'Fucking hell, I'm getting tired of this.' Amon thought to himself. 'Still, I've grown a ton in the last few days. Shouldn't be long before I can do something about this.'
It had been three days since Amon had been Reborn into this new world.
Being a Goblin isn't as bad as it seems. Well, I still don't know much about it. The world is vast, I'm sure.'
For three days, Amon was stuck inside the newborns' cave, filled with nothing but Goblins as young as he was. From time to time, an older, mature Goblin would come in and throw some food at them. They were mostly fed scraps, which wasn't great.
Fortunately, Amon had been able to assert his dominance right away on the other young Goblins. He has been eating far better than the others. Some didn't even get to eat once.
'Sorry, but I gotta grow as fast as possible.'
Amon wasn't sorry at all.
'Newborn is a bit of a stretch though. I could crawl and see right away, I could walk on the second day, and on the third, I'm close to the same height as the mature Goblins. The others aren't as fortunate, but I'm sure they'll grow as well. Just a bit slower than I am.'
Ever since Amon gained the ability to walk, he has been debating whether or not to leave the cave.
As far as he could tell, there was nothing stopping him from doing so. The mature Goblins didn't really care about the young ones. There wasn't anyone standing guard at the entry of the cave either. Feeding them the bare minimum from time to time was all the young Goblins were
Still, something convinced him to keep waiting.
'Longest minutes of my life.' Amon sighed.
[System Initialization is still ongoing.]
[Four minutes left before System Activation.]
'I wonder if the activation is somehow linked to me achieving maturity as a Goblin. What a strange race… Achieving maturity in three days. That's pretty impressive, isn't it?' Amon, the Goblin, scratched his chin while staring at the light at the end of the cave. He turned towards the other young Goblins, studying them one by one. 'Yep.' He had come to the same conclusion many times. 'Only males. Whether Goblins are separated at birth, I do not know.' He shrugged it off for now.
Amon wasn't planning on living with Goblins anyways, despite being one.
'Once the System activates, I'll choose what to do. Leave the area, or… We'll see.'
The sound of footsteps approaching the cave's entry resonated as the countdown approached 0.
'Bringing food?' Amon asked himself. 'Good. I'll have something to snack on while the System does its thing.'
[System Activation is underway!]
[System...]
Amon wasn't able to read the rest of the System messages.
'What the fuck?!' He exclaimed internally as his head was suddenly grabbed by a rough hand.
He managed to keep himself from punching the mature Goblin, but it hadn't been easy.
'Dick!' Amon cursed internally.
Two minutes later, all of the young Goblins were out of the cave, brought out just as roughly as Amon had been.
'Nice village.' Amon looked around. 'They even have wooden huts.. I'd like to see how the inside of these huts looks. It's surprising... Oh, they probably just found this place or conquered it. No way these dumbasses actually built the village.''
Minutes passed, and the young Goblins found themselves encircled by mature Goblins.
The mature Goblins' grunts and shoves showed the way.
At the center of the village stood a throne elevated by a wooden platform. A roughly made staircase led to the throne. Colorful leaves lay behind and below.
Leading to the platform on which rested the throne was a long path devoid of huts that stretched through the village, cutting it in two down the middle like a street.
'We're being positioned on either side of that path. Since they haven't taken us out until now, something must be happening. Or is about to happen.'
"Stand up straight, pipsqueak."
Amon stared with a frown for a moment.
'I can understand them. Could it be because of the System Activating? I couldn't understand them before… It could also be because I've matured enough as a Goblin somehow? A sudden change like that must be due to the System though, right?'
"What are you staring for? Oh, I see. You're one of the brats. I'm wasting my breath." The Goblin spat on the ground as it look away.
Amon started counting.
'About one hundred Goblins on either side of the path leading to the throne.'
He scratched his chin.
"What's happening?" Amon finally asked.
The Goblin stared at him for a moment.
"An important meeting."
Before Amon could further inquire, every single one of the two-hundred-plus Goblins went silent.
'Mm.'
Amon's eyes narrowed as a figure walked out of the village's largest hut. It was the closest one to the elevated platform and throne.
A glance was enough to tell that he was the oldest of the village. On his head rested a colorful crown made of various materials held together by branches.
He walked slowly and cautiously before stepping up the staircase and taking a seat on his throne.
Amon wanted to ask questions, but it didn't seem like the time. The silence was such that his voice would stick out too much.
The old Goblin, the Goblin Chief, reached below his throne and pulled a wooden staff previously hidden by the leaves.
A moment later, Amon felt his heartrate suddenly increase as howls echoed in the distance.
"They're here." The Goblin standing by his side whispered in a low voice.
The howls quickly got closer and closer.
Eventually, the silence into which the Goblin village had been plunged broke. Mutters, curses, whispers.
A voice coming from behind helped Amon understand the situation better.
"Those damn Hobgoblins...!" A Goblin cursed under his breath.
'Unwelcomed visitors, huh?' Amon sighed. 'But he talked about an important meeting.'
The fact that every Goblin had been brought out into the open made the Goblin Chief's objective clear.
