‘Hmm? What does she mean by that? Curbing the instincts? As if!’

He didn’t know if there was some hidden meaning, but he was sure that she wasn't hiding her instinctual desires at all! If he were a little weaker or she a little stronger, he would probably have hopped on at this moment!

“Heeey~ I am telling the truth… Don’t look at me this way…”

She said sulkily and started to pout, albeit nobody could see that.

“You can’t blame me. You don’t look like you are even trying to curb— Wait. You can see me in this darkness?!”

“Well, of course. We goblins are creatures of the night. That’s why we are here in the underground. How else do you think I would be able to run if I didn’t see?”

Facing her innocent question, he furrowed his brows.

She was right. He would consider that normally if he were calm enough. But the reason why he got so stumped was that…

He suddenly felt a little conscious, as he didn’t know what kind of expression he had the entire time. When he couldn’t see, he didn’t bother to maintain his facial expressions and was basically like an open book.

‘I hope I didn’t look weird. Especially when I was kneeling on her. Did she actually say those things because she thought my expression—Nooo!!’

Clutching his head with his hands, he tried to delete this thought from his memory.

Unfortunately, the more he wanted to forget, the more he thought about it. And that is how this meeting became his black history…

“Eh, why are you like this?”

“A-ah, nothing… Tell me what happened that you are like this, as you said.”

When she asked him with a little urgent voice, as if thinking something was happening to him, he quickly diverted her attention towards her so that she won’t remember this.

“You see, when the first generation of the goblins were captured here by Mad Housekeeper, he experimented on them, trying to change their fundamental traits. I don’t know why, but after some time he succeeded and created goblins with much higher intelligence. Then he sends batch after batch of goblin babies to different worlds, hoping to spread the intelligent version across the multiverse... Ah, yes, it is called multiverse!”

‘What the heck?! Multiverse? That’s some deep shit here… Does that mean that my favorite fictional characters from novels, anime, movies, and so on exist?!’

At first, he expressed disbelief, but the thought of the unlimited possibilities made his head buzz in excitement and wonder. Of course, he didn’t take it as truth as soon as he heard it. Especially from a goblin, albeit a very intelligent one so far. Furthermore, the word multiverse doesn’t necessarily have the same meaning and definition for him and her.

‘Wait… I almost missed the most important thing. Experimented? Oh shit… I guess no worlds or races could avoid having some nutjobs. No wonder that this girl is so well-spoken…’

Thinking that one of his predecessors was like this, he could only imagine how many Housekeepers did some weird shit that he would need to take care of if he really became Housekeeper and stayed here. After all, the last one almost destroyed this fucking realm!

He still didn’t know how, but he had the feeling that he wouldn't like it at all…

Shaking his head, he turned his attention to a goblin girl who became silent after saying this.

Soon, he realized that she expected some kind of reaction before continuing, and so he coughed and said something.

“I see, I guess this guy was really crazy. But the fact that he managed to make someone as smart as you also shows that he was a genius. I am now very interested in how it continues.

So he decided to insult the guy and at the same time praise her. He hoped that this would help him if he was in a pinch. Maybe Tyr would say some good things about him if the village decided to gang up on him.

But he didn’t lie when he said he was interested in the story and so he did not interrupt her and continued listening.

“Oh, really?! Hehe~ Where was I? Ah, yes~ He did this for a very long time and overturned several worlds with it. But he mostly did it because of his hatred for our species. But one day he vanished without a trace. His authority as Housekeeper also disappeared. That made the ones who were still here free. And since the realm got locked down until a new Housekeeper showed up, the children of the ancestors managed to grow up. But they didn’t start to procreate as any other goblins would. Instead, they put all their attention and interests in things that Mad Housekeeper left here before his disappearance. A machinery…”

When she said this, he could almost see her puffing her chest in pride.

But he didn’t think about that much. His mind, instead, thought about her words.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

‘Machinery? So they are some sort of engineers? Holy shit.’

He thought they would be just slightly more intelligent than normal goblins, but if they actually learn machinery to a higher level, then they would climb to a much higher level of the ladder in racial hierarchy.

Now that he thinks about it, he remembered that some stories had goblin engineers…

‘Is it just a coincidence? Or does it have something to do with multiverse things?’

But this wasn’t what mattered to him. Speculating about such a thing won’t help him at all in his situation.

Instead, what attracted him was their specialization…

‘I could use that…’

He always considered how to use things around him to reach his goal.

While this place was mysterious and exciting when looking from afar, it didn’t change the fact that he could easily die here. Not to mention that by living here he would lose all the foundation he built on Earth. Family, friends, education. The house he inherited from his parents…

He didn’t want to give up on all those things for a place that is half-destroyed.

That’s why when he heard that they can build things, his eyes shined with desire.

If they can help him with repairing the more intricate parts of the house, his path towards his goal will be much smoother than before.

After all, he needed to put this place in order for him to gain acknowledgment to become Housekeeper.

