Chapter 53- Three choices
While Samantha comforted Berith, Trevor meanwhile was talking with Coran.
"Fear not, boy. I apologize for my comrade's reckless actions just now, but we are simply learning about these powers we have. I hope you can move past this trauma and continue working hard as our slaves"
Coran was completely shook, but he slowly stood up, shivering as well.
He was terrified, but he was also ready to face his own terror.
He was ready for anything. He felt as if he had just stared death in the face and survived.
Trevor then stood up and walked over to Oraguth and the other goblins, who were still lying on the floor.
"Sigh... taking a nice leisure rest while everyone else is working hard to face their fears and help others? Do you goblins think that you are better than us?", Trevor scolded.
"No, Sir. We- we ap... we apologize for our late response. We were simply startled. That is all! There is no need to pay us any attention! We are nothing more than bugs, after all. If you wish, we will gladly become your slaves."
The one who spoke was a middle aged male goblin. He was stuttering when he said these things, but he at least had picked up his head to respond.
The spirits of every goblin here had been broken long before the antiheroes had shown up.
Trevor wondered how useful they would be for their domain, but wrote off that at the very least they would make good workers who likely wouldn't revolt. Even so, he considered trying to find a psychologist to get these goblins back on their feet. They were clearly traumatized.
'But that would require effort... is it worth the investment in time and resources? I suppose I will look into it later. Besides, where on earth would I find a psychologist? Perhaps we better work with them ourselves... perhaps if we consider them to be clean slates we can mold their minds like clay...'
"If that is the case.... let us leave this place and return to our domain. There is much to do, and little time to do so."
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Samantha looked over to the goblins who were on the ground, cut up and tortured.
She did not feel the same sympathy for them that she did for Berith, but she decided that it would be best for her to get on their good side anyways.
Either way, these new slaves would be useless if they were physically injured. Although, while she was concerned about their physical wounds, Samantha wondered if they were even mentally able to listen to orders.
"I suppose I should cast healing spells on these injured goblins", Samantha suggested to her party.
"Wait", Garett said as Samantha was walking over to heal the goblins.
"You have 95 MP total. Assuming you were to use 1 healing spell on each goblin, you wouldn't even be able to heal all 20 of them. On top of that, a single healing spell would likely not completely heal these wounds that they have- it would require at least 2 healing spells per goblin."
Garett smiled devilishly as he eyeballed Oraguth, who was watching Garett breathlessly.
"More important than any of that though..."
Garett walked over to Oraguth menacingly, invoking fear in every step he took.
"If you were to use all your MP on these slaves, then we would be unable to help ourselves in an emergency situation. At the maximum, you should only be allowed to use 10 healing spells on these slaves so that half of your mana is left in reserve for us in case something happens. We can then dump these guys as bait and make a run for it."
Oraguth looked at Garett with fear as he spoke these words, and considered protesting but could not.
He could not go against anything this demon said, or he and his neighbors would likely be killed on the spot.
Garett came closer to the face of Oraguth.
"However... we are indeed very compassionate and magnanimous dictators. It would hurt us to see our slaves in pain... so we would be willing to sacrifice a whopping half of our healers MP in order to ease the burdens of your people"
Oraguth gulped, and Garett took hold of Oraguth's chin, forcing him to look him directly into his bloodshot eyes.
"And not only this... but I am a truly loving and kind dictator... so I will even allow you to choose. You seem to be the most aware out of all the goblins here, and seem to be the most capable of making a decision. So I will give you 3 options, and you can decide for yourself which one to pick"
Garett began to chuckle sinisterly as he held up his demonic finger, showing a '1'.
"Number 1. If you wish for the people who are saved to undergo little to no suffering, I would suggest you pick this one. We could cast 2 healing spells on 5 goblins, and kill off the rest to ease their pain. Please take note that our existence is to remain secret to anyone who is not our direct ally, and as such we must kill anyone who does not come with us back to our domain."
Garett held up another finger.
"Number 2. If you wish to save as many people as possible, and are willing to allow everyone to suffer as a result of that, then you are free to pick this one. We can cast 1 healing spell on 10 goblins, and force them to carry the ones who do not receive healing. Because they will not be completely healed, they will have to bear the weight of the others while still having injuries of their own to deal with, so I would not suggest this one... but if you insist on saving as many lives as possible... if you insist on not making any sacrifices for the greater good... if you are willing to bear the conscience of everyone being hurt for that selfish and idiotic justice of yours... then pick this option."
Garett held up a third finger.
"Number 3. This is a compromise between the last two options. We can use 1 healing spell each on 10 goblins, and mercifully kill off the ones who are not healed. The ones who do get healed will survive, and have to proceed with light wounds, but they will not have the burden of carrying the injured."
Garett gave Oraguth a devilish smile and grinned with such an evil face that one would truly believe he was a demon all his life. He was clicking his fingers back and forth while licking his lips and letting out quiet laughter.
"Now then, which one will it be?"