Chương 367: (360) 5.56. Cast Your Votes

One of the first things they learned about goblins was that there were a lot of them. A lot, lot of them. As Garni led them between scattered quarries and random houses set up here and there across the land, more and more goblins emerged from seemingly nowhere and joined the group as they traveled toward the mysterious conclave.

A handful of them rode upon the shoulders of their individual golems like Garni seemed to prefer, but the majority appeared to move on their own two feet, keeping their golems trailing behind them. From what Vin could gather, it seemed as if almost every goblin had at least one or two of their own personalized golems with them at all times.

Within the first minute they picked up at least a few dozen goblins and golems around them, and by the time they'd made it a few miles beyond the wall, there was a crowd larger than anything Vin had ever seen before walking with them.

"Is anyone else growing concerned yet?" Scule asked quietly as he gazed out among the sea of green and gray faces muttering excitedly among themselves.

"Don't worry, they're just excited for the conclave," Garni said, grinning at them as they walked.

"We haven't had one in a few weeks now, so energy is running high."

"What exactly is a con— hey!" Vin looked over and saw Shia reflexively kick a curious goblin away from her, knocking his hand free from her pouch of magic seeds she kept on her belt.

"What the hell?!"

"Unwise to keep desired items dangling from one's person," Garni snickered, like she was educating an adult on something any random child should already know.

"You need to bury them, or guard them more closely."

"Or I need to kill anyone who tries to touch my bag again!" Shia called out loudly, narrowing her eyes at the closest goblins to them who scowled and gave them a bit more space in response. Vin was worried antagonizing the goblin swarm might not be the best idea, but Garni merely laughed.

"Yes! Or that!"

"Garni, the conclave?" Vin asked, following up on Shia's interrupted question. One of the goblins poked at his magic boots and attempted to remove it midstep, but Vin merely rolled his eyes and silently cast Binding, gluing her own shoes to the ground and leaving her behind as they continued walking.

"What can we expect?"

"It's a massive gathering of goblins. It ensures everyone who wants to weigh in on a decision can make their desires known!" she said excitedly, drumming her hands on the head of her golem she rode.

"As outsiders, you may not participate in the final verdict, but you can make your statement beforehand."

"That's surprisingly diplomatic of your people," Lumel said, looking like she was doing her best not to panic from being surrounded by so many strangers. Luckily for her, she kept all of her possessions in her Dimensional Pocket, so the goblins barely even looked at her twice. Their eyes were far more drawn to the others with their packs and pouches on display.

"Goblins are a fair people," Garni nodded.

"It is the best way to run civilization."

"They're certainly a grabby people," Shia huffed, raising her staff and shaking a goblin off the end. Deciding enough was enough, she tossed her staff forward and commanded it to turn into Blossom. The nearby goblins screamed and scattered as the wooden cat roared and pounced in their general direction. Again, Vin worried she'd gone too far, but laughter rang out across the dense crowd as goblins leered and mocked those who had nearly been squashed.

With Blossom patrolling circles around them, the worst of the thieving hands were dealt with, and the group managed to make it all the way to the conclave without further incident. Curiously, the goblins didn't seem to have an official town as far as Vin could tell, their houses just randomly thrown up here and there all over the land.

Though that didn't seem to stop them from gathering as by the time they reached the conclave, which ended up being little more than a large dirt field with rows upon rows of benches set up like bleachers at a sports game, there had to be at minimum a few thousand small faces watching their every move.

"I don't think I like this fragment as much as I thought I would," Scule admitted quietly as Garni hopped up onto the head of her golem, balancing as she called out across the crowd of goblins scurrying their way up into the raised seats so they could see what was going on.

"Goblins!" she shouted, her high-pitched voice not carrying nearly far enough for everyone to hear. To his shock, Vin heard at least another dozen goblins scattered throughout the crowd immediately repeat her words, allowing her message to carry far enough for all ears. The delayed echo was a tad jarring, but all the goblins seemed more than used to it.

"Outsiders with curiosities have appeared within our lands once more!" Garni's eyes, and seemingly the eyes of just about every goblin in the entire conclave, turned to stare hungrily at Vin's arm, and he gulped. Only the knowledge that Lumel was with him and could warp them all to safety if needed kept him calm. On the one hand, his arm and their many magical items seemed to have gotten them the audience they wanted with the goblins.

On the other hand, he couldn't shake the feeling that getting out of here in one piece might turn out to be difficult.

"The outsiders are strong, but are willing to let us study these curiosities!" Garni said, her words bringing forth an excited murmur from the many goblins.

"But in exchange, they want us to temporarily open the wall and allow other outsiders inside!" Up until that moment, Vin was still rather hopeful about everything. The assembling of the goblins and bringing forth their trade all happened so quickly and efficiently, he'd let himself think that everything was all going to work out, and that they'd manage to catch up with Alka and their guides before they even made it to the other fragments. Naturally, it was never that simple.

When Garni mentioned opening the wall, the thousands of whispering goblins all went silent as one. Not a single voice could be heard in the entire conclave as countless eyes stared at them, first in shock, before quickly turning into something that was not the understanding Vin had hoped for. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. It started slowly, in only a few spots here and there, but it quickly swept over the entire crowd of goblins.

A literal sea of laughter slammed into them from all sides, and Vin frowned as the thousands of gathered goblins all laughed as one, pointing and shaking as if what Garni had said was the funniest thing in the whole world.

"Wow… Goblins suck," Scule said, frowning at the mocking faces arranged all around them.

