We headed off on our trip the next day. Kiyui decided to stay behind at the farm with the kids. Which I think is a good idea. Tadwick has clearly missed us and it will be good to help Alexi settle in. Plus, my mum having extra help about the place is never a bad thing.

  Agaroth and Phoenix also stayed behind. Agaroth said he’s busy setting things up for Cathy and Verity. And Phoenix is busy setting up Rosario’s birthday. I wonder if she is aware of what Rosario is hoping to achieve on his birthday.

  It feels weird going on an expedition like this with so few of my party. It is just Damecus and I. Obviously, there are other people coming. Lady Smythe has a whole escort with her. She has assigned us an extra party member so that we can scout ahead better. A Lupinian called Farrow.

  The Lupinians live across the south-west sea. Lady Smythe informs me that her family has recently formed an alliance with them and Farrow is one of the first Lupinians to live in the region. Which explains why she seems relatively unfamiliar with the common tongue. She can speak it pretty well… but her accent is strong and she sometimes slips into using her native tongue for random words. But hey… learning a whole new language is difficult. I was raised with the common tongue so it is natural to me. I certainly have no idea how to speak her language. So, I can’t fault her.

  The Lupinians are wolflike humanoids. Farrow has grey fur, but Lupinian fur colour can vary quite a lot. She is very tall and appears to be quite muscular. Not sure if that is a racial thing or whether she spends a lot of time working out like Chloe. Unlike Chloe, she doesn’t wear heavy armour… she doesn’t even wear light leather armour like Tilda used to. She seems to just wear normal clothes. A black shirt with flared sleeves and a yellow trim around the cuffs. She also wears a rather tight-fitting pair of black shorts. Like the lizardmen, she wears nothing on her feet. I honestly don’t understand how… that would kill my feet. Her outfit certainly does not look as if it offers much in the way of protection… especially since the top leaves her belly exposed.

  I’m intrigued to see her in a fight, because she doesn’t appear to carry any kind of weapon either. Maybe she is a mage of some kind. But even Kiyui and Phoenix wear a small amount of armour. This Farrow bewilders me. Her scent is quite musky with a hint of rose. Which are high-end perfume ingredients… but if she is rich enough to afford such perfumes, then why is she coming along on this trip with us? Then again… given how wealthy Phoenix is, I could ask the same question of her. I suppose some people are just driven to this line of work.

  The fort that we are travelling to is just over a day’s travel to the north west. It is next to the river just south of the border with the Equine Empire. Apparently, the fort was abandoned decades ago due to constant raids from goblins, orcs, and other creatures. Since it is so far away from the city it was easier to abandon it and move all of the people closer to Kataravonia. Which is a shame because the fort is surrounded by a lot of very good farmland.

  On the way, we passed a very small village on the outskirts of Kataravonian territory. I’ve never seen it before; it seems to be centred around a temple… which is still in the process of being built. I found out while passing through that it is the followers of Laezel. They have set up this little village to help feed the starving and homeless who live in the area. Which is very nice of them. I would have quite liked to have a little explore of the village, but in all honesty, it was rather cold when we were passing through, so I was happy to stay wrapped up and keep moving.

  Smutisha donated a significant chunk of our food supplies to them as we passed. Smutisha may be a rather insane upper-class toff. But she does go out of her way to do what she thinks is right and to help others. Which in all honesty, I didn’t really expect from somebody of her status.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  We have managed to find a good spot to camp that is relatively near to the fort but not visible from the fort itself. The land kind of dips, causing a blind spot, so we have placed our base camp there.

  Smutisha: “I don’t understand, darling. Why can’t we just walk up to the main gate holding a white flag?”

  Dwynfel: “Because the Bracken are known for not taking risks. If they know that you know they are there, they will kill you and escape before any back up arrives. The one thing we have in our favour is that, unlike the Grim and the Rakk, the Bracken actively look after their own.”

  Smutisha: “And this helps us how?”

  Dwynfel: “We simply bide our time and kidnap one when the opportunity presents itself.”

  Smutisha: “Darling, will that not start us off on rather bad terms?”

  Dwynfel: “It certainly isn’t ideal, but it is the only way that we will actually be able to talk to them without them simply trying to kill us and run away.”

  Smutisha: “This fellow that you plan to kidnap, darling. What if he does not wish to cooperate?”

  Dwynfel: “Just let me talk to him… I’ll gage how likely this is to work from there.”

  It took a couple of days of watching the fort before an opportunity presented itself. I do have to give these Bracken credit. They are good at keeping their presence low key. It would have been very easy to miss that they were in there at all. I’m surprised that lady Smythe’s men managed to spot them.

  They creep around their base being very careful, so as to not protrude from the battlements. The occasional flash of a head through a turret window is the only real way that I can tell that anybody is in there.

  Fortunately, it seems that some of them are heading out on a supply run. Initially, I was thinking that we would need to capture the entire supply team but they seem to have sent a scout out ahead to make sure that the area is safe. If we can capture the scout and talk him round quick enough, then the others won’t even realise anything is wrong.

  We waited for the scout to pass over the ridge of the hill, so that he was out of visual range of the others. He had just caught sight of our camp when I caught him from behind and gagged him. He threw me to the ground and went to remove the gag, but Damecus knocked him unconscious and flung him over his shoulder.

  Once we were back, he was tied to a post in one of the tents in the camp and after, once again, explaining to lady Smythe that it would be best if I talked to him first, I was allowed to enter the tent and have a go at talking him into helping us.

  His shroud has been removed which leaves him seeming oddly exposed. I have never seen a Bracken before. They are a rare sight it would seem. His features are pointy and sharp, like mine. He is quite tall for a goblin. Only a few inches taller than me, which may not seem like much, but when it comes to goblins, a few inches is very noticeable. He smells of grilled chicken and charcoal. Maybe he’s in charge of cooking for his party.

  His armour looks rather makeshift. Like various bits of it have been stolen from different corpses rather than being a full set. He was also carrying a large variety of knives. More than seems practical to me… unless he throws them… but they are all different sizes… again… like he has found or stolen each of them rather than acquiring a set. Throwing knives of different sizes would require the ability to quickly asses the best way to throw each knife in the moment… which would complicate matters.

  His hair looks quite ragged… he certainly doesn’t wash it regularly like Kiyui… which is probably why it is pinned back in that rather large untidy braid that he has. It is weird seeing a goblin with hair. His beard is braided too. Do they braid all of their hair? That seems rather time consuming… would it not be easier to just cut the hair off and keep it short? I’m getting side tracked.

  I removed his gag and tried to wake him up by shaking him. He didn’t respond. Shit… I hope Damecus didn’t cause him too much damage when he knocked him unconscious.

  I eventually managed to rouse him by splashing some water in his face. He immediately vomited and looked very groggy. It took several minutes for him to actually look like he was in a fit state to talk to. Back to speaking in that fucking awful goblin voice I suppose…

  Dwynfel: “Me… you… talk!”

  Scout: “Are you mentally deficient? Or are all Grim like this?”

  What the absolute fuck… goblins don’t have that kind of vocabulary… how the fuck is he so well spoken?

  Scout: “Apologies, was that too eloquent...”

  He pulled a stupid face and spoke in a heavily sarcastic manner.

  Scout: “…Why… me… here?”