Chapter 6: Status report
Naps were important to Scitus, he would often use naps to clear his mind of every little thought he had. If Scitus didn't do this at least once a day, his mind would become cluttered with unwanted thoughts and as he often put it, "uses too much of my RAM." Once his naps were over, he would stare into space for short or long periods of times depending on what needed thinking.
During these moments of deep thought, very few things could break him out of this state, even hunger disappeared from his mind.
Scitus opened his eyes and was greeted by the soft blowing leaves of a tree. He sat up, now knowing what he would have to do. First, he would ask Seresa for a report, then he would plan the rescue accordingly. His eyes searched from the young goblin, he was proud to say he could now identify six specific goblins.
He found her next to three other goblins who at the time were crafting another axe, some of their supplies had been stolen, but only what the invaders could carry.
“Seresa," Scitus called as he looked around him. A sense of pride filled his chest knowing that the goblins had made progress without him.
“Why brother dumb!!” Scitus stopped, from far away it had appeared as if she was instructing them. The Reality, she was simply berating her younger brother.
“but…” William tried defending himself; then, with an angered wave of her hands, she prevented her brother from speaking and continued her tirade.
“No, but!! William listen!” She pointed to her brother and then moved her thumb between her chest, ”big sister, listen." William pointed his finger at Scitus, who stood directly behind Seresa. She reflexively looked back to find Scitus scowling at her. "Master!!” Startled, she moved a single leg back but calmed herself, remembering that Scitus promised to never hurt them. “Look angry, not angry.” She thought to herself.
“William protect others.” Robin, who had just finished creating his axe, decided it was the right time to step into the conversation. He understood Seresa to a degree, no one wanted to lose family, but William was a Hero. He put himself in front of an insurmountable force to protect his kin.
Scitus placed his palm on Seresa's head and lowered himself to meet her gaze, "William protect." This ended her passionate rant. As Scitus removed his palm; he noted that her hair was now visible, he then turned to William and Robin and noted the same. Their biology was changing, and the reason likely laid with him.
A large creature, known as an ogre, invaded the city. He was described as having muscles bigger than a human head, a height twice the size of Scitus and legs more muscular the horses. This description took Seresa thirty minutes to create. Scitus wasn’t angry, this was a matter of their language. Descriptions beyond a simple, “he big, he strong” was nearly impossible to do under ten minutes. Seresa, in Scitus’s opinion, did a fantastic job describing the ogre in as little time as possible. Then came the army description, Seresa planned to describe every creature the best she could, but just as she was about to start, an oil lantern lit above her head with an ingenious idea.
Scitus was sitting on a log, listening to Seresa, "wait!!!" She shouted as she ran halfway across the grass field. She returned ten minutes later with Three goblins. She pushed the first goblin forward, who trembled in fear of Scitus. "BLACK!!" She yelled then covered her nose as she shook her head in disgust. With her description done she told the first goblin to leave. She did the same with the remaining to goblins. They felt terrified and confused and didn’t understand the purpose until much later when they learned to speak English. Scitus smiled to himself, though from the outside he looked bored and irritated. Seresa wasn’t deterred, she already knew he wasn’t the most expensive person. She almost pitied him since expressions were a matter of life and death for Goblins.
When she finished her energetic description of invaders, Scitus looked at her, William and Robin. Above their heads were the words.
LOYAL
To Scitus, loyalty was important to a country, absolute loyalty from a few individuals was paramount for a successful nation. He hoped that Seresa would be one of those Few that were undyingly loyal to him because he wanted to a secretary of sorts. She had the capacity for the position, she only needed training. She would be burdened with more responsibilities than ever before, but her help would be integral to the nation, especially if Scitus wanted the country to grow beyond just a few goblins.
First, he would teach them arithmetic. Mathematics was Necessary for construction and keeping track of their food. Scitus knew he could do all of this for them, but he wanted them to grow, create and plan without him. He was still human in mind and body, "I won't always be around for them" he thought.
As he thought of their steady growth, his mind wondered onto to another potential problem. The food stock had grown to nearly triple the necessary, monthly, amount. Scitus was glad that the food stock had grown, but he found it odd that there was still so much.
Then there was the matter of the trees. He never directly ordered for the trees to be cut, he simply had them marked for chopping. He asked Seresa how she knew that he wanted the trees cut down.
Seresa wrinkled her face as if thinking the best way she could describe WHY. WHY a Goblin does something is almost never asked because it is almost never necessary, they simply do what they must. This made it very difficult for her to pinpoint her own reasoning; but as her brain’s gears began to turn, she found her answer.
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“One time, Seresa see, big human place, Human use lots, trees. Master look human, master use trees.” She said nodding to herself, almost a bit proud that she managed to think of such complex thought. The logic was odd and segmented, but it was an abstract thought. She Answered WHY. This was when Seresa realized that something was changing inside her. Scitus had changed them, these dots lit up to form another complex emotion, an emotion she didn’t have a word for. Trying to find this unnamed emotion was difficult and even more frustrating; If she could attach the emotion into two words they would be, “Thank you.” Scitus tilted his head wondering why he was being thanked. The word she so desperately searched for was an emotion between gratitude and comfort.
“Good job.” Seresa instinctually moved closer to Scitus, she was expecting a pat on the head like all the times before. She was met with a firm grasp of her shoulders from behind. The surprise from behind came with a squeal that could only be described as cute. Seresa's blood rushed to her cheeks. She made an odd sound in front of Scitus, this emotion was also new.
