The Night Before - The West

The West, Village of Ooo

The Leaders of all the goblin villages in the West had gathered in front of the village. Their members were all outside with them talking and partying like fools at a party. One wouldn't be able to tell that they were going to face a serious battle the next day.

Gorm took a gulp of his slime and looked up at the other leaders. A hob-goblin twice his size kept poking his cheek. This hob-goblin possessed blond-hair and wore a loin-cloth around his chest with a red tattoo over his left arm crossing to his chest. It was believed that those were the signs of a [Divinity] blessing him, but since he hadn't received a name, they couldn't confirm that.

"Oi, Gorm! Let's duel!"

"No."

"Come on, come on! It'll be fun!"

"No."

"Brother! We worked our butts off training these guys into what they are now! A little bit of fun wouldn't hurt now, would it? At least a duel for the last!"

"Don't say such pessimistic things."

"P… pessimisk… wha-?"

"It means don't say bad things."

The oldest goblin amongst them said. She was clothed in what one would call rags and leaned on a staff with magic crystals on them. Her gray hair and wrinkly skin served to show how much more experience she had compared to the rest. She was the leader of the Tak village and the hob-goblin she corrected was the violent leader of the Krav Village.

"What? But it's true."

He argued.

"Still, you shouldn't be saying bad things. They might actually come to pass one day."

Another hob-goblin said. He was the youngest out of all the leaders, with no distinct features. Maybe his shaggy green hair could be a distinct feature, but that was common amongst High-land Hob-goblins. So that applied on to the forest. He was the leader of the Zamp village.

"Hehehe… my money senses say we shall reap a huge gain from this battle."

A skinny hob-goblin with practically no meat on his body said. He possessed about three hair strands and had sunken eyes. His ears were abnormally pointy and he wore a coat made of Spiker Pork fur. He was licking a rusty blade that was laced with dangerous poison on it while he made this statement. He was the leader of Stamp.

Oda cringed at the sight and tried to retreat behind Gorm.

"You still haven't stopped clinging onto him, little one? So all my hard training did nothing to stop this problem of yours?"

"Keep to yourself you wench. You tried to kill me several times."

Oda remarked.

"I do admit that my methods were excessive, but now you are stronger than a lot of the food you hunt."

"The Wicked Witch's Ass I am! I almost died to a damned fire deer the other day!"

"Huh? Why would you hunt a fire deer?"

The old goblina asked.

"Gorm, Gorm! Let's fight!"

The Krav leader bellowed.

"Aren't you tired of licking poison all day?"

The Zamp leader asked.

"Eh? My money senses say that doing this will benefit me one day."

The Stamp leader responded.

"Hey, hey. This isn't supposed to be a violent night, ok? Let us just enjoy the peace that Hinotori-sama has graced us with tonight. I mean, when was the last time we could simply just meet up and throw a party like this? What? Six years?"

They all kept quiet after Gorm spoke.

"Hehe, you seem to have a lot of respect for this bird, Gorm."

"Of course. She spoke the language Master Dorm taught me. She may not seem like much, but I have reason to suspect that she is a fire bird."

"Bull!"

"No way."

"Are you insane?"

"Interesting! Interesting! Tell me more! My money senses are raging now! Kekekekeke!"

Each leader with their own reaction. Gorm took the initiative to explain to them his theory. That night, two goblins ran away from the party. They really didn't like each other, but they seemed to have the same goal.

***

As I finally realized the sort of predicament I was in, I began to cry.

'It's impossible! No hope whatsoever! I wanna run away!'

Ulva patted me on the head to console me and I could only look at her face.

"It… will be fine."

She said in a shy, cute voice. This girl was just adorable, but she simply didn't understand what kind of situation I just dived headfirst into.

'You're adorable, but a kid like you wouldn't really understand my problem.'

"It's big sis after all."

She said something I didn't expect or want to hear. How would one just tell an animal that they were their sibling? And even more problematic…

'You see what I mean?! Everyone thinks I'm a woman! Why?! I didn't even say anything!'

"I- I do not understand. I-Is it b-because I am calling you… big sister?"

She was blushing and her eyes became bigger. Those ruby red eyes bore into me almost pleadingly. I wanted to tell her to stop, but those eyes were too strong. I simply couldn't win against them. And to be honest, if I was female now, there was nothing I could do about it. I was stuck that way.

'Uwaaaaaaaa! Ulva-chan, do you wanna call me b-b-b-b-b-b… Do you wanna call me "Big Sister"?!'

For a moment, she froze but she just replied to my question with a bright smile, showing her bright teeth and fangs.

'I really can't win against you.'

I fluffed her head with my wing. My antenna twitched and I admitted my defeat. I sighed and looked out. It was late, so I would have to find meat for Ulva.

