Shaking my head, I went back to ignoring her.
"Why did you send me to kill the mud people?" I asked the goblins.
There was a long silence. I raised my sword and even without being able to see this, one of them quickly blurted out an answer.
"Us afraid you! You in Blue Life, and you zombies! Zombies eat lots! Us want you die and kill few mud people!"
That was... A great reason. Zombies, who were famed for their gluttony, had invaded their area and were way too close to their already rationed means of survival. Therefore, they had decided to get rid of us before we could cause them problems.
Not that I cared about their reasoning when I was the one on the dying side.
"Why do you think the mud people could kill us?" I asked.
"They be strong. They spit flesh-eating mud. It deal much damage. They many scary."
"What's their average level?" I asked.
"They be level four many times."
I frowned. "Forty?"
"Yes, great master."
Damn! I really had come close to dying. And those mud people looked so weak!
"If they're so strong," I said, "why don't they kill you?" They didn't answer. I smiled. "Who were you praying to at the margins of the Blue Life?"
They all raised their heads simultaneously and looked with fear and anger at me.
My smile broadened. "You thought I hadn't noticed? Well, my zombies are hungry and they love living flesh the most. And the last of you will discover just how effective a Blackguard can be at torturing information out of goblins."
Daggers' blades flashed from under her cloak so quickly that I wasn't sure I had seen them. The blood rushed out of the goblins' faces
"Jack!" Ted yelled.
"We worship Great Water Goddess," a goblin said. "She protect us."
I very much doubted there was a water goddess in that lake, especially one that liked to be worshiped by goblins. The easy answer was that it was some powerful monster.
"Why doesn't she destroy the mud people for you?"
"She like eat mud people. If she eat all mud people, no mud people left."
Raising livestock: that was kind of smart for a monster.
"But why does she help you?" I asked. "If you die the mud people would grow more and faster, wouldn't they?"
"Ugly-face, cut the crap," Bear interrupted. "We don't need to know all this shit."
I looked at him.
"Oh, that's what you want," he said, ignoring the mind chat.
"Great master, the Great Water Goddess like us pray and protect us," one of them said; a veiled threat.
There was no warning this time as my sword moved in an arc. But just before I killed it, I saw the same look of surprise I'd seen on the faces of those I'd ordered killed in V-Soft. I faltered and the feeble blow hit his shoulder instead. It was enough to make him cry out in pain.
"Jack!" Ted cried. "If you do it one more time I'll leave!"
I shook my head, confused. Hadn't I decided I would do it all over again if I were in the same situation? Hadn't I chosen to embrace my parents' legacy? Why the hell was I still rattled by what had happened in V-Soft?
Closing my eyes, I focused on burying those feelings deep in my heart. I had no time for them now. A long moment later, I opened my eyes again. Ted was still looking angrily at me.
"I don't care! Stop it!" She insisted.
I sighed loudly. How the hell could I conduct an interrogation like this?
"Do not threaten me again," I told the goblins. "I'd rather be without the lady than let you filthy goblins try to strong-arm me." I didn't heal the goblin's shoulder and he was still whimpering. "Who wants to start talking?"
Seeing that their powerful 'guardian' meant nothing to me, ten eyes full of panic looked at me.
* * *
As it turned out, the Water Goddess also loved to eat the poisonous purple animals and the mud people were incapable of capturing them; the mud which their bodies were made of had a kind of will of its own and would eat anything they captured.
Therefore, the Goddess had to protect the goblins so they would keep her supplies coming.
Even though the creature in the water was theoretically very powerful, she wasn't stupid. She had forbidden both tribes to have weapons and whoever disobeyed was eaten.
It was a very interesting circle of life. The tribes needed the water and the fish, and the Water Goddess wanted to eat members of one of the tribes and the animals the other tribe could get for her.
The goblins also revealed that after their bodies had become purple, they couldn't stay out of the Purple Wilds for long, so they had no choice but to live at the mercy of the Water Goddess.
"Okay, that's enough," I said. "Do you know of any castles in the area?"
Their eyes widened in surprise. "Castle of Edward!"
"Edward's Castle?"
"Us and mud people be servant in Castle of Edward before Big Minotaur invade and kill master Edward!"
After ten seconds, I cursed.
I revealed.
His eyes widened.
They clearly didn't want to tell me but I touched my sword's pommel and they spoke. "Yes, great master."