“If Brother do good, Master compliment too!!!” She said as she pinched and shook her younger brother’s ears for startling her.
“Big sister, great!!” William said sarcastically, this prompted an eruption of laughter from Scitus. His laughter brought about his own downfall as the log he sat on rolled and he fell to the grass floor. Even when knocked to the floor he couldn't contain his laughter, seeing such a wonderful sibling rivalry made him forget of all his worries and regrets. He thought of Alejandra and how happy she must have been to have siblings.
The three goblins rushed to him, worried for their god. Scitus stood up and brushed the dirt off his clothing. “I okay.” He eased their worries as a few giggles escaped his lips. Then, as if the previous five minutes had been a fantasy, his face turned cold.
“Max, Know where ogre king?” He had asked Robin, who had accompanied William. They wanted to ask him something.
“yes, I also know.” Robin straightens his back, as they looked each other in the eye. Robin wanted to go save them and was glad his god was also planning a rescue.
“Will, master fight King ogre?” The question was a test. Robin trusted Scitus but the question was the final test, the answer of which would either guarantee or break his loyalty.
Scitus closed his eyes as he called for the answer. He swept through the dozens of possible options that came to him but in the end reached a single conclusion, one that surprised the two warriors.
“No.” The ogre was too strong, he decimated William, the strongest fighter, and nearly killed him. From what Seresa told him, it was a single kick to the stomach that nearly ended Williams life. Going out to fight them was suicide.
Robins Demeanor instantly changed and Williams change wasn't far behind. Disappointment changed their expression, not anger.
“But! Cecilia, Thomas, danger!” The two, shout in unison. Their Ties were strong, not just between William and Robin, but between all the goblins in the tribe. He understood their need to be rash and rush out to save them, but a plan was required for a successful rescue. The two goblins wanted to go in head first and beat the ogre king and his goblin army, an already proven impossible feat for their tribe.
“We save, Thomas, we save Cecilia.” The rescue would happen, but not in the way the Goblins had thought. Scitus had already come up with a plan, a plan that was dependent on the Goblins ability to learn quickly.
“we save Thomas, we save Cecilia, we no fight ogre.” All three Goblins tilted their head to the side. No matter how many times they thought, they couldn't find an answer to his response. To them, fighting was the only way to achieve their Goals. Deceit and cunning were foreign to them, though Seresa unknowingly dabbled in it on occasion.
“Robin, bring father” Robin quickly left to heed his god's order, Scitus then turned to William.
“William, bring all strong goblin” William swiftly left in search of the strongest goblins in the tribe.
The first step of his plan was about to start, now he only needed the answer to one question.
“seresa, where food?” She tilted her head and raised a brow. Then, after a few more seconds of thought, her eyes lit up and gave a firm nod.
Beyond the grass field and through the northwest side forest, if a person walked for little more than ten minutes, a flowing river existed. This river was the reason That Scitus chose the field to set up the City, he saw it with his Divine Sight ability. The river was an oddity when considering the desert that surrounded the Oasis. Odd but Scitus knew it wasn’t rare, he had already seen one other river elsewhere. Scitus had already scanned the water to inspect for dangerous bacteria, parasites, and viruses. To his delight; the river was completely clean, to the point of being unnatural.
Seresa guided Scitus to this river and explained, "Ogre steal food, but not god, food." She then Reveled jerky hidden beneath a large piece of tree bark. This bark had two heavy stones placed on both sides to prevent the river from carrying it. The jerky was dirty but not inedible. The sight of this brought Scitus shame. He had forgotten that he was a god, the jerky was seen to be as an offering. The jerky wasn’t completely ready when he vanished and thus never had the opportunity to explain to them that it was for them.
“We hide, important” Seresa explained the importance of the Jerky. To her, and everyone else, the jerky was a symbol of their loyalty to Scitus. Offerings are so that their god does not abandon them. Scitus felt shame that he hadn’t realized his position in the tribe and caused the Tribe to waste time on something as important as an offering.
Scitus kneeled near the edge of the river, “Not offering.” He explained, “This food.” He picked a piece of jerky, bit into it, and gave the other half of the jerky to Seresa.
"Not offering?" She said as she grabbed hold of the jerky. She held it gently and with care, she couldn’t fight the idea of it being a holy offering.
"eat." Scitus urged her to break free from the idea. She looked at it and only after further assurance from Scitus, did she take a bite out of the jerky. Her eyes sparkled as the new sensation assaulted her taste buds. The salt, along with the taste of the tendered meat was completely new to her and she loved it. In a matter of seconds, she devoured the piece of jerky and licked her fingers trying to eat the salt left on them. Her eyes couldn't help but turn to the remaining pieces of jerky, she wanted more.
Salt wasn't as common as Scitus had hoped, but it was enough to salt the meat and turn it into jerky. In the future, he wanted to mine even more salt, since salt had far more uses than just preservation. He also knew that even if he found a salt mine, he wouldn't be able to start mining salt since it was incredibly dangerous work, mostly from the lack of technology.
“we bring later.” Scitus said as he stood up. The goblins had made enough jerky to last two months, the rest of the food was unpreserved dear meat. They were eating it raw, as they always did. The only difference was a dramatic increase in deer hunting. They were hunting beyond what they could consume in a single day, he would have to teach them to cut back on their hunting.
Seresa stood up, wiped the wet soil on her knees and happily skipped behind Scitus. Her admiration for Scitus grew a little more that day.