The goblin was puzzled to see a house in the middle of nowhere. No sane person would build a house this deep in the forest. It was basically asking to be attacked. Perhaps it was a cabin or a safe house for hunters to take refuge in during storms.

Checking his surroundings and finding it to be clear, the goblin circled the house. It was a small quaint house with a garden in the back. Someone was growing vegetables, which meant the house had a permanent occupant.

The goblin strained his ears but couldn’t hear any activities in the house.

‘I hope the house is empty, it’s a good opportunity too ransack some useful items. Having a decent weapon would further my chances of survival in the forest.’

It was risky and if there were hunters in the house there was no way he would be able to beat them, but his new skills from the [Psychometric] would allow him to run away easily at the slightest hint of danger. The hunters from the nearby human settlements were still ordinary humans, the goblin didn’t believe they would be able to chase after him with his speed.

He wanted to sneak in through the windows but decided to check the door first, to his surprise the door was unlocked and the goblin managed to enter the house with no hassle. As he was in internally celebrating his successful infiltration the goblin froze, an old woman in with grey hair staring back at him,

“Hello? Is someone there?”

The goblin was nervous, grown men he could deal with but faced with a grandma what was he to do? The old lady was even speaking some gibberish, probably the human tongue which he didn’t know,

“Umm, Hi…. Just passing by…”

The goblin panicked and accidently replied to the old lady in his old world’s language English. As he was preparing to make a run for it, he failed to see the old lady’s eyes glow bright for a second.

“Hello. Can you understand me now young man?”

‘Huh? She knows English? But how, is she like me?’

“Y-yes… I can understand you.”

The old lady smiled and told him to take a seat at the table while she set the table. The goblin was baffled by the events taking place but for some reason couldn’t bring himself to leave the house. He knew deep in his heart that he could trust this old lady.

If she really was a threat which she wasn’t he could easily defeat her and escape, with this reasoning he watched as the old lady served some bread and stew. The smell and sight reminded his body that he was hungry and his stomach started grumbling.

The old lady laughed and told him to go ahead and fill his stomach. While munching on the bread, the goblin saw that the old lady was waving her hands trying to reach for something.

‘She’s blind… No wonder she didn’t scream on sight. She doesn’t know I’m a goblin.’

“How can you understand me, Ma’am?”

The old lady paused as she felt the young man get up and pull the chair out for her,

“Oh it’s just a spell. It allows us to understand each other, through means other than the tongue. Did you really think I was speaking in your tongue?”

The goblin was surprised that the old lady was a magic user but even more surprised that there was magic that could allow others to communicate with each other through such mysterious means,

‘How does it even work? Is it telepathy?’

Whenever the old lady spoke, he heard English come out of her mouth but if one noticed closely her mouth was clearly forming different words.

He was worried now, as the old lady probably wasn’t as defenceless as she looked, if he made a wrong move she might blast him with a fireball like those wizards from the video games in his old world.

“So you know magic? Are you a wizard Ma’am?”

The old lady laughed and said,

“Oh I know a few tricks but I am definitely no Wizard. Wizards are men and women of great power, something the likes of me can only look up to.”

A feeling of relief washed through the goblin, something told him that she was speaking the truth but to be safe he decided to use [Analyse] on her,

……………………….

Species: Human(???)

.

.

.

???- It has been observed target is able to use abilities beyond human means. Target may or may not be fully human or could be of an entirely different species.

Skill: [Translation ability-???] [Unable to learn – More data required]

???- Target can use a certain ability to communicate with other beings. Nature and source of this ability is unknown.

……………………….

The [Psychometric] mod relied completely on visual data to come to conclusions. If a target appeared to be human it would state it was human. [VIKI] is the one who displays the info after interpreting the data from the [Psychometric] mod. Her databases were limited and she knew only as much as the goblin did, the reincarnation having left [VIKI] a blank slate.

“What’s your name young man? You can call me Riz, no need to be so formal.”

The goblin felt his blind blank, he didn’t have a name, most goblins didn’t need one and the name from his previous life was a thing of the past,

“Well it’s…. I don’t have a name, I’ve never needed one.”

