Before Moros had even agreed, he was already blindfolded and all the chains were being removed one by one. The guards, who were still eyeing him with doubt in their gaze, could not help but speed up the process.
The quicker they removed these, the quicker this monster would be far, far away from them.
In record time all of them had been removed and they transported Moros to a secret location, to a secret portal room and just threw him in.
The guards had grabbed him and lifted his entire body atop their shoulders. Sprinting as fast as their legs allowed them to, they carried the boy to the next location: the portal room hidden deep in prison.
Not even a minute passed and the entire distance had been covered. With hatred in their hearts, they saw the portal and just threw Moros in the portal using all the strength that they had left.
Seeing the figure of Moros sailing through the air and disappearing through the gate filled their hearts with the greatest of joy. Finally, he would be gone, finally they could live their life again.
The last week had been pure and utter hell.
The efforts and lengths they had to go to battle, to chain this beast to the ground would give them nightmares for weeks to come.
After the catastrophe on 2 legs was far away from all of them, they all fell to their knees and thanked the gods and the heavens that the danger was now finally gone.
Moros did not know what kind of impression he had left in the traumatised guards, his concern was more on the thing he was thrown into.
Without his magical visor he felt naked, not naked in the sense of the little Moros enjoying the fresh air, just awkward.
After landing with a thud on some kind of lush grass, the man without sight took a deep breath. The smell of leaves, that typical sense of calm, the soft grass…
Moros felt the sense of irony crawling up his skin, ripping up his blind faults, he noticed that this was in fact, not irony, but a big bug that crawled just dug itself into his chest.
Perplexed, he just stood by and looked at the insect that looked like an oversized hybrid between a spider and an earthworm─a round bug with thousands of little, tiny feet that seemed to jerk at random.
Before the stumped guy in debt could even feel a sense of danger or concern, the situation was already over. The bug with its teeth had already dug into his flesh and dug a bit further.
Moros, the man without a functioning survival instinct, continued to further see the situation to try and guess what the bug would do.
"Fascinating," a man, thin and pale, spoke slowly. Jumping down from the nearest tree, he landed in front of Moros. Snakes, bugs and insects crawled all over his body without him seeming to be bugged by it.
"This is the heart-to-heart crawler," the insect guy poked at the small hole in Moros chest.
The man with a hole in his chest, wondered why the guy did not wear a t-shirt.
"Known for its ability to "eat" all the mana of their targets and if there is no mana it eats other organs. It's not that hard to guess, why it is named heart-to-heart…now is it?"
Moros looked at the weird guy before him and wondered why exactly he was explaining all of that to him? Did all the weirdos feel the need to explain everything to him?
He just continued to stare at the guy, trying to make sense out of whatever was going on.
"Aight kiddo, I like your Mojo. You do not seem to fear death…or even better you do not care about it. Welcome to the world of Avarosa, we are here to capture some goblins for the big guys in their fancy suits."
Moros did not care about what he had to do here. He cared about the 1 with 30 zeros behind it. That was his debt and the goblins were his ticket out of said debt. Provided of course he captured a lot…like a lot, lot of goblins.
What the weird, creepy uncle with his green hair and old face had to say to him mattered little to him. The guy seemed the type to have peaked in kindergarten.
So Moros simply waited for him to finish his monologue about whatever. Only his "job" description was important, all the other words just entered through his left ear and went out through the right one.
First, the insect guy told Moros to join his team, at least Moros thought he was doing that. Then he told all about the history of this planet, which Moros cared as much about as for the colours of his nipples.
Next, he yapped about Moros destroying the lab and that being "totally rad, showing these capitalistic rats, whose boss". He totally felt great working with someone as cool and a fine gentleman, not obsessed with money.
The speech went on for several minutes, causing Moros to scream internally.
At long last, he started to talk about what his job was in the Evergreen Forest.
In very few words, it was his job to lure goblins out of the forest by bringing some female peasants into the forest and getting the goblins into a designated trap.
How that trap worked was up for Moros to decide, since he was the one that had to build it.
That was the summary of two minutes of uninterrupted speech made by the way too talkative insect guy who shared every little detail with Moros, causing him to question whether or not he truly did not want to end his life right on the spot, right there.
