On the ancient but apparently sturdy bunk bed of the tower, rested someone from another race. Meeting the goblins had immunized his reactions, but Chu still reeled in shock. He always harbored the thought of encountering species with large tails, fins, or distinguishing features.

  The one sitting up on the bed certainly possessed unforgettable features. Looking at the fur blanket, which tucked away the lower half and the armless vest covering the upper body, which leaned against the bedhead, he couldn't help but stare.

  The outline of the legs and hips hidden under the fur matched the curvaceous body that bloomed like a flower from the earth. The exposed shoulders and arms emerged as if sculpted and caressed to perfection by the masters.

  The hand and fingers resting over the covered lap represented those of a princess. Fingernails of gold proved worthy of claiming a pedestal.

  Hair, white as the virgin mountain caps, cascaded down her shoulders and disappeared behind the lithe back. The oval face represented a goddess descending on earth, shadowing all of the beauties Chu had ever seen in both worlds.

  He gazed past the enticing lips and delicate nose to lock eyes inside a tranquil, pitch-black sea. Golden pupils shaped like vertical slits measured his gaze in silence.

  With a hue matching the flames of a roaring fire, this entity cast the first impression of a deadly succubus. Chu half expected a pair of horns and a tail to materialize eventually.

  Was this truly a different race? Or was this a product of natural selection? The features were just too similar.

  The delicate creature before him entranced his mind with features matching a female beauty, but it leaked a familiar aura.

  Sheer brutality.

  The type was similar to feral in nature.

  His muscles tensed on reflex as his subconscious screamed danger. The enraptured daze shattered as his mind regained clarity.

  A slight cough broke the lengthy silence. An air of seriousness descended into the room.

  Chu swallowed the saliva in his throat before tearing his eyes away. The cough stemmed from the second occupant sitting on a stool beside the bed. An ornamental dress of stitched fur and threads enclosed a doll-like figure.

  A veil suiting the woodland ambiance shrouded the child-like head. The slender green fingers resting on her small lap revealed the identity of this goblin female.

  His guess came mostly from the prostrating goblin companion chomping on the stone floor with his forehead.

  "Lucy greets the Goblin Shaman."

  "Chu greets the Goblin Shaman."

  Chu repeated following Lucy. He recalled the Shaman had met with Miki and Lucy during their last encounter.

  Unnoticed, ever since they entered, Zubyia had dropped to the ground. To any goblin, gazing directly at the Shaman earned the whooping punishment of death. Umpteen years of human indoctrination failed to override this single rule.

  Licking the stones, from his position, the goblin translator conveyed the words.

  A goblin didn't need eyes to translate between luminaries.

  "The Divine Shaman greets the Slayer of the Terror. The exalted Shaman also greets the human from the alliance."

  Zubyia conveyed the words of the one standing at the pinnacle of the goblin race.

  Chu paused since he heard the Shaman continue to utter additional words in her sing-song voice. Of course, he continued to sneak covert glances at the figure on the bed. During this first personal meeting, the goblin shaman also roused his interest.

  Natural curiosity goaded him into imagining if this female actually presented an appearance similar to the aesthetically lacking goblin, slaving on the ground.

  Glancing at Zubyia, he noticed the long ears of the goblin twitch as if thinking and searching for words from its limited vocabulary. Moments later, Zubyia decided to just repeat the untranslated words.

  If Chu had listened to the Shaman and not been entranced, he probably might not have reacted as much on hearing the sentence.

  "When a tribe of Hakkim falls beyond the mountains, disaster soon follows..."

  Chu nearly stumbled on hearing the translation. Swiveling his head, he focused on the entity on the bed. His stare this time was not one hooked onto appearance but on what this figure represented.

  The shock is comparable to someone unveiling a Dodo in the twenty-first century.

  No, maybe closer to an Atlantean materializing before him.

  Not long ago, he embarked on a journey of discovery.

  During his searches for an ancient language, Elder Norivak presented him with a scroll. The old mage spent his younger years delving through the stacks of manuscripts collecting dust in the depths of the library to translate a single page.

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  The Rosetta Stone of this world bridged the gap of an ancient culture long forgotten.

  Today, one of those words rolled off the Goblin Shaman's tongue.

  Hakkim

  An unlikely source indeed!

  Chu realized why the word remained undecipherable without a suitable translation.

  It was a noun.

  A word describing a Race, a member of which now lay before him. He struggled to recall the contents of the scroll, which presently eluded him.

  The young Hakkim, lying on the bed, grimaced while repositioning on the bed. For the first time since the meeting, the alluring lips opened to allow words carrying an air of dignity to emerge.

  Chu stood with a solemn expression while waiting until she finished before turning to the Goblin Shaman.

  "What did she say?"

  "Shaman says not speak the language. Words familiar but meaning lost through countless suns. Sun may rise and fall but goblin lore says she from Hakkim race. Part of Ancient Alliance, a destroyer of humans and also a friend of humans."

  Chu raised an eyebrow while twitching his lips.

  Pointing to a three-legged stool under a stone cabinet, he waited for a nod of permission from the Shaman. Dragging it out to the center of the room beside the prostrating goblin, he seated himself with a long sigh.

  Lucy remained standing next to him out of respect for the Shaman and as an indication of his status.

  "The Shaman thinks rather highly of me, but this meeting may be beyond my scope of understanding."

  Chu said as if beginning a monologue.

  "First of all, a Hakkim is someone who might only be known to a few Mages in the Tower. Whatever discussion or message she might have, is best left to those old codgers."

  He pointed at the being on the bed who appeared with the countenance of a young lady.

