The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary C329 Airship Carrier

Piercestriker called Jin via the magpie messenger to spread the word about the various lights that were shining in the night sky. Many were unable to identify those lights, not even King Sol and his generals who experienced the most in their lifetimes. Though the same did not hold true for Jin who himself was equally surprised.

“It's hard to believe that a supposed medieval world had such things around.” Jin scratched his head while looking through the binoculars he had prepared with his scouting pack before he entered the Goblin World.

“Have you seen anything like this before, benefactor? What are those exactly?” King Sol asked since he knew nothing about this particular half panda mask guy except for the fact that he was able to fight toe to toe with the Red Hurricane and seemingly aided the rally with his daughter Starfire, which earned Jin some brownie points and the king's respect.

“I've not personally seen them, so I can only deduce from the (fantasy) books I read, but they are like slow moving sh.i.p.s that swim along in the air. If I remember correctly, they were dubbed as airship carriers. Those lights are used to convey signals so that the airship carriers do not crash each other and some are just headlights to see what lies ahead of them.” Jin answered as he himself was keeping pointers. Maybe he could create an airship carrier instance for his cultivators.

“Airship carriers? Erm so like sh.i.p.s in the air which carry troops?” Gladios did not know all that sophisticated stuff and asked bluntly.

“Yea, I might be wrong but they could be carrying hundreds if not thousands of soldiers in there. Not to mention, the sh.i.p.s might have cannons that could blast from the skies and onto the towns. I doubt you guys have anything that stops things that come from the air, now do you?” Jin questioned without much hope, which King Sol and his two generals shook their heads.

“Then what the Red Hurricane said before he left is true. They are bringing the invasion to us despite our kindness to their race!” Starfire felt irritated for being so helpless.

“Master, we know that you did not come here initially to protect the kingdom, but we beg of you are you able to help my father, my liege and the Gob Gob Kingdom against the Orc Invasion.” Ripcaller and Slashreaver knelt down in front of the half mask panda guy which shocked their fathers.

“Eh…. Let's reconvene and have a proper talk elsewhere. Those airship carriers take time to come. But if I were you I'd get your goblin armies to prepare for war.” Jin suggested and King Sol agreed at once. He commanded his two generals to send word to prepare for war while they reconvened in a smaller meeting room which they temporarily set up as their war room.

In the meantime, Piercestriker had his broken arm fixed by some goblin healers and with the help of the major chi potions that they brought from Jin's world. The three goblin sons then briefly explained to their fathers a story which they all collaborated to make sure Jin was not wrongly implicated. Jin also properly introduced himself to King Sol and the Three Generals by taking his half panda mask away.

“All…this while I thought that you were humanoid, but not a human at all.” Starfire felt ridiculed that she sided with the humans. It's not that she had any real enmity against the humans, but reports of human resistances killing goblins just made her feel that humans and goblins could never coexist together. Sure they might have trading agreements and diplomatic relationsh.i.p.s but it was all a façade for business since the humans in their world had too much pride.

“So…in short Master Jin rescued the three of you from those human kidnappers that used some sort of flying creature to capture all of you?” Argent, the Spear General summed up the story which made sense to him. After all there was no magic presence in the area and the goblin sons disappeared way too quickly. The three Generals had considered the possibility of a human using a flying creature but not many were able to master those creatures of flight compared to monsters and humanoids. It would also explain why no party asked for a ransom to release their sons.

“Yes, and even though he let us off, we realised that he was a master of some secret arts. We begged him to teach us more and even though he warned us that there was a pact that had to be made, we did it unwi- *cough* willingly.” Slashreaver coughed as he remembered to tweak his words a little. Jin had released some sort of bitter laugh when he nearly heard it, hoping to cover it as well.

“They exaggerate my greatness. I am just a …unique summoner.” Jin figured he should tell the primary basis of his powers or else they would get shocked by the number of summons he would have to call if they really needed his help against the Orc Invasion. For now it seemed best to pretend he was from their world as it should make cooperation easier than to outright tell them, he came from a different world.

“I am sorry to interrupt but I like to know. What kind of summoner would have such powers?! He is clearly not a summoner at all when I saw him fight recently. His strength might be equivalent to Uncle Gladios. He is hiding something.” Starfire interjected and she explained what she saw in the courtyard. Now it was the three generals' turn to become rather impressed with how Jin was able to defeat that many orc fighters in such a short and seemingly simple fashion.

“But you did see him summoning the ants and the Magpie Queen out of nowhere, didn't you?” Slashreaver added and Starfire stopped her tracks for a while.

