It took two days to find and then it was my turn, because no one wished to actually speak with the humans. Goblins are not shy but they sure are skittish and prone to violence, that made me the only real choice, having actually fought humans and talked with them.
I didn’t tell anyone just how reassuring to know Tolio was relatively close and I could yell for help if something happened.
Before my anxiety kicked in, I started stalking around the small village or town, I wasn’t sure what the difference was nor I cared about it beyond being a thought to keep from panicking.
Half the village gave way towards the planting fields where most were already working. The other half of the village ended in a big stone building with a big half-moon symbol made in shiny metal. A temple was my guess.
Everything seemed normal if a bit depressing. Long, tired faces on everyone I managed to catch a glimpse off.
Now, to their credit, goblins don’t interact a lot with humans so it was easy to pass a race that had the same skin color as one. It just kind of struck me as odd that Tolio and Tika didn’t say a word about the horns they had.
Most people had a couple of blue or red horns. Their skin mostly white, gray or pinkish. They also had long thick tails that they used to help themselves with balancing stuff or when they needed to carry heavy stuff.
Some of them were hornless or tailless, but never both. In any case, talking things out was looking harder by the minute.
To be on the safe side I decided to keep an eye on them for the whole day and figured my best chance to talk was after they work day when they seemed to go into a tavern looking place.
With their hunters back and the few armed people inside with just a couple people on top of the very lacking watchtower. It felt like even if things soured, there was little they could do to follow him if he fled into the woods.
That and the amount of fire going around at night, in the way of torches and oil lamps was a clue of how good their night vision was. It wasn’t.
With a half-formed plan, I decided the best course of action was to seek counsel from the oldest goblin in the group, so I creeped my way out of the village’s vicinity without visibly alerting anyone.
--
Once we regrouped at the camp, I told everything I saw to the whole group.
“Those are Oni.” The elder explained while smoking with his dark pipe, the smoke once more doing weird things to the amazement of everyone. “In the time of the old war, when gods walked among mortals to wage their eternal conflict many myths formed.”
The smoke suddenly turned and shifted, as if many wars were shown. Then a single giant was defeated, his blood soaking the armies and land. “It is said that when hatred and violence occur repeatedly in a land thoroughly bathed in giant blood, True Oni are born. Vengeful spirits given flesh to enact their revenge, they will roam the lands until their prey dies or they find defeat.”
A large and very muscular humanoid with long horns forms in the smoke, its claws sometimes wielding a club or simply ripping its enemies apart. “Sometimes this True Oni live enough to learn things beyond hate, some even feel bad for their acts. Those few found partners among humans and their offspring are the Oni you have seen today.”
Finally, the smoke calmed down and the elder relaxed.
“Wait, in the smoke the big oni did not have a tail.”
“Yeah, no idea about that. Sometimes when races mingle it comes out weird.” The elder shrugged.
It does make some amount of sense to me, knowing a bit of biology and all that. Magic seems to bridge a lot of stuff, but might be a bit chaotic when it comes out, or maybe the knowledge of the elder is lacking in some areas and True Oni actually have a tail.
We talked and joked about the horned humans well into the night before we took our somewhat feeble guards to sleep.
--
I knew it was a dream the moment I heard the alarm going off on my phone, but I decided against fighting it, instead letting my mind drift in the memory.
I stood quickly before sleep got its clutches on my still tired self, and walked into the bathroom to splash myself with some cool water. It took me a while to find a white shirt that didn’t have bloodstains on it, last week was rough for me.
Once that was done, I quickly moved towards the kitchen to check if someone already started with breakfast. No one was up so I knocked hard on my little sister door before starting with coffee, cracking some eggs and toasting some bread.
A few minutes later mom was up, probably smelling coffee. We had another fight. She wanted money that I was pretty sure was for gambling, but I was already short trying to pay up the monthly quota the loan sharks that dad left hounding us were requesting.
My sister got up, ate fast and left to school. Her face was neutral and it broke my heart a little bit because I knew how she felt when we fought in the morning.
