Unas and his men charged through the Stone Wall towards the camp. In the distance, they saw a group of soldiers gathered at the camp gate, pulling and tugging at each other, seemingly causing a disturbance. A shrill voice could be faintly heard shouting, "You can't treat us like this! You can't! You can't..."
With a loud "crack!" Unas lashed his whip, immediately drawing the attention of the crowd. His prized steed carried him to the scene in an instant. After a quick glance, he shouted, "What's going on?"
The soldiers looked at each other and fell silent for a moment. A man who appeared to be a squad leader stepped forward, stood at attention, and saluted. "Sir, there are prisoners causing a disturbance here. I was about to arrest them."
"Nonsense, nonsense, all nonsense!" A piercing scream rose from the back of the crowd. "Make way, make way, all of you make way!"
Unas sat astride his tall horse, looking down, but saw no one screaming. It seemed the person was Dwarf. The ear-piercing sound only reminded him of one race.
"Scatter, let them come over."
The soldiers had no choice but to obey orders. As soon as they began to move, several ugly, green-skinned little monsters eagerly squeezed out from between the soldiers' boots.
As expected of Goblins. These greedy humanoid monsters roam all over Azeroth in search of wealth. Some are quite evil, specializing in banditry, piracy, and other underworld businesses. However, most Goblins remain neutral, making profits through more legitimate businesses such as trade and maritime shipping. But no one has ever heard of a righteous Goblin.
Their reputation was bad, so their treatment was poor. The Goblins in the stronghold were all taken from Bessarius, numbering about thirty. The Argent Dawn couldn't trust these greedy little monsters, so they retained their captive status, but in reality, no one was watching over them; they were completely free.
The Argent Dawn's plan was probably to let them escape on purpose to save food, but the Goblins were clever enough to know that escaping would only lead to their deaths, so they stayed put. Enduring hunger and hard labor was better than going out to die.
Already disliked, they still dare to cause trouble now? Do they want to die even faster? Unas didn't think so.
The lead Goblin limped two steps closer, respectfully bowing to Unas on horseback in a perfectly gentlemanly manner. He then spoke in fluent Common, "Honorable Demon Slayer, you have freed us from the Demon King's enslavement. We will never forget your kindness."
His politeness only made him look ridiculous. Did this Goblin think he was attending some noble party? He was nothing more than a ragged and filthy foreign captive.
Unas gave a polite "hmm" at first, then immediately changed his expression, "Prisoners are causing a disturbance in the camp; according to military law, I can have you all hanged immediately!"
The lame man felt a sudden, inexplicable tremor in his Goblin. He should have completely disregarded this level of intimidation, but his body began to tremble uncontrollably, just as he had when facing his former master— the Dreadlord Bessarius.
His own kind trembled under this oppressive aura, which was highly unusual. But the Goblin didn't have time to investigate, saving him the trouble of putting on an act. He promptly knelt down and cried out his innocence, "My lord, we were forced into this situation!"
It turned out that the Goblins really couldn't hold on any longer. With their small bodies, they couldn't earn enough to eat each day, and several of them had already starved or died from exhaustion.
Today, Unas ordered an emergency recruitment of lumberjacks, and they grasped at straws, desperately volunteering themselves to the logistics officer. However, they were not accepted at all. With nowhere else to turn, they had to come to Unas to appeal, but were turned away again. In despair, they started to cause trouble.
"We will build the simplest and most efficient Viklin Model 3 Lumberjack, known as the Forest Strangler. Any tree will be easily felled by it!" After explaining the background, the Goblins began to boast about their machinery, which was also the reason why they were confident in recruiting lumberjacks.
Unas didn't doubt what the Goblins said; their emaciated appearance was indeed pitiful. Although most of the Goblin inventions were unreliable, three things were world-famous: airships, logging machines, and bombs.
Unas wasn't interested in the first two options; airships were impractical, and logging machines were unusable. If he approved the construction of such a "Forest Strangler," Oakleaf would be the first to turn against him. He was interested in bombs. "Can you build anything else?" he asked.
"Of course!" Overjoyed at not being immediately whipped or driven away, the Goblin pulled over a companion beside him. "This is my chief engineer; he can build anything!"
This is outrageous! It's the nature of a shrewd businessman. Unas scoffed, "Yours?"
"I forgot to introduce myself, sir. I am Kraz, the general manager of the Prosperity Department Store in the lower district of Lordaeron, under the Steamwheedle Cartel. This is my business card." The Goblin struggled to stand on tiptoe and held up a dirty little piece of paper.
Unas reluctantly bent down to take it, glanced at it, and the name and address were indeed the same as the Goblin's story. However, the entire Lordaeron had been destroyed by war and turned into ruins. Even if it were true, the word "former" should be added before his long title.
"Has anyone heard of this department store?" Unas looked around, seeking confirmation from the soldiers. Due to the prince's sudden rebellion, less than one in ten residents of Lordaeron remained, and it was hard to say whether any city dwellers had escaped here.
After a long pause, a young soldier raised his hand, hesitating to speak, "I've been there..."
Unas nodded, encouraging him to continue. "It seems like two years ago, a new Goblin department store opened in the lower city, specializing in selling the gadgets they invented. Everyone was very curious, and my uncle took me there to buy a toy robot. But it broke after only two days. The Goblins wouldn't accept returns or exchanges, and they even wanted to charge for repairs. My uncle couldn't argue with them, so he smashed the robot on the ground to pieces. I've never seen him get so angry, so I remember it very clearly."
"Nonsense! Slander!" Kraz's shrill voice tormented everyone's eardrums. "Ninety percent of our company's product damage is caused by customers not reading the instructions. Of course, you should take full responsibility!"
"You're the one talking nonsense! Liar! You traitor..." the young soldier shouted excitedly, his eyes red, perhaps thinking of his deceased uncle?
Unas quickly stopped this pointless war of words, probably because reading the instruction manual wouldn't have helped; a single, blatant clause like "the final interpretation right belongs to this company" would have shut most people who don't understand the law up.
He calmed the angry boy down for a moment, then said to the guard captain, "Disperse, everyone. I'll handle these Goblins."
The squad leader glared at the Goblins resentfully before leading his men to patrol elsewhere.
Unas pulled a sack of wheat from his bag, threw it off his horse, and said to Kraz, "You and your chief engineer stay here. The rest of you go back. If you cause any more trouble, I'll deal with you court-martial!"
"Thank you, thank you for your generous gift, sir!" Kraz bowed and scraped repeatedly, almost kneeling before Unas. A bag of wheat, if eaten sparingly, would at least ensure that no more Goblins would starve to death for a while.