Jiro was sitting on a small wooden stool made from a cut-down oak log. Confused. Too tired to think. Sipping aged oolong tea from a fancy porcelain cup, surrounded by a dozen goblins. Surprisingly, the only other creature at this fantastical afternoon gathering was a tree ent. The same Jiro saw at the beginning of the last chapter.
Back in the adventurer's guild, Paulina warned Jiro about goblins. They are vicious, horrible creatures, often kidnapping children from villages to eat them. She described them as "savage beasts whose only purpose is to kill the innocent and spread despair across all continents".
Those words bounced around Jiro's head like an echo as he sat in the middle of what could only be described as a primitive settlement of tiny houses made out of sticks and leaves, neatly placed in a circle with a small fireplace in the middle. Small green creatures in tattered up simple clothes made of leather, were sharing tea and smiles.
(Paulina might be a goblin racist)
After the day he had had up until this point, Jiro didn't even question this situation. He continued to sip the tea brewed by the monsters he was sent here to slay. He looked at the ent sitting on the edge. When their eyes met, the tree's cheek blushed with a rosy red flush of tiny flowers and quickly turned its crown away with a soft creak of its wood. Ent played with its leaves timidly, sneaking glances at the hero and fidgeting cutely.
(Aight. That's it. Out of everything, being hit on by a tree might be the craziest thing that happened today.
One of the goblins stepped up to Jiro and gently tugged his sleeve. It was a female goblin, just around four feet tall. Despite her green exterior, her eyes were strangely human. Filled with hope and innocence.
"Mister. You kill big bad. You nice?" she asked Jiro with hesitation in her voice with a broken human language.
"Big bad? Oooh, you mean the demon? Yeah, I killed him. Why?"
"Big bad bully. He force goblin hunt. We hate hunt. You force goblin hunt?"
An elder goblin slapped the female on the back of her head and started yelling at her, annoyed.
"Why are you talking like some idiot? Speak properly to our guest or he'll think we're just a bunch of uneducated swine"
"But grandpa! You told us to pretend to be dumb around humans to make them underestimate us!"
"That was before Demon Lord died, you rascal! And this one here is obviously the hero! Show some respect or I'll let him read your diary!"
He smacked the back of her head again and kissed his teeth with disappointment and disapproval, louder than the ent's twigs rustling as she tried to find a way through her shyness to talk to the hero.
"Hold on a second. I need a minute to process it," said Jiro, who was suddenly hit with a plot twist he hadn't expected. Suddenly, goblins were intelligent, eloquent, and he was supposed to accept it? Now? After everything? After the castle, the duel, the city hall, the safe market, the demon general, and the guild? It suddenly became too much. Every absurdity accumulated up to this moment. This is just insane-
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Welcome back Jiro
"Yup! Goblins are intelligent creatures that can speak the common language and they drink aged oolong tea. Makes complete sense. Yup, yup, yup, yup" said Jiro, sipping on his tea with complete acceptance and peace in his heart. At this point, he decided there was no point in resisting this reality, as it was too otherworldly even to attempt to understand it.
"So you killed that demon general, huh, mister? And how did you manage that?" said one of the goblins. Galon, as this was his name, was the goblin equivalent of Grumpy. Mean little fella, always sceptical about humans.
"Well, I used my sword, took a swing at him, unleashed Dimension Slash, and that was that"
"Wait… When did you learn that?" said Gamma, the goblin girl from earlier. Her playful bravado was replaced by confusion "Didn't you say you got transported to our world today? I heard about that Dimension Slash from my pops. It's said to be an incredibly complicated technique, combining 4-tier magic and swordsmanship. How did you do it?"
Jiro looked at her and laughed.
"I'm a hero, ain't I? That's what I'm supposed to do"
He took a sip of tea with a tiny smirk. He wanted to leave it at that, but seeing the goblins and the tree – that seemed to be sitting a little closer now – made him realise that maybe it's a good moment to drop some critical lore.
"You see, when I got transported here, my brain got flooded with a huge amount of information. Spells, skills, crafts. Everything a hero would need. I guess the goddess didn't want to wait for some training arc and instead wanted me to be sent to war straight away. So yeah. I'm new here, but I have more skills than you can imagine. Unfortunately, that old hag decided not to give me even a shred of knowledge about how this world works, customs, currency, maps, biology, or history. I'm basically a tank with unimaginable power, with zero common sense."
