Chapter 35

I opened my eyes abruptly yanking myself from the dark void of sleep. The throne room was silent and empty.

"Dasiy is there a problem with the dungeon?" I looked around and silently stood up.

"No."

"Are you sure?" Something felt off. It was the feeling that you aren't alone, that something or someone was hiding in the dark.

"I am positive."

"No, something is up. Send the spiders to investigate. Check all rooms top to bottom." I felt the spiders get the message and begin searching the entire place. Most of them were hold up in the tree room or the resting area right off the throne room. I saw a tank and poison spider come out of that room and run toward the tunnel leading to the right.

"What is the matter?" This was the first time Daisy had asked me a question but I was going to let it slide.

"I don't know, but something feels wrong." I had no danger responses from the spiders as they investigated. I looked around the room seeing nothing. I closed my eyes and focused on my hearing, straining to listen to anything. A slight scraping sound reached me from the left. I snapped my head toward the spawning room.

"Get a few of the spiders here now," I ordered Dasiy as I climbed down the throne and walked toward the room. I couldn't hear the sounds anymore but the uneasy feeling was still there. I walked closer trying to stay as quiet s possible as I entered the small tunnel between the rooms. Peaking around the corner into the room I saw a goblin. How the hell is a goblin here?

"Unsure, there has been no unusual activity since we left the dwarf planet."

Could it have been here since the last goblin dungeon we were at? The last time we saw goblins were in the parmadillo dungeon.

"That isn't likely, there are regular patrols throughout the dungeon at all times, and the only place with food that the goblin could survive on is the tree room.

I looked closer at the goblin as it shuffled around the room. There was something different about this goblin. It had no scars or battle marks on its body and he wasn't even armed. The only thing that he had on him was a large rucksack he had over his shoulder.

I felt the silent approach of Alec coming up behind me. I sent him a message to attack but not kill. I wanted to see what was going on and how the bastard got into my dungeon. Alec slipped into the room as the goblin's back was to us, he slowly crept forward reaching the middle of the room before the goblin noticed his presence. The goblin let out a little scream and turned around fast dropping an object that it was holding. Alec lunged forward covering the last half of the room before the goblin to even react. He struck the goblin in the chest with his full body weight and drove it against the wall. I could hear the breath rush out of its lungs as they impacted the fall and slid to the floor. Alec took up an offensive position standing over the goblin with his tail inches from his face.

"Okay okay hold up." It screamed with its hands up. I stepped from the tunnel completely confused.

"I can understand you. Why can I understand him?" I said out loud.

"What" The goblin looked at me for the first time and went pale. "Please don't kill me." His voice was trembling now.

"Unsure," Daisy said answering my question.

"Well, who the hell is he? Hey, who the hell are you?" The goblin looked even more confused now.

"Im Flu the treasure goblin." He said now starting to cry. 'Please don't kill me. I'm not a fighter I swear. I promise I'll never steal from you again." Now it was my turn to be confused. I looked at the object that the spider dropped, it was the remains of the giant mana crystal from the demon.

"Bastard you were trying to steal from me, you little thief." He whimpered as I hissed insults at him. He apologized repeatedly quivering all over. A treasure goblin I've heard that name before. I always thought it was a myth. Treasure goblins are supposedly a type of goblin that travels between the dungeons and stole anything that they could get their hands on. It was said that if you could kill one and take their sac that you would get many rare items and treasures.

"Please, please, please." The goblin repeated over and over again.

"Hey, if I let you go, do you promise not to run?" I asked as the poison spiders and a tank entered the small room.

"Yes, yes. I swear." I ordered the spiders to surround him before having Alec climb off him. The little goblin slowly pulled himself up on his knees and sat there looking at the floor.

"So, you are a real treasure goblin?"

"Yes, yes. That's who I am." He answered quickly.

"And you came here to steal from me. How did you get in here?"

"I have a jar."

"A jar? Good for you. What does that have to do with how you got here?"

"It's a jar of interdimensional space that allows us treasure goblins to jump between dungeons."

Is that possible?

