HPDBC [v2] Chapter Thirty – In which Ark does what needs doing, Diana lays down the law, Crow gets injured, and Dara becomes a wife.
[v2] Chapter Thirty – In which Ark does what needs doing, Diana lays down the law, Crow gets injured, and Dara becomes a wife.
[v2] Chapter Thirty – In which Ark does what needs doing, Diana lays down the law, Crow gets injured, and Dara becomes a wife.
“Dara, how would you like some assistants to help you?”
“Assistants?”
Standing beside me were Grotte and Lilac. Both used hammers, and both wanted to swing them as often as possible. It seemed that the only logical thing to do was make them productive, since I couldn’t really think of anywhere else in Goblinhome currently in need of stuff being hammered than right here in Dara's forge.
“An orc and a goblin lass...?”
“I can vouch for both of them. Grotte can hammer things quite finely with a hammer, and Lilac just has a bit too much energy for her own good but learns quickly. It’s well known that most of the best smiths in all the world are Dwarves. The future of Goblinhome will one day hinge on things like making new kinds of tools and shaping metal. Unless you plan on mining ore and forging all by yourself, wouldn’t it be good to have some helpers to swing some picks and hammer some metal for you?”
Dara looked at me strangely.
“Aren’t ye just going to use yer land shaping magic to dig veins?”
I laughed weakly.
“If I have the time, of course I will help you whenever possible... But when I don’t, unless you plan on digging for ore veins all by your lonesome, wouldn’t it be good to have a few helping hands? It would also be beneficial for Goblinhome to have a few other residents learn what they can from a Master Dwarf Smith.”
Dara took a moment to ponder, tapping her foot a few times before eventually nodding.
“You don’t plan on reneging on my contract once I teach these two?”
I shook my head.
“Not in the slightest. I told you from the start that I was fine with you having the more advantageous position with whatever mining contract you want. As far as I care, you are in charge of all exports. I only want there to be some room for whatever is mined to be used for infrastructure here in Goblinhome.”
“What kind of infrastructure?”
“Whatever kind my children think to create. This is their home, and their society. While I do make efforts to bring concepts of civilized life that we understand to them, ultimately, what they wish to adopt from it and what also is more attuned to the needs of the Bloodmaw is their business. To be perfectly honest, I’ve managed almost three out of four projects that I felt were indispensable to my living here without complaint. I’ve got a toilet so I don’t fall into a shit-pit in the dark, A kitchen so that I can eat cooked meat and other dishes regularly, A bath so that I can remain clean, and my last project will be a proper bed. I’d prefer a metal frame over a wooden one, since I have no doubts that it will see a significant amount of usage...”
“And f’r whatever else tha’ comes, you plan to have no hand in it?”
“I’ll help where needed. It’s not like I won’t continue to supply ideas if they have merit, but it’s up to residents who live here in the majority to decide how they want Goblinhome to take shape. While a bath is a bath and a forge is a forge just about anywhere you go, who is to say that a bed for a Human or a Dwarf is the kind of bed a Goblin or an Orc wants to sleep on? I personally prefer a nice mattress situated on a sturdy frame over a bundle of straw on the floor. I am human... mostly.”
I added that last part while lifting my goblinized arm to make a point.
Dara crossed her arms for a moment before sighing.
“Alright. Seems like this is an important concession I need t’ make.”
“Great. I really appreciate this, Dara.”
Dara just waved at me as if she was shooing me away.
“Oh, while Grotte has a good hammer already, I don’t know if it’s suitable for whatever work you’ll be having them do. I can say for sure that Lilac’s is crudely made from bone and stone... so she’ll be needing a new one. Vera and I will work on the Rune engravements of whatever you need to reinforce them.”
“Gmm. If that’s the case, then I’ll be needing you soon. Have to cast an anvil first before any forging can begin.”
“Right.” I replied. “Just let me know when I need to be useful.”
“Thank you, War-chief! Grotte happy now that she have something to hammer!”
Lilac stepped forward and hugged me.
“Lilac will work hard and learn how to make grand weapons for her sisters!”
I ruffled her hair. She was getting to be quite tall... soon I wouldn’t be able to look down at her anymore.
“Yes. When it comes time, we’ll work together and make Primrose’s grand weapon, okay? Primrose already named it when I told her about it.”
“Swingsmash? Lilac already knows!”
I laughed.
I wasn’t worried about there being a communication issue. Lilac understands the common tongue to a degree thanks to Diana, and so does Grotte likely thanks to Orga Lush. It’s... minimal for the both of them, sure, but all things come with time.
