Chapter 19 (2/2)

“Plus, no matter how many goblins gathered together, they were nothing but dust to the Ancient Kingdom. It seems that while they were increasing their numbers, they selectively bred them at the same time, and made all sorts of different kinds of goblins.”

When Lapis said different kind of goblins, Loren thought of the black mock-goblin that he had faced earlier.

If that wasn’t a hobgoblin or any sort of high rank goblin, the kind of goblin that Lapis talked about seemed to be what the mock-goblin was.

“This is why there are quite a number of goblin farms inside Ancient Kingdom ruins, but this is something more terrible than that.”

Judging by the conversation, Loren guessed that they were in a farm that people in the Ancient Kingdom used for breeding test subjects, but before he could mention anything, Lapis denied his speculation.

Wondering what was terrible about this place, Loren waited for Lapis to continue.

“This isn’t an ordinary farm.”

As she said that, Lapis was about to reach the corner of the path.

From the shadow of the corner, two goblins suddenly jumped out.

Loren was about to raise his great sword, but Lapis grabbed their heads like she was picking flowers on the side of the road.

Though it looked like she didn’t put any strength in her arms, the goblins’ heads turned 180 degrees with their bodies still facing forward.

At the same time as Loren heard bones being broken, Lapis reached into her pocket, pulled out a handkerchief and a bottle filled with perfume, and sprayed the contents of the bottle onto the handkerchief.

She wiped her hands, which touched the goblins’ heads, and casually kicked in front of her two times.

Lapis then walked past the dead goblin corpses, which flew back a few meters, not even bothering to take notice of them.

Her movements seemed way too natural, and since it occurred past the corner, Loren, who was walking next to her, was the only one who saw it.

“You…You’re pretty strong, aren’t you?”

If she could pull something like that off, Loren wished she could’ve done it earlier.

But if the others saw that Lapis, who didn’t look like she was trained at all being skilled in close quarter combat, there was the danger of her losing their trust and losing her credibility.

Usually, priests couldn’t snap a goblin’s neck with their bare hands.

“Well, it’s me we’re talking about, so. Back to the subject. This isn’t an ordinary farm. It’s definitely a farm, but it seems that they were conducting experiments of physical modification and improvement, and evolution at the same time.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“To put it simply, they were enhancing the strength of goblins as regular goblins. The goblins that chased us. Don’t you think it’s strange that there were no high rank individuals in that horde?”

High ranked monsters were indeed rare, but it wouldn’t have been strange if there were at least one or two of them within that many number of goblins.

Lapis was saying that it was strange that they didn’t see any sort of high rank goblin at all.

“It’s probably because the goblins produced here are adjusted so they won’t evolve into high rank individuals. They were trying to improve only goblins, so it wouldn’t have any meaning if they became hobgoblins or goblin mages.”

In experiments, the same species of the test subject are always used.

That must have been why the researchers of the Ancient Kingdom adjusted the goblins, but Loren frowned at their bad tastes.

Loren guessed that one part of the adjustments that they made was making the goblins chase intruders until they caught up.

Then the goblins themselves would chase intruders away, so there was no need to put a separate protection system.

“They’re okay with them growing bigger, though?”

The mock-goblin that he had faced earlier was way larger than an ordinary goblin.

Loren still found it hard to convince himself that the mock-goblin was an ordinary goblin.

“Even though they’re big, they’re still goblins.”

“Do you think the goblins in here found the crack and entered the cave? Also, wasn’t there was a goblin mage over there?”

“The adjustments are probably limited to inside the ruins. It must have evolved because it ran outside of it.”

Lapis said it like he should’ve found that out easily, but to Loren, there was no way he could know, nor did he want to.

“Anyways, this is that kind of facility. I believe that it was dormant, but  I’m not sure what restarted it. It could’ve been someone who did it manually, or whoever unsealed the ruins itself was the key that did it.”

“What about them not using women as seed beds or collecting corpses?”

“There’s no need for seed beds. There’s probably equipment that breeds them, and baby goblins should be produced there. The corpses are probably being reused to make new ones. This is quite an eco-friendly facility, reusing their trash.”

“If we leave it like this, wouldn’t it become a big problem?”

This is what Lapis had said earlier.

Loren tried to confirm, but her reply made him think maybe Lapis herself didn’t seem to think it was that big of a problem.

“That big black goblin is an improved goblin. It was made in this facility, but the problem lies within its actions.”

“Problem? What in the world would that be…”

“The goblins from this facility don’t need seed beds. But the goblin that attacked Nim tried to rip off her clothes.”

For a second Loren wasn’t sure what Lapis was trying to say, but immediately guessed what Lapis meant and his face became slightly pale.

“Have you realized? There’s no need to, but it assaults women. It means that it knows about assaulting women for reasons other than mating.”

Animals generally mate in order to reproduce.

This was the same for monsters, and although goblins quenched their sadism by assaulting women, the goal itself is to reproduce.

There was only one existence that Loren knew of that did it for enjoyment.

“In conclusion, there were traces of human inside those goblins. Probably the people from the party that was competing with Mister Ritz’s party.”

“Are you sure you can call that a goblin?”

“It definitely is a goblin. You don’t call a goblin born from a human mother a half goblin, right? Even if there are traces of human in it, a goblin is a goblin.”

Loren stopped trying to understand what she was talking about.

It was because he decided that knowing that these ruins were built to produce goblins was currently up and running, and that some of them had the intelligence of a human, was enough, and everything else was unnecessary information.

“The reason I said that it was going to be a big problem, is because this facility physically enhances and improves goblins, and the fact that the goblins produced in this facility are obtaining human intelligence and learning abilities.”

‘That’s…”

“It’ll produce an even stronger goblin from the experiences of the mock-goblins. After repeating that many times over…What do you think would happen if goblins became tougher than dragons, accumulated knowledge and experience, and gained abilities according to its strength? That’s why I said we need to make these ruins dormant again.”

Lapis spoke of a future that Loren didn’t want to think of, but she said it in such a relaxed manner, it seemed like she thought it was someone else’s problem.

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー