[Interludes Vol. 1.5] In which we meet Mint, a goblin with a mission.(2/2)

His words were soft and filled with warmth as he talked about his goblin daughters for what felt like an extremely long time.

"By the time six months had passed, the number of my daughters running around Goblinhome had almost reached twenty. You can see why most of the other races regard goblins as vermin. They can reproduce three times as fast as a human can. It's not like I don't understand the desire to cull their numbers, and when it comes to other goblin tribes, I may still share that sentiment. But the Bloodmaw were different…"

There was what looked like a small shrine that was immaculately kept. Within it was what looked like an infant goblin skeleton.

"My eleventh daughter, Mint. None of us knew why, but when she was born, it was like she had already given up on life. I often wonder what kind of goblin she might have grown up as. It wasn't a week after she was born that she died, and Ebony, my tenth daughter, took it quite personal, since she wanted nothing more than to be a big sister, and went so far as to use her magic to animate these bones. I must say, as a skeleton daughter, Mint was quite affectionate."

What sounded like a horrible life event was talked about with a smile on his face.

"It wasn't long after my first round of children were born when the troubles began. What should have been a safe area protected by Yx was suddenly set upon by a number of foes. The boundaries of the Bloodmaw's territory were a forest of black trees to the west, a big rock to the south, and a clear stream to the east. The cavern happened to be part of a mountain range to the north so there was little to no threat coming from that direction. From the other side of the stream came the orcs, who had grown too large in number and were forced to split their tribe to settle more territory and hunting grounds. Just past the big rock to the south were the Black-claws, gigantic ferocious wolves who had established themselves as the primary enemy of the tribe and were playing a waiting game. I believe you adventurers call them Shadow Wolves? And from the west, what else would come but the natural enemy of a goblin… self-righteous parties of adventurers filling subjugation requests."

The NPC walked a bit further past the pillar displays and to a wall full of armaments.

"What killed the Bloodmaw weren't the foes on the outside, but me from the inside."

He picked up a spear and twirled it around.

"I killed them because I couldn't kill the last vestiges of my own humanity. What makes the Bloodmaw so strong is not their individual abilities, but how they come together as a unit. What killed them was the lack of numbers that I was made responsible for re-creating. Tell me, Adventurer, if the survival and advancement of your own race rested entirely on you needing to procreate with your own progeny, could you do so willingly and still think of yourself as a human? It sounds uncivilized and rather taboo, doesn't it?"

I expected a selection to appear for me to choose from, but none did.

"That was my folly, you see. If I had only accepted that I was already a monster by that point… that I had already become a Bloodmaw Goblin, same as them… things might have gone differently. The secret of the Origin Blood is that it is Divinely given to the ones called Bloodmaw by their Creator. So long as one can procreate with it, there will never be an issue with whom. I only wish there was someone who could have convinced me to do what needed to be done in a way that made sense, so that I wouldn't have lost everyone important to me."

The goblin NPC sighed.

"Adventurer… there is no need for you to burden yourself with restoring the Bloodmaw. For as long as they exist, the entire world will be their enemy until they are strong enough and plentiful enough to overwhelm all the other races. Only then might the Bloodmaw know peace…"

Finally, the selection box opened up. The two options were to offer to stay with the NPC until they passed away, which would be soon, or to volunteer to make the whole world my enemy and try to preserve the origin blood of the Bloodmaw Goblin Tribe.

That second choice had to be it… had to be how to unlock the Bloodmaw goblins as a playable race!!

I hesitated a bit before pressing the button. I made sure to screenshot everything. I was going to be famous on the forums for being the one to open the door to one of the game's most niche secrets!

[I volunteer to make the world my enemy.]

"Are you certain? I will not ask again… this choice will directly affect your life, Adventurer."

I chose the follow up option.

[I will preserve the Origin Blood.]

"I see… I have no time left to test your true conviction. I will ask for your forgiveness then, for what must happen to pass along the origin blood… is not very civilized, I'm afraid…"

The NPC's hand began to glow and I was hit with an unguardable paralysis spell.

"When you wake up, I will be dead, and you will become the last Bloodmaw Goblin. Goblin instinct will take over for everything else, so whether you consume my body or not out of necessity, I will not hold any grudge. I ask only one thing of you from this moment on… please name the child you will give birth to… Mint. I at least wanted to give her a second chance at life…"

What happened after that was something R18+ that shouldn't have been in a video game meant for minors to play.

I felt extremely violated, yet I couldn't close my eyes to it.

After it was done, the NPC who had initially appeared as a goblin to me began to change shape into that of an old human male with a white beard, looking at me with an apologetic face.

Then, pixels filled my vision until there was only darkness.

[Your quest has ended. Would you like to begin your life anew as Mint the Bloodmaw?]

There it was! Wait? Did that mean this character was being deleted?

Damn, I had some good items on this one… but… argh, it's a new playable race!

Fuck it, YOLO!!

[Transferring player now… ]

[Emergency Quest: Survive!]

[You must escape. Failure to do so will result in permanent death!]

Huh?

Where am I?

I… can't breathe!

I felt a desperate urge to get out of wherever I was!

I found myself clawing through a tight passage on my way towards a single speck of light below me.

I had to hurry!

I was almost there, just need to push my hands through and pull myself out of this hole…

Plop.

I was suddenly in a dimly lit cave, surrounded by many goblins and a single human male. They were all talking, but I couldn't understand any of the words they were saying.

Looking at them, I saw names above each of their heads.

What looked like an umbilical cord was stretching out from me and going into the one named Pepper. There was a middle-aged goblin called Old One. Four small goblins: Diana Artemis, Button, Glace, and Ebony. Two goblins who looked to be in their late teens with the names Jewel and Berry, and the lone human… who was rather attractive, actually… Ark Wyze.

Did I somehow get sent back into the game's past? Is this a divergent storyline?

Ah~, I was tired as could be. I needed to log out for now and make a quick post on the forums before taking a nap. My gamer blood was surging and I couldn't wait to see how this storyline continued.

…

Uh… where's the logout button?

SUPPORT MY PREMIUM BOOK BELOW...