When she was instructed to undress Barbara scrambled to hide the mana toxin.

It was her secret trump card, but she hadn't yet seen an opportunity to use it. Once the adventurers came, she figured, she would throw it into the goblin leader's face.

So the tiny vial was quickly stowed underneath the primitive mattress in her assigned quarter.

-

She couldn't see who was talking to her in the absolute darkness of her cell, but she knew it was one of Scratch's underlings.

"T-take off your clothes. They're dirty."

With such perfect diction it sounded even more similar to a human boy's voice.

As she removed the damp skirt she considered her situation and her captors. I think I understand, the underlings are all real goblins, their intelligence is boosted by their leader. One-eye is some sort of high magic monster, either a special goblin type or something completely different. He has an uncanny control over them, they obey him without being threatened, but he couldn't participate in the.. ugh... mating pile.

She took off her top while letting her mind go towards the unpleasantness of the days before.

That means the mana toxin should definitely work on him, perhaps even restrict his ability to affect the goblins' minds. Wouldn't that be something? Maybe they'll all gang up on him.

She let herself become optimistic, suddenly her time in the derelict village seemed like a strength. Her understanding of goblins and hardiness against rape allowed her to keep a cool head and find a way to escape, instead of break down.

She realized she had been standing still in one place, completely naked, her head a bit bend not to hit the ceiling. A slight chill was getting to her and the other party remained silent.

Eventually he did speak. "Uhm, uh. Here."

She didn't stir. Where? Do I have to move?

The entity came up to her and pushed something into her hand. "New clothes."

Then he left, she could hear the door closing and the latch being placed. She felt the gift in her hand, it felt like hide, some sort of primitive dress perhaps.

She decided to put it on, even if it was a bit difficult to put on with the low ceiling. Now that the goblin had left and she was left unbound for the first time in days she activated a candlelight spell to see. What had been given to her was a formless rag to cover her body, it was made up out of differently colored skins and big obvious stitching.

She thought it made her look like a feral creature herself. But it was better than sleeping naked.

Second stood in front of Barbara, he held the dress in his hands, fidgeting with it.

Quiet hadn't entered the room, he was observing from the doorpost.

"T-take of your clothes. They're dirty." He commanded, as he had been instructed to do.

Following that, she proceeded to do as he said. She pulled down her skirt and removed her top.

The blood rushed to Second's face, as his entire body reacted to the sight of her naked flesh, he froze up. This wasn't the time to mate, no matter what his lower body told him, so he stopped himself from rushing her. Besides, on his own he was hardly a match for her size.

Barbara stood there getting uncomfortable.

"Uhm, uh. Here." He averted his gaze and extended his arm with the dress.

Nothing happened. She couldn't see in the dark.

Gathering all his willpower Second took four long steps forward and pushed the gift into her hand. "New clothes." He then grabbed her dirty clothes from the ground and rushed out of the room.

-

He and Quiet locked up the cell again.

"What are you doing?" Dumb had followed them down the tunnel.

Second gave an enormous grin.

"Don't just smile at me. Tell me what you did!"

"Hehe." Straining the limits of his face Second's toothy grin became even wider.

The next morning Scratch was woken up by a toddler stumbling over his chest.

He held the kid up by the armpits. It was Abel, he had matured a bit during the night.

"Up and about already? You want to go exploring?" Scratch asked him.

Abel opened his mouth of adult teeth, too big for his head. "Exp'oring!"

"That's exploring."

He looked around. It seemed like most of the newborn had woken up and were walking around their new home.

Seeing so many goblins in one place made Scratch do an inventory on their family.

The oldest two where Quiet and himself.

Then there were five of their younger brothers still alive; Second, Kicker & Biter, Fat and Dumb.

They had three adopted members, Scream, Laugh and Digger.

And now the youngest generation had been born, his nephews most likely. Fyro, Abel, Mac, George, Linus and Benjamin. Their names bing roughly what Barbara had suggested, some slightly altered to be male.

Together that was sixteen, one of the larger tribes after the splintering of the main group.

