Chapter 20: Rescuing The Goblin Captives
Vedas ran through the forest.
One thought chased him harder than anything else.
’I don’t have a plan.’
He tightened his grip on his spear. "Arthur would probably tell me to make one."
Branches whipped past his face. Then... Voices. Laughter. He immediately slowed, and a clearing appeared ahead. He moved between the trees quietly and looked through the bushes at the scene beyond.
Five goblins were on the ground.
Bound with rope.
Bruised and terrified, with tears leaking down their cheeks.
Around them were five Hobgoblins, and unlike ordinary Goblins, the Hobgoblins were taller and broader. Crude axes hung from their hands. One of them kicked the nearest captive onto his side and laughed in glee. The captive on the ground whimpered and did not look up.
Then one of the other captives did look up, and their eyes found Vedas through the trees. Their eyes widened, and then he began trembling.
Tears appeared. "...Is that..." His voice shook. "No way..."
The other Goblins looked up and then froze as well at Vedas in the bush. Their eyes were locked onto the armor as realization began to appear on their face. It wasn’t a normal Goblin watching them but a Goblin Warrior.
Their eyes lit up, with one of them beginning to cry. Vedas swallowed; he had no idea what to do.
A voice came from behind him. "What’s the plan?"
Vedas turned and saw Arthur had finally arrived with Athena and Mithra. And then he said with a nervous look. "...I don’t have one."
Arthur nodded immediately. "Good."
"...what?"
Arthur blinked. "If you don’t have one, make one. Today you’ll learn."
Vedas continued staring.
Arthur pointed toward the captured Goblins. "What do you think they need, partner?"
His eyes moved toward the bound Goblins. Then toward the Hobgoblins, and then understanding came. They didn’t need words. They needed proof.
Vedas gripped his spear as he stepped out of the forest. The Hobgoblins finally noticed him, with one of them sneering and another laughing.
The third raised his axe. "Another Goblin? It looks different than the others"
The fourth Hobgoblin spat. "No matter. Kill him like the rest."
Vedas rushed forward, and the distance vanished in a blur. His spear flashed twice before the Hobgoblin’s laughter stopped.
Blood sprayed.
The Hobgoblin collapsed.
Silence.
The other four Hobgoblins stared in shock while the captured Goblins blinked their eyes in disbelief and surprise.
Vedas didn’t stop as he swung his shield, which bashed into the face of the second Hobgoblin. Before sending it flying backward and crashing through a tree. The remaining three Hobgoblins took a step back.
But he didn’t care about them as he reached the prisoners.
His spear cut through the ropes one by one. Five cuts. The rope fell away from each pair of wrists and the captives stared at their freed hands.
Then they looked at him.
Nobody spoke.
One of them reached out and pressed his fingers against Vedas’s armor as if checking whether he was real.
"Are you..." The oldest Goblin swallowed. "Real?"
Vedas gave them a simple smile. "I am."
Goblins froze.
"And I came to get you out of here." He looked at all five of them. "You don’t need to be afraid anymore."
Nobody spoke.
Then someone started crying. Vedas stood and turned around as he saw the remaining Hobgoblins were already charging.
Good.
He understood this part. His shield rose, and he pointed his spear forward towards the three Hobgoblins. Behind him, the rescued goblins watched his back.
The charging Hobgoblins swung first, but Vedas stepped aside. The axe struck empty air, and then his spear pierced the Hobgoblin’s side.
[Level Up]
[Goblin Warrior]
[Level 12→ Level 13]
Vedas looked at the Hobgoblin. "You shouldn’t hurt people."
The Hobgoblin laughed.
Vedas sighed. "I really hoped you’d listen."
His spear moved, and the Hobgoblin collapsed.
And then the other two came rushing to him.
...
The Hobgoblin that Vedas had hit into the tree was standing again.
The goblin girl saw it first.
It rose slowly. Blood ran from a cut on its forehead, dark and thick, and its eyes had the quality of something that was past strategy and had arrived at just rage. It looked at the clearing. At its fallen companions, and finally at Vedas’s back.
A slow, terrible smile spread across its face.
The girl looked at Vedas. He did not see it and was still fighting two Hobgoblins.
The Hobgoblin raised its axe.
The girl looked at Vedas again. Then at the axe. Then at Vedas.
’Move,’ she thought. ’Look behind you. Please look behind you.’
He didn’t turn.
Her eyes landed on a rock near her foot. Small. The size of her fist.
She wasn’t a fighter, and she had never challenged a Hobgoblin before. Her hand shook as she picked it up. This was stupid; it wouldn’t stop the Hobgoblin.
She threw it anyway.
The rock hit the Hobgoblin directly in the forehead with a sound so small it almost did not register. The clearing went quiet as the Hobgoblin’s axe stopped its descent.
The girl’s voice came out before she could stop it, louder than she had meant, every word shaking on the way out. "Leave our Goblin Warrior alone!"
The words surprised her more than anyone. She hadn’t meant to shout. They had simply come out.
The entire clearing froze.
The Hobgoblin slowly turned, and the girl’s face went pale. ’Why did I do that!?’
The Hobgoblin rushed towards her before bringing its axe down on her head. She quickly threw herself sideways before it reached her. But once the axe smashed into the ground, a shockwave blasted out.
The shockwave knocked the other rescued Goblins off their feet. The girl scrambled backward. The Hobgoblin raised its weapon again, and a cruel grin spread across its face.
"The Great One will be angry about losing one." The axe rose higher. "But he will understand."
The girl closed her eyes.
"Now die, pest."
The axe descended.
CLANG!
