The War Chief paused his steps. If one of his many Orc subordinates were watching at the moment they would be surprised. The War Chief had not only allowed someone else to stop their steps, but he had also chosen to remain silent instead of immediately lashing out.

  The War Chief then closed its eyes as it stood still in the forest for what felt like an eternity.

  By the time it had finally reopened its eyes, the entire demeanor of the War Chief had shifted to one of calm.

  Though despite his outward appearance, it was not very hard to feel the fury wafting off of his body.

  He never looked back towards the Serpent, nor did he look towards Rick and the others, if anything he seemed to be looking at nothing at all.

  Then in a very abrupt fashion, he simply vanished from his position and disappeared.

  Of course, he didn’t just simply vanish, he was just moving at a speed that most of the individuals in the area couldn’t comprehend. All except for one.

  The Serpent narrowed its eyes, as it watched in the distance the rapidly moving body of the War Chief.

  After seeing what the War Chief was up to, it looked away and focused on the Goblins still standing before it.

  It looked at them for a few moments.

  “There will be a war.”

  That was all it said before it picked up its larger body off the ground and turned around from the way it came.

  It eventually began picking up speed, clearly no longer caring about the forest around it. It took a while, but eventually it too left the sights of the Goblins who were practically frozen stiff from the situation that just transpired.

  For who knows how long, it truly felt as if a fight between the two monsters would break out right then and there, fighting with no regard for the surroundings and the individuals around them.

  Or perhaps one of them would even lash out towards the Goblins, the Orc looked ready to do exactly that. And who knows what the Serpent was going to do even after the War Chief left the area? It was impossible to tell.

  It was only now after both of them left that Rick visibly relaxed as the tension slowly left his body.

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  Of course it was not only him. Rogu and the other members of the Royal Retrieval team also seemed to slump down as the built-up tension slowly seeped out of their bodies. Even though they didn’t move or fight, the mana in their bodies continuously revolved with rapid force, so that they could be ready to act at any moment should the need arise. That alone required immense concentration and focus and drained their stamina rapidly.

  It was a testament to all the hard work they did to reach this point to be able to maintain that state for so long despite the situation at hand.

  But with that comes the drawbacks, which is what they were feeling right now. All the fatigue that they had forcefully pushed aside came roaring back the second their control loosened. It was highly improbable that anyone of them could fight at full power in the next few moments should something happened. Except for Rogu, that is.

  He was not a Supreme Hobgoblin for nothing.

  He walked over to where Rick was standing, simply looking at the spot the War Chief had stood.

  “My Lord. I made a mistake. I should not have referred to you as such in the presence of a potential enemy.”

  “Don’t worry about it Rogu. There was no winning in that type of situation. We are all still alive and that’s all that matters. My only worry is what to do from here. We do not live far from the lake, and it will be quite a task to move the entire village from where it is.

  “We cannot control the Serpent, and we are not strong enough to stop it from destroying us at the drop of a hat…but we also cannot continue to linger here. Jaba and the others should still be in the cave as we speak. We can’t abandon them. Even Geedi, there is a chance she and the guards ran into the Serpent, yet we haven’t seen any signs of them…have everyone rest up as much as possible. We will leave the second the group recovers.”

  “I understand My Lord.”

  ‘We somehow survived Velora...’

  [We did, though I still believe it would be wise for you to work on your anger. It could cost you in the future.]

  ‘I know…but for some reason, I can’t bear to witness other Goblins in danger or being humiliated and feel nothing about it.’

  [It is expected that you will feel something, but it should not be an excuse for rash decisions. Decisions that could lead to the demise of not only you but the Goblins you want to protect or help.]

  ‘I understand that, and I don’t disagree with you, but it’s more than that Velora, it’s a lot more than that. I don’t know how to quite explain it, but something seems to come over me in moments like that, and the level of anger I feel seems to multiply ten times over. I simply can’t cope with the idea of seeing things like that.’

  [Hm. There is a chance that there is something more at play here than we might’ve initially realized.]

  ‘What do you mean?’

  [It could have something to do with your race. You are a Royal Goblin. It might not be too much of a stretch to say that you might be wired to inherently feel stronger emotions than perhaps you typically would when the topic is related to the well-being of the members of your race.]

  ‘That…that kind of makes sense. It would explain everything that happened recently, even going as far back as when Dran first told me about the situation in the plains. I practically exploded with anger. I thought it was only right that I was so angry considering the situation and the fact that I fully accepted my place a Goblin, but this theory would probably make more sense.’

  [If that’s the case, then that’s all the more reason to be able to control your emotions better and reign in your anger when it is needed. You cannot let it control you.]

  ‘Your right…your right.’