More Questions Than Answers

As the group of humans led by the women made their way through the settlement, they were greeted by various goblins with hospitality. 

The goblins seemed to be saying something from their mouth movements, but Raze couldn't hear, not that he would've understood even if he were near. 

But that didn't stop the human girl from replying. 

"We appreciate the hospitality, Grelja."

Just like last time, by just looking at her, he could somehow hear and understand her words. 

'How curious'

It felt very disorienting, almost like the words were being communicated inside his mind against his will. 

And yet he didn't hate it, or rather, he couldn't. 

The voice had a certain calming and soothing element to it that made him forget about the mortal danger to his life at all times on this floor. 

'No, don't get distracted; you need to focus'

He reminded himself to focus. 

Continuous use of [Farsight] was putting a strain on his eyes as well as his already limited mana reserves. 

But he knew that he couldn't stop; he needed information, and [Farsight] was the only way to get it. 

So he continued looking despite the discomfort. 

As the human woman moved, the men followed behind her, carrying a large and mysterious wooden cart, with 12 little innocent kids following behind them. 

Eventually they reached the middle of the settlement and were greeted by a goblin with a bulky and relatively tall build. 

Raze couldn't see it in detail, but from what he saw, it looked to have an angry and ferocious disposition based on its face with its scrunched-up eyes and brows. 

It seemed to be annoyed at seeing the humans. 

Strangely enough, despite its skin colour and pointy ears, it strangely resembled a human. 

But that didn't let Raze distract him from the warning signs; his senses were screaming. 

The goblin was unharmed, and yet almost instinctively, he felt as if his presence was discovered by it; he would die within seconds. 

'Why does that one look so wrong?'

Raze found himself asking almost subconsciously, but just like usual, his questions went unanswered. 

So he did the only thing he could do and continued observing. 

The bulky goblin looked lone and unarmed, but even his mere presence was enough to tense up the human guards. 

Ultimately, Raze came to the conclusion that this must be the goblin chief, or at least someone connected to them. 

"I pay my respect to the chief."

The woman greeted him with respect in her tone, and as usual, Raze was able to hear her loud and clear in his head, which also served to confirm his hypothesis about the goblin earlier. 

The goblin chief replied to her in annoying gnarls that Raze couldn't hear, not that it mattered. 

Both of them didn't talk much and seemed to only exchange pleasantries. 

Which led him to believe that they weren't actually close and were only there for 'official business', whatever that is. 

Of course he could be wrong since his understanding was very one-sided, but for some reason he felt he was pretty close to the mark. 

After a brief moment of time, the male guards pushed the wooden crate in front towards the goblin chief without uttering even a word. 

Upon receiving it, the chief took out the cloth covering the crate as he took out some sort of sword from inside it. 

The sword didn't look that well made and was pretty crude, especially compared to the spear that Raze had gotten from the tower after clearing the first floor. 

Seeing the sword up front, the goblin chief flashed a hideous smile, which disgusted Raze, but the humans already seemed used to such sights. 

He examined the sword closely before swinging it around in the air as it whistled through the air quietly. 

After a few seconds, he put it back, took out a spear, and repeated the process before doing it again with a dagger. 

Eventually, after a few minutes, he was finally done examining all the weapons inside the crate, and judging from his expression, he seemed pretty satisfied. 

With the cloth taken off, Raze could see inside the crate, and from what he could make out, it was filled to the brim with close to a hundred different weapons. 

'So that's where these goblins have been getting their weapons from,' he thought to himself. 

It finally made sense how the goblins had been getting weapons, which, while crude by human standards, were probably revolutionary for them. 

Initially, he wanted to think that maybe they had made them themselves.

But just from his brief encounter with them, he could tell they weren't smart enough to develop even the concept of weapons themselves, let alone actually make them.

Now it finally made sense about what was going on. 

Since these tribe people had helped goblins with weapons, it wouldn't be a stretch to think they also helped make the intricate architecture for the settlement as well as establish order. 

The only question left was why. 

Why were these tribal people helping devolvep monsters? 

"Something smells fishy."

Despite having questions, Raze couldn't afford to get distracted. 

After taking the crate with the weapon, the chief called out as roughly more than 50 different goblins showed up. 

Raze almost thought the goblins had decided to betray the humans, but the unarmed status of the goblins who had shown up as well as the calm demeanour of the humans told him otherwise. 

"Thank you; we will take good care of them," the woman said once again, allowing Raze to hear. 

The goblins smiled upon hearing it. 

'What's going on?' Raze found himself asking. 

"And as a final token of goodwill, please take good 'care' of our tribal children," the woman said, gesturing the kids with her to move towards the goblin chief. 

The kids didn't seem to know what was going on but probably had complete and blind faith in the women as they followed words without hesitation. 

They also seemed to be saying something, but unlike the women, Raze couldn't hear or understand them.

Hearing their words, the women just smiled brightly and nodded. 

Eventually, she left with the guard and the almost 50 goblins, while the kids who had come with her stayed behind. 

"Just what is going on on this floor?"

Raze had come to eavesdrop on this meeting to obtain answers, but in the end, he was leaving with more questions than answers.