42 Goblin Returns

[I've wasted too much time here already so I'll be going now.]

[As it turns out, I have some business to attend to as well. If you're ever around the royal capital feel free to pay us a visit. My knights and I are pretty well known so you shouldn't have any trouble finding us. If someone in the capital tells you they don't know about Freya, they're either lying or they've been living under a rock.]

[I would take offense at you saying I live under a rock, but you're technically correct. Now that I know who you are, I guess I have the qualifications necessary to move somewhere else.]

Breaking the silence, Jellal and Freya say their farewells as the knights prepare for their return trip to the capital. Conversely Jellal sets out by foot toward Pavise. When the knights are out of sight he stops and strips away his disguise, leaving himself naked.

Partially merging with lightning he leaves along with a clap of thunder. For the knights the nearby roar of thunder is enough to make them flinch and hastily luck in the direction it sounded from, leaving a disappointed Freya shaking her head.

In the night sky a single bolt of lightning streaks over the forest while accompanied by rolling thunder. Above Pavise it finally comes to an end before changing directions and firing off again.

Traveling at the slowest speed possible for his lightning magic, Jellal carefully maintains his course to prevent himself from getting lost a second time. By keeping his eyes on familiar terrain he manages to accomplish his goal as he streaks over the stream.

Spotting his territory in the distance he disengages his magic, letting his momentum carry him the rest of the way. Switching to wind magic he slows himself down and slowly dips toward the forest below. As his built up momentum finally degrades he lowers right in front of the cave entrance.

Before opening up the outer wall he quickly throws on the attire he usually wears around the captives. With his loincloth and fur kilt on he opens a hole in the wall and walks through, closing it behind him.

By wearing the same getup he usually does he's able to demarcate two separate identities. One version of him is known to the captives as the boss of the cave and the one who controls their fates. The other is seemingly normal person whose true identity is only known by a select few.

To keep the two separate he's careful what items he shows himself carrying. As the goblin overlord he openly carries his primitive looking saw in a makeshift scabbard. When he wears his disguise he hides them in his item bag, keeping them in their professionally made scabbards to boot. He even hides away his new cape since he's already been wearing it as part of his disguise.

Treating the two identities as separate entities he lowers the chances of someone learning the truth and causing trouble for him. While he may not care if people know, he would be greatly displeased if his being a goblin has an adverse effect on him traveling and seeing the world.

For Jellal traveling the world is a good way to kill time while he thinks of a way to get back at a certain individual for reincarnating him as a goblin. Of course, with such a nonsensical goal he's going to spend a lot of time planning his revenge. His goal is to pull a fast one on a self-titled god after all.

Patching up the final defensive wall behind him Jellal relaxes slightly. Strolling to the fork in the path he hangs a left, heading to the grunt living quarters which has been repurposed as a temporary work area.

Inside the work area the captives are slaving away as they desperately try to finish taking care of the last of the bodies before the day ends. They obviously noticed Jellal's absence not long after he left but there wasn't much they could do about it.

Some of the prisoners lobbied to escape, but they were quickly shot down. With multiple walls as a defensive perimeter the amount of time it would take them to break through was too much of a risk for them now that they had hope of getting out alive.

The captives set on escape were unhappy with the response and tried to counter by pointing out Kira's existence, but their plan quickly backfired. Kira personally explained how it would be extremely difficult if not impossible for her to break through the walls with her remaining mana.

Her reasoning was based around her lack of mana and specialization in fire magic rather than earth. Of course, she "forgot" to mention the mana potion in her possession which would poke holes in her excuses.

While her claim of specializing in fire magic was true she exaggerated the strain using earth magic to remove the wall would bring her. She'd seen enough of what happens to people who get on Jellal's bad side to completely abandon any thoughts of running away.

There's also the hordes of monsters outside to worry about on top of just escaping. The supporters of making an escape had no way to counter such an argument. Jellal had already sealed off the treasure room, blending its entrance perfectly with the wall. To stand a chance against the monsters they needed supplies, all of which were now cut off from them. The nail in the coffin was again Kira's supposed lack of mana preventing her from being able to search rigorously for the now hidden treasure room.

With no weapons or supplies, and no way to get them, their hopes of escaping were left in ruins. For the most part the supporters gave up and returned to work to increase their chances of survival. In the end the few remaining stalwarts were guilt tripped into rejoining the workforce when the others pointed out that Meredith was working harder than they were. Even if they're captives they still had enough pride to feel ashamed about being out worked by a child.

