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***
Meanwhile, Aquina was already starting to worry, frantically clutching her bow, she hesitated to enter the cave, remembering Arien's orders. Though she wanted to rush into his arms and make sure he was alright, she couldn't jump into the unknown without thinking.
Anyway, she would wait another twenty minutes and then... Whatever happened, she didn't care what happened to her next....
* * *
The result of our reconnaissance was a stinker. Maybe I should have brought that two-handed sword. At least I could have used it as a... shovel, and I wouldn't have had to go round different - this... something. At least there's no goblins in sight, one plus.
Elvina, who was walking behind me, seemed to be particularly uncomfortable with the smell, so I didn't bother her by asking her to 'guard' the entrance to this... room. To which I received a grateful and quick nod. And I freed my hands from unnecessary rags, handing her half of my burden, leaving myself a little... to spare.
Wrapping my hands into mittens, I looked around.
The room itself looked nasty. Stench, filth, and all sorts of junk made of wood, bones, and other miscellaneous stuff. There were even some pieces of armour, like breastplates or helmets, and in the midst of it all I noticed, strangely enough, the glint of some bling - rings, bracelets and something else. Though it would probably be wrong to call it a find. For they were lying in... that very... - shit.
Stealth skill enhanced.
It was only through my night vision that I noticed the glint, and that was by pure chance. I thought about looking closer, but I hesitated to touch them with my hands. I don't know what they're there for. I'm sure I'm immune to it - after one more look at this jumble of bones, filth and something else... I'm still too squeamish to dig into it.
At least now the rags came in handy - and I packed the bling into a rag and wrapped it in a couple of layers. Also, I noticed rusty, cracked swords lying next to the junk of bones and dirt.
The weapons, however, had lost all their formidable appearance and danger, being now only a simple metal stick-picker, but now, at least, I had some weapon and could dig shit with it without touching it with my hands. And in case of a surprise attack, I could crack-poke a goblin in the head with it.
Afterwards... I started digging shit, additionally wrapping my hands in rags. I'm exaggerating, but it took a lot of effort to find anything.
So much for adventure... yep.
After some time of searching, behind one big pile, I smiled and found the entrance to a small room. Quite small, but a dozen peacefully sleeping, and small... baby goblins, were a treat to my eyes.
Experience!
I was literally a few hundred experience short of the next level. And this was a gift! They looked small, but their grey skin, long noses and pointy ears - well, and the male gender marker of almost adult size - suggested that they were about to enter adulthood.
Though... two could probably be kept alive or not... More like yes than no... Definitely not, I have other plans now. If I were alone, I might try to make my own personal loyal goblin army. But to take control of the future horde of goblins, with all that entails: to train them and discipline them - means to quickly attract the attention of the guild of adventurers, or even, quite possibly, the kings of different countries!
After all, I will have to provide all the necessary goblins, and when they will be useful to me - it will be not two or three days. And who knows when the adventurers will come to me.
I may be strong, but I don't want to become 'Mao' and the target of many adventurers. Although it's an interesting idea - I'm at best a failure, and morally I'm not ready to ruin hundreds of innocent lives for the sake of goblins. Not only will I be the enemy of all sentient species - except demons, but those things, now, are not my level of talent and strength - but the goblins may revolt because of their own nature and desire to copulate.
Ruling by force... won't work for a long time... Re-educating them into something 'not goblin desiring females' will take a lot of time, which I don't have, nor do I want to.
And to be honest... I have no desire to coddle and mess around with small male goblins. There aren't even any females among them that I could make into obedient servants. With females... it would be much easier. They certainly don't need females... hehe.
*Zing.
Intelligence enhanced.
Huh. Logic... in action. I'm also just too lazy to do it, at least at the moment. I've done enough with this nest without almost dying. After all, if that hob hadn't been so clumsy, I could have been smeared on the wall in a smooth and fleshy layer. And there... Aquinas, without waiting for me, could have entered the cave and fallen into the clutches of the goblins.
Brrr.
Well, she's a good archer and a bit of a magician, but she couldn't win with a third-rate bow alone. Of course, I could save her later on by reincarnating into the body of the goblin next to her, but how could I explain that I'm Arien?
Let's see.
A goblin rescues her from the clutches of other goblins who almost raped her, and tells her that he went a little off plan and died a little....
Or doesn't tell her and just saves her and then runs away....
And she, freed from the goblins, notices my remains and becomes apathetic or worse.
It's a picture. Both options have unforeseen and unpredictable consequences.
Of course, it's possible that she believes me and accepts me like this, but... It's better not to complicate things, go through evolution and become someone else, and then rub in some legend about my species.
Ha... damn psychology. Yeah and elves can be... different from humans in that regard. Not to mention their longevity. Two or three centuries, maybe more!
If I were a psychic empath, this would be a lot easier. I wouldn't have to guess and speculate and puff and puff...
- Eh, my life is tin... - my inner monologue took seconds, and by the end of it I was done with the goblins - having brutally punished them with a shit sword, I got my thirteenth level and experience on top of it.
Not everything went well, and some of them woke up in the process - I had to deal with them. Not in terms of physical exertion, but...emotionally.....
Their eyes - full of fear and fading hope that they were about to be rescued - looking at me... And also... they seemed to realise that I was their fellow goblin and just didn't understand why they were being killed by a goblin like me.
