The biggest issue of all, however, was where the heck we were gonna keep all these guys. The wolf-hobgob pairs seemed to be sharing households with each other by now—not that they had houses, so it was really more the hobs using the wolves as blankets. The lack of clothing was killing me, but housing also needed some attention.
So. What now?
✦ ✦ ✦
I saw a mountain of food piled up before me. That solved one of our problems, at least.
Once I used up all my magic, the rest of them began the evolutionary process. It took about a day to complete, and they wanted to celebrate with both that and the end of battle with a feast. The elder refused to allow it until I recovered, however, so instead they spent their time gathering the food first.
I had noticed them sparring with one another over who got to shine me up during my departure but not the evolution or food-gathering efforts. This “sleep mode” made me well-nigh defenseless, it looked like. I’d need to be careful with it.
The way they began taking action without waiting for orders, at least, was much appreciated. The evolution process must’ve done wonders for their intelligence. It might’ve impacted their mental strength even more than the physical.
And the food! Back in their regular goblin days, they’d eked out a living off fruits, nuts, edible plants, and whatever monsters and animals they could hunt down. Now, with the aid of their tempest wolves, they could cover a lot more terrain.
The pairs had, much to my surprise, gained the ability to use Thought Communication with each other—goblins who could guide their wolves more surely than the best of jockeys. I couldn’t guess how much this improved their combat ability, but previously unbeatable foes were now simply a warm-up for them. This entire mountain of food was the results from the past two days alone.
But relying on hunting and gathering would leave them in danger if something happened to their environment. They’d have to start thinking about agriculture pretty soon. A steady food supply is the key to a life of plenty. I’d need to figure out what kind of produce grew well here, as well as what sort of grain crops (assuming there were different types at all on this planet). Always something new to explore, at least.
Today, though, I just wanted to shut off my brain and enjoy the feast. And I did.
Well into the night, we celebrated our evolution, the end of war, and—most important to me—my recovery.
✦ ✦ ✦
The next day, I gathered the entire population around me. We had a heap of issues to tackle, but I had something even more important to tell them.
We needed to hammer out the rules of this village.
Rules, as everyone knew in Japan, were a must to maintain a communal society. “Because I said so!” was only gonna go so far around here, no matter how many times I used that phrase in my old life.
At the core, I had three rules in mind—three guiding principles I wanted to be sure to have them follow. Everything else, I imagined they could figure out.
“Everyone here? All right! I have some rules to give to you! Three, to be exact. The bare minimum I want all of you to follow.”
And so I laid out my standards:
1. Do not attack human beings.
2. Do not fight among your friends.
3. Do not look down upon other species.
I could’ve gone with more if I kept thinking about it, but I couldn’t expect them to follow too many from the start. Instead, I just stuck to the basics. But how would they take it?
“Could I ask a question?” Rigur shouted. “Why are we not allowed to attack humans?”
Rigurd gave his son the dirtiest look I’ve ever seen from a hobgoblin. Was he afraid I was offended? I wish we could keep things a little more informal, but…
“Simple: Because I like humans! That is all.”
“Ah! Very good! I understand!”
You…do? Well, geez, that was easy. But I couldn’t read a single hint of dissent on any of their faces. I was expecting a little more debate on the issue. Talk about a letdown.
“Human beings live in groups,” I continued, giving my full explanation whether they needed it or not. “If you lay hands on them, they may retaliate in force—and if they throw everything they have at you, I doubt you would be able to defend yourselves. That’s why I prohibit interfering with them. It’d help you all if you were friendly with them, besides…”
Really, though, it just came down to me liking humans, seeing as I used to be one.
Ranga nodded deeply at this. It seemed to make sense to him. He must have had his own reasons to think challenging mankind was a bad idea. The hobgobs, meanwhile, appeared even more convinced than before, so I didn’t bother thinking about them much.
“Is there anything else?”
“What do you mean by ‘Do not look down upon other species’?”
“Well, all you guys are freshly evolved, right? I’m just saying, don’t let that get to your head and start lording it over all the weaker species! Just because you’re all a little sturdier doesn’t mean you’re some high-and-mighty race now. Sooner or later, your rivals will get just as strong—or even stronger—and they’ll want to get back at you. That’d suck, wouldn’t it?”
I had the ears of everyone in the audience. Looks like that worked well enough. I was sure some of them wouldn’t listen to reason, but it’s best to try to nip these things in the bud, anyway.
“That’s pretty much it. Stick to those rules as much as you can, all right?”
The first rules the village ever had were set in stone. Everyone nodded their approval, and with that, the curtain rose on a new life for them all.