The woman's slipper was already covered in blood. This wasn't the first one she had stepped on.

She gritted her teeth and moved her foot away.

“No, I've done enough. If I continue at this rate, I might go overboard and start eating into the goblin population in the region. These little fellas can't be all too different compared to normal goblins anyway.”

While goblins were mostly a pest by human standards, they did have a place in the environment, regardless of what the common folk or average adventurer may think about them.

She wiped her bloody sandal in the grass in a vain attempt to remove the blood.

She sighed as she approached it and picked it up. Her main priority was killing the excess of these little guys that had spawned so she didn't pay too much attention to them appearance-wise. After all, she was able to easily tell them apart from regular goblin babies, due to the fact they couldn't stand at birth.

“Pretty full head of hair for a goblin…”

It was uncommon for a goblin to be anything other than bald. She looked at his hand as well.

She continued inspecting the little green baby. He tried grabbing her sundress but the woman had no issue holding him at arm's length with one hand to keep some distance.

“His nails are transparent instead of black.”

The more she looked at him, the more she grew uncomfortable.

She placed him back on the floor. He tried crawling towards her but even her slowest walk would outpace the little guy. She jumped onto a nearby tree and viewed his attempts to climb the tree.

“What, think you can take me on or try to avenge your brothers and sisters?” She asked, looking down on him. It slightly amused her watching him try to reach her.

The little goblin continued trying to crawl the tree, paying her no mind. After enough time had passed he crawled off to elsewhere.

Watching him crawl off, she wondered if her efforts in getting rid of these things were meaningless. She didn't imagine most of them would survive long in the wild anyway.

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As she walked through the forest one day, picking some herbs.

Someone's voice rang through her head.

“They're green right?” “Oh, Midoris would be nice.”

“I should kill him. The world would be a better place without that man in it, I can guarantee.” She said to herself as she examined a fallen nut. She gripped it too tightly and ended up cracking it open.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

And a few moments later, a small creature walked over. It was no taller than her knee and seemed to have no issue approaching her.

(“Are there still animals in this forest dumb enough to approach me? Must be a baby.”)

She turned around and it was quite the sight. Based on the hair and the colour of his nails, he was one of the special goblins she had seen over a year ago.

“Ugh,” She unenthusiastically remarked, seeing the creature.

He opened his mouth and wasted no time licking the remains of the nut out of her hand, spitting out the pieces of shell mixed in. In her direction.

She slapped it across the face, sending it spinning to the floor. It was out cold. She nonchalantly scooched over, still crouched and checked his pulse.

“Not dead.” She said before spitting on him, in some sort of retribution.

*This part and others that seemed cruel were omitted from her retelling.

“Learn who rules the forest before you do dumb shit like this, quarter-pint. Hell, maybe you can teach your kids so I don't have to smack some sense into them as well.” She ranted to the unconscious goblin.

As she crouched over him, she noticed marks across his body. Interested, she turned him on his front and got a closer look.

“Bite marks?”

Parts of his body were covered in them. Some old and some incredibly recent. He even had puss developing in one. Scars on him were also commonplace, most of which were fresh.

“Looks like this guy is a serial troublemaker. Maybe I should just kill him now and put him out of his suffering?” She coldly commented.

She wrapped a wire of light around the little creature's neck and lifted him up. But quickly let go, causing it to fall face first.

(“It's too early in the morning to be killing shit. The little guy probably learned its lesson. And if he doesn't, something else is gonna kill him anyway.”)

She looked at the herbs in her basket and rubbed a few on the wounds that looked freshest.

(“Hmm…”) While rubbing him down a thought came to her mind. How else did these guys differ from the regular goblins?

After thinking about it, she went into some nearby bushes and began waiting.

(“Since they are different, I wonder if they act any differently compared to regular goblins. I kinda just let these guys do whatever.”)

So it was decided then and there, this was what she was doing for the rest of the day. It wasn't like she had anything worthwhile today. Or tomorrow. Or the day after. Or the day after that. Or the…..

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And after thirty minutes of waiting, she brought the little guy to a nearby stream and dunked his head in some cold water.

(“I'm not gonna sit here all day watching a goblin sleep on his ass.”)

It took a few minutes of really jostling him around until she noticed movement again. She quickly ran away into some bushes.

(“Fucking finally. You better do something interesting after all this you little bastard.”)

He slowly got back to his feet and shook the water off his face. He looked around and sniffed the air. And immediately walked in the direction Colleen hid in.

(“Oh right.”) She snapped her finger and the little goblin looked around confused.

(“I didn't think he'd pick on my scent so quickly. Did I still have some acorn left on my hand?”) She thought to herself. She applied a quick magic that eliminated scent.

After walking around aimlessly for a few minutes, the goblin walked off, seemingly with a destination in mind.

And the woman in the sundress sneakily followed behind.