“One had not foreseen circumstances like these to be our reunion. Nevertheless, One has not consigned to oblivion thy noble mercy upon One’s soul several suns ago!” the newly dubbed Duke Theodore the third exclaimed with royal enthusiasm.

I can’t help but stare at the goblin of – apparently – noble descent. If he noticed, he didn’t pull any attention towards my silence. Instead, our majesty continues his noble speech.

“ Oh my, where myne courteous demeanor. Before One maketh One’s request, please accept this most humble of bestowals for a deed well done.” I try to parse the trainwreck of sentences slowly, eventually concluding that my former enemy has decided to reward me.

He hands me a bag. “Some jewels, trinkets, and baubles. Commonfolk seems quite fond of those.” His antics are getting old already. Either way, I’m grateful for his reward and thank him properly. “Lemme look it over, see if it’s something useful!” Eve interjects, snatching away my hard-earned gifts to rummage through it.

I paid her no mind. She knows better what we’ll need to advance further down and how to pace or stat distribution. “Though it pains One to maketh a selfish inquiry, One requires thy services. One will make sure thou art well- recompensed, of course.” The tiny duke tells me.

“That depends. What kind of services are you looking for?” I decide to humor the idea at least. I can always refuse if needed. “One can sense thy magical prowess is nill, yet One witnessed One’s foes set ablaze. Perhaps thy wisdom can be shared in exchange for coin.”

“You should agree,” I hear Eve say behind me. She is finished looking over the goods and hands them to me. “There are gold coins, some medallions, and even a minor amethyst. Exactly what we need. If they can be our suppliers, we can start going through all this a lot quicker.” She does have a point. We’ve been looking for a way to buy the materials needed. Now, all we need is to figure out a way to sell.

“Sure, we can come to an agreement. In exchange for weapons to bolster your strength, we’ll take gold, jewels, and other bits and pieces worth our time.” I extend my arm to shake his. He stares at it before staring at my face. “Squire! Shaketh the hand in agreement for One!” he exclaims loudly.

The goblin next to him moves in and gives my hand a firm and confident shake as if used to this sort of exchange. Eve and I look at each other, unsure what to think about this. “Then it shall be so! Let One extend a welcome to One’s banquet. To rejoice the new alliance!”

I feel unsure about this but eventually, relent. They could’ve attacked us at any point if they really wanted to. This seems like a unique opportunity to discover what monsters live like. I look over to Eve and realize we came to the same conclusion. “Let’s go then, milord.” She exclaims in equal energy as our noble ally.