ROSES HAVE THORNS-Chapter 57 - Treasure Goblin

"Well well well. What do we have here? A survivor?"

Kurt was hiding outside the goblin camp behind a tree and double-checking for any dangers that might be lurking when he spotted a strange-looking creature.

It had green skin just like all the other goblins he’s come across, but this one was thinner, smaller and wore a strange skull mask that had hair coming down its head. The most important thing that struck out to him, however, was that this creature was carrying a sack on its back that was almost as huge as its body.

’Is that a sword sticking out the sack?’

The creature was looking through the corpses as if searching for something in particular. It picked up a stone dagger and lifted it up in the air to scrutinise it. After coming to a decision, the creature threw it away as if it were worthless and continued its search.

’It’s alone, and it doesn’t look dangerous. I’m also curious about what’s inside the sack that it’s carrying. Time to go in.’

Kurt picked up a stick that was lying nearby and casually made his way to the broken-off front gate.

"Hello there!"

"Gege?!" It quickly turned its skull mask to look at Kurt.

"Wait, so you are a goblin! I was kinda on the fence about it but your stupid ’gege’ gave it away."

"Geeeeee! Gege gege gege!"

"Oh no you don’t!"

The goblin tried running away, but it was too slow. Kurt spun and threw the stick at its leg, causing it to tangle and trip.

CRASH!

"What the hell..."

When the goblin fell, the sack fell with it, causing it to drop all its contents.

"Swords, jewelry, coins, clothes and a bunch of other miscellaneous crap... Holy jackpot..."

"Graa... Gege!" The goblin slowly got up and realised what happened. It scurried to pick up all that it dropped, but once again Kurt was there to stop it.

"I said no you don’t you dickhead!"

THUD! STAB! STAB!

"Graaugh!"

He jumped on the goblin’s back and stabbed both its hands into the ground with two stone daggers he picked up.

"And just to make doubly sure..."

STAB! STAB!

"G-Graaugh gege!"

He stabbed both of its feet into the ground as well.

"There we go. Now you can watch what I’m about to do next. But first, let’s pack these goodies up neatly."

"Grageegeh! Grageegeh!" The goblin struggled to lodge itself free as it watched Kurt take all its loot. But no matter how hard it tried, its efforts were futile.

"Wow, you’re really carrying all sorts of things, aren’t you? I think I’ll call you Treasure Goblin. You know, I honestly wasn’t expecting to find anything when I decided to come back here, but I’m glad I did. Seriously, where did you find all of these things? Wait a minute..." He slowly turned his head to the goblin.

"Did you take all these... from the women who were brought here?"

"Gege."

"You freakin’ scum!"

THWACK!

He punted the goblin in the face so hard its mask fell off, and its nose was cracked and bent in an unnatural way.

"What the hell is wrong with your goddamn species?! Who wired your brains to be like this, hah?!"

THWACK!

"You destroy quiet villages!"

THWACK!

"You kill hardworking men!"

THWACK!

"Kidnap then rape women!"

THWACK!

"And still, you have the audacity to steal from what I’m guessing are their dead bodies?! I don’t even want to think about what you do to their children, you sick..."

THWACK!

"Sick!"

THWACK CRACK!

"Bastards! Haaaa... *Huff*... *Puff*... Great, now you’re dead... Now I don’t even feel like burning these corpses up. Oops, spoilers ha ha. That’s why I wanted to keep you alive. I was gonna gather all your buddies here and let you watch them burn, before letting you get cooked alive of course."

Kurt picked up the sack of goods and threw it over his shoulder.

"But that was all just for theatrics anyway. Way to ruin the mood. See ya."

He turned away from the scene, hopefully for the last time, and left the goblin camp.

.......

’Argh! Lift your spirits, Kurt! You can’t let Diana see you all down in the dumps... I seriously pray that there’s at least one righteous soul out there doing the Lord’s work by killing all these green shits.’

Rustle

"Hmm? Rosie, you’re back." Diana’s serious face turned softer when she saw him.

"Yeah and look what I got." He dropped the sack on the sand and laid it out in the open. "There was this one little goblin left, I call him the Treasure Goblin. Just as his name suggests, he was carrying this huge sack of treasure."

"Hate to break it to you, but they are actually called Treasure Goblins. There is usually only one of them in a camp, and they are always alone since they do not like to share what they have found with the rest of the tribe."

