7 Ch. 7 New Relations

When we got to the village, the guards and Garrett all looked shocked. "You built this in mere months?" I nodded and brought them inside. The blacksmiths shop was clanging away as the weapon rack in front was almost filled to full. Seven armor dummies were donning some of the best armor we had been able to produce, but we were running out of materials. We passed by freshly made houses and a few other types of shops as we continued walking. They were intrigued to say the least, as we walked past the barracks one of the guards walked over "How did you have time to do this? These Goblins are being trained well. No wasted movements, the precision in their attacks. This is amazing."

I nodded to Zash who held his chin up proudly "That is Zash, he was the Chieftain and is now my personal bodyguard. He trained all of my Commanders." The guard nodded as we continued to the cave mouth. "What is this? You don't have a house?" I shrugged "To be honest I kind of like it. It's ventilated, the air doesn't get too warm or cold and besides it has plenty of room. If needed 300 Goblins could fit in there comfortably, with all of the additional chambers I've had made. It's quite cozy if I'm being honest."

We entered the cave and both Squall and Gobelle came up to me, Squall bowing and Gobelle jumping into my arms. "My love you're safe. Are these the humans?" She said looking over the four of them. Garrett had the most shocked look "My love? Why did she call you that?" I set Gobelle down before I introduced them "So this will be a bit strange to you, but this is my first wife Gobelle. That is my son Squall." they both bowed slightly. The kid fish mouthed for a moment, then shook his head and nodded "That was rude of me. I am sorry, my name is Garrett my lady Gobelle." he said holding out his hand, she put hers in his and he brought it to his lips, kissing it. She blushed and I laughed.

Then he turned to Squall who shook his hand. "Father has been constantly looking for signs of other humans in the forest, I am glad he found some finally. I am sorry I was not there to greet you with him as we are currently dealing with an Orc invasion into our lands." the guards perked up at this, as well as Garrett "Orcs you say? Where are they and how long ago were they spotted?" Squall looked to me so I nodded and wrapped my arms around Garrett and Gobelle's shoulders, leading them to the back of the cave as the guards spoke with Squall.

My other two girls came up and jumped on me as well, so I introduced them "Heh, you really are taking to this Goblin King thing aren't you?" I shrugged "Wouldn't you? I mean honestly I've seen humans not as beautiful as these three." they all blushed in unison and Garrett nodded "I kind of have to agree, I mean these women are lovely by human standards. The only thing off-putting to me would be the teeth." I chuckled "Honestly I had the same reservations, but I have found they aren't nearly as bad as you would think. By the way, is that the roasted boar I'm smelling?" I asked and Gobelle nodded "Yes, we have made a roasted boar and Mayo sandwich for each of you as well as a salad to go with it." I nodded and brought them all to the dining room. Getting everyone seated, with Squall on my left and Gobelle on my right, the other two girls next to her I said "So what do you think of my village thus far?" I said after everyone had a plate in front of them. Garrett spoke up "Honestly it is well thought out and put together. I will have to speak with my father about what will happen from here with your village, but what I really want to know is why do you look like a cross between a Goblin and a human." I shrugged and said "Affinissimalation, it's one of my feats."

Garrett was taken aback by that "But normally you don't get that feat unless you use nothing but the type of monster you have an affinity for." I thought about that for a second, nodding "Maybe it's because I am the king of these Goblins, Goblins being my affinity and having hobgoblin children." Garrett thought to himself for a moment "It could be, although I have heard of no human mating with one of the monster races, no offense ladies." he was quick to add "But that could have been a reason, there are minds dedicated to the feat acquisitions that would be able to answer that. That being said it is usually unheard of until you reach level 50 or so." I nodded, biting into the sandwich.

We talked while we ate, mostly of what the tournament would consist of, apparently it was a tournament to decide who would claim the princess of Valtor's hand in marriage, which was the human kingdom to the west, almost 300 miles away. I wasn't interested when the prize of the tournament was revealed, mostly for the fact that I wanted to increase my kingdom here, not 300 miles away. I grinned as a thought hit me. "Garrett, how strong are the other contestants?" he shrugged and said "A lot stronger than me. They are between levels 30 and 50, why do you ask?" I nodded "How would you like to help me out? I promise that you will get a lot of experience as well as learn how to fight a lot better, because let's be honest here, neither you nor I would be able to take them on. I have enough skill and monsters, summoned and non summons, but you have dragonlings that lost against Goblins, that didn't have ranged abilities. If you want to win this, you need some proper training as well as more powerful Dragons. So if you help me out in a mission I have coming up, I will make sure you get strong enough to win this competition."

