I decided to store the corpses in my Heart Room, as I already had a good quantity of slimes in the food storage and I did not want them multiply even further.
Robur and my Imp still explored the tunnel, counting from that last room, I estimated that they walked at least 20 tiles, until they reached a room of around 9 tiles, on the opposite side the tunnel kept going forward.
"Boss, Ratman ate food here." Robur told me as he checked the room, at first sight it seemed empty, but if you took a closer look, tiny pieces of bones were spread throughout this room.
(Keep going forward.)
"Yes Boss!"
As they walked to the tunnel, Robur stoped as he noticed something.
"Uh, Boss?"
(Yes?)
"Boss, tunnel slow upwards, maybe we reach surface?" He told me, resuming his walk.
(Surface?)
"Boss, surface, many things live in surface." Robur informed me as he pointed upwards.
After a few more steps, I could see trough Robur's eyes, there was a light at the end of the tunnel.
"Exit!" Robur shouted as he ran towards it.
(The surface...)
Robur and the imp reached the exit, showing a new location.
The exit was a small mountain, and bellow, a vast forest covered with a mantle of snow could be seen from their location, divided by several mountains wich spread across the land.
Additionally due to the cold weather, mists could be seen across the land, and the sun was barely visible with dark clouds owning the skies.
[https://i.imgur.com/bxk0ywS.jpg]
From the exit, started a small path, leading down the mountain into the forest.
[https://i.imgur.com/h14vbQw.jpg]
"Boss, Robur explore more?"
(Yes, but be on your guard.)
Robur and the Imp continued their way downwards the mountain.
"Boss, almost night, Robur loves night!" Robur said, as goblins had an excellent night vision that gave them advantages over other races.
With the Imp following Robur, he seemed to be troubled as I could see trough the Imp's eyes that Robur was trembling.
(Are you alright?)
"Yes, yes Boss..." Robur replied, still trembling.
"B-Boss?"
(Yes?)
"If we find enemy with good fur, can Robur keep fur?"
What was he asking about? I was confused at his request, but then, I remembered Blue's minions.
All of them had some sort clothes wich almost covered their bodies.
Robur in the other hand was shirtless and shoeless.
And unlike the imps, goblins did not have a strong resistance against low and high temperatures.
The more I thought, the more concerned I got about this matter, losing a minion at this point could be catastrophic for me.
(Maybe you should return? You can use one of the ratmen's fur.) I suggested.
Robur suddenly stopped, making my level 4 Imp bump into his back, I wondered if he decided to follow my suggestion.
But I was wrong, he was actually shocked at my words.
I could only see his back trough the eyes of my imp and his vision, so I could not notice his facial expression.
"Boss... No need, Robur strong!" He proclaimed, punching his chest with the left hand, in an attempt to hide his cold and diminish his trembling.
(Then keep going...)
With a nod from Robur, the 2 minions resumed their walk.
Finally, the party of two reached the end of the mountain path, giving now the choice to decide wich direction they would take to explore.
"Way better now." Robur mumbled.
(What's better?)
"Ah!?" Robur was about to speak, but paused for a moment, thinking twice about his answer.
"Big forest to explore!" He answered.
(Is that so?) I told him, but I had a feeling that he was simply trying to change subject, since I was more focused on checking our whereabouts, instead of inquiring him, I gave a new order.
(Lets check the forest bit by bit, head into... the right direction.)
"Yes Boss!" Robur happily followed his command.
It turned out that Robur was happier to leave the mountain path, as it was full of strong cold winds unlike the forest, wich had its trees to provide some cover.
Meanwhile on my territorial body, my level 2 Imp finished bringing the ratmen bodies to the Heart Core room with the exception of the matriarchs body.
Staring at the body pile, wich situated on the right side of the heart room, wich opposed to the gold pile.
"I remember!"
With haste, the imp picked up a ratman corpse and dragged it to the sleeping chamber.
