"Damn You humans, unforgivable! Look at what you've done Human! You will pay dearly!"

  "'Those goblins know how to talk!' This can't be! We have to exterminate them immediately! They've started to mutate in order to trick people easily!!!"

  The Goblins in question simultaneously lined up in a row trying to surround Azel and the others while brandishing their weapons, Fio with one hand made a gesture that looked like making a Ninja seal while casting magic spells. Azel realized that all those movements were nothing more than useless poses and seemed to be done to make the casting of magic spells look cooler.

  "Glorious flames!!! Boil my blood into a mist of fire!!!"

  'Even the spell is absurd' Azel thought, but Fio's mana reaction and the sparks created told Azel that Fio was a 'Spell Master' who could cast spells without uttering them, and again it seemed that she was very talented in performing mesmerizing stunts.

  "Be a star under the sun, burn my enemy into abb kyaaa~!"

  Azel tickled her.

  "WHAT ARE YOU DOING FREAKY EYES!!!"

  Azel ignored that and without turning around he looked straight at the panicked-looking Goblins.

  "Gyaaa!!! What was that!? A fire magic spell!? But why does it sound so strange!?"

  "Fool! That must be a high-level magic spell! And again, it sounds really dangerous!!! He wants to turn us into ashes!!!"

  "Hiiiiii"

  It seemed like all the nonsense and tacky moves Fio made were really effective, Kain also panicked because of their reactions.

  "Wait!!! Wait a minute!!! We have no bad intentions! This must be a misunderstanding!"

  "'Stop rattling! We are not afraid, even if we die here then we will become one of the Heroes of the forest! Right guys!"

  One of the Goblins standing at the front of the group seemed to motivate the others, his colleagues who had been panicking now glanced at each other, quite hesitant. However.

  "If we died defending the righteousness of the Forest God, surely the Kingdom will reward our family. This will not be in vain!"

  "Ohhh!!!"

  "That's right! That's right!!!"

  Those goblins were back in the mood to take up arms... because there was money involved.

  "Can't we hold off each other's attacks first, we're confused as to why you're picking up weapons and wanting to attack us?"

  "Shut your mouth blond guy, we know what to do to a bunch of nature destroyers and looters. If you realize your mistake, then let us catch you and hand you over to the authorities so that we can be rewarded... well... if you want to be responsible, you still have to pay a lot of money!"

  "Right! Right! Right!"

  The Goblins, who had now rediscovered their burning spirit, twirled their poles and began to step forward with ferocious gazes. But that was all for a moment, the Goblins' eyes were suddenly all focused on a shiny object in Azel's hand. He moved the round object left and right, the Goblins were stunned but their head movements were in sync with the gold coin that Azel moved up and down and occasionally he flicked it into the air, they took another breath as Azel put the gold coin back into his pocket.

  "What was that!?"

  "It's a genuine 5 Gald piece! The luster can't be mistaken!"

  "What a deception! I can't do anything about it!"

  Kain and Fio looked at each other and began to understand the situation a little.

  "Hey Kain, why are they so shocked just by seeing Gold?"

  "I think Zel-chan once said that they're a very stingy and money-crazy race"

  "Oida, if they're all like that, then my elder sister will definitely enslave them for life..."

  "Hus Fio..."

  Azel who was looking at them like they were trash now started talking while folding his arms.

  "Alright you guys, if you want money here. Better explain why you're so eager to attack us? I don't see where the profit is"

  The Goblins who were dumbfounded at first for a moment then pointed at Fio, Fio shrugged her shoulders in surprise as she did not expect their response.

  "The flower in that child's hand is Artemis, right? Not just one, but even plucked out some"

  "Ckk... I knew it, you guys planted it?"

  "Thats right! Do you have any idea that the roads of this forest can become very dangerous with monsters roaming around! Therefore, we begged the Elvia Authority for seeds that we could plant freely. Although it was small at first, we were eventually able to cultivate them for mass and strategic planting"

  "That's right..."

