The sand swirled and spiraled, covering the night sky. When it stopped, Felicia and Thomas were no longer outside. Patterned circles of red surrounded them, and before them was a kneeling woman with sunkissed skin. The light in her eyes faded as quickly as the hope in her heart was replaced with anger, distress, and fear.
"No... no... Did it fail? It can't be! The summoning was perfect! Unless..."
Taking a closer look at the room, Felicia realized that she was currently in a cave.
"A-Are you here to form the contract?" asked the woman dubiously.
The girl tilted her head. What was happening? She didn't understand.
"Contract?"
The woman took a deep breath. Her eyes darted back and forth between them and the cave entrance.
"Y-You are demons, right? Hiding in the form of children? I-If y' are, please. Please help us. I'll do anything in return!"
Felicia was stupefied. She quickly refuted.
"We aren't--"
"She is," answered the boy beside her.
Thomas leered at her and said, "There's no point trying to hide it. I've already seen everything."
The girl's heart fell. She looked into his heart--
"Don't even try it," he said, narrowing his eyes.
--only to see a jumbled mess.
"You aren't the first to try."
He walked to the cave entrance.
"I'll guard the front. Tell the girl what you need of her, lady."
Felicia bit her lip, not knowing what to do. But, as he walked away, she shouted, "Thomas! Wai--"
"Uwaah!"
Felicia looked at the ground. It was then she noticed the baby lying in a basket beside the woman. The woman took the baby into her arms, cooing it until it came down. She then looked at Felicia before lowering her head, bowing.
With a shaky voice, she said, "Please, help us. I promise, I will pay you with my soul."
Four-chan and Ford left the interrogation room. Not back behind the mirror, but outside the building.
The city was bustling with activity, loud and busy, with people moving left and right. The two goblins ignored the scene and went straight towards the alleyway nearby.
"So, how'd it go?" asked the pig-nosed goblin Gobuta leaning to the side of the department building.
"Stressful," answered Four-chan with a frown on her face. There was no trace of the bumbling fool from the interrogation room.
Ford put a hand inside his coat and asked, "Are you sure the boy can't overhear us here?"
Taking a cigar out of his inner pockets, he offered it to Four-chan. The woman took it.
Gobuta shook his head.
"The scryers already looked through his skills, and intel figured out he'd need to concentrate harder on crowded noises to even notice. Not to mention the amount of sound-proof walls the noise from outside needs to go through to reach his ears."
Tempest had both identification-based skill users and an intelligence department, though the latter was new and still growing. Four-chan cut the cigar's tip with her nail, and lit the other end with a small fire conjured from her fingertip.
"Hence you wanted us to talk outside, right," affirmed Four-chan before taking a puff.
Gobuta nodded.
The short goblin shifted his eyes to the woman and asked, "Why stressful, tho? I thought you were good with kids? You have two waiting at home, right?"
"Dealing with and taking care of kids? Yes, I'm damn sure I'm good at it. But putting on an act and essentially manipulating them to extract potentially crucial information? That's the kind of thing that makes me question the basis of our system."
The good-cop bad-cop treatment that Great Rimuru suggested never really did work out for her. Four-chan found that it was much easier to extract information when her interrogatee underestimated her mental capabilities.
Ford narrowed his eyes and asked, "Are you questioning our leader's intentions?"
Four-chan eyed him and shook her head.
"I have no doubt that Great Rimuru has our best interests at heart, and likewise we have his at ours. What I'm questioning is his rules and methods. He states that we are all equal in his eyes, yet the rules he put out seem to be biased towards humans."
She took another puff.
"Furthermore, some of the methods he gives, such as the good-cop bad-cop techniques, seem rather, what do you call it, theatrical? It's like he was recalling what he saw other people do, not basing it on his own experience on how effective that technique was."
Four-chan wiped her brow.
"It occurs to me that our leader may still be a child. While his charismatic speechcraft and mannerism are undoubtedly unmatched, I find that he is quite lacking in other areas of leadership. It doesn't help that we hide so many records of criminal activities from our leader."
Ford frowned and retorted, "What you said prior. It's all the more reason why we need to hide them. If he finds out that this city isn't as clean as he thought it was, it'll break his heart. It'll discourage him from maintaining his place as our protector."
"On the contrary, I think showing him areas that still need improvement is far better than keeping him in the dark. Do you have so little faith in him? Or is it that you're just afraid of losing your position, chief?"
"Oho? Is this your sense of justice speaking, or is this just you being jealous?"
Both glared at each other.
"Guys, guys! Let's not be hasty now," said Gobuta to calm them down. "We've still got work to do. You haven't even reported what you've found out about him."
Four-chan cleared her throat, making herself more presentable.
