A few jabs into the eyes and ears while leaping off of it when Prima thrust the spear she used through its throat and finished it off. Prima had to run back and find Doll in the area she chopped trees at just so they could drag it to the front of the cave.
Uhuhu, my baby killed a bear.
Furthermore, she presented me with proof of her kill.
"Husband, take."
I was suddenly holding onto a big black bear claw. It's not quite the burnt pastry kind you can get in a sub-par bakery. It's the kind that mauls you to death for pissing it off. I held it up so Berry could see and gave her the most pathetic look of what should I do?
Of course, there was only one thing to do. I picked her up, hugging and praising my daughter. I knew what to do! She became a drop goblin and killed a fucking bear! Who would have thought the daughter of a sweet and kind berry picking goblin that has a horrifically traumatic scar the length of her torso would be able to do this barely weeks after being born?
Well, for starters, Berry did.
Berry had all the faith in the world in her daughter.
"Vera, topaz."
Vera brought me the topaz stone and I put Diana down for a moment, then immediately began digging out a small open room next to Vera's. Vera had used her sapphire bone staff to light the room temporarily in place of the topaz which had become the de facto light in the breeding room these days. It was just an open cavern-shaped area I was transmuting the wall to, but I had raised pillars from the ground inside of it and made shelves for the future as well. On the central pillar, just high enough for Diana to reach, I made a thin spike and placed the mostly de-blooded claw onto it.
"Husband, what that?" Berry asked.
"A trophy room. Our daughter brought home a worthy trophy as a hunter. I wish to see it and be proud of it whenever I want. This goes for all my daughters to come. Anything they do that is worth being proud over will be displayed here from now on. Whether it's killing a bear, or discovering the tastiest mushroom in the forest, or a memory from saving a fellow sister in danger. This room will tell the story of our children's achievements and strengths."
Every goblin was silent, until Truffle said something extremely Truffle-like.
"Not able eat tastiest mushroom find?"
"Of course you can. We'll just grow them first! We'll put the first one up here as proof after the first batch of mushroom grown from it begins to grow!."
I walked over to Diana and knelt down, scooping her up again and putting her up onto my shoulders, then paraded around with her saying: "Who's my brave bear-slayer!" We roared and slapped our chests and made complete fools of ourselves in front of everyone, much to everyone's delight. It was a very big moment for all the goblins, to welcome another proven strong hunter. I made sure to stop by Prima and give her a kiss on the cheek. She did land the killing blow as well. She deserves her own recognition for it as well. A head pat wound up as Vera's reward.
"Stupid Husband." Prima muttered, before squatting down to also share in touching Truffle's stomach. I know she wanted it to be her who had the fat belly, but I have no control over how it happens, or even if I'm involved with it happening at all. For all I know it's like popcorn with goblins. Never knowing exactly when the first kernel is going to pop, only being able to wait with baited breath until the bag continues going pop, pop, pop, until… poof!
Stella saw me parading my daughter around on my shoulders. Here I was being happy, and there she was… just watching. She had to suffer indignity, while I'm here fucking around, playing merrily with my daughter and waiting for one of my goblin wives to give me more reason to be happy. All while I stole a significant chunk of her life's happiness in the process to do so.
I guess word got around that I had done it with Stella, and somehow she is now a tentative member of the goblin wives' club by the look of it. I think it's safe to say I'm an outlier here when it comes to human-goblin relations. I hope they don't make the mistake of trusting her too much, but I also kind of do. I don't want there to be violence, but I also wish Stella could escape. I don't feel that she deserves the fate she's now been saddled with.
The thing that really gets me though, is why they trusted her to stay with me, with only Vera as supervision? I don't think I've earned that much trust from them, and certainly not from the Great Protector. I wonder… is it perhaps keeping an eye on this place from somewhere nearby?
Well, I don't believe I'm wrong to subscribe to a bit of paranoia. That thing can easily kill me if it wants to. Then again, so could my mother. I'm only a second-circle magician. My mother is an eighth-circle, she could squash me like a bug easily if she wanted to, but from the feel of the magic power emanating from that thing, she would be hard pressed to even stalemate the creature. Maybe that's why I am alive? I'm as harmless as a bug to it. Assuming I would do something to harm the goblin tribe, hypothetically that is, in all likelihood by the time I did do any significant harm, I would probably already be obliterated...