Soldred | Fiction Works

<- Go back to Fiction Works Originally written on September 26, 2023 to September 30, 2023, 4 days

Chapter 1

Thoughtfully, Soldred, a young man watched the world fall to the ground, but he had more to his mind than

the topic regarding the greatness of the world. For one, he considered his own fallibility, which was his ability to make mistakes and further himself farther away from the cause of righteousness and perfect productivity into that state wherein the minimization of capital emerged. In other words, he was a massive failure.

Like everyone thought, he thought similarly. Namely, he wondered whether holding a sword was necessary.

Additionally, he had a thought that it might cast him closer to the border of strength and of confidence. Lastly, that his own soul felt distant to him through his handling of a sword made him wonder if it was just to take on the mighty hand like God does with his peoples.

Standing in the middle of a giant jungle, Soldred was among friends: Peter, Timothy, and David. As for

each of them, they held a significant amount of capital or money through their joint business. Today, they were inspecting a land said to hold a magical blessing due to its proximity to the Mountain Losan, which is located a mile away from where they walked.

At the moment, Soldred was saying, gesturing with his fingers and forming a rectangle through which his

eyes peered through like an architect of nature: ”I haven’t forgotten your daily tasks, Peter. If we finish the mission, can we candidly please get rid of the so-called ’treasury’ you have in your wardrobe? I know living in the same house enforces collaboration, but wouldn’t do better—or we would fare better if we could just finish up tidying the house up: that way, we could move out and loosen our grip on whatever annoyances there.”

Standing next to him, his arms crossed, holding a tea cup in his right hand and rubbing it manneristically,

Peter said: ”I wonder… You say that, but you don’t realize that we haven’t even completed our current mission. So shush, let’s focus.”

Intercepting Peter and Soldred’s tiny voices, David’s was like a giant’s, penetrating the thick air of the

jungle: ”Well, well! Candidly, we must proceed. Now, how about you handle the forgeries? We all know you love them, right?” Specifically, his speech and tone was like that of a monkey handling gifts to its juniors to watch them fail and mistakenly handle these gifts, a smile glued to its face. ”How about you, Sol?” To give some context, ”Sol” was the nickname David used for Soldred. ”Wouldn’t you also like to get a handle of the piñata party? I know we’ve been almost like shining bright stars when we were kids, but today, we soup, soup, soup!” To clarify again, ”soup”, or ”soup, soup, soup!”, was his invented expression for joy and ecstasy. Incidentally, his breath was like a watery rainfall providing a nightly softening sense of bloom.

To further explore David, it was worth nothing that he had his thoughts currently on hold. For one, Soldred’s

behavior was a recent worry ofhis. Two days ago, since David was a patient person, he made sure to mitigate the damages Soldred’s screaming dash of rage incurred yesterday. Now, he had certain guesses about why Soldred did that, but he was too busy now to lay them down and talk them out. To be more specific, Soldred was a person of nobility, someone who had certain responsibilities for which he needed to account. If he decided he wanted to express more than the passive-aggressive polite gesture and go overboard, he would be going against his responsibilities and trespassing in the blessed land of Laol, where they lived and the event of Soldred’s burst of anger occurred. Culturally, the society here demanded the obvious level of camaraderie among nobles in the sense that collaboration was essential to maintaining the country’s stability. So it was both fortuitous and dangerous that Soldred had David, Peter, and Timothy on which to rely, making him too comfortable and familiar to the point that he decided to assert himself defiantly. Now, David was an all-time supporter of Soldred’s comfort, but still, he needed to ensure that Soldred could gain opportunities among the rest of the nobility in the event that his supportive brothers were absent.

Coincidentally, David continued, rubbing his arms, adjusting his legs in case he might trip against the

rock and embarrass himself since he had a clumsy disposition: ”Ha, why don’t we have fun? Let’s survey the landscapes, forge our own conceptual plans into fruition? Once we get out of the restrictions placed upon us,

hopefully, the ’Palace’ will be done.”

Anyway, just a few meters away from David, Peter was concerned for his appearance as the commonest ple-

beians were. In his case, he was a regular trimmer of his facial hair in order to abide by the adjustments which society imposed upon him and his fellow nobles. To draw the line, plebeians cared about avoiding representing themselves as a companion of nobles. For the reason behind this, the noble brass dedicated a portion of the national budget into ordering the classes by ”proper” clothing: in reference to what they had to say, they offered the phrase ”To wear what one is due.” to ease people into accepting the concept 70 years ago. Nowadays, it was essential to the culture of the land of Laol that even Peter remember his ”dues”, which, in this case, was his clothing and facial hair accordance as a partaker of the noble privilege.

Yet, for the reason that Peter only corroborated himself in respect to the wishes of the complex society housing his paltry life, he often thought like a man who had little respect for his fragility and more primal expectations for a happy life. Contrastingly, that he wanted to be embraced was a crucial comportment which he only exhibited when he had the privacy of a den was a significant clue to the humanity he seemed to lack. However, despite these child-based wishes, his position as a noble provided him with the means to change succinctly even one individual and transform them into a great warrior if he so pleased: in the end, he chose to live idly away from the expectations and toward a level of inertia directed toward those in the lower classes, standing high above them like the eagles in the sky. For him, it was as if Heaven justified him because of his common primal desires. When it came down to it, he argued, ”If they were in my shoes, they would do the same thing,” which epitomized his compartmentalization. To conclude, Peter felt himself more righteous than even the ever-concerned expressions with which his blood brother David overshadowed him due to Peter’s recognition of the nobles’ considerable evil, if nothing else.

To address the elephant in the room, the lastly explored brother would be Timothy who walked between Peter and Soldred like a child between two parents. Despite his quiet demeanor, he constantly eyed the mouths and listened to the words in order to find a gap where he could step and wreck the harmony of their arguments or lengthy talks via a well-timed conversational entry. This way, he could always manage to bring his dense ideas to great impact. To demonstrate, Timothy said in the middle of Soldred, Peter, and David’s discussion about flying reptiles: ”But don’t reptiles fly, Dave? Are you sure they’re feathered, Pete? What’s your evidence for saying that birds really don’t care about where they poop, ’Sold’? Do you really think birds just do that, huh? Do you remember when Cleric John showed that birds did clean up after themselves if they could see where their poop fell, Pete? What do you really know about how sharp their claws are, Dave? Have you seen these claws? Can you show me?” To illustrate further, Timothy had a tactic he called ”a diversion” where he responded to the statement of one person and extended his response with the inclusion of another person by calling out someone else present as if they were the one who had imposed the statement. Regarding the effectiveness of this tactic, that depended on context and perspective.

As if in defiance of Peter’s and Soldred’s inner conflicts, Timothy recognized his enhancement of the insipid

dialogue which they only shared when he was gone.

Finally, way back to when Soldred saw the world falling to the ground, it was the setting sun touching the horizon in a manner that made him feel that it revealed the greatness of the world.

In reality, Soldred accomplished his tasks of surveying an area of the jungle, which he and brothers called

”Spot 1”, waddling toward a small bed of vegetation where several goblins had lain down. ”What have you guys putting yourselves up to? Get up! We only have so much time.” When it came to he and his brother’s naming schemes, they enumerated many things, including tools, papers, trinkets, and artifacts. As for this habit’s origin, it arose during their outdoor games when they were still children.

Meanwhile, the goblins who were lying down got up with a cough. In respect to their names, they were

Parlo, Sunder, and Mender. ”I don’t know,” said Mender, as he poked his nose with his left pinky finger, ”you told us to sit here a while ago—”

Standing above them, Soldred pointed his finger and poked Parlo on the head repetitiously. ”No, I didn’t!”

In the meantime, Peter, Timothy, and David were surrounding the goblins, as they checked and touched the plants around them.

With how angry Soldred sounded, the goblins could only shut their mouth and distract themselves by watch- ing Soldred’s brothers sideways.

Contrasting the goblins, Soldred’s brothers merely glanced at Soldred, expecting him to handle everything.

Even more, they still maintained their dispositions since Soldred’s presence was a comfort rather than a threat as with the goblins.

