Chapter 21: Saving the lady
Aric and Ariel walked in carefully. They left the tamed goblins behind, and both of them walked in. They could still hear the movement of the goblin that was still inside, and finally, after a few minutes of walking, they finally met it.
The goblin was different from the others. It stood at about five feet ten, with a slim, muscular build. He sat down with a sword in hand on a rock. It looked up when Aric and Ariel showed up.
"A hobgoblin," Ariel said immediately when she saw it. "It's far stronger than the rest, faster, and more dangerous, but it shouldn't be a threat. I can kill it easily," she said.
"No, no, no, don't kill it. I want to tame him," Aric said, stopping her before she did that.
All of a sudden, the hobgoblin shot up and charged at Aric, but before it could cover half the distance, Ariel had already moved. She charged in very fast and threw a kick faster than the hobgoblin could react to.
The kick slammed right across his face, almost causing his neck to twist a full one-eighty degrees. The goblin fell to the ground with a loud thud.
With one attack, Ariel had completely defeated the hobgoblin. Aric walked up to it. He used appraisal first to see just how strong the goblin was.
[Level 10
Health: 30/100
Mana: 15/15
Strength: 9
Agility: 7
Endurance: 9
Intelligence: 6
Charisma: 3
Luck: 1]
The hobgoblin was quite strong when compared to the goblins. Aric became eager to tame it. He bent down and placed his hand on the goblin.
He used the force contract, but to his surprise and shock, the taming failed. The hobgoblin suddenly got up and charged at Aric's throat.
But before the goblin could reach Aric, Ariel threw her sword like a spear, and it shot right through the goblin's head, killing it.
"Phew, that was close," Aric said as he got up. He used his foot to check if the goblin was truly dead. When he confirmed it, he had a slight frown before he smiled and looked at Ariel.
"Thank you," he said and walked to her. He gave her a hug of appreciation before letting go. After he let go and turned away, he began questioning himself.
'What the hell, bro? What the hell was the hug for? The thank you was enough.'
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He forcefully cleared his head of those thoughts. He tried to stop blushing and then faced Ariel, only to see her still blushing and standing there.
Seeing this made him flustered as well. He quickly turned away and spoke. "We should go search for the girl," he said and kept walking.
There was a small door covered by sticks near where the hobgoblin had been seated, so he pushed the sticks aside and walked in. What he saw there made his stomach churn.
There was flesh, blood, and bones all over the ground. Some flesh had gotten rotten. The blood covered the ground, parts of it dried up and now part of the floor.
He looked into the depths and saw the silhouette of the girl in the corner. He went to her and tried to check if she was still alive. She was, but she had passed out.
He quickly picked her up and walked out with her. When he came out with the girl, Ariel was shocked at the state she was in.
She was covered in cuts and bruises. Her body was exposed as her clothes had been ripped up.
"She is unconscious. We should take her back. I don't feel right leaving her here," Aric said.
Ariel nodded in agreement, and Aric walked out with her, with Ariel following behind.
After they left the tree, the goblins started following them as well. They walked past the place where the party had been killed. Aric looked at this and knew that he could not allow their bodies to stay here like that.
"Hey guys, can you burn up their bodies?" he asked the spirits.
"Burn their bodies?" one asked.
"So we are doing clean-up now?" another asked.
They followed with a short banter before heading to all the bodies, and the bodies erupted in flames and started burning.
Aric continued walking with the flames burning behind him. He headed back for camp. They walked for a few minutes, and finally, the house was in sight.
Immediately when they got there, he asked all the goblins to sit near the stream and not move until he came back. He walked into the house with the lady and placed her down on his bed.
She was so dirty and wounded that he could not even make out what she looked like.
"Ariel, please, can you help me clean her up? I would do it, but she is a lady, and I don't want to disrespect her," Aric said and got up.
"I understand. I'll do it," Ariel said.
"Thank you. I'll get the water and everything you need to clean her up. Don't worry about wetting the bed. Just do it and get her clean," Aric said.
"You don't have to do that. I'll wash her in the stream. That way, we don't damage your house," Ariel said, picked the girl up from the bed, walked out of the cabin, and headed for the stream, not even waiting to hear what Aric would say.
Aric trusted her to an extent, so he was not worried about that. He left the house and walked over to his new group of tamed goblins.
Immediately when he got to them, they all stood up and bowed to him.
"Alright, ground rules. Firstly, you are not slaves. All of you are workers and the first citizens of what I'm building. You will all be paid according to the work that you do.
No one will be cheated or abused. Whatever you do will have its reward or punishment. Now, with that out of the way, I need to name you all, because having you all nameless just makes you all look like slaves," Aric said.