Rick quickly found himself out of his small home and made his way over to Rogu and the group that was with him. Of course, it was Geedi and the rest of the Royal Guards.

  ‘Velora, look at them. Rogu looks perfectly fine of course, but the rest of them look like they’ve been through a war. What the hell has he been doing with them?’

  [Training them like you’ve asked.]

  ‘Well yeah, but sheesh.’

  [Stop staring and go greet them.]

  ‘Ahem.’

  “Welcome back guys how was it?”

  “It was good My Lord. Growing significant Tiers will be hard as that will always take time, but they are becoming better fighters and learning how to work as a team to protect their target above all else. They are strong Goblins.”

  “That’s good to hear Rogu, thanks as always for your help in all of this. Geedi? What about you?”

  “It was good Chief. We are training hard.”

  “That’s nice to hear as well. Alright, rest up for a bit, the feast will start soon.”

  Rogu, Geedi, and the rest of the Royal Guards acknowledged Rick after he spoke then left to do exactly as he had asked, meanwhile Rick himself went to go help with feast prep. He wasn’t a cook by any means, but all they were doing was butchering the meat and then roasting it over a fire. There wasn’t much else to do.

  Eventually time passed and it was feasting time.

  The food was laid out and a wildly appealing aroma filled the atmosphere. Over a hundred Goblins were gathered and a lot of them had smiles on their faces as they watched Rick walk to the front of the group, and as he did any side conversation quickly stopped as all eyes were focused on him.

  ‘Velora, these big speeches are becoming more common as they days go by. I need it to stop.’

  [This is the job of a leader. Do not forget you said you wanted to apologize to the group. This is the best way to do that, unless you plan on apologizing to them individually.]

  ‘Yeah, I know, just venting…Alright let’s get it over with.’

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Ahem…Before I get into anything else, these is something I have to do first. And that’s to apologize to you all.”

  Out of all the Goblins watching, only Rogu and the others form the Royal Retrieval team had a big reaction to what Rick just said. Apologize? That was not something their Future King should be doing so lightly. Especially not to such a big group.

  Of course, that was not to say that this gesture from Rick wouldn’t be appreciated by Jaba and the others, but while evolving helped their intelligence significantly, there would always be things they didn’t know, and this was one of them.

  The weight and the power that is held within the words from a Monarch. It was heavier than they could ever realize with their current knowledge. Some might say the words of a leader are only as valuable as the respect that leader is given, and while that could be seen as true, those words will always carry some form of weight to the individuals that are being led.

  That notion is even more apparent when that leader or Monarch could have thousands of individuals move at their every beck and call, and this was the very position that Rick was in.

  Even though he was thousands of miles away from the Clans, Rogu knew without a shadow of doubt that if Rick had Teral send the word for Danger back to the Clans, then practically every Chief would throw caution to the wind and wouldn’t hesitate to fight death itself if it meant they would be able to reach their Future King.

  Such was the importance of Rick, and thus importance of his every word.

  And why an apology from such a being was not one to be taken for granted.

  That was why Rogu remained quiet even though he wouldn’t want Rick to apologize like this, but he knew it wasn’t his place to stop him, nor was it anyone else’s.

  Of course, Rick himself also wasn’t aware of this…he was from a different world and was familiar with seeing Leaders of various companies, sports organizations, and even nations give speeches where they apologized in some shape or form, so it didn’t seem all too out of place for him, and he just continued with his speech not knowing the impact it would leave on Rogu in particular.

  “I let my emotions get the best of me, and I wrongfully raised my voice at some of you when they were just trying to help me and make sure I’d be protected. I know I’m the Leader of this little Village of ours, but it doesn’t mean I should be abusing that power to be rude to you all. That’s not how I want to lead and I’m apologizing for that. I am sorry.”

  The area was silent for a bit, but it was the few the Tier 0 ‘normal’ Goblins that remained that screamed out first in their typical Goblin Gibberish. Their shouts could be translated to ‘Thank you Chief!’ And before long the rest of the Village joined in, and Rick couldn’t help but blush.

  ‘Velora, they need to stop.’

  [Just take it in and embrace it.]

  Eventually Rick got tired of the embarrassment and calmed everyone down so that he could finish the speech.

  “Thank you for understanding, but we got a few more things to discuss. All of you should be aware of the situation by now, and that we have no idea when things will change, but I promise I will do my best to protect this village with everything I have. I know every single one of you have been working hard to improve or making the Village better and stronger, but do not skip rest.

  “No matter what happens, if we beat ourselves too much then we won’t be able to fight the way we need to when the time comes. Don’t lost focus, and all of us, including me, will keep working hard, but try not to let the stress overwhelm you. We will get through this. I promise.

  “That’s enough of that though so…Let’s Eat!!!”