Soon I was leaving too, being late to work now as just asking to get another write up from administration and that was the last thing I needed.
Once there, as it is common for Fridays, I got dumped a lot of office work. Spreadsheets mostly, but the important kind that need to be filled before Monday.
I waltzed as usual through my work, set up my phone data on the office computer and started doing some more online work.
At six I was leaving, walking back towards our small apartment.
Then the vision of my dream split, as if another screen was showing the same scene. It took me a while to notice that it was different day, because even from an outside perspective it was just the same. Fight, work, get beaten by the loan sharks and do my best to keep my sister sane.
The anxiety, the planning, the fear. It all blended together in the monotony of a life that was shackled by everything around me and myself.
It was a good honest life. I can’t say I disliked or hated it, especially when my sister smile was such a heartwarming event.
What I can say for sure about that life is that I didn’t enjoy it.
--
I woke up sweating. The dream of my past life weighing on me. Thinking on the people I left behind and knowing that there is no way for me to help them anymore crushes my spirit.
After a quick look around camp and seeing the elder asleep while sitting, during his supposed guard duty, made me smirk. I decided to sit down at the edge of the camp, looking into the woods.
The feeling of anxiety creeping up was actually nice. Thinking about how stupid I was acting since I was born here made me smile and worry, because I knew it was less about being a goblin and more about me being reckless.
Thinking back to how I lived my previous life and how I’m living this one, it was clear as day. I was acting exactly how I wished to act before, without worries, without thinking about consequences.
The fact that the most useful skill here so far came from the games, series and fantasy books I read during my earlier teenage years was harsh. I wished knowing that mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cells could help me a lot more.
Tomorrow’s plan was an utter bullshit one. The me from the past would be ashamed of doing something so reckless as going into a village with unknown people to try and strike some kind of deal. Zero information, zero true planning, just a reckless idea that a bunch of short lived, green skinned creatures came up on the spot.
Yet here I was feeling strangely at ease with going with it. My anxious mind blaring warnings, but my instincts telling me to trust the elder and what I saw of the people of the village today.
I couldn’t sleep that night anymore so I decided to be useful and fix and clean my stuff to not look like I sleep on top of the forest soil.
---
Once I was ready to leave the group gathered. Having their support, even if it was for things that were a matter of survival for us as a whole, was a nice feeling. It reminded me of my sister.
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“Good luck, do not die!” Said Tika with a not so scary grin.
“Try to keep your fingers this time.” Quickly added Zia with a small smug smirk, her usual liveliness almost gone completely as days passed.
With the illusion of moral support half gone I simply nodded to the group not having it in me to banter.
Tolio left with his usual quickness and soon he was gone from sight, but I knew he was keeping me in shout distance. The elder for his part surprised me, walking by my side as I went into the forest.
“You look more presentable than most. Which is a lot to say for most goblins.” The way he was speaking was once more in his wisdom-grandpa mode, instantly putting me on edge trying to see what kind of magical effect he would show me this time.
“Yet you smell like dirt and sweat, so let us fix that.” The dark wood smoking pipe once again was in his hand and was quickly lit in a tiny spark of translucent magic. He took a single deep breath and releases a big puff of smoke that washed over me. At the same time, I could feel my skin tingling softly and my fight or flight instincts going alert for a split-second.
Once the smoke passed me so did all the weird feelings and I could feel that something was clearly different.
I probably stood there dumbfounded and trying to think what was different for way longer than I would like to admit. Then I finally got it, I was feeling clean as if I just got out of a shower. Even my constantly darkening claws were pristine.
Whatever the elder did cleaned me completely and it made me think back to the fact that none of my wounds infected after getting Gortag’s punishment. Maybe this is what he did?
It did leave me smelling softly of wood and cinder, but it was way better than before.
“Thank you, elder Zol.”
He simply nodded and walked back towards the camp leaving behind a trail of smoke.