It was a show of force.
'For some reason, they equated the goals to the Hobgoblins' approach, I assume the Wolves are the Hobgoblins' show of force.'
Seconds later, the ferocious howling beasts could be seen at the village's entry.
"Fucking Hobgoblins..."
Many Goblins uttered those words at the same time.
'They're riding the Wolves?!' Amon's eyes immediately lit up. 'That's cool as fuck! I was born in the wrong race!'
The Black Wolves were fierce blood-thirsty beasts.
'Hm... About twelve of them.' Amon scratched his neck. 'Twelve Hobgoblins and twelve Wolves. Does the difference in numbers mean nothing?
It was rather confusing how scared the Goblins were despite the overwhelming advantage in numbers.'
Amon was still unaware of the fact that the forest surrounding the Goblin village was the territory of many Species of Wolves, primarily the Gray and BlackWolves.
While Goblins could fight Gray Wolves on close to equal footing, Black Wolves were a completely different issue.
As the Hobgoblins riding their Black Wolves approached the throne, the swarm of Goblins moved rythmically with the Black Wolves' growling mouths. The Goblins would step back when the Black Wolves turned their fangs towards them, and take back their previous position when the Black Wolves would turn towards the other side.
"Don't be so scared." One of the Hobgoblins said with a smile. "They're nice and harmless pets."
Even Amon could tell that the Hobgoblin was trying to belittle and mock the Goblins.
'Black Wolves prey on Goblins.' Amon thought. 'And Black Wolves are nothing more than nice and harmless pets for Hobgoblins.' A sigh exited his mouth.
What does that make of Goblins in relation to Hobgoblins?
As the Hobgoblin standing at the front stopped upon reaching the wooden platform, two things caught Amon's attention.
The first was that one of the riding Hobgoblins was a female.
'Damn, she's jacked.' He noted internally. 'So Hobgoblins have females, but not Goblins?'
The second thing that caught his attention was the large cage partially covered by cloth that was being pulled by the last three Black Wolves.
"Goblin Chief!" The Hobgoblin at the front called out as he hopped off his Black Wolf. "It has been a while."
The Goblin Chief stared with narrow eyes.
"Where is your chief?"
Ferocious growling suddenly broke out, causing the Goblin Chief to wince and the surrounding Goblins to step back.
"There, there." The Hobgoblin patted the Black Wolf, calming it down. "They're friends, don't worry. Nice and harmless friends..."He turned towards the Goblin Chief. "Isn't that right?"
The Goblin Chief remained silent, staring with his wooden staff in hand.
"Our Chief was unfortunately unable to come. Duties and all, I'm sure you understand."
A heavy silence ensued.
"We're still going through the exchange. If the most honorable Goblin Chief agrees, of course."
The Goblin Chief's narrow eyes suddenly grew wider. His gaze, just like the gaze of all the mature Goblins, immediately moved towards the cage.
"What have you brought for us?" The Goblin Chief asked.
Despite his best attempt not to, the Goblin Chief couldn't help but lick his lips.
'What the fuck?' Amon frowned as he looked around. The rest of the mature Goblins, lacking the Chief's restraint, were heavily salivating and not exercising one ounce of effort to hide it.
A hand was suddenly placed on Amon's shoulder.
It was the same Goblin that had talked to him earlier, though it was hard to believe.
The Goblin which previously seemed exceedingly serious and almost respectable, was now salivating like a beast and breathing heavily like an animal in a heat.
"Show them." The Hobgoblin chuckled, waving a hand to those at the back.
Before the contents of the cage were revealed, Amon felt the Goblin's grasp on his shoulder tighten.
"S-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s..."
Never before had Amon heard someone stutter for that long.
"S-s-s-sm... Smells...."
'Smells?'
The Goblin's eyes and mouth were wide open.
"SMELLS… LIKE A FEMALE!!"
"Like a female...?" Amon's confused expression turned towards the rest of the Goblins.
Every single one of them had forgotten all about their fear of the Black Wolves, or their hatred of the Hobgoblins.
Presently, they were nothing more than animals in heat.
"I'm kind of offended that I don't have the same effect on them, but what are you gonna do." The female Hobgoblin shrugged as she took hold of the cloth hiding the cage's contents."Give them a nice smile, will ya?"
The cloth was pulled down, revealing the prisoner.
The sight was such that even the Goblin Chief forgot himself, and started salivating heavily.
"...?"
Being hit by sunlight so suddenly caused her to close her eyes and raise a hand. The headache made her feel miserable.
Through her torn clothes, hints of her generous curves and plump breasts could be seen.
She fought back against the pain, and slowly opened her eyes.
"Wha…?"
She nearly passed out at the sight..
Dozens and dozens of salivating Goblins, with erections so strong that the cloth that hid their privates seemed about to tear. Some of the Goblins didn't have that problem, as they had taken out their junk the moment that the prisoner had been revealed.
'Damn...' Amon hadn't noticed any of that yet. 'Those ears and that tail... A Fox Girl?' Amon scratched his chin. 'System, anything you want to tell me?'