In a few days the nephews would be fully grown and capable of defending the cave. Minus Biter there would be fifteen warriors, he could only hope that was enough.

-

Quiet was preparing baked eggs and dried meat meat for breakfast, Scratch went on to wash yesterday's clothes outside with Laugh and Scream. The others were doting on the kids, teaching them how to dress themselves and trying to get them to say their names. For now their tunics hung down to their ankles, but they would grow into them soon enough.

Scratch looked at the two adopted goblins. He tried to think of a subject to start a conversation but he came up short. They were focused on their task of scrubbing the clothing in the washing basin, so he was contend to do so without conversation.

The water turned red from Barbara's excretions, so much so that it wouldn't be hygienic to wash the remaining clothes in the same broth.

"Drain it?" Scream asked.

"Yeah. Let's put some water in the sifter too."

The water from the well was still being sifted through rocks and gravel before it was used, so they had to use some foresight to put it in some time before they could use it.

"The food has to be done right now anyway." Laugh commented, sniffing the air.

Breakfast was usually prepared in the little hearth in the foyer, rather than the kitchen hut outside, since breakfast meals were simpler.

-

They finished up what they were there to do and went back inside.

Scratch was the last to enter, but he paused for a moment and looked back over the dew covered huts.

He felt strangely elated, there was a light fluttering in his chest. I must be nervous, there's so much uncertainty in the future. Adventurers, bandits, new mouths to feed. It's a headache. Somehow a smile cracked to his lips.

【Will you slow down?】I feel like I need to keep an eye on Xandra, she's so young in a strange city and uncle isn't much help. I guess I'm young too though.【How bothersome.】I sigh.

【Rudy! Here! Here!】Between the bustling crowd of the marketplace I see Xandra jumping up and down next to a weapon's stall.

【Oioi! Fledgeling' adventurers, eh?】The shopkeeper is a mountain of a man, as wide as he is tall and exuberant as he is wide.【What class are y'all then?】

Xandra holds up her license proudly.【I'm a martial artist, Rudy here is a Rogue! Although, I guess you do have aptitude for other classes too.】

The man bends forward to read her piece of paper.【Xandra it is then? There's a purty name. My name is Zell.】He sticks out his hand for a handshake and she manages to clasp two of his enormous, sausage-like fingers.

【Suppose you'd be looking for some gauntlets then.】Zell says, digging under his display.

【Yes!】Xandra bites her lip and wriggles her eyebrows at me. It's happening. It's finally happening. Her face screams.

I can't help but get a little bit excited myself. Our own weapons, I only hope the copper pieces uncle gave us are enough.

【'Ere you go little lass. Propah iron spiked gloves, go an' try 'em on if you like.】

The gauntlets look large, made of steel and polished to a shine. In other words, really expensive!

Xandra holds up the equipment in a boxing pose and strikes the air in front of me a few times, making me flinch.

【This is just what I need! Look out monsters!】

【Uhm, how much is it?】I carefully ask.

Zell shrugs.【Normally, I'd say five silver, but for you lot, I'll bring it down to three. To get you started.】

【What?】Xandra looks shocked.【That's thirty copper! Do we have that many?】

【I shake my head. We can't buy anything else if we buy this. We need armor too, you know.】

She gives me puppy eyes.

【Hey! I need equipment too. Besides, you don't want a weapon you'll grow out of, let's find you something that'll last.】

Zell nods sagely.【Your friend has the right idea. You're wise for your age, Rory.】

【It's Rudy.】

【Normally I'd tell you to do some small missions, an' get enough cash for proper weapons. I suppose y'all here for the goblin culling though. You can kill goblins jus' fine with simple tools.】He scratches his face.【It's not good business to recommend a competitor, but I know somewhere where you can pick something up for cheap. A friend of mine, lives at the end of this street in the house with the green door, she's got some second-hand stuff she don' want no more. Something more in your price range I think.】

【Thanks Zell!】I shake his hand. I never pass up an opportunity to save money.

