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Tutorial Rewrite 42
🕑 Added 2023-01-08 15:29:18 +0000 UTCAnd the next day, around lunchtime, I finally get a glimpse of it.
The Shore City of Acheron.
It is, by all means, massive. From a distance, you can only really see it as a mass of houses. It’s obviously not as large as normal cities, but it’s certainly big. It could probably contain up to a hundred thousand people if the surface area was covered with modern housing, but as it is, I’d estimate a population of around ten thousand or so. Then again, goblins are smaller than humans, so they could probably fit more in a smaller area. This is all very important information and is in dire need of research.
The outer area is covered with farmland and smaller houses, but further in, the road is met with a pretty substantial wall that covers the inner city part. It’s hard to see, but I think I can spot, just above the wall, a spire or two that might be from a castle. And that castle is absolutely the kind of castle you might rescue a maiden or two from, assuming it was guarded by a dragon.
And that’s exactly where this army is heading. Except, first, we take a lunch break. I had assumed we’d just keep going since we’re so teasingly close, but nope. One more lunch break.
But, if I didn’t hallucinate it, I’m pretty sure I saw a relatively well-dressed goblin ride on ahead towards the city, probably to herald our coming. Or something like that.
After a quick lunch, we head towards the inner city. Along the way, farmers and goblins and every sort of greenie you can imagine has apparently gotten the idea that watching an army and a single human in a cage is the most interesting thing you can see, because they all stand on the side of the road, gawking and pointing. I really want to throw them a sign or two, but not with Simel watching.
Also, currently, Simel is back in his small cage, probably to not make it seem like he’s part of the freak show. I get it. Mostly.
The walls surrounding the inner city are pretty high, at least 8 metres or so. I really couldn’t help but stare at them as we approached, though once we were near enough the roof of the cage kept me from seeing it properly. Bummer. But I still got a good look at the way the huge fort gates opened to take in the entire army, which was pretty cool.
On the inside, a large crowd several times larger than the army awaited us.
Small goblins, tall goblins, blue goblins, goblins in dresses, goblins in fancy furs, crying goblins, excited goblins, happy goblins, sad goblins, all kinds of goblins were in there, staring at the army parade, and, even worse, at me. Did I mention that I’m butt-naked? Because if I didn’t, I’ll say it again.
But even then, I’m no coward. If they want to see me, then they shall see all of me!
Hm? I didn’t notice it before, but at the very front of the parade, the soldiers are carrying coffins. Hm. I wonder why.
Aside from that, the goblin soldiers also seem pretty excited, waving and smiling. I watch them. A few goblins are running up to the soldiers and hugging them so tight they might as well be one. A few of the soldiers are picking up tiny goblings and putting them on their shoulders. Other goblings are just running around the soldiers, weaving in between their legs like energetic puppies. I watch those, too.
And they watch me.
Many goblins are pointing at me and murmuring, and if I look at some of the younger ones in dresses, they squeal and look away. Even some of the older goblins can’t even look me in the eye. They seem utterly disgusted by my form. But not just in the normal oh that guy is really ugly lol way, no, this is something different. It really feels like they’ve never seen a human before. For some reason, it really makes me want to show them what kind of violence a human is capable of.
But then I remember that Simel is next to me and the urge goes away. They’re just gawkers. It’s no different. It doesn’t matter. Just take a deep breath, and it’ll all be over soon.
The parade moves slowly through the main roads of the city, which I notice, just for the record, are paved with cobblestone. It looks really well done, so my cage isn’t as bumpy as it used to be, which is nice. What’s less nice is obviously the fact that I’m in the nude, being stared at by thousands of people.
And after about 30 minutes of moving along, we reach what seems to be a large marketplace or something, where all of the soldiers start gathering in formations as if on cue. They really seem to know this, but I have no idea what’s going on, so there isn’t really much I can do as the cage is placed front and centre, right in the middle of the marketplace. But for as grandiose as this is, I am not the focus.
He is.
On a raised platform overlooking the marketplace, made with white marble and painted with murals of scenes that seem to be from a storybook, stands a goblin clad in the finest purple and red robes, with a long leather cape, surrounded on all sides by countless fellow goblins. And on his head sits a crown.
