Chapter 187 - 160: A Full Meal
"I’ve been searching for so long, and to think these centaurs were hiding here." Scarface let out a cold, sinister laugh. He stared intently at the laboring centaurs, feeling that he could finally go back and report to the General.
He had spent all this time searching back and forth in the south with four goblins, expending a great deal of time and energy. At first, the goblins were obedient, but as time went on, the four of them began to grow restless.
Scarface had tied their ankles with rope, and every night, he would tie them to a tree to sleep. He didn’t trust them at all. In his own words, "Goblins are all a stupid, inferior Race."
"Cyan Hide," Scarface said as he stepped back, looking at the four dejected goblins sitting on the ground. "Go find me something to eat."
He swaggered over to a goblin with pale green skin and gave him a kick. "Hurry up. Once I’ve had my fill, we can head back."
At Scarface’s command, the goblins slowly scrambled to their feet and obediently began to search the woods for anything edible. Scarface followed behind, supervising them.
’As long as I report the situation here to the General, I can continue to be a Commander-in-Chief.’ He pulled a battered iron dagger from his waist and carved a unique symbol on a tree. He planned to carve more symbols on the way back. That way, after the Evil Throat Army conquered those centaurs, perhaps he would become the centaurs’ "Commander-in-Chief".
’You dared to deceive me and cost me an ear. Just wait until I’m a Commander-in-Chief—I’ll make you suffer.’ Scarface sneered, swinging his dagger and lopping off a branch in front of him.
Hearing Scarface muttering to himself behind them, the four goblins fell silent with fear. They were afraid of the dagger in his hand, but they were even more terrified of the Evil Throat Army he represented.
The long period of oppression had conditioned these goblins to be passively obedient. The only thing they ever thought about was escaping, but with their ankles bound and Scarface watching them so closely, they never had a chance. It never occurred to them that the four of them together could overpower Scarface. Instead, their thoughts focused on the consequences of resistance: being hacked to pieces by the Evil Throat Army, their heads impaled on wooden stakes and displayed in the center of the goblin burrows. They had seen many such head "decorations" before.
"Cyan Hide, if you can find a bird’s nest, I might consider letting you have an extra bite later," Scarface said to the goblin, carving another mark and giving a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
Cyan Hide said nothing. He only glanced behind him, not even catching sight of Scarface. He remembered a time when another goblin had looked back at Scarface, only to be beaten with a club and threatened, "When we get back, I’ll tell the General to have you chopped in half and fed to an Ogre."
RUSTLE, RUSTLE. The four goblins trudged through the undergrowth, poking at the surrounding bushes with their wooden sticks to see if they could stir anything up. Unfortunately, winter had set in, and the rabbits and grouse had all gone into hiding, making them much harder to catch.
"Who... are you?" a voice asked from behind Scarface, making the hair all over his body stand on end. Scarface instantly leaped away and spun around to face the sound. He saw a goblin in strange attire standing in the shadows on the ground. And it only had an upper half.
"Outsiders?" The goblin tilted its head, looking at the five of them trembling like chaff in the wind. "Just in time. I’ll take you to see the chief."
Scarface, Cyan Hide, and the others watched the half-goblin take a few slow steps closer before drawing a long, black dagger from its waist. The blade looked like the claw of some animal.
"Don’t move. Come with me," the goblin said curtly, raising its dagger.
"A half... a half-goblin," Scarface stammered. He had seen it before—goblins who were caught trying to escape would be hacked in two at the waist by the Earth Goblins. The victims wouldn’t die right away; they would crawl desperately with their hands, their movements unstoppable even as their intestines spilled out onto the ground.
Now, this half-goblin stood before them in the shadow of a large tree, getting closer and closer. For a moment, Scarface couldn’t even tell if the thing was truly alive.
"Come with me," the half-goblin repeated. Terrified, one of the goblins next to Cyan Hide spun around and tried to flee. He completely forgot about the rope on his ankles and tumbled to the ground after just two steps. His fall yanked the rope, pulling his other four companions down with him.
The sight of his companions tumbling to the ground spurred Scarface into a panic. He blindly brandished his dagger, backing away slowly, his expression twisting into a ferocious grimace of terror.
"Stay back! Stay back!" he screamed. Not watching where he was going, he tripped on a protruding tree root and fell flat. Scarface scrambled back up to his hands and knees, then stumbled away into the forest.
Cyan Hide and his three companions were still trying to get up, but their fear only made them more frantic. The rope had tangled around one of them, and Cyan Hide was desperately gnawing on it, but to no avail.