Feeling displaced, the goblins shook their heads and followed Soldred to another area for a new quest he had prepared for them. Erratically, his tone changed from that of scolding to that of a commander leading his

troops into battle, as he spoke highly of the quest he had ”idealized into fullness” for them: ”Just wait and see, I’ll show you how capable y’all are. If you guys can just grant me this day a moment to show you. I’ll give you the ride of a lifetime!” When Soldred left, between two thickets, David wondered if he had forgotten something, his exaggerated voice like that of a small boy looking for his mommy, saying, ”Hey, guys, I might have forgotten something.” In response, a face of disappointment emerged on Peter’s face, as he put and assembled several different small mechanical tools into a subdivided container and said: ”I can help you find it. I know where it is.” Hearing Peter’s sure tone, David nodded and shook his shoulders with a giddy shout: ”Got it… thanks!” Seeing David’s departing form, Peter smiled subtly. ”Okay…” Meanwhile, elsewhere, where Soldred and the goblins were, he was bickering about his great plan, repeating the word ”great” and ”plan” like a deluded lunatic. ”Here, I want you to sit here!” he told the goblins, tapping a log wildly with a squatting posture. Seeing his bright face, the goblins crossed their arms awkwardly, their eyes attentive and alert. Namely, Parlo and Sunder answered, clasping their hands together and around each other, saying ”Here?” Next to them, Mender was nodding his head excessively. With a clap that roped their attention further to the point that they lost their memory of the most recent tactile sensations of their bodies, Soldred raised his voice: ”I said here! ”Now, picture this, once… once we’ve got everything all done, I want you guys to look… at that! A bright mountain and everything that it makes up. We’ve got a whole lot of things going for us, don’t we? We’re so prepared to handle anything! Now, we just need to capture one specific moment.” Noting Soldred’s marked reduction in his fanatical tone during his last statement, Sunder raised a fin- ger, looking elsewhere with analysis, and said: ”’Capture one specific moment’?” Studying the calm stare that emerged on Soldred’s face, his finger receded back down, his voice deep and carrying a husky tinge of warmth. ”I’m sorry, but I don’t quite understand.” In the end, the goblins had their various concerns regarding the nature of the universe and their place as masters of themselves within it. However, they still wanted to comply in order to benefit from the generosity that Soldred embodied when involving his grand plans. As if skipping through all the scenes, seven hours later, the goblins, with comparison to their hard work for the last seven hours, remembered their moment of triumph well when they heard ”Now, for your reward, each of you shall obtain…” Like a thunderous explosion of lights, his final words hit right: ”50 gold coins.” Behind their expressions, an explosive dance ruptured across them like a band of light slashing them where it mattered most, mending their broken souls and treating them as kings that had emerged from the most painful despair. Within their small worlds, it was their day of greatness and of victory. As the night sky drew to a close, Soldred remembered that he handed them 500 coins each rather than 50 coins, pressing his thumbs together. In a way, he truly did believe that they deserved it. Earlier, before the goblins began working, David, Peter, and Timothy found a small hovel tucked in a cave between two towers. Among them, David suggested bringing in a small vase, but Peter readily declined, adding that they should grant him the shoulder plates their soldiers looted from a mine. All the while, Timothy was sitting down, inspecting a coin that read ”Malkov”. Rather than being ignorant regarding the coin, it provided him with a sense of stability and being grounded amid the surreal nature of being at a hovel tucked between two towers.

Once they entered the hovel, David’s voice was loud, saying: ”Father, we’ve a gift. Got them sent them a day ago.” From a bag that made the items inside it weigh like feathers, 57 coins fell like rain onto a aged, poorly made table. Before he threw out all the coins inside it, he halted, smiling at the older man seated opposite to him. Specifically, this man was the brothers’ father, who looked like a ton of bricks had fallen on his head with the way his bald, dirty head looked. While glancing around the smelly hotel, Peter quietly mentioned that he could clean the room. The father declined, pointing to the door, roaring: ”Out, out now!” With his voice echoing outside, the brothers made a decision to tie their father up and forcibly feed him since he was clearly fasting too much. ”This is for Martha! Argh!” To give context, he believed that fasting was a crucial part of adhering to his beliefs. However, he took it too far when he decided one day for a reason that eluded the brothers to see fasting as a way to get his wife and the brothers’ mother back. In this case, the wife and the brothers’ mother were two different people.

When the brothers finally finished cleaning up the mess the father made when he spat the food out of his mouth, they left, glancing at several goblins standing humbly and patiently outside. Looking divorced from comfort, Timothy had a pinched face, saying, ”Let’s go.” When they regrouped with Soldred, they were back to their usual selves. The next day, David watched a duck floating by a lake, his mouth moving up and down, as he pretended that he had forgotten how to speak and was remembering again: ”Ah, ah, no, duck, it’s a duck!” Next to him, Peter was laughing. As they were about to head on a mission, standing next to them, Timothy was well-dressed, maybe exces- sively so since he had several layers of clothing despite living in a tropical land. Contrasting his inner conflict the day before, Soldred felt optimistic that he would finish today’s work as a person with a background in law easily. Since he was heading to several clubs and the headquarters of a chamber of commerce, he was wearing a standard formal outfit with breeches. Regarding their location, David and Peter were sitting down at an edge of a city pond, while Timothy and Soldred were standing behind them, forming a square-shaped coalescence of souls. At this moment, several dogs passed by them, each testing the earth, their paws looking haphazardly for a spot to mark their territory, their saliva pasting the ground like wet goo. All the while, David placed a consoling hand on Timothy, while Soldred handed Peter a small paper detailing his plans for an event involving them scheduled tomorrow. Above them, the sky was bright, casting shadows against the buildings that surrounded the brothers and

the dogs. children jumping over each other in a game.

With this moment delineated, the brothers oriented themselves for departure one by one like a bunch of

With the rising sun behind them, they each went their separate ways, each finding it difficult to move directly away, as they still oriented themselves somewhat toward each other, as if a rope was still attaching them together but slowly breaking away. Once this rope dissipated, the brothers were now individual names in a large, bustling city. Gone were the moments of peace; now were the moments of danger. In the distance, Peter laughed and said frivolously: ”It’s too bright. I need to get inside.” With his voice circling the area, he passed to his left, entering a city house repurposed into a warehouse with grass growing excessively and a snail inching past on the ground inside. After closing the black gate of the house but keeping the lock and chains detached, he sauntered past two giant orcs, each holding a giant ax that appeared from thin air. His form like an imp in their gaze, he smiled with compressed lips. ”Hi, hi, hi…” When he was inside the actual house building, he halted, seeing David sitting at a corner. His face going through a mix of emotions, he sat down quickly and placed his hand on David’s shoulder, which David ignored and then pushed off. Amid the other men sitting on chairs next to the walls all around the building, Peter urgently lowered his head to get a glimpse of David’s face, recognizing the mischievous glint familiar of David. Finally, he sighed with relief, lying backward before orienting himself again to ensure that he looked proper. From beside him, David’s voice flew like an army of witches flying on brooms coming to help, saying: ”You forgot your slip—” Readily, Peter went outside, darting around the streets before he located a slip on the ground. When he returned inside the house grounds with the slip, he bowed his head with apology and sat down again next to David. ”I forgot.” His voice was quiet, as he noticed several of the men inside studying him and possibly his expression.

Pressing against David as he twisted his torso sideways, adjusted his bag behind him, and made sure the items looked arranged in case someone inspected it, he glanced at David from the corner of his eye. ”Why are you here?”

Despite Peter’s gaze smoldering with curiosity, David chose to postpone a response, opting to collect his thoughts and recall his plans and re-awaken his situational awareness in detail. Yesterday, he was finishing his duties in the joint business between himself and his brothers. Today, he was finishing up his tasks at the adventurers’ headquarters, which the adventurer guild master had moved several days prior, making this situation feel almost apocalyptic. Tomorrow, he would go on to check the land in case a cacao farm would be suitable there for his goblins subjects, as he was a noble. Seventy seconds after Peter’s question, David answered him slowly: ”I regrettably disbanded several of my goblins as a result ofmy mismanagement of funds, as at that point, it was impossible for me to pay them within

reason.”

Like someone hit him with a hammer to the effect of memory loss, his expression and tone transformed

to that of carefree cheer. ”Well, either way! What matters is that I did my best!” Though, rather than him being emotionally volatile, based on his previous instances of communication, he tended to pretend and act theatrically, whether to make others laugh or to entertain himself.

With his marked increase in volume, the other men inside the building glanced at David. However, they were

more concerned about what the more responsible–looking Peter would do since they were associates, making it so that it was his responsibility to handle David.

