Isekai de Mofumofu Nadenade Suru Tame ni Ganbattemasu. Chapter 25

Why did things turn out like this?!
*thud*
That hurts! You should take better of your hostages!
My right shoulder took the brunt of the impact as I was thrown to the ground.
Is the bunny okay?!
The bunny that was stuffed in the bag along with me squirmed around in my arms.
Thank goodness. The bleeding seems to have stopped as well.
After being dragged out of the bag, I found myself surrounded by goblins...lots of goblins!!
Countless goblins are occupying this spacious cavern, which appears to be a natural formation, and they’re creeping about and gathering around me! Some of them are drooling too!! I’m not your dinner!!
...Huh? It seems like their focus wasn’t on me but rather the thing in my arms...
“You can’t eat the bunny either!”
The goblin’s expressions turned to one of dejection. Do they understand what I’m saying?
No means no!
“More importantly, what are you planning to do with me?”
The goblins returned my question with a puzzled look. They almost look cute...but no! I’m not going to give into that temptation!
A single goblin began approaching us, with drool dripping down its chin.
I shot the goblin a glance that said, “I’m not giving you the bunny!” but it didn’t seem to be affected by it, and took me by the hand.
“Umm, do you want me to follow you?”
I let the goblin lead the way, and we eventually came to a small cave opening.
He then started pushing me forcefully from behind, so I went inside.
I expected it to be pitch black, but the walls were illuminated by a pale green light. Is this luminescent moss?
After entering the cave, we came across some people...Wait what?! People?!
I did a double take out of surprise. There were two girls that were a little older than me, and looked like they could be sisters.
“Were you abducted as well?” One of them asked me. What a lovely soprano voice she has!
“Yeah, I was. What about you?”
“Can’t you tell by looking?” the other one huffed, “We’re not here because we want to be!”
While she does have a point, this sister seems a lot less friendly.
“I’m Pino, and this is Nino. We’re brother and sister.”
So that was a boy? My mistake.
These two lovely siblings are so beautiful one might think they were angels. Unfortunately, because of the dim lighting, I wasn’t able to tell what colors their hair and eyes were.
“I’m Nema. Nice to meet you.”
Although this was the first time I’d spoken with someone my own age, I decided to keep my identity a secret just to stay on the safe side.
“There are some adults held captive here as well, but they’re in a different location, so we aren’t able to see them directly.”
Pino continued on, explaining everything he knew to me. 
That said, it didn’t sound like very good news. Stuff about goblins, orcs, bandits, the abducted women, and whatnot.
The rescue force needs to get here as soon as possible. Not just to save me, but everyone else here as well!
Sol could take care of this in a flash with his powers, but just blowing this place up without getting any information first would be a bit reckless. Not to mention, wouldn’t using fire magic in an enclosed location like this use up all the oxygen in here? Would using wind along with it work?
“Sol, do you think it’s safe to use fire magic in a cave? We won’t suffocate will we?”
“Is this another one of your strange requests? Hmm, that should be fine as long as you accompany it with wind.”
“So...I was wondering...I’m here in a goblin hideout, and there are some other captives here as well. Do you think you could maybe rescue us?
“...Unbelievable...”
Sounds like I left Sol at a loss for words.
“While I could cast a spell there, it wouldn’t be possible to only hit the goblins using telepathy. If I could see them it would be a different story.”
I guess this means Sol isn’t an all powerful cheat code that can get me out of any trouble.
“If you were capable of regulating magic, it might be possible...”
“No chance! I could never do something that scary!!”
You know I don’t have any magic powers. There’s no way I could do something like that without any practice!
I guess I have no choice but to wait for papa and the rescue force to come...
Hopefully Knox tracked us properly, so he can inform them. 
Show me your daily training has paid off, Knox!
*growl*
I’m starving!
I should have had the lunch the mayor’s wife made!
“How can you be worried about food given the situation you’re in?”
What am I supposed to do? I was walking all day, and I had to run too. I’m running on empty at this point.
I decided to leave the bunny with Pino, and stepped out of the cave.
There was a goblin stationed right next to the cave entrance.
It must not have been expecting anyone to leave, because its eyes were as big as saucers when it noticed me.
I didn’t expect anyone to be so close by either, so I was just as surprised!
“I’m hungry!” I tried rubbing my tummy to get the message across.
“Gii! Gigi!”
The goblin then said something to a different goblin. While I couldn’t understand their language, it appeared as though I got through to them.
Maybe these goblins are smarter than they look.
Another goblin showed up carrying a fruit that resembled a long and narrow persimmon. I’d never seen this fruit before, so I wasn’t sure if it was edible.
After wiping it off with my sleeve, I bit into the fruit. Not the best table manners, but oh well.
“...Yuck!!”