"Can't say they're my favorite race of people either," Shia growled, looking like she was barely holding back from siccing Blossom on the closest of the laughing faces.

"They're not all laughing," Lumel pointed out quietly. Sure enough, Vin looked more closely and was surprised to find she was right. It was easy to miss them in the sea of gasping goblins, but there were actually a surprising chunk that were frowning just as they were, looking at their fellow goblins with disdain. It couldn't have been more than maybe one in ten goblins, but when the surrounding crowd was in the thousands, that was still a couple hundred goblins that seemed to be on their side.

Realizing they might have an audience after all, Vin stepped forward and shouted, silencing the laugher as his voice rang out.

"There are thousands of people suffering at the hands of others just outside your wall!" he shouted, pointing back toward the wall they'd come from.

"All we ask is that you allow them to journey through your lands for a few hours, to use your land as safe passage to a new home! The people who unfairly rule over them are growing stronger with every passing day, and it is only a matter of time before they grow strong enough to make it through your wall by force! When that day comes, when they force their way onto your lands and cut through your precious golems, it would be wise to have allies to rely on to help you fight back!

Otherwise, you will be at their mercy just as the people we are trying to help currently are!" A second wave of laughter swept through the crowd as he finished his attempt at persuasion, but now Vin could tell it was a bit smaller than the first one. It seemed he'd struck a chord with at least a few more of them, though he still had far from a majority.

He didn't know how they were going to collect votes from everyone when it was finally time for them to decide, but as things stood, they were clearly still fighting an uphill battle.

"So what?" one of the goblins shouted, hopping atop the head of his own golem to be seen across the crowd.

"Outsiders have done nothing for us. Why risk our own safety to help them?!"

"You built a wall within hours of arriving on Edregon to shut them out! Of course they haven't done anything for you!" Shia snapped.

"The outsider with scary teeth speaks the truth," an older goblin shouted, climbing up onto his own golem.

"We were scared from having our levels stripped away, but we have not even attempted to make friends with the outsiders on this world like we did on our own. Our progress has stagnated without trading partners, we need to form bonds if we wish to continue moving forward! There hasn't been any improvements to the golems in months!"

That actually seemed to have more of an effect than the debate about letting the orcs and beastkin flee through their fragment, and Vin watched as goblins all around them turned and nodded to one another, gesturing toward their golems and chatting quietly among themselves. Suddenly, he had an idea.

"Hey, Garni. Are your people all obsessed with building the strongest golem or something?"

"Yes! We are always researching methods of improving our golems and making them more easily able to carry out our needs," she grinned.

"It is why so many of us are so eager to get a look at your arm. It is new, and we are hungry to learn from it."

"Perhaps not hungry enough," he muttered, looking around at all the arguing faces. It was close to maybe sixty-forty at this point, but with them still being on the losing side.

"Garni, is it okay if I damage the golem you're standing on if I promise to let you be the one I allow to look at my arm and distribute the information to your people?"

"Absolutely!" she said, her eyes gleaming with excitement as she hopped off.

"I have another at home, do whatever you want to this one!"

"Thank you." Clearing his throat, Vin shouted as loud as he could, interrupting all the arguing goblins and drawing all their eyes on him once more.

"From what I gather, you all want to improve your golems! If you allow our people passage through your lands, I will let Garni learn from my golem arm!"

"Do you really think your lone arm is worth risking all our safety?" Another old goblin shouted out, shaking a wrench at him from across the crowd.

"You tell me!" Vin shouted back, turning toward Garni's golem. Taking a deep breath, he pulled back with his left hand. Before punching Garni's golem in the chest with all his might. The blinding blue flash from his arm was bright enough that most of the nearby goblins screamed in surprise, but that was nothing compared to the punch itself. His fist connected with the center of Garni's stationary golem… And utterly obliterated the thing.

His punch hit the strange metal hard enough to shatter the entirety of the golem, sending pieces flying all over the heads of the goblins in front of him who looked on in shock and awe at the power contained within his arm. A handful of them even received shallow cuts from the shrapenel that blasted into the crowd, but not a single one of them seemed to care. All eyes were on his golem arm, which had all but powered down, nearly the entire mana contained within the arm expended in that single blow.

Vin had held just enough in reserve to allow him to still move the limb, though it was sluggish and slow, and he doubted he could squeeze so much as a marshmallow in his grip at the moment. Even so, he hoisted his arm up high, calling out to them all.

"The secrets of my golem arm, for a few hours of temporary passage through your lands! Your choice!"

"You've all heard the different sides of the discussion!" Garni shouted, surprising Vin by scrambling up onto his shoulders like she'd done with the golem he'd just destroyed. Balancing with a foot on each of his shoulders, she grinned as she grabbed his golem arm and waved it about for all to see.

"Let the decision making commence!" Letting Garni keep his arm raised up high, Vin looked around, curious if any usher goblins would start running through the crowd distributing ballots and pencils. Or perhaps it was a more primitive method of voting like seeing which side of the crowd shouted louder when each option was proposed. He'd seen quite a number of different methods of democracy across his time on Edregon thus far, and he was curious to add another one to his list.

It turned out, goblins had a bit of a unique method of deciding things as a people. In an instant, the entire conclave transformed into an all-out brawl. Vin stared as goblins lunged at one another, knocking heads against the ground or punching and clawing their points across as they landed on people with differing opinions. Even the golems were getting in on the action, boxing against each other as goblins rode them from their shoulders in a far more dangerous version of chicken than Vin had ever seen before.

As he and his friends stared with slack-jaws at the utter carnage going on around them, Garni merely chuckled.

"Wow, good discussion!"