Humans? Have they decided to follow me all the way here to kill me? The hob shows three fingers. Well, that’s unlikely. I take a peek through a hole in my hut. Yep. Three humans. I frown. I recognize one of the girls. It’s Windy’s girl. He is dead, so I suppose no more. They are from the human village. Why did they come here?

“Go and fetch Axi.” I order the hob. There's no way I’m going to deal with them without her. It could be an assassination attempt. I frown. They could also have information about Anastasia, which is probably good for me. Anastasia is likely dead, so it will bring closure to Axi without a need to endanger us.

Two minutes later, Axi comes over. “What’s happening? I thought I should go hunting.”

“Later. Something unexpected happened.” I point my head in the human direction. “Look there.”

“They are from the human village!”

“Yep. They may know something about Anastasia. Come with me, but don’t say anything. This could be a trap. You will be my trump card.”

She nods, and we go to the humans with a few more hobs. When they notice us, they bow awkwardly.

“Lord Smag.”

What? How do they know my name? From when I’m a lord? “How do you know my name?”

Two girls look at me with strange expressions, while the boy in the back answers.

“Your subordinate, Lady Anastasia, told people about your might and power.”

I frown. That bitch! I trusted her, and she give me out! Couldn’t she just die silently? “I see. And what has she told you about me?”

The boy keeps bowing a bit. “She told the people of Roheb that you are a former warlock with powerful magic.” He stays silent for a second and then adds, “People of Robeh fear your might. They placed a bounty on your head, but you helped our village greatly through Lady Anastasia's hands. We wouldn't dream about going against you.”

Wait, wait… powerful warlock? What? Does this mean... Oh. I think I misunderstood Anastasia. She fed them lies about how powerful I am, so we could escape. I’m sorry, Anastasia; I will remember you fondly. The boy continues.

“These two girls want to serve you in bed to thank you for your generosity.”

What? I’m dumbfounded. Am I the protagonist of a harem novel? I never thought pretty girls would throw themselves at me. “Is that true?”

“Yes.” The Windy’s girlfriend nods, while the second one is quite reluctant. Something isn’t right. I mean, things like that don’t happen outside stupid wish fulfillment fantasies. Especially since I actually need these girls to keep the numbers of goblins climbing up.

I take another look at the group. The girls are quite thin. More than I remember.

“What’s the situation in your village? Have you been accused of collaborating with us?”

"The governor's people were quite merciful. They even placed guards so we could be safe, so unless you want to fight them, you shouldn’t come back to our village.”

“Did you migrate as Anastasia wanted?”

“No, your excellency.”

So they are starving. Girls are just prostitutes looking for a wealthy client to feed them. That actually makes sense.

“I see. Girls, I will gladly welcome you to my tribe. You will be safe here, and you won’t lack food.” I mean, as soon as I resolve the current crisis. They smile. Great. Axi hits my ribs. Right. Anastasia.

“I want to ask another question. What happened to my Anastasia?”

"The governor imprisoned her in his keep. He is yet to reveal the execution date, assuming he will execute her.” Oh no.

“Yes! We need to rescue her!” Axi shouts in goblin language.

“Yes, we need to deal with them first. Don’t speak; they will think you are smart.”

“But I am!”

“Yes, but we don’t want them to think so.” Wait! How does she understand them? Ugh… I suppose it’s not strange after spending quite a lot of time with Anastasia.

I turn back to the boy. “Thank you for the information. You can go back to your village.”

“Wait! Lord Smag, I wish to make a deal with you on behalf of our village. Can we speak in private?” Why? He looks meaningfully at the girls. You want to keep information from your friends? How deceitful.

“Fine. Follow me. You two come with me as well; I will show you where you will stay for now.”

We go into the camp. I go inside my hut with Axi and the boy, while the girls stay outside. I’m going to keep them in my hut. I let Windy take care of breeding girls previously because I thought I had enough sex with Axi and Anastasia around, plus I didn’t fancy making trips to the human village. Now, I’m going to keep the girls for myself.

“What do you want?”

“There are two things. First, I bear a message to you from a person who names himself Ferdinand.”