"Wake up, it's morning."

Barbara had been lying awake with her eyes closed when one of her captors came to awaken her.

"Please let me eat..." She started, as she had been conditioned. But she wasn't fed, instead she was taken to another room to eat.

"We thought you might want to spend some time with your sons." The voice of the one-eyed goblin said.

She was placed in a chair that was too small for her, roughly cut wood with no polish, in front of what felt like a table. She touched the surface to find the food placed upon it.

"You really can't see, huh?" One of the other goblins said.

"Make some light." Another said.

Without thinking Barbara produced a candlelight spell, the basic light-giving enchantment everybody knew. It illuminated a decorated and confined room not unlike the one she spend her nights in, when she saw the many surprised goblin face stare at her charm from around the room, she realized the command might not have been directed at her.

"Woooow." One of them marveled at her simple trick.

"Is that magic? Really impressive." Scratch said while lifting a smaller goblin on her lap. "You may remember this guy from last night, Fyro, say hello to mama."

Fyro was transfixed by her little with orb.

"Can you help him with his breakfast? They're quite the handful, aren't they?" Scratch said, helping another on a chair.

-

Barbara looked at the plate in front of her, a little ceramic circle with an omelet and some dried meat.

Her fork was a pristine man-made creation, while her knife was a crudely hammered iron strip with a sharp edge.

She looked around the room. What she had been given was essentially a weapon, the others had ones too but their arms weren't as long as hers. She could probably fight off the entire room, all ten full-grown goblins. If she didn't mind some stab wounds in exchange for freedom.

The cave wasn't complicated, she could probably crawl her way to the surface, but she'd be vulnerable for any enemies in the tunnel, and would she really be able to find her way back to civilization in these damned woods after being hurt from a brawl? Beside that, who knew what kind of magical powers Scratch had, other than controlling goblins?

No not yet, after so long in the captivity of goblins she had to have learned patience by now. She took the cutlery and cut up the food in tiny bites for 'Fyro'.

She smiled at the tiny monster and wondered what her in-law would say if he found out she named a goblin after him.

-

They were hardly done with breakfast when her mana was depleted and the candle-light sputtered out.

Barbara flinched at the sudden darkness and froze up, no longer able to see directly in front of her.

"Mama?" 'Fyro' reached out and touched her face in concern.

"Come, boys I think your mama needs to go back to her room now." Someone said, and she was escorted back.

A firebolt, a healing spell She thought to yourself. If I could cast some proper magic, I wouldn't need a weapon. What use is a person's mana if she can only use it for light?

Everybody tensed up when Scratch had Fat and Dumb bring in Barbara during breakfast.

"We thought you might want to spend some time with your sons." He said, inviting her to join them.

The woman stumbled blindly into the room and was seated at the head of the table by Fat. She stretched out her arms to feel the table in front of her.

"You really can't see, huh?" Dumb commented.

"Make a light." Second said to him, gesturing to bring a burning stick from hearth downstairs in a bowl, as they sometimes did.

But Barbara created her own light, a beautiful glowing orb at the tip of her finger.

The whole room paused what they were doing, setting the table and distributing the food, in order to gawk at her magical spell.

Scratch immediately punctured the mood with a casual tone. "Is that magic? Really impressive. You may remember this guy from last night." He gave her her eldest son. The orb of light stayed where it was, suspended in the air, when she moved to accept him. "Fyro, say hello to mama."

Fyro didn't follow his orders, but he didn't seem afraid of her either.

"Can you help him with his breakfast? They're quite a handful, aren't they?" He instructed, while helping the rest get seated.

There weren't enough chairs for everyone, so the newborn were placed on the laps of older goblins.

-

It didn't pass by Scratch that the others would cast nervous gazes on Barbara with her sharp cutlery so close to Fyro.

He himself had explained that she hated them and they shouldn't expect her kindness, but now he was placing the life of such a small creature directly in her hands.

It also didn't pass by him that Barbara smiled at the tyke, and he would look up at her when she was eating to get a good look at the underside of her face.

