I intended to make effective use of that. On the other hand, why did I feel like I started a new recycling business in that world. Was I destined to continue in my father’s scrap dealership?
Following that business, Hana and I entered the forest glade again where a surprise awaited me.
“Ah Shane, was that tree and those flowers always here?”