A Black Market LitRPG
chapter-23

Kyle had to kill off a few more brave goblin warriors before they finally relented, recognizing Kyle’s domineering strength. He knew he would not be able to win against all three hundred, so the method of skimming their forces slowly plus funnelling them through a single cramped entrance worked perfectly. It was like shooting fish in a barrel.

The goblin warriors and the forage groups all dropped their weapons in surrender, hoping to appeal to the human’s morality if any. Some tried to get a sneak attack as Kyle approached to collect their weapons, but were always immediately killed by Kyle, further driving fear into their hearts.

He picked up the vambrace of the goblin, patting away some of the meat and flesh before putting it on.

Kyle rounded up the surrendering goblins at the mine entrance, tying some of them up with rope left in the storage huts. Soon, a goblin shaman appeared, escorted by warriors to him. The shaman was small, frail and sickly, but Kyle could see the same runes that were on the champion that was now carved everywhere on the shaman’s visible parts.

“Human! For what purpose do you slaughter us?” The goblin shaman spoke with surprising clarity and some mastery of the human language, though it was accompanied by a low guttural accent and obviously broken grammar.

“I’ll like to negotiate the purchase of the tribe.”

“Pur-chase? Money? The tribe is worth far more than your trinkets.” The goblin shaman scoffed.

“You’re in no position to take such a stance.”

“The tribe is three hundred goblins strong!”

“And also, must have the elderly, sick and young still hiding in the den. You do not have three hundred warriors. I estimate close to fifty of your best warriors have died at my hands over the last week.”

“Means human should pay reparations! For grievances! You have yet to defeat our champion yet!” The shaman stood strong.

“You mean this guy?” Kyle motioned to the body of the champion he had pummelled to death, causing the shaman to yelp slightly in surprise before calming itself down.

The shaman did not reply immediately, instead quickly conversing with the warriors around it. Kyle could somehow pick out a few words thanks to his title, allowing him to understand a bit of what was being spoken.

“….strong…ambush?....too strong…find want….”

The shaman finally finished their little discussion, clearing its throat before re-assuming its position. However, before it could speak, Kyle aimed his crossbow and fired bolts at two of the warriors next to the shaman, killing them instantly through their eyes.

“This is taking too long, and I decided you’re not worth the price. You will now all answer to me.” Kyle spoke with a domineering attitude, triggering his new skill Intimidation Aura as well.

The sudden switch from negotiation to violence shocked the shaman, curtailing its defiant stance and forcing it to submit immediately lest more of its kind was slaughtered. It was how self-preservation worked in the forest – the law of strength. The remaining goblin warriors immediately bowed along with the shaman, grovelling on the floor.

Kyle did not even flinch nor hesitate when killing the warriors. For him, violence was a given, something he could do at a drop of a hat if there were no repercussions. Based on his former experience, violence and show of strength was the best way to initially pacify a native population. The rebellions would come later, but Kyle had that all sorted out as well.

“You, name.” Kyle pointed his crossbow at the goblin shaman.

“Name is Gulak, at your service!” The goblin shaman replied quickly.

“Gulak. Show me around the goblin den.”

“Y-yes!” Gulak immediately got up, clearing a path for Kyle to walk through the still grovelling goblin warriors. They escorted him down the mining tunnels, winding paths of forks and dead ends.

The goblin warriors whispered to each other as they walked, with Gulak continuously giving hand signs as though it was fidgeting with its hands. Kyle pretended not to see it, instead focusing on the abandoned mining equipment as he listened in on the whispers of the goblins behind him.

The improved title allowed him to pick up a few words from the whispers. “…ambush…dead end… plunder…”

The tunnels were barely illuminated save for the glow of some mushrooms and unknown jewels embedded in the walls, with former mining lanterns lit up intermittently between passages. Gulak kept making turns and leading Kyle down, all the while the number of goblin warriors and archers behind Kyle began to increase.

They soon reached a dead end, with Gulak turning around with a wide grin. The runes on its body began to glow white, before a sort of hazy optical illusion slowly masked the shaman from view from the legs up.

Gulak smirked: “Human, today you-“ A swift hammer uppercut knocked its chin upwards, stopping the optical illusion and sending him flying into the air before crashing into the side of the tunnel’s wall. Kyle was already more than prepared, but was slightly surprised at the effect. Optical Illusion technology? Arcia is really amazing.

The archers launched a few arrows at Kyle, prompting him to activate the armguard he had taken from the champion, allowing him to block them with green energy bolts lancing out and deflecting them. Activating Penchant for Violence again, he rushed at the throng of goblin warriors, swinging wildly with his full strength.

He bashed through the warriors in the tunnel, sometimes even using their bodies as shields and ramming them against the warriors themselves, causing them to tumble over. Kyle methodically killed each and every goblin warrior, the battle lasting for nearly five minutes.

Gulak finally came to its senses, only seeing the bloodied Kyle standing in front of it, with the bodies of its brethren behind him. “Looks like you don’t understand fully yet.” Kyle grabbed the neck of Gulak and lifted the goblin shaman up, causing its legs to dangle as it tried to scratch Kyle’s arms off. “I am the master of this tribe now. Your warriors are all dead. Do you still wish to resist?”

