Chapter 166: Recruiting The Ashmork Artisans

The next morning, the air around Vaal’kor felt different from anything Ka’z had experienced since the village began taking shape. The previous night’s gathering had left a tension hanging over the settlement, and even though the arguments had ended without bloodshed, everyone seemed to be moving with greater caution.

Conversations became quieter whenever members of the older generation passed by, while the younger kobolds gathered in small groups and spoke openly about what had happened.

Lan’ka had still been chosen as Chieftain according to tradition, but the position no longer carried the same unquestioned weight it once had.

With much of the village’s military strength now operating directly under Tu’ka and the most powerful magic beasts treating Ka’z’s group as their own, Lan’ka’s authority existed more through tradition than through the forces that actually protected Vaal’kor.

It was an uncomfortable reality that everyone could feel, even if few were willing to say it aloud.

Inside Ka’z’s home, however, the tension had taken a different form. Ka’z sat at the center of his living room with his legs crossed beneath him, facing Tor across a wooden table.

The young goblin sat stiffly on the opposite side, his hands resting nervously against his thighs while the other fourteen artisans stood behind him. Ru’k, Kurg, Za’r, Tu’ka and Kora were also present, watching the conversation in silence.

The room felt unusually crowded, but nobody seemed interested in leaving. The goblins had spent the night discussing what had happened in the village square, and by morning they had apparently reached the same conclusion.

Tor slowly drew in a breath before speaking. "We are truly grateful for your attempts to protect us, but if I’m being honest, we both know we are no longer safe here and it’s in our best interest to leave before it gets out of hand."

He stood from the chair and moved around it, his movements becoming increasingly nervous as he struggled to find the courage to say what he had come to say.

Then, without another word, he dropped to his knees. The other goblins immediately followed him, their knees striking the floor almost simultaneously as they bowed until their foreheads touched the ground. Tor’s voice trembled as he continued,

"But please... Let us go before tragedy befalls us!"

Ka’z stared at them with an oddly empty gaze. There was no anger in his expression, nor was there any amusement. He simply looked at the group kneeling before him for several seconds before calmly shaking his head as though the answer should have been obvious from the beginning.

"No."

The single word settled over the room with such blunt finality that Tor and the other goblins slowly raised their heads, genuine shock spreading across their faces.

They had expected Ka’z to refuse. They had prepared themselves for an argument, perhaps even a long explanation. What they had not expected was how effortlessly he had dismissed their request.

"But why?" Tor asked as he pushed himself back onto his feet. "We have already built the village and you know everything we know. We are no longer needed."

His voice carried desperation, but there was also a trace of reason behind his argument.

The village was now standing. The walls were being raised. The well and channels were functional. Their usefulness had diminished considerably compared to the day they were captured.

Ka’z slowly nodded. "That is true."

He could not deny it. He pointed toward the chair at the other end of the table, and after a moment of hesitation, Tor returned to his seat.

The other goblins remained standing behind him, their eyes fixed nervously on Ka’z.

"I have two reasons why I cannot let you go." Ka’z raised one finger. "The first is that you are still goblins of the Ashmork clan. If I release you, you will just head back and rebuild everything I destroyed in the eastern region, which will spell trouble for us. Or do you think I killed all the other artisans and kept only fifteen of you alive for no reason?"

Ka’z raised a brow, and Tor immediately shuddered. The question was enough to remind him that their survival had never been an accident. Ka’z had deliberately chosen them.

"Ashmork must never rise again," Ka’z continued, his voice remaining calm despite the severity of his words. "If I can’t keep you here, I will kill every one of you to safeguard the future of Vaal’kor."

Tor’s entire body stiffened. The other goblins exchanged frightened glances, and one of them instinctively lowered his head again. Tor stared at Ka’z with genuine horror.

Until that moment, Ka’z had been the only person in Vaal’kor who consistently treated them with something resembling kindness. He had defended them when the villagers attacked. He had ensured that the injured received treatment and had given them food, shelter and work instead of chains.

That kindness had given Tor enough confidence to believe he could approach Ka’z and ask for their freedom. Now he understood that the kindness existed within boundaries that Ka’z would not compromise.

"Don’t think too much about it. If it were anyone else receiving this request, you probably wouldn’t have survived long enough to finish it," Tu’ka said from the side of the room, his purple eyes narrowing slightly.

Ka’z did not need to acknowledge him because everyone already understood what he meant. The goblins had seen enough of Tu’ka to know that he was not someone who tolerated threats to Vaal’kor.

Ka’z lowered his raised finger and lifted a second one. "The second reason is the same reason I don’t have you all chained up now."

His gaze moved across the fifteen goblins before returning to Tor. "I plan to build a kingdom for all races in the Evergreen Forest. Goblins, Gnolls, halflings... You name it. I plan to build a kingdom where all of them can coexist peacefully, and for that reason, I cannot let my people have their way and drive you guys away."

"Vaal’kor will be your new home, and a safe place for all goblins to come and live as well. That is my dream, and I will make it happen."

For several seconds, nobody spoke. The horror on Tor’s expression slowly gave way to surprise. He exchanged glances with the other artisans, but their faces showed the same uncertainty.

Even Ru’k remained quiet, though his eyes narrowed thoughtfully as he listened.

