Chương 52: Chapter 53: Hobgoblins

I stop my introspection when I come across a cave in a hill. There are creatures waiting outside the cave, guarding it. I take a look at them. Hobgoblin Warrior. Uncommon Elite monster, level 17. HP: 1700/1700. Three of them. Ostensibly, they're standing guard, but only one of them is even looking out away from the cave. The other two are talking to one another. I get closer, creeping with Camouflage.

"-gods may be next. Something is killing them."

"I heard it was one of the outworlders that just showed up."

"No way. Not strong enough."

"What if one of them is? Could they kill a god?"

"Maybe a minor one."

"Starts with the minor ones," the second hobgoblin says.

"next thing you know, they're powerful enough to take on the real thing."

"I'm not sure I believe it's happened at all," the first one says.

"Not convinced." They're talking about gods. I can actually say something that would add to this conversation. Maybe I should step forward. Maybe I can talk to them, and not have to fight. Maybe there's more to be gained through talking.

"I've never met even a minor god," the second hobgoblin says.

"But even the smallest of them are mythic elites."

"Yeah," the first one agrees.

"And usually level twenty or higher. That's a lot of hit points to get through."

"How many is that?" the third hobgoblin asks, not looking away from the woods. She's not looking at me, but is looking in my general direction. Off to the side a little bit, and mostly scanning around. I'm pretty sure she hasn't found me yet.

"Dunno," the first one says.

"Hundred thousand? Million? Lots more than I got, that's for sure."

"Outworlders kill something like that, they're gonna level up," the second one says.

"Kill a few of those, and you get yourself to a level where you can challenge the really real gods." I creep closer, close enough to make out the features of the hobgoblins. They have skin that looks white to my vision, and each of them has a tusk on one side of their mouth. Doesn't seem like they have bilateral symmetry. That's weird. Their eyes are big, the pupils so wide that I can barely make out their irises. I don't think they can see in the dark very well.

Maybe they can't even see me, I'm too far away from them. I can't say for sure, but I think I'm still about forty feet away. I inch my way closer, until I'm no more than thirty feet from them.

"It's just stories," the first one says.

"No way a god was killed. Not even a minor one."

"And in what world are minor gods only level 20?" the third one asks. She keeps looking out towards me, but she isn't focused on me yet. She still can't see me.

"Forty I'd believe. But not twenty."

"No way an outworlder took out a level forty mythic elite," the first one says.

"No chance."

"Maybe they wasn't alone," the second one says, a little bit defensive.

"Maybe there was a lot of them that took the god down. Caught it by surprise and killed it dead." If I want to be part of this conversation, I need to put my bow away. I need to approach with clear intentions, and that means without a weapon in hand. I can't just sneak up and join their conversation. Not unless I want to kill the three of them. I put my bow into my spatial bag. This feels like a bad idea. Like a stupid risk. I don't need to do this. Why am I doing this?

I walk forward, coming out of the sneaky crouch I was in and dropping Camouflage. I still have Shell to protect me, and I'm back over a thousand hit points. Mab's Rage is off cooldown. Everything is off cooldown.

"Who goes there?" The third one snaps as soon as I come out of stealth. She wasn't looking for me specifically, but she was looking, and there I am. The other two guards grab crossbows and train them on me as I step out with my hands held up like in a position of surrender.

"I mean you no harm," I say, not walking any closer.

"I overheard you talking."

"Who are you?" The third hobgoblin repeats, shaking her spear at me angrily.

"My name is Caleb," I say.

"And like I said, I mean you no harm."

"You an outworlder?" number three asks.

"Yes," I say.

"And I heard you talking about dead gods." There's a brief pause. I can almost feel the world hold its breath and roll some dice. I can almost feel them contemplate whether they should attack me or keep talking. I can see them consider their options. Then, for some reason, I get a level of negotiation, and they stop looking at me with quite as much violence in their faces.

"What do you know about dead gods?" number one asks. He hasn't lowered his crossbow yet, but he isn't aiming down the reticle anymore either. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"In the world I came from, we had a tutorial period before coming here." They look at me in confusion. Of course they wouldn't know what tutorial means.

"A training session, meant to teach us how the world worked and let us gain levels before we came here."

"That why you outworlders are all such high levels?" number two asks. I should give them names. Wait. I shouldn't give them names. I should learn their names.

"Yes," I say.

"What does that have to do with gods?" number one asks.

"What's your name?" I ask him. He says something in his own language, which we've all been speaking, but for some reason my polyglot talent translates it as Carl. I don't think that's really his name, but it will work.

"Well Carl," I say, "We didn't all have this training period at the same time. Some of my kind were already here when my training period started. And when my training period started, the god who was supposed to provide the training was dead." They look at each other. Carl's eyes go wide. The second hobgoblin slaps Carl on the shoulder.

"See? I told you!" He then looks back to me.

"I'm Jeff, by the way," he says.

"So your god was killed? Who did it?"

"I don't know, Jeff," I say.

"It was done before our training period started, I think. But the god was definitely dead."

"How do you know that?" Carl asks.

"The system told us," I say.

"When we left that world for this one, it told us that the god was dead. But I've talked to other outworlders, and they said that their training time had an active god. So I know basically when it happened, but I don't know how."

