After we made the announcement to the village, there was a mixed response. The craftsgoblins were the most vocal about wanting me to stay. For the goblins that I have been making improved tools for, they see this as a double loss with Kaga also being gone. The other goblins however, were adamant that I don't work on any more projects in the town, and anything I make on the mountain be forbidden from being brought in. A small faction even said I should be expelled immediately, but the majority shot that down, pointing out that I did help fight all the lizards, and it'd be cruel to send me out immediately. After a lot of arguments, the faction that wanted to kick me out won, but with a few conditions.
The first condition is that every year, they'll re-evaluate if they still want me banished. The faction that wants me to stay insisted on this as a condition or else they'd leave alongside me. The second condition was that every month a member from both factions must come up the mountain to interact with me. Both factions seemed to think this was a good idea, with the pro-me faction wanting to keep in touch, and the anti-me faction wanting to keep an eye on me. The third condition was one that I imposed on the goblins. I insisted that if I find out there has been infighting or discrimination between goblins in the village as a consequence of this, I'd personally feel a need to step in. I don't feel that I'm free of responsibility in this, and I wanted to make sure that this doesn't cause more problems than it already is.
After all the conditions were set, I brought up a list of projects that I wanted to work on, but I wanted approval from most of the goblins to work on them before winter ended. In no particular order, I want to teach the hide crafting goblin how to make leather, I want to expand the salt evaporation ponds, I want to work on the path up the mountain, I want to expand storage in the village, I want to expand the fields for growing the new potential food crop, and I want to remove the crystal hot spring. I had previously wanted to attempt some projects at the ocean bay, but now I don't feel comfortable working on a project of that scale.
There was some resistance to the idea of making leather, but after I told the goblins the steps to making it, the issue was let go. There was also resistance to the idea of eating the plants that Zeb found, but the decision was made that those that don't want to eat them don't have to, and it would be alright for them to be grown. The goblins were very vehement about not wanting to get rid of the hot spring. I tried to insist to them that it was the reason that the lizards attacked, but they retorted with "Even if that is the case, the lizards are dead now, so the threat has passed." I don't agree with them, and I think that future threats might arise, but the superstition that I'm actually the reason the lizards attacked seems to be set among a group of the goblins, and to them, it's like I'm trying to take away something nice as a punitive measure.
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Ultimately, that was the only thing that the goblins said I couldn't do, so I'll work on the other projects for the next few months. However, I will make sure that I'm kept informed on any strange events or happenings that might occur. If push comes to shove, I'll still come down to try to help the goblins if something happens. Even if some of them resent me for it afterwards.
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For the last few months, I've been working on the projects that the goblins agreed that I could work on. I've expanded the salt evaporation pond area to be three times as large, which should provide plenty of excess salt. Then I went through the multi-step process for making leather with the hide craftsman goblin. It's a very long process though, so I won't be able to see the results of his labor. I finished an additional layer of storage under the pavilion as well. It's quite dark that far down, and torches are necessary to see, so hopefully things that are stored down there are things that won't be needed often, like extra charcoal. The fields for the new edible plant have been expanded quite a bit, which should give them an ample supply of it, if they manage it properly.
Then finally, after all that was done, I've begun work on the path up the mountain again. In the remaining time, I got past the next zig-zag section, which included seven 500 foot long jaunts up the mountain. For good measure, I checked over all the random tools that I had built for the goblins, and fixed any defects that had built up over time. Ultimately, I couldn't quite bring myself to fix Kaga's tools, so I hope that if a goblin takes up trying to fill Kaga's carpentry shop, that he kept his tools in good condition.
With all of that taken care of, I'm now just waiting for the snow on the mountain to melt, which should be any day now, before I return up the mountain to my home.
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My last week in the village was bittersweet. I walked through many of the places that I spent time constructing, inspecting each for any flaws or concerns that would result in me needing to leave information for Gakus so he could repair them. Thankfully, almost everything seemed to be holding up well. I made sure that Gakus knew about needing to clean the storm sewer system, and what maintenance needs done on the dam every so often. I also told him he's free to cut extra stone from the far side of the reservoir, away from the dam, but he had to be careful never to cut from near the dam.
With everything in order, and the snow finally clear from the mountains, Zeb and I began the walk back up the mountain, and this time, with no intent to return.