However, Peter only responded to David with a fake scoff, a smile hiding behind his lips.

In the end, David’s respect here may be little, but outside, as a noble, he was a respected individual with a

region of control beyond those of the other men. However, it was still crucial for him to maintain some sense of decorum. For the reason behind this, to explore the noble–peasant relationships more, if the other men who were peasants thought that he was breaking ranks, it would set a bad example. As for the consequences of this bad example, it would give the reputation of the nobles a gap of strength, leaving behind a hole of vulnerability which the peasants could exploit in order to mobilize and gather support against the implementations of the nobles. This opposition would make it difficult for certain nobles to bring their plans for the land of Laol into fruition, possibly resulting in a reputation of being tagged alongside ”useless nobles who only engage in debauchery and never fix or change anything”. Since the brass of the opposition constituting the peasants often were subjects of the nobles themselves, this made it more difficult for nobles to maintain homogeneity over the efficacy and willingness of their subjects, reducing the power and influence of their names.

Anyway, as soon as David decided he would let the interpretation of the other men linger, he was placing

a dent in the human-made social hierarchy, but he only lent his concerns to that of Peter and his brothers and more direct objectives in his narrow view rather than any broad consequences that might evolve over the coming decades.

At the moment, Peter was fixing his shirt, tearing away a string that was stuck to a button. Once he finally

removed it, his hands that were obstructing David’s face moved away, revealing the simple smile behind them.

As soon as David got a glimpse of Peter’s face, he found himself smiling as well. When they extended their

well wishes to maximum effect, they paid attention to the man entering the room from three-step staircase leading to an intersection of several doors and rooms.

Like he was holding a steel brace the size of a giant log, the man, Ray, held a sword, tucking it under his

arm and grasping it with his other arm. As for his other limbs, his legs swung through the air like a dancing princess, curling and orienting the rest of the body on each contact with the ground. Overall, his smiling face supplied a touch of friendliness to the delicacy of his movements.

Then, as if a glass bulb broke beside their ears, Ray began reiterating numerous items in a list: ”742 Maple

Street. 285 Elm Street. 613 Oak Street. 157 Pine Street. 899 Cedar Street. 426 Birch Street. 368 Willow Street. 541 Redwood Street. 774 Cherry Street. 203 Sycamore Street…” In sum, he kept going until he completed 100 sentences in one sitting. Seeing that the rest of the men were quiet and even studiously writing down what the man was saying, David and Peter kept quiet. When they heard one man even praying, they wondered if they were even in the right place. As soon as the man left and the other men inside the building stopped writing, David and Peter looked about to leave. However, an older man interrupted them from outside despite the door obstructing his sight of them: ”Please, sit down. I got a strict request to uphold the religious studies of the younger generation. If I didn’t, I would be fined…” Seeing David and Peter’s confused faces, he burst into a cackle before coughing.

After he excused himself, David and Peter sat back down. When Peter realized that David was unusually

quiet, he spoke up after a spell of stuttering, rubbing his chin: ”So, Aloe, Sir, are we going to start heading to the dungeons?”

Seeing that the other men in the building were staring at him, Peter’s voice sounded hurried: ”Are we?”

After a long pause, the older man, Aloe, raised his hand weakly. ”Yes, yes, just wait, we have another

session—”

As soon as Aloe said ”session”, David and Peter began getting up and walking outside.

Their forms already behind a closing door, Aloe got up feebly. ”Wait, it’s only 5 minutes!”

But David and Peter were persistent, their faces calm as if having expected some kind of disruption in their

daily schedules.

Behind David and Peter, a tiny fairy emerged from thin air, speaking the words that Aloe wanted to speak:

”I will share with you some of my ’crispies’.” To give some context, ”crispies” was a personal term Aloe used for a certain goblin troops of his.

When David saw the fairy, he stopped. ”The goblins, the armed ones?”

His face right next to the fairy, it backed off clumsily before straightening its posture with a salute. ”Yes,

yes.” Back inside the house building, Aloe went into a coughing fit inside, as he covered his mouth with his giant shawl.

As for the Aloe’s thoughts, he had several plans he wanted to execute, all of which required the influence

Timothy had specifically, and since David and Peter were closest to him, he thought that he might ask them about it. If David and Peter were willing to collaborate in exchange for the armed goblins he had prepared, his business would finish what he believed to its first round, which was to emancipate it from the limitations of low cohesion. Specifically, he had several goblins who wanted to leave him after he decided to gamble all his funds on adventurers whom he had trusted to deliver him glory and treasure in a newly discovered dungeon. However, this excursion resulted in failure, leaving him with subjects who wanted to leave him after he forced them to steal food from another lesser noble’s vulnerable lands. As for his rationale behind this, he argued that it was the noble’s fault for exploiting his vulnerable lands so badly that he had too little funds to expend in defending them. In the end, he had armed goblins which would vastly alter the course of the brothers’ business. In other words, these goblins would supply them with much needed manpower to take big risks. As for why these big risks matters, they would secure the brothers an even higher yield and potentially solidify them as pillars of the economy of the land of Laol. Concerning the importance of being seen as ”pillars” of the economy, this would give the government an incentive to safeguard the brothers’ interests for the purpose of advancing the influence of Laol, as it was adjacent to other lands with respective competing interests. Indeed, he recognized the idea that the inclusion of armed goblins resulting in the brothers’ business becoming pillars of the economy was arrogant. However, he hoped that he could get an early investment in them before the event that he considered to be their ”likely surge”. Rather than being an arrogant businessman, he had the self-perception that he was probably a random bystander investing a tiny bit of coin into the world’s greatest events, hiding and influencing the world behind the scenes.

As for why Ray recited the addresses earlier, he was complicit in the religious studies educating younger

men. Though, today was special since the location of the adventurer faculties was moved to the abandoned- looking house and the introduction of religious study sessions as part of the adventurer headquarter faculties commenced today, which happened to find the audience of older men. With that said, David and Peter did have a good reason to be surprised. Though, in the end, Aloe addressed their issues by appearing there as someone familiar to them, even offering them his armed goblins to make their and his time there worthwhile.

So David and Peter accepted Aloe’s proposal by handing him Peter’s slip to signify their implicit collaboration

because they had a duty of confidentiality between nobles, as the Aloe was a noble too.

At the moment, the fairy nearby slowly disappeared, as it returned to Aloe’s magical invisible inventory.

Aloe’s hands stretched out like a goliath seeking emancipation from death and oppression with claws and

wrinkles emerging, as he shook David and Peter’s hands with the sentiments of a farewell.

Meanwhile, next to a tower, in the middle of the plains, several kilometers away from David, Peter, and

Aloe, Soldred emerged from a thicket of trees. Like a ghost, his form waddled, entering into a state of reverie. For a moment, grace crushed him into paste, transforming him into the essence of it. The next moment, the throne of kings awaited him, speaking tales of his greatness. Then, his eyes opened to see the worth of the world, for a greatness on the horizon marched upon him, and he saw that he was part of it.

At the moment, he was among several goblin servants, and they were headed to a meeting with a large

group of goblin soldiers regarding an accident that damaged the magical artifacts he rented to them. Since these soldiers rarely found themselves together, they were awkwardly greeting each other. But, with Soldred’s arrival, it was like a rope lashed them together into a state of oneness.

Regarding the background behind these goblins, Soldred got them from a step mother of his. As the only one

who was absent during the brothers’ last visit to their father who used to display a profound and virulent racial animosity against goblins, he knew most about how their father excitedly ran to his doom, departing from his several businesses, ruining the family name, disappointing the expectations of their second step mother, who virtually resided at the Laol Senate as a Laol senator. That being so, the goblins belonging to the brothers were gifts from this step mother of impressive standing. As for the hidden problem behind these gifts, they knew that she felt that it was natural to expect results and provisions, or, simply, a safety net in case her reputation and means of sustenance became tarnished due to her insider trading, which would put the brothers under the definition ”complicit with the prosecution” in Laol law.

Tying this history that he deemed humiliating together, Soldred produced animosity for his weakness more

than anything, which was why he could do anything just to gain the feeling of control, whether it be taking the outbursts of his father or watching the street from inside as the sun faded on a dark day with only the feeling of helplessness guiding him during his younger years. In his eyes, the path before him was stable and secure.

Overall, the phrase ”I am justified.” expressed his past succinctly enough for him.