From then on the workflow never stopped. When they grew hungry they took turns eating to keep their momentum going. Even when Jellal was uncharacteristically late they pushed through their nagging desire to take a break and pressed on.

Finishing off one of the corpses, Beth looks to the pile to confirm it's empty. She's been constantly lifting her head between cuts to check the pile since the numbers were reduced to five. Her anticipation runs high, knowing someone should have already taken the final body for processing.

She nearly screams out in surprise when she finds a giant hawk placed where the pile used to be. Jerking her head around she spots a familiar goblin overlord leaning against the wall observing the workers. It isn't just her surprised by the sudden appearance of the new monster, as other workers finish their current job they look to the pile for their next target only to find a new addition.

The new monster itself isn't the most surprising part. More surprising to them is how Jellal managed to drag such a massive monster into the room and throw it on the empty pile without a single one of them noticing.

After getting over the shock of a giant hawk being added to their pile their faces immediately turn sour. They spent all day processing monsters, nearly killing themselves from exhaustion. Yet now the boss is throwing extra work their way. They want to scream out in protest, but can only silently hold it in when they recall the fates of the people who went against their overlord in the past.

Vincent clearly notices the downtrodden atmosphere spreading amongst the workers and bites the bullet to act as the representative of the group. Slowly walking over to Jellal he gulps down his saliva as he makes his case for the workers' rights.

[Um- boss, sir, you never mentioned you would be adding monsters as we go. I'm not complaining but- but, isn't it too cruel? Clearing the bar you set initially was already a near impossible challenge, yet now you're adding to it.

Everyone's already worked from morning to night without rest. Why must you do this now? Were your words about setting us free all a lie?]

[Do you take me as a liar? First off, I said I would consider setting you free. The key word being consider. I also never said I wouldn't continue increasing the number of bodies you had to deal with. You decided that on your own to keep your spirits up.

Adding this one thing on top is already me being considerate. You may not be able to see what it looks like outside but I assure you this one bird would be the least of your problems if I wanted to break your hope. Sitting on the spikes outside are almost a dozen fresh bodies from brainless dimwits killing themselves while I was away. If you'd like I could have you collect and process them as well.]

[That's- I understand. We'll definitely finish this last challenge before nightfall.]

[Before nightfall? I hate to burst your bubble but it's already been dark out for a while now. With that being the case it's time for you to return to your cells. You all have a big day tomorrow so you'll need your rest.]

The captives begrudgingly dragged the corpses to the incineration room before dejectedly walking out of the work area with their heads down and spirits broken. The last one to leave is Kira, who had to finish incinerating the new bodies before joining the other captives on their trek back to their cells.

The trip is silent as the prisoners stagger through the halls looking more like zombies than humans. Some of the more hotheaded ones consider attacking their warden in retaliation, but refrain due to the nearly inevitable futility of it and the cost associated with attacking Jellal.

The captives funnel into their cells while hanging their heads. Jellal locks them in, nice and secure like, before giving them a piece of good news.

[I'll be here to pick you up tomorrow morning bright and early so you can work on processing the overgrown bird. The sooner you get it taken care of, the sooner I'm rid of the lot of you. So do your job and work hard tomorrow so I can spend as little time as possible putting up with you useless bums.]

The depressed atmosphere immediately becomes joyous when the prisoners learn they'll be getting their freedom. At this point they don't care about how they're going to be set free, only that it's happening. Walking blindfolded through a monster infested forest, somehow manages to become an afterthought due to this tidbit of good news.

Leaving the prison area Jellal returns to the dining hall to close Sif in the living quarters for the night. On his way out of the dining hall he grabs emergency supplies he left out along with the blankets and rugs the seamstresses made during the day.

Passing by his room he makes a side trip to the treasure room to drop off the items. Before leaving, he restocks his bag with another round of random junk in preparations for tomorrow. Since he's going to cross the stream anyways he might as well make a trip or two to get rid of his stash.

If he wants to get rid of it as quickly as possible he could fly back and forth until his treasure room's empty, but in the end he deems it a waste. For now he wants to leisurely look around the city so he doesn't need to rush.

