‘

  ‘Why can I only see around twenty Goblins here?? And all of them look just like me!! Unless I have my definition of a kingdom all messed up, this is no Goblin Kingdom!

  ‘Am I really some lost and forgotten prince stuck out in the boonies with no way home? Is that how my story starts off? Actually…I wonder if this body I inherited was always a Royal Goblin, maybe it never was but due to what or who brought me here, it became one? Hm, another question I probably won’t get the answer to for a while.

  ‘Anyway, in more present times...does the state of these Goblins mean I can only talk to Jaba from now on?! That's just not gonna cut it going forward now is it.

  ‘Next, what is this state of living I’m looking at, not a single properly built house of any kind, just a few tattered tents which seem to house multiple Goblins each, all of them surrounding a small fire.

  ‘Guess this is as much as I could expect from a few Goblins who don’t even know how to speak huh.

  ‘There’s work to be done I see, the first order of business will be to eat though, but seeing our current state of affairs, I’m actually quite worried about what Jaba will feed me.

  ‘Speaking of Jaba, the big green guy led me directly to the fire. Where he told me to sit and wait so I did just that.

  ‘While waiting I quickly counted the number of Goblins I could see either walking around, or in the tents, the number came out to be twenty-two, so with the two I met earlier, Jaba, and myself gang green is twenty-six members strong at the moment.

  ‘Not the best start, but don’t worry my green friends, the world will be dyed in green before long!

  ‘Also, some of the Goblins had small patches of hair on their heads, are those females I wonder? Guess I’ll ask Jaba.

  ‘While I was busy having my Goblin fantasies, Jaba returned with what I assumed to be some form of meat on a stick. I don’t know what this meat is from, but who am I to question my first meal since coming here, let's get this thing roasted and dig in!

  ‘I didn’t waste any time eating my fill of this mystery meat and practically devoured all of what Jaba brought me. I was a bit surprised to find it actually didn’t taste too bad.

  ‘Now it definitely wasn’t anything to write home about…not that I could…but it was decent enough. Anyway, I had a lot of questions and Jaba has been helpful so far, so I decided to ask him about everything I currently had on my mind.’

  ???

  “Jaba! I have a couple questions for you Leader.”

  “What?”

  “Why do we live in this cave? And why are we guarding an exit where nothing is?”

  “Cave...safe...outside...not safe...and...stone beasts...come sometimes.”

  “Ah stone beasts…what...? We will definitely have to revisit that, anyway, where does our food come from?”

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “Jaba hunts...share...with Tribe.”

  “By yourself? We gotta change that right away Jaba!”

  “You…come...might die.”

  “Don’t worry! I’ll be careful, but I have to come, I really can’t leave you to do all the hunting yourself. I’ll be fine. Now…why can you speak but the others can’t?”

  “Then...come…tomorrow...and...one day...after hunt...Jaba...speak.”

  “Hmm, so maybe a sort of rank up or evolution from beast XP? Next, are the Goblins with hair female?”

  “…Yes.”

  “I see, how do we get out of the cave and what is outside of the cave?”

  “Tunnel...over there...outside…forest.”

  “Thanks Jaba! That was my last question. Go green!”

  After painstakingly answering every question that Rick asked, Jaba quickly left what he thought was a weird Goblin by the fire and retired to a tent.

  He didn’t plan on lingering there any longer before the weird one could change his mind and ask him more questions.

  He wasn’t angry or anything like that, just mostly confused and perhaps slightly annoyed. He had never seen a Goblin ask this many questions and was immensely caught off guard by it all.

  But Jaba was the Leader, and he decided that was enough for him to help.

  He was a simple Goblin after all.

  ???

  Pov Rick

  ‘Jaba’s such a nice guy, answering all of my questions with exemplary patience. What a good Leader we have.

  ‘Now with all of my initial questions answered about our current situation, I think it’s time to formulate a plan of action.

  ‘I have to get more and more Goblins up to Jaba’s presumed level. If we can all communicate, I’m sure our Goblin cave dwelling home can improve a long way.

  ‘The first step to accomplishing that is to get to Jaba’s level myself because based on the interaction with the guards from earlier, the other Goblins can likely understand Jaba just fine.

  ‘Plus getting stronger is always a good thing when one is a beast after all. At least I think so since who knows what’s out there waiting for me in the world. And didn’t Jaba mention something about stone beasts? All the more reason to get stronger.

  ‘Alongside getting both mines and everyone’s strength to a higher place, I need to find out what our surroundings are and any enemies I need to be wary of.

  ‘There’s a lot to be done, but nothing will stop the forward progress of the green wave!

  ‘Except for maybe one thing that is.

  ‘I don’t actually know how to fight! Nor have I ever killed anything in my life! Well apart form bugs and such, but I don’t they count towards a real kill count per se.

  ‘I said all that about going to hunt with Jaba, but at this rate won’t I just be dead weight? Ah, hopefully Jaba can show me the ropes.

  ‘For now, I’ll go to sleep in one of these tents among my fellow Goblins and worry about tomorrow’s problems tomorrow!

  ‘Well tomorrow is now today, so It’s time to officially worry about my first hunt! I mean my life is on the line here! But I gotta do it, this is a necessary step on the way to Goblin domination.

  ‘Dominate what you might ask? I don't know! But whatever it is, we’ll dominate. Seeing that Jaba woke me up while everyone else is still asleep, I’m guessing it’s still pretty early? The early bird gets the worm as they say.

  ‘After waking me up, Jaba gave me a crude looking spear of my own. It was small and wooden, but it was tipped with something I didn’t recognize, was it stone maybe? Could be.

  ‘Anyway, Jaba’s ready to go.’

  “Jaba I’ve never hunted before, so I was hoping to learn a thing or two from you for this first time.”

  Jaba thought to himself for a short moment before replying.

  “Jaba hunt...you watch...then...try...”

  “Okay I think I can work with that, well then let's get it going Jaba.”

  ‘Okay a little show and tell from Jaba and I should be able to hunt like a pro in no time…right?

  ‘I got this! Surely…

  ‘Walking up to the exit now, I spot two more Goblins whom I already counted last night guarding the exit, so I’m guessing they switched with two who I didn’t get to count.

  ‘I guess that would bring our total up to twenty-eight now, the more the merrier!

  ‘Now that I was finally out of the cave, I was greeted by something I’ve just realized I dearly missed in the short time since my arrival in this new world.

  ‘Ohh the sun, the beautiful sun, I don’t know if other Goblins like the sun, but as a former human being, feeling that warmth on your skin can’t be replaced by anything!

  ‘After seeing that Jaba was silently moving forward while I basked in the sunlight, I hurriedly ran after him so as to not get left behind. I guess Goblins aren’t creatures who like the sun then, shame.

  ‘Alright, let’s get my head in the game. I’m here to hunt after all!’