Gemstone Goblins (LitRPG)

Neighbours 2

Skinny workers chopped wood sloppily and weak hunters wasted more food than they produced. A redheaded woman wearing battle-scarred clothes was grinding her teeth and pulling her hair out, and her struggling village. She sat inside her dinky little stone tower in the outskirts of nowhere, pondering intensely about her next course of action. She had quit her bandit group. She didn't like the path the group was headed in, which was annihilation. She had left for her hometown to reclaim her birthright. The only problem being that upon returning, she found that everything was in squalor and on its last legs.

Out of frustration she opened up a metal flask and took a swift gulp of the contents within. But before she could take another, a sickly pale man knocked on the door to the keep. "Mayor Clara, we have a problem!" He was panicking.

She sighed and opened the door. "What is it? I'm trying to figure out how to pay for supplies."

"There are goblins on the outskirts of town!" He cried.

Clara's eyes widened. "Bloody goblins," she cursed in her mind. This was terrible news, the hamlet had no guards, no one trained to fight and the few ex-soldiers were old and crippled. Only she had any combat experience, but she was alone.

She bit her nails in frustration. "Where are they attacking?" She barked.

"N-no, they're just standing there! Waiting at the edge of town, one of them even spoke our language! He demanded to speak with the leader." The man's face sagged with fear and his knees buckled.

Her head began to throb. "Monsters are now speaking!" She scoffed to herself. If this wasn't a sign of the end times, she did not what was. Had these low-level monsters come to her town to demand tribute? Well no matter, she would simply kill their leader on the spot and run away.

Clara stormed through the snow, heading to the edge of town, where she saw a group of around 10 goblins, standing together with information. They did not look like normal goblins, instead, their skin was bright yellow, and their eyes shone like gems. One of them was sitting on a Glimmer Goat! They were the same goblins that had attacked the bandit camp.

The one atop the goat looked down at her in a contemptuous gaze. She could instantly tell that it was not normal. It carried itself as if it was an aristocrat, or perhaps more accurately a wealthy merchant. Its hair was wavey and pitch black, and its gemlike eyes had a clear sign of intelligence.

The goblin spoke. "Are you the leader?" Its voice was stern and gravely.

She kept her hand gripped around the hilt of her blade. "Yes, I'm the Mayor of Woodwick," She replied with an unyielding gaze. "Never in my life, I expected to talk with a monster." She laughed at herself internally.

The goblin's face grew an odd smile. "I recognise your voice! You were one of those bandit goat herders!" It chuckled with its horrid voice.

Clara clenched the handle of her sword tightly, slightly drawing it sword from her scabbard, revealing a flawless and pristine blade. The goblins readied themselves similarly.