Day 47:

This morning after training I was assigned to assist Blacksmith, me and a couple others from Pleasure. We’ll be helping her make some new cooking tools for the Sisters.

They already had the ones that were looted the same time they were captured but it seems with our unit helping during food preparation we’re in need of some more. At the same time we’ll be helping Blacksmith make some more tools for herself, for similar reasons.

We were to stoke the forge and using that arm strength, we had gained from mining every day, hammer the metal into shape.

The forge is mostly a large collection of fire spirit stones in a thick earth housing and we use wind spirit stones as bellows so it’s a fairly straight forward and simple process. Under Blacksmith’s expert direction we struck the red hot metal held by tongs where she indicated with a poker.

She was just quenching another blade in a bucket lined with several water spirit stones. When all of us were summoned to the Training Hall. The other leaders, most Goblins and Redhead were already there. By their sweaty faces and the fact they were all armed it was easy to that they had been in the middle of training.

The last to join us was Gobue and those that had been in the deepest parts mining.

“Haa! Alright everyone Attention please.”

Ogarou looked quite annoyed. Seems we’re about to be raided and by those elves from a few days ago no less. With his ability to move earth he dug out several trenches around the training hall then split our forces up into them.

Anger and Hatred will engage the enemy first with Regret and Agony providing covering fire and support. Hobusei’s unit’s first proper battle as the spell-caster corps.

Meanwhile we of Pleasure have the most crucial role of all.

We were ordered to go wait in back and continue mining as normal. That’s right we’re the distraction. The whole operation hinges on how well we preform our role.

It’s a little saddening that we won’t be taking part in the fighting but he sure sugar coats things nicely.

We trudged back into the mines following Gobue, we passed an armed Redhead guarding the entrance way to the sleeping quarters in the back of the Workshop looking nervous, and started hitting rocks almost immediately. I strained my ears to hear anything but the din of our whole unit mining made it impossible.

Above the clamour I thought I heard a roar or a neigh but it died away quickly and as no one else seemed to even acknowledge it I just went right back to work. I did find a nice large lightning spirit stone, about the size of my fist, so it’s not a complete waste.

Eventually someone came to get us.

We returned to the main hall to find no scene of carnage, no injuryed Goblins not even a nose bleed, only 25 lightly armoured elves bound and gagged by that golden thread with Ogarou standing over them looking intimidating.

He smiled wickedly and started talking to them.

Some hung their heads but they all seemed to have understood what he was saying. He cut most of them loose but one elf made a lunge for him, the air grew tense as everybody in the cave tighten their grip on whatever weapon they were holding.

Should have known it wouldn’t be necessary as with deadly efficiency the elf was neutralised and consumed.

The fire in their eyes, that look of defiance died out quickly after that. That’s one hell of a psychological warfare tactic. If I was in his place I may have left it at that but he said something to instil courage back into them.

Keeping the leader Elf, it’s the irate one from before, hostage Ogarou picked several people from our ranks. They stepped forward while the rest of us took up seats around the Training Hall.

23 vs 23. One on one battles. Wish I had some popcorn.

The elves that took on a fully armoured and armed Gobukichi, Gobumi and Hobusato didn’t stand a chance but their matches were interspersed between the bouts against regular Goblins and a couple of other Hobgobilns.

Neither side were allowed to kill but that doesn’t mean the fights were tame, on the contrary the elves seemed to be even more determined to win. A hope that was snatched away when Gobukichi crushed one guy unconscious with a bear hug or when Hobusato broke one guys arm after he poorly blocked one of her strikes.

Even Gobumi, still in her new dress, was ruthlessly merciless to the guy she faced.

Final score:

Us: Wins (6) Draws (0) Losses (17)

Elves: Wins (17) Draws (0) Losses (6)

The defeated?

Well Ogarou relished the taste of male elves with every bite.

The victors?

Stripped of weapons and armour, down to their under cloths, before being rebound in golden thread. Ogarou held them by the chin with his silver arm and forced them to drink some liquid he squeezed from his hand. Is that his sweat??!

There re-gagged before they pass out.

Seems they thought they’d be released if they won their match.

There’s a repressed joy and a devilously lustful grin on some of the older Goblins when we’re told these are now our possessions and are to be used like the woman in the treasure room of the old home.