“I erm…yes I forgot about that.” Starfire kept quiet for now as King Sol cleared his throat.

“Slashreaver, Piercestriker and Ripcaller. Do you three vow that he is on our side and not some spy or mole for either the Humans nor the Orcs?” King Sol asked and the three immediately dropped to their knees and shouted in unison. “Yes, your Majesty! We entrust our lives to Master Jin as much as we served it to you.” The goblins swore which made the Generals somewhat baffled. They still remembered that their sons never acted this decisively before.

The fact that their return had brought surprise from one to another made it mind numbing for the Generals and their king. To see Ripcaller and Slashreaver competently suppressing the Red Hurricane was already a feat on its own, but the Black Disaster who got killed by Piercestriker alone was a piece of news to be celebrated for days or even weeks. Heck, he might even be hailed as a new Hero for the goblins. All these helped King Sol decide to take the gambit and to trust Jin for now with a condition.

“I am asking for your services Summoner. We can discuss payment later.” King Sol requested with utmost sincerity… when he caught Jin accidentally yawning, who suddenly stopped the moment he heard King Sol make his plea.

“Eh? Wait. Wait a minute. You wish to hire me?” Jin was fairly shocked when he heard that. He had thought the King would be demanding him to do it as compensation for taking the goblin sons away without any permission. Jin thought that kings would self centred and selfish. That Goblin King was nothing like he had expected.

“Yes. We are not allies in any way, but you shall be handsomely rewarded for your services. Not to mention, we have yet to reward you for rescuing these three goblins and training them. To see them this powerful… I can vaguely feel their auras just by standing near them proves that you must have exhausted quite a number of good tonics, equipment and training for them.” King Sol replied.

“However, I am forced to ask that you and your other human comrades continue to wear your half masks since I do not wish our goblin army to mistake us having allied with the humans. I am sure you can understand, how that would implicate morale. Once we survive this we can later reveal your identity, if you so wish.” King Sol added which Jin did not agree with immediately.

“I will get back to you. Let me get out of this room for five minutes.” Jin answered as he walked out of the War Room.

“Eh? I thought your master was willing to help us?” Argent whispered to his son and Piercestriker could only shrug his shoulders.

“Master can be sometimes hard to read since he's actually a secluded guy. You thought that he was willing to help but he might think it's not worth the hassle. Convincing him could be the hardest part. We will try to persuade him a little.” Slashreaver tried to justify it as he beckoned the other two to follow their master out of the room.

“Do we really need his help?” Starfire asked even though she could not deny that Jin was strong.

“You saw how he chased away the Red Hurricane and the death of the Black Disaster only came to be because Piercestriker trained under him. That makes it evident he is not only a skilled warrior but also teacher. Do you think his allies will be that much worse? And…that blue bird which you said it was under the command of the half mask magpie lady. He summoned her right?” King Sol asked his daughter, and she reluctantly nodded.

“That little small bird not only provides me with mana but I can feel that somehow my magic lines in the body have been partially mended too. Never in my life would I have considered such a thing possible. I thought that my magic lines would remain impaired since it was written in stone that once the lines are broken, it will stay broken. Yet that little blue bird enabled me to mend some of my magic lines back and I do not feel as weak as before. Nothing like in my prime, yet I can feel myself improving. If he can summon such powerful beings to his side that perform such miracles…this might be the chance to shorten this Orc Invasion and protect our kingdom from ruin.” King Sol explained and the three generals could only smirk at their King's foresight. Starfire did not think that far and was embarrassed that she solely focused on the superficial.

“User, you have put yourself further into deeper shit. According to prior thought analysis, this should be your way to express your current situation, is that correct?” System added and Jin felt annoyed as he went out of the war room.

“Why are all the worlds at war? I don't really want to interfere that much with this world.” Jin complained to the phone as he saw the three goblin sons coming out of the war room and closing the door behind them properly.

“War is inevitable in every world. User is just lucky that the current country User is residing in is not involved in any major armed conflict. Had User come in any later, this could have been more peaceful, but with a 96.7% probability it would be Orc Territory. Does User wish to leave?” System questioned Jin.

“We plead that you aid our kingdom Master.” The three goblins knelt once more and Jin placed his palm on his face as he leaned on the side of the wall. He sighed as he took out a bottle of spring water to drink from his storage watch and pour some on his face to freshen himself up. “Let get back to the war room to discuss further. I am not agreeing to anything yet.”

The King was discussing some minor issues with the Generals and their trusted lackeys in the war room as Jin entered again after a short break. They stopped their conversation and all heads were turned to Jin.

