We reached the remains of the camp a day sooner than expected, and it was in the state I supposed I would find it.

The many tents were trashed on the dirt, and skeletal remains of the slain littered the ground still wearing their armor. Nature had begun to reclaim the area with bushes and green grass. I commanded the group to salvage whatever they could, gather it all in one spot at the center of our new camp, and begin deciding where they would make their living spaces.

A part of me felt a sharp pain in my chest when I laid eyes on the remains of Makur's tent, but it quickly faded as the cold wind carried dust as it blew, a reminder to not dwell in the past.

I walked around the camp silently and reached the spot that belonged to me before, I lifted the tattered remains of the tent and found the mortar and pestle I made to make Maeld's drugs. I would be able to make better medicine and maybe some of the poisons I learned as well, there was much to do.

Once nightfall came the camp had been cleaned and the barricades put back in their places. The Huani took the southeast part of the camp while the hobgoblins settled southwest. I decided to stay where Makur once slept. And once everyone carried their tents and managed to get them correctly placed we went to sleep for the night.

Andrei avoided my gaze and jumped when I approached him, but for a few hours, he kept sharing with me the knowledge he possessed. Mainly regarding roads and the use of horses. He explained that compared to the Luath kingdom the Tsardom refrain from using Inhumans as a labor force, I asked for more information but he denied knowledge besides that they were changed humans to fit specific purposes, using Starblood.

During the next day, everyone got their hands on the axes orcs used to cut wood for the campfires and we began falling trees, there are now eleven of us in total, a far cry from a war band but enough to start getting somewhere. The plan was to clear out some of the surrounding forests to get a better view of any possible threat.

Jorr's knowledge came in handy. He explained that the spot we were in was the middle of the green zone of the Farwoods, the name that monsters use to refer to these dense forests away from human contact. That all the northwest part of the woods that stretches thinly between the Mother mountains, the half-moon-shaped mountains that separate the human lands from the rest of Volatia, was sparsely inhabited by creatures and was rich in game thanks to the path that cuts through the mountains at each extreme of this zone.

To the west, the mountain range gave way to the enormous and choking forests of the Ahajhalnar, the Elves, from where much of the most carnivorous and larger predators poured in, the prey coming from the great plains in the east. But thanks to the elves being the only dominant people inside the Endless Green, the name of the vast land covered by the giant trees, no invasive monsters poured into the human lands.

While at the east, once again cutting through the mountains, there was the Valley of Uj, where a large river went from the great plains further east of Volatia into this zone. It was along the shores of this valley that his people lived. Only rarely having to fight off invasive Gnolls that decided to try their luck away from the plains they inhabit, usually tired of fighting the Orcota people, also known as Orcs, who have made several kingdoms surrounding the Nest of Dragons, the largest and most dangerous mountain in all of Volatia.

I was a little surprised to learn so much from him, but he explained that Hobgoblins try a lot to distance themselves from their ancient brethren, the goblins. Hobgoblins take great care in stories passed from word of mouth, keeping no written knowledge and utilizing poems to tell those stories. The Lorekeepers acted as chieftains of their people and their greatest tale is that of Komur, a hobgoblin that led the rebellion against the King of Dragons, the name they use to refer to the evil emperor Andrei told me about.

All of this while I joined in the effort to cut down trees, the Huani were still feeble thanks to the meager feeding they had as slaves but though their thin bodies left much to be desired now, there was no question they would be very powerful once they regained their strength. Jorr didn't have much of an interest to tell me about his people, or at least, nothing he wanted to share.

I took this chance to approach the Huani, Nojus specifically since he seemed the oldest and the other younger ones still seemed to regard me as some type of nuisance, although they knew better than to say anything to my face or act up in my presence, at least for now.

There wasn't much to share about the Huani, apparently, they were once humans bred and created with Starblood to aid in the centuries-long war against the emperor of Volatia, but as time passed they went from renowned heroes to little more than slaves, so several prominent and mighty warriors banded together and ravaged Luath, gathering every one of their kind they could find and fleeing into the Tsardom, where the thick woods and hills made for a perfect place to start a new.

Thanks to the Tsardom's military might none of the warlords were able to carve out a kingdom, which led to further fragmentation and the formation of hundreds of clans no bigger than a hundred or two hundred Huani at a time. Their name was chosen by themselves, combining Huate which means Human in Akani, and Ani, which means free. Their language is a mixture of Akani and Svoloka, the language of the Tsardom.

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Clans were all different, usually led by males who are always bigger and stronger than females, and following one or several of the Princes. A religion focused on the worshipping of the seven sons of the emperor, the seven dragons. He didn't know much about the other six but his clan prayed to Uperbis, the golden dragon of pride and family.

