Chapter 4 - Orcs, Goblins n’ Building

“So… how close are we?”

Aqua’s question was met with a hum at first as my attention was aimed at the book I was reading.

“Very close,” I repeated like I did a few minutes ago.

I had long yielded any patience with the group as we were marching deep into the lands owned by the Orcs to loot some of their camps and, hopefully, free any prisoners so we could get more good reputation on our name.

Some of the money we had had been used to buy some books on a few basic things such as botany, basic crafting, and natural advice in regard to what berries could be eaten and what to avoid like the plague.

Now that I had the means to calmly expand my awareness of this world, I didn’t waste time understanding more of the differences between what was known to exist back home and what was here now as an unique element to its unusually verdant landscape.

Nature was magical, and magic was natural.

There were berries capable of being used for magical purposes or even as reagents within potions. Magic was something that was interesting to understand through the few tomes I left back ‘home’ with those that had magical affinity to look into- the basic introduction was that ‘magic exists and it is what gives us life one way or another’.

That was just the simple greeting to the topic, but the extensive lecture went through different readings depending on what God a given realm worshiped.

Buloger was one of the remnants of the Khazadur Religion, the others being the Serene Republic of Nalgarum and the Duchy of Doghrhia. It was the ‘original’ religion for the Dwarves before the reformed variant that was fully espoused by the Voghgran Empire, the Dunirr Religion.

The Khazadur Religion was championed by its highest deity, the Goddess of the Steps Aruhen. It was the Deity that ‘aided’ the Dwarves in moving around in various expeditions to secure all minerals and allow their great villages to prosper and expand rapidly compared to how humans and elves did.

However, that changed in what many defined as the coming of the ‘First Heroic Era’. Which was seemingly more epic than the Second Heroic Era we were in as the entire geopolitical world was shaken to the core.

Centuries ago, some really dangerous dark lord came close to actually exterminating all life on the planet. The reasoning was that he wanted for the world to be his by turning everything into undead beings, but such a move easily warranted a world-wide coalition that saw the ‘end’ of the First Kingdoms, and the establishment of what we have now in the maps as mythical soldiers and heroes went on to shape their respective societies in a way that even now was quite interesting.

An example of that was Endalia, the prime Human Empire within the Continent that was formed by Endalus, the First Hero. Voghgran was forged by the hero Voghgranei the Bold, a firm believer of the second most renown deity within the Khazadur Religion and the God of Wisdom, Dunirrai- hence the name ‘Dunirr’ for the Religion.

History goes that a civil war ensued, and various other political problems in the last century led to Buloger being born together with the other Khazadur States. It was extensive, but I couldn’t find books that fully elaborated on that. I just knew that there was a point A, then a point B, then numerous others and then we were here- hunting down orcs while I plotted a potential change of leadership for the Principality.

I had to plan this carefully, but if we wanted to avoid issues in the near future about the chances of ‘aggressive repopulation’ of the Kobold-kind, it was best to get in a better position to hold our grounds against anything or anyone trying to kill us.

Our little stroll outdoors ultimately took us through three camps which we managed to clean without any issue. It was all done quietly and through some time-draining efforts to ultimately see the empty bags we were carrying filled up with more gold and gems. We also found a few better weapons which we used to replace our cheaper stuff. Our struggles saw the freeing of about a dozen Dwarves that had been kidnapped and kept for either ransom or as food by the Orcs.

The notion that these Orcs were more than happy to eat meat from speaking beings made their extermination easier in my heart. Likewise, the overall resources we found gave me a deep concern on the ‘small issue’. The guards that told me about this situation were right- it was not too widespread… but the small tribes had managed to take so many resources from the Capital it was absurd to think that it was acceptable.

I knew the Dwarves all around this continent had defunded their army to sustain their sudden departure from their mineral-seeking traditions, but this was just… ridiculous.

Then we went through the last camp to clean up and, once we were done with the orcs, we went to free the prisoners. Two Dwarves, which thanked us and bolted towards where we told them the capital was with some food and water for the trip, and… three Goblins.

When one brings up the ‘Green Fiends’ in a fantasy world, their description is far from positive. They were the equivalent of the dumbest monsters in many worlds, slimes being a close match-up but, even then, it was a proper living being competing with a ball of water and it wasn’t a good way to put up with this kind of reputation.

Still, what I found there in those cages were… three very frustrating bootlickers.

“Mastah!” One of them exclaimed thankfully while bowing and praying in my direction. “So Kind. Mastah’s kind!”

“Yas! Kind! So kind!”

“Our Mastah!”

I let them thank me like that for a while, my brain needing a moment to get back on track with what I was looking at. They all had green skin, but their eyes bore some lucid intelligence, they could manage speaking with broken grammar and had some hair compared to the standard bald goblin I was familiar with from fiction.

“Uh… Don’t you have a home or something?”

“Yas, we have home. But Mastah is now Mastah,” One of them answered and the others nodded.

“What if I just decided to take you back to your home and let you be there?”

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

They all looked a bit nervous at this question which really didn’t help my confusion find an end.

“W-Why? We bad or- or is because we are hairy?”

“No,” I hummed calmly, glancing around and seeing that the other Kobolds were watching the exchange quietly. “What I mean is that you could go home safely as I see no issue with not having you as my minions but… I have a feeling there’s more to this. Why are you afraid of going back to your own home?”