“Names himself? You think he is lying.”

“Our village head, Mr. Adam, thinks he is deeply suspicious. I concur. He claims he is a servant of someone important, probably a noble, and he wants to meet with you. However, he is also the person who took the gold from the bounty placed on Lady Anastasia.”

“Well… I don’t want to meet with him.”

Axi elbows my ribs. “We could use him to free Anastasia!”

“Wait. I changed my mind. Tell him I will meet him, but only if he will bring Anastasia with him. Let him rectify his mistake.”

“Very well. I will tell him your reply.” I don’t like it. I don’t want to meet someone like that—someone who possibly rubs shoulders with people who can kill me with a wave of their finger. I don’t want them to know I exist. Even communication through this boy makes me uncomfortable.

“As for the second matter, Mr. Adam promises you that he won’t attack or do anything hostile towards you and hopes you will do the same.”

I ponder for a moment. “So a non-aggression pack?”

“Well… yes.”

“I refuse.”

“Why?! Do you want to kill us?”

“No, but I don’t really get anything from it. Why would I agree? You don’t want to attack me, and even if you do, you don’t have the means to. Why would I remove an option for myself for no benefits?” I want to dismiss him, but I stop myself. If he is desperate enough, he will add something more. I wait several seconds in awkward silence. I’m really not suited for negotiations.

“I… How about we add something?”

“Like?”

“We can inform you about the current state of affairs. For example, if the governor starts to organize a force against you, we will send someone to inform you.”

I ponder again. “Sure. Let’s go with that.” Having intelligence on the enemy is vital, and I can always just break the pact. My reputation won't fall if I kill them all, since nobody will tell about it. The boy leaves, and Axi imminently attacks me.

“We need to save Anastasia.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Yes, but it’s best to wait.”

“They can kill her!”

“I know, but we will know about it before that happens. Didn’t you hear my deal with the boy?”

“So? We can save her right now!”

“Look. Humans are strong. It’s better to defeat kobolts, establish a base, and only then go after humans when we have a strong army. They may even give her up without fighting.”

“I don’t care about that! I want to kill them!”

“You will die. They are too strong.” That shuts her up. Was I too harsh? “Listen. I want to save her as well, but we need to be smart about it, or we will just die. I may be able to bring you back, but I cannot resurrect myself.”

“I…”

“I know. But she is safe for now.” She lowers her head. I hug her. “Everything is going to be fine.” I want to say ‘I promise’, but I don’t. I think I already lied too much.

Axi leaves to hunt as originally decided, and I approach two girls. “Come inside.” I wave them in. They both look around, clearly unimpressed. No wonder. “Sorry for the poor welcome. This is basically a military camp right now. As soon as we win the war, we are going to build a proper base.”

“War?” The more forward girl asks.

“Well… War is a proper term for it, though the scale isn’t as impressive as with human wars. Anyway…” I take out my supper. “Here. Cook it, and you can eat it. Again, don’t worry; we are a bit short on food right now, but that’s about to change really soon. For now, stay here; this is my hut, so no goblin will do anything to you. The goblin chieftain has the right to all women.” I explain.

“Does that mean…” The forward girl asks, taking a meaningful peek at my crotch.

“Yes, I will make love to you and impregnate you later. Sorry, but I don’t have time right now. Tomorrow.”

“No problem, Lord Smag!” The forward girl says this, and the shy one lowers her head and avoids looking at me.

An hour later, Axi returns. There was no ambush, and she returned with enough food to prevent the whole camp from starving. At least for a day. After the meal, I order everyone to form up.

We march towards kobolts. I left some goblins in the camp, but the rest and all the hobs are with me. I’m worried about losing girls, but I doubt kobolts will attack the camp. Strategically speaking, there is no purpose in defending or attacking it, given that there are no supplies left.

My army is somehow dispersed over a few hundred meters of front line. I don’t want to be ambushed, and I also hope any traps will result in fewer causalities. My goblins became a lot better at recognizing traps and dismantling them over the course of the war. Still, sometimes they don’t notice a trap, and sometimes that trap injures someone. Sometimes, that injured goblin dies.

