Chapter 62 Chapter 63 The Wailing Woman
The crude and crooked trebuchet surprisingly stood in a clearing of the forest, capable of launching goblins into the air.
George approached the trebuchet, touching here and there, making sounds of confusion:
“This asymmetrical piece of engineering looks like a child’s haphazardly built nest, yet it can actually launch goblins into the sky.”
“Stop looking,” Jima said, “It’s a talent of the green skins.”
“Incredible.”
“There’s a lot more incredible things,” Jima said, grabbing the end of a rope and forcefully tugging it, securing a goblin firmly to a tree.
The goblin wailed, “It hurts…”
“If it hurts, that’s good; it means it’s tied up tight.” Jima released her grip and said, “You asked for it.”
If it weren’t for maintaining her image, Jima would have directly severed the goblin’s ankle with her sword, as is customary among demon kind.
By the way, in the demon realm, captured convicts have no future. After being sentenced to death, they are typically dismembered to prevent escape.
After all, the execution ground only needs the convict’s head, not their limbs.
George walked over to the captured goblin. The armor on him was still stained with goblin blood, and with each step he took closer, the goblin trembled more violently.
George asked in the common tongue, “What’s your war gang doing here?”
The green skins had long forgotten their own language and simply used the common tongue.
The goblin replied with a thick accent, “We… we… rob, kill, have fun, here… here… the long-legged people are good to rob.”
The Saintess Jenna interjected, “Why do you burn and rob? Are you unable to survive?”
“The Big Belly Boss shouts a super, super, super big Waghhhh!”
“What does that mean?”
“Waghhhh is Waghhhh,” the goblin said, “He shouts Waghhhh, and we go rob and kill together!”
Saintess Jenna found it hard to understand.
They just go rob after a shout of Waghhhh?
She asked again, “Are you lacking food?”
The goblin was unhappy, but the towering figure clad in thick steel stood in front of it, making its bones feel weak. It had witnessed how George crushed the giant spider’s head with a single kick.
It said, “Green mushrooms, lots, water, lots, full, we’re full!”
Saintess Jenna was increasingly confused: “But if you’re full, why do you still go north to kill and rob innocent people?”
Jima interjected, “Because killing and robbing is fun.”
“How is that possible?” Saintess Jenna said. “Nobody would point a blade at another innocent person unless driven by life’s hardships.”
The goblin seemed to feel greatly insulted and shouted loudly, “The Horned Man is right! Right!”
Saintess Jenna finally accepted the notion that “killing and robbing can be a form of entertainment.”
“I thought, as the book says, that green skins have a tendency to fight and kill was just the author’s subjective opinion.” She continued to ask, “But knights of Bartok have the lake god’s protection, a group of valiant knights, and a benevolent church with soldiers. Aren’t you afraid of dying while ‘entertaining’?”
The goblin, with red eyes looking at her as if she were ignorant, replied, “If we can’t win, we run; if we can win, we fight.”
“But regardless, you’re risking your lives. Isn’t that excessive?”
The goblin impatiently said, “If we can’t win, we run!”
“But—”
Jima interrupted Saintess Jenna: “What it means is, it knows there’s a risk to life, but it would rather face that risk than not kill and rob.”
The goblin nodded vigorously, saying, “The Horned Man is smart, the Fat Chest Man is stupid.”
Saintess Jenna flared her nostrils in anger and continued asking, “Isn’t life precious?”
“Precious,” the goblin said. “Let me go, please.”
“If you can’t kill and rob your whole life, but can survive with a full stomach, would you prefer that?”
“Yes, I repent!”
George immediately placed his massive sword on its frail shoulder and scolded, “Liar!”
The goblin shivered, saying, “Yes… yes… Big Guy… you’re right.”
George pressed the blade closer, saying, “Another insult, and I’ll consider taking your head off.”
“I… I didn’t.”
Jima interjected, “In green skin culture, calling someone a Big Guy is a compliment, Mr. Big Guy.”
“Yes! Yes! The Horned Man is smart!”
George glanced at Jima but didn’t say anything.
Jenna continued asking, “If I had a way to ensure you won’t suffer from hunger in your next life, but you would die immediately if you killed or robbed, would you accept it?”
“No!”
“Why? Is killing and robbing that important?”
The goblin’s red eyes showed pity as it looked at Saintess Jenna, saying, “It’s better to die.”
Saintess Jenna held her forehead, saying, “I’m really foolish to try to understand the way of thought of a green skin.”
George continued interrogating: “I want to know if you’re lying! Tell me! What is your war gang ambushing here for?”
The goblin confessed everything in detail, and during this time, George also questioned a few other captured goblins, obtaining complete intelligence.
