Chương 31: Chapter 28

Having a full regalia of armor and enough weapons to make even the oldest Scaleage wary should be something that made Sobelle feel happy. She was closer to being a knight than she ever had her whole life. The village had also accepted her as someone who was actually capable of combat, not just some fragile girl who needed to be protected. At its core, she should be glad that everything turned out well and that she finally got the chance to prove herself.

No, she already proved herself after she killed that Pudge.... She should have also killed that Nogg. And that was where most of her problems lay; she did not like the idea of being the sole target of an entire goblin tribe. Who in their right mind would? Them targeting a village was great! They had a target that wasn't Sobelle but more importantly, they dedicated their time to bringing down a settlement, not capturing a lone girl. Goblins had a lot of free time, and Noggs apparently used this to strategize.

This meant that with every day that passed, the Goblins would learn her patterns and figure out the areas she frequented. The passage of time only made Sobelle vulnerable, and she was only going to get closer to being ambushed by Goblins that knew how she fought, carried gear and weapons that countered hers, and had enough numbers that she'd be tired way before she got halfway through killing them. And these were just the ideas that Sobelle had. The Nogg could be planning even worse things for all she knew.

'Which is why I need to outsmart him.' Or at least she needed to plan around her concerns, which were what? That the goblins would: A. Ambush her in areas they knew she frequented. B. Possess gear that easily outmatched hers. Okay, that last one sounded stupid the second time she thought about it. Goblins out gearing humans was like some kind of fantasy mothers told their children to scare them away from forests.

While the Nogg would equip his tribe with spears now, it did not make sense for it to create metal spears. How would it even do that? You needed a furnace to work with metal, and Goblins could barely start a campfire. This leaves her with the first option, and to counter that, Sobelle planned on just urinating in the deeper parts of the forest. This also applied to the daily occurrence when she wanted to let out her bodily waste.

Sweat and a bunch of other stuff could possibly be a concern of course, but she should be safe unless the Nogg memorized her scent specifically. Did it? Could goblins do that? Sobelle frustratedly punched a tree. She really needed to know more about her enemies. Her heavy breathing had, oddly enough, allowed her to find the camp she had been searching for.

The chief told her that all she needed to look for when she wanted to find a Goblin camp was to follow her nose, as Goblins weren't exactly known to keep their places clean. Actually, areas could be outright morphed by Goblin presence if the greenskins stayed there for long enough. The one Sobelle found hadn't quite reached that level yet, but there were visible signs of greenskin activity: dead, plant-less soil was the most obvious one, tents made of rotting animal hide and badly packed leaves was another.

And then there were the less subtle but still physical signs, like the strong smell of urine, feces being everywhere, as well as indigestible food—like shattered bones or hair—all over the floor. Sobelle walked deeper into the camp and found dead camp fires, empty baskets, a cart that was full of metal swords, tools and even armor... She didn't take one because she knew it probably had something disgusting mixed with all the items. It simply wasn't worth it.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. Lastly, she found... Sobelle gagged. Once. Twice. Her gloved hands covered her mouth to stop herself from puking on the ground, the greenskins who went back here would know that she came here if she left any sort of body fluid. So no matter how disgusting the sight in front of her was, Sobelle made sure that the contents of her stomach remained inside her body. They were at least twice Sobelle's size.

It is said that women captured by greenskins often ended up becoming a bloated mess that was hardly human in shape or how they looked. They became so grotesque that burning them was a far better fate than keeping them alive. People even argued if these victims were alive to begin with, as women often lose their minds when under Goblin captivity. They were wrong. The first part.

Sobelle wasn't sure if the women truly lost their minds and she hoped they did, but when it came to being so grotesque that they stopped being recognizable in the human eyes? It was wrong. So very, very wrong. Sobelle still recognized the faces, she even closed their opened eyes. But more than that? The general features were still there; the women's chest, while sagging, loose, and inflamed, still looked like any other person. And not even the bite marks left by the Goblins could change that.

The legs, the arms, the hair? All still there. All still human. And then there was the... She turned away and didn't dare look at the groin of these victims. She was done with this. She didn't want to be here anymore.... This was what would have happened to her if she were ever to be captured? Sobelle couldn't believe that she risked that possibility several times. Why was she so proud of killing greenskins? Was she so stupid as to disregard the warnings of all the people in the village?

She had thought that the fate which awaited her after being captured was quick and painless... This was not that. It did not look like that at all. It never did. She turned away and convinced herself that she needed to go back to the village and tell the chief about what she found. But deep down, even she knew that she wanted to do nothing but run. By the time she reached the gates, Sobelle's mind processed the worst of what she experienced.

She observed the men who took down the Palisades and removed the Goblin corpses from the structures. She wished they didn't do this, as the greenskins would eventually be back. If she had the same state of mind after she encountered the two dead women, the Sobelle would have come up to them and started hysterically telling them to keep the Palisades up.

'It's not worth it, and the corpses will only bring bad miasma to the village, creating diseases.' Sobelle passed the gates and searched for the chief. She found him talking to a bunch of old men and a few guards. Among them was the merchant who had come to the village. And also his son. Now Sobelle hated herself for choosing to do this. This was a bad time to tell them that she found the two women the goblins turned into breeding stock. Anyone could see that, let alone Sobelle.

"I am bad... And good news." Sobelle would do it anyway, it was only right. There was no time to waste and the goblins would come back to their camp to finish the rest of their move eventually.

"There is a wagon of weapons in the forest... I've also found the two women." Quivering lips, eyes that shook from shock and horror and care all at once... Damn it. Sobelle now felt guilty for saying this in front of the merchant's son. She silently apologized. She really did not want to do this, but time was important! They wouldn't blame her for this right?!

"You did?" The merchant sounded scared.

"Where?!"

"Follow me." Sobelle turned and walked away. They'd see her expression if she were to continue facing them and would only believe her to be weak. She did not want that.

"Wait, Sobelle you..." The chief's voice came from behind her but Sobelle still dared not look back to him.

"... Need to wait for us by the gate, okay? That wagon is useful. We need to take it before the goblins go back and bring it to their new camp."

"You're right." Sobelle agreed without looking him in the eyes. She knew that she was right in choosing the lack of time after the chief mentioned it himself. She had thought about the same thing on the way here.

"I'll wait for you outside the gate." She waited for a few minutes until the men came out carrying weapons and looking wary. Among them was Thetras and her father, both showing their own ways of being proud of her. The former smiled and her father nodded. And then there was the merchant's son...

"Let's go." Sobelle walked again. It was the only thing she could do to hide herself and she'd keep doing it until the aching in her heart disappeared for good.