The sound echoed through the clearing.
But to the girl’s surprise, she was still alive. There was no pain or feeling of something sharp slashing through her. She slowly opened her eyes and saw Vedas was kneeling in front of her with a smile.
He had one hand around the blade of the axe, the metal edge pressing into his palm, and the Hobgoblin was straining with both hands to force it down. The axe hadn’t moved, not even a little.
"Thank you," Vedas said even while he bled from his hand.
She looked at him. "What?"
"You helped me." He turned back to the Hobgoblin and set his feet. "You were very brave."
He pushed.
The Hobgoblin stumbled backward, and its eyes had time to go wide before the spear completed its arc. The Hobgoblin froze, and then it fell. The Goblin girl blinked and looked around. The other Hobgoblins were dead too.
Vedas scratched the side of his cheek. "...Is everyone okay?"
The oldest goblin burst into tears.
Then two more.
Then a fourth, and finally she lasted a few more seconds. Then she started crying too. She sat on the ground of the clearing where she had been about to die and cried until her shoulders stopped shaking.
The others were doing the same thing around her, and nobody was judging anyone for it. Eventually, when the shaking had slowed, she wiped her face and stood up. Vedas was already checking on everyone.
She walked over and stopped while Vedas looked at her. "Who are you?"
"I’m Vedas." Vedas straightened. "Your new Chief."
She stared at him.
Behind her, the freed goblins had gone very quiet.
"The scout reached us at the settlement," Vedas continued. "That’s why I came."
The girl thought about the Hobgoblins that were still out there. About the settlement hidden among the ruins. About the thing called the Great One that the Hobgoblins had mentioned when they thought no one was listening.
"What are you going to do about them?" she swallowed. "The Hobgoblins. The ones still in the forest."
Vedas looked toward the deeper trees. Then back at her. "Stop them," he said. "Put an end to all of it."
She stared at him. "By yourself?"
Vedas opened his mouth and closed it as if lost in thought. Before he finally smiled. "...If I have to."
"...w-what?" The female Goblin’s eyes widened.
"So none of you have to stay scared." Vedas expression softened. "So you can sleep better at night."
The Goblin girl stared at him.
Then... Everything she’d been holding in finally broke as tears rushed down her face. And then, to everyone’s surprise, she knelt.
"I want to help," she said.
Vedas froze before quickly saying. "Help me... do what?"
"Fight the Hobgoblins–"
"Are you sure?! You don’t have to force yourself–"
"And let you do it alone?" The girl looked up at him. Her voice was still shaking. Her legs were still shaking. She could feel them, but she still spoke. "I am not fine with that."
Vedas eyes widened as he stared at this girl in shock.
She stared back. Her legs were shaking, and her voice was shaking. But she didn’t look away. She was not letting him go into the forest alone.
Vedas smiled and spoke. "Alright."
She started to stand.
He offered his hand, and she took it.
...
Arthur finally stepped out of the trees.
"That was good."
Athena followed immediately with Mithra behind her.
He patted Vedas’s shoulder. "As expected of my partner."
Mithra crossed her arms. "I didn’t expect it to happen this fast."
"My partner is just that amazing."
Athena walked past them. "Not bad." She immediately crouched beside the Hobgoblin corpses and began examining them.
A notification appeared at the edge of Arthur’s vision.
[Requirement Progress Updated]
[Vedas has gained two more Goblin subordinates]
[Current Loyalty: 1/10]
Arthur pointed at the screen only he could see. "One!"
Vedas blinked.
Arthur laughed. "You’ve already got your first subordinate!"
Vedas looked at the Goblin girl. "...I do."
Arthur nodded proudly. "Told you. You figured it out."
Vedas scratched his cheek. "...I didn’t know I was doing that."
Arthur laughed. "Neither did I the first time."
"But you always seem so confident."
"Because I believe everything will work out fine."
Vedas eyes widened before a faint smile appeared and he nodded.
Behind them, Athena had pressed her fingers against the markings on a section of stone wall that the roots had not yet covered, and she was murmuring something to Athy in a tone too low to hear. The owl appeared to be in full agreement.
"Athena," Arthur called.
No response.
"Athena."
Mithra glanced at her. "She’s already somewhere else."
Athena traced a symbol slowly. "Interesting," she said, to the wall.
The oldest of the freed goblins cleared his throat. Everyone looked over. He was standing with his arms held against his sides, and his expression had the weight of someone carrying information they had not been sure whether to share and had decided to share.
"While captured, we heard them talk about the one they serve... The Great One." The old goblin pointed, not toward the way they had come but deeper, toward the section of forest where the trees grew tallest, and the ruins Athena had been examining became more frequent and more intact. "He lives in those ruins."
Everyone looked toward the ruins.
Nobody spoke.
The old Goblin’s voice lowered and almost whispered. "That’s where the thing sleeps."
Athena’s pen stopped moving, and she turned around very slowly. Mithra immediately frowned as she looked towards the ruins. Arthur’s green eyes stared at the carved stone and toppled pillars that had been the background of the afternoon.
"...Thing?"
Nobody in the clearing spoke as the forest felt older and larger.
Arthur’s eyes lit up. "Ancient ruins... Something sleeping." He smiled. "This entrance exam is amazing."
Mithra sighed. "I knew that wasn’t going to scare you."
"Since there is only a little bit of time left in the Veridian Secret Realm... Can we–"
Mithra immediately pointed at him. "No."
Arthur blinked. "No, what?"
"Whatever you’re thinking."
Arthur smiled. "You don’t even know what I’m thinking."
"I know enough."
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