In the month that Viktor had spent in this foreign land, he learned a great many things about his current situation. First of all, he now knew that this strange forest was actually the remains of the once great Goblin Empire. He was reluctant to accept this, but couldn't refute the evidence he found. The remains of buildings that were all too familiar to him helped to understand how much time had passed.

From what he could tell, he was, currently, roughly eight thousand years into the future. The sight of his once great nation in such ruins was too much. He broke down into tears when he thought about it. For the last hundred and fifty years of his life, the Goblin Empire had been his home. And now it was nothing but an empty shell of its former glory.

"Viktor....why.....cry?" Lily had asked with tears in her eyes.

Viktor could feel the little girl clinging to him. It was a nice feeling to not be alone. He chose to hold off on telling her where he was from. He wanted to wait for the right time, whenever that would be.

"Don't worry about it. Things will be fine. I promise." Although he wasn't sure if that was to calm her down or himself.

Another thing that he discovered was that the modern Goblin was incredibly weak. They could actually die from tripping and falling down. Where Viktor came from, Goblins were the most resiliant race second only to the Dragons. They could be cut in half and still live for up to three days afterwards with no treatment. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

This inspired Viktor to do something great. He had no home, no purpose, and nowhere to go. Other than Lily, he had only himself.

He began to teach Lily what she should have already known by now. She was a good student and a smart girl that constantly asked questions. The only major issue he had was her speaking. She spoke in broken sentences the entire time. After many failed attempts at trying to teach her to speak properly, he realized it may not be as simple as just teaching her.

There was the possibility that it may be a physical problem. Actually, he had hoped it was a physical problem. To Viktor, the thought of her being incapable of learning was scary. Because at least a physical deformation was treatable in most cases.

"Lily woud you mind getting up and standing in front of me?"

"Ok"

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'How trusting' He thought.

"I'm going to use magic and check your body for anything that might be wrong. Is that ok?"

"Will...hurt?"

"Haha. No. It won't hurt"

Viktor put his hand on the top of her head and a blue light enveloped Lily's body. As the blue light reached the area where the larynx should be, it turned a deep yellow-brown.

'As I thought. She has an infection. This will require healing magic.'

Without saying anything to Lily, the blue light coming from Viktor disappeared and was replaced by a warm white one. The white light rushed to her larynx and got rid of the infetion. Although it was good that the infection was gone, Viktor was stunned. He hadn't expected the spell to work so well.

A low-level spell like the one he used normally needs to be cast multiple times before the infection would have gone away. But the effect was instantanious. In fact, the more he thought about it he could feel that something was off. It was like the mana in the air was so much richer and thicker than it was when the Empire still stood.

'I need to look into that when I get the cha-' "Hm?" Viktor picked up Lily and ran up into the trees. That was the safest place he could think of to hide her.

"Stay here and don't move. I'll be back."

He jumped down from the tree and quietly waited in the clearing. 

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The Royal Envoy of the Demon Kingdom had been on its way to the Fae territories when they were forced by a bandit ambush to change their route. They now needed to pass through the Great Forest if they wanted to get back safely.

There was no need for them to worry about bandits there because the monsters that inhabited the forest warded off most people. And even if there was a monster attack, the Royal Envoy's guardsmen could handle them. The Queen was protected with the utmost diligence.

After a few hours of travelling the envoy happened upon a clearing. Once the guards gave the all clear, the Queen decided to make camp directly in the middle of the field. This would give them a clear view of their surroundings in case of an attack.

Normally it would be unthinkable for a Royal Envoy to leave themselves out in the open, but in the case of the Demons they were exceptional soldiers; their Queen even more so. Nothing would escape their notice. Nothing except a Goblin sitting right in the middle of their camp waiting for someone to notice him. 

The only one to notice was the Queen, but she chose not to do anything. The Queen was intrigued at how such a lowly creature had managed avoid detection while out in the open. She waited for one of her men to notice because the moment they did she would go and kill the Goblin. Doing so would serve as a reminder that they may be Demons, but they were not all powerful.

Suddenly the Goblin stood up, still undetected, and faced the Queen with a smile. The Queen launched herself towards the Goblin who she assumed was taunting her and tried to pierce its heart with her hand.

"What?"

The Queen realized not only had her hand not pierced its heart, it didn't even come close. Rather, the Goblin placed a solid grip on her wrist that locked down her entire body. She couldn't move an inch. Scared and slightly confused, the Queen decided to remain silent.

"That was quite rude of you, Your Highness. Is this how you treat all of your guests?"