The adventures of Mochaki the goblin – Chapter 1II

 Read chapters 1 and 11 at: https://dumdumdie.co.za/2023/01/28/the-adventures-of-mochaki/

Mochaki’s tummy grumbled loudly. With a sigh he plopped down on the hot stone and tried to shield his eyes from the glare of the sun, as he scarfed down a cookie. It had been three days of attempted trade, yet not a single human had bought from him. He had seen the mead lady pass by once or twice, but she had kept a careful distance from him. So had everyone else. Even today, surrounded by countless merchants and humans for something they referred to as “market day”, Mochaki’s small stall had been given a wide berth. No one seemed willing to even try his cookies anymore. Mochaki had tried smiling with his teeth out and even did the funny little bow Akta had taught him. His enthusiastic “curtsey” had earned him some puzzled stares but no further interest. It was hard not to feel dejected by the humans’ clear dislike of him. Setting up a trade route was starting to look even more impossible than it had at the very start.

Mochaki puffed out a breath he had been holding for too long, then picked up his bag and scrambled to his feet. He was not going to give up yet, but maybe if he moved the stall…

His gaze landed on the mead lady. She was leaning against the tavern wall, her face mostly in the shade. When he looked her way she made a small gesturing motion that Mochaki could only interpret as “come closer”.

Excited, he reached for a new sample as he ran over to her. Once he was close enough, she crouched down and gave him a small, controlled smile.

“Goblin.”

“H-hi! Did you change your mind about the-“

“I don’t want a cookie,” she cut him off immediately. Mochaki tried not to look disappointed as he let the sample drop back into the dark bag. “How many cookies have you actually sold?”

“None,” Mochaki hunched his shoulders. He expected the lady to laugh at him again, but instead she nodded as if she had expected his answer. Somehow that also stung.

“Look around you, kid. These people won’t be interested in the… cookies you make. They don’t want anything to do with a grimy goblinoid.”

“I’m not grimy,” He snapped, then wiped his hands on his shirt. The gesture earned him a pointed stare at the finger-shaped smears that were left behind.

“Look, I like you. You’ve been doing honest work for three days now. You seem serious about this trade thing.”

Unsure of how to respond, Mochaki just shrugged and stared at the strange lady. Looking at her in the sunlight now, he could see she had an odd scar trailing down her neck to her collarbone.

“Point is,” she continued, “you’re not making progress here and I might be able to help. That is, if you really are serious about what you want.”

“You… want to help me?”

Her smile widened.

“Oh yes, helping people is what I do, and as it happens, we could be able to help each other.”

“I-I would help… you?” Mochaki asked carefully.

She huffed a laugh and stood back up, her full length towering over him.

“That’s how trade works, isn’t it? I give you something, you give me something. Not that!” She snapped as he reached back into his bag to pull out a sample. “I don’t mean cookies you stupid little- I mean, goblin.”

“My name is Mochaki,” Mochaki didn’t know where he got the courage to glare at her like that, but he had heard what she was going to say. He had been called stupid many times before. “And I’m not stupid. I can speak goblin and human and a little elvish.”

She hissed out a breath and then smiled at him again.

“Right, Motaki, you can call m-“

“It’s Mochaki.”

“Whatever, name’s Reika. You can see that no one here is going to trade with you. The way I see it, your cookies might be more suited to a… different demographic.”

“Other humans?”

“Well… maybe. Just not these-“ she gestured around the market “- humans. As it happens, I belong to a group of extremely powerful adventurers. We travel everywhere and we can kill almost anything.”

“Anything?” Mochaki gaped at her. “Even a wolf?”

“A wolf? Yes, of course a wolf. See this scar? Got it from a dragon, right before I tore its heart out with my bare hands.”

She mimicked tearing out the heart. Mochaki took a few steps back. He didn’t know if she was telling the truth, but she seemed scary enough to take on a dragon.

“Could you take my samples and –“

“No, Chucky-“

“Mochaki.”

“- but you could come with us. We can protect you from anything out there, and you can sell your cookies to who- or whatever wants to buy them.”

Mochaki could go out into the world and set up trade routes. He would travel further than any of his tribe had ever gone before. Maybe… maybe this could work!

“Wh-what would I be doing for you?”

Reika smiled at him.

“All you have to do is join our group. We need to register with authorities for certain amenities and we’re short a member right now.”

“What happened to the last-“

“Good deal, right? You can just tag along with your samples and we’ll introduce you to all the wealthiest folk we know. Just think of the sales, Motoki. You’re gonna need hundreds of cookies. Maybe even thousands. You could be the richest goblin ever to live.”

Thousands of cookies? Stars filled Mochaki’s eyes. He would be the saviour of his tribe! Even Akta would have to admit that he had done a good job. The elders would be so proud of him.

“A-a-are you sure? I can’t really fight…”

“Trust me, you won’t need to. Just tag along and stay out of our way.”

Mochaki looked hesitantly back at his shabby little stall. He had come this far by himself, but maybe some help would be good for him. Besides, the people here were not even giving him a second glance. If he could travel further he might find humans who liked his samples and wanted to hear him out. Plus, if what Reika said was true, he could meet humans who had more than enough money to support the tribe’s dream. After a long moment, he looked back at Reika and nodded.

“I’m in.”

Find the next chapter at: https://dumdumdie.co.za/2023/03/05/the-adventures-of-mochaki-3/

To be continued – Teddy