"Ah!"
The searing sensation on his palm jolted Alonso awake, prompting him to scream in pain.
Attempting to sit up, Alonso realized his hands were tied behind his back, and his legs were securely bound, rendering him immobile. As for his surroundings, they were a pile—of gold coins stacked into a mountain!
At first glance, Alonso's eyes went wide in disbelief!
Wow, how many gold coins were there in this mountain?! Just from the coins pressing beneath his body, he could afford to buy out that greedy merchant's daughter from the Eastvale Logging Camp. Excited beyond measure, he momentarily forgot he was in an unfamiliar environment.
"Ah!"
The burning sensation returned, this time not from his palm, but from the back of his neck.
Tearing his gaze away from the awe-inspiring sight of the gold mountain, Alonso turned his head to see a large, burly male goblin standing behind him, bare-chested, with a lantern on his head. In its hand, a lit candle was held, and then Alonso watched in horror as it slowly tilted the candle, a droplet of wax forming and gradually solidifying, before dropping...
"Ah!"
This familiar sensation, this burning feeling—without a doubt, it was this guy who had dripped the wax tears twice before.
Alonso had heard about some lords having peculiar tastes, enjoying being dripped with candle wax or whipped with a lash. He found it strange when he first heard about it, but now that he experienced it firsthand, he realized—It hurts! How could anyone enjoy being dripped with candle wax? This was definitely more painful than being whipped!
However, in reality, the women who did such things barely put any strength into their whip lashes, and those candles were specially made, with wax that was cooler than regular candles.
If they really whipped with force and dripped regular candle wax on the skin, it wouldn't be considered a fetish anymore—it would be classified as torture...
"Ah! Ah! Ah! Stop dripping! Stop dripping! I surrender!"
After being dripped a few more times, Alonso completely surrendered. In the past, when bitten by beasts or slashed by the Defias Brotherhood, he wouldn't even flinch, because he could grit his teeth and endure the pain. But these drops of wax, each causing waves of pain, he couldn't bear even if he howled like a lunatic!
Like drops of water that can wear away stone, these drops of wax pierced through Alonso's firm resolve, forcing him to yield to the goblin's tyranny.
"Surrender? It's not like you're not surrendering, you can resist..."
The goblin was somewhat speechless, shaking the hand holding the candle, then flicking a few drops of wax onto Alonso's neck, causing him to scream again. Then he continued, "As for breaking the bridge, I won't pursue it. After all, that bridge needed repairs for a long time. But! You dared to steal my people's precious candles, which, in goblin law, is the most serious crime—even more serious than directly killing goblins..."
The crime of stealing a candle was considered more serious than killing a goblin. It sounded unbelievable, but it wasn't a joke, it was real, and in the goblin world, candle-related laws were indeed strict.
As for why this was the case, it was related to some goblin legends. For goblins, candles were not just lighting tools.
"Well then, just kill me!"
Since the other party said so, Alonso closed his eyes and asked them to get it over with.
"No, no, no, I won't kill you!"
Blowing out the candle in his hand, the goblin smiled at Alonso. But despite the smile, Alonso felt a chill run down his spine.
"Stealing a candle is a capital offense in goblin law! Stealing two candles is undoubtedly a capital offense! Stealing five candles, that's a crime worthy of death!... But stealing fifty..."
"Fifty-two candles..." Alonso corrected.
"Oh."
The goblin twitched its mouth and continued from where it left off, "But stealing fifty-two candles changes things. Similar to how killing one person is a capital offense for you humans, but killing a hundred thousand people makes one a hero, there's a twist in your sentencing by the goblin council. Although you won't become a hero for stealing candles, you unexpectedly fall out of the category of a death sentence!"
"What the heck?! There's such a thing?!"
Alonso, lacking cultural refinement, chose the phrase "what the heck" to express his astonishment. At this moment, the gold mountain, the goblins with human-like intelligence, even the Goblin Elder Council, were no longer his focus.
He understood that people who could kill a hundred thousand enemies were generally hailed as heroes in history. But stealing too much wouldn't lead to a death sentence—what kind of logic was that? Was there any connection between the two?!
"The reason is simple: the death penalty isn't punishment enough for the heinous crimes you've committed! The council and I unanimously decided to let you, initially as a convict awaiting execution, hunt down monsters that threaten goblin lives. Once you've hunted enough monsters and made sufficient contributions to goblin society, reducing your crimes to the level of a death sentence, only then will the death penalty be carried out!"
Alonso: "..."
As the goblin spluttered out its clear and logical verdict, Alonso's heart couldn't be described as anything other than shattered. After making enough contributions to the goblins and the society, they would execute him. This logic seemed to have been twisted from Stormwind to Orgrimmar!
"If helping you exterminate monsters and redeeming my crimes can be accepted, I might consider it. But if doing good deeds results in my death... why would I bother to hunt monsters?!"
Alonso expressed a normal person's reaction—why bother if it's thankless work? According to what was said earlier, these goblins wouldn't execute him anyway.
"Well, your reaction is as I expected."
The goblin smiled and took a backpack from behind, which Alonso immediately recognized as his own.
"Fifty candles, use them one by one. Shouldn't be a problem for three days..."
"I'll do it! I'll go hunt monsters!"
Without needing the goblin to continue, Alonso knew what the guy was going to say next. And to avoid more trouble, he had no choice but to compromise first and figure out a way to escape later.
"Then it's settled."
The goblin said, walking to a wax-made thing nearby, resembling a throne, and plopped down, crossing his legs. With a hint of threat in his tone, he said, "And I advise you, if you have any unrealistic ideas, you'd better give them up soon. As the master of the underground world, King Tovagel of the goblins, without my permission, no one can escape this underground world."
"The goblins of the underground city are cunning and ruthless, and their king is even more so. The treasure accumulated by the goblins of the underground world over thousands of years has given this king immense power, but it seems he still fears something..." —From "Marin's Underground City Exploration Diary"