Leaving those two in Dara’s care, I set about to take care of my next major task... preparing to plant some seeds on the field which had been prepared.
Now, planting by hand is taxing work. I recruited some help in the form of Lily, Primrose, Nova, Magpie, Rushk, and Krushka. Rushk was feeling a bit anxious, not having any specific thing to do since becoming a War-bride, so I invited her to do this with us.
Surprisingly, Stella offered to oversee everything, since she came from a farming village and had hand-over-fist far more experience than anyone else around here, save for maybe Grotte. Her reason for doing so was mainly to get out of the hunt that had been organized by Prima and Orga Lush.
Along with Cobi and the Kobolds, Prima, Orga Lush together with her tamed Black-claws, Orchid, Button, Glace, Jewel, Doll, Pear, Ruby, Jade, Crow, Mint, and Ebony along with Bitey and Beastie all went out as a hunting party to the area south of the Big Rock which marked the boundary for the Bloodmaw’s Domain.
Permission had been granted a while ago from the Great Protector, provided they didn’t go too deeply into it. The plan as far as I know was for them to see if they could find some pups or juveniles that Orga Lush could potentially domesticate for the tribe.
Diana stayed back as she was busy caring for Berry and Selene, as well as fulfilling her role as the next Guardian by keeping an eye on Goblinhome. Nova and Magpie were essentially backup, and in a worse-case scenario, Wise-eyes, Lumi, and I would act as magical reinforcements if necessary.
Pepper was in her usual spot out by the Eastern stream, fishing. She was also keeping an eye out for any potential Orc incursions as well. That left Old One, Toy and her girls, and Ivory and Truffle behind.
Lumi, is, of course, in the chapel, not interested in getting dirty planting seeds.
Melon is going to be bringing us snacks out to eat so she’s indisposed in her kitchen right now.
As for Vera... I have no idea where she is at the moment.
As this is tedious work, I decided to make it a bit less so by making a game out of it. Lily, Primrose, and I were team one. Nova and Magpie were team two, and Rushk and Krushka were team three. The winning team gets a favor from me. There is also some standing to be earned for all participants.
I originally tried to set up Nova to have Krushka as a teammate but was quietly shut down.
Once we began, it went about as expected. Primrose had fun at first but became distracted early into it. Lily and I wound up taking turns pushing her on the swings in between times she was helping. Well, kids are kids.
Magpie and Nova were efficient at first making quick strides as they chatted with each other, but then became eerily quiet and slowed down about halfway through. Krushka and Rushk were absolutely powering through the task like a machine. In the end, the victor was the Orc team by a significant margin.
Melon had come out right in time with food for us all to eat.
It was a meat stew of some kind. I didn’t ask what meat was used, but all gathered here save for Stella were fine with cooked food. Stella avoided the meat but ate the vegetables just fine. Primrose was definitely part of team fire-meat, happily taking the meat offered to her by Stella.
It rained often enough, so I wasn’t planning to water the field.
With my main tasks done for the day, the only thing on my agenda was a bath at some point.
Melon was sitting on my lap while we ate, and I was being a bit affectionate to her. She was carrying the second generation of Bloodmaw daughters in her belly currently, and even though she was chubby, it was noticeable for what it was. Magpie had approached us and stared me down for a moment before saying in a voice loud enough for everyone present to hear... that she wanted to become an adult goblin.
Obviously, this caused me some stress. She’s still rather young and still lives with Crow. I have something of a hard line on the prerequisite being old enough to live independently in a cave-hole. I understand goblins grow quickly... but I felt like it was important to refuse her for now.
Magpie became genuinely upset.
It would be one thing if she was somewhere between Melon and Ebony in age, but she was younger than Lumi! It’s one thing for Nova to have some kind of identity crisis moment in the bath, but what Magpie was asking me to do was open a door I was already not comfortable with far, far too soon.
“I’m sorry, Magpie. But no.”
“But why, My Lord? I am more than ready to become an adult goblin!”
Without thinking about it, a few Runes manifested from my goblinized arm and flew upwards, chaining into a spell which detonated (harmlessly) above us.
Magpie quickly jumped back and assumed a fighting posture.
“Magpie. I understand that goblins grow fast, but you are still a strong-one!”
“I am smart enough to be an adult!”
“It has nothing to do with how smart you are! I know you are fully capable of hunting and living on your own, but you’re younger than Lumi! I feel guilty enough laying my hands on Melon and Figurine as it is! You’re not ready... and more than that, I’m not ready to see you as an adult goblin yet!”