This is too bitter! My tongue feels like it’s going numb!
There’s no way this is edible.
“Gi gi”
The goblin quickly took the fruit out of my hands, and used its teeth to start peeling off the skin.
It then pointed to the part that had been peeled.
So the skin isn’t edible...tell me that sooner!
I nervously bit into the part that had been peeled...
Delicious! Its texture is crisp, and the juice is really sweet!
I wonder if there’s a way to peel this without using your teeth?
That’s right! I forgot about the knife that I stored in the bunny! I’ve been forgetting about the bunny a lot lately…
After getting the knife, I went straight to work on peeling.
As soon as I pulled out the knife, the goblins were startled, and took a step back.
What are you worried about? I’m not skilled enough with a knife to do anything to you guys.
To tell the truth, the process of me trying to remove the fruit’s skin was probably more like shaving it than peeling.
Tiny hands are such a disadvantage.
After finishing peeling, I savored munching on the fruit.
The goblins were carefully monitoring my every move.
What’s wrong? If you’re not busy, someone get me another!
I know that sounds kind of pushy, but you can’t make an omelet without cracking some eggs.
After receiving a second fruit, I happily began peeling it.
A few goblins took out some rusty knives, and began to imitate my peeling method.
Aha! So they never thought of peeling these with a knife!
The goblins anxiously held their knives.
Be careful not to cut yourselves!
I might as well teach you guys how to shave the skin off. It’s better to do it this way since your hands are tiny! Like using a peeler!
 
...so I’m not really sure how, but I ended up getting on good terms with the goblins.
Is this another perk of the divine power I received? I get along with magical beasts too? I didn’t realize until now…
But this makes things problematic.
I don’t want to see my goblin friends get exterminated, but papa will definitely show up here with his forces. When he gets here he probably won’t be in a mood to listen to what I have to say.
How can I get the captives rescued while also helping these goblins live in peace...Ahh, this is difficult!!
“I forgot to ask, what are you guys doing living here?”
Goblins normally don’t live in cold regions, so why did these goblins decide to settle in such a frigid location?
“Gi?...Gigi! Gugigii!”
“Sorry, but I don’t have a clue what you’re saying.”
“Guu...”
I mean “gi” and “guu” just sound like animal cries to me.
While we were unsuccessfully trying to communicate, the cavern entrance started to bustle.
It looks like a group of goblins has returned from an outing.
There’s more of them?! Just how many live here?
Two giant boar piglets were being carried into the cavern.
What are you guys doing letting yourselves get caught like that...I guess it’s the law of the jungle here, and the weak are easy targets, but I can’t help but feel sorry for the piglets.
That said, it’s impressive these goblins managed to capture them.
They aren’t even familiar with how to use a knife, but they managed to capture these two young boars that outweigh them.
While lost in thought, it took me a while to notice the shadow that had suddenly appeared in front of me.
“Why is this human girl outside?”
“You can speak?!”
I was shocked!
While it resembled the other goblins, this one was far more imposing.
Could this be the rumored hobgoblin? But why can it talk?!
“Gi gi!”
“Don’t tell me you abducted another one after I told you so many times not to...”
“Hold it right there!”
First things first, let’s sort out what’s going on here!
“I’ve got some questions to ask you, will you answer them?”
“...”
I’ll take that silence as a yes!
“First off, can I assume you’re the chief of these goblins?”
“...That’s right, I’m the chief of this band”
No surprises there.
“Second, while are you abducting people?”
“The women are taken as battle trophies, but these guys also have a habit of taking children.”
Excuse me? A habit?? Do goblins normally have that kind of behavior???
Maybe my fantasy knowledge is lacking, or maybe it’s an original aspect of this world? Hmm...I don’t have a clue!
“A habit...of abducting children?”
“It might be more accurate to say they take custody of them. Goblins are very protective of children, even human children.”
It seems I’ve been taken into custody! I wasn’t even lost or anything.
“Third, why do you attack humans?”
“...In order to survive. To do that we traveled all the way to this place.”
Here we go. This sounds like it could be valuable information.
“Why did you leave your previous home?”
After hearing this question, the hobgoblin’s expression changed for the first time...at least I think it did. It’s hard to tell so I’m not positive.
“We were driven from the forest by humans. The kobolds, orcs, and ogres along with us...”
Huh? That wasn’t the work of god? Or maybe he was pulling the strings behind the scenes.
...but if you’re going to go through all that trouble, why not just take care of it yourself? Jeez.
“But you guys didn’t have to come this far north, did you?”
The hobgoblin shook his head in silence.
“No matter how far we fled, the humans would chase us. The ogres, being aggressive, decided to fight back, and were defeated. It’s rare to see one nowadays. The orcs were unable to adapt to the cold, and either froze to death, or remained in the south despite the danger. We goblins are weak, so we decided to flee, but even then many of us perished.”
