Chapter 206 The Real Plan

Suzuka couldn't help but laugh at his response. 

"I take it you like sandwiches, Hermit?"

The goblin could barely contain himself, his whole body quivering with anticipation. He nodded vigorously, his eyes still wide as saucers, and his tongue rolling back into his mouth with a wet slurping sound.

Suzuka pushed one of the sandwiches closer to Hermit, and he practically pounced on it, devouring the delicious meal tearing it apart and stuffing it down his throat. His jagged teeth tore into the soft bread as if he were some mighty beast, sending crumbs flying in all directions, raining upon the floor like a cascade of confetti from hell.

As he devoured the sandwich, Hermit seemed unable to contain the explosion of flavors in his mouth. He let out a series of guttural, almost lewd moans, weaved with gurgles of pure delight. Between each greedy bite, his tongue darted out like a feral serpent, licking the remnants of sauce and bread clinging to his gnarled fingers.

Finally, the sandwich met its gruesome end, but Hermit's hunger wasn't yet satisfied. Hermit didn't shy away from the remnants, he leaned down to the floor and got on all fours, where the sauce-soaked crumbs lay scattered. With all the manners of a rabid beast, he began to lick the ground clean, his long tongue flicking over every last breadcrumb. The sauce, too precious to be wasted, met the same fate. Hermit's tongue lovingly licked every drop from the floor, a grotesque dance of depravity that knew no bounds.

Suzuka watched him with satisfaction. It was clear that her simple act of kindness meant the world to Hermit, and it would be easier for her to manipulate the naive goblin to do her bidding.

"I see you like the sandwich, don't you, little guy?" she asked, her voice dripping with faux innocence.

Hermit, sauce smeared all over his grimy face, couldn't contain his delight. He wiped his filthy mouth with the back of his hand, sauce smearing all over his face. With wide, innocent eyes, he answered, "Yes yes yes yes yes yes! Master! More please! Hermit loves this morsel, tasty! Delicious! More!"

Suzuka chuckled with a sly smile, asking, "I'm happy you like it so much, Hermit, but do you know what it is made of? Hmm?"

The chaotic enthusiasm that had filled Hermit moments ago vanished as if it were never there. His perverse and blissful smile contorted into one of sheer terror. He clutched his head as if to physically block the horrifying truth that was about to be revealed, his eyes wide and filled with dread.

"N-n-n-n-n-n-no! Master! Do not say it! Do not say it was made out of my kin! Not the goblin meat! Please! Wreeeee!" Hermit stammered, his voice quivering with fear.

 With a swift, merciless motion, she whacked Hermit on the head and scolded him, "Stupid! I joked about it one time. One time! No one is eating goblins or making food out of them."

Hermit's face brightened up as he processed her words, his fear turning into ease. He let out a sigh of relief and said, "Master, Hermit does not know what it is made of. Only now it has veggies!"

"Yes, veggies, bread, pork ham, and sauce. A delicious sandwich that you and your fellow gobbos could eat every day," she taunted, savoring her control over the goblin.

Hermit dropped to his knees, his body shaking with devotion as he pleaded, "Yes! Master! Please! Hermit will serve you till only bones are left of me. Please! Bestow upon me and my fellow gobbos such a divine feast! I will do everything I can to assist in freeing my fellow hatchlings from the forest!"

Suzuka chuckled at Hermit's unwavering enthusiasm as he bowed in submission, his tears of gratitude falling to the ground. She was satisfied with the power she held over him and his fellow goblins. With a sinful glint in her eye, she extended her arm, her grin grew more sinister as she continued to manipulate the goblin. She slowly wagged the last sandwich under Hermit's nose and praised him, "Good, very good. You are such a good boy, Hermit. Who's a good boy? Hmm? Who's a good boy? You're a good boy, Hermit."

Then, with a sudden toss, she flung the sandwich into the air, challenging Hermit.

"Catch it, boy! Go! Eat!"

 The goblin leaped with hunger, like an obedient dog finally received permission to eat, snatching the sandwich in his mouth. He tumbled to the ground and gobbled the meal as if he were a starved beast. 

 Sauce smeared all over his face as he mumbled in perverse delight, "Mmm, so tasty, so good, yes, Hermit loves the feast! Munch, munch, gobble, gobble! Hermit's the good gobbie! Hermit loves this! Yum-yum! Delicious! Thank you, Master!"

After Hermit had polished off the floor where the sandwich was, he looked up at Suzuka with a grin plastered across his face. Bits of food still clung to his filthy face as he tried to speak with a mouthful of crumbs.

"More, Master! More deliciousness, please! Hermit wants more of that tasty thing, it makes gobbos happy!" he pleaded, his voice muffled by the remnants of the sandwich.

