It was in the middle of the day when I finished explaining to the Slimes how to make the walls. I was really fortunate for them being such fast learners. They took in my explanation like a sponge and also asked one or two questions about it too. One of the Slimes even thought about using its sticky gel to make the walls harder, which i approved of. It made the production of the walls much faster and the wall more durable.
When I was sure these guys would be okay without me, I also started to do other projects. My main problem for now were the other monsters in the forest and the cave itself. I was sure that someday, a really curious giant beast would figure to move into the cave and kill us all in the process, just get a good nights sleep…. The point I was getting at was, I need a way to hide the cave until I was sure nothing would come near it. The curtain for now did a good job it seemed, but I don’t think it would be always that way. Even now, the scout team had found a lot of monsters going in groups, searching the area for something. What I needed to be careful about was not just the eyes, but the nose and ears too…
-Lord, we have found something
It was one of the Slimes that lead the scout team. It had been only 3 hours since they departed. Even the harvest team was still outside collecting items and the surveillance team warned me a couple times from other monsters that were passing our home. I didn’t expect them to find something so fast.
-What is it I am on.
I used my transmission skill and took over the senses of the Slime. They were currently hiding behind bushes, some were even on the trees having a lookout. Before they left, I gave them basic scouting techniques so they wouldn’t get found so easily. Once again, in some sense, Slimes can be amazing.
I could hear footsteps in front of me and little snorts too, the clacking of metal hitting metal could be heard too. I looked over the bushes and saw…
-Kobolds?
Yes, those beasts were called Kobolds. They had dog heads and walked on two feet, their over all body structure was that of a human. They looked really vicious, and ugly too… There were a total of 5 Kobolds, all of them had some kind of weapon like a short sword or a sword, some even wore leather armor and bucklers…
-Uhh…
What were they doing here? I could see one of them carrying 6 horned rabbits on his shoulder, the rest were just walking in a line formation looking from left to right. Were they here to hunt? They continued to walk the opposite way of where my cave was, but them being here was still worried me, a lot, if I had to be honest.
-5 of you follow these guys on a distance, the rest continue your scouting
Finding them here was not a matter of trouble, but it was a matter of security.
-Yes my Lord!
I shut off the transmission and sat down again… To think a little bit more. But as I cut off the transmission, another one opened up.
-My Lord, we have arrived at the cave and have escorted them as you commanded.
Ahh yes, I completely forgot about it.
-Come in
-Yes Lord!
I really wanted to laugh how they all react to me sometimes, but I refrained myself.
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I was sitting on the crate while setting the gourds to the ground to cool them and dry them out. I still had a water problem that I needed to solve. I was lucky enough to find a water skin amidst the items that the Slimes carried over here.
While I was doing so, I could hear footsteps coming from the entrance of the cave. I knew it wasn’t one of the Slimes because they didn’t have any legs at all. Those were kinda, my new prisoners?, I guess that’l depend though.
I turned around to see 12 figures coming into sight. A lot of Slimes were encircling them, not giving them any chance to resist. These 12 Goblin females were the only survivors of the Goblin cave and it was only because of their previous leader, the Hob-goblin, who monopolized all of the females for his own desires
This group was huddled into a one tight group, all of them were really scared looking around very nervously. The leader of this group was none other then the female Goblin who begged for mercy, called Goboku. She was in the very front of this group and stood straight. She was calm in appearance, but I could see her sweating, she was also very tense.
-Halt.
They stopped approaching. No one moved. I was still in the dark. I don’t know if Goblins also have night vision as an racial ability like the Slimes, but who cares anyways.
I turned my gaze towards Goboku. She who could also see me flinched a bit. Seeing me, they must be scared really bad, huh. I wonder how they would react if they knew I was so weak even a bunny could kill me.
These Goblin females all looked like little girls with dark green skin. Their over all appearance was still a bit adult like, but they had some childish features. Especially Goboku, who looked like a doll. She was very skinny, had longer hair than the other Goblins, her eyes were glowing red like the rest of them, her ears were a bit big and pointy though.
-Do you know why your here?
I asked. I tried to be as intimidating as possible. I wanted to see what they were made out of.
Some of the Goblin females took a step back, some were surprised I could speak their tongue but didn’t speak up, some just froze on their legs, but the one who stood on the front, Goboku, her expression was tense but she didn’t try to back off, no, she actually spoke.
-I…I don’t know
I give her points for actually being able to speak up. Now lets go to the next stage.
I ordered the Slimes to get closer for one step and as they did so, one of the female Goblins screamed and started going deeper into their little group. The rest did the same, but surprisingly Goboku did not move from her position and held still. Her expression was getting tenser though.
