“Prinkipas,” The hobgoblin king spoke from atop his royal throne, “What exactly are you doing here?”

Prinkipas, the younger hobgoblin, crossed his arms in front of him. “I’m here because Symvoulos is not. Apparently, he took a bunch of soldiers into the pits, and the cave collapsed behind him.”

“Oh? So that smug prick got himself into a situation, did he?” The king smacked at a bug that was buzzing around his neck before continuing. “And how exactly is that my problem?”

“We need to go save them, if they’re not dead already. We’ve lost over a hundred men so far. Fighters, mostly. There’s no one else left to deal with the monster problem. If this keeps up, we won’t have anyone left to go hunting.”

A small rock dropped from the ceiling, hitting the floor beside the king. The hobgoblin king put his hand up to pause the conversation with Prinkipas, then turned to one of the servants. “Bring the masons here. I want to know why my ceiling is collapsing.”

One of the servants stammered a reply while the other tried their best to look small. “R-r-right away, sir.”

A few minutes later, a stone-aligned goblin arrived, lifting himself up to the ceiling to inspect it and find out what was going on.

The king swirled his bloodberry wine in his goblet, then replied to Prinkipas. “So we’ll get the gatherers and young to hunt next.”

“If the monster attacks continue as they have, there may not be enough goblins left to do so.”

A coin fell from the ceiling, clattering against the ground. The hobgoblin king closed his eyes, then with a hint of anger in his voice, spoke to the mason. “Try to keep your pocket change secure. I prefer not to have my conversations interrupted.”

The mason gulped, then grabbed towards his coin pouch, tightening the string that kept it closed. “Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.”

The king swatted at another bug, then turned back to Prikipas and said “Then maybe we should hunt for ourselves, like the good old days.”

Another coin fell from the ceiling, this time landing in the king’s goblet and splashing him with wine. The hobgoblin king looked at his stained robe and sighed. He slowly got up, and walked towards his hammer. Then with a blank expression on his face, threw it at the mason, splattering him against the ceiling with a thunderous clang. Rubble fell from the ceiling, burying the throne beneath it.

The king extended his hand up, and a spark of lightning shot at the hammer, returning it to him. “Servant, find another mason to clean this up. I’m going on a walk.”

“Y-y-yes, sir. As y-y-you command.”

The sound of another metal object falling to the ground just beneath the king interrupted him before he could leave. The king closed his eyes and sighed again, but there was no one at fault to direct his anger at this time. The king opened his eyes, then raised an eyebrow. “No one at fault? Then what fell?” The king looked down at the ground, but there was nothing there. He tilted his head, and scratched at his neck as he thought. His eyes widened as he realized the key was missing, and the last noise was not another coin, but rather, the key that was around his neck.

“First thing’s first. Prinkipas, come with me. We’ve got humans to execute.”

* * *

As I broke through to the surface beside the human cage, I couldn’t help but think back to my plan… I can’t believe that worked.

I made sure to withhold my mana when within his detection range, and only chew through the necklace, but I thought for sure that hobgoblin would still figure something was up.

The other hobgoblin might have noticed the key suddenly falling and disappearing, if not for them avoiding looking directly at the king. I suppose that’s what you get for lording violence and power over others.

I kept phasing out coins to match the sound of a key falling until I figured the king was distracted enough, then finished chewing through the necklace. As soon as it fell out of his detection range, I just swooped down and phased it into my subspace.

It’s a shame I couldn’t phase the other goblin into my subspace to revive them, but I suppose It’s not too much of a loss. They’re just monsters… Or so I keep telling myself.

But what’s done is done. I didn’t come here to save goblins, I came here to save people. That being said, I should at least take care of the goblins that are now in my subspace once I get the chance. I wonder how they’re reacting?

* * *

Epidexios suddenly screamed and gasped for air as he awoke. He reached for his rapier, looking around for enemies to kill as the voice told him to… To nothing. It was gone. Silent, for the first time in his life.

