"Hey, you little twerp! You've got some explaining to do!" Nika snarled, shaking the lone goblin who somehow evaded, the two killer swordsman, the big-tree-rock giant and the powerful tornado.
"Gaka knows nothing! Nothing!" the goblin squealed, his head wobbling. Three swollen lumps on his head from Milani's book attack. Somehow in the chaos he only managed to get three bumps on his head.
"Nika, please calm down. Don't hurt him," Soren said, stepping in, despite the fact that moments ago the creatures had tried to turn him into sashimi.
"Hurt him?" Nika whipped around. "His buddies threw a net over me! Why are you taking his side?!"
"They even said I'm big…" Giano muttered sadly from behind them, looking deeply hurt.
Milani crouched beside the goblin, adjusting her spectacles as she inspected his armor. "What's more interesting is the armor he's wearing. This is high-grade stuff. Goblins rarely possess equipment of this quality."
She tapped the breastplate thoughtfully.
Nika immediately grabbed the goblin by the collar again. "You heard her! If you value your life, start talking!"
The goblin puffed up stubbornly. "Gaka will never tell you! Never!"
Soren rubbed his chin. "What's stranger is they said we were traveling with a demi-fiend. If they knew about Dinisio… doesn't that mean they knew we were coming?"
Nika's patience snapped. "You better start talking! Before I lose it!"
She pressed the edge of her blade against the goblin's throat.
"EEEP!" the goblin shrieked. "Please don't kill Gaka! Gaka has three little sisters waiting for him! Gaka must redeem them!"
Nika's eyes darkened. "You grotesque creature… you? You honestly think I'll believe you have three little sisters? Who'd be pathetic enough to spawn more of you!"
"Hey, Nika, that's a little too much," Soren warned gently.
But Nika shook him off.
"Are you trying to trick me, you little liar? A vile creature like you cares about family?"
Her voice rose sharply.
Anyone listening could hear something deeper beneath the anger.
Something wounded.
Milani quietly looked away.
She understood that tone.
"You scum," Nika spat. "Don't make me laugh. If you don't know anything, then just die!"
Her blade lifted.
Before it could fall—
"Nika. Enough."
The voice was calm.
Firm.
Commanding.
Rema stood with her hands clasped together, back straight, gaze unwavering—as if presiding over a royal court rather than standing in the middle of a forest road.
For a moment, Nika froze.
The entire group stared.
Nika, the stubborn tigress beastkin who obeyed no one, suddenly felt like a misbehaving child being scolded by a school teacher.
"TSK! Little miss goody-two-shoes healer, butt out!" Nika snapped. "They tried to kidnap us! Don't you find that suspicious? I know you're new to adventuring, but this is the way of the world! If you don't like it—look away!"
"No."
Nika blinked.
"…No? NO?!" Nika barked. "Maybe you're in cahoots with these creatures!"
She turned her blade toward Rema.
But Rema stepped closer which made Nika waver.
"I know you want the truth." Slowly, gently, she reached forward and took the blade from Nika's hand. Then she opened Nika's palm. "But you're wounded and you're not thinking straight."
A deep gash ran across it.
"Thi-this is nothing!" Nika protested, trying to pull away.
"It is not nothing." Rema held her hand firmly and brushed her fingers across the wound.
Soft light flowed from her palm.
The injury vanished instantly.
"I didn't ask you to heal me" Nika took her hand back "I.. I'm not going to pay you!"
"Don't worry it's on the house" Rema smiled "Now let's assess the situation better since you're all patched up."
"There's no time for assessing!" Nika snapped. "We're in the middle of a forest! Sometimes you have to scare the truth out of someone!"
Rema shook her head and sighed. "About a century ago, goblins were nomadic tribal creatures. They kept to themselves and rarely interacted with other races."
She gestured toward the surrounding forest.
"But as civilization spread… forests shrank. Land disappeared. Goblin tribes were pushed into smaller territories."
Her gaze softened.
"Some Goblin descendants acclimated to the changes and lived in cities but many could not leave their tribe and kept to the forest so they turned to looting to survive. Usually for food. Sometimes for gold."
Then she pointed toward the wagon.
"Yet look at the cargo."
Everyone glanced inside. Pass the sleeping Dinisio, every crate remained untouched. Not a single one had been opened.
"They didn't get to it that's why everything's intact." Nika argued.
"But look where they attacked from," Rema replied. "If they were truly desperate for supplies, they would have attacked from behind where Giano was the only guard. Instead they attacked from the front and brought nets."
She paused.
Silence fell.
Milani suddenly opened one of the crates. Inside was nothing but hay and rocks. "The cargo was never real."
Soren frowned deeply.
"So what you're saying is…"
"We were never meant to reach our destination," Rema said gently.
"The cargo we were delivering…was us." Milani concluded.
The realization hit like a hammer.