---
The daily life in the village was pretty much the same. Tired workers, tired hunters, tired men and women going around doing their best in a job they hate.
Kind of reminded me of the lower income salary men back on earth.
I settled on the thick branches of some tree and watched while I waited to the late afternoon.
Comparing the Oni to the Human they were pretty much equal as long as you didn’t count the tail. That tail was dangerously strong, thick and long so I made myself a promise to keep my wits and not let them grab me if there was trouble.
Not having anything else to do I started counting the odd ones. There was a girl with blue and red horns, a guy without tail but longer horns, one old man with a really long tail but no horns. Besides that, there was pretty much standard oni horns and tails on most people, even if most just had a single horn.
The weird furry cow they used on the fields was giving me the creeps as it kept staring at the tree I was hiding, even after I changed a couple times across the day. It never acted up or anything, just stared constantly.
Besides that, it was just boring and mind-numbing. The fact that movies make it like detectives easily do stake-outs it's pretty much a big lie. They probably bring lots of stuff to stay awake, music would help a lot or maybe snacks.
Finally, the time arrived and I pondered for a moment if I should sneak closer, but shook off the idea as it would make me look bad if discovered.
Deciding for a simple and direct approach I creeped out the woods and walked down the dirt path leading towards the village.
When I was close to the first few houses the two guys in the makeshift watchtower that oversaw the place from the center made a move. They both turned around, unnaturally fast. After sharing a look, they panicked and I could see them move wildly for a moment, probably arguing.
All the while I kept walking, slowly as to not startle anyone and doing my best to make it seem as if the afternoon sunlight was making it hard for me to see. So far, the people inside their houses didn’t seem to notice me.
Then one of the guys in the watchtower rushed off. The second one stayed on top of it and moved his hands in a weird way.
A moment later I saw a glint moving fast towards me, missing me by a few meters. The glint turned out to be ice, that suddenly and loudly shattered against the ground as if to stop me from getting deeper into the village.
Quickly thinking that I could, probably, dodge an ice shot from that distance now that I know how it looks, made me believe that it was still a salvageable situation. With that in mind and listening to a few doors and windows opening as villagers were looking to the source of the commotion, I decided to raise my hands, showing my unarmed palms.
The ice guard kept his magic ready, a glint of what I presumed to be ice still floating close to his hands. People looked around to see if there was someone besides me and my better than most ears picked a few whispers here and there.
They were wondering what I was. What I was doing here.
In hindsight, coming shrouded in a thoroughly used cloak might not have been the brightest idea, but nothing of this plan was bright to begin with.
Almost a minute passed in the standstill. Ice magic aimed at me, villagers unsure of what to do and me standing there trying to look as if I was no threat. That tension broke when who I assumed was the second watchtower guard arrived, followed by a group of strong looking men armed with farming tools.
“There!” The second guard said, his breath ragged while pointing at me. The group inspected me and a few of them gave the villagers around an inquisitive look, only to get shrugs or unsure answers out of them.
I relaxed a bit when I saw the glint from the ice guard disappear, holding magic at the ready probably drains stamina. It reminded me a bit of how I once saw an archer talking how movies make it seem easy for archers to hold back the string when in reality it is quite tasking.
“What do we do?” One of the men asked.
“I don’t know. The chief is not back yet.” The watchtower guard answer quickly, staring at me.
“Let’s just scare it away?” Another added, pointing at me as if I was not listening to their conversation.
“But what is that thing?”
“Hobgoblin maybe? Small troll?”
“Should we capture it, may-”
Before they could keep arguing one of the men took a few steps closer to me, quickly followed by the rest. Sensing trouble coming I sighed internally hoping to speak clearly enough for them to understand even with my accent.
“Good morning.” I said, hiding my annoyance at myself for messing up the first sentence. “Me here to speak with, uhhh, Oni leader?” Well, that should convey enough I thought.
The men stopped in their tracks, surprised at my words.
The watchtower guard was the first to recover “You... want to speak to our chief? What for?”
