All wanderers are human. They were, and still am. Even the goblins in front of me. That's why very few of them chose their avatars to be anything outside the Human Races. Demi-humans from the Monster Races shows some popularity, but we are monsters for a reason even though we resemble humans.
At the beginning which was two weeks ago, up to thousands of wanderers came to the goblin race. Quarter of them left within the first three days, more left everyday thereafter. Less than a third left by the end of the week, and only a hundred were left yesterday.
The reason range from the ugliness, short and hunched body structure of normal goblins, to the weakness in strength. I'm sure many were attracted to our race from the merits on growth, but the initial stage of a goblin's life were too hard for them. In the first place, thousands of wild goblins are born and killed every day, few survives in each generation. Ironically, the mortality rate is similar to the ratio of wanderers who left and stayed.
It's actually worse since they had the convenience of basing themselves in a city and are far more intelligent than those pea-brains.
Yet, each of them died so much that even the accelerated growth they were blessed with only pushed them forward at snail pace. It just shows how awful a goblin's life treats humans.
Of the hundreds of more resilient minds yesterday, all gave up after finally becoming a Goblin Elite after two weeks of non-stop grinding. The poor growth in combat power and the endless grinding in the foreseeable future broke them down, and they turned to the other races.
All except the four in front of me.
"I got the gist of the situation." I said, leaning on the desk.
We are in the make-shift lecture room that I carved out from the living room. There is an elevated seating enough for a hundred students and a podium for me.
"Just to make sure, are you all truly willing to stay?" I cast out my doubt, after all, I don't want to waste my effort just for them to throw it away. "If you are having doubts of staying here you might as well just leave, cause honestly, things won't get any easier from now on."
"Yes" The healer from before.
"Will stay!" An energetic gob.
"Mhm" The leader from before.
"…" A quiet nod from a quiet gob.
"Hmm, and why is that, if you don't mind me prying."
"It's more challenging."
"Lots of friends!"
Fumu
"A man's dream."
Fumu
"Because goblins are weak."
…Fumu?
He said it!! He outright said it! Of course he won't leave when they chose the goblin race because we are weak. He should instead be satisfied with how difficult his life are. Though most of it are my own interpretation, I have a feeling I'm not far off the mark.
"Since you all have your reasons I won't ask more. Let's start with introductions. I am Aruk, you can also call me Gobuda. I am in charge of the academy for wanderers, but things will be a bit different now the numbers reduced. We will end today with Q&A and discussions on how to proceed onwards. Next." I pointed in the order they spoke, so next is…
"Yes! I'm Alni, a Healer. I enjoy challenging things I'm aiming to be a priest that can fight." Said the healer, now Alni.
"I'm next!" The energetic gob jumped from her seat before I got to her. "I'm Rina, and I want to be the greatest Tamer there is!!" Maybe it's because of Alni, but she seems to have set the standard for the introductions. The aspiring tamer is full of energy as I moved on to the next.
"Goruk. I'm currently a Vanguard, but I'm aiming for a commander type class. I'm building a mercenary corps so please tell me if you're interested." And there is the commander from yesterday, shamelessly advertising for himself and eliciting a 'Ho' from the neighbouring energetic gob.
"Rou… walks the path of the sword." Said the quiet, curt goblin. I can hear the age in his voice, he should be the oldest among the four. The others are about the same age?
Female, female, male and male in that order. Half-half split, rare for goblins.
"Good, so it's Gobuni, Goburin, Goburuk and Goburou."
The names are quite good even though they were made sloppily. I got some speechless 'O's and judging stares, but I don't care! This name proves the start of their Goblin-hood!
"Then! Onward with the schedule. Now that there are only four of you, the curriculum for the academy is no longer efficient. The number just good for direct mentoring, so I will be teaching by demand, other than the Basics. Questions?"
"Yes!" The ener- Rina rose again. "What do you mean by the Basics."
Sharp girl.
"Basic knowledge and the bare minimum required for a goblin to survive (Native style)-"
"Huh?"
"-Next."
"Yes." It's Goruk this time. "What do you mean by teaching on demand?"
"Literally as I say, I will teach you whatever you are interested in. I do indeed have a huge repertoire of knowledge. If I'm ever stumped on any topic, I will refer you to someone or someplace suitable." I spoke with so much confidence that I did not acknowledge the latter part of my own words. There is no way I will be stumped by their demands. Even if I send them out, it will be for gaining practical experiences.
"Thank you. "Goruk seems somewhat doubtful but satisfied nonetheless.
After a bit of silence I moved on. "Since there is no problem with the arrangement, we will start tomorrow. I will guide you on the best way to become strong." You will surely become some of the strongest. Geheheh.
"Then, let's meet again tomorrow."