8 Chapter 8: The plan part 1

After his little introduction, Vulcan was watching her closely. Every little facial detail and body movement was tracked by him. This was how he was able to tell when she was lying or telling the truth. She was scared, and he also wanted to see if he could find out any information of his kind in this world. He had found out through interrogating her that this was a magically inclined fantasy world. The one everyone reading about isekai, reincarnation, or summoning stories back on Earth dreamed of. It was already troublesome that he had to deal with these pests again, but now he may need to deal with more of his kind.

"I've heard of some strange golems, but they're usually not intelligent or have the capability to do things you have done," Jess had said, as she looked straight at him. Golems, huh? From what she's said, maybe he is the only one of his kind. This could be taken advantage of in certain ways. That was for later, and he had to think what to do now.

"Yes, but first, I need to tell you the second reason I have brought you here," Vulcan said, making Jess stiffen up again and waiting for his judgment. "It's nothing too bad. What do you take me for? I have no use for your body, but I do have a special role you could play in my plan," he said as he walked side to side.

"The goblins, they're a problem we both need help with. Why not work together to get rid of them? Help me, and I'll let you leave back to your village alive," Vulcan proposed. Jess thought about what he said and seemed to have put some thought about his words.

"How can I trust you?" she glared at him. This made him laugh a little.

"You don't have any choice, and if to make you feel any better, I don't trust you either. But we both can agree at least on something, the goblins need to be killed. So what will it be?" he asked. She reluctantly agreed, nodding his way. With a clank, her cuffs came off, and she soothed the sore parts where they were tightened around.

Vulcan made a gesture to follow him, and she followed once she knew that the rest of himself? was going to follow her around, making sure she didn't do anything stupid. She was escorted outside where the sun was just about to fall and let the night take over. Realization made her know that this was some form of castle or fortress. The whole place was filled with the weird golems, and every time she stared, they would stare back.

"Nothing escapes my vision in here. I still hope you don't have any stupid ideas," Vulcan said, doing that creepy thing where multiple sentries finished the last one's sentence. The trip ended with them standing on top of the wall ramparts, overlooking a large piece of the mountainside.

She noticed a wooden table with some round metal balls on the table laying on top. Vulcan picked up a metal sphere and tossed it up and down to feel its weight. "Do you know what this is?" he asked, turning towards her as he held the object in view. She shook her head, answering him.

"This is what I would call a bomb. It will be the object to get rid of the goblins once and for all. Let me show you a little demonstration of their power," he said, pointing towards a far away area and some sentries setting up something she couldn't see in the distance.

After some time, the sentries ran away back to the fortress. Jess couldn't understand what this bomb thing was called or what the sentries were doing. In a split second, an explosion destroyed the landscape in a brutal manner. Jess fell on her behind, not expecting this outcome. She slowly stood back up to look at the aftermath.

A large crater was left behind at the epicenter of the explosion along with some rock debris flying around with a dust cloud parting with the wind. She had no words for what she experienced. Every second she was here, more and more strange things she's never seen happened.

"This is what these things can do," Vulcan said, showing her the metal sphere again. Jess took several steps away in reaction. This amused Vulcan, "They won't explode on their own. They need certain things to happen before what you witnessed to occur again," he said, putting down the sphere and leading her to another part of the fortress.

This one had some sort of a strategy map a general would have in his command tent at a battlefield. It was very well-detailed, to the point she would feel like any king or general would pay top coin for it. Certain figurines made of rock could be seen: goblins, hobgoblins, and a larger piece with a goblin wearing a crown, near some mountain caves. The rest were sentries and ones wearing a ball on their backs.

"I have found their camp. They're inside the tunnels of this mountainside. Days of skirmishes with them, and I've noticed that they are more active at day while they gather in the mountain during the night, I've kept surveillance of their activity, and they will be sending a much larger force after me this time. Last time I held them off, but I'm not planning on having another battle like that happen while they still think I don't know their whereabouts. My forces will surround their base. This is where you come in. You will act as if you just stumbled upon their place. Fight them all the way inside to the main chamber and get surrounded," he explained, but she cut him off before he could say the rest.

"What do you mean 'get surrounded on purpose'?" she asked, restraining herself from yelling at him. He didn't answer her and simply looked at the room entrance. Two figures wrapped in dark clothing and cloaks appeared, they took off the cloaks and masks on their faces, revealing the sentries underneath the layers of cloth.

This surprised Jess again, "These two will follow you and get surrounded with you. Once you have fought all the way to the main chamber, you will have caused enough chaos and distractions for my sentries carrying the bombs to climb to the top of the ceiling and plant the explosives," he said.

"I need an actual human for this to work. If the goblins think they are being hunted by humans and not golems, then they will have their guard down more. I can't simply attack and plant the bombs. They'll find ways to escape, and they will start another group somewhere else. So, are you in?" he asked, holding his metal hand out.

Jess simply stared at the hand. If she was going to die, at least the goblins would be taken care of; the rest she'd figure out afterward. She reached for his hand and clasped it. "Deal, but you get me the fuck out of there as soon as everything is ready." Vulcan shook her hand back as he thought of how exciting the fight would be.

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Back at the village, Jason had been inundated with complaints from the villagers about the mercenaries' behavior every day. Ever since Jess left to investigate the forest problem, the mercenaries had become increasingly brazen with their crude behavior. Just yesterday, he had to intervene before a villager stabbed a mercenary for groping his wife in front of their family. The villagers had also grown restless, not having seen Jess in a while. It was one problem after another. He looked at the nearly empty bottle of mead in front of him—the village's famous brew, his father's idea, which he had struggled to keep alive after his passing a year ago. As he started to doze off after a drink, he heard a knock at the door.

"Who could possibly need my help this late at night?" He muttered, shuffling towards the door. The knocking grew louder. "I'm coming, just hold your horses!"

Upon opening the door, someone delivered a powerful punch to his chin. Jason staggered backward, falling to the floor as his vision blurred. Several figures entered through the door, looming over him.

"Rob, you're terrible at knocking people out. Let me show you how it's done," remarked one of the figures, delivering a hard kick to Jason's head, rendering him unconscious.

The figures grabbed onto Jason's limbs and carried him out of his home in the middle of the night, unaware that a few hundred meters away, atop a large tree overlooking the village, pairs of purple eyes were spectating the whole thing. The few pairs of eyes turned into dozens, then more than fifty, and soon they engulfed the entire woods around the village.