CHAPTER 418: ARC 6, CHAPTER 34: GOBLINS

"Hotaru... Mmh..."

"Dude, wake up," a pillow was hovering over a sleeping blonde, about to drop.

Sparks went over her hair and Jotou ejected her eyes open. She immediately looked up and saw Ben without his helmet; he had a heavy-looking pillow about ready to drop on her head.

"Oh great, you’re up," he tossed the pillow aside.

Jotou let out groans and morning mutters. She had a pillow clutched in her arms and locked with her legs—a little drool absorbed in it. She yawned and pushed it away. She grunted, rubbing the side of her hip where her sword was still sheathed.

"You still nocturnal like you used to be?" Ben asked as he stuck his large sword behind his back.

"I still like the night, but not really," she sniffled. "Did you sleep in your armour...?"

"What? No dude, I took it off. You were asleep immediately though," he surveyed the small attic-like room with rickety beds and straw for mattresses.

"Yeah, mine’s made and enchanted for comfort. Slept on my sword, so that’s fun," she stretched her legs.

"What’s the point if it’s not maxed out in defence?" Ben flexed his armour. "I’m impenetrable, enchanted to hell and back. My sword, ooooh baby, wait till you see it in action!" he patted the handle of it.

’I guess he has a point, my adventuring gear has less of a durability.’ "But mine’s a lot more flexible and I have an easier time avoiding things. Your armour’s cool, but like, clunky."

"How dare you?" he teased as he donned his helmet with a, "Pfwonk." "If you’re built like a rogue, be glad I’m built like a tank."

Jotou in a flash pondered all her encounters and fights in the past... "Yeah, I wish I was built like a rogue."

"You okay there, you got a, thousand-yard stare going on," Ben pointed and drew a circle in the air.

"I’m fine, I’m fine," she said in a whisper of a voice and finally blinked. ’My poor, poor body.’ "Let’s not talk stats in the morning, shall we?"

"Guess it’s adventuring time then!" Ben slung his pack over his shoulder. "But seriously, you good?"

"Yeah, let’s go."

_

A village was awake, going about their business. From up on a slight incline, they could see Brillingfon in the near distance, with its charming little atmosphere.

"Okay, so that’s Brillingfon and the woods are that a way, so the heck’s this place?" Jotou queried while the two stood in front of a wooden shack on stilts.

"Checkpoint dude; time to stock up on supplies we’ll save for the next fight till we never use them," Ben said as he had his arm opening the door and was already slithering in.

The blonde squinted, "What? Dude, it’s some shady shack- Huh." She took a step in to realize it was a witchy shop of some kind. "I’ll be damned. How the hell d’you know, have you been here?"

"Nah, it was just obvious," he shrugged.

"Was it?" her voice rasped while she narrowed her eyes even more.

"Ah welcome travellers from afar. What wares do ye seek?" walking through a curtain of glass beer bottles was a tan-skinned woman in her late forties, wearing loose flowing garments and her dark hair in a braid. Her layered necklace and bangles jingled as she walked.

"Cool, it’s a gypsy shack," Ben wandered about the shack, poking at the odd mushrooms and herbs hanging from the ceiling. The woman’s eyes tightened.

"Sorry about him miss," Jotou approached the counter she stood behind. "We’re just adventurers that happened to be passing by. So, anything you’d recommend?"

The woman let out a hoot and walked out of the counter, "My, my, pristine skin, golden hair, beautiful voice and a polite tongue to boot," she pinched Jotou’s cheek.

Jotou winced and moved her jaw around, "Don’t do that please..."

The woman turned to point at the red-armoured man, "Careful boy, ye spoil any of them, ye going to be paying for them."

Ben ignored her and continued surveying around, picking up jars and vials filled with sealed off vibrant and bubbling liquids.

"We’ll of course be paying for stuff. Anything you have for fighting goblins in the nearby woods?" Jotou continued.

The woman swayed over to the weapon rack, with various oddly shaped spears and staffs. They had peculiar engravings on them in green and white paints. She picked out a short sword, "Some of these weapons the guards would give to me to examine.

They are from the goblins of which ye speak. Cunning creatures they are, enchanting such weapons. This sword lights with flame," she swished the handle to the left and it ignited into a green-flamed short sword, before disappearing after a few seconds.

"Hm, really cool," Jotou raised her brows. "What’s the catch?"

"...It lasts about ten seconds and needs to regain its mana."

"Well, that’s not so bad. I don’t think it’s useful for me or anyone I know, but it’s cool," she shrugged. "You want it?" she glanced at Ben who was examining a crystal skull.

Ben looked over, "How much?"

"For you? An armite. For her, four platinum," she smiled at the blonde.

"Damn. You’ve got a natural advantage with them," Ben continued perusing.

’Huh?’ "Thank you, but I don’t really need it. Any of these other weapons do anything?"

