Today, eight new hobgoblins evolved. Among them, there were three mages, one cleric, and for the first time, one Hobgoblin Shaman—as well as three regular hobgoblins. I was pleased to see the increase in mages, who had been so effective during yesterday’s ambush. The addition of a shaman capable of manipulating and strengthening the undead, extending their activity during the day, would significantly broaden our capabilities.
Three kobolds also evolved into foot soldiers. When this happened, the kobold would automatically generate a weapon known as a “Living Spear.” This living weapon is a part of their cells, and as the kobold grows, so too does the weapon. Even though it was their first time wielding these spears, the three foot soldier kobolds handled them as if they were extensions of their bodies.
Nevertheless, they still required proper training and were set to undergo rigorous spear-handling training under the guidance of the kobolds' leader, who was already proficient with the spear.
The recent battles against the human army had yielded a great deal of experience, leading to an increase in evolution. The addition of slaves, who served as both labor and combat support, proved immensely helpful—and with the acquisition of females for breeding, we could consider expanding our numbers. However, overpopulation could strain our food supply and make things more complicated, so we needed to manage it carefully.
Given the high possibility of casualties in future battles, these became crucial considerations. According to Gobjii, a goblin child took about twenty days to be born from a human woman, and about twenty-five days from a goblin female. A hobgoblin child took about forty days to be born from a human woman and fifty days to be born from a hobgoblin female. Gobjii didn’t know the gestation period for offspring of creatures ranked higher than hobgoblins, like myself.
Despite the range, the reproductive rate was astonishing. It was suddenly clear why humans conducted regular goblin hunts; with such prolific breeding, even weak goblins could cause significant trouble.
Leaving aside the finer details, I distributed the usual celebratory gifts to the newly evolved. Like with Ogrekichi, I had been providing magic items with specific attributes to see if their users would evolve into variant subspecies. But so far, only Ogrekichi, Dhami, and I had become variants. It seemed that without fulfilling certain conditions, such as acquiring a Blessing, it wasn’t possible to evolve into a variant.
Let’s treat that as a future task.
After today’s morning training, I interrogated the Dull Iron Knight, who had been fitted with a Subjugation Collar and imprisoned, along with other individuals who seemed to be in command positions. My intention was to supplement the information I had already extracted from the captive Lady Knight about the human army’s objectives in this war.
As a result, I managed to grasp the broader picture of both the overt and covert aspects of this conflict.
The war originated in the affliction of the First Princess of the Kingdom of Sternbelt (hereinafter, the Kingdom) with a highly dangerous and rare disease. The First Princess had contracted Chrishind Disease, which was known to affect only humans. With no known cure, it was recognized as one of the world’s deadliest diseases and had no hope of recovery.
The most notable symptom of Chrishind Disease was the gradual internal decay of organs over time. This internal rotting resulted in foul breath and body odor, along with multiple pus-filled blisters forming on the skin. The mortality rate within one year of contracting the disease exceeded ninety-nine percent. Although there were cases of individuals surviving for up to two years, none had ever recovered; they all ultimately succumbed to the disease.
Fortunately, Chrishind Disease was not airborne or spread through droplets, and its incidence was relatively low. This fact provided some relief, though it also meant fewer opportunities to study potential treatments.
The Kingdom desperately sought a cure for the First Princess’s disease. Known as a wise princess for her intelligence and grace, she was also soon to be married to a prince from an allied nation. This marriage was both a political alliance and a love match, which only made the efforts to save her more fervent.
Under royal command, the Kingdom’s doctors and alchemists worked tirelessly but with little success. While they managed to slow the disease’s progression, nearly half of the First Princess’s organs had already decayed. Normally, such a condition would have driven a person mad with pain, leading to death, but various magic spells kept her in a forced slumber to alleviate her constant agony and extend her life by treating the decaying organs.
Unfortunately, the disease remained relentless, and the decay continued to spread. She would soon meet her inevitable end.
Then, a woman who held the title of Saint Mary and prayed daily received a divine revelation from the Demigod of Healing, who had once been a subject of the Kingdom. The revelation stated that to cure Chrishind Disease, the secret elven medicine blessed by the Demigod of Verdant Green was required.
Following this revelation, the Kingdom launched a desperate search and found that the secret medicine matching the criteria was made by the elves living in the forest where we were born, known as the Great Kudeln Forest. To obtain this secret medicine, the young heir to the Keelica Empire, the betrothed of the ailing princess, attempted to negotiate with the elves.