Pretty elves are the replacements for those human girls for 50 odd goblins, for breeding and stress relief (sex slave). I take it back what I said before that’s more ruthless than I ever could have been but as they are now ‘resources’ it falls to us of the now aptly named Pleasure unit to maintain them. Was this his plan for us all along? Gobujii keeps staring at the body of a female Elf, laying out cold on the ground, in a very base manner.

We picked up our new toys and carried them as gently as possible to a cave I’ve never seen before.

While no one was looking he built a very impressively sturdy jail from natural rock.

Our job now includes feeding and watering them and keeping horny Goblins away until Ogarou tells us otherwise. He gave us a small reminder about what happened the last time someone tried to go against his commands and I had just stopped seeing that before I went to sleep as well.

While we finished dealing with the prisoner Ogarou gave the combat sections a crash course in how to kill a humanoids using the Elf leader as a test dummy.

Thankfully we don’t have to try to stop him from using them, not because he’s the Boss and the prisoners were his but because he has all the human girls and Gobumi to satisfy him. The privileged of being the strongest I guess.

Mou! Gobujii stop pointing that thing at me and leave already.

Day 48:

The prisoners are given a bowl of water and a bowl of a porridge like substance both are laced with some of the liquid we got for Ogarou.

It’s in a vial and we were given strict instructions not to drink it.

Even the wooden bowls that are used are coated in it, both insides and out. I wonder if it’s a poison or some sort of drug either way the bowls are filled by scooping gruel or water from wooden buckets with a ladle like utensil that the Sisters let us borrow.

Full bowls are then slide through the bars of the cells made from stalagmites and stalactites.

As its one Elf to a cell, feeding all ten males and seven females takes a while.

Gobue has assigned us shifts. Apart from those on permeant kitchen duty the rest will be rotating between mining, helping in the Workshop and guarding the prisoners. Guarding us from them is easy(stopping breakouts), it’s guarding them from us(other Goblins) that’s the difficult part.

Because of that there are even night shifts planned.

Anyone one that wants a little Yobai gets a date with the short staff I was given instead. I feel like a Gatekeeper.

You wouldn’t think I’d get much achieved just mining, crafting and doing odd jobs instead of being out there training and hunting but me and my fellow guards were able to ward off a couple of Goblins from the old generation who were lacking in discipline.

Why am I telling you this, well that’s because you’re not allowed in yet so stop asking already!

Day 49:

Today we are all outside in the open space in front of the mine entrance watching quite the spectacle.

The Colonel is fighting a frightening opponent even bigger than he is, with dark red skin and bulging muscles this behemoth is none other than Gobukichi … or should I say Ogakichi. Last night he brought back the remnants of a Hind Bear he’d taken down himself.

If the Lord of the Mountain is like an Ogre then a Hind Bear is like the Hobgoblin equivalent.

Is it any wonder he achieved a [Rank Up].

Before it took all the Hobgoblins, the full 10 of them, to hunt several of them. Then number two is certainly a monster in his own right. Sunlight glinting off the metallic like sheen of his skin.

We’re cheering wildly as the two, dressed only in their skivvies, wail on each other.

Every time Ogarou strikes against Ogakichi’s skin there’s a metallic clang, Gobujii was saying something about him being Blessed by a Deity or two or something like that but I couldn’t turn away from this carnage.

He’s gotten ridiculously powerful and was even warding away Ogarou by spitting gouts of flame occasionally. Guess this means we lost our training coach.

However the Colonel isn’t to be underestimated and he dealt with each strike, trick and tactic with feints, footwork and combinations. This battle is not on a level any of us can interfere with and even if you look that worried Gobumi, and you Human girls, how can we stop it.

This is the happiest I’ve seen Ogakichi in days, Gobue can’t take her eyes off him.

Even Ogarou looks like he’s enjoying himself.

The spar concluded, I don’t think you can say there was a winner after going at it like that, with the birth of an earnest rivalry.

To celebrate Ogakichi was awarded with an imposing tower shield; it was literally a wall of black iron. Lately he hadn’t been using a shield because the upgrade in his weapon required two hands to wield. That changed today as he’s swinging that huge double headed battle axe with one hand, like it was a toy.

As Ogarou sat on one sit, crafting something and chatting to others, Ogakichi was testing his new shield. By having the members of Anger and Hatred assault it.

The thing barely moved even after several powerful strikes, not even a scratch.

I had wanted to stay and watch but it was time for me to guard the prisoners and when I next saw him he was wearing an armour of Hind Bear hard leather and half plate, he looked incredibly fierce.