That was, in fact, true. As part of the ritual to bring a hero into this world, magicians and warriors offered a prayer to the goddess, transferring their skills into a mortal vessel summoned from another world to defeat the most significant threat. Jiro's overwhelming power didn't come from some divine blessing. It came from the humans coming together and sacrificing what they have learned across their years. All the goddess did was take those hard-earned abilities and plant them into an otherworldly human.
In all of the legends, the hero was always depicted as the one to carry the torch of all humans towards a better tomorrow. That's because the hero was holding not only the fate of the whole world in his palm, but also the skills and hard work that brave men of this realm sacrificed in the name of defeating evil.
Oh yeah.
That felt great.
Finally dropping some lore without Jiro killing off one of the named NPCs or skipping the tutorial.
That. Felt. Nice.
Goblins stared at him, perplexed as he explained how he received his powers and how much strength he actually wielded. This was the moment they realised how grand this person is. How mighty his might is. And how dangerous he would be if he were to be angered.
"Sir Hero", said Gavard, the elder of this village. The one who reprimanded Gamma so energetically now looked at Jiro with a newfound carefulness "How could we ever repay you for defeating the demon lord's general. He was a great concern for us. You have our utmost and undying gratitude. Please, I beg of you, let us repay you for your kindness."
"It's fine, you don't need to thank me. But why did you want him gone? I kinda assumed monsters worked for the Demon Lord before."
"Well… It's partially true. You see, for centuries, the Demon Lord held power called The Herd. It allowed him to control creatures not birthed by the goddess and turn them into his followers. That's why goblins, orcs, werewolves, vampires and many more kept attacking humans mindlessly. But since he's dead, we regained our free will."
"That's right!" Gamma interrupted, "We never wanted to attack humans! But we had to! Please, you have to believe us!"
Gamma was in visible distress. It was clear that she and her kind were forced to participate in a war they had no interest in. Manipulated into fighting creatures, they had more in common than not. But now they are standing before a person whose power is beyond their comprehension, who was sent to this world to eliminate the Demon Lord and his army - including them.
They hoped for negotiations, befriending, maybe even begging once they realised Jiro was the hero. They offered tea, tried acting brave, and were friendly.
But now that they had managed to grasp the full strength of who was supposed to be their executioner during the war, they had to face the reality. Right now, they are at his mercy.
Jiro, confused, looked around the group of goblins. Not fully understanding their inner worries, but sensing an aura of unease surrounding his current hosts.
"Sure thing, but there was something I wanted to ask since I got here" Jiro looked down into his cup, staring at his own reflections in the rich tea he had been sipping. His eyes raised towards the goblins, "You have any sugar?"
Silence. Nobody dared to talk. Only after a few seconds, Gamma stepped a little closer to the hero and asked with a voice full of doubt.
"Su-sugar?"
"Yeah. Sugar. To be honest, I like my tea sweet, but I didn't know how to ask without seeming a little entitled or rude."
"But… what about…. We're goblins. Our kind fought and ravaged humans for centuries. We were Demon Lords' underlings, and you're just asking for sugar?"
"Who cares?"
Gamma stared at Jiro in complete shock. Jiro laughed and patted her shoulder.
"Listen. I'm from a different world. You didn't do anything to me or to anyone I care about. Sure, if the Demon Lord were still around, then maybe we would have to fight, but he's dead, so the matter is resolved. I don't have any grudge against you, so who cares if you attacked humans before? I have no reason to attack you. We're good. You're safe. I promise."
Hope restored in Gamma's eyes in the form of a single tear rolling down her cheek. Other goblins rejoiced at the word of the hero. Even Galon high-fived someone with a bright smile that was only reserved for his special wolf petting time. After a moment of heart-wrenching tension and uncertainty, the sincerity of the hero's promise and gentle gesture assured them that they no longer had to be afraid.
Finally, goblins can rest at ease knowing they won't have to fight the all-mighty being. Their fear withered away, replaced by hope and happiness.
Jiro watched the whole ordeal with a kind smile.
And in that moment, something hit him.
The sole reason why he even came to this forest.
In his pocket, the quest to kill 12 goblins started burning his skin with guilt.
And right in front of him, 12 goblins jumped up in joy because the hero promised not to kill them.
(This is going to suck)