Lord Of Goblins

On his way back home, the thug, Pog was still shocked.

That man known as Gherm knew the depth of his soul. Pog joined Vyrga's gang five months ago to feed his family as he couldn't take care of his wife and three children without doing so. Vyrga expanded his territory a year ago and imposed taxes on all families whose men don't work for him; so he had no choice but to join the gang. It started out well, but as time passed his sense of guilt kept getting duller and he started to forget the real reason he joined as he started ignoring his family and his actions became more and viler. In the end, he almost forgot about his family and only transfers some merits to them as a chore, while spending most of his time drinking and between the legs of desperate whores who were either poor or whose spouse defied Vyrga. After seeing his mates die, almost experiencing death and listening to Gherm's speech. He decided.

"What the f.u.c.k am I doing with my life? What the f.u.c.k am I doing to my family? What the f.u.c.k have I done to other families?", he wants to leave the gang and fix his life. He wants to become better. He believed that he no longer felt guilty at his actions, but in truth, he locked the guilt away, and now the gates have been opened.

"Oh, gods… What kind of f.u.c.kwit have I been? I thought that I didn't give a rat's arse about my actions, but here I am feeling like dog shit…".

Halfway home, Pog stood still with his head in his hands. Remembering all the horrible things he's done. All the friends he hurt. All the pain he caused his family.

"No… It's not too late! I can fix this!", he yelled, determination in his voice, causing bystanders to look at him in confusion before continuing on his way.

'Shit… Yelling out loud? I'm really dumb as a box of rocks…', he thought while flushed with embarrassment.

'No time to kick myself in the balls. I gotta go get my family. In the next few days, that shitcunt Vyrga will launch a raid on the eastern gangs; we gotta pack our stuff and sneak outta this shithole by then. Helga, I'm gonna fix everything.'.

As he decided his plan, Pog straightened his back and marched home with the fires of hope in his eyes.

"Good morning, sister.", Lev greeted Ghorza with a smile just as she entered the dining quarters, surprising her; she always woke up earlier than Gherm, then she remembered his confession yesterday.

'This'll need some time to get used to.', She thought to herself before greeting him back "Morning, bro.".

Lev tries not to laugh as her expression reminded him of what happened after their discussion yesterday. 'Even though I gave her my name yesterday and drank Mermon powder a day prior, she still tried to check if I could be a demon.". Despite believing him, she wasn't the type to trust others easily so she made him chant a few religious hymns and put his hands in the small meagre salt reserve that they have. In order to pay her back for her cautious nature; he began to scream as if he's in pain, almost giving her a heart attack, only to begin laughing at her frightened expression. This earned him a punch to the guts in return.

They proceeded to prepare breakfast and then sat down to eat. The meal couldn't be considered as luxurious as the cave worm as it consisted of watered-down porridge made from cheap mixed grains, a few common insects, mushrooms, and the most expensive item of them all, turnips. Foodstuffs from either outside the cavern or from the deeper levels are quite expensive merit-wise, with the cheapest categories from outside being grains followed by vegetables, while the cheapest categories from the deeper parts of the cavern were insects and mushrooms. Turnips are the second cheapest among outside vegetables, while the fuzzy cave worm from the two previous days was the fourth cheapest among deep level insects.

"So are you sure you wanna go to the mining quarters? How are you going to work with such a wound? Doesn't it hurt?", asked Ghorza while pointing at the treated wound that Lev got during the knife fight with one of Vyrga's thugs.

"Of course it hurts, but I have to go. We need all the merits that we can get and if I want to build up my reputation, I have to be present. Also, I need to have an important discussion with Rak.".

"Alright, but make sure not to get into any more trouble. I wish I could keep you in the house till you recover since it would be safer for you, but sadly I can't stop you.", the older sister sighed. With this new different persona of his, she couldn't trust him enough to stay out of harm's way.

"Safety… Ah! Though it's expensive, make sure to bring with you some blocks of wood, a good knife for carving wood, some copper nails and a hammer.", Lev told Ghorza.

The girl looked dumb-founded at such a request as the items he asked for would blow away the last of their merits.

She took a deep breath and asked "Why in the world do we need such crap? You're neither a carpenter nor an artist, so why would you want to immediately make us broke?".