While he's hanging around he also plans to look for someone to make his thrown. With the materials he has on hand he can easily make one, but his handiwork may leave something to be desired. The issue with having a craftsman from Pavise make it is the throne's function.

A throne is more suitable to his goblin overlord persona to use as a form of intimidation. However, this leaves the possibility of an opponent he lets live to spread rumors about him realizing its origins and blowing his cover.

Thinking along these lines, Jellal decides to find a professional to make a chair for his disguised alter ego while he makes the throne himself. In a worst case scenario he can always have a throne made by a craftsman and then "lose it" during the shipping process so it can conveniently end up in his own hands.

Stepping into his room he notices Meredith sitting on the bed desperately trying not to nod off as she waits for him to arrive. His expression softens as he walks over and gently rubs her head.

[You didn't need to wait up for me, you know? Tomorrows going to be a big day so you should get some sleep. A little lady like you needs to sleep properly so you can grow up big and strong. If you stay up all the time you'll get all wrinkly and we don't want that do we?]

[But you were gone all day and we didn't even eat dinner together. Why do I have to go to bed when you get to do whatever you want, it's not fair?]

[Alright, alright, I get it. How about a bedtime story to make up for it?]

Meredith nods and crawls under the covers as Jellal sits by her side. Pulling the covers up he tucks her in until only her head is poking out.

[Once upon a time there was a little boy who grew up in the country. The little boy grew up reading stories about great heroes. The heroes were strong and were always able to stop evil from sending the world to its doom. They always showed up when the people needed them most.

Inspired by these stories the boy worked hard and trained every chance he got. It wasn't long before he was going around stopping bullies in the name of justice, just like the heroes he admired so much.

Eventually the boy grew into a man. As a man he strove to do everything he could for the good of the people. To this end he joined the army. In the army he could stand on the frontline whenever a major threat appeared and threatened the home he loved.

One day a terrible enemy came and attacked his people. Taking up arms he fought the mighty foe until they retreated in fear. From that day on he was lauded as a hero by the people of his country, just like the people from the stories he always emulated.

His reputation spread far and wide, scaring away any enemies that dared to set their sights on the land he held so dear. In these times of peace he met a beautiful woman and fell in love. They had a beautiful daughter with brown hair and eyes whom they loved more than anything in the world.

But then … she fell asleep, huh. She didn't even let me finish my story. Well I suppose what happens next isn't suitable for a child's bedtime story.]

Jellal stares at Meredith sleeping peacefully without a care in the world. He rises off the bed, careful not to wake her. Moving to the opposite end of the bed he slides under the covers to turn in for the night as well, gradually drifting off into dreamland.

Jellal suddenly finds himself in a haze unable to control his body. A familiar feeling washes over him as scenes play before his eyes.

He walks onto a stage as the crowd looks on from below. In front of the podium he receives an honorary plaque and medal while shaking the official's hand. The middle aged man wears a fine suit and is surrounded by three security guards at all times. Only when he goes on stage to shake Jellal's hand is he free from the guards.

After receiving his awards Jellal moves behind the podium at the behest of the man in a military uniform standing behind it. The man's uniform has four stars in a line on each shoulder and a litany of medals covering the front left side of his uniform.

Gesturing for Jellal to step up to the microphone he takes a step back. Standing behind the podium Jellal looks out over the crowd of people cheering excitedly. Reaching out he grabs the sides which signifies the start his speech.

His vision turns hazy as the scene changes and he finds himself in his house. Sitting on the couch he looks at the tv as a news report flashes across the screen, the caption reading "Immortal Stalwart publically receives awards".

On the screen is a familiar visage he used to see every day in the mirror. The youngish looking man with sharp eyes glares at him, an imposing air surrounding him even though it's only a still image. A black cap sits on his head hiding his hair from view, leaving his dark brown eyebrows as the only indication of his hair color.

Before he has a chance to take everything in his vision turns hazy yet again. A series of scenes quickly flip by leaving him no chance to look into the details, only that most of them are battlefields.

As the haze lets up briefly he finds himself once again at his home. Sitting at his desk he stares at the computer in front of him, skimming articles.

Most of the articles have clickbait titles to draw in readers. The titles vary but the themes of the articles do not. The majority of the articles are about "the new age" and openly bash on the way the previous generation handled affairs worldwide.

One article in particular catches his eye before things become hazy again. His picture from the previous news report is in the thumbnail while the title simply reads "Evil Incarnate".