Nia, Ben, I'll be leaving soon, I need to make a short trip to Jizhen.
As little Ben continued to hop around his father in joy, only Nia seemed to be curious about her father's words.
"All the way to Jizhen? But why?"
Benjamin pulled the rope tied behind him forward presenting the three goblins in tow, seeing this, Nia jumped in fright while Ben just looked on curiously.
"Dad, those, those are?"
Nodding his head he confirmed Nia's thoughts.
"Goblins, I caught these three after they tried to kill Jack, so now I'm going to Jizhen to sell'em. Hmm, I know, I'll buy you two a gift while I'm there, so tell me, what do my two little monsters want?"
After hearing her fathers words, Nia's heart calmed a bit, seeing the goblins at first scared her but knowing her father was in control comforted her. To Nia, her dad was the strongest in the entire world, when it came to the men in the village there was none who could compete with him, whether it be in strength or speed. Thinking back, she had witnessed her father throw a 1000 lb boulder before, not only that, when her father moved, he was so fast his body would become blurry to the eye. To Nia, there was nothing her father couldn't do.
Ben's shout of joy brought Nia back to reality.
"Toy, toy, I want lots of toys."
"Hahaha, my son, don't be greedy, I'll get you one toy and that's it."
Little Ben's face went pale immediately, as though he just heard the worlds most devastating news. He looked at his father with tears and was about to cry when Benjamin said.
"Ok ok I'll get you 2 toys but nothing more and next time I go to town you'll get nothing do you understand."
Ben's smile once more returned to his face and he again began jumping up and down in joy. Benjamin looked at Nia and asked.
"What about you, is there anything you want?"
Nia pondered and pondered but couldn't really think of anything, finally, she thought of something but before she spoke her father shouted.
"Oh, I know, a doll, I'll get you a beautiful little doll, how's that?"
The last thing Nia wanted was a doll, she was already 11 and thought if she were to be caught playing with a doll others would laugh at her. After her mother died, for the past few years she had been mostly taking care of her Little brother as well as her father. When it came to chores she did them, the cleaning the cooking, watching over her brother, feeding and changing him, washing everyone's clothes. Although it was hard work for one so young, Nia had become proud of herself, she even thought herself to be a bit mature, so if she were to have a doll she felt it would crush some of her image she had built up. Looking at her father, she puffed out her cheeks and said.
"Dad I'm not a baby anymore, there's no way I'd want something so childish such as a doll."
Benjamin misinterpreted this as Nia being shy and smiled and shook his head in understanding.
"I get it I get it, I won't get you a doll."
As he said this though, he gave Nia a small wink. This only made Nia grow angry, of course, her father didn't understand her, he never does. Stomping her feet, Nia said again, this time more forcefully.
"What was that wink for? Dad, I'm serious, do not get me a doll there for babies."
Finally, Benjamin seemed to get it, patting Nia's head he said.
"You may be growing but you'll always be my little monster. Ok, so what does my little grown-up monster want me to get her?"
Nia became a bit shy with her father patting her head and slightly stepped back, fidgeting where she stood she whispered.
"A dress."
Benjamin teasingly leaned his head over with his hand to his ear.
"Huh, what was that you said, you want a bird's nest. I've got to admit that's pretty weird Nia, what do you want a bird's nest for?"
Nia's face grew red from embarrassment, she had clearly said dress and now her dad was teasing her. Not only that, little Ben was looking at her as though she was weird as well. Little Ben had heard dress as well but hearing his father say bird nest, he immediately believed he had misheard his sister. Nia's face was becoming a finer shade of red at every passing second, she was on the pinnacle of tears, seeing this, Benjamin knew he messed up. As Nia was about to turn around and run away, Benjamin suddenly said.
"What color dress do you want?"
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After all, was said and done, Benjamin asked one of the neighbors to help check in on his kids while he was away and with that, he went back to the village square. Looking at everyone gathered together, there were 2 fully loaded horse-drawn carts, unfortunately, there were no horses in the entire village, therefore 10 men had volunteered to make the trip to Jizhen. Some would pull the carts full of goods while others would walk, in this way, they would take turns until their journey had finished.
It was at this time that the unconscious goblin finally awoke. Looking around, this goblin immediately grew panicked.
(Where the hell am I?)
Looking around he could see human after human as well as ugly human buildings and ugly human faces, he was in a human village surrounded on all sides by the enemy. When the other two goblins noticed their companion awaken, they instantly grew excited. In their own goblin language, the three goblins began to converse with one another, in the end, the goblin that just woke up came to a conclusion.
"So what your saying, is that human male over there is incredibly strong and he was the one who swiftly knocked me out before I could use my magic."
The two other goblins nodded there head repeatedly.
"I see and he's the one that slaughtered our friends."
Once more the other two goblins nodded in affirmation.
"Damn these filthy humans, they cross our border, they break the agreement themselves and then after we enact justice, all of our friends end up being massacred and now we're to be sold as slaves. Fucking humans."