However, Moros, the hero he was, did not feel discouraged by the uninterrupted speech by the person before him, no.
He felt inspired... to get the fuck away from him. Because he would literally be anywhere else in the Evergreen Forest, maybe even get chased by the goblins again, than having to stay any second longer.
The ramblings of that crazy talkative weirdo had defeated Moros on more layers than he could possibly have ever imagined. He had been bested, had been beaten, and quite frankly, already been bored to death. It was only by a stroke of luck that he managed to keep his last remnants of sanity in check.
He gave the insect guy a firm handshake, wished him the very best, and before the dude could even open his mouth to tell Moros yet another thing out of his boring, stupid life in the Evergreen Forest, Moros ran away…as fast as his legs could carry him.
He ran towards the peasant village to gather the bait. He had to earn money. He had to catch goblins, and he needed to do so now before the insect guy would realise that he still had some words left to speak to him.
As Moros ran through the Evergreen Forest, he could tell. He knew this place by heart. Every tree, every grass, every leaf, looked very much the same. There was no way to tell where he had to go.
At least in part, it was a village. There was not exactly a sign that said "Come in, this is the village you're looking for, Moros! And no, the sign does not lie."
And so Moros entered the village with a careful step. He might never know what kind of danger lurked behind the mask of a peaceful village. There could always be something wrong in this weird forest.
It was a good sign that nobody came out armed with pitchforks, trying to chase after him. It could have been the village where he murdered the poor husband by accident.
Imagine how awkward that would be.
Stepping into the poor village, Moros appeared shocked.
All these houses looked shabbily made. Made from stone and their roof was badly constructed out of hay. Moros could really see that these people were poor beyond comparison. He even felt bad for having to use their wives, to use their kids to catch some goblins.
Now, had he any moral concerns with executing such a plan? No, he hadn't. Who would even care for one or two peasants dying during the mission?
If anyone wanted to complain to Moros, he was all ears. He would listen to their concern and then tell his point of view, by bashing his fist right to their face.
Communication is key, as they do say.
But, it was a weird situation. The people seemed not to care about the shameful circumstances they were living in, such a life without money must be the worst kind of torture human beings could endure.
He saw children playing around happily, women bartering about some goods, and men looking at him with big smiles on their faces. Moros did not know what to do, or what to make of that kindness. Some kids even offered him apples and other yummy foods that he did really enjoy.
Why did they give away food, for free? Were they not right in the head?
Moros walked to the middle of the small town and saw a tiny bench located near a well. He simply took a seat and waited for what would happen next.
Promptly he was greeted by an older man, dressed in clothes with holes all over them that ran towards him, his belly fat jiggling rhythmically with each step taken.
It was the mayor, who decided to greet their saviour.
"Oh, saviour! It is nice to see you in our lowly village. Our daughters are more than happy to serve in your vital plan, to free the Evergreen Forest of the goblin plague."
Behind him, 20 daughters dressed only in thin white gowns emerged. All of them looked at Moros with great expectation in their eyes. They were ready to sacrifice themselves for the greater good, so that the parents could live on in the world without any goblins.
Moros on the other hand was rather confused. Was there a need to play dress-up? Will the goblins really be that more attracted to such clothing?
The goblins that he had come to know just liked to stab him in the stomach. They were not the type to enjoy fashion.
But the debt-ridden boy was not there to think, he was paid to capture goblins. And if the village people offered their daughters dressed in white gowns, then he would simply accept the terms. He was new to this, so he would just go along with what people had always done.
What could possibly go wrong?
One such little sacrifice walked up to Moros and opened her mouth. "Dear saviour, let me lead you to the place where we laid our traps for the goblins. Please follow me, and I will guide the way."
"Of course, I will follow you. Lead the way." Moros spoke with great confidence, now that he had finally found someone who could tell these woods apart. Someone could actually find their left and right in this forest. Moros could not believe what he heard. This was perrrrfect.
And so Moros and the 20 happy sacrifices made their way deep into the forest to capture some goblins.
But, there was one thing that Moros could have never anticipated. These goblins, they are very cultured beings. A realisation that he would soon see with his very own eyes...
These goblins did not want their daughters.
These goblins wanted their mommas…