First blood!
After a short period of time and some thinking Norn finally got back to the cave.
First thing he saw was a pig lying right infront of with, as several goblins arged near it.
He didn't bother listening to whatever the reason was, he knew that it was his pig.
"Get lost, pig is mine, all"
He kept it short, many goblins backed off immediately, but some decided to stay.
"You no take pig! I want eat!"
It was a small goblin that looked somewhat malnourished.
"Then go and hunt for a pig if you want to eat one"
He didn't bother, he was almost twice as big as that goblin.
"You give me pig! Why i hunt if pig here!?"
It was, however, not enough for him. He didn't want to back off for some stupid reason.
Norn didn't know anything about the goblin since all of them looked kinda similiar.
Even if he did... so what? He demanded to get HIS pig.
"Go away or die."
He wasn't having whatever the goblin tried to pull off.
That goblin, however, was even more stupid than Norn thought initially.
He actually ran towards him!
Mind you, Norn had a sword in his hand, and was bigger than any other goblin there was.
Norn didn't bother talking, dodging or whatever, he simply waited for the timing and slashed his sword.
He didn't quite slash the goblin in half, but it was infinitely close to it.
There was a giant "wound" across his body.
All of his insides could be seen, and after half a second he fell to the ground, dead.
None of the goblins reacted to it, they weren't THAT stupid to think that Norn was a killer.
The now dead goblin clearly attacked him first, it was fine.
Without batting an eye Norn looked at the goblins near him:
"You, we all go to hunt human! I found where human live, they have food and good things!"
He said almost screaming.
Some of the goblins started cheering for him, some didn't react and simply looked at him.
Erika, however, came closer to Norn:
"Are you really going to attack the village?"
She asked without a hint of concern in her voice, which wasn't what Norn expected.
"Yeah, it doesn't look like they have warriors, a woman from it told me that they have 50 people living in it or something."
He was explaining it as it was a completely normal thing and not a war crime.
"Moreover, the best thing they would have is a hunter and since you are a mage he wont be a problem."
Norn smiled as he looked at her. It looked as normal as could be.
"We only have 27 goblins including you, even if half of those people are women we dont have great chances."
Her response wasn't what Norn expected at all!
She didn't try to argue or tell him not to do it, she actually started thinking about it!
More than that, how did she know that he was talking about a village?..
"That's why we're going to use tactics. Can you make some stone knives for goblins?"
It wasn't perfect, but Norn already had a plan.
"I think i'll manage... What's your plan?"
"We'll attack at night, when they are sleeping. Yes, they must be on aleart since goblins already raided some caravans nearby, but i doubt that they will think about us attacking the village itself."
Norn smiled kindly at the end of the sentence.
He was boasting with his ability to think now.
It was good... for a goblin.
After that Erika paused, and while she wasn't talking a big goblin chipped in:
"Can i take sword? I dont want stone knife"
He suprised Norn. How did he understand what he just said?
Wasn't he speaking elvish now?
Erika looked at him aswell. Her eyes were wide open!
That goblin was also speaking elvish right now!
"Yeah, give swords to big goblin and take one for you."
Norn didn't bother asking how he knew elvish or anything like that, they had betters things to do.
For now, at least, he will definitely question him later.
"Understand"
The big goblin responded and immediately went inside the cave, calling some goblin to him.
It looked like he was smarter than others.
It was a good thing for Norn, it meant that he had better chances.
"That goblin was speaking elvish just now."
Erika finally said something.
"Are you a part of some high goblin race or something? How is that possible?"
She couldn't understand it at all.
Normally goblin were utter brutes that only knew how to kill rob and rape.
Those, however? They understood their boundaries when Norn told them that she is his.
They didn't even bother trying to touch her, even helped her from time to time.
Now, one of them learned elvish in a few days?
What the fuck is going on?
She didn't even bother thinking about Norn, it was obvious that he was special.
"Well, good for us, you will be able to communicate with more goblins then."
Norn, however, didn't really care.
For him it didn't feel out of the place.
He already knew that those goblins weren't normal.
He didn't remember a single novel or a book that featured talking goblins after all.
Thus, he decided that it was his bonus or something like that.
Main characters are supposed to have one, and since he was one...
It was normal, in his eyes, at least.
Erika was somewhat dumbfounded by his answer, but didn't mind it too much.
"Now, go make some stone knives and give them to goblins, one each. Also, if you have enough time make some handcuffs from clothes, we'll need them."
He tried to act like a leader since if he didn't who would?
"Got it"
Erika didn't waste any time as she started making knives from random rocks.
However, it seemed that more than just one goblin was smart.
Some of them actually started bringing rocks to her!
They understood what was going on!
Norn was somewhat happy, it made things easier for him.
...
Some time later Norn was instructing goblins that already had a knife.
"We go at night. One young goblin go to one house, kill man, tie hands of female."
That wasn't all, however:
"Be silent, sneaky, not make noise. If they dont notice you they dont fight back. They will be sleeping."
And that was.
He didn't know if any of the goblins actually understood what he tried to deliver.
He couldn't understand their expression as they were different from goblin to goblin...
"If you dont know what to do, ask me or big goblins."
He said in the end. Why would they ask big goblins?