Not to mention the sensitive nose of goblins - I'm not the one with my bandana to talk about it, but it turned out to be like that....
At least it was easy to pierce them with a shit sword - no reinforcements were needed. If I lowered the bandana and sighed, the goblin's blood smelled... familiar. I don't know what it was, but it smelled... familiar... and so related.....
Oh, I forgot about that. When I'm done, I'll have to wash it all off afterwards, the sweat, the blood, the other odours. Even though it'll compromise my stealth.
That was it, there was nothing useful in the room - except for one bag and some rubbish - and I left, coming to Elvina who was waiting for me. By this time she was exhausted and yelped when I quietly came to her from the shadows, scaring her so much.
But at the moment of Elvina's fall, I was able to feel her firm and soft arse, and even managed to shake it a couple of times and appreciate its firmness. Even my youngest woke up happily, appreciating the new acquisition.
- Mr. Arien... are you okay? - she stammered, looking away in embarrassment and not in a hurry to get upright or hinder my naughty hands in any way. I even thought for a second that if I had ordered her to undress, she would have done it without a second thought. But it was the stench and, a little bit, my body that spoilt the whole picture....
As much as I wanted to keep holding her arse, everything comes to an end sooner or later - like finding my hands on those firm buns.
- Hehehe, don't be scared of me, Elvina, there are no goblins here. We can go back for other women... - I said and put her on her feet, with a final slap on her bottom.
The girl didn't react in any way, only blushed and looked away from me.
- Oh! Why did we come here? - The girl asked in a perplexed tone of voice as she approached me. The tone of her voice was so surprised that I grinned involuntarily, looking at the girl covering her nose.
'Hmm, and what should I answer...' - I thought, and then I said: - 'You should have made sure there were no more survivors,' I replied vaguely.
Elvina nodded satisfactorily and all the way to the room 'trachen-trachen' was thoughtful and absent-minded. Well, I was pondering what to do with the girls.
By the time we entered the room, it was as if Elvina had woken up and was looking at a dozen broken female dolls with a storm of emotion on her face and in her eyes. That were staring at nothing with dead and listless eyes. Her gaze lingered especially long on their bellies.....
- Mr. Mage, what will happen to their... d-children? - She looked sorrowfully at the girls, not hurrying to help them, and then looked at me with a pleading look in her eyes, expecting a... miracle from me? Heh, the girl has read too many books, but why not play the hero? Heh.
It's true that thinking is one thing, but doing is another. Basically, we're just dolls with their legs spread, and the only thing that could help them is to interrupt their torment of being sows. That would be the best thing for them. I don't know how long they've been here, but judging by the number of goblins I've killed, six months or more. Every day they were raped and some were lynched or even eaten with extreme cruelty. How many innocent girls this nest had killed before I arrived, I can't tell you....
And it would be better to kill them now than to torture them later... But, it can also be used for my own purposes, so to speak. I'm not sure if my healing magic will be able to destroy their fruit of this size, but it's worth a try.
- First, let's take off their restraints and free them, and then give them cloths to cover themselves,' I said thoughtfully, walking over to one of the girls, who was an elf. She was a little shorter than Aquinas. Her light blue, long, silky hair hid half her face. Only by her dull blue eyes glowing with hatred could one tell that she hadn't lost her zest for life yet. She was the only one who was relatively intact, and judging by her belly, empty.
- Got it,' Elvina said behind my back.
I looked thoughtfully at the one that was still alive and expected her to make the first steps. But the elfess never reacted to me and was in no hurry to ask for help.
'Hehe' - I should have reached out to her with my hand, but she trembled and circled me with a look that had only one thing in it - slight fatigue?
- Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you,' I said in as kind a voice as I could muster, untying the ropes around her. However, the elf was in no hurry to say anything, and she almost fell to the floor again. I had to wiggle round and catch the girl.
'Goodbye clean... bloody clothes,' I thought aloofly, noting new characteristic stains on my clothes. Eventually, the elfess buried her face in my chest and began to shake her whole body, sobbing.
Apparently, she had just recently arrived here, so she cried bitterly.
- Hhhhss-spa...si...bo... - hoarse voice sobbed sobbing elf, continuing to shake and mumble one word: 'thank you', and I - having got rid of the rags on my hands, stroked her hair and mumbled something.
- Mr Arien. I'm done...' Elvina's voice came from behind me.
Well, it's time for me.
Finally, having wiped off all the stains I could from the elf, I wrapped another cloth around the girl, and we headed for the exit. The elf, by the way, clung to me and didn't want to let go all the way to the exit. It was more difficult with the other girls. They literally had to be led forward by a rope. The mana scale had refilled by 1/5 the whole time and I used the assessment on the marker.
'Evaluation.'
*Assessment - Success
-45MP*
Master Tag - 1(50%)
Tags a female and displays her vitals, displays her location on the minicart, and scares away weak goblin members and makes strong ones wary.
Tag 1 - Elvina/Live.
'Uh-oh... Unexpected. Worth... pumping this ability... for the future...' - With such cheerful thoughts, I and the others walked out of the cave, greeted by a worried but happy Aquina, who almost threw herself into my arms complaining about what a fool I was.