"Don’t move." The half-goblin seemed to float up out of the shadows, finally walking over to them with the black dagger in hand. "Come with me."
...
"You caught them in the north?" Shire asked, turning to Broken Tooth as he looked at the four goblins kneeling before him.
He had just said his goodbyes to Evita and was about to check on the overall status of Red Bull when Broken Tooth had approached from a distance, herding these four before him.
"Patrolling. Saw them," Broken Tooth said with a nod. "One got away."
"One got away?" Shire paused, then looked over the four goblins again. They were completely different from his own subordinates. Their clothes were tattered rags, and even though winter had set in, they were only wearing thin, shabby cloths. Their skin had turned a bluish-purple from the cold.
They looked thin and frail, little more than skin and bones, not unlike how he’d looked when he first arrived in this world. The four goblins kept their heads bowed, trembling slightly. It was hard to tell if it was from fear or the freezing cold.
"Come with me." Shire decided to take them into the Fortress for some hot, sweet water to warm themselves up. Otherwise, they might fall ill from the cold.
Cyan Hide and his companions followed, shivering. The ropes on their ankles had been removed at Shire’s command, but the goblin who could step in and out of shadows—Broken Tooth—was still following them closely, dagger in hand.
Soon, they arrived deep inside the Fortress. Shire had Bai Mao pour four wooden bowls of hot, sweet water. "Go on, drink," he said to Cyan Hide’s group, gesturing to the bowls.
But contrary to his expectations, the four goblins seemed resistant. They shuffled backward, trying to put distance between themselves and the steaming wooden bowls, as if they were filled not with sweet water, but with a poison that would kill them instantly.
"Hm?" Shire was puzzled. The goblins’ reaction struck him as very strange. Based on typical goblin behavior, they should have rushed forward without a second thought, grabbed the bowls, and GULP, GULP, GULP, downed the hot water. Their greedy and foolish personality wouldn’t allow them to consider the consequences.
"Go on, drink up! Drink it while it’s hot! Why aren’t you drinking?" Shire took a few steps forward. His approach only seemed to frighten the goblins more. Their legs began to shake uncontrollably.
’Why won’t they drink?’ he wondered. ’Are they afraid it’s poisoned?’
Right in front of them, Shire picked up a wooden bowl, took two big GULPS, and then looked at them with a smile. "See? No poison. Just normal sweet water."
After his demonstration, the four goblins stopped trembling, but they didn’t immediately step forward. After a few seconds, the goblin with the paler skin—Cyan Hide—finally approached cautiously and picked up a wooden bowl.
"Drink up," Shire said with a smile. As he watched, the goblin drained the hot, sweet water in a few quick gulps.
With him taking the lead, the other three goblins rushed over, scrambling with each other to drink the hot water. It was clear they were desperately cold and had only been holding back out of fear.
"We’ll be eating soon. I’ll have a chat with you after the meal," Shire said, watching the four goblins. A hint of greed had appeared in their eyes. Their gazes kept drifting toward the large, gently bubbling cauldron of sweet water, as if they wanted to drink the entire thing.
...
Cyan Hide was certain this was the best meal he had ever had in his entire life.
The wooden bowl held not only smoked fish but also several pieces of rich, savory flatbread. And most importantly, if you weren’t full, you could get seconds.
The only catch was that you had to stand in line for it. When he and his three companions had tried to rush forward and snatch some food, a red-eyed goblin had beaten them to the ground. After they finally understood the rules, all they could do was limp to the back and obediently join the queue.
But it was all worth it. As he stuffed his mouth with food, the pain from his beating vanished. The aroma of the meal and the deep sense of satisfaction completely filled his heart. Compared to his old life in the Evil Throat Army’s camp, he never wanted to go back to fighting over rats for a meal ever again.
BURP. Cyan Hide let out a satisfied belch and patted his stomach. He then used his spoon to scrape the last morsels from his wooden bowl into his mouth, terrified of wasting a single crumb. Even though he knew he could go get more from the female goblins serving the food, he couldn’t bear the thought of leaving even a speck of grease behind.
His companions were the same. One of them was even cradling his wooden bowl, slowly licking the grease from its surface. The flavor was so good they simply couldn’t stop.
"Finished eating?" a voice asked beside him. Cyan Hide looked up. It was Shire, the goblin from before.
"Rest for a bit, then come with me. I have some questions for you," Shire said with a smile.