It seemed that the initial big goblin, the one that hit Norn when he was an infant, had his own group.
Each and every member of it was somewhat smarter than the rest.
As such, Norn decided to give them "titles".
All members of that group were now "Big Goblins" and he was "Chief Goblin".
He created hierarchy early on so it would be easier to command.
"Can take my own female?"
One of the goblins suddenly asked.
The rest also looked at Norn with eyes that begged him to answer.
"Of course, when you raid house and kill man the woman is yours."
He smiled kindly at the goblins.
"However, if there are two you will have to give her to another goblin if he doesn't have female. You can choose your own first."
The sentence was somewhat hard and Norn already prepared to explain it bit by bit, however...
All of the goblins cheered immediately!
Even if they didn't understand what exactly he said, they understood that hey had a chance to get their own female.
It was a good thing for them.
As for why would Norn allow that? It was simple.
He needed more manpower.
More than that, it's not like he could take all of the women for himself.
Erika was enough, for now.
Another good thing about it was that goblins would think better about him.
It didn't look like the older ones allowed young goblins to touch females.
As such, by allowing them that thing he gained their support.
...
By the night all of the goblins already had their knives and "handcuffs".
Norn spent time explaining to goblins what they had to do, in case some didn't understand.
One would think that he was overdoing it, it was the truth.
It was the 6th time he was explaining the whole plan to goblins.
He didn't think too much about it, however, since even the last time some goblins had questions.
As such, it was better to spend the time going something useful than just sit.
Erika was doing the same thing.
She was explaining the plan to the Big Goblins.
Since they could understand elvish, why not do that?
It was better if she did it, she needed to have some authority as well.
Just in case some of the goblins thought of rebelling.
...
Another hour or so passed just like that, it was already past midnight.
Norn assumed that the village was already asleep.
As such, he commanded:
"Move! Remember to be silent and sneaky! Dont fight with men that look dangerous alone, wait for more goblins, if they not near - run and look for them!"
Almost all of the goblins nodded.
As they moved Norn was shocked by how silent they actually were.
He could barely hear something, and there was 28 of them in total here!
Mind that even older goblins went with them, as they wished to fight too.
It turned out that they weren't old enough to be half-crippled.
So, instead of taking only 20 or so goblins with him he took all 27.
As such, Norn and the friends arrived to the village.
Just as he suspected it was completely dark, he didn't see any lights at all.
He didn't think that it was suspicious.
He commanded goblins to follow the plan and soon all of them moved.
Norn and Erika moved together, they will take the village chief's house.
Time went by, Norn couldn't hear anything unusual as he was already in the middle of the village.
No screaming, no sounds. Either all of the goblins died immediately or his plan worked.
He couldn't know which one it was.
He didn't want to know.
"This is the chief's house"
Erika pointed at the house not too far.
It turned out that she resided here before she was captured by the goblins.
Thus, she knew where that guy lived.
Since it was just an old man, neither she or Norn thought too much about him.
As they got closer to it Norn peeked inside through the window.
He didn't see the man, but he still entered the house.
Norn was sneaky, he managed to enter without making a single sound.
Since he could barely see anything he moved incredibly slowly.
He didn't want to wake up the chief.
What if he was some old soldier or something?
He didn't want to risk at all.
As such, he walked around the house with a speed lower than that of a snail.
A minute or so later he finally found where the door to the next room was.
After opening it really slowly he thanked gods that it didn't make a sound.
As he looked around the room he saw something that resembled a bed.
He couldn't see what exactly it was, but he heard snoring after a few seconds.
He was sure that he was exactly where he needed to be!
"Slow and steady wins the race..."
He recited in his mind as he got closer and closer to the bed.
It wasn't that hard since the room was almost empty.
It only had a bed and something that resembled a drawer near it.
Maybe there was something else here, but he couldn't see it.
As he finally he right to it he gripped his sword with two hands and...
Slashed the source of the sound from above!
He didn't relax and made several more slashed, to kill him for sure!
It wasn't out of cruelty or anything, it was life.
[Level up!]
"What the fuck?"
Norn was extremely shocked!
"What fucking levels? I didn't have them in my status before!"
What level was it talking about?
Why didn't it appear when he killed the goblin or the piglet?
As such, he opened his status window...
Name: Norn
Age: 0
Sex: Male
Race: Goblin (???)
Titles:
Achievements: [Level 1]
Skills: [I want to speak!], [Training Expert]
Stats:
ATK: 5
DEFALL: 3
AGILITY: 9
STRENGTH: 10
ENDURANCE: 10
INTELLIGENCE: 4
MAGIC: 7
WILL: 22
SOUL: CANNOT BE READ
FATE: 4
LUCK: 13
OVERALL POWER LEVEL: 6
"Huh? Who the fuck made it?"
He was shocked!
"Who in their right mind would put one's level to achivement tab? How does that make sense?"
It was just too stupid, level is level, achievement is achievement!
"Well, if i were to think about it... Getting to level one could be an achievement..."
In reality, however, it wasn't.
"Whatever, i hope i wont get a different one every time i level up."
Norn stopped thinking about it as he exited the room, it wasn't the right time for such things.
He needed to make sure the raid was successful!