At the moment, the goblin servants grabbed retrieved several queen size beds from a secure, remote ware-

house around here, while the goblin soldiers scared away squatters around the area.

After they finished, Soldred paid an expensive delivery service to transport the beds to their respective noble

customers, who wanted them today. If he decided to have them delivered them tomorrow, the customers would likely demand a much lower price, as he made sure to promise them an quick delivery in order to steal them away from competitors.

Circling Soldred, a goblin asked him how what they were going to do tomorrow since the goblins had a

sudden cause for a day off tomorrow since he made them work today during their day off. To give broader context, Soldred used to own these goblins directly, but in the past, he passed them on to the adventurer guild after he invested too much to acquire the land where they were currently, resulting in some limitations regarding how he could require work from them. Even more, one of these limitations made it so that it was a breach of contract for Soldred to overwork them even if he deemed them still fit to work. Precisely, they had an agreement that he could disturb them on their days off only once per week. As for the implication of this, since he disturbed them today, tomorrow, the goblins would be absent at a time when Soldred most likely needed them during his agreed scheduled meeting with Peter.

The goblin’s words ringing well in Soldred’s head, Soldred pondered for a moment, rubbing his hands to-

gether. ”Okay, okay.” Sweat dripping down his temples, he rubbed his mouth with the side of his hand, his breath slowing, as he pooled his breath and unleashed with his mouth forming an tiny ”O”. Grasping a tree branch and tensing his feet, pressing them harder against the earth, he rubbed above his brow with his two fingers. ”Okay… just… need to recognize…” Amid his attempts at regaining a sense of control, his voice was shaking. Since he had a troubled past, he still struggled with the occurrence of making a mistake involving others in his planning.

After he visibly slowed down to a halt, he closed his eyes and forced a small smile. ”Okay then, I’ll just do

it myself.” Looking at the goblins, he offered his hand to the one next to him and shook it passionately. ”Of course, this will require me to be there in the dungeon without help.” To offset the weight of his words, he tried to laugh like David did.

Despite all his struggles, he was a human being capable of ending this world if he only closed his eyes.

Tomorrow, on a mountain path, Timothy was sitting down on the edge of a slope. Since he was in need of

some relaxation after trekking for a while, he slowly moved his legs back and forth and then sped them up again absentmindedly again and again.

In his background, vegetation in addition to outcrops, boulders, and rock slides spread throughout.

When Timothy was satisfied, he got up and went on his way to a tall tower where he and several nobles

were expected to arrive as a part of a magical research program.

However, he was the farthest of his brothers from center of Laol, making his adventure a seeming aside in

the making of he and brothers’ business. However, it was this distance that granted him the opportunity for him to stretch the line that defined his family affairs farther like a tie encircling the world. As for how this would look like, sets of numbers representing the various operations of the business would elucidate their place in the world, and if these numbers increased or decreased to their favor, that would mean a victory.

Chapter 2

The day before, at the tip of a dungeon, as a beginning of the process of manifesting their dreams, David and

Peter stood, their armor shining brightly against the flash of crystals that emerged when they approached. From the perspective of a crystal, a rat-like creature passed by, obstructing the view of the crystal of David and Peter. In response, Peter pointed, glancing at David, saying, ”I thought I saw a little critter over there.”

Behind them, a group of armored goblins who had come from Aloe cocked their heads from side to side like

worried children and said: ”Crispies? You were calling for us?”

With his superior height over the goblins, Peter smiled and spoke like that of a wise man: ”No, no. I was

merely saying ’critter’.” Recognizing how arrogant he sounded, he began singing to compensate: ”I don’t know what is happening today, but come let us see if there’s a place to be there.”

From across the cave, a man emerged, wearing the outfit of an adventurer and holding the bow of an archer.

His voice like that of a man who had been alone for too long, he wiped the dirt off his lips and said, ”Where am I?”

From behind him, a mass of golems emerged from the walls head-first, pulling themselves out of the hard

rock and forming pits in the walls. As soon as they were free, they swarmed the cave like segments of a gigantic worm. As if preparing to fight, they spoke with a voice like that of an angry beast: ”You, Sir, are a king!”

For a moment, Peter stared, but a moment later, he and David were dashing out of the cave alongside the

goblins with them.

Concerning the strange man and the golems, he belonged to a planet called ”Earth”, but after he disappeared

from Earth, he appeared in a planet called ”Terra”, to which he found himself belonging overtime. In Earth, it was a land filled with giant beasts of metal and people flying inside these beasts. In Terra, it was a land filled with words appearing in mid-air like ”level”, ”XP”, and ”skills”, among others. However, for some grand reason, he disappeared from Terra and appeared in the world where Peter and his brothers lived. Today, it was like the sky was beating against his chest and his sweat sucking the moisture out of his body until his eyes ached and he could only open his mouth and grasp his neck in pain.

To give more personal context, he had a life back there on Earth with thousands of positive influences

who taught him how to recognize how wonderful people were. As to how he became involved with thousands of people, he traveled often, attended many seminars and events, and was part of an international church network that allowed him to meet so many people. When it came to empathy, due to meeting many kinds of people from squatters’ areas and from upper class neighborhoods, he developed an understanding of how they lived, and since he wanted to feel safe and well within many very tight-knit communities, it made sense for him to develop a desire to help others and pay back the goodness of others. However, after some mysterious force dragged me from Earth to Terra, he lost all that, reducing him to a mumbling mess. Now, on Terra, he soon learned how to adapt by relying on himself more and more and becoming independent, resulting in others relying on him instead. Touching upon the aftermath of this, this developed his character and skills more and more, allowing him to navigate a world that demanded him to abide by numbers tagged by ”level” and ”XP” in order to succeed in it. As he was aware of what level and XP meant, he was able to succeed very well. However, just hours ago, the mysterious force decided that it would drag him again away from his people and friends and dump in another world. In the end, he only had his good and memories left, and his name was ”Ethan.”

His voice cracking and his throat hoarse since he had cried for hours before Peter and David saw him walking

toward them, he said, covering his mouth, tears dripping onto his hands: ”I lost so much…”

As for what the golems were, throughout his time in Terra, he learned how to create them with magic, and

they improved alongside his magic. In terms of their practicality, they could perform a wide range of tasks from manual labor to protection. Specifically, they could load and unload cargo and reach high places. When it came to how Ethan used to them, he customized them based on their initial design and magical properties, supple-

menting them with various modifications and reprogramming which required an advanced understanding of and skills in magic. As for what those modifications were, the golems already showed one of them: their ability to emerge quickly by utilizing the walls required a specific combination of magic to activate and to adapt the golems for this task. Usually, they would emerge slowly as the caster combined rocks together, which required a tremendous amount of effort to maintain due to how much power was required in the long period of construct- ing golems. However, maintaining golems was easier, which meant that Ethan’s modification vastly reduced the magical costs of constructing these golems due to using the walls which were readily available material.

In the end, a world-traveler, Ethan, launched a threat display against David and Peter by revealing his

golems in order to ensure his safety.

At the moment, several dogs appeared behind David, as he had brought them in order to check for smells

that might interest them—specifically, smells of dead monsters like goblins.

As soon as the golems halted and stared at David, the dogs barked loudly, their voices echoing like dizzying

spiraling colors touching a man’s eye.

For a moment, the smell of sweat and body odor made David wrinkle his nose. During this, the complicated

textures of his sword made him image what felt like hundreds of possibilities about his group and Ethan over the course of several seconds.

If David’s group and Ethan fought now, one of them would die.

Regarding the goblins’ thoughts, they were sure that David and Peter could handle everything because they handled so many bad scary things in the past because their feudal superior Aloe said so.

Like the touch of a lover, Ethan laughed.

tion.

As they would toward a disgusting traitor, David and Peter tensed their arms, forming their fiercest forma-

As time ticked away and Ethan’s laugh slowed down to a halt, David’s group waited for a moment before

relaxing and letting air return to their lungs.

Taking the whole world to express himself, Ethan raised his hand and closed it. ”Please help me… It hurts so much that I can’t help but laugh.”

After a moment of silence, Peter sang, ”Okay then.” As for why he sang, even he was ignorant regarding its purpose, but for some reason, singing shut up his momentary understanding of death. Maybe, he was the one who would die in the scenario where his group and Ethan fought. As he was normal, he would die. Since he was human, he would die. Due to the fact that everyone was like him and he was like everyone, he would die. In connection to an earlier point, ”If they were in my shoes, they would do the same thing,” was similar to this. For more preciseness, this phrase centered around the concept that ”I am everyone, and everyone is me”.

