Chapter 102: [v2] Chapter Twenty-one – In which Ark and the Great Protector talk about the past and the present.

[v2] Chapter Twenty-one – In which Ark and the Great Protector talk about the past and the present.

Announcement

Apologies for not posting in a few days.  From the 4th to the 8th of July I prioritize spending time with my own goblin tribe.  Should be back to posting daily for the foreseeable future.

“Excellent news!”

The only person who seemed genuinely happy to see Rushk transforming into a goblin was the Great Protector, who had come with some news that one of its agents would be entering the Bloodmaw domain soon to deliver what I had requested of it—seeds for the new field we had created so that Melon would eventually have access to new ingredients she could use to make more dishes for the Bloodmaw to enjoy eating.

So far, Rushk’s transformation into a goblin seemed to be following a similar route to Stella. She still retains her small tusks, her height and skin color haven’t changed, and she says she still feels like an orc. But her ears now jut out to the side and her eyes have undergone the change into that gold and green color which have given her better vision than she already had with seeing in the dark.

Okay, I may have lied.

Stella is also someone who seems happy to see Rushk’s transformation, but I can’t believe that the motivation behind it is of a goodly nature. Is it schadenfreude perhaps? Now that she’s no longer the only transformed goblin, Stella has gone out of her way to befriend Rushk as a fellow victim of circumstance.

“I take it the skull-mouth is your doing, Ark?”

The change to the external appearance of Goblinhome did not go unnoticed by the Great Protector.

“I was feeling inspired. Ebony happens to love it.”

“The Bone-Lord? Not surprising. Have any new goblins come into the world since my last visit?”

“Not yet. But quite a few of the adults are already in their second month. Berry, Truffle, Pear… not to mention those who just became pregnant after…”

“Your temporary change into a Bloodmaw?”

I nodded.

“At this rate, three generations in a year isn’t bad at all. By the time your children are of the age to have their own, the population of Goblinhome will be one hundred or more. After that, it will truly begin to explode.”

“Do… you have some goal in mind with using me to repopulate the Bloodmaw?”

“My only goal is to see that they do not become extinct.”

“Do you not intend to bring another male… into the tribe?”

“None. You have already proven yourself to be enough. Or is having an unlimited amount of goblin women who want only to mate with you and bear your children without taboo or consequence not what you truly desire?”

I sighed.

“I will tell you something you may appreciate but do keep it to yourself.”

My ears perked up at the hint of some secret motive the Great Protector was willing to reveal to me.

“The Bloodmaw are my precious children, Ark. My entire domain is meant for them to inherit. When their numbers become enough, I will lift the restrictions on the three borders. If you wish to continue teaching them how to be civilized as you profess, then do consider teaching them how to build camps and villages. I want the Bloodmaw to spread to all the corners of my domain and continue to grow in number.”

“Won’t that attract the attention of the nearby towns and villages? Surely the Adventurer’s guild will send out more subjugation parties if they find the number of goblins has grown substantially…”

“Do you not see how strong your children are? The Huntress alone could best a party of B-rank adventurers. Add the two large ones from the runt and they could take on a four-man party of A-rank. How many Adventurers of that rank do you think the Guild can just spare to throw at a goblin subjugation? What they see as only a minor growing infestation of goblins?”

That’s true. Goblins aren’t exactly considered to be priority one monsters to needing to be eradicated. They’re only considered to be nuisances and annoyances in large numbers, to be dealt with by the lower ranks.

“If that’s the case, then why was there a party of S-ranks sent to massacre them?”

“Spear-hand.”

“Old One’s daughter?”

“She wasn’t only a Guardian, Ark. She was a Goblin Champion.”

“I have no idea what that means.”

“She was no less strong than the Huntress when she was born. She also underwent six Blood Furies, a Blood Awakening, and A Blood Oracle. To call her a Goblin Queen is an understatement. Her very existence was a threat to what you call the civilized races. And she was a true Bloodmaw on top of that. Vicious, brutal, and superior. In comparison to the rest of the tribe she ruled, she was like a… tower master.”

I whistled.

“She was that strong?”

“She was. She was also extremely intelligent. I mourned her death deeply together with the Old One. Which is exactly why I slaughtered everyone involved in causing her death, save for one. One to spread the word that I was furious and that on pain of the most excruciating death, entry into my lands was forbidden without permission. At which point I brought the remaining Bloodmaw here, so they would still have a chance to regain what once was. What I didn’t expect was my luck in getting ahold of you.”

“We must have different definitions of what luck is.”

I only caught something strange in what the Great Protector said just then by sheer chance. Something I wouldn’t have normally paid attention to were this truly a casual conversation between us…

“Wait a minute. If entry to your lands was forbidden without permission, then why was there a goblin subjugation mission posted in the guild?”

“Because I had it posted. As you saw when you arrived, my children were ready to begin restoring the tribe.”

“So… it’s because of you that Kairos is dead, and Stella was forced into becoming a goblin?”

“Kairos?”

“Our companion. Kairos, Stella, and I all accepted the quest to come subjugate…”

“Ah, the brash young man who tried to attack me with that flimsy sword. He’s not dead… at least I don’t think so.”

“What!?”

“I had no need of that desert-skinned ruffian, so I expelled him from the forest. I even left the clothes both you and the girl wore, torn and covered in blood next to him to find when he woke. If he was smart, he would have drawn from that the conclusion both of you were dead and reported to the guild the failure of your mission.”

