Advantage

Steps.

My steps just reverberated as I went deeper and deeper into the cave. So far, everything was just empty.

No signs of monsters or anything.

Where the hell did the cats even go?

I checked their statuses and my menu just showed something like they were 100M away or something.

It didn't show me their exact location.

Nor current condition.

All this walking wasn't doing me great favors either.

Apparently, my crotch still hurt.

Sigh.

'Enisa…'

Before all this- before I got betrayed- I had a lover.

We were childhood friends.

Friends for over fourteen years and it wasn't a stretch to say, I loved her throughout the years.

I fell for her kindness, for her compassion and for her strict will when it came to standing against evil. But who'd have thought she'd leave me for my brother? Just so she could become the queen…

Who'd have thought….

Of course, that was in the past and right now- I had something else I wanted to do.

My life didn't revolve around love, rather- revenge.

'But to get that revenge, I first have to somehow take back the country…' Which was going to be impossible as almost all the countries apart from Blumrose were under the direct control of the Northern Empire. And to take them down, I'd need an empire of my own.

Besides, that bastard Xerphantalous possessed powers far beyo-

Wait a second.

'Could it be that he had a system as well?'

Yes, that would explain it.

That would explain it all!

Heh!

A smile crept up on my face as I inched closer and closer to the two cats.

'If he had a system then that would mean he should also technically be an apostle….' If leveling up before this wasn't a priority- which it totally was- then it definitely was now.

But though I was eventually right next to the cats-

I couldn't see them.

Cat-2: 0M

A dead end.

'Are they underground or something?'

Knock!

Shatter!

Oops… knocking was definitely not the best of ideas…

The floor shattered but- didn't quite fall through.

In a second, everything slowed down and I could hear my own heartbeat.

'Slowly… slowly does it.'

Gently lifting my left feet up, I prepared to jump back. 'This won't hold-'

Drip!

But before all that- a bead of sweat just fell through.

And when it did-

Nothing happened.

Phew!

Crack!

The whole floor crumbled.

Jump back?

Yeah, there was no jumping back.

Just a broken floor, and falling to the darkness.

"AHARRHGHGHGHHHHH!!!!!"

I already died twice; I didn't want to die again!

Falling!

Falling!!

FALLING!!!

"ARRGGHGHhhsh? AH?"

I thought I was just falling and falling and falling-

But no, I just fell about 2M. That's it.

My feet were pretty much touching the ground and nothing really happened.

'Well, that certainly wasn't embarrassing…'

About a few hundred faces were staring at me.

Grouped close, purple, long ears…

All goblins. And tall, slender hobgoblins no less.

Silence.

Awkward?

Yes, but no.

This was more than just awkward.

"Gob-"

"Shh! Shhh!!"

Before I could even attempt to speak a word, they held their fingers to their mouths and shushed me.

Literally.

Meeting with goblins always went two ways. Either they were going to be enraged- or sacred.

There was no in-between.

"Harpies!" One of them whispered. "They're everywhere, so be quiet please!"

Huh- what?

It was a bit dark here. So, kind of hard to see.

But so far, this looked like a temporary refuge, not their actual home.

"But you literally number them three to one!" I also started whispering.

Also, very vigorously.

There were women and children among the group but the men alone could probably outnumber the Harpies, right?

Only one goblin did the talking- probably their leader. A rather young goblin with no apparent scars or wounds. He seemed too clean to be a goblin. "Are you kidding me? Those things would eat us alive! Who has the stamina to go fifteen times a night!? They'd devour us!"

Oh yeah, I did hear how fast goblin males mated and how they could potentially go for about 6-7 times before being fully spent. They were awfully famous in the back streets of the capital as sex toys… both ways…

'NO wonder they're so afraid…'

Flutter!

Something dropped behind me- or rather someone did.

"HA-ha- Harpy!!!"

The goblins around the place started squeaking, squirming, crashing into each other.

"They don't like me," Amiya pretended to be sad.

"I don't think anyone would like you guys given the reputation you have."

She shrugged. "Yeah, fair enough. I found your cat though," she said, giving me the kitty.

"What happened to the mother?" Kitty cat just came in my arms and kind of climbed down, sitting next to me, looking all proud.

"Mew!"

Little kitty was apparently happy to see me.

And as usual, I couldn't understand it one bit.

Oh well.

"I don't know. Just saw this guy and the mother was probably hunting something?"

The goblins did calm down a bit though.

"Sh-she not in heat?" One of the goblins attempted. Again, this one was pretty much the only one talking.

Though goblins- these were hobs. Hobs were technically a separate more civilized group of goblins living deep in the mountains, away from humans. Unlike typical goblins, they could be reasoned with and were actually helpful as they controlled other smaller goblin colonies and kept them from going overboard. They also resembled humans more than goblins and even had hair.

"Oh, I took care of that," I said.

Or rather, she took care of me…

Even just thinking about it hurt…

But yeah, they didn't need to know that.

'What if she decided to go for a sixth time instead?'

I'd be very dead…

Forget the other ninety-seven days, I'd just be dead!

"You-You took care of it?"

"I sure did," I flashed my teeth.

Always fun acting high and mighty.

Another perk of being royalty.

"Thank you!" The hobgoblin came closer and just shook my hands- both of them.

Well, that was new.

Normally I'd just have thought of them as monsters and would have chopped off their heads or something.

But- seeing them like this, afraid, cradling each other, tending to their old and young- they honestly seemed just like any other races…

Not monsters.

Anyway- 'Wait, if they're grateful.'

"What's your name again?" I asked.

There was a saying in my family.

"Gorbam, Sir."

"Oh, nice to meet you, Gorbam! I'm Brand!"

"That name also sucks," Amiya said nonchalantly. "How about Lord Gain or something?"

"Gain? Fine whatever." Yeah, I didn't necessarily care all that much about names anyway. "So, Gorbam, are you the leader of this pack?"

"I am, Sir. Are you doing to let them in?" He almost shrunk as the thought crossed his mind.

Hobgoblins generally had another important characteristic.

Apparently, since they were really good sex toys, they were almost always hunted by men.

The females were sold to brothels while the males were sold to noble families as slaves.

Basically- they were either super hostile to humans or super scared.

Luckily for me- it was the latter. And this colony was small and rather young.

Which meant-

"How much supplies do you have on you?"

"Enough to last two weeks. We can spare some for you so please-"

"Did you make this mountain?"

"No sir. It was my sister…" A little hobgoblin, probably younger than my own sister Anya- stood behind the goblin.

'This little kid?' She was maybe twelve?

Interesting, very interesting.

My mouth curved and though it was a grin the goblins were kind of shaking.

There were hundreds of them.

They could have just swarmed and trampled over me if they wanted to.

But they were instead afraid.

Because I had Amiya with me here or-

Either way- "So, would you guys mind working for me? Right now, I can't promise much so I won't ask for much work either. Eventually, I'll take over this whole land and then make a country where you guys can walk on land without being persecuted. How's that sound?"

'Don't forget to take advantage of them if they're grateful.' Who'd have thought I'd be using our shitty family motto so soon?

But in this dreadful world- in order to thrive… you had to be a bit shitty.