After Rick’s declaration, the Chiefs were both predictably and understandably against the idea.

  “My King…I…I have to disagree with this plan. If it is your wish to travel deep into the Dark Lands of Mir in search of monsters, then at least a few of us should be by your side.”

  Chief Jluug was the first to speak out against it, and very quickly all the other Chiefs in the room didn’t hesitate to give their own opinion.

  Not a single one of them were in favor.

  Either directly urging Rick to give up on a trip deeper in Mir altogether, or to at least allow a few of them to accompany him.

  Rick expected this and allowed his Chiefs to vent and plead their cases to him.

  Although he previously expressed that this would be non-negotiable, that didn’t mean he would close his ears at their comments.

  That wasn’t the King he aspired to be.

  Despite that…

  Rick calmly raised his hand and the room went silent.

  No matter how much his Chiefs disagreed, he was still their King, and his final word would always be law. There was no room for anything else.

  “I understand why all would disagree with this plan of mine, but I assure you it’s necessary. Think about it for a moment. There is no doubt about who will be target of this attack. And it is clear that not a single one of you will ever allow me to come to harm if you can avoid it.

  “But think about your King. Do you all think I like seeing you risk your lives to save mine? No. It is not my wish to see that.

  “Chief Rogur your son was the one to introduce me to the 14 Goblin Clans who call this place home. It was him he told me of future and my destiny to be the King of Goblins.

  “It was him who explained to me the positions of Goblins on this Continent. It was he who made me aware of the fact that without a King to shield and stand in the gap for the Goblin race, that we would forever be oppressed.

  “It was that same Goblin, who was the first to sacrifice his life just so I could live and make that dream of his a reality. The dream to one day stand on this Continent with our chins held high and power respected even if not liked.

  “General Rogu was a good Goblin. A phenomenal Goblin. He was the first to sacrifice his life for me, and unfortunately he was not the last.

  “That’s not something I will see again. I am not planning on throwing my life away needlessly, but the situation is what it is. War is at our homes, and the enemy will not show mercy to us.

  “There will be death on both sides. My Goblins…a lot of you will die…this is not something I want to happen any longer.

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  “As long as I breathe, I will willingly dive in the maw of death and come back out alive as long it means one more Goblin will be alive after all of this is over. That is my role as your King.

  “Do not ignore my conviction. I will go deeper into the deeper reaches of the Dark Lands of Mir, and then I will come back. Stronger than ever before, and I will rip our enemies limb from limb for daring to harm my people.

  “Trust in me. Trust your King.”

  You would be able to hear a pin drop in the room with how silent it was after Rick’s speech.

  It is to be remembered that Rick’s word was law. If he simply decided to put his foot down and ordered them to be silent since his word was final, then that would be the end of it.

  He did not need to give them such a detailed explanation as to why he was doing what he wanted to do.

  He did not need to almost plead with them to trust in him and allow him to do as he wished.

  Yet he did so anyway.

  The silence was then broken as Chiefess Hugala got up from her seat and then dropped to one Knee.

  “I trust you with my life My King.”

  Rick didn’t get a chance to reply as the rest of the room quickly followed suit.

  Every single one of them got up, dropped to one knee and repeated the same words.

  To anyone else that was still Tier Six, having so many beings of the Seventh Tier doing these actions towards them, might’ve cause them untold stress, as the weight of these words were not to be ignored.

  But for Rick?

  It was expected that Goblins would kneel at his feet.

  After all…a King expects nothing else.

  …

  It didn’t take long after that for the meeting to be over, and the Chiefs went out to carry out their orders as directed.

  There were still plenty of recon teams that lingered around the area even after the battle.

  The numbers had gone down slightly, and they had backed off from being so close, but they were still present.

  Of course that was until a tide of Tier Seven Goblins descended on the area.

  Not a single one of them even got the chance to blink before life left their bodies. There was no noise, no signs of struggle, nothing.

  Just one second they were alive and extremely cautious, then the other they were dead.

  From there the Chiefs and a plethora of members of the Shadow Clan, then spread out far and wide across the human lands.

  They did their best not to be found out but at the same time, the information was for more important than potentially being caught.

  Still though, only the Chiefs actually made the journey close to any known pockets of civilization, while everyone below their Tier stuck to the woods and well-traveled roads.

  It didn’t take them long to get enough information to learn they had roughly 1-2 months before an army was at their doorsteps.

  While Goblins only spoke their own tongue for the most part, there was a common language on the continent that spoken by all the major races, and the Goblins had managed to piece together many different things over the course of many years.

  Of course this only applied to the 14 Clans, as most rural tribes knew nothing about other languages.

  And there were of course the Tier Seven Goblins. Who could bend mana in such a way that it is able to convey the meaning behind words spoken by others.

  Not necessarily direct word for word translation but detailed enough meaning.

  Mana existed everywhere.

  So between the lower Tiers and the Tier Seven Chiefs, there were able to learn a bit.

  No matter how secret the leaders were, things like this would travel downhill.

  Members of the respective armies had to be contacted and organized while logistics personnel had to place orders for food and supplies, and many other different things were taking place.

  These people had families who they would tell things to, and then some of them would go on to spread some of what they heard.

  It didn’t take long for bits and pieces to spread, and it eventually made it to Goblins.

  And now that they knew the rough timeline they had, they would prepare accordingly. Preparations that would have to be made without their King, since he had already departed on his journey.