Early the next morning I went back to the property with all of the goblins and a rental truck of equipment that came with a rental driver. Unlike what I expected, the hobgoblins had not done much of anything besides explore the inside of the locked down building. The windows in the walls were too high up for them to reach without furniture or without leaving the other behind.
There were some areas of the gray enamel walls and the concrete floor that were marred by sets of lines left by the digging and scratching of claws, but the damage was not much when compared to the damage done to the hobs' nails. Even though I had started my own marketplace outlet and used my goblin poo post to advertise all the goblins, the hobs were not for sale.
My plan was to use the hobs as something more likes maids and groundskeepers since they were already matured and evolved. Though some people offered to buy these hobs if I trained them, I did not intend to sell them or loan them for breeding purposes. These hobs were just here to help take care of the gobs and other critters.
The children these two pregnant females end up having, though, would be trained and sold while still young and impressionable.
Some people were already trying to place bids on the baby goblins, but these hobs only looked to be at half term and full term for hobs was between three and four months. As long as two months was a long time to wait when my 'nursery' would be done and stocked in roughly half the time.
Because two of the goblins were already claimed, I asked for half of their original estimates up front to help finish the property I posted pictures of. I even outlined the general interior layout plan and hinted at the outdoor facilities. Sadly, both the guy who brought up queuing and the one who tried to outbid for first queue wanted to at least see how their first few days went.
I had spent yesterday and all last night watching videos I had put together from random clips and images on the internet. It was basically a five-minute video containing pictures of things like food with the word 'food' and a voice saying 'food' while the caption blinks. I was skipping the whole alphabet process with these guys even though I had left a portable TV playing alphabet videos for the hobs last night.
With the help of my suspiciously reliable Poniard it was the next morning when they were each made to say their first word. Poniard was given a tray with bowls of lean ground beef on it and when the goblins, who were not fed the night before, started making noises at my goblin then Poniard would loudly hiss at the group until they went silent. Then he took a pinch of meat from every bowl one at a time, saying the word, "Food," before eating each pinch.
The new gobs quickly got the hint and began trying to say the word, 'food'. When one finally said the entire food without missing the 'd' at the end or just saying 'fud', he was given a bowl of ground beef. One the other goblins saw him happily eating, they all got the word right within seconds.
For my business page, I took a video of the goblins eating after the ordeal of actually being given food and had Poniard make them repeat the word a few times. As far as I was concerned, this was great progress and worth showing to the people I was looking for advances from. They seemed to appreciate it, but the first guy outright said they wanted to see how they took to training.
Arguing with the man was pointless because I kind of agreed, my guy was switched to martial arts in his first couple days and not long after that he was trying it by himself when I was not looking. That was part of what makes Poniard so valuable, the fact that they recognized bettering themselves and tried to. These guys could be forced to watch martial arts videos, but that would not make them want to do it.
However, this was something that had already occurred to me and something I had prepared for. Now that I had all of the new catches together at the property, I took them outside to get some fresh air on the fenced in patio. The patio was the same square footage as the building itself, so there was plenty of room for everyone to just wander around in.
Worrying about them climbing the fence to get out was pointless, not only was the ten-foot fence topped with a couple feet of fifty-MP razor but the entire thing was one big ten-thousand-volt cattle wire. It sounded like a lot because most Earth cattle got between two and five thousand volts, but these were E grade sub-sentient creatures from a world where magic makes skin bullet resistant or just plain bulletproof. They needed the little extra kick.
While the new guys were left on the patio, I took Poniard out into the yard proper within a fifteen-foot fence with an even higher voltage to start setting up some equipment. Even though we 'displayed' the treadmill and some weight equipment, I stopped Poniard from getting on the treadmill first. Working out was their next step after getting into training.
But they had to get into training, first.
So, I brought Poniard to the brightest and warmest patch of late morning sun in the yard and we both put on some heavy arm and leg weights before going through the motions of Poniard's unarmed combat training. Even though he only had a handful of techniques, I made him perform a full set in high speed before turning ninety degrees and doing it again as fast as he could. Then again, and again, and again.
By the time he had punched and kicked and jumped about in three circles worth of sets, I let him stop and rest with a bottle of water. Nowadays he no longer chewed the tops off but properly twisted off the caps from the bottles. I was actually pretty proud of that because he started doing it on his own at random.
Looking over my shoulder at the main building, all of the new guys were holding their tablets but only the hobs were watching them. They were probably more attracted to the pretty colors and music of the videos I put together to give them a greater social education. That was fine, though, their combat training could wait.
