The next day started with exercise and meditation like always.
When everyone in the village woke up and got warmed up, Kaz took the entire village to collect materials for construction. Using the previously made pickaxes, saws, hatchets, and shovels, the village was able to quickly gather materials. The biggest part of the day was spent on collection.
Thinking about the future, Kaz wanted the villagers to reclaim a large amount of land around the village, but one of the older goblins stopped him. The Goblin told him that the earth around the cave wasn't good for farming, and that if they were going to start farming, it would be better to wait until they took over a territory closer to a water source, like the Kobold's stronghold.
Kazimir was thankful for this sound advice, as he was no farmer and only knew a few things about agriculture. Looking closer at the goblin that spoke to him, he saw that this goblin had a better appearance than the others: his clothes were less dirty, and in good condition. Kaz searched his memory for this goblin's name, and what he got was Batrysz.
Bat showed a bitter face,
Kaz put a hand on Bat's shoulder and said
Bat looked up at Kazimir. He let out a heavy breath, and smiled.
The two spent more time discussing development plans while collecting materials, and Kaz was glad to have someone experienced to discuss things with. Unlike Obie, Bat had knowledge but didn't have the charisma or wits to make the other goblins follow him. Bat ended up as an untapped font of knowledge, and didn't have a chance to shine because no one noticed his usefulness.
Kaz had ordered construction to be stopped. He felt regret that so many buildings have already been erected because after his discussion with Bat, it was obvious that this location would have to be abandoned. In order to have sustainable sources of food, agriculture and farming would need to be introduced to the goblins, and the current location just would not do.
After lunch, Kazimir had the goblins join a small competition: He had all of the goblins try to make the best bow and the best set of 10 arrows that they could. He then had Obie come up and demonstrate a few shots with his crossbow.
The goblins were impressed at Obie's small display, and everyone was expectantly staring at the crossbow in his hands.
Excited voices rose up from the village. Some went off by themselves to work in secrecy, while others formed groups to help each other.
Kaz looked up into the sky, a suffocating feeling slowly building in his chest. He felt like he needed to launch an assault on the Kobolds as soon as possible, but he knew that building better weapons would lead to better results.
Kaz was anxious to exit the forest and meet other humans. He still didn't know much about this world, and had to remind himself that setting up a strong foundation was important.
"Three more days. I will give us three days to prepare and then we'll make our move..."
Obie heard Kaz, and looked at him. "So you're planning an attack on the
"Yeah, once everyone has a crossbow it will be easier to kill them. I'll have everyone practice shooting with them, and then we will attack. We need a better location to build a permanent village."
Obie nodded slowly, "Makes sense, the Kobold stronghold is close to the river, so it would be a nicer place for a village."
Kaz was lost in his plans for a few more minutes, and then turned and smiled mischievously at Obie,
The small goblin widened his eyes, and a conspiratorial smile crept up his face.
Obie followed Kaz to shoot and practice combat techniques. Kazimir was determined to make Obie strong. Strong enough that he wouldn't have to worry about him dying during their assault.
The sun and moon marched through the sky, too quickly for some who couldn't finish, and slowly for those confident in their creations. Kaz didn't let the Goblins slack off just because of the competition, and still had everyone do exercises in the morning.
Kazimir didn't slack off either, and during this day's meditation, he felt that the heat radiating from his stomach was reaching a sort of bottleneck. He had the thought to try and move the energy around his meridians according to Qigong and then according to Yogi chakra points, but the energy didn't budge. He gave up after an hour of no progress.
The time had come to judge the craftsmanship of the bows and arrows.
Kaz carefully tested the weapons and chose some goblins to help. He tested the sturdiness, strength, accuracy, and stability that could be produced from the bows and tested arrows as well.
The decisions were made quickly. The top five fletchers and top six bowmakers were selected to learn about crossbows. There were six bowmakers because Obie decided to create a bow early in the morning and managed to place third, but as he already knew how to make crossbows, Kaz selected a sixth place.
The one that impressed Kazimir the most was the second place bowmaker. It was a young goblin from Obie's generation that also managed to get second place in fletching. Her bow was incredibly sturdy and the arrows were strong with extremely sharp stone tips. The bow was too tough for the goblins to pull, and her arrows too heavy to fly far, but her weapons excelled in all other areas.
Kaz made a mental note to remember this goblin, as she had showed potential as a craftsman, she just needed to polish up her skills.
Ordering the rest of the village to practice melee combat techniques for the time being, Kaz took the winners into the large building in the village center.
He already prepared the materials that everyone would need to make the crossbows.
Kazimir slowly carved out, assembled, and glued a repeating crossbow in front of the group. Eleven pairs of eyes carefully observed his actions, excited to see how the final product would come together.
Kaz finished and explained that it would be unusable until tomorrow, when the glued parts fully dried and hardened. He then explained how it worked, and gently moved the mechanism and showed how to fit and exchange ammo cartridges. As everyone made their first set, they asked Kaz questions about parts they were unsure of, and deepened their understanding of the repeating action.
The goblins had looks of obsession in their eyes as they worked, and the rest of the day was spent making crossbows. As these were the best craftsmen from the village, Kaz planned for these eleven to outfit the entire village with crossbows. Once the eleven bowyers were busy with making the crossbows, Kazimir stepped out to teach the rest of the village how to make the bolts.
In a repeating crossbow, the size of the bolt had to be precise and accurate to fit in the mechanism. Kaz made models and measuring sticks so that everyone in the village would produce uniform crossbow bolts that would perfectly fit in the crossbows being made. He then went back to the large building and brought out the ammo cartridges made by the eleven, so that the ammo could be filled by the villagers as they made the bolts.
The entire village was engulfed in crafting for the rest of the day. The eleven made more than enough crossbows since their products got better over time and they didn't stop right away. They only left the building when everyone was satisfied with their creations.
The rest of the village kept making bolts, and by the end of the day there were thousands of bolts loaded into over 200 cartridges. Each cartridge held 48 shots.
Kazimir called for a late dinner, and had to practically pry the crafting tools away for the goblins to eat. The village ended up going to bed later than the previous days.
Kaz called for everyone's attention before people dispersed from dinner.
The goblins were excited, and many had a hard time falling asleep that night.
...
That night Obie went to see his uncle. Obie talked excitedly about the new crossbow design and explained how it works.
Seeing his excited nephew, Josz smiled and had Obie call a few of his loyal goblins, ones who are strong hunters.
When Obie and the goblins gathered in the cave, Josz started speaking.
The goblin hunters shot sidelong glances at each other, hesitation written across their face.
Seeing uncertainty, Josz sat up and placed his sword across his legs. The sword started glowing a red light. He leveled an angry glare at those gathered,
The goblins stood there nervously, with some lowering their heads.
The red light intensified as Josz lifted the blade a little.
The goblins and Obie answered positively, and Josz let them disperse.
Obie looked back at his uncle's cave where he could still see the firelight reflected on the cave walls, a storm of emotions raging in his head.
Obie breathed out slowly and closed his eyes. Thinking of that human's visage, Obie came to a decision. A cold glint could be seen in the goblin's eyes. If anyone else was there, they'd be surprised to see the usually silly goblin show a vicious and determined expression as he looked towards Kazimir's lodgings.