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(This man, he wants me to be a slave, I wonder how he'll feel when the reverse happens to him, hehehe. Due to the agreement I swore an oath to never cross these borders and yet I'm forcibly made to cross them by this human scum, I will make this human suffer the most.)
With these thoughts, this goblin began to gather magical energy from the world around him but before even an ounce of magical energy poured into him, he suddenly felt something. Instantly this goblin cut the absorption and canceled out his own magical power, causing a small backlash on his mind.
(Ugh my head, damn this backlash, every time I have to forcibly cut off absorbing magical energy or I cancel out my own spell, this stupid backlash hits me. If it were just the mental fatigue I could somehow manage but the fact that a backlash causes pain at the least and death at its worst is so fucking stupid. But if I hadn't canceled my magic, then whoever is guarding this place would have noticed me and since this is a human village, that person would almost be guaranteed to be human. This power fluctuation, this human is at least a 2nd circle mage, damn, I can't beat that, I'm no match right now.)
This goblin shook his head at his two companions, disappointing them greatly before he said.
"There's a 2nd circle mage somewhere within this village, I can't beat him, so for now, we'll have to wait until were some distance away from this ugly human place."
The two other goblins nodded and could only wait for their escape. Meanwhile, the carts were finally loaded up completely with goods to be traded in the town of Jizhen. With the carts loaded and the men ready to go, the small caravan began to move forward. As the caravan was leaving the village square, suddenly, a piercing scream was heard from behind.
*AHHHHHHHHHHH*
A young woman could be seen running toward the caravan, in her hand, a sword was drawn and as she swung it around violently she screamed.
"You goblins, you fucking vile goblins, my Thomas, you killed my beloved. I... I... I'll fucking kill you."
The woman ran up to the front of the caravan hoping to chop all three goblins into pieces. Before she could get to them though, Jack jumped out from one of the carts tackling this seemingly crazed woman to the ground.
"Why are you stopping me? They killed, they killed my Thomas, my husband. Let me go I have to, for what they've done they must be punished."
This young woman broke down in tears and she cried sorrowfully in Jack's embrace. Jack had told her just before they had left about what had happened to him and Thomas in the forest. He couldn't predict that as soon as he left she would grab Thomas's sword and race after them in madness. All he could do was hug her tight in silence, as the proper words he wished to use to try and comfort her wouldn't form. As the woman cried with raw emotion, the other men in the caravan couldn't help but look over in pity. Some for her loss and some for how stupid Jack and Thomas were. For them to be so excited by wild game, that they wouldn't notice they were in enemy territory, how foolish could one be?
After a few minutes, the young ladies tears quietly came to a stop. Standing up, Jack said a few words.
"Please go home, there's nothing to be done, you should go pray for your husband's soul in hopes that he finds some semblance of peace."
With that, Jack jumped back onto one of the carts and signaled for the caravan to move forward once more. As the wooden wheels on the carts began to squeak with movement, the woman once again moved forward, at first a steady slow walk and when she thought she was close enough, she bursts into a mad sprint, seeing this someone yelled out.
"Jack, look out, she's going for it again."
Jack again moved to tackle her but this time the young lady was ready, she agilely dodged Jack and headed for the goblins frightening them as she swung her sword. The tip of the blade was aiming for instant death and the lady slashed violently but before she could kill them, suddenly, a fist came flying.
*THWACK*
With a heavy impact, Benjamin had squarely punched the woman in her stomach, causing her to fly off for several feet before a second impact came as her back struck a tree. Collapsing to the ground in pain, the woman lurched over gripping her stomach tightly as she began to hurl. Seeing this, Benjamin was slightly pissed, he wasn't quite paying attention and had eased his guard. Although he stopped the young lady from killing the goblins, Benjamin had been slow and the lady had sliced off one of the goblin's ears. Before he even left the village, the value of his goods had already gone down. As the goblin was riving in pain, Benjamin couldn't help but look on in anger.
"It's just a fucking ear, shut up!!"
With this roar, he instantly silenced the once screaming goblin. Although the goblin was still in great agony, its sense of fear overwhelmed its sense of pain by a small margin, causing it to bite its lower lip to try and relieve some of the pain. Jack wanted to help the young lady up but with a quick look at Benjamin, he automatically threw that thought away. This incident had already caused a delay and looking at Benjamin, he seemed to be growing more and more impatient. So even though Jack wished to help, he couldn't dare to anger Benjamin any further. Once more, Jack signaled for the caravan to head out, with a single shout he yelled.
"Forward."
The other men in the caravan once again looked at the young lady with pity but they also knew she was in the wrong. To damage, something that belonged to Benjamin was like stealing money directly from his pockets. What person would be ok with that, let alone someone like Benjamin and who in their right mind would go to bat for someone that was clearly in the wrong, especially up against Benjamin? As the woman lay curled up in a ball gripping her stomach in agony, she shed tear after tear, as a hatred filled her eyes, whether it was for the goblins or for Benjamin no one knew.