"Mission report: the boy is most likely an otherworlder. It appears that his world also has the Voice, or at least something similar to it. While I was able to determine that he has at least a few close ones in his world, primarily his mother, I wasn't able to get any names. Though he entered this world without his intent, the way he was transported seemed to be unlike what most otherworlders claim..."
She and Ford gave a rundown on what they found out.
"I see," nodded Gobuta. "I've never heard of this dungeon thing. The closest thing that comes to mind is the fairy queen's labyrinth. But I've never heard of the Voice giving people specific tasks like this."
Ford confirmed, "Yeah. First I've heard of it."
"All right. You guys did well. Go and have a day off," waved Gobuta.
"" Will do. ""
Watching the two walk away, Gobuta cupped his chin.
"Now, how to break it to the kid. Oh boy."
The next day found Jack and Gobuta walking around town. The latter was half showing him around, and half patrolling. He saw and heard many people, not just humans. Heck, it seemed his kind was the minority around these parts. There were lizardmen, kobolds, dog-people, and the majority: goblins, which he found out was the race of his current traveling companion. It was not unlike Rowlhart, or even Rabianigh. He saw the kinds of things he always did in the middle of the day: people were shopping, selling, bartering. He even saw pig-like construction workers, or as Gobuta called them, the orcs.
Jack frowned at the thought of last night's chat with the goblin beside him.
"So, this is another world?"
"To you, it is."
It didn't take much for the green man to convince him. He already saw maps shown by his interrogators earlier. He didn't recognize any piece of land. He didn't even see the great Sunkiss Desert, the largest region of the continent that covered most of the left side of the continent, only stopped by the Golem Mountain Range in a straight line from north to south.
"How can I get back home?"
"That... Sorry kid. I don't know how either. If anyone ever did find a way back home, then they didn't leave any notes behind."
Seeing him frown, Gobuta added, "But I'll let my leader know about your situation. My leader is known to be a miracle worker, so it might not be impossible for you to get back to your mom. Just... don't be too hopeful about it, 'kay?"
"Hey, you want some corn dogs!?"
Jack's thoughts were interrupted by the one he was just thinking of.
"Corn... dogs?'
The goblin gave him a big smile and handed him one big sausage on a stick.
"Here you are! Oh, don't worry about dogs! We don't actually use dog meat. It's mostly some wild animal's meat."
Taking it from his hand, Jack looked at the bulbous looking sausage skeptically before deciding to just take a bite out of it.
"Mm!"
A soft crunch was what preceded a flood of cheesy delight encapsulating his tongue. As it swam around in the sea of yellow, it touched upon the juiciest meat ever to enter his mouth. Jack's mouth watered, but even that was drowned by the taste of the cheese. He briefly apologized to his lactose intolerant brothers and sisters back at the orphanage for being able to taste something so divine. The Church of Fate was a lie. God was not dead, for the lord was filling his mouth with holy jui--
"Whoah, slow down, kid! Savor the flavor. Another one for my hungry friend, boss!"
After finishing his second piece, they visited other stalls and ate more junk food, much to Gobuta's dismay at his emptying wallet. Their patrol-slash-walk then led them towards the edge of town, where the orcs were working in construction and the farmers tended to their crops. They both took a short rest and sat on a wide stump, looking at the scenery. It was Jack's first time seeing fields of crops. The gradual change from bricked city buildings to wooden and hay houses increasingly fascinated the curious boy. He looked around some more and spotted a gathering of goblin children around a working orc.
"Isn't that dangerous?" Jack pointed out.
Gobuta looked in that direction to see goblin children play with a particularly nonplussed Geld, who was carrying logs in both hands, unable to swerve away from the children without hurting them.
Gobuta chuckled.
"It's fine. Geld might be a hulking giant, but he's the biggest softie I know. The children are practically safer at his feet than anywhere else in town."
Jack looked around some more before he picked up something with his hearing. He turned towards the alleyway between the more bricked houses in the area to see one goblin child staring at the orc playing with the children. Gobuta noticed and turned to look at the spot too.
The goblin waved his hand and shouted, "Hey Tina! Over here! Wanna play with the other kids!?"
The child backed into the alleyway. Jack could hear the small fast footsteps getting further away.
"Hey, wait!" Gobuta ran after her, and Jack followed.
When they arrived at the alley, the girl was already long gone.
"Ah, darn. Well, so much for that."
Jack picked up the scent of... grape? He shook his head.
"Who's the little one?" Jack asked as they walked back to the stump.
"That was Gobu-Lake-Sixty-Nine, or as we like to call her, Tina. Shy girl, that one. Though, it's understandable why. It ain't easy being an orphan, you know?"
Jack froze for a second before agreeing.
"Yeah. It ain't."
Both sat back on the stump. The goblin leaned back and sighed.
"It's good to see both us goblins and the orcs are finally able to get along."
"Hm? What do you mean? Was it not always like this?"
Gobuta looked at him questioningly before realizing something.