When he sang long enough, it was like his tongue had undergone a tyrannical series of whips until it could only speak grace and beauty. As for why it would speak of grace and beauty, at the peak of suffering was a duality with great joy that spoke of the glory of the heavens. But these were Peter’s thoughts right now, as he was vulnerable and needed to glorify his awkwardness and the difficulty of singing for more than a minute.

As soon as Peter was finished, Ethan watched him, guessing that he was in a strange culture where singing

was common. However, he did consider the idea that Peter was a strange one based on the confused reactions of his fellows. In the end, he was sure that whatever would happen next would result from what that singing rep- resented to those present. If it meant murder, then murder would result. If its meaning was that of friendship, then it would be the greatest day of Ethan’s life to get out of this cave before he claimed a life.

When it came to discussions, David liked to speak, but today, he was sitting down, staring at the ground

as if he had lost a friend. ”I feel a weight on me. What is this feeling?” As for why he sounded, his voice was sluggish and heavy.

Next, he fell, and his head hit the ground.

Then, Peter dragged David and pulled him out of the cave, as the goblins and dogs barked and shouted at Ethan to back off.

Now that Ethan was scared, he made sure his golems stretched their bodies outward to cover himself.

Tomorrow, at a small area where hundreds of birds visited, Soldred motioned for a goblin to lower his head and said: ”Okay, good. Let’s try fixing together some tools, and then, we can have the ’droppers’ set up and running.” As for what ”droppers” were, they were machines that consisted of a magical conveyor belt and a tube that extended from underground and terminated in a hole above one end of the belt. When it came to what it did, the tube dropped on the belt these rectangular blocks made of magical metal from underground. Since the belt moves things atop it, it did the same with the blocks until they traveled across the whole belt. At the end of this belt, the blocks reached an magical area where these blocks disappeared. Regarding the purpose of the dropper, the disappearance of the blocks resulted in a magical transaction that converted these blocks

into magical power that transferred directly to the person who had the magical ownership document associated with the dropper. As for his overall quests and plans, the dropper was merely one of his many quests for the goblins. Indeed, his plans were merely an expression of the human mind. Since he proved that the goblins were capable of making these delights, he developed the reputation of the goblins further by establishing his business as a up-and-coming one that allowed goblins to get their names written on the newspapers associated with the business. As for the background regarding individual recognition

and crediting in papers, this was typical in Laol. Either way, the dropper he wanted his goblins to construct was only 10% done because Peter and most of his goblins were absent. According to schedule, they were supposed to be here. At the moment, a goblin was hurrying, stumbling and almost tripping, his footsteps like tiny words in the forest only there to find the answers of the trees. As soon as he found his footing in front of Soldred, the goblin fidgeted with his fingers and said, ”Sir, your brother!” When Soldred learned ofDavid’s illness, he abandoned his current plans to create the dropper and ran wildly on his bare toes, his hair fluttering like the end of a comet. As for his destination, he was headed to a hospital near where he and his brothers lived. Behind and alongside him, a group of goblins ran past the trees of the forest. One, Jung carried a stack of books and wore almost falling glasses, gambolling in brown, leather boots, his hair brownish black, his clothes made of leather with some green fabric for his undercoat. As for the rest, they had a similar style of clothing. To explore their physical make-up further, their huffs were like small, light pinches on the underlip, their eyes were usually green and sometimes red, their weight felt like that of a bag of 5 kilos of rice, and their mannerism and habits looked similar to chipmunks when they got wet and to

rabbits when they were coming outside of their cramped homes. Concerning the distance that they had to travel, steps were the only thing keeping Soldred from his goal, but for some reason, time slowed down like he was about to see God. When he realized that he was at the hospital, his mind was still in the forest and in many different places like his childhood back in that small park where he invented hundreds of years–worth of games, ideas, and stories. As soon as he saw David getting up, he smiled at him because, to him, he was the symbol of justice, as was the rest of his brothers. Even if David soon forgot his near death due to some practical decision in life, Soldred would remember this moment forever and instill upon those he despised with his stigmata of the memories which he and his brothers shared. When he decided

to love, he would love vehemently to the death of the entity of Suffering that cast chains upon them all. In short, a conviction enslaved Peter, and he would press on. As soon as he saw David standing on the floor, he smiled and stood next to him. With his concise and simple actions, he conveyed his great love. However, David had other concerns like how he was going to examine the subject, Ethan, and find a way to learn of his purpose further. As soon as a door obstructed David’s sight of Peter, he wondered how he could ensure that he could continue operations in the cave especially with the sudden emergence of the subject. Finally, he was still keeping the question about how he almost died out of his mind because he knew answering

that would require a direct interrogation with the subject. To answer his thoughts, he decided to visit a temple where several mages with floating, glowing orbs in front of them. There, he asked, his right foot atop a stair higher than where his left foot was, clasping his hands and resting them on his right thigh: ”Excuse me! May I ask a simple question about who the person we found in a cave was?” As per usual, his voice was bright and sunny like he was about to talk about how his life was a

blessing and to give thanks everyday. Seeing that the mages looked surprised, he shook his head and left, returning to the cave alongside his concerned brothers and all their goblin subjects except for Timothy and his subjects since he was off on a trip. When they entered the cave, it was like a beautiful land full of life had spent ages within the cave. Namely, vegetation upon vegetation covered the walls, ceiling, and floor of the cave, a flurry of colors occurring regularly in the form of flowers. Secondly, the smell of fresh fruits and a spring ofwater like the wind was coming straight

in a breeze rather than from a cave. His head shaking with surprise, David gasped and stammered: ”Wa, wa, wa, interesting… What a wonderful beautiful thing! I’ve never seen this at all! What the heck!” Since eighteen hours passed since Ethan appeared here from the distinct world Terra, his voice sounded deranged: ”It’s all your fault! I am stuck here because of you!” Despite his accusive tone, he was directing it toward the mysterious force rather than toward David’s group. However, David misunderstood and told the

goblins to back off, glancing at his brothers to retreat as well, as he stepped back first as an example. With Peter standing behind David, he stopped David and told him that it was crucial that he listened first

to what Ethan was saying before making decision. Since Peter had a better ear for tone as a singer, he noticed Ethan’s terminating inflection that sounded close to that of someone who still had much more to say.

Lastly, even if Ethan massacred them, Peter knew that Ethan would carry on the values ofhumanity, which, in this case, included Peter’s as well.’

In the meantime, the evil, mysterious force overshadowing him all the days of his life, Ethan burst into rage, kicked, and slammed the wall, crushing and stomping the flowers and vegetation, saying, ”I am so sorry, Millie, Luke, James… I am a fool—”

Picking up on Ethan’s guilty transmission, David nodded at Peter, who reciprocated the gesture, as they both shared a moment of agreement and relief alongside Soldred and the goblins behind them.

When Ethan had a lull in his speech, Soldred took a step forward and addressed him, ”Sir, I’m John. I most likely have no clue as to how you feel, but what I do know is that you’re real. Tell me, is this what it feels like?” With strategic intentions and coming from a similarly intense emotional level, he directed Ethan’s attention toward processing his emotions. For this same purpose, he used a fake, nondescript name instead of his real, rare, and potentially distracting name.

When Ethan went out of the cave and exposed his face to the moonlight, he stared at their faces, imagining hundreds of faces standing behind these three brothers, the memories of ten thousands of familiar ancestors praising and clapping their hands in response to their presence. Visually, he lifted his arm and groaned, wiping away and blurring these imagined sights and sounds from himself.

At that moment, he wondered if he could escape somewhere noisy and peaceful and get some delicious food.

Like a fingers crawling their way into a tight hole in order to fetch something, David’s voice pushed his way into the tense mood, rubbing his nose with his index finger: ”How are you, man!”

Still in the tense mood, Peter tapped Soldred and gestured toward David in case Ethan took offense at David’s tone and words. ”Hey, don’t say that!”

Stuck between David’s relaxed tone and Peter’s concern, Soldred tried to watch every meaningful movement

and gesture as if he was merely a bystander.

Regarding the dynamic of the brothers with a faint smile, he jokingly wondered if he could become the greatest eater of all once he got some food.