-Give me one good reason why I should not kill you and be done with it
Some of the female Goblins started crying, some just curled up into a ball, not wanting to face me anymore. The only one who was still standing was Goboku. Even her stance was starting to waver. Starting to shake, she barred her teeth and said.
-We..we can be use to you….you can’t fight only with Slimes on your position…
I raised my hand and ordered the Slimes to back off. When Goboku saw me raise my hand, she took a step back, almost falling down, but she then realized that the other Slimes were going away and sighed out of relief. At that moment, I stood up from my seat and started approaching her, making her almost take another step back, but she held herself well and instead took a step forward towards me. When she saw my face, she was surprised and wide eyed.
-You… You are human… No… You smell differently
I gave her my hand not speaking and just staring at her eyes. The other female Goblins also noticed that the Slimes left and stood up, one by one, some looking towards us with a surprised look on their faces.
Goboku was confused when she saw my hand and didn’t know what to do.
-This is called a handshake. It means to seal a deal or agree with someone, it also means to ally with someone, or a friendly greeting, but in this case I am offering you…
I indicated all of the Goblins that were in this cave by moving my hand.
-All to serve under my command, for the rest of your lives. If you agree to my deal, take my hand, if you don’t, then don’t take it. If so, you are allowed to leave the cave and live for yourself.
I didn’t speak further and just starred at Goboku and the other 11 female Goblins.
The reason I did this was to serve 2 purposes. 1, I wanted to see what kind of characters these Goblins were, who had guts and who was smart. This would separate the brave from the cowards. 2, to make them my loyal subjects. As a Monster Lord, I needed them to be willing and loyal towards me. This was the only way for them to be able to make a contract with me. Building up friendship was another option, but it would take too much time, time that I didn’t have right now. You see love and fear are actually the most identical feelings there are in this entire world. You wanna know why? Love makes you do anything for your loved one and fear forces you to do things, regardless of what it is, as long as you don’t fear the thing more then the fear that is ordering you then you can control it.
The female Goblin who stood in front of me was the most promising, her being brave and intelligent is rare for a race like hers. Once a Goblin evolves into a Hob-goblin, they gain decent stat boosts, but all of the stat boosts will only multiply the base stat that came from their Goblin stage at least in some games thats the case,making some of the Hob-goblins superior to others, be it strength, speed or intelligence.
Goboku was hesitant. She knew what I was talking about and glanced more then once behind her, to see her sisters who also somewhat understood what I was talking about, but didn’t try to speak up. It seems like these 11 already acknowledge her as the absolute leader. Through their decisions, I could tell that her leadership was convincing for them. Her decision was key in this.
She turned towards me once again and said.
-Can… Can you protect us?
I thought for a bit. We could all die in any moment. Right now, a dragon could swoop down and start burning everything, a giant could come into the cave and start wrecking it, a earthquake could….
In the end, I couldn’t promise anything but…
-I’ll try my best
She didn’t seem to like my answer, but nodded anyways and suddenly took my hand. It was small and a bit rough, but I started shaking it.
-Eh?
One of the female Goblins exclaimed. I looked towards her and noticed her back hand starting to glow in a faint light. And like her, the hands of the other female Goblins also started to glow with light and as expected Gobokus hand also started to glow…
-Haah
I gasped. Links were being made. I started to gain connections towards these 12 Goblins. They also noticed it and looked towards me with a strange look in their eyes. They didn’t seem to fight it when I poked at them through the transmission. Well honestly saying, I never saw anyone fight it in the first place.
-L..Lord?
I looked towards Goboku. She had knelt down with her face down. Soon, the other 11 followed her gesture. The light on the back of their hands also disappeared and there appeared to be a strange tattoo on each of them. Each tattoo was different and unique to them. The color was black, almost non-visible on their dark skin.
-Stand up everyone. We don’t have time for this and right, just call me Sorron.
They all stood up and simultaneously said.
-Yes Lord Sorron
I facepalmed and didn’t bother to correct them. I once tried to do the same thing to the Slimes but they didn’t seem to want anything but to call me Lord so I let it be. At least they partially call me by my name now….Hmm, my name. What was my name before I was transported?…I know it was not Sorron. The reason I chose this name was because of a character from a book I read… What was my real name? Why can’t I remember?
-Uhm, Lord Sorron, are you alright?
Goboku asked, a bit confused, I could feel it.
-Yes, I am okay. What is it?
-No, it’s just I could feel you being worried about something.
Can she tell by our link? There were a lot of things you couldn’t do with Slimes because they weren’t human, but Goblins were different, they were humanoid close to humans at least.
-Don’t worry about it
I thought for a second. We need to start now.
-Okay everyone, follow me. Goboku, get to my side the rest line up and walk behind me.
They all did as I said. I also called the rest of the Slimes who weren’t doing anything. Now that I had some potent soldiers, I needed to train them.
A Place Of Legends 