~~** Interlude | Old One **~~
It has been sixteen moons since we were rescued by the Great Protector from the massacre by the Humans. Sixteen moons that I've been put in charge of raising the last remaining goblins of the once great Bloodmaw Tribe. Sixteen moons since my mother, Stone-feet, who was the tribe's last Shaman fell to wicked human magic, and sixteen moons since Spear-hand, my only strong one and one of the fiercest hunters in the tribe, was killed by a sharp blade from one of the silver-skins.
My hate for humans has never for a single day failed to burn in my goblin blood.
Just about half a moon ago, the Great Protector had delivered to us one of those soft-skinned bastards free of their silver-skin to use as a test case for restoring the tribe. The children I had painstakingly raised were now old enough to receive big seed and make strong ones of their own. I was wary of him, and right to be so. The Great Protector also knew the nature of Humans, what great evils and atrocities they could so easily commit. I worried, and was right to be worried. This Human was dangerous, though how dangerous I wouldn't fully know until Ugly Scar had her first child in an unnatural way.
He was a wielder of wicked human magic!
Oh, how I wished I could eat the flesh from his bones while he lived and breathed, no revenge for the death of my family and tribe would be as satisfying as that might be! But, alas, that damnable human has a strange mind, and is possessed of a strangely virile body as well.
I have lived a long time. Far beyond the counting of moons on my fingers and toes many times over. My tribe is now weak, no longer the great Bloodmaws that we once were. There are some exceptional goblins, such as Guardian, who has shown similar skill with a spear as my late daughter. There is also Stone-seeker and Tree-chopper, the three of them the only real goblins strong enough to fend off our mortal enemies in this new land, the Black-claws.
Fish-catcher, Bone-taker, Many-maker, Sneaky-finger, and Beast-talker at least had their uses, but the disappointments in the tribe were also many. Runt, Ugly Scar, Fruit-finder, Mushroom-picker, and the Stupid-one. As detestable as it was, I held hope that at least the latter would contribute by having many spawn, even if they weren't strong ones. Even weak ones had their uses… better for a weak one to die or be killed if it meant a strong one could live even a day longer to protect the tribe.
That has always been the way of the Bloodmaws, and the way of the goblins.
But things have not gone as I had expected. This human continues to behave strangely. I keep watch of him when the other goblins do not. He makes no effort to escape when he certainly has the opportunity. He does not harm the goblins who come to him for big seed. Occasionally he is brutal like a hobgoblin in seeding them, but that is to their benefit. I cannot fault him on the lone point that his seed is meant for the Bloodmaw tribe.
The lone strong one born to Ugly Scar is mighty. She would have held a great place in the tribe when she came of age had the massacre not happened. She could have chosen from those among the strongest males and made a Goblin Champion no doubt. The Great Protector has also seen the strength of that strong one, and I think it is pleased with the result.
Miracles happen. I have seen such things before.
But for the second time, one of the inferior goblins was brought to term seemingly overnight, and the two born from her were also strong ones. Both perhaps as strong as my Spear-hand was.
The Human was present to witness it when the time came for Runt, something I admit to being petty about allowing. I hoped it would sicken him to see how the children he is responsible for creating come into this world. But it didn't bother him at all. Instead, only the look of happiness remained on his hideous face. At first, I thought perhaps he enjoyed watching the excruciating pain all goblins feel to bring another life into the world, but then I realized I was wrong.
And it vexed me.
This human actually had the nerve to think of the children as his own, even though they will never bear resemblance to a human!
Furthermore, just as the Human had the audacity to challenge the Great Protector for the right to use his wicked human magic to move dirt and stone to widen the room belonging to Ugly Scar, he has already done so for Runt. To think her room is greater in size than that of Guardian!
He mocks her openly with this, and for denying her the right to an expedient pregnancy!
As if things were not bad enough, Stupid-one shares his room. Guardian has always had a weak spot for that one. But I'm no fool! I know he teaches her the wicked human stone magic. I cannot believe any good will come from it, but I will reserve my full judgment until I see if it can be taken. Should he be foolish enough to teach her children the stone magic as well, it could possibly be a boon for the tribe, provided her own child isn't as disabled as she is.
Only Many-maker, Sneaky-finger, and Beast-talker remain to receive his big seed. I am debating whether or not to use the summoning powder to call the Great Protector here to see the new strong ones. The question of what to do with the Human once he has completed his task also remains to be answered.
There is also the matter of myself.
I have been forbidden from the start to take his big seed forcibly. However, should the detestable Human show interest in giving it to me of his own free will…
How long has it been since that day when I came upon the human, Grant?
I held my belly, and felt my womb ache, remembering that time long ago.
Escaping from the rain into a cave back when I was barely past my fifteenth moon… I found the human with face fur already dying inside. He was also like this human, able to use that wicked magic, but he was also much older. Cursing me with the eternal spell of tongues, he begged me for one thing in exchange for a painless death.