It turned out that they were drawn here by an orc war boss named Big Belly who shouted Waghhhh. Later they were defeated by the knights’ army, and Big Belly was captured by Bishop Gregory and publicly burned. The green skins then scattered into numerous small war gangs.
“What about those undead goblins?”
“They were made by a shaman’s good friend,” the goblin exclaimed, “that fire-starting long-legged man killed lots of green skins, and good friends helped us wake them up.”
Saintess Jenna wondered, “Which necromancer would do such a losing business?”
Jima answered, “Not a losing business, it’s very cost-effective; it only needs to bear the cost of waking up a zombie to get a goblin-guided missile.”
“Right,” Saintess Jenna understood, “If you want to teach zombies to aim at targets themselves, it takes even more effort.”
George muttered to himself, “I didn’t expect that boastful statement from Nas is actually true; he really encountered flying goblins.”
“Aren’t you able to discern lies?”
“Many boastful people, as they boast, begin to believe it themselves,” George replied, “This mission is indeed not that simple; behind it are necromancers. I wonder what scheme he has.”
George asked a few more questions and didn’t get any valuable intelligence. He prepared to immediately sentence the goblins to death, executing it on the spot.
At this moment, he casually asked, “Why are you all targeting Jima?”
“What else?” Jima replied, “I look the shortest, smallest, and weakest.”
“Jima? The Horned Man is Jima!” The goblin looked at Jima, its red eyes full of fear, and screamed, “The Wailing Woman! You are the Wailing Woman!”
The words “Wailing Woman” seemed like a terrifying curse, and the other captive goblins joined in the screaming.
“It’s her! It has always been her!”
“The shaman said to kill her!”
“Kill her! Then there won’t be any more wailing!”
The goblins were clamoring wildly, saying things the other three couldn’t understand.
After repeated questioning, George finally learned that the shaman wanted to kill a horned girl named Jima, which was why the goblins were told to “pay special attention” to her.
This goblin hadn’t recognized Jima before.
George, confused, asked, “What is the Wailing Woman?”
“A witch, a big bad guy!” the goblin accused loudly, “Every night she crawls into the orc tents, crying loudly. The orcs wake up, find nothing, and angrily beat us, then continue to sleep, and the tent cries again!”
Another goblin, sniffling and sobbing, complained, “Every night, all the tents in the camp are crying wails. The shaman said it’s the evil curse of a horned Wailing Woman!”
Jima listened, looking completely bewildered. What business did she have running to the orc tents to wail?
George turned his head and asked, “Jima? Is this you?”
“Hey, hey, why do you look like, ‘I wouldn’t be surprised by any of your mischief’?” Jima complained, “I’m not that bored! The Wailing Woman isn’t me; who knows what these dimwitted green skins are doing with their feudal superstitions.”
“Whatever mischief you could have done, I wouldn’t be surprised,” George said. “Think again.”
Jima thought about it. She really had no interactions with the green skins.
This time, she was genuinely innocent; it was hard to come by.
Jima shook her head and said, “You’ve wronged me; I didn’t do anything to the green skins.”
George nodded and said, “Sorry, I misjudged you.”
Jima seized the opportunity, “Could you at least show a little sincerity?”
“What do you want?”
“Be a little more affectionate towards me and feed me well,” Jima said, “I haven’t had a good opportunity in the last few days.”
George wasn’t embarrassed and had developed a thick skin from Jima’s continuous “provocations.”
Saintess Jenna felt awkward, with mixed emotions, saying, “Jima, isn’t it inappropriate to say this so directly? Can’t you talk about such things in more private settings?”
“Sister Jenna, desires are food for me, so I’m just discussing what to eat today.”
“That’s true.”
“So, we can find a chance tomorrow to hug and kiss.”
“Ah? Why?”
“George likes it,” Jima said, seeing George’s face finally showing some embarrassment, “Every time I have close physical contact with Sister Jenna, George’s desires get particularly high.”
Jenna’s face turned slightly red as she said, “This… this is too inappropriate, a bit indecent.”
Jima blinked her big eyes, looking innocently at Jenna, “Sister Jenna, you can’t just let me starve to death.”
Saintess Jenna turned her head away, “Alright.”
“Then it’s settled for tomorrow morning. Everyone should wash up tonight.”
After Jima said this, she glanced at George.
George looked embarrassed, with a hint of happiness in his eyes, not the usual seriousness.
Ha, men.
They think they’re getting to fly together, but they don’t realize they’re just being publicly ridiculed with a green hat.
Such fools.
Afterwards, George began a brief trial for the goblins’ criminal acts, sentencing them to immediate execution, with their heads chopped off and piled together, and even burned the trebuchet.
“We need to hurry to Saint John’s Village,” George said, “The hermit there should know which necromancer is behind this.”
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Recently, my writing state hasn’t been good, to adjust my routine and motivate myself, I decided to have a double update tomorrow.