The woman hissed through her teeth while thinking, "This goblin staff has some druidic magics and this goblin shield can sprout thorns when you command."

"Don’t use a shield, but I might take the staff. How does it work?" Jotou examined the gnarled wooden staff marked with green paint all over.

"It recharges mana over time, a few hours maybe. It can grow crops and flowers at a speed unrivalled, blooming them within seconds," her own words were unsure. "Twenty-seven gold."

"Done," the blonde paid out of her pocket. ’Might come in handy.’

Glass clinked and clanked on the counter, "One speed potion, four healing potions and an explosive concoction—how much?" Ben crossed his arms.

"Forty gold," the shopkeeper went behind the counter.

"Come on lady, that’s overpriced," Ben raised his hands.

"Dude, you have a healing affinity, why’re you buying potions?"

"Eh, healing magic’s tough and stupid. I put more points into offence," he shrugged.

"Forty gold or ye can leave," the woman gathered up the potions.

"Miss, that is a bit overpriced to be fair," Jotou smiled sweetly. "I’m sorry my friend’s disrespectful, he means no harm by it. Would you mind selling it to me for the actual price of these please? I did buy the staff after all."

The woman hummed in contemplation that nodded back with a smile herself, "Twenty-one gold and five silver, but I’ll do twenty because ye bought the staff."

"Sounds perfect, thank you," Jotou gave a curtsy. Ben slid twenty gold onto the counter, to which the lady sneered at him and took the coins.

Ben stored the potions in his belt as the two left out the door. He then spoke jokingly, "Man, you gotta teach me your skill to flirt with the NPCs to get discounts. It’s not fair you get a maxed out charm stat."

Her blonde brows knitted, "NPC? You don’t have to be rude." She shook her head, "Besides, it’s not like there’s stats to track anyway."

"None that we can like, open up and see yeah, but they’re just invisible," Ben replied as they walked into the opening of the woods.

_

"Hepaycha, illwas mai katherikal."

"Liko gulwa!"

Then the voices began to snicker.

"The hell are they saying?" Jotou whispered.

"Beats me dude, I don’t know goblin," Ben replied in a hush.

The two peeked out from the bushes, peering at the encampment of conical tents surrounding a bonfire. Short figures, ranging from thin to rotund, walked about the outskirts in armour and spears.

Their skin were shades of green and their ears were much like elves, except pointed sideways. ’Goblins. They look slightly shorter than Meko. I can barely see past their barricade. Not a lot of noise or foot traffic though.

Crispy did say they’re nocturnal. So these must just be the guards around the outer rim. We need to dispatch them and get their ears, but...’ The blonde knitted her brows and cocked her head as she watched the goblins patrolling.

"Dudeee, it’s gonna be so sick. We get to do combat together. You better show me your flashiest moves my guy," Ben brought the blade down from his back. "What’re you planning?" the grin could be heard through the helmet.

"Crispy, wait just a second," Jotou told quietly. "It said two gold per goblin ear, but we also get a reward for completing the quest, right?"

"Yeah, it’s about five platinum."

"The villagers just want to be safe and not be pillaged. They’d be pretty grateful if we can get the goblins out of here," Jotou continued to ponder out loud.

Ben stuck his sword into the dirt to steady himself, "Kinda the point, yeah. You’re telling me all of this why exactly?"

"What if we just talk to them and ask them to move? We can probs just buy a few livestock from the village and they have magic like the stick I bought, so crops shouldn’t be an issue they just need cleared out ground."

"Dude, seriously, what’re you talking about?"

Jotou raised a brow, "I’m saying we don’t need to mutilate them. We’d still get all the benefits and we’ll be fine without the gold from their ears."

"They’re goblins man, let’s just kill em’ and move on, why you gotta make this harder? If it’s not us, it’s just gonna be some other guy."

"Look at them," Jotou urged and faced the camp. "They’re joking with each other. They’re just living—like people. There’s probably just, children and families in there sleeping."

"They’re monsters dude, we just gotta kill them. You don’t have to get sympathetic about the mobs," Ben stood up and walked out of the bushes.

"What? Dude, stop, this isn’t a game," Jotou placed a hand on his armour and halted him.

"You’re gonna ruin our stealth man," Ben hushed angrily.

She got in front of him, "No, we’re not doing this, let’s get out of the woods and rethink this whole-"

"Howaiyah!"

"Howaiyah!?"

"Hikili kikoki!"

Three of the goblin guards held their spears up at the two, shouting in a language they did not understand.

Jotou looked behind her, then smiled, "Sorry, I don’t understand, but we’re not a threat," she put her hands up and eased. "Put the damn sword away," she commanded out of the corner of her lips.

The goblins had red pupilless eyes, sunken into their sockets. Their hairless eyebrows furrowed and looked at one another; one of them scratched his green hair under his helmet.

