Even as the two invaders were brought before the Goblin King, that audacious att.i.tude of theirs did not change. Seeing them act as if they’d forgotten what it meant to be nervous caused Gi Ji to frown.

Gi Ji couldn’t figure out who they were, so just to be safe, he sent one of his subordinates to contact Nikea of the Araneae, who was in charge of the western capital’s security.

The araneae could easily move through the various districts of the western capital with their eight limbs, so they should already be ready for them.

Gi Ji wore a frown on his face as he brought the perfectly calm invaders before the king.

“My king, these are the invaders who made contact with us,” Gi Ji said as he prostrated himself before the king.

For the first time since coming here, the bound invaders behind Gi Ji finally had a change in their emotions. Gi Ji clearly heard them gulp, and though their faces might have been covered by a hood, they were definitely shocked.

“You wish to talk to me?” The king asked as he watched the invaders.

When the invaders felt the pressure emanating from the king, they nodded to each other, took off their hoods, and revealed themselves to the king.

“…Are you two descendants of the crystal?” The king asked.

“It’s been a while since I was called that… Excuse me. I am Tauropa, a member of the big fang, and a descendant of the dazzling crystal.”

“As for me, I’m just a normal human. Zakusen of the Leon Heart Clan.”

Zakusen was outfitted with armor that gave him the impression of being a veteran. He had long gray hair that was slightly wavy. It slovenly hid his face, but it could not hide the sarcastic smile on his lips and his frivolous eyes.

The demihuman, Tauropa, on the other hand, also wore an armor, but his appearance was closer to humans than that of the fangs. Of particular note were his drooping ears that peeked out of his shortly trimmed hair.

“Hmm… So, what do you want?” The Goblin King asked as he thought to himself to compile the information from Shumea regarding the humans.His gaze never left them even once.

“Well, to make things short, we would like to make a deal with you.”

The man named Zakusen folded his arms and smiled.

“I don’t understand. We are goblins, and you are humans. Why would you support us?” The Goblin King said, making sure to pick out which words to say.

Zakusen raised one of his brows and spoke to Tauropa. “Hey, hey! Do we really hafta explain?”

But Tauropa urged him with a sharp gaze, and Zakusen could only shrug his shoulders as he answered the king.

“Well, ta make things short, thanks ta you, this clan of ours that doesn’t discriminate against elves and demihumans was left out to dry.”

Zakusen glanced at Tauropa for just a moment before looking back to the king and continuing.

“While looking for work, we managed ta hear some smelly rumor about possible work in the western capital. Apparently, a country ruled by non-humans just got made. Well, what cha think, Goblin King? So long as there’s coin, we’re willing to fight yer war for ya.”

“How big is your clan?”

“We have approximately 1000 warriors and 200 mages at yer service. There are other mates too. In total, we number almost 2000.”

The Goblin King nodded. “Give me some time to think it over. Until then, wait at one of our guest rooms. Nikea, please show our guests their room.”

As Nikea bowed and led the two clan members to their room, Gi Za Zakuend watched them with much suspicion.

“Can we trust their words?” He aske

d the king.

“They’re probably telling the truth, at least, half of it, anyway,” the Goblin King said.

“Should I kill them then?” Gi Ji Arsil suggested. He felt responsible for having brought them here in the first place, and it seemed as if he couldn’t wait to run after them.

“No, that won’t do… The part about them having lost a home among the humans is probably true. It’s probably not just because of us, but King Ashtal probably did reject them despite needing to take back the west.”

Gi Ji and Gi Za became thoughtful as they quietly listened to the king.

“But what’s noteworthy is that part about us having found a nation. It seems the fleeing humans did a good job of spreading word.”

When the Goblin King smiled fiercely, Gi Za nodded.

“When you first suggested to send the humans away courteously, to be honest, I doubted my ears, but is seems, the plan is going well.”

There was a reason why they went out of their way to send the humans so courteously so as to even send them off with food. In this world, only humans had a country, but there were many other species who wanted to have one as well. The king had sent the humans off courteously to send a message to those people, and as it turns out, that message was properly delivered.

There were many humans who ran in fear after the founding of the country was announced. Naturally, those people would talk about the king as soon as they reached the main capital.

The Goblin King wanted to use the fleeing humans to paint an image of how cruel and fierce he was.

The humans would surely exterminate a terrifying existence, but before that, they would first have to confirm its existence. Because of that they would surely try to find out what kind of person the Goblin King is, and of course, the country he rules.

Originally, the king had intended to use humans he could trust to spread the news, but Gowen had actually managed to properly evacuate the city and the remaining people were also loyal to the western feudal lord, so he was forced to change his plans.

And just as the king expected, messengers, who also served as scouts, came from the plains.

“Only question now is how trustworthy they are.”

It wouldn’t do any good if they found themselves stabbed in the back after paying them.

“So we need to see how trustworthy they are?” Gi Za touched his slender chin and became thoughtful.

“We have time until we give our reply. Gi Ji, have the scouts focus their efforts on the south.”

“As you command!”

Gi Ji bowed to the king, and then ran off.

“…What about the east?”

“Well, it’s cleverly defended, so…”

Gi Za’s concern was understandable, but according to Gi Ji’s intel, it would be difficult to attack with the way things are.

“But compared to the east, the south is peaceful. Is there any need to go out of our way to make more enemies?” Gi Za asked.

The Goblin King nodded. “Right, which is why I want to use this as a test case to see whether they can be trusted or not. Moreover…”

The fiercely smiling king drew a map of the dazzling plains in his mind. The vast lands he needed to conquer were burned into his eyelids.

“We have rested enough. It is about time we showed our might.”

“Now that you mention it…”

As Gi Za nodded, he smiled fearlessly with the king.