“You know, I don't know what I expected,” Colleen said as she looked on.
With a total of six, they wasted no time ganging up on Midori and attacking him. And just like before, it took him almost no effort to dispatch the rest.
He and his buddy examined the other goblins lying on the floor with little concern.
“Who knew he'd be such a delinquent.” She said while walking over. The only reason she didn't stop them was because she was curious how many he could handle.
“Well, better him than them. Hell, maybe showing off your strength is how goblin society works. If that's the case he’s gonna be royalty when I drop him back in the wild.”
She didn't know whether this was true or not but with such primitive creatures, she didn't imagine an excess of strength would hurt in any way. It's not like goblin prisons or goblin courts exist for him to be punished if he goes too far.
As she approached him, he ran up to her and held onto her knee.
She bent down and picked one of the goblins up. She held it in front of him and waited for his reaction.
He looked ready to throw another punch and she delivered a lightning-fast flick to his forehead.
“But I can't just have him being violent to the first goblins he sees out of here. He'd be no better than a rabid dog.”
She let go of the goblin she picked up and allowed it to stand on its own feet. It was so preoccupied with Midori, that it didn't even try to escape from her hands.
It wasted no time slapping Midori and did its best to get its mouth on him.
She grabbed its neck and forced it on the ground as Midori watched.
Using her free hand, she flicked him on the forehead again.
“Ugh, are you not getting this? Don't just let him attack you but don't start shit for no reason either. Listen Midori you gotta know when to let shit slide and you gotta be firm when some asshole is trying to mess with you. I'm not gonna be here to arbitrate these matters, so you gotta learn from now if you want to live in peace with these guys or any others in the forest.”
He pouted while holding his head, looking unsure of what he did wrong.
She sighed and felt in her pocket.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
She made sure to quickly pull it out and place it in his mouth.
“Why am I even talking, I just need to train him with food. If goblins could understand us, I'm sure some dipshits would be trying to use them to mine coal or do farming.”
He had placed a small piece of her smoked meat in his mouth and patted his head as he chewed on it.
“Oh right.”
She grabbed his shirt and ripped it open. He contently chewed on the meat while watching as she disrobed him. Constant baths had gotten him used to this.
“Guess you won't be needing these anymore where you're going. Shit, I hope this didn't interfere with the process.”
She walked back over to the tree trunk and continued intently watching the goblins.
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It took two days of supervision but he seemed to be getting along swimmingly with the other goblins. They played regularly and even attempted to escape from the hole by stacking on each other's shoulders.
And a certain someone would amuse herself by tripping Midori, who stood at the bottom, causing them to come crumbling down.
“Damn, this is better than I thought. I was joking about putting them in a coal mine but if they're this easy to get behaving I can't imagine teaching them to go down a mine shaft with a pickaxe would be any harder.”
She was spending over 15 hours a day watching these little guys and as much as she wouldn't admit it, it was pretty entertaining watching them interact with each other. Or maybe her sense of entertainment had reached unbearable lows after living by herself for a few decades but regardless she felt it was now time.
“I've been watching these guys for far too long.”
She got up and dragged herself out of the hole, with a string of hers set up on a nearby tree.
“I need to get used-” She cleared her throat. “I mean, Midori needs to get used to not having me around.”
Midori noticed her leave but only gave a concerned glance. He had been left by himself before so it wasn't foreign to him. She'd come back in thirty minutes at most.
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Two hours had passed and while the other goblins were digging in the dirt, looking for worms, Midori had gone to the edge of the hole.
Where was she? Did she get hurt by something? Did the bear come back to get her? Was she lost?
He had to know and started climbing up the dirt wall. He stuck his fingers into the wall like a nail hammered in wood. He managed to get some height but it was too much. The wall wasn't strong enough to hold his weight when he dug into it and he promptly fell.
The dirt at the bottom was soft, but it wouldn't make for a pleasant landing at his size. Thankfully enough of the goblins beneath him had gathered to cushion his landing.
After landing he went back to play with others, who started climbing the wall and fell into the arms of their comrades.
He was being silly. After the woman fed him, she always came back. Why would this time be any different?
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The other goblins had gone to rest. The night sky had been dark for several hours now. They huddled for the warmth their bodies were inadequate at providing. Yet one remained awake, with a single concern at the bottom of the dark hole.
Where is she?