I won't have it said that I kept their mother from them. He thought to himself.

-

While they were eating the light grew dimmer, and eventually it started sputtering like an oil lamp without oil and went out.

Is that the mana running out? Scratch didn't see her renew the spell, in fact, she seemed helpless.

"Mama?" Fyro stood on her lap to reach out to her face.

"Come, Boys." Scratch raised his voice. "I think your mama needs to go back to her room now." That's enough bonding for today.

After that they finished their meals and cleaned up, they went on to the chores of the day.

-

The time of sewing and building was over, Scratch assigned almost all goblins into foraging and trapping task forces.

The first for building up a stockpile of food, the second for laying traps against invading humans. For these purposes they split up in threes and fours.

"How much deeper?" Fat groaned.

"You're not going to accidentally dig too far, alright? Just keep going." Scratch said.

Fat and Digger where digging a pit trap while Scratch was sharpening hazel branches.

The first experiments in shovel making had been an absolute failure, the goblins had no technology for keeping a shale spade head attached to the handle when it had to move mass around. So thy were digging with wooden scoops and their hands. Although a human bread knife was sometimes used to remove roots.

When the pit eventually was deep enough for the ground to be at Fat's waist he began to doubt Scratch previous words. "Isn't this enough?"

"It's not. Look, I'll switch tasks with you, we need eight more like these." He held up one of the sharpened sticks. "And of this length too."

Digger didn't say anything, he hummed a happy tune.

"Do you really think anyone would just walk into one of these?" Fat questioned him.

"We'll cover it up after we're done. You'll see, it's a tried-and-true method."

Second and Kicker were gathering morel mushrooms, the young Mac got to hold the bucket to keep them in.

"Don't take the brittle ones." Second instructed.

Kicker rolled his eyes. "I know."

"But don't take soft or bruised ones either."

"Yeah. I know."

"Or if you do, we have to eat those first, cause we-"

"SECOND. I know about mushrooms, alright!?"

"Well, you DON'T need to SHOUT at me!"

"I'm not shouting, I'm raising my voice!"

Mac started to cry, emanating a pitiful whine at their argument. Second quickly crouched next to him and tried to calm him down.

"Look, now you've made him cry!" Kicker exclaimed.

"Second shot him an angry look, and then continued to shush the little one. "Hey, it's alright. Nobody's angry. Come on now."

Kicker came up to him too. "Don't be sad, let sadness pass over you and leave. It's not part of you." He repeated from Scratch's meditation lessons.

This made Second push him away with one arm, at which Kicker pushed back and the two ended up slapping at each other's arms.

They rolled over the floor until they had forgotten what they were angry about, then they separated and stood up.

"We're not very good caretakers, are we?" Second sighed.

"He stopped crying, though, didn't he?" Kicker said.

Mac had gotten distracted and had captured a beetle in his hands.

"Well..." Second looked around. "Let's go back a bit, I think there was another patch- Mac don't eat that!"

"Laugh, can you hand me the- the thing over there?"

Dumb was pointing to a specialized tool for throwing rope over high branches, a stick with a hole in it at which the rope was fastened, spinning it around with the rope a few times gave it enough momentum to fling to rope to the tree tops.

"Yeh-" Laugh simply handed it to him.

He and Fyro were not meaningfully contributing, instead they stood in place and stared at the pulley systems Dumb was implementing over two different trees. Linus wasn't even watching, he was playing with the unused rope end, the rotten material they had cut off.

Holding the counterweight in place in one hand and throwing the rope again with the other, Dumb was sticking his tongue out in utter concentration.

When the rope came down properly on the other side Dumb addressed him. "Will you hold this log?" Referring to the counterweight he was holding.

Laugh did as he was asked. Fyro came to grasp the rope too, although he didn't put in the strength to help carry it.

-

Dumb continued to tie his noose trap, a rope snare that would tighten around the ankle of the person stepping into it, and pull up the stake that kept the counterweight from yanking them away when pulled on.