While I scolded Magpie, expressing my feelings on the matter, Diana came running out of Goblinhome in response to hearing the magical detonation.
“What’s going on? What was the boom?”
I rubbed my temple and sighed.
“Magpie wants to become an adult goblin. I told her she was too young. The magic was accidental. No one was hurt.”
Diana walked over to Magpie and stood in front of her.
“Fight me.”
Magpie stepped back again.
“You beat me, you are an adult goblin. Diana Artemis will make Husband agree.”
“Diana...”
“Think it’s unfair? Diana Artemis won’t use any weapons. Forget beating me. Land one hit on me.”
Diana was putting significant pressure onto Magpie at the moment. The problem for Magpie currently is that Diana was more than able to back up her threat and conditions for victory. I know this for a fact. The only one of my daughters on the same level with Diana is Button, and even then, Button wouldn’t win cleanly.
Magpie, saying nothing, immediately pulled out one of her kunai from somewhere on her body and flung it at Diana. Without missing a beat, Diana snatched it right out of the air, barehanded, and lobbed it over her shoulder.
Diana then advanced slowly towards Magpie who retreated slowly, keeping a distance between them. Plenty of the ranged arsenal I had given Magpie was sent towards Diana who either effortlessly dodged them or caught them and threw them aside.
Magpie reached for something and then all of a sudden disappeared. She appeared a moment later right behind Diana, both hands clutching kogarasumaru, and leapt at her, intending to strike her with the grand weapon in the style of a katana that I made for her.
Diana, entirely unphased, quickly turned around and threw out a punch directly at Magpie’s hands which clutched the pommel, knocking it up and out of her hands in an instant. Then with her other hand, she grabbed Magpie’s throat and rotated her body, slamming Magpie down on the ground so hard that Magpie’s body bounced a couple of feet off the ground and landed again. The painful groan Magpie let out each time was difficult for me to stomach.
Diana then placed her foot on Magpie’s body before moving it to the other side. She then sat down on my little shinobi’s body and with a succession of six left-right punches to Magpie’s face, Diana held her hand in the air for a seventh before stopping.
Diana then got up and stared down at Magpie.
“Husband wants nothing more than for the Bloodmaw to grow many many and become strong. When it is time for you to become an adult goblin, Husband will not deny you the right to become one. But for now, you are still a strong-one! If you still want to become an adult goblin before then, then you can challenge me any time. Otherwise, spend your time getting stronger and listening to what Husband says!”
Diana then turned away and walked towards me.
Melon shifted a bit in my lap nervously. Diana was rather frightening at this moment I’m not going to lie. She turned her head to Nova and told him firmly to have Lumi go take care of Magpie. Nova nodded and rushed into the chapel. Then she squatted down in front of Melon and myself and reached out to place a hand on Melon’s belly.
“Diana Artemis wanted to be the first to have Husband’s strong-one. Melon is lucky.”
Diana looked up at me with shining eyes.
Was I about to get raped again?
“Husband... if you have time, come play with Selene Hecate.”
I nodded quickly.
Diana then walked back into Goblinhome as if she hadn’t just absolutely thrashed Magpie who is by no account weak.
Lumi rushed out of the chapel a moment later and went to go check on Magpie together with Nova.
I extracted myself eventually, heading outside to share a meal with my Orc War-brides. Orga Lush recounted everything that happened, and that stuffed inside of Cobi’s bag were about fifteen Black-claws and the fucking Jaguar that got Crow.
I also asked Krushka and Rushk if they wouldn’t mind holding off on their reward for a day, to which they agreed, given the circumstances.
Grotte was happy, saying she was looking forward to working with Dara from now on.
I then went up to see Cobi and the Kobolds who were feasting on one of the Black-claws together. Well, not Cobi... he was eating something Melon made for him.
“Thanks. For bringing her back quickly and safely.”
Cobi nodded.
“Silky did what she could with some herbs at the time.”
I turned to look at the Kobold known as Silky and thanked her as well.
She nodded at me in return her mouth full of... some part of wolf.
“We’ll be heading out tomorrow, Ark.”
“Is that so?”
“If it’s alright, mind if we drop in on occasion?”
“Sure?”
“The girls liked the southern forest. Plenty of herbs to be picked, Shadow wolves to be hunted... If we have permission... that is.”
“I’m sure that can be arranged through our benefactor.”
Cobi and I came to an understanding quickly.
“Don’t leave with us seeing you off, okay?”
