20 Side Story: POV of Ai

*Ai's point of view of the events so far.*

It hasn't been long since I have been born. When I first realized what was happening, I could already walk and speak. I found myself in a big cave filled with lights and other goblins. It was magical. Ai was so excited!

(Can I make new friends? What will happen from now on?)

I was very curious. Excited, I walked up to the goblins my age.

Ai: [Let's be friends!]

After we met, everyone was friendly with each other. We were one big goblin family. We also had a lot of fun conversations!

Female Goblin 1: [I heard that there are these slippery monsters we have to fight when we go outside!]

Female Goblin 2: [Me too! I even heard about a bouncy blue one that we might meet in the forest. Those are probably only rumours though. We'd have to go look for ourselves!]

Ai: [Ai can beat them all!]

Female Goblin 1: [You're so silly Ai! What are we going to do with you?]

All three: [Hahaha!]

This only lasted for a while… until we had to complete a test. This was when everything went wrong for Ai.

Goblin Elder: [Okay little ones! Before you go off and fend for yourselves, we will be having a small test. There is no pass or fail. Instead, this is for you to gain some experience and prepare for the outside world.]

When I heard this, I was excited.

(What is the outside world like?)

We were lead to another big room. Inside of it were a bunch of small rats.

Ai: [Haha! Come here. Ai will take you down!]

The elder gave us each a spear to borrow and told us to beat down the rats. He then warned us.

Goblin Elder: [If you can't even beat this at your current level, I'm afraid you won't be able to survive for very long from now on.]

All the rats were being stabbed by everyone else. I kept trying to attack the small monsters, but my weapon kept messing.

(What's happening? Why am I so bad?)

After an hour, there was only me and one other goblin left. We couldn't kill a single rat. Everyone was giving us dirty looks.

Goblin Elder: [Time's up! For those who killed one or more rats, this will be your food for the next few days. After that, all of you will be leaving the cave.]

This meant that I didn't have anything to eat. But, I thought that my best friends would have my back.

(They caught a few rats right? I don't want to bother them, but I'm sure they wouldn't mind sharing some with me… wait what am I thinking!? We're good friends. Of course we'd help each other. I would do same for them.)

Unfortunately, I was wrong. They didn't share a single piece with me. All the goblins were now treating me like a useless piece of trash. There was also another goblin who was in the same situation as me. He was trying hard to hold the tears from drooping down his eyes. We sat together since the rest of the group ignored us.

Ai: [Hey! What's your name?]

Yujin: [I'm Yujin! What about you?]

Ai: [I'm Ai! I guess we're going to starve to death, huh.]

Yujin: [I guess so…]

After almost two days, I thought I was going to die. My body felt weak and I was almost going to pass out.

(Who's that…)

An older goblin came to the cave. He was walking towards us.

(Is he here to finish us off? Are we going to become his food!?)

When he was right front of us, he stopped.

(Oh no! Oh no!)

What he said next shocked me.

Older goblin: [Hey! Do you kids want some food?]

Ai was totally confused! I didn't understand why he wanted to help us. Before I could even think, I replied:

[Yes….]

Yujin also replied the same thing. We were that hungry. With no choice but to trust him, we followed the older goblin. He guided us outside of the cave and took us to his shed. Along the way, we explained the situation we faced. He seemed very concerned. After that, he told us to wait outside of his shed. Once he returned, he came back with slippery food. The old goblin gave it to us. He called it "snake". It was really yummy. With this, Ai was saved!

(I owe my life to him. No matter what, he can do whatever he wants with me. He's now my master!)

When I told him about the debt I owed, he refused. The goblin wanted to treat me and Yujin as equals. This made me respect him even more. But, I would still treat him as my master. I just don't call him that because I think he doesn't like it. He told me that his name was "Kawai". I will never forget it.

After that, we would join master to hunt. He gave us materials to build our own house. On top of that, he handed us a really cool weapon! It was called a "claw". Then, we had to go through a lot of fierce battles. We fought snakes, rabbits, and today, even a wolf. Whenever I see master fight, I can see that he's really strong. Sometimes he uses strange abilities, but we don't ask him too many questions about it. I'm just fine being with him. At times, he also gets really intense. But, Ai likes it. If master wants, I hope to carry his child someday. He will have a strong seed.

Master is also very kind. He is only strict to us when we're fighting. That's why I do whatever I can to help him. The other day, Yujin and I built him a bigger shed. He seemed very pleased. Today, when I beat a wolf with Yujin, master also praised me.

Kawai (older goblin): [Good work you two! You've made me proud.]

This made Ai really happy! I even blushed a bit. Overall, I like master a lot.