Chapter 32 Caught up in the Moment

Goblinworth's heart raced like a stampede of wild horses as he laid eyes on the radiant figure of Master Helen approaching. Panic gripped him like a vice, squeezing out any semblance of composure he might have had. His eyes darted around, wide and frantic, resembling a trapped animal desperately seeking an escape route.

"Uh-oh, my goddess! Why she comes? Oh, no, no, no! Not now, not like this! What am I gonna do?!" Goblinworth mumbled to himself, his voice a blend of frantic desperation and barely intelligible gibberish.

"Maybe if I just... pretend to be invisible? Yeah, yeah, that could work, right? Just gotta stand real still and pretend I'm not even here!" he rambled, his voice shaky and high-pitched.

The group of goblins distracted her attention with their silly bowing and worshiping act. Meanwhile, Goblinworth was in a panic.

His wide eyes darted around like a squirrel caught in the headlights of an oncoming car, and his breath came in short, ragged bursts. He was like a fish out of water, flopping around in a state of utter disarray.

"Oh, woe is me! Look what those pesky goblins have done to me! It's an absolute disaster! My finely tailored clothes, my pristine reputation, all in tatters! I need to hide while they are distracting her!"

He had been subjected to a goblin prank, tossed into a fountain, stripped of his clothes, and left to fend for himself in the most embarrassing state possible. His distress was real, and he longed for a chance to don his butler uniform and regain some semblance of dignity.

"Ooh! Oh dear, oh, dear! What to do, what to do? This is all going pear-shaped! Me trousers! My beautiful trousers, they've vanished into thin air, they have! Someone, anyone, bring me a towel! Oh, sweet Goblin King, I'm as exposed as a mushroom in the moonlight!" he squeaked, his voice reaching an octave that only dogs could possibly appreciate.

 Just as he frantically searched for a lifeline to save himself from the impending embarrassment, Helen and Olivia approached, their gazes fixing on the cluttered goblins as if they were the main attraction of a peculiar spectacle.

The realization of his predicament crashed over him like a tidal wave, and his cheeks turned a shade of red that rivaled a ripe tomato. Feeling a deep shame settling in, Goblinworth abandoned all semblance of poise and decorum, and in a moment of pure desperation, he scuttled toward me with the agility of a crab, taking refuge behind my leg like a mouse seeking shelter from the storm.

His grip on my leg was as tight as a barnacle clinging to a ship's hull, his ears drooping low enough to touch his toes in sheer mortification. He whispered to me with a voice that was as timid as a leaf caught in a gust of wind, "Please, oh please, Master Kazuki, hide me from this circus of humiliation. I can't bear to be seen like this. Not by goddess Helen, please, shield me from her eyes. I can't bear the shame of being seen in such a tragic state."

Meanwhile, the group of goblins stopped their nonsensical bowing act and stood up, gawking with a mixture of fascination and glee. They chattered amongst themselves in their unique goblin tongue, their words sounding like a whimsical racket of nonsensical syllables.

"Master Helen's here! Master Helen's here!" one of the goblins yelled, hopping on one foot in excitement.

Another goblin, with an alarming fascination for shiny rocks, chimed in while pointing his finger at Goblinworth, "Helen pretty, pretty! Goblin shiny-butt, shiny-butt! Master Helen here, naked goblin run! Naked scuttle! He's a shiny naked goblin now, hehe!" 

Amongst the chaos, a trio of goblins huddled together, their expressions morphing from awe to sheer panic.

 "What do we do? What do we do? We bow but master not pleased!" one of them squeaked in a high-pitched voice.

The second goblin, in a fit of distress, grabbed his own ears and tugged at them frantically. 

"Ears, ears! My ears do not know what to do! Goblin in trouble, goblin in trouble! Stupid ears! What do I do?"

The third goblin, known for his rather limited grasp of vocabulary, chimed in with an equally urgent tone, "Oh no! Shiny pretty Boss goblin, big trouble! Bad, bad, very bad!"

Amidst the cacophony of worried goblin voices, one goblin, in particular, seemed to be in a state of utter confusion. 

"Trouble? Trouble what? No, understand! Goblins run in circles! Circles of confusion, yes!"

Like wildfire, they all started to panic and run in circles shouting nonsense.

"Urgent situation! Urgent situation!" 

"Gob-panic! Gob-panic!"

"Help! Goblins in distress! Distress! Goblins!" 

 "Oh no, no, no! Run, gob-friends, run! The mysterious doom approaches, and we're all doomed to be doomed! It's the doomiest of dooms!"

 "Doom, doom, we dance in the face of doom!" 

Amidst the chaos that had erupted, the goblins were like a swirling vortex of panic, their actions hilariously nonsensical. It was as if someone had flipped a switch, unleashing a torrent of frantic energy that sent them into a frenzy.

"Glorp the wobbly slippers! My slippers, they're not where I left them, glorp!" one goblin wailed, clutching at his head in sheer dismay.

"I've lost me shiny pebble! Who took it, who? Gobble and squirm, where's me pebble, squabble!" another goblin shrieked, his eyes darting madly around.

In an absurd sequence of events, one goblin attempted to put on his hat, but it ended up on his foot instead. 

"Help! I've grown a new hat-foot, wobble-wobble, someone call a goblin wizard!" he cried, stumbling around in his hat-foot confusion.

"I can't find my pants! Oh, by the goblin gods, where are they?! Where's pants? Oh no, pants are gone!" another goblin wailed, seemingly oblivious to the fact that his pants were looped around his neck like a makeshift scarf.

