Chapter 42

From that night on, Nola moved into Divine’s cave.

The one who was the saddest about this development was Scarface.

And the one who was happiest was Beorn.

Since he had found out about it, Beorn was waiting for the right moment.

Only a few days after their first time, when the pair was still in their honeymoon phase, Beorn sat down next to them during a meal.

Divine was in a great mood and Beorn wanted to use that and Nola’s presence to his advantage.

Torm, Beorn’s usual shadow, didn’t dare to sit down with them and kept lingering in the background, listening in and shooting subtle looks at Nola.

Nola was looking shyly and guiltily to the side, a little too embarrassed to meet her fellow humans’ eyes.

“Lord Divine, I want to report about the progress of my work.” Beorn said and only continued talking after Divine had gestured for him to go on. “All of the goblins in the group you assigned to me are working hard. In the last few days, I sent them out to gather some big pieces of tree trunk to make into furniture. The two lumberjack goblins had to help with their hatchets or else we wouldn’t even have gotten this far.”

“And where is the wood now?” Divine interrupted.

“The goblins stored it in one of the caves that are in the tunnel leading to this cavern. At least to my knowledge it should be there. I wanted to ask if you would allow me to go with them into the tunnel to check out the wood they brought. Additionally, to make furniture out of wood, it needs to be carved. So, I need a knife to work or at least to teach the goblins.” Beorn breached the subject carefully, but brought up two requests at the same time, hoping Divine would at least grant one.

“All right. But be careful of the other goblins and don’t run off into the forest to die before you taught the goblins some useful skills. I will also allow you to handle a knife from now on. But we only have two rusted knives left, that aren’t in use, so you will have to do with one of them. I will tell Scarface to give one to you. But be careful, no funny business and I expect to see some useful furniture soon!” Divine wasn’t overly worried.

If Beorn wanted to die, Divine couldn’t stop him from killing himself anyway, so he could have some more freedom.

“Yes, thank you! I will definitely do my work to your satisfaction.” Beorn turned to his meal and celebrated his progress in his own mind.

The silence that descended in the circle of three made Beorn a little uncomfortable and Nola very much.

So, Beorn started talking again after a few bites. “Lord Divine, I wonder if I could ask a question, I’ve been curios about?”

“Ask!” Divine wanted to hear it first. Afterwards he would decide if he wanted to answer and how truthfully.

“What kind of creature are you really? Because you just can’t be a simple goblin…” Beorn was scared the question would offend Divine, but he just had to ask.

Actually, now that Divine thought about it, it was a really good question.

Divine hadn’t thought about that yet.

He felt comfortable in his skin by now, especially with the exhilarating power running underneath.

But what was he?

Was he a goblin?

Was he a human?

Or was he a demon?

His body was that of a goblin… wasn’t it?

Or a demonic goblin?

Did his body even have something goblin left except for his appearance?

Was his body already one hundred percent demon?

And what would that even mean?

And should he care as long as he was strong and healthy?

At least he was sure the lifespan of his body already eclipsed the pathetic ten years an ordinary goblin had.

That and his strength were the most important and differentiated him from a normal goblin.

“Lord Divine…?” Beorn asked carefully.

“Where were we?” Divine asked distracted.

Seeing Beorn’s and Nola’s awkward silence, Divine thought back.

“Ah, yes, you asked what I am…” Divine said in a thoughtful tone.

Beorn and Nola gulped audibly.

Divine thought a little more about it and decided that his body and appearance didn’t matter.

Important was what he thought of himself and called himself in his mind.

So, he reflected and asked himself.

Did he think of himself as a goblin?

He didn’t.

Did he think of himself as a human?

Mostly, but he could see that becoming a problem in the future in various ways.

And it actually didn’t sit quite right with his sense of equality to be biased for the humans, since the goblins treated him as one of their own and there were so many other sentient races out there in this world.

And truth be told if he thought of himself as a human even if he didn’t want to, subconsciously he would be biased.

He was biased and emphasized with the humans most.

Torm was the best example.

If Torm had been a goblin he would have either kicked him out or just directly killed him to rid himself of future troubles.

But Divine hadn’t.

Thinking of himself as a demon, being a demon, intrigued him.

Since there were no demons on this world, at least as far as Nola and Beorn knew, he would be the father of a race.

Divine would be much more comfortable to favor such a race.

A race that wasn’t wholly dependent on its genetic offspring, but one that could even cultivate a member out of one of the other races.

A demon race he would create and define with his actions and words.

That decided it for Divine.

From now on he would be a demon.

“I am a goblin...” Divine continued talking before Beorn could voice his disbelief. “Or it would be more accurate to say, I was a goblin. One day I found an old treasure chest buried in the forest. Inside was a big book I couldn’t read and a strange glowing stone. When I grabbed the stone, it kind of zapped me and then it crumbled in my hand. Then everything turned black. When I woke up again, I felt different and I could suddenly read the book I found.”

That explained so many things for Beorn, but also multiplied the questions he had.

Nola found the story interesting. It sounded like out of a fairytale, only that it happened to a goblin.

For one moment Nola pictured Divine as a handsome prince that got cursed and turned into a goblin. And in the end her tenderness would lift his curse and he would turn back into a handsome prince.

Then Nola remembered that she was a grown-up who had seen and experienced that the real world wasn’t like that first-hand.

She stopped daydreaming and listened carefully.

“If you aren’t a goblin anymore, then what are you?” Beorn asked with bated breath.

“I am a ‘demon’.” Divine said with conviction and a hint of anticipation.