“N-n-no! I will submit!” Gulak relented, struggling against the iron grip of Kyle. It now realized that Kyle could understand goblin language to a certain degree, which was the only reason it could think of as to why Kyle knew about the ambush.

“Good.” Kyle dropped Gulak to the floor, who gasped for air as it massaged its almost crushed neck. “Gather all remaining goblins in your largest common area. You will be the translator.”

Half an hour later, close to two hundred goblins were all gathered in a large cavernous area, their common dining area. Gulak stood on a makeshift stage from turned-over mining carts and crates, clearing his throat.

The goblins were all murmuring with each other, staring at Kyle with curiosity and wariness. Many of them have not left the den before but have heard stories of evil humans who killed goblins for fun.

Kyle’s mouth began to move, speaking to Gulak while he translated to the goblins. “Fellow members, today is a good day! A human hero has arrived and has quelled the monster who had been killing our warriors over the last week. While we have lost many of them in the fight, this human here has saved us in our time of need. With us being left vulnerable, this human will help defend our den from rival tribes and other creatures of the forest.”

The goblins were all stunned. A human helping goblins?

“The human has offered to provide us with food, technology and equipment as well. I have agreed to this deal in my capacity as a shaman.”

The crowd of goblins didn’t cheer, but they didn’t react adversely either. They weren’t too smart, unable to understand the implications of such a favour. Kyle pinned most of their intelligence on that of an eight to twelve-year-old kid, which was just right for the next part of his plan.

Gulak dismissed the crowd, gathering the smartest goblins in a group to meet Kyle. There were only three of them: Gulak, Gringer and Gobalt. All of these three knew about what Kyle had done in truth and were now completely subservient to him until they found a way to beat him or eradicate him.

Kyle observed the crowd of goblins dispersing. With him eliminating most of the warriors, only the elderly and the young were left behind. The elderly are of no issue, but for the longevity of this operation, subverting the young is necessary.

“This tribe now falls under me. I will have all goblins work to harvest Euria Seeds.” Kyle showed them an example of the seed.

“This… this is a sacred fruit that only the shamans can touch when performing the rituals. Having the uneducated goblins touch them is sacrilege.” Gulak couldn’t help speaking out, decades of tribal traditions ingrained into it.

Kyle simply had to rest his hand on the hilt of his hammer before Gulak zipped its own mouth, no longer speaking back. “How many able-bodied goblins do we have left?”

You killed our warriors, and you’re asking us this? “Fifty able-bodied goblins remain, though they are not trained to fight. It would have been much more before.” Gringer was in charge of the warriors, bowing respectfully with a tinge of hatred in his voice.

Kyle ignored the veiled jab, looking towards Gobalt, who was in charge of the logistics of the tribe. “Food supplies?”

“Dwindling. Only enough to last two weeks.” Because of your filthy actions, human.

“That’s good enough. From today, I will train all fifty warriors in a different fighting style. Gather all the weapons from the main entrance and bring them here.” Kyle ordered.

The fifty warriors soon lined up in front of him, trembling slightly as he walked through and inspected their bodies. While Gulak had claimed that the human hero was here to protect them, they couldn’t help feeling like they were being sold as a product. Some of them were well aware that this human was the monster that was killing them, instilling even more fear into them.

Gringer translated as Kyle spoke. “All of you will be trained as archers instead from now on. The training routine will be tree-climbing, marksmanship with bows, and knife-handling.”

The goblins all immediately went into a frenzy, with Gringer turning to glare at Kyle. “Tree-climbing is for shitty elves, not us! We are better!” Gringer spat with derision, as did many of the newly trained warriors.

Kyle suddenly stood up, speaking in the goblin language. “Who can defeat me? Come forward.”

The warriors all froze. They did not know the truth of Kyle killing their warriors, but they had heard the story from Gulak that Kyle killed a monster that one hundred of their warriors could not.

Gringer himself did not dare fight Kyle. If the champion could not defend him, who could?

“Then the training routine is settled.” Kyle began to order for the dilution of the high concentrated Stamina potions he had brought along in his backpack. “Do not drink until I tell you to. Anyone who does not follow the order will not receive another.”

The next day, the training began in earnest. The goblins were much more physically inclined than the humans, but their shorter stature limited the range of combat styles Kyle could teach them. Kyle instructed them on how to use the trees for cover, leaping from branch to branch and taking advantage of their low weight and small figure to avoid retaliation.

He had them run mock battles against each other through the forest, honing their marksmanship and combat skills. The warriors soon began to see how effective the fighting style was, which was much different from their usual blunt and head-on battles with other tribes.

A week passed under the intensive training of Kyle. They trained day and night, not requiring much rest due to the Stamina Recovery Potions provided. Kyle had brought highly concentrated potions, before diluting them with water and passing them out. This meant they managed to clock in close to eight to twelve hours of training each day.

They weren’t expert fighters by the end of the week but were competent enough that three of them could give any normal human a run for their money. Kyle was satisfied with the result but soon was confronted by Gobalt. “Human! We have only enough food left for a week!”

Kyle took out his map of the forest, a big red circle marked on the location that Orthon, the forest bandit, had told him previously. “Don’t worry, our food supply is right here.”