Chapter 3

Meanwhile, at the magical academy, Timothy recognized the power of magic, but he was only there to delve into

advanced theory required for advanced magic that required long, drawn-out sessions of accurately arranging and orienting one’s fingers and using specific melodies and pitches for incantations in order to succeed. In the end, like everyone else there, he joined the academy to learn one specific advanced spell. For him, he chose the spell ”Flash Fall”, which theoretically removed all desires of a person. However, this spell was still in theory, and it fell under a broader category of ’psycho-magic’ research.

At the moment, across a room, he was distributing papers and hurrying several nobles who looked too tired

to walk to their seats even, saying: ”Where were you yesterday? Don’t you see why it’s an issue when you guys don’t fix your things? Anyway, you’re making this hard for me. Just go.” Now that he was there in the class researching alongside several others who had much less ambition and motivation compared to his brothers, he lowered his standards. Specifically, he reduced his questions and focused more on supplying a more regular amount of simple, trivial directives to do petty, easy things that they were too lazy to do by themselves.

After the room became filled with various students and researchers, Timothy curled his fingers and slowly

opening his hand with his fingers still curled, a ball of magic creating a purple symbol depicting a tree with a field of balls representing heads or people in front of it. Once he got the room’s attention, he continued his discussion section from the day before: ”When he levelled the village, what did he do? He implemented various magical conditions in order to avoid having to deal with the ’toxic’ aftermath of ’soul bondage’. Now, this is crucial for my next talk, which is to elucidate your mental acuity for this shade of toxicity.” After explaining at length and clarifying doubts regarding the magical course material concept of ”toxicity,” Timothy ended the session with the finishing statement ”Now, as with all research, wear a mask at all times.” For this statement, he balled his hand into a fist and tapped a desk with it.

Later, while the class were already chatting outside, Timothy only finished putting on his shoes now before

he walked out of the classroom. As for why he had removed them, the custom of the institution hosting the magical research program expected this.

However, he soon recognized that he was only capable of so much. As soon as he found some solitary solace,

he supported himself by pressing his palm against a tree, his heart beating wildly, saying, ”Why did I do this?” In his mind, his head was putting together so many different concepts relating to theory like a beating cannon. When he fell to the earth, he stood up quickly. ”I must maintain my sense of self. Quickly, move me.” Following behind him, several ofhis fellow researchers embraced him, and there, they embedded themselves with so many magical artifacts that calmed their emotions but had the potential to make them euphoric.

On the ground, they lay, as their eyes reflecting the vegetation but simultaneously the great depth of written

knowledge and the suffering therein.

Falling deeper into their calmness, they parted ways, as Timothy returned to his living quarters at the

institution. Once he stepped inside, he was rubbing his head before he tripped onto his bed, his face planting against the fabric covers. When he took a deep breath, he made his legs upright since only his upper body was on the bed. With his legs supporting him, he pushed his torso up with his hands and pulled his shoulders back to stretch. However, when his stretch failed, he got on his feet and lifted his arms from the bed up toward the ceiling, his shoulders still back. With this posture, he stretched, his face growing pinched and eyes closing briefly in his stretch. As soon as he heard a beautiful crack, he fell back down and lay on his back, his palms facing up, and his head against a pillow, the sounds of dripping water behind the wall, which sounded similar to tweeting birds.

On that night, Timothy decided that he would return home and give up the research program. This way, he

could avoid breaking off his self-respect further by using magical artifacts to relieve his stress rather than just dealing with it naturally. However, all this stress was a result of him pushing himself so much that he became

a respected individual in a 16-hour session over the course of a single day. As for how this session brought him

great respect, it allowed attending nobles to discuss at length regarding their purpose and stay there in groups, each going through many high-intensity, team-based games before a short program of introduction. Moreover, these games demanded both lofty knowledge and physical prowess to get high scores, both for which Timothy had prepared as evident from his hike all the way to the program and from his inquisitive and intellectually engaged nature during his interactions with his brothers.

In short, he would quit and return home because he pushed himself too much to study quickly and efficiently

and establish himself strategically to gain the high regard of others.

When he returned home, he found himself tapping his finger against his other hand, which shook with the tiniest movements. As soon as he noticed his behavior, he pressed his right index finger, middle finger, and thumb against his left thumb, looking down at them. After about ten seconds, he looked up and found himself studying the ground, glancing between the green surrounding him, saying: ”What is grass? What does it mean to me? What does a bird mean? How many memories do I have of a bird in comparison to everyone else? How does a bird appear to someone who is lame? What does a bird mean to someone who has only live a couple years? How does playing a very simple trivial game of watching birds make different kinds of people feel?”

For a multitude of reasons, some with a sense of clarity and most shrouded in mystery and subject to theory,

despite being one of four brothers whom he deemed magnificent, Timothy was sure that he was destined for greatness. Even if he failed, his hand was still clasped with confidence at the thought that he was a honorable individual.

In the meantime, David’s goblin adjutants were already fetching him to handle an issue related to the forgery

workshops they were running for a rival business due to a deal made previously: ”Please, Sir, we need you at the shop front. They’re already sending their toughest goons. We don’t want to piss them off, Sir!”

Finding himself amid the numerous adjutants, half of which still looked like recent hires, Timothy pressed his fingers in front of himself as a gesture and said: ”What’s this about pissing off goons? You’re probably talking about the ’Magical Boys’ again, are you not?” To give some context, the ”Magical Boys” were a group of criminals out to get their share of bread by stealing it from the workshops that the brothers intentionally oversupplied with bread. As for why the brothers did this, the regulation of the food industry in Laol was poor, among other reasons like diverting attention, risk mitigation, and potential entry into the market. With respect to the reception ofresidents in the area, they observed the activities, vehicles, employees, and associates associated with the brothers’ business.

Chapter 4

to the brothers.

The next day, at a town center where hundreds of adventurers gathered, Ethan was busy studying a book on a

chair at a stall that one of the brothers’ cousin owned. Since they were at a bazaar, he found himself getting a chance to taste many different kinds of street food. Namely, he got to taste pretzels, which he thought tasted similar to chicken for some reason. As for what he had to say about it, he recounted his time in Terra where he grew to enjoy the numerous flavored chicken that the people there ate and combined with numerous spices. Sometimes, the chicken was sweet, sour, bitter, and salty, among other things. Now that he was here and finding himself bothered with peaceful thoughts, he wanted to work alongside the brothers.

When it came to how he would work, ”Hey guys, what do you think I should be doing?” was his first question

As for the brothers, Peter, Soldred, and David were in front of him. Firstly, David was standing next to a

stall and drinking some sweetened water. Second, Peter was folding some clothes while finishing up a chat with a group of monsters including goblins at a stall that sold grilled chicken. Lastly, Soldred was sitting down and trying to get used to making coffee manually by turning the handle of a grinder wherein the coffee beans were.

Incidentally, behind the brothers, several leashed, large dogs passed by. As for the owner, she was a short

woman wearing peasant’s clothes, busy glancing around. Behind her, several dressed people were staring at her since she was an anomaly there. Instead of leaving under their gazes, the woman instead checked a handful of items at several stalls by picking them up and then returning them delicately, turning around with some elegance in her movements. When she returned in the middle of the aisle from beside the stalls, the people staring at her averted their gazes. Concerning her personal details, she hailed from a fief whose purpose was to accommodate a main road that coal mining, timber harvesting, potion production, and other various industries utilized. As for why this was important, in the land of Laol, one’s home fief usually played a considerable role into determining a person’s vocation. Because she prospered in such a fief due to her family’s wealth, she was wealthy enough to afford dogs and wear whatever she wanted.

Anyway, the brothers only glanced at her a few times before they returned their attention to Ethan’s concern.

Firstly, Soldred rubbed his chin, a faint smile emerging on his lips, saying, ”Under what circumstances have you decided to put your heart to?”

Next, Ethan said with an evasive tone, ”Well, I’ve already put my heart to it, and this time, I yearn to

accomplish this goal under my jurisdiction.”

his arms were drooping at his sides.

As a side note, he was adjusting his legs by lifting them slightly and bringing them down repetitiously, and

Moving on, Soldred glanced at Peter, who said what?

On the other hand, David was grinning and almost clapping his hands with respect.

Finally, Ethan said, ”I have decided upon the venture of a sojourn to the dungeon life.”

Coincidentally, he was changing his posture and clasping his hands on his hips before he shifted again, put

one leg over the other, and slightly shook it.

