NOVEL NEXT 42 Return To The Hobgoblins
'Hehe! Finally, I'm back!'
Rey had a wide grin on his face as he began to walk down the wide passageway of the seventh floor.
He had been looking forward to this moment for a while now, and there were a lot of things he couldn't start doing.
'I made sure to properly understand every single detail about Hobs that I read. While the research on them was incomplete, he practically knew all there was to know at this point.'
As per the plan, he would ensure their civilization flourished by teaching them a bunch of things and ensuring that they evolved a lot in the process.
'I should also experiment with the effects of various Monster Cores on them.'
Rey was genuinely curious about what would happen, and he was itching to find out.
"SKRRIAAAK."
"GURRIAKKA."
"HUKAKAYA."
The sounds of Hobgoblins danced in his ears as he entered the clearing.
Once again, he was greeted with a putrid odor. It wasn't as bad as the previous time, but it still smelled disgusting.
"Well… I'm back." Rey muttered as he watched the Hobs recognize his presence.
The instant they saw him, all of them—women and children—rushed to his presence.
They all kneeled and bowed their heads in subservience, speaking words in Goblin language that properly passed across a message of submission.
'Guess we're back to this…'
Rey didn't particularly dislike it, but he also wasn't the biggest enjoyer of being worshiped.
As long as they did what he wanted, he didn't mind either way.
"Well, let's begin, shall we?"
*******
It took all day for Rey to properly teach the Hobgoblins about hygiene.
'I honestly thought it would be like last time…' Rey thought to himself as he watched the Hobgoblins.
Unfortunately for him, teaching them about the important aspects of development wasn't nearly as easy as instructing them to harvest Monster Cores.
These green things were indeed smart, for monsters, but not by a large extent.
Rey realized he had to recognize that.
'Well, at least we made some progress today.' He comforted himself with that thought.
Not only were they able to properly set up the waste system, but Rey also taught them all about fire and its uses.
They could use it to cook, for warmth, and also to burn away all their wastes.
When Rey asked them what they drank for water, the Goblins showed them a pool of muddled water that probably had as much infection as the feces problem he had gotten rid of.
Water fell from crevices in the ceiling at particular intervals, and when it did, they let it gather in a ditch they dug themselves.
Unfortunately, this meant that the water would mix with the dirt, leaving it in an unsanitary state.
Also, since the water wasn't running, it improved the chances of disease festering.
'Monsters are living things too. While these ones have evolved to tolerate sickness in an unhygienic environment, it isn't absolute.'
Ninety percent of Hobgoblins died before reaching adulthood, and even among those who did, only seven percent made it to old age.
It was that bad.
'If I solve all these problems, just how well will they prosper?!'
Rey was genuinely curious about that.
In order to solve the water problem, he instructed them to make large pots from the Orichalcum that was abundant among them.
This would allow them to cook and also harvest water into clean vessels.
'I don't know complicated stuff about homemade equipment and health practices. Maybe I'll have to learn about that too…'
Rey wondered how he was going to ask Alicia for a book recommendation on those topics.
Wouldn't it be too absurd?
'Sometimes I wonder how much she knows about what I do…'
Rey often pondered on the reason why Alicia never asked him any questions regarding how he spent his time and what he was up to.
After being caught sneaking around the Royal Estate, Rey had thought he would be constantly policed by her, but that wasn't the case at all. fre(e)
'Does she know, and she's hiding it? Or is she really oblivious?'
The Alicia he knew was constantly curious and suspicious of what she didn't understand.
That alone made Rey suspect the former.
'I can't be too sure, though. I just have to remain lowkey…'
If she didn't say anything, he wouldn't as well.
The Hobgoblins weren't done constructing the pots he had instructed them to. He knew it would take a lot of trial and error, but they were bound to get the hang of it eventually.
It was getting late, though, and Rey knew he had to leave pretty soon.
Before going, he had to do two things.
The first and most important was to drain as many Monster Cores as he could from the Hobgoblins' depository.
As for the latter, it was already staring him in the face.
'I guess I should do this first…' Rey smiled widely as he stared at the 'thing' that had now become his opponent.
It was a NightWolf.
The dark fur of the beast danced with the stale air within the arena that the Hobgoblins had made for him, and it's blackened eyes reeked of starvation.
NightWolves were usually fed the feces of the Hobgoblins, and occasionally, some grounded Orichalcum mixed with dirt.
The Hobs thought of this as the perfect revenge against the very beasts that tortured them for Eons in Goblin-Time.
'That's a pretty nasty meal if you ask me…'
As a result of their terrible diet, NightWolves were extremely weak.
Compared to the healthy-looking Hobgoblins, their bodies were pretty disproportional.
The NightWolf that currently faced Rey had a bloated stomach, but it's limbs were extremely bony.
Its fangs had been clipped off, most likely by itself.
'I noticed they occasionally eat their nails so their bellies stay full…'
It sucked to be the NightWolves, and their very existence reminded Rey that the Hobgoblins were just as cruel as he was.
No… perhaps they were even worse.
'Monsters will always be monsters.'
"GRRRRRRR…"
As the NightWolf growled, Rey prepared himself for whatever attack that would come.
'I'm not expecting much, but I'd like to see what it can do!'
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[A/N]
Thanks for reading!
Sorry for the lore-dump, but I enjoy writing it.
If it gets too much, let me know.