"Gah! Goblins scatter! Scatter like leaves in the wind!" another goblin yelled, its gesticulations so dramatic that it looked more like a hastily rehearsed dance routine.

The goblins' attempts at order were a spectacular failure as they collided, tumbled, and tripped over themselves in their desperate frenzy. In their minds, the sight of Master Helen was more terrifying than any mythical monster or ancient curse. They screeched and scuttled about in all directions, their eyes wide with a mix of horror and confusion. In a mare second none of them were left in sight.

Helen turned to me and her gaze, both bemused and curious, met Goblinworth's frantic expression.

 "Ah, isn't that a Goblinworth hiding behind you, Lumi's dear goblin butler? Are you alright?" she asked, her voice a gentle melody that seemed to mock his inner turmoil.

His eyes widened as Helen's gaze momentarily flickered in his direction, and his heart lurched like a clumsy cart careening downhill as she asked him a question. In a desperate bid for cover, he shuffled behind a conveniently placed potted plant that was next to us, leaving only his twitching ears and the top of his head visible.

"Oh, great, brilliant move, Goblinworth! Now you're just a goblin-shaped plant. Real inconspicuous," he muttered, his words dripping with sarcasm, though mostly directed at himself.

But as Helen's soothing voice resonated through the air again, Goblinworth's panic-stricken expression slowly morphed into one of timid hope. Maybe, just maybe, he could salvage this encounter.

"Hey, what are you doing hiding behind that plant?" She gently asked.

 He peeked out from behind his leafy barricade, his eyes wide and pleading.

"Ma-Master Helen, you see, I was just... um... inspecting the plant, yes! Just doing my diligent goblin duties, you know?" he stammered, his voice rising several notches in pitch.

In the midst of his blundering attempt at an explanation, Goblinworth's gaze fixated on a particularly intriguing speck of dirt on the floor, as if it held the secrets to the universe itself.

"Hmmm, fascinating dirt, isn't it? Oh, but, uh, I mean, not that I'm avoiding eye contact or anything! Definitely not!" he babbled, his ears reddening like two freshly plucked apples.

Helen's gaze zeroed in on Goblinworth, who was practically vibrating with his own anxiety. 

"Goblinworth, are you... okay?" She asked gently.

Goblinworth's mouth flapped open and shut like a fish that had suddenly found itself on a dry, sandy shore.

 "Uhh... y-y-y-yes, Master Helen! I-I'm totally, umm, alright. Just, you know, having a little goblin moment here."

His arms flailed about as if seeking to evade his own words, and he chuckled nervously in a manner that resembled a chicken attempting to impersonate a stand-up comedian. He rubbed his head so hard that it might as well have been a rabbit's attempt to dig a tunnel to safety. 

"N-n-n-no worries, Master Helen, I'm just, uh, really, really enjoying... the view. Yes, that's it."

Helen's elegant eyebrow arched like a raised drawbridge, her eyes twinkling with restrained laughter. 

"The view, Goblinworth?"

The goblin nodded with all the conviction of a squirrel declaring its dominance over a nut.

 "Absolutely, Master Helen! The... uhhh... the scenery is... exceptionally, you know, scenic. Very scenic. Like, it's right there, just being all scenic and stuff."

His gaze fixated on a pebble that was probably contemplating its own existence, and he stammered on, trying to assemble words into something that resembled coherence.

 "I-I-I mean, not that you aren't p-p-pretty... I mean, you are... but, you know, the surroundings, they're like... umm... surroundings."

Helen's laughter danced like wind chimes caught in a breeze, washing over Goblinworth in a wave of mild relief.

 "Well, Goblinworth, and how is your scenery viewing going so far? Hmm...?"

Goblinworth's face turned a shade of red that would put a sunset to shame, and he scratched his head with a sheepish grin that looked as if it had been sketched by a mischievous gnome. 

"Oh, well, good I think, I mean I try my best, Master Helen!"

He continued to fumble over his own words like a goblin trapped in a linguistic labyrinth.

 "Master Helen! I'm just, umm, here too, like, appreciate... umm... nature. And stuff."

Helen asked, "Jokes aside, Goblinworth, I must ask - what on realm are you doing behind that plant, and why, might I add, are you naked?"

The air seemed to thin around him as he struggled to stand upright, his limbs behaving like gelatin in a summer heatwave. He stammered and mumbled, each incoherent syllable a testament to his sheer panic.

"Wha-why, um, well, you see... plant! Yes, I was... hiding? No, not hiding, definitely not hiding. Behind the, uh, plant. I was just, um, practicing my stealth abilities. Yeah, that's it! Stealth training! Yes, that's it!" Goblinworth's voice squeaked and cracked, its pitch rising like a runaway balloon.

He flailed his arms like a branch in a tornado, struggling to form a coherent response.

 "Oh and as for the clothes... uh, well, you see, clothes, they were just... they decided to take a day off, a vacation if you will, and, um, I thought, well, yes, behind the plant, yes, perfect cover!"

Helen's laughter tinkled like chimes in a gentle breeze as she tried to suppress her amusement. 

"Goblinworth, my dear, I appreciate your creativity, but I believe clothing is an essential component of our daily lives. And hiding behind a plant without them... well, let's just say it raises a few eyebrows."

Goblinworth's ears turned a shade that rivaled the ripest tomato, his cheeks a matching hue of embarrassment. He scratched his head nervously with a sheepish grin, a mixture of frustration and awkwardness painting his expression.

"I, um, see your point, Master Helen. It's just... well, you know, sometimes one gets caught up in the moment, and... things happen," he mumbled, his voice trailing off as his shoulders slumped in defeat.