"Fiki laka?" one replied to the blonde.

"Uh, laka," Jotou nodded slowly. ’I hope that wasn’t an insult or something.’

The goblins then exchanged glances with each other, till the one in the middle squinted at her. "Turfa misi ultaway moi kisht fashtuwali?"

"I, don’t quite understand," Jotou shrugged with her hands up and tilted her head to the side, all the while Ben watched with a readied sword.

All three stepped forward and held up a hand, as if barring her for going any further. "Iktap laka yoikala, jupa wol," one pointed away and then to the other end of the camp.

"I think they think we’re just passing through and want us to go around the camp and not through it?" Jotou spoke aloud.

"Well goblin whisperer, you can tell them we’re here to get rid of them and maybe they’ll run off at least," Ben hoisted his sword up onto his pauldron. "Not that I don’t enjoy the challenge."

"I’m pretty good with interpretation actually; or so I’m told," Jotou defended. She crouched down and looked at the goblins, "If we can, we’d like to parley with your leader?

We just wanna ask if you’re willing to move and not steal from the nearby village. We’re willing to make some arrangements in exchange, so that everyone’s happy."

"Happy."

"Happy," one goblin nodded to the other. They then smiled with their razor sharp teeth, curiosity in their demeanour.

"See, we’re getting somewhere," Jotou said with some hope.

"Yeah goldilocks, they probably wanna get happy with you cause it’s mating season; they’re monsters dude," Ben’s sigh echoed through his helmet.

"You’re disgusting," Jotou replied mockingly. She rummaged through the pack on her back and took out the staff she bought, "As a peace offering," she handed it to the goblins. Their eyes widened and they did not take it, instead they glanced at one another.

Greens started sprouting out of the staff’s crook and bloomed into various flowers of different colours and petal types. Within seconds the staff’s end was a large bouquet of fragrant blossoms. "Huh, would you look at that," Jotou observed curiously.

Each goblin nodded and plucked a flower off of the staff for themselves. One poked his spear into the dirt and drew a crescent with a few stars surrounding it. Another pointed to their encampment, "Moi kisht fashtuwali, kinichna dawol."

The crouched down blonde eyed the artwork, "I think they want us to return at night?"

"So they can sacrifice us to the goblin king?" Ben replied.

Jotou nodded to the three goblins and stood up. "They’d probs be awake then. I think we have an audience. Well, let’s go check out the village. We can probs talk to them too and sort this whole issue out."

Ben groaned and placed his sword back onto his back. Jotou gave a bow to them and a wave before walking away, to which the goblins seemed to reciprocate with their words of goodbye.

_

Soon the two were heading towards the village through the woods. "I didn’t expect goblins to be so amenable. I think the skin, the long nose and red eyes put people off, but they’re actually cute if you look past those," Jotou chatted.

"They’re gonna ambush us man, you wait," Ben shook his head—his voice dead.

"Even if they do, we can fight out of it. Nothing we can’t handle, right?" Jotou turned to him with a smirk.

Ben let out a deep breath and his shoulders slumped. He placed his hand on his helmet, "Dude, I’m so over this. You wanna keep living a fantasy with all these characters, go ahead man, I can’t."

Jotou’s eyebrows knitted, "What’re you talking about?"

His voice went high, "You’re so in denial it’s actually scary—treating all the NPCs and mobs like real people. Look, I get it, we’ve been stuck in this world a while, but get your senses together man."

"Crispy, the people are real, surely you would’ve realized that by now. The goblins aren’t ’mobs’, they’re just a different race from what I can tell," the blonde explained with a little annoyance in her tone.

"Christ, you’re gone," he lamented. "Wake up dude, they’re a little more complex NPCs, sure, but they’re fake. It’s like when you talk to an AI and think it’s real and you feel bad for it, I get it.

I didn’t wanna say anything about your girlfriend or shatter the immersion for you, but you gotta hear it."

Jotou glared, "I think you’re the one that needs a reality check here."

"Ugh, I can’t with this right now dude. I’m gonna go kill the goblins and get the ears; feel free to go to the village, I’ll meet you there," Ben took his blade in hand and turned to walk back to the goblin encampment.

"Crispy, they’re just trying to survive, stop it," Jotou called out.

Ben ignored her protests and continued walking.

Jotou stomped over and stood in front of him, "Listen, this world’s real. I thought it was all some coma dream at first too, but it’s not."

"You’ve convinced yourself of that, so, nothing I say’s gonna matter," he tried to get past her, but Jotou blocked the way.

"I’m not gonna let you murder the goblins," she firmly voiced.

"Oh yeah? What’re you gonna do to stop me?" Ben swung his blade around and held it up on his shoulder.

"Whatever it takes it to convince that thick head of yours," her eyes sparked...