<Goblin (Lv.11) [BOSS]>
That’s him, then? The king. The target. That’s him.
I rise from where I’ve been sitting and turn towards him. I can’t turn fully, but I can turn enough. I see him, and I can tell that he sees me.
Can I escape from my bindings here and now? Possibly.
If I do, can I get to the platform before I’m recaptured? Maybe.
Once I’m on the platform, can I kill the king before his bodyguards kill me?
<Goblin (Lv.17)[BOSS]>
<Goblin (Lv.18)[BOSS]>
<Goblin (Lv.17)[BOSS]>
<Goblin (Lv.16)[BOSS]>
<Goblin (Lv.15)[BOSS]>
<Goblin (Lv.18)[BOSS]>
…Highly unlikely.
But will I ever get this close to him again? I don’t know. I technically only need to kill the king, but to completely clear the floor…
I glance at Simel.
…Maybe, only killing the king is enough.
It’s not like the reward will actually be that good anyways. What do I get this time, a wolf pelt? Bad news for you, I’ve already got that one, so what’s the point? Really, there’s no point. Except for my stupid gamer ego.
While I silently contemplate the situation, the head commander of our little band steps onto the platform, the other commanders following suit. After briefly bowing to the king, they take positions along the side, alongside the king’s guards. Now that I’m looking closer, there’s also a well-dressed female goblin, and a few goblings that I assume are the queen and… royal spawnlings. I suppose.
Right as I’m starting to wonder what this whole situation is about, the king speaks.
He has a deep and heavy voice. Brassy. The kind you’d expect a leader to have. I have no idea what he’s saying, but he’s saying it with such charisma and sway that I feel compelled to listen anyways. It’s like when you hear a foreign singer, and even though you have no idea what they’re singing about, you can tell exactly how they’re feeling about it. It’s like that, except it’s a goblin holding what I think is supposed to be a speech about… something? I don’t know.
Everyone here looks absolutely enraptured by it, though. I mean, even Simel seems completely spellbound. It should also be noted that even though the king is just, you know, talking into the air, his voice carries across the entire crowd.
I almost wish I could understand it just so that I could make something of it.
But there’s one detail here that worries me.
How is this king wicked?
No, seriously. The city is as pristine and beautiful as a mediaeval city can get. The roads are prim, the soldiers respect him, his family seems to like him, and his subjects seem absolutely spellbound by him. He has an aura to him that just screams, I am a fair and just king. So why did the clear condition describe him as wicked when he clearly isn’t?
I guess there’s a possibility that he’s secretly evil and has a hidden cult and feeds innocent children to the city rats and his heirs are secretly incest babies, but that isn’t even important.
It isn’t important whether the king is wicked or not. All that matters is that the system told me to kill him. They didn’t need to tell me any of that. As long as the system says that a goblin is the [BOSS] of this floor, then I have to kill them. That’s just how it works, and I’m not complaining about it.
But the fact that the system would think that I’d need some moral reason to do this worries me a little.
Silently, I wait for the king’s speech to end.
…Ten minutes pass.
…Twenty minutes pass.
…We’re at the thirty-minute mark, and I’m starting to get a supernatural urge to tear off my own two ears. Sometimes, the crowd will cheer or clap periodically. I have no idea what’s happening, but I just want this to end.
And I get my wish in the worst way possible.
The king suddenly stops speaking, and after a long pause, he points straight at me, and exclaims, in a voice as loud as a thunderclap, “Derecho!”
And the crowd chants in reply, “””Derecho, derecho, derecho!”””
For some reason, I don’t think they’re cheering for me, but rather the physical opposite.
And then something hits the back of my head before falling to the ground and rolling to a stop. Oh, it’s a rock. And then another rock flies through the air, striking me in the chest. I don’t move to avoid it. Another rock, and another, one rock hits me in the eye, and only then does anyone step in as the king with a single word stops the crowd and they fall back into silence.
He speaks again. Whatever words he’s speaking is making Simel turn away and frown, so I don’t like them. And after he finishes speaking those words, he turns to the head commander and speaks some more. Then he puts his hand on his bald head and everyone in the crowd cheers. I almost want to cheer with them because, why not, but I contain myself.
