Chapter 16 Hello, Mr. Goblin.
While Shaar was packing his luggage, the pitiful creature nearby stared at him dumbfounded.
This guy carried all the “spoils of war” on his body, not leaving anything behind. A gigantic round backpack tied together by countless ropes, it made Shaar looked like a human-snail.
“Hey.” The pitiful creature simply could not bear and reminded him: “We are going to look for a buried treasure ...... mountains of gold and silver! Do you still have to bring all this junk?”
Not counting the other things, even the split armor was packed carefully by this fellow like it was his most precious treasure.
TL: My Precious!!!
“Mountains of gold and silver? We still have yet to succeed obtaining it. Perhaps our hunt will be a fruitless one and we return empty-handed.” Shaar displayed the typical cautious attitude of mountain folks: “With these things, even if we do not find the buried treasure, I will at least not return empty-handed. If we find the buried treasure, I can still let go of it.”
This guy was not only a hillbilly, but also a miser.
The pitiful creature gave Shaar a new definition in her heart.
However she was a bit moved by this fellow.
At the very least, Shaar gave the pitiful creature the white rhinoceros leather armor, stripped from Martha!
Among the loot, this rhinoceros leather armor was the only one in perfect condition! This hillbilly unexpectedly gave that to her!
It seemed like he was not an outright bastard after all.
Unfortunately, this slight image improvement in the pitiful creature’s heart was only short lived before it got shattered.
“I lend this leather armor to you because I heard that dragons like shiny things. If we encounter the dragon, you can better attract its attention wearing this silver-white leather amor.”
...... Alright! He was a total bastard!
The pitiful creature could only bitterly grind her teeth: Keke, keke......
When did Shaar ever have time to pay attention at the mood of this fellow? He took out the map that Bidaldo drew and carefully looked at it. Giving it a cold laugh, he tore the map in two.
“Hey! What are you doing?”The pitiful creature froze: “Why did you tear that map ......”
“Fake.” Shaar replied without hesitation and instead stared the pitiful creature deep in her eyes: “Did you think this map was real?”
“But ......”
“Hmpf. This map pointed its direction towards the west!”Shaar showed a very confident expression: “However I remember the magician taking the compass while looking at the terrain and telling his companions to go northeast when we were still hiding in the tree! At that time I thought he was just a simple fool and made a mistake with the directions. But now looking at like, that person was the only one who had a brain in their ground and therefore would absolutely not made such an obvious mistake with the direction. He intentionally gave his companions the wrong information......The direction he gave was where the dragon should be!”
The pitiful creature stared blankly at Shaar......
This rough looking hillbilly, who would think that he actually remembered all these details and kept for himself? The previous unimportant details actually turned out to be crucial! Although this guy was vulgar, he actually was not an idiot.
“So, we should walk towards northeast, right?”
Thinking a moment, Shaar tightened his belt and inserted his charred pitchfork on his waist to its original position. He resembled now a mercenary from the Primal Wildfire Town.
Shaar faced the pitiful creature and closed his eyes for a moment: “Yes towards northeast ......However, I have a question I need to ask you.”
“What question?”
“Have you ever encountered a goblin in your life?”
The pitiful creature immediately turned pale! In Primal Wildfire, encountering goblins was much more terrifying than meeting a group of dwarves! Dwarves, although short tempered, but at least, they do not eat the humans!
Goblins on the other hand attacked in large number, were disgusting and despicable. These things were even more hated than rats. The most important factor, they eat human flesh and would even grind your bones to powder......not forgetting your body fat will be kept in some clay pot to use as oil reserves and winter stocks!
“......no I haven’t” The Pitiful creature quickly shook her head.
“Then congratulations.” Shaar sighed: “If we are unlucky, you will soon encounter these ‘lovely ‘fellows.”He pointed his finger towards the East: “That direction is the territory of the goblins.”
......
On the journey towards northeast, Shaar did not mistreat the pitiful creature and even treated her slightly better than before.
Having a wounded leg, Shaar did not let her walk but instead put the great shield on his shoulder and let the pitiful creature sit on that great shield.
