Chilled exorcist.

Chapter 30: "A cheap job"

I was looking out for guards at the goblin camp. The fort is surrounded by a high palisade — it seems that this is a sufficiently fortified position for defense. Two people are playing ribbons near the gate. I see the flash of metal on the tower, which means there are at least two more archers there. Goblins are not orcs. They always go in pairs or threes. Deprived of a leader, they get lost very quickly and get into squabbles among themselves for leadership. However, everything was surprisingly calm here.

When I crept towards the goblin camp, I was full of confidence that as soon as they fell asleep, I could quickly kill them all. It was enough to remove the sentries, and then there were only about two dozen sleeping archers and scouts. The plan is as reliable as a Costegrad clock. What could possibly go wrong?

The door to the underground prison swung open, and the cage with me sleeping inside was carried in by goblins and hung in front of the dwarf who was already here. Even the milchemist's mask didn't help me this time. Two grenades launched from nearby bushes, near the place from where I was conducting my observation, were especially poisonous.

"What are you doing here?" the mercenary from the next cage asked.

"I've come to save you!" I explained and sighed.

"You stink, man! It smells like a hundred dogs pissed on you, and then you fried the whole thing on fire!" K'yoevghan grimaced instead of thanking him.

"And I'm glad to see you too, old man!" I laughed.

The mercenary also burst into dwarven laughter a few moments later. And then he got serious.

"Where's Zu? If those little bastards killed her, then I swear I'll find a way to get back at them! Eventually, I'll get cold feet and come back! They'll dance with me! Why are you silent? Tell me what happened to her!"

"In general, you correctly noticed that I stink," I briefly retold the story of my meeting with the alpha warg. The mercenary listened to me carefully. K'yoevghan even turned his whole body to the side when I finished speaking. The mercenary was clearly upset by such news. He lowered his head, his lower lip even twitched. Was he really that upset?

"Don't be sad, K'yoevghan, because of the gold! You will have more opportunities to earn money," I decided to support him.

"You're back with your gold!" the mercenary muttered, "I raised her like this, and you, and you..." the dwarf pointed a finger at me. There seemed to be tears in his eyes.

"What is it! He gave my baby to some varg!" the dwarf wailed and clutched his head with both hands.

I must say that the "baby" was already really big. By this time, Zu had finally grown to the size of an adult varg and matured. She was twice the dwarf's height and four times as thick. Even by the standards of the Wargs, it was very, very large, the cheese delicacy must have influenced the growth of bones. Moments later, the dwarf plopped down on his fifth symbol like a plush toy, without bending his legs. He stared straight ahead without blinking... He seemed very upset. I hope that K'yoevghan will understand that Zu will be better off with the pack, she is already a huge and adult predator.

At that moment, four goblins ran into the cellar where we were being held. And then another one came in here. His glasses glinted in the torchlight, just like mine. Out of habit, I had to squint my eyes, on the contrary, I was not wearing protective lenses now. The goblins took them down.

And then she came into the room. In a white transparent dress and yellow hair shimmering with mysterious reflections.

"You shouldn't have come here," Oracle said in a soft voice. Her voice was sad and calm.

"I would have known that the goblins have such a serious leader..." I looked at the big-eared milchemist with glasses.

"You don't understand... I am the leader of these goblins! Because of your stupidity, I was already the leader of the orcs and those bandits, and I am not," Oracle Steel added slightly, and then put her hand on her face. "Who do I have to work with!"

"With goblins," I did not miss the moment to gloat.

"But they are more adequate than you, hunter. You should have refused these scoundrels from the village, and you killed a lot of innocent people for one coin," the girl pointed out my place to me.

"What are you talking about? These bandits have been attacking this settlement for a long time," I took a bug out of my hair. "Hello, a new phobia! Who were they keeping in those cages anyway?"

The Oracle shook her head.

"There is a gang among the villagers that kills the locals. He leaves no witnesses. I wanted to put an end to this by convincing the orcs and gathering those people, but an unwise cold hunter intervened... If you only knew how difficult it is to convince an orc without brute force! But now it's not about them, it's about you," she said, still calmly indignant."

"About me?" I asked.

"Yes, about you," she confirmed, "I want to look into your eyes to see the future."

"Why?"

"I am an Oracle and I feel that a very powerful evil awaits you on the way. I want to know what it is. You hunters never share what you saw behind the wall. The Guardians, even if you don't break the connection with them, block me from seeing what you were fighting. But you will meet evil from beyond the wall, somewhere here in the future, and I want to see what awaits you there ahead."