"Please, Master Luz! Allow me to go with you!"
"I've already told you no Hans! Why the hell are you so desperate to go? You are one of the best hunters. The village needs you!"
"What? Do you want me to be even more clear?" Hans came closer and spoke softly in Luzien's ear.
"If that thing attacks before we come back with reinforcements every single one of us will die. Do you really need any more explanation as to why I want to go with you?"
Luzien exhaled, frustrated, as Hans backed off...
"I understand your fear but..."
"I've told you already. I want to go and ensure you come back fast. That's all... I still love my father, you know? I'm not abandoning him... But I'm still young enough to care about dying for nothing."
"Haah~... I get it! I get it! Come along then... We are leaving in 10 minutes, get back by then!"
"Thank, you Master Luz."
'God... His father is probably gonna hate me for this...' Thought Luzien as he saw Hans running towards the Village Chief's house...
'He's a good boy... I better tell his father about this conversation before we go, though...'
With these thoughts Luzien turned around, walking towards the Village Hall.
----------------
"Argabaoh... Hrosncert Acnart"
Weirdly enough, a similar conversation was taking place inside a man-made cave not that far from there.
(The following conversation has been translated to human language.)
"But father! They know about us! You got the report of a human going back! We need to wipe them now before it's too late!"
"I've already told you many times! IT'S NOT THE TIME YET!"
"But Father...!"
"Shut up Bahgzo! You are the most capable General among the Hob-Wizards, but you are still only a child!"
"I'm 2 years old already father!"
"You are only a kid! I'll only consider you an adult after you get yourself a female and impregnate it! Until then you are my kid, and I am your king! DO YOU COPY?"
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"Yes, father..."
"Still... You have a point." A glimpse of happiness started to show up on the Hobgoblin's face. "However! If we attack now, we will lose too many of our own... We must reinforce the cave system and prepare for their attack. Humans are arrogant fools... They will probably come with females as well... With enough preparation we can claim some of them alive and finally have enough for our rankers."
"Do you mean!?"
"Yes, my son. Your time will finally come."
"But the amount of females we have right now should be enough to gather some strength as soon as we finish expanding and reinforcing the caves... By then, we will have enough numbers to safely raid one of those stupid settlements of theirs... How stupid, to showcase your numbers and amount of females by building those ridiculous houses above ground..."
"Yes, father... Those stupid creatures are nothing but targets."
"The world will know the power of Abzuban! I won't repeat the mistakes made by the ones before me! A man only fails once."
The hobgoblin knelt violently. Using his staff to support his weight as he lowered his head.
"Hail our majesty Abzuban!"
Thumping noises followed as more voices echoed the statement.
""Hail our majesty Abzuban!""
"""Hail our majesty Abzuban!"""
""""Hail our majesty Abzuban!""""
His words spread through the caves like a flood, increasing in power and voices by the second. First, repeated by the 17 apostles, the Generals gathered under his majesty’s command over the decades. Then, by the clerks responsible by the throne room; Until more than 600 voices merged together in a single prayer to the one who, to them, was their god.
"""""""""""HAIL OUR MAJESTY ABZUBAN!!"""""""""""
The power concentrated into this single King was paramount.
The Goblin Leader.
The Goblin King.
The 40-year-old menace the humans thought they had destroyed more than once, before the last grand war.
The Commander of Hordes - Abzuban.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Well... It's not like I can blame him for seeing things that way..."
Johnathan was sitting in his round table as always. His hands on his head made clear his troubles.
His only son was nearly deserting... It was expectable though. He was the only non-elder to know about the emergency they were facing. However, the words about him willing to return were at least somewhat recomforting.
"You did good telling me that."
"My job here's done... I'll take my leave then. Take care of everything until I get back..."
"Sure Luz, have a safe trip..."
"Oh, I was almost forgetting..." Luzien turned back just before passing through the door.
"Don't you fucking dare dying on me you fucker!"
"Hahaha! God... This reminded me of our old times..."
The friends in their 50's laughed during their parting... They'd worked together as adventurers for a long time, reaching upwards of the B Rank, before retiring to this far away village 20 years ago, after the death of Martha and Rebecca.
'The old times... Too bad they are not here with us...' Thought Johnathan.
Alone once again, he returned to the documents at hand... There were lots of reports to deliver in the upcoming weeks.
--
"You're already here, huh?" When reaching the stable where the horses were prepared, Luzien met both the other hunters and Hans.
"Yes, everything is set to go but... Is Hans coming with us?"
"Yes, just talked to the Chief, He's gonna use his own horse though."
"Oh! I’mma get Laia saddled then!" Hans hurried as he scrambled to get ready to leave.
"Uncle Luz... Is there something about this trip we're not being told?" Asked one of the hunters, glancing behind at the hurried Hans saddling his horse.
"There actually is... But I'm only allowed to tell you on our way back... Is it okay with you two?"
"Yeah, no problem. We trust you and the Chief. It's just... Hans' behavior is very strange..." Responded the other hunter.
"I see that... There's been a little problem, but we are already working on it. This trip is also meant to somehow fix it. Hans is just worried... Both you, Bark, and you, Loth, can relax... Unless something outside of our expectation happens, this should be a rather normal trip... The only difference is we'll have to hurry so every stop will be reduced to the bare minimum."
"Oh... So that's why you're not taking the usuals..." said Bark.
"Not only that, but this time we're bringing back some stuff for the hunters, so we need the opinion of actual ones for what's actually good."
"Oh, that makes sense." Completed Loth.
"Anyhow, we better get going... Are you ready Hans?"
"Yeah!" Hans responded coming out of the stall, already mounted on his mare.
"So, let's go!"
Luzien and the others jumped onto their horses. The four of them left the stable at once, heading towards the imperial capital. A couple days will be spent on the journey, granted nothing goes wrong. Luzien nervously pats his pocket, where rests the coins equivalent to 2 Gold Coins... This is more money than he ever held in the last 20 years... And also, the money in which the lives of his whole family and friends relied on.