"Ah, right! You weren't here before, so you didn't know."
The goblin nodded to himself and explained, "You're right. It wasn't always like this. In fact, it was the opposite. Most of the races in the city never really got along with each other, with some even at war with one another. The most recent one was the orcs against, well, the rest of the Great Jura Forest."
"But why?"
The goblin looked at him uneasily and said, "Well, let's just say they had a huge food problem. So, they wanted to take other people's, err, food supplies."
"What happened then?"
Gobuta gave him a big smile and said, "Our leader solved the problem, of course! Now, with multiple races under Tempest's banner, even the humans and demon lords would think twice before attacking us!"
"Wait, there is more than one demon lord in your world!? How has your world not been destroyed!?"
The goblin looked at him weirdly.
"What do you mean by destroyed?"
Jack scratched his head.
"Well, isn't the demon lord's purpose to destroy the world?"
Gobuta snorted.
"Psh. That's human propaganda."
"Wha?"
Gobuta crossed his legs and explained, "Humans and the demon lords have been at each other's throats since forever ago, mainly the empire and the lord of darkness. Both sides have been fighting for control over the largest areas of the world."
"What for?"
"What else? Conquest, of course. That's why we monsters usually stay away from either of them, else we get caught in the middle of it. Though, there are some monsters who fight for the demon lords. Mostly because humans tend to kill non-humans."
Jack looked down.
"Is that how you guys see it?"
Were there any sentient monsters in his world? If there were, would they be saying the same thing?
The goblin nudged his shoulder and said, "Aww, don't get so down about it. It's just how it is. Not all humans and demon lords are bad, you know? You're here, all good and dandy in Tempest, right? It shows that not everyone is like that."
Jack chuckled.
"Yeah, right. And I might even bump into a demon lord," joked the boy.
Gobuta snapped his fingers.
"Oh, right. You came a little too late. Lady Milim left the city not too long ago. A couple of weeks give or take."
"Lady Mil-who?"
"Lady Milim! One of the first demon lords to ever exist!"
"...Are you pulling my leg, Gobuta?"
The goblin shook his head.
"Of course not! Why would I do that? I even still have the bruise she gave me, see!"
Jack looked closely at the goblin's cheek to see a different shade of green in a fist shape. The goblin pulled his cheek back to show a missing tooth. He held a tooth in his other hand.
"It came off when I accidentally called her a kid. Or was it flat? I don't really remember. All I remember was that I woke up in the infirmary right after."
"Uhh." Jack didn't know what to say.
A bell was rung deeper within the city. Jack heard that it was to tell everyone that it was ten o'clock.
Gobuta hopped off the stump.
"We should get going. Come on."
They walked back into the city, with Gobuta showing him the buildings, such as the cafe, which was run by the, as Gobuta would call them, "sexy dryads~"
They continued their "patrol" until picked up on some shouting in the distance. The both of them followed the sound and came across a ruckus starting to form.
"You ungrateful orcs! Our great leader has graced you with food and shelter, yet you still steal from us!? You still break our homes!? Shame on you!"
"What!? We didn't do anything!"
They walked up to a goblin shouting and pointing at a group of working orcs.
The goblin pointed towards a stall. It was busted and broken, and had its produce scattered on the ground.
"Oh yeah? Then who the fuck else did that!?"
The goblin picked up a bottle. It contained wine that he worked hard to make. He worked in the fields and the distillery, farming grapes and producing wine, both of which he sold at his stall, which had been disrepaired when he came here this morning.
The goblin threw the bottle at the orc who was talking. The orc shielded himself, waiting for the bottle to hit him. Only, it didn't. He looked up to see a shorter goblin holding the bottle in one hand.
"Now, now. There's no need for violence. Stay calm and we'll find the culprit for you, 'kay sir?"
"What are you talking about!? He's right there! It has to be him! He's been eyeing my stall for weeks, I tell you! I always see him staring at my wine! And can't you tell the obvious hoove marks on the ground!?"
"What the—! I only walk around here because this is where I usually walk to and from work! Who wants your stinking wine anyway, you racist! You always sell us orcs overpriced goods!"
Bam!
The commotion was silenced when Gobuta smacked his sheathed blade against one of the stall's poles.
"Enough! I'll investigate who did it, so stop fighting!"
He turned towards Jack and asked, "Can you look out for these guys? I need to check around for a bit."
Gobuta looked at the damaged stall. The first thing he noticed was the hooves. He looked closely and noticed something odd. It was something he often saw at farms, not at the construction sites. These were cow hooves.
If that wasn't enough, then there was also the fact that orcs wore footwear!
Someone had to set this up. This was a hate-crime to provoke a riot between the orcs and goblins.
"Agh! I can't take this anymore! You always treat us so unfairly! No more! No MORE!"
Gobuta looked back and widened his eyes.
"STOP!"
