CHAPTER 34: CHAINS

Goblin Name Cheat Sheet:The [Goblin] is to make it easier to CTRL+F.

[Goblin] Gi Ga

The goblin in that estranged group that was with the protagonist when he defeated an orc. He is currently a noble class, the highest amongst the protagonist’s subordinates. He prefers to use the spear.

[Goblin] Gi Gu

The former leader of the village. He was pressured by the protagonist in his goblin noble form, and was added to his subordinates. He uses the long sword, and is relatively smart for a goblin rare.

[Goblin] Gi Gi

Known as a beast warrior, a goblin with the ability to tame beasts.

He evolved while hunting spear deer with the protagonist.

He prefers to use the axe. His goblin class is rare.

[Goblin] Gi Go

A goblin with many wounds on his body. The food of his horde was stolen by the gray wolves, so he made a decision to follow the protagonist. He is the most experienced amongst the goblin rares. His weapon is a curved katana.

[Goblin] Gi Za

The druid goblin rare that recently joined them.

[Race] Goblin

[Level] 60

[Class] Duke; Horde Chief

[Possessed Skills] <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <>

[Divine Protection] Goddess of the Underworld (Altesia)

[Attributes] Darkness; Death

[Subordinate Beasts] High Kobold (Lv1) Gray Wolf (Lv1) x2

[Abnormal Status] <>

The basics of treating a prisoner is to bind them without killing them.

When I got back to the village with the humans, the goblins welcomed us in high spirits.

“Lili,” I called.

I ordered her to deal with the humans’ dwelling themselves.

“Make your own things,” I said.

“You want us to make our own house?” she asked.

“Exactly. We don’t have enough buildings to house these many humans. There’s no choice but to make new ones.”

“It will take some time to build new houses… What should we during that time?”

Lili’s fatigued state tugged at my mischievous heart.

“You can throw them at my house. The women can go to the jail. The men can be halved. One half to Chinos’ and Mattis’ jail. The other half to my house. I’ll let you decide who goes where. Is that clear?”

I didn’t say anything out loud, but I made it clear to let her know not to let a revolt happen.

“I understand. I’ll choose carefully.”

Good.

With this I’ve chained her feet.

The chain that is the life of humans. She risked her own life to save theirs. That’s why their lives can be used as chains to bind her.

As the two gray wolf pups running towards me entered my vision, I saw Reshia.

A wry smile that could be said to be the very picture of unhappiness appeared on my face.

“Here’re the spoils for the day. Make you sure you distribute it fairly,” I said.

The sun had already set by the time we came back with the double head and the triple horn, so we started a great fire, and gathered around it like one would in a banquet.

“Why did you accept the humans?”

My subordinates surrounded the fire and ate the double head with me. The one who asked me that question was the leader of the druids, Gi Za.

“Because I still have use for them,” I replied as I chewed the meat.

Gi Za remained silent for a while, brooding to himself. Then he opened his mouth, and he said,

“I don’t understand. The kobolds are one thing, but do you plan to take the humans in as well?”

“It’d be great if I could. Their knowledge is not something a fool could come up with after all.”

“That’s great and all,” replied Gi Za. “But the others aren’t happy, you know?”

Half of the fifteen humans are children and women. The remaining seven are all fully grown men. Two are able to fight, but the rest are farmers that don’t even have any swords.

“Because they can’t touch the women in front of them?” I asked.

At Gi Za’s nod, I turned toward him a gaze that could kill.

“If anyone tries to disobey my order, I will respond in kind and punish them appropriately.”

“…Don’t make such a scary face,” complained Gi Za. “I was just inquiring… What are you planning to do? It won’t be easy to put the goblins’ dissatisfaction to rest.”

Women, huh?

“Come to think of it, I forgot to ask.”

“What?”

My face right now might be smiling, but my heart is actually in a whirlpool of emotions. I still haven’t forgotten that sensation. The sensation when my blade was at the woman’s neck. I can still feel it in my hands.

“Do you want female humans that much?” I asked.

