Chapter 92: 92 Tribal Village
We couldn’t help but be flustered. This wasn’t what we came expecting.
"Is this really a tribal village? It looks like ghosts are going to pop out!"
"Right? Haven’t they all left already?"
"It’s a goblin village, but they haven’t even set up guards?"
Goblins are as suspicious as they are weak. So they usually set up guards or traps.
There was nothing of the sort here. As we tried to enter, we sensed a presence.
Someone was walking out of the village. Looking closely, a tall goblin, seemingly very old, was approaching, leaning on a staff.
As we grew wary, the goblin waved a hand and groaned.
"Oh dear... there’s no need for that. Look, have we threatened you? Have we even drawn a knife?"
I looked around. Goblins emerged from the visible huts, looking dejected.
Even then, their numbers seemed to be less than twenty.
"...Is this all? You should have dozens, hundreds of them, shouldn’t you?"
"I am the elder of this tribe. Dozens, hundreds? What old tales are you speaking of?"
"Old tales?"
The story grew stranger. The dwarves clearly said they were being harassed by these goblins.
No matter how I looked, these guys didn’t seem capable of harassing anyone.
It looked like even Alpa would become their leader if he came here.
More information was needed. I glared at the elder, putting power into my eyes. I activated my title.
"Haa, recently, our family members have disappeared in large numbers. We don’t know if they were kidnapped, but our tribe is on the verge of collapse because of this...."
The surrounding goblins sniffled. One scrawny goblin whined.
"My daddy turned black and disappeared...!"
It was bleak. We came here to beat the shit out of them on behalf of the dwarves. Instead, our emotions were getting the shit beaten out of them.
Lumina subtly approached.
"They look really fucking pathetic, don’t they?"
No matter how disliked a race they were, in this state, there was no reason to hit them.
"Elder, how did this happen?"
"A while ago, our tribe members started disappearing one by one. At first, we thought they might have gone hunting and sent out a reconnaissance team, but even they lost contact. However, we did hear something."
"Something? What something?"
"They say that at some point, they started losing their minds, destroying their surroundings, committing arson, and even attacking their own kin. But I swear, I never taught my tribe members to do such things!"
The elder was currently under my suppression. He was in a state where he would only spit out the truth, even without me pricking his balls with thorns.
So it was true.
"As an elder, I tried to stop it, but I was worried about the tribe members here and couldn’t do anything. I just wonder if they are doing well."
I instinctively avoided the elder’s gaze. They’re all dead.
As if filled with resentment, the elder sighed and shook his head.
"If this continues, our tribe will surely fall. You may not know this, but we’ve always tried to live by certain principles. We weren’t the kind to be spoken ill of anywhere!"
The elder let out a lament. If this continued, he looked like he would deflate like a balloon.
"Uwaaah!"
The crying goblins began to increase one by one. As it became a sea of tears, the gloom only deepened.
I looked around.
Crude huts that could barely be called homes. Even decorations made by embedding pebbles into the ground, pretending to be paths, from who knows where.
If these guys had been plundering from behind the scenes, they would never look like this.
"At the very least, there should be the smell of blood."
But it wasn’t like that at all here. It was unusually clean for a goblin village.
I looked back at my companions.
"Someone clearly used a trick to kidnap the goblins."
There are many ways. From illusion magic to hypnosis, even mind control using tools.
But my auntie was smiling.
"I think I know."
"You? The truth of this situation?"
She nodded. Her auburn medium-length hair shimmered.
"Didn’t I tell you? I’m the foremost Saintess in the Empire. All Saintesses possess the Saintess’s Eye, which reveals the truth."
"Ah...!"
Hearing her words, I was astonished. That’s right, why didn’t I think of that? The Saintess’s Eye!
The Saintess’s Eye.
It was a special sight that, at its simplest, discerned truth from falsehood, and at its most advanced, could even find the true culprit of an incident.
They say the higher the Saintess’s level, the more capable the Saintess’s Eye becomes. Wow, my auntie is the best!
"Then, Auntie, do you think you know? The true culprit of this incident."
"It’s not that I ’think’ I know, I do know."
She looked at the elder. The elder tilted his head, leaning on his staff.
"Huh? What...?"
My auntie stared at the elder for a long time. Was the elder the culprit? Was he acting?
My auntie whispered to me.
"Behind the elder, in that hut, there’s a goblin, isn’t there? Bring him out."
"Yes, my lady!"
I kicked off the ground. I grinned.
I passed the elder, with my Lightning Aura and Aura activated.
I entered the hut behind him in an instant. I turned my head.
I saw the hidden goblin flinch in terror. I reached out to him.
"W-what? What the hell is this bastard doing?!"
He slapped my arm away. Then, there was something waiting for him.
I immediately delivered a front kick to him.
Thwack.
He fell limp, entering a stunned state. I hoisted him onto my shoulder and confidently walked outside.
When I threw him onto the ground, he barely came to his senses and crawled towards the elder.
"E-elder grandpa! Save me, those bastards are screwing me over!"
What bullshit. The elder shook his head, flustered.
"What’s wrong with my grandson? Why are you doing this? He’s a quiet boy who doesn’t even go outside the village!"
His grandson? But he didn’t know?
My auntie stepped forward with a solemn expression. At this moment, she was the one and only Saintess recognized by the Empire.