“Here is my opinion. From what I gathered from you guys, the Orcs are also attacking other goblin kingdoms, right? If all of the kingdoms are suffering the same pattern of attack they are bound to be overtaken by tomorrow. That means the odds are stacked against your kingdom and people. You all will be pinned down eventually by refugees running from those kingdoms and the Orcs might join an alliance with the humans you all hate to finish you off.” Jin did not mince his words and the generals, unfortunately, agreed on what Jin had mentioned.

“What I am about to do later before daybreak would only delay the inevitability. Sure I might save some goblins while sparing some time for you guys to fire up your smiths and boost your conscription to prepare for war but that does not change the fact that you guys would be forced into entering war again. And this time it will be basically you against the world.”

“But what else can we do instead of preparing for war? From what we can deduce from the 'airship carriers' , they might have found some lost technology from the depths of the earth. There is no way they are stopping for a diplomatic resolution when they have the upper hand in terms of weaponry and technology.” General Igni concluded which suddenly struck Jin.

“Didn't Hou Fei, our fellow Panda Clan Remnant promise that he could provide me blueprints for military incursions if I agree to create a large field exercise for the military?” Jin thought back and suddenly broke into laughter which irked the goblins in the room.

“Hahahahah! Just when I thought we would be in a terrible situation.” Jin stopped laughing as he sent a thought to the System. “You better reward me well for participating in this war. I know you are thinking of cheesing me off the equation if I agree willingly. Plus I can foresee the kind of results you might be able to take advantage of as long as this goes well.”

“User is learning to be shrewd. System approves of User's growth and awareness of business deals. System agrees in setting a proper reward list for User's efforts.” The System stated as it created a new mission objective for Jin.

“Mission objective for the Month of November: Defeat/Capture the Orcs and their Shaitan representatives. Even better if User manages to capture the Shaitan Nobles themselves. Use whatever means possible. Budget allocated for the Orc-Goblin War: 10 million Dungeon Dollars. Rewards: Pending (varied based on return on investment). Time Limit: End of November. Additional rewards will be given if User completes the mission within ten days.” The message popped up on his phone while the others thought that he was holding on some magical artefact. Jin could not help but feel astonished and surprised by the System's generosity.

“I see, if I can end the war as soon as possible, more time can be allocated for the Rat demons….System are you willing to also take in the Orcs as your servants?” Jin furiously typed his message on his phone to pretend he was busy. Besides, the others did not know the basis of phone etiquette, so he shouldn't bother about it either.

“Most definitely. The Orcs that you captured previously in the ambush were analysed. They are more than capable of doing manual work and are good for construction and defence. If User wishes to use them for dungeons, do go ahead. Rat Demons are applicable too.” The System replied.

“Now we are talking. Time to get this war done and over with.” Jin grinned to himself as he sent his message to the System and looked at the others.

“Yes, I am willing to help. You say payment can be discussed later right?” Jin asked directly to King Sol and he nodded his head with affirmation.

“I will be very expensive. You sure you can afford it?” Jin tried to tease the King since he was by no means afflicted to their system.

“Imprudence! Our Kingdom was titled as the busiest trading centre among nations and we have the highest trading profit in this world. The Orcs and Humans have no choice but to trade with us if they wish to do business with other goblin kingdoms!” Starfire argued meaning that gold was not a shortage.

“I might not want just money….but we will discuss that later. Now let's talk how we stop those airship carriers.” Jin shifted the topic to their forces and the Generals obliged him as commanded by their King to share as much information as they could with him.

“…So we could have flying goblin units, which are goblins piloting wyverns, get close to the airship and interrupt their forces while we assemble our forces. The assassination squads can be flown with the flying units since the wyverns can carry an additional two more goblins, but optimally we fly with just one goblin on them since it will affect the mobility of the wyverns.” Igni formulated the attack plans.

“I can assist and coordinate the artillery goblin squad and ask the goblin engineers to tweak their artillery settings to the maximum length so that we might just be able to hit the airship carrier before they land,” Argent spoke out.

“The alert had been sent to the entire kingdom. Draft conscriptions of our citizens are currently underway as we speak while the old and young are being gathered to evacuate to the outskirts of the next town in case our capital falls. I will see to it that each abled body male goblin will join in the fight. If the female goblins wish to help, they would be welcomed for logistic purposes.” Gladios stated, and King Sol nodded at the plan.

“If all fails, we will deal with it via City Defence Plan C with formation number 27 in place,” Igni added and the other generals and lackeys agreed after some thought.

“I will assist too. My magic lines are sufficient for me to shoot a high level 'Light Lance' but I am hoping Master Jin might be able to provide that little blue bird for me again.” King Sol chime in, but Gladios and Starfire disagreed almost immediately.

