Gropsville Village

Snow flew up, "It broke in!" she shouted.

The green figure exemplified pure dwarfism. It was so short that even Amos, as short as he was, was twice as tall as it. It was the color of dark green grass, and the canines of its lower draw reached the upper draw. Its eyes were tiny, and the lens were blocked by cataract, and lastly, its fingers and toes were so egregious that even the word grotesque could not describe how ugly they were.

The goblin was so stupid that he aimed for the smallest figure in its presence—namely, Snow, the fairy who possessed the smallest body when compared to that Amos and Jenkins. If he thought Snow had more meat, then the cataract was probably in effect. Stupidly, he directed his weapon at Snow.

'Why the hell didn't he take out the elephant in the room instead?'

"Snow, look out!"

Amos pushed Snow away and an arrow pierced through his little hand, "Aghh!"

Two more goblins heard his audible scream and came to Miss Jenkin's shop. Dauntlessly, Miss Jenkins approached the goblins with a sluggish optimistic gait. She seemed to not fear the goblins at all. All one can see in her eyes was anger.

She seemed to be callous at the moment, and for one second, as she glimpsed at Amos when she had passed by, he saw her eyes glow pink.

Amos reached out his hand, "No Miss Jenkins. You have the most meat, if they get to knock you down, there's no telling if you'll ever get back up!"

'Wait. That came out like a diss.'

She stood in front of the three goblins with her hands on her fleshy waists, "Listen up shorties, you just broke down my door and all of you are paying for it."

The famished goblin at the right licked his dry flakey lips, "So much flesh! He can feed us for days!"

A visible magical Aura then suddenly appeared on Miss Jenkins, her eyes started glowing and she turned into a pig lady with a bat at hand, "When I said paying for it, I did not mean money!"

"Furthermore, " she walked closer, "Which one of you referred to me as a 'he'?"

She was still standing at the same height after her transformation, and her hair everything remained there. But her nose, along with other facial features, were of the pig species. She called this transformation The Hybrid Pig.

Amos looked at her, "Wow."

One of the goblins then said, "It is her. She was disguised as a human!"

"Attack for our fallen goblin brothers!"

As Goblins charged with their weapons, Miss Jenkins stomped and everyone fell to the floor. And after the stomp, there was a shock wave, that sent everyone in the room into a wall.

Was it the power of her weight, or the power of her magic?

Amos stared in awe and said, "Who'd ever thought she was this strong!" he stood.

The stomping also attracted many more hungry goblins! They kept coming through the door. Outraged, Miss Jenkins fought them off, "Run, run away children! Take the back door, I will be fine. Amos, just be sure to come back sometime, oink!"

Why not have an obsessed woman who could turn into an obese pig?

Amos and Snow darted to the back door.

Being altruistic, Amos halted and asked, "Would she be alright?"

Snow looked back at him, "Let us get going! She has done this many times before. She will be fine."

"But there's an army of them."

"Come on, Amos! She is better off than us. We can not fight to save our lives, but they can!"

Amos continued running, "Where are we going?"

"Anywhere but here."

They ran for two minutes, Amos then stopped and put his hands on his knees, "Huff, huff," he wheezed heavily, "I....need a rest."

"What! The goblins can smell us from one hundred meters away! We are not even halfway there!"

My asthma, why do I have asthma in this world too? Am I not in a different person's body? This makes no sense! Unless...

Amos tragically suffered from asthma in his previous life — It was a great constraint for him, and it degraded his drastic living further. He had to avoid sports, dusty environments, and air-conditioning at all cost. In other words, he was significantly weakened by this disease, and it was one of his greatest faults.

"Let us go at once, Amos, you have had thirty seconds of rest already, we must continue!"

"Give me one minute."

"We do not have a minute! It is night and we are all alone! What if we get caught by someone out here!"

She was right, there were many reluctant perverts crazily running around in the night.

Wait, was she talking about perverts?

"Huff huff, The goblins are busy...."

"You think goblins are our only threat!? Come on, Amos! I know a secret place!"

Amos got up, "Okay..."

Snow flew very quickly and Amos tried to keep up.

"Come on Amos, keep up!"

It was very dark and Amos had no idea where they were going, he just followed the sparkling light coming from Snow's wings: the emitted Magic Dust. He felt as if he was going to faint. Running was never his thing, it remained as one of his weaknesses but he kept running.

They ran for five minutes.

Snow stopped and turned around, "We have arrived!" She then stood next to a tall tree.

Amos stopped too, "Huff, What are you doing?"

She opened a little wooden door in the tree trunk, "It is my little place. Come in!"

'How did she, in such darkness, even detect that tree in specific out of all the other trees around here?

Amos looked at it, "It's a bit small for me, isn't it?"

She entered the tree, "I do not know, come in and see..."

Amos squeezed through the little door, bruising his arm; blood was mildly imperceptible. As he looked down there was a spiral stairway built to carry the person using it underground. He had to crouch very low while going down the stairs — Luckily, his meager body was likely susceptible to fit due to its size. He then kept walking until he had sufficient space to stand straight.

The little remains of sunset light verged to darkness, and nocturnality was gradually being awakened. As Amos followed the dark path of the staircase, he deemed it unnerving (especially after seeing the goblins up close), and had gained considerable apprehension. Then, he saw something of tremendous luminance further down; a light source perhaps. He was sweating, and could not help but ask, "Snow, are we there yet?"

She smiled, "Mhm, A little further..."