"Oh..."

"Hehe. No need to get so sad. It’s very rare for one to show itself let alone having its treasure stolen. I say you did a fine job~"

The rest of the women also gathered around the sack, curious to see what he brought back.

"... That’s my ring!"

"... And that’s my necklace!"

"... That’s the bracelet my husband made for me!"

"... S-Sword!" The quiet woman quickly latched onto it.

’The sword belongs to her?’ Kurt looked at her with surprise. ’I never would’ve guessed.’

"Mrs. Cooper, is there anything you recognise to be yours?" Diana asked her.

"...No. It’s not like I had anything on me of value when they kidnapped me..."

"Okay, if that’s the case, then Rosie, you may keep the rest of these things."

"Really?"

"Yes. Firstly, you found it and secondly, it’s not like their owners would be here to collect them. Is that okay with everyone?"

They all nodded as they were beaming for joy on having their precious items back.

"Alrighty then," Kurt closed the sack and hid it in a bush. "All that’s left now is to wait for that boat, take it and then we’re home free. While we wait, I want to know..."

The women all held their breath as they watched Kurt become serious.

"What I want to know is...."

"...."

"Who’s hungry~?" He smiled at them.

"Rosie..." Diana held and shook her head as she sighed at his little prank.

"M-Me!" The quiet woman spoke up. "M-Me! I! Hungry!"

"Hmm? You’re not scared of me anymore?"

"N-No. Kurt.. nice.. person. Also.. not.. ugly.. like.. monsters. Very.. handsome. Pretty.. smile." She blushed as she spoke slowly and in broken sentences.

When she finished speaking, she ran behind Mrs. Cooper again and kept sneaking glances at him.

"Oh my, hehe."

"Rosie..." Diana came into his line of sight and stared at him with a threatening glare.

"W-Would you look at that! I think the fishes are calling me to go capture them, haha!"

"Are you sure it’s not to sleep with them?"

"A-Ana~ Would you like to come help me? I’d feel much better with you by my side."

"... Yes." He walked next to him and held his arm while glaring at the blushing woman.

"Ladies. Can I ask you to keep the fire going? We’ll need it for when we come back. And there’s no need to worry about any dangers since I already scoured the area before coming back."

"Yes we will. And thank you for all your hard work, Kurt." Mrs. Coopers elegantly bowed at him.

"C’mon Diana." Kurt pulled her along and walked to the ocean. "And stop glaring at her like that. What if she gets scared all over again."

"...I was just making sure she understood her position."

........

- Nighttime -

"Is that the boat?" Kurt asked Diana as they hid behind the trees in the jungle.

"Looks like it, yes."

Out in the distance they spotted a large object that was headed their way.

"You know, for some reason I pictured an actual rowboat. Not a ship." Kurt whispered as the now identified ship sailed closer to shore.

"Me too. I thought they’d try to be stealthy about this whole dirty operation they had going, but I guess not."

Kurt then dug into his sack of goods and pulled out two steel daggers and a common steel sword which he strapped around his waist.

"You know how to use a sword?" Diana asked. "And here I thought daggers were your main choice of weaponry."

"I know how to use any kind of weapon, it’s just that daggers let me go up and personal with my target." He smiled as if reminiscing.

"As expected of my Rosie hehe~ But there’s no need for that." Diana said as she readied her sword. "I’ll just teleport on deck when they’re close enough and take them all out in one fell swoop."

"No no no no. Then how am I supposed to have fun if you do that? Let’s wait for them to come in close and then take them out. Besides, we need to see how many more women they’re bringing in."

"... Fine. I’ll wait." She eased up on her stance. "Rosie?"

"Yes?"

"What kind of date are we going to go on?"

"O-One thing at a time Diana! Oh! They’re anchoring the ship and coming out with rowboats."

As they looked closer at the ship, they indeed saw a boat coming out.

"Only one boat though?" Kurt asked.

"Maybe they’re bringing only one woman. I can make out two people on board."

"Mmm. If that’s the case, then maybe you should teleport on deck while I take out this goon."

"Alright, now let me just—"

"Wait!" Kurt stopped her again.

"Why’re you stopping me now?"

"Look! At the people that just got off the boat. Isn’t that..."

""Emelie and Dominik?""