Chapter 58: 55. Scout and Steal

Finding the nearest tree that overlooks the camp, I climb it and continue to scout out the activity. I snack on the food I foraged to break up the long hours of observing. Truthfully, there isn't anything inherently evil about these goblins. The men and women work together to keep their camp orderly and functioning. Occasionally, a group of eight soldiers would leave the base only to return hours later with more food on hand. 

Eventually, night falls on the goblin camp. I've prolonged what must be done long enough. Remaining in my shadow realm for so long has strained my soul enough that I probably only have enough strength to stay in shadow for a couple more hours.

Still, in my shadow realm, I slide down the tree, sprint toward the walled encampment, and hurdle over the barrier. The night guard has dramatically decreased from the day guard, giving me enough windows of time to pop in and out of shadow as I please to get past solid barriers. My first target is the fancy tent.

Since the tent is enough of a structure, I can't just pass through the walls. Instead, I pop out of shadow, switch to death mana, slice a small inconspicuous incision into the tent, switch, and pop back into shadow and step into the tent. Inside the tent, I see the flap door partially open and silently curse. The lead goblin is asleep with a male goblin on both sides of her. A quick energy reading lets me know what I am dealing with. 

The female goblin is a dark assassin with the rank of squire. On both sides of her are two male goblins who are both of rook rank. One is a water bard, and the other is a dark ranger. I summon my staff, step out of shadow, and deliver incapacitating strikes to the three sleeping goblins before they can respond. 

Recently acquired memories of bopping scorpions on the head with the Concussing Scorpion Whip flash through my mind. I take a moment to appreciate my memory and my much more effective Knocking Staff of Sleep. The memory fades as quickly as it came, and I get to work looting all the valuable items on the goblins and the items in the tent. 

Borrowing from the goblins, I score some good loot. I pocket a nice pair of shiny daggers socketed with ruby red gems, a short sword, two long swords, a bow and arrows, a lute, an assortment of knives, potions, runes, and various articles of clothing. The idea is that if I take all of their stuff now, I know I will need to return it all later. Makes it less complicated, plus it is good to be thorough about these types of things.

Across from the sleeping goblins is a table with a delicious spread of food. One leg of chicken immediately goes into my mouth. While chewing on the dry smokey meat of the chicken, I pocket the bread, the remainder of the chicken, the seasoned potatoes, the cheese wedge, and all the grapes.

Gene said my magic robe can store food in some sort of stasis, keeping it fresh and preserved. The magic behind that is beyond me, so I don't bother questioning. Instead, I take full advantage of my girthy magic pocket and store all the food I can.

Finishing the table are three pretty silver cups filled with light blue liquid. I down the strong sweet drink in one of the fancy goblets confirming it is not water. It is delicious, but I am still on the job, so I dump out the contents of the other two extravagant cups and stash the three cups in the ritual pocket. 

Now that my looting is done, I return to the squire. Summoning some magic cord, I cover her with a blanket, bind her tightly, and put her over my shoulders. I cycle shadow once more and bring both of us into my realm. Together, we exit the tent through the actual doorway.

Sprinting towards the wall packing a goblin on my shoulders, I leap and effortlessly clear the fortification. I continue to sprint south for the next ten miles, occasionally eating bites of chicken on the run.

We are now deep in the woods, far from the goblin camp. I tie the covered goblin to the nearest tree, summon a chair, and wait for her to recover. Before I fully relax, I modify her blanket robe that allows her head to be uncovered. Then I allow myself to sit and wait.

Waiting is a fantastic experience as I feast on the borrowed food. Roasted boar is covered in intense spices, leaving a slight burning sensation in my mouth. Despite the burn, I scarf down bite after bite, enjoying every bit. Large grapes, bread, and cheese help to keep the burn from getting too unbearable. I regret discarding the drink in the tent. I just wasn't sure it would last even in my magic pocket. All things considered, the food alone was worth the trip. 

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It is still dark, and though I have no reason to believe the leader of the goblin camp has been discovered missing yet, I keep my energy sense active. While I'm eating my second loaf of bread, the goblin begins to stir. I give her a moment to recover before I talk. 

"Hello, Ma'am. I am Liam. I'm sorry for the kidnapping… and binding you to a tree. Definitely not how I wanted our first introduction to go. Would you like some bread?"

The squire is taken aback as she tries to come to her senses. When she does realize her whereabouts, the darkness about us begins to stir violently. I quickly bring Bo down on her head, causing her to black out again. 

The goblin awakens much quicker this time, having taken a less incapacitating strike as previously. "Hello, Miss Dark Wizard. I'm so sorry about the stick hitting you. I hope we can avoid that if at all possible." My tone is polite and sincere.

Upon hearing me speak, the goblin isn't so quick to attack this time. There is a long silence before she says, "Kill me now." Not what I was hoping for out of this interaction. Luckily she doesn't stop speaking. "It does not matter. I will come back and hunt you." 

"Hey now, no need to get so hostile. I mean, I understand why you would be hostile. I would be too. I was hoping we could have a nice chat before we get to the 'who stabs who' part. Ideally, we skip the stabbing and move towards a friendlier goodbye. What do you say?"

"Who are you?" She asks reluctantly after stewing upon my words. Her voice is a higher pitch than Gene's, and where Gene's voice sounds more guttural, the goblin's has a bit of hiss to it.

"Much better! Hello, I am Liam. Friend of spiders, scorpion tamer, and drifter of my land." By the looks of it, she isn't impressed with my introduction. "I've claimed this island and would officially like to welcome you and your people."

She laughs wildly with enough mockery mixed in that I question whether her laugh is genuine. "A classless bone rook laying claim to the entire Lost Coast?" 

She got me there. Perhaps I should have played up my rank a bit more. It is too late to adjust the perception now. It is a shame. She might respect me more if she feared me. Next time when I am interrogating, I am going full intimidation class. Nevertheless, I will show her even though I'm classless; I still have class. 

"Yeah, well, I found it first." Perfect. "So the land formerly known as the Lost Coast is mine. Dibs." I am crushing it. "Anyway, you still haven't given me your name yet?" I expertly craft sentences like the classiest of nobles. 

I'm confident I will win this battle of charisma.

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