  "Yeah, right..."

  The other Goblins murmured as they nodded, it was clear that they were quite proud of what they had done.

  "Oida! That must be a lie. How can a demon plant flowers? It must be a trick, magic! Yes, magic! We must have been bewitched and thought they were speaking to us."

  Fio grumbled at Azel and Kain, with a battle-ready expression. Azel who heard that turned his face back to look at Fio, then turned his back to the Goblins by still folding his hands to then speak in a slightly annoyed tone.

  "Listen lassy, what you've heard so far about Goblins is not entirely true and not entirely false. And maybe you don't know the full story yet to think that Goblins are Demons"

  "Huh? What do you mean scary eyes!?"

  "HEY! Who are you calling Demon!"

  One of the Goblins shouted at the back.

  "Don't interrupt and be quiet, or I won't give you any money!"

  The Goblins once again looked at each other and nodded, Azel then continued speaking.

  "About three hundred years ago, right in the mountainous region of Belphegor. There was a kingdom called 'Agartha'. Like Elvia, it was also a Kingdom that was sheltered and run by the races created by Belphegor the Mountain god. The kingdom with a solid defense due to its underground location, has its own magic technology and also unique from the others. In fact, it is said that the Dwarves still hold the title of the best in the creation of 'Golems', weapons and processing magic metals."

  "You're right, Flaga's blacksmiths did patronize them. They must also have been recruited because they are experts in Golem mechanics, Golem tournaments are extremely popular. And the involvement of Dwarves in making Golem Champions is certain, at least all the elite class participants have mechanical Dwarves in their team!"

  Although still frowning, Fio answered without hesitation.

  "Unfortunately the Dwarves outside the Belphegor area are refugees, while those with the highest expertise in magic metalworking technology are still stuck there. Otherwise, the Otaku in Ishtora would have created the Gundam by now"

  "Gundam Zel-chan?"

  "..."

  Azel paused for a moment before continuing, knowing that if he continued to answer every question from Kain, it would move on to another question.

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  "...Forget it, back to the original topic. The underground kingdom of Agartha, which had a solid defense, is said to have collapsed due to the greed of their own people."

  "Hey! You! Don't talk carelessly about Agartha! Although we were born in this country, we are still descendants of the great Agartha! Agartha wouldn't have lost if it hadn't been ganged up on by so many countries!"

  Again, the other Goblins in the back shouted in protest.

  "Shut up and listen! Or I'll reduce the amount of money I give you!"

  The Goblins once again looked at each other and nodded although there were some words of disagreement, Azel ignored them and continued speaking.

  "What they just said is not wrong, it is true that the Central Alliance along with the major countries carried out a full invasion of Agartha. But all of that was not without reason, at first the Central Alliance only wanted to suppress the policies taken by Agartha which were considered very dangerous to the World"

  "Oida? What policy does that make...?"

  "Enriching Uranium and making Nuclear as a weapon"

  There was a moment of silence, and the Goblins in the back looked worried and glanced at each other at that.

  "The idea originally came from 'Ishtora', using Nuclear as a cheap source of energy, but somehow it later expanded to weapons of mass destruction. Of course the Gods who saw it as a serious threat to them reacted immediately, and it all ended in a revolution that resulted in the collapse of the Monarchy at that time”

  "Oida! I know that too! It's part of our mandatory history that all members of our Kingdom should know, and we're trying hard not to let it happen in Flaga Domain."

  "Yeah, it would be stupid to lose your kingdom over a policy that doesn't really need to be enforced."

  "Wait, so Ishtora used to be a Kingdom before it became a Republic Zel-chan?"

  "Well, from the rumors I heard the Ishtora Monarchy didn't completely fall and is still in power behind the scenes... but that's for another time"

  Azel seemed to realize that Kain's question once again almost made the direction of their conversation deviate.