It was a non-lethal trap, used for small animals mostly. If the victim had any friends with them they would be able to cut them down easily, a big weakness in a trap for adventurers.

That's why they had decided traps like these had to be dangerous to fall out of. Either in the form of a spike trap, or by pulling the victim very, very high up.

It seemed to be working, they just need a heavier counterweight.

-

"Can you believe that Fyro had to sit with that woman this morning?" Laugh suddenly said.

"Huh, what?" Dumb was annoyed to be taken out of his concentration.

"Mama!" Fyro said.

"I was nervous to see that. Scratch is the only one of us that isn't the father, so he doesn't care about them being in danger. We can't trust him with them, you know, goblins-"

"Excuse me, can you hold this?" Dumb gave Laugh the throwing stick to hold with his other hand.

"Uhm, sure?" Both his hands were no full, one with the rope, the other with the stick.

Immediately Dumb backhanded his face, it made a loud *slap* noise.

"Agh!" Laugh let go of both things, almost dropping the log on Fyro's hand.

"Don't you dare talk like that of my brother. Who took you in, when you had nobody? And now you say he doesn't care if it's not his family!"

Fyro started to clap his hands in excitement, he didn't know what was going on, but he liked the violence. This attracted Linus' attention too.

Laugh rubbed his painful cheek, instead of fighting back he decided to argue. "Goblins care about their own children. That's alw-"

"Don't tell me what goblins are like." Dumb held up a finger in a threatening manner. "Don't ever tell us what we're like again."

Laugh fell silent.

Fyro was punching at both of their thighs, trying to join the brawl. Linus was futilely trying to hold him back.

Dumb held his little arms. "Hey, Fyro, calm down. You and Laugh go find something heavier, okay? I'll go throw this rope again."

"Okay." Fyro nodded.

"And Linus- Oh, you're walking off already. Fine, keep yourself busy."

"Look Abel, it's a fish. Say hello to the fishy." Quiet had said more in the past hour than he had said all week. He was retrieving handwoven basket traps from the river to show Abel and Benjamin how to do it.

Once they were grown up goblins were hard to deal with, but Quiet enjoyed taking care of them when they were little.

"And then we put him in the bucket. Floops! There he goes!"

The caught fish were kept alive in water filled buckets, that way it would take longer for them to go bad.

"Hello, fishy!" Abel looked into the bucket and talked to the fish.

Benjamin seemed less engaged. His eyes were half-closed and his head bobbed from side to side at Quiets babbling.

"Let's pull up the next one, shall we? Oooh, what kind of fish will there be in the next one?" Quiet babbled at them.

"Hello fishy!" Abel re-iterated sticking his hand deeper into the bucket. Suddenly the fish closed his big mouth around the tiny goblin's hand.

"Uuwaaah!" There was no pain, but a big shock as Abel started crying. He flailed wildly with his arm, knocking over the bucket and throwing fish into the mud. His own tunic became drenched in ice-cold river water in the process.

"Oh! Abel. Abel calm down!" Quiet tried shushing the panicking child. He looked over to see how Benjamin had reacted to the sudden chaos.

Benjamin had reacted by falling asleep.

"And the captain sai- says "hoist the main sail!" Biter was reading from the book, pointing at the pictures for George.

"Hah!" George slapped the page in excitement.

At that moment Scream came up the tunnel. "It's time to switch again, I think." He was referring to their guard duty, which they did in shifts.

Biter stroked George's hair and closed the book. "I'll come down. Want to sit with Scream?"

George coyly shook his head.

"Ah, come on. You do. Go on and sit with Scream."

George jumped up his lap and scuttled towards his other possible father.

Biter stood up and leaned a bit on his painful foot. It was getting better, it hurt, but it didn't hurt as much as it had before.

"She's not going anywhere." Scream said. "We can sit here for a bit, it's fine."

"Yeah." Biter said, leaning on his foot a bit more to inure himself against the pain, and walking in a circle.

"This is nice, isn't it?" Scream said. Stroking George's hair.