"How dare you act innocent even with a Saintess before you? Elder, your grandson, blinded by mere profit, sold off his tribe members!"
The entire goblin tribe was shocked by the unexpected bombshell. The elder, in particular, looked back and forth between us and his grandson, as if unable to believe it.
From the elder’s actions, it really seemed like he didn’t know.
The dragged-out goblin struggled wildly.
"What the hell are you talking about? This is why all humans are fucking human bastards! Fuck, chase them out! Ah, hurry!"
If this continues, it will drag on. Unfortunately, we don’t have much time.
Then I’ll have to play along.
I slowly approached him. I saw him flinch in terror and back away when he saw me.
In a word, he chickened out.
"Then let me ask you one thing."
"B-bullshit...!"
"Why? You said you were innocent, didn’t you? Or not?"
"I am, though?"
Idiot. I asked him directly.
"We met some goblins before we came here, you know? One of them had your face drawn on its chest."
"What? What the hell are you...!"
"On that guy’s chest, it was drawn exactly like your face, even the pimples and the position of the eyeballs."
"Ha, what bullshit! They would all be dyed black, so what could you have seen? Ah, Elder grandpa. What are you doing?! Protect me!"
He fell for it, this motherfucker. It was so funny that I couldn’t help but laugh.
The surrounding goblins looked at me with confusion. Lumina did too.
Shall I expose him then?
"That’s a really strange story, isn’t it?"
"W-what... now what?"
"We said we saw the goblins, but we never said their bodies were dyed black, did we?"
At my words, he finally panicked. He flinched in surprise, showing me dilated pupils, then quickly shook his head.
With an awkward smile on his lips.
"Th-that... these days, when our tribe members get captured, they turn black! That’s it!"
I calmly asked the goblins, including the elder.
"Are there any goblins here who knew about this?"
No goblins raised their hands to my question. Of course not.
Only the one who directly sold off his tribe and watched them could know about the goblins turning into Black Soldiers.
He panicked even more. If he was like this, what about the other goblins?
As I approached him, he screamed as if in a frenzy.
"You, you cheap bastard. To trick me!"
"What’s cheap about it? Those words should be spoken not by you, but by the tribe members who trusted and embraced you, shouldn’t they?"
At my words, the elder’s expression twisted fiercely. The elder immediately grabbed his shoulder and pressed him.
"Putin, my grandson. Did you really do that? Why?!"
Now it seemed there was no escape. But his name is Putin?
Putin shook off the elder’s hand.
"Th-that... Fuck! What did I do? Am I bad?"
"Putin...."
"Honestly, isn’t it true? They can’t hunt, they can’t build houses. Isn’t it right for such bastards to be used meaningfully? So I sold them off, shouldn’t you be grateful?!"
We were all appalled by the outrageous words that came out of his mouth.
My god, is this a goblin or a fucking human? Even Satan would have to concede ten moves.
I approached him and punched him in the face. With as little force as possible.
Thwack!
"Kuhk!"
As he crashed to the ground, the elder became furious.
"What did you say? They are your tribe members! They are family!"
"Tsk, family, my ass. Does that feed you? Does it give you money? I don’t need it. I just need to live well myself! The tribe can go to hell...!"
I was truly dumbfounded. There was a bastard like Alpa here.
I grabbed him by the collar.
"Tell me who approached you and where I can find them."
Due to the power of my title, his eyes, which had been glaring at me, became innocent. Soon, he obeyed.
"H-he... his name is James, he said he was an envoy sent by a human. He came from the human capital, to purify... the world...."
There was no need to hear more. This was truly absurd.
What the hell is this James bastard? He’s a cardinal, but he seems to be doing more than the cult leader?
"Could it be that? This guy, he has ambitions, so he’s secretly running businesses or something behind the cult leader’s back?"
Scheming villains always do this. Is he like that too?
I turned my head to the elder.
"Elder, I’ll leave this one’s fate to you. However, we also need to claim our share. Don’t stop me."
"...Huh?"
I lifted him up. Then I drew my dagger and severed both of his ankles.
"Kkeheaaahk!"
I averted my gaze from Putin, who was writhing and struggling on the ground.
We got into the carriage and left the village. That’s one problem solved.
[Side Quest ’Harmful Goblin’ Cleared!]
[Reward 10000 CP Acquired!]
[The Trust Level of all Dwarves in the Mining Site has increased!]
The atmosphere in the carriage was very good. Everyone praised me.
"Lucian! You’re the best-est♥"
"Lucian, I knew I could count on you!!"
I shook my head. Instead, I pointed at my auntie.
"Today was thanks to Auntie. Auntie, thank you so much. If it weren’t for the Saintess’s Eye, I wouldn’t have been able to do this. Truly."
At my words, my auntie smiled alluringly. Even that appearance was beautiful.
"Hehe, it was nothing. I’ll help you even more in the future. Because the man I like is you...♥"
"Auntie was always that kind of person. That’s why I like it. It’s reassuring!"
We returned to the mining site. When we told the dwarves the truth, they were all astonished.
And rightly so. A goblin selling off its own kin.
"Hmm, that goblin acted just like a human."
"Like a demon."
"Still, a weight has been lifted. Alright, now I’ll tell you about the secret path!"
Could we finally see it ourselves? We swallowed dryly.