In any case, Soldred compensated for his brothers’ relative silence by introducing a counterargument to

Ethan’s statements: ”Have you lost your sensibilities? Haven’t you put into consideration the…” After he and Ethan locked eyes for a few seconds, he abandoned his argument: ”No, no, you’re not.”

Surprisingly, the dog owner woman interjected, ”The Petty Family.” To clarify, the ”Petty Family” was the

brothers’ family, as their last names were ”Petty”.

Hence, David shared a contemplative statement which contrasted his previous larger-than-life demeanor:

”It’s really weird hearing that. I usually only find myself reading that word.” As for the reason of this, he often saw his family’s name as a partner or affiliate entity on business paperwork, and it was often in a ’word mark’

logo with serifs. With David acknowledging her presence, she raised an index finger and bouncing it against the air and then pressing her hands together with a clap. ”Really?” To Peter, her tone was similar like that of a lady cheetah who was hearing a prey present options regarding its usefulness to her. For the rest of his brothers, she sounded normal. As soon as she and Peter’s group locked eyes for several seconds, they ended the conversation with polite

goodbyes.

With the dogs following behind her, Peter noticed that one of the dogs was bleeding from a small wound. Instead of letting it go, he informed Soldred and prompted him to ask about it. After Soldred addressed the issue, the woman was shocked, grabbing the injured dog and embracing it as lightly as she could. With a potion, she healed it quickly. However, the brothers still had some questions regarding why the dog happened to be bleeding, but they put them to rest. When Soldred returned to his brothers, he said, biting a fruit: ”Watch her if she comes back. she might have a solution we might want to hear about later.” Regarding this solution, he was considering getting her to take part in a business venture involving adventurers. However, it was fortunate that they met on the street rather than in one of his clubs or the ”Chamber of Commerce of Laol” (CCL) where he was a member. With that said, in contextual response to the recurring theme of a mixed government, Laol encompassed an intricate magical society with multiple centers of power and social classes and a well-defined set of laws. In respect to the specific details and the balance of power, they comprised various complexities. For one, two of their apparent sources of income were the land that the fiefs leased to businesses and magical services such as those of utility or general mage jack-of-all-trades. Meanwhile, in another part of Laol, Timothy had an incident where he mismanaged a few goods after he accidentally raised his voice against a group of goblin staff. As he had a guilty conscience, he struggled to give the right bags to certain customers. Moreover, this was Soldred’s job rather than his, which meant that he had much less experience handling this. For now, he was trying his best to follow the directions of his goblin staff, as they all worked together to send off the goods that would be delivered to the goons who were troubling a shop under the brothers’ name earlier. As for why he was giving these bagged goods, Timothy mistakenly believed the goons’ words that David had a deal with them. Despite this mistake, he won the approval of the goblin staff with him due to his humility, ensuring that his relationship with them was strong. Either way, he was going to meet up with his brothers at the town center, as they would head to the dungeon again. This time, he expected to see the armored goblins of Aloe again since he learned from his staff that David and Peter had hired them for a reason of which he was ignorant. Later, at the town center, when the brothers reunited, Peter wondered if he was going to die, while Soldred was thinking about improving himself. As for David, Timothy, and Ethan, they were clear ofmind and assessing their milieu, waiting for the armored goblins and maybe the dog owner woman to arrive. As for the purpose today, they were headed to the dungeon again for a number of reasons. One, Soldred had a venture in mind

involving Ethan and the woman. Two, Ethan wanted to head to the underground dungeon due to his curiosity involving the adventurers and since he appeared in this world in the cave first. Finally, David wanted he and his brothers check and balance Ethan with jurisdiction since they were nobles, sharing the same sentiments as Soldred.

Chapter 5

The next day, at the entrance of a dungeon, Peter and David did a head count, one out of personal, intellectual

interest, the other out of a sense of procedure, respectively.

When David finished, Peter had this to say about their armored goblins: ”It is evident that they have placed

in the consistent effort to maintain their flexibility. I mean, look at them. Even now, they sit like they’re about to do a difficult dance involving a high range of rotations and movements. It is as if they have completely gotten rid of any kind of tension within their bodies. As for our goblin soldiers, they have yet to finish their food. This suggests that some of them have a much weaker body.” Even though he was wrong, David heeded his words. Hence, he wanted to take a spontaneous intermission before starting the dungeon exploration to discuss the dungeon.

Though, Timothy, who had arrived earlier than his brothers, bombarded him with inquiries. Through this,

he implied they a schedule and only within a limit of a few hours would the dungeon be worthwhile.

As for what Ethan and Soldred had to say, they were already one floor down from the brothers to prepare

alongside them. Regarding Soldred’s anomalous behavior, he was the most physically experienced. As pre- viously shown, he could ran on bare toes, and he most directly helped Ethan out of the cave, making their connection much smoother. Considering the brothers’ thoughts on their cohesion, they trusted Soldred’s judg- ment.

Meanwhile, around 11.5 hours of human walk away, on a very low floor of the dungeon, a group of giant

armored ants were ringing a raucous bell, the sound passing by different chambers that served different func- tions. First, two chambers housed the writing process wherein ants used magic to summon magical pens and paper in order to record and copy manuscripts. Second, another chamber had a clearing and a siege tower–like structure with numerous floors and one bare side facing the doorway. On each of these floors, various ants relaxed and discussed. Pertaining to the movement design of the structure, the ants traveled through long tree-like shoots with ”branches” on the sides of the structure. In addition, these shoots led to other floors and the ground since they could climb walls like certain monkeys. As for the purpose of the structure, it was multi- functional, serving as both a barracks and a nursery. Regarding its height, since the ants were around 7 to 8 feet tall, it was hundreds of feet tall, taller than a redwood tree. Since these ants were capable of constructing this, they were responsible for many other chambers. Namely, these chambers included housing, waste dis- posal, aquifer chambers, town squares, government offices, warehouses, moneylender offices, workshops, and formal exchange buildings.

When it comes to the interior layout of dungeons, which were analogous to caves, they were chaotic. Figu-

ratively, they were similar to strands of noodles that swirled up, down, left, and right and around, over, and away from each other. Incidentally, they intersected with numerous mining operations, making it easier for circulation underground.

Several hours later, at an underground stronghold, the brothers, Soldred, their goblin associates, and Ethan

were busying their hands. That is, they were putting together several potions and arranging them on the cave floor in a line. However, this was difficult since the floor was slippery. Before David summarized the plan they discussed earlier, Ethan butted in: ”Okay, as soon as you get struck, drink a potion. Now, with your armor, it should be easy. Of course, we’ll be making sure the armored goblins take the first volley. In the end, we can easily just back off if needed. It’s a hit and run.” In this case, ”volley” referred to arrows.

A few seconds ago, from behind them, a group of magically silent, armed skeletons charged the brothers’

group. Before Ethan cast magic, they grabbed his arm and struck it until he collapsed.

Next, a skeleton shielded against David’s heavy swing and low kick, positioning its legs evasively. Behind

it, another skeleton fell when Peter attacked it with a spear, thrusting at it from several directions to corner it. Amid David and Peter’s attacks, a group of skeletons stabbed at them, while Soldred, Timothy, and the

armored goblins defended against them with decisive, lethal swings. As soon as all the skeletons fell to the ground, Soldred, David, and several goblins, all of whom were lethally wounded, dragged potions from the ground alongside the others. Rather than being sure regarding the usage of potions and whether they were lethally wounded, they drank out of desperation and habit to avoid hesitation and potential resulting death. Fortunately, the Soldred’s impulsive subdivision including Timothy and the armored goblins cohesively blocked the skeletons from destroying the precious potions. As for Ethan, they were dead, but the brothers were in shock regarding them. Instead of mourning them, they moved on and focused on recovering their energy. When it came to the brothers’ goblins, they were feebly shifting their limbs very slightly on the ground. Still, they were alive, since the skeletons downplayed them, narrowing their power budget toward the others.

After resting for several minutes, David said they could employ the same strategy of Ethan in his honor. Though, he did motion for Soldred to contact the dog owner woman and any other associates for help in their excursion into the dungeon.

Waiting for Soldred to return after he left, Peter was patiently crying, while Timothy looked like he lost a child. As for the general strategist, David stoically concealed his emotions.

When Soldred returned with red eyes, David said: ”How about we regard Ethan first by giving him a farewell?” With the goblins’ help, they positioned Ethan lying against the wall and placed rocks all over him.