"That it happened at all is scary," the third hobgoblin says. She frowns and scratches her chin.

"So what's your deal, anyway?" she asks me.

"Most outworlders just want to kill us."

"To be fair, Sheila, we tend to want to kill outworlders," Carl points out. The third hobgoblin, apparently named Sheila, shrugs.

"Yeah, but only because they try to kill us first. They try to kill us and loot our homes."

"Is your home a dungeon?" I ask.

"Not even," Jeff says.

"There's just one floor, and not even that many rooms. But your kind seem to think it's a dungeon and want to come and wipe it clear. They want to kill everyone."

"You sure you're not planning to kill us all?" Sheila asks me, nudging her spear in my direction.

"You're a high enough level to think you can take us all on at once." I shake my head.

"I'm not here to be violent," I say.

"Once we're done talking, I'll just go, I'll disappear and you guys won't see me again."

"I like you," Jeff says.

"You're not trying to kill us."

"Not if I can help it," I agree.

"So you came from a world with a dead god?" Sheila scratches her chin again.

"That certainly lends credence to the rumors. But who could've killed a god?"

"With the right stats, a group could do it," I say. I'm not sure that Vincent, Ash, Gigi, El and I could have killed something with a hundred thousand hit points. But we might have worn it down eventually. With Vincent's mana regeneration, we could keep casting healing spells as needed, and could probably take down something that massive given enough time. So long as it didn't hit us too often or too hard, I mean. Then again, the bargheasts were only level 24, and they killed me. Maybe you need a bigger group.

"But why?" Sheila asks. That I have no answer to.

"How many gods are there?" I ask. Maybe that will help to answer the why question.

"There are dozens of minor gods," Sheila says.

"But there are only five major gods. They are the rulers of the universe. They are not likely to die."

"But it is possible," Jeff says.

"Anything that has hit points can run out of them." That's a fair point. Even if it has a billion hit points, it could still get killed. In theory. That's one of the great truths of gaming. If you have stats, you can die. If it has a health pool, it can be killed.

"What would happen if someone killed one of the five major gods?" I ask.

"The balance would break, and the world would end," Sheila says. The others nod in agreement.

"Okay then," I say.

"Then we need to stop whoever killed that minor god. And it had to be a minor god that was killed, or else the world would already be over, right?"

"Is that why your kind is here?" Carl asks.

"Are you here to kill the gods?"

"I'm not here to kill the gods," I say.

"I'm not here to kill anyone."

"Then why are you here?" Jeff asks. He's lowered his crossbow, but it twitches in his hand, and I wonder if maybe there is some danger involved in how I answer this question.

"I'm here to adventure," I say. But the answer rings kind of hollow. Why am I here? What do I want to do? There's something going on beyond the scope of normality. If there's someone out there killing minor gods, with the intent of killing a major god and destroying the world, that's something I should do something about.

"What does that mean?" Sheila asks.

"Do you mean looking for dungeons to conquer and monsters to slay?" I hold up my hands again.

"Like I said before, I'm not looking for a fight," I say.

"I'm looking for dungeons to explore. But you guys already pointed out that this isn't a dungeon. This is just where you guys live, right?"

"Right," Carl says.

"We just live here."

"I don't want to change that," I say. Sheila glances over her shoulder, back down into the cave.

"You should go, Caleb," she says.

"Our shift is going to end soon, and I don't think our replacements are going to be as willing to talk to you."

"If you really do come in peace, then go the same way," Jeff says. He points the crossbow at me.

"Okay," I say, stepping back into the woods.

"I'm going. Thank you for talking to me. Thank you for not fighting." I step back until I'm barely able to see them, then cast Camouflage and begin to stealthily move away. I debate waiting for a while, watching them, seeing what their conversation goes to now that I'm gone, but that feels dishonest. Our conversation is over. I've learned a lot, I've got a lot to think about, and I don't want them getting into any trouble. I also don't want to end up forced to fight them, even if I know I could win that battle.

You have completed engagement with Hobgoblin x3. You gain 1000 experience. And that's enough for me to get to level twenty two. I would've gotten far more if I'd gone with the violent option, but I feel oddly good about myself for not killing them. The consolation prize isn't even worth a third of what I would've gotten, but it's enough to exactly put me at level twenty two. Which means I have another eight points to spend. I put two points each into strength, agility, vigor, and willpower.

Now my hit points are at 1144, my MP is at 704, and my Stamina is at 836. I'm getting close to where I was before I died. I would've been closer if I had slaughtered Jeff, Carl, and Sheila, then killed all their friends and taken their stuff. But that would've been wrong. Even if they were identified as monsters. They never attacked me. We didn't have to fight. And I got credit for them in my scouting quest. It just says I have to catalog monsters of level 15 or higher. I don't have to kill them.

Am I becoming a pacifist? Am I going to have to start grinding levels purely through sneak and through negotiation? If I am, I'd better spend more points on charisma. But I don't think that's what is happening. I'm not opposed to fighting. I'm not opposed to killing. I'm not even opposed to making the first move and taking the first blow. I'm not opposed to any of it. But that one time, in that one place, it just didn't feel right.

I wonder if it will come back to haunt me, though if it did, this feels like it would be really lazy foreshadowing.