When a band of goblins that looked faintly like an "actual army" appeared ahead on the wasteland, Xia Ya's careless, easygoing look finally turned a few degrees more serious.
He kicked the captured goblin to the ground, then set the wretch down and watched the way ahead warily.
Compared with the beggar goblins they had met before, the creatures now blocking the road were plainly a little less ragged in their getup.
There were about a dozen of them, and in build they were a bit stronger than the beggars they had met before — only a bit. The same green skin, but at least they had something that passed for equipment. Their filthy leather armor had not been cleaned in who knew how long, caked with dirty mud and some suspicious red and white stuff — but at least it could barely count as "armor."
And they all had weapons in hand, though by human standards those were still crude and laughable: a few short spears with beast bone for shafts and sharp iron shards for tips, plus a few rusty, blunt blades that might have been dug out of some grave or other. The tallest, biggest goblin among them even carried a shield, though it was only about the size of a human washbasin and was nothing more than a slab of rotten wood with a layer of animal hide stretched over it.
But at least these goblins were organized.
The wretch started worrying at once. With this squad of regulars added in, and counting the wanderers trailing behind them, the goblins around them already numbered over seventy or eighty.
That many goblins — if they all came at them at once...
But then something happened that astonished the wretch!
The squad of regular goblins did not attack Xia Ya and the wretch at all. They went around them, snarling and clawing the air, brandishing their weapons, and chased down the wanderers and gave them a thorough beating that left them shrieking and wailing.
The wanderers seemed terrified of these regulars and collapsed at the first touch. Watching their own kind get beaten bloody, the goblin warriors laughed in triumph, and some even let out excited "ouk" cries at the enemy fleeing into the distance. Two of the bolder ones pulled down their pants and happily slapped their backsides at the routed goblins far away.
"There's an old saying on the Wildfire Plain: goblins are a race that will never, ever learn to be 'united.'"
Xia Ya muttered.
"There are more goblin tribes on the Wildfire Plain than hairs on an ox — the big ones have a thousand souls or more, the small ones a hundred or so. With so many tribes, the total population is astonishing. If they ever united, I'm afraid even the dwarves on the Wildfire Plain wouldn't dare bully them lightly. But in all of history these goblins have never once been united. Seems that, for a goblin, the fun of bullying their own kind beats everything else."
Having driven off the wanderers, the goblin warriors still did not attack Xia Ya and the wretch. Two of them ran back at a sprint, and the rest took over the wanderers' role, hanging back at a distance and shadowing the two of them.
Xia Ya went on leading the wretch forward, and still did not spare the poor captive: after a few kicks, the creature had no choice but to roll and scramble onward.
Sure enough, watching one of their own kind tormented, the goblin warriors showed not the slightest fellow feeling, not even a shred of pity; a few of the more brazen ones simply pointed at the creature and howled with laughter.
These dozen-odd goblin warriors were far fewer than the wanderers before, but even the wretch could feel that Xia Ya's reaction had turned much more serious.
Because the air these goblin warriors gave off far surpassed the wanderers'. The wanderers had been nothing but a pack of village curs, following at a distance and barking now and then. These goblin warriors were more like a pack of wolves — they barked, and they also dared to show their fangs.
The first test came in the afternoon.
The two goblin warriors who had run off earlier had most likely gone to report; they came back with more companions.
Seventy or eighty goblin warriors came to meet them from ahead, and even more or less kept formation... All right, the discipline of that formation could just about match a human street gang brawling in a mob.
And the numbers spurred their courage. For the first time they raised their weapons and very plainly blocked Xia Ya and the wretch's road.
The goblins shrieked, wildly excited, "ouk ouk" rising and falling from every throat. Xia Ya set the wretch down, then gave the captive a kick. The captive, seeing so many goblin warriors gathered together, had gone weak in the legs with fright; it flung itself flat on the ground, clutched its head in both hands, stuck its rear high in the air, and trembled without end.
The goblins kept pressing on, and when the gap between them was only a dozen or so paces they halted. One goblin was pushed out; it stood just outside the safe distance and shouted once at Xia Ya.
"Ouk! Human, goblin, territory, siji!"
The goblin shouted it twice over, threw a frightened glance at the battle-axe planted in front of Xia Ya, then scrambled nimbly back into the ranks of its companions, and only there recovered its nerve.
"What's it saying?" the wretch asked.
"It says it's very bad for a human to trespass on goblin land." Xia Ya grinned. "Siji means bad. Goblin talk is very simple; one word usually covers a whole pile of meanings."
True enough — the wretch suddenly understood. When Xia Ya had broken the captive's foot, it had shouted "ouk" and "siji" both.
To a goblin, a foot that was "broken" — broken could also be covered by "bad," which was "siji."
Once he had finished explaining, Xia Ya picked up his axe and walked forward alone. The goblins instantly raised their weapons in fear and all started shouting at him.
Then something happened that astonished the wretch...
