39 Chapter 39

After making a fuss Erit lifted up the female hobgoblin and placed her in front of Aerwyn. He stared at her for a moment and turned his gaze to Frakki.

"Is there any benefit.. of using her.. for breeding?"

"The children would be goblins, great one. For beings like hobgoblins which aren't a race of 'people' the offspring will always be born as the lowest evolution of the race."

"That's why i was born an even tinier spider than i am now despite my mother being an arache." Erit added.

Aerwyn found this new information interesting so he made a mental note to ask Tylin about it the next time he saw him. It was worth checking to see if his undead could breed as well since he was already exploring the idea. Normal undead can't, but his undead were far from normal so it was worth leaving a dozen or so undead goblins to Frakki for experiments.

Breaking from his thoughts, he looked down at the female hobgoblin with a complicated look. Even if she did shoot him with an arrow, killing a defenseless sentient creature always gave Aerwyn a bad taste in his mouth. Unfortunately for her, in her final moments of life, a look of pity was the most he could offer her.

The spider's paralyzing venom was still in effect so Aerwyn grabbed her head and opened her throat with the blade of his staff. The resurrection process started a few moments later and when she tried to stand the tangled webs caused her to fall.

"Erit can you remove.. the webs?" Aerwyn asked.

"I can but she'll be sticky for days until it all washes off."

"That's fine i can burn.. it off her body later. I just.. need her to be able to walk."

Erit brought down the female hobgoblin before spewing some clear liquid out from her mouth onto the webs. They sizzled and dissolved rapidly allowing the female hobgoblin to stand.

"What's your name?" Aerwyn asked.

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"Jinn, great one." Aerwyn found it odd that much like Frakki, she refused to look at him. She did shoot him with an arrow but they were enemies at the time and none of his other undead acted like this. Shrugging it off he continued.

"Good. Velk you and Jinn.. have the goblins collect.. the mana cores. Collect the goblin's weapons too.. Glik's chain mail.. and sword as well."

After they finished Aerwyn ordered the undead goblins to carry the weapons back to Ardin before returning. He planned to have the spiders just stick a web to his undead goblins and drag the living back to Ardin for now. It would take a few trips but he didn't have anything like a cart to carry them yet, not that it would matter as there weren't any roads through the forest anyway.

Aerwyn left the brexil cats and spiders to watch over the living before taking the rest of his undead towards the goblin settlement. As they passed the burnt entrance of the forest Aerwyn remembered all the goblins Glik had burned alive and he ordered Frakki to collect their mana cores.

Once they arrived at the entrance to the settlement Aerywn look to Jinn and asked.

"Where is the.. treasure?"

"I can take you." Jinn bowed and began to walk ahead before being stopped by Aerwyn.

"Wait. Rorik and Velk go make sure nothing's inside. I don't need another hole in my chest today." Aerwyn's words made Jinn freeze and take a pose that seemed to exude shame.

Eight white souls reached Aerwyn's chest before Rorik and Velk returned. He motioned for Jinn to lead the way and Erit climbed over the walls to follow. Inside there were about a dozen mud huts lined in the shape of a horseshoe with the hut in the center being the smallest. Most of them were pretty large and each building appeared to be able to hold upwards of fifty goblins at a time.

Jinn led them to the smaller building in the center and Aerwyn had Erit bring him down off her back. It appeared Glik lived a lifestyle of luxury as the floors were lined with soft fur pelts and he even had an outcropping from the wall that seemed to be a bed of sorts. Aerwyn found it interesting since most goblins he met just sleep on the floor.

There was another outcropping in the corner of the room and on top of it was the reason for Aerwyn's visit. To his surprise there was a patina covered golden circlet, he ignored everything else and picked it up to analyze. The golden circlet had nine large crimson gems embedded in it with two empty slots that must've held gemstones which were now lost to time.

"Where did Glik get.. this?" Aerwyn asked looking over to Jinn.

"When Frakki and i arrived to merge our tribes Glik told us that it was found by the river by his elders."

"Where are the elders? I never.. seem to see any."

"In goblin tradition, when elders near the end of their life they name a goblin to succeed them and pass down their knowledge. When the goblin evolves and learns all that they can, they kill the elder and consume their mana core."

Aerwyn listened but didn't reply, the complexities of goblin culture had little to do with him and his undead. Looking past the circlet there was a handful of uncut gemstones and a few chunks of shiny ore which he tossed in the pack before walking outside.

"How do i look?" Aerwyn asked with a pained smile as he placed the circlet on his head.

"..Hmph." Rorik was the first to chime in showing his disapproval.

"KWEE! KWEE!" Rin seemed to like it as she jumped around his feet but Ren seemed wholly uninterested.

"...Shiny..." Velk's input was duly noted and silence soon followed. Erit noticing a pause, began to give a speech that sounded like she was the advisor to a cruel tyrant. It didn't help that she used her voice magic making her words all the more enticing.

"I believe a crown would suit you better master. The world should bow down before your awe inspiring power. They should tremble as your undead legions march across the lands eviscerating all that oppose you and-"

"Ok, good talk everyone!" Aerwyn interrupted her while taking off the circlet.

They left the settlement and met up with Frakki before going back to the location where over three hundred goblins now lay cocooned in spider silk. Aerywn set up camp, Ardin was about about a six hour round trip and it would take at least a day for the goblins to carry the living back a hundred at a time. He sent Rorik out for food and rested on Erit's back for the day allowing his wound to heal.

The goblins finished hauling the living to Ardin in the dead of night and the next morning Aerwyn returned as well. His wound had mostly healed and he could talk normally again but there was still some pain. His breathing still wasn't great so he wouldn't be running around for at least the next two days.

Once in the comfort of his own home he ordered Rorik and his hunting group to head back out except this time he told them to ignore E Grade souls unless it was for food. Aerwyn was worried that if his hunting parties kept it up the local boar and deer would go extinct.

Their souls and mana cores weren't all that useful either so it just wasn't worth the possibility of losing his precious food. He also sent more goblins with them, bringing the amount of goblins up to twenty. The new goblins added to the group would be in charge of skinning whatever they killed.

Aerwyn wasn't sure how to tan animal skin yet but witnessing Glik's luxurious home had made him feel a tinge of envy. The goblins should know how to do it and if they didn't he could always ask Tylin or Marik. Ideally he could even make some crude armor for him and the goblins and save some money when it comes time to buy armor.

The new goblin slaves were still cocooned and packed in a building near the old west gate. Goblins stunk and he didn't want them near where he slept so he had the spiders cover the one story building in webs to prevent any from escaping. He ordered Frakki to pick out fifty males and fifty females to use for breeding. The rest would be turned undead as soon as he had enough souls and put to work with the rest.

Those chosen would be released from their cocoons and kept in a another building where they would be free to move around but not able to leave. The spiders excluding Erit would be in charge of making sure none of them escaped and paralyzing the less than cooperative ones if they acted out.