Suzuka chuckled and pushed a glass of water in his direction.

 "Nu-uh! That is all you will get for now, Hermit. Now drink up and wash down that mess in your mouth."

Suzuka pushed a glass of cool, clear water toward the goblin. The glass trembled in a shaky, scarred hand. He eyed it with a mix of curiosity and suspicion.

With a grotesque, pig-like manner, Hermit seized the glass and gobbled down its contents in a single, hurried gulp. The water coursed down his throat with a squelching gurgle, the sound rolling through the room. He finished his vulgar display with a resounding belch that echoed off the walls.

"Now that you've had a small taste of what you might gain by assisting me," Suzuka stated, her tone a careful blend of patience and cunning, "I'm ready to tell you my true plan."

Hermit, with his wide, dimwitted grin, leaned his head to the side and scratched his bald, wrinkled scalp. 

"Hugh!? There is more? Hermit listen!" He mumbled, his voice a guttural rumble. 

Suzuka began her tale, "You see, Hermit, Larry has an ambitious plan to rescue your fellow goblins and house them in the town. But you, my dear Hermit, know all too well what the townsfolk think and do to good little goblin boys like you, don't you? Let me give you a little hint. You experienced it firsthand with your buttcheeks."

Hermit convulsed with a pained screech, his gnarled fingers gripping his buttcheeks as if to fend off an invisible tormentor.

 "Wreeee! I do! I do! I know! Reee! Bad townfolk! Bad, bad!" he lamented.

Suzuka nodded slowly, her dark eyes boring into the goblin's primitive understanding. 

"So," she continued, "you don't want that fate to befall your fellow gobbos, do you? Just think of the suffering you endured, Hermit. Now, imagine what awaits them. Surely, you wouldn't wish such horrors upon them, would you?"

Hermit shook his head violently, his enormous, floppy ears flapping wildly and slapping his leathery face. Tears welled in his beady eyes as he cried out, "I don't! I don't! Never! Master, is there a way to save them? Little gobbies deserve a good master, not a bad one!"

Suzuka allowed herself a deceiving smile, a serpent in the garden of Hermit's desperation.

 "What if I were to tell you," she whispered, "that we can do more than just save them? What if we could start our own town, Hermit, a place where you and your kin can live free from fear and constant harm, where you can be the masters of your destiny?"

The goblin's nut-sized brain seemed to stutter for a moment upon hearing the mention of such grandeur, but then a glimmer of understanding began to emerge on his otherwise dimwitted face. Slowly, the gears turned in his empty head, and a sense of delightful realization began to take hold.

"Master! A town of goblins? Yes... yes, yes! If the town does not accept gobbos, then gobbos build a town! Yes! Master! That is... is... umm... but how do we do it?" The goblin's voice quivered with a mix of excitement and uncertainty.

Suzuka gazed upon the goblin with a deceiving smile. 

"Well," she began, her voice dripping with confidence, "as for the good news, I have the perfect location in mind. There is this one mountain deep within the forest, a place where maps show three ancient magic boxes scattered around it. But here's the catch - this mountain is surrounded by a corrupted magic mist, and the lands surrounding it are free for the taking. My plan is quite simple, really. I will use my gravity magic powers to flatten the entire mountain to ground level, creating a vast, flat landscape for the foundation of our goblin town."

The goblin's eyes widened, and his initial bewilderment gave way to a spark of understanding. He nodded vigorously, his enthusiasm growing by the second. 

"Yes, yes, Master! You are amazing and all-powerful! Like a goddess! You can best the mountains? It's perfect! Gobbos will build a town like no other! We gobbos are good at building! We build goblin farms, we dig goblin caves! Now we will build our town!"

Suzuka's grin widened as she saw Hermit's enthusiasm. That was all she wanted to hear from the gullible goblin, now she had a free building force for her town. She leaned in closer to the goblin and spoke in a conspiratorial tone, "That's the spirit, Hermit! We're going to build a goblin town, a place where goblins like you can live in peace and happiness, free from the cruelty of the outside world.

 But to do that, you will need to explain to your fellow gobbos to help us build the town. I will be the ruler of the town, a protector, and you will be one of the founding members of the town, you will be standing equal to me, Hermit. You will be the king of your kin! A hero like from some fairy tale!"

Hermit's ears erected to the sky by a mare mention, they started to twitch with excitement as he listened to Suzuka's poisonous yet sweet words.

 "Whooweee! Master! Almost equal to a master?! A king to my fellow hatchlings? Hermit... a Hero?! Whow! Hermit is ready to work! Hermit wants to make a town for gobbos! Master! How? When?"