Held by his two monster captors, Atlas was towed to meet the Chief of these monsters. His pleas to allow him to walk were completely ignored by his captors.
Unable to walk and not wanting to struggle away the final bits of his strength, Atlas let himself be carried. Instead, he used this opportunity to properly study his surroundings and his captors.
As they traversed from the dimly-lit dungeon area to a somewhat moderately-lit tunnel, Atlas noticed a few details about his captors that he had initially missed.
The two hobgoblin captors had some shapes and lines drawn on their bodies using natural paint. Looking at this, Atlas was reminded of the tribalistic groups which he had seen in his previous life.
'Could it be that this den of monsters isn't some random congregation of monsters but an actual tribalistic society with proper order and hierarchies?'
Taking a deep breath, he continued, 'If that is the case, I might still have a chance to get out of here safely.'
If the monsters within this den were intelligent enough to set up a functioning idea of society, albeit rudimentary, it would mean that they were advanced enough to engage in trade and negotiations.
He might not have anything to offer to them right now. But if the words of his father were anything to be relied upon, then he had a kingdom out there.
If it could guarantee his life, Atlas did not mind trading his entire kingdom and everyone within it to these monsters.
'And who's to say that I must honor my side of the deal. I could always make promises to secure benefits now and completely ignore them later.'
If he really was a Prince with a kingdom, he could always return with his forces and raze this place to the ground; deals and promises be damned.
'About these two hobgoblins…if my knowledge regarding tribal societies of my previous world is correct, then these two captors of mine are what they call 'Honored Warriors.' In other words, their identity and reputation within the tribe must be quite high, second only to the Chief and Advisor.'
'This is good news for me. At least, for as long as I am in their hands, I don't have to worry about being eaten by other monsters. Speaking of which…'
Atlas curiously looked around at his vicinity.
Apart from the narrowly excavated tunnels with tall ceilings, lit wooden torched placed evenly to illuminate the area, and the occasional bones and blood splotches found on the walls, he hadn't seen a single monster.
'Oh, never mind. Speak of the devil.'
He could faintly hear noises coming up from in front of him. Turning a corner, Atlas was immediately met with another fantasy staple.
The lesser evolved cousins of the hobgoblins; a green-skinned creature possessing a small body, disproportionate head, shifty eyes, and sharp chins. A creature that was as vile as it was dumb.
It was…
'GAAAWWWBLINSSS!!'
Upon seeing their mightier cousins approach with a human prisoner in tow, the goblins immediately scurried aside and hid within the shadows cast by the torches. Their beady eyes stared voraciously at Atlas with drool dripping down their half-agape mouths.
Being stared at by dozens of goblins with gazes of ravenous hunger, Atlas felt widely uncomfortable; an experience that he had seen depicted in popular media many times but was personally experiencing for the first time.
Turning his face to stare downwards, Atlas did his best to ignore them. His skin crawled and his stomach churned as he felt violated by those gazes. However, there was nothing that he could do at this point.
Closing his eyes, Atlas committed his mind to memorize the routes that they had taken and compiled them into a mental map. With the inhuman calculative prowess of his brain combined with his perfect eidetic memory, doing so was a piece of cake.
As he immersed himself into doing this duty, Atlas felt the time slip by and was soon brought to his destination.
---
Arriving at a brightly-lit room, the first thing that came into Atlas' notice was the strong, pungent smell of herbs. The chaotic mixture of smells assaulted his nose and faintly dizzied him.
[Chief! Brought last human did. Human talk.]
The hobgoblin captors harshly threw Atlas to the ground. Hitting the floor with a dull thud, the pain from his knees brought Atlas out of his dizziness and allowed him to focus.
In front of him, seated in a bone throne was a shadowy figure. He couldn't observe the exact features of the figure, apart from its rough silhouette, due to the heavy mist of incense veiling the room.
Breathing in the pungent-smelling incense mist, Atlas was starting to feel light-headed and weak.
[Talk?]
The figure sitting on the bone throne asked inquisitively.
[Yes. Talk.]
The hobgoblin captors replied with a nod. One of them then turned towards Atlas and slapped him on the back of his head.
[Talk!]
The sharp pain at the back of his head returned focus into Atlas' eyes. He immediately understood that the incense mist had hallucinogenic properties commonly found in psychedelic drugs.
'Dammit! Captured, imprisoned, abused, and now drugged? What's next? Sexual assault? This is shaping up to be the most amazing transmigration start in the history of transmigration starts,' Atlas sarcastically intoned.
Outwardly, however, he put on the model face of respect and gratuitously spoke.
[Yes, Respected Chief, King of All Monsters. I can talk.]
No intelligent creature was immune to the wiles of flattery. More importantly, it cost him nothing to flatter the other.
Was it effective against the Chief?
It was super effective!
[King? Me?]
The shadowy figure pointed at itself.
Bowing with both his hands and forehead touching the ground, Atlas piously spoke.
[Indeed, O' Mighty One! No one other than your Radiant Self is worthy of this title!]
[Ra-di-ent? S-alf?]
The shadowy figure disseminated the words in a confused tone.
'Shit! Looks like I used some big words and accidently confused this guy.'
Realizing that, he hurriedly corrected himself.
[I-it means you are big and strong, Respected Chief.]
[Big and strong?]
[Yes! There is none bigger and stronger than you, Respected Chief. You are the biggest and strongest of them all!!]
Silence descended upon the room.
Having rested his head against the floor, Atlas couldn't carelessly lift it to gauge the reactions of the members inside the room. From his angle, he could just barely see the shadowy figure from the corner of his eyes.
However, with the latter veiled in mist, Atlas couldn't read his expression.
'Too much? Too little? Did it work?' Atlas nervously wondered. 'Please tell me that it worked. The silence is killing me!'
Thankfully, his query did not last very long.
[Hahaha! Good Human! You talk well!]
The shadowy figure slapped its hands against the armrest of its chair and jovially laughed.
'YEESSS!!' Atlas let out tears of joy after hearing the praise. Things seemed to be finally looking up in his transmigration, fantasy journey.
[Before. I want eat you. But now I not eat you.]
'Excellent. My life is secured for now. The next step would be to convince this creature to let me go. I suppose I could—'
[Now I sacrifice you. Excellent sacrifice. Deity be happy with me!]
Atlas felt his heart drop and shatter.