Chapter 103: The Little Girl
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 103: The Little Girl
There had been a slight problem, but I got what I wanted. Just as the magician in Ibar’s jaws tried to open his mouth, Ibar bit down hard once more. In the end, a scream erupted instead of an incantation. It seemed she had sensed his intent and subdued him on her own, without any command from me.
“Aaaargh!”
The magician, caught in Ibar’s mouth, screamed in agony, but I paid him little mind. Just then, my clan members began running toward us: Ragia, Hakajin, Jung Hayeon, and finally, Hark. Realizing the situation was under control, they had brought the main force over.
“Good work.”
“For Blood Dagger.”
“For Blood Dagger!”
Judging by the atmosphere, it seemed Hakajin was the one who had sent the Goblin Three Sisters and the archers. I glanced at him and nodded, and he placed a hand on his chest in a gesture of thanks. An excellent decision. Even after all this time, I still considered bringing him into the clan one of the best things I’d done since coming here.
Since it looked like there was nothing to salvage from the completely shattered carriage, we immediately started walking toward the one we had captured. Soon, we met up with the Goblin Three Sisters, Mev, and the rest of the Green Skins. I saw Gark as well, but his expression was incredibly sullen; it seemed the enemy had already been dealt with by the time he arrived. He looked disappointed to have missed out on the action.
“For Blood Dagger… Krrrrk.”
“Oww… It hurts! Hakajin! Heal me! It hurts!”
The goblin with the longsword among the Three Sisters was whining dramatically, seemingly injured, while Mev was gathering the surviving humans. I approached them and spoke.
“Have you checked inside the carriage?”
“Not yet, Chief. The battle just ended… It was a little tougher than we thought… We were about to open it. Do you want to do it, Chief?”
It didn’t really matter who opened it, but since all my clan members’ eyes were fixed on me, I walked to the back of the stationary carriage.
It was a black carriage, its interior completely hidden from view.
The rear door was firmly secured with a large padlock. I began to channel strength into the new axe I’d acquired. With a single downward swing, a deafening clang echoed as the lock shattered and fell away. The doors swung open, and I could finally see what was inside.
As I opened the door slightly, I saw what I expected—Green Skins… and young-looking human girls were riding with them. What was even more absurd was…
“They’re so young. They’re just kids, aren’t they?”
Just as Mev said, they looked incredibly young. To be more precise, they seemed to be around the same age as Nicole. They were about the size of a one-year-old.
‘Fuck.’
Naturally, just like humans, Green Skins cherish the children of their tribe. They are the future, the offspring they must protect. If this many young Green Skins had disappeared, word would have surely spread from the East, North, or West. The fact that we’d heard nothing meant these young Green Skins hadn’t been kidnapped.
“Come here, little ones! That’s right, come here! Aww, you’re so cute.”
Mev and the Goblin Three Sisters reached out their hands, but the children, terrified, pressed themselves against the far side of the carriage. They stared at us with frightened expressions, huddled together with the human children.
I had suspected it, but now I was certain. These Green Skins were created in ‘Somorah.’ There must be a separate facility where they breed captured Green Skins. The children would have been separated from their parents at birth, and these young Green Skins were undoubtedly being distributed to cities throughout the East. Their purpose could be varied, of course, but I couldn’t confirm the details.
In other words, they were rearing Green Skins.
It was so absurd I was speechless. While it’s true that the young are easier to handle than adults, I had never imagined something like this was actually happening. The fact that I had been completely unaware of it, even with the knowledge from my past ten years, showed just how important this business was to those in the East.
I slowly began to observe the young Green Skins inside the carriage.
As they backed away, the Goblin Three Sisters, unable to watch any longer, entered the carriage themselves. The terrified children shrieked.
“Waaaaah!”
“Waaaaah!”
The Three Sisters were naturally flustered. Their panicked voices immediately followed.
“D-Don’t… Don’t cry! Kkireuk!”
“Young Green Skins don’t cry! Kkireuk!”
“Y-You can’t become a valiant warrior if you cry!”
“You can’t become a valiant warrior like Blood Dagger! Green Skins… d-don’t cry!”
“I said, don’t cry!”
Having never dealt with children before, they were clearly clumsy at handling them. Their anxious eyes and awkward gestures—every single movement seemed to be made while nervously watching the children’s reactions. The closer we got, the more terrified the little ones became. One interesting thing was that all of their gazes were focused on one spot.