It must not have been the order of knights, because I would have heard about such a large scale extermination force being organized. And since it sounds like they were crossing national borders, it isn’t limited to Gashe Kingdom. That means that either the guild is involved, or that the Genesis Sect are up to something...
If the Genesis Sect are behind this, then the damage could stretch beyond Gashe Kingdom.
The drought suffered by the nation of Ikuu last year comes to mind.
Then again, our king doesn’t like the Genesis Sect meddling in politics, so that might have something to do with it too.
I’ll have to have papa look into whether similar things are occurring in Milma and the Linus Empire.
So what will happen to these goblins?
Would it be better to have them build a settlement here, and become self-sufficient?
…wait a minute. If we do that, then we’ll have to teach the goblins how to survive! Things like how to hunt, cultivate crops, processing animal pelts, and preserving food...ugh, what a pain!
That plan is rejected!!
“So...what do you want to do? Get revenge on humans?”
There’s no point in trying to think this over, I might as well ask them how they intend to live from now on.
Not that I would allow them to exact their revenge, even if that’s what they wanted.
“...We want to live how we used to. Hunting and being hunted by animals and magical beasts...as a vital part of the forest ecosystem.”
Even if you put it that way, it’s fairly obvious that goblins fall more into the category of hunted rather than hunters. Although that’s also the reason why they reproduce and mature so quickly. Which means if we tried to conserve just the goblins, there’s a chance the ecosystem could get out of balance.
In that case, would it be better to conserve everyone?
Instead of staying here, we could have the goblins, orcs, ogres, and all the other magic beasts live in the mountain territory near the royal capital!
I could ask mother to put up a barrier to prevent them from going into the nearby villages, but the main problem would be financing this project...
Also, even if there are natural predators, some population thinning will probably be necessary.
Would building a dungeon be overdoing things?
Wait a minute. If we turned it into a training area for lower ranked guild members, and then built some item shops at the base of the mountains...
This plan might just work!
“How does this sound?”
It wasn’t a finished plan, but I decided to pitch my idea to the hobgoblin.
“Would we be allowed to kill humans?”
“Well, it would be the wilderness after all. We’d explain the situation to anyone who enters the mountains, so any goblin who kills a human would be able to keep their spoils.”
It should be alright as long as we prepare some contracts and make it clear that survival isn’t guaranteed, right?
I can make papa handle all the difficult legal stuff.
It might sound cruel, but it was divine providence that brought the goblins and I together.
If someone dies, then everyone will just have to accept that as fate and move on.
“The biggest problem is what we should do about my father’s forces, who will be coming after me.”
That’s right! Whenever I’m in trouble I can call upon Sol!!
I’m extra brilliant today!
“Can you guys let me take care of this?”
“I don’t mind, but what do you intend to do?”
“Hehehe—I’m going to call upon the power of the ultimate cheat code.”
“Cheat cold?”
The hobgoblin shook its head. That word apparently isn’t part of their vocabulary.
Jeez, does head shaking come as standard equipment on you goblins!
I quickly explained the situation to Sol.
The goblins were giving me strange looks while I was communicating telepathically with my cheat code companion, but they seemed to understand once I explained it to them.
Sol seemed amused by the plan, and agreed to help out with it, and with dealing with papa.
With that settled, all that’s left is to call a strategic meeting!
...or at least I’d like to, but it’s hard to come up with a strategy without knowing anything about the forces we’ll be facing...
I don’t ever recall seeing my family members use their magic attacks.
All I know is that papa’s magic is strong enough to discharge when he gets upset, and that his magical element is fire.
I’m absolutely clueless about any subordinates he’ll bring with him.
When it comes to the Order of Knights…I mean they’re knights, so they should be pretty strong right?
This isn’t going to work.
Despite knowing all too well how important intelligence gathering is, I’m stuck in this predicament.
After discussing things over with Sol and the hobgoblin, we ended up deciding on several patterns.
In the meantime, dusk fell upon the forest.
If we’re going to make a move, then doing so under the cover of night would probably be the best option.
After explaining to Pino and Nino that a rescue party was on its way, I enlisted in their help as well.
When papa shows up, all they have to do is go outside.
Simple, right?
The purpose of having them do this is actually to prevent papa from going on the offensive right away.
I might be using them as sacrificial lambs, but that’s okay. I’ll make sure Sol casts protective magic on them!
Now then, I need to finish making preparations as soon as possible.
I asked the nocturnal animals with good night vision to let us know if any humans show up.
I thought about calling Knox, but thought better of it because Knox could be with papa.
All that’s left is to set a little trap. Nothing too serious, just enough to give me peace of mind.
Alright, bring it on! We’re ready for you whenever!

Chapter end