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  “Dad?” Jacob said.

  At that moment, everything turned red in Zoeske’s eyes. He slipped away from the incident, running aimlessly and unnoticed by the villagers. The weight of guilt and responsibility for Jule’s death had crushed his spirit and driven him to a state of near insanity.

  The goblins had left an animal skull inside Jule’s body as a threat sign, but Zoeske wasn’t afraid of that. He was afraid of being hated by the villagers who had welcomed him and counted him as part of their family.

  After a few minutes, he was far from the village, his energy waning from his continuous flight. Meanwhile, a goblin noticed him running alone and tracked him. When the goblin saw him kneel to catch his breath, it slowly approached.

  Suddenly…

  A burst of dark aura erupted from Zoeske, like a torch flickering in a storm, struggling to stay lit. This startled the goblin, causing it to step back. Zoeske’s aura was chaotic; he couldn’t stop his mind from envisioning the way they had tortured Jule.

  The weight of guilt was unbearable. He kept repeating, “What did I do to deserve this, Mom?” and crying.

  Finally, he hugged himself and whispered, “Someone… Please answer me… Why do I keep losing people?”

  One day later.

  “Rest in peace, Jule,” Jacha said, placing a flower on Jule's grave.

  The village bid farewell to Jule with tears and a pile of goblin corpses, the resulting pool of blood reflecting the scar the goblins had left on the villagers.

  “It’s all his fault,” Samuel said.

  “Cut it out,” Alia said. “He was just a kid.”

  “I searched everywhere and couldn’t find him,” Boris said.

  (Where did you go, Zoe? The feeling of responsibility must have been tough on you,) Jacob thought.

  “It seems fine to you, Jacob,” Samuel said. “Or do you already prefer that soft boy over your father?”

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “If you used your brain a little, you’d understand he had nothing to do with the goblins,” Jacob responded.

  “Even after what Jacha said?” Samuel asked.

  “That’s what I’m saying. It’s not like they tracked him until here. The reason they came here started a few days ago,” Jacob said. “But what about you? Weren’t you already filled with hatred for your own failures? At least Zoeske didn’t blame anyone for his weaknesses like you did.”

  “Jacob! Why did you bring that up again?” Alia said.

  “Everyone, please respect Jule,” Jacha said. “Zoeske is just a boy; we can’t blame him.”

  “We need to bring him back,” Leon suggested. “He won’t survive out there.”

  “I agree,” Jacob said. “Zoeske came all the way to meet you, Jacha, you can’t just ignore him.”

  “He came to me?” Jacha said.

  “The boy wanted you to teach him magic,” Alia said. “He came all the way from the Abyss village because he wanted revenge against the kingdom.”

  “Quite interesting,” Jacha said. “After hearing that, I can’t let him die in the wild.” He looked at Pondra for approval.

  “I don’t mind,” Pondra said. “Zoeske is my friend, and as urgent as our mission is, we can delay it for a bit.”

  Jacob walked closer to Jule’s grave, looking desperately sad. Meanwhile, Jacha, watching Jacob’s clenched fist, thought, (That’s impressive. He killed many goblins with his bare hands without falling into their traps. This boy is bottling his emotions and trying to ignore his anger by making himself busy with saving Zoeske.)

  “Tell me, Jacha,” Jacob said. “This sudden mutation in goblins isn’t a mere coincidence; it has a deeper side behind it, right?”

  Everyone was shocked by Jacob’s statement.

  “You’re right,” Jacha said. “Due to the regulations everyone agreed to follow, all the guilds conduct daily missions to kill goblins because of their reproduction system.”

  “What do you mean?” Ansar and Donut asked. They were interested in some guild figures and this topic touched their curiosity.

  “I’ll explain,” Pondra said. “The sharp ears and strong sense of smell of the goblins aren’t their original characteristics. Initially, they reproduced asexually through parthenogenesis. They consumed food, and their offspring inherited some characteristics from what they ate. However, after they invaded a solitary elven village, they evolved. As you can see, their ears are similar to elves’ ears, but worse, they became capable of reproducing sexually. Instead of females carrying eggs, they use a human male genital to lay eggs in their prey. Because elves rarely reproduce, their bodies try to increase the chance of reproduction by being able to… ahem… you know what I mean. They can attempt reproduction triple or more times than we do. That’s why goblins became lust-driven creatures instead of simply eating their prey.”

  “And since then, we’ve been killing them nonstop, until they started reproducing independently by laying eggs in each other’s bodies,” Jacha said. “We, all of humanity, agreed to kill every goblin we see. These monsters are capable of unimaginable cruelty. It’s hard to believe you saw something deeper during what happened in this incident, Jacob.”

  “Huh?” Ansar said. “I’m not sure I’m following.”

  “Simply, Jacob suspected that someone was purposely providing the goblins with humans,” Pondra explained. “This is logical, considering how quickly they intellectually evolved.”

  “What kind of sick people would do that?” Ansar said.