Tor finally looked back at Ka’z and shook his head. "With all due respect, that is impossible. Goblins and kobolds can never live together. Gnolls can never live together with kobolds or goblins. Haflings can’t live together with anyone. We have different traditions and cultures. It’s just insane to think that’s possible."

Almost everyone in the room nodded at that statement. Even Ru’k reluctantly lowered his head in agreement. The idea sounded impossible because everything they had experienced suggested that it was impossible.

The tribes of the Evergreen Forest had spent generations fighting over territory, resources and old grievances. The Ashmork had attacked Vaal’kor. The kobolds had retaliated by destroying Ashmork. Gnolls controlled other regions of the forest and had their own conflicts with Haflings, goblins and kobolds.

Expecting all of them to suddenly become one people was not simply optimistic. To the people who had lived through those conflicts, it sounded like madness.

Ka’z, however, did not argue. Instead, he reached beneath the table and pulled out the Red Scripture.

The moment the familiar red cover appeared, the atmosphere in the room changed. Tor’s eyes widened, and several of the older goblins instinctively stepped backward.

Ka’z placed the ancient scripture on the table between them with a quiet thud. Tu’ka remained completely calm. He already knew what was coming.

"I have finished reading this book," Ka’z said. "It belongs to Luthor D’ Lanthor, prince of the Kingdom of Lanthor. The place where the humans your people have come across several times come from."

Tor shot to his feet so quickly that the chair scraped violently against the floor. Every goblin in the room stiffened, and even Ru’k looked sharply toward Ka’z. Tor’s mouth hung open as he stared at him as though he had suddenly become something other than a kobold.

"You can speak human tongue?" Tor muttered.

Ka’z nodded casually. "It’s simple English. It’s nothing special." He shrugged as though the revelation meant very little.

But to the goblins, it meant everything.

Their expressions changed completely. They stared at Ka’z with a mixture of disbelief and fear, their minds struggling to reconcile what they had just heard.

The Ashmork clan had spent two generations trying to decipher the information contained within the Red Scripture.

Generations of scholars had studied its pages, experimented with its words and attempted to understand the knowledge left behind by Luthor D’ Lanthor. Yet Ka’z had entered their world, taken the book and completely read it in six months.

"How?" Tor mumbled.

"Because he is the child of prophecy." Tu’ka’s voice cut through the silence, drawing everyone’s attention.

He stepped forward slightly, his purple eyes fixed on the goblins. "The one destined to lead our Vaal’kor clan to prosperity. I’m sure you have all seen just how capable he is. That’s why he could master your Words of Power and runes in one glance while it took your kind decades."

The goblins slowly turned toward Tu’ka before their shocked expressions returned to Ka’z. This time, they were not simply looking at the young kobold who had defeated their clan.

Ka’z watched their expressions without interrupting.

"Your Ashmork clan was really powerful, but it never stood a chance," Ka’z said. "My attacks on your farmlands, barns and hunters were all directives from the heavens. It wasn’t that your people were too weak. You just lacked the backing of the heavens, so you were bound to lose against me and my small team of ten warriors."

Tor’s knees suddenly buckled.

He fell backward and crashed onto the ground with a heavy thud, his hands catching against the floor as he stared at Ka’z’s indifferent face.

Memories rushed through his mind. Varg’s warnings and Grash’s decision to attack the Vaal’kor colony. The strange rumors that their chief shaman had spoken about a dragon appearing in the southern region. Before they believed he was talking as the Vaal’kor colony as a whole But now another possibility formed in Tor’s mind.

What if the dragon Varg had spoken about had never been the entire colony?

What if the dragon had been Ka’z himself?

Ka’z could see that if he waited for the goblins to recover from the shock, he might never get anything done. He therefore continued before the weight of his words could completely overwhelm them.

"According to your Red Scripture, the human Kingdom has taken an interest in the Evergreen Forest. They sent a scout team, and the prince tagged along. However, their team was attacked by the guardian of the central region, and most of them were killed. Only a handful barely survived, and that’s where his writing ended."

Tor slowly lifted his head.

Ka’z leaned back slightly. "I’m guessing his party was ambushed by Grash and your Ashmork warriors after they encountered the weakened humans. They killed the prince and stole his journal alongside many other things."

Nobody contradicted him, the silence itself was enough.

Ka’z had no proof that Grash’s warriors were responsible, but the circumstances made the connection obvious enough for him to present it as his working conclusion.

He leaned forward and looked directly into Tor’s eyes. "You know what a scout team is, right?"

Tor slowly nodded.

Ka’z rose from his chair and walked around the table. He stopped among the goblins, forcing them to look up at him as he spoke. "The Kingdom of Lanthor will enter this forest with a large army eventually to avenge its prince and claim everything the Evergreen Forest has to offer."

The words made the room completely still.

"My decision to build a kingdom where all beasts can coexist is not out of wishful thinking." Ka’z stopped beside an older goblin artisan and looked across the room. "My decision was made out of necessity. If we do not unite into one people and one army, our clans will be overrun and killed by humans. And all this bullshit land, Chieftain position, wealth and fame we are fighting for will cease to exist."

He turned back toward Tor.

"That is why you cannot go back. This village is your home, and it is the home of all survivors of the Ashmork clan," Ka’z declared. "Everyone must unite. That is not an option."