  "Another problem then came with the news that Agartha also began to imitate it, from historical information it was mentioned that many Ishtora Nuclear Scientists fled for their lives when the Revolution occurred and there was a possibility that Agartha was protecting them... the rumor is that Belphegor kidnapped them"

  Many versions of history were heard by Azel because the incident had already passed three centuries, even in Dragonia there was one radical theory that said if the Scientists deliberately gave knowledge about Nuclear to Belphegor. With the intention that later the Gods would kill each other, this was quite plausible and probably the main cause of Dragonia at that time taking the same radical steps.

  "And the craziest part, this thing done by Agartha would not have been detected by the World at all if the Oracle and the prophecy had not spoken up. Reportedly, the prophecy was really horrible, so the World Superpowers simultaneously declared war on Agartha. Dragonia itself without further ado immediately made an impromptu invasion on the day Bahamut got the information of the Oracle's prophecy, long story short it all led to the death of Belphegor the Mountain God."

  No one said anything, for a while only the wind rustling the leaves could be heard. The Goblins were silent, some were seen removing their head coverings as an expression of grief at the sad news. Fio herself looked back and forth at Azel and the Goblins for a while, she didn't seem to understand why the situation had become sad.

  "That's just World history, isn't it?"

  A Goblin immediately shouted angrily at that.

  "What a human! You really have no heart! For us races of Belphegor's creation it's as bad as the apocalypse you know! Do you know what happens afterward? No more living in Hell you know!"

  "Oida, don't yell at me! You Demon! I was just asking a question! There's nothing wrong with what I said anyway! Eh? So Belphegor created the Demon!?"

  Azel let out a long sigh, then took a deep breath before continuing.

  "The Mountain God Belphegor created two races, the first being the Goblins you see here and the second being the Dwarves as you know them. I heard that because he was not satisfied with his first creation..."

  Azel looked at the Goblins with a flat face, and it seemed to offend them.

  "You want to say we're failed creations! Don't be so careless! Look-we're a race capable of evolving!"

  "That's right! My grandfather was a HobGoblin! He was very strong and wise, surely his descendants will also be like him"

  "That's right, it was the HobGoblins who had the initiation to leave Agharta because of the unresolved conflict"

  The Goblins now seemed to be rioting with each other, if you listened some of them had different opinions about their ancestor's decision in the past.

  Fio now looked at them with lips shaped like /\, then glanced at Azel.

  "If they're a God-created race that has consciousness and intelligence, then why do they always attack Flaga like wild animals? I saw it myself at the border of the 'Val d'Urda' valley, in the fortress city of 'Cenzapia', the cases of Goblin attacks there were so high that there was a 'see goblin and kill it' policy. I also saw them still trying to attack even though the lower half of their body was missing... I"

  “duh”

  Azel pressed the back of his waist with both hands behind his back as if stretching, staring blankly at the sky.

  “Look kid, if it's called a living person. It's certain to die if they lose half of their body parts... it's a different story if they're a Vampire.”

  But once again a Goblin in the back chimed in.

  “It's possible that he's a high-level Hobgoblin, my Grandpa told me that his Grandpa used to be a very tough fighter! He and his friends could heal their wounds in an instant without the help of any potions or spells!”

  “That's right! Hobgoblins are a bunch of tough warriors who are fearless and smile in the face of danger!”

  It was not strange that they praised their ancestors so highly, indeed to Azel's knowledge the Agartha warriors were very formidable in their era. As these Goblins said, the HopGoblin squad was said to be so fierce that it did not even flinch against the Dragon Army from Dragonia and even according to historical records they managed to kill several Dragon Lords in the Invasions war. Rumor has it, they view the Dragons as nothing more than a pile of meat to be hunted down and eaten.

  Betram, the grandson of Greylant the current Fafnir, said that one of his grandfather's brothers died in the Agartha invasion war, crazy Greylant saw with his own eyes if his brother was eaten alive by the Hop Goblins in front of him. Betram also received information from other brothers if Greylant had turned very cold since the war, well war can really change a person Azel thought.