Hobs have been told to assemble back on spotting the enemy, so this is mostly a trap-dismantling formation. I don’t know how far Kobolts' village is, but we should easily reach it in the week without any major problems. If lucky, we may even reach it today. I don’t want to move in the dark, but there are still around six hours until dusk.

After an hour, something attacks our flank. I shout orders. Goblins on the flank assemble back in rough formation and fall back. The center moves right, towards the enemy. I want to encircle them, but I don’t want to move into terrain that is not cleared of traps. To my surprise, the ambush ends early and kobolts retreat. Instead, their main army marches out of the woods. I smile. Committing to one last battle? Great for me. There is no need to chase them around.

I shout again, and goblins assemble back in tight formation. For some reason, kobolts don’t charge right away, but it doesn’t matter that much. We both can’t keep a nice formation, and fights quickly devolve into individual duels. Formations still help a bit, and they are something to strive for.

Axi moves forward and hefts her ax, preparing to fight the enemy chieftain. The one with broken bones. He is going to die today. I see him from the distance, and I’m pretty sure his hand isn’t usable.

“Forward!” I order, and goblins march forward. The chieftain shoots a fireball, but Axi takes it away and throws it at a random tree. Did he fail to learn it wouldn’t work on Axi? Their shaman steps forward. The chieftain throws another fireball, and the shaman throws something as well. My first thought is that this is order mana attack, but that’s unlikely unless he wants to heal my troops. Combination magic?

Axi sharply looks at the object, and I notice it in my mana sense too. Fire mana. More specifically, fire mana treasure. There’s some construction around it, but I can’t notice the fine details from so far away. Axi does something, but the treasure keeps flying. She attempts to grab it. It explodes. Fire. Fire mana.

I throw a mana shield before me, and it stops the fire mana. For a moment. It does nothing to fire. I fall to the ground, and my shield snaps before I can land. I throw another mana shield around me, and it keeps me from getting worse. After a few seconds, I raise my head. I have a lot of light burns and some serious ones, but I will heal even without magic. My body hurts like hell, and my clothes are on fire.

I look around. The first thing I notice is a figure. Axi. Her soil armor is reforming, but it seems fine. If she is hurt, the excess vitality I gave her is healing her. She has the Fire Mana Affinity trait, so it’s no wonder fire isn’t as deadly to her. Her armor probably cushioned the blow as well.

The kobolts charge. I look for my soldiers. Dead. All? No, that can’t be. Goblins around me, archers, are burned badly, but some of them are still alive.

A few more still move around the Axi's position. I channel remnant vitality from the fallen to them. I find two more survivors this way, their vitality resisting my magic. It’s futile, though. The burns are too great. Fire mana overpowered their vitality mana and changed into fire inside their bodies. It’s impossible to heal them. The few still-moving hobs must have done the same as me. They created a Mana Shield and fell to the ground.

The chieftain reaches Axi, but she easily deflects an attack. I keep buffing her. She goes for a kill, but a kobolts attacks her from the side. Shit. We need to run. We lost. Kobolts keep charging, and we will soon be completely surrounded.

Damn it. Can I run away? Yes. I will need to leave Axi, though. I grit my teeth. I don’t want to lose her.

I charge ahead. Four hobgoblins rise up. They are also my strongest hobs, so each has a healing construct. I buff them too. I think their skin is completely burned away. They don’t seem to be in pain. Hopefully my trick with vitality will keep them up until I can heal them for real.

Axi burns a kobolt that came a little too close to her. Her armor tanks weaker strikes, and she chops away another kobolt’s head. The chieftain attacks as well, but he keeps his distance, wary of a counterattack. I notify Axi through my perk and run beside her. She keeps a kobolt from attacking me and takes a blow to strike the chieftain. He defends against it and disregards me. After all, I’m only a healer. A kobolt strikes at me, and I block it with my shield. Half-burned shield. It breaks, and a hammer strikes my forearm.