"If I recall it, I think Blue's sleeping chamber had stuff hanging on the walls by the blue rubies."
As the Imp reached one of the walls inside the sleeping chamber with the body, the red ruby descended the wall while growing a red metal point wich allowed the Imp to stick the mouth of the ratman on it.
With the body in position, the red ruby ascended, returning to its place, and with it, the dead body followed.
The Imp repeated the same action for all the bodies, with the exception of the matriarch and cubs.
Only a few seconds passed, and four ratman hagged in the walls of the sleeping chamber, giving it some sort of decoration.
"That looks a bit better, but I wonder what would happen if I tried this on the food storage?"
With another order, the Imp was commanded to bring one of the four ratman bodies to the food storage, reaching the first wall section on the left, but, the Imp waited for nothing as the ruby did not descended.
"It doesn't count the meat of ratman as food?"
And so the Imp was ordered to return the body to the sleeping chamber.
"Now go get the matriarch's body." I commanded my level 2 Imp as he swiftly ran towards the big unclaimed room.
Back at Robur's exploration party.
(Hey Robur, still nothing?)
"No Boss, just trees and snow!" Robur informed me.
The goblin and the Imp kept walking, with each step, their feet would go deep under the snow, but unlike the mountain path's winds, Robur seemed not to be affected by the cold snow on his feet.
As the party started to go up a hill wich was also had part of the vast sea of trees, the reason they were going there was that after passing that hill, they could reach the roots of another mountain like the one they came from.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
(Robur, can you goblins eat Ratman?)
"Yes Boss, ratman meat tasty!" The goblin kept walking as he spoke, release a giggle. "kuk, but remove fur first, ratman fur, make stomach pain."
"So thats why the storage room did not accept the body..." I mumbled back at my heart core room.
(Can you remove the furs of the ratman when you return?)
"Robur follows Boss orders, will remove ratman fur!" The goblin punched his chest.
Suddenly the party stopped midway to the top, and crouched their bodies to the ground, several barking and growling sounds could be heard, coming from the other side of the hill.
(What am I hearing?)
"Mutts..." Robur said in a low voice. "Boss, what we do?"
"I wonder what mutts are? Can I make them my minions? Are they strong? How to they look?" With a bunch of mumbling questions on my heart core room and forgetting the choice of ignoring or retreating from that area, another order was given.
(Reach the top. I am interested in seeing those mutts!)
"Uh, yes Boss..."
Robur picked up his daggers, the level 3 Imp took out his pickaxe from his back and cautiously headed to the top.
Upon reaching the top, the goblin had laid down on the snow while the Imp remained a few steps back, watching the rear, the goblin slowly crawled to see what was happening on the other side.
"Blood smell..." Robur mumbled, the wind was against the party, bringing the scent of fresh blood.
"Boss, mutts fighting!" My goblin told me, staring at the scene of the conflict.
Just a few meters below Robur, several brown and gray furry blooded bodies laid spread on the ground, giving a new paint of red to the white mantle of snow.
They were wolves, with the same size as the normal ratman, two wolfpacks had been fighting to the death, dozens laid dead and in the middle of this battlefield, only two level 2 brown wolves remained alive, moving towards Robur, each had had a 40 on their loyalty status.
"Boss, look mutt cubs!" He informed me.
(For a second I thought they were moving against you.)
"No no no, Boss, Robur well hidden, wind good, mutts cannot find Robur." He spoke in a low voice.
I took a closer look at the cubs. They were gray, laying low right next to a dead gray wolf, wich would make impossible for me to notice them unless Robur had informed me.
(How many cubs are there? I can't see what their loyalty is with them sticking so close together!)
One of the brown wolves reached the gray cubs, picking one of them up and instantly breaking the neck's cub with his mouth.
Before the cub's death, I could see clearly, the cub had 70 loyalty.
(KILL THOSE FUCKING BROWN MUTTS NOW!)
Robur got startled by my raging voice, trembling for a second before giving me a reply.
