Chapter 37 What is it, exactly, that you want the Cat Boss to do?

I could feel my body shivering uncontrollably, but I forced myself to continue.

“Y-yes, Rakrak, he... he wants to expand his influence, to make new breeding farms. He sent me to... to scout the forest, to gather information. But I don’t want to help him! My kin, the hatchlings... they’re suffering, being tortured every day, and I...” My voice broke, the emotions overwhelming me. Tears welled up in my eyes, and I wiped them away with my filthy hand.

“I-I just want to save them.”

For a moment, the room fell silent. The Cat Boss uncrossed his arms, taking a few steps toward me. His movements were slow but not threatening. My heart raced, unsure of what he was about to do.

“And what is it you want from me?” 

 His golden eyes narrowed slightly as if he were measuring me, assessing my worth.

I swallowed hard, gathering what little courage I had left.

“I... I want to free the goblins. I don't want Rakrak to hurt us anymore. I... I need your help.” My voice was trembling, but I spoke the truth.

“I’m just a weak, cowardly goblin. I can’t do it alone. But you... you and your warriors... you could...”

The Cat Boss let out a low chuckle, cutting me off.

“You come all this way, shaking in your boots, to ask me to help you take down one of your own?”

I flinched, my breath catching in my throat. His words twisted in my ears, but I forced myself to stay standing, to not cower like the pathetic creature I was.

“N-no! Not one of my own! Rakrak—he's not like me! Not like us! He’s evil! He hurts, he kills, he destroys, evil goblin, he—” My words tumbled out, frantic, desperate, until I bit my tongue to stop my own rambling.

The Cat Boss tilted his head, watching me. 

“Evil, huh? And tell me, little goblin, what makes you so different? Why should I believe you aren’t just another one of his filthy, sniveling lackeys, sent to worm your way into my trust before stabbing me in the back?”

My stomach twisted, and I dropped to my knees before him, pressing my forehead to the floor. The stone was cold against my skin, but I barely noticed.

“Because I hate him,” I whispered.

The Cat Boss didn’t respond, so I kept going, my voice rising.

“I hate him more than anything in this cursed world! He took everything from me! My friends, my home, my hatchlings... He turned us into slaves. He forced us to live in filth and fear, to watch our own kind be torn apart for amusement, to let our younglings suffer—” My voice cracked, but I clenched my fists and kept going.

“I want to be a free goblin, not his goblin. I want no master. I want home. No kin left to serve. I... I just want to stop him. Even if I have to die doing it.”

“You got guts, little goblin. I'll give you that.”

I swallowed hard, my breath shaking.

“But guts don’t mean anything without strength. Tell me—if I were to send my warriors to war against Rakrak, what’s stopping me from just wiping out all of you goblins? You say you want to save them, but what if they don’t want to be saved? What if they choose to fight for Rakrak? What if they like being the monsters that everyone already believes you are?”

I clenched my fists, my knuckles turning pale under my filthy green skin. My heart pounded in my chest, not from fear—but from something else. From rage. From desperation. 

I forced myself to look up at the Cat Boss, my lip trembling, my voice raw and uneven.

“We—goblin slaves—we are not following Rakrak. We are not fighting for him. We are not fighting anyone. We are just... cattle. Cattle to be used as they please. Evil goblins take whatever they want from us. If they’re hungry, they grab one of us and butcher them for dinner. If they want a snack, they rip a hatchling from its nest and swallow it whole.”

A bitter sob tore through my throat, and I wiped my arm across my snot-covered nose.

“They beat us. They break us. They make us do horrible things—horrible things—” My stomach churned, flashes of memories I wanted to forget clawing at my mind. The screaming. The crying. The begging.

“We don’t fight for them. We fear them.”

I gritted my teeth.

“We obey because if we don’t, we die. If we refuse, they make us suffer. They take the ones we care about and make us watch as they... as they...” My words died in my throat. I clenched my teeth so hard it hurt.

I took a breath. A deep, painful breath.

“No goblin slave will ever stand with Rakrak. Not by their own free will. Never.”