Epidexios shook his head, only then having the cognizance to look at his surroundings. He was in a blank, white space with glass walls, and over a hundred other goblins. Most of them were the villagers who died in the first monster attack, but some of them were the soldiers Symvoulos took with him to the pits. Outside the see-through walls were other enclosures, some filled with water, others covered in stone.

Suddenly, a hole opened in the middle of the enclosure, the space itself expanding to fit another goblin — Fotia — that appeared in the center of the expanding area.

“Where are we?” Epidexios asked aloud. “Last I remember, we were fighting a monster, and then…”

“We died.” Myalo, the mind-aligned that died in the first attack said. “Best I can tell, we’ve been sent to the afterlife, and are awaiting judgement.”

“Judgement?” Fotia called out, awakened from her eternal slumber. “Who would dare judge me? The humanoid’s so-called god? I think not!”

Myalo asked. “We were dead, and now we’re here. What other explanation is there?”

“Prinkipas must have done something to save us.”

“Oh, be quiet Fotia.” Epidexios interrupted. “He’s not some all-powerful healer, and he’ll never take you as his concubine. Yes, indeed.”

“Says you!” Fotia scowled.

“Says common sense.” Dexameni rolled his eyes.

“Be quiet before I burn you!” She hissed, pulling out her trusty enchanted firestarter.

“Settle down now, Fotia.” Myalo said, placing a hand on her shoulder and casting a calm spell. “There’s no need to get crazy.”

“Crazy?!” Fotia shoved Myalo’s hand off of her, overpowering the calm spell with a hastily constructed mind-barrier. “I’ll show you crazy!” She pressed into the firestarter, then channeled her mana into the tiny flame it produced, expanding it into a burning orb over her head.

“Fotia, please. There’s no need for violence, yes indeed! There’s nothing we can do here anyways. Let’s just calm down and wait for an explanation, okay?”

“Have you forgotten the royal family’s decree? Them, and only them, are allowed to judge us! If we have truly been sent to the afterlife, and are awaiting judgment, then what’s the holdup? If I am found wanting, then let your so-called god strike me down!”

* * *

I transformed into a random goblin form, the female fire-aligned if I recall, then phased the key out of my subspace. “Guys, it’s me. I’m here to get you guys out of here.” My voice was garbled, as goblin speech tends to be, but it was at least clearly humanoid.

“Oh, thank Alexandra.” One of the miners said. “I thought we were going to die here.”

“You still might. We have to go now.”

As if to confirm my worries, I peered through the bars of the cage, and heard them at the same time I saw them. The two hobgoblins were there, charging towards the cage. The king wielding his hammer, and the younger one with a whip.

“Shit. Through the tunnel, now!” I said, pulling them along down and into it. As soon as we got inside, I phased out a giant boulder to block the entrance. It only delayed them a few seconds before they smashed their way through it, and I had to absorb another mana crystal to phase out another, then another. I could hear the hobgoblins moving much faster than us, even with all the obstructions I was making. It was clear that I couldn’t buy enough time to get away this way.

I handed one of them the keys and phased out a bag of half my remaining mana crystals. Most of them belong to Rhannu, but I’m sure he’ll understand. Emergency, and all that. “Run ahead, undo your shackles and get out of here. I’ll hold them off as long as I can.”

They nodded and kept running through the tunnel. I phased out a wall of labyrinth stone to cover their retreat, then stopped to face the hobgoblins as they burst through the layers of stone one after the other.

How do I buy more time? Maybe I can communicate with them somehow, try to talk to buy time? There might be some communication workaround with the ancients, but I don’t have time to set anything like that up.

I can try to imitate goblin speech while I transform into something. Father had a line that he always said to goblins to confuse them. I think he said it was something to do with begging on your knees for forgiveness?

As the hobgoblins burst through the final boulder between us, I locked eyes on the hobgoblin king and said “I mitéra sou gonátise brostá mou kai me roúfixe.”

* * *

The hobgoblin king tilted his head as he heard the goblin speak. As soon as he comprehended what the goblin said, he slammed his hammer down at it with full force, infusing the strike with lightning, and splattering the goblin against the tunnel floor. “Nobody talks about my mother that way!”