In exchange for receiving his big seed, and later my precious daughter, Spear-hand, I slit his throat quickly and feasted on his corpse for two days as he promised I could. I have never forgotten the look in his eyes–one of peace upon death–knowing he would be devoured. I took his many things with me when I left, giving the spear which was lodged in his side, the mortal wound to his body, to my only daughter, moons later after she was born, and keeping the square of symbols among his things, which I somehow was able to understand upon viewing them, no thanks to the curse of tongues.
That is why I also know this Human's true name.
Ark.
I had taken his square of symbols as well. Trying to learn what I can, should he ever turn his magic against the Bloodmaws. I know there is no magic which can bring back the dead. No magic which can bring back my Spear-hand. But there appears to be some magic in his big seed.
Should it come to the human ever desiring to give me it… Do I accept it as I did long ago with Grant?
Will I have another daughter as exceptional as Spear-hand was?
"Old One!"
"What is it, strong one?"
"My name is Diana Artemis."
Hmph. She is too young to have a name, but I will not scold her for being naive.
"I came to hear more stories. I brought you a rabbit to eat, now tell me about the Black-claws!"
Even my precious Spear-hand could not hunt yet a rabbit at her age.
"Very well, I accept your trade." I said, taking the rabbit and tearing off a hind leg and biting into it, savoring the taste of the fresh kill. "Sit, and listen carefully. I will tell you why you must always be wary of those damnable wolves!"
With the new generation of goblins, those already born, and those who will be born, my place in the tribe is that of an elder goblin now. It is my task to continue teaching them the ways of the goblin tribe, of the Bloodmaws, so that they are not corrupted entirely by the Human's weird ways. For the rest of what they must learn to be goblins, for teaching this one how to be a great huntress as is her fate, I must leave it to Prima and the other capable ones.
But still, seeing this child, as I see the children of the Runt hit some rag filled with mud made by the Human, growling with pleasure as they pretend they are on their first hunt, my womb aches.
"So do you understand what you must do now, when you encounter a Black-claw?"
"Take to the trees. Wait for them to leave. Never try to kill them alone."
"And be wary of their howl! For when they do, their howl travels far on the wind. Other Black-claws can hear it at once and know in what direction to travel to join their tribe once they do. One is manageable to kill, but to kill many at once is dangerous. Also, beware of the wind which carries your scent, for they have big noses which can tell them where you hide without needing to see you with their eyes."
The strong one stood up, letting me know she was going back to her cave-hole to eat with her mother. Somehow, with her gone from my own, the rest of the rabbit didn't quite taste as delicious.
Feeling nostalgic, and alone, I lit a torch and pulled out Grant's square of symbols, starting from the very beginning, careful not to let any blood from the rabbit drip onto the symbols as I crunched on it.
"...I was brought here to this world from a magic experiment gone wrong. Can you believe this world has magic? I wonder if there's a spell to make a woman fall madly in love with me, since I've been a shut-in for as long as I can remember…"
"...not even the women in the brothels will sleep with me, even though I have so much coin to spend. I must truly be so hideous that not even fame and fortune can sway a loose woman…"
"...at this point, I don't even care if the woman isn't civilized. The elves, dwarves, beastkin, and humans can all have their crotches rot with venereal diseases for all I care…"
"...I've become a tower magician, but I hold no joy in it. What good is magic when it cannot get me the one thing I desire…"
"...I am no longer welcome in the civilized lands. I am hunted and chased by the other tower magicians whenever I appear…"
"...I suspect they have hired a mercenary party to pursue me. I have fled into the Darkwood, where that being is purported to show no mercy to intruders…"
"...Is it a blessing or a curse knowing I will die soon, for a spear has pierced my side. Arcane magic cannot heal a wound of this level. I know now that I will never return home. I will never roll the gacha again. I will have lived a life never once having a waifu. But, I have enough magic for one last spell. Shall I destroy this world out of spite before I go? It is a miserable night. It was a miserable life. I believe the loss of blood is causing me to hallucinate. I see a naked goblin wearing only a loincloth sneaking through this cave. Judging from the breasts, is it a female goblin? She's kind of cute, actually. Shall I try one last time to die as a man, and not a wizard? There is that one spell I learned that might let me talk with her. Shall I try and hope that she might let me die as a man and not as a lonely wizard?"
I closed the square of symbols at the final dry square leaf within, putting it away carefully.
Feeling the need to take a shit, when I arrived at the shit-pit, I came across the Human exiting who was carrying Runt's two strong ones on his shoulders as they grabbed his top hair. I have never once wondered until now if Grant had lived, if he somehow became my Husband, would he have looked upon Spear-hand in the same way Ark does at Huntress and those two.
As Ark does to almost all of the goblins in the tribe.
"Oh, Old One. Sorry, I'll get out of your way. I was just showing my girls how to use the…"
"I don't care! Why don't you make Prima's belly fat already!"
"I don't know how!"
"Hmph. Useless human."
I watched as he passed by me, and wondered if he didn't maybe have a little more gray face fur, if maybe he might be less ugly in appearance, like Grant was. For a human, my old Husband sure looked like a handsome goblin… Tasted delicious, too!