“Your Majesty, if you use such a high level of magic, your body might not be able to take it. You know those Light magic break your magic lines!” Gladios argued and the other generals were also not comfortable with him joining the action.

“Heh, if you let me 'convert' him, he could be basically immortal.” Jin thought to himself and felt that could be the most practical way for them to survive. “Although that also means he is sure to be very expensive in terms of souls.” Jin knew he was in the monster catching business with the System so he inadvertently tried to guess the number of souls he might need to reincarnate him. Yet, something inside him told him that there might be better ways to do this. King Sol might eventually come into Jin's command but not like that. If he forced him it would only result in more distrust and that was one thing he did not advocate amongst his monsters.

The King was quiet for a while and gripped on his chair before slowly accepting the fact that he was needed to lead the nation and not fight alongside with his comrades. “Alright, but that does not mean I am not joining you. Even if I shall not directly fight in it, at least my presence will help morale.” King Sol told them and the others just nodded their heads to appease him since they knew that he had already foregone something. By rejecting him outrightly would just incur…dissatisfaction to be unable to serve the nation he built with his own hands. Other than that, the generals felt the plans they proposed were a good idea except for Jin.

“I do not agree with all of the plans you all made,” Jin clashed in with his own opinion as he banged his hand on the table. King Sol gave Jin a curious yet slightly angry look. He might be a respected master for his arts but totally not agreeing with something that the Three Generals planned with their foresight which was acc.u.mulated through many years of battles and experience was an insult to him and his buddies. However, before King Sol could interject, Jin had already begun laying out his plans for them.

“Just listen to me first! Judging from the number of lights, we know there are quite a few of them coming your way and we do not know what unknown horrors it contains. Your wyvern unit might not even go near it if what you said is true about the lost technology that they discover. You have already witnessed, that there were traitors within you ranks. Even if your wyvern unit was supposed to be a secret force, we should expect the enemy to know about them so you can be sure, that there are counter measures in place. Also, they might just be waiting to go in range for them to shoot a blast of magical energy at your kingdom and eradicate it completely away from the map. Therefore I recommend you to let me handle those things.” Jin shared his brutal truth.

“You can enter the airship carrier all by yourself? Even if you do and there are multiple airship carriers as you deduced, won't there be too many Orcs for you to handle on your own?” Starfire asked with much annoyance for the disrespect of Generals and towards her father.

“Did you forgot? I am a fairly unique summoner. Just consider me a one man army. Leave those things me. I assure you they will not reach here. While it is not my place to say anything else, I suggest you focus on informing the other towns and villages in your kingdom to evacuate into your capital city. Start your production for defending your borders. Setting up defences and traps, gathering of resources, upping your weapons and training of new goblins into your ranks. You should know best what to do!”

“You are so confident that the airship carriers will not come close to our capital at all?” King Sol furrowed his eyebrow as he had a tinge of disbelief in his tone.

“Who do you think I am? Let me prove to you, that I will be worth each and every cent!” Jin smirked as he wore his half panda mask and walked out of the war room with confidence. Meanwhile, the three goblins smiled at their Master's spirit.

“Heh, looks like we get to fight again,” Ripcaller seemed happy as he stood up, nodded at his father as a sign of goodbye and walked out of the room.

“Master can be so dense to social situations. Please forgive him.” Piercestriker tried to excuse Jin's behavior, but before he was able to go, his father stopped him.

“You sure you are going? Your wounds, have they recovered properly?” Argent asked with concern as he was the only child left for him.

“Don't worry. Master's potions are out of this world good, maybe even a hundred times better than the ones we produce.” Piercestriker affirmed his father and left the room.

“I guess you are going too?” Gladios asked Slashreaver, and he nodded his head.

“Master needs us.” Slashreaver held his head high as he said that and his father saw a resolute face which Gladios never imagined his son would ever have. It felt as if just yesterday he had to teach the little grunt how to hold a weapon properly, and now he'd go to help defend the Kingdom.

“Son, you changed…for the better.” Gladios patted Slashreaver and let him go. With a last fleating glance at Starfire he followed the other two.

“Feels like the old days doesn't it?” King Sol mentioned with a slight grin on his face.

“Heh, I can admit I am jealous of their youth,” Igni replied and the other two generals agreed. If not for their administrative work, they could be slashing and hacking their enemies down.

“Let's entrust the future in them…and their Master Jin…or we can do so along with them if we hurry.” King Sol announced solemnly as he began to change the plans according to what Jin had proposed.

Chapter end