"Who are you?.. Which village are you from?".. was the first thing the Goblin asked me. It was not surprising if he wanted to know who was the guy who saved both of them.
As I look at him properly I realized how wrong I was. He was not similar to the stereotypical Goblins I had killed before. He had distinct features. Not as much as a human, but still distinct enough to tell him apart from the mob.
His nose was not like that of Pinocchio that most Goblins had and he did not have a hunchback like the rest.
He was taller than me by some margin but still dwarfed by the human we fought. He might as well reach his shoulders whereas I could only reach his chest if I had to make a comparison.
About his facial features, not much was different, he had a scar on his left side of the face though.
As I didn't want him to stay wary of me, I threw his dagger back to him and he took it back with a nod.
" I don't know of any village. My parents were killed by humans while protecting me. I ran away from there as far as I could and ended up in this forest and got lost."
I told him some made up back story as I didn't want to appear someone suspicious.
He didn't think much about it and approached me and put his hand over my shoulder…
" It's going to be fine now . You don't need to worry about it. Humans are just like that. They kill us Goblins as they please without any reason. You should stay away from them."
..he said in a sympathetic voice, looking in my eyes…and I gave him a nod quickly.
" Elder brother will be fine!!.. You can come with us back to our village.!!".. the crying child got up and rejoiced with his eyes still wet.
He was also unlike the common Goblins, just a younger version of the Goblin next to him. And was giving some fluffy feeling despite being a Goblin.
" Tobi, are you fine?.. does it hurt anywhere?" the elder goblin asked in a concerned voice while checking his body for any injuries.
"I am oke..!! Elder brother Dester protected me from the bad guy..!!"…Tobi beamed and started doing fighting poses, showing how Dester beat the bad guy.
Seeing their interaction, it proved again that they're not much different from Humans in feelings. They care about others and would even put their life on stake for their loved ones. Just how wrong we were judging them by our own perspective.
"Is it okay if I call you by your names too?".. I asked Dester when he was feeling relieved that nothing happened to Tobi.
" Sure, I would like that. And what should I call you? ".. he asked back nervously, maybe he didn't want me to feel uncomfortable?
His question made me conflicted. Should I use my previous name?.. But I don't have a name according to the system as a Goblin. Is there something important related to names perhaps?
I had several doubts that made me hesitate which Dester interpreted otherwise as I might not be willing to tell my name.
"It's okay if you don't want to tell, it's understandable given your circumstances."...though he said that, he was clearly disappointed.
" I am sorry, it's not like I don't want to tell you my name. It's just that I don't remember the name my parents gave me."
Since I have already cooked a sad story, why not use it fully? And it worked well as Tobi has already started weeping and wet his eyes again. Even Dester had a soft look on his face.
" I am sorry, I didn't know it was a sensitive topic. ".. he genuinely apologised even though he didn't do anything to ask for forgiveness.
I shook my head and smiled at him telling him it's okay.
" Elder brother, come with us to our village!!"... as the atmosphere was turning gloomy, Tobi pulled my hand and looked at Dester.
Dester thought something for a moment then requested me the same.. " We want to thank you properly for saving us too, if you don't mind, you can come with us. "
[ Quest completed : Find the source of the unknown sound and deal with the situation.
__
Rewards : Location of the village obtained.
(( Bonus Reward : You have learned a new passive skill : Observation - Lvl 1 ]
[ Quest : Kill slimes ( 0/30 ) ; Resumed ]
' So that's how you do things huh.. '
To check the skill, I looked at both the Goblins standing next to me.
[ Name : Tobi ( Higher Goblin )
Level : 7 ]
[ Name : Dester ( Higher Goblin )
Level : 11 ]
' So level 1 shows the name and level of a person?.. But maybe it's because I already know their names?.. I can check it later.
And, Higher Goblin is it? Well I expected this already, if there are lesser Goblins like me and the ones who I killed, there should be Higher Goblins too.
And maybe more??.. Let's think about all this when I get time. '
Not knowing what I was thinking, both the Goblins waited for my answer and Tobi was pulling my hand while looking at me with sparkling eyes. I wondered if kids did it intentionally or was it natural.
" Then I will accept your invitation, thank you." I replied humbly… Yes, I was capable of giving humble replies and have a good conversation.
Just because I used to play video games, does not make me a shut in. Rather, I was quite active in sports and other extracurricular activities.
I did say it before, I might look like one but I am far from an ordinary high school guy. And this was just a little part of that.
" Ye!!.. Elder brother is coming with us...now we can play together!! "..
Hearing my positive reply, Tobi had a bright expression and started dragging me.
I forgot that even though he was a Higher Goblin, he was still a child.
"You're going in the wrong direction though, you'll get lost you know?".. and his movements were stopped by Dester just like that.
Soon he made a sad expression. I was fascinated how fast his expression changes from sad to happy then again to sad...Then I remembered some kids from my Human life, and all of them were similar.
' They are just simple, right? '... Yah simple as one can get. Their hearts are pure and they are free of lies and deception. Sure they might lie to their parents if they steal some cookies, but who doesn't like such lies? '
After Dester took the lead, I got my answer for why I got lost. There were markings on the trees showing the direction to the village..!!
And of course it was in Ghukliak, the language of Goblins..!!
Now I realize why I wasn't able to understand what the Goblins were saying earlier, because they were not even using the Goblin tongue properly. Though I'm a lesser Goblin but my intelligence is more than them.
And by the weird looks Dester was giving me, he might be thinking 'how can a lesser Goblin speak so well?'
Why do I know what their language is called? I asked Dester, and he didn't think of it as anything suspicious. Since I was a wandering Goblin in his eyes, such knowledge should be foreign to me.
So he took the role to explain the basic things to me. Like how most of the Goblins are lesser Goblins who have low Intelligence and are incapable of speech.
They just communicate using body language and some incoherent sound.
Then there are Higher Goblins, and as he spoke of Higher Goblins, he had a proud expression on his face. So being a Higher Goblin seems like a big deal.
Higher Goblins can communicate using language and are more intelligent.
And most of the Higher Goblins are stronger than the lesser Goblins of the same age according to him, and of the same level according to the system.
So it's like they have a head start with their high stats.
Another interesting thing he told me was about evolution. Most Higher Goblins are so since birth but rarely a lesser goblin might become a higher goblin if he becomes strong enough through evolution.
And how strong that was, it was level 20 as the system explained.
After Higher goblins come Noble Goblins, just like it sounds they all have Noble Blood with inherited powers from Birth.
Lastly there was something called Royal Goblins, which were like the Royalties for them. That's why they were called Royal Goblins in the first place. Something a Higher Goblin won't see in his whole life, even most of the Noble Goblins are not qualified to be in their presence.
As what divided all Goblins was their Bloodline. The Royal Goblins had the purest Bloodline followed by Noble Goblins, Higher Goblins and lastly Lesser Goblins.
As I didn't want to get too much info dump at one time, I changed the topic smoothly and asked him how far was the village now.
" It's less than 1 km now, but even then it's hard to find it without the markings we have carved over the trees. It's not uncommon for someone who doesn't know about this forest to get lost."
Maybe, no most probably his words were meant for me, trying to cheer me up and not to feel bad about getting lost.
But I didn't care about it in the first place anyway.
[ That is not true ]
" Why do you have to be such a killjoy always..!! "... everytime the system decides to speak something, it's either a sarcastic remark against me or something which I would want to avoid.
All this time, Tobi was by my side holding my hand tightly.
' Does he think I'll get lost? How cute'
After a few more minutes and change of directions , we reached our destination.