“Me no threat. Speak leader to leader. Important.” Fuck, I felt stupid talking like this, but I had no choice. My shrilly goblin voice was terrible at speaking without the goblin accent, add to that the fact that goblins speak too fast and the human tongue was slow. Dumbing down my language to speak was my only choice until I could practice more.
The guard sighed and moved his hand to make the other men lower their makeshift weapons. “Let just ask Sheila to deal with this, I don’t want to fuck it up.” He said and they nodded back.
“Ask him what he is.” One of the men asked obviously too young and curious to think things through asked the main guard.
The main guard let out a second sigh and gave me the most tired look he could muster.
Feeling pity, I decided to simply answer “Me goblin.”
“Huh, I thought goblins were smaller?” The same curious man asked.
“Me tall. Lucky.” I shrugged not sure what else to answer to that.
--
After that they told me they would bring me to the center of the village to talk to the chief’s wife, which I refused as politely as I could.
I told them that I would fully disarm and wait for her there.
They whispered a lot among them, low enough that I couldn’t hear. By the end the discussion it was clear they were both careful to not encircle me to threaten me but also double the amount of people on top of the watchtower and the number of torches and lamps around the whole place.
It was a nice gesture and also a smart move to double down on security, something I could respect. With nothing more to do to pass time I sat down, carefully paying attention to the people around.
I was expecting some old woman to arrive, instead battle-scarred oni woman arrived with an intimidating presence that made me glad we were not in a confined space together.
She was taller than other oni females, her horns red horns obviously broken, what was left was cracked to the base. Her face had some mean looking scars that detracted from any beauty she once had, only to add it to her intimidating presence. The only fact that kept me from running on the spot was that she was hobbled her way there, aided by a cane and her tail.
That and the fact that she was lacking her right arm from her shoulder.
“So, this is the goblin?” She stared at me, her voice a lot calmer and softer than what I was expecting from her appearance.
I stood up, still doing my best to make my eyes squint at the fires around me.
“By the gods what did they feed you with? You are huge!” The chief’s wife said with obvious surprise.
Yes, I was very tall for goblins, three times as tall as a regular one, but being told by a woman that is over six feet tall made it seem as if she was laughing at me. I knew she was actually surprised, but any other goblin would probably feel insulted.
“Me lucky, ate lots when baby.” I said with a grin. She didn’t react a lot that, but the other men around readied their weapons.
“Hahaha, yeah I can see that.” She laughed loudly and that calmed the people around. “What are you looking my husband for though? I don’t remember any den around here.”
I nodded. “No den around. Me and friends looking for home.” Seeing as she was waiting for me to continue I did just that. “Me and friends tired of terrible old chief. He bad and dumb. Need new place.”
“I see.” She said, looking around and gauging the receptiveness of her people to my plight, or so I thought. “I can’t make any promises or tell you what my husband will answer.”
I could feel my ears turning downward involuntarily at the dejection, but before I could start to simmer in the bad news she continued.
“Yet we are not owners of this forest. Especially that grotto to the north that I heard was home to a Razorbear.” She winked at me and all I could do was nod.
“Thank you.”
“No need, but if you do settle around here do come back later so we could trade, yeah?”
“Yeah.” I said walked back to rearm myself before leaving as fast as I could towards camp.
--
“Sheila, was that a good idea?” one of the men asked.
“What do you mean? Telling the polite and tall goblin where he could find a home, where he would have to kill the razorbear that have been tormenting our hunters for a couple years was a good idea?” She shrugged awkwardly. “Or letting him go and settle in a place where we could easily find them later? What did you want me to do, wait for my husband for days while doing nothing?”
“Sorry, I didn’t mea-”
“I know.” She huffed and began hobbling away, the group of men following close. “I was an adventurer for a few decades and never saw a goblin talk so calmly, so I decided to gamble a little.”
For a moment the men in the group shuddered because the smile in their chief’s wife face was scarier than the goblin’s that just left.