He didn't get it.
"The Great Water Goddess only allow us get enough food eat! No storage! We faith!" It sounded offended that I had suggested they could store food.
Anger rose in the goblins' faces. "No! Us need mud people!" One of them spit on the ground.
I turned to Melkier to give him the last explanation.
Melkier thought for a few seconds and then his eyes widened.
Melkier's face was ugly while Bear's beamed with joy.
The zombie looked crestfallen.
I smiled.
16. Everybody Loves a Backdoor
I had no intention of losing time in the side quest that would undoubtedly arise when I negotiated with the Water Goddess and the mud people.
If I had been playing the game normally, I would probably rejoice in completing as many side quests as possible. However, my time was extremely limited and the lack of news about the investigation on the murders at V-Soft was making me increasingly anxious.
I had even tried to ask grandfather about that but he told me he was incapable of finding out anything about it due to the chaos in the country.
That was stupid of him. Without understanding as much as possible about the situation, our ill-informed decisions would be more likely to lead to failure. I could try to explain it to him, but Bear was an impulsive man and he understood acting on impulse better than anything, so my answer was simple:
He said nothing else on the subject.
"Yes, great master." They bowed and obeyed, even the one with the injured shoulder.
They stood on the shore, their feet barely in the water, but suddenly two fish leaped from the water at each of them. They returned and presented them to me.
"Good." I placed the fish in my ring. "Go get more."
"Us cannot, great master. Us have no weapon to fish and Water Goddess give us just that."
"Try it anyway." I ordered.
They did, and just like they said, no new fish jumped into their hands.
"Alright, fellas. I have ten fish and I need to get to the castle. You," I pointed to a random goblin, "will come with me. You four can stay here."
"Yes, great master." They bowed meekly again; the four who were staying behind were clearly happier.
She sneered.
It took some time for the zombies under the wall to be rescued and for Daggers to confirm there was nothing worth looting from the goblins, but it was eventually done.
"Alright, let's go!" I gave the order and started walking.
"You lot heard him, useless little shits," Daggers suddenly yelled. "Assemble and march!"
Melkier cleared his throat and I turned. His expression was serious and all other zombies except for Bear were behind him. Not surprisingly, Ted was also close to Melkier. Daggers and Bear were midway through.
"There has been some discussion about leadership in the group," Melkier said.
As soon as he said that, Daggers jumped back and assumed a defensive crouch in front of me. Bear looked at the zombies, looked at me, then just crossed his arms, as if washing his hands of the situation.
So, it begins, I thought.
I should kill them all, I also thought. Except, it was the ring this time. I ignored it.
"Tell me more about it," I said right after I kicked Melkier out of the party.
Since it had come to a public show of power, trying to negotiate secretly with him would do no good; even if it worked, he would only use it to keep blackmailing me. It was better to cut him out of my Strategist bonuses as soon as possible.
"The boys aren't satisfied with the high death rate that comes with accompanying you," he said. "They think it might be better if there was another leader to our merry group."
All ten morbs I could summon began to form above my head one by one, all of them made of fire, and I also retrieved my bow from my back. This clearly made them all nervous and some of them took their weapons in their hands. "I see. Who do you think would be a better leader?"
He smiled. "Well, since I'm the clan leader, it's better if I take the reins-"
Without warning, my morbs flew, one after the other, and so did two arrows. I only used firebombs, and they slammed on Melkier's face one after the other. He died without even reacting, like the useless little shit he was. Ted was blown away by the explosions and so were a few of the nearby zombies.
Even as they all recovered from the shock of the sudden attack, I began to reform the morbs.
It was a simple decision to make: if I backed down now, they would soon treat me as a slave. You don't concede to bullies; you bully them harder.
"That's mutiny." I said. "I pay you because I'm a nice guy, but you're all under my command in the Army. There's no changing leadership here, there's only obedience."
"You're dead!" One of them yelled and most of them made as if to charge us.
I snickered and Daggers tossed a few throwing knives putting out the eyes of the one who'd yelled the threat. He dropped screaming in pain. "You can try to kill me, but look around, idiots!" I yelled. "In this terrain, your numerical superiority means nothing! I have Daggers by my side, and magic, and you can barely fire the damn crossbows!" Ted was much better with her bow, but her damage was negligible. "My stamina is only lower than Bear's, but not by much, you'll be defending against ranged attacks from both Daggers and myself as we run from you. You can't catch us!"
