He was strapped to a wooden chair, that barely held itself together, his arms tied behind the chair with thick rope, and a blindfold was stapped on his face. Though he could see the aura of the interrogator, Mana Visionability he was taught by the strange shadow from the sewer. Some part of him still thought that this was part of some sim, the rationalist in him decreed that everything he felt up to here was real, the pain, the adrenalin rush, the fear of the beast. Therefore it must be…

Garrick sat in complete silence as the hobgoblin shouted at him and hit his legs with a baton-like stick.

The pain was mild, he had been punished worse than this before

“For the last time, green maggot, acknowledge your identity as the goblin Grubbub.” The hobgoblin barked at him “Or I will beat it into you.”

“But I’m telling, I’m not Grubbub, in fact, I’m not even from this world and my name is Garrick. I got nothing to gain by lying.”

The goblin marched up and down, clearly frustrated at 'Grubbub's way of acting.

“It just doesn’t make no fucking sense, The spell cast by the great wizard Beel decrees that green goblins must follow every hobgoblins command.”

“I don’t know about all that bro, I’m telling you. I’m a human. You need to grant me interdimensional asylum.”

The hobgoblin burst out laughing.

“Looks like someone’s been reading a book, did you read a book Grubbub, Or did you hit your head too hard?” He questioned.

“Uhh, I haven’t seen a book in years. The Atlantic Republic banned physical printed books from the market like years ago.”

He hit Garrick with the overly large stick.

“Ow.”

“Stop making shit up, you’re making my job as inspector harder. Now tell me what did you see in those tunnels? "

He thought about the shadow that guided him and the beast that chased him. Perhaps it was better to say nothing.

“I’m not making shit up, look your shoelaces are untied.”

The goblin looked below him, surprisingly. And looked for untied shoelaces.

“These are shoelaceless shoes, you moron, what are you on about?”

The goblin through the stick to the ground, pulling off the cloth of Garrick’s face.

“I’ve had just about you!” Garrick winced and his face contorted, and the man’s breath smelled of sourdough and horrible beer. “No more games. You will tell me what I need to know or I will break you in half.”

Oh, he will break all right but only because of that foul breath in his face.

“Jesus man you need to brush your teeth, do you even have toothbrushes here?”

“Jesus!? Who the-”

The door of the interrogation room busted open. Another guard barges in the room, an angry scowl on his face. This one was different.

“He’s off the hook,” the guard said with an annoyance.”He’s being sent back to the mines.”

“But-”

“But nothing, get to the next prisoner, leave him to me, some fucker is pulling strings in the goblin court.”

The interrogator looked like he was about to have a stroke, then he ran out of the room. His eye struggled to leave Garrick.

“Lucky fucker, don’t make me catch you again.”

The new goblin was muscular, carried himself differently, and charismatic. Had a unique uniform on, exquisite even. Premium wear. A sharp chiseled face, clearly a warrior. A haircut that screamed discipline and order.

Something told him that this person was honorable, he might be trustworthy.

Garrick used his mana vision

.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Catching the newcomer by surprise.

“Oh, I see you have developed a little trick. I wouldn’t do that if I were you, show that to the wrong person and your head will be off little mine worker. Keep it to yourself.”

Was there some kind of force at play here, the interrogator guy barely noticed.

Garrick’s heart started racing. Something from his memories told him he was not to take the advice lightly, as much as hated this new foreign authority something inside of him compelled him to listen.

“I won’t. Is that normal,” he asked the newcomer. “Yes, no, not quite now come along before someone decides, you’re head is worth nothing.”

The man untied his arms from the wobbling chair and escorted him outside of the interrogation chamber. One thing he immediately caught on that he was a green goblin was shoeless, and every hobgoblin in the building had shoes or boots on. There was a class or race disparity at work here. And he got the bad end of the supposed racial lottery.

They had moved fast out of the building, he couldn’t understand why the man was so eager to get him out there.

