NOVEL NEXT Chapter 116: New Mogul? [FIXED!]
Byung staggered into the mine with his last few steps, boots scraping on stone, Murkfang cradled against his chest due to his superior strength. For one heartbeat there was only the drip of water and the distant echo of their own breathing. Then a lone sentry on the upper catwalk saw them.
"Byung…?"
The name cracked across the cavern like a whip.
Then the world exploded into chaos, the truth was most goblins thought Byung was already dead as it shouldn't be possible for him to survive that long out there on his own especially if he planned to encroach on orc territory.
He would be slaughtered so seeing him made them feel that this goblin might not be able to die.
A growing myth but the goblins were beginning to believe it.
A single shout became ten, became twenty, became a rolling thunder that shook dust from the rafters and made the torches gutter in their sconces. Goblins poured from every tunnel, every corner, every sleeping alcove. They came running, limping, crawling if they had to. Pickaxes, spears, broken chairs, anything that could be raised, were thrust toward the ceiling in triumph.
"BYUNG! BYUNG IS BACK!" One goblin screamed at the top of his lungs.
"HE'S GOT MURKFANG! LOOK—HE BROUGHT MURKFANG HOME!" Another shouted, not caring if the orcs outside could hear them.
"THE MOGUL! THE MOGUL WALKED THROUGH HELL AND CAME BACK!" a final orc said this and for the first time, they all acknowledged Byung as not only the Baron but something even higher.
The roar was so loud it felt physical, a living thing that slammed into Byung's chest and nearly drove him to his knees. Hands reached for him, dozens of green hands, touching his cloak, his arms, the hem of his sleeve, the bandages still wrapped around his ribs. Someone shoved a dented helmet onto his head like a crown. Another pressed a waterskin into his free hand. A child no taller than his knee latched onto his leg and refused to let go, sobbing into his trousers.
Byung's eyes burned. He had expected chains, defeat, silence. Instead he walked into a storm of love so fierce it even made him sad.
Maui stepped out behind him, filling the tunnel mouth like a living monument. Torchlight slid across her armor, her axe, the fresh cuts and bruises she wore like medals. The cheering faltered for half a heartbeat, some goblins remembering she was an orc at the end of the day and what if she decided to side with the orcs? The goblins were just excited to have them back. Maui's presence was proof the world had flipped on its axis, and they loved her for it.
"MAUI! MAUI! MAUI!" The goblins began to chant in unison.
She raised her axe in salute, tusks flashing in a grin that said, no one would believe they were in the middle of a siege.
Byung pushed forward through the press, Murkfang's weight light in his arms. The sick goblin's eyes fluttered open at the noise, took in the sea of faces, and managed a cracked, wondering smile.
"Told you… they'd miss me," Byung rasped. Laughter rippled outward, bright and disbelieving.
Byung's gaze swept the buildings, cataloguing everything in the space of three heartbeats: barricades reinforced with fresh timber, oil pots stacked and ready, ropes strung across choke-points, faces gaunt but unbroken. The mine had not fallen. They had held. Because they believed he would come back.
His nose twitched. Beneath the familiar reek of sweat, and hope, new scents threaded the air. Vrognut was here. And others he didn't know. Later. There would be time for that later.
He raised his voice, small but carrying like a bell through the storm.
"Gribnox! Drekk! Where are you?" Byung knew he had to find these two first to know what was going on otherwise he would remain clueless.
The crowd parted as if an invisible blade had sliced through it to allow their new Mogul passage.
-
Gribnox was with Naz and Naruz in the room, armor waiting to be stained in blood, but the moment he saw Byung he vaulted the railing and hit the ground running. He crashed into Byung hard enough to rattle teeth, gripping his shoulders like he was afraid the goblin would vanish.
Byung was still very much in pain but his tolerance had increased with his skill gotten from the orcs.
"You absolute lunatic," Gribnox laughed, voice cracking with relief.
"You impossible, beautiful, crazy little genius. You did it," Gribnox heaped praises on him because not only did his current state show Byung was involved in a big fight.
Behind him, Naz and Naruz followed at a dead run. Naz's belly had rounded noticeably in the days Byung had been gone; she moved with the careful grace of someone carrying the future itself. The moment she reached them she dropped to one knee, an orc kneeling to a goblin in front of a goblin wasn't something you'd see everyday.
Maui wanted to comment on her stomach but her pregnancy came with a grim reminder of her limited lifespan.
This was the only reason Maui didn't say a word as it must have been a reality Naz already accepted.
"Welcome home," Naz whispered, voice trembling.
Byung understand where her fear was coming from but found it worrying the orcs hadn't attacked yet.
Naruz let out a whoop that drowned every other sound for three full seconds. She swept Byung and Murkfang both into a hug that lifted them clean off the ground, spinning once before setting them down with exaggerated care.
"Maui!" she bellowed, throwing her arms around her neck.
"We were all scared. I don't know what I would have done with myself if you didn't return!" Naruz confessed.
Maui laughed, deep and rolling, and thumped Naruz on the back hard enough to stagger a lesser warrior.
"Save it for after we send these orcs home in pieces, sister," Maui reminded them they still had a job to do.
Maui began to tell them the entire story of their journey and their eyes went from interest to disbelief.
Naz rose, one hand cradling her belly, and looked at Byung with shining eyes.
"You crossed half the kingdom," she said, voice thick.
"Broke out of Elandor's deepest cells. Fought through all sort of dangers and gods-know-what-else. And you carried Murkfang every step of the way," Naz shook her head slowly.
"We held this mine because we believed you could do the impossible. You just proved we were right," Naz added. A compliment of the highest order.
Byung knew he had a crowd waiting for him to address and stepped out on the front entrance, this house was slightly elevated so it give him an aerial advantage.
It was time for Byung to deliver the speech of his life because they weren't going to wait until the orcs decided to wipe them. Whoever these orcs were, he was about to show them strength wasn't the only thing one needed to rule.