Chương 21: Negotiations

After being captured, Lord Lance remained unconscious for an entire day. When he finally woke up and realized he was being hoisted on a pole as a war banner—with a sea of goblins swarming below—he nearly died of fright. To him, he had descended into a literal living hell. Later, he was brought before Li Qinwu. Li Qinwu attempted to interrogate him for intelligence, but the boy only shrieked in a high-pitched, unknown tongue. To Li Qinwu's ears, it sounded like the gibberish of Crazy Dave from Plants vs.

Zombies —just a bunch of "Wabby-Wabbo" nonsense. Frustrated by the language barrier, Li Qinwu decided to pivot. It was time to cosplay a revolutionary executioner and put some extreme pressure on the castle garrison.

"Young Master!" Hana wailed from the ramparts. Seeing her lord treated like a monster's plaything broke her heart. She moved to rush down the stairs to save him, but Knight Leo's heavy gauntlet clamped onto her shoulder.

"Miss Hana, stay calm! That vile goblin is trying to lure you out to thin our numbers. Look at the forest edge—those Hobgoblins have their crossbows spanned and ready!" Hana glanced toward the trees and saw the glint of bolts. The Hobgoblins were watching the gate like hawks, waiting for it to crack open even an inch. Steward Monde interjected, "Miss Hana, don't you know a language spell? That creature brought the Young Master forward to communicate. Let's hear what it has to say!"

Hana nodded, regaining her composure. Just then, Li Qinwu's voice boomed from below.

"Humans inside! Does anyone speak Goblin? Get a translator out here, or this kid is going to start a 'King Louis XVI' cosplay session!" Li Qinwu drew his masterwork longsword and kicked the back of Lance's knees, forcing the trembling youth into the dirt. He then rested the cold steel against the boy's neck. Lance let out a strangled sob.

"Help! Save me! I don't want to be eaten by goblins!" Hana's fury flared.

"Stop, you wretched goblin! Show some respect to the Lord!" The crisp, female voice reached Li Qinwu's ears—and to his surprise, he understood every word. He looked up at the "Magical Girl" on the wall. A translation spell. Standard isekai kit, he thought. But then the content of her words registered.

"Oh? So you are a Lord? Damn, and here I thought you were just a minor dandy. Thanks for the tip, Miss Mage! Looks like I caught a bigger fish than I thought! Jie-jie-jie-jie-jie!" Li Qinwu let out a classic villainous cackle—the kind of laugh that sounds like someone who eats a Soul Hall Elder for breakfast every morning. Hana's face instantly drained of color; she realized she had just committed a massive blunder. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Leo and Monde saw her go pale and demanded to know what the goblin had said. When Hana stammered out the translation, their expressions shifted from worry to looking at her like she was the village idiot. Dammit. The goblin didn't even know he had the castle's top official, and she just handed him the answer on a silver platter. What a lovely, empty-headed girl, they thought. But now was not the time for blame. Knight Leo stepped forward, his voice iron-clad.

"Miss Hana, I am taking supreme military command. From now on, you will not say a single word that isn't a direct translation of my orders. You translate exactly what I say, sentence for sentence." He stared down at Li Qinwu.

"Ask that goblin who he is and why he is invading our territory!" Hana nodded meekly and translated Leo's words. Li Qinwu burst into a roar of laughter upon hearing it.

"Invasive? Humans, what do you mean I'm invading your territory? The Magic Forest has belonged to us monsters since ancient times. You humans are the invaders! Killing and driving out trespassers like you is just us monsters defending our homeland, isn't it?" The logic left Hana stunned. This was the first time she had ever been accused of being an "invader" by a monster. It felt... bizarrely rational. Actually, wait... we did march deep into the forest to build this place. We kind of ARE the invaders.

She translated the words to the two men, who were equally floored by the goblin's rhetoric. After a moment of silence, Leo barked, "Tell him we can hold this castle until we die of old age! His assault is pointless." Li Qinwu heard the translation and spat a thick glob of phlegm toward the castle.

"Stop bullshitting! You're a bunch of exiles who traveled a long way to build this fort. I bet you didn't bring much food. My guess? You've got two months of grain left, tops. Holding out until 'old age'? More like holding out until you starve!" Leo's eyes twitched. He hadn't expected the goblin to calculate their supplies so accurately. He tried to bluff: "Two months? We don't even need one! In a month, our reinforcements will arrive.

When the Kingdom's Iron Legion gets here, you and your pack of vermin will be wiped from existence!" As Hana translated, Li Qinwu fell silent. If they really had reinforcements, the situation would be dire. He wouldn't even need many—fifty armored regulars would be enough to send his goblins scurrying back to base. Li Qinwu's intelligence was limited. He had two theories: either these people were outcasts exiled for a crime, or they were part of a massive colonial expansion.

If it was the latter, there would be more forts nearby and a massive army behind them. If that were the case, even if he took the castle, he'd have to abandon it immediately or be trapped inside himself. But this was a game of bluffs. Who knew if the Mage was just lying to save her skin? He decided to lean into his own momentum.

"Reinforcements? Don't make me laugh! You bunch of 'rotten potatoes and bird eggs' are just criminals exiled by the King! I've scouted a hundred miles in every direction—there isn't another human soul out here. You are completely alone!" He reached out and squeezed Lance's throat, making the boy gasp for air. Li Qinwu's expression turned truly demonic.

"Listen well, humans of the castle! Standing before you is the King of Goblins, Enclaver of All Tribes, Scourge of the World, Destroyer of Gods, and the only True Sovereign of the Magic Forest: Arthur Louis Romanov Qin Shi Huang!" Negotiation was 90% bravado, after all. He rattled off so many legendary titles that Hana stood there, completely dazed. After a long, heavy silence on the wall, Hana finally managed to squeeze out one sentence:"Let us... talk about the conditions for releasing Lord Lance."