It hurts, but not much. It seems goblins have adrenaline as well. I’m within striking range. I oversaturate vitality in my arm and speed up vitality flow. It’s a berserking technique. The strength of my arm should be three times greater than my nominal. The chieftain attacks with fire. I create a shield using the vitality mana within my arm. Vitality mana is a five-merged type. Compared to basic fire mana, and vitality mana having home advantage in my arm, I can protect my inner arm from fire mana. I can’t do anything about fire, but blocking fire mana means their chieftain can only burn my skin.

I hit. All five claws enter Chieftain’s body. Five Vitality Clots enter his body, moving through my fingers and bypassing his magically resistant scales. Something hits me in the chest and blows me back. Another kobolt. I fall to the ground and cough blood. Damn. I release some vitality mana.

Chieftain stops moving, and Axi hacks his head away. I frown. She stole another kill from me. She caches Chieftain’s head and raises it up. Ax raised in another hand. She roars. Kobolts look at her. Then, she swings her ax down and kills a regular kobolt. Something hits me. Damn, I need to stop looking at Axi. She kills another Kobolt, and they start running away.

I use my remaining vitality mana on hobs and stand up. Oh, I should have healed myself first. My vision goes black.

I wake up. It hurts. I release all my vitality mana and convert it into vitality. There wasn’t much in the tank, but it helps a bit. My hand is the worst. I look around. I’m in the hut with Axi. I send a trickle of vitality to my burned arm. It’s not completely destroyed, but a lot of muscle tissue seems to be cooked. Since it seems we are safe for now, I would rather slowly regenerate my existing arm than neglect the healing and end up with a completely dead arm I will need to amputate.

There’s a few days left for a perfect healing. After that, wounds end up as scars, and you can no longer regenerate limbs. I can steal an arm from another hob, but there are problems with that solution as well. Besides, my arm is only partially cooked; it’s easier to regenerate parts of the arm than the whole of it.

The remaining problem is a lack of mana. Could I… I channel neutral mana into my core.

You have learned Boosting Core Mana Regeneration (Uncommon) skill!

You have reached the maximum number of magical skills! Replace your current skills or refuse to accept the new skill!

I refuse the skill. I don’t have Exp to fill it up anyway, and I don’t want to lose my current skills right now. My core produces around 50% more vitality mana now, but I need to concentrate on channeling mana. I suppose this is this world's version of the Meditate skill.

Immediate problems are mitigated, so I look up at Axi.

“Are you fine?” She asks me.

“I will survive, but I need a day or maybe two to completely heal. What about you?”

“No wounds, but my HP is only half of half.”

I nod. “What about the rest?”

“One hobgoblin didn’t make it. Our tribe consists of us, three more hobgoblins, and seven goblins.”

I lower my head. It’s my failure. The snake? It was a misfortune. Kobolts? I prepared for them. I could win. It’s another failure. My failure. When I reincarnated here, I thought I had left my old life full of failures behind. The joke is on me. After all, I’m the source of my failures, and I didn’t change much here.

“I think you should lead the tribe.” I tell Axi.

She frowns. “I do. I’m the chieftain after all.”

“Not Anastasia or me?” I tease her.

She shrugs. “I have thought it’s strange that a female is a chieftain, but then you forced Anastasia into that role. After she left, I practically picked back the position. I’m the strongest in the tribe, so I’m the chieftain.”

“Good. You should decide what to do then. I… I’m no good.”

“No.”

“What?”

She thinks for a moment. “I keep thinking about the fight, and I don’t think I would do a better job. You are still the smartest of us.” I stare at her dumbly. “You know what, I order you as the chieftain to be our shaman. If not, I will beat you up.”

I laugh.

“It’s not funny. I really will.”

I laugh some more. “Thank you, Axi.”

She nods. “Then, what’s next?”

I grimace. It’s not like I have a choice. We are going to rescue Anastasia, or at least try to. It’s a suicide mission, honestly, but I can’t stop Axi. And… I’m not willing to just let her die. So I’m going to go as well.

It’s just that if I’m to risk my life, I want to do it for someone important to me. Someone who won’t abandon me in my dark hour. Even if I survive, I could be crippled. Won’t it be ironic if I were to be crippled for Axi just for her to abandon me for a stronger goblin like the tradition dictates? I refuse.

“Axi, have you heard about marriage?”