Nevertheless, the pitiful creature was not moved by it the slightest......In her heart she knew very clearly, this hillbilly is taking such a good care of her, like a fisherman carefully looking after its baits while carrying it under his arms. The brute strength of this guy was frightening and could be compared to a monster from the past. His physiques might look quite robust and healthy, but no one would think that this body contained such an astonishing strength!
While hiding, the pitiful creature saw Shaar pulling out that big tree with her own eyes. Until this point, even her bodyguards who were all experts could not achieve it.
Furthermore, he killed a man-eating Bloodthirsty Great Wolf with his bare hands. This guy... She had never seen such a brave warrior before......If he was not that vulgar and if he did not treat her so badly, perhaps she might have tried to find a way to improve his position when she got back. She still remembered him saving her life.
However now.....Hmpf!
The pitiful creature felt her tooth itching again.
After going back, I will arrest him. Since he had a lot of strength, I would to throw into a mill and made to grind flour for the rest of his life! Hpmf.....
Shaar of course did not know that the pitiful creature sitting on his should was already treating him like her family’s mule in her heart.
Walking further towards northeast, the trees gradually became shorter and were no longer grouped densely. The weed on ground also gradually appeared withered, yellow and sparse.
The ground became hard and dry, small stones were scattered everywhere.
While the surrounding trees were gradually getting fewer and fewer, the terrain also started to become flat and in front was a boundless horizon with nothing but a desolate wilderness.
In this wilderness, the ground beneath was red, the soil seemed to be scarce and majority of the area was covered in sand. Looking around, nothing green could be seen, only occasionally passing a thorny plant while travelling through this dessert. Big rocks were raging everywhere on the surface.
“If we move further, I fear we won’t even see those thorny plants.” Shaar whispered in a low voice: “Do you see the red earth beneath us?”
“Yes.” The pitiful creature nodded.
“In fact, strictly speaking here is the real ‘Primal Wildfire’.” Shaar seemed to smile, but gave a strange look while hiding his emotions. However sitting on his shoulders, the pitiful creature had no way of noticing it.
“......Why? Why is here the real Primal Wildfire?”The pitiful creature was puzzled: “Just a while ago, did we not walk through that dense jungle. Does that not count?”
“It counts, but at the same time it doesn’t.”Shaar gave a somewhat vague answer: “In ancient time, the real Primal Wildfire had a legend. A very long time ago, a Byzantine rebel army was besieged by both Byzantium and Odin imperial armies. However the leader of that rebel army was a very powerful general and when that fellow saw that victory was hopeless, he used a mysterious magical formula and torched this entire region. The fire raged for days on this land and burned all the people on it. Even the rocks and soil were burned red by the fire. That’s why it is called Primal Wildfire.”
Startled by the story, the pitiful creature observed the surrounding for a long time and finally asked: “What you said is true, the land here is really red, but ......Can the ground turn fire red because of fire?”
Shaar smiled and responded in a weird tone: “If ......it adds all the blood, it can turn fire red.”
“......” Somewhat shocked the pitiful creature murmured: “Blood ......It must have been a lot of blood if it can cover this huge wilderness.”
The pitiful creature could not bear but ask: “Who told you this legend. I have never heard about it.”
“......”Silent for a moment, Shaar answer her in a calm and gentle tone: “My foster father. When I was still young, every time I felt ill, he would sit next to my bed and tell me those legends.”
Although Shaar’s expression was very calm, the pitiful creature who was very sensitive could hear a hint of mood change from his tones. Hesitating, the pitiful creature did not open her mouth again. She had a faint feeling that asking more details would be quite inappropriate right now.
Silently, Shaar continued to carry the pitiful creature for a while.
Being completely surrounded by this desolated land, the surroundings were filled with large tracts of red sandstone. Even the air, had a somewhat desolate and lonely taste.
Exactly at this time, the pitiful creature’s body suddenly shivered and immediately raised her hand to point at a distant piece of red rock: “Ah! There! There seems to be something, it just moved a moment ago and hide behind it again! Some people are spying on us!!”
Shaar responded very plainly: “Yes, you just noticed? They started to stare at us the moment we entered this wilderness ......Don’t make such a fuss about it and start waving to greet them. Haha, this is a memorable moment! Oh! You finally meet your first living goblin!”