Capítulo 44: Defenses
With the goblins' help, I set up a few more pitfalls with spikes before making more crude javelins. The goblins once again try to help but it will take them a whole lot more practice to produce a halfway decent stick with a pointy end.
The products of their effort are barely sharpened and mostly chipped. But despite that, they are usable for throwing practice.
During the next break from throwing javelins, I want to build something. This may just be my human nature bleeding through but I think a camp or house is necessary.
<But you'll need tools for that. That carving knife is meant for emergency purposes and you won't be felling any trees with it.>
Then can you get me an axe and a good carving knife?
<Our shop holds a wide array of tools for all intents and purposes. As an employee, you can peruse the entire assortment and have it delivered straight to you.>
And have money deducted from my salary? I need that money!
<You may have forgotten about how your salary is calculated. With your current level and stage of evolution, you make nearly triple what you made before evolving. Spending some money on our inexpensive services won't put much of a dent into that number.>
Triple the amount! Fine, I guess I will buy some tools if they actually are as cheap as you said. Give me a decent axe and carving knife.
<Rest assure we are very inexpensive and we don't even demand a shipping fee.>
Navi quotes me a price that seems reasonable. Since the tools will come in handy, I complete the purchase. After a moment a chest rises from the ground before me and inside I find the items I ordered. Once I remove them the chest disintegrates into dirt and becomes indistinguishable from the floor.
The goblins are very impressed by my new and shining tools. I cut a few trees and start to set up a make-shift shelter. A simple roof and some sidewalls create a simple shelter. However, since this is inside a dungeon I should add some defenses.
I gather more logs and branches and set up a fence around the shelter with some wooden spikes added to the fence to deter attackers.
With both the pitfalls and the spiked fence the shelter has become a rather secure location on this floor of the dungeon.
The goblins inspect the shelter and the defenses and seem to take a liking to it. Somehow I get the feeling that as soon as it comes to something that involves killing or hurting intruders they become motivated and smarter.
After a quick inspection of the area, the goblins huddle up and run off into the woods. What are those guys doing?
I ignore them and go back to making crude javelins and also notice that I've acquired the skills simple weapon crafting and formation. I keep making javelins until I run out of sticks in the surroundings.
I store all the javelins in the shelter and take a rest. While I'm sitting in the shack leaning against the wall I hear a commotion outside. The goblins have returned and brought more of them. From the few original survivors, the group has now increased to twenty-three members.
They are all excited and the older goblins showed the new ones around. Once they reached the shelter they ran up to me.
"Strong one make us strong. Enemies fall and die!"
"Fall and DIE!"
They really liked the idea of pitfalls with spikes. To make use of all their pent-up enthusiasm I bring out the newly made javelins and we continue training to throw at a tree. The difference between the old and new goblins is apparent.
The new ones lack both accuracy and the ability to form a line. However, with the old ones doing it the new ones soon get the hang of it too. During the next break, I show them all how I cut down trees and try to build a wall around the shelter by simply burying the upright logs next to each other.
The whole use of this seems to elude the goblins but they watch attentively. The wall is only a few meters long when it's time for me to go. I push in one last session of branch swinging to train the slash skill before once again bidding the goblins farewell.
I leave both the axe, carving knife, and shovel I ordered to bury the logs in the shelter before asking Navi to call me out of the dungeon. The older goblins look sad since they know that my actions indicate that I'll be leaving. I ignore their ugly mugs trying to make puppy eyes at me and soon find myself in my room at VR-dungeons.
I head home and eat dinner with my family but I can't stop thinking about the things I made in the dungeon. Will my defenses hold against the attack of stronger intruders? I hate to admit it but I feel a little protective of those goblins. I want them to be safe.
After dinner I find myself scribbling in one of my old notebooks trying to sketch a plan of the camp I made. Quinn seems interested and walks over.
"What are you drawing there, daddy? Is it for work?"
"Yes, I'm trying to build a goblin camp that has good defenses but is still within reason. But building a wall of logs is unexpectedly hard."
"You mean a palisade?"
"A Pali what?"
"A palisade. Comes from the Latin word pālus and which means stake. It is a bunch of tree trunks aligned vertically right next to one another. The individual trunks are usually sharpened at the top to make climbing over them harder. The Romans used palisades to protect their military camps and amongst other things they were known for the speed at which they could make a camp anywhere."
"You are oddly well informed about how the Romans protected their camps."
"We talked about it during my Latin classes."
"What does this have to do with the language?"
"What's the use of learning a language if you can't use it? We were reading a section of Caesar's De Bello Gallico where he described how he fortified his siege encampment around Alesia. To better understand what he was talking about we took a closer look at how the Romans defended their camps."
"That's rather far fetched."
"We all pay attention and our grades speak for themselves. If the other teachers want to be jealous that we are having fun during our classes they can go drown in their tears."
Note to self, Quinn's Latin class was just declared a sacred topic. Tread carefully.
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