“…Well, yeah,” Gi Za hesitantly replied.

I stuffed my cheeks with meat as I enjoyed myself with Gi Za’s troubled expression.

Embracing the female of another species is like a drug to goblins. A pleasure so poisonous that it can drive them insane.

The only reason they haven’t been taken over by that mania yet is because of the skills <> and <> that I possess.

According to Gi Za, that desire to obtain the female of another species is like a spasm in the ferocity of its fervor.

“How troubling…” I wryly smiled. And Gi Za knitted his brows.

“This horde is abnormal,” he said as he shrugged his shoulders and smiled.

“This is a horde of warriors under the king’s command. I hope you could just nod and agree,” I jokingly replied.

“I should let you know… I’m not having an easy time either,” replied Gi Za as he left.

He has a point though. It’s certainly not good for the goblins to pile up their dissatisfaction.

So what to do?

It’s easy enough to allocate female humans… But while it isn’t a problem now, what about later?

Something like that will become a hindrance later on when I annex the humans to my rule. I’ll have to find a different outlet for the goblins’ desire. Alternatively, I could also just keep their desires tied down.

Hmm… A different outlet, huh?

Do I desperately train them to deal with it? Or is there another method?

Like thoroughly telling them that there’s no time for sexual desires?

◇◇◆

The next day, I prepared a new form of training for everyone else who weren’t hunting.

I had a fifth of the horde do the following drills alternately: The method of swinging a sword, the method of thrusting with the spear, throwing practice, and a drill to strengthen coordination.

The opponent of the goblins was mostly me. We couldn’t rely on Reshia’s healing as she had her hands full with the humans after all.

I made the goblins swing heavy wooden swords. I made the goblins aim for their foe’s feet. And I made the goblins slash with their long wooden rods as they matched the timing of their surroundings. Moreover, in order to practice the throwing skills of those under Gi Ga, I had them throw wooden rods at their targets repetitively. Anyone who slowed down even for a bit were met with a strike from Gi Go’s and Gi Gu’s wooden rods.

Then I trained the three-man cell groups that were already in tatters.

I have no intentions of holding back.

There’s no point in training unless we go at it we the intention to kill.

I struck down the incoming goblins. I kicked them. And I dragged them, and made them stand again. As for the goblins that ran, I grabbed them by the scruff of their neck, threw them and trampled on them. I dealt with 20 goblins in one day. As expected, having to deal with what is approximately 7 groups by myself took a lot out of me.

But it was a small price to pay if it meant getting rid of the goblins’ dissatisfaction.

It also wasn’t just all pain that I brought to the goblins. I made sure to prepare some rewards for those that did well as well. I let them lay with the female goblins and eat good meat.

I later heard from Gi Za on the fifth day, that this day was known as “A Day of Fear” amongst the warrior goblins.

It’s true that fear was a huge part of my training, but there’s also no doubt that the result was good.

After all, I was able to instill the fear of me into the goblins while training them.

Then after I finished beating up the goblins to the point that they could no longer walk, I went out to hunt.

◆◆◇

It’s been 10 days since I began the training, and the goblins have mostly gotten used to it. By the 2nd day, less goblins ran away. And majority of them were able to oppose me.

The training progressed faster than I expected.

When I went to take a look at the dwelling place of the humans. I saw that they did a good job. They made a good jail.

There are some amongst the men that have experience making houses. I might be able to use them.

Lili also ordered them to fix the fences surrounding the settlement.

I later asked Lili, and as expected, their home was burned because of war, and they were all refugees. And although they ran to the forest, they eventually got lost.

“A fence, you say?” asked Lili.

“Right. I was thinking of giving this settlement to you.”

I’m dangling bait in front of the humans I brought here 10 days ago. It’s been 10 days since we started living alongside each other, and although they’re still a little stiff, they’ve at least acknowledged the fact that I have no intention of hurting them. True, they’re still afraid. But at least we’re now able to converse.

My words caused the humans to look at each other.

“What do you mean?” nervously asked an elderly man. Humans that can build buildings such as these are definitely useful, I thought.