He pushed off the table with a soft creak of wood and took a step forward.

“I heard all that. Your pain. Your fear. The misery your kind has suffered.”

He paused in front of me, his towering figure casting a long shadow over my tiny, shivering frame.

“But… I didn’t hear an answer to my question.”

My mouth opened, then closed again.

The Cat Boss crouched, so his eyes were level with mine. His fur bristled ever so slightly around his neck, and his fangs glinted just beneath his lips as he spoke—quietly, but like a dagger sliding into flesh.

“I asked you, little goblin—what do you want from me? Not what Rakrak did. Not what your kin suffer. Not a history lesson soaked in blood and tears.”

His pupils narrowed to slits.

“I want your answer. Clear. Loud. No trembling.”

He leaned in closer, so I could feel the heat of his breath on my face.

“What is it, exactly, that you want the Cat Boss to do?”

I swallowed hard, my throat dry as old bones, but I lifted my head and met the Cat Boss’s eyes.

“I want Rakrak dead, evil goblins gone. And my kin—my fellow slaves—saved.”

I clenched my filthy fists, the words coming out clearer now, like they'd been burning inside me for too long.

“We won’t fight for him. None of us want war. We just want to live... to be free... maybe even have friends.”

 Cat Boss narrowed his golden eyes again, the tip of his tail twitching slowly behind him. His voice came low and skeptical, like a blade slowly being drawn from its sheath.

“Hmph… You say your kind won’t fight for him. But this Rakrak fella… from the sound of it, he knows exactly how to make someone do what they don’t want to do. I’ve seen beasts like him before. Monsters who don’t need loyalty—they just need leverage. A chain around your neck, a knife to your loved one’s throat, and suddenly even the kindest soul becomes a killer.”

He stood straight again, crossing his thick arms.

“So tell me this, little goblin—what happens when Rakrak shoves your kin to the front lines? When he puts spears in their hands and tells them to march? Will they still be peaceful then?”

“N-no, please—please believe me!” I stammered, “My kin, the slaves, w-we don’t want to fight! We fear violence—we tremble just looking at the spears! Some cry just hearing the sound of clashing metal! We don’t even think of holding weapons… it’s not in us!”

I clutched my bony chest, my voice breaking into a pitiful squeak.

“But... but it’s true, yes, I know,” I admitted, my head hanging low. 

“The goblin masters… they can force us. They can beat us, burn us, twist our limbs until we have no choice. I’ve seen it! I’ve felt it!”

My hands rose again, pleading, shaking like torn leaves in a storm.

“But I—! I have a plan! I can go back, back to the breeding farm! I can tell them, tell my kin... there’s salvation! That the great Cat Boss offers mercy, not death! If they know there’s a way out, they won’t fight! They’ll drop their spears, their blades—they’ll lie down and wait to be saved! They won’t die for Rakrak… they hate him! They just need a reason not to obey! Please… let me go back. Let me tell them.”

“If you can assure me,” Cat Boss said at last, “that your people—the ones you're trying so hard to save—won’t stand in our way, won’t meet my warriors with spears trembling in their hands...”

He leaned forward slightly, his eyes narrowing, voice dipping into a growl, “…then maybe… just maybe… there’s a way.”

There was a brief silence.

Then, with a breath that came more like a grunt, he relaxed just a hair. His arms lowered, and his gaze drifted to the shadows cast by the flickering torchlight.

“I’ve heard of this place. This camp you speak of. My scouts brought word of it not long ago. One of the goblin breeding pits. Disgusting filth. Built in recent days.”

His brow tightened, a slow, furious frown crawling onto his face.

“I was already thinking of dealing with it soon—wiping it out before it could get worse. But now…”

He turned his head toward me once more, eyes sharp, voice cold.

“Now it seems the matter can’t wait much longer. You say you’ll speak to them? That they’ll listen to you? Then speak fast, little one. If they raise blades against my warriors, I won’t wait for pleas and promises. Prove to me your kin can choose peace.”