***

As Amos took the last step and looked up, he was surprised by an under-ground room with neatly placed furniture positioned within its spacious interior.

He looked around, "Must say I'm impressed."

She flew around, "Yes, it is quite cozy, and warm in here."

She then sat down on a little chair, "It was built by my uncle, Shino."

"He must be a professional builder to build something like this!"

'Man, I wish my place on Earth looked like this.'

She looked down at her fingers, "He was..."

"Did he retire?"

"He is none other than the uncle I mentioned earlier today."

"Ohh...."

Her uncle died? By the Grospville people! I feel sorry for her. In her eyes, I see nothing but melancholy. I should do something about this...

It was quiet for a while, then Amos brought up another topic, "Hey, Snow. Why are there so many Goblins near Gropsville?"

"The cave: they reside in the depths of the cave near the village. I wish trolls were the ones who lived near there. Those poor little kids at the village. Trolls live underground and are friendly to every race. Whereas Goblins live in Caves, and try eating any living thing their eyes come across—hungry or not."

"Underground?"

She felt more uneasy, "Yeah, many trolls once helped my Uncle build hundreds of houses, especially underground. My uncle loved trolls, and he challenged himself a lot by building subterranean settlements."

Damn it! I was only trying to cheer her up a notch by changing the topic, but I brought up another depressive memory of hers! Take two...

"I bet he's in heaven for builders! He's probably having a blast right now! With many other builder friends! With the hammer in his hands and the ambition for building in his heart, he can even build a bridge from heaven to Archeria if he wanted to. Am I right?"

She smiled, "You are most definitely right. He loved building. He also once tried helping Gropsville, look at what it brought him. He really sounds like something else. I wish I got to know him better. Thank you, Amos."

That's it, give me a smile.

"Don't worry Snow. He's in a better place now."

"Yeah, you are right yet again."

"Gropsville sucks a lot. Why don't the villagers just flee and live elsewhere! Just staying there alone with your kids means you're on a death wish!"

"You see...Gropsville is a very historical place. It was rebuilt over three times by many talented ancestors. Rumors have it that Gropsville's ancestors are watching over the village. The villagers also believe that Gropsville is a gift bestowed by the Gods. A human can live up to eight hundred years in Gropsville, in other places they die at a significantly younger age."

'Like hell I'm dying at a normal lifespan now that I know this much,' he smirked.

"That's cool."

"They say that Gropsville is a gift for this reason. But since the beginning, Gropsville has always been a place targeted by Cave Goblins."

"Why target Gropsville out of all the places?"

"That is what they were trying to find out for centuries! But I think the Goblins attack Gropsville because it is very close to The Goblin Cave."

"So that's the only cave!"

"Yeah, it is. The one they came out from today, " an angry grimace appeared on her face, "Were you not listening to a word I said?"

'No I was looking at how beautiful you are! If only you were a little bigger. Then I'd be hitting on ya even more than the rain!'

"I was listening! I just forgot. Is all."

She released the force in her eyebrows, and continued, " The Goblin Cave is older than the ancient Gropsville Village itself. The Goblin Cave holds over ten thousand Goblins and the Goblin Queen, Girophina. It is said that Girophina is eight centuries old and she makes two hundred goblins per year!"

"Talk about a baby machine..."

"Yeah. The reason why the cave is not overpopulated yet is because Gropsville villagers are responsible for killing over seven hundred Goblins every year."

"Say, how strong are the Gropsville villagers?"

"They are stronger than us. Gropsville is protected by the colossal Elephant King Erino, Bear King Batch, and the Pig Queen Porky Jenkins!"

"That's Miss Jenkins! Wait, you said Porky Jenkins! Who the hell gave her that name?"

"That is her full name. She hides it from the people who she is attracted to."

Amos blushed, "Okay, these people must be insanely strong!"

"They are...but they are also very greedy people. Elephants, Bears, Pigs, they are all greedy animals."

"Why aren't they treated like Kings and Queens then? Miss Jenkins runs a freaking shop!"

"They do not like fame. As long as you give them food, they require nothing else."

"Oh. That's nice of them."

"The Elephant King is barely seen because he also runs a tribe, The Bear King runs a library and reads books for a living, and the Pig Queen spends her time selling stuff and looking for attractive men."

"Cool."

"They have been there since the Gods lived there, but they never speak about the Gods. That is why I think they are those Gods."

"That could actually be true!"

"They had countless battles with Girophina and the war still continues up to this day. That is basically the story of Gropsville. There are many more things we do not yet know about the village, but the Gods do."

"Speaking about strength and stuff..."

"Yeah?"

"Can you do the scan thingy you told me about?"

"Stat Observation? Sure, take off your clothes."

"What!?"

"You can leave on your underwear."

"O-Okay."

"Clothing can affect the results."

Amos took his clothing off, "Okay, done."

"Lay down, with your chest against the floor."

He blushed, "Oh-O-okay."

He laid down and Snow put a blank page and ink on his back, "Close your eyes and picture a scale."

"Okay."

"Rashi Ru Ku Roa De tu, Stat Ruku, rashi dez du! I open up my secrets to you, give me a test, and the Stat results too" chanted, Snow.

"Done yet?"

She then pulled the page from his back. Strangely, the page now had words on it! Her facial expressions remained the same as her head moved left to right, quickly going through each criterion. It was until her eyes landed on something that peaked her astonishment.

She opened her little greyish eyes in amazement, "I can not believe it!"