"For safety concerns. I could improve the door at the entrance of the house to prevent undesirables from breaking in.".

"It's already a wooden door, bro. Everyone else uses rags or leather to cover theirs and they don't get robbed, and neither do we. Do you know why nobody here gets robbed? Cuz we're all poor! Who on earth would steal from slaves? And what would they steal? Insects and veggies?".

Lev narrowed his eyes at the stubborn girl and said with an irritated tone "It's not about stealing, it's about murder and arson. The house is made from wood and we're made of flesh, muscles, and bones. If you hadn't noticed, wood can be burned and living things can be killed, easily so in their sleep.".

"And I'm saying nobody will come inside and kill us. Vyrga is a wretch, but he's not stupid. Our dad, may he rest in the cycle, chose this spot especially because it's the safest. You might not remember, but he was as paranoid as you're currently are. He worked hard for enough merits to build the house near to the guard station and he made sure to exchange his merits for the sturdiest wood available and added a wooden door. We already block it on the inside with a large rock at night, so what more can you ask for? Besides, if you're that afraid of someone getting in, what about the windows? Anybody can crawl through them since large to get rid of the smoke when cooking.".

"I've already thought of them, but the biggest priority was the door. We need to block them too.".

Lev thought about his past, 'I've seen enough death in my previous life', he thought. 'I can't take it easy in this new world with people like Vygra, ready to stab me in the back when I'm not paying attention.'.

Ghorza rolled her eyes. "Seriously? In the end, I won't spend our merits on your paranoia! Even if we block them, any group of maniacs with axes can just chop through them. Heck, even a large hammer would work, it would take more time but still work.".

"Alright, alright. I get it. But I'm still going to increase our security measures once I get enough merits. Even a bar handle to the door would be better than nothing.".

"I don't know what a bar handle is, but sure. As long as you don't starve us to death, you can knock yourself out.".

After the conversation, they finished their meal and went to receive their assignments. It was the same as last time, but Kul was more worried about Lev due to his extra injury. Normally slaves were forced to keep working 'till the taskmaster decides that it was enough, but due to their relationship, Kul gave Lev the right to leave early in case he couldn't handle the work.

As Lev walked into the mining quarter, he received a lot of praise from fellow slaves who witnessed the fight. They had a look full of respect and adoration as they witnessed his small and damaged, yet regal form. He held his head high and proud, but unlike the warriors and nobles, he wasn't condescending and never ignored anyone who tried to talk to him no matter how poor they looked. No matter what people thought of him before; he was now a leader, and to many, their leader.

"Hey, Gherm!", yelled a man from afar.

'Who was this bogey who'd talk to him so Casually.', many slaves thought at the same time, only to panic at the identity of the man.

"Hey, Hem.", Gherm replied with a friendly smile.

'Hem! It was Hemgall!', many slaves screamed in their minds. Then they realized why wouldn't it be one of Rak's men? For yesterday after the fight and after Lev's talk with Rak; Rak's men not only decreased the amount of merits that they took but starting from today, they protected and helped the other bogeys like they used to in the past. And it wouldn't take a genius to guess that it was because of Lev, thus adding the more opportunistic bogeys into his camp, for who wouldn't like some additional benefits.

"Hey you slackers, get back to work!", yelled an overseer, causing the bogeys to take their attention away from Lev and back to their respective jobs.

As Hem approached Lev, he leaned in and whispered: "There's something important that Rak needs to tell you about.".

Lev's smile faded and was replaced with a determined look. He nodded to Hem and they went forth to meet with Rak.

They kept walking for a while until they reached the north-western side of the first floor of the mining quarters, where Rak was waiting for his confidants to arrive.

He nodded at the two and grinned "Right on time. Now there are only Galf and Hors left. So Gherm, how's your arm?".

Lev smiled ruefully and replied "Fine and dandy. Could still use a week or two. And how's life?"

"Shitty as always. And you better hope that it heals fast considering what'll happen in two weeks.".

Lev's expression turned cold at the warning "What's going to happen in two weeks?".

Lev's question caused Rak to smile savagely "An expedition will happen.".

'F.u.c.k.'.