Given that the request came from the future emperor of the Empire, it was expected that negotiations would be quickly settled. However, the elves refused, citing that the secret medicine was in short supply and that, according to an ancient law, it could not be given to humans. Despite repeated attempts at persuasion, all efforts failed.
Elves were known to have many rigid and troublesome laws, and they were insular and xenophobic. Their inherent pride and disdain for humans likely played a role in their refusal, regardless of the strict rule.
No matter what the reason, the secret medicine never reached the empire or the kingdom. This failed negotiation undoubtedly sparked the war, but as I listened further, I discovered additional human motivations behind it.
To summarize without going into tedious detail: humans are greedy.
In fact, one word would suffice: greed.
But to break it down, there are four main reasons for the war:
First, most elves are beautiful, making them ideal sex slaves. They remain incredibly popular, fetching exorbitant prices on the market.
Second, elves are naturally superior to humans, making them excellent guards and soldiers.
Third, the elves have exclusive access to magical metals like mithril, as well as hoarded magical items and rare materials harvested from the forest, which is essentially a treasure trove.
Fourth, the locations of the elven settlements serve as crucial strategic points during wars with other nations.
As I listened to these justifications, it struck me how brutally pragmatic the humans were. While the immediate cause of the war was indeed the refusal to sell the secret medicine to cure the princess, human greed and other ulterior motives had twisted the original intent, leading to the current conflict. It seemed that humans are a troublesome species, even in this world.
Of course, I’m in a position where I can hide or flee if necessary, so it isn’t much of a problem for me.
I also extracted various other pieces of information, particularly about the current composition of the human army. I needed to know if I had any opponents I couldn’t handle in my current state.
I learned that the human army comprised the allied forces of the Kingdom and the Keelica Empire. The Dull Iron Knight belonged to the Empire, so he lacked information on the Kingdom’s forces, but I had already learned about them from the captured Lady Knight, who served the Kingdom. According to the Dull Iron Knight, the Empire’s forces were larger and of better quality than those of the Kingdom. Notably, the Empire’s monster unit was especially formidable, composed as it was of powerful species like ogres, ogre lords, and dragonewts, as well as chimeras created by combining various monsters.
Most members of the monster unit were slaves who, under their master’s command, would become suicidal soldiers willing to lay down their lives in battle. This was quite troubling, but it also meant that, with the right strategy, these monsters could be easily manipulated.
I identified the individuals who had command authority over these units. They were all nobles with considerable combat experience.
After the interrogation, I decided to conduct a series of combat training games to improve our general command abilities. The players were squad leaders, and I divided the goblins and male captives among them to ensure each team had roughly equal strength. The players would then issue commands to their troops to eliminate the opposing side’s troops in a simulation of real combat.
The troops were equipped with different weapons: standard soldiers with wooden swords and shields, spear wielders with longer reach, axe wielders with higher attack power, archers for ranged attacks, and shield-bearers for defense. The key point was whether the players could give appropriate commands suited to the weapons their troops wielded.
I did not participate; instead, I acted as the referee.
The results were as follows: Dhami and Spellsei had the most victories, while Ogrekichi and Bloodsato had the most losses. Asue was right in the middle. This clearly indicated the difference between muscleheads and strategists. Asue leaned more toward being a musclehead, but her experience in excavation likely helped her perform better.
We had a large stockpile of food taken from the human army, so no one went hunting, and everyone stayed at the base to focus on the command training. To be honest, though, it did seem more like they were playing than training.
In any case, through training, a sense of camaraderie has recently begun to develop among the goblins, kobolds, and elves. I hope to strengthen this bond in the future. The enslaved humans, initially astonished that we were training at all, wore more serious expressions as time passed. Their reactions were amusing enough to make me laugh out loud.
At night, the human women were vocal in their delight—humans seemed to adapt faster than elves because of their stronger desires. The blacksmith wore a complicated expression on her face, but her attitude had changed significantly since she’d first arrived. She no longer felt the same level of aversion. Perhaps she rationalized that, given the circumstances of war, such events were inevitable and even natural. Plus, she probably believed that since the women sought it willingly, it wasn’t an issue. She acknowledged that happiness varied for each individual, and it wasn’t for others to judge.
The blacksmith was an understanding and remarkable woman, almost too good for me.
Human women were tasked with fulfilling sexual needs, while the unforced elven women, who watched enviously, were paired with the newly evolved kobolds and hobgoblins. Both groups seemed quite pleased. Breaking an elf’s pride once made it relatively easy to subdue them, but I had no intention of attacking elves deliberately. I was satisfied with the current state of things and saw no need to create unnecessary enemies.