Old lady Riz looked in the direction of the goblin, she could feel the sadness from his voice, but more than that she sensed a feeling of being lost. A feeling she could relate with, she smiled and told the goblin,

“Well then let’s give you a name, otherwise how else would others call you.”

The goblin watched the old lady go in deep thought and sat there curiously,

“Hmm, I know. Let’s call you Xenophxi, it means the bringer of happiness.”

“Xenophxi… Xenophxiiii…”

The goblin, now Xenophxi tried out the name, it felt good to say, to roll out with his mouth. Unknowingly, Xenophxi felt his face become wet and wiped the tears of way,

‘Goblins can cry too…’

Riz couldn’t see the Xenophxi but could understand what was happening and served him more food to distract him,

“You must come from far away, it’s surprising you made it this far without knowing the common tongue.”

Xenophxi paused for a moment,

“Yes, I come… from a place…. very far away. It’s been hard but I make do with the circumstances.”

The old lady offered to teach him languages spoken by the people in these parts, and Xenophxi accepted.

It was a surreal experience and Xenophxi didn’t really understand how all this happened in such a short time. Granny Riz as he had come to call her was kind and motherly, something he hadn’t experienced for a long time. She even offered him his own room with a bed.

When he first woke up as a goblin he was confused as to what he was going to do, would he just be a part of the tribe till some human came and killed him or could there be a better path. He didn’t know then and he still didn’t know now but Xenophxi felt that staying with the old lady was a good choice, it felt right and he trusted his instincts.

Xenophxi or Xeno as Granny Riz had come to call him affectionately, helped her do all the household chores and when he was finished she would give lessons.

It started with languages but Granny Riz went on to teach him the customs of the people, geography and the political layout of the world.

They were currently in the empire of Beltheim, which consisted of various city-states overseen by city-lords who all answered to the current emperor Adam Beltheim II.

The emperor apparently resided in the floating city of Suvig. When asked how it stayed afloat, Granny Riz told him that it floated with an ancient magic gifted to the ancestor of the Beltheims by a dragon or so according to the legends.

‘Dragons… It sure does complete this full-blown fantasy world setting.’

Dragons were at the top of the ladder, with extremely strong magic, powerful bodies and seemingly everlasting life. They were the complete opposite of goblins.

Xeno found it easy to absorb all the knowledge from Granny Riz with the help of [VIKI]. The AI helped record all the information and interpret the languages Granny taught him, Xeno also couldn’t help but notice his memory and cognitive functions were much better ever since [VIKI] activated.

It was one of things he made sure to investigate in the future. For now he enjoyed Granny’s lessons and helping her around the house.

A month passed by when Granny told him she was going to head to the nearest village to restock some supplies. Xeno was shocked and refused to let her walk such a long distance. The nearest human village was forty kilometres away,

“I’ll go instead granny. You just wait here.”

Granny Riz didn’t argue with him and accepted. Just as he was going to leave the house and head out she called to him,

“Wait Xeno. You forgot to take the money and the bag. What were you going to do, steal?”

Xeno laughed nervously with Granny Riz. He was most definitely going to steal whatever they needed, no way could a goblin just walk up buy things from the market.

Taking the bag and money, Granny Riz told him the bag was enchanted to take in all the supplies so he didn’t have to worry about the weight. Xeno told the granny he would be back soon and left.

On the way to the village, Xeno glanced at the bag tied to his waist. An enchanted bag of holding was certainly not someone who ‘Just knew a few magic tricks’ could possess. He had noticed there was more to the granny than meets the eye.

Whenever he asked about her past she would be dodgy and he could sense misery and grief. She brushed away most questions related to her magic and she would never tell him the truth of how she knew his pant size.

‘There is no way she could sneak up on me and she is definitely blind as a bat.’

She brushed it off as all ‘halflings’ were the same size. Did she really think he was a Halfling? Perhaps the fact that the voice that spoke to her came from her waist level tipped of that he was small. It didn’t really strike well with Xeno that he was lying to her but he played along.

It was quite nice of her to not ask much about him, he didn’t have much to say though with the only interesting thing about him is that he was a talking goblin.

As he made his way to the village, Xeno thought about how he handle interactions with the humans. Even though he didn’t have to listen to her and could steal anything he needed, it didn’t feel right to disobey Granny Riz.

Xeno sighed,

‘This is going to be a pain.’