In conclusion, Peter said, crossing his arms, ”He was taken too early… or too late.”

After David paused to collect his thoughts and then nodded, he dropped on his knees, as Ethan’s body began to reek a dangerous magical aura. As soon as his eyes showed clarity, he said, grabbing his chest, ”I feel the heaviness again.” When he finished speaking, he collapsed.

Noticing David’s eyes becoming blacker, Soldred grabbed a potion and drank it before plunging it in David’s mouth. Before David choked on the bottle, Timothy interrupted him and adjusted it. In the meantime, Peter and the goblins helped them retreat from Ethan’s body.

After Ethan’s magical aura spread a certain amount of distance, the pieces of the skeletons magically grad- ually recombined and would revive soon.

Recognizing the aura, Timothy pointed and said, ”That’s the toxicity!”

Consequently, Peter readily stopped. ”Let’s hear it, Timothy. Is that an okay thing?” For why he did this, he had two reasons. One, he substituted for David who had collapsed and Soldred who had cognitive fog due to grief. Two, he adopted his wisdom during his interaction two days ago with Ethan.

When Timothy said no, Peter realized his past instance of wisdom was outdated here and hurried out of the

dungeon floor.

Alarmingly, the aura executed a precise obstruction of the path leading out of the floor.

When David woke up now that he was out of the aura’s radius, he faintly suggested that they push through the path. Before he could finish speaking, Soldred ran when the aura was becoming more opaque overtime. However, Peter and Timothy said stop and stopped him too late when he collapsed. In sum, David and Soldred made hastily bad calls that resulted in Soldred’s passing out.

Since Peter was the physically frailest of the brothers, he was huffing considerably more than the others. Luckily, the aura was constantly moving, soon revealing an gap through which the brothers and their associates escaped.

Now on the first floor of the dungeon, Peter helped Soldred and David move and backed off to the side for Timothy and the goblins to pass, dizzily sitting down. Behind him, he imaged Ethan’s body slowly crumbling.

Near where Ethan’s body crumbled, one of the skeletons that just revived, prodded the other, saying: ”Dude, remember that we haven’t finish our grand mission. To accomplish that, remember our vows. Sip a cup ofmana and bread everyday. If we don’t, we must at least consider—”

Just now, several other skeletons were bickering together, but when they realized what the first skeleton had said, one of them remarked, ”What are you saying, haha!” Incidentally, his right arm was bent toward the midline of his body with his right hand supportively clasping his left elbow from below. Moreover, his left arm formed a ”V” shape, the left hand leaning sideways against his right shoulder.

That said, the first skeleton said oh, which functioned as an apology in the eyes of the other skeletons.

Though, it was merely an expression of his recognition.

Later, at the foot of a village wherein hundreds of adventurers hanged out and carried mugs of alcohol, Peter wondered if it was right to take the struggle away from Ethan. As for how this happened, he hired the skeletons and told them that Ethan was too dangerous to have the amount of freedom that he had. As for why and how Peter hired the skeletons, he wanted to understand Ethan, and he knew the skeletons because he was a part of a movement. To add, this movement saw monsters as fellows rather than inferiors.

Basically, he accepted that he was one of the reasons for Ethan’s death.

In the end, it was true that the magical aura was dangerous. Even if he was ignorant regarding the toxicity, he argued that he solved the challenge, Ethan.

In regard to whether he hired them to cause the challenge’s death, this was false. To be more specific,

he hired them to check the challenge’s personality and behavior in response to threats and danger. In fact, the skeletons interpreted this as a request to harass him and even lethally kill him. Collectively, this was the exploitation of a contractual loophole. As for why someone integral to a family business had made such a severe mistake, Peter could glance at the floor and try to bore a hole with his rage. For a moment, he directed an apology past a cave wall to some ethereal audience from across the multiverse, biting his lip. Truly, he believed that this audience was watching and judging him. To end, he begged them for help.

In the meantime, inside the village, the brothers left the work to a group of goblin strategists to lay out the groundwork for the next fight. Though, Soldred offered to attend the meeting to represent his brothers. While the brothers slept, Soldred stayed up, a little jittery.

The next day, in one of the sprawling urban areas of Laol in a room, a group of goblins sat around. First, Junjirou fanned himself with his shirt, saying, ”So, where’s Soldred?”

On a long chair nearby, Yesami touched his whole body while he adjusted his posture and said: ”He’s back there. We should really get him to finish up. When is he going to finish?”

On the floor next to a pile of manuscripts, Junjirou said, sitting weirdly: ”Dang, either way, let’s address the fact that we haven’t been considering the implementations carefully. What are one of our main concerns—the primary ones?”

At one ofthe chairs in the room, Malkov waited, sipping coffee, sitting with his butt at the edge. Significantly, he was curling his toes, the knuckles of these toes comfortably and skillfully supporting his body in place of his soles.

Next to Malkov, two goblins were arguing over weapons and magic.

After pausing to check how Malkov enjoyed his coffee, Yesami began to stretch and do some light exercises:

”Ah, we haven’t looked into them. Did you get the files? I don’t know if Sheila mentioned the A-grade ax, but we should be good, right?”

When Yesami finished, Junjirou went in a room and began playing a stringed instrument called a ”belowyie”. ”Yeah, yeah, just slowly bring it out, no need to have all the energy to reflect immediately. The wind today… We can do it.”

After he played for several minutes, he said, putting down the guitar even though his fingers could readily play: ”Alright, alright… Malkov… is he done?”

Since Malkov was in front of the bathroom door, he could hear every sound inside. In response to Yesami,

he shook his head, crossing his arms, often having a stern expression.

Since Yesami was caught up with the news, he said, raising his hand, ”Hey, guys, they finally got Zon to

accept Bridgetown!”

”Really!”

”Yeah, I’m telling you…”

In the next room, their words faded away, as a flood of memories surged in Soldred’s mind, inhabiting him. At that moment, he paralleled his memories with what he imagined Ethan’s was like. Even if this was imaginary to rationalize his grief, Soldred was sure that he and Ethan were now one.

As soon as Soldred processed some of the memories, he fell to the ground and began switching between

suppressed great rage and grief, his heart crawling through the tunnel of his throat in order to slice open a hole and escape, his body shaking like a paper toy in a thunderous breeze.

When Soldred got up fully moments later, he went to the room where the strategists were.

Getting up and standing in front of Soldred beside Malkov, Yesami said, gesturing: ”Soldred, Sir… did you hear about Peter, the one who raged upon the streets of Zon?”

His taller form passing Yesami and Malkov by sidestepping between them, Soldred glanced at Malkov’s coffee. ”No, no, what it’s about?”

In response to Soldred’s glance, the two goblins who were arguing about weapons and magic decided to

prepare coffee for him. Meanwhile, Yesami was showing him a newspaper. ”It was a tragedy, but for some reason, Zon is downplaying it. Crazy, right?” To clarify, ”Zon” is the name of a town far from Laol in a region where it was only goblins and talking dholes with very rare instances of human interaction and leadership. Regarding how Peter went there, this was an under-addressed issue.

As he distracted himself with their excitement and broader concerns, Soldred tried to drink some coffee

before he spilled it on his trousers. Since he was with the goblins, he naturally reacted like them: ”Dang…”

Incidentally, in the same year, at Zon, it was busy, but the Peter ”who raged upon the streets of Zon” was walking around. Since his face was full of color, it was like he had everything on his side.

Anyway, returning to Soldred, the goblins emphatically reassured him that it was okay.

Now that he was more stable, the goblins sat down around a much more defined center. Before they left to

an larger meeting involving many nobles, they discussed first regarding news, personal concerns, and what to bring and do there, among others.

When they arrived at a large venue in another city, the first person they greeted were nobles from adjacent cities. Importantly, these cities ranged from 6 to 171 kilometers. As for the coordinators of each represent- ing city, they were seated among the nobles. However, they were ready to provide overall input if necessary. Though, they focused on providing a two-way between their city participants and the overall meeting. Inter-

estingly, one of the speakers in the meeting was the regional director.

Meanwhile, Peter Petty, brother of Soldred Petty, woke up with slight eye bags. For a moment, he thought that the world might end, but after having scores of vivid dreams, he was sure that he was right about his life being an incredibly normal thing. Since he felt good, he decided to go back to work. Instead of