Before he could complain to his unwanted escort, he heard a loud commotion. A door flew open on the other end of the hallway. And in stride what he believed was the Goblin princess, she had stark and vastly different features than any goblin female he could see from his memory. Her ears weren’t as long but smaller and elegant, a sharp nose but not obnoxiously big, skin was delicate reddish-pink, not the crude red-iron skin that every hob-goblin possessed. She wore a well-woven tunic, likely very expensive silk.

He couldn’t help but stare, she was the prettiest thing he had seen in a long while, a very long while, in fact, the last time he saw a beautiful woman was two months ago before he was arrested for political dissent.

His escort hit him on the back of his head. Leaving the weight of a phantom limb on his head.

“Don’t fucking stare, you see those guards around her. They’ll kill you if you so much as touch her.”

He stared at the fully armored men, that walked behind her to her destination.

Now what would the princess be doing in such a shithole in the prison he was in.

Though his head was turned, Garrick's eyes were glued to her appearance. Peeking at the rare sight to behold. He and his escort walked in the direction of the incoming entourage, he could hear the escort swallow deeply. Pushing away from their path as if fearing a collision.

Garrick keeps his now small head down. Then all hell breaks loose.

The goblin princess, trips forward, her foot making a horrible misstep and her heels slipping and tumbling towards the ground and in his direction.

Garrick’s instincts kick in, and he reaches out for her and barely stops her from hitting the floor hard. “Don’t worry, you’re okay,” he said, with the happiest smile on his face.

For a very brief moment, time seems to stand still in the hallway. Everyone is quiet, including the princess, who blinks in confusion and surprise, he had just done the unthinkable, do what others wouldn’t dare do.

He lets go of her, grubbub’s memories kick in and he realizes the ramifications of what he had just done. Her guards start trembling with rage, his escort moves away and shakes his head. He could hear metal moving.

“You disgusting waste of life!” One of the large metallic guards shouted. He didn’t know if there was a soul behind there or was a mindless automaton.

He is tackled by one of the four guards, his body colliding with the ground. The four of them start relentlessly kicking and punching him, and he felt his grip on the world loosen. Dazed and stunned.

“Get off you fuckers!” he shouted. His insult added furthering the fanning of the flames.

He noticed her in the corner of his eyes, not knowing what to do, an unreadable expression on her face.

“Stop It! Leave him alone!” she shouted.

They stopped.

“But princess what he did was a crime against the people, against nobility.”

“You there," she confronted his escort. Who was quietly watching until now “WHo are you, and who is he?”

“I’m Captain Rhorin, and this is just some silly mineworker who fell in the wrong hole, I’m supposed to escort him out any of the nobility quarters and back to the mine. But seeing the circumstances, it may be better to execute him on the spot.”

He retrieved a blade hidden under the uniform.

“Noo, you westerlings are too cruel, send him back where he is supposed to go.” she turned her attention back to Garrick. “And what is your name green-kin”

He answered with pain in his voice “It’s Garrick uh-grubbub I mean, mam.”

She eyed him suspiciously, for a moment he swore her blue eyes turned but red before settling again.

“It’s your ladyship, not mam!” They shouted at him, kicking him in the ribs.

The woman ponders for awhile and smiles at him like he is some kind of specimen.

“Very well, he is free of any wrongdoing, away with him then. Let's move and not a word to my father.”

The escort picked him up, and once again he was dragged like a sack of vegetables.

----------------------------------------

He is thrown into the mine entrance landing on the rugged and rough surface. His body ache from the attack yesterday, and it ached from being kicked all over. Someone gonna have to pay for all that, he wasn’t going to take it.

He forces himself up, groaning.

He notices, the Captain speaking with mine guard and subsequently leaving him here in this hellhole.

“You’re supposed to be dead one of the goblins next to him said, I saw you die with my own two eyes.”

The goblin was spooked, but the face did look familiar. He stared at him and the goblin turned palish and retreated.

He picked up the pickaxe frowning, unsatiable rage filled his body. He could kill this person right if he wanted to. He could, but he won’t.

“Hey start digging!” the guard shouted.

Whatever grubbub went through, Garrick refused to live the same way. And he was going to start with the bastards that threw him down a well. Or was it Grubbub that was thrown down?

He couldn’t decide.