Chương 92: Chapter 91 Catch the Iron Fairy!

"C-c-catch that thing!" For the first time since being reborn in this world, excluding his infancy, Karath stammered. There was no helping it. Just look at the primitive iron dagger clutched in that unidentified creature's hand. It might possess a clue leading to the iron ore Karath had searched for all these years.

"Catch it no matter what!" With iron, the development of their civilisation would accelerate enormously. Iron weapons would strengthen their military power, of course, but the material would also make nearly every part of daily life far more convenient. Hello. My name is Iron. The creature drifting away on the river looked almost like a distant fairy of the Iron Age, slowly being carried beyond his reach.

"The Grand Chief gave an order! Catch it!"

"Kill that creature!" At Karath's shout, the warriors who had been collecting fish hurriedly pulled the spears and axes from their backs.

"Do not kill it! Capture it!" Karath shouted again in alarm to stop them. Why did capture and kill become synonyms in the minds of these kind but frustrating orc warriors?

"The Grand Chief said not to kill it!"

"It is too large for the scoop nets! Use the fishing nets!"

"I will bring it back!" At least they understood the second instruction. The warriors threw their nets desperately, while several impatient orcs hurled themselves directly into the river to retrieve the creature.

"Graaagh! M-my body is sinking!" Karath stared at them. Apparently, only their enthusiasm had been prepared. Why would someone who could not swim jump into a river?

"Use the nets!" Karath shouted again in frustration. Most orcs could not swim. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. Their bodies carried enough muscle to put an accomplished bodybuilder to shame, which made them less buoyant than ordinary humans. Their excessive muscle mass also reduced their flexibility. More importantly, almost no orc had ever lived beside a river, so very few had been given any reason to learn.

The fairy of iron continued drifting downstream. The orc warriors descended into chaos the moment their companions began drowning. Then Karath noticed Buddy panting beside him.

"Go, Buddy!" He pointed toward the drifting creature and shouted like a monster trainer throwing a capture ball.

"Woof! Woof!" Buddy understood and charged into the river. A sudden worry struck Karath after giving the order. Buddy could swim, right? Fortunately, the Giant Wolf cut quickly through the current and approached the creature. Karath released a breath of relief when Buddy bit down and began dragging the fairy of iron back toward shore. The situation was not over yet.

"Throw the nets and rescue the warriors!" He still needed to save the loyal idiots who had leapt into the river despite being unable to swim.

"Calm down! If you pull that hard, the net will break! Just hold on to it!" The warriors on shore threw nets toward their drowning companions. True to their impatient nature, the orcs in the water tried to drag themselves in by force and tore the nets apart.

"Endure the cold for a moment."

"Freeze." Unable to watch any longer, Karath used the mana he had barely recovered after casting Chain Lightning and helped with the rescue. After an extended festival of complete insanity, they finally pulled both the warriors who had fallen into the river, even if they had jumped in voluntarily, and the fairy of iron safely onto land.

"Buddy, that is not food. Leave it alone." While Karath rescued the warriors, Buddy stared at the prey he had retrieved and drooled. Clear tooth marks covered the creature's shoulder where the wolf had carried it. Buddy appeared to have controlled his strength well enough not to pierce the flesh deeply, since blood was not pouring from the wounds. Perhaps that was exactly why his appetite had grown. Had he merely taken a taste?

"Grand Chief, why did you order us to capture a goblin?" Once the chaos finally settled, one warrior approached Karath with a puzzled expression. So this creature was a goblin. Karath had heard from the village elders during childhood that goblins lived somewhere in the Grimwood Mountains. He had simply never encountered one before, so he had not recognised it. That was actually fortunate.

Had the creature been an ordinary monster, rescuing it would have been useless because they could not have communicated and Karath would never learn where the dagger came from. Goblins, however, were supposedly capable of speech.

"Ahem. Karath ordered it captured because he has questions for this goblin." As Grand Chief, he could not reveal that he had failed to recognise the creature, so he answered with suitable dignity. Then he nudged the goblin, who remained sprawled upon the ground.

"Get up. It is obvious you are already awake."

"Th-that hurtsh." The goblin slowly forced himself upright.

"What ish thish Giant Wolf?" Why was this creature speaking so rudely?

"Walter, do goblins normally speak like that?"

"Their tongues are somewhat short, Grand Chief."

"Why does a short tongue make their speech short as well?"

"We can beat him until he learns to speak properly, Grand Chief."

"No. Leave him alone." There was no need to go that far. The exchange reminded Karath of boot camp, which was just wonderful. The goblin could communicate and might possess information about iron. He needed to be treated carefully. After all, this was the precious fairy of the Iron Age. Of course, matters might change if the creature possessed no useful information.

"This Giant Wolf is Karath's companion."

"Y-you raish a Giant Wolf?"

"That is correct." Karath answered the startled goblin with a solemn expression, then stared directly at him.

"Karath answered your question. Now you will answer one of his." He paused and looked upstream.

"It appears you have more companions approaching." More than ten goblins were pushing through the undergrowth along the riverbank. One of them looked different from the others. A horn protruded from its forehead.

"There is a hobgoblin among them," Walter said.

"It seems this one was not lost after all, Grand Chief." So that was a hobgoblin. Fortunately, Walter's explanation revealed the horned goblin's identity before Karath embarrassed himself again.