“Well-” One started, getting elbowed by another as they didn’t look that happy with this turn of events.

“Out with the truth. Now.”

They all gulped nervously at once.

“We- Life bad at home.”

Nods ensued in agreement to that simple statement.

“Chief good but chief also not good at keeping away nasty Orcs.”

“A-And food not always. Hunting is scary, lots of scary things trying to kill Gobs!”

“I see…” I remarked, wrapping up what I heard in a single thought. “So, you were looking forward to being taken in by a Master that would have given you a better life, regardless of how I look and what I could do to you.”

They all grinned at this. “Mastah is not bad or ugly. Mastah is Mastah.”

“Yas, Mastah is also nice, he frees us and treats us nice. That’s kind.”

“Mastah’s kind!”

“...Well, what can you do?” I asked, just trying to humor their idea a bit.

“Oh oh! I build,” One quickly jumped, but the two other goblins scoffed. “What?”

“We build, dummy. We know- the entire village knows.”

I frowned in surprise. “You are all builders?”

“Kinda. We help building walls and huts. We good at that because done that a lot. Even as kiddies.”

That’s… very interesting.

“What if… you worked for me, not as servants or slaves but genuine workers? To build things.”

“That would be nice.”

“Yeah.”

They all seemed to agree to this.

“And how would the rest of your village agree to this deal?”

They all looked confused for a moment, but their brains combined seemed to realize what I was looking forward to doing and the answer I got was positive.

It may not be what I planned to do today, but I guess I could indulge the idea of creating a business in Gurlodir…

—-------d-d-d-d—----

“When I took you in, out of my good will, I didn’t expect you to cause a huge mess during your second day here in Gurlodir.”

I would have loved to smile at this achievement, but I was tired after going through hours of grueling searching from the guards of the capital for any surprise in the entire village of Goblins that had followed us here.

Those prisoners we freed were able to vouch for the green guys’ good behavior, but it was better safe than sorry- and right now I was safe and not sorry at all for this ‘mess’.

As the trio had promised, their boss had indeed taken the deal with ease, accepting being my ‘second in command when it comes to Goblin businesses’ in return for a secure and safe way to acquire food, warm beds and more things their village couldn’t guarantee.

I managed to keep them all calm and tame during the checking by promising them to pay them a good meal once we were there and… that was the case. They had a big meal as we were able to get a big table out of the inn near our home and set them up for a feast.

Once that was done, I used some of the loot we made to provide them with a big building to stay at, paying the first two months of the rent early on. At this very moment, I was in charge of twenty nine Goblins including their former Chief. It wasn’t much for an army, but it was good for the very reason I was here, in front of Kara, ready to sign a deal with her if I was lucky enough to convince her with this business proposal.

“Sorry?”

“Don’t. I can tell you don’t mean it,” The redhead remarked, sighing calmly as she regarded me with a frown. “So, what’s your plan with the Goblins?”

“They are good at building stuff, so I was planning to open a construction business.”

…

“I am sorry, did you just say you want to employ Goblins to build around the capital?”

“In due time, yes,” I answered, agreeing why she would be nervous at this dangerous business venture. “But I had the means to verify that they are good builders if given proper education.”

“...What do you want?” She asked. “Skip to the point, I don’t like playing around something insane or extremely good.”

“Do you know people that can train them with the means to build with the materials used to make things in town?”

“I do. And I can forward some names if you tell me what I would gain from it,” Kara argued. “Look, Pyro, I like you as someone with a smart head on your tiny shoulders, but I have to make some income from this.”

“Which is why I can give you two things to make you interested in investing,” I shot back while handing her a simple paper. “Read it.”

The girl picked the paper, read it, and then handed it back unimpressed. “Is there a reason why you’re giving me a diary page of someone in your group?”

“That’s a page written by a formerly illiterate Goblin. One that received two hours of peace to read a book of grammar about Dwarfish and conjured that page.”

Kara’s dry look morphed into a shocked one. “You’re lying.”

“I am not. And I will give you something even better,” I readied the next document as I said that. “Check this one now.”

She did, and this time, there was no disbelief. “These numbers, the proportions… how? I can tell it’s a Goblin’s work, but how?”

“Goblins are actually fast-learners,” I dropped the truth instantly, knowing it was just too insane to believe but… yes, this was how I interpreted it after experimenting on some Goblin’s capacity to memorize new things. “The reason why this is not a known fact is because it’s Goblins and no one would try to get too close to them or… use them in a situation beyond combat. I suspected as much when I found their village- the walls were way too well-proportioned, and their huts were provided with perfect sizes depending on three different styles meant for a single individual and families of various sizes.”

Kara’s shocked look was amusing, but it was her greedy eyes that were twinkling with renewed intrigue that really had me ready to cash in an important step forward with this idea.

“I will help,” She started to say, “But I want the first two commissions discounted by a fifth of its original price.”

“A sixth, and that’s because I can’t haggle with a pretty woman.”

She snorted, smiling viciously. “Cheeky, but I will allow it. Fine, then we have a deal.”

We shook hands and… I held back a chuckle at how this was how Kara gave me the means to ultimately conquer the entire principality once I got this business started.