‘Or find another way to escape along the way.’

Hiding his thoughts, he asked Tyr how it continued.

“You still didn’t answer my question. If you can do your machinery thing, then why would you regress like this hiding underground?”

That was what was weird in his opinion. If they had something that made them forget their urges, then why stop?

“Ugh… It is quite complex. As we polished our skills, we lived in this place in peace. But, in the end, some still wanted to leave. Goblins are a mostly male-dominant race, and there is almost no chance of the birth of females if the mother is not goblin too. On the other hand, goblin females are more prone to birth other female babies. Because of that, males have since forever preferred women from other species. This made a big rift in between the genders, and two villages were created. Of course, no sane woman in this place would accept those brutes as

their mates, and so men asked the next Housekeepers to send them to some random worlds. This prompted women to leave too, and in the end, only a few of us youngest stayed satisfied with our home. That was until the last Housekeeper came…”

She snorted when she said this. It was audible how much disdain she felt for both the male goblins and the last Housekeeper who got a very bad reputation from everyone.

This time she was so irked about that guy that she didn’t even wait for him to process all of that information and continued.

“That bastard had a high authority level to have command over the low-level tenants. Especially those he considered as ‘lesser’. Pfui- Bastard. Goblins were in his eyes only filth, and so he expelled the male village into the swamp and our village here in this underground village that is under the labyrinth from the living fence. That wouldn’t be that big a problem since some other tenants were helping us and were giving us all kinds of material to build. But after the great catastrophe, everything was destroyed. Every device, every machine, was destroyed. From what I heard, a lot of tenants now can’t even catch a break and have to work their all for this realm to not fall apart. Unfortunately, that makes us goblins stuck in here without being able to do anything since even though that bastard disappeared, he never lifted this command which continues even after Housekeeper’s death. The only way to lift the command is either by the realm itself lifting it, which is improbable as the command isn't a threat to this place or… The new Housekeeper with higher or equal authority lifts it. And that is you! So we need you now even more, husband!”

He listened to all of this with sheer interest, getting to know new information about this place.

That was until he heard the last two sentences that brought him back to reality.

“Do you understand now? Not only are you important for us to mate with but as Housekeeper, you can free us! You can do that right? Right?”

Suddenly, she ran to him and touched his shoulders as she shook him.

‘Ugh. What should I do? Now I definitely can’t fall out with them since I need their skills.’

He racked his mind to find the best way out of this predicament.

Then he realized.

“Hey! You do not need to mate with me if I free you out of this place, don’t you?!”

After all, she said the only reason she said they succumbed to their urges was because they were imprisoned here for too long.

“Tehehe~!”

Hearing this giggle, his mouth twitched. She still didn’t give up!

“Haah… I won’t mate with you or any other goblin in your village, Tyr.”

“Wha-?!”

Hearing his merciless reply without hesitation, she was stumped. However, her determination was still strong. While they had now hope, it didn’t mean that everything turned out fine. She was still suffering from her inner goblin’s traits…

“Instead, I will give you a job. From what I understood from your story, all materials you had were either used up or were destroyed. And because most tenants are hidden or working, nobody gave you any materials to play with, right?”

“Yeah?”

She nodded, albeit reluctantly.

“Then in that case, I as the Housekeeper candidate will supply you with all kinds of materials in return for your service.”

‘Although I am not the real candidate, they do not need to know that.’

He said with a smile on his face. If he can really hook them up, then he will have a much better time here.

“Service? What kind?!”

Her voice was also full of excitement when she heard the word ‘service’.

“Well, of course, rebuilding this place! As you said, this realm is in shambles and many devices and facilities in the house are not working. I will need your help with that later!”

“Oh… You meant this kind of service… That’s alright, I guess…”

‘Why the heck is her answer so lackluster? What kind of service did she expec- Damn it!’

Hearing her to be so despondent he realized that she was rotten through and through!

Being in this closed-up place made her corrupted. Unless she was corrupted long before.

He would rather not know.

“Since you think it is fine then we have an agreement! Tomorrow I will try to bring some scraps that are in the house. You will wait for me outside in the labyrinth. You guys can go on the surface since you caught me there, right?”

“Ah, yes bu—”

“That’s wonderful! In that case, you need to go to your queen and tell her about our agreement. Also, you must tell her that if your work is passable, then once I become Housekeeper, then I will free you and even allow you to leave the realm if you desire so.”

‘Or at least the next Housekeeper since I will be leaving once I find a new substitute. I won’t be raising my authority level since I will leave this place.’

Still maintaining his smile, he patted the place where he thought Tyr was and sent her off.

“You must go. Your queen must be waiting.”

“Oh. W-wait. Oh…”

Being so pushy completely destroyed her kidnapping persona, and her weak character was exposed.

She was so stumped that she even obeyed what he said and started to go to her village.

Albeit he didn’t see her, she was often turning back to look at him in hesitation. But in the end, she disappeared in the tangle of tunnels that made their own labyrinth…