The goblins who were watching live-action images and footage, though, seemed to have been entranced by watching Poniard attack nothing at all while wearing leg weights above his ankles that were as thick as his thighs.
Even though the first few sets were mostly quiet, you could eventually hear the effort in the loud breaths Poniard forcefully exhaled with every stroke. One of his earlier videos had put lots of emphasis on controlled breathing and even breathing patterns. I did not mind that, much, now that it worked to a benefit.
The other three goblins were all standing by the fence with tablets held carefully in both hands like they were taught. Instead of looking at the tablets, though, they were all studying the swift and somewhat fluid-like movements that Poniard made. I took a short twelve-second video of them watching Poniard train and zoomed in on their tablets for emphasis.
Poniard pretty much immediately became the role model of the other three goblins who already clearly understood that he outranked them. We settled that as soon as we got them home and made them bed down in the basement. Any of them that argued or made faces were promptly disciplined by the back of my goblin's hand.
Now, from the way they were narrowing their eyes with concentration and sticking the tips of their tongues out I could tell they were focusing as hard as they could. They were trying to learn from watching Poniard. Because Poniard simply carried himself like he was better than them all the time, they were now seeing why that was and were envious.
With this secret ingredient mixed into the stew, I let Poniard take a short rest after ten minutes of demonstrating and set up my own demonstration. From a large canvas bag was brought out eight thick metal poles that were ten feet long. By hand, I drove the hollow galvanized fence posts straight down into the dirt until the tops were eye level with me.
The goblins had already seen me show off my strength before when capturing the hobs so shoving the poles down in the ground by hand was just a way to get it done quickly.
In front of everybody in the world capable of looking through the main fence of the property, I took out a collapsible pole only a little bit thicker around than my thumb at either end and about as tall as I was. Not long after it was put together, the staff started loudly whistling through the air as I started spinning the staff or whipping the ends out and around. Every time the staff was extended out from a spin in any direction, the high pitched ring of hard struck hollow metal followed.
At first there would be a second or two of whistling as I flexed my joints with the weapon, but after the first three minutes there would be between three and five rings every second. While this demonstration was intended to inspire the goblins, Poniard was the one I was targeting the most because he had personally taken an interest in the staff. I wanted to impress him with what I could do.
Going through the full extent of everything I could actually remember being taught in the academy took about fifteen minutes by itself. Going through the entire deck of cards I still had with eight targets that needed to be struck no less than eight different ways apiece? Just under thirty minutes of some seriously good burst cardio training.
Then Poniard and I simply stretched out in the sun with the artifact between us and waited to heal while waiting to hear. When there were no sounds after five minutes, I stole a peek toward the building. Then I took out my phone and started a video, saying, "It has been about fix or six minutes since Poniard and I stopped practicing in front of them.
"You guys saw how avidly they were watching Poniard, but while I was working a staff they all but dropped the tablets and even the hobs were watching. Now, look at 'em, they're just sitting there waiting for us to do something else," I point out, holding up the phone. "This is the waiting game. After watching us practicing martial arts they, like children, should start mimicking what they saw. Let's see how much longer it takes."
A lot more than five minutes after I started taking the video, the first goblin recovered from its dumbfounded and entranced state of mind. They put their tablet slowly on the ground and took a couple steps back from the others who were watching him curiously. They were wondering if he had learned anything.
Looking back at the other two goblins, the empty handed one seems to pick the one on his right while spreading its legs and standing sideways toward them. He had just taken up stance on camera at roughly twenty minutes after Poniard and I stopped showing off. Now. How slowly lifts one knee up while awkwardly leaning back and teetering.
After getting his knee up to his chest, I pretty much already knew what was about to happen next. However, the other goblin just stand there with no clue whatsoever. Once the crane-like goblin found a point of balance that last long enough to take action, it promptly kicked the other goblins square in the face and knocked them flat on their back.
The goblin that got kicked actually had the nerve to shriek in surprised agony, as if it was not looking dead at the three-toed foot that entire time.
While still recording, I calmly got up and walked over which got all of their attentions. When I came back inside the fence, I took out pen roller of whiteout and simply drew a white streak across the middle of kicker's forehead. Then I took out a black Sharpie and drew an 'X' in the middle of its forehead.
Turning the camera to face me, I proudly and shamelessly say, "First queue gets the first goblin to practice martial arts and second queue gets the first goblin to learn the lesson of being ready at all times. The bidding now starts for the unmarked innocent bystander."
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