Cobi nodded and we shook hands.
I left the group and returned to the breeding room for a bit. By chance, Dara was in the bath already, and the water was just a little bit icky.
“Heard about it from the young’in. Sorry to hear she got hurt.”
I touched the heating Rune and joined the Dwarf in the bath.
“Ever heard of a leg brace?” I asked her while resting my head on the lip of the bath, staring up at the ceiling.
“Yer talkin’ about a splint?”
“Not at all. It’s a metal contraption with screws in it that goes around a leg and evenly distributes the weight to a leg that can’t support its own weight properly. Used when bones are broken and need to be set.”
“Can’t say I e’er heard about anything like that.”
“It requires some real precise work. I can’t say for sure how exactly to make it work, I only know about it, never actually seen one up close.”
“Hmm.”
Dara, who had been on the other side of the bath from me, waded over to me and sat next to me.
“Yer a good man?” She asked me. It felt like a question to me, at least.
“I try. All I can do is try.” I said languidly.
“Sometimes all ye can do is try.”
Dara leaned her head against my shoulder.
“That thing staying green from now on?”
She was, of course, referring to my goblinized arm from the elbow down.
“I have no idea. Is it a dealbreaker for you?”
“Nah. Just don’t go pokin’ around my sensitive bits with it if it don’t.”
I chortled a bit. She laughed as well.
The sound of splashing water led me to turn my head and see Vera entering the bath. She came in right next to me and sat down, putting her head immediately against mine.
“Friend. Hello.”
“Hello to you as well, Friend.”
I was curious as to what Vera was up to today but decided not to ask. I had a long day and I wasn’t ready to hear that she unlocked the dimension door leading to one of the infinite hells or anything like that.
Instead, I put my arms around both of them at the same time. My goblin arm around Vera, and my human arm around Dara. I was unexpectedly met with zero resistance from either one of them.
We just relaxed in the warm water for a while.
“Dara. Share.”
“Share what, exactly?”
“Bed. Husband.”
“Oh... that’s not necessary. He’s all yours.”
“No. Share.”
I don’t know what was going through Vera’s mind. I do what I can to figure it out, but sometimes it is a mystery to me.
We exited the bath shortly thereafter. Vera didn’t even allow us to put on our clothes. Well, Dara has clothes, I only have a loincloth. Vera pulled us both into my bedroom and had me lay down, with Vera taking my left and Dara my right.
Thankfully, the pelt blanket and pillows were enough for us to share. I was a bit worried that Dara might be feeling forced into this, but she seemed to be more embarrassed than bothered.
“Dara. First.”
“Vera... don’t pressure her. Dara and I aren’t in any rush...”
Try as I might, Vera was mighty insistent.
“Ark. I might not be very good at this.”
“You don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to. Vera’s just being...”
Dara shook her head.
“She’s being considerate. An’ I appreciate it. Yer sure, Friend?”
Vera nodded.
“Vera. Wife.”
“As ye say.”
Vera then pushed me so that I rolled over on top of Dara.
I took a moment and sighed.
“Vera, if you’re going to push me into it, at least let me do it the right way.”
“Fine. Do.”
“Are you sure you’re fine with it, Dara?”
“Ye. Bound to happen sooner or later. Better to get on her good side.”
Doing my best with some impromptu foreplay, I tried to make it as enjoyable as I could for Dara. I had concerns, of course, as to what might happen when I came inside of her, but I don’t think either of us understood what was going through Vera’s mind at all.
Sure, it was a threesome. But I wasn’t the one being shared.
When my turn ended with Dara, Vera tagged right in, and there are things a goblin tongue can do that no human one can remotely match up to.
Dara was to be the one on the receiving end of such knowledge.
When it ended, we lay in my bed, covered up with Vera quick to slumber.
Dara remained awake staring at the ceiling.
“Ark. Do you reckon what just happened?”
“I think, in the most simple of explanations possible, that you just got married to the both of us.”
“Ah.”
“Yeah...”
“Weren’t all bad. Wasn’t expectin’ ta get a goblin wife as well.”
“Give it a little time. She grows on you.”
“So ye say... It don’t bother ye none?”
“If it helps, there’s a useful saying back where I’m from.”
“Oh? An’ what’s that?”
“Happy wife, happy life.”
Dara snorted.
“That so?”
I snorted.
“That’s the saying. Of course, the people saying that are probably only talking about having one wife.”
Dara turned her body and snuggled her face into my chest.
“Well then, I’ll be hopin’ for that happy life... Husband.”