“We will soon depart this village and head west. I just thought I’d give this settlement to you humans when we do.”

An even bigger commotion than before arose.

It’s easier to repair a settlement than to make a new one after all.

“Of course, if you want, I could also leave you with a few goblins to protect your people.”

This area is a target for enemies from outside the Forest of Darkness.

“Chinos’s efforts in cultivating also seems to have paid off,” I continued.

I had Chinos cultivate the land near the village. It’s somewhat taken shape now. Potatoes should be ready for harvest by next year.

“Yes, the soil here isn’t bad,” nodded Chinos.

To which I nodded back, satisfied.

The humans became noisy again. But this time, there were voices of happiness mixed amongst the commotion.

Of course, I have a reason for telling all these things to the humans here.

I’m not doing this purely out of good will of course.

One reason is to properly put the carrot and the whip into practice.

Another reason is because the larvae are growing up, and the goblin adults are increasing more and more.

It takes approximately 20 days for a larva to grow up into an adult goblin. But the female goblins can give birth without pause.

Well, not completely without rest, but that’s only five days at most. After that, they’ll become pregnant with another goblin.

As of now, there are 20 female goblins. And all of them are pregnant.

Because of the three-man cells and the abundance of food, and on top of that, the results of the training, barely any goblins have been dying recently. Moreover, the larvae are all mostly guaranteed to become adults.

At this rate, the horde will become too big to fit into this settlement, so we have to find a new home.

Alternatively, I could also find different homes to assign the goblins to.

There’s also the option of expanding this settlement.

But I have to decide what course to take.

I could separate the horde, but then comes the problem of deciding who to entrust their leadership to. If they’re too far from me, their loyalty might become a problem. I’ll need someone who can deal with that. Gi Za could do it, but he refused it himself, so the plan’s no good.

As for expanding the settlement, if the settlement catches too much attention, the humans might become fearful of us. There is a settlement of humans not too far from here after all. It wouldn’t be strange if they attacked.

As for the third option, we’ll all eventually have to go to the Fortress of the Abyss, but for now there’s the issue of the orcs in the west, blocking our way.

With all that, I have no choice but to compromise.

The land here is best for hunting preys. The area surrounding the lake in the northeast doesn’t have any strong beasts. The only danger here is the threat from the west.

And deep in the west lies the origin of the goblins. Eventually, we too we’ll settle there.

So since this settlement has served its original purpose, what other purpose does it have left?

Once I take over the fortress, I hope to use this settlement here as a foothold toward the world of humans. Whether this plan goes well or not is another story however.

But regardless, I don’t want to throw this settlement away. So at the very least, I’ll have to leave the minimum power required to maintain it.

If I can use the humans well, I’ll be able to expand the area I control.

Without using the goblins that is.

“There’s still time left. Think it over.”

As I left my proposal to the humans, I turned my back and thought of the predicted outcome to myself.

◆◆◇

Speaking of which, I forgot to mention this, but when I came back, I had Reshia change the name of the gray wolf pups.

The Vanguard of God is just too much.

At most, she could name it Uru.

It’s only a wolf after all.

After a long and fierce debate, we settled on Cynthia, the lady of the lake shore, and Gastra, Sovereign of the Wind’s Howls.

The last one came from Gi Za and the old goblin. I don’t know why, but for some reason they too got dragged into the debate.

The two gray wolf pups were making themselves comfortable on top of my knees as I debated with Reshia, so I took the opportunity and used > on them.

[Race] Gray Wolf (Gastra)

[Level] 1

[Class] Pup

[Possessed Skills] <> <>

[Divine Protection] None

[Attribute] None

[Race] Gray Wolf (Cynthia)

[Level] 1

[Class] Pup

[Possessed Skills] <> <>

[Divine Protection] None

[Attribute] None

That charge skill is a troubling one.

These pups might still be small, but there’s no doubt that they inherited the blood of those giant wolves.

◇◇◆◆◇◇◆◆

Level has risen.

60 => 61

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