  “And look now...”

  Azel said softly while looking at the Goblins.

  “HEII!!! What the hell is that look of yours! What a mess!!!?”

  A Goblin at the forefront seemed to feel insulted by Azel's treatment who looked down on them from earlier, but before the others shouted Azel flicked a Coin to the Goblin who shouted earlier and he caught it swiftly.

  “Huh? Why only 10Silv? You think we're cheap! Give us that 5 Gald!”

  Azel flicked the coin at him, and the Goblin quickly caught it again.

  “Heeeiii!? It's 50Silv???”

  Well, the first 10Silv are for you because you are brave. And the 50th one you can share with your other friends”

  “Hmmm, yes yes yes. 50 divided by 6, right? So plus 10Silv I get 18... the remaining 2 silv... well I just rounded it up so I get 20Silv”

  Suddenly his five other friends shouted in disagreement, they wanted if the 50Silv that was divided by five until they all got 10Silv equally. But the first Goblin also insisted that this 50Silv should be divided by 6 to be equal, because the first 10Silv was only for him because he was brave. A heated argument was inevitable between one vs five.

  “Alright kids, you saw that”

  Azel returned to Fio and Kain while pointing at the Goblins with his thumb.

  “Oida...

  “Umm don't we just break it up Zel-chan?”

  Kain looked at them somewhat doubtfully.

  “This is the greedy nature that comes naturally to the Mountain God Race, well the greedy nature can also be found in many other races but these guys haaah you see for yourself.”

  Azel shook his head while sighing again.

  “And this is the beginning of perhaps the main cause of the Goblin problem in your land princess, listen”

  Azel explained that with the death of the Mountain God, Agartha automatically lost the war and surrendered, the very burdensome demands of the winning side could indeed be overcome including the uranium and nuclear empowerment that was the reason for the war. However, a crucial problem that was not expected even by the residents of Agarta appeared not long after, the problem was of course about the new holder of power.

  Ever since Agartha was founded about two thousand years ago, the supreme leader of Agartha has been their god Belphegor. Of course the sudden power vacuum and their weakened state after the war led to fears of a power struggle between factions, the Paragons (a term for the most prominent individuals in Agartha) who of course represented their respective factions never reached an agreement in negotiations between each other. This situation led to excessive suspicion and vigilance between factions here and there until this problem became more protracted, friction between ideals was inevitable until the spark resulted in a bloody battle that led to civil war.

  A civil war based on their thoughts that has been going on for hundreds of years until now, of course with the unending disputes giving birth to an anti-war group that chose to leave Agartha.

  “Huh, what could make them ceasefire is of course the 'Grand Fall'. But even that lasted two decades at most, after which they went back to fighting. Haaah~ well like Dragonia and Bisrakh lah”

  “Oida... this sounds sad. Rulers should act wisely, especially when it comes to the lives of the people.”

  Azel sighed while shaking her head slightly.

  “How miserly is that? Well, my country also has the problem of infighting between rulers. But at least... uhhh”

  It looked like Kain wanted to say something, but it was caught in his throat.

  “Look Princess, this is probably the point. In this long civil war, of course, many facilities that were once used have been neglected to the point of becoming useless or deliberately damaged.”

  Azel explained that if Agartha was once a strong kingdom that had several BB / Double B class dungeons and was even able to have two A class dungeons, this was something that Agartha might only be able to do in its golden age because until now there was no country or kingdom that could or rather wanted to do that.

  No matter how strong the military of a country like Dragonia and Bisrakh was, they had a policy of limiting the existence of class A Dungeons in their territory to only one. Due to the danger of this class A Dungeon, the area where the Dungeon was located had to be guarded by at least one Dragon Lord in rotation in anticipation of a leak. This is a common and important thing because class A dungeons are somehow things like dungeon leaks very regularly occur at least once a year.

