I wish I could have warned the two young ladies of the incoming threat while I saw a group of people emerge from the darkness on the road ahead of us. Several torches suddenly lit up, startling the horses and the riders atop them. Struggling to see in the darkness, I saw that the group gave off weaker energy levels than humans, but were nonetheless very prominent. There were about 5 of them, and they were all pretty short, being under 5 feet in height. Beneath their torch light, I was shocked to see pointed ears, pointed noses, and deep, dark green skin.

"Ew, goblins!" Lyka shrieked as her horse neighed in fright.

"Quick, let's get back to town!" Darotha yelled, coaxing her horse to turn around.

3 more goblins quickly emerged from the darkness behind them, blocking the road back. Snickering, the group of creatures all wore varying outfits made of dark cloth and leather, some had hair while others were bald, and they all wielded either a torch or a short sword.

"HELP!! Somebody help us! The darker-haired woman screamed, calling out towards the soft glow of the nearby town.

"Shut up, or I'll slit your throats right here!" the apparent leader of the group growled, waving his sword around as he approached the duo. "Now why don't you climb down off of those horses so that we can have a little talk?"

He was a portly goblin with lighter green skin and what resembled a messy, shaggy mullet of dark hair hanging over his broad shoulders. He wore leather armor with tin shoulder pauldrons, with his large, rotund belly poking out in front of him. Looking at each other nervously, the two girls dismounted their horses and raised their arms in surrender, before the goblins closed in, laughing and snickering mischievously.

"There we go, thought I was going to have to pull you down from there myself," the pig-like goblin snorted through a broad grin. "My name is Dirx Steambat, leader of this here little gang of marauders, perhaps you've heard of me?"

"Y-yes, you were ah that really famous goblin, right?" Darotha whimpered nervously, clearly trying to defuse the situation.

"Ew! No, we've never heard of you, you gross goblins are all the same," Lyka sneered, clearly not caring who she offended. "The Franturro army would dice you guys to bits if some soldiers were here. In fact, I think Red Sprout has a garrison of their own."

"Ooohhh I like this one," a raspy, female goblin cackled as she stood next to the one named Dirx, donning a leather bikini-like outfit that supported a rather large pair of poison-green breasts. "Give her to me, brother. It's been so long since I've had a human play thing."

She had large hips, a pudgy stomach, and a very large behind as well. If not for her pointy ears and long, crooked nose, I'd probably have found her attractive. A slightly-neater mop of black hair was down over her shoulders and tied back in a loose ponytail.

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"You always break your 'play things', and that's why you're not allowed to watch the hostages," Dirx smirked with a shake of his head, before looking back at the two trembling women. "This is my sister, Krissy Steambat, and unless you want to become her pets, then you'll cooperate with me."

"Uhhh…you got some food stuck in your titties, lady," the female goblin pointed out, just noticing my corn form stuck within Lyka's breasts. The other goblins laughed in amusement.

"Touch it, and I'll kill you all," the woman growled almost demonically, before putting a hand over her mouth. "U-uh sorry, I don't know what came over me just now."

I felt kind of bad. Clearly my kernel link with her earlier still left the girl in a strange, obsessive state about my vegetable body. I found it hard to complain, however, I mean look where I was.

"What is it? Some kind of talisman?" Krissy snorted as she reached forward and snatched the corn cob right from between Lyka's boobs, causing the gorgeous young woman to suddenly become a flurry of swiping blows before having to be held back by some of the other goblins. "Geez, relax, toots! Let me get a closer look at this thing."

The sound of rushing footsteps caused the goblins to turn and look behind them. Bounding down the road from town, was the lone guard from the stable, panting as he valiantly held up his spear.

"I'm coming! Who called for help?" he yelled, before stopping just short of the group. "G-goblin raiders? O-out with you lot! You are near the border of the good town of Red Sprout!"

"Sir, please! Go back and get the whole garrison, there's too many of them for just you!" Darotha called back to him.

"Garrison? Young lady, I am the Red Sprout garrison," he chuckled nervously in reply, stopping short of the goblins to the rear as he held out his spear. "The Franturro army is spread pretty thin at the moment, a single soldier like myself is all that they can spare to a small farm town like this. Not to worry, I intend to use my 4-weeks of military training to rescue you both!"

A second later, something large hit the soldier over the head, causing him to fall to the dirt road unconscious. Shrieking, the girls turned around to see that the leader of the goblin raiders had just hurled a large boot at him.

"He's lucky I didn't throw a pair of Krissy's underwear at his face, otherwise he'd be dead!" Dirx laughed, ignoring his sister as she elbowed him in the ribs while he again turned to his two hostages. "Alright, ladies, you can start by emptying your pockets. I can see by the way that you're dressed, you must both be from a city, and have a little bit of money on you."

"Yeah, and just so that you don't try anything funny, I'm going to keep this thing nice and safe," Krissy sneered as she held up my corn body and to my disgust, slid it down into her skimpy bikini-like bottom, right in between her large butt cheeks.

"I'll kill you!! That's mine!" Lyka again shrieked, before being pulled back by the two goblins flanking her as she again acted as though my vegetated form was worth more to her than gold.

With the goblin group laughing in response to the young woman's strange behavior, and with the defeat of the single soldier meant to protect the town, I knew that I had to intervene somehow. With how I'd protected myself from Lysander earlier, I knew that I was capable of using my absorbed kernels defensively, and that's exactly what I planned on doing.

Unfortunately, a nearby bat on the hunt ended up making a meal out of my mosquito, blinding me from the world yet again.