“Then… your aim the entire time was… me?”

“Would you prefer I tell you that any man would have done in your stead? Cheapen your struggle over the last six months, perhaps? I could do so, but I find no reason to hide the truth. I have never lied to you even once, Ark. You were indeed my aim at that time, and still remain so. A scion of the Wyze bloodline? The Old One has mentioned her human husband to you, the one called Grant, yes?”

“Yes. She mentioned him.”

“He was a ridiculously powerful tower mage, some twenty or so years ago. Perhaps stronger back then than Salondra is today. Were he not already at death’s door when the Old One found him, there is a chance he might still be where you stand now, doing wholeheartedly what you feel that you have been forcibly coerced into doing. Instead, the only proof of his legacy was lost together with Spear-hand. Now, what if what happened with Spear-hand’s nature from birth wasn’t a fluke? Mix the blood of Wyze with the Origin Blood of the Creator and see what comes from it? Surely you aren’t so foolish as to keep closed your eyes to the nature of your goblin children? A potential Champion, A Shaman, A Bone Lord, A Bloody Druid, A Saintess… what other marvels will your blood create? Don’t think for a moment that the child of the Mushroom-picker goes unnoticed, either. Just being in close proximity to her makes me feel like I’m standing amidst a tempest. I would feel more anxious in trading blows with her even once versus you in your goblin form a hundred times over.”

“Are you saying my blood is responsible for making… unnaturally strong children with the Bloodmaw?”

“To be clear, I believe it to be the magic lying dormant inside of you that is somehow being passed through your blood and seed, but yes, unequivocally, as the answer.”

“…Why are you choosing now to tell me any of this?”

“The orc.”

“Rushk?”

“You threatened the Guardian over her when she was brought back after attempting to flee. What was it you said to her… if the orc stops breathing, all of Goblin home comes down?”

“…”

“Let me ask you something in all seriousness. Were I to allow you to leave peacefully right now, under the condition of never being allowed to return, to be seen as an enemy of the tribe for all time for doing so… would you go?”

“Only me?”

“I’ll humor you in saying that you can also take your formerly human companion and

the Saintess as well.”

I pondered it over for a little bit, but I already had my answer to this question a long time ago.

“No. There’s… nowhere I particularly care to return to. Nor do I have any idea how to undo Stella’s transformation. I don’t even think it’s possible to do that with Lumi at all, either. From what I can tell, she’s a true goblin…”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Look, I will not say I am no longer your enemy, Ark. The Bloodmaw are and will always be my precious children who I will prioritize the safety of. But you are also their Husband, by their choice. The only place we need to meet in the middle of, is that we both agree in wanting to see them prosper. Something I believe it is safe to say we both want, yes?”

“If you are suggesting we are family now, I regret to inform you that I already have a wicked mother-in-law in the form of Old One and have no desire for a second one more wicked than she is, so what does that make you?”

The Great Protector’s bone-rattling laugh was particularly nasty when I said that.

“Then, how about you think of me as a… Fairy Godparent!”

“If you’re a Fairy, then I’m a one-tentacled deep-sea Kraken.”

More laughter shook my skeleton from the inside causing my brain to slosh around inside my skull like lumpy stew.

“Well, that’s enough talk for now. I’m sure you have many things to think about, and I need to meet with the Bloody Druid.”

“Mint? What for?”

“I presume you’d like to have the wonderful bounty of nature which surrounds you to lend you their blessings so that your precious seeds will grow?”

I held my hands up in surrender. I was neither farmer nor druid, and I sure as hell knew that we were going to need whatever blessings were available to us to see our first planting and harvest through successfully.

The Great Protector walked into the open mouth of Castle Gobskull—I mean Goblinhome—and left me outside scratching my head at first, then staring at them.

“The blood of Wyze, huh?”

Should I consider myself lucky that I was born to that woman in my second life? She wasn’t much of a mother to be honest, and even calling her that… kind of sticks in my throat. I’ve been gone for almost a year now. I wonder if she even realizes…?

No. She has to. After all, there’s less than a year to go until that arranged marriage which she was trying to force me into. Wasn’t even someone I knew, just the daughter of some other Tower Magus she was hoping to scheme into an alliance with.

Yeah. I need to get stronger. Blood of Wyze indeed. I need to find a way to unlock that vast amount of magical power within me that the Monster had no problems accessing…

But how?

Pulling me out of my thoughts was Berry, smelling like her sweet berries and holding her fat belly swollen with the second child of mine she was eager to carry.

“Husband… would you like to spend some time with us?”

“Us?” I asked, curiously.

She grinned sneakily.

It took no effort for her to take me by the hand and drag me into her cave-hole where not only Diana Artemis was waiting for me, but also Pear and Melon, along with many bowls of fruits and berries.

I could already feel a sense of stickiness from my body…

Yeah, the Great Protector was right. I had a lot to digest upstairs, and the best way to do so would be after I took care of my primitive needs and could find myself entering sage mode.

I reached for my loincloth and tugged it off and threw it to the side in one fluid motion exposing my erect seed-stick, made unyieldingly fierce once more by simply being in the presence of the Great Protector.

“Alright my lovelies. Eeny-meenie-miney-mo. Catch a goblin by the toe…”