Chapter 11: Second stretch of the road

Alaric continued on, happy with the sales. He doubted that the ogres would be much competition for the dungeon's sales. After all, they would want to sell the toothpaste for double the amount that the dungeon was selling it for.

That got the prince thinking. Why should he perform like a monkey for the crowds? Why not outsource the selling of the toothpaste to established shopkeepers, or to mobs?

The toothpaste was an invention of a dungeon core. It wouldn't hurt the sales any, if Alaric saved himself the trouble and got all the mobs from here to Eagle's Wings Town to peddle his wares.

With that thought in mind, Alaric went in the direction the sign told him was the goblin settlement. Now, normally, travelers would avoid such a settlement.

Goblins were notorious thieves and other, more unsavory, things. Yet, Alaric was confident. He had talked ogres into not robbing him blind. He could handle a couple of goblins.

The prince heard someone snicker from the bushes, and he knew he was close. The blonde prince stopped and looked pointedly at the bush he had heard the sound coming from.

"I know you are in there, sir. Please, come forward. I have such an opportunity for you, that will see you from a simple watchman to the richest man in your tribe," Alaric said.

A goblin exited the bush, brandishing a spear.

"Give me all your valuables," the goblin demanded. Alaric pulled out a bottle of toothpaste and handed it to the goblin.

"That would be one silver coin, sir," Alaric told the creature, who was sniffing at the bottle.

"I won't pay you, fool! You will give me everything for nothing," the goblin growled. Still, the creature uncorked the bottle and placed his finger in the toothpaste.

"This is toothpaste. A new invention," Alaric made sure to bare his teeth as he said that and to hide them behind a smile seconds later. Least he insulted the goblin. "Notice how white my teeth are? It was made with the mana of a dungeon core."

"Dungeon core? Where?" The goblin looked visibly frightened. He had to warn the others that a dungeon core had moved in their territory! The goblin ran off, and Alaric sighed.

Still, no was not always a no, as Chavu had told him. And the goblin had not even told him no. He had just run off with the free sample. Alaric began to ride in the direction the goblin had run off to, in a much slower pace.

The prince didn't want to hide his presence from the goblins. He wanted for them to see him coming and tell their chieftain. For, if he couldn't talk the lower-level goblins into becoming his merchants, then he would try to make them such with the help of the chieftain.

When Alaric arrived at the goblin settlement, a goblin took the reins of Fig. Alaric let the goblin hold on to the horse as he dismounted.

"Thank you, I appreciate it," Alaric told the goblin, as if the goblin had just played stable hand, and was not tugging the prince's mare towards what looked like a butchering site. "Take good care of her."

Alaric said a silent prayer in his mind for Fig. He loved that horse, but he needed to make the sale. He watched as the goblin tied up the horse next to a tree, and then ran off towards the middle of the village.

The prince was relieved that his horse was not butchered outright. He must have terrified the goblins with the talk of a dungeon core.

With sure steps, Alaric entered the "town".

Honestly, this gathering of half-collapsed huts was not fit to be called a shanty town, much less a town. Yet, the goblins called all their settlements towns.

That was how Alaric referred to this dump even in his mind, least he made a slip up and called it for what it was.

He walked like he belonged, and the goblins didn't try to stop him. They did send him confused looks. Chavu's advice had made Alaric pull through, once more. And the prince had thought that the Naga wanted to get him killed with all the talk about confidence.

Finally, Alaric neared a throne, which was made of bones. There was an old, one-eyed goblin sitting on it. In one swift motion, Alaric knelt down and kept his head bowed. Waiting to be addressed.

"What is this, do they come to be eaten now?" The goblin snorted, and laughter rang around the clearing.

"Permission to speak, lord chieftain?" Alaric asked. The goblin puffed up his chest. It was a title that no one had used for him before. He might make the tribesmen address him so, later.

"Speak your last words, human," the goblin felt magnanimous when he said that. Normally, he would have sent this human to the butchers by now. Ah, how he loved human flesh.

"I came in here with an offer. For you to sell the toothpaste that the mighty Naga Chavu created. He is the dungeon core of the Still Pond Dungeon," Alaric decided to play on their fear of the dungeon core.

The truth was, that, Chavu did not look mighty. Marcellus did, but he was not a dungeon core. Just a boss mob. Alaric wondered if Chavu would send Marcellus to avenge him if the goblins decided to eat both Fig and him.

"Never heard of him," the chieftain waved a hand, and a couple of goblins began to tug at the prince. "Or of toothpaste."

"The ogre guards a couple of kilometers back agreed to become sellers," Alaric sweated proficiently.

This had been a calculated risk, but darn, did he suck at math…

"They are too stupid to tell a con from a normal traveler," the goblin told the prince, sounding agitated. "I am not."

"And because you are oh so wise," Alaric tried his best to keep the sarcasm from his voice. This was his last chance, seeing as the goblins got him up on his feet. "You can see the opportunity they could not."

"Which is?" The goblin waved his hand, and the goblins who were going to take Alaric to a place he did not want to go to, stopped tugging at him.

"Discounted toothpaste supply, straight from the dungeon core Chavu. With the blessings of the king and a formal contract," Alaric's pupils were wide, and his life was flashing before his eyes. This had been his last chance, and he felt like he had blown it.

"The blessings of the king," the goblin repeated. He began to laugh then, but he did make another waving motion with his hand, and the goblins left. "Speak, before I have you sizzling on a split."

Alaric gulped. Why did he have to get so overconfident? Now his life was on the line, and if he did not do something fast, he and Fig were going to end up as pot roast!