The young Green Skins were all looking at a human girl. She looked to be about twelve years old. She wasn’t hiding in the back; instead, she had her arms spread wide, embracing the little ones as if to protect them. Seeing this, I naturally spoke to the child.
“Can you understand me?”
The girl, who had been staring at me with tears in her eyes, began to nod her head vigorously. It wasn’t just her. The other human children there were also looking at me with shocked expressions. They looked as if they had never expected me to speak the human tongue. Their eyes held a glimmer of hope that this might end without them being hurt or eaten.
“I… I can understand you. Please, spare us. P-Please… spare us. We haven’t done anything wrong.”
“I have no intention of harming you. How did you come to be here?”
“……”
At my question, the girl glanced around nervously before speaking again.
“I… I don’t really know. After my… my mom and dad died… when I opened my eyes…”
It seemed she was born and raised here. Her parents must have been killed, and she was subsequently kidnapped or brought to Somorah through some other route.
“You don’t have to say any more. Can you communicate with the green-skinned children there?”
“Huh? Y-Yes… a little…”
As someone who had naturally mastered the Green Skin language, I couldn’t guess how these young ones learned our tongue, but looking at the clueless expressions of the goblins and orcs, it was clear they didn’t know our ‘language.’
They had definitely been separated from their parents at birth.
The other clan members, curious about the situation, kept peeking into the carriage. I had the more intimidating-looking ones like Gark and Hark step back, then slowly urged the children to come out.
Finally, the twelve-year-old girl began to speak softly to the Green Skins. It must have been a short time, but they had probably grown up together. Seeing them holding hands tightly, despite their different skin colors, seemed to confirm my thoughts.
Whether the goal was to acclimate the Green Skins to humans or simply due to a lack of space, it was clear they had been living with these young humans.
“Everyone! Let’s go outside! We’re not going to get hurt. We… we won’t be eaten either… R-Right?”
“That’s right. You will not be harmed. And you certainly won’t be eaten.”
Although she was trying her best, the young Green Skins didn’t seem to understand human words. They simply nodded as they watched the little girl speak to them. It seemed they were grasping the general meaning by observing her expression and gestures. They couldn’t understand what she was saying, but they understood her.
The brave little girl was the first to stand and slowly make her way out of the carriage. I lifted the first human child out and set her down. Seeing that it was safe, the other Green Skins and human children slowly allowed Mev and the others to carry them out. Eventually, we were able to get everyone out of the carriage.
They were all outside now, but the little girl in my arms had a very anxious expression. She still seemed worried that something terrible might happen to them. I spoke to her.
“We will not harm you. However, as soon as we return, you must tell me everything you have seen and heard about what goes on in that place.”
“Y-Yes!”
She seemed quite bright. In the end, I couldn’t help but ask for her name.
“What is your name?”
“I’m… I’m twelve-year-old Kim Yoora.”
“That’s a good name.”
I mounted Ibar and glanced back slightly. Green Skins and humans grow at different rates. I couldn’t judge the humans’ ages precisely, but they were between six and twelve. The Green Skins all looked to be about one year old.
If my guess was correct and they had lived together since they first opened their eyes, it meant that these young Green Skins had known these human children since birth, not their own parents. I finally understood why they had been looking at Kim Yoora that way.
It seemed their instinct to crave battle had been neutered, but their instinct to form a pack had not disappeared. The young Green Skins recognized this group as their tribe, and they acknowledged this little girl as their chieftain.
Jokingly, she was the youngest chieftain ever. And a human one at that, who had earned the recognition of young Green Skins. While in my arms, Kim Yoora timidly stroked Ibar’s fur, and I once again felt that this kid had a lot of nerve. She must have seen such things many times before the little ones came to accept her. Or perhaps she had been helped by them, or even protected in a very direct sense.
I looked at Kim Yoora and spoke again.
“Did you live with our kin in that place?”
“Y-Yes. We all lived together. Greenie, Harang, and Mong are all my friends.”
“An interesting story.”
It truly was an interesting story. To these human children, the Green Skins were friends, beings they had to look after. To exaggerate, they had raised their friends with their own hands. The situation was so bizarre, a product of that small city Somorah, that I couldn’t help but let out a dry laugh.
We would certainly accept the young Green Skins as part of our pack. However, I couldn’t help but worry about what to do with these human children. And so, our tribe slowly approached our settlement.
“For Blood Dagger!”
“For Blood Dagger!”
The children and mother goblins of our tribe welcomed us. Seeing their dumbfounded expressions, I smiled once more. I wasn’t the only one who thought we had returned with an unexpected group.