He had indignation written on his face as he processed what I said, but sighed in defeat and I saw resignation on his face "You're right of course. So tell me Goblin King, what is it that you have in mind?" I laughed maniacally for a moment, then chuckled "Actually it's Orcs. There is an Orc camp not too far away from here. I want to deal with them and expand my territory into theirs, my son will be leading most of the troops there, but I was planning to join him once the battle began, after all I need to get strong as well." he thought about it for a good few minutes, then asked "So how strong are these orcs exactly?"

We left that afternoon and there were no monster encounters along the way. We reached the site of Squall's camp, getting greeted by the guards then approached his tent. Once inside Squall saw me and immediately bowed. "Father, I was not expecting to see you here." I smiled and embraced him, then said "I only came to get experience, don't mind me this is still your battle. I brought some friends as well." I said gesturing to the other humans. He nodded to each of them. Garrett had a look of disbelief on his face "He is so grown. You said you've only been here for a few months?" he asked me and I chuckled "Goblinoids grow much faster than humans do. He gained full maturity within two months and has been battling and honing his skills since."

Garrett mused over that for a minute. "Well then, that should be a great boon to you. You'd be able to have a massive army easily within a year." I nodded and chuckled "I guess I would, but that hasn't really been my focus. What I want to focus on is conquering this entire forest. Once I've done that I plan on gaining strength myself." he nodded, but there was a hint of something in his features I couldn't quite place. "Penny for your thoughts Garrett?" he sighed and nodded "You may not know this, but war is brewing. That is why the tournament is taking place. The northern kingdom of Necronis has been gathering a massive army. If we can ally ourselves with Valtor, we have a much better chance at stopping them. My father's advisor has said war will be upon us within the year and unless we have a more sizable force, Necronis will overwhelm us."

This was definitely news to me. Squall looked thoughtful as Garrett spoke. "What would your father think of an alliance with us young lord?" Squall said and I couldn't help but smile. I looked over to Garrett inquisitively as he mulled it over "He might be amenable, but you would have to have a force of thousands to be able to help us in this battle." I nodded as I took this all in. Squall grinned and said "Within a year we would have that easily." I had to agree. Then Squall turned to me and his face grew red "I am sorry father, I did not mean to overstep." I chuckled and punched his shoulder "No worries son. I am glad you're taking the initiative like this. We can table this discussion for a later time however, what I want now is to know what forces are arrayed against us here."

Squall turned to his second in command, his slightly younger, by four seconds, brother Irvine. "We have scouted out the Orc camp and have found it is more of a small village. There are currently just over 600 Orcs that stay within the village and about 20 teams of five that act as scouts and hunters. The levels of those in the camp are in the mid 20's range, the levels of their scouts at around level 30. We have however seen the Orc Chieftain and he is the strongest by a wide margin. He is level 35 with affinity bonuses. Thankfully they all wear fur hide and not metal or we would have no chance against him. He has six Shamans with him and they have command of the elements of earth and nature from what we have seen. They are not as strong physically, but they have large pools of Mana."

I nodded as Squall leaned over the map on the table in front of him, going through and moving pieces around. "This battle will be tough. We don't have any Shamans of our own, however we do have our archer squadron. They will have to make a concerted effort to focus fire on the Shamans to keep them off balance and focusing all their Mana on defense instead of offense. This could work, but we have a little over half their numbers to work with. It is going to be a battle with heavy casualties." "What is this over here?" I asked pointing to a part of the map that looked like a bunch of odd shaped circles overlapping each other. "That is the hills to the north of their camp." Squall nodded "Show me."

As we surveyed the hills, ideas sprang to mind. I grinned as Squall began speaking the same ideas. "We could level out this area here and use our archers there, there and there to hamper them as they come at us. Then we barricade most of this area, leaving them an opening here and over there, they will know its a trap but their Shamans won't be able to fight us off as they will be hampered by our archers. We can also put boulders and rocks at the top of those five hills there, giving us the ability to thin them out and keep them slightly distracted so our melee forces will have only part of their attention." I nodded at his words as Irvine wrote everything down.

The preparations took two days, Garrett and his guards all pitching in with their summons, grumbling somewhat, but mollified by the food they were given. "I don't know what you call this Richard, but it is easily the best thing I have ever tasted." I chuckled as I took my own bite of pizza. I explained to him what it was and he nodded, scarfing sown the rest of the slice. "So simple, yet the tastes blend together in a way that is perfectly pleasing." I chuckled at that, then Squall came into the mess hall and announced "We begin in one hour. Everyone prepare yourselves."