“Keeek! Make! Nets! Make!”
“Y-yes! Please give us food! We’ll make it!”
“Keieeek! Give! Make! Give!”
The goblin screamed angrily and Victor stepped back. He seemed to have given up.
“Joy! Mike! Billy! Come here!”
“Yeah!”
“See? I said you won’t get it.”
Children holding crude tools in their hands all gathered up next to Victor. Those tools were used to reconstruct the torn nets into something that could be used.
“I hope we can go ahead and catch fish ourselves,” said Mike grumpily.
“Yeah, I think we can get more,” Billy agreed. The other kids seemed to agree as well.
“Mike, stop talking and get to work.”
“Gosh, Victor. Are you a goblin now?”
“What did you say?”
“You always beg those goblins!”
“It’s me who gets the most food!”
“It was better when Grant was with us…”
“You bastard!”
Those two kids began to fight while the others looked at them in shock. The fight did not last too long, however, as they all stopped with tears in their eyes. The goblins were terrible beings. They killed the adults because they wouldn’t listen and ate them. It was horrible.
After a long silence, Mike said with a determined look, “Victor, we need to escape.”
Victor’s eyes grew wide.
“What? Are you crazy? Did you not see what happens when you get caught while trying to escape? We’ll be eaten alive!”
“It doesn’t matter!”
“What?”
Victor frowned as Mike spat, “You coward. I’m leaving. I’m not going to stay here and wait for everyone to die.”
He then grinned when Victor said, “Mike. Don’t die out there.”
“Yeah. But do you think there are adults out there?”
“No. If there were, they would’ve come already.”
Mike then turned and disappeared into the darkness.
“Ugh!”
“Kiieek! Human! Stop!”
“No!”
Mike shouted as he ran. There was a group of goblins chasing him from behind. They were firing arrows with their crude bows, which made them far from perfect shots, but it was dangerous enough for a twelve-year-old exhausted boy.
“Dammit!”
Mike ran as hard as he could, but he was getting exhausted. Besides, in the first place, he and the other children had been so badly starved that they did not have much energy to begin with. And the goblins were much faster.
The goblins were chasing him as if it was some kind of a game. Mike kept on running, but he knew he was slowing down. As he ran, he felt his vision blurring from sweat and tears. He didn’t want to die. He couldn’t die here. That’s when he saw something.
‘…Hm? What is that?’
Joonbum frowned. He felt something moving in the distance and stopped walking. Doral, who was walking ahead, also stopped.
“Do you hear that?”
Doral became confused as Joonbum looked around. Jinpok who had been chewing jerky behind them got up with his handaxe.
“Something’s coming!”
Joonbum pointed and everyone turned in that direction.
They heard goblins shouting, and soon, they were able to see a group of goblins chasing someone.
“Jinpok! Be careful!”
Joonbum shouted as Jinpok swung his axe. The goblin that charged at him was immediately struck dead as the other goblins began firing arrows at them.
“Goblins!”
Ten goblins attacked them from the darkness.
“Lindel! Ed! Green! Vox!”
The captain of the soldiers, Lieutenant Odman, quickly analyzed the situation and called out to his troops. They did not answer, but instead, they quickly fired arrows at the goblins. Within seconds, all the goblins were killed.
“Whoa, c’mon boys. Save some for me too.”
Jinpok complained as Joonbum and Doral quickly ran up to the boy who was being chased.
“Hey, kid.”
“A-ahh! P-please help! K-kids! We have sick! And injured! Help!”
The boy who stood there with shock came back to his senses and shouted.
“Wow, I thought he was almost dying. Hey kid, you hungry?” Jinpok flashed his jerky at the boy and the boy began to drool. He then snatched jerky from Jinpok’s hand and furiously began gnawing on it.
End of Chapter
When Joonbum took out a water bottle, the boy also snatched it and began drinking as if he were dying of thirst. Jinpok frowned and growled at the boy.
“Hey. If you’re done eating, tell us your name. How many children are there? Explain if you want to save them.”
“Mike… my name’s Mike. Help…”
“Sure. Where are they? Tell us.”
Mike began to sob. Jinpok frowned, picked the boy up, and handed him to the soldiers.
“Hey, stop crying! Tell us the direction.”
“T…that way.”
Mike pointed toward the darkness and Jinpok glanced at Joonbum and Doral.
“Let’s go.”
Joonbum, Doral, and Jinpok were able to find the children very quickly. There were many young ones under ten years of age, and one older girl named Jesse was about fourteen years old. At first, they were scared of the strangers but they became relieved and were less wary when Joonbum healed Jesse with a potion.
“Thank you.”
Jinpok grinned and gave some jerky to her.
“Share it with the other kids.”
“W-what about M-Mike?”
“He’ll be here soon. Where are the goblins?”
Jesse pointed to the brighter side of the cave and Jinpok started moving. Joonbum frowned.
“It’s dangerous to go alone. The goblins are okay, but they have set up multiple traps.”
“I’ll go with him.”
Doral also got up and followed him. The reason Jinpok got up so fast was because he wasn’t good with kids. The kids all seemed to be concerned but Joonbum shook his head and reassured them.
“You all wait here and get out of this place with Mike.”
The kids became dumbfounded.
“O-out?”
“Yes. Out of the cave.”
It seems they like weren’t sure or convinced. And some of the kids were just plain confused. Jesse blushed and explained, “M-most of us… were taken here when we were babies. We don’t know what it is like outside…”
“I see. What about you, Jesse?”
Jesse shuddered and bit her lips.
“I was brought here when I was eight, together with my parents and other adults.”
Jesse then drank some more water.
“We first thought that we would all die, but the goblins made us work. They made us clean, and they made us produce weapons or tools. Then, the adults began to die. The goblins ate the dead people. All adults quickly died when they came here. They get sick and then die in a few days… nowadays, the goblins just eat the adults and leave the kids with me. The kids don’t die easily, so we work and…”
And that was it. Jesse began to sob.
‘The adults couldn’t survive but the kids did?’
These kids seemed to have adapted to live in such terrible conditions.
“Jesse! This water is so tasty! It’s amazing!”
It was just clean water, but these kids never drank clean water until now. The water they had been drinking had long been tainted with filth. It was amazing that they had survived drinking this water all this time.
“Your Majesty!”
Then they heard soldiers arriving along with the gunfire and explosions. Joonbum’s soldiers came up to him and reported, “Your Majesty, we have to return.”
“What is it?”
“The 375th squadron is looking for you. They have found a huge goblin encampment with a number of survivors. The goblins are requesting to parley.”
“What?”
Joonbum was surprised. As Joonbum and his soldiers began to prepare to extract these kids out of the cave while Jinpok and Doral also returned after cleaning out the small goblin village before retreating.
End of Chapter