They stopped, uncertain, looking at each other. I nodded and smiled. "Good. Now, stop acting like spoiled children! People die in Valia! I died for Bear when I didn't have to! I could've ran, but I chose to stay and fight beside him!" It was true, even though I wouldn't do it again. But they didn't need to know that. "And now you all turn against me because some idiots couldn't stay in formation and suicided themselves? Screw you!"
"Ugly-face is right on that account," Bear said suddenly, even though he didn't move closer to me. "Everyone who obeyed had the wall fall on them, but they didn't die. Those who died did so because of negligence and stupidity."
One of the zombies wasn't convinced. "That doesn't change the fact that you always drag us into dangerous situations!"
"And even though I don't need to, I'm going to pay you handsomely for it," I said. "You agreed to that. I repeat: stop acting like damn children!"
Everything I said was obvious, but clearly there was an agent of chaos among them. Just to be sure, I told Daggers to keep an eye out for it in the future. If there was a future, that is.
"Ugly-face, they have a point," Bear said. "Their death rate is kinda high when they stay close to you."
I sighed. "The first time, in the Slums, I told them it was a suicide attack; that's why I paid so much. The second time, with Robert, we all knew some of us would die; he was a high-level Valian. However, because I provided training, only a few died. Also, yet again, I paid a lot of money to everyone who participated. The third time was in this attack, and only the stupid who disobeyed died. And I repeat, there's a lot of gold involved.
"The only time that we died without being the attackers was when we got ambushed by those guards from Mags Market, and even I died. What, I must be omniscient now?
"Look, folks, I know dying sucks, I experienced it. But the rewards make up for the risks. I'm not a suicidal idiot like the guys who jumped over the walls and I'm still going on with the plan, aren't I?
"Valia is dangerous, but the riches are real and I love them gold coins. Now, who wants money and who wants firebombs to the face?"
If I put myself in their shoes, I would choose money at least until I got it and could successfully kill whoever was threatening me. If I understood the zombies' greed correctly, they would make the same choice.
It didn't take long; soon, one by one, they lowered their weapons. The only one who didn't hide her fury was Ted, but she was a spoiled girl who was used to getting things her way, so it was normal that she couldn't deal with it; she would either get over it or do something stupid and die in the process. I nodded, patted Daggers' shoulder in thanks, and turned back to keep going to Edward's Castle, with the goblin following close behind.<
br />
"Sure, mom," Bear said and Daggers was so stunned by it that she didn't say anything for a long time. A few chuckles resulted from that, not enough to dispel the somber mood in the air, but enough to show that we still had a future together.
he said.
I smiled.
His words didn't bother me; I expected that from him. That's why, although I didn't completely condone his hostility towards Daggers and vice-versa, I also did nothing to lessen it. She was the best shield I had and if they were enemies, they couldn't plot together to kill me.
She retrieved the stuff without issue and gave it to me. Melkier's armor, I discovered, was shitty. However, I got a huge surprise: his enchanted purse had dropped, in defiance of the low odds, just a three percent drop rate. It took a force of will not to look through it; if I saw something I liked, I would obviously take it for myself. So, it was better to not look.
Thing is, I expected him to call me and for us to settle things. He was still in the Army and couldn't simply desert without consequences. Plus, he wasn't stupid and I would happily welcome him back as long as he obeyed me most of the time.
I never expected him to be completely loyal; he was a mercenary, after all. It was only direct insubordination that I couldn't stand.
Daggers had also overseen the recovery of the armor from the zombies who died to the goblins, and we used them to make a new batch of Tanks, although it cost use some Fighters.
And so, the march restarted.
Half a day later, the scenery changed. The purple became darker and the stalagmites' forest got thicker. Eventually, we had to walk in single file and couldn't even see where we were going.
It was clear now how a castle could be hidden; if it wasn't for the mark on my minimap urging me to a certain point in the 'forest', I would be hard pressed to find anything in here. The castle wasn't that distant but I had to walk in circles and often enough found we had to turn back. Add to that the possibility of a "mysterious magic" changing the rocks' locations and I could see how people could be lost in here forever.
Unbound Deathlord: Obliteration (The Unbound Deathlord Series Book 2) Page 19