The air suddenly grew heavy.
(Why?)
(What's going on?)
(Did something happen to their tribe… something that made them unable to go back?)
Now that I thought about it more carefully, why had these two goblins been out in the dangerous forest at night in the first place, chased by those large horned wolves all the way to my castle two days ago? It didn't completely add up.
At first, I had simply assumed they had gotten lost in the darkness.
But after seeing how confidently they could draw a map of the forest, that explanation felt less and less convincing. If they knew the forest was dangerous at night, there was no reason for them to be wandering around out there.
Which left another possibility.
They couldn't return.
…
That sounded serious.
I wanted to ask them directly, but I had no idea how. After all, I couldn't speak a single word of Goblish.
(Fuck! If only the System were kind enough to give me a proper translator!)
But then, something clicked in my mind.
(Wait a minute… a translator?)
(I do have a translator!)
That was when I realized a rather revolutionary way to use my [Quest Creation] skill.
Since the System could already present quest content in a way that both the goblins and I could perfectly understand… why not exploit that functionality?
Why not turn it into my personal translator?
(Holy shit!)
(This is brilliant! Absolutely BRRRRRRILLIANT!)
(Guess sometimes you just have to think outside the box!)
Excited by the sudden breakthrough, I spent the next full minute racking my stony brain, carefully figuring out how to make it work—in other words, how to structure the quest to extract information as efficiently and clearly as possible.
(It's impossible to hold a full, natural conversation using [Quest Creation] alone.)
(But simple yes-or-no questions… that should be perfectly doable.)
I canceled the recruitment quest and issued a new one in its place.
[Quest: Conversation with the Ruler!]
Prerequisite: None
Quest Info: Your ruler wishes to understand your current situation. Answer the following question according to the instructions below:
"Did something happen in your tribe that prevents you from returning?"
If yes, nod.
If no, shake your head side to side.
If you do not wish to answer, cross your arms. Your ruler will not pressure you if you do not feel safe sharing.
Quest Type: One-Time
Objective: Respond using the provided gestures.
Time Limit: 1 minute
Reward: None
Punishment: None
The two goblins took a moment to read the quest. Their eyes widened.
Then both of them nodded in unison.
(Heck yeah! I knew it!)
(So they really can't go back!)
A surge of excitement rushed through me. At last, I had found a working way to communicate with them.
It did feel a little strange to be this excited when my citizens were clearly going through something horrible, but still.
Now that I knew they couldn't return, the next obvious question was: why?
I quickly issued a few more targeted quests, each presenting a possible reason I could think of. As a webnovel author in my past life, imagination had always been two of my strongest strengths.
(Did you break some kind of forbidden rule and get exiled?)
(Were you sent out on a special mission and unable to return until it was completed?)
(Do you have a serious grudge with someone powerful in your tribe and had to flee?)
Or…
(Was your tribe attacked, forcing you to escape?)
At that final question, both goblins nodded again, their expressions turning noticeably heavier.
(I see… so your tribe was attacked!)
My investigation had taken another important step forward.
Now then…
Who would be ruthless enough to attack these cute little goblins?
A monster?
Human adventurers?
Or… another goblin tribe?
****
In the end, through a careful series of yes-or-no questions, I was finally able to squeeze the some details out of them.
Turns out, their tribe had been brutally attacked by another, much stronger goblin tribe.
The enemy force had been overwhelmingly superior, with more than twenty evolved goblins of at least level 10, over fifty unevolved ones, superior weapons and armor.
But most terrifying of all, their leader was a monstrous powerhouse who had already surpassed level 25, reached the next evolution milestone, and was capable of wielding actual magic.
In stark contrast, our side had only five evolved goblins in total. The strongest among them was their chef, who hadn't even reached level 20 yet.
It was just a one-sided massacre…
I didn't even want to imagine the brutal scene that must have unfolded. I could still see the lingering terror in their eyes.
Anyway…
This also served as a much-needed reality check for me. I shouldn't get cocky and start thinking I was already overpowered just because I possessed an amazing System and two incredible citizens.
Up until now, I had thought my two goblins were already pretty strong. After all, they had successfully evolved into the powerful [Super Forest Goblin] variant and gained a solid boost in stats along the way, including that OP [Enraged] skill.
But… their levels were still only 11.
If they tried to go back now, they would die for sure.
And let's not forget the sheer disadvantage in numbers. Just two goblins returning against an entire hostile tribe?
Yeah, not happening.