Chapter 70: So, what if they are goblins?

Nikola was humming as he was flipping the pancakes. Dimitri was feeding Timmy, while Jack was trying to get Vera to eat.

The little girl was more interested in the way the leaves were swaying before the inn's window, than in the bottle Jack was trying to place in her mouth.

It was the very picture of home and bliss, the brunette decided.

Only one thing was missing.

"When do you think our house will be ready?" Nikola asked, as he flipped yet another pancake.

Dimitri didn't know. His hopes had been for the next month, but now that the goblins wanted to be adventurers, they needed to ask the locals for help.

"We have to muck the stables today," Jack reminded them, as they wilted. Jean scrunched his nose, his appetite going the way of the dodo. "So, we can't arrange anything today, I think."

Dimitri sighed.

"Andrew and Bleda would have been able to," the older vampire said. "But right now, they have their problems."

Which was an understatement, seeing as Andrew had contacted them via a telepathic pendant to tell them that he was sitting in the middle of a mushroom circle, feeding some goblins, while Bleda and a goblin witch were devising a rune.

"Maybe it won't be that bad," Nikola said, who placed the ready pancake on a platter. "Maybe the horses were not so… in need?"

"You mean that they did their business outside on the streets?" Dimitri said with a chuckle. "I'll believe that when I see it!"

The small family was confronted with their task once more. But no one could protest.

After all, if they had followed orders, they would not have been given such a task.

The doorbell rang. Jean stood up to see who it was.

When he saw two goblin children on the other side, beaming and with a basket with what looked like straw dolls in each of their hands, he stepped to the side to let them in.

"You are both just in time for some pancakes!" Jean told the two children, smiling all the while. "Niki, how much batter do you have left?"

"Enough for a whole goblin tribe! Come now, grab a plate!" Nikola called from the kitchen area.

The two children stood there, blinking.

They were dressed like humans. Their green hair was combed. But their pointy ears and green skin were still marking them out as goblins.

Such treatment was new for them.

The two went into the kitchen, sitting down by the table as if in a trance.

"Hey, what's up?" Dimitri asked gently, as he placed Timmy on his shoulder to burb him.

"I just…" one of the children said. "No one has ever invited me to breakfast before. I mean, no one outside the tribe."

Those were heavy words to say. Dimitri had no comforts to offer the children.

He knew that while his family was duty bound to respect the goblins, the rest of the world was not.

He stood up, placed Timmy in his highchair, and went to the stove. Soon, there were two plates with pancakes on them in his hands.

Nikola simply continued with the baking. Not knowing what to say in the face of such an injustice.

As Dimitri placed the plates before each child. He sat back down on his chair.

"You know, your life won't be easy," the vampire began. He felt so, as if he owed the children to tell them the truth. "And I doubt that the prejudices are ever going to go away, no matter how good and brave you are."

The two goblin children didn't dare touch the food. Jean placed a jar with peach jam next to them.

And yet, not even its lovely scent could make the two look up.

"But if you work hard enough, there will be some people who will love you for who you are. Starting with these two!"

Dimitri pointed first at Timmy, who was babbling and smiling, his dimples on display, then at Vera, who was finally drinking her milk.

"What if they don't like us, either?" the girl goblin asked, her hands fisted in the frills of her dress.

A dress her mother had made her, in an effort for her not to get bullied by the locals. A labor which had taken the woman most of an afternoon, when she should have been celebrating in the new area with the rest.

"Timmy and Vera could be charmed by a pet rock, if I have to be honest," Dimitri said with a soft smile. "They are babies. The world hasn't poisoned them yet."

"Not to mention that they are necromancers. So, they are in the same boat you are in," Jack said, as Vera finally spat out the bottle.

Half of the milk was gone.

"My name is Galen!" the boy goblin said, as he waved at Timmy. "And you?"

Timmy babbled something to him, but the boy could not understand him.

"Timmy is under one-year-old," Dimitri told the boy with a kind smile. "He can't talk."

"And my name is Lena!" the girl goblin said, as she waved at Vera next.

The little baby waved back, babbling away, before she was placed over Jack's shoulder and patted on the back so she could burb.

"Well, Galen, Lena," Nikola finally said, as he took off the pan from the stove. Soon, the bowl with the batter had a rune on it to keep it fresh, and he placed it in a cupboard. "Thank you for agreeing to take care of our children!"

It was at that moment that Galen took the jam jar and began to roll himself a pancake. Lena following soon after.

But for all that it was heartwarming, the four party members of the party Vampire Rose saw the problem in it all.

Their goblins wanted to be a part of Oak's Rest.

But Oak's Rest didn't want them.

All four had one thought in their mind:

To show the people just how good the goblins were. Goblins, who wanted to earn their keep. Goblins, who wanted to fit in.

Beings who deserved all the joy in the world.

For they were no different from the humans.