Drifting Embers
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[MGM]: 81 - Politely be my Servant
🕑 Added 2025-04-14 15:56:59 +0000 UTC"What do you make of that?" I heard Amara ask me.
"Perseveration?" I offered, uncertain.
"Nothing but instincts out of control," she replied. "Thankfully, we are here to bring some order to this chaos."
We watched from high above, perched on a length of stone jutting from the wall. Down below, goblins of all shapes and sizes milled about, engaged in their tasks. I found it particularly fascinating that monsters of their nature would take to settling down and building a home for themselves, instead of tearing each other apart. Though, given what I had come to know about the influence of corrupted mana, it was understandable why they showed a diminished inclination toward violence. Though Amara didn’t seem particularly thrilled about it.
I sighed and asked, "Do we have to?"
I hadn’t forgotten that these monsters were responsible for nearly—well, technically—killing me. Since the dragon did claim to bring me back to life. That said, most of those who had harmed me were dead, and even beyond that, we had launched a nasty massacre against these ugly monsters.
"Of course we have to," Amara replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "They might look harmless right now, but they're evil creatures. If I threw a powerless human down there, what do you think they would do? Honor his weakness?"
"I get it, alright," I said, a little tired. "But it's not like they’ve acted against us—at least not yet. Besides, they could prove more useful if we play our cards right."
"Hm." Amara perked up, eyes flashing slightly. Her modest bosom was buoyed upward due to her crossed arms, and I found my eyes curiously following their mesmerizing path.
"Well, are you going to say something or keep staring at my breasts?"
I tore my gaze from the magnificent globes on her chest and cleared my throat. Admittedly, I’d had my fair share of experience playing with those, but I just couldn't seem to get enough of them. Though in my defense, they were a nice pair of breasts.
"Right," I said, focusing ahead. "As I was saying, these walking pickles could be beneficial if we decide to just talk with them instead of massacring them wholesale."
"I'm listening," Amara said, intrigued.
"Well, you remember what Tania mentioned..." I began, breaching the topic of why we had come here in the first place. Upon our arrival, Tania had finally mentioned that to create a Core Capacitor, she needed a ton of magic crystals. Particularly the dense ones—those with more magic than normal.
Amara and I had decided to take the task upon ourselves while the dwarf worked to assemble her forge. Our walk had led us to discover an entire party of goblins seemingly building a habitat—or expanding it—considering they had likely been here a long time and had already populated the place to the brim.
Case in point, Amara considered it an opportunity to train our skills. I disagreed—strongly. Not because I had particular empathy toward this bunch of monsters, but because it was a thankless task with no benefit to us at all. Aside from scoring a couple levels, but that hardly mattered.
In my opinion, keeping the goblins alive could work in our favor. For one, we could learn about their origin. They didn’t seem to be original inhabitants of this place. Where and how they had arrived here seemed both fascinating and concerning. But also, because they knew the layout of this place better than we did, they had to know the location of higher-grade mana crystals.
"So, we force them into doing our bidding?" Amara asked.
"Basically, yes." I nodded. After all, why waste your time and energy on a task you can relegate to someone else? I had no intention of wasting what appeared to be a perfect break period.
"That works," Amara nodded. "We can kill them after they've done our work."
I frowned. "Or not kill them? Why are you so obsessed with killing them?"
She looked up, brows pressed into a frown. "Of course we have to kill them," she said. "Don’t you want this space for yourself?"
"Yeah, but it's not like they’re selling its location or anything. We can keep it for ourselves without shedding any blood."
"Whatever." Amara shrugged and looked down. I followed her gaze, and suddenly she leapt.
I watched her plummet with increasing speed, the scene reminding me of the time we had jumped from the city wall. Insane times—but times that brought a smile to my face. I followed along.
Wind rushed past me, cutting along my face. I braced myself, and just before hitting the floor, tendrils of shadowy energy burst into existence to kill my momentum, cushioning my fall. Even though I could’ve survived the fall without them, I didn’t want to end up making a crater and attracting too much attention. Though we did that anyway.
A clamor went up among the bald green monsters as they scrambled to grab their weapons. Some, already armed, were flanking around us; others were forming a barrier between us and the settlement.
"Don’t let them deceive you," Amara warned. "They might act like they’re trying to protect their family and allies—and to a certain extent, they might even be—but they won’t hesitate to escape or use others as shields if their lives are threatened. They’re the scum of the monster race."
Though her tone stayed even, I could pick up the visceral disgust in her words. It was as if the very existence of goblins was like seeing trash on the sidewalk—something you couldn’t help but want to clean up.
I shook my head, sighing, and moved forward. "Wait," I frowned. "Would they understand me if I speak to them?"
"No," Amara said, amused. "They’re monsters—they don’t communicate through words. They transmit their intentions through mana."
"Then how do I talk with them?"
"Simple. Just speak, but use your mana to convey your thoughts. Kind of like connecting your mind with the ambient mana of this world."
My brows pressed deeper. "And how do I do that?" I asked, confused.
"Don’t you have that Mana Sight talent? Use it, and you’ll understand."
It was more arbitrary than I would've liked, but it was the only option available to me. Activating Mana Sight shifted my perspective in a dizzying way, though the effect lasted only a brief moment before the sight settled. And let me mention, I did not like what I was seeing—not particularly.
It was like standing in front of a star, with mirrors stacked around you to trap the light and keep you confined. It was blinding—would've been blinding had my B-Rank talent not come with the ability to dim the intensity.
The brightness was still omnipresent, but at least now I could deal with it. More importantly, the light threads allowed me to trace the paths and connect to the world—or so I thought. Time to test that out.
"Ahem, good evening, fellow monsters," I greeted, smiling. Then I paused and considered it for a moment. "Wait, is it fellow half-monsters, or fellow full monsters to half-monsters, or just monsters?" I mused.
"Well, go on. That worked," Amara urged, jarring me out of my thoughts. I nodded and spoke louder.
"I understand that you're shocked and certainly wary of us, but let me assure you that attacking us would prove to be the biggest mistake of your lives. It would literally shorten your lifespan—no kidding. That said, I have come here today to offer you a proposal. In exchange for sparing your lives, we ask you to submit yourselves to our service."
There was silence. Then there was war. Goblins shrieked a shrill cry and rushed me from all sides. I wasn’t the least bit fazed by their assault; I was expecting it, or rather, anticipating it.
A glimmer of shadow flashed in my vision before my figure faded into an illusion, only to emerge behind a goblin holding a spear. He was still in the midst of his mad charge, yet to realize that his enemy had already marked him for death.
My hand whizzed through the wind with enough speed to produce a sharp sound, which finally alerted the rest—and the goblin under attack. Even if it had the reflexes to avoid the strike, at that distance and with that intensity, it wouldn’t have. As it stood, it had neither.
Before the goblin had even turned its head halfway, my palm connected with its skull. Muscles rippled, bones fractured, and even the eye socket burst open, spraying white fluid, before he was launched in a clean arc and crashed against the far wall.
Silence reigned over the place, like a deadly blade hanging over everyone’s neck. And then—chaos.
It took another couple of goblins eating dirt before the rest realized what they were dealing with. Most of the monsters present weren’t weak, being nearly of the same rank as I was, but the sheer difference in our attributes was overwhelming.
With the goblins begging for their lives, we had finally secured ourselves some free time. Amara raised a brow, impressed, and I offered a confident smirk. It was time I finally sat back and relaxed.