Nika slowly replayed the battle in her mind.
The goblins had ignored Soren.
Ignored Milani.
They had focused on capturing them - all the non-humans.
"What the hell does this mean?" Soren growled, anger finally flashing in his eyes. His protective nature shifted to boiling rage "What are you up to?!"
Gaka trembled.
"Gaka doesn't know! Gaka doesn't know!" He sniffed loudly, squeezing his eyes shut as if trying to push away a memory.
Rema crouched beside him and gently placed her hand over the bumps on his head a small healing for the aching bump.
"Gaka… I know goblins value family above all else. You would never take a life unless one of your own was taken." Her voice softened. "If your family is in danger, tell us what happened. We can help you. "
Gaka stared into Rema's eyes. The deep blue shimmered with quiet tears. Yet there was no disgust in them. No fear.
Only patience.
For the first time in his life, Gaka felt it might be safe to speak. Safe to tell the truth. As if whatever he said, she would not judge him for it.
"Gaka… Gaka can only see sisters again if Gaka gives three magical creatures to Big Boss Man…"
Soren frowned.
"Big Boss Man? Who's that?"
"Gaka doesn't know," the goblin whimpered. "Gak never sees him. Gak never strong enough to catch magical creatures."
Milani's eyes furrowed. "Earlier you said you could trade one of us for your sisters."
Gaka nodded miserably.
"Yes… elf very valuable. Big Boss Man would exchange all three of Gaka's sister for fairy-elf."
Nika instantly raised her blade again. "Hey! Don't think we'll let you sell someone to this 'boss' of yours!"
But Rema suddenly smiled.
A bright but daring idea sparkled in her eyes.
"No," she said. "I think that's exactly what we should do."
Meanwhile in Orecul Castle.
"I don't think this is a good idea!" Aldren paced furiously through the empty halls.
"To deploy every single soldier outside the kingdom?! You've even sent every servant in the castle to gather flowers!"
He pointed dramatically at the silent corridors.
"This castle is EMPTY!"
Malrek leaned lazily against a pillar. "I find it refreshing. You're much less stiff without the other household staff around."
"That's because THIS CASTLE IS EMPTY!" Aldren threw his arms up. "If I knock some sense into you right now, there would be no witnesses to your humiliation! "
Malrek grinned. "Oh? Knock me to my senses?" His eyes gleamed mischievously. "Do you really think you can still beat me, old man?"
Aldren's eyebrow twitched. "Your father should never have sparred with you as a child. He knocked all the common sense out of your head!"
Malrek stepped forward eagerly. "Then let's test it."
Dust lifted from the ground as Aldren's draconic power began to rise.
The air trembled.
Malrek's grin widened.
Aldren was more than a butler.
More than a retired great general.
He had been Malrek's mentor after his father died.
The man who taught him both combat and wisdom.
And now—
"Come on," Malrek teased.
"I always thought you were stronger than my father, Aldren."
That did it.
Aldren moved.
The ground exploded as he attacked.
Malrek barely dodged.
The training hall erupted into a devastating clash of dragon power.
Stone cracked.
Shockwaves blasted through the palace.
Storm clouds churned above Orecul.
"How dare you! To compare myself to him! How dare you sully the late King's name!" Aldren said a dark mist surrounded him as his eyes darkened and claws grew.
"Alright old man! Let's have a go!" Malrek said cracking his neck right and left to stretch.
Aldren lunged. Malrek moved to meet him—
"YOU TWO!"
A thunderous voice echoed through the hall.
Both men froze instantly.
Queen Dowager Marana stood at the entrance.
Drenched.
Furious.
but Majestic.
"Do you know the storm you cause below?!" she snapped. "Who gave the order to have the entire Orecul armada venturing through the lower and upper realms? The upper realms have complained that Orecul soldiers have stolen the divine flower of the ilalalim clan in the middle of the night!"
Aldren immediately went on his knees, hands raised in surrender "Forgive me my lady for causing you distress!"
Malrek quietly teleported to the nearest exit "Well then, Aldren since you gave the orders, I'll be going now. Mother, it was nice seeing you. I hope you had a lovely time in the Philippian islands!"
"Stop!" Marana said sternly, closing off every exit in the training courtyard. And with the flick of her hand dragged her son back to the courtyard.
The Dragon King being as formidable as he was, still swallowed and hid behind Aldren whispering "Defend your king."
Aldren "You might as well take my head your highness, I am no match against even the pinky of the Queen Dowager"
"Malrek Orecul! Stand in attention when I'm talking to you!" She glared "I leave for a short trip and return expecting a grandson to hug me… and what do I hear. Your wife has run away and instead of having a search party out looking for her you're out looking for flowers!"
Malrek stiffened.
"How many times must I tell you—"
The lecture began.
A brutal combination of scolding, reprimand and no one could argue back.