Homesteading in a fantasy world

POV Emma Greenhand

We have finally stopped, but why here? I have no idea. This looks similar to the rest of the forest we have been in, and a moment later I see four goblins move ahead to somewhere.

These are the second group of goblins that have captured me and my brothers and every day I wish this wasn’t the case and we could be back in our village. It was a hard life without our parents, but we were getting by. But now we were no better than slaves.

However, I do have to say that this group of goblins have treated us a lot better than the first ones to catch us. This group didn’t force us to start farming or die. They just wanted us to show them how to grow crops.

I hoped around these goblins would be a better place for us to survive. But now they were taking us somewhere and I have no idea why. Is it to sell us to another group of goblins or feed us to some monster that they worship or something even worse I cannot imagine?

I could hear some of the goblin’s language coming from the direction that some of them left to. I attempted to familiarize myself with this place to see if there's anything of note here but it was just forest, absolutely nothing special here, like we just randomly stopped in a place.

One of the goblins came back and then more left, leaving us with only two to guard us. As I looked at my twin brothers, they were looking around and fidgeting. I had to kick them. Our hands were tied behind our backs, but they still think of trying to escape.

“Stop it, George and you too Arthur don’t be stupid even if we could run away. Where will we go? We have no idea where we are so stop being stupid.”

I tried to say it as quietly as possible, but the goblins still turn to us and looked at me like they understood some of my words. It was really eerie because many of the goblins acted that way like they understood some of the common language.

But if they understood, why would they not use it to communicate and only used body language to make us do what they wanted us to do?

A little while later I heard the goblins returning, speaking quite happily. If I had to guess, they made a successful deal, but with them came someone that surprised me, and I could see my brothers being surprised as well. An adventurer was walking beside them explaining something in the goblin language.

He was a well-built man that was wearing dark green clothing. His face was clean of any beard and he had many weapons on him. Like all adventurers, he looked quite intimidating. I could even see some scarring on one side of his face, but I couldn’t see too much because of the cowl he was wearing.

What grabbed me the most were his eyes as they looked toward us. They seemed to be changing and went through a cycle before turning back into light brown ones.

The women in my village taught me how to understand men from their eyes to know if a man was bad or good. But his eyes seemed old but still caring, yet I could see the hardness in them, and I had no illusion that if this man wanted to kill us, he would.

The goblins and the man spoke, sometimes looking toward us or even pointing before the man and one of the goblins shook hands and the goblins started to leave, leaving us alone with this man that apparently makes deals with goblins. Where we just sold as slaves.

“Did you just buy us to be slaves?”

The man didn’t answer, just kept looking at us with those eyes that felt like they could see everything about me. Arthur was the next to speak.

“My sister asked you a question. Did you buy us as slaves?”

“Your sister, interesting, and both of you are brothers, twins, as I see. Family together through such hardship, you are luckier than most. Most have lost their loved ones.”

“Well, technically, I did buy you by selling some information, so yes, I guess I did. But you will not stay slaves.”

Emma, “What do you mean we will not stay slaves and why do you have dealings with the goblins? They are a plague on the land.”

Rich, “Well that is true to an extent about them being a plague, but hopefully not so much any longer or they will be a lot better at it. I guess time will tell.”

“More important for you lot is that I do not care to have slaves. I will bring you, give you some food and you can decide what you want to do from there. Although I have to say there really isn’t much out here, and I do not know where you’re from.”

What does it mean? Hopefully not a plague. But he’s correct that is not important he just exchanged something for us and is willing to let us go for free. This does not make any sense.

“George, Arthur, get closer. What do you think we should do? I think we should go with him, so at least we will know our location and get back to the village.”

“What village? It was burning when we were captured. The plague probably killed the rest, and if someone remained, they would have gone to a bigger town or city. If someone stayed, undead will have killed them.”

“The summer solstice has already happened and there are so many restless dead that are not properly buried. I would not be surprised if the land is covered in undead.”

I had to admit that it might be true. Probably the only safe places that are left are bigger cities and places where a lot of people ended up.

I looked up to ask another question, but the man had turned his back to us and start to walk away. I looked at my brothers and we quickly started to follow him.

“So, what are your names? Mine is Rich, Rich Dirt.” He said it with his back to us.

We introduced each other, and he wanted to know a bit more about where we were from. He lived close to the village called GreenWave and if I remember correctly; it was the most northern village in our county. Our village was about 40 miles away from here. The goblins took us further than expected.

If we wanted to go back home, we would need to make an even longer trip because no road connected our villages. We would need to go to the county capital town and then we can take the road back.

I’ve only ever been there once when my father was still alive, and he was looking for a job there. Unfortunately, the position that was promised to him was already filled. I still curse that damn shop owner for not keeping his promise.

He didn’t speak much and dodged the questions about the goblins quite skilfully. The forest finally ended. We saw a sight that I had not seen for a long time. In the distance was a farm that looked healthy, and everything was so green and vibrant.

We were heading towards a bridge that looked solidly built, unlike the other bridges around that were built slowly and to be artistically pleasing. This one just seemed to be built for function.

There was a building that was close to the river. I suspect it would be a wash house for a village, but what it was doing here serving a single farm I did not know, and it looked recently made the same with the bridge and the tower.

The tower had a weird covering on one side. What might it be hiding, perhaps a weapon? What surprised me the most was how much food was grown here. There was a potato field, vegetables, and so much grain behind the farmhouse. There even seemed to be a pasture. I’m pretty sure I can see some cows.

How rich is this place, and will they even have room for us? There must be at least 10 people living here. I wonder how they would react to us, and I hoped that they will treat us with respect.

As we were crossing the bridge, I could see battle marks and one of my brothers asked about it. This time, he did give us a straight answer. Apparently, he had to fight off some goblins trying to sack his farm.

Which made absolutely no sense because I didn’t think he would be owning this farm. Was he not an adventurer that protected this place for food and a place to stay?

As we were getting closer, we walked past a weird place that had benches and different sizes of rocks. There was a smoker close to there. We walked past buildings that were filled with lumber. Then I heard the noise that made me stiff with fear. Was there a wolf here to prey upon the animals and us?

My brothers moved in front of me to protect me, but I didn’t hear any fighting and peeked around them to see Rich petting a wolf like it was a dog. The wolf just turned around and left towards the barn.

I was a bit dazed by what happened and was led into the house by Rich and given a proper meal, we might have stuffed ourselves too much. Everything was so tasty. Too much weirdness is happening. I was feeling more dazed and so were my brothers. Nothing made sense here. Where are the other people? The next thing I felt was a bed under me.

POV Rich Dirt

I sat behind the dinner table and finished my meal. They seemed like good kids, although I don’t know if I could call them kids, as the twins were close to 18 and the girl was 16. They had a tragic past, but I suspect better than most have in the current world. I hope they will decide to stay. They seem like good people and I could use the company and the help around the farm.

They were so deep in survival mode when they finally were able to relax a bit; it was too much. It’s good to let them sleep it off.

But I have some wood crafting to do. First, handles for my new tools and then I can start with the cart itself. There is no time to waste. We have a winter to prepare for.

I mean, I guess I’ve been preparing for it ever since I got here, but now it feels like I can see it on the horizon, and I do not wish to go hungry or cold during the winter. Although I wonder if I even can anymore, the temperature outside doesn't seem to affect me at all.