Amiya had her mouth hanging. "The hell are you saying!" She mumbled.
The goblins also had their mouths hanging.
They were not buying this no.
Actually, even the cat had his mouth hanging.
Which was why, I picked up the kitty, and held him over my head. "Look this is a royal white lion. One of the rarest divine monsters ever. And I have contracts with two. They're my partners. And I don't know if I mentioned this before but- I'm also the Apostle of the god of Death. So yeah, you can trust me."
"That's exactly what an untrustworthy guy would say…" Amiya murmured.
'I heard that you know…'
"A-are you serious-" The hobgoblin, Gorbam came forward and stood in front of me, staring at my eyes. "Are you sure you can protect us."
[Cat-1 has slain Royal Centipede!]
[Exp gained- 4450!]
[Lv up!]
[Cat- 2 has leveled up!]
[Cat- 2 has leveled up!]
[Cat- 2 has leveled up!]
'All of us get the same amount of exp?'
I smiled. "If I can't, why bother offering you protection? Why bother giving you fake promises? If I'm really powerless I'm sure you'd figure it out in a matter of hours, right? Or would you like to duel right now?" I'd just leveled up, I was definitely confident now!
Intense staring.
Flutter! Something again fell behind me but just much more softly.
In a split second, almost all the goblins just bowed on their knees. "The royal lioness!" wait- what? Apparently, mother cat was back. "We'd like to serve you, o' wise one!"
I was wondering where the cat was. She finished her hunting and just came back?
She had something on her mouth too.
[Acquired Royal centipede scales!]
"Wow, that actually worked…" And wow, I said that out loud too…
I had not given it a proper thought before, no…
Who'd have thought just by winging it, something good could happen?
They were bowing to the kitty by the way, not to me.
Kitty on the other hand, was sitting way too proudly. "Mew!" And often staring back at me, kind of happy?
Kitty's mother didn't do anything and just stood behind him….
Oh well.
Amiya though, gave me more than just awkward glances.
She dragged me over to the corner. "Apostle? Lioness? Explain?"
"Oh yeah, I'm an apostle. And those two really are divine monsters. The mother is quite stronger than you."
She did not believe me, no.
I wouldn't believe myself either.
She did sigh though. "I suppose you have to be at least an apostle to have that kind of ambition… but really, promising goblins a country of their own? What would you even use them for?"
'Wait, you believed that apostle crap?'
Since when was I so trustworthy?
"Haven't thought of it, yet."
"You idiot!" She grabbed my collar and shook me back and forth.
Heh.
I didn't mind.
Being toyed by a beautiful woman was kind of my longtime dream anyway.
So for today, it was okay!
Just for today though.
She did stop a minute later, and kind of stood there, brooding.
She was definitely second-guessing this whole thing.
"What happens to you guys in case you fail to find a mate?" Which was why changing the subject was the way to go.
The goblins were working things out with the lions.
Apparently, they could converse.
Scary stuff.
"We just give birth to unfertilized eggs."
The eggs were maybe the size of a fist?
And awfully white.
Also striped.
"Are they delicious?" The moment the words escaped my mouth though- was the moment I knew! I'd done fucked up...
"Gross!"
With a disgusted glare, she went away.
Okay, that was on me.
I was just curious though…
Oh well…
***
A deal was struck.
We'd protect the goblins and they'd recruit locals while capturing monsters for us to slay and level up. They'd also be providing us with monster parts, meaning we just established the groundwork needed to set up a proper business.
This also provided a very useful bit of information to me.
Apparently, leveling among monsters was common.
The whole concept of killing another to grow stronger was 'common knowledge' to them.
'Why the hell didn't we know that?'
"I don't get it," Amiya said. "How does doing business help us?"
The goblins were partying with the lions.
The two cats promised them that we'd distract the Harpies while they make a run for the woods.
The deal was necessary for our plans to proceed further- or so the mother cat explained.
Hard to imagine the cat had more intelligence than even me…
"Well, you need money for everything; to raise an army, manage it, take over other places. Besides, let's say you need to give territory to an adventurer who might leave, or an established businessman who'd bring you more capital, whom would you choose?"
"First of all, giving away territories to non-nobles is really rare and I wouldn't do something so stupid. But if I had to pick I'd pick the businessman I guess."
"Luckily, I'm already a noble. Or- was one. So, I know how to at least pretend to be one. It'll be easy as long as we can convince a local mayor that I'm just a wandering knight hoping to get rich."
She sighed. "I get that but why?"
Now I sighed. Yeah, I kind of didn't want to go through with all these explanations. "You'll see."
For now though, the goblins wouldn't change much of anything.
I'd have to first go to the city, trade in the rare materials, get a license to do business, and start quick.
'But just ninety-seven days won't be enough.'
If I had enough time, I could have easily taken over a portion of the country with adequate planning.
But I didn't have that time.
And taking over just a portion wasn't going to get me anywhere either.
I was going to have to take over the whole country eventually.
And then the world.
Meaning-
'I need something else.'
And what that something was- I still didn't know.