Besides that, they were pretty similar to both the Luath people and the Tsardom. Relying on the use of the woods to lay traps and attack their enemies like the Tsardom and also take great pride in their Medved, half-bears, and half-bird beasts that act as their horses in their cavalry charges, tactic taken from the Luath kingdom.

An hour before sunset everyone was tired and I told them the location of a nearby stream of water where they could bathe and the Huani cheered in joy, it made me remember how the orcs took great care of their hair, and with how much fur the Huani have, it was no wonder that the idea of a bath even in this cold was extremely elating.

In groups of three, they went to the stream and returned half an hour later, until it was almost midnight and I decided to go last. Once I reached I undressed and stared at my naked body for the first time in a long while. I had not realized just how dirty I was until now when I saw the coarse and almost brownish tint of my skin.

I scrubbed with my hands and cleaned myself as best as possible, noticing the toned and defined musculature I have come to possess, I was thin and nimble, but the constant walking, running and fighting had made me very well-defined. I lay a hand on my chest, a handmade necklace hanging from it, the bronze ring I took from Fogosh hanging right atop the scar on my chest.

One day I would find him, I needed to grow this warband and fast, but at least now we were in a good spot to rest, train, and grow. There was still the destroyed tower where I would eventually have to go, look for any signs of Fogosh and check the trapdoor where Makur had hidden all that armor and weapons, too big for goblins, but the perfect size for the Huani.

After a while, I was much cleaner and freezing to death. So I step away from the stream and wait a bit for my body to dry, to not wet my clothes and get sick later on. To pass the time and get some heat in my body I decided to walk along the stream, further north. The orange leaves of the trees adorned the grass and the owls and insects gave life to my surroundings.

With the soothing sound of the running stream and its mossy rocks, I took in the nature all around me. Ever since I came to be in this world I have lived inside forests, sometimes like a wild animal and others, like a chained dog. But thinking back on the camp that awaited me, I realized this was the first time I walked through this forest as a leader.

My thoughts got interrupted when I laid eyes on the rustled leaves and clear markings on the ground at the other side of the stream, I got across and kneeled in front of them. My time in the woods had made me used to catching on signs of predators, and I had learned to recognize many of their footprints.

I knew that what lay in front of me was a pack of wolves, many times larger than I had ever seen before. But what got my attention the most was that some paws were significantly larger, at least twice the size, and looked a little more like hands than true paws. There were also marks of boots and naked feet, for the size I had to assume belonged to goblins.

But the most alarming of all was a paw almost bigger than my entire torso. A pack led by a great beast? We were far from the entrance of the Endless Green at the west, and in truth, this paw couldn't belong to the massive monsters I gazed upon so long ago. And what about the goblins? All of this reeked of Fogosh and judging by the direction of the marks this group came from further north, rested nearby, and then left back from where they came from.

These marks are a few days old at most, and this stream is merely fifteen minutes away from the camp. Meeting Fogosh again may come sooner than I expected.

There was nothing else to gather from what I could see, so I turned around and made my way back to where I left my clothes, of course, I held on to my war picks.

Once there I began dressing, but when I was finishing putting on my furry boots a particular smell invaded my nose, it was faint, but just enough to take over all my thoughts, Immediately I knew what this smell was. A virgin.

I already knew who it belonged to, but it had been so long that my body moved almost on its own, for too long I had been surrounded by foul stenches and men, or overwhelmed by a plethora of aromas all at once.

Soon, I stood behind some bushes and laid eyes on Lina, the Huani bathed in the middle of the stream, using a bucket to pour water and clean her dirty fur. Once again I felt the heat rising, my eyes fixated on her subtle yet feminine curves, her gray fur turned white now that it had been washed, and she hummed a song peacefully as she scrubbed away the filth.

Maeld flashes before my eyes.

Her touches, her lying eyes, the now sickening taste of her lips. It tainted everything it touched, rotting it and turning a hardon into a hardnone. In a way, I was grateful for it, if I wanted to truly grow and not let my goblin instincts get in the way, I needed to gain mastery of both the common lust and bloodlust.

Besides, peeping? I almost chuckled.

Or perhaps, not almost. I had already turned around when I heard the hissing, and when I looked at Lina I saw her standing straight, facing me without any apparent shame. However, she did lay her hands behind her, I had noticed it when I saw her first, but she once possessed a tail and it had been cut off almost at the root, did that embarrass her?

"Disgusting!" She shouted at me, not embarrassed perhaps, but still appalled at me peeping. I hear something not too far away.

I had no desire to retort or attempt to clean my name, after all, I did come here knowing what I would find. So I simply turn around once more and walk away. I can hear her mutter insults at me until I stop at the spot where I heard movement. And someone was here before me, I think of the marks I found but these footsteps are too big to belong to a goblin, I must be careful with the men in my group.

Never forget that they are monsters. I return to the camp.