"Yes. It's... peaceful. Do you think the others are having such peaceful times as us?"

Scream thought for a moment. "They are, they definitely are."

After having a talk with all the new adventurers in Eston I have come to the conclusion that there probably aren't any destined heroes among them.

I made Margaret and Laurus wait for me until I was certain, sorry Margaret and Laurus! But I really needed to know if there were reincarnators among them.

It can't be helped. It's not like people from Japan have a big neon sign above their heads. 'I am a reincarnator, please talk to me!' I need to find them, see if they have any super potential or cheat abilities, and only then can I try talking Japanese to them. If I tried talking Japanese to everybody, they would think I'm crazy. 'The duke's daughter is talking about other worlds and reincarnation, isn't that a bit too much for a noble?!' The sentiment would be like that. So I have to do it my way.

-

【Yes, I'm ready to go!】I tell Laurus and Margaret.

【What sort of business did you have in town?】Margaret asks.

【Uhm. Well... just noble business I guess.】I laugh.

Laurus looks over the horizon. He's not helping me with an excuse either. Not helpful Laurus!

【Laurus and I both have a Pegasus.】Margaret says apologetically.【But you don't. I don't know if we can carry you all the way to Blurich.】

【Oh!】I say.【We can stop at my father's castle. I'm sure I can get one of the guard stable's wyverns, so I have my own mount. I mean, it's en route anyway!】Thank you Margaret. For changing the subject!

【Excellent!】Laurus proclaims. He draws his sword and sticks it in the air. "To adventure!】

【Adventure!】We join in.

We'll be leaving Eston now, and Reddington with it. But I'm sure we'll be back here some day, either for Laurus' family, or to find a new reincarnator.

After birthing a litter of goblins Barbara was let out of her cell more often to interact with them.

She learned to recognize their faces by their names, and was weirdly given a position of authority over them by the goblin boss Scratch.

"You're their mother, aren't you. Say something about it." He would tell her.

Then she would teach them, in his place, about proper table manners, cleaning up after themselves, and playing nice with each other.

She would regularly walk through the cave without restraints now, and could take short trips to the square outside with minimal supervision.

In fact, she was recruited in household tasks, washing clothes, cleaning dishes and repairing cloth.

Scratch was trying to turn her into a regular housewife.

-

One night, while sitting outside and staring at the stars, she dared mentioned it to him, speaking without being spoken to.

"You want me to be a mother to these goblins?"

Instead of silencing her Scratch calmly puffed his pipe. "Yes."

She was silent for a moment, then she whispered, almost so quietly that only she could hear it. "What do goblins need a mother for?"

"Do you have a mother, Barbara?" Scratch puffed.

"Hhm.."

"Answer my question."

"Yes. I used to, she was a chandler, a candlemaker. I never knew my father."

"Wouldn't you say it's for the better to have known her? To know motherly affection. It's in our nature as mammals to require something like that."

She thought of the six goblins she had been taking care of, they looked up to her with such admiration, it gave her the slightest pang of guilt to think she named them after her enemies out of spite.

"Three days." Scratch continued. "They grow up quick, you know. You won't get too many chances to be a mother."

Rhada protect me. She thought to herself. I almost felt sorry for the monsters. I need to get out of here.

Wyvern

Family: Dragon

Threat Level: D

Reward: 2 silver pieces

Wyverns are one of the weaker dragon types, they can be recognized by their four limbed body, their wings being their front limbs. Wyverns are often heralds of a larger threat, chasing them out of their volcanic caves, and usually the first enemy to face when searching out a rampaging fire dragon. Exterminating a wyvern flock is a promotion quest for level D adventurers, meaning it will always result in a promotion to level C if completed successfully.

Wyverns can fly, making them a difficult enemy to fight for non-ranged fighters without a flying mount, but also a popular capture of monster tamers, who can turn them into powerful flying mounts. In the kingdom of Reddington, it is common for dukes to employ one or more monster tamers in order to supply their armies and personal guard with powerful wyvern mounts.