Creeanth made his way back into the valley before the sun’s first rays touched upon its inhabitants. Inspired by Big Bossy Boss, he had insisted that the elite scouts continue training early in the morning, and that he would train with them. As much respect as coating his body in flames brought, it would be his superiority on the battlefield that would help him watch over the valley until the boss returned. As he passed through the sturdy Quicksilver gates that barred all entrance to the valley, he saw the newer scouting groups only a small distance away. These were all between levels 8 and 10, and were waiting for the more senior scouts to continue training them.
Since the Zone barrier had fallen, he had done all he could to shepherd the horde, as was his duty. His first action had been to increase and regulate the time each hobgoblin spent mining. Their numbers had continued to grow, and were swiftly approaching 20,000, although only about 5000 were competent enough to perform most functions. That was enough to ensure that the essential tasks were completed, in addition to guarding the valley. But where Big Bossy Boss had allowed some hobs to be fully devoted to food production or Aquamancy, Creeanth wanted a more traditional hobgoblin balance, every hob a warrior.
To that end, he had specified that 2 days in five, each hob was expected to spend time mining. This had proven to be one of the best decisions he could make, as now a large subset of the horde had an affinity with Quicksilver. They could arm themselves with it easily. They could put up defenses almost instantly. And they could erect shelters with very little manpower to continue housing their growing population. He hadn’t foreseen that such a large benefit would come from simply continuing to coat the valley in Quicksilver, but it had.
He had at first wondered whether or not the dungeon had enough Quicksilver to even coat the topmost edge of the valley, but another interesting development, unfortunately discovered by his biggest rival and his heart’s deepest desire, Creenchez, was that the Quicksilver was growing. Both in the dungeon and in the valley. No matter how much they mined, the dungeon was more or less just as packed with Quicksilver the next day. It was something that they should have noticed sooner, but he blamed the delay on the low Intelligence score of most of the hobgoblins.
The Quicksilver now coated many trees in the valley, which had at first alarmed him, how was the valley going to keep surviving on acorn trees if all of the seeds were metal? But after consulting with the Gardeners, he found that the fruits still remained perfectly edible.
Two of the other three free days, each hob was expected to spend time training. This also proved to help the valley grow, and was the reason why they now boasted 5000 capable warriors. In addition to arms training in the valley, battalions were sent out to prey on adventuring parties, which helped keep the experience and levels flowing. They valley had tried to retaliate a few times, but nothing as well thought out or as impressive as Bart’s invasion, and they had proved too hard a nut to crack. Now, the adventurers usually avoided fighting hobgoblins where they could. That wasn’t always possible however, as, in addition to the hobgoblins roaming, they were still called to the Arena occasionally, where they more often than not defeated the enemy adventurers.
The final day was allocated as a day of industry. Gardening. Aquamancy. Cooking. Making vessels and shelters. Planting the groves. With the numbers of the valley, the rotating schedule meant that there was a decent amount of industrial growth happening each day, enough so that the horde was beginning to have a surplus of many different foods.
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His attention was brought back to the valley as he saw a familiar face marching towards him. Creenchez. His feet began sweating at the sight, and he began to berate such a weak reaction.
Why couldn’t he be satisfied with the many females who threw themselves at his feet like a good horde leader? Maybe it was the stringy-thinness to her hair. Maybe it was the ichor-colored eyes that he couldn’t look away from. Maybe it was her high Intelligence that kept him guessing what she was thinking. Maybe it was her singular devotion to Big Bossy Boss, his liege. At any rate, he couldn’t be certain why it is that he only wanted her, he just knew that he did. Thoughts of her encroached on his encounters with every other female, making them feel flat and undesirable.
Things were only made more awkward by the fact that she insisted on going against his express commands. Obviously he knew that she organized renegades to continue planting the groves when they should be mining or on guard duty, and it made him look weak. But even in these actions, her devotion to Big Bossy Boss only endeared her to him more.
She was in front of him then and his heart began to beat faster, his anticipation of the upcoming conversation growing.
“Greetings, honored leader.” she said, initiation the conversation.
“Greetings, honored priestess.” he replied, addressing her by her title as a female such as herself deserved.
“I want to discuss the planting of the groves.” Her voice was like the crackling of fall leaves or the scraping of two sharp stones and Creeanth found himself losing focus as he lost himself in the melodious sound.
“Yes.” he said dreamily, not realizing that his answer didn’t make much sense until he noticed Creenchez looking at him strangely. “I mean, yes. Let us discuss.”
He was surprised when she stepped even closer, to the point where he could clearly see the guano-colored flecks in her black eyes. It was the proximity that most females tried to use on him, but had always failed. Suddenly however, he was unable to think of anything else but making this gorgeous creature happy.
Her hand brushed her long, pointy ear as she said, “We need the horde to plant groves one day in five. It is most sacred mission.”
Though her body language had been alluring, the words were enough to bring Creeanth back to the situation. “One in five? But industry day is essential. How else would valley survive?”
He felt her hand rest on his shoulder and he was once again powerless against her wiles. “Agree. We no remove industry day. We remove half day of mining and half day of warrioring.”
Who was he to say no to such profound logic?
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Creenchez held back the desire to jump up and down. She had won! Males were so easy to manipulate with the right body language. Although, much to her shame, she was unsure if she was more happy that the groves would be planted faster or by the fact that the horde leader clearly admired her. In her wildest dreams, she never thought that such a prospect would ever come her way.