"Y-Yes Boss! KILL!" The goblin roared as he stood up, with the Imp coming to his right side, giving a scary moment to the brown wolves wich made them stop from killing the other cubs.
The wolves moved upwards slowly, staring at the new enemies, giving a constant growl, prepared for the clash.
(You aren't going to throw a dagger?)
"Mutts fast Boss." Robur told me, he still stood his position, so I ordered the Imp to keep close as well.
Seeing the enemy holding position, the wolves charged forward, each aiming to strike a different enemy.
The first brown wolve reached Robur, jumping to bite his neck, in return, Robur took one step back and with his arm, he plunged a dagger right in the wolf, aiming for his neck, but instead, the dagger cut his way up and dived on his chin to the nose.
Robur had scored another instant kill.
The second brown wolf was more successful, jumping into the Imp, throwing him back and grabbing his left arm with his teeth, pushing and chewing, trying to rip it off, but suddenly, he decided to leave the Imp and take a few steps back.
With a last glance of the death wolf, the brown survivor wolf turned and simply ran away with haste.
"You won't escape from Boss!" Robur roared as he threw his daggers at the fleeing target, after dodging the first dagger, the brown wolf barked as the second one had hit his left back leg, making him lose balance and fall down the hill, hitting his head on a large random rock.
(Good job Robur!)
"Thanks Boss!" He punched his chest, proud of his victory.
While Robur went to fetch his weapons, the Imp was ordered to check the gray cubs.
"These Imps are weak in combat, but their stamina, resistance and recovering skills are broken... Heck, even their strength is amazing!" I mumbled as I saw my level 2 Imp bringing the matriarch corpse to the heart room and then checking the level 3 Imp's wounds.
Again in seconds, the Imp's wounds had been healed immediately once the fight was over, the same happened after the fight against the ratman matriarch.
The level 3 Imp reached the gray cubs position, only to be joined a few moments later by Robur.
I kept staring at what was left of the pack, 5 cubs remained, most of them remained next to the dead gray wolf, it seemed like it was their parent and the four of them trembled, scared of the Imp wich dwarfed the cubs.
The fifth cub, unlike the rest of his kin, was curious about their "rescuers" and slowly approached Robur.
"Boss, Robur kill cubs?" He asked, seeing the lone cub coming closing, thinking he was hostile.
(Do not harm them. I want them brought alive and well to me.)
I wanted them. One of my priorities was to get more minions, more minions than Blue, for some reason, I had the desire to reach and surpass Blue.
They had 70 loyalty, and there was no way for them to actually beat Robur, level 1 tiny cubs against a mature level 4 goblin armed with daggers?
My decision was that as long as I had mana, space and food, I would hoard anything above 60 loyalty with the exception of pink skins.
With a nob, Robur picked and held the lone cub on his arms, causing the little one to lick his greenish face.
"Boss, Robur likes this cub!" The goblin told me as he pats the cub, releasing a smile, in turn, the cub happily rubbed his head on Robur's right hand.
Meanwhile, the Imp picked the group of four cubs, giving no struggle, one by one they got into the warm Imp's back.
(Return home.)
"Boss, and mutt bodies?" Robur asked as he still pat the cub.
I took a look at the warzone, showing more than 40 dead wolves.
(How many bodies can you bring?) I asked the goblin.
"One, Boss" He replied.
(Very well, bring one then.)
As Robur picked one, I also ordered the Imp to bring what he could.
Since the Imp could not put his pickaxe on his back, he had to carry the weapon on his right hand, limiting him to bring two brown wolf bodies on his left shoulder wich required the support of his entire left arm to hold the loot.
Robur did the same, holding one brown wolf on his left right shoulder.
For a second Robur thought of bringing a second brown wolf, but immediately dismissed that option as the path to home was not completely safe.
Finally, the party started it's journey back home.
Day 1, 1st Month of the Winter Season, 600.AC