'Huh, how's it like being a dhampyr?'

The question just slipped out of my mouth like that. She tilted her head almost like she were confused. She was probably just hungry for food.

'Then again I haven't really interacted with you much, have I? Wait! How do you walk in daytime? Or do dhampyrs in this world have a sort of immunity to those things? Heh, whatever. I can investigate later. I'll go get you dinner, kay?'

I fluffed her black hair with my wings once again and walked past her, leaving Diane's tree. Her creepy gaze from the corner was giving me chills. Eerily enough, I walked out only to be met by golden eyes approaching me. They belonged to two goblins.

"Hinotori-sama!"

Both of them screamed, but before they could touch me I shot a ball of fire to make them stay back.

'What's with these two goblins? What do you want? To eat me? But, why do you call me 'sama'? You guys shouldn't even know what that is.'

"Huh? You don't remember me?"

One of the goblins asked while pointing to his ugly face.

"Ha! Of course she does not. Who would remember a weakling like you?"

The other one wore a smug grin on his face.

'I don't know you either.'

"Ah."

The goblin looked shocked.

"Ah? Hinotori-sama likes to joke a lot! It is me. It is I! The goblin you went hunting with. Remember?"

The other one said.

'Goblin I went hunting with? Oh, I remember a group of goblins who tried to get the jump on me. I ended up killing one of them in one slash. Hehehe… Weaklings.'

"Ah yes. I knew you would."

He looked pleased with himself even though I just called him weak.

'Then this guy was a part of the team then?'

"No, he was the one who attacked you that day."

'The person who attacked me? Ah! I remember you. You tried to kill me back then, but Oda saved you and Minerva killed you.'

"Haha! Sorry about that Hinotori-sama. I was just being foolish at the time."

'But why are you calling me 'Hinotori-sama'? None of you should even know that.'

"Y-you are The Tyrant's friend and deserve respect! Gorm said it is how to show respect to you!"

He was averting his eyes from mine as if he were some girl.

'What the hell!? Dude, don't do that. Also, what kind of shitty reason is that?'

"H-Hinotori-sama! Please may we ask something of you?"

The two goblins interrupted my conversation and bowed before me.

'Why does this feel so nostalgic? What is it?'

"Tomorrow we plan on proving our worth in battle, so please…."

'Please what? Ah, I don't have time for this! Fine, whatever you want.'

Completely ignoring those two, I flapped my wings for lift off then I felt something latch on to my talons when I got higher. I knew who it was as soon I heard that annoying voice.

"Oi! Chicken!"

'Ugh… Bug face. You still aren't dead?'

"Bastard."

She silently cursed me, but I heard her. She climbed the thread she had latched on to me and jumped on my back. She felt a little bit heavier than I remembered, but I simply fixed that with [Size Manipulation]. Did the strength stat really affect everything that much.

"Oi chicken. You haven't told me where you are going."

'Hmm? Oh right. I'm going to the rat men's underground cave. Where are you coming from?'

"Hmm, doing rounds and delivering orders to my kids. Why are you going to the rat cave? You got some stuff you're transferring?"

'No, not really. Just need to deliver my final orders or something like that.'

"Huh? Seriously? You're no fun."

'Shut it, Bug face!'

"What'd ya say, you stupid chicken?"

'Eight eyes!'

"Lunch!"

And like that we continued our usual banter while I flew through the sky. We got to the rat man's underground cave and things were as busy as usual. A rat man who noticed us, directed us towards their leader. When we got there, I was stunned to see that he was there with some giant rat, almost as big as the giant spider from the bee hive.

Apparently, that thing was the grandmother/mother of all the rat men. She had been around and was a king in her species, which just proved how weak the rat men actually were seeing as she wasn't battle oriented. Or maybe it was just her that was weak.

"Lady Hinotori! Why have you come here?"

'Um… I needed you to build something for me. Maybe I came at the wrong time?'

"Oh no, no. This is ok. I have nothing doing to be honest."

I looked at his grandmother whose existence he just dismissed and shrugged. I sent a message to him and he was a bit confused after hearing it.

"S-sure, but why do you need this?"

'Hmm? If I don't have all of this we will definitely die tomorrow.'

I didn't feel like explaining so I was sure just saying this alone would scare him enough to do it. I could tell it worked because I saw his eyes opening in shock. I then relayed my idea to him and his eye bulged out of their sockets.

"This… this… it is simply too stupid to actually work. Are you sure?"

'Well I don't appreciate you calling it stupid, but yes, I am certain that it will work. It's gotta or else we will die.'

He sighed and just scratched his head. He muttered something about giving up on life and walking away.

"Hey chicken? What are you planning?"

The spider asked.

'Heh, something stupid.'