  Indeed, the idea of building a class A dungeon in Istora had been discussed, but it was flatly rejected by the Alliance Council with considerations referring to Iscandar's BBB (Triple B) class dungeon that had claimed many victims every year. Moreover, if there is a leak of the Dungeon that results in the appearance of the Great Demon to the surface, and even worse the arrival of the 'Primal Demon'? Although the possibility is small, if it really happens, the casualties could be tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people in a matter of days.

  “Oida has scary eyes, that's common knowledge. Flaga alone only has one class B dungeon and BB (Double B), we were disturbed to hear that Istora was building BBB but after careful consideration we decided to be satisfied with BB... it was said that because many noble children were careless and formed a small team to conquer the BB dungeon and then returned home dying after spending a night in the dungeon. Just imagine if they went to Dungeon BBB”

  “But I admire them after hearing that Fio-chan, men have to be strong otherwise who will protect the women if Demon comes. This is the romance of men!”

  Kain somehow suddenly looked excited while clenching his fists, and there seemed to be fire burning in his eyes.

  “Huh, tell that to my mom when she finds out her son came home missing both legs and one arm. She would eat you alive, my mom even said she would behead the Dungeon guards with a serious face... of course the beheading never happened, okay?”

  “Ohh, so that's the reason...”

  Azel had indeed heard rumors about this, about the prestige of the Aristocrats of Flaga being disturbed by the existence of the BBB Dungeon built by Istora a few years ago. They had actually submitted a proposal requesting the construction of a BBB class dungeon in their territory to the Alliance Council and had also been given the green light so that the construction plan was underway, but for some reason the construction of the dungeon was suddenly stopped and simply banned. Of course there were many rumors circulating about this, the official information said that Flaga decided to focus more on Tourism, arts and sports. Unexpectedly he confirmed another rumor directly from the most trusted source.

  “Alright back to the original topic”

  Azel with his wry face seemed to now realize that their conversation had become long and widened to things that did not seem to need to be mentioned.

  “The prolonged war in Agratha certainly resulted in a lot of extraordinary losses, remember about the facilities that were deliberately damaged? One of the facilities I'm referring to was unfortunately a major disaster for everyone even outside of Agartha”

  “Oida, what have they done anyway?”

  Azel glanced sarcastically at the Goblins before answering that.

  “Since the Dungeon is one of the main sources of supply for magic raw materials and so on, they are destroying each other's Dungeons. It sounded reasonable at first, but in the absence of regular maintenance or repair of these dungeons, of course the 'Black Area' came to the surface.”

  The Goblins now had wry faces and looked away from Azel nervously as if feeling guilty.

  “Heeee~? You mean Zel-chan? Demons are roaming outside the Dungeon freely? The Dungeon leaks continuously like that?”

  “Worse, the 'Black Area' should only exist inside the Dungeon. The main function of the Dungeon is to suppress and limit this 'Black Area' where Demons appear, but with the destruction of this main function, the 'Black Area' slowly expands and of course Demons can appear directly outside the Dungeon. Now I go back to my original question, what do you think will happen if someone dies in the 'Black Area' which should only be inside this Dungeon?”

  Kain and Fio seemed to be starting to scrutinize carefully what Azel wanted to explain

  “Eh...I think I understand Zel-chan, they... their state is really that bad?”

  “You want to say that the Goblins... but, but... Oida Oiadaaaa”

  Fio suddenly had a frantic expression while holding her head with two hands, as if she had just woken up from a nightmare.

  “Yep, the guess in your mind is probably right, from the latest information I heard the size of the ‘Black Area’ has now grown to cover ? of the Belphegor mountain range. The Goblins that attacked your country are either victims of the civil war who died in the ‘Black Area’ earlier... or civilians who died in the ‘Black Area’ due to attacks from Demons, the ‘World Curse Miasma’ possessed their corpses and turned them into Zombies with the instinct to kill all living things just like Demons.”

  ###