Chương 94: Chapter 93 Guests Beyond the Wall

Karath returned to Root with the goblins and the orc warriors.

"Wh-what ish that?" The moment the village came into view, every goblin, including the hobgoblin, stared in shock.

"That is the wall we built."

"A w-wall?" They were looking at the village wall, which had grown even larger over the winter. It stood nearly five metres high. The foundation was five metres thick, while even the top measured more than two metres across. It was a formidable structure capable of enduring several direct attacks from a minotaur. A magnificent product of Orga's obsession.

The wall rose higher than most trees and should have been visible from far away, but the shrubs and trees along the road had blocked the view of the goblins, who were shorter than the surrounding vegetation. That was why they only saw it clearly once they came close to the village.

"Krahahaha! There is no need to look so surprised." Karath laughed heartily at the stunned goblins and led them toward the main gate. If they secured iron, they could even build a drawbridge. Orga would love that. The imposing wall possessed one obvious weakness: its entrance. The wall was tall, and deep moats and traps surrounded it. Every part of the structure reflected Orga's determination to protect the tribespeople, but the gateway could not be sealed permanently.

Orc warriors and women needed to pass through it every day to collect water and bring back prey. With iron, however, they could build a drawbridge and an iron gate. Karath had considered making them from stone, but there was no way to produce a rope capable of supporting that weight. Iron chains and pulleys would solve the entire problem. No matter how he looked at it, iron was indispensable.

"Welcome back, Grand Chief!" The warriors keeping watch atop the wall greeted him as he approached.

"But what are those goblins following you?"

"Are goblins tonight's dinner?"

"Eating goblins seems somewhat unpleasant, Grand Chief."

"Hey! If the Grand Chief wishes to eat them, who are you to object?" The goblins froze in horror and looked around with visibly anxious eyes.

"They are guests visiting our village today."

"Guests? Goblins?"

"Yes. Karath invited them." The warriors' expressions changed instantly.

"The Grand Chief has brought guests!"

"Prepare to receive them!" The same warriors who had treated the goblins as food shouted urgently toward the village.

"Ahem. There is no need to worry. As promised, you will be treated as guests."

"Th-thanksh." This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. T-One still sounded nervous, but he followed Karath through the gate. The goblins' eyes widened again when they saw the inside of Root. Rows of houses unlike anything found in this primitive and savage forest stood before them. From their perspective, it had to be a scene beyond imagination. Karath had expected this reaction when he invited them.

Had he wanted only information about iron, he already possessed enough to begin searching. He could have persuaded them to reveal the exact location, or threatened and tortured them if negotiations failed. However, Karath wanted more than the location of the iron. He wanted their ability to communicate over long distances. That meant he needed to accept the goblins as members of the village rather than threaten, torture, or enslave them. The hobgoblins could communicate through their horns.

Mistreating them would be the worst possible decision. The moment Karath harmed these goblins, forming a good relationship with any goblin group would become nearly impossible. His plan was to show them the settlement the orcs had worked so hard to build and make them choose to live there voluntarily. Would Karath truly want to live beside goblins? His answer was simple. What was wrong with goblins? Karath had lived as a human for thirty-four years, then reincarnated as an orc and lived sixteen more.

By now, orcs felt like nothing more than another race of people. Meeting goblins felt somewhat like living as an East Asian, being reincarnated as a Black man, and then meeting an Arab Middle Easterner in person for the first time. They looked unusual, but Karath felt no particular aversion toward them.

"Krahahaha! It seems the village surprised you. Allow Karath to show you around." He led the goblins through Root.

"Grand Chief! Did your journey go well?"

"Yes. We brought back fish. Krahahaha." Their first destination was Gerina, who supervised the village women. Karath needed to hand over the pottery vessels filled with fish. Several of the orc warriors behind him carried enormous clay jars as wide as a human torso. The village had prepared them during winter for collecting fish and carrying water from the river. Each empty jar weighed at least as much as a full sack of grain. Once filled with water or fish, an ordinary human would have struggled even to lift it.

The vessels were the very definition of inefficiency, but their users were orcs, so it did not matter. Karath had initially allowed his old assumptions to guide him and made ordinary-sized pottery. Then he realised there was no reason to do so. Considering an orc's strength, making several trips with tiny containers was far more wasteful. That process had produced the collection of absurdly large pottery vessels now used throughout Root.

"Oh, Grand Chief. Please speak comfortably with me."

"A-ahem. Very well." Gerina reacted to Karath's respectful speech as though it were completely unacceptable. Since becoming Grand Chief, Karath generally spoke casually or used the formal tone of a leader. However, he still struggled to speak that way to the adults who had raised him from infancy. It was difficult to discard a habit formed over fifteen years.

"We should eat the fish with the warriors when they return this evening."

"Then shall we place them in the freezer?"

"That would be best."

"Keh heh heh. I will make certain we follow first in, first out, Grand Chief." After speaking with Karath, Gerina directed the women to collect the jars and carry them toward the freezer.

"What ish a freezer? And what doesh first in, first out mean?" As expected, the unfamiliar words immediately drew T-One's curiosity.

"Krahahaha! Of course you have never heard those terms. Karath will show you." Karath grinned and led the goblins toward the freezer.

"This is the freezer." During the early stages of the relocation, Karath had ordered Gerina and several women to dig a tunnel at the edge of the village. He then drew magic circles inside the tunnel and used leftover fragments of drake bone to engrave spells into the chamber. The magic forced air to flow in one direction and froze the moisture within it, keeping the tunnel cold throughout the year. Since the formation continuously drew in and froze moisture, it also kept the chamber dry.

The result was a functional freezer. The river attracted many monsters, but their numbers inevitably declined during winter. The amount of prey brought back by hunters also varied from day to day. Some hunts produced far more meat than others. Karath built the freezer during the relocation to solve that problem. By storing food from autumn onward, Root survived the winter safely. First in, first out was one of the methods he taught the women during that process.

The food placed inside first had to be removed and cooked first.

"D-did the Grand Chief make thish freezer too?" The goblins stared at him in astonishment after hearing the explanation. Karath continued guiding them through the village, showing them the many structures and tools he and the orcs had created together. Once the tour ended, he brought T-One to his own home, the house of the Grand Chief.

"Welcome, Grand Chief!" Root's advisers were already waiting inside. While Karath showed the goblins around, he had ordered several warriors to summon them. They would discuss whether the goblins could be integrated into the village.

"Krahahaha! T-One, what did you think of Root?"

"I-it ish incredible. What exactly are you, Grand Chief?" After greeting the advisers, Karath asked for T-One's impression. The hobgoblin answered in a trembling voice. The village had clearly overwhelmed him. Karath's plan seemed to be working better than expected. He was about to begin drawing the goblin in when T-One blurted out something absurd.

"A-are you perhaps a d-dragon?" Why had a dragon suddenly entered the conversation?