"It is possible to have a pocket of interdimensional space, but the issue is that most creatures would die if they entered the space like that."

"How can you move in the void like that?"

"I do not know. I was only told that any other living thing would die if they attempted to try. We were always instructed to never steal or carry living beings." I looked closer at the goblin. In the darkness of the cave, it was hard to see clearly, but it looked like he was a different color than the other goblins.

"Come with me. Do not try to escape or you will die." He nodded and stood up. We made our way out of the cave tunnels and into the tree room. The fake sun was high in the sky giving us ample light. Ella came up to me looking confused. I shrugged and turned to see the goblin enter the light. Sure enough, his skin was not the greenish-grey color of most goblins, instead, his skin was slightly golden with small specks of silver.

"His body might be the reason he can take the trip in the void," Daisy said answering my thoughts.

"Interesting. So, your name is Flu right?" He nodded frantically. "And you came here to steal, we will look past that. My question is what do I do with you now?"

"Release Flu and I swear I will not bother again." He looked up at me hopefully.

"Yeah, no. That's not how this works." He grew pale. "I'm not going to kill you though. Instead, let's make a deal."

"What deal?" There were a few stories about treasure goblins, but most seemed fake with facts like they carried a whole dragon skeleton in their bags, or they had the power to turn invisible. However, there was one thing that was in every story. If you killed the goblin or tried to steal the bag, it would start to shrink until it disappeared. It was possible to grab a few things before it vanished, but it was nowhere near how much you could get if you traded with the goblin.

"Well, first off you will need to pay for trying to steal from me." I glanced at the pack on his shoulder. "After that, I would like to see what you have and see if there is anything I can buy from you." The goblin looked up at me with excitement and glee. He frantically pulled the bag off his back and opened it. He reached down in the bag and rummaged around. First, he pulled a large blanket and set it out in front of us before pulling things out of his bag like a man setting up for a flea market. He pulled out a bunch of random things, some I knew others I had never seen, and some things I never want to see again.

"Please sure pick anything you want as an apology." His voice was crisp and professional. This is what he was meant to do. He was confident and upright like a real businessman. I chuckled and looked at the goods. A lot was useless to me. There were a few hunks of raw minerals and ore which were pretty but for me not needed. There were a few small tools and weapons that I had no interest in. There was a hunk of moss that was pulsing like a beating heart that I did not want to even touch, along with something gooey and something that I didn't even want to describe. I scanned the items not seeing anything overly exciting until my eyes locked onto a large leatherbound book with a large skull on it. I reached down and picked it up flipping it open, the book was written in a language I didn't understand but the pictures were quite clear. There were pictures of a man throwing a fireball, or conjuring a ball of water. I flipped through the book looking over the pages, spell casting, necromancy, demon summoning, and enchantments. This book was.

"Ah, the grimoire of the fallen witch." The Golbin spoke as if reading my mind.

"The fallen witch?"

"I found this" He coughed as I looked at him. "Stole this from a dungeon that was attached to a world covered in flames. My curiosity got the best of me and I looked around. The world was plagued with a war that decimated the world, the dungeon attached near the end of the war and once the dungeon opened up to the world they were able to do massive damage. Apparently, dungeon masters was a griffin and fought a very powerful witch who put up one hell of a fight. The dungeon master eventually won and took the witch's head and grimoire as a trophy." I doubted some of the words that this coward had said, but this was definitely a grimoire.

"I'll take this." I looked at the rest of the goods and decided not to get anything.

"Thank you for your business." The goblin said packing his things.

"If you find anything else like this or anything interesting, come back and show me. I'll buy it if I can." The goblin nodded as he finished packing his bag. As the blanket entered his bag and he tossed it on his shoulder all of the confidence that he held as a salesman faded. He refused to meet my eyes and started to tremble again.

"I will be leaving now." He said in the same shaky voice. I waved him off and watched as he sprinted away from all of us and pulled out a jar from his pocket. He opened the jar and shook out a black gate which expanded enough to fit the goblin. He glanced back one last time before jumping in with the gate closing off.

"That was weird. Even for me." Everyone agreed and we all went back to the usual life.