  "Secondly, that person there reeks of danger. If something can injure them to the point of being bedridden, I certainly don't want to face such an adversary. Shaman also mentioned about an entire tribe falling beyond the mountains."

  Chu turned to the Shaman while allowing Zubyia time to translate his words before continuing.

  "Beyond those northern mountains are demon beasts. Shaman's revelation has a high probability that what wiped out an entire Hakkim tribe were high-level demon beasts. The kind that makes a horde of Bitzers look like a flock of pheasants."

  He inhaled deeply.

  "Between the seriousness of the meeting place and the few words spoken, the Shaman needs to know that my little shoulders cannot handle this load. Anything more destructive than a horde of Bitzers requires assistance from the Empire."

  Chu rose from the stool.

  Sersen or no Sersen, he surmised that the injured woman could rip him to shreds in an instant. At this time, his main priority lay in nurturing his abilities and securing the farm defenses.

  Sooner or later, whatever wiped out that tribe of Hakkim and injured this person will be coming to collect.

  Just when he deemed himself safe, another bomb dropped into his hands. In this brief meeting, Chu received a boatload of data to process. All sorts of questions cropped up in his brain, but the mention of ancient alliances frightened him.

  No talk that required representatives of entire races could bode well. Part of his mind had already begun to feverishly think about whom he could palm over this trouble.

  An inquiring voice entered his ears from the lady on the bed. Or at least what he likened to a young lady.

  Chu locked eyes as she repeated what sounded to be the same words.

  The young Hakkim grimaced again as she sat up on the bed. The fur fell while revealing a slim belly exposed by the short vest. The curvy figure had excellent proportions of fat and muscle, blessing a toned stomach.

  The sight would have proved more alluring if not for the caked herbal paste lining a vicious-looking scar.

  His eyes focused on the open palm she extended slightly in front of her. Muttering the strange language, a small silvery orb the size of a golf ball manifested itself. Without warning, it shattered into specks resembling shining dust. Chu was still engrossed in this magical act when Lucy spoke.

  "Chu, your arm!"

  Glancing around, he followed her finger to the dull but silvery light dissipating near his shoulder. He spotted a similar situation on Lucy's arm as well.

  The first thing he did was extend out an arm to prevent any retaliatory actions by Lucy. Miscommunication had always had an uncanny way of creating wars. Since he did not feel different, and the Shaman had not acted, Chu turned his eyes upon the Hakkim.

  He refused to believe the leader of a race who depended on him for food would seek to harm him.

  The glow lifted like a morning mist under the summer sun.

  With a fatigued expression, the Hakkim leaned onto the bedhead while staring at him. This time, only one word escaped her mouth. Facing the Shaman, she firmly repeated the word.

  The Goblin Shaman tilted her small head in a curious manner upon hearing the word. Her sing-song voiced drifted out to Zubyia who never once raised his head off the stones.

  "All races owe Hakkim a debt of gratitude for exiling over mountains. All who learn from Hakkim cannot renege on debt."

  Chu looked at Zubyia before returning a stare at the Goblin Shaman. Ignoring etiquette, he lifted a finger and pointed.

  "This is the first time I've met a Hakkim."

  The Shaman shook her head.

  "No. You have learned from Hakkim. You are obligated."

  "I only met this lady today! What could I have possibly learned from a Hakkim?"

  Chu exclaimed. After experiencing the seal on his heart, like hell he would fall into any crazy binding agreements of this world.

  The Goblin Shaman, however, shattered his thoughts of denial with a blast. Pointing a thin, green finger at him, she explained in one word.

  "Magic!"

  ***

  "Did you know, Zubyia, I actually dreamed of constructing a little castle of my own next to the forest. Yes, just last week I sketched out the plans for the layouts. Heated spas, piping for hot water, radiators in the bedrooms, windmill-driven water pumps, even a flushing toilet. I even aspired to fashion an outdoor swimming pool."

  Chu folded his legs while sitting outside the resting room of the Hakkim before continuing his solo conversation.

  "Now, meh, I'm not so sure. It might be better to take my chances in the city. First, when I wanted to move out of the slums, a Snowbear nearly ate me. Then I repaired a barn, only for a wolf demon to aggravate me. When I learned fighting skills, bandits tortured me. I built a wall, goblins attacked me. Recently, I journeyed to further my education, only to have Bitzers trying to crack open my skull. Now I learned magic, only for the one who patented it, wanting to collect a debt."

  He glanced at the silent goblin.

  "The gods in this world seem bent on seeing me suffer, right?"

  Ignoring the pointed ears and long nose that practically drooped after every question and the twitching, fiddling fingers, Chu droned.

  "That attractive Hakkim might be a stunning bombshell, but she can't fool me. Whatever injured her has to be mighty dangerous. Like hell, I'm going to stick around her. When this is done, I am going to lock myself up in my home and forget about this world. This man can't even think about adventuring without having to solve some life-threatening nonsense!"

  His eyes narrowed at the goblin,

  "How come you're not answering me? Aren't we friends?"

  Chu asked the wavering goblin, not knowing the fear he instilled in the creature.

  Ironically, if he had never associated with the goblins or migrated to a city when first arriving, he would never have lived this experience.

  "Chu, I found it. Luckily, we brought a few sheets of paper and a pen."

  Lucy interrupted his soliloquy. Raising an eyebrow at the relieved Zubyia hugging and kissing her boot, she shot him a curious look.

  "What's wrong with him?"

  "Like hell if I know. He was standing here listening to me attentively a moment ago."

  Chu replied. He waved to the two of them.

  "Let's go. Zubyia, it's time for you to pay back for all those months of winter vacation."