Xia Ya walked up to the goblins, planted the axe in the ground at his feet, coughed twice, and pitched his voice loud:
"Ouk! Me, continent, strongest, dragon-slayer, goblins, not kill!" And with that he actually turned around, slapped his backside at the crowd of goblins, then turned back wearing a look of utter contempt.
Even the wretch understood that one... This bumpkin actually dares to brag like that?
The gist of it was: damn it, I'm the strongest dragon-slaying warrior on the continent, and I can't be bothered to kill goblins like you... "Ouk" meant "damn it" here.
For his second sentence, Xia Ya turned and pointed behind him, first at the captive goblin: "Suosuo!"
Then at the bundle piled up like a small hill: "Suosuo!!"
And finally at the wretch: "Suosuo!!!"
Then Xia Ya looked at the goblins: "Me, suosuo! Chaji! Woke! Goblins, not kill! Ouk!!"
The wretch could not make out a word of this one, but inwardly he was shaken: This bumpkin can actually speak Goblin?!
To her surprise the goblins fell silent at once. The tallest few, who looked like chieftains, narrowed their eyes and stared awhile at the wretch and the captive behind him, then looked at the bundle, and finally gabbled among themselves.
Xia Ya grew impatient and pointed at the goblin captive, shouting: "Suosuo! Chaji!"
The goblins shook their heads.
Xia Ya pointed at the pile of bundles: "Suosuo! Chaji!"
The goblins shook their heads again.
Finally he pointed at the wretch: "Suosuo! Chaji!"
The goblins hesitated, looked the wretch over carefully, and after a moment shook their heads once more.
Xia Ya seemed quite disappointed; he picked up his axe and turned back.
When he came back to the wretch's side, he asked at once, anxiously, "What did you say to them? You can actually speak Goblin?"
Xia Ya glanced at him, looking rather displeased: "A little, sure. Hmph..."
"What does suosuo mean?" the wretch asked. "You just pointed at us and yelled suosuo..."
"Suosuo means spoils, captives, gold coins, cattle, sheep, pigs, horses, other livestock, weapons and gear, and goods... anything you capture can be called suosuo," Xia Ya answered.
The wretch's face fell. "And chaji?"
"Exchange!" Xia Ya snorted. "Woke means to walk. What I said was that I'd trade my spoils to them so I could walk through their territory. Hah... what a shame. They actually turned their noses up at the goods as too shabby and wouldn't agree... Would you look at that. Even a goblin won't take an ugly thing like you."
With that, he heaved a genuinely regretful sigh.
The wretch froze for a moment — and then he absolutely lost it!
"What!!! You were going to trade me to the goblins!!!!!!!"
He jumped up, heedless of the wound on his leg, and flung himself at Xia Ya, his fists flailing every which way. Xia Ya pressed him flat to the ground with one light slap of his palm and said scornfully, "What are you screaming for!"
The wretch was so furious he burst into tears. He knew he couldn't beat this bumpkin, so he hammered the ground with both hands and wept a perfect rainstorm of tears.
You bastard! You bumpkin! You clodhopper! Blind as a mole!!
Back home, everyone had treated the wretch like a jewel on the palm of their hand — cupped in both hands for fear of dropping him, held in the mouth for fear of melting him — and the men who adored him had treated him like a peerless treasure... And now this bumpkin beats me, curses me, and I let that pass, but he'd sell me off to a pack of goblins just like that?!
And... and the most infuriating part is he complained he didn't get a good price!!
"Bumpkin! Just kill me and be done with it!" The wretch lifted his chin with great backbone and shut his eyes. "I'd rather die than be sold to those goblins by you!"
"Idiot." Xia Ya laughed instead of getting angry. "Are you a simpleton? Of course I wasn't really going to sell you. I was just testing these fellows."
He crouched down and lowered his voice.
"I was deliberately running my mouth to sound out their background! To find out how much strength the tribe these goblins belong to really has!
If it were an ordinary little tribe, the price I offered would have been enough to tempt them into agreeing — after all, everything I carry except my own person would go to them, and my baggage is pretty rich.
Even if you and that goblin aren't worth much, the wolf pelts in that bundle, and the metal, are goods goblins love. A small tribe would have agreed happily long ago. Since they won't, it means their tribe is on the big side, has some real strength, and doesn't even bother to look at trifles like these."
Only then did the wretch's tears turn to laughter. "You — you really were only testing them?"
Xia Ya nodded, looked into the wretch's eyes, and answered with a face full of sincerity: "Of course! Even if I had to give up everything I'm carrying... how could I bear to sell you!"
That instantly made the wretch feel much better — but Xia Ya's next sentence made him roll his eyes in fury again.
"I still have to go find that dragon! Good bait isn't easy to come by. This goblin's not bad, but goblins run too slow, and they're too ugly — the dragon might not even like the taste. So, to be fair, you are a bit better than the goblin!"
By all the gods! In all his life up to now, the wretch had heard countless honeyed flatteries and praises. Some had praised his looks as more bewitching than the moon goddess's, some had praised his beauty as putting roses to shame, others had compared his eyes to pearls and stars...
But never had anyone said such a damned compliment to him:
"You're a bit better than a goblin..."